An abandoned room with a large red pentagram and inverted crosses painted on the walls and lit candles on the floor.

Ritual Murder Claims: Separating Evidence From Myth

Claims of ritual murder, including those attached to occult networks such as the Order of Nine Angles (O9A), often rely on symbolic interpretations that outrun physical evidence. While some homicides involve genuine supernatural beliefs, others…

Santa Muerte Cartel, Narcocultura and Ritual Violence

Santa Muerte is a widely venerated Mexican folk saint associated with protection, healing, and everyday hardship. While millions of lawful devotees follow her, drug cartels and criminal networks have also appropriated her imagery within……

A stylised illustration of a dark-haired woman with red lipstick against a red background with splatter effects.

Women Serial Killers: Rare Offenders, Common Victims

Serial killers are overwhelmingly male. Victims, however? Mostly not. Across multiple datasets and criminological studies, women show up in a strange, brutal double role:…

The Monster of Florence: Anatomy of an Unsolved Italian Nightmare

The garden of Pietro Pacciani's former house in Mercatale Val di Pesa, photographed in 2016. Pacciani was convicted in 1994, acquitted on appeal in 1996, and died in 1998 before a retrial. Credit: Sailko /…

The Archer Home for Chronic Invalids: Amy Archer-Gilligan and the Perils of Unregulated Eldercare

Amy Archer-Gilligan, photographed around 1901. Credit: Unknown author / Wikimedia Commons (Public domain). An Industry in Infancy: The State of American Eldercare (1900-1920) A. From Almshouse to Private Home B. A Regulatory Void C. The…

The Devil’s Scapegoats: An Anatomy of the Child Witchcraft Moral Panic in Southern Nigeria

Executive Summary This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the moral panic surrounding child witchcraft accusations in the southern Nigerian states of Akwa Ibom and Cross River, a human rights crisis that erupted in the…

Infamous Crimes That Shocked the 20th Century

Explore some of the most infamous crimes that defined the 20th century. From the unsolved Black Dahlia murder to the chilling Manson Family cult, delve into the historic cases that shocked the world.…

Necrophagy in New York: The Brutal Crimes of Arthur Shawcross

Necrophagy. Explore the catastrophic parole failure that enabled Arthur Shawcross, the Genesee River Killer, to begin a second, brutal murder spree.…

A single-dose vial of succinylcholine chloride, a paralytic drug

The Malignant Hero: A Psycho-Criminological Analysis of Nurses as Serial Killers

Malignant Hero: This phenomenon, often sensationalized under the moniker "Angel of Death," is not merely a trope of popular culture but a specific and terrifying category of criminal behavior.…

The Marquis de Sade Criminal Profile: Violence, Power and the Man Behind “Sadism”

A sourced Marquis de Sade criminal profile reviews the confirmed allegations, overturned death sentence, imprisonment, writings, and origin of “sadism.”…

Rostov Ripper: Soviet Horror Story

Explore the chilling narrative of Andrei Chikatilo, the Soviet serial killer whose gruesome crimes challenged the perceived social harmony of Soviet ideology.…

Painted portrait of a pale noblewoman wearing a large white lace ruff and dark gown.

Elizabeth Báthory: A Blood Countess or a Victim of Circumstance?

Was Elizabeth Báthory, the "Blood Countess," a sadistic serial killer or a victim of a conspiracy? Explore her life of privilege and alleged atrocities.…

Black-and-white 1978 yearbook portrait of Jeffrey Dahmer as a teenager, with feathered hair, large metal-framed glasses and a patterned collared shirt

Inside Jeffrey Dahmer’s Mind: Cannibalism & Compulsions

Jeffrey Lionel Dahmer: Deconstructing a Cannibal's Compulsions. Explore the genesis of Dahmer's crimes and his descent into the abyss of human depravity.…

The end of the Huntington Beach pier, California

Rodney Alcala Paradox: An Autopsy of the ‘Dating Game’ Killer

Rodney Alcala, known as the "Dating Game" killer, was a notorious serial killer who terrorized the United States in the 1970s. He was sentenced to death after being found guilty of murdering at least five…

Robert de Middlecote The Mad Monk: Was This England’s First Serial Killer?

Dive into the 14th-century case of Robert de Middlecote. This report separates the true history of a criminal monk from the chilling legend of England's first serial killer.…

Greenwich Harbor in Connecticut on a clear day, with wooden pilings in the foreground and boats moored across the water

The Murder of Martha Moxley: Belle Haven, 1975, and a Case Without a Conviction

"Truth exists, only falsehood has to be invented."…

The Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center, a tall white office tower in downtown Los Angeles

O.J. Simpson Trial: Acquittal, Civil Liability and the Record

A Los Angeles jury acquitted O.J. Simpson of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman in 1995. A civil jury…

The George Washington Bridge seen from the Manhattan shore of the Hudson River

The Crime Ledger: October 22, 2026

Verdicts, sentences, appeal rulings, charges and arrests from 43 countries in one worldwide edition. A retired NYPD detective is charged with murder…

The Crime Ledger: October 21, 2026

Verdicts, sentences, an execution, charges and arrests from 32 countries in one worldwide edition. Alabama's governor commutes Toforest Johnson's death sentence. Florida…

View over the town of Malindi on the Kenyan coast

The Crime Ledger: October 19, 2026

A Kenyan judge has convicted Shakahola cult leader Paul Mackenzie and his co-accused of murdering 190 children and one adult, rejecting the…

Howrah Bridge over the Hooghly River in Kolkata under a clear sky

The Crime Ledger: October 18, 2026

A Kolkata court sent seven people, including two office bearers of the organising committee, to police custody until Oct. 28 after a…

Ensenada Bay on the Pacific coast of Baja California

The Crime Ledger: October 17, 2026

A judge in Ensenada sentenced three men to 158 years each on Friday for killing Australian brothers Jake and Callum Robinson and…

View over Bend, Oregon, from Pilot Butte

The Crime Ledger: October 16, 2026

A 16-year-old former student shot his way through the locked doors of Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend, Oregon, on Thursday and…

Impunity