A Study In Crime

I write about true crime cases. I do not condone any crimes. Check out my index to find a specific post written by me, or use the search bar!

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Thank you for doing the Andrew Gardner Clare Nicholls case

Of course! It's truly a horrible case...

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You haven’t updated in awhile. I hope you’re doing okay.

Hi! How sweet of you to check in on me. I am doing well, but this past year has been hectic. I am still studying at university, which takes up most of my time. I also got married last summer, which was both wonderful and stressful. I hope that I will find the time to write more on here!

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About Albin Aspgren. He was never ”admitted to a psychiatric ward”, and he was never ”in a short sexual relationship” with Kajsa, they were just friends and always just friends. There were some more stuff you wrote that were wrong. You should do more research if you want to be taken serious. I’m from sweden, from the same place as Albin and Kajsa.

Hej! I och med att jag skrev det inlägget för över ett och ett halvt år sedan så har jag inte längre i minnet vilka källor jag använde, men hittade i alla fall att Albin var inlagd på Säter, men det tycks ha varit kort efter att brottet begicks. Har alltså läst fel och uppfattat det som att han var inlagd innan brottet begicks, så ska självklart revidera den delen inlägget! Angående deras tidigare relation så kan jag faktiskt inte erinra mig alls om var jag har läst det, så ska givetvis ändra även den delen. Vill dock poängtera att inget är taget ur tomma luften, utan det beror nog främst på osäkra källor och det är såklart inget jag vill bidra till, så det ska jag ordna nu direkt. Tack för att du skrev!

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The Lady of Ampato

Introduction

The picture above is that of an unidentified girl who was killed as an offering to the Inca gods. It is not known when this happened, but it is approximately between 1450-1480. The girl, who was between 12 and 15 years old, is called Mummy Juanita and/or Lady of Ampato. This is her story.

Who was the Lady of Ampato?

Since the girl has never been identified, we can not know for certain who she was as a person, but several indicators can make us make a few probable guesses. It is widely believed that the Lady of Ampato was from a noble family since her clothes were of high quality and probably came from the capital city. However, one thing that speaks against this is the food the Lady of Ampato had consumed before her death. She had eaten vegetables, which leads many to believe that she was not from a wealthy since it was much more common that the noble families ate meat, which was a luxury at the time. Regarding the Lady of Ampato’s ethnicity, her genetics has shown connections to Taiwan and Korea.

How did she die and why?

The Lady of Ampato’s cause of death was blunt head trauma. The blow to her head resulted in massive blood loss as well as blood being clogged in her head, which resulted in her brain being pushed to the left of her head. The Lady of Ampato was likely sacrificed to the gods in the hopes that volcanic eruptions would stop. It was quite common that children were sacrificed since they were believed to be a worthy gift to the gods because of their purity.

The discovery

The body of the Lady of Ampato was found by explorer Johan Reinhard in 1995 in a crater on the stratovolcano Ampato. The body was frozen and well preserved and was quickly transported to Arequipa where it was placed in a freezer. The Lady of Ampato is now exhibited at the Museum of Andean Sanctuaries at the Catholic University of Santa Maria.

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The Murder of Birgitte Tengs

The murder

On the evening of 5 May 1995, 17-year-old Birgitte Tengs was walking home after attending a meeting. Birgitte lived in Kopervik, Norway, and was seen by several people on her way home. She was last seen alive around midnight, but she never made it home. The following morning, Birgitte was found dead on a pasture ground. She had been raped and killed, and it quickly became a top story in the news.

The police had a couple of leads. Firstly, they found a strand of hair in one of Birgitte’s hands. The hair was blonde and long, and they believed that the hair belonged to Birgitte’s killer. The police questioned over 1500 men, and they took around 300 blood samples in the hopes of finding a DNA match. However, in October 1996, it was determined that the hair might have belonged to Birgitte. Secondly, the police began suspecting that Birgitte’s cousin might have had something to do with her murder. The cousin, who had been 17 years old at the time of Birgitte’s murder, was extensively interrogated and finally confessed to the killing. He was charged with the murder but later retracted his confession. The cousin claimed that he had been put under immense pressure during the interrogations; despite this, he was found guilty of the murder. He was sentenced to 14 years in prison, but he appealed. The cousin was acquitted in 1998. In 2001, the cousin received around 20 000 euros in damages from the European Court of Human Rights. Thirdly, the cousin’s lawyer received an anonymous phone call from a man claiming to be Birgitte’s murderer. However, the caller was never identified.

Aftermath

The Norweigan cold-case group decided to start investigating the case in 2016. New DNA analyses resulted in new leads, and it was revealed in September 2021 that a man in his 50s had been arrested. He is currently the main suspect and is also a person of interest in the murder of Tina Jørgensen in 2000 (read more about this case HERE).

As of October 2021, the case is unsolved.

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UPDATE

The man who was arrested in 2021 now stands trial for the murder of Birgitte Tengs. The trial started on November 7, 2022. Birgitte's mother does not believe that the man is guilty of murdering her daughter. The trial is still ongoing.

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Ronald O’Bryen: Laced Halloween-Candy With Cyanide And Murdered His Son

The murder

Halloween is one of the most beloved holidays, especially among children; dressing up, watching a scary movie, and eating candy is a recipe for a memorable night. However, on October 31, 1974, Halloween became a real-life horror movie when 8-year-old Timothy O'Bryan was killed.

