Jan. 27, 2001: The Dartmouth Murders

It was about six in the evening when a family friend went to have dinner with Half (pronouced "Hall-ph") and Susanne Zantop at their home in Etna, New Hampshire. The Zantops, both originally from Germany and professors at Dartmouth College, were popular with students and had begun to consider retirement. The house was eerily quiet and she quickly worried that something was wrong. The grisly scene inside confirmed her suspicions. Both Half and Susanne had been brutally stabbed to death. The culprit(s) took $340 from Half's wallet, but left other, more valuable items behind. Also left behind were footprints, fingerprints, and the sheaths from two SOG SEAL 2000 combat knives.

Police originally thought it might be a crime of passion linked to an affair, but that theory was quickly disproved and the Boston Globe had to run a retraction on the story. Investigators soon got back on the right track, however, by tracing the knife sheaths back to their original owners -- two high school classmates, James Parker (16) and Robert Tulloch (17). The boys, who were never known to cause any trouble, said that they had purchased the knives to build a fort, but sold them to a surplus store when they proved to be too heavy. Tulloch had recently suffered a deep gash on his leg, which he said he'd received from a metal spigot after falling in the woods. Reasonably convinced of their innocence, police released both boys to their parent's custody.

The next morning, the boys skipped town. Parker left a note for this father reading, "Don't call the cops." He did anyway. Police checked the finger and shoe prints from the boys and found that they matched the crime scene. The boys ditched their car at a truck stop in Sturbridge, Massachusetts with plans to hitchhike to California. A friendly trucker picked them up and an Indiana Sheriff intercepted his radio call searching for a ride out west. He arrested the pair at a truck stop.

The boys had killed the Zantops as part of a plan to earn $10,000 to go to Australia and work as killers-for-hire. They'd gone to the Zantops' on the pretense that they were doing a report for school. A previous attempt had failed when the intended victim had refused to open the door. Parker accepted a plea bargain for second-degree murder and testified against Tulloch. He was given 25 years to life, with a possibility of parole after 16 years. Tulloch was given life without parole. They are both in separate prisons in New Hampshire.

READ MORE: The Crime Library

READ MORE: Wikipedia

IN PRINT: The Dartmouth Murders, by Eric Francis

IN PRINT: Judgment Ridge : The True Story Behind the Dartmouth Murders, by Dick Lehr and Mitchell Zuckoff

Jan. 26, 1996: The Millionaire Murderer

On January 26, 1996, John du Pont, member of the promient du Pont family, went over to the home of Olympic Gold Medalist wrestler Dave Schultz (which was on du Pont's 800-acre Pennsylvania estate) and shot him three times in the driveway, killing him instantly. Schultz's wife and du Pont's head of security witnessed the crime. John du Pont then went back to his mansion where he was involved in a three-day stand-off with police. They eventually turned off his heater and arrested him when he came outside to fix it.

Du Pont, an avid wrestling fan who donated large sums of money to to the Olympic team and let them train at his private gym, was a paranoid schizophrenic. As his mental conditioned worsened, he believed that he was the Dalai Lama, there was conspiracy to assassinate him, and feared an invasion by the Russian army. Naturally, his lawyers tried the insanity defense. Despite his clearly poor mental condition, the prosecution proved, by virtue of his three-day stand-off with police, and over 100 requests for his lawyer, that du Pont knew what he had done was wrong.

Du Pont was convicted of third-degree murder and sentenced to 13 to 30 years. He died in prison on December 9, 2010 from an unspecified illness.

READ MORE: The Crime Library

READ MORE: Wikipedia

Jan. 25, 1947: Al Capone Dies

Following his release from Alcatraz in 1939 at age 40, Al Capone was no longer the man he once was. Most believe it was the effects of untreated syphilis (contracted in his teens), but Capone family members insist it was mistreatment at Alcatraz that caused his mental undoing.

The "retired" Capone divided his time between the family home in Chicago (where his mother, Teresa, continued to reside) and his estate on Palm Island in Miami, FL. Over his remaining years, Capone's health and sanity continued to wane. He was often convinced that long-dead gangsters and the locked-up Bugs Moran were out to get him.

Capone suffered a stroke on January 21, 1947. Three days later, he contracted pneumonia. Finally, on January 25, at age 48, Capone suffered a fatal heart attack, surrounded by his grieving family. His devoted wife, Mae, collapsed at the scene.

Mae and their one child, Albert Francis (called "Sonny"), continued to live in Florida. Mae died at age 89 in 1986. Sonny, who was married three times and had four daughters with his first wife, eventually changed his last name to "Brown" ("Al Brown" was a frequent alias of his father). He died in 2004 at the age of 85, having lived a life the complete opposite of his infamous father.

READ MORE: The Crime Library

READ MORE: Wikipedia

IN PRINT: Uncle Al Capone

Jan. 24, 1989: Ted Bundy Executed

At approximately seven o'clock on the morning of January 24, 1989, Ted Bundy, perhaps the most notorious serial killer in the U.S., died in the electric chair. It had been a long journey consisting of multiple captures, escapes, manhunts, trials, appeals, and denials. The crowd gathered outside let out a jubilant cheer and set off fireworks. The assembled media outlets breathlessly reported the news that Ted Bundy had finally gotten what he deserved.

