The Bufalino crime family, also known as the Pittston crime family, the Scranton Wilkes-Barre crime family, the Northeastern Pennsylvania crime family, the Northeastern Pennsylvania Mafia, or the Scranton Mafia, was an Italian-American Mafia crime family active in Northeastern Pennsylvania, primarily in the cities of Scranton, Wilkes-Barre, and Pittston.
Ronald Gene Simmons Sr. was an American mass murderer who killed 16 people over a week-long period in Arkansas in 1987 and wounded several others. A retired military serviceman, Simmons murdered fourteen members of his family, including a daughter he had sexually abused and the child he had fathered with her, as well as a former co-worker, and a stranger; he also wounded four others. He is the most prolific mass murderer in Arkansas history. His shooting is also the deadliest mass shooting in Arkansas history.
Levi Bellfield is an English serial killer, sex offender, rapist, kidnapper, and burglar. He was found guilty on 25 February 2008 of the murders of Marsha McDonnell and Amélie Delagrange and the attempted murder of Kate Sheedy, and sentenced to life imprisonment. On 23 June 2011, Bellfield was further found guilty of the murder of Milly Dowler. On both occasions, the judge imposed a whole life order, meaning that Bellfield will serve the sentence without the possibility of parole. Bellfield was the first prisoner in history to have received two whole life orders.
Anthony "Tumac" Accetturo is an American former mobster who was caporegime of the New Jersey faction of the Lucchese crime family, popularly called "The Jersey Crew." Accetturo was demoted as leader of the Jersey Crew after falling affoul of Lucchese family leaders Vittorio "Vic" Amuso and Anthony "Gaspipe" Casso. With a murder contract placed upon the lives of himself, his son and his wife, and facing a lengthy prison sentence after being convicted of racketeering, Accetturo became a cooperating government witness in 1993.
A familicide is a type of murder or murder-suicide in which an individual kills multiple close family members in quick succession, most often children, spouses, siblings, or parents. In half the cases, the killer lastly kills themselves in a murder-suicide. If only the parents are killed, the case may also be referred to as a parricide. Where all members of a family are killed, the crime may be referred to as family annihilation.
Rilya Shenise Wilson was an American child who was placed in the foster care system of the Florida Department of Children and Families (DCF), and was the centerpoint of an investigation into neglect and mismanagement in the organization. She was approximately four years old when she disappeared on January 18, 2001. DCF did not discover her disappearance until two years later, when she was not found living at the home of her caretaker and alleged godmother or grandmother, Geralyn Graham.
Caylee Marie Anthony was an American toddler who lived in Orlando, Florida, with her mother, Casey Marie Anthony, and her maternal grandparents, George and Cindy Anthony. On July 15, 2008, Caylee was reported missing in a 9-1-1 call made by Cindy, who said she had not seen the child for thirty-one days. According to what Cindy told police dispatchers, Casey had given varied explanations as to Caylee's whereabouts before eventually saying she had not seen her daughter for weeks. Casey later called police and falsely told a dispatcher that Caylee had been kidnapped by a nanny on June 9. Casey was charged with first-degree murder in October 2008 and pleaded not guilty.
The Murder of Megan Kalajzich took place in 1986 in Fairlight, New South Wales, Australia. Although he pleaded not guilty, Andrew Kalajzich, the victim’s husband, was found guilty of her murder in May 1988, and sentenced to 25 years in prison without parole. He was released from prison on 8 February 2012.
The murders of Byrd and Melanie Billings occurred on or around July 9, 2009, in Pensacola, Florida, United States. Byrd Billings, 66, and his wife, Melanie, 43, were found shot to death on July 9, 2009. The suspects, dressed in "ninja garb," stole a safe and other items during the break-in at the sprawling Billings home west of Pensacola. Nine of their children were home at the time, but were not hurt by the intruders. The family's attorney said that the safe contained jewelry, family papers, and prescription medications.
