17 People Share The Most Horrific True Crime Cases From Their Cities And Towns
Warning: This article contains mentions of murder, suicide, rape, sexual abuse, and the murder of children. Please proceed with caution.
Recently, Redditor u/Amerisbf asked, "What is the worst crime you’ve heard of in your town/city?" As someone who probably spends far too much time listening to true crime documentaries, I actually came across quite a few cases in the thread that I'd never heard of before. Here are 17 of the very worst cases from around the world:
1."I was on campus at Virginia Tech the time a student stabbed another student so many times in the neck, it beheaded her."
In January of 2009, Haiyang Zhu — a grad student studying agricultural and applied economics — murdered Xin Yang — an accounting grad student who had only begun classes at Virginia Tech two weeks prior. Haiyang reportedly wrote Xin a letter confessing his love, but Xin turned him down and revealed that she was engaged. Enraged, Haiyang purchased a knife, called Xin 12 times, then killed her in an Au Bon Pain on campus. You can read more about the case here.
2."In the city I used to live in, two middle schoolers tricked their friend into the woods and stabbed her 19 times to appease Slender Man. The girl who was stabbed survived after crawling out of the woods."
"From what I remember of this case, one of the girls had severe schizophrenia and the other kept pushing and feeding her delusions and paranoia. She apparently didn't want to kill her friend but was scared and genuinely believed Slenderman would kill her if she didn't. I hope she got the treatment she needed and is living a better life."
You can read more about the case here.
3."A guy nearly decapitated a girl and put the pictures of her body on Discord. He'd been obsessed with her. He tried to off himself unsuccessfully and got 25 to life. 4chan/incels jumped on the story and harassed her family, sending them the photos even 2 years after the fact."
Bianca Devins — an Instagram-famous 17-year-old "e-girl" — was murdered by Brandon Andrew Clark in 2017. The two had gone to a concert together the night before, and Brandon was reportedly "so mad" that Bianca held hands with and kissed someone else at the concert. He murdered her the next night and posted graphic photos of Bianca on his Instagram story, Discord, and 4chan. You can read more about the case here.
4."The 2011 Norway attacks — in which a guy single-handedly killed 77 people (8 by bombing and 69 by gunfire) — were in my town. Almost all of them were teenagers."
—u/Maleficent_Nobody_75 and u/Chokeyouhard
In 2011, Anders Behring Breivik killed 8 people in a car bombing in Oslo, Norway and shot 69 on Utoya Island at a Labour Party youth camp. Prior to his attacks, the right-wing fanatic emailed out copies of his manifesto. Arriving to the first day of his trial, he did a Nazi salute and carried a sign that read, "Stop your genocide! Against our white nations!"
5."I almost got into a fistfight with a woman in a parking lot. A month later, she poisoned her entire family. Here's what happened: I was walking along a road, and she pulled up on me while coming out of a driveway. I said, 'I'm walking here!' and she threw an empty cup at me but missed. I had a spork in my hand, so I threw that at her and missed, too. She then jumped out of her car and came charging at me. I had a bag of chicken wings (hence the spork), and I planted my feet, planning to go at her with the bag of wings if it came down to it. She jumped back in the car and drove off as I called her every evil name in the book. A month later, I saw my hometown's name on CNN, with the headline, "Woman Poisons Entire Family." Just under that was a picture of the woman I got the confrontation with. She killed like five family members because she was under the influence of some kind of cult or something."
6."In Wales, a man killed his wife, drove with her in his trunk to his favorite pub, and had a meal and two pints before turning himself in."
7."This happened to my coworker, actually. She was hanging out with a guy friend, and I know for a fact they weren’t sleeping with each other — they were genuinely just friends. Her fiancé broke into the friend's apartment and brutally stabbed and murdered her, and completely fucked the friend's arm up. I remember the day I went to work and one of my coworkers read the news article and broke down."
8."The Torso Murders. I worked with the accused in the '70s."
The Cleveland Torso Murders were commited by an unnamed serial killer dubbed "The Mad Butcher of Kingsbury Run" from 1934 to 1938, when they abruptly stopped. They claimed the lives of 12 victims — seven men and five women — all of whom were beheaded and many of whom were never identified. The murders were dubbed the "Torso Murders" by the press as several of the victims were discovered when one of their disembodied body parts — such as their torsos — washed ashore or was found. Frank Doleza and Francis E. Sweeney were among the top suspects, but ultimately the case remains unsolved. You can read more about it here.
9."In my city, two daughters of a Muslim taxi driver were found dead in the back of his taxi. He shot both of them for dishonoring their family by having boyfriends and trying to live an 'American lifestyle.' One of the girls was able to call 911 and name her dad as the shooter before she died. He was on the FBI's most wanted list for 12 years before he was caught, hiding in Texas with family."
