Crime Diary

The day before he died, Korean vagrant Kyung Eup Lee said that he had finally found "a nice place to stay". It was 1988 and the 42-year-old, who had been living in his car, was referring to an abandoned factory in South Melbourne, which was popular with squatters. But Kyung had no idea that he would be intruding upon the new home of David William Philip, who'd just escaped from a mental institution. Philip, 32, didn't take well to sharing the space. He was so angered by Kyung's presence that he stabbed him in the stomach and cut his throat. He then cooked the flesh from Kyung's thighs in a wok and sat down to eat his meal. Starting a fire on rail sleepers, he burnt most of Kyung's body but left his dismembered penis at Flinders St Railway Station and scrotum on South Melbourne tram tracks. Police tracked him down after he was spotted driving Kyung's car, but he denied the murder and giggled during the hearing, where it took a jury just 20 minutes to unanimously agree that he was insane. A detective revealed that Philip "wanted to taste what human flesh was like". He was sent to a mental institution. Source: Lucky Break magazine http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/law-order/the-case-of-the-cannibal-killer-david-philip-accused-of-eating-murder-victim-kyung-eup-lee/story-fnat7dag-1226556829650

At just 16 years of age, brooding Joe Corcoran gunned down his parents Jack, 53, and Kathryn, 48, in cold blood simply because they were too demanding of him. Before their murder, he'd even offered pals hundreds of dollars to shoot them for him. But Corcoran walked free. He was found not guilty in court due to a lack of evidence. The weight of what he'd done lingered ith him, poisoning his soul and weighing heavily on his shoulders. It was only a matter of time before his rage exploded once more. Sure enough, five years later Corcoran took a semi-automatic rifle and blasted to death his own brother James, 30, his sister's finance Rob Turner, 32, and two family friends, Doug Stillwell and Tim Bricker, both 30. What had they done to provoke such a massacre? Their 'crime' was simply to have had a conversation about Corcoran while he'd been upstairs eavesdropping on them.Now it is time for Corcoran to meet his maker, too. In May, the US Supreme Court denied Corcoran's request to have his case reviewed for a third time, having stubbornly appealed a death sentence dished out in 1999. He has now exhausted all options. And his sister Kelly Nieto, for one, is glad of it. Thankfully she wasn't at home during her brother's gory spree. Speaking about the slaying of her brother and future husband — which all happened while her seven-year-old daughter cowered in fear upstairs — Kelly said, 'I knew right then and there that he killed my parents. 'I've cried so many tears I'm dry. Everything's gone. Joe has ruined my life — I hope he fries. I just think he's sick. I don't know what made him do it. I don't know what it was.' PARANOID ODDBALL Growing up in the sweltering heat of Fort Wayne, Indiana, Joe Corcoran was marked out as something of an oddball from a young age. Neighbour Rose Heintzelman recalls, 'All I ever saw him do was work on cars. I never saw him have a friend over, a boy or a girl. He seemed paranoid.' Then, one morning in April 1992, Joe calmly dispatched his overbearing mother and father with a shotgun before calmly boarding the school bus. When pulled out of class later in the day to be told that his parents had been brutally murdered, officers noted how he showed 'little emotion'. Detectives found no sign of forced entry at the property and also noted how the family dog — a loyal animal, fiercely protective of Kathryn — hadn't barked to signal an intruder. All fingers pointed to young Joe — but prosecutors had neither a witness or a weapon. After a five-day trial at Stueben County Court, Corcoran was acquitted because there wasn't enough forensic detail to nail him. Amazingly Joe's sister Kelly and brother James defended him to the hilt, believing there really had been a psychopathic intruder who was still on the loose. The siblings eventually all moved in together, seemingly bonded by grief. They were joined by Kelly's partner Rob and her young daughter. EXPLOSION OF RAGE But all was not well. As family friend Margaret Anderson later noted, 'I think that murdering his parents had been on his mind and on his soul for the last five years. 'And I think it finally caught up with him.' On July 26, 1997, while a jovial gathering got into full swing downstairs — complete with pizza and beer — a 22-year-old Corcoran brooded upstairs in his attic room. He overheard his name being mentioned downstairs and instantly assumed they were speaking ill of him. In the heat of the moment, he grabbed an assault rifle, ordered his niece to stay in her room, and marched downstairs. Some time later, that tearful little girl would be carried down the same stairs by police officers shielding her eyes from the vivid red carnage that now covered the walls all around her. As Corcoran explained at his trial in May 1999, 'I could hear them talking about me, but I couldn't make out the words. 'I pretty much lost my temper. I loaded the rifle and headed downstairs. I guess to try to intimidate them or something. It didn't work out that way.' He found the group sitting on two couches, watching TV. The rifle had been filled with 28 rounds of high-velocity military-style .223 cartridges designed to penetrate a steel helmet at 600 yards. The victims didn't stand a chance. His brother James was first, dying instantly after being shot three times in the face. Next he turned the gun on Tim, blasting him twice in the face. Rob's chest and back were then penetrated with four bullets. Doug bolted for the exit, but he couldn't escape Corcoran's deadly weapon. He was gunned down in the kitchen, shot three times in the back. Corcoran then calmly walked over, placed the barre of his rifle to Doug's head, and pulled the trigger once more. Only then did the red mist clear from Corcoran's eyes. DEADLY ARSENAL Sensing the enormity of what he'd just done, he walked to a neighbour's house and begged them to call police, telling them, 'You may as well just arrest me.' Sgt Nancy Becher was first on the scene. She was met with a scene of unprecedented bloodshed. She said, 'The suspect believed the victims were talking about him and became angry.' The word 'angry' was an understatement. There was so much blood, it took forensics two days just to mop up. After that, it didn't take long for Corcoran to admit his guilt in the slaying of his parents, too. In May 1999 he stood trial at Porter County Court, accused of four counts of murder. He pleaded not guilty by way of insanity. Yet more lurid details emerged. Corcoran had not only established an arsenal of around 30 deadly weapons, he also had a stash of racist, right-wing literature. He was simply a ticking time bomb. Even his own defence lawyer, Mark Thoma, began his closing argument by telling the jury they needed to convict Corcoran of the four murders. Thoma said, 'This is a paranoid guy — probably more paranoid than anyone we've ever met. He was freaked out, in his own troubled, paranoid way, and just blew.' Allen County Deputy Prosecutor John Sullivan simply described the crime as 'cold-blooded mass murder'. Inevitably, a jury not only found Corcoran guilty but recommended the death penalty. On the day of sentencing, Corcoran issued a heartfelt apology. In a statement read out in court, he said, 'I can sincerely say I'm sorry — not sorry for me but for those who have good reason to hate me, because I am a horrible person, a person who needs to be punished. 'Though it may not be seen by others, I grieve in my own way. My sorrow remains and I am burdened with its shame. My actions were shameful, and they fill even me with contempt.' For years, Corcoran waived his right to appeal, before finally doing so in 2003, Yet even now, despite the ongoing legal procedure, Corcoran is yet to be killed. Bemoaning his time in prison, the 41-year-old admitted recently 'I believe the death penalty is just. I'm guilty of murder therefore I should be killed.' http://www.clarkprosecutor.org/html/death/row/corcoran.htm http://www.murderpedia.org/male.C/c/corcoran-joseph.htm Source: Love It Magazine

