Warning: Graphic Content & Images
Murder has an interesting place in our society. Unfortunately, murder has become an accepted part of the reality in which we live. On one hand we have become desensitized to murder. Hearing about a drive-by shooting no longer receives so much as a raised eyebrow when announced. However, the taboo placed upon the act of murder stirs up a morbid curiosity within us. Something inside of us craves hearing about the facts that surround the case. We want to know who the victim was, how did they die and if possible; who did it. When words and terms such as rape, pedophilia and murder of a child or parent are attached to the case, it strikes a chord within the reader and the emotional response is heightened. Most of us are sickened by these acts and we empathize and sympathize with the victims and their families. Part of us however still look to the perpetrator, hoping to find some redeeming quality within the individual.
Conversely, when the words mutilation, dismemberment, cannibalism and necrophilia are used to describe the state of the victim or the actions of the perpetrator, a fire within us is ignited and a sense of disgust is awakened, even in the most insensitive individuals. No longer is the perpetrator looked at with any level of humanity. At this point the individual guilty of the offense is now deemed a monster. A monster that should receive no mercy and most be stopped at all costs and by any means. In our hearts, the deprave acts of this person is not even worthy of a trial as we fervently wish for the guilty party to be executed immediately utilizing the most inhumane manner possible.
As a writer, my ardent wish is to invoke emotions within the hearts and minds of my readers. The following cases brought me to tears, caused me to swear and brought me to a point of anger that caused me to take several research breaks during the creation of this post. The cases highlighted in this post may cause you to look differently at just who you share this planet with.
That being said, I bring to you; 10 of The most depraved and disturbing acts of murder…ever.
10) The Murder of Victoria Martens
On 08/24/2016, police officers were called to an apartment building in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The officers were responding to neighbor’s reports of screaming coming from the apartment. After entering the residence, officers reported seeing smoke coming from behind the closed bathroom door. Cautiously, the officers opened the door and were horrified to find the dismembered body of Victoria Martens partially wrapped in a burning blanket. The child was pronounced dead at the crime scene and the child’s mother Michelle Martens, her boyfriend Fabian Gonzales; and Gonzales’ cousin Jessica Kelley were immediately arrested.
No one present during the questioning of Michelle Martens was prepared for her next statement. Martens testified to officers that she actively sought out men to rape her daughter. She met Gonzales through am online dating service approximately four months prior to the murder. She further informed investigators that her daughter had been sexually assaulted every day for a month by several men; and that she enjoyed watching it happen. Martens told authorities that she had given her daughter alcohol and methamphetamine to calm her down so that Fabian Gonzales and Jessica Kelley could have sex with her.
Autopsy results showed that Victoria Martens had been viciously raped,, strangled to death, and then stabbed and dismembered. Her remains were then wrapped in a blanket and set on fire. Adding insult to injury, authorities said the child was suffering from a sexually transmitted disease known as human papillomavirus (HPV) at the time of her death. Her time of death was determined to be between 7:45 and 8:30 p.m. on August 23rd, the evening of her 10th birthday.
Michelle Martens, Fabian Gonzales, and Jessica Kelley were arrested and charged with the murder of Victoria Martens as well as other charges including kidnapping, child abuse, child rape charges. The three suspects are in jail awaiting trial; held on a USD $1 million cash-only bond. They have all pleaded not guilty thus far.
9) Murder of Junko Furuta
In 1989 Junko Furuta was a student at Yashio-Minami High School in Japan. A classmate, Hiroshi Miyano had a crush on the young lady but each time he approached her for some level of companionship, Junko respectfully declined. On the evening of November 25th, 1988 Miyano and his friend Nobuharu Minato were out trolling the area actively looking foe unsuspecting young women to sexually assault. At approximately 8:30 that night, their paths crossed with that of young Ms. Furuta. Unbeknownst to her, Miyano had already spotted Junko as she rode her bike home from work. His plan was for Minato to act as a bully and kick Junko off of her bike and ran away while he hid. Minato. Pretending to be a true friend, Miyano would come out of hiding, console Junko and walk her home. The plan worked and during the walk Miyano tricked Junko into walking with him to a nearby warehouse where he then raped her.
