Category Archives: Passion

Trigger Warning: Death

     Villisca is a city in Iowa, and in the early 1900s the town only held around 2,500 people. The town thrived pretty well and in 1912, it opened the first publicly funded armory in the state of Iowa which was used for storing ammunition, related parts, and held trainings. The people housed here participated in World War I, II and the Korean and Vietnam wars. A lot of these accomplishments were overshadowed by the deaths that occurred on June 10, 1912.

Josiah Moore was one of the town’s most prominent businessman and he had 4 kids with his wife, Sarah; ages ranged from 5-11. The moved to Villisca in 1903 and it was a simple home they moved into. The stairs in the home would lead one to Mr. and Mrs. Moore’s room, a door on the first floor would lead you to one bed room, and across from the parents’ room was where the kids slept. On June 9, 1912, the Moore family planned to attend children’s day service. The neighbor’s daughters asked their parents if they could go with the Moore’s for the service and stay the night at their house after. The parents agreed and the sisters went with the Moore family. When the service ended, people who attended talked up until about 9:30pm and the Moore’s took the kids (including the neighbor’s kids) home and they went to bed.

On June 10th at 7:30am, another close neighbor of the Moore’s became concerned about the Moore house because typically it would be more commotion going on around that time, it was just typical of the family. This neighbor knocks on the door and she gets no answer, so she goes around the back and sees that the farm animals haven’t been tended to yet. She then calls Josiah’s brother, Ross to ask about the family’s whereabouts. Ross comes to the house around 8:00am and finds a spare key to get into the home, he goes into the bedroom on the first floor and finds two figures covered with a sheet and blood on the bed frame. Ross later discovers through a man named Ed (he worked for the Moore family) that someone was killed in every bedroom. Ed also said he believes he found the murder weapon, which was a partially clean axe leaned against the wall of the downstairs bedroom.

The attacks were so bad that the physician who first arrived on scene could not identify one body (their heads were beaten in 20-30 times with the blunt end of the axe). The murderer left a four pound piece of slab bacon next to the axe, he/she searched through the drawers for clothing to cover all forms of glass in the house, an unfinished plate of food, and a bowl of bloody water. The strangest thing was that all of the doors were locked when you can only lock the doors from the inside. There were no broken windows or signs of forced entry.

There were several different suspects for several different reasons, but this murder still goes unsolved. If you want to learn more about the potential suspects in this case, a link is attached below that has information on why these people were looked at.

https://www.villiscaiowa.com/the-suspects.php

Trigger Warning: Death, Rape, Cannibalism

Arthur Shawcross was born June 6, 1945 in Maine and he was the oldest of 4 children. Many people who knew Arthur growing up said he has the sociopathic characteristics of a serial killer. When he was super young, his family moved to Watertown, New York and more problems began to arise in Arthur. In school, he was very introverted and it was hard for him to be accepted by his fellow classmates. He eventually changed from the introverted student to the class bully who had very random aggressive outbursts. Arthur stated in his interview that his mother and aunt would perform oral sex on him as a kid and in junior high, he had sexual relations with his sister. His family objects these claims. Arthur had a very low IQ, which is somewhat common within serial killers. Arthur enlisted in the army at 19 and was eventually drafted to Vietnam. His sadistic behaviors caught up to him here: he claims to have rape, killed, and ate two Vietnamese girls. This is not documented to be true.

Arthur married 4 times in his civilian life and he also had kids. All of his marriages ended due to his anger issues and distance from his children. During his third marriage, he moved back to New York and in 1972 he abducted his neighbor’s son. He ended up suffocating the young boy until he passed and he sexually assaulted his corpse. His body was not found for 5 months and when it was found, his genitals were bitten off. 4 months later, the body of an 8 year old girl was found under a bridge. She was raped and murdered and her insides, as well as her clothing were stuffed with debris such as leaves, grass, mud, and dirt. Arthur was brought in for questioning about this murder because he was last seen with this girl before he died and he was last seen with the boy before he died. During questioning, he confessed but since there was lack of evidence, his lawyers plea bargained the first boy’s case. In October of 1972, he pled guilty to manslaughter of the young girl, avoiding a first degree murder charge. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison but he only served 15 due to good behavior.

