Tabla de contenidos para Issue 69 en Crime Monthly

In the news Last month saw the end of a seven-year wait for justice following a brutal gang murder committed in April 2017. In a case that sent shockwaves through the community of Long Island, four innocent young men died in a plot orchestrated by a remorseless female gang member dubbed ‘La Diablita' – or Little Devil – who was just seventeen years old at the time of the massacre. But the plan had not been a complete success for La Diablita, real name Leniz Escobar, who had intended to lure five men to a grisly fate in Islip Park, New York. One – Elmer Alexander Arteaga Ruiz, now 23 – managed to escape. He would go on to play a key role in providing evidence at the four-week trial,…

CULTS EXPOSED Earlier this month, Apollo Quiboloy was transported from his detention cell at Camp Crame, Manila's national police headquarters, to be questioned by the Philippine Senate, who demanded that the self-styled religious figure answer for his alleged sex crimes against women and children at a formal inquiry. The public hearing was the firsttime Quiboloy had faced accusations made by some of his former Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KOJC) churchmembers. One of the most horrifying allegations is that children were prevented from attending school while being groomed for sex with the self-appointed 'Son of God'. In November 2021, charges were filed and arrest warrants issued in both the USA and Philippines against Quiboloy for the sex trafficking of children, fraud, coercion, and bulk cash smuggling. The severity of the accusations…

THE BIG READ A week before quietly crawling onto the sloped rooftop from which he took aim at thenformer US President Donald Trump in July 2024, Thomas Matthew Crooks had allegedly searched for details about the assassination of John F. Kennedy in Dallas 61 years earlier. ‘How far was Oswald from Kennedy? the 20 year old typed seven days before he pulled the trigger of his semi-automatic rifle at least eight times, only narrowly failing to bring Trump's divisive bid to become Commander-in-Chief for the second time to a bloody and abrupt end. Twenty-six seconds after Crooks unleashed the first shot at the Trump election rally in the small town of Butler in Pennsylvania, he was dead, gunned down by a Secret Service sniper. His death immediately created fertile ground…

Nancy Titterton had long held ambitions to become a published author, and she had one subject that interested her above all else – murder mysteries. She was so enamoured with whodunnits, she would eventually establish her own crime publishing company, Crime Club Inc. But on 10 April 1936, in a cruel twist of fate. Nancy would be at the centre of her own murder mystery. HORROR DISCOVERY At approximately midday that day, Theodore Kruger and John Fiorenza attempted to deliver a sofa to Nancy, who – along with her husband Lewis – occupied a sprawling apartment in the Beekman Place building in a fashionable area of Manhattan. They were able to afford this lavish lifestyle due to Lewis' lucrative job as an executive at NBC. The couple met when they…

In the news When Richard Allen was arrested in October 2022, it stunned many who had followed the unsolved case of Abigail Williams and Liberty German. The teenagers disappeared while hiking on the Monon High Bridge trail in Delphi. Indiana, on 13 February 2017, and their bodies were found in a wooded area nearby the next day. Despite extensive investigations, the murders had gone unsolved for five years, and hope was dwindling that their families would ever get answers. Local resident Allen, 52, had come forward at the time to say he had been in the area on the day the girls were killed, but it was only when investigators linked him to an unspent bullet found at the crime scene that he became their prime suspect. On 11 November,…

In the news When the shocking police bodycam footage of Nathaniel Huey Jr's car engulfed in flames was broadcast across all the US news channels on 20 September 2023, it marked the end of a nationwide manhunt for the prime suspect in a quadruple murder. The intense car chase that had preceded the crash had been filmed via aerial drone, as authorities attempted to apprehend the man who would go on to shoot his fiancée Ermalinda Palomo in what's thought to have been a murder-suicide. Huey Jr's first victims – Zoraida Bartolomei, her husband Alberto Rolon, and their two young sons, Adriel, 10, and Diego, seven – had been killed in their suburban home in Romeoville, Chicago, on 17 September, along with their three dogs. Authorities discovered the slain family,…

