Life Killers

Jeffrey Spence was convicted of murdering Kirby Carpenter, his daughter's boyfriend, outside Carpenter's home in Mississippi in November 2022. Spence was accused of confronting Carpenter and shooting him during a dispute involving his daughter. Investigators identified Spence as the shooter, and he was subsequently arrested and prosecuted for the killing. A jury ultimately found him guilty of murder, bringing an end to the case.

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.

John Asher Farrell Villarreal became known in American criminal history after the murders of a Texas couple who stopped to help him while he was hitchhiking on Christmas Eve in 2014. Prosecutors alleged Villarreal repaid the victims' kindness with extreme violence, killing both occupants before stealing their vehicle and attempting to evade capture. The case attracted significant attention because of the apparent randomness of the attack and the betrayal involved. Investigators argued the victims had no prior connection to Villarreal and had simply offered assistance to a stranger. The murders shocked the local community and became a tragic example of a good Samaritan encounter ending in deadly violence.

Henry Jonathan Valencia, often referred to as Jonathan Valencia, became known in true crime coverage after the murder of teenager Nosiah Santos during a public confrontation that prosecutors described as emotionally charged and deeply personal. Investigators alleged the killing stemmed from a secret relationship, escalating jealousy, and mounting tension between the two young men before the fatal shooting occurred. The case generated major online attention because portions of the confrontation and aftermath were captured on surveillance footage and witness recordings. Prosecutors argued Valencia intentionally targeted Nosiah Santos during the encounter before opening fire in front of witnesses. The combination of hidden relationship allegations, emotional conflict, and public violence turned the case into a heavily discussed modern youth homicide prosecution.

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

Joshua Stimpson is an English convicted murderer who killed his former girlfriend, 23-year-old university student Molly McLaren, in Chatham, Kent, on June 29, 2017. Stimpson and McLaren had met through Tinder and had been in a relationship for approximately seven months. After McLaren ended the relationship, Stimpson began repeatedly contacting and following her. She reported his behaviour to police, who warned him to stay away from her. On the morning of the murder, Stimpson followed McLaren to the gym at the Dockside shopping centre. After she left and returned to her car, he attacked her with a kitchen knife, stabbing her more than 75 times. She died at the scene. Stimpson was arrested at the scene and later charged with murder. He initially admitted manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility but denied murder. A jury at Maidstone Crown Court rejected his defence and convicted him of murder in February 2018. He was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 26 years before parole consideration. His minimum term runs until 2044.