In March of 1978 he moved to another area of New York and was publicly shamed by his neighbors. He informed his parole officers which led them to smuggle him into Rochester and seal his prior criminal record all so he could fit in. This allowed Arthur’s murderous behavior to continue yet again. He went under the name ‘Mitch’ and he would attract sex workers in the area, rape, and murder them as well as dismember their bodies and toss them into the Genesee River. One odd thing he liked to do was revisit the crime scene in order to regain pleasure; he would masturbate at the scene. He confessed after scare tactics by police. His confession was about 80 pages long, and he admitted to revising some of the bodies to eat pieces of skin from the body, including genital areas. He was charged with 10 counts of second degree murder and was sentenced to 25 years for each murder. Arthur passed in November of 2008 due to cardiac arrest.

The link to his interview: https://youtu.be/NQNwjEkszvg

 Trigger Warning: Death, Fatal Car Accidents

Margie Velma Bullard Barfield was born on October 29, 1932. She was born in South Carolina to a pretty poor family. Her father, Murphy was a cotton and tobacco farmer and it is reported that he was physically abusive towards Margie and her siblings. Margie’s mother, Lillian, never intervened during acts of physical abuse. Margie was never aware that her family was poor until she attended school. She would realize that she wore the same clothes and her clothes were always stained and dirty, but the same did not go for her peers. Her classmates constantly reminded her that she was poor by bullying and tormenting her day in and day out. Margie decided to steal money so she could purchase herself new clothes, her father eventually found out and her father beat her pretty badly because of it.

In high school, Margie began to date a man named Thomas and they decided to drop out of school and get married at age 17. In 1951, the couple had their first son named Ronald Burke. 3 years later they had another child in September named Kim. Margie had to eventually get a hysterectomy in 1964 due to related complications and it lead to severe back pain and depression. She was prescribed pain killers for her pain which later led to dug abuse. A year later, Thomas got into a car accident which left him with a bad concussion (eventually leading to severe migraines) and he turned to alcohol and medication. This led to fights between the two lovers. In April of 1969, Margie left the home with her kids, but the day she left, a room in the house where Thomas was randomly caught fire and since Thomas was passed out drunk when it occurred, so he sadly passed.

A few months after his death, Margie moves back into the home and the house catches fire again. Margie and her children had to go back to living with Margie’s mother until they found new housing. About a year after her ex-husband’s death, she began dating Jenning Barfield. Since Margie was still abusing her medication, her new relationship was filled with arguing, so they eventually attempted to file for divorce. In 1971, Jenning died due to heart complications. Shortly after this occurrence, she received news that her father was diagnosed with lung cancer and shortly after this, the house she shared with Jenning caught fire yet. She had to move back with her parents and a week later, her father passed. In 1974, Velma began to date another man but a few months later he died in a fatal car accident. In December of 1974, Margie’s mom dies due to stomach complications. As you can see there is a lot of trauma and emotional distress on Margie during these years of her life.

Margie was arrested for writing checks in Jenning’s name and during her arrest, she had a mental breakdown. She had to go to a mental hospital before serving a four month jail sentence. In 1976, Margie became a home health nurse for an elderly couple. In January of 1977, the husband passed and a month later, his wife passed as well and it was due to a strange stomach virus. Margie was re-assigned to another elderly couple. In June of 1977, John (the husband) went to the hospital for severe stomach pains and it was diagnosed as a severe stomach virus. Not long after, he died.

Margie began to date another guy named Stewart and she moved in with him in 1977. Stewart found out that Margie was forging checks in his name which led to an argument between the two. They attended a church service together later that night where Stewart complains of stomach pains and nausea. Stewart eventually passed in the hospital. A tip from “Margie’s sister” comes in to police and they say that Margie killed Stewart in the same way she killed their mother. Stewart’s family got an autopsy which led to them finding a lethal amount of arsenic in his system. The police question Margie and she eventually confesses after her son asked if she did it; she felt as though she could not lie to him. Margie says she did not want to kill him, just make him sick by putting it in his drink. They place her in the psychiatric ward of the prison when she was arrested.

