On May 4, 1976. Young woman and her married lover arrested for killing her family. Patricia Columbo and Frank DeLuca are arrested for the brutal slaying of Columbo’s parents and brother in Elk Grove, Illinois. Twenty-year-old Columbo had left her family home two years earlier to live with DeLuca, a 36-year-old married man. The pair later killed Frank, Mary and Michael Columbo in order to receive the family inheritance, unaware that the Columbos had written Patricia out of their wills years earlier. As a 16-year-old, Columbo worked in a suburban coffee shop where she met pharmacist Frank DeLuca, who managed the pharmacy next door. He soon hired her to work in his store and the two began an unusual sexual relationship; Columbo showed classmates pictures of her having sex with DeLuca’s dog. In April 1974, DeLuca brought Columbo to stay in his own home, despite the fact that he still lived with his wife and five kids. Her parents were relieved when she later told them she was going to move into her own apartment, and even provided her with money. However, they soon learned that DeLuca had left his wife and moved in with their daughter, prompting Columbo’s father to beat DeLuca severely. On May 4, 1976, Patricia Columbo, then 19, and Frank DeLuca, 39, decided to carry out the plan themselves. They crept into the Columbo family home and shot Columbo’s parents. They then bludgeoned Mike with a bowling trophy and stabbed him nearly 100 times with scissors. Police questioned Patricia but had no reason to suspect her until the following week. Inspired by the promise of reward money, a friend led police to the men who had discussed killing the Columbo family with Patricia. After the couple was arrested, DeLuca’s employees revealed that they had seen him washing and burning bloodstained clothes on the day after the murders. Apparently, he had kept them silent by threatening their families. While in jail, DeLuca attempted to have these witnesses killed by a cellmate, but another inmate thwarted the plan by telling the police. The jury convicted Patricia Columbo and Frank DeLuca, and they were each sentenced to 200 to 300 years in prison. But Columbo managed to keep herself in the spotlight: In 1979, it was reported that she had assisted in organizing sex orgies involving guards and wardens at her prison in Dwight, Illinois. High-ranking officials at the prison, including the warden, were forced to resign in the wake of the scandal. #True Crime, #Murder, #Prison, #Sex,

1987 Torture chamber uncovered in Philadelphia. Responding to a 911 call, police raid the Philadelphia home of Gary Heidnik and find an appalling crime scene. In the basement of Heidnik’s dilapidated house is a veritable torture chamber where three naked women were found chained to a sewer pipe. A fourth woman, Josefina Rivera, had escaped and called police. Gary Heidnik was a former mental patient and sex offender who had managed to become a wealthy stock investor. He owned a Rolls Royce and beat Uncle Sam on his income taxes by making himself the bishop of his own church. The sign on the front of his house read, “United Church of the Ministries of God.” One room in his house was partially wallpapered with money. At the end of 1986, Heidnik decided to create his own harem and began kidnapping women off the streets of Philadelphia. Six women were kidnapped and held in Heidnik’s dungeon. All were raped and tortured while the others were forced to watch. He killed one of the women by putting her in a pit, filling it with water and putting a live electrical wire into the water. Another of the women was killed when Heidnik let her starve to death while chained to the wall. In perhaps the most grisly and horrid episode of the entire incident, Heidnik dismembered one of his victims, cooking parts of her body and feeding it to his other captives. The women who were found alive recovered after being treated for dehydration and malnutrition. Although Heidnik was clearly mentally disturbed, he was found guilty and convicted of murder on July 1, 1988. He received a death sentence, and was executed on July 6, 1999. Heidnik was one of the inspirations for the Buffalo Bill character in Thomas Harris’ Silence of the Lambs. #TrueCrime #Murder, #Torture, #Disturbed, #Convicted, #Guilty, #Executed, #Death,

Texas woman sentenced for luring man to remote area where MS-13 gang members murdered him A Houston Texas, woman was sentenced to 30 years in prison for luring a man to a remote area to be attacked and killed by gang members who allegedly felt the victim disrespected them in a rap battle. Karla Jackelin Morales, 24, pleaded guilty Friday to charges in connection with the July 29, 2018, murder of 24-year-old Jose Alfonso Villanueva, according to Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg. Morales was scheduled to go to trial in October 2021, but she jumped bond and cut off her ankle monitor to escape detection and was arrested in Houston about nine months later. "This defendant jumped bail in 2021 to escape the consequences of her actions, but she was re-arrested and, on the eve of trial this week, pleaded guilty for what she did," Ogg said in a statement. "This was a premeditated and planned out attack and we have now been able to get justice for the victim’s family." Morales lured Villanueva to a field in Spring, Texas, where she told him they would smoke marijuana to celebrate his birthday. But Morales had taken him to the area so five MS-13 gang members waiting there could kill him.! The gang members attacked Villanueva with a machete and shot him as he attempted to run away. The gang members were allegedly angry at Villanueva because he disrespected them in a rap battle. His body was found about a week after the killing. "This women knowingly lured an innocent man to be murdered by five MS-13 gang members in the most brutal and depraved manner that you could imagine sending shockwaves and fear throughout the Houston community," Homeland Security Investigations Houston acting Special Agent in Charge Robert Kurtz said in a statement. "By working in conjunction with our local law enforcement partners and the Harris County District Attorney’s Office, we were able to hold all of the individuals responsible for this horrifying tragedy accountable and hopefully bring some closure to the victim’s family." Jose Alfonso Villanueva was lured to a field in Spring, Texas, where five MS-13 gang members were waiting to kill him. The gang members have all been convicted in Villanueva's murder. Assistant District Attorney Jason Sanchez, a chief in the district attorney's Organized Crime Division, with Assistant District Attorney Neha Mehtaji. "This should be cautionary tale to anyone who thinks they may want to join a gang that it doesn’t matter your age, gender or anything else," Sanchez said in a statement. "We will prosecute you for the crimes you commit." #TrueCrime

A Minnesota man was convicted of first-degree murder Thursday for beheading his girlfriend in front of several witnesses. Alex Saborit 44, was found guilty in the slaying of America Thayer, 56, in July 2021. In her ruling, the judge found the "nature of the assault" proved Saborit intended to kill Thayer, and that his possession of the machete, threats made prior to the killing and "tumultuous" relationship "marked by frequent arguments and accusations of abuse" showed premeditation, CBS reported. The Minneapolis Star Tribune reports that Saborit struck Thayer with an 8-pound dumbbell while they were in a vehicle near downtown Shakopee, then he decapitated her with a machete. People in other cars and nearby homes saw the attack. One of them shot a video that appeared to show Saborit pull Thayer's body out of the car into the street then pick up her head by the hair. Saborit and Thayer were on the way to his court appearance for felony charges alleging that he set fire to their apartment in Shakopee during a confrontation with police and that Saborit attacked Thayer after she told him she wanted to end their relationship. Saborit fled the scene and disposed of the machete along the way. He was arrested about 1 ½ miles away near the Trave Lodge Hotel where he was staying. County Attorney Ron Hocevar said he was pleased with the verdict, and that he expects Saborit to be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. "My mom never deserved to have this happen in the first place," Thayer's 42-year-old son, Charles Thayer, said after the verdict, the Star Tribune reported. "This monster deserves to be put away for life." #TrueCrime