Most people fantasize about meeting the love of their life. They are looking for that special someone for that special connection, a perfect click with a soon-to-be lifelong mate. A typical checklist of desired traits includes physical attraction, a sense of humor, and shared interests. Then there are those unorthodox types who are seeking a special kind of spark – their dream soulmate snuffs people out.
This pair raped and killed on a tear through six states in 1984. During the summer of 1984, 28 –year –old Coleman, and Brown, who was 21, embarked upon a killing spree. Almost all of the victims were African-American like Coleman and Brown. That was simply because the duo knew that they would blend better in the black community. Although a willing participant in the assaults and murders, Brown was never violent or in trouble with the law until she joined Coleman.
By the time they were arrested they’d racked up eight murders, seven rapes, three kidnappings, and 14 armed robberies. They were prosecuted in Ohio because the state has the death penalty. Both were found guilty and sentenced to die. Brown wriggled out of her death sentence but Coleman got the needle.
Coleman received two death sentences from Ohio and one apiece from Illinois and Indiana. At the time of his execution, he was the only condemned person in the country to have death sentences in three states.
His partner in crime, Brown, was originally slated to be executed in Ohio, but in 1991 her death sentence was commuted to life in prison by Governor Richard Celeste. She still has a death sentence for the murder the duo committed in Indiana. However, Brown is serving her sentence, without possibility of parole, in the Ohio Reformatory for Women in Marysville.
The Birnie’s were an Australian couple that murdered four women in their homes in the 1980s. They ranged in age from 15 to 31. They also attempted to murder a fifth. The Birnie’s lived at 3 Moorhouse Street, so the press referred to their kills as the Moorhouse Murders. David grew up in a messy, dirty, home full if alcoholism and incest. Catherine met David when she was 12 and he was 14. The rest is history.
For more than a year David and Catherine had practiced how to make their sexual fantasies of rape and murder come true; he was weeks away from committing his first horrific crime. Both were sentenced to four consecutive sentences of life imprisonment by the Supreme Court of Western Australia. Under law at the time, both were required to serve 20 years before being eligible for parole.
David Birnie was found dead in his cell at Casuarina Prison Oct. 7, 2005. He had committed suicide by hanging; he was due to appear in court for the rape of a fellow prisoner the next day. Catherine Birnie is imprisoned in Bandyup Womens Prison. She was barred from attending David’s funeral. She is the third woman to have her papers marked “never to be released. “
The Copeland’s gained infamy as the oldest couple in America sentenced to die. In 1990, when they were tried and convicted, Ray was 76 and Faye 69. They murdered five drifters, each via a single bullet to the back of the head. Ray had a long history of crime. Faye’s lawyers argued that she was a victim of battered woman syndrome. They were caught when a drifter told police he’d seen the remains of human bodies on their land. Faye swore she had no idea her husband was a murderer, but police found a written list of drifters and those who’d been killed had an X marked next to their names.
A previous employee, Jack McCormick, called the Crime Stoppers hotline in August 1989 to tell them about the Copelands. McCormick claimed he had seen human bones on the farm while he was employed there and also claimed that Ray had tried to kill him.
In October, 1989, the police visited the Copeland farm armed with a search warrant, dozens of officers, and a team of bloodhounds. Three bodies of young men were discovered in a nearby barn. As the search continued, more bodies were found, all killed with a .22 Marlin rifle that was later found in the Copeland home.
It became clear that Ray was a cold-blooded murderer who killed his employees in the pursuit of money, but Faye’s actions were initially questioned. A piece of evidence came in to light that connected her to the crimes as well : a quilt that she made out of the clothing of the dead men.
The jury convicted Faye of four counts of murder and one count of manslaughter. She was given four death sentences for the murders and life without parole for the manslaughter. Ray was convicted of five counts of murder and sentenced to death. However, neither execution took place.
Ray died of natural causes on October 19, 1993, while awaiting execution. On August 10, 2002, Faye suffered a stroke which left her partially paralyzed and unable to speak. Weeks later, in September 2002, Governor Bob Holden authorized a medical parole for Faye. She was paroled to a nursing home in her hometown. On December 23, 2003, she died at age 82 of natural causes.
Fred was an English serial killer. Between 1967 and 1987, West alone and later with his second wife, serial killer Rosemary – tortured and raped numerous young women and girls, murdering at least 12, including their own family members. Fred killed at least two people before collaborating with Rosemary.