Bundy was guilty of murdering an estimated 35 women in the Pacific Northwest, most of whom had long, dark hair parted in the middle. He would routinely approach an intended victim wearing a fake plaster case, claiming he needed assistance, to lure her to his tan VW Beetle. He would bludgeon, sexually assault, and ultimately murder his victim before dumping the body in a remote area. Like most serial killers, he had a troubled childhood. During his college years, he was stunned to learn that his sister was actually his mother, and his parents were really his grandparents. This revelation came right on the heels of a devastating break-up with his college girlfriend, from which he would never recover.

Bundy was extremely smart and handsome, however. He studied law, psychology, and politics, and gave many the impression of a responsible young man with great ambition. He seemed especially trustworthy and was well respected by college professors and professionals. Few that knew him would ever suspect what he did in his spare time.

Bundy was captured more than once, but managed to escape twice -- first by leaping out of a courthouse window, and the second time by losing enough weight to crawl through the jail ceiling amd strolling right out a main door. Following his second escape in 1977, he traveled to Florida where he went on his final, murderous rampage. Forgoing his previous tactic of luring unsuspecting victims, he broke into a Florida State University sorority house and, using a tree branch, bludgeoned and assaulted four women, two of whom survived. After another failed kidnapping attempt and with police hot on his trail, Bundy claimed his final victim, 12-year-old Kimberly Leach. A week later, Bundy was caught driving a stolen car and subdued after trying to escape. Fingerprints identified him as the FSU killer.

He went through multiple trials and appeals, many just an effort to manipulate the system and put off his impending execution. He frequently changed lawyers and even defended himself at one point. He eventually confessed to several crimes unknown to police and helped investigators in the Green River Killer case. Eventually, his options ran out and his eleven-year stretch on Death Row came to an end.

READ MORE: The Crime Library

READ MORE: Wikipedia

IN PRINT: The Stranger Beside Me, by Ann Rule

ON FILM: The Deliberate Stranger

ON VIDEO: YouTube

Jan. 23, 1990: The Happy Face Killer

On January 23, 1990, in Portland, Oregon, serial killer Keith Hunter Jesperson claimed his first known victim, 23-year-old Taunja Bennett. After watching Bennett drink too much while hanging out at a local bar, Jesperson took her back to his rented house on a false pretense, seduced her, and then strangled her with a rope. He left her body in the house for a few hours while he went back to the bar to establish an alibi. He later dumped her body off the side of the road some miles away. This would become his typical method of operation.

Jesperson was a textbook case. A tall, hulking man who was teased about his size as a child, he also suffered the wrath of his abusive father. He took much joy (and seemingly gained his father's approval) by killing dogs, cats, and gophers at his family's trailer park while growing up in British Columbia. A divorced father of three, a training injury dashed his dream of joining the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. He turned to interstate trucking in the U.S. to earn a living, which allowed him the benefit of mobility in claiming his victims.

Laverne Pavlinac, an armchair detective stuck in an abusive relationship, read about Taunja's murder and decided to use it to her advantage. After studying the crime intensely, she convinced the police that her boyfriend, John Sosnovske, had murdered Taunja and had forced her to help. Her plan backfired when both of them were convicted. The innocent Sosnovske plead guilty to avoid the death penalty and she received 10 years. Since she was the chief witness, her claim that it was all a hoax fell on deaf ears.

Jesperson didn't like losing credit for his work, and wrote a confession on the bathroom wall of a truck stop. He signed it with a smiley face. When that didn't get any attention, he wrote numerous letters to newspapers and police departments, all with the same signature. The Oregonian dubbed him the "Happy Face Killer."

Most of Jesperson's victims were transient women, some of whom have yet to be identified. But in early 1995, Jesperson finally murdered someone he knew -- his longtime girlfriend, Julie Ann Winningham. This connection allowed police to eventually catch up with him. He's now serving three consecutive life sentences at the Oregon State Penitentiary. Pavlinac and Sosnovske were eventually released, both having served four years for a crime they didn't commit.

READ MORE: The Crime Library

READ MORE: Wikipedia

Jan. 22, 2006: Husband, Father, Liar, Murderer

On January 22, 2006, police entered the Hopkinton, Massachusetts home of Neil Entwistle, his wife Rachel, and their three-year-old daughter, Lillian. Family members had been unable to reach the Entwistles and had grown understandably concerned. On a second search of the house, police found Rachel and Lillian both dead by gunshot wounds from a .22 caliber handgun.

Neil Entwistle was finally located at his parents home in Nottinghamshire, England. He claimed that after finding his wife and daughter dead, he went to borrow a gun from his father-in-law in order to kill himself. After he chickened out, however, he instead grabbed a flight to England.

Forensic evidence clearly indicated otherwise. Further investigation found that not only was his alibi a complete fabrication, but so was his entire life. Unknown to his family, he was hopelessly in debt and facing financial ruin. What little money he made was from spam email scams.

Authorties in England sent Entwistle back to the U.S. for trial. On June 26, 2008, he was sentenced to life without parole.

READ MORE: The Crime Library

READ MORE: Wikipedia

IN PRINT: Heartless: The True Story of Neil Entwistle and the Cold Blooded Murder of his Wife and Child

Jan. 21, 1959: So Long, Alfalfa

Carl Switzer, best known as "Alfalfa" in the Our Gang (aka The Little Rascals) film series, died from a single gunshot wound in Mission Hills, CA. Switzer, age 31, was rushed to the hospital after being shot, but was pronounced DOA due to massive internal bleeding.

