Tabla de contenidos para Issue 75 en Crime Monthly

Welcome to the May issue. This month, a woman may have been stalked to death by a former school friend, while a respected doctor stands accused of trying to kill his wife on a couples’ holiday. We also look at the case of a YouTuber who abused her kids, and the cult linked to six violent deaths. Plus, we speak to the journalist taking on Death Row, and much more. There’s also our usual round-up of all the latest crime TV, books and podcasts. As ever, email us at Crimemonthly@bauermedia.co.uk. See you next month.…

Rick Thorburn, who was convicted of murdering foster child Tiahleigh Palmer, has been found dead in prison. Thorburn, 64, was serving life at Woodford Correctional Centre, north of Brisbane, when he was discovered last month. Authorities believe he died by suicide, though investigations were still ongoing. Tiahleigh, 12, went missing on 29 October 2015, sparking a huge investigation. The Thorburns told police the youngster vanished on her way to school, and her body was found six days later near the Pimpama River, on Queensland’s Gold Coast. Suspicious of inconsistencies in their statements, police placed listening devices in the family’s home, and evidence led to Thorburn’s arrest and eventual conviction in 2018. During an inquest, Thorburn claimed the death was accidental, saying he placed an arm around Tiahleigh’s neck to stop…

When Esther Ghey received a text from her 16-year-old daughter Brianna in February 2023, saying she was on the bus by herself for the first time, Esther replied to let her know how proud she was. But the message never showed any blue ticks, and Esther has no idea if her daughter ever saw it. Soon after, Brianna, who was transgender, was brutally murdered in a Warrington park by her friend Scarlett Jenkinson, then 15, and a boy she had never met, Eddie Ratcliffe, also 15. Now, two years on, Esther is turning her trauma into something transformative, campaigning for real change to reduce violent crime in schools and improve the mental wellbeing of young people. In the powerful and moving documentary Brianna: A Mother’s Story, Esther, 38, says, ‘I…

On 13 January 1999, 18-year-old Hae Min Lee left her Baltimore high school and was never seen alive again. Her body was found a month later, buried in a shallow grave in Leakin Park. Soon, police turned their attention to her ex-boyfriend, Adnan Syed, then 17. The two had kept their relationship secret from their conservative families and, following a tip-off, Adnan was arrested for murder. He would spend over two decades behind bars in a case that only came to a conclusion in March this year. THE VICTIM Hae Min was a bright, gifted athlete and honour student at Woodlawn High School. Described as ‘fun, strong-willed, and ambitious’, she had plans to study medicine and dreamed of becoming an optometrist. When her body was found on 9 February 1999,…

IMPORTANT DRAMA SUSPECT: THE SHOOTING OF JEAN CHARLES DE MENEZES DISNEY+, STREAMING NOW It’s 20 years since one of the most horrendous errors in British policing history occurred. A young Brazilian electrician called Jean Charles de Menezes was shot seven times in the head at point blank range on a London Tube train by Metropolitan Police officers, who mistakenly suspected him of being a suicide bomber. Now, this riveting four-part series dramatises the events surrounding this tragedy, exploring how and why an innocent man was mistakenly suspected of being a terrorist. It also examines what happened after his death, as well as showing the backdrop of a city reeling from the suicide bombings of 7 July 2005. THE BACKDROP The creators of this series – writer/exec producer Jeff Pope (Philomena),…

The House Of Burning Bones STUART MACBRIDE (MACMILLAN, £22) Aberdeen’s NE Division is buckling under the pressure of sickness, riots, and a deadly firebombing. DI Logan McRae is already outmatched when a brutal murder drops on his desk. But this case burns hotter than he expected. Incendiary. The Man Made Of Smoke ALEX NORTH (PENGUIN MICHAEL JOSEPH, £18.99) Years ago, Dan witnessed a crime and a serial killer got away. Now, he’s a criminal psychiatrist used to working with evil. But as he senses the past creeping back, he starts to wonder if the killer has been watching all along. Terrifying. The Quiet BARNABY MARTIN (MACMILLAN, £16.99) In a dystopian world, a sinister barrier called the Soundfield affects the population. As scientists race to find out what it is, one…

Lori Vallow Daybell, 49, is back in court - this time over the death of former husband Charles Vallow - and she has claimed his killing was an act of ‘self-defence’. Charles was shot by Vallow’s brother, Alex Cox, in July 2019. Prosecutors allege the pair conspired to kill him in order to collect his $1million life insurance payout. At the time, Charles had warned authorities Vallow was threatening his life and spiralling into ‘doomsday delusions’. Vallow, who is representing herself, claimed Charles became abusive while picking up children Tylee and JJ. She alleges Tylee tried to defend her with a baseball bat, which Charles grabbed and used to threaten her, prompting Alex to shoot. Vallow has pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to commit murder. She is already serving life…

On 16 February this year, alleged cult leader Jack LaSota and two of his followers were arrested. LaSota, 34, along with Daniel Blank, 26, and Michelle Zajko, 32 – members of a fringe group known as the Zizians – were taken into custody in Maryland, and charged with obstruction, trespassing and firearms crimes. But the group is also being investigated for multiple atrocities, including links to six murders across three different US states. The trio are all being held without bail, and the arrests may at last signal the end of the group’s alleged reign of terror linked to its radical belief system. DISILLUSIONED In 2016, after completing a degree in computer science, Alaskan LaSota – who identifies as non-binary – was reportedly desperate to break into the competitive San…