Timothy was born in 1966 and lived with his father Ronald Clark O'Bryan, mother Daynene O'Bryan, and little sister Elizabeth in Texas. Timothy went trick-or-treating with his little sister and father on Halloween, and everything seemed to be a regular Halloween. However, when Timothy and his family went back home, Timothy decided to eat some of the candy he had collected. He complained to his father that one of the sweets had a weird taste, and Ronald gave his son some soda to wash away the taste. Soon after consuming the candy, Timothy started to complain about a horrible stomach ache and started to vomit. An ambulance was called, but Timothy died before getting to the hospital.

It seemed like Timothy’s death was nothing but a horrible tragedy, until the autopsy revealed that Timothy had cyanide in his body. The candy he had eaten had been laced, and parents in the neighborhood confiscated their children’s candy, fearing that other sweets had also been laced. Upon further investigation, five candies of the same sort Timothy had eaten contained a fatal dose of cyanide. The police interrogated Timothy’s father, who had accompanied his children during their trick-or-treating but became increasingly suspicious toward him after he was unable to recall which house had handed out the laced candy. After being pressured by police, Ronald led them to the house he claimed had handed out the laced candy. However, the man living there had been at work when Ronald and his children had gone trick-or-treating, and over 200 witnesses could confirm this.

The police soon realized that Ronald O'Bryen was in serious debt. He had around 520,000 dollars in debt, and Ronald did not have a stable income. Ronald had taken out several life insurances on both Timothy and Elizabeth just a few months before Timothy died, which suggested that Ronald had killed his son to be able to pay off his debt. The police believed that he had handed out other pieces of laced candy to other children in the neighborhood to cover up his crime. Luckily, no other child ate the laced candy. Ronald O'Bryen was interrogated, but he denied having anything to do with the murder of his son. The police did not believe Ronald, and he was promptly arrested.

Trial and aftermath

Ronald O'Bryan stood accused of one count of capital murder and four counts of attempted murder, and he pled not guilty to all counts. Several witnessed told the court that Ronald often talked about cyanide and how much should be consumed to be fatal. Two chemists also testified against Ronald, telling the court that they had been contacted by him and questioned about cyanide. Relatives testified that Ronald talked about all the things he would buy with the insurance money on the day of Timothy’s funeral. In June 1975, Ronald O'Bryen was found guilty of all crimes he stood accused of and was sentenced to death.

Ronald O'Bryen was executed by lethal injection in 1984. He never confessed to the murder.

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Six People Were Found Guilty of Murders That Never Happened

The murders

There are seldom brutal crimes committed in Iceland, but one of the few cases in Icelandic history is truly astonishing. Six people were convicted of two murders in 1980, but it is unclear whether the murders even happened.

This story begins in early 1974. 18-year-old Guðmundur Einarsson was walking home on the night of 26 January after having spent the night partying. He was, according to witnesses, heavily intoxicated, and he intended to go to his parents’ house. However, Guðmundur never made it to his childhood home. No one knew what had happened to Guðmundur, but many people speculated that he had frozen to death, which is unfortunately quite common in the Nordic countries. No one ever saw Guðmundur again, and life moved on for the citizens in the area.

In November 1974, another man went missing. His name was Geirfinnur Einarsson (he was not related to Guðmundur), and he was 32 years old at the time of his mysterious disappearance. Geirfinnur seemed to live a typical family life with his wife and kids, but the marriage was slowly but surely deteriorating. Geirfinnur’s wife had had several affairs, which she informed the police about when they questioned her regarding her husband’s disappearance. Geirfinnur’s car was found shortly after he went missing, but there was no trace of Geirfinnur. According to witnesses, Geirfinnur had received a phone call shortly before he went missing, and the phone call greatly upset him.

The police started investigation Geirfinnur’s disappearance, but they had questionable priorities. It was noted that Geirfinnur’s wife’s lovers could have abducted and killed Geirfinnur since they had a motive. However, instead of following these leads, the police decided to travel to Jordania with Geirfinnur’s wife. They had contacted a medium who claimed that she could tell the police where Geirfinnur was. However, this did not help the investigation.

Sævar Ciesielski was a petty criminal living with his 18-year-old girlfriend, Erla Bolladóttir. Both Sævar and Erla committed fraud against the Icelandic postal service, and Sævar was trying to smuggle marijuana to Iceland. The police were familiar with Sævar since he had been previously involved in other crimes. In 1975, Sævar and Erla were arrested for fraud. However, the interrogations would lead to a far more serious confession than to fraud. The investigators showed Erla a picture of Guðmundur and asked her if she recognized him. She informed the police that Guðmundur had been an acquaintance of hers and that she had a nightmare on the same night he went missing. Erla had dreamt about hearing voices outside her window, and she thought that they were criminals whom Sævar knew. The police came up with a theory; Erla’s dream was perhaps not a dream at all and that it was actually a repressed memory of Sævar and his friends killing Guðmundur. Erla was interrogated constantly for weeks, and she finally signed a confession written by the investigators. Erla confessed to seeing Sævar and his friends cover up a dead human body with a sheet in her apartment. Sævar was also questioned, and he was informed about what Erla had told the police. Sævar confessed to being in his and Erla’s apartment with Guðmundur the night he disappeared. Sævar told the police that he and two friends had gotten into a heated argument with Guðmundur and that they had accidentally beaten him to death. Sævar’s accomplices were interrogated and they also confessed to getting into a fight with Guðmundur.

