In Grand Junction, Colorado, 19-year-old Brian Cohee was convicted of first-degree murder in 2023 for the 2021 disappearance of 69-year-old homeless man Warren Barnes. Cohee, who pleaded not guilty by insanity, cited mental health disorders and environmental stressors. The jury found him guilty after a two-day deliberation, sentencing him to life without parole.
On September 28, 2023, 3-year-old Luis Diaz died in Cleveland, Ohio, during a crossfire attack. Four individuals were charged: Juan Davis, who organized the attack and drove the vehicle, was convicted of murder and assault; Devonte Parker, charged with similar offenses, maintains innocence; Katherine Treadway pleaded guilty to manslaughter and assault; and Jayden Sorensen, the triggerman, received a sentence for involuntary manslaughter and firearm charges.
Abraham Shakespeare, who won $31 million in the Florida Lottery in 2006, entrusted Dee Dee Moore with managing his finances. She allegedly stole his money over time, leading to his disappearance and body being found on her property. Moore was convicted of first-degree murder in 2012, with appeals denied. She maintains innocence.
On October 13, 2024, officers found Adlai Mestre, 24, disheveled on his property after a neighbor reported gunshots. He faces three murder charges, five evidence tampering counts, animal cruelty, escape from custody, and over $1,000 property damage. He remains in custody pending further proceedings.
On Christmas Eve 2019, 25-year-old Kevin Bacon met Mark Latunski via Grindr in Bennington Township, Michigan. Bacon was found dead in Latunski’s basement, hung upside down and drained of blood. Latunski pleaded guilty to murder, was deemed competent to stand trial, and received a life sentence without parole.
In December 2014, choir teacher Kathy Blair was found stabbed to death in her Austin home during a burglary. Timothy Parlin, whose car was at the scene, implicated Shawn Gant-Benalcazar as an accomplice. Shawn was interrogated in early 2015 and later convicted of capital murder in 2018. A subsequent double murder linked to the suspects occurred weeks later, but Shawn was not charged due to insufficient evidence.
In 2005, Michael Jackson was convicted for the first-degree murders of James and Carol Sumner in Jacksonville, Florida, along with robbery and kidnapping charges. The victims, buried alive after a 2003 incident, were found embracing. Jackson, linked to Tiffany Cole, a family friend, remains on death row following a 2023 resentencing.
In 2016, Emile Weaver was convicted of aggravated murder, gross abuse of a corpse, and tampering with evidence related to her daughter Addison Grace Weaver’s death. She received a life sentence without parole, later reduced to life with parole after 20 years in 2023.
Between 1990 and 1993, five women in Missouri were found murdered and packaged in containers like trash cans or mattresses, earning the killer the nickname "the Package" killer. Gary Muehlberg, already serving a life sentence for murder, was linked to the crimes via DNA in 2023, leading to additional life sentences for each victim’s murder.
Jesse Huy, 50, murdered his wife Tonya Huy, 48, and her parents Ronald Koehler, 71, and Linda Koehler, 78, execution-style at their Missouri home on March 19, 2021. Huy, who had conflicts with the in-laws, pleaded guilty to three first-degree murders and received three life sentences plus nine years for armed criminal action in January 2023.
Amanda Suarez, a 25-year-old mother of four, was found shot dead in her Okeechobee, Florida, home on December 7, 2021. Her cousin’s boyfriend, Christopher Shows, 21, was implicated after his advances were rejected. He confessed during an interrogation, citing curiosity about killing as his motive. Shows received two life sentences in July 2021.
Cheryl Cain's body was found in a dumpster in Pensacola, Florida, on March 25, 2009. Scott Thompson was convicted of second-degree murder for her strangulation death. He received a life sentence in 2010 and died in prison in 2023, though the cause of death remained unspecified.