With The Thursday Murder Club becoming a film directed by Steven Spielberg and the global success of Slow Horses, crime writing is more popular than ever. It’s a genre always hungry for fresh talent, so we teamed up with Orion Fiction and A.M. Heath literary agency to launch Criminal Lines, the crime writing prize that finds the best unpublished new voices. We received hundreds of entries this year, all vying for the prize of £3.5k, agency representation, and the chance to be read by the editors at Orion. It was a huge task to whittle down the entries, but with the help of bestselling authors Trevor Wood and Nadine Matheson, we unanimously chose our winner… WINNER LITTLE CREATURES BY JON BARTON The synopsis reads, ‘A chronicle of love and exile…

French police now believe they are investigating a murder in the case of missing toddler Émile Soleil - and the inquiry has been formally reclassified as a homicide investigation. The two year old was last seen outside his grandparents’ home in Le Vernet in the Haute-Alpes region on 8 July 2023. No trace of him was found until March 2024, when some of his remains were discovered in woodland less than a mile away. Now, prosecutor Jean-Luc Blachon has revealed that investigators believe Émile’s remains and clothing were transported to the woods shortly before their discovery. He also confirmed that analysis of the child’s skull showed signs of ‘violent facial trauma’, making it probable that someone was involved in his disappearance and death. Until recently, investigators had thought Émile may…

Doctor Gerhardt Konig had been seemingly happily married to his wife Arielle, 35, for six years, getting engaged in 2017, and tying the knot just a year later. It was the 46-year-old anaesthesiologist’s second marriage, but while social media painted a picture of marital bliss with the couple’s two children - boys aged two and five - a darker truth was bubbling under the surface. It has been alleged that, for both parties, the last few months of their union had been unbearable, filled with jealous rages and controlling behaviour on Konig’s part. But while the couple, who lived in a palatial $1.5M home on the island of Maui, had reportedly been having counselling in an attempt to repair their fractured marriage, reports suggest that Konig wasn’t as willing to…

On 30 August 2023, a harrowing scene unfolded in the quiet suburb of Springville, Utah. A 12-year-old boy, emaciated and bearing rope-burn wounds bound with duct tape, stumbled through the neighbourhood, desperately seeking help. Knocking on a neighbour’s door, he pleaded for food and water, before revealing a horrifying tale of captivity and torment. This boy was Russell Franke – one of online parenting vlogger Ruby Franke’s six children – and his escape would unravel a dark tale behind the carefully curated image of a picture-perfect online family. As her life and crimes are charted in a Hulu documentary, we look at the rise and fall of the once-revered momfluencer. DIGITAL RISE Ruby Franke first entered the digital influencer realm in 2015 with her YouTube channel 8 Passengers. Alongside husband…

While not always criminal, some social media pranks are reckless in the extreme. The sport of parkour, which sees people tackling improvised urban assault courses, is decades old, but enjoyed a huge surge in popularity in the noughties with the advent of social media. Parkour fans, known as ‘traceurs’, eagerly flooded sites with images and videos of their athletic exploits, but the drive to outdo each other would ultimately cost Pavel Kashin his life. Widely regarded as one of parkour’s finest, the young native of St Petersburg, Russia, was standing on a 3ft-wide ledge on top of a 16-storey apartment building in 2013 when he attempted a routine back-flip. Fellow traceurs were filming the stunt, but after his reverse jump, Pavel landed awkwardly and lost his footing. Unable to recover…

HOT NEW PICKS THE EPIC ONE The Girl In Cell A VASEEM KHAN (HODDER & STOUGHTON, £20) Almost two decades ago, Orianna Negi was convicted of murdering a member of the powerful Wyclerc family in the small US town of Eden Falls – only, she can’t remember anything about that fateful day. Now, after spending 18 years in prison – where she became a true-crime cause célèbre – she has just been released. But instead of laying low and keeping out of trouble, she is heading straight back home to set about uncovering the truth. But the town has a long memory, and she has way more enemies there than friends. It isn’t long before word gets round of her return, and while some are pleased to see her, others…

What was the inspiration behind your new novel? The general inspiration was what inspires all my novels – the desire to write the most compelling and emotionally engaging story I can. This means a novel that takes place over a short period of time, features many stumbling blocks for the characters, and hits the readers with several surprise endings. Then, I wanted my hero Colter Shaw to be involved in an impending natural disaster. In this case, a flood. What attracts you most about writing crime? Crime writing is a good vehicle to attain emotional engagement. The genre allow you to create a main plot with constant conflicts and reversals, and to also include subplots about the characters’ personal lives and about broader geopolitical issues. All of these let me…

He found fame on the hit US crime franchise Law & Order, but actor Isaiah Stokes is now behind bars, following a revenge murder carried out as payback for being thrown out of a party. Growing up in NYC, Stokes was an impressive student, who’d majored in Accounting and Business Management. But his equally impressive musical talents led him to enjoy a career first as a hip-hop artist, then moving into TV and film work, with roles in Law & Order: SVU, HBO’s Boardwalk Empire and FX’s Rescue Me. But Stokes saw his life implode after he carried out a retribution killing. The star had been left feeling ‘embarrassed and upset’ after being kicked out of a birthday party thrown by Tyrone Jones, 37, in October 2020 – apparently for…