The story does not end here. Erla was released after her confession, but the police were soon knocking on her door once again. They showed her a photograph of Geirfinnur and asked her if Sævar had anything to do with his disappearance. Erla, who now was convinced that she had repressed traumatic memories, told the police that Sævar had told her that he was involved in the mysterious disappearance. Erla was once again brought to the police station, and she confessed to shooting Geirfinnur. Sævar and four friends of his confessed to being involved in Geirfinnur’s supposed death, but their stories did not match. As mentioned, Erla claimed that she had killed Geirfinnur, but Sævar claimed that he was the killer. Their stories also changed over time; sometimes they told the police that Geirfinnur had been shot, other times they said that he had been drowned or stabbed to death.

Trial and aftermath

Despite the lack of evidence, such as the fact that Guðmundur’s and Geirfinnur’s bodies hadn’t been found, Sævar, Erla, and their accomplices were tried in court in 1980. Erla, as well as two of the accomplices, were found not guilty of murder. However, Erla was found guilty on another minor charge. Sævar and two of the accomplices named Kristján Viðar and Tryggvi Rúnar were found guilty of murdering Guðmundur Einarsson. Sævar, Kristján and another man named Guðjón Skarphéðinsson were found guilty of murdering Geirfinnur Einarsson. Most of them received shorter prison sentences, but Sævar and Kristján were sentenced to 17 and 16 years in prison.

The investigation has since been heavily criticized. Since the suspects were interrogated for hours on end, were placed in solitary confinement for as long as two years, and were subjected to sleep deprivation and torture, most people believe that Sævar, Erla, and their friends signed false confessions to put an end to their suffering. There was also, as mentioned before, no evidence suggesting that the murders had even taken place. The bodies were never found and there was no forensic evidence suggesting that any of the convicts had murdered anybody.

Sævar and Erla had a daughter together shortly before Erla confessed to the killings. After being released, Sævar lived on the streets and abused drugs for the remainder of his life. He died in 2011. Tryggvi Rúnar died in 2009 of cancer. The whereabouts of the others are unknown. However, everyone who was charged, except Erla, was acquitted of all charges in 2018.

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A Dahmer Victim That Got Away

Jeffrey Dahmer killed 17 men and boys, but he also molested countless others. One of them is Ronald “Ron” Flowers, a man who even told his story by testifying at Dahmer’s trial.

What happened? Ron Flowers had spent the evening and early night at a gay club in Milwaukee and decided to leave around 1 a.m. Ron had taken his car to the club, and when he tried to go home the car would not start. He struggled for a while trying to start the car until a tall, blonde, caucasian man approached him. The man introduced himself as Jeff and offered to go get his car so that they could jump-start Ron’s car. Ron was reluctant at first but decided to go with Jeff to his house. At this time, Jeff lived with his grandma in West Allis, nearby the club where both of the men had been spending the night. When they got into the standard-looking suburban house, Jeff offered Ron alcohol. At this time, Ron started getting nervous and told Jeff that he simply wanted to get his car started and go home. Jeff told him that they would soon go back, but proposed that they could have a cup of coffee first. As soon as Ron had finished his coffee, Jeff seemed to be looking at him in an almost anticipating way. Ron recalled that Jeff never held eye-contact, but this suddenly changed as soon as Ron had emptied his cup. Ron also recalled getting dizzy and suddenly fell to the floor.

The last memory Ron had was waking up at the hospital. He knew that he must have been drugged, and when looking down he realized that his underwear was turned inside out. He also found a blonde hair inside his underwear, which made him realize he had been sexually assaulted. Ron contacted police, and they soon brought in Jeffrey Dahmer for questioning. Dahmer denied sexually assaulting Ron Flowers and told the police that they had had a consensual relationship. Dahmer told police that Ron had indeed been at his house the day before his hospital visit, but that they had only been drinking and not taken any drugs. Dahmer recalled helping Ron get on a bus.

At the trial in 1992, Ron Flowers testified against Dahmer. He recalled seeing Dahmer about a year after the incident, and confronted Dahmer. Dahmer pretended not to recognize him and invited him home for a coffee, which resulted in Ron becoming increasingly angry. Ron later stopped a man from going home with Dahmer, and Dahmer then left in a taxi. They would not see each other again until 1992, at Dahmer’s trial.

Aftermath The police sided with Jeffrey Dahmer. They told Ron Flowers that it was his word against Dahmer’s and that there was nothing they could do. Ron Flowers would not see Dahmer again until a couple of years later when he testified against him at his trial. When interrogated regarding the seventeen murders he had committed, Dahmer told the detectives about his meeting with Ron Flowers and what he told them was eerie; Ron would probably have been another murder victim if Dahmer’s grandmother would not have seen them together by coincidence.

