7 Unbelievable Family Massacre Cases That Will Shake You to the Core

7 Unbelievable Family Massacre Cases That Will Shake You to the Core

The bodies of 40-year-old Brenda groan her fiance 37-year-old Mark McKenzie and her son 13-year-old Slade grown were all found bludgeon to death. Brenda had been so brutally beaten that she had to be identified through her tattoos but this wasn’t the most terrifying aspect of the scene Brenda’s youngest children 9-year-old Dylan and 8-year-old Shasta were both missing. Whoever had killed the groins had most likely abducted the two kids and for weeks police struggled to find them with zero leads.

Today we’re going to unpack the horrific case of the gro family Massacre starting with the day their bodies were found. By all accounts the groans were a very happy family. All of Brenda’s children came from a previous marriage but it seemed like Mark was raising them as if they were his own. While Slade was the youngest child in the house Brenda had two older boys that lived with her ex Steve groan with whom she seemed to have a relatively friendly relationship.

Living alongside a gorgeous Lake in Calene Idaho the family probably lived the perfect life. They had the gorgeous peaceful surroundings of Cai County to enjoy with plenty of room for the kids to run around and most importantly they had close time with their neighbors. In fact Slade regularly went over to the neighbor house to mow their lawn and he’d get a crisp $10 bill for his efforts.

On the evening of May 15th Slade went over to the neighbor for this routine lawn mowing gig. He was a good kid so when his neighbor said that he didn’t have the cash on him just then Slade was more than happy to wait until the next morning. It was for this reason that the neighbor went over to the grown residence Slade’s payment clutched in his hand only to find the door completely covered with blood.

This obviously made him extremely alarmed and he started banging on the door hoping that someone would answer. No one came and the man decided to call the police for a welfare check. When officers arrived and entered the home they saw one of the most gruesome scenes of their entire careers. Brenda Mark and Slade were all found with their heads bashed in with Shasta and Dylan nowhere to be seen.

Police immediately issued an amber alert but there was the everpresent fear that it was too late. According to doj records in 90% of child abduction cases the victims were killed within 24 hours of being kidnapped. As the hours turned into days the hope of finding Shasta and Dylan started to disappear but the thing is they were still out there trapped in the clutches of one of the most evil men to ever exist and enduring unimaginable torment as police struggled to find Clues.

All three bodies were found between the living room and the kitchen with cross-hatched wounds that indicated the use of a framing hammer as the murder weapon. Mark may have been the first to be killed since he was found in the living room. Brenda was between the living room and the kitchen and had been beaten with such sheer violence that her face was practically unidentifiable and even dental records were no use police had to confirm it was her by looking at her tattoos.

As for Slade he died in the Kitchen close to where his mother’s body was found but there was evidence to suggest that he’d been walking around severely wounded prior to his death. Police found dried caked blood on his feet that hadn’t come from a wound indicating that he’d stepped in the pools of blood that came out of his mother and her fiance.

Whoever had committed these murders had come prepared. Mark’s wrists and ankles had been tied together with heavyduty zip ties as had Brenda’s wrists. Her ankles had been bound together with duct tape which the asant had also used as a makeshift gag by wrapping it around her face. Slade was found with duct tape tying his wrists. All three victims were face down when they were discovered.

Despite a thorough search police found very little evidence to work with. The only relevant clue was a zip tie found in the Loft area suggesting that the attacker had dropped it during the middle of his assault. There was blood everywhere a shattered glass coffee table and traces of grass. This meant that there had been a massive struggle and that at least one of the victims had gone outside and come back in during the attack.

Those grass stains were particularly puzzling. Had one of the groans tried to run away during the assault? If so what made them come back? The presence of the zip ties showed that the as salant had planned to commit murder that night but why had they targeted the groans? Perhaps there was some history there some bad blood or a violent enemy that they’d kept hidden from the world there were all sorts of possibilities but police had far more pressing concerns to go through them all since Shasta and Dylan’s bodies hadn’t been found yet police had to presume that they were still alive.

When Steve groan Shasta and Dylan’s father was informed about the incident he spent the next few weeks scrambling to reconcile what had just happened and police needed to give him some answers. As it turned out the next s weeks would consist of a series of promising leads and false hopes. What police needed more than anything else was a suspect and they found someone that fit the bill rather quickly.

Shortly after the murders occurred the FBI got involved. There was a possibility that the attacker would try to take Dylan and Shasta across state lines which meant that this case now fell under Federal jurisdiction. 3 days after the bodies were discovered the FBI named their first person of interest 33-year-old Robert Roy lutner. He was someone known to Brenda and Mark though it was unknown if he had any connection to the children.

Investigators wanted to interview him because of one simple fact he owed the groans about $22,000 and he’d allegedly been spotted visiting their home on the day of the murders. While this was a solid lead it unfortunately didn’t really go anywhere. Robert surrendered himself to the police and agreed to be interviewed and the FBI quickly ruled him out as a suspect after he revealed a rock solid Alibi.

Robert was able to go free but investigators were back to square one. Vast resources were being poured into the investigation with some estimates considering it to be the most expensive Manhunt in the history of Cai County. As a result enormous billboards were put up with Shasta and Dylan’s faces on them along with a tip line that people could call.

For the time being investigators tried to look at the case from the angle of a drug deal gone wrong. This was because Mark and Brenda had been found with illegal substances in their system which led investigators to believe that their dealer may have killed them and taken the children. Some might say that this approach was inherently flawed why would a homicidal drug dealer kill the parent and take the children if all he wanted was money?

This flawed reasoning may have given the true perpetrator much more time to make their escape but fortunately the entire state of Idaho was on the lookout for the missing kids. Around the same time that Robert was brought in for questioning police received a call from the owner of a sporting goods store in Bonner’s Ferry Idaho about 70 Mi due north of K delene.

The caller claimed that he’d seen a man with two children that matched Shasta and Dylan’s descriptions and that this man had asked for directions to Libby Montana. Authorities responded by blocking all roads between Idaho and Montana and searching every van that matched the description provided by the caller. Their efforts once again failed investigators found no trace of Shasta or Dylan so either the tip was wrong or the culprit had already made it to his destination.

Things were starting to get desperate. Steve groan even went to a psychic to find something anything that would help him find his missing children and then on July 2nd about 7 weeks after the murders seemingly out of nowhere someone spotted Shasta at a Denny’s in Calene. By the way I post true crime in new cases here every day so if that sounds like your kind of thing please consider subscribing it helps a lot.

“Yeah Hi friend manager Denny I’ve got a little girl here with a tall gentleman and she looks so much like that…”

“Okay are they still in the building?”

“Yeah they’re at table 20.”

Police had searched all over the state for the missing kids but somehow they ended up finding them right back where they started. The Denny’s manager in Kur delene could barely believe her eyes when she saw the spitting image of Shasta grone walking through the restaurant doors and the tall for booting man she was with seemed to give off very threatening Vibes.

But even so police had received false tips before could this really be Shasta after all this time and why wasn’t Dylan with them? The gruesome answer to the latter question will come later for now let’s focus on the undeniable reality that Shasta had in fact just walked into a local Denny’s with a man that presumably was her captor.

“I just have something to tell you I’m sitting down here at Denny and there was a little girl that just walked in it looked exactly like girl…”

“Okay is she still inside?”

“Yes she is she’s just an older man with an old man yeah and and the thing that really triggered me the most of I was reading the nickel gr and I seen her picture of the nickel gr and I showed it to one of the waitresses here and she said oh my God she’s in here.”

The Denny’s manager wasn’t the only person that phoned the tip in a customer at that same restaurant also called police saying the girl hadn’t to be AA. This gave police the probable cause they needed to go and investigate and restaurant staff and patrons alike subtly gathered closer to the door to make sure this mysterious kidnapper couldn’t make a run for it.

At one point he got up and accompanied Shasta to the bathroom. When he came back he found himself confronted with armed police who immediately put him in handcuffs and took Shasta to a nearby hospital. Doctors did a full checkup and found her to be physically unharmed but the mental told the past few weeks had taken on her was hard to miss.

Police now had a culprit to interrogate who they soon identified as Joseph Edward Duncan a fugitive with a long criminal history who was wanted in North Dakota for the assault of a young boy. It just so happened that this young boy was just one of at least a dozen victims that fell prey to Duncan over the course of his life. Investigators didn’t know it then but they just captured one of the most prolific child abusers and serial killers of the past 30 years.

Joseph Edward Duncan III was born on February 25th 1963 in Fort Liberty North Carolina. He was the oldest son of Joseph Edward Duncan Jr and Lillian May Duncan with a younger brother and three older sisters all of whom he seemed to have a strained relationship with. From a very young age it was pretty clear that Duncan wasn’t a normal kid.

There was something menacing about him a certain disregard for human life a lack of empathy that made him uncomfortable to even be around. Duncan would later claim that he suffered abuse as a child particularly at the hands of his mother who he called domineering and violent. It Bears mentioning that his siblings don’t seem to share his view of things.

In fact his younger brother has refuted the very idea that their mother abused Duncan at any point but nevertheless something was surely wrong with the young boy. There’s a chance that his rootless existence may have influenced his callous personality with his father’s position in the Army forcing the family to move to a new city practically every year. Duncan had no friends no childhood home that stood out and he resented his sisters forgetting all of the love he felt he should receive.

In 1979 something happened that seemed to push Duncan past the brink. His parents separated and since his sisters were all adults or close to it by this point they left Duncan behind. His younger brother went to live with his father and Duncan was left to face his mother alone. There’s no evidence that she was abusive but the way he murdered Brenda shows that he had a deep misogynistic hatred of women something that likely stemmed from his feelings towards lilan.

However it’s safe to say that none of these things actually the influenced the violent depraved man that Duncan would become because he’d already shown plenty of appetite for Twisted perversion since the tender age of 15. That was when he claimed to have assaulted his first victim a 9-year-old boy who he allegedly held at gunpoint.

By the age of 16 he’d apparently assaulted over a dozen boys but he was never arrested for any of these crimes. Instead Duncan’s first run in with the law happened the year of his parents divorce when he was caught driving a stolen car. He was sent to a juvenile detention unit where he was assigned a therapist to whom he confessed to tying up and assaulting at least six of the 13 victims he had so far.

He was released from prison and in a pattern that would manifest time and time again over the course of his life he celebrated his release by venting his Dark Twisted urges. This time around the victim was a 14-year-old boy and Duncan actually did get got. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison but was released on parole in 1994 before being apprehended for parole violation in 1997.

Duncan murdered at least one boy named Anthony Martinez in California and two girls named Sami Jo White and Carmen cubias in Washington state. Duncan’s urges had escalated from sexual assault to coldblooded murder and he spent his parole on a nationwide homicide spree that no one connected him to until years later. On July 14th 2000 Duncan was released from prison again for good behavior of all things.

It didn’t take him long for him to get back to his old ways. Duncan moved to Fargo North Dakota after his release but he spent much of his time in other states looking for victims. On July 3rd 2004 he was charged with molesting two boys at a playground in Minnesota prompting Duncan to rent a car and flee the scene. This would be just one of the many stolen cars that officers identified the de Shasta was found he’s attached to a red piac as a suspect vehicle he’s also attached to a red Jeep Cherokee that’s a stolen vehicle.

With Shasta now safe and sound she was able to tell police what really happened that night and all of the horrors that followed. Police were also able to piece the story together from Duncan’s own testimony in which he freely admitted to all of his crimes. Duncan claimed that the attack on the groine family was purely opportunistic although he’d been out looking for victims and had prepared accordingly.

He’d brought zip ties night vision goggles duct tape a sought off shotgun video recording equipment and a mask and on the evening of May 15th he spotted Shasta and Dylan playing outside in their swimsuits. According to him this was when he selected them as his victims but he needed to kill their family before taking them.

The first thing Shasta remembers from that night was being woken up by her mother who said that there was someone in the house. Duncan took her and Dylan outside where he told them to lay on the grass or he’d kill them. He then went back into the home and killed Brenda and Mark but Slade stumbled outside with a traumatic head wound before going back in with the family now slaughtered.

Duncan took And Shasta to a camping ground in Montana where he reportedly assaulted them multiple times over the next few weeks. On one occasion he took Dylan to a cabin where he recorded himself torturing him and showed the video to Shasta. One question remained where was Dylan? Shasta gave investigators the heartbreaking answer which was that Duncan shot him in the head at the Montana campsite.

Dylan’s remains were later recovered from the site and a memorial was held on what would have been his 10th birthday. Duncan then asked Shasta if she wanted to be strangled or shot to death. Shasta requested the former but as she was being strangled she pleaded with Duncan and used his nickname jet. This seemed to break his cold vicious bloodlust.

Duncan stopped and when Shasta said she wanted to see her mom’s corpse he agreed to take her back to Calene. In a way Shasta outsmarted her captor. She did so Against All Odds and after being told that her family had been murdered with a hammer watching her brother get tortured and seeing him shot Point Blank she didn’t just save herself she saved all the children who would have fallen prey to this brutal inhuman monster had he stayed at large.

Duncan was sentenced to death but in an ironic twist he died of a brain tumor in March of 2021 before the sentence was carried out. As for Shasta she was able to make it out alive and was reunited with her father and by all accounts she managed to recover from the horrors she witnessed during those weeks. Still the loss of her family left a gaping hole in her heart one that she now has to live with for the rest of her days.

