For my last Passion Blog post, I wanted to share a case that has stuck with me for a while. A young boy, named Gabriel Fernandez, experienced a life of abuse and horror. This poor, little boy had such a bright future, and it was taken away from him by the people he trusted the most. This story is truly heartbreaking and devastating.

Gabriel was failed by many people throughout his life. To start, he moved around from home to home since birth. Gabriel was the happiest at his uncle’s house, but also spent some time living with his grandparents as well. Gabriel lived with his uncle and his uncle’s partner for a long period of time until his mother took Gabriel back to receive welfare benefits. Unfortunately, Gabriel experienced abuse, torture, and neglect at the hands of his mother and her boyfriend. 

Because of this move, Gabriel had to switch schools. At Gabriel’s new school, his teacher started to become concerned about Gabriel’s home life. Gabriel would ask his teacher, “Is it normal for moms to hit their kids?” Gabriel also asked if it was normal to be hit with a belt buckle. The final straw for Gabriel’s new teacher was when Gabriel asked “Is it normal for you to bleed?” Gabriel’s teacher reported the exchange to the Los Angeles County child abuse hotline and the case ended up with a social worker named Stefanie Rodriguez. Stefanie Rodriguez failed Gabriel. She showed no interest in the case and did not give Gabriel the help he needed. Because of this, prosecutors charged Rodriguez and three other social workers with child abuse and falsifying records pertaining to Gabriel’s case.

As the school year went on, the abuse Gabriel endured worsened. He began coming to class with patches of hair missing, scabs on his scalp, injured lips from being punched in the face and bruises all over his face after his mother shot him with a BB gun. In addition to this,  Gabriel’s siblings said that he was forced to eat cat litter. They also claimed that Gabriel was often locked in a cabinet in his mother’s room. In addition to this, Gabriel’s mother and her boyfriend were suspicious of Gabriel being gay and punished him for exhibiting feminine qualities, like playing with dolls.

Eventually the abuse that Gabriel endured turned fatal. Gabriel’s mother called 911 on May 22, 2013. When the paramedics arrived, they found Gabriel was not breathing. They saw that Gabriel had broken ribs, a cracked skull and BB pellets stuck in his body. One paramedic who arrived at the scene claimed that Gabriel’s case was the worst she had ever encountered in her career. Gabriel was taken to the hospital and later declared brain-dead. He died on May 24, 2013.

Gabriel Fernandez’s death was a tragedy and was avoidable. Gabriel only needed one person to take action, instead of just voicing concern about his living situation. On a brighter note, because of this case, there have been major reform changes within the child protective services department in the United States.

Casey Anthony was a young mother who could not handle the responsibilities of having a child. Unfortunately, this could be the reason that led to her young daughter’s death. Caylee, a vibrant young girl, experienced a neglectful childhood. Her mother, Casey was too concerned with shopping with friends and partying than her own daughter. From the start of Caylee’s life, Casey Anthony denied that she was pregnant with Caylee and did not inform family members of her birth. However, Caylee was eventually brought to her grandparents to be raised there. Soon after, a family argument erupted and Caylee was taken away from her grandparents by her mother.

A month later, Casey’s father went to retrieve a family car that was impounded. He was overwhelmed by the smell of a deceased body and immediately contacted authorities. 

Casey threw investigators off with her lies and stories. She sent police on wild goose chases, looking for the young girl. For example, Casey told authorities that Caylee’s nanny ran off with her. However, this was untrue, so investigators stumbled upon an abandoned apartment. Eventually, Casey Anthony was arrested and charged with child neglect, lying to investigators and interfering with a criminal investigation.

Casey was declared as a person of interest at her bond hearing, and her bail was set at $500,000. Three months later, she was officially charged with aggravated child abuse, aggravated manslaughter and four counts of providing false information to law enforcement.

Although Casey’s car smelled like someone had died in there, only a strand of Caylee’s hair was found, along with an air sample from the trunk which contained chemical compounds consistent with human decomposition. 

Two months later, Caylee’s remains were found in a bag in a wooded area less than a half-mile from the Anthonys’ home. The chief medical examiner for Orange County reported that Caylee’s bones showed no evidence of trauma. Caylee’s death was ruled a “homicide of undetermined means.” The interesting part about this was that the skull was found with duct tape around the nose, mouth and jaw. Unfortunately, the advanced state of decomposition blocked investigators from pinpointing an exact cause and date of death. 

After this, prosecutors announced that they would be seeking the death penalty. Unfortunately, the trial did not bring justice to Caylee Anthony. Casey Anthony was found not guilty of the death of her daughter. She only received a four-year sentence and a $4,000 fine for the four counts of lying to police. Even worse, Casey’s time spent in prison was canceled out by the near three years already spent behind bars and credit for good behavior.

