Modus Operandi - Strangulation

Lloyd Neurauter was convicted of murdering his ex-wife, 46-year-old Michele Neurauter, at her home in Corning, New York, on August 27, 2017. Michele was initially found hanging from a cord in what appeared to be a suicide, but investigators noticed suspicious injuries and determined that she had been strangled. Neurauter eventually admitted that he had planned and carried out the murder, saying he wanted to gain custody of their youngest daughter and was struggling with the financial consequences of their divorce. He also coerced their 19-year-old daughter, Karrie, into helping him. Neurauter pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole.

Sarah Buzzard was convicted of the aggravated murder of 21-year-old Ryan Zimmerman, whose dismembered remains were discovered in Mercer County, Ohio, in January 2016. Zimmerman had moved from Kentucky to Columbus in 2015 and was living with Buzzard, her then-husband and Buzzard's friend Naira Jen Whitaker. Investigators determined that Zimmerman was killed inside the Columbus apartment in September 2015. Buzzard later confessed to strangling him and dismembering his body, telling investigators that she was angry with Zimmerman and believed he had contributed to the breakdown of her marriage. Whitaker was identified as an accomplice but died by suicide when police attempted to arrest her in 2021. Buzzard pleaded guilty to aggravated murder in December 2021 and was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 30 years.

Liam McAtasney was convicted of murdering 19-year-old Sarah Stern in Neptune City, New Jersey, in December 2016. McAtasney lured Stern to the Route 35 bridge, strangled her with a belt and stole approximately $20,000 she had inherited from her mother. He then dumped her body from the bridge into the Shark River and attempted to conceal the crime with the help of his friend Preston Taylor. McAtasney was convicted of murder and related charges in 2019 and sentenced to life in prison without parole.

Brian Steven Smith is a South African-born convicted murderer who was found guilty of killing two Alaska Native women, Kathleen Jo Henry and Veronica Abouchuk, in Anchorage, Alaska. The case became known as the “Memory Card Murders” after a sex worker stole Smith's cellphone and discovered footage of Henry being tortured and killed. She copied the footage to an SD memory card and gave it to police, providing the breakthrough that connected Smith to the murders. Smith was convicted of all 14 charges against him in February 2024 and sentenced to 226 years in prison.

Steven Arthur Rios was a Columbia, Missouri, police officer who was convicted of murdering 23-year-old University of Missouri student Jesse Valencia in June 2004. Rios had been involved in a secret sexual relationship with Valencia, who was reportedly threatening to reveal the relationship to Rios's police chief. Valencia was found with his throat slashed near his apartment. Rios was initially convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life without parole, but the conviction was overturned because of evidentiary errors. At his 2008 retrial, he was convicted of second-degree murder and armed criminal action and sentenced to life imprisonment plus 23 years, with the convictions subsequently upheld on appeal.

Arthur Frederick Goode III was an American serial killer and child molester who was convicted of murdering three boys in Florida during the 1970s and 1980s. His confirmed victims were 11-year-old Richard Belcher, 10-year-old Richard Hunsperger and 10-year-old David Oakes, all of whom were abducted, sexually assaulted and murdered. Goode was also investigated in connection with additional child disappearances and killings, but he was never convicted of those cases. He received death sentences for multiple murders and was executed in Florida's electric chair at Florida State Prison on April 5, 1987.

Daniel Charles "Dan" Howard, a former Idaho State Police trooper, murdered his wife Kendy Howard at their home in Athol, Idaho, on February 2, 2021, before staging the scene to make her death appear to be a suicide. Howard initially told police that Kendy had shot herself in the bathtub, but investigators found inconsistencies at the scene and later concluded that he had strangled her before placing her body in the bathtub and firing a gunshot into her mouth. After a two-year investigation, Howard was charged with murder and convicted of second-degree murder and domestic battery in March 2024. He was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole in May 2024.

Ryan Derek Riggs murdered 25-year-old Rhonda "Chantay" Blankinship in Brown County, Texas, in May 2016 after abducting, sexually assaulting and killing her before abandoning her body in the cellar of an abandoned farmhouse. The case remained unsolved for 18 months until investigators used groundbreaking DNA phenotyping technology to generate a likeness of the suspect. Days after the image was released, Riggs stood before his church congregation and confessed to the murder before surrendering to police. In 2019, he pleaded guilty to capital murder and was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.