“Um but I keep them close you know I pray and you know um you know I I pray sometimes I talk to them when I’m having a hard time where you know I talk to them in my head sometimes or I just think about their faces a lot and I try to I mean it’s hard for me cuz I don’t really remember their voices or anything but I try to remember and so the more I try to remember it’s like the more comes in and I have dreams about my mom a lot so I think that’s what keeps her close and you know I do you know have that tattoo of my mom where it’s just like I feel like she’s always with me and um you know I see a lot of my brothers and and my nephews and stuff like that so they’re just always close…”

So what do you think of this case? How did a convicted Predator like Joseph Duncan slip through the cracks to commit such unimaginable Horrors? A mentally unstable mother and a father with dissociative Amnesia who do you think is capable of wiping out an entire family? Brace yourself because this chilling case will have you questioning everything.

Even some of the investigators weren’t fully convinced that the Man convicted of the murders was the one who actually killed the family and this has sparked a major debate that still rages on today. So once again we’re diving deep into the case to analyze was he truly innocent or is he just a master at pretending to be one?

For starters the vaugh family was what you’d picture as the perfect American family. A family of five that everyone thought had it all together. They were even featured in a local newspaper with it this seemingly Carefree photo that quickly went viral. In this picture we see Kim Kimberly Phillips and Christopher vaugh a couple who had been together for over a decade raising three children.

To the outside world they seemed like the perfect happy and close-knit family but little did anyone know their seemingly perfect life was about to take a dark and tragic twist that would Shake everything to its core. Kimberly born in December 1972 in St Charles Missouri grew up in a well-to-do family with two sisters Jennifer and Elizabeth.

Interestingly Jennifer was Kimberly’s twin and Kimberly’s family placed a strong emphasis on education and personal development. In fact she attended a prestigious school was active in sports and was known for her friendly open and sociable nature. On the flip side we’ve got Christopher Vaughn born in September 1974 in St Louis Missouri.

He grew up in a humble tight-knit family with two brothers. As a kid he was all about soccer hiking camping and spending time with his family Outdoors. These little details might seem random now but trust me they’ll play a big role later when it comes to piecing together the mystery of what really happened.

According to sources Kimberly and Christopher met in the early 1990s and it didn’t take long for them to fall head over heels for each other. But not everyone was on board with their love story especially Kimberly’s parents. They didn’t approve citing Christopher’s age lack of a stable job and his less than affluent background.

But Kimberly and Christopher weren’t about to let anyone stand in their way. They were determined to make it work and not long after Kimberly found out she was pregnant in the summer of 1994 they tied the knot. Christopher was still a teenager not yet 20 while Kimberly was just a little older. Despite their youth they were ready to start a family.

Their first child Abigail was born Just 4 months after the wedding in October of 1994. A year later their second daughter Cassandra arrived and 3 years after that their son Blake completed the family. The early years of their marriage were filled with love and laughter as they built their life together.

The kids were talented and creative excelling in sports and music. Kimberly was a devoted Homemaker always involved in her children’s lives serving as the head of the PTA and leading their Scout Troop. Meanwhile Christopher was building up a small cyber security business. After a few years the family made a big move to Washington State and by the early 2000s they settled into a quiet town in Illinois where they bought a big house.

This was the time the family was featured in a newspaper for how beautifully they had decorated their home. Now Kimberly was eager to take on something new so she decided to go after a law degree. She enrolled in a local University and just a month before the tragedy struck she earned her law degree from the outside their family seemed like the perfect picture of the American dream right?

So if you’re wondering what went wrong well it turns out that Christopher’s job often took him away from home and during those trips he began an affair with a woman. This affair went on for about a year before Kimberly found out and it rocked their marriage to its core. Even though Christopher had betrayed her they chose to stay together mainly for the kids but the cracks in their relationship only deepened.

Kimberly couldn’t shake the feeling that Christopher was still cheating on her and as it turned out she wasn’t wrong. As if all the emotional stress wasn’t enough Kimberly’s health started to suffer too. She began battling severe anxiety constant migraines insomnia and even high blood pressure. It was a lot to handle and she had no choice but to see a doctor.

The medication she was prescribed became a regular part of her life and for about a year she did her best to manage it all. Additionally Kimberly attended sessions with a psychologist where she opened up about the growing issues in her marriage. Despite everything she was going through she remained sociable friendly and active. On the other hand Christopher was described by those close to him as a withdrawn introvert who rarely expressed emotion.

Then came June 2007 just before their 13th wedding anniversary. The couple decided to take a family trip to an amusement park in Springfield Illinois. Christopher picked the destination and the rest of the family was on board with it. So in the early morning hours of June 14th the vaugh family set off in their SUV.

But only a few hours later Christopher was found bloodied wandering along the Highway by a passing motorist. He had a wound on his leg and in a calm tone claimed that his wife had shot him but that’s where his story got strange. He couldn’t recall anything more blaming a sudden lapse in memory.

According to Christopher they had been on their way to the amusement park when Kimberly started feeling car sick and asked him to stop. He pulled over to the side of the road and stepped out to check the roof rack. That’s when he said he heard a gunshot and everything went black. When he came to he saw blood running down his leg and in a State of Shock ran away not knowing what had happened to his wife and children.

He was picked up by a passer by and still couldn’t remember where the SUV had been parked. But when the police found the vehicle they discovered something horrific inside Kimberly and their three children all shot dead. From the time police got to this startling scene private investigator Bill clutter says father and husband Christopher vaugh was the primary suspect accused of killing his family and staging it like a murder suicide.

Kimberly had been shot once in the head and each of the children had been shot twice. Although a witness at the scene recalled Christopher vaugh saying his wife had pulled the trigger V’s memory seemed to betray him once he reached the hospital. In fact when speaking to a nurse he reportedly said you should call my wife she gets mad when I don’t call her.

After getting treatment vaugh was taken to the police station where he was grilled for almost 14 hours on June 14th. He came back for two more rounds of questioning on June 15th and 17th. During these lengthy interviews he told investigators he remembered Kimberly asking him to pull over on the Frontage Road because she was feeling nauseous.

He described how he pulled off the road parked near a cell phone tower and got out of the car to check the back tires after securing the strap on the topper. He got back in the car and noticed his leg was bleeding however he claimed he had no memory of anyone shooting him or his family. When detective suggested that perhaps Kimberly had shot him Christopher immediately defended her saying there was no way she could have hurt the kids.

He stuck to his story stating that he had only learned about being shot when a doctor told him at the hospital. He seemed genuinely confused claiming that no one else was around and Kimberly didn’t have a gun so he couldn’t understand how it had happened. As the questioning continued the detectives informed him that his family wasn’t dead and asked him to explain what had happened.

At that point vau asked them to bring Kimberly in so he could talk to her directly. Throughout the entire process he repeatedly denied being involved in the deaths insisting that he had no memory of the horrific events. But soon after he would also claim that it was Kimberly who shot him. This shift in his story only added to the confusion making it harder to believe his version of the tragic events.

Initially many people defended Christopher believing he couldn’t possibly have committed such a horrific act. They speculated that someone else might have been involved. However the police who had seen the crime scene firsthand were convinced that the murders were domestic in nature and dismissed the idea of any other suspects.

During further interrogations Christopher couldn’t recall any new details but stuck to his story insisting that Kimberly might have been the one to kill their children wound him and then take her own life. He attributed her actions to the medication she had been taking and the tension in their relationship due to his infidelity. He explained his memory loss by claiming it was a result of shock which also accounted for why he hadn’t immediately contacted the authorities or Emergency Services.

Despite his unconvincing explanations there wasn’t enough evidence to arrest Christopher right away. The police continued their investigation seizing the couple’s laptops and searching the family’s home. While the preliminary investigation was underway Christopher remained free even going so far as to organize the funeral for his wife and children.

The funeral scheduled for June 23rd took place at a local Funeral Home. A large crowd gathered and many attendees noticed the palpable tension between the vau and Philip’s families. Just as the funeral service was about to begin a police car arrived and Christopher was arrested on charges of murdering his family. He remained calm going with the officers without resistance.

However his parents were Furious arguing that their son wasn’t even allowed to say goodbye to his family. While Christopher ‘s guilt had not been proven the extensive media coverage of the case led the vaugh family to believe that his arrest at the funeral was a deliberate move to Garner even more public attention. Meanwhile the Phillips Family welcomed the arrest. Kimberly’s mother expressed a sense of relief saying she was glad her daughter had been cleared of Suspicion in the deaths of her children.

From the outset investigators had been skeptical of Christopher’s account. He consistently attributed his lack of recollection to a sudden memory lapse all while insisting that his wife was responsible for the horrific crime. He even considered himself fortunate that the bullet had only grazed the soft tissue of his thigh avoiding any major blood vessels.

But as the investigation unfolded it was revealed that Christopher had taken out a life insurance policy on Kimberly one that would entitle him to a $1 million payout in the event of her death. The deeper the police dug the more convinced they became that Christopher was the primary suspect in this terrible tragedy.

The investigation spanned over 5 years and during this time Christopher remained in custody despite his repeated claims of Innocence. He faced a slew of serious charges and if convicted he could have been sentenced to death under state law. He was provided with attorneys funded by a special program offering legal defense to those facing capital punishment.

Christopher’s defense team worked tirelessly to shift the blame onto his late wife Kimberly. They presented evidence suggesting that Kimberly had suffered from various mental health issues made worse by the marital crisis caused by Christopher’s infidelity and her subsequent health problems. They argued that the medication she had been prescribed only worsened her condition ultimately leading to her tragic actions.

Now this whole thing might not be as far-fetched as it sounds especially if you consider the perspective of Robert deal a crime scene investigator who worked on the case. Deal has openly supported Christopher vaugh arguing that the bullets path and other forensic evidence actually point to Kimberly being the shooter. He believes that investigators had tunnel vision only focusing on one Theory without considering other possibilities.

According to deal whenever he tried to suggest something that went against the official narrative he wasn’t taken seriously. He felt like every time he had an idea that didn’t fit with what the police were saying they just brushed him off claiming that Christopher vaugh was a criminal mastermind who could outsmart everyone even the experts. Deal said they would change their theory of what happened to try to match the evidence instead of letting the evidence guide them to the truth.

The defense team also pointed out that some key pieces of the state’s forensic case didn’t hold up under scrutiny. For instance the state argued that Christopher unbuckled his wife’s seat belt after shooting her claiming a large blood stain near the latch came from Kimberly’s wound. But when DNA tests were done it was revealed that the blood actually belonged to Christopher not Kimberly.

What’s even more telling is a transfer stain found on Kimberly’s right thumb which suggests that she might have unbuckled her seat belt after Christopher was shot. This little piece of evidence made the states Theory look pretty shaky. The defense didn’t stop there they also highlighted that at the time of her death Kimberly was taking medications like nortryptiline and Topamax for her migraine headaches.

A year after her death the FDA released a report that showed a significant risk of suicide linked to both of these drugs. Kimberly herself had even mentioned in an email to Christoper just two weeks before her death that she’d noticed a big personality change and increased anxiety in herself. To make matters more complicated her nortryptiline levels were found to be at the low end of the toxic range suggesting that the medication might have been messing with her mood and behavior.

The defense theorized that these drugs could have made her behave in ways that were out of character potentially even leading to self harm or homicidal thoughts. The defense also suggested that Christopher could have suffered from something called dissociative Amnesia. This condition which can happen after a person experiences something traumatic could explain why he had no memory of the tragic events that occurred.

Even Dr Todd Grande a professional counselor who specializes in personality disorders addiction trauma recovery Psychopathology and assessments pointed out that cases like this aren’t exactly rare. According to him it’s actually possible for people to lose their memory following a specific traumatic event like an accident.

“The argument of the defense was that Chris had memory loss and it could be explained by a disorder called dissociative Amnesia this is the type of Amnesia that can occur around the events of a trauma I’ve seen this many times I don’t have any doubt that it’s a real condition for example it happens once in a while with severe motor vehicle accidents…”

The argument of the defense was that Chris had memory loss and it could be explained by a disorder called diso Amnesia this kind of memory loss known as dissociative Amnesia can occur when someone goes through something so traumatic that their mind essentially blocks out the event to protect them from the emotional pain. So while it might seem unusual it’s not completely unheard of for someone to forget details of a major incident especially when it’s tied to trauma.

At this point things were finally starting to look up for Christopher in his case. But just his H seemed to be on his side a big change occurred the state passed new laws that abolish the death penalty. This meant Christopher lost the legal team that had been funded by the capital defense program. His defense team asked for a hefty $250,000 to continue their work but Christopher simply couldn’t afford it.

As a result he was given a public defender and they had to start from scratch completely reworking his defense. Unfortunately for Christopher this new defense team couldn’t make a strong case and things took a turn when investigators dug into his personal laptop which had been seized during a search of his home.

What they found was a huge stash of messages between Christopher and a Canadian man named Steve. The two had met about 10 months before the tragedy on a social networking site and they’d been in regular contact ever since. Christopher opened up to Steve about how unhappy he was in his marriage. He admitted he was tired of family life and dreamed of running away to the Wilderness far from everything.

They even discussed survival skills camping and living off the grid in remote areas like forests deserts and mountains. At one point Christopher tried to convince Steve to help him fake his death so he could Escape his family and it’s so that Kimberly could collect the insurance. When Steve refused Christopher said he would leave anyway quitting his job and City Life to disappear into the Canadian wilderness where no one would be able to find him.

Interestingly about a month before the tragedy Christopher started mentioning a woman named Maya. He claimed he was in love with her and planned to take her with him when he made his Escape. Police Tracked Down Maya and it turned out she was a dancer at a local strip club that Christopher regularly visited. The two had dated for a few months and during that time Christopher often complained about his unhappy family life.

