Life Killers

Erin Patterson became one of Australia’s most internationally discussed accused killers after allegedly poisoning multiple family members with deadly mushrooms during a lunch gathering in regional Victoria in 2023. The case generated extraordinary worldwide attention because of the unusual alleged murder method, the family dynamics involved and the mystery surrounding whether the poisonings were deliberate. The investigation rapidly became one of the biggest true crime stories in Australia, attracting nonstop media coverage, internet speculation and global fascination. The combination of toxicology evidence, alleged deception, suspicious behavior and courtroom developments transformed the case into one of the most discussed criminal prosecutions of the decade.

Gareth Pursehouse is an American man convicted of the 2020 murder of his ex-girlfriend in Los Angeles, California. The case involved a targeted attack following a prior relationship. He was later convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.

Harlow Cuadra was convicted of murdering Cobra Video founder Bryan Kocis in January 2007 as part of a conspiracy with Joseph Kerekes to seize control of Cobra Video and profit from the career of Sean Lockhart, better known by his stage name Brent Corrigan, whose exclusive contract with Kocis had become the centre of a bitter legal dispute. After killing Kocis inside his Pennsylvania home, Cuadra and Kerekes set the residence on fire in an attempt to destroy evidence and conceal the murder. A lengthy investigation involving DNA evidence, financial records and witness testimony ultimately exposed the conspiracy. Cuadra was convicted of first-degree murder and related offences in 2011 and sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.

James Toliver Craig, an Aurora, Colorado, dentist, murdered his wife of 23 years, Angela Craig, by poisoning her over a ten-day period in March 2023. Prosecutors established that Craig secretly obtained arsenic, cyanide and tetrahydrozoline while Angela repeatedly became seriously ill and required hospital treatment, ultimately administering a fatal dose of cyanide while she was hospitalised. Investigators uncovered internet searches about lethal and difficult-to-detect poisons, financial difficulties and extramarital affairs, while Craig later attempted to manufacture evidence supporting a suicide narrative and solicited the murder of the lead detective. A jury convicted him of first-degree murder and five solicitation charges in July 2025, and he was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.

Jamie Reynolds murdered 17-year-old Georgia Williams in Wellington, Shropshire, on 26 May 2013 after luring his friend to his parents' home under the pretence of taking photographs. Reynolds had meticulously planned the killing around his fascination with hanging and violent pornography, using a ligature to strangle Georgia before sexually abusing her body and abandoning her in woodland near Wrexham. He fled the area but was arrested in Glasgow three days later. Reynolds pleaded guilty to murder in December 2013 and was sentenced to a whole-life prison term, meaning he will never be released.

James "Jimmy" Rodgers became one of Florida's most notorious contract killers after participating in the 2015 murder of Dr. Teresa Sievers in Bonita Springs. Hired through a murder-for-hire plot orchestrated by Teresa's husband, Mark Sievers, Rodgers travelled from Missouri to Florida with Curtis Wayne Wright and fatally attacked the victim inside her home. His conviction, along with those of his co-conspirators, brought an end to one of the state's most widely publicized murder-for-hire investigations.

John Cole became one of the United Kingdom's most reviled child killers after murdering five-year-old Logan Mwangi alongside his stepfather, Angharad Williamson, in Bridgend, South Wales, in 2021. Logan suffered prolonged abuse before being fatally assaulted and his body was abandoned in a nearby river. Following a high-profile trial, Cole was convicted of murder despite being only 14 years old at the time of the offence, making him one of the youngest people convicted of murder in modern Welsh criminal history.

John Franklin Howard is an American man convicted in connection with an attempted murder-for-hire plot against his wife in Texas. The case gained attention due to the level of planning and the use of a hired attacker. He was later convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment.