Natasha Leigh

The kidnapping that shows brotherhood comes in many forms, a teenager saving a child after seeing his distress. Steven Stayner was walking home from school on December 4th 1972 when he was stopped by a man claiming to be a church representative seeking donations. When the man asked if Steven’s mom would be willing to give something to the church, Steven agreed that she would. The representative offered to give Steven a ride to his home so they could get the donations that very day. A white Buick driven by a second man pulled up, Steven willingly got inside with the representative. However, the church representative wasn’t legitimate. His name was Ervin Murphy a worker from a Yosemite National Park resort worker who had been manipulated by a co-worker into aiding him in kidnapping a boy. Kenneth Parnell claimed he was an aspiring minister and wanted a young boy to “raise him in a religious-type deal”. Parnell drove Murphy and Steven to a cabin nearby Catheys Valley rather than taking St...

 A couple planned to steal drugs from their friends, leading to the murder of four young adults. Tiffany Rowell and Adelbert Sanchez (top row left to right) Rachel Koloroutis and Marcus Precella (bottom row left to right) Christine Paolilla was born on March 31st 1986 in Long Island, New York to a stay-at-home mother Lori and a construction worker dad, Charles. At just two years old Paolilla’s life was drastically altered when her father Charles passed away in a tragic worksite accident. Her mother, Lori, spiralled in her grief, relying on drugs to get through the day. Paolilla was soon put into her maternal grandparents’ custody. In kindergarten, Paolilla was diagnosed with alopecia, causing her to lose her eyelashes, eyebrows and all her head hair. This coupled with having poor eyesight and needing thick glasses, the kids relentlessly bullied her. By the time Paolilla was ready to start high school, Lori had gotten sober and remarried. Paolilla went back into the custody of ...

Tiana was murdered after being told her soon-to-be killer would be arrested for violating a restraining order. Tiana Notice had not long graduated from the University of Hartford with a degree in political science. She was often encouraged by her mother to become a lawyer so she could use her love for debate as a career. She seemed like a loving person that was having to deal with an abusive ex-boyfriend. The ex was someone named James Carter Jr. Tiana and James met through MySpace in 2007. James convinced Tiana to meet him for a date, a public space being picked out. Tiana wasn’t looking for anything serious as she had just ended things with her college sweetheart, a five-year-long relationship. While on their date James spun a story of Tiana’s dream, he claimed to own his home, work as a manager at a finance company and he didn’t have any kids but he wanted them in the near future. He had managed to lure Tiana in and the two began dating. After a year the relationship was over and th...

A woman vanished after an argument with her husband, just the day before she told coworkers that something was going to happen. Maureen Fields left her Pahrump home at 8 am on February 15th after another argument with her husband of fifteen years Paul Fields. It was a common occurrence within the couple, Maureen’s loved ones saying that she was considering divorcing Paul. She was heading to a shift at Wells Fargo Bank, expected to arrive at 8:30. In the past three months Maureen had been working at the bank she hadn’t been late. It was why she hadn’t arrived twenty minutes after her shift started, her co-workers called Paul, trying to find out where she was. Paul went right to the police station after the call ended. Paul claimed that he tried to report Maureen as missing but the police denied him, saying it hadn’t been twenty-four hours. The police had no record of him trying to make the report but rather he had asked if any accidents involving a green Hyundai had happened. He left ri...

A family of criminals that terrorised villages in Russia despite being a successful family. The ‘Gang of Amazons’ were a family of six that committed robberies and murders as and when they pleased over a span of six years, from 2007 to 2013. They lived in Divnaye, a small village in the centre of Apanasenkovsky District in Stavropol, Russia and they would say they were going on camping trips as a guise for their crimes. The matriarch of the family — Inessa Tarverdiyeva — was a successful nursery school teacher. It’s rumoured that she had a former lover leave her for another woman, he worked as a policeman in the area and it’s said his leaving fueled her extreme hatred of anything law enforcement related. The patriarch of the family — Roman Podkopaev — was a registered dentist. He was also the prime suspect in the suspicious death of Inessa’s first husband, they married shortly after his death. Inessa’s daughters from her first marriage were also involved in the crime spree. Her eldest ...

 Carol Bundy and Doug Clark killed potentially eight people in a short few months, their reason, depraved sexual desires. Carol Bundy was born on August 26th 1942, her parents were both abusive alcoholics, which led to Carol having a very troubled childhood. Her mother died when she was young, most likely around 11. Her father began sexually abusing her at age 11, which is why I believe that was around the point her mother died. The abuse stopped when her father remarried and began putting her in various foster homes. Not much else is known about Carol’s early life, the next confirmed thing in her life was she got married at age 17 to a 56-year-old man. They divorced for unknown reasons and Carol soon remarried. The new marriage was abusive and whilst they were together, Carol had two sons. Those boys were young when Carol escaped the abusive relationship, got her own apartment and started her life again. Her new apartment block was managed by John ‘Jack’ Murray, a married part-tim...

Two lives were taken for just $50 and the slight chance of looking at someone's face. AI-enhanced picture Sara Keynejad was nineteen years old waiting for her husband Justin as he finished up his shift at a 7-Eleven. The couple were expecting their first child, a little boy they planned to call Tyler Matthews, the whole family were excited to meet the first of the new generation. Their day was all going well, the couple was ready to spend their last Valentine's Day before the baby came together. Right before they were able to leave two men dressed in women's clothes walked into the shop. Their following actions were captured on the shop's security cameras. They both held guns, taking everything in the register, and forcing Justin to wipe down their prints. Once he was done they turned to leave, one of the pair callously lifting his gun, shooting once and killing Sara. The two men were Kareem Brock and Anthony Williams, both having a history of violent crimes. Brock prev...

Beautiful souls are taken so frequently all because others can't handle rejection, Tomicka Peterson is just one of many. Tomicka Peterson had ended her relationship with her boyfriend at the time Gibson Paul. It was Valentine's Day 2011 when she tried to leave Paul, getting out of the apartment as soon as she had ended things, seemingly worried for her safety and rightfully so. Tomicka left accompanied by two of her female friends and one of their 3-year-old daughters, another friend was waiting outside for them. Tomicka was just getting into the car that was outside when Paul came running out of the apartment building. He asked twice if Tomicka was actually leaving him. After Tomicka refused to respond, Paul pulled out a gun and began firing into the car. One of Tomicka's friends was grazed by a bullet but Tomicka was hit five times. She died at the scene. The driver of the car rushed them to St. Mary's Medical Center in West Palm Beach. U.S. Marshals were immediately ...

Unsolved serial killers always bring about theories, rumours and the unknown. LISK also brought unnamed victims. Minimal known about the Long Island Serial Killer sometimes referred to as the Gilgo Beach Killer, Craigslist Ripper or Manorville Butcher. It’s believed that they were active for around 20 years between the 1990s to the 2010s. Despite starting in the 90s, LISK was only discovered in 2010 as police were looking for, at the time, missing woman Shannan Gilbert. To start with, we’re going to briefly look at some of the theories around the case before tackling the ten that are officially linked with LISK. There are many more cases that are unofficially linked to LISK. The first theory is that LISK was a regular “John”. A majority of the identified women were known to be sex workers at the time, with some getting offered high pay for a job right before they went missing. If this was the case it’s theorized that LISK only attacked when circumstances were just right; otherwise, the...