The majority of murders occurred between May 1973 and August 1979, in their homes at 25 Midland Road and later 25 Cromwell Street in the city of Gloucester, with many bodies buried at or near these homes. Rosemary killed Fred’s stepdaughter while he was serving time in prison for theft. Rosemary was infuriated that the girl wouldn’t cry during the beatings she gave her.
Fred and Rosemary West were brought before a magistrates’ court in Gloucester on June 30, 1994; he was charged with 11 murders and she with 10. On January 1, 1995, Fred West hanged himself while on remand in his cell. His ashes were later scattered on the beach at Barry Island near Cardiff.
Faye was tried in October 1995 at Winchester Crown Court, found guilty of all 10 murders on November 22, and sentenced to life imprisonment. The trial judge recommended that she never be released and two years later the Home Security, Jack Straw, agreed with his recommendation.
This lovely couple killed 10 teenage and young adult victims after using them as sex slaves from 1978 to 1980. Gerald and Charlene are two American serial killers who terrorized Sacramento, California. Charlene was raised in a decent family, but went off the rails when she turned to alcohol and drugs in high school. Perhaps it was the cocaine that fueled her sexual depravity.
Charlene’s first husband was a heroine addict who complained that Charlene had lesbian tendencies. Meanwhile, Gerald grew up physically and emotionally abused by his mother. After Charlene’s two divorces she met Gerald and the two fell wildly, passionately in love. They completed each other . . . how romantic.
In 1984, Gerald was tried for murder in both California and Nevada. In both instances, Charlene testified against him. In exchange for her testimony, Charlene was not charged in California and she agreed to plead guilty to murder and receive a sentence of sixteen years and eight months in Nevada.
Gerald was sentenced to death in both states. His death sentence in Nevada was overturned in 1999, and he won the right to a new sentencing hearing but the new jury also sentenced him to death. Charlene was released from prison in Nevada in July 1997. Gerald died of rectal cancer on July 18, 2002, at the Nevada prison system’s medical center.
Jens is the son of a German Diplomat. In 1984, he fell in love with Elizabeth. In 1985, they murdered her parents, Derek and Nancy. Six months after the murder, Soring and Hayson fled the country to England. In 1986, they were arrested in London for a check fraud scheme, and they transferred to the United States in 1990.
Under questioning by British, American , West Germany and Virginia authorities, both confessed to the murders. Hayson was sentenced to 90 years imprisonment ( one 45 – year sentence for each murder, to be served consecutively ). She has a mandatory release date in 2032 when she will be 68 years old.
Jen was under the impression that his father could get him diplomatic immunity for the murders. How wrong he was. He hasn’t spoke to his dad since 2001. Jens received two consecutive life sentences for the murders. He is currently serving his sentence at the Buckingham Correctional Center in Dillwyn, Virginia.
Judith and Alvin are an American couple who committed two torture murders. Judith met Alvin when she was 15 and he was 26. He’d been born in Georgia and became a teenage car thief. By the time they hooked up, armed robbery was their crime dujour. Things escalated – as they often do – and the pair was convicted of kidnapping, torturing, and murdering a 13 – year-old girl and later, a 22-year-old.
They were convicted of the kidnappings and murders of Lisa Ann Millican, and Janice Kay Chatman and attempted to commit a third. Judith was sentenced to death for injecting the younger victim with Drano, shooting her in the head, then throwing her into a canyon.
Judith Neelley was arrested on October 9, 1982, and Alvin was taken into custody a few days later. Judith’s trial began on March 7, 1983, in Fort Payne, Alabama. After a six-week trial, Judith was convicted of the torture and murder of Lisa Ann Millican. Despite a jury’s recommendation to sentence Judith to life in prison, Judge Randall Cole sentenced the 18 –year-old mother of three to death in Alabama’s electric chair.
Judith became the youngest woman sentenced to death in the US. In 1989, the US Supreme Court affirmed her death sentence. Governor Fob James granted her clemency, commuting her death sentence to life in prison without parole. The Alabama Legislature passed a law in 2003 designed to make her ineligible for parole.
To avoid the death penalty, Alvin pled guilty to murder and aggravated assault in Georgia. He was not tried for the Lisa Millican murder. Alvin was incarcerated at the Bostic State Prison from 1983 until his death in November 2005.
On September, 2002, a Sacramento couple named Michelle Michaud and James Daveggio were sentenced to death for kidnapping, raping, torturing, and strangling a 22-year-old student in December 1997. The deranged dynamic duo had committed additional crimes, but that’s the one they were convicted for.