He even suggested they run away together but Maya thought the idea was ridiculous and turned him down. To make matters worse it also came out that Christopher had been involved with another young dancer. He had lied to her claiming he was single and childless trying to impress her in an attempt to start a new life Christopher even spent a significant amount of money and even proposed they run away to another country together.

With all these new Revelations Christopher could no longer escape the mounting evidence especially with his defense team now drastically changed. The trial of Christopher vaugh began in the fall of 2012 and quickly became a media sensation. During the proceedings damning evidence came to light.

Christopher had bought a gun just before the tragic event and had been practicing at shooting ranges multiple times including the night before the family trip. Forensic experts confirmed that the bullet wound on Christopher’s thigh was inflicted at nearly Point Blank Range which directly contradicted his claim that Kimberly shot him while he was outside the car and she was inside.

Another pivotal piece of evidence came from the blood stains found on Christopher’s clothing. Prosecutors argued that if Christopher had truly exited the car before any violence occurred there would be no way for his wife’s or children’s blood to have ended up on his clothes. Even more damning Kimberly’s blood wasn’t found on the murder weapon or on her hands something that would have been impossible if she had shot herself in the head.

Instead investigators discovered a drop of Christopher’s blood on Kimberly’s thumb suggesting she had been in close contact with him after he was injured. Further investigations into Christopher’s work computer revealed even more incriminating evidence he had researched detailed methods for staging a crime scene. This discovery painted a clear picture further implicating him in the brutal murders of his wife and children.

Kimberly’s physician also played a critical role in the trial providing testimony that Kimberly despite being prescribed medication for insomnia headaches and high blood pressure had never shown any signs of desire to harm herself or others. Even with the defenses attempts to counter the evidence the jury ultimately found Christopher vaugh guilty on all counts convicting him for the horrific murders of his entire family.

Christopher Vaughn was sentenced to four life sentences one for each of his family members without the possibility of parole. However shortly after receiving this harsh sentence vaugh made a surprising statement. He claimed that he suddenly remembered the events of that tragic day in great detail and that he had never actually lost his memory.

According to his new account the gunshots rang out after he exited the car. Initially he was confused about what was happening but then he saw the bodies of his children. At that moment he said his wife shot him in the leg shouting that everything was his fault before turning the gun on herself. This new testimony was dismissed as absurd and had no impact on the verdict.

Despite the overwhelming evidence against him Christopher’s parents continued to fight to clear his name in the court of public opinion. For years they appeared on talk shows gave interviews and maintained blogs and social media accounts where they portrayed their son as a victim of an unhappy marriage. They also blamed Kimberly’s family insisting that her relatives never accepted Christopher and made his life miserable from the very beginning.

The vau family filed multiple petitions for clemency hoping to have Christopher acquitted or his sentence reduced. Several of these petitions were addressed to the state Governor who after reviewing the case declared that he had no reason to doubt the fairness of the Court’s decision. The Governor emphasized that the murder of one’s own family is one of the most heinous crimes imaginable and in this case there would be no leniency or justification.

With all that being said do you think Christopher is the killer? According to official reports the shot in his thigh was just an inch away from his genitals which could have been a life-threatening blow but then there’s the fact that he seemed to want to escape to the Wilderness without his wife which could definitely be seen as a potential motive.

To add to that while in prison Christopher allegedly wrote a 140 page notebook about his life yet he didn’t mention anything about his wife or kids. Instead he focused on his relationships with other women which seems pretty bizarre right? What are your thoughts on this?

Sometimes the darkest evil hides behind the most unexpected faces. Take Vincent Brothers for example a high school vice principal who was known for his love of children and his reputation in the community. But in July 2003 that image would come crashing down when a shocking quintuple homicide rocked Bakersfield California.

Five members of a family including a helpless infant were murdered in cold blood in their own home. Officers later revealed the crime was driven by pure hatred and if it hadn’t been for something as unexpected as dead insects Justice might never have been served. So what drove a man so high up in society to sink so low and wipe out an entire family?

This is the chilling story of the Harper family and today we’re diving deep into the truth behind the tragedy. Let’s start by getting to know Joanie Harper a woman whose life began on November 14th 1963 in Bakersfield California. Joanie was the youngest of five children born to Ernestine Harper and she spent her entire life in Bakersfield a city she would come to love and call home.

Joan’s education began at McKinley Elementary and from there she moved on to Bakersfield High School where she graduated in 1988. Even in high school Joanie was already showing signs of being a standout. She was an exceptional athlete excelling in multiple sports but it was basketball that truly made her shine.

On the court she was a force to be reckoned with and her Talent earned her recognition throughout her years at Bakersfield High. After High School Joan’s passion for basketball didn’t fade. She took her skills to Southwestern Christian College in Texas where she earned an associates degree but even with her own basketball career ahead of her Joanie found a new way to stay connected to the sport.

In 1994 she made history by becoming the first woman in Kern County to officiate boys basketball games. Her love for the game continued to grow and soon she was officiating games for the north Bakersfield Recreation and Park District as well as for the California athletic Collegiate Association. Through her years in the basketball Community Joanie became a well-known and respected figure.

People admired her not just for her skills but for her dedication and passion for the sport. But those who knew her best would tell you that while basketball was important to her her true calling was helping children. Joanie shared this passion with her mother Ernestine who had always instilled in her the importance of giving back to others.

Ernestine Jan’s mother was a woman with a story that spanned more than just her years in California. Originally from Texas she made the Bold decision to move to California in 1961 and by 1964 she had settled in Bakersfield. It was there that ernestine’s passion for helping others truly took root. She quickly became known as a strong noons Community activist someone who wasn’t afraid to stand up for the underdog.

And Earnestine didn’t just talk the talk she walked the walk. She fought tirelessly for those whose Society often forgot such as the poor the disenfranchised and the marginalized. Her belief in fairness was unwavering. Ernestine deeply grounded in her Christian faith believed that no matter where someone came from how they looked or how much money they had they all deserved Equal justice and respect.

Her dedication to helping others didn’t stop at her own Community though. As a co-founder of an organization called extend a hand for justice Ernestine extended her reach far beyond Bakersfield. She traveled to Africa and South America as a missionary bringing Aid money and resources to some of the most impoverished communities in the world.

Ernestine’s heart was as big as it was generous and it’s no surprise that Joanie inherited that same Spirit of compassion. Joanie had a deep respect for her mother and their bond only grew stronger as the years passed. Though Ernestine had four other children her relationship with Joanie was uniquely special. So when Joanie was ready to start her own family Ernestine was right there by her side always ready to lend a helping hand.

This is where Vincent Brothers entered the picture. In the late 1990s Joanie met a man who seemed like a dream come true. Vincent was originally from Long Island and had moved to California in the 1980s to attend Cal State Bakersfield. There he earned a master’s degree in education and began working his way up in the school system.

By all accounts Vincent appeared to be the perfect match for Joanie. He was Charming ambitious and had a stable career working at a local elementary school. To Joan’s family he seemed like a really nice guy and Joanie quickly fell in love with him. Though Vincent had been married twice before and had a child from a previous relationship things seemed to be looking up when he and Joanie welcomed their first child together a son they named Marquez in 1998.

Just 2 years later in January of 2000 the couple tied the knot and for a while it seemed like they were on their way to the picture perfect life. But as with many fairy tales things took a dark turn behind the scenes. Vincent began disappearing for days at a time and when he returned he was secretive refusing to explain where he had been or who he had been with.

Joanie heartbroken but sharp started to piece the puzzle together. She realized the man she had married was betraying her. A month after their wedding Joanie made the painful decision to have their marriage annulled but despite the Heartbreak this wasn’t the end of their story.

According to Joan’s brother Vincent was still the love of her life and Joanie wasn’t ready to completely let go. She wanted Vincent to be a father to their son and so the couple continued their on again off again relationship. Then as if things weren’t complicated enough Joanie discovered she was pregnant again. This time it was a girl and Joanie named her Lindsay.

And sadly this didn’t stop Vincent from continuing his extra marital issues. By the time Lindsay was born Joan’s mother Ernestine decided to move in with her daughter to help take care of the kids especially since Vincent wasn’t always around. But after being apart for a few years Joanie and Vincent decided to give their relationship another shot.

By the end of 2002 they found out they were expecting their third child together a surprise that for a moment brought them hope. So 3 years after their first wedding Joanie and Vincent secretly remarried in January of 2003. They were starting fresh or so it seemed but by April of that same year things began to unravel again.

Vincent slipped back into his old ways disappearing for days at a time leaving Joanie feeling more alone than ever. She confided in a friend telling them that she was afraid Vincent might try to do something drastic to get rid of her. It was a heartbreaking moment for Joanie who just wanted peace and stability for her family.

Despite all the tension Joanie gave birth to their third child a baby boy named Marshall just four months after their remarriage. But by the time Marshall arrived it was clear that their second marriage had already hit a point of no return. Additionally things weren’t getting any better inside the home. Ernestine who had been living with Joanie to help with the kids found herself constantly clashing with Vincent.

The tension between the two became too much to handle and eventually Vincent moved out into his own apartment. However neither Joanie nor Vincent took the steps to officially divorce but their connection was fading because of all the chaos. Church had always been a refuge for Joanie and her family.

The Baker Street Church of Christ wasn’t just a place they went to on Sundays it was like a second home. Their church family was a huge part of their lives providing support friendship and a sense of community. Joanie couldn’t wait for everyone to meet baby Marshall who was growing so fast so on Sunday July 6th 2003 Joanie Ernestine and her three children Marquez who was four Lindsay almost two and baby Marshall just 6 weeks old headed to church for the morning service.

This was their usual routine they’d attend both the morning and evening Services a tradition that had become a comforting part of their lives. Little did they know this seemingly ordinary Sunday would be anything but that. After the morning service ended the Harper family decided to stop and grab a bite to eat before heading home to rest up for the evening service.

However when the evening service rolled around the family didn’t return to church. At first people in the congregation thought it was a little odd they were usually so punctual but they figured maybe Joanie and the kids were just too tired to come back after all Joanie had a newborn and two young kids so it wasn’t entirely out of the question that she’d need a break.

But then after the family left church and returned home no one had heard from them. Two days passed and still no one had been able to get in touch with Joanie or Ernestine. Friends and family members who called them got no answer and that’s when the worry really started to set in.

Kelsey span Joan’s best friend someone she considered a sister knew something wasn’t right. She decided to go over to the Harper house and check on them herself. On Tuesday July 8th 2 days after anyone hadn’t heard from the Harper family Kelsey arrived at the house. She walked in expecting to find them maybe napping or busy with the kids but instead she walked straight into a nightmare.

Joanie Ernestine and the children Marquez Lindsay and baby Marshall were all dead. They had been shot. The house was a crime scene with 22 caliber shell casings scattered across the floor. The crime shook our community to the core it was something that the city Bakersfield had never dealt with before.

When the police finally arrived at the Harper home they were greeted by a scene that was nothing short of horrifying. The house had been turned upside down drawers were pulled open cabinets were flung wide and items were strewn across the floor. It seemed like a robbery gone terribly wrong but something didn’t sit right with the investigators.

As they carefully examined the scene they made a chilling Discovery. Joanie was lying lifeless and not only had she been shot but she had also been brutally stabbed. The realization hit them like a punch to the gut this wasn’t just a random act of violence it was a crime of passion. The knife used to stab Joanie was missing but a closer look revealed that it had been taken from the kitchen.

There was a knife missing from the Butcher Block and that was a detail that raised more suspicions. The killer had clearly planned the attack using an item from the home which made the crime feel more personal. The investigators also noted that the killer had entered through the sliding glass door but curiously there were no signs of forced entry nothing to suggest a struggle or that the Intruder had been trying to sneak in.

It was almost as if the killer was invited in or at least had a way of getting in without raising suspicion. On top of that despite the mess in the house nothing valuable seemed to be missing. There was no sign of typical robbery no electronics jewelry or cash gone so the detectives quickly started to form a theory. Joanie had been the target of the attack but why? And more hauntingly why kill her three children including her six-week old baby?

As the investigation continued the detectives dug deeper into Joan’s life. They learned she was married to a man named Vincent and that’s when they realized they needed to track him down. After all he was her husband and the first person they needed to speak with. They also needed to rule him out as a suspect so they set out to find Vincent but it wasn’t as simple as they hoped.

It turned out that Vincent wasn’t even in Bakersfield when the murders occurred. Vincent had flown out of town on July 2nd heading first to Ohio to visit his brother and then on to North Carolina to see his mother. So while the police in Bakersfield were dealing with this horrific crime scene Vincent was thousands of miles away.

When they finally managed to locate him in Elizabeth Town North Carolina they had to break the devastating news. And when they did Vincent’s reaction was gut-wrenching. According to the detective who interviewed him he was completely overcome with emotion inconsolable in his grief. At one point he even asked for a trash can fearing he might be sick to his stomach from the shock.

However despite his emotional state the detectives found it hard to gauge his true feelings. From all appearances he had a solid Alibi he was hundreds of miles away when the murders occurred visiting his family in North Carolina but something about his reaction didn’t sit well with the investigators.

To truly confirm Vincent’s Alibi the detectives went all in determined to be absolutely certain that he had been in Ohio on the day the murders occurred. They combed through his credit card statements and found purchases made in Ohio on July 6th the day they believed the family had been killed. There had been credit card activity on Vincent Brothers credit card on Sunday July 6th in Columbus Ohio.

At first glance this appeared to be solid evidence that Vincent was where he claimed to be hundreds of miles away from Bakersfield. His Alibi seemed Rock Solid after all Vincent was a vice principal at John C Fremont Elementary School in Bakersfield California. It was hard to imagine someone in such a professional role being capable of something so horrific so the investigators turned their attention to the Harper family for more clues.