On November 23, 1978, Margie’s trial begins in North Carolina and during the trial she admits to not only killing Stewart, but to killing her mother and the people she was taking care of as a home health aid nurse. She was found guilty of murder and given the death penalty. Margie wrote letters to the families of each of her victims on November 1, 1984, a day before her execution date. She apologized for her actions and asked for forgiveness. Her last meal was a bag of cheese doodles and two bottled of Coca-Cola and she was executed by lethal injection on November 2, 1984. She was 52 and was the first woman in the U.S. to be executed since 1962. The families refused to accept Margie’s letters/apologies and she requested to be buried near her first husband, Thomas Burke.

Trigger Warning: Gun Violence, Death, Arson

On Christmas Eve of 2008 in Covina, California and the Ortega family was conducting their annual Christmas Eve get together at the home of Jose and Alice Ortega. Jose was a product of immigrant parents and he was the first generation of the Ortega’s to be born in America. He provided very well for his family and he retired  in 2008, living a happy life with his family. On Christmas Eve it was about 25 people in the Ortega home and majority of the adults were in the living room playing poker. The rest of the family is relaxing in different sections of the house while the children are scattered in and outside of the house playing with each other; again everyone is having a great time on Christmas Eve. Around 11:30pm, some family members decided that it was getting late and pack up to go home. While this is occurring, one of the children in the living room (Katrina) realized that there is someone standing outside of their window dressed as Santa Claus. This “Santa Claus” person had a huge box with him wrapped as a Christmas present and this excited the young girl. This causes her to run straight for the front door, opens the door, and yells “Santa’s here!” When she opened the door though, Santa Claus began to fire shots from his 9mm handgun at the entire Ortega family.

Katrina was the first to be shot, but luckily she survived since her injury was not fatal. Unfortunately though, everyone else dies from the firing bullets in the house. A few people did escape out the back, most of which were children. Once he realized that everyone in the house was dead, he unwrapped the big “present” he had which was a homemade flame-thrower and he sets the entire house on fire. The flames were about 50 foot and it took 80 firefighters many hours to get the fire put out entirely. Several neighbors called into police to report and they got a tip on what the escape car looked like, but police were not sure if Santa Claus would continue to kill that night.

Roughly 40 miles away, police were called to a small home where a man by the name of Bruce Pardo was found with a 9mm bullet hole through his head and it was a handgun in his lap and another on the floor. Police realized that there could be a connection due to the similar guns used, but Bruce’s house was not burned down. The house he was found in was his brother’s, and the way he died was very similar to that of the 9 Ortega victims that were found in the remains of the house, which was a single bullet in the body, mainly the head.

Police tried to connect Bruce to the Oretega family and they found out that his ex-wife, Sylvia was an Ortega. They had a good relationship at the beginning, but things went downhill after Sylvia found out about Bruce’s messy past with this previous wife and his son. For example, Bruce was claiming his son he did not take care of. Bruce went into a deep depression after he broke his knee and Sylvia did not like the man he   became, so she filed for divorce and Bruce was instructed to pay Sylvia $1,700/month in spousal support. Bruce was in a big strain because he had lost his job shortly after this court order and he was stealing money from his old job by claiming hours he did not work. To tie this all around, Sylvia was one amongst the several victims who were killed during this massacre. Sylvia and Bruce’s divorce was settled December 18th, 2008 and Bruce was ordered to pay $10,000 out of pocket as a part of their divorce agreement all while Sylvia got to keep her engagement ring.

All guns found at the scene of Bruce’s body were all his. Police got a match to the car description provided earlier by the neighbors of the Ortega’s and it was a rental Bruce had gotten. Police find the Santa suit in Bruce’s car, but when they lift it up the entire suit caught fire and the car blew up. Bruce had a plan to go to Mexico in a rental car and set up the police to think he was going to visit his friend Steve in Iowa. Coroners theorize that Bruce killed himself because as a result of him setting the house on fire, he caught on fire himself (he was severely burned when found at the scene) and his decided to take his life as a result of the pain. Bruce was suspected to kill more people due to the police finding a list of names written down besides his ex-wife, Sylvia.