Switzer and friend Jack Piott had been drinking heavily that night and went to the house of Moses "Bud" Stiltz to collect on a perceived $50 debt over a lost (then found) hunting dog. Witness testimony varies, but this much is known for certain: Switzer threatened Stiltz and a fight ensued. Piott smashed a glass-domed clock on Stiltz's head. Stiltz grabbed a .38 caliber revolver and fired two shots -- the first went into the ceiling and the second struck Switzer in the groin.

It was first reported that Switzer had wielded a hunting knife, but investigators only found an unopened pocket knife at the scene. Still, Switzer's death was ruled a justifiable homicide. Sadly, Switzer was just one of many former child actors to meet a tragic end.

READ MORE: The Crime Library

READ MORE: Wikipedia

Jan. 20, 1972: Born to a Serial Killer

On January 20, 1972, Marybeth Tinning rushed her two-year-old son, Joseph Jr., to the emergency room in Schenectady, NY. She claimed he'd suffered some kind of seizure, but doctors couldn't find anything wrong with him. Hours later, she returned again and, this time, little Joseph Jr. was dead. Tinning said she'd put him to bed, then found him tangled in the sheets. It seemed a horribly tragic loss for Tinning and her husband, Joe -- her father had died of a heart attack the previous October and their newborn daughter, Jennifer, had died just a month before, from meningitis and had never even left the hospital.

Police investigated, the but there was no evidence of a crime. However, less than six weeks later, Tinning returned to the emergency room with their remaining child, Barbara, age 4. The doctors wanted to keep Barbara, but Tinning insisted on taking her home. Hours later, Tinning returned with an unconscious Barabara, who later died. All three Tinning children had died within 90 days of each other.

Sadly, it didn't end there. Over the years, the Tinnings continued to have more children, and even adopted an infant, and most of them survived only a few months. Some deaths were blamed on SIDS, though the odds of it occurring more than once to the same family are astronomical. Doctors did all kinds of studies to see if the problem was genetic, which seemed to be ruled out when their adopted son, Michael, died as well. Questions were asked, but not enough people from different organizations put their information together to launch an investigation. Each time the Tinnings had another child, some people would wonder how long the baby would live.

It wasn't until the death of the Tinning's ninth child, Tami Lynne in 1985 (fourteen years after her killing spree began), that police finally arrested her. Tinning confessed to smothering Tami Lynne with a pillow, then confessed to killing two of the others. Later, she tried to recant her testimony. She was eventually convicted in of murdering Tami Lynne, the only one for which police could obtain enough evidence. Efforts were made to try her for two others, but were later dropped. She was convicted of second degree murder in July, 1987, and is currently up for parole.

READ MORE: The Crime Library

READ MORE: Wikipedia

Jan. 19, 1995: Fugitive Rapist Surrenders

On January 15, 1995, former high school wrestling star Alex Kelly surrendered to authorities in Switzerland after being on the run for eight years. He was wanted in the U.S. for committing two rapes in his hometown of Darien, CT.

Kelly (18 at the time) met the first victim (also a teenager) at a party and offered to take her home. He choked her, threatened to kill her, then raped her. Four days later, he did the same thing again to another teenage girl. Just before jury selection began for his trial, he fled the country. He spent the next eight years on the run in Europe, mostly hopping between ski resorts. U.S. authorities suspected his parents were providing him with funds and searched their home in July 1994, which provided vital clues as to Kelly's whereabouts.

Following his surrender, Kelly was extradited back to the U.S. and was finally convicted in 1997. He was sentenced to sixteen years, but was released after ten for good behavior.

READ MORE: New York Daily News

READ MORE: Wikipedia

ON FILM: Crime in Connecticut: The Story of Alex Kelly

Jan. 18, 1909: The Birdman of Alcatraz

In January, 1909, 18-year-old Robert Stroud had recently moved to Juneau, AK, with his 36-year-old girlfriend (according to some accounts, they were pimp and prostitute), Kitty O'Brien. While he was out the evening of the 19th to get some fish for their dinner, an old friend of his, F.K. "Charlie" Von Dahmer, took advantage of Kitty and beat her severely. Stroud grabbed a gun and went to confront Von Dahmer. After a brief struggle, Von Dahmer was dead. Stroud turned himself in and was eventually sentenced to twelve years in McNeil Island Penitentiary in Washington State, where his temper got him into more trouble. His sentence was extended by six months after he stabbed a fellow inmate.

Following a transfer to Leavenworth in Kansas, Stroud killed a guard, Andrew Turner, on March 26, 1916 (one year before he was to be released on parole) when his brother was refused a visit. He was sentenced to hang for the crime, but narrowly escaped death after his mother appealed to President Woodrow Wilson. During his stay at Leavenworth, Stroud found some injured sparrows in the prison yard. After caring for them, he began his lifelong study of birds, eventually publishing numerous articles and two books on the subject. His care for birds brought him much fame and some money for his mother (J. Edgar Hoover even purchased one of Stroud's birds), but much irritation for the prison (just imagine the filth). The prison first curtailed his privileges and tried to get rid of his birds altogether, but Stroud had learned his way around the system and wrote numerous letters to others about his "ill" treatment.

