The Wichita Massacre
In December 2000, two new arrivals in Wichita went on a crime spree. 20 year old Jonathan Carr and his 22 year old brother, Reginald, first committed armed robbery but escalated quickly to murder. Days after their first shooting, they interrupted a group of five adults in their twenties having a quiet party. In fact, one male had hidden an engagement ring in a dish of popcorn, intending to propose to his girlfriend. Unfortunately, she only learned of this when the brothers held the group and gunpoint and searched for valuables.
Cruelly, the brothers next ordered their hostages to perform various sexual acts with each other to humiliate them. After emptying their victims’s bank accounts at an ATM, they drove to a deserted soccer complex. They ordered their victims to kneel, shot them execution style, and tried to drive the stolen vehicle over the bodies. There was one survivor, thanks to her plastic barrette deflecting the bullet. She walked more than a mile in the snow to find a house, and determinedly made a report to police before getting medical treatment.
Jonathan and Reginald Carr were arrested the next day. This crime, known as Wichita Massacre, terrified the city. They were eventually found guilty of over 40 counts each, and sentenced to death. While the conviction has been appealed, and the penalty even overturned once, the Supreme Court has consistently upheld the original conviction and punishment, most recently rejecting arguments in October 2015.