One of the first people they spoke to was Joan’s brother Eddie Harper. The news came to him in stages like a nightmare unfolding bit by bit. At first he received a call from his cousin saying that Joanie and her daughter Lindsay had been shot. Then a couple of hours later the cousin called back but this time the news was worse not only had Joanie and Lindsay been killed but Marcus and Ernestine had also met the same tragic fate.

Eddie’s world came crashing down but it wasn’t until the third call that he heard the full horrifying truth every single member of his family Joanie Ernestine Marquez Lindsay and little baby Marshall was gone. Detective Ives quickly ruled him out as a suspect as there was no solid evidence linking him to the crime.

With that lead fading fast they began to explore other angles including whether the Harper family might have had any enemies. The Harpers were known for their activism and generosity within the community which raised the possibility that their actions could have upset someone perhaps an individual felt threatened or offended by their advocacy work.

However when speaking to the family’s church members this Theory seemed very unlikely. Everyone who knew the Harpers described them as kind selfless and generous. Even Vincent who had cheated on Joanie multiple times had been forgiven repeatedly by the family. It didn’t make sense that anyone would Harbor such deep animosity toward them to justify such a horrific act.

Realizing this lead was a dead end detectives turned their focus back to Vincent. They knew they couldn’t afford to leave any stone unturned in a case this shocking whoever committed the murders needed to be caught quickly and every detail of Vincent’s Alibi came under intense scrutiny. Initially Vincent’s Alibi appeared watertight credit card purchases placed him in Ohio on the day of the murders suggesting he was far away when the crime occurred.

But detectives weren’t satisfied with just the paper trail they wanted to see for themselves. They obtained surveillance footage from the stores where the purchases were made and that’s when the first crack appeared in Vincent’s Story. The man seen on camera using Vincent’s credit card wasn’t Vincent it was his brother Melvin Who Bore a striking resemblance to him in height and build.

Investigators brought Melvin in for questioning at first he denied using his brother’s credit cards but as detectives pressed him the truth unraveled. Eventually Melvin admitted he had indeed used Vincent’s cards not only that but Vincent had given him detailed instructions on what to buy. This confession was a bombshell.

While it proved that Melvin was the one making the purchases it didn’t necessarily clear Vincent. Melvin claimed Vincent had been in Ohio with him the entire weekend a point Vincent’s lawyer reiterated explaining that it wasn’t unusual for Vincent to lend his card to help his brother.

According to his lawyer Vincent had spent Friday with his brother Melvin and the rest of the week with another brother Troy. The lawyer even claimed that Witnesses outside of Vincent’s family could confirm he was in Ohio the entire time but detectives weren’t buying it. Melvin had already lied during his interrogation and there was no solid proof no receipts or records that backed up Vincent’s whereabouts during his supposed visit with Troy so the investigators kept digging determined to figure out what really happened.

When detectives took a closer look at Vincent’s travel history the details got suspicious fast. They confirmed that on July 2nd Vincent flew from California to Columbus Ohio. Once there he rented a car and drove to Melvin’s house so far so normal right? But when they checked the odometer of the rental car things got weird.

Between July 2nd and July 11th the car had racked up over 5,400 mil an absurd number for someone was supposedly just driving around Ohio. When police calculated the distance it became clear the car had been driven all the way to California and back during that time frame. This was a huge breakthrough detectives now believed they had pieced together what happened.

Vincent had flown to Ohio to set up an alibi once there he drove the rental car back to California committed the murders and then drove all the way back to Ohio to keep up the appearance that he been there the entire time. But even with this Theory the police needed more evidence to nail it down.

They teamed up with the Bakersfield Police Department and the FBI to bring the rental car into a lab. Their plan to analyze the car’s radiator for bugs if the car had really been driven cross country the radiator might contain insects specific to California which would blow Vincent’s Alibi wide open. And when the results came back they confirmed what detect Ives had suspected several of the bugs found in the car were species native to California and areas west of the Rocky Mountains.

It was damning evidence that tied Vincent’s rental car and likely Vincent himself to the region where the murders occurred. His carefully crafted Alibi was crumbling faster than anyone could have anticipated. But as investigators dug even deeper they Unearthed something even more chilling about Vincent’s past.

On the surface he was a respected vice principal with a polished reputation but behind closed doors his history painted a far darker Picture. In 1988 during his first marriage Vincent had been convicted of misdemeanor spousal abuse. According to police records he served 6 days in jail his wife at the time divorced him citing his violent Behavior.

Fast forward to 1992 Vincent remarried but the marriage quickly soured. By 1993 his second wife filed for divorce alleging that Vincent had threatened to kill her. The accusations were severe but they didn’t seem to leave a lasting dent in his Public Image. Then came the incident in 1996 when Vincent was accused of assaulting a coworker.

According to the woman’s account she went to his house one day where he allegedly attacked her dragged her into a room and took photographs of her against her will. When she tried to call the police Vincent reportedly yanked the phone from her hands preventing her from seeking help. The story didn’t end there the woman claimed that Vincent harassed her relentlessly at work.

He allegedly touched her inappropriately called her at home and even threatened her. She eventually took a leave of absence stating that Vincent had created a hostile work environment that made it impossible for her to continue. She tried to report these incidents to the police but instead of support she was allegedly met with resistance.

Vincent standing in the community as a vice principal seemed to Shield him from accountability while the school district investigated her complaints and warned Vincent about his behavior no formal punishment followed. So after months of tireless investigation the police were convinced they had their man Vincent Brothers.

The seemingly upstanding Elementary School principal was the one responsible for the brutal murder of his family. By April 2004 they had pieced together enough evidence to take him down. When officers arrived to arrest him Vincent didn’t look surprised because he wasn’t turns out he’d been planning to skip town.

He had already started selling his belongings and even listed his house for sale. It was the move of a man who knew the walls were closing in. For those who knew him this was a gut punch how could Vincent the man who greeted kids with a smile mile every morning the same guy parents trusted to guide their children be accused of slaughtering his own flesh and blood?

But here’s the thing about wolves in sheep’s clothing no matter how pure they appear the stains of their true nature always bleed through. In January of 2007 the case finally went to trial. It was a spectacle lasting four long months and involving over 100 Witnesses. Vincent himself took the stand denying the charges in maintaining his innocence.

The prosecution knew their case was largely circumstantial but it was undeniably compelling. They carefully outlined their Theory detailing how Vincent had flown to Ohio to establish an alibi only to secretly drive back to Bakersfield California to commit the murders before returning to Ohio.

Key evidence like the odometer readings from the rental car and the forensic analysis of bugs in the radiator pointed to Vince having driven across state lines during the time frame of the murders. Prosecutors also highlighted his history of domestic violence painting a picture of a man with a troubling pattern of behavior.

The defense however fought back with everything they had. They argued that the prosecution’s timeline was not just improbable it was impossible. A representative from the car rental company testified that odometer readings weren’t always recorded accurately casting doubt on the mileage evidence.

Additionally they claimed there was no direct proof tying Vincent to the crime scene during the murders. The defense tried to poke holes in the prosecutions theory insisting that Vincent had been in Ohio the entire time supported by Witnesses and his brothers testimonies but as the trial dragged on their arguments began to lose traction.

After 4 months of testimony and three intense days of deliberation the jury reached a verdict. Despite the defense’s efforts they were not convinced by Vincent’s claims of Innocence. The circumstantial evidence combined with Vincent’s suspicious Behavior painted a story the jury believed in the end Vincent Brothers was found guilty on all counts.

In September of 2007 Vincent Brothers was sentenced to death. As of today he sits on death row at San Quenton Penitentiary awaiting his fate. It’s hard to imagine anyone being so cold and calculating to walk into a home and murder three generations of one family. Many people who knew Vincent still struggle to wrap their minds around the idea that he could have been capable of such a thing some even question whether the right person was convicted.

But for the family and friends of Joanie and Ernestine justice has been served and they can take some comfort in knowing that their loved ones killer is paying the price for his actions. As for the motive it remains unclear was it pure hatred for his wife or was there something deeper and darker at play? Perhaps Vincent was just a psychopath hiding behind the facade of a respected man but what do you think? Did Vincent kill his entire family including his children out of hatred or is there something more Sinister going on? Drop your thoughts in the comments below.

“The terrible scene the worst I’ve ever seen in my life she fought like a real hero for her kids they were doing their homework when they got murdered they were stacked on top of one another and the tub was full of water you can’t drown children while you stare into their gasping faces without being the devil…”

The devil wouldn’t even come close to describing the evil behind this case it was something far darker beyond what words can capture. On November 20th 2010 a frantic call from a neighbor of the Peters family set everything in motion. The mother of three hadn’t been answering her phone and when police arrived for a welfare check they stepped into what can only be described as a living nightmare.

Blood painted the walls and the scene screamed of a violent uncontrolled rage a massacre that shook even the most seasoned investigators. As horrifying as the crime was Justice wouldn’t come swiftly. It would take nine agonizing years to uncover the truth and the answer lay disturbingly close to home someone trusted someone familiar but who could carry out such an unspeakable act and what could have driven them to it?

Before we dive into the shocking details let’s take a moment to get to know the Peters family an incredibly close-knit group of four. At the heart of it all is the gorgeous Brandy Peters born on Valentine’s Day February 14th 1983 in Banbridge Georgia. The youngest of eight children Brandy grew up with three brothers and four sisters before her family eventually relocated to Tallahasse Florida where she graduated from Godby High School.

From a young age bry’s natural flare for hair styling was evident and this is a talent she proudly inherited from her mother. This skill helped her build a thriving home-based hair business where she created stunning one-of-a-kind hair styles that kept her clients coming back for more. But Brandy wasn’t just a businesswoman she loved spending her time crocheting and enjoying the company of her loved ones.

One of her closest relationships was with her cousin Janet Howard they were more like sisters than cousins with personalities that balanced fiery energy and calmness. But in 2003 bry’s life took a major turn when she found out she was pregnant with twins Tamia and tanayia with her then boyfriend Antonio Anthony.

However their relationship was shaken when Antonio was incarcerated leaving Brandy to raise the girls on her own. But she wasn’t alone in this her family especially her mother and sister Monica stepped in to offer their unwavering support. However it didn’t take long for Brandy to find love again with Henry seura a hardworking welder and together they built a new life.

In 2007 they welcomed their son javante into the world. With this new addition Brandy and her three kids moved into a Cozy home in Saddle Creek run a quiet familyfriendly neighborhood. It was the perfect place to settle down close to schools and not far from the buzzing college scene in Tallahassee it felt like the Fresh Start Brandy and her kids needed.

So as you can imagine everything seemed perfect when you first heard about bry’s life right? The kids were doing well the family was happy and there was even a Thanksgiving trip planned to visit her cousin Janet in Tampa. But here’s where the story takes a tragic turn on the evening of November 20th 2010 things started to go off track.

Janet and bry’s family began to get really worried. Brandy hadn’t picked up her phone and that wasn’t like her at all as a home-based hair stylist staying connected with clients was pretty much a must picking up the phone wasn’t even optional. After multiple attempts to reach her and getting no answer her family decided it was time to take action. They called the police for a welfare check hoping to get some answers about what was going on but what they uncovered would change everything in a way no one was prepared for.

After hours of Investigation the detectives could tell that Brandy had fought for her life. There were Trails of blood leading to the door where her body was found. It looked like she’d almost made it out but then she was dragged back inside and beaten to death with a blunt object after being shot multiple times. The brutality of it all was chilling but the horrors didn’t stop there.

When investigators went further into the house they made another devastating Discovery bry’s children were found in the bathroom stacked on top of each other in the bathtub. The tub was filled with water. Sadly Brandy and Tamia had been shot while Tanaya and javante had been drowned. It appeared that the killer then placed Tamaya in the tub with her siblings as though to add to the horror of it all.

The signs of a struggle were everywhere according to the police the scene was even more gruesome than anyone could have imagined. The walls and ceilings were tainted with blood everywhere it was clear that the violence had been intense and the house itself was a chaotic mess and you could tell Brandy fought desperately to protect her children but in the end her efforts weren’t enough.

There were no signs of a robbery though it wasn’t about taking anything Brandy didn’t have much to steal and the door wasn’t even broken down. In fact it was locked when the police arrived making it seem like the attack had been carefully planned carried out swiftly in the evening likely just hours before they were discovered.

The children had been wearing their pajamas with their homework still out suggesting they were just about to settle down for the night. They had no idea that someone perhaps even more than one person had slipped into their home and to make things even worse the phone had been ripped off the wall its cord severed. It was as though the killer had taken every step to ensure that no one could call for help it wasn’t just a random act of violence this was a carefully calculated horrific plan.

Now if you’re wondering who could orchestrate something so brutal well let’s break it down as mentioned there were no signs of forced entry meaning this was undoubtedly a personal attack. The family likely knew the killer someone they trusted or at least didn’t see as a threat. One person who was closely connected to the family was Henry seura the father of little javante. He was interviewed and spoke with authorities the very day the bodies were found and his role in all this would soon become a key part of the investigation.

As it turned out things weren’t all rainbows and sunshine for Henry and Brandy after they met. At the time Henry was already married to someone else and his relationship with Brandy was more of a fling until she got pregnant. However when the investigation turned to him Henry had an alibi. He was interviewed and he claimed that at the time of the murders he was at home with his wife.

His cell phone records supported this claim and his wife confirmed his story. When questioned further Henry described Brandy as spunky sweet and cool saying they didn’t have any bad blood between them. He seemed to paint the picture of a relationship that was friendly and Casual which only made the whole situation more perplexing.

“Tell me about Brandy what kind of person is she?”

“Funky K she’s she’s down there she real sweet she’s a cool person.”

During this same interview Henry did something that seemed to further distance him from suspicion. He asked the detective how his son javante had been killed. To many this question felt like the action of someone who wasn’t guilty. Henry also shared how he and Brandy met saying it happened about four years earlier at a gas station in Tallahassee. At that time Henry admitted that his wife didn’t know about their relationship but according to him Brandy didn’t seem to mind that he was married.

“You immediately started dating one another or did she know you were married?”

“Yeah she had no problems with that.”

“What about your wife Malik that she know about?”

“Yeah eventually okay eventually…”

However other sources painted a slightly different picture. At the time of their fling Henry and his wife were reportedly on bad terms and not even living together. This complicated Dynamic made it seem like brandy wasn’t necessarily stepping into a happy marriage but rather a messy situation where lines were already blurred.

But here’s where things take a Twist. During the interview the detective noticed something odd there were slight scratch marks on Henry’s pinky finger. This raised immediate red flags. The officer asked Henry if he’d be willing to show more of his body and upon inspection there were additional red marks. When officers questioned Henry about the marks on his body he had an explanation ready.

He claimed they were from a gang fight in Tallahassee adding that he had even been shot in the stomach during the incident. To further prove he had nothing to hide Henry confidently volunteered his DNA for testing. His calm demeanor and willingness to cooperate seemed to steer suspicion away from him but there was one detail that couldn’t be ignored Henry admitted he had doubts about being javon’s biological father.

He explained that he was skeptical about whether javante was truly his son and even mentioned being under a court order to pay child support. Despite this Henry insisted that his relationship with Brandy was nothing but positive. He described her as a caring mother and claimed they had always been on good terms with no animosity between them and according to him on the day of the murder he was nowhere near bry’s house.

He firmly insisted that he hadn’t been there at all. However he did admit to visiting Brandy just two days before the horrific incident. He claimed that was the last time he had any contact with her standing by his story with unwavering confidence still those doubts about javon’s paternity couldn’t be overlooked. Was it possible that frustration over child support or lingering uncertainty had caused tension beneath the surface or was Henry truly The Cooperative innocent figure he appeared to be?

The community was desperate for answers. People were terrified urging officers to move quickly because what if this was the work of a serial killer after all Tallahassee had a dark history of housing some of the most notorious criminals including the infamous Ted Bundy and Gary Michael Hilton both of whom had ties to the area.

With the weight of the community’s fear on their shoulders the investigators turned focus to the crime scene itself combing every inch of bry’s home for Clues. What they found raised even more questions inside the house investigators stumbled upon something that added a new layer of mystery to the case a stack of Love Letters.

But these weren’t your typical roses or red violets or blue kind of notes these letters were allegedly from James Carlos Santos a well-known drug dealer with a notorious reputation in Tallahasse. Now Santos wasn’t just any guy he was currently Behind Bars and claimed to have some serious ties to criminal organizations. From his prison cell Santos made bold and chilling claims that immediately grabbed the detective’s attention.

According to him he was a key figure in a powerful criminal Network and Brandy Peters had been running drugs for him. But here’s where things took a darker turn. Santos alleged that Brandy had been skimming cocaine from his operation and once he discovered this betrayal he claimed to have ordered her and her entire family to be killed. And Santos didn’t stop there he had receipts or so he claimed.

He pointed to letters and emails he’d sent to Brandy even proposing marriage to her. In his mind they had some kind of relationship maybe even something serious but when detectives dug a little deeper the cracks in his story began to show turns out this relationship was completely one-sided. Brandy wasn’t romantically involved with Santos at all.

What was also really interesting about Carlos Santos was that when investigators interviewed him and asked if he remembered any physical traits of Brandy he struggled. In fact he had a hard time recalling anything specific about her appearance at all. You would think that if he had been involved with her especially in such a serious and Shady way he’d be able to describe her clearly but instead he gave vague answers as though he couldn’t even picture her face.

“You don’t remember what she looked like?”

“No not at all.”

“This a girl that ran drugs for you all these years you don’t remember what she looked like you don’t remember how tall she was?”

“I just told you what she looked like she was a dark skinned black woman.”

It didn’t take long for detectives to realize Santos wasn’t the reliable source he tried to portray himself as. In fact they uncovered a long history of him making over-the-top claims about crimes he didn’t commit. And it wasn’t just detectives who were skeptical a psychiatrist evaluated Santos and confirmed what they suspected he was delusional and a pathological liar.

Basically Santos was living in a fantasy world and his bold claims were more fiction than fact. However the investigation didn’t stop with Santos’s false claims in fact it opened up more leads thanks to the potential link to drug dealing. One of the most promising came from DNA found on the phone cord at the crime scene.

This DNA was flagged as a possible match to a convicted drug Smuggler living in Italy a man who was suspected to be deeply involved with a notorious drug cartel. The connection seemed like it could be the break investigators needed but here’s the twist when authorities reached out to this individual instead of playing hard to get or going into hiding he fully cooperated.

He agreed to meet FBI agents at the US Embassy in Rome and voluntarily handed over a DNA sample. This kind of openness suggested he wasn’t involved and indeed his DNA didn’t match the evidence at the crime scene. To cover all bases the DNA was compared to four other individuals from the National Database but none of them were a match.

This lead like many others turned out to be a dead end. However the drug angle didn’t just stop with this one lead it had already put the investigation in a different direction sparking other possible connections. It kept pushing the investigators forward even though it didn’t ultimately solve the case. The discovery of the Spade shovel at the crime scene had people speculating it might be a cartel’s calling card but once again this Theory fell apart why would a cartel leave a spade shovel when a simple Ace of Spades would have been easier to carry and much less obvious?

Another thing that had the detectiv so confused about this case was that there was another informant who came forward claiming that he was involved in the murders. This informant Gregory Washington told the police that Demario Paramore had confessed to him that he along with someone named Haywood Griffin had carried out the brutal killings.

But Griffin quickly denied any involvment and the police didn’t push the investigation into Paramore any further. Prosecutors argued that the conversation didn’t actually qualify as a confession so they dismissed it. But this wasn’t the only wild Theory a lot of the so-called jail house snitches came forward with their own claims about the case but many of them were suspected of just trying to cut deals to get their sentences reduced. In fact one even admitted to asking for a lighter sentence in exchange for his tips.

With the cartel hit Theory and the claims from jailhouse snitches pretty much squashed and no solid leads coming from the drug connection the investigation shifted its focus back to the suspects who were much closer to the victims. The father of the twin girls Timaya and Tanaya was briefly considered as a suspect in the case. However given that he was incarcerated at the time of the murders authorities quickly ruled him out.

Multiple sources did reveal though that he was devastated by the news of the killings even though he hadn’t been able to form many memories with the twins due to his situation. It was clear that he wasn’t involved but the Heartbreak was still there. That left only one remaining suspect who had both the motive and opportunity Henry seura. He was actually interviewed again 10 days after the murders and this time the prosecutors were determined to push him until he cracked.

It turns out that Henry owed Brandy a massive $20,000 in unpaid child support. According to the detectives the only way Henry could see to get out of this financial mess was either to go to jail for not paying or to eliminate the problem altogether. And in his mind that meant getting rid of Brandy and javante.

The prosecution’s theory was chilling if Brandy died Henry wouldn’t have to worry about paying child support for their son Javan. However if chauvon had been the one to die instead of Brandy Henry would still be stuck with the child support payments. So in Henry’s Twisted logic Brandy and the child had to go.

And according to the prosecutors the two twin girls were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. The girls were supposed to be at their grandmother’s house but when Henry showed up at the house they became part of the tragic scene. They were innocent victim of Henry’s brutal plan. In the second round of questioning Henry really started to lose his cool.

When the detectives told him they had spoken with some of his girlfriends to dig into his background he got Furious. It was as if he knew the walls were closing in on him and he was starting to panic. Now you might remember that Henry had previously used his phone to prove that he was home on the day of the murders but what he didn’t tell the detectives was that he had another phone one that he didn’t mention at all.

At first Henry lied and said he wasn’t anywhere near bry’s house that day but when the investigators uncovered the secret phone the GPS data from that phone put him right at the crime scene. That was a GameChanger the evidence was there and it couldn’t be ignored so Henry finally changed his story. He admitted that he had been at bry’s house that day but here’s where things get even weirder.

He claimed that he wasn’t there to kill her instead he said he was there to have sex with her and he didn’t want to admit it at first because he was afraid his wife would find out.

“You were there Friday okay I was at her house Friday you were there Friday how you figured is I’m telling you you were there Friday okay you can’t think that when something like this happens that they’re not going to find evidence okay you can’t think that we have…”

After that intense interview Henry sagora was officially labeled as the prime suspect in the murder of Brandy Peters and her three children. But as expected he wasn’t going to go down without a fight. Henry quickly hired a top-notch lawyer who was more than capable of trying to spin the story in his favor.

And it wasn’t until a year later that Henry was finally arrested after fleeing to lur County Minnesota following the murders. It took a year because the investigation had hit several dead ends including the whole drug cartel Theory which ultimately led to nothing. When the trial finally kicked off Henry’s defense team tried to argue that the lack of his DNA at the crime scene was solid proof that he wasn’t involved in the murders.

They even claimed that he had just been there for a casual visit with Brandy nothing more nothing Sinister. When Henry was asked why he had lied to the police during his initial interviews he simply said:

“And yet you’re asking this jury to believe everything you have to say today?”

“Yes because in the in the process of me lying and doing all these lying I had a whole lot of time to sit down and think about all the mistakes I made all the kids I had outside of my marriage and I I’ve learned how to write my wrongs.”

The case quickly took a turn when Kelsey Canard Henry’s former cellmate in an Oklahoma jail came forward to testify. Kenard shocked Everyone by revealing that Henry had confessed to him back in 2011. According to Canard Henry had gone into disturbing detail about the murders about how he killed Brandy and her two daughters.

Despite this bombshell testimony and all the mounting evidence the jury just couldn’t reach a consensus. After hours of deliberation the jury ended up been a deadlock with an 8 to4 vote in favor of acquid. With no unanimous decision the judge had no choice but to declare a mistrial in 2017.

The last trial took place in November of 2019 nearly a decade after the horrific murders. Henry seura was finally sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. During the trial the defense tried to argue that a drug cartel was behind the killings but the jury wasn’t convinced. Despite seaga’s insistence on his innocence the evidence against him was overwhelming.

His DNA was found at the crime scene and his statements kept changing all of this pointed to him being the killer. As for Henry he didn’t show much emotion he quietly spoke with his lawyer and nodded to his family. But one of his family members couldn’t keep it together and screamed in the courtroom she was quickly escorted out by Bays who threatened to arrest her.

It’s chilling to think it took so many years before Justice was finally served and all we can do now is hope that Brandy and her kids are at peace. But what do you think was it really all about child support or was there something more going on behind the scenes? Maybe the cartel Theory wasn’t as farfetched as it seemed let me know your thoughts in the comments Below.

On December 6th 1975 40-year-old Wesley Diggs came home at around 4 in the afternoon to find his entire family shot to death. His wife 39-year-old Jean had been shot in the chest and forehead and his four children were found dead in various parts of the house. This was a shocking crime that no one could have expected in the quiet Township of t- Neck New Jersey.

As a black family in a majority white neighborhood the Diggs were always at risk of experiencing racial violence but the case was far too complicated for that to be the case today we’re going to dive into the murder murder of the Diggs family. Wesley Diggs was the sort of man that people had always expected great things from. His tall slender form cut a striking figure into every room he walked in and gave him a distinct talent for basketball.

Wesley wasn’t interested in becoming a professional athlete though his aspirations lay in more grounded Pursuits. He wanted to be a business Wonder but it went Way Beyond thought Wesley didn’t just want one business he wanted an entire chain of businesses an Empire of sorts and he got to work creating this Empire from an early age. Much of his entrepreneurship was centered around Harlem a neighborhood of Manhattan that was experiencing a massive economic boom in the mid 20th century.

Wesley being the consummate Entertainer with his subtle charm and undeniable magnetism decided to go into the hospitality business by opening a bar. There’s some evidence to suggest that Wesley was a real Ladies Man throughout his life however sometime during the 1950s he met someone that made him want to settle down and start a family.

There’s no record of when Wesley met Jee Marie the woman that would one day become Mrs Diggs but we can say for sure that they started dating in the early to mid 1950s. They hit it off well enough that they decided to get married not long after meeting and in 1958 they had their first child a daughter whom they named Audrey.

Wesley and Jean had another baby A little over a year later it was another daughter whom they decided to name Alison. Their family was growing and Wesley’s Financial aspirations were growing alongside them he’d spend 16 to 18 hours a day managing his various business Affairs all while Jean took care of the kids at home. In 1963 Jean gave birth to the family’s first son who became Wesley Jr.

It’s fair to say that Wesley had always wanted a son the fact that he named him after himself suggests that he wanted him to carry on his legacy potentially running his businesses after he decided to retire. These businesses certainly did need someone to take over at some point because they were growing at an exponential rate. By 1967 Wesley idar called the 19th hole that was about to close down.

After applying for bank loans Wesley was able to buy the property which he converted converted into yet another bar called Diggs Den. Located at 320 West 145th Street Diggs Den was a very popular establishment. It along with another bar on Amsterdam Avenue called Cafe Lounge gave Wesley enough of an income that he started to think about moving into a nicer neighborhood.