Miyano informed to Junko that he was a member of the Yakuza and threatened to kill her and members of her family if she did not accompany him to a hotel in the area. Arriving at the hotel, Miyano called Minato and two other friends; Jō Ogura and Yasushi Watanabe. At about 3:00 am. the two proceeded to a nearby park and met with the other three boys. Once they arrived, the four young men gang raped Junko into the early morning hours of the following day. The four boys took Junko to a home owned by Minato’s parents.
On November 27th, fearing that Junko’s parents had contacted authorities, Miyano forced Junko to call home. She explained to her worried parents that she had run away but was now safe at a friend’s house and there was no need to continue with any investigation. Initially, Junko was made to pretend to be a girlfriend of one of her assailants while in the presence of Minato’s parents. However, Minato’s parents lived in fear of their son and his connections therefore, it became obvious that his parents would not be contacting authorities so the rouse was soon dropped.
For forty four days Junko Furuta was held captive at this home and faced unimaginable tortures. During that time Miyano, Minato, Ogura and Watanabe invited their other yakuza friends to torment Furuta. According to their trial statements, the four of them raped her over 400 times, beat her, starved her, hung her from the ceiling and used her as a “punching bag”, dropped barbells onto her stomach, forced her to eat live cockroaches and drink her own urine, and forced her to masturbate in front of them. They further degraded the child by inserting foreign objects such as a lit light bulb and fireworks into her vagina and anus. They burned her vagina and clitoris with cigarettes and lighters, scalded her eyelids with hot wax; they also tore off her left nipple with pliers and pierced her breasts with sewing needles.
During her ordeal, Furuta had an opportunity to call the police; unfortunately, she was discovered by Hiroshi before she could say anything. When the police phoned back, Miyano snatched the phone and informed them that the call had been a mistake. The kidnappers punished Junko by dousing her legs and feet in lighter fluid and setting them on fire. They then pushed a large bottle into her anus, causing severe bleeding and convulsions. Believing that Junko may have been faking a seizure, so they set her on fire again.
She survived these injuries and continued to be raped and tortured. Furuta’s appearance had been drastically altered as a result of the sheer brutality of the attacks. Her face was so swollen that it was difficult to make out her features. Her body was also severely crippled, giving off a rotting smell. One of the kidnappers testified that her hands and legs were so badly damaged that it took her over an hour to drag herself downstairs to use the washroom. Junko eventually lost bladder and bowel control; no longer able make to the bathroom, she began soiling the carpets. Toward the end of her tortured existence she was unable to drink water or consume food and would vomit after each attempt. Regardless, no sympathy was shown by the kidnappers and the torture continued. During questioning the kidnappers told investigators that Furuta asked her captors on several occasions to kill her and get it over with. The demented cowards refused; instead, they forced her to sleep out on the balcony in the winter cold or locked her in a freezer. On 4 January 1989, Junko Furuta’s injuries was so severe that it caused her brain to shrink. As a result, she went into shock, succumbed to her wounds and died that day.
After finding her unresponsive Nobuharu Minato’s brother called to tell him that Furuta appeared to be dead. Afraid of being caught for murder, they wrapped her body in blankets and shoved it into a travel bag. They then put her body in a 55-gallon (208 liters) drum and filled it with wet concrete. Around 8:00 pm, they loaded and eventually disposed the drum into a cement truck in Kōtō, Tokyo.
None of the people responsible for her death received more than 20 years in prison for the rape, kidnapping, torture and murder of Junko Furuta.
8) The Murder of Tanya Byrd
It’s about 4:30 a.m. on a brisk February morning in the Bronx, New York City back in 2013. A dog walker comes to bags of trash at the intersection of Eagle Avenue and 158th street. As they normally do, a dog sniffs around the pile of garbage. The dog walker becomes curious when the dog just won’t leave a particular bag alone. Investigating to see just what the dog is after, the dog walker opens the bag and is horrified to find a human leg wrapped in a trash bag. The horrified dog-walker soon regained composure and called police.
