January 11, 1985Columbia, South CarolinaJoseph Carl Shaw is executed for the murder of two teens On October 29, 1977, Shaw (22) and two companions — James Terry Roach (17) and Ronald Eugene Mahaffey (16) — decided to “see if we could find a girl to rape,” according to Mahaffey. The trio armed themselves with a…
Siblings, ages 12 and 13, shoot their father’s girlfriend to death
January 6, 1999Port St. John, FloridaSiblings Curtis and Catherine Jones (ages 12 and 13, respectively) shoot their father’s girlfriend Sonya Speights (29) to death Thanks to reader Cade for suggesting the topic of this article! Curtis and Catherine waited for their father to leave the house, then fired upon Speights as she worked on a…
Man kills woman, ostensibly as he sleeps
January 1, 1961Dunmow, Essex, EnglandWillis Boshears (29) strangles 20-year-old Jean Constable, ostensibly while he sleeps Boshears’ wife and children were away on holiday in Scotland at the time of the murder, and he decided to celebrate the New Year by drinking at a tavern. There, he met a man named David Salt (or Sault) who…
10-year-old is abducted, mutilated, and killed
December 31, 2009Soshanguve, Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa10-year-old Masego Kgomo is kidnapped, mutilated, and killed Kgomo was last seen on New Year’s Eve after informing her mother she was going to play with friends nearby. When she did not return home, a search was launched by family, friends, and members of the community. One of those…
Man dies in home, his death officially ruled as spontaneous human combustion
December 22, 2010Ballybane, Galway, IrelandMichael Faherty (76) dies in his home; his death is officially ruled spontaneous combustion Faherty was found in his sitting room, laying on his back with his head near an open fireplace, though the fireplace was determined not to have been the source of the fire. His body was “totally burnt,”…