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Why did you simply not listen to the testimony given by Flowers in court to then have given an ACCURATE a punt of what transpired that evening, the evening he. Flowers, saw Dahmer again a year or so later and what transpired that evening at the same Club and out into the parking lot where his friends kept “him away” from Jeff when he was so understandably irate after Jeff claimed to not know who he was and suggested they go have a cup of coffee to talk about it. in addition, “saved” another guy

Hi anon! I have now edited my post about Ronald Flowers. I will reblog it for you :)

Have a nice day!

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The Murder of Elna Eriksson

The murder

29 September 1911 was a warm day in Sandviken, Sweden. 12-year-old Elna Eriksson was on her way home and waved happily to anyone she walked by. However, when she walked into the woods, a man holding an ax began following her. The man suddenly attacked Elna and tried to hold her down on the ground, but Elna managed to escape. She tried to run away but did not get very far. The man attacked her once again, but Elna managed to get away for a second time. However, she could not escape him the third time he got her down on the ground. The man cut off her carotid artery with the ax and stabbed her mercilessly with the ax. When Elna had bled to death, the man raped her.

Elna’s parents became more and more worried when Elna did not come home. Her father looked for her and asked neighbors if they had seen Elna, but soon decided to contact the police. Police officers were sent to the woods to look for the girl and found her a couple of hours later.

Luckily, the police soon had a prime suspect. A couple of people had seen a man following Elna into the woods and he was described as a skinny and tall man with red hair. A few days after the murder, a farmer contacted the police after he had seen a man on his property who fit the description of the man. The man was taken to the police station for questioning, but he had an alibi. He was released, but the police quickly found another person of interest. The man was 60-year-old Johan Larsson who had previously been incarcerated and was a known child molester. Witnesses came forward and told the police that Johan Larsson had told them that he had seen Elna walking into the woods with a suspicious-looking man following her. The witnesses had questioned why Johan had not followed the man and Elna, but Johan had no explanation. The police arrested Johan, but he denied having anything to do with Elna’s murder. He claimed that he had been at home at the time of the murder, but Johan’s daughters informed the police that that was a lie. Johan changed his story many times while being questioned, which made the investigators more and more convinced that he was the killer. Hoping to get Johan to confess, the investigators forced him to look at Elna’s corpse. Their tactic did not work; Johan barely reacted to seeing the girl. Despite the evidence being circumstantial, Johan soon stood trial for the murder of Elna.

Trial and aftermath

Everything seemed to point toward Johan being the killer, but his guilt could not be proven without reasonable doubt. Johan was found not guilty and was released, but both law enforcement and the public were certain that Johan had killed Elna. Johan died in 1943 at the age of 91.

The police continued with their investigation, but no one was ever charged with the murder. The murder of Elna remains unsolved.

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The Child-Killer Mary Bell

The murders

11-year-old Mary Bell had a hard childhood. Mary’s mother never wanted a child in the first place; according to family members, Mary’s mother attempted to kill Mary several times by giving her large amounts of sleeping pills. Her mother worked as a prostitute and sometimes forced Mary to take part in sexual acts with her customers. This led Mary to become a disturbed child who often acted out. On one occasion, Mary strangled a girl around her age until her face turned blue and purple. However, Mary let her go before the strangulation became fatal. 4-year-old Martin Brown was not as fortunate.

On 25 May 1968, Mary took little Martin to a derelict house where she strangled the boy and then planted an empty medicine can beside his dead body. When the body was found, the police had a hard time concluding what had actually happened. The autopsy showed no signs of any kind of medicine, but there were some signs that the boy may have been strangled. However, they conclude that Martin Brown had simply died accidentally; how this accident had occurred was never disclosed.

The same week Martin died, Mary and her best friend Norma Bell (they were not related to each other) broke into a youth recreation center where they often spent their afternoons and left six notes where they claimed responsibility for the death of Martin Brown. The girls did, of course, not write their names on these letters and the police did not take this seriously; they were certain this was just a juvenile prank.

A few days went by, and suddenly Mary stood on the doorstep on the Brown residence. She knocked on the door and Martin Brown’s mother opened up. Mary asked if Martin could come out and play, to which his mother explained that little Martin was dead. Mary then asked if she could come in and look at Martin’s body; this resulted in Martin’s mother breaking down and she had to be taken to a hospital.

The horrors did not stop there. On 31 July 1968, Mary and her friend Norma lured 3-year-old Brian Howe to a secluded area where they strangled the boy. They then used a scissor to carve an N or an M onto the boy’s stomach. Brian’s siblings started looking for Brian when they realized he had gone missing, and Mary and Norma soon joined them. The police were alerted after a couple of hours, and Brian was soon found. Unlike the death of Martin Brown, the death of Brian Howe was an obvious murder. However, the police noted that there were many similarities between the deaths of Martin and Brian, which led them to reopen Martin Brown’s case. The police also concluded that the perpetrator was probably not an adult, which led them to question around 1200 children in the area. Two names seemed to appear again and again; Mary Bell and Norma Bell. It was decided that Mary and Norma were to be brought in to the station to be interrogated. Mary claimed that she had no part in the deaths of the two boys, but Norma soon confessed. Norma claimed that she had witnessed Mary strangle the boys, but she had taken no part in the murders herself.