Tanya Byrd
Upon their arrival authorities began a search of other area garbage piles. Not long after the search began, most of the remains were found in trash heaps in between 156th and 158th streets and between Eagle and Cauldwell avenues. Witnesses reported a seeing a suspect dump the bags and their gruesome contents on the curb for collection and then flee the scene in a silver SUV.
The identity of the deceased was found to be 45-year-old Tanya Byrd, a Morrisania neighborhood resident. Officers went to Byrd’s Westchester Avenue apartment and were immediately overwhelmed by the strong stench of bleach. Bahsid McLean, who had reported his mother missing; was arrested for the murder as well as his friend, 26-year-old William Harris.
During questioning, McLean initially attempted to blame Harris for his mother’s murder though admitted to the dismemberment. However, upon further interrogation, he confessed to the crime. Tanya told her son to grow up and move out of her apartment. She simply wanted her son to become a responsible individual and an argument ensued. After the spat, Tanya is said to have laid on the couch for a nap. On Sunday evening or early Monday, Bashid McLean hit his mother, 45-year-old Tanya Byrd, on the head with a heavy object while she was sleeping. He then stabbed his mother to death in the bedroom of the apartment they shared. He then stole cash from her purse and went to a GED class that he attended with his friend, 26-year-old William Harris; whom he enlisted to help dispose of his mother’s remains.
holding head
of
Tanya Byrd
A hardware store’s closed caption camera show McLean purchasing the saw with cash. The two men returned to the apartment and dismembered Tanya’s corpse. Piece by piece they placed the body parts in garbage bags, placed some of the garbage bags inside of luggage type bags. McLean posed in front of the bathroom mirror and took a selfie, holding the bloody head of his slain mother like a trophy. He said that he had planned to keep the grisly photo as a keepsake. The image was somehow leaked to the New York Post.
Bahsid McLean suffered from mental illness, some diagnosed other symptoms not yet revealed. As a result of his mental issues and his mother’s drug abuse in his youth, McLean spent much of his life in mental hospitals and foster homes. During this period an internal hatred for his mother grew. At the age of 18 he returned to live with his mother, despite eventually marrying. His aunt and father testified that McLean had been off of his meds for years, though no one seemed to know exactly what meds he was taking. He showed no remorse for the murder of his mother and tried to deny culpability completely. “I didn’t do anything wrong,” McLean insisted adamantly and repeatedly. McLean, whose Twitter handle is @killtanyabyrd, had been planning his mother’s murder for years, according to Byrd’s sister.
Bahsid McLean was found guilty of second-degree murder and unlawful dissection of a human being. He was sentenced to 25 years to life.
7) The Hello Kitty Murder
“I’m being haunted by a woman that I helped to kill,” were the words spoken by a 14-year-old Japanese girl. The child would go on to tell a story of sex, drugs and depravity. A tale that would help authorities solve one of the most gruesome murders ever.
Fan Man-yee also known as Ah-Map, was a 23-year-old night club hostess, exotic dancer and part-time prostitute in 1997. Fan Man-yee met 34-year-old Chan Man-lok, aka Big Brother that year and they embarked on somewhat of a friendship. Despite the fact that Ah Map was married with a small child, she was addicted to ice, something that Big Brother kept in mass quantities.
Ah-Map would see her clients at the Romance hotel and soon Big Brother became a frequent guest of hers. Though she was fully aware of his underworld ties as well as his violent tendencies, Ah-Map stole a wallet containing $4,000 from Big Brother. Swearing to repay him as soon as possible, Ah-Map did just that, she even tacked on interest in the amount of 10,000 additional dollars. Chan Man-lok took the money but felt that he had to set an example of Ah-Map.
Man-lok. (Big Brother) had his henchman abduct Ah-Map from her home on March 17th, 1999. Leung Shin-Cho 27 and Leung Wai-Lun 21 were the foot soldiers that were sent to carry out the mission. The plan was to kidnap Ah-Map, torture her and make her prostitute for him. Leung Shin-Cho and Leung Wai-Lun abducted Ah-Map and brought her to an apartment they shared with Man-lok at 31 Granville Lane. Fan would never leave the apartment alive.