For my passion blogs this semester, I plan to continue to discuss some of my favorite true crime cases and the details within these cases. True crime is a topic that deeply fascinates me and it is a part of the reason why I aspire to become a lawyer. The type of true crime cases that mainly fascinate me are cases about serial killers due to the complex nature of these situations, but all true crime catches my attention, and I hope it will catch yours while reading my blogs. When discussing true crime cases, I switch between the stories of the victim(s) and perpetrator(s) of these crimes, but it is dually noted as you progress with reading.

Trigger Warning: Violence, Death, Mental Illness, Cannibalism

My first passion blog of the semester will be discussing a very strange incident that occurred on a Greyhound bus in 2008. Tim McLean was born on October 3, 1985 and he was raised right outside of Winnipeg, Canada. Tim was described by family members and friends to be a very outgoing individual. At the age of 22, Tim was contacted during the summertime by a childhood friend asking what his plans were for the summer. He had none at the moment so this friend presented a job opportunity for him at a carnival so he needed to come down to where she was for about a week and he agreed. The duration of the job was extended for the whole summer, but Tim did not mind this because of his outgoing nature and love for traveling. Though Tim loved his job, he had a baby on the way with an on-and-off girlfriend of his. Due to this, he decided to not travel to the next city with the carnival and go back home to Winnipeg to make arrangements to move to British Columbia. Friends offered to purchase him a plane ticket to get home since a bus ride would be 24-hours, but Tim insisted on taking the Greyhound home. Shortly after midnight on July 30, 2008 bus 1170 began its 24-hour trip back to Winnipeg.

On the same Greyhound bus was a man by the name of Vince Li and he was born in China on April 30, 1968 and he moved to Canada for college in June of 2001. Vince was not perceived as an aggressive or angry man. In 2005, Vince was diagnosed with schizophrenia and it was left untreated. Fast forwarding to July 30, 2008, Vince got on this bus at a stop separate from Tim’s. Tim was seated in the back and when Vince first got on the bus he sat in the front. At a rest stop, Tim went to have a cigarette and Vince spotted him, so when Tim got back on Vince followed him to the empty seat next to him. At around 8:30pm, a loud scream is heard among other passengers coming from the back of the bus. Vince pulled a knife from his backpack and started repeatedly stabbing Tim in his neck and chest. The bus was pulled over and the bus was barricaded with Tim and Vince in it after Vince tried to stab the bus driver trying to de-escalate the situation. Another Greyhound driver on the same route decided that maybe he could help, so he goes onto the bus to try to reason with Vince and realizes that Vince is beheading and mutilating Tim. Around 9pm when authorities arrive, they find Vince eating Tim’s flesh and organs. Vince showcases Tim’s body parts to witnesses standing outside of the bus as well.

At 1:20am on July 31st, Vince broke the back window of the bus and tried to escape, but he was detained and arrested by police. Vince’s trial was March 3, 2009 and he pleaded with reason of insanity. He was charged with second-degree murder and was found not criminally responsible because of his untreated schizophrenia diagnosis. He was held in a mental facility and was fully discharged after a few years.Vince later changed his name to Will Baker in 2016.

As I have done in previous weeks, I discuss true crime cases. As of last week, I changed the route and discussed the idea of killers having fans and support groups. This week in my criminology class, we discussed prison systems and specifically elaborated on the concept of solitary confinement. Many notorious killers such as Jeffery Dahmer and Robert Maudsley are examples of solitary confinement inmates. For this week’s blog, I will be discussing my views on solitary confinement, based on readings from my Crimnology 100 textbook, and a documentary we watched this week, which I will link in the blog.