Trial and aftermath

The trial began on 6th December 1968. At this time, Mary had confessed to strangling both of the boys, even though she knew it was wrong. Mary was convicted of manslaughter, but Norma was found not guilty. Mary spent 12 years incarcerated and was released in 1980. She gave birth to a daughter on 25th May 1984 (exactly 16 years after Mary had killed Martin Brown) and became a grandmother in 2009. Mary, her daughter, and her granddaughter were granted life-long anonymity. Mary Bell is still alive, but her whereabouts are unknown.

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The Murder of Lisa Holm

The murder

At 18:23 pm on June 7 2015, 17-year-old Lisa sends a text message to her father. She tells him that she is about to leave the café she works at and go home. Lisa’s parents wait for her arrival but start to worry when she does not come home. Lisa’s father decides to drive to her workplace, hoping to meet his daughter along the way. He arrives at the café and finds Lisa’s moped still parked outside the café. He, and the owner of the café start looking for Lisa, but she remains missing. Police are called, and they search for the girl for days. They find a receipt, a phone case, a ticket, and a crushed phone display. All these things belong to Lisa, and one of her earrings is found in a barn nearby the café. The organization Missing People Sweden helps police search for the 17-year-old girl. Five days after her disappearance, Missing People Sweden starts searching for traces in a farm area, but a man arrives to the place and claims that the area has already been searched. Missing People Sweden does not believe the man, and decides to contact law enforcement. They continue to look for traces in the area, and soon a jacket and a helmet belonging to Lisa are found. The same night, a body is found in a closet in a shed. The body is identified as Lisa Holm.

Lisa was found with a rope around her neck - she had been hanged. Police conclude that she was murdered in a barn nearby the shed. Unknown DNA is found on her body and on ropes inside the barn, and people living in the area nearby are forced to leave their DNA to police. One of these people is Nerijus Bilevicius, a man from Lithuania who moved to Sweden a few years prior. He is 35 years old and lives nearby with his wife and brother. Bilevicius has no alibi, and several people reported that they saw his car nearby the crime scene on June 7. Missing People Sweden recognizes him as the man who tried to make them search for Lisa elsewhere. The DNA found on Lisa’s body and on the ropes are soon confirmed as being Bilevicius’ DNA. Police concluded that his motive for the murder was of sexual nature since his semen was found inside Lisa’s clothes and on walls inside of the barn.

Trial and aftermath

Bilevicius was found guilty of murder and was sentenced to life imprisonment. He was sent back to Lithuania and is going to serve his sentence in a prison there instead.  

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UPDATE

Nerjius Bilevicius was murdered in prison on August 4, 2022. According to Swedish media, he was stabbed in the neck with a knife by another inmate.

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Dmitry Milovanov Killed His Children And Ate His Daughter’s Heart

The murders

Dmitry Milovanov and his wife Tatyana Milovanov lived an idyllic family life in Thailand. The couple frequently posted family pictures on their social media; some of the pictures show the couple happily smiling while standing in the ocean, other pictures portray the family with their children. However, the couple ran into financial trouble when they decided to move back to Russia, their home country. Dmitry and Tatyana lived in an apartment with their two children and two other relatives. The couple had about 8000 dollars in debt, and Dmitry was unemployed. Their financial issues strained their relationship, and they often fought about how they should deal with barely having enough food on the table.

In 2015, Dmitry spent the day smoking spice to escape his harsh reality. Spice is known for causing anxiety, paranoia, and psychosis. Sadly, Dimitry suffered from all of these side effects and decided that his family would be better off dead. Dimitry picked up his 3-month-old daughter Xeniya and bashed her head into a wall. He then cut up Xeniya’s chest and took out her heart. According to some sources, Dimitry ate parts of Xeniya’s heart. Dimitry then killed his 4-year-old son Ilya and stabbed his wife several times. Luckily, one of the relatives living with the family woke up, called the police, and restrained Dimitry. Tatyana survived the attack.

Aftermath

Dimitry confessed to the murders and claimed that he had killed his children in the hopes that they would become angels. Some sources state that Dimitry thought that his children were possessed by demons, and had to be killed. Dimitry intended to commit suicide after killing his family.

There is no information about what happened to Dimitry Milovanov, but he was likely given a lengthy prison sentence.

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The Murder Of Marvin Gaye

Introduction

Marvin Pentz Gay Jr, also known as Marvin Gaye, is considered one of the most prominent icons in soul music. He is famous for songs such as Got To Give It Up, Let’s Get It On and What’s Going on. However, his success in music did not erase the fact that he had a toxic relationship with his father, which would eventually result in his death.

Marvin’s relationship with his father

Marvin Gaye Jr described living with his father, Marvin Gay Sr, as  ’’living with a king, a very peculiar, changeable, cruel, and all-powerful king’’. Marvin’s father would often beat his children, and Marvin once said that he probably would have committed suicide because of his situation at home if he did not have his mother. According to Marvin’s mother Alberta Gay, her husband hated Marvin and used to question is Marvin Jr was his biological son. Marvin Gaye despised his father as well, and one of the reasons he added an E to his last name was to distance himself from his father.

