Modus Operandi - Arson

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.

Derek Joseph Daigneault murdered his 26-year-old cousin, Mandy Rose Reynolds, in Texas in April 2023 after staying at her San Marcos apartment while on felony probation with an active warrant. Daigneault shot Reynolds in the head, placed her body inside a large plastic storage container, transported it to Robinson and set it on fire. Her body was initially burned beyond recognition, but her dog Titan remained at the scene, and his microchip helped investigators identify Reynolds. Daigneault was arrested in Kansas after fleeing from police in Reynolds' stolen car and was convicted of murder in November 2024. He was sentenced to life imprisonment, and his conviction and sentence were affirmed by the Texas Tenth Court of Appeals in April 2026.

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.

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.

Robert Pape was convicted for his role in the 1998 Pinyon Pines murders, a triple homicide that remained unsolved for nearly two decades before advances in DNA technology revived the investigation. Prosecutors established that Pape and Cristin Smith entered the Friedli home in September 1998, murdered Vicki Friedli, her daughter Becky Friedli and family friend Jon Hayward, then set the residence on fire in an attempt to destroy evidence. Following renewed forensic testing and a lengthy cold-case investigation, Pape was convicted in 2018 of three counts of first-degree murder and sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.