Table of contents for Issue 76 in Crime Monthly

A British man has walked free after spending nearly four decades behind bars for a crime he did not commit. Peter Sullivan, now 68, was 30 when he was convicted of murdering Diane Sindall, a 21-year-old florist found dead after leaving work in Birkenhead on 1 August 1986. Branded the ‘Beast of Birkenhead’ by the press, Peter was sentenced to life in prison in 1987. He claimed his confession had been coerced during police inter view, but was repeatedly denied parole due to his refusal to accept guilt. That changed last month, when the Court of Appeal overturned his conviction after new DNA evidence identified an unknown male suspect. Delivering the judgment, Lord Justice Holroyde said, ‘Strong though the circumstantial evidence seemed at the trial, it is now necessary to…

An Alabama school cafeteria worker has been fired from her job and criminally charged, following allegations of a sexual relationship with a male student. Amy Nicole Wigginton, 41, was employed at Lauderdale County High School in Rogersville when authorities say she admitted to two sexual encounters with a student under the age of 19. According to police reports, the alleged incidents took place at her home on 7 March and 31 March 2025, during which time she was supposed to be working. Wigginton, who is married and has three children, was arrested on 4 April, and charged with two felony counts under a state law that prohibits school employees from engaging in sexual conduct with students even if they are above the age of consent, which is 16 in the…

In March this year, staff and pupils at St Joseph’s Catholic Comprehensive School in Port Talbot, Wales, witnessed a moment that would shatter their sense of safety when their headteacher launched a violent attack on his own deputy in his office with a wrench. The man behind the assault, 54-yearold Anthony Felton, had led the school for several years, but behind the polished exterior, his personal life was something of a mess. Things came to a head on the morning of 5 March, when Felton entered the office of his colleague Richard Pyke, and struck him from behind in what the prosecution would later describe as a ‘calculated and premeditated act’. The attack was caught on the school’s CCTV system, and showed Richard, 51, sitting at his desk when Felton…

Luigi Mangione, the Ivy League graduate accused of assassinating CEO Brian Thompson, stood in a Manhattan federal courtroom last month and pleaded not guilty. It set the stage for a fierce legal showdown, as prosecutors are seeking the death penalty – a move almost unheard of in New York federal courts for decades. Mangione, 26, faces charges of murder through use of a firearm, stalking, and multiple firearms violations. Authorities allege he ambushed the UnitedHealthcare CEO outside the New York Hilton Midtown on 4 December 2024, where the executive was attending an investor conference. According to prosecutors, Mangione was armed with a 9mm ‘ghost gun’ – a potentially untraceable weapon assembled at home – and fired multiple rounds before fleeing the scene. After a five-day manhunt that made national headlines,…

Despite being shot three times in the head, Melinda Lee Mercer did not die instantly. The body of the waitress was found in a field outside the town of Tacoma in December 1997, just 24 hours after she had gone missing. The detectives who descended on the grisly scene were shocked – not only by the victim’s gunshot wounds, but the four plastic shopping bags that had been forced over her head. An autopsy confirmed Melinda, 24, had died of the trauma caused by the bullets rather than suffocation, but it also chillingly revealed she had fragments of plastic in her throat. Before succumbing to her multiple injuries, she had desperately tried to chew through the bags. Police found a single spent shell from a semi-automatic 0.25 revolver at the…

When health campaigner Jen Moore posted online about having a hysterectomy following years of agonising gynaecological issues, she could never have anticipated the vitriol she’d be subjected to. As well as numerous references to her weight, the messages and comments in response to her video also included terrifying threats. ‘I was distraught,’ she recalls. ‘The post was created on the year anniversary of my surgery and I was already feeling vulnerable. I’d revealed that the operation had unexpected side-effects and that I’d felt a lot of guilt towards my husband, Chris. He was trying hard to reassure me, saying, “Please listen to me and not these anonymous strangers who don’t know you.” But in the back of my head, I was like, “What if they’re right?” It was awful.’ ANONYMITY…

A $50 million dollar estate, an elderly family patriarch found dead in his bed, a woman mysteriously vanishing on a fishing boat, and all fingers pointing at one young man at the centre of it all. It sounds like the beginning of a crime novel, yet it’s the true story of betrayal, accusations and greed that tore one Connecticut family apart. GOLDEN CHILD Nathan Carman was born into wealth, the only son of Earle Clark and Linda Carman. Nathan was diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome during his adolescence, and was described by those closest to him as ‘angry, wayward and unpredictable’. According to his father, Nathan was bullied during his school years, and suffered ‘anguish’ during this difficult period of his early life. His parents’ separation in 1998 further compounded what…

On 15 September 2023, 35-yearold Virginia ‘Ginny’ McCullough was arrested at her home in Great Baddow, Essex, and charged with murdering her elderly parents. She poisoned her dad with prescription medication and bludgeoned her mum with a hammer, before stabbing her multiple times. McCullough concealed the bodies at their home and, over the next four years, she maintained the illusion that her parents were alive, using their finances to fund a lavish lifestyle. She fabricated stories about their whereabouts as she used their bank cards for personal expenses, accumulating nearly £150,000 in debts and gambling losses. The deception unravelled in September 2023, when a concerned GP alerted authorities about the couple’s prolonged absence. This documentary explores the troubling case, aiming to provide a unique insight into the possible motivations.…

Steven Gress had not long been released from prison when he used a popular dating app to make contact with Miranda Corsette. Miranda was just 16 years old – and answering that message set her on a path that would ultimately lead to her death. The case against Gress, 35, and his girlfriend Michelle Brandes alleges that they not only killed Miranda together, but also kept her captive for 10 days prior. And according to an affidavit – by their own admission – the pair relentlessly tortured the youngster over those days, beating her so badly that her face was swollen beyond recognition. Evidence of that torture was not only allegedly recorded by Gress, he is said to have then distributed the images to friends – even sending it to…

Back in 2022, Jacqueline Ma was named one of the Teachers of the Year in San Diego. The sixth-grade educator was beloved by students, parents and staff alike at Lincoln Acres Elementary School – and no one had any idea of the double life she was leading. Last month, Ma was sentenced to 30 years to life behind bars after being found guilty of sexually abusing two former students. Ma was first arrested in March 2023, after the mother of one of the boys contacted authorities to allege the teacher had swapped explicit videos and messages with her son. The court would later hear that Ma had sexually assaulted the 11 year old in 2020, after showering him with ‘gifts, food and special attention’. Her second victim was also just…

It began with something strange in the woods. On 6 March 2025, a man out hunting in forest near Plymouth, Massachusetts, came across a skull. He was could see it wasn’t animal – there was no mistaking the human curve of it, even sunken in soil. Police were called, and the quiet woods turned into a potential crime scene. Just hours later, across state lines in Connecticut, another body was found. The woman was identified as 35-year-old Paige Fannon. Her body was pulled from the Norwalk River, with no clear sign of what had happened to her, and her belongings left on the riverbank. She had been reported missing in New York the day before her body was recovered by scuba divers, after she was spotted in the local area.…

Ervil LeBaron had long held ambitions to become a ‘chosen one’ and lead his followers to salvation through what he termed ‘blood atonement’. Yet, in order to position himself as all-powerful, he would need to get rid of anyone who stood in his way. The self-styled prophet’s lust for power would see him dubbed the ‘Mormon Manson’ and set in motion a reign of murderous terror that carried on long after his death. FAMILY SPLIT The LeBaron family were deeply rooted in the church of Latter Day Saints, as Ervil’s father Alma had been one of the original followers. At the heart of its fundamentalist teachings at the beginning was the practice of polygamy, where followers of the church took multiple wives, each birthing children and growing vast family units.…

In August 2023, police were called to a quiet neighbourhood home in Anaheim Hills, California, after receiving a desperate call from 22-year-old Phillip Ferguson about a domestic dispute. Inside, they found a distraught Phillip trying to resuscitate his mother Sheryl, who had suffered a gunshot wound to the chest. His father Jeffrey – a long-serving Orange County judge – seemed to be in shock and would go on to confess to the fatal shooting. What followed would unravel a family and end in a dramatic courtroom reckoning, before sentencing this month. THE VICTIM Sheryl Ferguson, 65, was a retired probation officer, who’d worked with the Santa Barbara and Orange County probation departments. Known for her warmth, intelligence and dedication, she was deeply committed to her family. Sheryl and Jeffrey had…