Death

On April 1st, 1984, Marvin Gaye visited his parents and observed his father accuse his mother of losing an important document. Marvin Gaye intervened the fight, and the two men got into a physical fight. Marvin Gaye shoved and hit his father, but Alberta Gay was able to separate the men before the fight escalated. However, just minutes later, Marvin Gay Sr picked up a gun and shot his son in the chest. Marvin Gay Sr then shot Marvin Gaye a second time in the shoulder. The first shot was fatal, and the bullet hit Marvin Gaye’s right lung, heart, liver, stomach, diaphragm and left kidney. Marvin Gaye Jr’s body was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead, and his father was immediately charged with first-degree murder. 

Trial and aftermath

The judge agreed to let Marvin Gay Sr enter a plea bargain, which resulted in him pleading no contest to voluntary manslaughter. Marvin Gay Sr spoke at the sentencing, where he claimed to have loved his son and the reason for killing Marvin was because he was afraid of him. Marvin Gay Sr was given a six-year suspended sentence and five years of probation. Alberta Gay filed for divorce after almost 50 years of marriage, and Marvin Gay Sr spent the rest of his days in a nursing home. He passed away at the age of 84 in 1998.

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The Murder of Sian Kingi

The murder

12-year-old Sian Kingi, born and raised in Australia, was on her way home on the afternoon of November 27, 1987, when she was approached by a couple looking for their missing dog. Sian stepped off her bike to help the couple look for the dog, but was immediately grabbed and forced into the couple’s car. They drove to a wooded area where the man raped Sian while his wife watched, and Sian was then strangled and stabbed to death. Her body was dumped nearby.

Sian’s parents became increasingly worried during the evening when Sian failed to come home. They started looking for her after a couple of hours, and soon found her bike. They reported Sian missing and a picture of the 12-year-old was published in the newspaper, but no one had seen her. After a little over two weeks, Sian’s parents received the horrible news; Sian had been found dead. The police started receiving information about a white car that had been observed nearby where Sian’s body had been found. The car became an interesting lead since other people had previously reported on seeing a similar car nearby other crime scenes where someone had been sexually assaulted. The police managed to track down who the car belonged to; surprisingly, it belonged to a woman. The woman was 44-year-old Valmae Beck, who had been in and out of jail her entire life. Valmae was married to a 34-year-old man named Barrie Watts, who had a similar background. The couple had no children together, but Valmae had six kids with two other men. The police searched through their house, and it seemed like the couple had left in a hurry; suspiciously, they left on the same day Sian’s body was found. Fortunately, the couple was found a couple of days later and was promptly arrested. Barrie refused to talk to the investigators, but it did not take long for Valmae to start talking. The police found out what had happened to Sian, and they also got a motive for the horrific rape and murder; Barrie had fantasized about sexually assaulting a young girl, and felt dissatisfied with his much older wife. Valmae had assisted him in the kidnapping, rape, and killing to try and satisfy his needs.  

Trial and aftermath

Barrie pleaded not guilty to rape and murder, but Valmae decided to plead guilty. Barrie was found to be guilty of the crimes and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Valmae was sentenced to life imprisonment with the possibility of parole after serving 14 years. The couple divorced in 1990.

Valmae died in 2008 after a failed heart surgery. She is suspected of having taken part in more crimes, but she never confessed to any other crime than the killing of Sian. Barrie maintained his innocence for many years, but finally confessed in 2007; this was probably done in an attempt to become eligible for parole. Barrie was tried for another murder in the mid-90s, but the charges were dropped due to a lack of evidence.

In 2021, Barrie requested to the parole board be made eligible for parole. This sparked extreme outrage in the media and among Sian’s friends and family, as well as others. The parole board has not yet made a decision regarding Barrie’s request.

[a-study-in-crime]

The Murder of Sylvia Likens

Introduction

Sylvia Likens was born in early January 1949 in Indiana, USA. She had four siblings and was described as a happy, nice, and confident girl. She often stayed with relatives since her parents had to travel due to work, and it was decided that she would stay with a woman named Gertrude Baniszewski in June 1965. Sylvia's parents were acquainted with Gertrude, and believed she would take good care of Sylvia; however, Gertrude would come to torture Sylvia to death. This is the story of the torture and murder of Sylvia Likens.

The torture and murder

Gertrude Baniszewski was born in 1928 and had seven children; Paula, Stephanie, John, Marie, Shirley, James, and Dennis. Gertrude and her family resided in Indianapolis when Sylvia and her younger sister Jenny came to live with them. It was decided that Gertrude would be paid every week for taking care of Sylvia and Jenny, but she sometimes received her payments a couple of days late. This resulted in Gertrude taking out her anger on Sylvia and Jenny by beating them with a paddle. However, Gertrude soon decided to focus her abuse on Sylvia; she seldom gave Sylvia food and often beat her. It did not take long until Gertrude's children started participating in the abuse of Sylvia. Paula, who was seventeen years old at the time, was the first of Gertrude's children to participate in beating Sylvia. Other children in the neighborhood also started to get involved in the abuse, and it progressed from beatings to even more severe types of torture. Sylvia was forcefed condiments and spices, and when she threw up, she was forced to eat her vomit. Paula once hit Sylvia so hard that she broke her own wrist, and Stephanie soon began participating in the abuse. Stephanie's boyfriend, Coy Hubbard, also began abusing Sylvia. Gertrude also humiliated Sylvia, calling her a prostitute, and accusing her of being promiscuous. Sylvia was also forced to masturbate with a bottle in front of Gertrude and a group of teens from the neighborhood. The abuse escalated further; Sylvia was burned with cigarettes, kicked in the genitals, banged against the wall, and choked.

