Natasha Leigh

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...

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...

 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 ...

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...

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...