“Total paranoia is just total awareness.”

The mysterious tale of June and Jennifer Gibbons–otherwise known as the Silent Twins–is one that continues to send chills down spines to this very day. The identical twin sisters were born on April 11, 1963, and grew up in Wales. The duo earned the moniker ‘’Silent Twins’’ due to the fact that they refused to talk to anyone but each other, and even then it was in their own secret twin language–otherwise known as cryptophasia. Growing up, the sisters had a very complex love-hate relationship with each other. On the one hand, they were best friends, joined at the hip–but on the other, there was an intense rivalry that brewed between them, resulting in multiple occasions where one had tried to murder the other. Once, Jennifer attempted to strangle June with an electrical cord. In another instance, June pushed Jennifer off a bridge, causing her to nearly drown. When they were 14, in an attempt to break their isolation, their parents sent them to separate boarding schools. But it did them no good–the twins became withdrawn and catatonic until their parents reunited them. 

The Monster Study refers to an experiment conducted by Wendell Johnson at the University of Iowa in 1938. Johnson wanted to understand the cause of stuttering and for his experiment, he got 22 orphan children and would give half of them positive speech therapy and the other half negative speech therapy. Those with the positive speech therapy were praised for the fluency of their speech while the other half were berated and belittled.

The experiment was dubbed the Monster Study because the majority of people were absolutely horrified that somebody would use orphan children during a negative experiment. In fact, most of the children who received the negative speech therapy suffered psychological effects and retained speech problems for the rest of their lives. Some just completely refused to speak following the traumatic treatment they received.

“Deep inside, the police feared, he would would strike again.

Tension of the wait was short. Elderly Harold and Jean Wu did not hear the intruder slipping into their residence through a window at pre-dawn, May 14. The first intimation Mrs. Wu had of his presence was the loud bang that stirred her awake. She woke to find the figure, smoking gun in hand, standing over her. Beside her, husband Harold groaned, shot in the head. Then ? the killer’s huge fists unloosened on the woman. He pummeled her, slapped her, kicked her, and demanded that she turn over loose cash to him. Binding her hands together behind her with thumbscrews, he tossed her across her bed over her dying spouse, then rampaged through the home’s drawers and cabinets for money. Terrified, lying on her mattress, Jean Wu could hear three things ? Harold’s furtive gasps for life, furniture being invaded, and the madman’s curses as he found nothing of great value.

15 year-old Kelly Jane Evelyn Cook lived with her parents in the village of Standard, Alberta. This village is about 70 kilometres northeast of Calgary, a big city in Alberta, Canada. It’s a small village - today the population is 353. The Wikipedia page for the village includes only three sections: Demographics; Athletics; and The murder of Kelly Cook. Kelly, like many young girls her age, was a babysitter for families in the community. She usually babysat once or twice a week and made the arrangements by telephone.

Shortly after Daphne Abdela was born, her parents both tragically died and she was placed up for adoption. She was soon adopted by an extremely wealthy couple: Angelo, a food company executive, and Catherine, a French-born model. The young family lived in a lavish apartment adjacent to Central Park in New York City. They went on extravagant vacations and Daphne was enrolled in the most affluent school. She had everything she could have possibly wanted in life. Nevertheless, it wasn’t enough.

At the age of 15, Daphne started dating 15-year-old alter boy, Christopher Vasquez. For several years, Daphne had gone off the rails. She was a rebellious teenager that spent most her time in a drunken stupor. Despite the fact they gave her everything she desired, Daphne developed a hatred of her parents. In fact, her parents were terrified of her. It was an odd pairing, initially, but Christopher soon followed suit in the downward spiral. Soon, the couple took to hanging out in Central Park at night, drunk.

“I’m going to kill someone tonight,” Daphne bragged to her friends on the 22nd of May, 1997. That evening, she and Cristopher made their way to their usual haunt, Central Park. Also in the park that evening was 44-year-old real estate agent Michael McMorrow. He could often be found enjoying the beauty of Central Park. The couple convinced Michael to go to the lake with them. Once there, they produced knifes and started stabbing and slashing the unsuspecting man. “Slice him from ear to ear,” Daphne told Christopher to which he complied, almost severing his head. The couple then almost partially severed his hands and nose before disembowelling him and throwing him in the lake that he often admired. “He’s a fatty, he’ll sink,” Daphne quipped.