Solitary confinement is a very inhumane form of imprisonment in my opinion. The “purpose” of this is reasonable, but the fact that there is no limit on how long one can be contained in solitary is cruel and inhumane. The longest one should be held in solitary is 1-2 weeks. In my criminology textbook titled: “Introduction to Criminal Justice” by Kenneth J. Peak and Tamara D. Madensen-Herold, it provides the example of: “While in solitary confinement in a Massachusetts prison, an inmate cut his legs and arms, tried to hang himself with tubing from a breathing machine, smashed the machine to get a sharp fragment to slice his neck, and ate pieces of it, hoping to cause internal bleeding; he eventually hanged himself.” This is a prime example of what residing in solitary confinement, especially as a mentally ill inmate for example, can do to a person.

To add, prisoners in solitary confinement are typically not allowed to make phone calls or have contact visits, and their recreational time often involves being taken to another solitary area, such as a cage as shown in the video, where they pace alone for an hour before being returned to their cell. This is unacceptable treatment under all circumstances. Yes, people do bad things, but they do not deserve to be treated as if they are not human. If one is too much of a threat to be around the other inmates, why are they not held in a maximum security prison with trained professionals to handle them? Also, one can be punished longer for attempted suicide while in solitary and this is an idea I cannot fathom either. This should be handled in a more serious and caring way, on the psychological perspective, not handled in a deterrent way.

Quakers noticed that their original use for solitary, which was part of an experiment to improve prison conditions and rehabilitate inmates, was making people go “crazy”, so why later U.S. officials assume to use it a second time as a form of imprisonment, thinking it would make things any better? The mental health unit displayed in the documentary is a good rehabilitative form of imprisonment and they should take some of the components from that unit and apply it to the general population. This could lead to less people having to be sent to solitary confinement. A lot of these inmates in solitary are victims of broken promises, and this can lead to distrust between the inmates and the facility’s staff. This is more than likely the reason why these inmates want to retaliate amongst staff once they get out. All of these concepts correlate with one another, and if institutions can develop a plan of action that combats all of these possibilities, prisons might be able to greatly advance.

https://www.pbs.org/video/frontline-solitary-nation-show/

Many of my passion blogs involve how the perpetrator of a crime has some type of fan base or support group and Rio raised the question of why that is. This is why I decided to change up the typical “true crime case” weekly passion blog(s) and discuss why killers have supporters. According to the APA Dictionary of Psychology, hybristophilia is the sexual interest in and attraction to those who commit crimes. This term was coined in the 1950s by psychologist John Money. His studies concluded that this perversion is mostly seen in heterosexual women in which they have some type of attraction and obsession with offenders who have a criminal record of rape, homicide, or robbery. This is also referred to as Bonnie and Clyde syndrome.

Though hybristophilia is a thing, it is hard to note the number of people who are affected with this paraphilia due to lack of research. To add, it is coined as a paraphilia because it endangers one’s mental and physical integrity. There are two types of hybristophilia: passive and aggressive. Passive hybristophilia are only attracted to criminals in a romantic and sexual way, but will not take part in the work the criminal does. Passive hybristophiles are convinced that their love will deter them from the track they are on. A good example of a passive hybristophile is Ted Bundy’s ex lover, Elizabeth Kendall. On the other hand, aggressive hybristophilia is when the attracted person will engage in the criminal acts the perpetrator is involved in. This can mean luring victims or directly engaging in these crimes. An example of this is the Barbie and Ken killers.

What causes hybristophilia?

The specific causes for this type of behavior are not definite and somewhat unclear, but from the minimal research done, studies show that a history of abuse, biology (genetics), dark triad, and social stereotypes. Many people who suffer from trauma unconsciously like to relieve their experiences as a way to cope with them, or it may be all they know so that is what they gravitate to. Studies show that women who experience trauma or abuse like more aggressive sexual and romantic partners. From personal experience, I can say that this is true. Some women I know will gravitate more towards a no good person versus a great person because that is all they know. Evolutionarily, the female species has been more attracted to aggressive males and this is because outward aggression is viewed as a display of power and manliness. Women believe these type of men will protect them and raise strong children. The dark triad refers to a combination of narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy, which are attractive traits to some types of women; men who have these traits are typically criminals. Lastly, social stereotypes always influence a person one way or another. Some people in society have a “Monkey see, Monkey do” mentality, which can influence this behavior.

