December 1, 2008Tracy, CaliforniaA 16-year-old runs into a health club after escaping from his captors Warning: Some of the details of this article may be considered graphic. Discretion is advised. The teen, initially named in the press simply as Kyle R., ran into the health club while wearing only a pair of boxer shorts and…
Girl is tortured, killed by two teens
October 7, 1981Luling, LouisianaBarbara Jo “Bobbi” Brown (11) is abducted, sexually assaulted, and murdered WARNING: This article contains graphic details. Discretion is advised. The Brown family matriarch was left a single mother after a car accident in 1971 claimed the lives of her husband and one of her daughters, leaving her to raise the remaining…
12-year-old tortured, burned alive by four teens
January 11, 1992Madison, Indiana12-year-old Shanda Sharer is tortured and burned to death by four teenaged girls On the night of January 10, Toni Lawrence (15), Hope Rippey (15), and Laurie Tackett (17), drove to Sharer’s home to lure her into their car. Melinda Loveless (16) was also in the car, though she hid under a…
The prolonged torture/execution of Col. William Crawford
June 11, 1782 Near the Sandusky River, Illinois Country, New France (modern day Wyandot County, Ohio) Col. William Crawford is executed by the Delaware Natives Col. Crawford's execution was in retaliation for the Gnadenhütten massacre in March of 1782 which claimed the lives of 96 non-combative, Christian-convert Delaware Natives. What makes the execution especially notable…
Man tortured and murdered by cult leader
April 29, 1984 Nebraska After prolonged humiliation and torture, James Thimm is murdered by antisemite, white supremacist, and cult leader Michael Wayne Ryan Ryan had set up a commune on a farm near Rulo, Nebraska, convincing 21 others he was in direct contact with Yahweh. Early orders to his followers, by direction of Yahweh, involved…