Natasha Leigh

The end of a brand new relationship with a wealthy local man caused a woman to drive her two children into a lake since he didn’t want a “ready made” family. October 25th 1994, a frantic mother reported that her car had been hijacked with her two young sons still strapped into the backseat. Michael Daniel Smith, age 3 years, and Alexander Tyler Smith, age 14 months, had been kidnapped. Susan could only tell the police that when she stopped at a traffic light, an African-American man rushed the car, forcing her out before speeding away. Right away, Susan began making public pleas on TV, desperately calling for the safe return of her children. While she was in front of cameras, a nationwide search was taking place to find either the boys, the man who had taken them or the family car. Teams were sent out to the lakes and ponds as a part of the publicised search efforts. Through basic maths, it was determined that the car would’ve only made it around 30 feet from the shoreline. It would be...

The killer who claimed he killed and tortured 80-plus unnamed hitchhikers while he worked in murder-for-hire schemes. Donald Henry Gaskins was born in Florence County, South Carolina, to mother Eulea Parrott and an unnamed father. It’s said that he was the last in a string of “illegitimate” children, but all of their names have been restricted for privacy. As he grew up, Gaskins was small for his age, and school bullies quickly started to call him “Pee Wee”, a nickname which caught on, but he absolutely hated. To put it into perspective, when Gaskins was finished growing, he was around 5ft 4in and weighed about 130 lbs. His height could come from genetics, or it could be from the fact his mother was awfully neglectful of all the children. It is likely from a mixture of both. The neglect was reported to be so severe that Gaskins didn’t know his government name — Donald — until his first appearance in court at around 13. To add to the neglect, Gaskins was also abused by an unnamed male r...

 The Ogress of Reading was active for over thirty years during the Victorian era killing an estimated 400 children. Amelia Hobley was born at some point in 1836 to a master shoemaker and his wife. She was the youngest of five having three older brothers and an older sister. They were all born in a village called Pyle Marsh to the east of Bristol. She had fallen in love with literature and poetry one of few children at the time to learn how to read and write. It would provide a minimal escape from caring for her mother as she battled with Typhus, a battle she would eventually lose in 1848. Typhus fever is a group of diseases caused by bacteria carried and spread by fleas, lice, and harvest mites and in the 1830s was fairly common in close-knit areas such as London. Not only had Amelia witnessed her mother have violent fits and eventually pass, but she would also watch her older sister Sarah Ann die of unknown reasons in 1841. Sarah was only six years old. In 1845 another of Amelia’s...

 A mother believed that the only way to save her children from possibly inheriting her mental illnesses was to end their lives. Seth Kehoe October 26th 2008 Gene Kehoe had to make a phone call that no father or husband would ever want to make. His wife and two sons had gone missing whilst the three were taking a trip to visit family. They had planned to spend the day with Michelle Kehoe’s (35) ill mother at her care home in Sumner. It should have only taken them around an hour to drive from their home in Coralville to Sumner but they never arrived. The next morning, at 8 am, Michelle stumbled up to the front door of a home in Littleton. When the door opened Michelle fell into the home, trying to speak to whoever had answered, a slash across her neck was the reason she was struggling to speak. The person at the door grabbed a pen and paper for Michelle to write what it was on whilst they called for emergency services. Michelle wrote, “a man killed my boys and tried to kill me.”. Whe...

 A couple going through a “somewhat” bitter but escalating divorce led to a devastating double murder-suicide during the early hours of June 6th 2017. Carola and Miguel Arnau had been married for around ten years with two young children when Carola filed for divorce on February 22nd 2016. She described the marriage as “irretrievably broken”. Just a year later, Carola filed for a protection from abuse order accusing Miguel of “inappropriate contact” with their four-year-old son. The claim was dismissed as unfounded by Children and Youth Services. During this time, Miguel’s parental rights were temporarily suspended. All rights were restored on April 4th after Carola withdrew the protection order. Miguel would then sue for custody of the children, being granted a temporary order giving him shared custody. They split care every other weekend and after school until 7 pm. By April 20th, Miguel would drop the complaint against Carola, stating they would resolve the issues privately. On J...

 Long-term abuse lead to the death of an 18-month-old, and her mother was charged with a minimum term of 18 years. Taking care of a child that’s biological parents have been unable to do so themselves is an honour that too many don’t understand. Keegan Downer was one of those children whose biological mother was deemed unfit to care for her right after she was born, spending the first ten months of her life in the foster system, being described as happy and healthy by her carer. Eventually, an extended family member was contacted. Kandyce Downer was deemed the “safest” option for Keegan. She was a mother of four and was often described as a good mother. She had previously but unsuccessfully tried to become Keegan’s older sister’s legal guardian. Downer was given custody through a special guardianship order in January 2015; Keegan moved into the family home in the Weoley Castle area of Birmingham. It isn’t entirely clear when the abuse began but when Keegan was removed from her nurs...

Sentenced to 30 years for murdering her two kids out of fear they would be taken away because of her boyfriend's paedophilia charges. Lianne Smith had become fearfully obsessed with the thought her two youngest children, Daniel (11 months) and Rebecca (5 years), would be taken from her custody by social services. Her fear stemmed from her partner's police questioning in 2007 in regard to sexual abuse allegations made by her oldest daughter from another relationship. Right after the questioning, Lianne and her partner, Martin Smith, took Rebecca and fled to Barcelona. For the next few years, British police were unable to track down Martin for arrest that was until May 2010. Martin was deported back to the UK for trial, getting sentenced to 16 years in jail for 11 counts of rape, attempted rape, indecency with a child and indecent assault. Sarah, Lianne's biological daughter, waved her anonymity to share her story of abuse. It all began in May 1995 when she was 7. She said th...

 A woman confessed to smothering her four-year-old daughter with a pillow in an episode of not taking medication. Zadie Wren Cooper was only four years old when she passed away on July 7th 2016, she had spent three days on life support before tests came back that she had no brain activity. It was after these tests that her family decided it would be best for Zadie to remove life support. It had been a freak accident on July 4th, Zadie somehow getting stuck between her bedframe and wall, unable to breathe. Her mother, Stephanie Smith, heard a noise on the baby monitor and rushed to help her child. When she got there, Zadie wasn’t breathing and Stephanie called emergency services for help. A dispatcher helped her perform CPR while they waited for first responders. Of course, the death of the young child caused investigators to look into the case. They had to make sure that the story that Smith had given them was the truth of what happened. Investigators were waiting for medical and f...

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...

 How can an entire household get brutalised overnight and nobody for the next 110 years has solved it? At the end of a quiet street in Villisca, Ohio stood a white-panelled family home. During the daytime it sounded like the usual young family household, kids would be laughing and screaming as their parents watched them with loving gazes. It was one of those days when the kids were running wild with a couple of their friends, enjoying the promise of a sleepover. The night came, as it did every other day, and the house went silent as the inhabitants settled into their respective beds. Josiah (43) and Sarah Moore (39) were upstairs in their room whilst their four children slept down the hall from them. Herman Montgomery (11), Mary Katherine (10), Arthur Boyd (7) and Paul Vernon (5) all shared the room barely able to hold their eyes open from a day of excitement. Downstairs the pair of friends had settled into the guest room, Ina May (8) and Lena Stillinger (12) were alon...