They cruised around in a Dodge van –turned – torture –chamber that was rigged with ropes and hooks that made many an abducted very miserable. Here’s the kicker : Michelle was a Catholic church volunteer when she wasn’t busy indulging in depravity and mayhem. Prosecutors said the two modeled their crimes after Gerald and Charlene Gallego. The couple expressed hopes of having their photo on serial – murder trading cards like the Gallegos.
They were sentenced to death for luring a Pleasanton student into the van where they sexually tortured and strangled her before dumping her body on a snowy embankment. Daveggio and Michaud had sexually assaulted at least six other young women, two of whom were relatives of the defendants.
The former couple was convicted May 6, 2002 of 1st degree murder with special circumstances of murder in the commission of rape by instrument. On September 25, 2002, five long years after the murder, they were sentenced to die.
No arguments from their respective attorneys could soften the obvious depravity of their acts. Michaud became the 14th woman to await execution on California’s Death Row, being housed at the condemned women’s quarters at the woman’s prison in Chowchilla.
This lovely Canadian couple enjoyed sadism, serial raping, torturing, and killing. Well, everybody needs a pastime. Unlike other girls he’d known, Karla encouraged his diabolical behaviors. Apparently Paul grew up a happy –go –lucky adorable child despite the fact that his father sexually abused Paul’s sister, and that their mother became so despondent she moved into the basement. Paul enjoyed humiliating and beating women. He was just the right guy for Karla, who helped him rape and kill her sister.
In 1995, Paul got life in prison for murdering a couple of girls in Ontario. Karla plead guilty to manslaughter in exchange for a 12 year prison sentence. As a result the deal she had struck with prosecutors was dubbed in the Canadian Press as the “Deal with the Devil.” After videotapes had been found, rumors spread that Homolka was an active participant of the crimes.
The public grew incensed as the full extent of Homolka’s role in the case was finally exposed and the plea agreement now seemed unnecessary. The disposition of the tapes of Homolka watching and commenting on the tapes remains sealed. Public outrage about Homolka’s plea deal continued until her high-profile release from prison in 2005. Following her release from prison, she settled in the province of Quebec, where she married again and gave birth to a boy.
Bernardo was charged with two counts each of kidnapping, unlawful confinement, aggravated sexual assault and first-degree murder as well as one of dismemberment.
By 13, Ricky was a delinquent and institutionalized. He graduated to prison for theft, then a few months after his release, he went back in ---- this time it was a 25 –year sentence for raping a woman. He claimed the sex was consensual, but the jury didn’t go for it. He’d held a knife to the woman’s throat. Ricky got sex counseling and showed up regularly for parole visits, then perhaps he grew bored. He decided he wanted to make real snuff films.
Meth head Dena was 38 when she met 40 –year –old Ricky. Dena lured desperate meth addicts to Ricky in exchange for drugs or money. Ricky and Dena were such morons that they videotaped the murders. Authorities said the tape recovered from the apartment shows the couple with Marsha Spicer in the violent final moments of her life.
She is repeatedly beaten, raped, and sodomized as she pleads for the attack to stop. At various times, Spicer lost consciousness during the attack. A fisherman found the naked body of Spicer, 41, on May 15, 2006, in a shallow grave north of Bates City, MO. Police believe the couple lured their victim to their home for a sexual encounter .
Davis 41, and Riley 39, are each charged with first –degree murder, first –degree assault, kidnapping, forcible rape, and two counts of forcible sodomy. As the couple was fleeing to avoid prosecution in Spicer’s murder, they stayed with relatives of Davis in Arcadia, Kansas, where they kidnapped a five –year-old girl.
They told the girl’s family they were taking her to a restaurant, but they never returned. The child was still with them the following day when they crashed their pickup truck and called 911 to turn themselves in. The child had injuries consistent with sexual abuse when she was found.
In December, Riley agreed to plead guilty to the Spicer murder and to eight additional life sentences. She has also been given 293 years in prison on 25 other counts. All of her sentences will be served consecutively. Both Riley and Davis still face capital murder charges in the death of Michelle Huff –Ricci, 36. They also face charges of kidnapping, sodomy, sex abuse and assault in that case.
It’s hard enough to fathom the mayhem caused by a single killer let alone a couple with twice the sadistic mentally. How do they just decide they both have the same fantasies involving murder? Is it because one of them doesn’t want to lose their partner so they go along with whatever heinous crime comes to mind? Worst case scenario is that there are actually couples drawn to each other by their need to kill. Best case scenario is that they will always get caught acting out their urges to bring violence and death to innocent victims.
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