Are there any treatments for this?

There is no definitive treatment in place to combat this type of behavior. This type of paraphilia is not viewed as a mental disorder, which is a main factor in this outcome. The origin of the concept also influences this; it is an abstract idea and is complex to handle in the clinical setting. Studies on different types of paraphilia show that psychotherapeutic interventions based on behavioral and cognitive techniques are useful in some cases and the use of hormones and psychotropic medications can be helpful.

Trigger Warning: Death, Bullying, Alcohol Abuse

Alexander Pichushkin was known for keeping account of his victims on a chessboard. He kept a log of each of his victims on the board and at the time of his arrest, out of the 64 total squares on a chessboard, 61 were filled. He was born April 9, 1974 and he grew up Mytishchi, Moscow with his mother Natasha and his younger half-sister, Katya. His dad left the picture when he was 1 and his family grew up in the same apartment his entire life. The family apartment was a six minute walk from a so-called “bad neighborhood” by the name of Bitsevsky Park. It was said that Alex had a pretty normal early life, but when he reached the age of 4, that all changed. He fell off a swing and got hit with the same swing, and his mother did not take him to the hospital. Experts to believe there was damage to his frontal cortex and brain. This kind of damage is known to produce poor impulse control and can cause a spike in aggression levels which is exactly what happened to Alex following the incident.

Alex stated that school was not easy for him because he was verbally and physically abused and bullied by his peers. His mother then moves him into a school for children with learning disabilities to hope for better outcomes, but his grandfather felt as if the school was hindering Alex from expressing his gifts and talents. This leads to Alex moving with his grandfather and taking up activities outside of school and this is where chess comes in. Alex would play chess against older men with his grandfather at a local park. This park was located in an area many would describe as pretty grim. Alex caught on very fast and got very good at the game of chess. Alex’s grandfather would pass away at age 15, forcing him to move back with his mother and return to his old school where he was bullied. Due to these circumstances, he becomes an alcoholic.

He continues to play chess but is convinced that when he is drunk, he is 10 times better at a the game which spikes his drinking issue. Around this time, he begins to “jokingly” record himself threatening younger kids at the park. By 1992, Alex decides that torturing kids isn’t enough to fulfill his feelings of power and control, so he kills someone. On July 27, 1992, Alex is 18 and he confides in his classmate Michael and tells him that he wants to go on a killing spree and asks if he could join him. Michael agrees but when they begin the mission, Alex feels like Michael is not taking it as serious, so he kills him. Alex describes the feeling of this murder as someones “first love”. He was questioned by police but no charges were filed. He commits another murder that same year and yet again was questioned but police but the death was ruled a suicide. He does not commit another murder for another 9 years.

The year is now 2001 and Alex is 27. Many described him as charming, shy, and somewhat strange. His first victim after his hiatus was a man he played chess with and in the next 8 weeks following he commits 9 more murders. Things calm down for a bit and during the fall and winter seasons he kills 5 more people. No one caught on and the main reason is believed to be because Alex was targeting mostly elderly homeless men and he was luring them into the woods with free cigarettes or alcohol. His main pickup line was that he wanted company while he mourned the death of his dog that he buried in the woods (which was indeed true). After drinking with the victims he would attacks them and throw them down the wells of the park that led to the sewers.

It did not take long for Alex to reach 20 victims and many began to be people he played chess with. He begins to then target women and kids. One of his female victims named Maria survived an attack but she was illegally living in Moscow, so police tell her that if she stays quiet about the attack she can reside there and she decides to stay quiet. Moscow police were not good with handling crime and Alex could have been caught then. Alex continues to kill 3 more people in the next 2 weeks. Alex attempts to attack a 13 year old boy and he escapes and goes to police. Police then tell him he needs to go home because he smells like alcohol and cigarettes. The boy then sees Alex again at a train station where he reports this to police and police yet again tell him to go home.

