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Clairemont Serial Killer

 The Clairemont Serial Killer, otherwise known as Cleophus Prince Jr., was convicted and sentenced to death in 1993 for killing six women in San Diego County in 1990.

The only reason that Cleophus was caught was because a woman who was getting ready to take a shower overheard somebody messing with her door. She was able to escape out of a window, and called the cops, who later found him based on his description.

One commonality between the victims, and the potential victim, is that they were killed after the left their local gym. He did this, knowing that the woman would be going home to shower.  He would then repeatedly stab the women.

Diane Downs

 Diane Downs was convicted in 1984 for shooting her three children a year earlier. Daniel, Cheryl, and Christie Downs were all shot by their mother.

Diane claimed that she had been car-jacked in Springfield, Oregon, however prosecution believed that she had shot her children so she could pursue an affair she was having with a married man.

Much to Diane’s dismay, Christie survived the shooting and was able to provide testimony.  Daniel also survived the shooting.

Diane was sentenced to life for murder, 30 years for attempted murder, and 20 years for first degree assault.

Diane escaped from prison in 1987, but was recaptured only 10 days later.

Two children survived the shooting, Daniel and Christie, and were adopted by one of the prosecutors. The children were both paralyzed.

For more information on the story, there is a Lifetime movie called Small Sacrifices.

Green River Killer

 Gary Leon Ridgway is otherwise known as the Green River Killer.  Gary was a man who went door to door, talking to people about his Pentecostal faith. He had been married twice, however, both marriages were quickly ruined.

In a period of less than three years in the 1980s, the GRK murdered about 50 women.  The majority of the victims happened to be either prostitutes or teen runaways that were picked up along Route 99, and then strangled.

Gary was arrested twice, once in 1982 and then once in 2001, for charges that related to prostitution. In 1983, he was a suspect in the killings, however the next year, he passed a lie detector test.  DNA evidence eventually gave proof for the warrant.

It was in November of 2001 that Gary was arrested on suspicion of killing four women – Marcia Chapman, Opal Mills, Cynthia Hinds, and Carol Christensen.

Two years later, Gary entered a guilty plea to more than 45 charges of aggravated first degree murder. He had a plea bargain, so he could not be executed for the murders. Gary Ridgway was sentenced to 48 life sentences in prison, with no possibility of parole.

Ridgway has apparently confessed to more confirmed murders than any other American serial killer, and is currently incarcerated at the Washington State Penitentiary.

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The Lizzie Borden Murders

 Lizzie Borden is a woman believed to have murdered her father (Andrew Jackson Borden) and stepmother (Abby Borden) in 1892, in the town of Fall River, Massachusetts, even though she was acquitted.

Lizzie Borden claimed to have found the body of her father sometime before 11:30 in the morning.  The body of his wife was found later by a family member.

Both had been killed with a hatchet.  There are many pictures of the crime scene, all you really have to do is do a Google image search for “Lizzie Borden crime scene”, and you’ll see them. I won’t post them here due to the fact that they are graphic.

When authorities examined Lizzie’s testimonies, they found them to be inconsistent, so they tried her. The hatchet that police believed to have been the murder weapon was later found in the basement during an investigation, however there was never any more evidence found on the actual hatchet. Another piece of evidence against Lizzie was that within the few days following the murder, Lizzie was seen burning one of her old dresses. Authorities believed it may have been the dress she was wearing during the murder.

The way that many people saw the trial during this time is much like the way we still see the OJ Simpson trial today. It made her infamous, as it did for him.

The actual house where the murders were committed is still standing. In fact, it’s a bed and breakfast now.

Sources:

Crime Library 

Lizzie Borden B&B Site 

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Robert Pickton

 RobertPickton was born in 1949, and grew up in British Columbia, growing up to work as a pig farmer. Pig farming was not entirely satisfactory, apparently, because he resorted to serial killing. He is convicted of murdering six women, and is charged in the deaths of at least twenty more.

At one point, Robert and his brother David ran a charity called the Piggy Palace Good Times Society. What kind of charity this was, I have no clue.

On February 5, 2002, police obtained a search warrant for the property, to search for illegal firearms.  Police arrested Robert, and then obtained permission to search the farm for missing women, when a personal belonging was found.