In December of 1942, he was transferred to Alcatraz, which was one of the strictest prisons in the U.S. Despite his famous moniker, Stroud was not allowed to keep birds during his time there. Instead, he wrote two books on the prison system. Stroud gained worldwide fame (and his nickname) after the publication of Thomas Gaddis' Birdman of Alcatraz in 1955, followed by the movie adaptation, starring Burt Lancaster, in 1962.

READ MORE: The Crime Library

IN PRINT: Birdman of Alcatraz: The Story of Robert Stroud

ON FILM: Birdman of Alcatraz

IN PRINT: Diseases of Canaries (by Robert Stroud)

Jan. 17, 1899: Al Capone Born

If there were ever just one name that was synonymous with crime, it would have to be Al Capone. No criminal has ever achieved more fame, or infamy, than the world famous gangster. And probably never will.

It's a common misconception that Alphonse Capone was born in Italy. In reality, Capone was born in Brooklyn, New York, on this day in 1899. His father, Gabriele was an educated barber from the village of Castellmarre di Stabia, just south of Naples. Gabriele came to America in 1894 with his pregnant wife, Teresina (later Teresa), and two young sons Vincenzo (later James, then Richard "Two-Gun" Hart, another whole story in itself) and Raffaele (later Ralph, or "Bottles"). Older brother Salvatore (later Frank) was born in 1895. Alphonse was the first Capone child born and conceived in the U.S. All told, the Capones had nine children -- seven boys and two girls.

The Capones were an average, religious, law-abiding Italian family. But after the family moved to the Park Slope section of Brooklyn, Al and his brothers met the mentor that would forever change the lives of the entire Capone family -- gangster Johnny Torrio.

READ MORE: The Crime Library

READ MORE: Wikipedia

IN PRINT: Uncle Al Capone

Jan. 16, 1935: Ma and Fred Barker's Last Stand

Sometimes, reality doesn't match up with the legend, and other times reality is so much better. The former is the case of Kate "Ma" Barker, except for the way she went out, which is why the legend was created in the first place.

The legend version of "Ma Barker," which has been depicted in several movies and TV shows, is irresistible: the cigar-chomping, tommy-gun-toting matronly mastermind, head of a gang of her four devoted, criminal sons. In reality, Ma Barker's four sons, Herman, Lloyd, Arthur (aka "Doc"), and Fred, were true criminals, guilty of armed robbery, kidnapping, murder, and more as part of the Karpis-Barker Gang, but Ma was mostly just along for the ride, cooking and taking care of her boys. Mainly, she was part of their disguise -- a mother and her sons made them look more innocent.

After Doc was captured on Jan. 8 in Chicago, FBI agents located the rest of the gang based on a map of Ocklawaha, FL, he had left behind. Agents surrounded the house and a four-hour gun battle ensued (the longest in FBI history). The house was riddled with thousands of bullets. After the shooting finally stopped, agents went in and found both Fred and Ma dead. Concerned over the possible reaction from his agents killing a 60-year-old woman, Hoover concocted the popular image of "Ma Barker" known today. And thus, a legend was born, true or not.

READ MORE: Ocala.com

READ MORE: Wilson Jay's South

ON FILM: Ma Barker's Killer Brood

Jan. 15, 1947: The Black Dahlia

It's the most famous, and gruesome, murder case in Los Angeles history. Perhaps even U.S. history. There are countless books on the subject, all claiming to know who took the life of 22-year-old Elizabeth "Betty" Short, but the case remains unsolved. It will most likely remain that way. Forever a question without an answer.

Her body was discovered on the morning of January 15, 1947, in Leimert Park, by a young mother out taking her daughter for a walk. She had last been seen alive on January 9. Between that time, she had suffered unspeakable torture. Her body, which had been severed in two at the waist, had been washed cleaned and posed for its discovery. Police investigation into the case was hampered by its notoriety as the press continued to get in their way at every turn. It was a reporter who nicknamed her "The Black Dahlia," since Short was fond of wearing black and a film called The Blue Dahlia had just come out a year earlier.

The killer called, and later mailed, several of Short's belongings to the Los Angeles Examiner, in attempts to gain more publicity for his crime. Sadly, with the limits of technology that existed then, it was impossible to trace the calls or packages back to their owner. Oddly enough, many of the authors who've written books on the case claim that the killer was a family member. Of the many unsolved cases, this one seems to speak something personal to any who study it.

READ MORE: The Black Dahlia Web Site

READ MORE: Heaven Is HERE! Larry Harnisch's Site on Elizabeth Short, The Black Dahlia

READ MORE: Wikipedia

ON FILM: The Black Dahlia (inspired by)

Jan. 14, 1938: Harry Raymond Bombing

It was just before 10 a.m. when Private Detective (and former LAPD officer) Harry Raymond went out to his locked garage in the Boyle Heights section of Los Angeles. His wife needed to go to the market. Normally, she went out to the car with him, but on this particular day, she went over to a neighbor's house first for her husband to pick her up there. It was a good thing, too, because when Raymond stepped on the gas, a bomb went off under the hood that rocked the entire neighborhood.