Mid 2005, Alex had 40 victims and he finds it to be boring, so he changes his killing technique. Instead of throwing the bodies in the sewer, he leaves them out in the open. This causes the cops to actually take notice, especially because one of the victims was a retired police officer. Police end up arresting the wrong guy, which infuriates Alex because this man is “taking his credit”. June 13, 2006, Alex went after his final victim which is his coworker, Marina. Marina leaves behind Alex’s phone number and name in case of an emergency and it was somewhat beneficial to catching him. Police call his phone asking has he saw Marina and he replies no and hangs up, two days go by and they finally show up to his apartment to arrest him. This gave him a long enough window of opportunity to escape.

Alex wanted it to be known that he was purposely sloppy so he could be caught and he did not want police taking credit for catching him because he intentionally outed himself. He confesses to over 60 murders and informs police to where he placed the bodies. Police film one of Alex’s reenactments of the crime and Alex loves the attention. He admits that killing fulfilled a sexual satisfaction for him. His trial started September 13, 2007 and it lasted for about 46 days. Alex was kept in a glass cage during trial for his own protection. Alex also admitted he liked toying with the cops during his killing spree and the more risky the murder, the more powerful he felt. He also was very braggadocio about his murders and how violent they were. His motivation was to beat the record of a very well known serial killer in Russia as well by the name of Andrei Chikatilo. He insisted that he be charged with all 63 murders, but he was only charged with 49 and 3 attempted murders. Alex was convicted on November 24, 2007 and was sentenced to life in prison.

Alex like many serial killers has a very large fan base.

Trigger Warning: Cannibalism, Drugs Use, Murder

Rose Larner was the middle child amongst her other 2 siblings and they lived in Lansing, Michigan. Rose’s parents divorced when she was 4 years old which led to her sharing time between both of her parent’s households. Rose was described as an excellent student by her peers and previous instructors. When Rose reached age 18 (year 1993), her friends and family would call her a “Vampire” as a joke due to her always being awake at night. Her family said during this time, Rose was going through her “angry teenage years”. Many adults who encountered Rose shared the common idea that she was a lot to handle, but very generous and was there when you needed her.

Rose would always be on the phone with her friends, and a particular friend that she would talk to often was a boy named Billy Brown. They had been friends since the 5th grade and they did many different things together throughout the course of their friendship. Another friend of hers was Bailey and they met in the 3rd grade and they were also very close. Bailey and Rose had the same birthday, August 19th. Rose definitely did have enemies though. This was because she was very blunt and had quite a smart mouth. Rose’s mom, also named Rose, exaggerated her daughter’s behavior so that she could admit her into Rivendell Psychiatric Hospital with the intent to bring peace to their household since she was very reckless. Rose was surprised to be there, but she agreed to stay and ended up liking it there after three months of stay. Her release did upset her though.

Soon after her release, she got her first job at a local KFC, but her behavior got worse. She would skip school, get arrested for shoplifting, bring alcohol to school, and more. One day while Rose and Bailey were playing basketball at a park, a man approached them and engaged in conversation. Him and Rose seemed to hit it off and Bailey began to feel out of place, so she walked home. Rose goes to Bailey’s house later that night and she shows up in a distraught state. This was because the guy she met ended up raping her. The guy pleaded guilty to a lesser charge and only spent a month in jail. Rose dropped out of high school at 16, but got her GED at 17.

Rose’s mom set a curfew of 1 a.m. for Rose during the summertime and she gave her a pager if contact was needed. During the summer, Rose met a local rapper named John Kehoe and she was really obsessed with him. They eventually ended up dating. Rose, Billy, and John would always hang together, and eventually in October, Rose asked her mom if John could move in with them because he needed a place to stay. Her mom was hesitant at first, but she allowed him to stay. She liked him up until she went into Rose’s room and saw a bunch of guns laying out with a bunch of cash. John was making tons of money being a drug dealer which lead to him being kicked out, and this is where the downfall begins.