Later that month, Pickton was arrested and charged with two counts of first degree murder for the deaths of Sereena Abotsway and Mona Wilson.  It was not until April that five other charges were added for the murders of Jacqueline McDonell, Diane Rock, Heather Bottomley, Andrea Joesbury, and Brenda Wolfe. In September, four more charges were added for the deaths of Georgina Papin, Patricia Johnson, Helen Hallmark, and Jennifer Furminger.

The charges continued being racked on…

Excavations of the farm continued all the way through November of 2003, costing more than $70 million dollars.

The trial for Robert Pickton began on January 30, 2006. He pleaded not guilty to 27 first-degree murder chages.  One charge was dismissed by the judge.

In August of 2006, the judge presiding over the case brought the case down to six counts.  The other 20 counts were not dismissed, just postponed.

January 22, 2007 was the first day of the trial. The evidence that was found was finally revealed – skulls cut in half, remains stuffed into trash bags, both victim’s and Pickton’s DNA were found on a sex toy attached to a gun, among other things.

A month later, more information was revealed in court -  pictures of remains and video testimonies.

On December 9, 2007, the jury returned it’s verdict – Pickton was not guilty on 6 counts of first degree murder. He was found guilty on 6 counts of second-degree murder.  Two days later, the judge sentenced Pickton to life with no possibility of parole for 25 years.

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Elizabeth Marilyn Weber

 Missing Child – Elizabeth Marilyn Weber

This is a suspected family abduction. Elizabeth was born on September 14, 2003, and has been missing since December 2, 2007.  She is missing from North Carolina.  There is more information located at the link above.

Eileen Nicole Ponce-Orta

 The body of Eileen Nicole Ponce-Orta, mother of 1, was found in her minivan by her family. Police had called the woman’s family to come pick up the minivan, which was parked in a reserved lot for police officers near the courthouse. Police had failed to check inside the minivan, but that is where the body of the 22 year old woman lay.

The family of the woman claims that she had been missing since earlier in the week. When the vehicle was found, police claimed that there were no signs of foul play, and no blood.  This was a relief to the family, at least until they opened the door to the van and saw part of the body.

Authorities revealed that Ponce-Orta’s death was caused by a stab wound to the neck.

I wonder why the police did not check the van before releasing it to the family? They even said there were no signs of foul play – how could they have known without checking inside the van?

No arrests have been made, however, police are pursuing interests.

Amber Hagerman

 Amber Renee Hagerman, born in 1986 and killed only 10 years later, was a victim of a child abduction and murder. She had been riding her bike near the home of her grandparents in Arlington, Texas, when she was kidnapped.

A neighbor had witnessed the abduction, and called in a description of the suspect and the car he had been driving.  Four days after the search began, Amber’s body was found by a man walking his dog. Her throat had been slit, and her lifeless body lay at the bottom of a creek bed.

No arrests were ever made, and her murderer’s whereabouts have never been discovered.  On July 25, 2007, a man named Terapon Adhahn was under investigation, after being arrested in connection with the abduction of Zina Linnik, however, nothing ever came of it.

In October of 2000, the US House of Reps. adopted H.R. 605, which encouraged a nationwide use of the AMBER Plan. Finally in 2003, George Bush signed the AMBER Alert legislation, which made the program national. There are still many updates that need to be made, as it seems technology has not quite caught up with the Amber Alert System, which notifies citizens when a child has gone missing.

There is currently a Lifetime made-for-TV movie called Amber’s Story that was filmed in 2006.

Jessica Lunsford

 Jessica Marie Lunsford, born in October in 1995, was murdered in February of 2005. At the time of her death, she was nine years old, and had been abducted from her home in Florida.

After being held captive over the weekend, she was raped and murdered by John Couey, a 47 year old man who lived nearby. It was not until August of 2007 that Couey was sentenced to death for the kidnapping, raping, and murdering.

According to Couey’s confession, he entered the home through a door left unlocked at around three in the morning.  Couey took Jessica to his bed where he raped her multiple times. While he went to work, he told Jessica to stay in the closet. Three days after the kidnapping, Couey tied Jessica’s hands together, put her in a garbage bag, and buried her alive.