Straight Killers

Mario Schembri is an Australian convicted killer who pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of Melbourne businessman Herman Rockefeller in January 2010. After a violent confrontation at Schembri's Hadfield home, Rockefeller died from injuries sustained during the assault. Schembri subsequently dismembered the victim's body with a chainsaw and burned the remains in an attempt to conceal the crime. He was sentenced to nine years' imprisonment with a non-parole period of seven years.

Mark Daniel Gooch murdered 27-year-old Mennonite teacher Sasha Krause in January 2020 after travelling from Arizona to the Mennonite community where she lived near Farmington, New Mexico. Krause disappeared on January 18 while retrieving materials for a Sunday school class, and her body was discovered more than a month later in the Coconino National Forest near Flagstaff, Arizona. She had been shot in the head and her wrists were bound. Gooch, who had been raised in the Mennonite faith but later rejected it, was convicted of first-degree murder and kidnapping in October 2021 and sentenced to natural life imprisonment plus five years for kidnapping in January 2022.

Mark Douglas Hacking murdered his pregnant wife, Lori Hacking, in July 2004 after she uncovered years of deception about his education, employment and plans to attend medical school. After initially reporting Lori missing and participating in public searches, Hacking became the focus of the investigation as detectives uncovered evidence contradicting his account. He eventually admitted killing Lori, disposing of her body in a landfill and attempting to conceal the crime. In 2005, Hacking pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and was sentenced to life imprisonment with the possibility of parole.

Mark Sievers became infamous after orchestrating the brutal murder-for-hire killing of his wife inside their Florida home in 2015. The case shocked the United States because the victim was a highly respected physician and mother, while investigators later uncovered a conspiracy involving Sievers, close friends and hired killers. Authorities described the crime as a calculated and financially motivated murder plot driven by greed, personal dysfunction and manipulation. The investigation later exposed disturbing details involving staged alibis, conspiracy planning and violent execution-style attacks, transforming the case into one of Florida’s most heavily publicized murder-for-hire prosecutions.

Mark Howard Wilson Jr. was convicted of murdering brothers Robert Baker, 12, and Tayten Baker, 14, in Melrose, Florida, on August 26, 2020. Wilson was the boyfriend of the boys' aunt, Cynthia Guinan, and had moved with her and their young daughter into a shed on the Baker family's property only five days before the killings. Robert and Tayten were found beaten with a hammer and had their throats cut. Wilson was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder, burglary with assault or battery and armed burglary. A jury unanimously recommended death, and in January 2023 a judge sentenced him to death for both murders. The Florida Supreme Court affirmed his convictions and sentences in May 2025.

Marshella Chidester is an American woman convicted in connection with a fatal vehicle incident in Michigan in 2024. The event occurred when she drove into a building during a private gathering, resulting in multiple deaths and injuries. The case gained national attention due to the circumstances of the incident and the loss of young lives. Chidester was later convicted and sentenced to a lengthy prison term.

Melody Walker Farris was convicted of murdering her husband, 58-year-old Atlanta attorney Gary Farris, at their Cherokee County, Georgia, property in July 2018. Gary's extensively burned remains were discovered on a burn pile days after his disappearance, with a bullet lodged in his rib cage. Prosecutors argued that Melody killed her husband because she wanted to end their troubled marriage, pursue a relationship with her lover Roy "Rusty" Barton and gain access to Gary's substantial assets. A jury convicted her of malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault, concealing the death of another and making a false statement. She was sentenced to life imprisonment with the possibility of parole after 30 years, plus five years for concealing Gary's death and five years for making false statements.

Michael Swango became one of the most notorious medical serial killers in American history after being linked to a series of poisonings involving patients, coworkers, and acquaintances over several decades. A licensed physician and former paramedic, Swango exploited positions within hospitals and medical institutions to gain access to vulnerable victims while maintaining the outward image of a highly educated healthcare professional. The case generated international attention because Swango continued obtaining medical employment despite repeated suspicions, disciplinary actions, and criminal convictions. Investigators later connected him to deaths and poisonings across the United States and Africa, leading many experts to believe the true number of victims may never be fully known. His ability to repeatedly evade detection turned the case into one of the most disturbing examples of institutional failure and medical predation in modern criminal history.