John and Rose’s relationship fell apart after he was kicked out which deeply upsetter her. The more John ignored her, the more passionate she got about receiving his attention. In November, there was a local party for teens and Rose knew John would be there, so she went and it led to an argument. As a result, she drove her van into John’s truck. John made a threat to kill her, but all she wanted was answers. On December 6, 1993, Rose got home at 11:30pm after work and she made a call to a friend. Her brother who was on the couch overheard an argument occurring during this call and eventually Rose told her she loved him and headed out. Around 1:30 a.m. Rose shows up to her mother’s job at a local convenience store, and her mom knew something was off. She suggested that Rose took the family van since it was cold and late, but Rose insisted that she was fine and would go hang with friends. She then tells her mom she loves her and goes to hang with friends.

Around 8 a.m. the next morning, Rose’s mom had a feeling that something wasn’t right, especially because Rose was not home. She then calls detectives to report her missing. A day goes by and no word from Rose yet. Her mother drove around to the spots she would usually be with friends but no results. She then calls Billy, but finds out he was not home either so she assumed Rose is with him. A day later, Billy calls Rose’s mom to inform her that he hasn’t seen Rose in a couple of days and had no idea who she was. The friends she normally talked to all said they haven’t heard from her since December 7th, which was unlikely for Rose since she always talked to her friends. Helicopters and police searched for her and nothing turned up. Police then turn to the community for help, and they receive several tips about her whereabouts. Some included that she was at a mall, others were that she was beaten with a baseball bat. Over 100 tips came in and they mentioned two names: Billy Brown and John Kehoe.

Billy was brought in for questioning and overtime they knew that he was involved some how with her disappearance. In April 1996, Billy calls detectives and says the night Rose disappeared, the night involved drugs, sex, murder, and body parts inside of John’s grandparents house. Billy stated that John killed Rose and not him and they went to John’s brother, Tim’s house to lay low. A warrant went out for the arrest of Billy and Tim and they were going to be charged with accessory to murder. John got word that an issue was warrant for his arrest and fled. John and Tim fled to Mexico and were later found, arrested, and sent back to Michigan in 1996.

Here are the details of what happened that night:

On December 7, 1993, Rose calls Billy to see if he can contact John so they can smoke weed, have sex, and do “average party things”. John picks up Rose and Billy around 3 a.m. John then pulls over to a dark road and the three engage in some form of sexual intercourse. John later went into a store and when he left, the bag contained a filet knife, two bottles of charcoal lighter fluid, a hatchet, and some trash bags. They then drive out to John’s grandparent’s house where John and Rose have sex again, and then the 3 shower together. The three get dressed in the bathroom, but John steps out and returns with a cord which he places around Rose’s neck. The only time Billy stepped in was to ask why he was killing her and John stated, “That b*tch has got to go, and that’s what’s going to happen.” Rose was then dead and John proceeded to place her into the bathtub and cut her throat. John and Billy then do cocaine together, and he goes back to inflicting more injury to her body. He grabbed the hatchet and a block of wood and cut up Rose. John then put her body parts into the basement’s fireplace so they could burn. The remains of the body were placed into a trashcan and they cleaned up the house and left.

The two drove about 100 miles to Billy’s family property, dug a hole, laid a bed of logs into the pit, placed the midsection of her body into the pit, dumped the 10 gallons of gasoline on her body and set her remains on fire; this continued for about 10 hours. Billy reports that John took some of Rose’s flesh, put it on a piece of bread with mustard and ate it. When the fire was done, the two filled garbage bags with Rose’s ashes and they spread the ashes along the roadside and highways all the way to Big Rapids, Michigan which is where Tim lived. Tim said he would handled all of the tools used for the murder. Billy was offered a lesser sentence if he chose to testify against John, which he did, and he was sentenced to a year for accessory to murder. John stood his own trial and denied any connection to the murder, stating that everything Billy told investigators was actually what Billy did and not him. John was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole. When given his sentence, he laughed. As of 2020, John is trying to get a new hearing to discuss his original trial, but things were put on hold because of COVID. John still stands firm that he is the accessory and Billy killed her because she denied him sex the day of her death. Weirdly enough, John is active on social media and it is believed that his accounts are ran by his fiancée.  Attached are some of his social media profiles.

http://johnortiz-kehoe.blogspot.com

Instagram: @johnortizkehoe