The torture resulted in Sylvia becoming incontinent, and the family decided to tie her up naked in the basement. Sylvia was almost never fed and often wet herself. She was, on several occasions, placed in a scalding hot bath and neighborhood kids then rubbed salt in her wounds. Gertrude also rubbed urine and feces from her youngest son on Sylvia's face. The torture escalated further when Gertrude carved the words ''I'm a prostitute and proud of it'' on Sylvia's stomach. In late October 1965, Sylvia had become unable to talk or properly coordinate her body. However, the torture did not stop. She was sprayed with a garden hose, beaten, and stomped on. Sylvia died on October 26, 1965. She was just 16 years old.

Gertrude called the police when she realized that Sylvia was no longer breathing, but told them that she had tried to save her. She also stated that Sylvia had run away from home and sustained her injuries elsewhere. However, Jenny told the truth as soon as she was taken to the police station.

The autopsy was shocking, to say the least; at the time of her death, Sylvia was extremely malnourished and she had over 150 wounds across her body. She also had extreme injuries to her genitals and layers of skin on her face, neck, and decolletage had been peeled back.

Trial and aftermath

Gertrude, Paula, John, Coy, and a neighborhood teen named Richard Hobbs stood trial in 1966. Gertrude was found guilty of first-degree murder, Paula was found guilty of second-degree murder, and the boys were found guilty of manslaughter. Gertrude and Paula received life in prison, and the boys were sentenced to spend between 2-21 years behind bars. There was a retrial in 1970, but Paula decided to plead guilty to voluntary manslaughter and was sentenced to spend between 2-20 years in prison. Gertrude decided to go through with the retrial but was once again found guilty of first-degree murder.

Paula was released from prison in 1972, and Gertrude was granted parole in late 1985. Gertrude died of cancer in 1990. Paula worked as a school counselor for many years but was fired when her dark past came to light. Stephanie, who was never charged with any crime, has since started a family of her own and worked as a teacher. Richard, Coy, and John were released after spending two years behind bars. Richard died of cancer in 1972, Coy died in 2007 of a heart attack. John died at the age of 52 of diabetes in 2005.

Jenny later married and had children, but had to take medication to handle her extreme trauma and anxiety. She died of a heart attack in 2004.

[a-study-in-crime]

Index

This is a complete list of all my posts. They are divided into separate categories to make it easier to find a specific post, and the names of the texts are listed in alphabetical order. This list will be updated as soon as I publish a new post that I have written myself. It will be easy to find this list by going on my blog and click on ’’index’’ under my navigation section. 

Murders

63 Youths Dead In Fire At A Disco

A Cannibalistic Urge: He Murdered His Foster Sisters And Consumed Their Flesh And Blood

Elderly Woman Was Harassed And Burned Alive By Teens

Jack The Ripper: Part 1

Jack The Ripper: Part 2

Jack The Ripper: Part 3

Mass-Murderer John List

Murderer Carina Frödin

Murderer Christina Johansdotter

Murderer Colin Pitchfork

Murderer David Fuller

Murderer Dena Laettner Schlosser 

Murderer Dmitry Milovanov 

Murderer Gary Heidnik

Murderer Janne Tuomela (The Smiling Killer)

