Victim Targets - Family Members

Charles "Chase" Merritt murdered his business associate Joseph McStay, Joseph's wife Summer, and their young sons Gianni and Joseph Jr. after financial problems developed around the water-feature business Merritt worked on with Joseph. The McStay family disappeared from their Fallbrook, California, home in February 2010, beginning a mystery that lasted more than three years until their remains were discovered in shallow graves in the Mojave Desert near Victorville. Financial records, cellphone evidence and other circumstantial evidence eventually focused the investigation on Merritt, who was arrested in 2014. A jury convicted him of four counts of first-degree murder in June 2019, and he was formally sentenced to death in January 2020.

Damian Rzeszowski was convicted of six counts of manslaughter after killing his wife Izabela, their children Kinga and Kacper, his father-in-law Marek Garstka, and family friend Marta de la Haye and her daughter Julia in St Helier, Jersey, on August 14, 2011. Rzeszowski attacked the victims with kitchen knives during a violent episode following the breakdown of his marriage. His defence successfully argued diminished responsibility caused by severe depression and psychotic symptoms, and he was cleared of murder. He was sentenced to 30 years imprisonment for each victim, to run concurrently. Rzeszowski died by suicide in prison in 2018.

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.

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.

Kyle Clifford is a British man convicted in connection with a 2024 triple homicide in Hertfordshire, England. The case involved the killing of multiple members of a family following the breakdown of a personal relationship. He was later convicted and received a whole-life sentence, meaning he will remain in prison for the rest of his life.

Gale Watkins is an American woman convicted in connection with the 2013 death of her three-year-old grandson in Florida. As a caregiver, she was responsible for the child’s welfare during the incident. She was later convicted of aggravated manslaughter of a child and sentenced to a lengthy prison term.

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.

Al-Mutahan McLean is an American man convicted of the prolonged abuse and murder of his 10-year-old son in Dayton, Ohio, in 2019. The case became nationally known due to the sustained nature of the abuse and the severity of the conditions the child endured over several years. He later pleaded guilty to multiple charges and received a lengthy prison sentence, with the case highlighting both extreme intra-family violence and systemic failures in child protection oversight.