Home
You are in: LATEST NEWS
 
TEXT SIZE                              

Serial Killer News Briefs from Around the World:

By David Lohr

November 9, 2007

advertisement

Monday, November 05, 2007

ZANESVILLE, OH — Authorities are trying to ascertain whether the remains of a woman found in a Perry County ravine last week could be the work of a serial killer. The woman, who has been identified as 21-year-old Santana Ivey, had been missing since July. "I just wanted her to come home. I prayed every night that she would come home," Santana's mother, Doty Sampson, told 10tv.com. "I called and reported her missing because there were two other girls out there they found dead, and I was praying my girl wouldn't be one of them. She ended up being one of them." The two women to whom Sampson referred were Angela Kennedy and Stephanie Gallis. In 2002, their bodies were discovered under a bridge, not far from the ravine where Santana's remains were found. Due to the similarities in the cases, Zanesville police are working with the Perry and Muskingum County Sheriff's offices to determine whether they are connected.

PRETORIA, South Africa Pretoria High Court Judge John Murphy has sentenced suspected Olievenhoutbosch serial killer Richard Jabulani Nyauza to 16 life sentences. Last week, Nyauza was found guilty on 24 charges, including murder, rape and robbery. During his sentencing, Murphy said Nyauza was an "evil, perverted serial murderer who posed an extreme danger to society in general and women in particular." According to court documents, all of Nyauza's victims were women, and the murders took place between January 2002 and August 2006. Five of the victims' bodies were discovered in 2002, and 11 more were discovered in 2006.

Tuesday, November 06, 2007

Fritz Haarmann
Fritz Haarmann

GERMANY Tourism officials are under fire from the media for featuring a cartoon caricature of Fritz Haarmann on a children's Christmas calendar. The calendar, which shows children singing carols while Santa hands out gifts, also depicts Haarmann peeking out from behind a nearby tree with a meat cleaver in his hand. The head of the Hanover tourism board, Hans-Christian Nolte, adamantly defends the calendar. "He is part of our city's history," Nolte told Ananova.com, adding, "Even on guided tours, the serial killer's story is told." Haarmann committed at least 24 murders from 1919 to 1924 and was executed in 1925.

Wednesday, November 07, 2007

Alexander Pichushkin
Alexander Pichushkin

MOSCOW, Russia — Last week, convicted serial killer Alexander Pichushkin, 33, dubbed by the media the "Bitsevsky maniac," was sentenced to life in prison after being found guilty of killing 48 people in southern Moscow from 2001 until his arrest in 2006. Pichushkin's lawyer, Alexander Karyagin, has now filed an appeal on his client's behalf with the Moscow city court, claiming the court should have been more lenient. "Pichushkin thinks the sentence is too harsh," Karyagin told UK.reuters.com. "When I met with my client, I explained to him that the appeal would probably be refused, but he insisted that it should be filed. It's my job." A court date has not yet been set. During his interrogation, Pichushkin told investigators that he had planned to kill 64 people, one for each square on a chessboard. During his trial, Pichushkin told the court that the killings made him feel like God. "I took the most valuable thing, human life," he said. "I didn't take anything else of value from them. Money, jewelry, I didn't need it. I felt like God." Prosecutors were unable to seek the death penalty against Pichushkin because Russia imposed a moratorium on executions in 1996. Pichushkin's conviction made him the most prolific serial killer in Russian history since Andrei Chikatilo, who was convicted in 1992 and later executed for the murder of 52 women and children between 1978 and 1990.

Thursday, November 08, 2007

John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo
John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo

ANNAPOLIS, MDIn a unanimous decision, the state Court of Special Appeals rejected a bid by Washington-area sniper John Allen Muhammad, ruling that he does not deserve a new trial. Muhammad had requested the appeal on the basis that he was wrongly deemed mentally fit to stand trial and that he should not have been allowed to represent himself in court. In the 152-page rejection notice sent to Muhammad the judges wrote: "Jack the Ripper has never yet been brought to justice. The Beltway snipers have been." Last year, Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo were convicted on six counts of first-degree murder for a series of shootings that occurred in Maryland, the District of Columbia and Virginia, in 2002. Muhammad was sentenced to death, and Malvo, to life without the possibility of parole. "The sense of dread that hovered over the entire community was immeasurable," the rejection notice read. "The six lives that were taken were but a part of an incalculable toll." It remains unclear whether Muhammad will appeal the panel's decision.

NASHILLE, TNThe Supreme Court has refused to halt the execution of convicted serial killer Paul Dennis Reid. Last month, Reid's supporters argued that he still had appeal options on both the state and federal levels. Reid was arrested in 1997 for a series of murders that took place in Tennessee, for which he was handed seven death sentences. The reasoning behind the Supreme Court's decision remains unclear, as they have yet to release the documents.

Friday, November 09, 2007

Carl Panzram
Carl Panzram

HOLLYWOOD Award-winning filmmaker John Borowski has announced his plans to make a motion picture about Carl Panzram. The film, which is slated to begin production in 2008, will focus on Panzram's life, crimes and eventual execution. Panzram was arrested in 1928 for burglary. While in custody, he confessed to killing two boys and later detailed further crimes in an autobiography. "In my lifetime, I have murdered 21 human beings," Panzram wrote. "I have committed thousands of burglaries, robberies, larcenies, arsons and last but not least I have committed sodomy on more than 1,000 male human beings. For all these things, I am not in the least bit sorry." For his crimes Panzram was sentenced to 25 years behind bars. In 1929, Panzram killed the foreman of the prison laundry in Leavenworth and was sentenced to death. Panzram was hanged on Sept. 5, 1930. His last words, spoken to his executioner, were: "Hurry it up, you Hoosier bastard! I could kill 10 men while you're fooling around!" For more information on the film, visit the official Web site at www.panzram.com.

Serial Killer Story of the Week

Unknown Killer
Unknown Killer

CRIME LIBRARY — Jack the Stripper: Claiming as many as eight victims, Jack the Stripper, like BTK, after almost half a century, may still be out there. Or like his namesake, Jack the Ripper, he may baffle crime buffs for many decades to come.

Next Page

Contact David Lohr at 
crimewriter74@adelphia.net

 








COURT TV SHOWS
Murder by the Book
The Investigators
Forensic Files




©2007 Turner Entertainment Digital Network, Inc.
A Time Warner Company. All Rights Reserved.

CrimeLibrary.com is a part of the Turner Entertainment New Media Network.
Terms & Privacy Guidelines
 
advertisement