Natasha Leigh

When the mental health system fails and it leads to the brutal murder of a loving mother. Christian Gomez lived in Oldsmar, Florida with his mother, older brother and younger sister. He was described as a happy and affectionate child but when he hit eighteen Gomez began "acting out". He couldn't hold down a job and didn't want to learn to drive, both of these could have been seen as a teen that didn't want to grow up but his behaviour slowly got worse. Gomez stopped showering claiming that his mom and sister were watching him through the TV. He began to isolate himself from his family and often was seen in the backyard talking to God or the stars. There were reports that he skinned and buried the family cat. Gomez's therapist recommended that he start going to public places, like a cafe, to try and socialize but Gomez was growing largely indifferent towards conversation with his own family. He would be bombarded by voices coming from under his bed. Gomez's...

Despite being witnessed by many an eleven-year-old girl was still abducted and held captive for eighteen years. On May 3rd 1980 in Anaheim, California, Terry Dugard’s life changed permanently with the birth of her daughter Jaycee Dugard. The father, Ken Slayton, wasn’t even aware that his daughter had been born and didn’t know that Jaycee existed until years later. Jaycee would soon meet her stepdad and main father figure in her life when she was still very young. Legally, her stepdad, Carl Probyn, was officially a part of the family when he and Terry married when Jaycee was seven. Two years after the marriage, in 1989, Jaycee’s younger sister Shayna was born. Shortly after Shayna’s birth in September 1990, the family would move 470 miles north to Meyers, California. They went looking for a safer community in the rural town, searching for a safer community for the young girls to grow up in. In the new home, Jaycee continued to live the life she loved, playing with her younger sister an...

Long Island Rail Road commuter train from New York City is meant to be a safe method of transport but one trip would lead to the death of six people. On the 7th of December 1993, people boarded the third train car of the eastbound 5:33 train to Hicksville at the Pennsylvania Station. One of the eighty passengers was Colin Ferguson (who will be referred to as CF from here on out with respect to the No Notoriety campaign). He boarded the train and immediately took a seat at the western end of the car, he had a Ruger P89 semi-automatic pistol in his lap with a canvas bag with around 160 rounds of ammunition. As the train approached the Merillon Avenue Station, CF pulled the gun from his lap and dropped a few cartridges on the ground. For the next three minutes, he walked down the aisle of the car, shooting passengers in their seats, going left to right at each row. At first, the gunfire was mistaken as firework caps until a woman yelled “He’s got a gun! He’s shooting people!”. Panic ensue...

A week away at Girls Scouts camp is meant to be a beautiful adventure but that adventure for three girls was nightmarish. Months before the fateful night of June 12th, a group of camp counsellors went to the campsite for training. Whilst out there things didn’t go entirely as planned, one counsellor found a tent slashed open and there were reports that things had been stolen from all over the camp. Some of the counsellors could hear strange noises in the distance but it was chalked up to animals. The most concerning of everything was in place of food a handwritten letter was left. “We are on a mission to kill three girls in tent one.” was what the letter read. All of the events were dismissed as pranks. Camp went on as planned with a fresh group arriving at Camp Scott on June 12th 1977, three members of this group were Doris Denis Milner (10), Michelle Heather Guse (9) and Lori Lee Farmer (8). Everything was going fine until night rolled around. A storm had been forecast so the camp co...

  Twelve women’s lives were taken with sickening brutality by a pair of men pretending to be police officers. Those two men were Kenneth Bianchi and Angelo Buono Jr. all Bianchi & Buono’s victims Kenneth Bianchi was born on the 22nd of May 1951 in Rochester, New York. Just two weeks after his birth, Bianchi was put up for adoption. He wouldn’t be in the system for too long as Nicholas Bianchi and Frances Scioliono-Bianchi adopted him in August of the same year. Bianchi was the couple’s only child. Bianchi was described as a compulsive liar from the day he could talk by Frances. Often he would have daydreams described as inattentive and trance-like, during these episodes Bianchi’s eyes would roll to the back of his head. At age 5 these episodes were diagnosed as petit mal seizures. On top of the seizures, Bianchi frequently went to have physical examinations for involuntary bladder problems which caused him great humiliation. With all the medical troubles that Bi...

The middle schooler that was held captive by her school’s security guard for a decade. On February 10th 1996, Tanya Kach ran away from home under the promise of a better life, a life where she would be happy and safe. But for the six months prior to leaving the house she lived in with her father and his girlfriend, Tanya was being groomed by her school’s newest worker. Thomas Hose had just been hired at Cornell Middle School as a security guard. People described him as having a great relationship with the children he had sworn to protect, joking with them as they went about their school day or high-fiving them as they walked through doorways. One of those children, it went a little further. Tanya began going to Hose for life advice, complaining about her home and school life. Soon, what could have been an innocent mentorship turned sour. The bond would become sexual on school grounds, beginning with Hose kissing under the stairwell whilst Tanya skipped class. Thomas Hose ...

Friends, families and simply fans of superheroes had flocked to go watch The Dark Knight Rises when their lives were destroyed by one person. July 20th 2012, around four hundred people filled theatre 9 of the Century 16 movie theatre to watch the latest instalment of the Batman franchise. One of the four hundred, seated in the front row, was James Holmes (who will be referred to as JH throughout out of respect to the No Notoriety campaign in 2015). Twenty minutes into the movie, JH stood from his seat and walked out of the emergency exit door beside the screen, propping the door open with a plastic tablecloth holder. The exit had direct access to a quiet parking lot at the back of the complex where JH had parked his car. At his car JH, changed into black clothing with a gas mask, a load-bearing vest, a ballistic helmet, bullet-resistant leggings, a bullet-resistant throat protector, a groin protector and tactical gloves. He then grabbed two tear gas grenades, a Smith and...

One of the first milk carton kids whose kidnapping and murder took nearly four decades to solve. It was the last day of school before Memorial Day weekend, May 25th 1979, and the Patz household was hectic. Everyone was busy getting ready for their days, Julie was taking care of her two-year-old son and another two-year-old that had stayed the night and Stanley was getting himself ready for work as a photographer. Shira, the oldest of their three children, was getting herself dressed for her school day. That left Etan Patz, the six-year-old that was searching for more independence, he too was dressing for a day at school. He put on blue pants, a blue jacket and his favourite black Eastern Airlines future flight captain cap. After he was dressed Etan went to Julie and begged that she allowed him to walk the two blocks from their apartment to his daily bus stop. Begrudgingly, Julie agreed and once her son had packed his elephant print tote bag with his favourite toys, she wa...