This case did not turn out how I expected it too. What do you think happened to Caylee Anthony? Did her mother play a role in her death?

Another case that sent a shock wave throughout our entire country was the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. I am sure you are all familiar with this incident, but if not, on December 14, 2012, 20 year-old Adam Lanza, killed 20 first graders and six school employees. Before police were able to enter the school building, Adam Lanza killed himself.

How did this happen, and what started this violent, killing rampage? The morning of this terrifying day, Adam Lanza had murdered his own mother and got possession of her weapons to use on the innocent victims at the Sandy Hook Elementary School. At 9:30 A.M, after killing his mother, Adam Lanza headed to his old elementary school. Lanza shot through a plate-glass window, next to Sandy Hook’s locked front entrance, which gave him the ability to enter the elementary school. When the loud noises of Lanza’s entrance were heard by the school principal and the school psychologist, they went to see what was going on. They were then shot and killed instantly by Lanza. The perpetrator was armed with a semiautomatic rifle, two semiautomatic pistols and multiple rounds of ammunition. After this, Adam Lanza shot and wounded two other Sandy Hook staff members.

Lanza then worked his way to the classrooms at the school. When Lanza entered his first  classroom, he shot and killed two teachers and 15 students. After this, Lanza worked his way to another classroom, where he proceeded to gun down two teachers and five students. At this point, the gunman had murdered 12 girls and 8 boys. These children were only 6 and 7 years old. However, on a lighter note, twelve first-graders from the two classrooms survived. 

As I mentioned earlier, upon the police’s arrival to the scene, Adam Lanza killed himself in a classroom. After this horrible day, police tried to figure out what motivated Lanza to cause the second deadliest mass shooting in United States history. The Connecticut State’s Attorney released a report that stated Adam Lanza had “significant mental health issues that affected his ability to live a normal life and to interact with others.” On the other hand, mental-health professionals who had worked with Lanza “did not see anything that would have predicted his future behavior,” according to the report. This left investigators with many unanswered questions.

After this incident, President Barack Obama wanted to make sure something like this would never happen again. Obama tried to implement gun-safety measures. Obama wanted to expand background checks for gun buyers. Unfortunately, this was blocked by the U.S. Senate. Do you think our country needs stricter gun laws? Or do you think these types of crimes are unavoidable, no matter what the law states?

Welcome back to my Passion Blog! This week, I am going to cover another infamous case that I never knew much about until I started researching it. The story of Jeffrey Dahmer is gruesome and terrifying, yet so interesting to me at the same time. I hope you enjoy it!

Jeffrey Dahmer started his life as a normal, happy child. However, at the age of 4, Dahmner had surgery to correct a double hernia. The aftermath of this surgery seemed to affect Jeffrey Dahmner. He became very distant from society. Then, in his early teen years, Dahmer’s parents went through a divorce. This sent him over the edge and was the cause of his newly developed alcohol addiction. Because of this, Jeffrey Dahmer dropped out of school, and his father made him join the military. His alcoholism then got the best of him when he was deployed to Germany, and he was excused from the military. Upon his arrival back home, he was forced to move into his grandmother’s house. This is when Jeffrey Dahmer started to turn violent. 

Between the years of 1978 and 1991, Jeffrey Dahmer had 17 known victims. Jeffrey Dahmer targeted male members of the African American community. He was careful to pick victims who had little or no connection to society, which is how he went so long without getting caught. Dahmer started off his murdering spree slowly. He picked up a hitchhiker, named Steven Hicks, and took him home. Dahmer got the young man drunk and when Hicks tried to leave, Dahmer killed him by striking him in the head and strangling him with a barbell. Though this might seem barbaric, the most disturbing part about Jeffrey Dahmer’s crimes were the aftermath of the killings. Dahmer dismembered the corpse of his first victim, packed the body parts in plastic bags and buried them behind his home. He later exhumed the remains, crushed the bones with a sledgehammer and scattered them across a wooded ravine.

After this, he killed three more men before he was taken in by the police. Jeffrey Dahmer was not charged with murder, but for sexual exploitation to a minor. Dahmer was able to get off easy and only served his time in jail for a few months.

After this, he went on a killing rampage. He murdered 13 more victims. After their murderers, he dismembered their bodies and would keep things from them, in his refrigerator, such as heads or genitalia. He would also eat some of his victims and perform sexual acts on them after they were deceased. Jeffrey Dahmer was eventually caught again by police in 1991 and was charged for his crimes.

