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 loving mother and wife snaps and kills her two daughters to “punish” her husband after years of a crumbling marriage. Taylor Sheats (left) and Madison Sheats (right) On June 24th, emergency services arrived outside of the Sheats family home after receiving multiple calls about a disturbance and shooting at the house. Right as they parked they would witness Christy Sheats kneel over her eldest daughter, Taylor, and fire one final shot. She refused to lay down her weapon leading to an officer fatally shooting Christy. Just outside of the house’s front door lay Christy’s youngest daughter, Madison, dead on the pavement. But how did a loving mother end up callously murdering her two daughters on their father’s birthday? Four years previously, in 2012, Christy’s grandfather passed away, he had played a large part in raising her so it was like she had lost her father. She would never truly be able to heal from the loss and Christy’s mental state began to rapidly deteriorate. In the followi...

 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...

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 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 ...

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...

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...