Clearly wanting to revel in her crime, Daphne called the police to tell them there was a body in the lake in Central Park. Police were quickly able to trace this call and brought Daphne in for questioning. She immediately placed all of the blame on Christopher, saying he had killed him on an LSD trip. Both were found guilty of manslaughter and were sentenced to ten years. 

“Plenty of people have asked me why I wasn’t scared sitting across from Jeffrey Dahmer while he was unmanned and wore no handcuffs, and I tell them, ‘That’s easy, I wasn’t his type.” 

Natalie Wood was one of the biggest Hollywood stars up until her untimely death on November 29, 1981. From an early age, Natalie had a deep fear of dark water and had reoccurring nightmares of drowning. Even a fortune teller had prophesied that she would die of drowning. Two days before her passing, she and her husband, actor Robert Wagner, were invited by her co-star Christopher Walken to go onto his yacht. Natalie was said to be infatuated by Christopher, sparking much jealousy from her husband. For the majority of the weekend, everyone drank heavily, and an argument broke out between Natalie and Robert at some point. Although, after dinner, they seemingly made up. Then, Christopher and Robert got into a heated political debate. Natalie, not wanting to get involved, eventually got up and left. After about an hour, her husband went back to their room to wish her a goodnight, but Natalie was nowhere to be found. Only six hours later, her body was discovered floating face-down in the Pacific Ocean, only a mile away from the yacht, wearing only a jacket, nightgown, and socks. There was a cut on her cheek as well as bruises on her body. An inflatable dinghy was also found washed up on the rocks. There were scratch marks on it, suggesting that Natalie tried to climb in as it floated away from the yacht. Her death was ruled accidental, as it was believed she likely fell into the water after drinking so much. However, others had their doubts. Witnesses that were aboard another boat nearby had heard a woman screaming for help, but assumed it was associated with the party on the yacht. The case was reopened in 2011 when the captain of the boat, Dennis Davern, stepped forward to point the finger at Robert. He stated that he had heard Robert and Natalie arguing, and also heard sounds of the dinghy being untied. 

On the day of Richard Ramirez’s arrest, Richard was escorted to the Hollenbeck Station where Richard vented his disbelief and resent.

”I want the electric chair. They should have shot me on the street. I did it, you know. You guys got me—the Night Stalker…hey, let me have a gun to play Russian roulette. I’d rather die than spend the rest of my life in prison. Can you imagine? The people caught me, not the police.” He paused for a moment, let out a laugh, and continued, ”You think I’m crazy, but you don’t know Satan. Of course I did it, so what? Give me your gun, I’ll take care of myself. You know I’m a killer, so shoot me. I deserve to die. You can see Satan on my arm.”

Richard, who was facing away from the sergeant the entire time, then looked up and saw he had been writing in his notepad.

”Are you writing down what I say?” Richard asked.

”Yes,” the sergeant replied.

Pedro Rodrigues Filho may as well be called the ‘’Dexter of Brazil’’ because he was a vigilante, only targeting criminals and avenging those who hurt him and people he loved. He was born with an injured skull due to the fact that his father would brutally beat his mother while she was still pregnant. He recalls the first time he ever had the urge to kill someone was when he was 13, after he pushed his cousin into a sugar cane press during a fight, nearly killing him. A year later he shot and killed the vice-mayor of Alfenas, because he fired his father, who worked as a school guard, after being accused of stealing the cafeteria’s kitchen food. He then killed a school guard whom he believed to be the real thief. Pedro subsequently took refuge in Mogi das Cruzes, where he started committing a series of burglaries and even killing a drug dealer at some point. There, he also got engaged to a woman named Maria Aparecida Olympia. That was until she was murdered by a group of gangsters. To avenge her death, he went to a wedding organized by the gang leader and opened fire, massacring seven people and injuring sixteen others. Months after the mass murder, he learned that his cousin’s boyfriend impregnated her but refused to marry her, so he fatally shot him. Later, he discovered his father was in prison for butchering his mother with a machete. Pedro took it upon himself to visit his father in prison, where he stabbed him multiple times, cut his heart out, chewed on a piece of it, and threw it away. Before he reached the age of 18, Pedro had already left a trail of ten bodies behind him. He continued to track down criminals and brutally torture them before killing them, typically by stabbing them or hacking them to death with blades.