He’d heard about a Township in New Jersey called Teck with a population of 20 to 30,000 people it was the exact opposite of the loud dirty City Wesley was familiar with. That’s possibly why he wanted to move his family there and in 1969 he saved up enough money to make the move. Te neck was a place where Wesley’s kids could play without having to worry about the dangers of the street it was a place where the Diggs could enjoy a quiet family life.

However there was one problem it was an entirely white neighborhood and the Diggs would be the first black family on the street. You might think that this would raise some eyebrows and cause some tension but couldn’t be further from the truth. The Diggs were welcomed by the community with open arms and were widely respected by their neighbors.

They became especially close friends with the Murphy’s next door and the kids had no trouble integrating into tx’s Community. Audrey and Allison both started attending Teek High School where they were well-liked by their peers. Audrey had taken after her father becoming a star athlete in the school’s softball volleyball and basketball teams where she was described as someone that cared about her fellow teammates.

She didn’t have a particular passion for any of the sports according to Cheryl Miller Porter the school’s PE teacher at the time she was just a gym rat and fitness freak who wanted to do her best and of course she wanted to make sure that the other members of her team were able to play safely and have fun at the same time. As for Allison there’s a possibility that she had a very quirky personality.

As the middle little child she wasn’t quite as outgoing as her big sister and there’s evidence to suggest that she greatly valued her privacy. Perhaps the greatest piece of evidence of all was the fact that her bedroom was in the Attic. Most people might hate to stay in a part of the home so famous for stories of hauntings or at the very least dilapidation in Allison’s case it became a safe space a Haven from the world.

She could often be found hidden up there oblivious to the rest of the world engaged deeply in some artistic project or philosophical Pursuit much of this is speculation but it’s in line with what we know about her life. The truth is we’ll simply never know what any of the digs were really like because each and every one of them is dead now but overall the Diggs were the dictionary definition of an All-American family.

They got along with their neighbors worked hard to contribute to the community and also found found time to go to church. They were frequent congregants at the local Presbyterian Church where their Social Circle grew as other churchgoers took a liking to this seemingly perfect family. Not long after they moved to tenek Wesley and Jean added another son named Roger to their family and it’s possible that with two daughters and two sons they felt that their family was finally complete.

Wesley certainly showed how successful he was by making the move to Teck. It was safer than Harlem and allowed his family to enjoy a slice of suburban Nirvana that not many black people got to enjoy at the time. However it’s also possible that Wesley wanted to move his family far away from the city because of his secret second life.

As we’ve already established Wesley was the sort of person that had multiple business Affairs to manage but those weren’t the only kinds of Affairs he was involved in. He was known for having multiple extra marital Affairs which added strain to the family Dynamic. It’s uncertain just how many Affairs Wesley was involved in but we do know that he had at least one extra marital girlfriend at the time of the incident.

But with that said Wesley wasn’t exactly keeping anything from his wife indeed she apparently knew all about the Affairs or at least the girlfriend he had around the time of the incident was she happy about it no not at all. But according to Wesley she accepted that this was just how things were. Of course it’s entirely possible that he misrepresented his wife’s opinion of his infidelity.

Perhaps Jean was tired of him stepping out and there’s some evidence to indicate that she was deeply depressed at least after the move to Teck such as her saying that her family would be better off with God. It didn’t help that Wesley tended to disappear for longer and longer stretches he’d sometimes be gone for two or three days during which he’d spend most of his time on his business ventures but would spare at least a few hours each night for this mysterious girlfriend.

It was after one of these three-day long absences that Wesley came home to find something that would haunt him to the end of his days. It was around 4:00 on a cold Saturday afternoon when Wesley returned home. It’s possible that he was looking forward to spending the weekend with his family all evidence points to him attending church regularly which creates an intense moral contrast with him spending the previous night at his girlfriend’s home.

When he entered his house he noticed that it was unusually quiet. This was a home with two teenagers a 12-year-old and a 5-year-old at least two of whom would be running around and screaming at any given moment and yet if a pin had fallen to the floor Wesley would have heard it Crystal Clear. Just then something was wrong Wesley may even have been able to feel it.

He might have felt those pin Pricks in the back of his neck as his hair stood on end. The body has a way of innately knowing when things aren’t quite how they’re supposed to be. Wesley may even have felt a sense of dread as he called out and received no response. He headed upstairs perhaps assuming that everyone was taking an afternoon nap.

He checked his bedroom but there was no sign of Jean. He then explored further until he found Audrey his first born the darling of Teck high school shot three times in the head and twice in the back. She was laying on Wesley Jr’s bed with Wesley Jr himself later being found in Roger’s room with his little brother both of the boys had also been shot multiple times in the back of the head and were lying face down.

It’s hard to imagine what state of mind Wesley was in by this point he’ just found out that at least three of his children were dead. It’s highly likely that his mind was racing he may have been screaming sobbing but he still had two family members to look for so he ran down to the recck room in the basement where he was hoping he’d find someone hiding from whoever had attacked his home.

However there were no survivors in the basement all Wesley found there was the body of Jean his wife of nearly two decades. Unlike the children Jean had been shot from the front the bullet had burst through her forehead and there was another wound in her chest. Wesley may have been hoping that both Jean and Allison had hunkered down in the basement considering that Jean’s bullet riddled body was the only Discovery he made down there.

This meant only one thing Allison was dead too. After finding Audrey and the boys upstairs Wesley may have intentionally avoided the door leading to Allison’s attic bedroom perhaps he was afraid of what he’d find up there and as it turns out he was right to feel this way. Allison had only been shot once in the back of the head indicating that she’d been running away and that she may have been the last family member to die as well considering she was shot far fewer times than her siblings.

With the death of his entire family now confirmed Wesley ran out onto the street screaming for help. The first house that he ran to belonged to Edward Murphy a neighbor that he’d formed a close friendship with over the years and whose daughter happened to be a nurse. She entered the Diggs residence and confirmed that each member was dead.

Teck Township Police worked with police from The Wider Bergen County area to try to make sense of this sudden tragedy. The first suspect inevitably ended up being Wesley himself and considering that up to 90% of cases of family Annihilation are perpetrated by the father this was an understandable lead to Chase. Police eventually estimated that the family had been killed sometime between 11:00 p.m. and 2:00 a.m. the previous night.

As it turned out Wesley had the perfect Alibi he’d been with his girlfriend who could confirm his location at the time of the murders. Prior to that Wesley had been at a political fundraiser in Harlem a fact that was once again attested to by a number of eyewitnesses but despite him having an alibi police continued to look into Wesley’s life.

They found out that he was about 100,000 in debt due to owning and operating four bars he’d even remortgaged his house to fund his Ventures and he was paying the massive debt off in weekly installments. This created at least one possible motive for him to kill his entire family the life insurance money. A large enough payout would have given Wesley considerable breathing room and potentially even pay off his debts in full.

Perhaps he could have even had his girlfriend and Friends lie to bolster his alibi promising to share some of the money with them if they helped him out but as it turned out the life insurance payout was a measly $6,500 so this Theory died as soon as Wesley received the amount. As if that wasn’t enough Wesley also consented to a polygraph test which he passed. Simply put there was no way Wesley could have done the crime based on the evidence found.

And yet police spent countless man hours in resources trying to pin the murders on him all the while he had to do the most painful thing a father can do arrange a funeral for his wife and kids. If you needed any indication of just how Beloved the Diggs were look no further than their funeral.

Wesley arranged a viewing at bent’s funeral home in Harlem for the 12th of December with many of Allison and Audrey’s friends from tenek making the journey to Manhattan to see them one last time. They reportedly broke down in tears and became hysterical unable to comprehend the senseless violence that had taken their friends from them.

According to news reports it was the fact that Allison and Audrey were formally dressed that made them break down likely because they dressed informally and stylishly in life and the fact that they were so formal in death just made it all the more real. The funeral was arranged for the next morning with the service held at the Presbyterian Church the Diggs had frequented ever since they moved to tenek.

About 500 people packed into the pews with a further 3 to 400 in the Overflow room. Many of the 40 ushers organizing this massive crowd were Allison and Audrey’s school friends. The crowd was a mix of white and black mourners all of whom came to show their respects to a family that deserved better and a father that now had the Grim responsibility of laying them to rest.

For his part Wesley gave heartbreaking personal statements for each member of his family. He expressed his sorrow and guilt for not being there that night stating that he’d failed to protect his family. It’s fair to say that the mourners were seeing a broken man that day someone who’d never recover from what he’d been through.

After the service A procession of 90 cars followed the Hearst to George Washington Memorial Park where Jean Audrey Allison Wesley Jr and Roger were laid to rest. Once this was done Wesley yet again had to deal with the police breathing down his neck. The Diggs murders were never solved to this day and considering they happened just under half a century ago it seems unlikely that they ever will be.

But even so there have been some theories put forward that attempt to explain what happened that night. One Theory comes from a New York City detective Sergeant named James vidy who claimed to have received a tip from an informant named Tuma Robinson about 2 years after the murders occurred. It Bears mentioning that Robinson was a murder suspect at the time and he was paid for any information he provided.

According to this informant who was a regular customer at one of Wesley’s bars the Diggs family Annihilation was basically a robbery gone wrong. He claimed that a man who was already imprisoned for an unrelated murder was responsible for it along with the man’s girlfriend who Jean apparently knew. Robinson further stated that Jean let the woman in that night because she knew her and that the female culprit was looking for cash that she believed Wesley brought home every night from his bars.

When she wasn’t able to find the cash she killed the family and left. There are many problems with this Theory and it’s almost certainly untrue for starters there were no signs of a robbery nothing valuable had been taken from the home. Even if this supposed culprit had failed to find the cash one would assume she’d taken something of value especially considering that she’d already killed people.

Anyone would want some form of compensation for their troubles so the fact that the valuables were untouched and then there’s the informance behavior to consider. Though Robinson passed a polygraph test before getting paid he eventually received between $3 to $500 for his information which in 1977 was equivalent to $1,500 to $2,500 in today’s money. After passing the polygraph test Robinson was fitted with a wire and put under surveillance.

The idea was that he’d be able to find the woman he claimed was responsible for the murder and helped bring her to Justice instead Robinson slipped into a harlem bar escaped through a side entrance and was never seen or heard from again. Police later found his car with the microphone and recording equipment smashed to bits inside it.

When Robinson’s claims were presented to Wesley he stated that he never kept cash at home and said it was unlikely that Jean would have known such a woman let alone allowed her into their home. Just like every other lead this Theory went nowhere and Wesley was left to contend with the loss with no closure.

The constant stress of being investigated destroyed Wesley’s Health. He moved to Manhattan after the murders likely unable to deal with being in tenek anymore. Everything must have reminded him of his family and the only way way he could survive was by starting over. He sought a fresh start a necessary step for healing after such immense loss.

Of course Skeptics that believe theories about his involvement in the murders might say that he got over the guilt of being with a mistress while his family was murdered surprisingly quickly though they do so without any real evidence. It’s unknown if he stayed with the woman he was with on the night of the murders although he did have another daughter in 1981 around that time the Reverend Bob Chase wrote a book titled Diggs that talked about the unsolved murders and told a bit of Wesley’s side of the story.

He spent the remainder of his life in Harlem the place of danger he’d escaped from to keep his family safe which ironically somehow put them in the line of fire. How could he have known who’d think that moving to peaceful quiet Teck would be a death sentence for a family from Harlem? Wesley never got over what happened a combination of trauma and stress greatly weakened his heart and in October of 1987 he died of a heart attack in Harlem.

All traces of the Diggs family are now gone and the daughter Wesley fathered in 1981 has maintained a low profile so what do you think of this case? Were the police right to suspect Wesley Diggs or was it just another case of racial profiling?

On March 1st 1976 William Bradford Bishop Jr a star employee of the United States Foreign Service viciously bludgeon to death his wife Annette Katherine Weiss his mother laelia amarillis St Germaine and his three sons 14-year-old William 10-year-old Brendan and 5-year-old Jeffrey. It was a murder that no one saw coming one that had no apparent motive and a culprit with no History of Violence that seemingly vanished Into Thin Air after killing his whole family.

What could have compelled this well respected well-liked professional to do something so utterly brutal? Today we’re going to piece together a timeline of his life and reconstruct the night of the murders to attempt to answer that question and look into a recent groundbreaking Revelation that completely changed the nature of the case but first we must take a look at the man Bishop was before he became a monster.

Bishop was born on the 1st of August 1936 to Lilia amarilla St German and William Bradford Bishop senior. His family was well off by all accounts which meant that Bishop had the perfect childhood in the beautiful City of Pasadena. A wealthy family meant that Bishop had strong connections and access to amazing opportunities no one else would have had from the get-go however it also made him feel like he needed to prove himself.

Families with generational wealth expect each generation to grow the family fortune. Bishop grew up upper middle class and he’d be obsessed with maintaining this image for the rest of his life. Of course he had every chance to obtain the skills required to stay in the Upper Crust. A naturally intelligent and talented boy Bishop showed an immediate knack for learning languages.

He seemed to have a keen interest in studying other cultures something that would set him up nicely for a career in the Foreign Service by the time he graduated from South Pasadena High School everyone expected did great things from The Young Bishop. Not only was he an exceptional student he was athletic and charismatic too making him seem like a natural Born leader.

The fact that he cut a striking figure at over 6 feet tall also added to his magnetism. But beneath the mask of a seemingly perfect young man simmered an obsessiveness that only the people closest to him ever saw. Bishop was a perfectionist to an almost pathological degree. The same drive that helped him climb the ranks in the Foreign Service made him quick to anger and it very likely sent him into a homicidal rage on the night of the incident.