The Bonanno crime family is an Italian-American Mafia crime family and one of the "Five Families" that dominate organized crime activities in New York City as part of the criminal phenomenon known as the American Mafia.
In February 2009, Heather Strong was kidnapped and murdered in Marion County, Florida. Emilia Lily Carr, a rival for the affections of a man Strong was married to, came under suspicion. Carr denied any guilt and alleged her statements were coerced. Carr was nevertheless found guilty in December 2010 and sentenced to death by lethal injection in February 2011. Carr was one of five women on death row in the state of Florida. On May 19, 2017, Emilia Carr was re-sentenced to life without parole. Joshua Fulgham was similarly convicted of first-degree murder and kidnapping in the death. At a separate trial, where he pled guilty, Joshua Fulgham received two consecutive sentences of life in prison for his involvement in Strong's murder.
Jose Angel Baez is an American criminal defense lawyer and author. He is known for representing high-profile defendants such as Casey Anthony, Aaron Hernandez, Mark Nordlicht, and Harvey Weinstein.
Courtney Christine Schulhoff is an American prisoner who was convicted of the bludgeoning death of her father in his Altamonte Springs, Florida apartment when she was 16 years old. She was convicted of first-degree murder and was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole in September 2006. In March 2017, Schulhoff was given a reduced sentence of 40 years.
Santa Rosa Correctional Institution is a state prison for men located in Milton, Santa Rosa County, Florida, United States, owned and operated by the Florida Department of Corrections. The facility opened in 1996 with a mix of security levels and a capacity of 1,614. It is often considered one of the "toughest" and "most dangerous" prisons in the state of Florida.
The Tommy Zeigler case refers to the murders of four people in Winter Garden, Florida, United States on December 24, 1975. Thirty-year-old Tommy Zeigler was charged for the quadruple murder of his wife, her parents, and another man at his family-owned furniture store. He was tried and convicted on July 2, 1976. Zeigler was sentenced to death on July 16, 1976, for two of the murders, in addition to life imprisonment.
Grant Tiernan Amato is an American murderer who was convicted of a familicide that occurred on the evening of January 24, 2019. Amato shot his father, mother, and brother Cody in the head at their home in Chuluota, Florida, while attempting to stage it as a murder-suicide committed by his brother before fleeing the residence. He was captured after a 24-hour manhunt, put on trial, found guilty and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
From 1996 to 2006, Megan Huntsman, an American woman, murdered six of her newborn children shortly after giving birth to them in Utah.
Donald Banfield was a British man who disappeared from his home in Harrow, London in suspicious circumstances on 11 May 2001. His case is notable for being a rare case in which a murder conviction was secured without a body, and for this conviction being subsequently quashed on the grounds that a joint enterprise conviction in such a case where no body was found was not viable, though the defence themselves remarked that the "likelihood" was that "one or other" of the two suspects in the case had murdered him.
On June 28, 2015, 46-year-old Teresa Sievers was murdered at her home in Bonita Springs, Florida. Two men bludgeoned her to death with a hammer, striking her seventeen times. Police arrested Curtis Wayne Wright Jr. and Jimmy Ray Rodgers, both from Missouri, for the crime. In December 2015, Teresa's husband, Mark Sievers, was arrested and accused of masterminding the murder. The motive was life insurance money and the fear that Teresa would take their children away. All three men were found guilty. Wright received a twenty-five-year sentence, Rodgers was sentenced to life in prison, and Mark Sievers was sentenced to death.
Gretchen Stoughton Anthony was an American woman from Jupiter, Florida, who was murdered by her estranged husband, David Ethan Anthony, in the early morning hours of March 21, 2020. David Anthony had attempted to persuade Gretchen Anthony to travel with him to Costa Rica, where he believed they could escape the COVID-19 pandemic. When Gretchen declined, David entered her house in Abacoa, Florida, and stabbed her to death in her garage. He then discarded her body in a nearby wooded area before fleeing the state.