The killer's name is Yaser Abdel Said. He told his daughters — 18-year-old Amina and 17-year-old Sarah — that he was taking them to lunch, but instead drove them to a remote location and killed them. You can read more about the murders here.
10."A man was trying to sell his truck in order to afford the new baby on the way. His pregnant wife watched as he got into his truck with a potential buyer and the potential buyer's friend. He never came back home. Turns out, the potential buyer was a rich guy's kid, and already was suspected of murdering his ex-girlfriend and a family member. He killed the man for the truck. He had access to acres and acres of land to bury the bodies."
"He killed his own father, too. He also installed an industrial incinerator on his property to dispose of the remains, evidently."
The man selling his truck was 32-year-old Tim Bosma, and the two potential buyers — and killers — were Dellen Millard and Mark Smich. The murder occurred in May of 2013. Dellen was also charged for the murder of his father — Wayne Millard — and ex girlfriend, Laura Babcock. As previously mentioned, Tim's remains were in fact found in an incenrator, which was location on Dellen's father's farm. Both Dellen and Mark were sentenced to life in prison. You can read more about it here.
11."Singapore is a pretty safe country, but we've had our share of sociopaths and grisly murders. I'd put the Adrian Lim murders as the most memorable one, because it fascinated me as I was growing up. There was a nonfiction book called Unholy Trinity which covered the events in great detail, and I was engrossed by it."
The Adrian Lim murders — or the Toa Payoh ritual murders — occurred in 1981. Two children — Agnes Ng Siew Heok (9) and Ghazali bin Marzuki (11) — were separately found in January and February of that year in Toa Payoh Lorong. Agnes's body indicated that she'd been sexually abused before being killed, and Ghazali's autopsy revealed that he'd been drowned. The murders were linked back to self-proclaimed medium and healer Adrian Lim, Catherine Tan Mui Choo (his wife), and Hoe Kah Hong (his mistress), all of whom were sentenced to death. The case unfolded in court, reportedly invoking conversation of human sacrifice, the occult, and the consumption of human blood. You can read more about it here.
12."Robert Pickton. He killed marginalized women and fed them to pigs."
Robert Pickton — a Canadian serial rapist and killer — was charged in 2002 with the murder of 26 women, most of which were indigenous. While the exact count of victims is debated, the remains and DNA of at least 33 women were found on his pig farm in Port Coquitlam, Canada. In 2007, he was convicted for six of their murders.
13."A kid I went to school with stabbed his mom to death and stabbed his dad multiple times, but he lived. It was all over them not giving him money so he could buy some drugs. Then he went to a party and bragged about it. They jumped the kid and beat him pretty good until the police came and picked him up. He’s doing 60 years."
14."A doctor from the town I grew up in went on trial for purposefully poisoning/over-medicating his patients. He was acquitted, but this was in the '60s, when convictions were much more challenging to get. Most people believe he did it. Also, my elementary school vice principal randomly quit one year, and a year later, he was arrested for major drug charges, let out on bail, then jumped off a cliff and killed himself."
15."A woman asked some policemen inside my local police station to get her home by car because she was afraid her ex would kill her. The policemen refused, so she left, only to be murdered by her ex right outside the station."
16."The Yogurt Shop Murders. Four teenage girls were murdered in a yogurt shop around closing time one evening in 1991 in Austin, Texas. To this day, it remains unsolved after a series of weird police fuckups and arrests. It would be a huge deal if it happened today for sure, but back then, Austin was much smaller and more of a quirky college town than the city it is now, so lots of people had some kind of connection to them."
The victims' names are Eliza Thomas (17), Amy Ayers (13), Jennifer Harbison (17), and Sarah Harbison (15). Eliza and Jennifer were closing up at the shop that night, and Sarah (Jennifer's sister) and Amy stopped in to take them home. It's believed that the murders were committed by two men, who shot the girls execution-style before setting the yogurt shop on fire. Despite several arrests and suspects, the killers have never been identified. You can read more about the murders here.
17.Lastly, "A group of assholes broke into a house where a family of three kids, their two parents, and one grandmother lived. They tied everyone down and shot them in the back of their heads execution style, from oldest to youngest. For some reason, they ran out of bullets before killing the youngest kid, so they took him to their van, slit his throat, and threw him over a bridge. Luckily, the kid survived and went to the police, and the idiots got arrested. Turns out, one of them was renting a house from the family's father, and he just didn't want to pay rent, and that's why they did it."
What's the worst true crime case from your town or city? In the comments below or via this anonymous form, tell us the unforgettable true crime case that happened near you.
Note: Submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.