Now there was no sign of this uncontrollably violent Bishop when he graduated from Yale in 1959 or at least no one that knew him in passing would say that he was the violent sort. Perhaps the only person that had caught glimpses of the real Bishop was the woman he he married a few months after his college graduation Annette Katherine Weiss.

Not much is known about Annette’s early life but we can confirm that she met Bishop in high school as a freshman. It’s possible that she was immediately Smitten by the athletic charismatic junior and the two began dating not long after they met. Those that knew Annette have all said that she wasn’t quite like her extroverted husband where he preferred to go out and expand his social network Annette preferred to stay at home and look after the children.

She was a quiet sort of girl when Bishop met her and there’s a chance that he saw her as someone that wouldn’t question his authority. Of course it turned out that Annette wouldn’t simply accept a lot of the troubling Behavior she’d notice over the course of her marriage but on the day of their wedding in 1959 those tense days were still far ahead in the future we can say one thing about Annette for sure she loved children.

She was a soft compassionate kind Hearted Woman with an uncanny ability to understand what a child wants that’s probably what made her such a good mother. It’s likely that she had an uncanny ability to soothe a Rowdy uncooperative child one can imagine that she had to use this talent to calm her easily irritated husband down on more than a few occasions. Anyone that could have shed some light on their marriage is long Dead all we have is witness testimony and other evidence to reconstruct the life they lead.

But there’s one irrefutable fact about Bishop that only came out quite recently he cheated on Anette possibly with multiple other women and as it turns out this detail would be crucial in Reviving interest in his case decades down the line. But regardless those first few years were reportedly quite happy for the new couple as high school sweethearts they represented what true love could look like at least if we observe the surface and ignore all the rest.

After marrying Annette Bishop got to work building the Legacy he’d always wanted. He spoke four languages apart from English namely Italian French Spanish and Serbo-Croatian and had a genuine passion for immersing himself in other cultures. With his background as a Yale man these qualities made him a shoe in for Counter Intelligence.

He joined the Army’s third military intelligence Battalion not long after his wedding which led to him being stationed in Italy. It must have been a dream for the young Annette to be living in Europe unlike Bishop she’d grown up middle class and it’s entirely possible that she’d never been out of the country before. Over the next four years Bishop gained a reputation as a reliable soldier with some sources saying he rose up the ranks and was awarded several medals before being honorably discharged in 1963.

By this point Bishop had already seen the world and handled top secret documents. He had a proven track record of being able to handle himself on foreign soil. The Logical next step for the glory hungry Bishop was to join the Foreign Service and that’s exactly what he did. His first son William III was born about 2 years before his discharge in 1966 Annette gave birth to another boy Brendan and the growing family continued to stay in Italy as Bishop was transferred to Verona Milan and eventually Florence.

About a year after the birth of his third son Jeffrey Bishop was told that he and his family would be moving to Africa for his next posting. Now this might have been because Bishop had acquired a masters in African studies from UCLA before his first Foreign Service posting but it’s possible that Bishop saw this as a step down. He was apparently critical in improving trade relations during his postings in Ethiopia and Swaziland but could he have felt slighted by being forced to move to Africa?

The cities he lived in Addis Ababa and Gaborone are now cultural hubs with well-developed infrastructure but things might have been different in the 70s. Ethiopia and Botswana were still struggling with rapidly growing populations and reconciling their recent independence from Colonial Powers at the time. While Bishop may love being in the middle of the action during a tumultuous period in Africa’s history his obsession with appearances may have warped his reaction to this development.

But whether he saw it that way or not Bishop’s career was moving along nicely. In 1974 he was promoted to assistant chief in the division of special activities and Commercial treaties and asked to come work at the state Department’s DC headquarters. Bishop was not the type of person who liked to sit behind a desk from the very beginning it was clear that he wanted to be off abroad immersed in a new culture where he could Flex his knowledge of languages whether or not the move to Africa Disturbed him having to come back to Washington may have been even worse.

This is all speculation of course but one can imagine that a person like Bishop would become a ticking Time Bomb over the course of the next two years. What he wanted more than anything else was to maintain his upper middle class lifestyle and with the kids growing up and William Jr approaching College age Bishop felt that his career needed to maintain that exponential growth he’d seen early on. Unfortunate things were not shaping up how he’d hoped after his promotion to assistant division Chief Bishop waited and waited for a promotion that never came.

He’d moved his family into a home in Bethesda Maryland and his return to America meant that his mother Lilia could come stay with them as well. Raising three kids isn’t easy and Annette must have been happy for the help. How Bishop felt about it we may never know but based on how things ended it’s possible that he resented his mother’s presence in his home. Sources suggest that Lilia frequently criticized Bishop for his lack of career progress day by day the tension grew.

Financial difficulties started seeping into their lives Bishop’s government salary just wasn’t paying the bills as easily as it used to and it’s possible that he had to rely on his mother for financial support. This would have felt absolutely emasculating to a man like Bishop. His colleagues report that he’d become quite irritable in the office he talked about how he was getting passed over for promotions he deserved and he seemed to blame everyone for this but himself.

There was a sort of belief that Bishop held a belief that he was better than everyone else and deserved to get to the top as fast as possible making assistant division Chief at 38 years old might not have seemed that impressive to him. Perhaps he thought that he should have achieved more after over a decade in the Foreign Service. All of these things likely played in his mind as his thoughts slowly drifted towards homicide along with a few other factors that only came to light much later.

An analysis of Bishop’s Personal Diary revealed that he had a lot on his mind during his 2-year stint in DC. He complained of having trouble sleeping for which his psychiatrist reportedly prescribed him the sedative called Serax which didn’t seemed to be working or at the very least it wasn’t really helping him go to sleep at night. It Bears mentioning that missing a few doses of a benzodiazapine like Serax can cause serious and sudden mood swings.

It can cause severe agitation which can be made even worse by pre-existing difficulties in life. Since the Serax didn’t seem to be affecting his insomnia it’s possible that Bishop stopped taking it and ended up becoming emotionally volatile in the aftermath. With sleepless nights taking their toll Bishop also talked about suffering from chronic depression. This too was something that medication failed to resolve.

Other events in his life also contributed to the emotional storm that was brewing inside him a storm that would take him to the most brutally violent depths imaginable. For one thing some reports suggest that there was an IRS audit on the horizon. This means that there were major Financial irregularities in Bishop’s tax filings which must have added fuel to the fire of his personal life.

Between his mother’s constant criticism about how he wasn’t moving up the ranks and his own frustration at being stuck behind a desk Bishop likely wanted to escape however he could. He set his sights on a possible promotion that would send him back abroad but this created further tension with his wife. Annette didn’t want to keep traveling she wasn’t like Bishop in that respect and there’s also a chance that his controlling nature made it difficult for her to actually enjoy being in a different country.

It’s been reported that she’d started studying art at the University of Maryland something that Bishop was very unhappy about. He wanted Annette to be a stay-at-home mom to look after the kids while he went off and played the hero in the Foreign Service. With her youngest child now five and her oldest fast approaching adulthood Annette might have been looking forward to taking a less Hands-On role as a parent and doing something for herself for a change.

The presence of Lilia also made this a possibility but this meant that Bishop’s control over his family was slipping. There’s perhaps nothing else that a pathological control freak fears more. And then on March 1st 1976 he found out that the promotion he so craved the promotion that he hoped would fix everything had gone to someone else. All hope of escaping the desk life an increase in his salary and proving himself to his mother evaporated.

Shortly after hearing the bad news Bishop told his secretary that he wasn’t feeling well and that he’d be heading home early. On his way home he made a stop and purchased the tools he would soon use to murder his family. The last time anyone saw Bishop was outside the state department building in DC’s Foggy Bottom neighborhood. His colleague Roy Harrell reported that Bishop seemed agitated but saw nothing to suggest that he was out for blood.

Bishop’s movements aren’t clear after leaving his office but police know that he emptied out his bank account at some point. The reported amount ranges from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars but either way this just shows how little Bishop had to his name. After withdrawing the cash Bishop likely headed to a mall in Bethesda where he purchased a ball-peen hammer and a gas tank.

He then went to the gas station next door and filled up his car tank as well as the spare tank he just bought after which he visited a hardware store and bought a shovel and a pitchfork. He arrived at home between 7:30 and 8:00 that evening hammer in hand. Police were able to determine that he killed his wife first. She might have been in the kitchen preparing a meal or perhaps she was in the living room enjoying some downtime after the boys had gone to sleep.

Wherever she was when Bishop returned we know that she was likely in the front hall when she died. Detectives would later find blood in this area along with the upstairs bedrooms. It’s possible that she put up a fight but it’s more likely that she never saw the hammer coming. Bishop coldly bashed his wife’s brains out and then waited for his next victim to come home.

Lilia happened to be out at the time walking the family dog. Did Bishop time his arrival based on his mother being away? It certainly made it easier for him to kill Annette without causing too much noise and the way he plotted his subsequent actions indicate that the murders were intricately planned. On the other hand it’s possible that he was just improvising the violence he committed certainly doesn’t indicate that he was of sound mind.

Lelia soon came home and met the same fate as her daughter-in-law. Bishop slammed the hammer into his mother’s face repeatedly until she died. The boys were asleep this whole time indicating that Bishop may have killed Lelia after taking the dog elsewhere otherwise its barking would have woken them up. William Jr Brendan and Jeffrey were all in bed when their father walked up the stairs clutching the bloody Hammer that he just put through the skulls of his wife and mother.

The one Comfort we can take from all this is that all three boys were still asleep as Bishop brought the hammer down on them. They died peacefully or so we can hope. What does a man do after committing such an evil act? It’s impossible to imagine but in the case of William Bradford Bishop he acted cooly calmly and completely without emotion.

He took the five corpses and placed them in his car which he then drove nearly 300 miles to North Carolina. The trip would have taken him all night and by the morning of March 2nd Bishop dug his family a shallow grave and in a swamp near the town of Columbia tossed their corpses in covered them with gasoline and set them Ablaze. With the deed now done Bishop was free to make his getaway.

After burying and burning his family’s corpses Bishop headed to Jacksonville where he bought tennis shoes at a local sporting goods store. This is where the story starts to get more mysterious because Witnesses say that Bishop wasn’t alone. He had a dog with him and some say he was accompanied by us so-called darkskinned woman.

The owner of the store John Wheatley stated that the woman looked like she was from somewhere in the Caribbean and that she was wearing an elegant dress. They seemed like a lovely couple to the store owner who described Bishop as polite and calm. Whether he was with this woman or not Bishop’s next stop was the Great Smoky Mountains National Park where his car was found on March 18th.

A witness stated that the car had been there since at least the 5th indicating that Bishop had driven for 2 or 3 hours a day as he slowly made his way to the park. Once there he joined the Sea of hikers walking along the Appalachian Trail and was never seen or heard from again. As Bishop drove to Jacksonville the smoke created by his family’s burning corpses alerted Forest Service workers in the area and Forest ranger Ronald Brickhouse was sent to investigate.

He found the family’s smoldering remains along with a shovel with two corpses reportedly facing each other. Their identity remained a mystery until March 10th when a concerned neighbor phoned Bethesda police and informed them that the Bishops had been absent for quite some time. Police arrived and found the blood on the porch front hall and bedrooms and soon identified The Bishop’s bodies through dental records.

By the time Bishop’s car was found on March 18th he was long gone. Police tried to track his scent along the Appalachian Trail but it was no use he’d always been an athletic man that loved camping Outdoors. These skills ended up helping him get a massive head start. Bishop remains at large to this day with the FBI removing him from their top 10 most wanted list in 2018. He’s presumed to either be dead or hiding in plain sight somewhere in the US. Other sightings have placed him in Switzerland and Italy but none have been confirmed.

No one knows for sure why Bishop did what he did however in 2021 a new revelation in the case confirmed both Bishop’s history of secret extramarital Affairs and the identity of a previous unknown child. Kathy Gilchrist was 18 years old when the bishop family was murdered. In fact she was being crowned the beauty queen of the small Massachusetts town she called home when Bishop was disappearing into the Smoky Mountains.

Why is this relevant to this case? Because she was Bishop’s Daughter. She’d always known she was adopted and she only found out about Bishop when she started digging into her past to discover her biological parents. She was born before any of Bishop’s other children but considering she was born a year before the wedding he was definitely dating Annette at the time.

Not only did this prove that he cheated on Annette multiple times it also showed that he might have had a motive no one expected. Had Annette discovered his illegitimate daughter and confronted him? Is that why Bishop killed her and escaped? And what about this mysterious woman that accompanied him during his escape? The answers to these questions may never come to light so what do you think of this case? Do you believe Bishop was planning the murders all along or was it a spur of the- moment decision and what role did his secret daughter have to play in all of this?

“911 what’s the location of emergency?”

“Broccoli Drive Delmar New York.”

“Okay Broccoli yes you know what’s the problem there?”

“There is a a 55-year-old white male down on the ground we have a court officer on the scene.”

“55y old male yes an armed court officer on the scene he’s on the scene yes?”

“Okay the guy can not show for work today he’s he’s unresponsive he’s unresponsive.”

On November 15th 2004 52-year-old Peter Porco was found dead at the bottom of the stairs of his Delmar New York home after having suffered massive head trauma. His wife Joan Porco was found in the upstairs bedroom her skull severely fractured in an attack that destroyed one of her eyes.

The poros were found by one of Peter’s colleagues who’d come to conduct a wellness check after Peter hadn’t come into to work that day. What he saw that day will probably haunt his dreams for the rest of his life. Who could have committed such a brutal act? That’s what we’re going to unpack today as we dive into the case of Peter Porco and the disfigurement of his wife Joan.