Source: Real-Life Crimes, Issue 3

Just before 6am on 18 April 2010, a woman was walking down a road in Queens, New York. A man approached her from behind and a noisy dispute ensued before the unidentified woman was horrifically attacked. Without a moment's hesitation, homeless Guatemalan immigrant Hugo Alfredo Tale-Yax, 31, came to her aid. A good samaritan, Hugo stepped in to help the lady. How was his kindness and bravery repaid? By the knife-wielding attacker launching a vicious assault on him, stabbing defenceless Hugo several times in the chest. All because he'd tried to help. After, the knifeman fled in one direction, the woman in the other. Poor, brave Hugo stumbled forwards a few steps before collapsing, face down, on the pavement The whole incident was caught on CCTV. Some of the images showed passersby looking at Hugo, but doing nothing. While he'd selflessly risked his life for another, no-one offered to help Hugo as he lay dying. One person even stopped to take pictures of the wounded man. Three calls were made to the emergency services, only one giving the correct address. By the time paramedics arrived at 7.23am, Hugo was dead, killed for trying to help someone in need. As one man said of the hero Hugo, 'He did what you're supposed to do, and we let the person, who did what he was supposed to do, die.' Hugo's killer still remains at large. Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bizw5eW-K1E Source: Pick Me Up magazine

Source: Love It Magazine

Source: Love It Magazine

Shortly after arriving, Page exposed a .22 calibre pistol. He ordered Poage to the floor and told him, 'We are jacking you of all your stuff'. Piper knocked him out by kicking him in the head. While Poage was unconscious, he was tried up with a cord and sat upright in a chair. When Poage regained consciousness, he started to cry and pleaded with the group to let him go. In response, the trio forced Poage to drink a cocktail of crushed pills, beer and hydrochloric acid. The trio then held a discussion about the 'best way' to murder their hostage while he looke don in terror. Poage was eventually driven to a wooded area known as Higgins Gulch, where he was stripped and forced out of the vehicle in deep snow. It was -4 degrees C. The group then began beating Poage, with Page repeatedly kicking him in the head. Poage cried out in pain throughout the beating, but his screams only caused more kicks. Page later admitted to kicking Poage in the head so often with his boots that it made his own foot sore. The group eventually decided it was time to kill Poage. Page was the first to stab him. As he lay in the freezing water, Page took Poage's head in his arms. When Poage asked him 'What are you doing?' Page responded, 'Just sit there'. Page then plunged his knife all the way into Poage's neck. Piper proceeded to stab Poage in the head, too. During this time, Piper laughed and made jokes about the pain that Poage was experiencing, to which Page laughed along with. Realising he was about to die, Poage begged to be allowed to bleed to death in the warmth of the car rather than die in the freezing snow. Instead of showing him mercy, they kicked him shivering into the creek once more and ended his suffering by dropping enormous rocks on his head. The chortling group then returned to Poage's house before pilfering his PlayStation, his stereo and his car. Following an autopsy, the forensic pathologist determined Poage had died from 'stab wounds and blunt force injury to the head'. His jugular vein had been severed by one swipe of a blade. The culprits fled to neighbouring stages but police quickly caught up with them and by April 28 all three were in custody. In 2001, at a court in Lawrence County, Page and Piper both pleaded guilty and were sentenced to death. Hoadley was sentenced to life in prison. Elijah Page was put to death by lethal injection on July 11, 2007. Piper has tried to retract his guilty plea and appealing his sentence.

