1Mary Flora Bell
In 1968, a 10-year-old girl named Mary Flora Bell killed two boys. She and her accomplice strangled the second kid to death and carved their initials into his stomach and mutilated his genitals. The crime scene was described by the inspector as “There was a terrible playfulness about it...and somehow the playfulness of it made it more, rather than less, terrifying”. Psychological testing revealed she was a sociopath. She was convicted and then released at the age of 23 under a new identity.
2Murder of Rebecca Schaeffer
In 1989, actress and model Rebecca Schaeffer was fatally shot to death in the doorway of her West Hollywood apartment building by a stalker. Her killer, Robert John Bardo, had gotten the idea to hire a P.I. from Arthur Richard Jackson, who stalked and stabbed actress Theresa Saldana in 1982 after he hired a detective to find Saldana's address. Schaeffer's death helped prompt the 1990 passage of America's first anti-stalking laws, as well as the Driver's Privacy Protection Act in 1994.
32001 Anthrax Attacks
Weeks following the 9/11 attacks, several news outlets and senators in the USA received letters laced with anthrax spores. Five people were killed and 17 were injured. According to the FBI, the ensuing investigation became “one of the largest and most complex in the history of law enforcement.” The prime suspect in the case was a scientist named Bruce Edwards Ivins who worked in U.S. government's biodefense labs. He committed suicide with an overdose of acetaminophen in 2008. So the case still remains open.
4Robert Pickton
In 2007, Robert Pickton was convicted for a string of murders. He mainly targeted prostitutes in Canada. Though he is serving prison time for 6 murders, he once confided to an undercover police officer that he had killed 49. He said he wanted to make it 50, but got sloppy and was caught. He owned a pig farm and investigators found that he had probably fed to his pigs the bodies of several women. There was also evidence that he mixed the human flesh with pork, and canned it before selling it to the public.
5Keddie Murders
In 1981, 36-year-old Glenna Sharp was renting a cabin with her five of her children in Keddie, California. When her 14-year-old daughter returned to the cabin one morning after a sleepover, she found her mother, her brother and one of his friends were bludgeoned to death with a hammer and bound with medical tape. One of her sister, Tina Sharp, was missing, while her two other siblings were sleeping in the next room. The remains of the Tina were found 3 years later. The case still remains unsolved.
6James Patterson Smith
James Patterson Smith had a violent history. In his 40s, he started dating 17-year-old Kelly Anne Bates. Over the period of 4 weeks, Smith gouged her eyes, scalded her skin, partially scalped her, mutilated and killed her. The pathologist in charge of the case described her injuries as the worst he had ever seen. Smith was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment in 1997.
7Girl Scout Murders
In 1977, the camp counselor at Camp Scott in Mayes County, Oklahoma woke up to a gruesome scene at the farthest tent from the camp. Three girls between the ages of 8 to 10 were dragged from their tents, raped, beaten, strangled and stuffed back into their sleeping tents. Gene Leroy Hart, an escaped convict who grew up near the camp was charged and acquitted. Although there was DNA evidence found on the bags in 2007, it was too deteriorated to be tested. The case still remains unsolved.
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8Saxtown Axe Murders
In 1874, the whole of Stelzriede family residing in the small town of Saxtown was murdered overnight. When their neighbor hadn’t seen them in a while, he went to investigate and found that his neighbor’s little boy had been brutally murdered with an ax. Inside, he found the boy's father, mother, grandfather, brother, and sister all killed with an ax, some with their throats slit. These murders deeply affected the town as the murderer was never caught and people grew suspicious of everyone in the town.
9Murder of Adam Walsh
In 1981 6-year-old named Adam Walsh was kidnapped from a Sears store and 16 days later his severed head was found 120 miles from his family home. Seven years later, while his son’s killer was still unknown, John Walsh began to host America’s Most Wanted. He was a hotelier earlier, but after his son’s death, he devoted himself to criminal justice and more than 1200 criminals were captured thanks to AMW. In 2008, the Florida Police identified his son’s killer as Otis Toole, a serial killer who died in prison in 1996 while serving life for other crimes.
10Hi-Fi Murders
In 1974, two men robbing a Hi-Fi store in Odgen, Utah held captive and tormented five individuals. Only two of the captives survived. Among the sadism levied on the captives were the following: Violence included a pen being kicked into an ear and the brutal rape of a teenage girl who was later shot in the head. Corrosive drain cleaner was also forcefully given to the hostages causing horrific burns to their mouths and throats. Not only were they forced to drink drain cleaner but their mouths were then taped shut so they couldn’t spit it out or vomit it up. One of the victims, Orren Walker, was shot several times, strangled and had a pen kicked into his ear but still survived.