For approximately one-month Fan was beaten and tortured regularly and mercilessly. The men would piss on her face or into her mouth, beating her when she failed to swallow their urine. Fan was forced to eat her own feces. They bound young Fan Man Yee’s wrists together with electrical wire, hung her from a hook on the ceiling and beat her with water pipes and metal bars. They set drinking straws alight, held down Fan and dripped melted plastic on the soles of her feet until her skin blistered and oozed pus. At times the men lit her feet directly, then beat them with a stick causing Fan to experience excruciating pain.
Chan Man-lok gave up on the idea of pimping her. No longer would anyone find Ah-Map desirable; much less pay her for sex. It was more fun to play video games, doing ice and concoct more and more depraved methods of torturing Ah-Map.
Chan Man-lok had a teenage girlfriend called Ah-Fong that frequented the apartment. During questioning, Ah Fong admitted to taking part in the torturing of Ah-Map. On one occasion she remembered pouring chili oil onto the burns made by the melted plastic, On another occasion, Chan Man-lok instructed the girl to deficate into a shoebox. Shin-Cho and Leung Wai-Lun then made Ah Map eat it. Af Fong told investigators of an instance when Chan Man-lok kicked Fan repeatedly for 50 times. On each day of her torture the men would make Ah Map laugh out loud and pretend to be happy while being tortured. When she simply could not pretend to be “happy” they would beat her harder.
At the end of Ah Map’s life, she was just a shell of her former self. Totally consumed by ice and torture; she drifted in and out of consciousness. Fan laid shiftless on the bathroom floor as her tormentors went about the life of getting high off ice and playing video games. After a month of unspeakable torture, she made her final transition laying on the floor; lifeless and broken. Ah-Fong discovered that Fan Man-lee had died. Even after being notified of the death, Man-lok, Shin-Cho and Wai-Lun went about their normal daily activities. Days later, after an ice binge, Chan Man-lok demanded the body of Fan Man-yee be destroyed and erased from existence.
The three men lifted Ah Map’s corpse into a bathtub and there she was dismembered. Chan himself cut off the head with a wood saw while his triad underlings stripped and bagged the flesh, storing it in a refrigerator. Chan took Ah-Maps head and placed into a large pot of boiling water. They soon became hungry and placed another pot of boiling water next to the one containing her head and poured in noodles. It is said that both pots were stirred with the same spoon. Though the apartment was occupied by gangsters, it was heavily decorated with Hello Kitty merchandise. Fan Man-lee’s skull was placed inside of a life-sized Hello Kitty doll.
Despite being responsible for one of the most heinous murders in modern history; a jury refused to find Chan Man-lok, Leung Shin-Cho and Leung Wai-Lun guilty of murder. In December 2000, the three men were convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after just 20 years. Though she admittedly took part in the torture, Ah Fong was not charged with a crime because of her testimony to authorities.
6) The Murder of Gabriel Kuhn
Though I’ve covered this murder in a previous post titled, Tibia; A Game So Fun You’ll Kill Somebody, due to the sheer depravity and evil of this murder, the list wouldn’t be complete without it.
It’s Brazil in 2007, 12-year-old Gabriel Kuhn is playing Tibia online. For those that don’t know, Tibia is a MMORPG, (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game). Initially, I didn’t know anything about the game. It has been explained to me that the difference between Tibia and other games is the number of players that are able to interact together. Another difference in Tibia is that the game’s persistent world continues to exist and evolve while the player is offline and away from the game.
I also learned that within the game there is money. No, not real money but money that can be used within the confines of the game. Money that can be earned, spent and unfortunately, as in this case; loaned. As I said earlier, young Gabriel Kuhn is playing Tibia. At some point he runs short of “cash”. Fellow Tibia player and friend of Gabriel, Daniel Petry is also playing. As frriends do, Kuhn hits Petry for a loan. Mind you, this is not real cash of any sort. The money can only be used within the game. Petry agrees to the loan, the money is transferred and that is that.