Amazingly, Raymond survived the blast. He was rushed to Georgia Street Receiving Hospital where he received over 100 stitches and was treated for multiple fractures and two chest punctures. At first it was believed that the Mob was involved, but the true culprit was even more startling -- the Los Angeles Police Department. Raymond, due to a dispute over money owed to him, was investigating links between the office of Mayor Frank Shaw, the Mob, and the police Department (under Chief James Davis). Raymond was no angel himself; it was all a case of the crooked vs. the crooked.

In the end, LAPD Captain Earl Kynette was convicted for the bombing, Mayor Shaw became the first mayor in U.S history to be thrown out of office by a recall election, and Chief Davis was forced to resign. Even so, the LAPD still had a long way to go to rid itself of such corruption.

READ MORE: The Daily Mirror (courtesy of the Los Angeles Times)

IN PRINT: L.A. Noir: The Struggle for the Soul of America's Most Seductive City

EXTRA! Jan. 13, 1996: Amber Hagerman Abducted

Ten-year-old Amber Hagerman of Arlington, TX, was last seen riding her bike on January 13. 1996. Eyewitness testimony said that a man in a black pickup truck grabbed her from the parking lot where she was playing and sped off. Her body was found four days later. Despite the additional efforts of the FBI, the culprit has never been found.

Hagerman's abduction inspired both the national sex offender register and the AMBER alert system, which aids in helping to locate missing children.

READ MORE: The Houston Chronicle

READ MORE: Wikipedia

Jan. 13, 1939: Doc Barker's Escape from Alcatraz

Arthur R. "Doc" Barker picked the wrong day to escape from Alcatraz. Attempting an escape from the newly opened (1934) federal prison, situated in the frigid waters of San Francisco Bay, wasn't a good idea to begin with. But maybe Doc didn't have a calendar handy, because the day he and four others chose to escape was Friday, the 13th.

Thanks to budget shortfalls during the Depression, the cell bars in D block (the segregation unit for unruly prisoners) were of the old military prison style and, therefore, easier to cut through. That and a scheduling oversight that left D block unguarded for nearly 90 minutes, made it ideal for an escape attempt. Using a homemade tool called a "screw jack," Barker and his fellow inmates (Henry Young, Rufus McCain, Ty Martin, and Dale Stamphill) worked on the window bars for an hour each night.

After the 3:00 a.m. count, the five men crawled out of the window into the frigid night (they should have picked a better time of year, too) and made their way down the island's steep cliffs. They stripped naked except for their socks (really?) and used their clothes to tie some driftwood and a broken chair into a raft. Guards noticed that the men were missing before they could even get in the water and immediately began a search of the island. Young, Martin, and McCain were quickly surrounded and immediately gave up. Barker and Stamphill took to the water, hoping to swim for it, but the tide kept pushing them back to the island. They were intercepted by a search boat and Guards opened fire with a .45 and a Tommy gun. Stamphill was shot in the leg and Barker in the head. He died later that afternoon in the prison hospital, despite their best (albeit limited) efforts to save him.

READ MORE: Alcatraz Alumni Association

READ MORE: Wikipedia

IN PRINT: Alcatraz Most Wanted: Profiles of the Most Famous Prisoners on the Rock

Jan. 12, 1928: The Photo that Shocked the World

Ruth Snyder was executed in the electric chair on January 12, 1928, at at Sing Sing Prison in Ossining, New York (home of Don and Betty Draper). Ruth had killed her husband for the love of another man, corset salesman Judd Gray. Gray helped commit Ruth's husband, Albert, to the grave, and followed Ruth to the chair.

Albert was no saint, mind you. He had passionately loved a young woman named Jesse Guishard. Unfortunately, Jesse died of pneumonia before they could marry. Even after marrying Ruth, Albert kept a photo of Jesse on the wall and named his boat after her. Ruth eventually took up with Gray and plotted with him to get rid of Albert. She convinced Albert to sign a life insurance policy with a double indemnity clause. They attempted to make the crime look like a break-in and accidental murder, but Ruth's state of undress while her husband lay dead in the next room tipped police that something was amiss. That and finding items that she claimed had been stolen.

At her execution, Tom Howard, a newspaper photographer working New York Daily News, snapped a photo of her last moments using a miniature camera hidden beneath his pants leg. It was plastered all over the front page the next morning.

READ MORE: The Crime Library

READ MORE: Wikipedia

ON FILM: Double Indemnity (inspired by)

IN PRINT: The Undressed Widow and Invitation to Death (inspired by)

Jan. 11, 1992: Meaner-Than-Hell Girls

It's stories like the murders of Shanda Sharer and Junko Faruta that just break the heart. Like Junko Faruta, 12-year-old Shanda Sharer was kidnapped, tortured, and eventually murdered by four teens in Madison, IN. Only these teens were all girls. What's equally stunning is how young they were.

The ringleader, Melinda Loveless (16), wanted revenge of the worst kind against Sharer for dating her former girlfiend, Amanda Heavrin (14). Loveless convinced three other friends, Laurie Tackett (17), Hope Rippey (15), and Toni Lawrence (15), to aid in the killing. Two of the girls convinced Sharer to sneak out of her parent's house after midnight, claiming that Heavrin was waiting for her nearby. As soon as she got in the car, Loveless came out of hiding and held her at knifepoint. For the next several hours, while driving around to various locations, they forced Sharer to strip, beat her, tried to cut her throat (the knife was too dull), stabbed her, and beat her with a tire iron. In between each attack, they threw Sharer in the trunk, even parking outside Tackett's home for a time. Thinking she was dead, they drove Sharer to a final location and set her on fire, not realizing at the time that she was still barely clinging to life.

