The Backroom

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In the August of 1955, 14 year old Emmett Till was visiting relatives in Money, Mississippi.  Before leaving his home in Chicago for Mississippi, his mother Mamie warned Emmett of Mississippi. Mamie, originally from Mississippi, told Emmett, "The north and the south are two different worlds". On August 24, Till and his cousins, entered Bryant's Groceries to buy candy. The store was being managed by 21 year old Carolyn Bryant. The exact interaction between Till and Bryant are uncertain and widely disputed, as several different accounts were taken. Till, who had a persistent stutter, would whistle before pronouncing a word he struggled with. It is believed that Bryant took this as an advancement by Till. In Bryant's account, Till held her and put his hand on her waist. She stated that Till had asked her for a date. According to Till's cousins, this did NOT happen. In the early morning of August 28, after finding out what happened from a friend, Carolyn's husband, 24 year old Roy Bryant and his half brother L.W. Milam abducted Till from his uncle's home. They took Till to a barn and beat, tortured, and mutilated the young teen to death. Bryant and Milam then stole the fan to a cotton gin, took Till's body to the Tallahatchie River, wrapped barbed wire around his neck and tied him to the fan. One shot Till in the head before submerging his body in the river, using the fan as a weight. Three days later, Emmett Till's body was discovered. Officials in Mississippi wanted to bury Till almost immediately, but his mother demanded his body be returned to Chicago. The funeral directors highly suggested a closed casket funeral due to the extensive trauma and disfigurement of Till's bloated body. But Mamie insisted that the casket be open. She wanted the world to know what had happened to her son. Emmett's open casket was photographed and published on the cover of black based magazines and newspapers. Bryant and Milam were indicted on murder charges. Their trial began in September 1955. Although their guilt was clear, Bryant and Milam were acquitted by the all white, male jury. In an interview with Look magazine in 1956, both men admitted to killing Till. In the years following, both Bryant and Milam suffered financially and socially, being shut out by the public. The life and death of Emmett Till became an early stepping stone for the Civil Rights Movement in the late 1950s and 1960s. 

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Between 1943 and 1945, Dr. Josef Mengele carried out inhuman medical experiments on prisoners at Auschwitz. As SS Captain and physician, Mengele would pick prisoners, when they arrived by cattle car, to test all his experiments on. He looked for identical twins, people with two different eye colors, and people with physical abnormalities. He would inject prisoners with chemicals and perform surgeries without anesthesia. If the prisoners did not recover from his experiments after two week, they would be killed.  When it came to the children, he would be so kind to them. He would bring them candy and make them feel comfortable with him, then he would experiment and make them suffer and sent them to the next room, the crematorium. Between 1945 and 1949, Mengele was captured, but released since the Allied forces could not properly identify him. In 1949, Mengele fled to Argentina, were he started a new life. He evaded capture on a few occasions, moving from Argentina to Paraguay in 1959 and finally to Brazil in 1960, using his real name at the time. In 1971, Menegele assumed the identity, "Wolfgang Gerhard". In 1979, Mengele drowned as a result of a stroke of the coast of Bertioga, Brazil. After further international investigations, Mengele's body was disinterred and tested in 1985. The DNA was a positive match. After 40 years, Menegle had finally been found. 

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On the afternoon of July 18, 1984, 41 year old James Huberty entered a McDonald's on San Ysidro Blvd. in San Ysidro neighborhood of San Diego, California. Huberty walked in with a 9mm semi automatic pistol, a 9mm Uzi Carbine, and a Winchester 1200 12 gauge pump action shot gun. He also had a box and a cloth bag filled with hundreds of rounds of ammunition for each weapon.  At the time, there were about 45 customers in the restaurant. He began his spree by killing 22 year old manager, Neva Caine, shooting her below the left eye. During the 77 minute event, Huberty shouted profanities and claimed to have killed "thousands" in Vietnam. It was later determined that Huberty had never served in any branch of the military. In total, Huberty killed 21 men, woman, and children, ranging in ages from four months old to 74 years old. At 5:17pm, Huberty was shot in the chest by a 27 year old SWAT sniper named Charles Foster. The Shot killed James Huberty instantly. In the days leading up to the massacre, Huberty tried to contact a mental health clinic, with the receptionist writing down the wrong last name. His motivation has never been made clear.  