Daniel Petry was a rebellious teenager that found peace within the world of video games. Unfortunately, Petry dealt with day-to-day situations with extreme violence and was under psychiatric treatment because of it. Fully expecting to receive his game currency from Kuhn, Daniel Petry experienced what can only be called a “psychotic break”, when he didn’t receive the money.
Daniel Petry went to Gabriel Kuhn’s home. After gaining entrance, Petry began to beat the younger and much smaller Gabriel Kuhn mercilessly. Petry then raped/sodomized Gabriel and proceeded to strangle his former friend to death. Wanting to hide the body in the attic, Petry attempted to hoist Kuhn’s body up on his shoulders nut Kuhn was too heavy. Assuming Kuhn was dead and wanting to conceal the murder, Daniel began to hacksaw Gabriel’s legs off. The pain of being dismembered woke the child, previously unconscious from his beating and strangling. Gabe’s mother and brother returned home to find her 12 year old son murdered with legs cut off.
Daniel Petry was tried in court and after his conviction was sent to a young/juvenile offenders facility. Due to laws in Brazil regarding youths and murder Daniel Petry was only sentenced to three years in prison for this heinous murder.
5) The Alcàsser Girls Murder
It’s Friday, November 13th 1992, and Miriam García, Toñi Gómez, and Desirée Hernández are ready to party. These three young ladies from Alcàsser, Valencia, Spain are headed to a secondary school party being held at Coolor, a popular nightclub located on the outskirts of Picassent, Spain. Neither of the girls have a car so they resort to hitchhiking to get to the nightclub in the nearby town. Unfortunately, this decision would cost them their lives and become three of the most heinous and sadistic murders of our time.
Anxious about that evenings activities, the girls set out on their mission. Picassent was approximately 2.5 miles away, and they had successfully hitchhiked to a previous function, so the girls felt safe. As they set out, a young couple from Alcàsser dropped them off at a gas station near Picassent. A witness told authorities that the girls got into a four door car with two men. That is the last time the girls were seen alive.
Miguel Ricart and Antonio Anglés were the men seen picking the girls up at the gas station. Speeding past Coolor, the girls soon realized that they had been kidnapped and began to kick and scream. The brutality began when Anglés started pistol-whipping the girls. The car came to a stop when they reached a seemingly uninhabited house, in a remote mountain area near La Romana, close to the Tous dam. The three girls were forced from the vehicle and into the dilapidated house, where two of the girls were raped. Later the men forced the three teens back in to the car and drove to nearby Catadau for food. Upon their return, Ricart and Anglés took turn raping the third girl.
All through the night the girls were tortured in every conceivable manner. Miguel Ricart provided the accounts of the brutality that the girls endured. Admitting his presence at the crime, yet downplaying his involvement in what happened to the three teenagers; Ricart claimed that Angeles alone was responsible for the girl’s torture and subsequent murder. investigators would fill in the blanks of the girl’s evening when the remains were found.
On January 27, 1993 two beekeepers found their bodies when they came across the horrific sigtht of an arm sticking out of the ground. Their remains were buried in a shallow grave in a ditch in a rural area located near La Romana, Catadau. The two men called police immediately. The discovery came exactly 75 days after the search for the girls had commenced.
It had been two and a half months of sheer torture for the parents of the missing girls. The search for the girls began shortly after their scheduled return time had come and gone. Fernando García, Miriam García’s father was the first to search for the girls on the night that they went missing. He stopped by the Civil Guard, (Police) station, to tell them that the girls had disappeared. The desk sergeant informed Mr. Garcia that it was only 11 p.m. and maybe the kids were out enjoying themselves, oblivious to the hour of day. They also informed Mr. Garcia that until 24 hours had passed,the girls couldn’t be reported missing. The following day however, shit got real.
José Manuel Alcayna, the former deputy mayor of Alcásser, organized a search party with 12 vehicles. Police officers began dispersing missing person flyers across the entire Valencian community. The case of the three missing girls from Alcásser soon received unprecedented levels of media coverage. Parents weren’t the only ones affected by the case. The girl’s disappearance struck fear into the hearts of area teens. Until the beekeepers made their grisley discovery.