I believe that mental illness plays a role in these types of crimes. If Jeffrey Dahmer’s family seeked help for him, when they noticed a change in behavior, instead of sending him off to the military and his grandmother’s, this could have been avoided. What are your thoughts?

Recently, I have had an obsession with the show Keeping Up With The Kardashians. One of the characters on the show, Kris Jenner, has referred to the OJ Simpson case a few times, because her ex husband served on this case. The OJ Simpson case is a very well known and high profile case, however, I never took the time to sit down and really look through it. Now I know why this is so controversial. 

OJ Simpson was a famous football player who was accused of murdering his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ronald Goldman. Once the police were called to the murder scene, suspicion quickly fell onto OJ Simpson. OJ Simpson had a history of domestic abuse, that ultimately ended in a divorce. This drew investigators to name OJ Simpson as their primary suspect, because they thought this would lead to intent for the murders. Upon hearing of the news, OJ hid in the back of his friend’s car with a gun to his head. The police chased the vehicle for hours, and it ended at OJ Simpson’s residence. This high speed chase was televised and viewed by the nation. 

When it came time for the trial, this murder turned into a race issue. Many believed that the police planted evidence to result in the conviction of OJ Simpson. For example, there was a glove “found” at the crime scene with blood on it. However, in court, the defense team proved that this glove was too small to even fit Simpson’s hand.

The African American population seemed to be in favor of OJ Simpson’s innocence, but the white population was convinced he was guilty. Some believed that the police were out to get OJ Simpson, due to the color of his skin.

OJ Simpson was found not guilty. However, this was unsettling for the families of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman. Their families eventually sued OJ Simpson in civil court. This time around, OJ Simpson was found guilty. The families of the victims were given 33.5 million dollars in damages. 

With possible police interference of evidence, racial discrimination, and difference of verdicts in the criminal court and the civil court, this case has become very well known throughout the country. The OJ Simpson case will go down as one of the most notorious criminal and civil cases in American history. Do you think OJ Simpson did it? I am still not sure.

All of my posts on my Passion Blog have been about relatively recent criminal cases. I thought that this week, I could change things up a bit and write about an unsolved mystery in the late 1800s. I am sure most have heard of Jack the Ripper. However, I was never aware of who this was, and what made him such a notorious killer. Here is what I learned. 

Jack the Ripper terrorized London in the year, 1888. He targeted five women, that we know of, and killed them in an extremely gruesome manner. To this day, the killer has not been identified. This mystery has been named one of the most famous unsolved cases in London. 

Each of the murders took place within a mile of each other and occurred from August 7 to September 10, 1888. Jack the Ripper was also believed to have substantial knowledge of the human body. The way the killer left each body suggests Jack the Ripper was very informed of the subject, anatomy. 

After the murders, Jack the Ripper sent letters to the Metropolitan Police Service. These letters had the goal of mocking and taunting officers assigned to his case. He warned officers that there were more murders to come. The killer’s nickname “Jack the Ripper” originated from these letters. 

The hard part about this case was that the police force at the time had more than 100 suspects. However, they could not figure out what the motives of the murderers stemmed from or what his next move might be. One of the most famous suspects in this case was a famous Victorian painter, Walter Sickert. Walter Sickert was also well known, because he was the grandson of Queen Victoria.

What we know about this killer was that he targeted prostitutes. At the time, and still to this day, prostitutes are one of the easiest targets for killers. Prostitutes have minimal bonds to society, therefore, when they disappear no one notices; no one goes looking for them. Because of this, we can only confirm five victims of Jack the Ripper. 

After Jack the Rippers’ killing rampage ended, London’s citizens demanded answers. Now, people across the world are still looking for answers, over 120 years later. To add to that, this infamous case has created an industry of media, such as books, movies, documentaries, and more. 

The most recent lead to the identity of Jack the Ripper came from British detective, Trevor Marriott. However, at the peak of his investigation, he was denied access to uncensored documents surrounding the case by the Metropolitan Police. This was seen as very “sketchy” by the public. Do you think law enforcement knows more about this case than they are leading on?

The story of Trayvon Martin’s murder is extremely heart breaking and tragic. However, it drew attention to the Black Lives Matter movement and proved the racial injustice in our society.

George Zimmerman was the captain of a neighborhood watch system. He had no real authority, however, neighborhood watch systems have been deemed helpful in decreasing crime rates in a fixed area. On February 16, 2012, George Zimmerman saw Trayvon Martin and identified him as suspicious. He called 911 and informed them of his concerns. He was instructed to stay clear of the young man, yet he paid no regards to these directions. He fired shots at the 17 year old boy and claimed this was in self defense. As a result, first responders found Trayvon Martin bleeding from his nose to the back of his head.