Murderer Johanna Möller

Murderer Martina Kveldstad

Murderer Mikael Kittilä

Murderer Molly Jane Roe

Murderer Natalia Pshenkina

Murderers Pauline Parker and Juliet Hulme

Murderer Pelle Hardrup

Murderer Ronald O’Bryen

Murderer Susan Smith

Serial Killer Ahmad Suradji 

Serial Killer Amarjeet Sada

Serial Killer Amelia Dyer

Serial Killer Anthony Sowell

Serial Killer Belle Gunness

Serial Killer Beverely Allitt

Serial Killer Dennis Nilsen

Serial Killer Eugene Weidmann

Serial Killer Gilles de Rais

Serial Killer Giulia Tofana

Serial Killer Javed Iqbal

Serial Killer Jean-Claude Romand

Serial Killer John Christie

Serial Killer Joseph Kallinger

Serial Killer Lizzie Halliday

Serial Killer Marc Dutroux

Serial Killer Michel Fourniret

Serial Killer Moses Sithole

Serial Killer Nannie Doss

Serial Killer Leonarda Cianciulli

Serial Killer Leonard Fraser

Serial Killer Richard Cottingham

Serial Killer Ronald Dominique

Serial Killer Pedro Rodrigues

Serial Killer Sergey Golovkin

Serial Killer Tillie Klimek

Serial Rapist Reynhard Sinaga

The Abuse And Death of Sweetheart

The Alphabet Murders

The Assassination of Olof Palme

The Babes In The Woods Murders

The Cannibalistic Book-Thief

The Case of Johanna Möller

The Case of Ulf

The Child-Killer Mary Bell

The Death of Lydia Schatz

The Dentist Murder

The Sauna Murder

Guðmundur and Geirfinnur case

The Ice Box Murders

The Keillers Park Murder

The Kunz Family Massacre

The Mad Butcher of Kingsbury Run

The Acid Bath Murderer

The Murder of Abbas Rezai

The Murder of Abraham Shakespeare

The Murder of Adrian Jones

The Murder of Albin Einarsen

The Murder of Amy Burridge

The Murder of Andrew Bagby and Zachary Turner

The Murder of Andrew Gardner

The Murder of Arlis Perry

The Lady of Ampato

The Landlord From Hell

The Murder of Betsy Aardasma

The Murder of Birgitte Tengs

The Murder of Bobby Äikiä

The Murder of Buckskin Girl/Marcia Lenore King

The Murder of Candace Newmaker

The Murder of Carolin Stenvall

The Murder of Charles Bravo

The Murder of Christian Larsson

The Murder of Dorothy Jane Scott

The Murder of Edna Phillips

The Murder of Einár 

The Murder of El Dorado Jane Doe

The Murder of Elna Eriksson

The Murder of Elin Klinteberg

The Murder of Elin Krantz

The Murder of Elisa Izquierdo

The Murder of Elyse Pahler

The Murder of Emma Walker

The Murder of Engla Höglund

The Murder of Fadime Şahindal

The Murder of Gabriel Kisch

The Murder of Helén Nilsson

The Murder of Helle Crafts

The Murder of Hilda Feste

The Murder of Ida Fässberg

The Murder of Jennifer Daughtery

The Murder of Jessica Lunsford

The Murder of Johanna Gurgu

The Murder of John Hron

The Murder of JonBenét Ramsey

The Murder of Josefine Boo

The Murder of Julia Olteanu

The Murder of Kajsa Selinder

The Murder of Karina Holmer

The Murder of Kayla Rolland

The Murder of Kelly Anne Bates

The Murder of Ken McElroy

The Murder of Kim Wall

The Murder of Kitty Genovese

The Murder of Lady of the Dunes

The Murder of Lena Wesström

The Murder of Linda Chen

The Murder of Lisa Holm

The Murder of Malin Lindström

The Murder of Malin Kristiansen

The Murder of Malin Olsson

The Murder of Maria Ridulph

The Murder of Mary-Ann Leneghan

The Murder of Marvin Gaye

The Murder of Mikael Petersson

The Murder of Missy Avila

The Murder of Nella Olander

The Murder of Nicole van den Hurk

The Murder of Pernilla Hellgren

The Murder of Polly Klaas

The Murder of Princess Doe

The Murder of Richard Kelvin

The Murder of Samantha Koenig

The Murder of Shanda Sharer

The Murder of Sian Kingi

The Murder of Therese Johansson Rojo

The Murder of Tia Rigg

The Murder of Tia Sharp

The Murder of Tina Jørgensen

The Murder of Tova Moberg

The Murder of Tristan Brübach

The Murder of Silje Redergård

The Murder of Stephanie Neiman And The Failed Execution of Clayton Darrell Lockett

The Murder of Stephanie Roper

The Murder of the Bocksten Man

The Murder of Ulla Höglund

The Murders at Malmö Östra Hospital

The Murder of Vatchareeya Bangsuan

The Murder of Wilma Andersson

The Rode Hill House Murder

The Murder of Ulla Höglund

The Psychic Killer

The Scissor Sisters

The Skara Cannibal

The Starvation Doctor

The Stolen Heart of a Prince

The Yogurt Shop Murders

Thomas Quick

Two Children Beaten To Death By Jealous Ex-Girlfriend

Unrequited Love Ending In Murder And Dismemberment

Who Put Bella in the Witch Elm?

Yngsjömordet

Kidnappings

The Kidnapping of Alicia Kozakiewicz

The Kidnapping of Colleen Stan

The Kidnapping of Elizabeth Fritzl [PART 1]

The Kidnapping of Elizabeth Fritzl [PART 2]

The Kidnapping of Elizabeth Fritzl [PART 3]

The Kidnapping of Lisa Hoodless and Charlene Lunnon

The Lindbergh Kidnapping

The Kidnapping of Madeleine McCann

Under The Microscope

Did Christer Pettersson Murder Prime Minister Olof Palme?

Jeffrey Dahmer’s Mental Disorders

The Abuse of Mary Bell

Other

A Dahmer Victim That Got Away

Carita Löf 

Carl Tanzler: The Man Who Lived With A Corpse For Seven Years

Did Jeffrey Dahmer have Borderline Personality Disorder?

Essay About Cannibalism [PART 1]

Essay About Cannibalism [PART 2]

Gemma Watts 

Lasse-Maja: The Life of A Criminal Who Was Living As A Man and Woman

Pedophile Carita Löf

Plastination

Pyromaniac Ulf Borgström

Sadistic Pedophile Forced Girls To Degrade Themselves And Send Pictures

Strangulation 

The Most Infamous Serial-Rapist In Sweden

The Robbery at Norrmalmstorg And The Origins of Stockholm Syndrome

Uroko Onoja: Raped To Death By His Wives

Woman Found In Mining Hole

[a-study-in-crime]

FINALLY took the time to add the latest posts I’ve written and updated a few links. You’re welcome ;)

PS: The list is still a bit messy, but I’m working on fixing it :)