The girl’s remains showed investigators that the girl’s had suffered dearly at the hands od their captors. Desirée Hernández’ corpse indicated that alomg with severe beatings she suffered a traumatic amputation of the right nipple and areola with a sharp object. She was then stabbed twice in the back. The other girls were beaten with sticks and stones, before finally being shot and buried. Miriam’s corpse displayed vaginal wounds caused by an object provided with sharp edges, possibly produced postmortem. Each girl died from a gunshot wound to the head.
Near the bodies, authorities found other items as well, including a glove, binoculars, three belts and clothing items. It would be these items. along with witness testimony from the gas station that brought law enforcement to their suspects. Miguel Ricart was sentenced to 170 years in prison for his role in the murders although he was later released in 2013. Antonio Anglés has never been found and is wanted by INTERPOL as well as Spanish authorities.
4) The Murder of Canny Ong Lay Kian On the 13th of June 2003, Canny Ong Lay Kian was in Malaysia visiting her ailing father. Canny, an IT-analyst had been in Malaysia for quite a while and was anxious to return to the United States and her husband Brandon the next day. That evening Canny decided to go out for dinner with family and friends and to do some last minute shopping at the Bangsar Shopping Complex in Bangsar, Kuala Lumpur.
After the meal, at approximately 10:30 p.m. she went to retrieve her parking ticket from her car. The parking garage was rather dark and spooky looking. Canny didn’t want her mother to have to walk such a long distance nor be left alone so she asked her mother and sister to wait for her by the autopay machine. Canny never made it to the autopay. CCTV cameras recorded her car speeding out of the garage and crashing through the barrier at 10:45 p.m.. Canny’s mother reported her missing about 20 minutes later at the Brickfields police station.
Investigators identified the kidnapper as Ahmad Najib Aris, an unemployed, aircraft cabin cleaner. Ironically, later that night two motorcade patrol officers pulled Canny’s car over near Kelana Jaya. During the routine traffic stop, one officer took their id cards to check for wants, warrants and holds. While running the cards, Najib attempted to drive off. The officer shot one of the tires out, however Najib managed to get away. In the early hours of the following morning he raped and tortured Canny. He then stabbed her twice and dumped her body in an open manhole at a construction site then left by taxi. He returned later and saturated Canny’s body with gasoline and set it ablaze. The following morning Canny Ong Lay Kian’s remains were discovered by a construction site manager.
On Feb 23, 2005, the Shah Alam High Court sentenced Ahmad Najib to death for the torture, rape and murder of Canny Ong Lay Kian. After spending 11 years on death row and having exhausted all of his appeals, Ahmad Najib Aris was finally executed for the 2003 murder shortly after dawn on Friday, September 24, 2016,
3) The Murder of Eno Fariha
On Thursday May 14, 2016; Eno Fariha had retired to her dorm room after work. The 19-year-old factory worker at PT Polyta Global Mandiri had just finished her shift and planned to relax in her employer provided housing unit. Unbeknownst to her, Eno Fariha was about to be a victim of one of the most sadistic murder cases in Indonesia.
Eno had been dating Rahmat Arifin bin Hartono for approximately a month. Rahmat come to see Eno that evening. Expecting sex, Rahmat was angered when Eno refused. Furiosly he left, but only to return with two other males. Rahmat Arifin bin Hartono, Imam Hapriadi and a minor called RA returned to the victim’s quarters and beat and gang raped Eno. The men then proceeded to rape the young woman with a garden hoe. The killing blow was dealt when one of the perpetrators kicked the hoe that was inside of Ms. Fariha. The tool was kicked with such force that in chest x-rays, the handle can be seen as high as fifth rib. behind the right upper lung. The handle damaged the abdominal cavity and pelvis, ripped the heart, tore the right chest cavity bulkhead and caused internal bleeding in the chest cavity.
On Wednesday, February 8, 2017; The Tangerang District Court sentenced Rahmat Arifin bin Hartono and Imam Hapriadi to death for the 2016 rape and murder of Eno Fraiha. The men were implicated through DNA evidence that ruled out any other potential perpetrators. The judges found that the two defendants knowingly committed premeditated murder. The judges unanimously agreed that the death penalty was necessary citing that the defendants’ acts were sadistic and vile. Their actions caused trauma to the victim’s family. The judges also noted that the defendants refused to plead guilty throughout the court proceedings, and at no point did they express any remorse or regret in their actions.
