Mass Murderer

Charles "Chase" Merritt murdered his business associate Joseph McStay, Joseph's wife Summer, and their young sons Gianni and Joseph Jr. after financial problems developed around the water-feature business Merritt worked on with Joseph. The McStay family disappeared from their Fallbrook, California, home in February 2010, beginning a mystery that lasted more than three years until their remains were discovered in shallow graves in the Mojave Desert near Victorville. Financial records, cellphone evidence and other circumstantial evidence eventually focused the investigation on Merritt, who was arrested in 2014. A jury convicted him of four counts of first-degree murder in June 2019, and he was formally sentenced to death in January 2020.

Charles Whitman was an American mass murderer responsible for the 1966 University of Texas tower shooting in Austin. Prior to the attack, he killed members of his family before carrying out a public shooting that resulted in multiple deaths and injuries. The incident became one of the earliest widely documented mass shootings in modern U.S. history. Whitman was killed by police during the attack, ending the event.

Edward "Jake" Wagner admitted participating in the Pike County massacre, one of the deadliest family murder cases in Ohio history, by pleading guilty to murdering eight members of the Rhoden family in April 2016. Prosecutors established that Wagner, together with his parents Angela Wagner and George "Billy" Wagner III and his brother George Wagner IV, planned and carried out the coordinated killings during a custody dispute involving his young daughter with Hanna Rhoden. In exchange for avoiding the death penalty, Wagner agreed to testify against his family members and became the prosecution's key witness during their trials. He is serving eight consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole.

Elliot Rodger was an American mass murderer responsible for the 2014 Isla Vista killings in California. He carried out a planned multi-location attack targeting individuals in a university community. He killed six people and injured others before dying by suicide at the scene.

George Emil Banks became one of the most infamous mass killers in Pennsylvania history after murdering 13 people during a shooting spree in Wilkes-Barre on September 25, 1982. Among his victims were five of his own children, their mothers, and several relatives. The murders shocked the United States because of the extraordinary number of family members killed in a single attack. After decades of legal proceedings centred on his mental competency, Banks died in prison in 2024 without ever being executed.

George "Billy" Wagner III was a member of the Wagner family responsible for the Pike County massacre, one of the deadliest family murder cases in Ohio history. Prosecutors proved that Wagner, together with his parents George "Billy" Wagner II and Angela Wagner, and his brother Edward "Jake" Wagner, conspired to murder eight members of the Rhoden family in April 2016 during a bitter custody dispute over Jake Wagner's daughter. Following one of Ohio's largest criminal investigations, Wagner was convicted in 2022 of eight counts of aggravated murder and numerous related offences. He was sentenced to eight consecutive life terms without the possibility of parole and remains incarcerated.

George Wagner IV was convicted for his role in the Pike County massacre, one of the largest homicide investigations in Ohio history. Along with his father, George "Billy" Wagner III, mother Angela Wagner and younger brother Edward "Jake" Wagner, he participated in a conspiracy that resulted in the murders of eight members of the Rhoden family across four crime scenes on April 22, 2016. Prosecutors established that the killings were motivated by a custody dispute involving Jake Wagner's daughter. Following a lengthy trial, George Wagner IV was convicted in 2022 of eight counts of aggravated murder and numerous related offences. He was sentenced to eight consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole and remains incarcerated.

Michael Paul Brown became known after carrying out the deadly Owl Bar shooting in Montana, killing four people during a violent attack that shocked the local community. The massacre unfolded inside and around the Owl Bar in Anaconda, Montana, where Brown targeted victims connected to a long-running personal dispute before fleeing the scene. Authorities described Brown as a heavily armed and dangerous suspect whose actions triggered a large-scale manhunt and emergency lockdowns across the region. The case generated widespread media coverage because of the sudden brutality of the attack, the multiple homicide victims and the dramatic police confrontation that followed shortly afterward.