In the early 1980s, James DeBardeleben caught the attention of the Secret Service when multiple stores across the United States reported counterfeit money being used. James produced small amounts of cash such as $10 and $20 bills to buy inexpensive items and use the change he received. After years of working the case, the Secret Service asked cashiers at a mall if they noticed anything suspicious, as they were leaving a cashier told them a man handed her money that felt strange.

James noticed this and began running, soon being chased by multiple agents. He was caught and arrested. Upon searching his vehicle, police discovered multiple fake identitiy cards, police equipment and a stash of counterfeit $20 bills. Police searched James’ apartment for the machine he used to make the counterfeit bills, instead investigators found notes detailing places, dates and the amount of money spent, as well as bondage equipment, photographs of women tied up and a tape recorder.

On the tape was the sound of a woman crying and begging James to let her go. It was evident the pictures were not consensual; this along with the recording shed light on the other crimes James DeBardeleben committed. After searching properties owned by James under various aliases, within the detailed notes James left was an address of a storage unit. Police were able to find the machine as well as an ex lover of James.

There are many that have stuck with me, so choosing only five was hard! 

Junko Furuta was 17 when she was kidnapped by a group of teenage boys and tortured in so many brutal ways and raped more than 400 times in a span of 40 days. What angers me is that she was held hostage in one of the captive’s basement, and his mom was aware of this—yet never intervened because she was ‘’scared’’ of her son.

Shanda Sharer was 12 when she was lured from her home by four teenage girls, tortured ruthlessly for nine hours, then set on fire while she was still alive. This was all because the ringleader was jealous that Shanda had ‘’stolen’’ her girlfriend. This is actually the very first murder case I became deeply invested in.

Kelly Ann Bates was 14 when she got into a relationship with a 48-year-old man. When she was 17, she ran away from home to live with him. Over the course of four weeks, he subjected her to extreme physical torment. He mutilated her and gouged her eyes out. 

Brianna Lopez was just an infant when she was killed. Her parents never cherished her, they treated her sadistically like she was an object of entertainment. They treated her so badly that she died of her injuries. 

Ted Bundy had an unusual childhood.  He grew up thinking that his mother Louise Cowell was his sister and his grandparents were his parents, a farce that the Cowell clan arranged to avoid the scandal of an illegitimate child being born to a young, unwed woman.  Ted’s grandfather Samuel Cowell, the man who filled the role of father in his earliest years, was an abusive bully and bigot who regularly beat his wife and the family dog and once threw his daughter Julia down a flight of stairs for oversleeping.  Gradually, Cowell’s violence escalated.  As the atmosphere in the house grew more and more tense, the impressionable child developing within its toxic influence began demonstrating strange behavior, such as surrounding his then-teenage aunt Julia with knives while she was sleeping. 

In 1950, when Ted was four years old, Louise abruptly changed her surname from Cowell to Nelson and left her home in Philadelphia to live with her cousins in Tacoma, Washington.  She took Ted with her, which no doubt set off some alarm bells in his head as to who his mother really was.  A year after the move, Louise fell in love with a military cook named Johnnie Culpepper Bundy.  The two married in May, 1951, and Johnnie formally adopted Ted.  In the years that followed, the couple added four more children to their clan, and Johnnie made a concentrated effort to establish a bond with his adoptive son, taking him on camping trips and other father-son activities.  However, Ted steadfastly spurned all advances, regarding Johnnie with open contempt that often manifested itself in outright insolence because his stepfather was uneducated and made little money.  To Ted, who coveted wealth and refinement above all things, Johnnie was an embarrassment.