San Augustine County Sheriff deputies, Robert McCroskey, left and Charles Martin, display torture implements found inside and under a cabin on Aug. 15, 1973, Broaddus, Texas. The cabin was owned by the parents.

Until police came knocking on her door, Linda Joe McElroy's family had no reason to suspect this loving grandmother. The 64-year-old had lived in Tennessee, USA, for over three decades, raising her two kids and eight grandchildren. Everyone said she was kind and caring. Little did they know she was a convicted murderer and had spent the past 35 years on the run. Previously known as Linda Darby, she was convicted of fatally shooting her husband, Charles R Darby, and was sentenced to life in prison in 1970. His body was found at the couple's Indianapolis home, which had been set on fire and reeked of kerosene and gasoline. Linda always maintained her innocence. In March 1972, she escaped from the Indiana Women's Prison by climbing over a barbed-wire fence. She then knocked on a stranger's door, telling the woman who took her in that her cuts and scratches were from a fight with her boyfriend. Soon after, she met William McElroy. They soon became a couple and she eventually took his last name. Later, they moved to William's hometown where they lived a quiet crime-free life. Working as a cleaning lady and getting involved in community events, Linda never spoke of her previous life. However in 2007, it all unravelled when authorities started cross-checking data on fugitives with information on people who'd been in contact with the police. While Linda had never committed a crime again, she had once been a witness to an assault. Police came knocking and arrested her. She admitted that she wrestled with her conscience but didn't want to burden her new family with the truth. "I didn't want to go back and pay for anybody else's crime," she said. "I would love to know who killed Charles.. but I didn't kill him". Linda was taken back to prison to complete her sentence. In 2012 she was told she could not appeal her conviction. Source: That's Life magazine, Issue 12, March 2016

Anthony Sherna cuddled his new puppy Hubble as his partner, Suzanne, went on at him about a phone bill. It didn't bother him though, he was used to it. Then Suzanne raised her voice and terrified Hubble. For henpecked Sherna, Suzanne had gone too far. He was 23 and Suzanne was 35 when they'd first met 18 years earlier. Suzanne took charge from the start, rationing Sherna's money, telling him what to wear, what to watch on TV and when to go to bed. She forbade him from going into some rooms in their home and from using the toilets. He had to go to a nearby shopping centre instead. The pair slept separately, never went out or on holiday and had no friends. What Suzanne didn't know was that a deadly rage was building in Sherna. After she startled Hubble, Sherna grabbed the cord from his dressing gown and wrapped it around Suzanne's throat. "Tony, no. Don't do it!" she pleaded. It took three minutes for Suzanne to die. Afterwards, Sherna went to a club to play the pokies before going on to a brothel. A few days later he buried Suzanne in the garden, before speaking to his mother about what he'd done. She called the police and they went to Sherna's home. "I lost my temper and I strangled her with the dressing gown cord until she could no longer breathe," he said. "I just wanted to kill her." Sherna, 43, was found guilty of manslaughter and jailed for 14 years. Source: That's Life magazine, Issue 17, April 2016

Melissa Drexler (born 1978), a.k.a. "The Prom Mom", is a US citizen who delivered a baby in a restroom stall during her high school prom. She put the baby in the trash and then returned to the dance. Drexler pled guilty to aggravated manslaughter, and was sentenced to 15 years imprisonment. After serving 37 months, she was released on parole. Drexler attended Lacey Township High School in the Forked River section of Lacey Township, New Jersey. She kept her pregnancy secret from the baby's father, her parents and friends. Five feet seven inches tall, and about 60 kg (130 pounds) when not pregnant, she apparently showed no signs of her pregnancy. On June 6, 1997, Drexler gave birth in a toilet stall at her senior prom, twenty minutes after complaining of stomach cramps in the car she had arrived in. She retrieved the baby from the toilet bowl, placed it in a plastic bag, and deposited it in a trash can. It is thought that she severed the umbilical cord on the serrated edge of a sanitary napkin dispenser. According to the prosecutor, a friend asked if she was all right, and she replied "I'll be done pretty soon. Go tell the boys we'll be right out." She then returned to the dance floor, ate a salad, and danced with her boyfriend. When Drexler and her friends were asked by teachers about the blood in the bathroom, she replied that she was having a heavy menstrual flow. The baby was discovered by a janitor, after a school nurse cleaned the bloody bathroom stall, emptied the trash can, and became suspicious of the weight of the trash bag.