Peter and Joan were the sort of people that represented Middle America at the turn of the Millennium. Both of them were well-respected professionals with Peter working as a clerk in the New York State Appellate Division court and Joan as a children’s speech pathologist. They had two sons Jonathan and Christopher and by all accounts the porcos were the picture of a happy family.

They were also deeply religious with Joan practicing so devoutly that she went to church every single day. Both their sons had an act for academics with Christopher also showing a certain level of charm that his more introverted older brother somewhat lacked. Their home in Delmar was located in a neighborhood where crime was basically unheard of that’s just the kind of place you can afford when you work such good jobs and it’s safe to say that no one could have expected such a violent attack on the couple in their home.

The brutality of the attack is what makes it stand out. As soon as police arrived on the scene they could tell there was something personal behind the attacks. One of the detectives knowing the family members are usually Prime suspects in cases such as this asked Joan who was still barely clinging to life if a relative had done this to her. Joan managed a weak nod.

The detective then asked if this was Jonathan’s doing only for Joan to shake her head but when he asked about Christopher the outgoing popular child the one that seemed to have no trouble making friends Joan nodded indicating that he’ brutalized his parents. If we look deeper into Christopher’s background we’ll start to understand how unsurprising it actually is that he did something like this.

If anyone looked at Christopher back in those days they’d see a real charmer. They’d see someone intelligent and sharp the consummate smooth talker only parts of that impression would be true and not the good parts. Christopher Porco was indeed someone that could talk his way out of anything or at least he saw himself that way and yet he wasn’t intelligent so much as cunning and he wasn’t Charming so much as manipulative.

Porco’s moral compass was weak at best many would say that he lacked one entirely but could he really be responsible for the murder of his own father? First we must understand porco’s past prior to the incident. It’s certainly a checkered one with countless instances of Porco showing a gross lack of moral judgment. For one thing Porco was a pathological liar.

He came from a solid middle class background but this didn’t seem to be enough for him. After enrolling at Rochester University in 2001 he tried to reinvent himself as the scion of an incredibly wealthy family. He claimed that his dad owned properties all across the world from exotic locales like Aruba to the peaceful Woodlands of Vermont. What he wanted more than anything else was to impress other people.

He lived for validation indeed he had a tendency to get violent at times possibly whenever his social status was questioned. This violent streak wasn’t just a one-off either there were plenty of instances where Porco would get uncontrollably angry so much that people worried he might hurt them. On one occasion Porco went so far as to threaten a female classmate saying that he’d kill her.

Another incident saw him try to strangle a fellow student at a party and he might have committed murder then and there if bystanders hadn’t stepped in. Porco’s most obvious quality was his sheer laziness and entitlement. It’s not like he was dumb far from it actually if he applied himself he could have gone far to do great things. Instead he felt like the world owed him something and that he shouldn’t have to work hard to get what he wants.

More than anything else Porco had a strange Detachment from the people around him one could even say that he could be icy at times. His relationship with his brother was strained at best and it seemed like he had an almost transactional relationship with his father or to be more accurate Porco often tried to take financial advantage of his father but that’s something we should get into later. First we have to cover the chilling calm with which he received the news about the attack.

“Hi uh my name is Chris Porco I was just called by the Times Union saying that my parents were found dead this afternoon um I was wondering if you had any information for me?”

“Where about are you?”

“I’m at school in Rochester New York.”

“Okay you’re it’s in Rochester?”

“Yes okay.”

Porco apparently found out about his parents murder on the news and called into the Delmar police station to inquire about it. His tone seemed like that of someone ordering a pizza detached unemotional bored even. It’s like he just found out about some War breaking out in a far off land as if the news didn’t really have any effect on him.

Some might say that he didn’t have any confirmation of the attack just yet only a news report that he was trying to corroborate but most people would have been absolutely distraught if there was any chance that their loved ones had come to harm. Porco was eventually able to get in touch with a detective and called him back at the station After experiencing some reception issues.

“Hi I’m calling back a detective um I don’t remember his name I was him to go come call you back.”

“Okay your name?”

“Chris Porco.”

“Hold on one second than you.”

“Hey Chris.”

“Yeah yeah yeah okay that’s better I don’t have the static anymore um okay so now who’s bringing you down?”

“Uh my Uncle John’s my mother’s brother.”

“What’s his last name?”

“Uh Balzano b a l z n o.”

“Okay is it just the two of you that are going to be coming coming down?”

“As far as I know yes.”

“Okay uh now as far as when was the last thing you said you came down and saw your parents?”

“Uh about three weeks ago it was on a weekend um I can’t give you a date I have to figure it out I’m not really sure.”

“Okay but about 3 weeks ago?”

“Yeah.”

Chris claimed it had been 3 weeks since he’d seen his parents which meant that it would have been impossible for him to be the culprit. Why then had his mother nodded yes when the detective asked if the attack was his doing? That might have something to do with the fraud Christopher had been repeatedly involved in over the past few years.

As we’ve mentioned before Porco liked to be seen as the Big Man on Campus. Of course this required a massive amount of cash to host parties and generally make himself seem like a cool dude. Each round of drinks he paid for bought him some social capital each party he hosted got him in with some fraternity or another. He made gifts to frat brothers to make sure he stayed in their good graces but where’d all this money come from?

At some point in the early 2000s Porco started stealing from his parents. Police investigations revealed that the Porco home had been broken into previously but at least two of these instances were Christopher’s doing. While he was home for Thanksgiving in 2002 Porco staged a Breakin at his family’s residence.

This involved cutting into a window screen and stealing two laptops belonging to his parents which he later sold. When his parents bought replacement laptops Porco staged yet another break-in using the proceeds to fund his lavish University lifestyle. According to the man who would later try to prosecute Porco this staged Breakin was consistent with what police found on the day of Peter porco’s murder.

“So the earlier investigation where Jones laptop was stolen um one of the screen Windows the screen was cut okay and the police thought that that was the means of uh entry to the burglar who stole Jones laptop in investigating the murder the screen in the garage window was cut okay so it was like a commonality like if this was an intruder you know we’ve got the cut screen when an intruder got in one point in Thanksgiving I think it was that’s right before and then the cut screen um in the garage at the time of the homicide…”

But though his parents reported the break-ins to the police they weren’t able to find evidence of any wrongdoing. This essentially fueled porco’s notion that he could do whatever he wanted without having to face any consequences. Of course he couldn’t fund his lifestyle through petty theft alone he also had a part-time job at a Veterinary Clinic but this turned out to be just another notch Porco added to his burglary belt.

The clinic opened up one day to find several electronics and other valuables missing. Porco sold them all on eBay and was never caught for his actions. When he ran out of things to steal Porco turned to online scams. He’d put items up on eBay and when they were sold he’d call the buyer pretending to be his brother and claimed that Christopher Porco was dead. E-commerce was still in its early stages and so people had very few options to verify what happened or even to recoup their money.

All in all Porco was able to maintain an impressive cash flow throughout much of his university tenure. He was able to maintain the appearance of being an upper class socialite and partied harder than possibly anyone else at college but that also meant that he had very little time to do any actual studying. In 2003 Porco was expelled from Rochester University due to his poor grades.

His parents were disappointed but they still wanted to support their son so they helped him enroll at Hudson Community College and came up with a plan to get him back on track. Unfortunately there was just no helping Christopher Porco. He continued skipping classes and ended the semester with absolutely terrible grades. In March of 2004 Porco claimed that he’d been working real hard and deserved a break and successfully convinced his parents to pay for a trip to London.

During this trip Porco received an email from his mother with the subject line failing grades you did it again. In this email Joan talked about how her son needed to explain himself after failing his classes at Community College. Porco responded to this by saying that there’d simply been a mixup and that the lowest grade he got was a bee. He claimed that there was nothing to worry about and that he’d be back at Rochester in no time.

This involved even more forgery from Porco. He created fake transcripts that showed him getting A’s and B’s across the board and showed them to his parents. These forgeries were so accurate that they even allowed him to get back into Rochester but there was still the matter of paying his tuition. Now Porco claimed that a professor had misplaced his final exam which had made his final grade seem much lower than it actually was.

He also said that the University was waving his semester fee due to this mishap but since nothing of the sort had happened Porco decided to apply for a loan under his father’s name. His dad knew about the loan but he thought his son just needed $2,000 for some textbooks. Imagine his surprise when he found out that the loan was actually for a whopping $31,000 and that’s not all Porco had apparently used his father’s financial information to secure an additional loan of $16,000 just for his personal use.

And what did Porco do with all this money? While he did pay his University tuition the amount he’d received was way more than what he needed and he used the excess cash to buy himself a yellow Jeep Wrangler. Once Peter found out about this he sent a furious email to his son threatening legal action. Loans of this amount under Peter’s name would affect his credit rating and just cause a lot of other problems besides.

Joan sent an email as well though this one expressed concern for her son’s mental state and told him that she still loved him despite how disappointed she was. Porco ignored both emails. He knew that something needed to be done. The mask was fully off and Porco felt it was time for some drastic measures.

Police reports and later investigations paint a pretty clear picture of what Porco did on November 15th. He left college at around 10:36 the previous night which can be proven by the tolls he paid along the way. He made the 200m drive to his parents residence and he arrived at around 2:00 a.m. At 2:14 he disabled the alarm after using his key to unlock the front door.

He then picks up an axe from the garage goes up to his parents’ bedroom and starts hacking away at them. Peter was struck 16 times in the head with blows so severe that they cracked straight through his skull. Joan had defensive wounds indicating that she’d been awake during the attack. Both Peter and Joan were found with their jaws partially detached by the attack with the blows severing the ligaments and tendons holding them together.

One of Joan’s eyes was also split in half with the other being slightly damaged as well. Over the next two hours Porco cleaned himself up and tried to make the attack seem like a random break-in. He smashed the alarm system and cut the phone lines although the alarm system records had already registered him putting the code in hours prior. Shortly after 5:00 a.m. porco’s yellow jeep was seen driving towards his university and at 8:30 he was spotted jogging on campus. It’s likely that he’d gone for a jog so that he could have an alibi for later.

Back at Peter and Joan’s residence their bodies lay covered in blood and gore on their beds but the absolutely shocking thing was that neither of them were dead yet. Joan was barely conscious but when Peter’s alarm rang he actually got up and turned it off. It seemed like he still retained some basic motor functions and followed his morning routine as if nothing happened.

Blood and brain matter was found in the bathroom indicating that Peter had gone there and possibly even seen himself in the mirror but his damaged brain couldn’t register what it was looking at. Peter even tried to clean the blood that dripped into the sink unaware of what it was or where it came from.

He then went on to prepare lunch and even tried to load the dishwasher. In a heartbreaking show of his continued affection for his son he even wrote a check out to Christopher possibly because supporting his son was always at the Forefront of his mind. Eventually the massive blood loss took its toll and Peter collapsed at the foot of the stairs.

His colleague later phoned the incident in and an investigation ensued all the while Christopher Porco waited at College assuming that he’d once again gotten away with it. Porco clearly thought that he was too smart for the police but they were able to track his movements through CCTV footage. He claimed that he’d been asleep on the dorm room couch that night but it turned out that a group of students had been there effectively canceling out his Alibi.

“We were lucky enough that Chris told that same story to everybody not just the police he told it to his uncle when his uncle came to pick him up ‘I slept in the lounge all night’ he told to all his friends he repeatedly told people at the hospital um you know ‘where were you Chris?’ ‘I was at school I was sleeping in the lounge all night’ and we you know while Chris was being interviewed there were people at there were there were Delmar police at the school interviewing people in the dorm who all said unluckily for Chris they all for some reason that Sunday night sat up watching a movie in the lounge a whole group of kids Shrek 2 I remember the name of the movie and they all said Porco wasn’t here Porco was not in the lounge…”

He had given up his bed right to his fraternity president who was visiting. No one saw Porco in the dorm lounge that night even though a huge group of students had been watching a movie there. This wasn’t the only piece of circumstantial evidence against Porco either his car had been spotted going to and from his parents’ residence the security log indicated that whoever entered the home knew the passcode and there was also the fact that Porco would have received $1.1 million from his parents insurance payout.

When police gathered evidence Joan woke up at the hospital and didn’t look anything like her former herself but she was alive and looked surprisingly good for someone that had nearly been butchered with an axe. The most surprising thing of all was that she recanted her accusation against her son. She claimed to have no memory of what happened and said that her son would never harm her.

A year after Peter’s murder Christopher was arrested and charged with second-degree homicide and attempted murder. His ANC bail was set at $250,000 which was mostly paid by his mother. While he was out on bail Joan even threw him a birthday party to show her support for him. When it came time for him to go to court she was right there with him her arm in his still refusing to believe that her son was the one that attacked her.

The jury eventually disregarded her implication of her son because she may have been too traumatized to fully understand what had happened. Despite this the rest of the evidence was more than enough.

“Count one murdered in the second grade what’s your verdict?”

“Guilty.”

Porco was sentenced to 50 years for each count and he’ll be eligible for parole in 2052 by which point he’ll be 69 years old. Porco maintains his innocence to this day.

“Mean I’ll ask you the obvious question again Chris did you do this crime?”

“I didn’t I had nothing to do with this um I’ve said that from day one and that’s the truth.”

So what do you think of this case? How does Christopher porco’s Story make you feel about trust and betrayal within families? What are your thoughts on the motives evidence and the devastating impact on those involved? We’d love to hear your perspective in the comments below.