That night, Lawrence and Rippey both confessed to their parents what they had done. All four girls were tried as adults and eventually excepted plea bargains to escape the death penalty. Toni Lawrence was given 20 years, but served only nine. Rippey was sentenced to 50 years, but only served 16. Currently, Loveless and Tackett are still in prison (having also received 60-year sentences), trying to get their sentences reduced as well.

READ MORE: Wikipedia

READ MORE: The Crime Library

Jan. 10, 1983: A Mob Executioner's Last Ride

There's being good at your job, and then there's being too good at your job. The latter was the case with Mob executioner Roy DeMeo and his crew, who perfected the process of murder and body disposal to the degree that it was named the "Gemini Method" (after The Gemini Lounge, where most of DeMeo's victims were killed).

DeMeo started out as a loanshark in the early 60s and worked his way up in the Gambino crime family (which would eventually be run by John Gotti). By the 70s, DeMeo ran most of his operations out of his club, The Gemini Lounge. This included DeMeo's primary job as mob executioner. Victims were lured to a back apartment at the club. A gunman, usually DeMeo, would quickly shoot in the victim in the head with a silenced pistol and immediately wrap a towel to contain the blood flow. Additional methods were employed to contain the blood before the corpse was later dismembered, wrapped in plastic bags, and packed in cardboard boxes. The boxes were then taken to the Fountain Avenue Dump in Brooklyn. DeMeo's crew had a near-100% record of a body never being found.

Eventually, the vast number of people who "disappeared" after visiting the Gemini Lounge piqued the attention of the FBI. That and some of DeMeo's other enterprises, such as extreme pornography and narcotics (both forbidden under threat of death by the family), made him too much of a liability. Gambino crime boss Paul Castellano was apprehensive about going up against DeMeo and his army of killers, but eventually gave the order.

On January 10, 1983, DeMeo went to a meeting at an auto bodyshop owned by one of his crew members. Two weeks later, after responding to the second report of an abandoned car left in a Brooklyn parking lot, police finally opened up the car to discern the owner. Inside the trunk, beneath a chandelier, was DeMeo's body, dead from multiple gunshot wounds to the head (a wounded hand was thrown up defensively), and frozen to the spare tire.

READ MORE: The Crime Library

Jan. 9, 2002: Disappearance of Ashley Pond

Nine times out of ten, truth beats the hell out of fiction. Never has this been more exemplified than in the disappearance of 12-year-old Ashley Pond on January 9, 2002, in Oregon City. Ashley left home that morning, walking to the bus stop, and was never seen again. Two months later, her best friend, Miranda Gaddis, disappeared as well, also on her way to school. Police were frustrated. There were no witnesses, no bodies, and no evidence. They soon appealed to the FBI for assistance.

The investigations revealed some startling revelations. Both girls came from broken homes and had multiple histories of sexual abuse. The girls were good friends with another girl in the neighborhood and spent a great deal of time at her house, including extended sleepovers and family vacations. What was really disturbing, however, was that several people had noticed inappropriate sexual behavior with the girl's father, Ward Weaver III. Ashley had even previously accused Weaver of rape, but it was never investigated. Investigators considered Weaver a suspect, but could never find enough evidence to obtain a search warrant. Searches of his yard (which Weaver permitted) yielded nothing.

On August 15, Weaver was finally arrested for the rape of his son's 19-year-old girlfriend. A week later, citing that investigation and a tip from another of Weaver's sons, the FBI was finally able to get the proper search warrants. The remains of Miranda were found in a box in an outside storage shed, and the remains of Ashley were found inside a 55-gallon barrel beneath a large, concrete slab. Weaver was sentenced to two life sentences without parole.

But what makes this case truly bizarre is that Weaver's father, Ward Weaver Jr., is currently on death row in California for doing almost the exact same thing in 1981.

READ MORE: The Crime Library

Jan. 8, 1949: The Martinsville Seven

On the evening of January 8, 1949, in Martinsville, VA, Mrs. Ruby Floyd, a white woman, was raped by seven black men who had spent the much of the day drinking. What made this case significant was that, even though the victim's life wasn't threatened in any way, all seven received the death penalty, which was standard in Virginia at the time. However, research by the defense teams (in a sad irony, the men were tried separately to prevent a "judicial lynching"), found that in a their state's history, a white man had never been executed for the crime of rape.

Mrs. Floyd had walked over to the predominantly black east side of town, called "Cherrytown," to collect a $6 debt. Four young men (Booker Millner, Joe Henry Hampton, and half-brothers Howard and Frank Hairston) grabbed her, led her off into the woods, and took turns raping her. Later they were joined by three friends (James Luther Hairston, John Taylor, and Francis DeSales Grayson) and gang raped her again.

The men admitted their guilt and signed written confessions. Knowing they had a potential powder keg on their hands, the local authorities took great pains to prevent any violence against the prisoners. The men were placed in separate jails, moved in secret to the courthouse for arraignment, and even tried separately, but by all-white juries.

