Mental Profile - Psychopathy

Christopher Gregory Davis murdered his boyfriend, 56-year-old Barry Schmalbach, in Cape Coral, Florida, after Schmalbach planned to end their relationship in July 2023. Although Schmalbach's body has never been recovered, investigators built an extensive circumstantial case showing Davis using his boyfriend's financial accounts, purchasing items associated with concealing and disposing of a body, renting an isolated property under a false identity and attempting to dispose of tools. In June 2025, a Lee County jury convicted Davis of second-degree murder, tampering with evidence and eight identity-related offences. He was sentenced to life imprisonment plus 45 consecutive years.

Darren Vickers is a British man convicted of the 1997 murder of eight-year-old Jamie Lavis in Greater Manchester, England. At the time, he worked as a bus driver, a role that placed him in a position of routine contact with the public, including children. The case gained significant attention due to the abuse of that position and the circumstances of the child’s disappearance. Vickers was later arrested, convicted, and sentenced to life imprisonment.

Carol Ann Kopenkoskey is an American woman convicted of the 2012 murder of her husband in Michigan. The case involved a long-term marriage that ended in a planned domestic killing carried out in a secluded location. She later pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced to a lengthy prison term.

Ashley Britt McArthur murdered her friend, 33-year-old private investigator Taylor Wright, near Pensacola, Florida, in September 2017 after Wright sought the return of $34,000 she had entrusted to her for safekeeping. Prosecutors established that McArthur had already spent much of the money before taking Wright to her family's rural property in Cantonment, where she shot her and concealed her remains beneath concrete and potting soil. Cell-phone records, financial evidence and surveillance footage helped investigators reconstruct McArthur's movements. She was convicted of first-degree premeditated murder in August 2019 and sentenced to life imprisonment with a mandatory minimum of 25 years.

Chandler Michael Halderson murdered his parents, Bart and Krista Halderson, at their home in Windsor, Wisconsin, in July 2021 as his father began uncovering years of deception about his education, employment and future plans. Halderson killed and dismembered his parents, attempted to destroy and conceal their remains, and then reported them missing while claiming they had travelled to the family's cabin. Investigators dismantled his story through forensic evidence, digital records and location data that connected him to sites where remains were recovered. A jury convicted Halderson of both murders in January 2022, and he was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.

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.

Jim Jones was an American cult leader and founder of the Peoples Temple, best known for orchestrating the mass murder-suicide in Jonestown, Guyana, in 1978. He established a following based on religious and social ideals, eventually relocating his group to a remote settlement where he exerted extreme psychological control over members. Jones’ leadership became increasingly authoritarian and paranoid, culminating in the deaths of over 900 people, including children, after he directed followers to consume a poisoned drink. The incident remains one of the largest mass deaths in modern history and cemented Jones as one of the most infamous cult leaders of all time.

Stanley "Tookie" Williams was an influential Los Angeles gang figure who co-founded the Crips with Raymond Washington before being convicted of four murders committed during two robberies in 1979. Sentenced to death in 1981, Williams spent more than two decades on California's death row while consistently maintaining his innocence of the murders. During his imprisonment, he renounced gang life, wrote books warning young people about gangs and became an anti-gang activist whose work attracted international attention and Nobel Peace Prize nominations. His supporters sought clemency based on his claimed rehabilitation, but California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger rejected the request, and Williams was executed by lethal injection at San Quentin State Prison on December 13, 2005.