In August 2023, after a nine-month trial, former neonatal nurse Lucy Letby, 34, was found guilty of murdering seven babies, and attempting to murder six others, duringher time working at the Countess of Chester Hospital in England. In July 2024, following a retrial, she was found guilty of attempting to murder another baby. The guilty verdicts made Letby the most prolific serial killer of children in modern British history, and she is serving 15 whole-life sentences, meaning she will spend the rest of her life behind bars. Lastmonth, Letby appealed against that final conviction on the grounds that she hadn't received a fair trial. Benjamin Myers KC said Letby had been the victim of 'highly prejudicial and emotive comments' made by police and media before the criminal proceedings for Child…

She once dreamed of fame and stardom, but Paulina Lereh's glittering future was cruelly cut short three months ago. The 33 year old, who appeared on Polish show Top Model twice, was found dead at home on 1 September, confrming her family's fears for her wellbeing when they couldn't get in touch with her for over a week. When authorities entered the property near Poznań City, Poland, they found the body of Paulina's husband Sławomir, 47, next to her, along with a revolver. The house was locked from the inside, leading police to suspect a murder-suicide. Sławomir had recently been released from custody after he was arrested with 30 other suspects in May, when 60kg of drugs were found stashed in a warehouse. However, an autopsy later revealed that neither…

CRIME screen CRIME + INVESTIGATION, FROM 9 DECEMBER This new six-part docuseries examines some of the most shocking murders from the US and UK. In a bid to keep the format of exploring the deeds of serial killers and remorseless murderers fresh, the series has tried to focus on those who – despite their crimes – may have at first seemed unassuming. Each episode focuses on a different murderer, and those covered include Dorothea Puente, who ran a California boarding house in the 1980s and became infamous for killing elderly and mentally impaired tenants and cashing their social security cheques. Other cases featured include that of Teeside killer Billy Dunlop, who was tried twice for strangling 22-year-old Julie Hogg; Freeway Killer Patrick Kearney; and triple murderer Phillip Austin. Each episode…

CRIME NEWS TOP STORIES FROM AROUND THE GLOBE Three people have been charged in connection with the shock death of Liam Payne, 31, who fell from a third-floor hotel balcony in Buenos Aires on 16 October. It was reported that the Argentine prosecutor's office had filed charges after ‘illicit conduct was discovered, from which three people were charged with the crimes of abandonment of a person followed by death, and supply and facilitation of narcotics.' They confirmed that the people involved were ‘the person who accompanied the artist on a daily basis during his stay in the city of Buenos Aires', a hotel employee who allegedly supplied cocaine, and a ‘known drug dealer'. The postmortem and toxicology tests found the former One Direction singer had ingested a number of substances,…

In the news Last month, Gisèle Pelicot again took to the stand in Avignon, southern France, to testify against husband Dominique Pelicot, and the 50 other men captured on video raping her while she was unconscious. Facing down dozens of her attackers, Gisèle talked about the events leading up to the assaults, saying, ‘Often when there's a football match on TV, I'd let my husband watch it alone. He'd bring my ice cream to bed and I'd think, “How lucky I am”.' She added, ‘I never felt my heart flutter, I didn't feel anything – I must have gone under very quickly. I would wake up with my pyjamas on. Those mornings, I must have been more tired than usual, but I walk a lot and thought it was that.'…

On September 2018, off-duty police officer Amber Guyger finished her shift and drove home to the South Side Flats complex in Dallas. But finding the door to her apartment ajar, she looked into see a man 'in silhouette' inside. Drawingher service weapon, she shot the perceived intruder – before realising she was in the wrong flat and the person she'd just shot, Botham Jean, had been eating ice cream in his own home. THE CRIME At trial, the jury heard that Guyger arrived home at around 10pm on 6 September 2018, and mistakenly parked her vehicle on the floor above the one she lived on. She alleged that, without realising her error, she walked down the corridor and saw 'her' apartment door was slightly open. Assuming someone had broken in,…

Born in Nebraska in 1942, William Leslie Arnold was the eldest son of William Arnold, a successful businessman and Opal Arnold, a homemaker. Known as Leslie, he had a younger brother, Jimmy, who was born three years after him and, as a family, they were the picture of post-war prosperity. Owning a flourishing business and two cars, they lived comfortably in a respectable neighbourhood in Omaha. Friends and family would later remark that, unlike his younger brother, Arnold always seemed highly strung and had a volatile temper. But he'd carved out many outlets for his frustrations and one of those was through music. During his high-sehool years, his gift for playing instruments emerged and he played the saxophone in the school band. Yet, while he was performing well academically, the…