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Between June 1962 and January 1964, thirteen women, between the ages of 19 and 85, were sexually assaulted and and murdered in their homes in the Boston area. In late 1964, a woman was attacked and almost assaulted, but the attacker stopped and said "I'm sorry" before leaving. The victims description of the man matched that of other rape victims in the area. That man was identified as Albert DeSalvo. He was arrested on rape charges. While in jail, DeSalvo admitted to another inmate that he was the Boston Strangler. His cellmate brought this information to his attorney, and he represented DeSalvo at his trial. When interrogated by police, DeSalvo confessed to the murders and gave great detail about each crime scene, details that were not shared with the public. Although confessing, there was not enough evidence to convict DeSalvo for the murders. Instead, he was convicted for several rape charges and sentenced to Life imprisonment. He was stabbed to death in prison in 1973. For the next 40 years, doubts about the Boston Strangler were strong. Many believed that there were multiple murders, rather than DeSalvo. Some even believe that DeSalvo never murdered anyone, but confessed for the attention. In 2013, new DNA evidence emerged from the Strangler's last victim. DeSalvo's body was exhumed and tested. His DNA and the DNA at the crime scene matched, debunking the theories and marking Albert DeSalvo officially as the Boston Strangler. 

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Andrei Chikatilo grew up in the famine plagued Ukrainian SSR during Stalin's Reign of Terror. During puberty, he discovered he suffered from chronic impotence, which made him severely awkward around females. During the early 1970s, Chikatilo taught Russian Literature. He ultimately was forced to resign in 1981 after sexually abusing several of his students. Between 1978 and 1990, Chikatilo murdered 56 women and children in various different places. He would converse with children and women at bus and train stations in the Rostov Oblast.  Chikatilo could only achieve sexual arousal and climax from watching his victims struggle and stabbing them. Most of his victims had the same wounds afflicted upon them; stab wounds to the torso and head area, and gouged out eyeballs. The Soviet Police launched an investigation that took 7 years to solve. The police arrested Chikatilo twice in this time. The first time, there wasn't enough evidence, the second time, he confessed to killing 53. Andrei Chikatilo was tried and sentenced to death for each count of murder in 1992. On February 14, 1994, Chikatilo was taken to a soundproof room at Novocherkassk prison and executed with a single gunshot wound. 

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Travis Alexander was 30 year old salesman who lived in Mesa, Arizona. While working for Pre-Paid Legal Services, he met Jodi Ann Arias in September 2006. The two began dating the following February, with Arias even converting to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints for Travis. Most of their relationship was long distance, although Jodi did move to Mesa for a short period of time. During their year and a half relationship, Travis' friends noticed that Jodi's behavior was worrying. After the couple broke up, Jodi started stalking Travis. Although they would meet up for sex, Travis wanting nothing to do with her. On June 4, 2008, Jodi murdered Travis. The two were engaging in sexual acts in the bathroom. They even went as far as taking several photos of themselves with Travis' digital camera. Jodi stabbed Travis 27 to 29 times, slashed his throat, and even shot him in the forehead after he died. Jodi was arrested in Yreka, California several days later and was extradited back to Arizona. Travis' friends found his body in the apartment and suspected that Jodi was the killer. During her interrogation, Jodi exhibited odd behavior. On May 8, 2013, Jodi Arias was found guilty of first degree murder. On April 13, 2015, she was sentenced to Life Imprisonment without the possibility of parole. 