2) The Murder of Robert Beckowitz
Robert Beckowitz, shared his basement apartment in the 19300 block of Woodbine in northwest Detroit with his girlfriend Jeanine Clark. On Wednesday, July 14, 1982, neighbor, friend and unbeknownst to Robert; Jeanine’s lover, James Edward Glover stopped in as they prepared to catch the Benny Hill show. Beckowitz, who is said to be an avid gun collector, kept a small arsenal in his apartment. Utilizing a 45 caliber pistol, Glover ended the life of his friend, Robert Beckowitz with a single gunshot to the head. Adding insult to injury Beckowitz was then stabbed more than 80 times.
Excited by the murder, Glover and Clark had sex near the remains of Beckowitz. Unsatisfied and expecting more from the experience; the drug fueled couple decided to include Robert into their session.
The two excited lovers, intoxicated by lust, perversion and a wide assortment of drugs; enthusiastically dismembered Beckowitz. They used body parts for sex and posed nude with the remains of Beckowitz in demeaning and sexually exploitative positions; capturing the sessions on camera. Glover and Clark continued this behavior for three days.
The drugs must have worn off after the third day. On Saturday night Clark left the house and contacted police. Clark told authorities that she had been forced under a death threat to pose for photographs with Beckowitz’s mutilated body. She also told authorities that she had been forced to take place in the murder and desecration of Robert Beckowitz. However, once the pictures that had been taken during the binge surfaced, they told a totally different story. The photographs illustrated a naked and smiling Clark taking an active role in the mutilations and necrophilia. Investigators also found that she went outside the home alone to buy more film for the camera never once attempting to leave or contact police.
Jeannine Clark, already on parole for bank robbery, was initially being held as a witness to the murder and dismemberment of Robert Beckowitz. However, after the prosecution viewed the pictures and took into account other evidence, Clark was charged with mutilating Beckowitz’s corpse. She was held at Wayne county jail and given a $10,000 bond. Conviction for mutilating a corpse carries a maximum 10-year prison sentence.
James Edward Glover was sentenced to 30 to 50 years in prison for the murder and dismemberment of Robert Beckowitz. Jeannine Clark, was given the maximum term -80 months to 10 years.
1) The Murder of Tim McLean
On July 30, 2008, Tim McLean, a carnival barker by trade caught Greyhound bus 1170 to Winnipeg after working at a fair in Alberta. The exhausted McLean took a seat in the rear, one row ahead of the toilet. returning home to Manitoba. At some point, Vince Weiguang Li boarded the bus. Li, a tall man, 40ish, sported a shaved head and sunglasses. took a seat in the front area of the bus when he boarded. As the trip ensued, Li manuevered to the back and found himself seated next to McLean. Sleeping with his headphones on, Tim opened his eyes briefly and gave Li a nod and immediately went back to sleep.
Out of his coat Li produced a large knife and began stabbing McLean in the neck and chest. The bus driver pulled to the side of the road so that he and all the other passengers could exit the vehicle. At that point McLean had succumbed to his injuries.The attacker proceeds to using the knife like a saw and decapitates McLean. Li then displayed the severed head as if it were a trophy of sorts.
The depravity continued as Li began slicing strips of skin from McLean’s body and consuming them. During the course of this atrocity several passengers and even the driver attempted to be of some assistance to McLean. Each attempt ended with Li chasing the would be helpers away and off of the bus.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police, (RCMP) received an emergency call about a stabbing on a Greyhound bus at approximately 8:30 p.m.. The first wave of officers immediately answered the call and found the suspect still on board the bus. Other passengers had prevented Li from escaping. The bus driver engaged the emergency immobiliser system. The system, utilized by commercial passenger vehicles renders the vehicle inoperable in case of vehicular hijacking or other emergency situations. A truck driver, who had seen the situation unfold, aided the other passengers and provided a crowbar and a hammer as weapons.