It was a diplomatic row sparked, not for the first time, by an inflammatory tweet from Donald Trump midway through his first presidency that thrust South Africa’s rural murder crisis into international headlines. The US President condemned what he described as the ‘large-scale killings’ of farmers in the country. The comment was controversial, not least because it echoed a narrative popular in far-right circles -that white farmers are being deliberately targeted as part of a ‘genocide’ aimed at eradicating the Afrikaner population. The tweet had been prompted by a Fox News interview with Afrikaner nationalist Ernst Roets, whose book Kill The Boer alleges that the South African government is complicit in an ‘ethnic cleansing’ of whites. In response, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa called Trump’s remarks ‘clearly misinformed’, stating, ‘There…

This one-off film from Succession writer Jesse Armstrong is set in a lavish mountainside retreat, where four tech billionaires who are – in theory at least – friends, gather for one of their regular poker-based get-togethers. But this time, it’s taking place against a backdrop of global unrest, seemingly sparked by the AI and deep-fake tech these dudes have created. The less you know about what ensues the better, because the story goes off in wild directions, but the cast includes Steve Carell and Jason Schwartzman.…

It was clearly murder, and a horrific one at that, police at the crime scene agreed. The body lay in the road of an upscale suburb of Boston. He had no shirt, socks or shoes on, just jeans. There was trauma to his head, his face so damaged, it was doubtful even a relative could identify him. There were cuts, bruises and road burn marks on his body. His legs were broken. Initial theories were that he’d been shot – bolstered by neighbours reporting a loud bang that evening – then run over by a car. Or that he’d been dragged by a vehicle to his death. It was November 2010, and five female college students were at the scene when police arrived. They told officers they’d spotted the body…

A retrial has been scheduled for Yostin Andres Mosquera, the Colombian national accused of murdering two men and disposing of their remains in suitcases. Mosquera, 34, is charged with killing Albert Alfonso, 62, and Paul Long worth, 71, in July 2024, after their dismembered bodies were found inside cases left near Bristol’s Clifton Suspension Bridge. Mosquera, who was arrested shortly after, subsequently admitted to the manslaughter of Albert, but denied murdering Paul – a plea the Crown rejected. Prosecutors allege that Mosquera killed both men at a London flat, froze and dismembered the bodies, and attempted to access their bank accounts before dumping their remains. The original trial was halted last month due to issues with evidence, and a retrial is now set for 30 June 2025.…

A California man has been sentenced to 73 years to life in prison after murdering a woman he met on a dating app, then sparking a deadly wildfire in an attempt to cover his tracks. Victor Serriteno, 33, pleaded no contest to the murder of Priscilla Castro, 32, who he lured to his Vacaville home in August 2020. After killing her, he transported her body to a remote area near Lake Berryessa and set it on fire to destroy evidence. The blaze grew out of control, triggering the Markley Fire, which later merged with others to form the ‘LNU Lightning Complex’, one of the largest wildfires in California history. The fire destroyed hundreds of homes, and led to the deaths of residents Douglas Mai, 82, and Leon Bone, 64. Priscilla’s…

Benedetto Ceraulo, the hitman convicted of the murder of fashion heir Maurizio Gucci, has died after allegedly shooting his son and then turning the gun on himself during a domestic dispute. According to Italian media, Ceraulo, 63, shot his 37-year-old son Gaetano in the face with a small-calibre pistol at his home in Santa Maria a Monte, Tuscany, possibly over a scratch on Ceraulo’s car. Despite his injuries, Gaetano managed to escape and raise the alarm. Ceraulo then shot himself and was hospitalised in critical condition at Cisanello Hospital in Pisa. He died a week later from his injuries. Ceraulo, a former pizzeria owner, was reportedly paid around $300,000 to murder fashion mogul Gucci outside his Milan office, orchestrated by Gucci’s ex-wife Patrizia Reggiani. Ceraulo was sentenced to life in…

On a rainy winter night in Cardiff 1988, a 20-yearold woman’s life was brutally taken from her. Her name was Lynette White, and she was stabbed more than 50 times in the heart, chest and throat. She died alone in a cold, dark flat in the infamous Tiger Bay area. One of the tragedies of this terrible crime was that Lynette’s murder was overshadowed by a shameful miscarriage of justice involving five innocent men. Award-winning reporter and documentary creator Ceri Jackson has long fought to air the truth about what happened, telling us, ‘There has been a strenuous, concerted effort to sweep it under the rug. The stigma is an insidious thing. People continue to believe the lies. It doesn’t go away.’ One of those accused men, John Actie, tells…