Trayvon’s father, unaware of this incident, filed a missing persons report when his son did not return home. When police arrived at the Martin household, they showed Mr. Martin a photo of his deceased son, and he was able to confirm the dead teenager was Trayvon Martin.

Now George Zimmerman was under investigation. However, Sanford police soon stated that Mr. Zimmerman will not be charged with the shooting of Trayvon Martin, because there was no evidence to prove George Zimmerman’s story was untrue. 

After this, Sanford Police Department’s homicide detective, Christopher Serino, suggested that George Zimmerman should be charged with manslaughter. He claimed that Zimmerman “failed to identify himself” as a concerned citizen or neighborhood watch member. The homicide detective reported that he thought Zimmerman’s head injuries were “marginally consistent with a life-threatening episode, as described by him, during which neither a deadly weapon nor deadly force were deployed by Trayvon Martin.”

The case was then turned over to Norm Wolfinger, a Florida State Attorney. This case took a turn when authorities released seven 911 calls from George Zimmerman during the night of the shooting. In one of the 911 recordings it is clear that  Zimmerman went against the advice of the 911 dispatcher and followed Trayvon Martin. In one of the recordings, Trayvon Martin screams “help, help!” in the background. This was followed by the sound of a gunshot. 

The Justice Department and the FBI soon got involved and launched an investigation into Trayvon Martin’s death. This case started to receive a multitude of attention from the media as more evidence started to come to light. 

Trayvon was walking home from a convenience store, on the phone with his girlfriend. His hood was up, but this does not represent criminal intent. The media painted George Zimmerman to be a racist, and the case became so famous that former President, Barack Obama, informed the country that he was heartbroken about this incident and that change needs to occur. 

When this case went to trial, the jury found George Zimmerman not guilty on all charges. 

Although this was not the verdict that most hoped for, there was still good that came from this case. For example, The Trayvon Martin Foundation, a social justice organization, was established on the campus of Florida Memorial University in Miami Gardens, Florida. Attention was drawn to the racial injustice present in our country and change was starting. 

This death was avoidable. However, the lack of evidence against George Zimmerman gave him a victory in the end. Although this case is devastating, we must remember Trayvon Martin and use his death as a lesson to make our country a more accepting and less violent place.

Lonnie Franklin Jr., better known as the Grim Sleeper, was a very unique and out of the ordinary serial killer. To this day, investigators have not been able to identify all of his victims, however, they have been able to identify ten women with the help of one of his survivors.

What makes this case so interesting is that Lonnie Franklin Jr. does not meet the usual stereotype of a serial killer. Most serial killers are white and target white victims. Most serial killers are also in their 20s and kill multiple victims over a set period of time. The Grim Sleeper is an African American man who targeted African American women. Most of his victims were prostitutes or drug addicts, which can be common amongst serial killers’ victims. However, Lonnie Franklin Jr. started targeting victims when he was 32, which is above the average age of serial killers, and had a 14 year gap in between his killings, which was the reason he got his nickname, The Grim Sleeper. Another odd part about the Grim Sleeper case is that Lonnie Franklin Jr. did not speak a word in court throughout his entire six year trial. Now let’s dive into the actual case.

Lonnie Franklin Jr. was identified as the killer of nine women and one teenager. He took pictures of their corpses and kept them to remember each of his crimes. It is possible that he has more than 25 more victims.

The Grim Sleeper’s only survivor told her story to investigators and the court, which gives us more information on how Lonnie Franklin Jr. operated during his killings. She told the court, “Franklin pulled up alongside her in an orange Ford Pinto, offering her a ride. After she initially declined the offer, Franklin fired back “That’s what wrong with you black women. People can’t be nice to you,” according to Washington. She “felt sorry for him” and ultimately accepted the ride. After a while in the car, Washington suddenly felt blood coming from her chest. She realized she’d been shot and asked Franklin why, to which he responded that she’d disrespected him. He soon pushed her from the vehicle and left her for dead, but not before raping her and taking her photo. Yet she lived” (RollingStone 1).

The case of Lonnie Franklin Jr.,known as the Grim Sleeper, contains many unanswered questions. The Grim Sleeper was sentenced to death by the court, and has kept other potential victims to himself throughout his time thus far on death row. Detectives have seized over 1,000 photos of victims from Lonnie Franklin Jr.’s residence. How many unsolved cases do you think the Grim Sleeper is linked to?

The horrific story of the Watt’s family is terrifying, yet so interesting at the same time. Chris Watts, a father, a husband, a coworker, seemed so normal and so well off. His family seemed so happy and so fortunate. However, this came to an end when Chris Watts killed his wife and his two daughters one night. Shannon Watts, a loving wife, was pregnant during her murder. This made this crime even more devastating. 