Public outcry began soon after death sentences hit the press. While the men were clearly guilty, the punishment, though true to Virginia law, seemed excessive. Furthermore, research showed that Virginia had a disturbing history of executing blacks and giving far lesser punishments to whites for the exact same crimes. Appeals were made to the Governor, the Supreme Court, and even President Truman, the sentences stood.

Joe Henry Hampton, Howard Hairston, Booker Millner, and Frank Hairston were all electrocuted at at 12-minute intervals on February 2, 1951. John Clabon Taylor, James Luther Hairston, and Francis DeSales Grayson were taken to the chair two days later.

READ MORE: The Crime Library

Jan. 7, 2007: Murders Ignored by the Media

The savage kidnapping, torture, and murders of Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom actually made headlines for not making headlines. The possible reasons why sparked a great deal of debate that overshadowed the horrible crimes committed against them.

On the night of Saturday, January 6, Christian and Newsom went out on a date in Knoxville, TN. On their way home, their vehicle was hijacked by three men, Letalvis D. Cobbins, Lemaricus Davidson and George Thomas. The couple was blindfolded and taken back to Davidson's rented house. Aided by Vanessa Coleman, Christian and Newsom were both raped and tortured for hours, well into the next morning. Newsome was the first to be killed when he was dragged outside, shot multiple times, and his body set on fire. In addition, Christian was beaten savagely, had a chemical poured down her throat, and was bound and placed inside several trash bags and a trash can, where she suffocated.

With the help of her mobile phone provider, Christian's parents and police were able to find her abandoned vehicle. Fingerprint evidence led police to Davidson's unoccupied residence, where they found Christian's body in the kitchen, still in the trash can.

Following the arrests of Cobbins, Davidson, Thomas, and Coleman, the story failed to gain any coverage from the national media, despite the absolute savagery of the crimes. Many theorized it might have had to do with race, since the victims were white and the perpetrators were all black. Compared to similar cases where the races were reversed, such as Tawana Brawley and the Duke lacrosse case, it seems to be a reasonable argument. It certainly didn't help, though, when a group of white supremacists took up the charge.

Thankfully, everyone involved received stiff sentences. Davidson was the only one of the group sentenced to death. Cobbins and Thomas were both sentenced to life without parole. Coleman was sentenced to 53 years, and Eric Boyd (the lone accessory to the crimes) was given 18 years.

READ MORE: Bristolblog.com

READ MORE: MSNBC.com

Jan. 6, 1994: Nancy Kerrigan Attacked

Olympic figure skater Nancy Kerrigan was clubbed in the knee with a collapsible police baton at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Detroit, less than two months before the 1994 Lillehammer Winter Olympics. The attack was planned by two men close to rival skater Tonya Harding -- her ex-husband, Jeff Gillooly, and bodyguard, Shawn Eckardt. They hired a man named Shane Stant to break Kerrigan's right leg.

Kerrigan's leg was only bruised though and, through vigorous training, she was able to recover well enough to join the Olympic team and compete in Lillehammer seven weeks later. Despite her involvement in the attack, Harding managed to keep her place on the Olympic team as well. Kerrigan took home the silver medal (losing to Ukrainian Oksana Baiul). Harding finished eighth.

Weeks later, Harding entered a plea bargain for her involvement. She received three years probation, 500 hours of community service and was fined $160,000. Furthermore, she was forced to resign from the USFSA, was stripped of her title, and banned for life from participating in USFSA-run events, either as a skater or a coach. Gillooly (who later changed his name) and the other conspirators were all given prison time.

While Kerrigan went on to earn millions in endorsements, Harding has struggled to make a living and has become a staple on reality television.

READ MORE: Wikipedia (Nancy Kerrigan)

READ MORE:: Wikipedia (Tonya Harding)

Jan. 5, 1993: First Legal Hanging in Nearly 30 Years

Westley Allan Dodd was executed by hanging at at Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla. He was the first person executed by hanging in the US since 1965. According to Washington State law, Dodd had to choose between hanging and lethal injection. He chose hanging because, he said, "that's the way [victim] Lee Iseli died."

Dodd got just what he deserved. He had been molesting children since he was a teenager, first preying on his own cousins. As he got older, he moved up to torture and murder, eventually becoming known as "The Vancouver Child Killer." His victims included brothers Cole (age 11) and William Neer (age 10) and four-year-old Lee Iseli. He was finally caught trying to abduct another boy from a movie theater. Searching his home, police found a homemade (and fortunately unused) torture rack.

READ MORE: The Crime Library

Jan. 4, 1989: The Concrete-Encased High School Girl Murder Case

On January 4, 1989, four teenage boys murdered 16 year-old Junko Faruta, after having kidnapped, imprisoned, and tortured her for weeks on end, in Tokyo, Japan. The details of the crimes committed against Faruta are difficult to even read. But what is perhaps more disturbing is that the perpetrators received very little punishment.

On November 25, 1988, the boys abducted Faruta and held her captive in the house owned by one of the boy's parents. They told the parents that she was a girlfriend (a ruse they later dropped) and forced her to call her own parents and tell them that she had run away. Over the next 44 days, they did unspeakable things to her, including rape, rape with foreign objects, beatings, burnings, dropping heavy objects on her, and more. Attempts to escape or call the police resulted in more torture. What's worse, the parents who owned the house knew what was going on, but refused to help due to fear for their own lives, as one of the boys was a member of Yakuza (the Japanese Mafia). Faruta eventually begged them to kill her and "get it over with."