Joshua Hunsucker lived the American dream. He loved his job as a flight paramedic, and had a beautiful wife Stacy, who was a stay-at-home mum to the couple’s daughters, Piper and Willow. Friends and neighbours described the family as ‘wonderful people’, but now, Hunsucker is behind bars facing a raft of charges – including the alleged murder of his wife, attempted poisoning of one of his daughters, making false police reports and fraud. TRAGEDY On 23 September 2018, Hunsucker made a frantic 911 call. He had, he claimed, found his wife of a decade unconscious at their home in North Carolina. When the ambulance arrived, they pronounced Stacy, 32, dead from a suspected heart attack. It was a devastating loss, but it wasn’t the first time Stacy’s health had been…

Rose Brady was one of Baltimore’s finest. The first female Sergeant to supervise in Baltimore County’s homicide department and its Special Victims Unit, she solved at least 86 cold cases during her 40-year career, put multiple serial predators behind bars, and brought justice to victims and survivors, many of whom were left traumatised for years as a result of their attacks. But when Rose, now 67, joined the SVU in 2004, after nine years in homicide, she soon realised she faced an uphill struggle. Rape and sexual attacks were a huge problem. She was faced with a heap of cold case files, and with around 150 to 200 new rapes reported every year, the pile just kept growing. At the time, attackers in stranger rapes were not getting caught, often…

Employees are equally at risk as the land owners. In 2020, farm manager Brendin Horner came to the aid of his boss during an attack at De Rots Farm in Free State, but paid the ultimate price for his loyalty. The 21 year old was hacked to death and his body discovered in a clearing. His killers had tied him to a pole with a rope around his neck. ‘This was a clear message to all farmers,’ said Dr Jaco De Villiers, an agricultural strategist. ‘How do you murder someone and hang him on a pole for everyone to see? It’s a war against food production.’ Another worker to fall victim to the wave of violence was Andries Jacobs in 2022. The 39-year-old farm foreman from the Northern Cape stepped…

Countdown PRIME VIDEO, FROM 25 JUNE Screenwriter Derek Haas’ addictive shows in his Chicago franchise have earned him a lucrative deal with Prime Video, and this 13-episode series is the first result. It stars Jensen Ackles as LAPD officer Mark Meachum, who is recruited to a covert task force of elite officers investigating a shocking murder. As conspiracies unravel, tensions rise and loyalties are tested. If you’ve enjoyed any of Haas’ other shows, you’ll know there will be plenty of enjoyable action and credulity-testing plot twists. Jordan Rix The Survivors NETFLIX,FROM 6 JUNE Based on a bestselling novel, this Australian six-part whodunnit is set in the small seaside town of Evelyn Bay, where the tight-knit Tasmanian community know everything about everyone. The life of Kieran Elliott (Charlie Vickers) changed forever…

Based on the bestselling 2019 book by Alafair Burke, this eight-part thriller stars Jessica Biel (The Sinner) as Chloe Tayler, a famous media executive who edits a popular online magazine for women. She lives in Manhattan with her hunky lawyer husband Adam (Corey Stoll from Billions) and their teenage son Ethan (Maxwell Acee Donovan). One night, after the launch of a big project, Chloe goes back to their other home in the Hamptons, only to find Adam stabbed to death.…

This month marks eight years since 72 people lost their lives in the fire that engulfed Grenfell Tower. Caused by a suspected electrical fault in a fridge, the blaze ripped through the building at a ferocious pace, trapping those on the upper floors within minutes, thanks to the recently installed cladding. The disaster prompted a national outcry, a public inquiry, and ongoing criminal investigations – none of which have yet yielded charges. This one-off 90-minute documentary aims to ‘painstakingly connect the long and disturbing chain of events’ that led to the completely avoidable tragedy. The official report did not explicitly use the word ‘corruption’, but it did highlight multiple instances of dishonesty, greed and incompetence. Hopefully, this documentary will give the victims some momentum in their too-slow push for justice.…