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On December 6, 2009, Susan Powell was last seen by a neighbor who had visited the Powell's home in West Valley City, Utah. The next day, her parents reported her missing after not being able to get a hold of her or her husband Joshua. Police, fearing the family had been victims to carbon monoxide poisoning, entered the home. Police found no one, however there were two box fans blowing on a wet spot on the couch and Susan's wallet, car keys, and ID were all still in the house. Joshua Powell gave an unbelievable explanation as to why he wasn't there when his wife went missing. When police grew more suspicious of Joshua, he took his sons, Charlie and Braden, and moved to his home state of Washington. In 2012, Susan's parents were awarded custody of the children, and Joshua was granted supervised visitations with a social worker. On February 5, 2012, as a social worker brought the boys to see their father, Joshua snatched them up and locked the door to his home. Moments later, the house exploded killing Joshua and his sons. It was an apparent double murder-suicide. The boys and deep wounds and an axe was found near Joshua's body. To this day, Susan remains missing, but it is apparent that Joshua murdered her. 

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Around 6 AM on December 26, 1996, Patsy Ramsey called 911 after finding a ransom note on the stairs. The long handwritten note stated that the intruder(s) had taken the Ramsey's daughter, 6 year old JonBenét, and requested $118,000 for her return. During the early hours of the investigation, the Ramsey family invited over family members and friends and much of the crime scene had been disturbed. The lead investigator instructed John Ramsey to search the house for anything. At 1 pm, John found JonBenét's body in a locked basement room. She had been hit over the head and strangled. John removed his daughter's body, disturbing the crime scene even more. JonBenét Ramsey was a child beauty queen. Her murder gained nationwide interest because of this. Over the years, there has been two theories; the Ramsey Family theory and the Intruder theory. DNA has been inconsistent, although the Ramsey Family was officially ruled out in 2008, there is still speculation that either Patsy or her son, Burke, had murdered JonBenét and the note was a cover up. There is evidence to follow both theories. To this day, the case remains open and unsolved. 

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Between February 3 and February 12, 2013 , Christopher Doner killed two civilians and two police officers throughout Southern California. Doner, a former Navy reservist, was fired from the LAPD in 2008. He claimed that his training partner, Teresa Evans, kicked a mentally ill man while responding to a call. The claim was filed, but ultimately, the court ruled that Doner had lied. In retaliation, in early 2013, Doner planned a killing spree. He started with Monica Quan and her fiance. Quan was the daughter of Doner's defense attorney during his 2008 case with the LAPD, Randal Quan. Randal Quan was also a former LAPD chief. The manhunt lead police to Nevada and Mexico as well. The manhunt ended in Big Bear Lake, California, when Doner barricaded himself in a cabin. Law enforcement tried using tear gas to draw him out. When that didn't work, police finally used pyrotechnic tear gas, which caused the cabin to catch fire. Before the flames reached their peak, police heard a single gunshot. Once the fire was put out and the investigation started, police found the charred remains of Doner. The official cause of death was a self inflicted gunshot wound to the head. On February 4, Doner posted a 11,000 word "Manifesto" on his Facebook account. He stated that he intended to target 40 LAPD officials and their families in order to clear his name and shed light on the racism within the LAPD. His intention was to kill. 

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On December 14, 2012, Adam Lanza made his way to Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. Minutes prior, Lanza shot his mother four times in the head while she was laying in bed. At 9:35 AM, Lanza began opening fire at Sandy Hook. In the span of less than 5 minutes, Lanza shot and killed 26 people, including 20 children, and injured two others. At 9:40 AM, as Newtown Police arrived, Adam Lanza committed suicide by shooting himself in the head. In 10 minutes, Lanza killed 27 people. To this day, there is no exact motive for the shootings. Adam Lanza suffered from severe anxiety and depression, as well as OCD. He was diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome at the age of 13. Lanza had no connection with the outside world. He struggled through school, eventually being home schooled at the age of 16 due to his antisocial personality and severe anxiety. During the investigation, police found that Lanza had a preoccupation with mass shootings to the point where he looked up to mass murderers. Adam Lanza's mental health disorders and interest in murder, as well as his access to at least a dozen fire arms, was the recipe for disaster. That is all that investigators have concluded in regards to motive.