On August 13, 2018, at around 2 A.M, Shannon’s friend dropped her off at her home. Little did she know, this was going to be the last time she saw her. When Shannon’s friend did not hear from her later in the night, and after Shannon did not show up to her ultrasound, her friend was worried. She contacted Chris Watts and the police.

The police soon conducted an investigation of the Watts’ home and found no evidence of foul play. Shannon’s car was still at the residence and none of her belongings were gone. The only things missing were Shannon and her two girls, Bella and Celeste. Chris took to the media, asking for help with finding his “missing” wife and kids. However, the police were soon able to see through his act.

The police got a hold of Chris’s phone records and revealed that he was having an affair. After this, he failed a polygraph test.

Chris knew he was caught, and he told police he would give them more information if he could talk to his father. The police complied, and he confessed to all three murders. Investigators were then able to find all three bodies, at an Anadarko Petroleum site, with Shanann’s body in a shallow grave and the two girls’ bodies in oil tanks. Chris Watts was finally brought to justice on August 21, 2018. 

During Chris’s interviews with police, he claimed that Shannon killed the children, so then he killed her in a fit of rage. However, the story changed and changed, and it was finally uncovered that after Chris killed his wife, he turned his anger towards the girls. Chris killed his wife after confronting her about a divorce, which woke the girls up. He then drove his dead wife and alive girls to the oil site, and he killed Bella and Celeste in the car. 

It is mind boggling to think about how this perfect looking family fell apart. Do you think this was premeditated? Or do you think Chris just took his anger too far?

Drew Peterson, a trusted member of society, spiraled through many marriages and divorces. His abuse of power and disrespect of women unfortunately resulted in a string of crimes. Upon Drew Peterson’s departure from high school, he found his first wife and decided to join the military.

Peterson served for two years, but then decided to return home to his wife, Carol Brown, and begin his career as a police officer. Peterson started as a patrol officer, but he was soon promoted to the drug unit. Drew Peterson worked as an undercover officer and during his time as such, he was unfaithful towards his wife.

When his first wife learned of this affair, she filed for a divorce. After this, he married three more times. His second marriage went worse than the first. Drew Peterson’s second wife, Victoria Connolly, experienced an extremely abusive and controlling relationship at the hands of Peterson. If this situation could not get any worse, Peterson also turned his abusive and controlling tendencies onto Victoria Conolly’s daughter as well. Along with that, during this time, Peterson was under investigation for engaging in bribery and misconduct while undercover. Due to this, he was temporarily fired and then demoted shortly after. Because of the strain this incident caused on Peterson and Connolly’s already dysfunctional relationship, Peterson engaged in yet another affair with his soon to be third wife, Kathleen Savio.

Savio and Peterson were married just two months after Peterson’s most recent divorce. Savio soon realized that Peterson was not as he seemed. He continued his abusive tendencies towards his third wife, and he drove her to file for an order of protection against Peterson. If that was not bad enough, it was also no surprise that Peterson was seeing his soon to be fourth wife, Stacy, during this fiasco. A year after this was when Peterson took his violence to a new level. His statement was, “that Sunday, he went to his ex-wife’s house to return the children, but no one answered the door or the telephone. By Monday, March 1st, there still had been no sign of Savio. Peterson asked some neighbors to go into the house with him, where they discovered Savio in the bathtub. While her hair was damp, the tub was dry; there was a gash on her head and she was unresponsive” (Crimemuseum 1). When Savio’s body was first examined, the death was pronounced as an accident. However, suspicion was placed onto Peterson.

Three years later, Peterson’s fourth wife disappeared. Stacy was experiencing Peterson’s abuse throughout their relationship, therefore, her sister immediately filed a missing persons report when Stacey did not show up for their painting date. Peterson claimed that Stacy left him for another man, but her inner circle knew she would never abandon her children. To this day, her body has not been found.

Due to Stacy’s disappearance, suspicion from the media and police fell onto Peterson. Savio’s case was reopened and her body was exhumed. A doctor who was unfamiliar with Peterson examined the body, and Savio’s death was ruled as a homicide. After this, Peterson was indicted and convicted for the murder of Kathleen Savio. Along with this, Peterson was sentenced to an additional 40 years. Drew Peterson attempted to arrange a hit on James Glasgow, the Will County State’s Attorney.

The case of Drew Peterson has a very important backstory and contains a series of unfortunate events, however, Peterson continues to maintain his innocence in relation to the cases involving his third and fourth wife. What do you think happened?