After she finally died from her numerous injuries, they dumped her body in a 55-gallon drum, filled it with cement, and dumped it in an empty lot. The body wasn't discovered until a year later.

The four teens pled guilty to a reduced charge of "committing bodily injury that resulted in death", instead of murder, and received minimal sentences. The ringleader of the group served less than ten years. The parents of one boy sold their house for 50 million yen and paid it in compensation to Faruta's family. An attempted civil suit by her parents, unfortunately, went nowhere. Two of them changed their names and one was convicted and returned to prison in yet another assault case.

READ MORE: Wikipedia

READ MORE: Facebook Group

Jan. 3, 2008: Britney Spears' Standoff with Police

It had been building for some time.

By February of 2007, Britney Spears was in the process of divorcing Kevin Federline and in a downward spiral of substance abuse. After spending less than a day in rehab, she marched into a hair salon in Tarzana, CA, and asked the owner to shave her head, complaining that her hair extensions were too tight. When the owner refused, Spears grabbed the clippers and did it herself. Days later, a bald Spears was photographed attacking a photographer's SUV with an umbrella. Following additional drug treatment, she lost custody of her two children to Federline on October 1, 2007.

On the night of January 3, 2008, Federline's bodyguard arrived as scheduled to pick up the children from a scheduled visitation. Spears, under the influence of an "unknown substance," refused to give up the children and eventually locked herself in a room with the youngest. Spears' court-appointed child monitor called the police and the standoff ensued, eventually involving addiitional officers, fire trucks, two ambulances, a police helicopter and, of course, the media.

Hours later, Spears was eventually removed on a gurney and taken to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, where she was hospitalized. As a result, Spears visitation rights were suspended, Federline was awarded sole custody, and by the end of the month Spears was committed to the psychiatric ward of Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center. Spears was also placed under the conservatorship of her father, who took control of her assets.

Since then, Spears seems to have gotten her life and career back under control. Hopefully, she will continue to receive the care and support that she needs.

READ MORE: People.com

Jan. 2, 1800: First Recorded Murder Trial in the U.S.

On January 2, 1800, the body of Gulielma "Elma" Sands was recovered from the recently created Manhattan Well in Lispenard's Meadows (now located near the intersection of Greene and Spring Streets in SoHo) in New York City. Elma had last been seen leaving her boarding house on December 22, 1799. She told her cousin, Catherine Sands, that she had planned to secretly marry a young carpenter, Levi Weeks, that night.

Weeks was accused of the crime, which quickly gained notoriety as the Manhattan Well Murder. His brother, Ezra Weeks, a successful builder, helped secure a prominent legal team which included both future Vice President Aaron Burr and former first United States Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton (who later famously dueled).

Despite witness testimony against him, Weeks was acquitted with a jury deliberation of only 5 minutes. The public strongly disagreed with the verdict, and Weeks was eventually forced to leave New York. He spent the rest of his life in Natchez, Mississippi, where he married and became a respected architect and builder.

READ MORE: Murder by Gaslight

IN PRINT: The Trial of Levi Weeks: Or The Manhattan Well Mystery

Jan. 1, 1895: J. Edgar Hoover Born

What better way to launch a crime blog than to acknowledge the birth of the man who founded the FBI, J. Edgar Hoover. Hoover was, and remains, a controversial figure. He ran the Federal Bureau of Investigation from 1935 until his death in 1972. He stands as a prime example of someone with too much power holding a job for far too long. For that reason, FBI directors are now limited to terms of only ten years.

Appropriately, Hoover was born and raised in Washington, DC. He received his law degree from George Washington University in 1917. During World War I, he started working for the Justice Department. Soon afterwards, he began his rise in the Bureau of Investigation, where he was eventually appointed director by President Calvin Coolidge in 1924. In March of 1935, he became the first director of the new Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Hoover made his bones during the early 1930s when an unprecedented crime wave stormed the midwest. Gangsters and bank robbers such as John Dillinger, Machine Gun Kelly, and Bonnie and Clyde were grabbing headlines and making the law look foolish. Because these outlaws frequently took stolen cars across state lines, Hoover was able to establish the authority to pursue them. At first his agents were responsible for a number of embarrassing screw-ups, but eventually superior training and investigative techniques won out, and Hoover's "G-Men" became the model for law enforcement.

Over the years, Hoover built up a reputation for his strong-arm tactics, particularly in building a library of secret files on people he considered possibly dangerous, from political leaders to entertainers such as Charlie Chaplin and John Lennon. It has also been long suspected that Hoover was gay, and used these secret files to protect his sexual identity. While he had a long-standing relationship with associate director Clyde Tolson (who inherited Hoover's estate), the exact nature of their relationship has never been definitely proven. Presidents Truman, Kennedy, and Johnson all considered removing Hoover from office, but each determined that it wouldn't be politically wise to do so.

Hoover died on May 2, 1972, finally ending his reign as FBI director. President Nixon named the FBI headquarters (the "J. Edgar Hoover F.B.I. Building") in his honor two days after his death.

READ MORE: Wikipedia

ON FILM: Public Enemies

NOTE: Clint Eastwood is prepping a film on the life of Hoover (possibly starring Leonardo DiCaprio) for release in 2012.