A standoff had ensued at approximately 9:00 p.m.,. Li paced the length of the bus, muttering inaudibly and eating parts of McLean’s body. Officers began clearing out passengers from the crime scene, taking them to safety and to be interviewed about what they had witnessed. For some unknown reasons the RCMP officers never pressed forward to apprehend Li even though he was the only living person that remained on the bus. At about 1:30 a.m. the following morning, Vince Li attempted to deboard the bus from a window. Officers tased Li and subsequently took him into custody.
Officers were horrified when they entered the bus. Blood splatter covered the rear portion of the bus. Officers recovered numerous plastic bags containing McLean’s body parts. His ear, nose and tongue were found in Li’s pockets. Tim McLean’s eyes and a part of his heart were never recovered and are presumed to have been eaten by Li. To this day it is a mystery why RCMP officers never attempted gain entry to the bus by force. Officers seemed content to watch and sit idly while Li ate and defiled the remains of Tim McLean for hours.
Investigators searched for a reason for Li’s actions leading up to that fateful day. He had been fired from Wal-Mart four weeks earlier, though he also had two other jobs. One of them was at a fast-food restaurant, the other being newspaper delivery. Friends, associates and co-workers told authorities that Li never exhibited any signs of aggression or mental imbalance. Oddly, Vince Li had arrived at the bus stop that he boarded the Greyhound 24 + hours before his bus was scheduled. Witnesses say he sat stoicly on a bench at the bus stop for the whole time.Vince Li’s murder trial began on March 3, 2009. As expected, Li plead not guilty be reason of insanity.Li testified to the court that God’s voice told him McLean was a force of evil and that he must execute him. Judge, John Scurfield, accepted the plea ruling that Li was not criminally responsible for the murder.
Vince Li’s “sentence” was carried out as follows:
- On June 3, 2010, Li was granted supervised outdoor walks within his mental health facility.
- On May 30, 2011, his doctor had recommended that he receive more freedoms, phased in over several months.
- On May 17, 2012, Li began to receive passes that allowed him out of the Selkirk Mental Health Centre for visits to the town of Selkirk; He would be supervised by a nurse and peace officer at all times.
- On March 6,2014, Li began receiving unsupervised visits to Selkirk, starting at 30 minutes and expanding to full-day trips.
- On February 27, 2015, Li was given unsupervised day passes to visit Winnipeg with the stipulation that he carry a functioning cellular telephone while out.
- On May 8, 2015, Li was granted passes to group homes in the community.
- In February 2016, Li had legally changed his name and was given authority to live independently upon the recommendation of the Criminal Code Review Board.
- On February 10, 2017, the Manitoba Criminal Code Review Board granted Li an absolute discharge with no legal obligations or restrictions pertaining to Li’s independent living.
In other words,. not even a decade after murdering, mutilating and consuming an innocent man. Vince Li was now a free man.
In each case the already despicable act of murder has been commited with the added the elements of rape, dismemberment, mutilation, necrophilia and cannibalism. Evil beyond comprehension committed by people that we share our planet with. Some were able to hide behind the guise of being mentally ill. Other’s punishment were minimized by loopholes in the law. In those instances I truly believe that the lawmakers of the time could not conceive nor prepare for the level of evil that would eventually manifest.
For the most part I’ve always been a bit of a skeptic in terms of the paranormal or supernatural. However, the more I research and write about the true crime genre and subject matter; the more I believe in……..something. These acts of evil have got to leave some sort of spiritual residue in this world. I find it impossible to believe that perpetrators of this level of evil doesn’t leave some level of evil imprint on the world.
How do we protect ourselves and loved ones against the evil that permeates our communities like the plague? How do we identify the depravity that may lie the hearts and minds of people that we encounter on a regular basis? Unfortunately I don’t have an answer or solution to these very real questions. The only thing that I can suggest is that we hold tight to our belief system and lean on to the God of our understanding. We keep ourselves mentally, physically and spiritually fit to combat and conquer the forces of evil that are an ever present threat.
True Crime Stories From The Reignmaker 
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