Number 8 Jan Poepl
On November the 16th of 2018, police and firefighters in Vancouver responded to an
accident on the Barnet Highway where the driver, 31-year-old Jan Poepl, had crashed a rented SUV
into a streetlight. First responders used specialized power tools to extract the unconscious
man from the wreck. In a nearby ditch, the authorities found 34-year-old Nicole Hasselmann,
also known as Nicole Porciello, who’d been a passenger in the vehicle and had been thrown
30 feet from it. Both were rushed to the hospital but only Poepl survived. While her injuries were
consistent with the crash, medics also found 47 stab wounds on Porciello’s body. She and Poepl
had been dating on and off again for roughly seven years but weren’t together at the time of
the accident. Throughout their relationship, Poepl had been abusive towards Porciello and jealous of
everyone to whom she got close. His possessive hold on her was evident to others as, in spite
of how she was treated, Porciello kept giving Poepl second chances. However, nine days before
the car accident, the mother-of-one once again ended their relationship as she’d begun seeing
another man. Chilling evidence emerged in the ensuing investigation which would reveal Poepl
as a calculated killer who’d staged the car accident to cover his tracks. On the 16th,
while her 10-year-old was at hockey practice, the ex-boyfriend picked Porciello up in the rental.
At some point during the ride, Poepl pulled out two kitchen knives and began stabbing her. Then,
as she was gasping for air, he took out his cellphone and recorded a video of them, which
was later recovered by the authorities. In a last desperate attempt at saving herself, Porciello
could be heard telling Poepl that she loved him. The ex-boyfriend showed no mercy or remorse and
kept blaming her for the attack. Then, while she was bleeding out in the car, Poepl drove back to
his home where, for two hours, he sent various emails and did some online shopping. Afterwards,
he intentionally rammed the car into the street light catapulting Porciello, who unlike him wasn’t
wearing a seatbelt, through the windshield. Within a few weeks, Poepl was arrested and,
after pleading guilty to second-degree murder, was sentenced to life in prison with parole
eligibility after 15 years. Number 7 Regan Smith
In the weeks leading up to her death, in September of 2018, Queens resident and Air
National Guard veteran Regan Smith, aged 31, had filed several complaints with the New York
City Police Department against her obsessive ex-boyfriend, 47-year-old Nelson Giron. There
had been two keying incidents, involving both her car and that of her new boyfriend,
Yonkers Police Officer Hewett DePass, as well as a situation in which her apartment door was
badly damaged after her ex had forcefully banged on it. The police, however,
thought there wasn’t enough evidence to go after Giron. Hours before her death,
Smith had been called by her ex numerous times before he went to her apartment. It was there that
he stabbed DePass, who was off duty at the time, twice and then shot him in the shoulder. Giron
then took his gun and fatally shot Smith in the head before turning the weapon on himself.
DePass’ injuries were severe but he ultimately survived. In the aftermath, those close to the
victim reported that she was terrified of Giron and they also expressed frustration at the NYPD’s
handling of the matter, arguing that they’d been lackadaisical in responding to Smith’s complaints.
Moreover, Giron was known to the police and he’d been arrested three times in New York.
In 2014, he’d been taken into custody after being pulled over with more than $100,000 in
cash and illegal steroids. More recently, Giron was arrested, along with four others who’d been
moving drugs from Florida, at a home in the Bronx where he’d stashed almost 100 pounds of marijuana.
Number 6 Jordan Taylor In early July of 2015, Laura Davies, aged 21,
was found, barely alive, outside the Essex Horse and Pony Protection Society in Pitsea Hall Lane,
England. Davies, a valued member of the sanctuary’s staff, was savagely attacked
by her jealous ex-boyfriend, Jordan Taylor. They’d been dating for roughly seven months,
a time during which 22-year-old Taylor was possessive and controlling. He would tell Davies
what to wear and became enraged when she went out. Davies’ sister reported that their conversations,
which usually went on for hours, were reduced to minutes as she’d become “shut off and
subdued”. She eventually ended the relationship with Taylor but he refused to let her go and
exacted his revenge in a most violent manner. The man, who reportedly trained in mixed martial arts,
went to the horse sanctuary armed with a 6-inch-long kitchen knife. He stabbed Davies 87
times with such force that the blade bent at a 45 degree angle. The attack was captured on CCTV and
those who reviewed the footage would describe how Davies had begged her ex to stop as he repeatedly
thrust the knife into various parts of her body. Taylor was arrested in the attack’s wake and,
about a year after the murder, was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum of 23 years served.
Number 5 Ahsan Hassan
On September the 18th of 2016, about half an hour before midnight,
Polish woman Zofia Sadowska was lured by her ex-boyfriend to a disused kebab shop, where he’d
once worked, in High Wycombe, England. 28-year-old Ahsan Hassan had become possessive of Sadowska,
aged 20, and he wanted them to be exclusive but, in spite of their sporadic relationship,
the young woman was still living with another partner. Hassan was overcome with murderous rage
upon learning that she was sleeping with Usmar Asmar, his childhood friend and housemate. Asmar
had acted as go-between Hassan and Sadowska, while they were broken up, before eventually engaging in
a physical relationship with her. When Sadowska arrived at the rendezvous spot, CCTV footage
would show Hassan stalking her from behind some bins. He then used plastic wrap to strangle her
to death inside the shop, to which he still had the keys even though it was no longer in use.
Hassan then put her limp body in a taxi, telling the driver that she’d passed out from drinking
too much, and took her back to his home. The following day, at around 5 am, emergency services
were called to the residence and found Hassan on the floor of his room, with slashed wrists,
next to Sadowska’s body. He would try to dress up the killing through the false claim that he
and his ex-girlfriend had made a pact to take their lives together. He thus pleaded guilty to
manslaughter but not murder. He was, nevertheless, found guilty of the latter and sentenced to life
with a minimum of 24 years served. Number 4 Isaiah Hagan
In April of 2017, Halee Rathgeber, aged 20, was found dead outside a soccer complex in
Warrick County, Indiana. She’d been shot in the back of the head at close range and there
were no signs that she’d tried to fight her killer, which led investigators to conclude
that they’d known each other. The main suspect in the case was Isaiah Hagan, also in his early 20s,
whom some sources referred to as her ex-boyfriend. During interrogations that lasted roughly
7 hours he changed his story, from initially claiming that he’d only met Rathberger briefly
to admitting that he’d given her a lift to the soccer complex. Moreover, cellphone data placed
him at the time and the scene of the crime. He also said that she’d loaned him $200. A towel with
the victim’s blood on it would later be recovered from his home. Hagan’s mother, Donna, who worked
as a corrections officer, would testify at his trial and state that her son had confessed to her
that he’d shot Rathberger, claiming it to have been accident. Donna didn’t disclose the supposed
confession when first interviewed by detectives. They were suspicions that she’d fabricated the
story knowing that prosecutors would have to prove intent to contradict the accidental
shooting version of events. They would ultimately argue that Hagan had shot and robbed Rathberger,
after money she’d lent him had become an object of contention between them. Hagan,
who’d maintained his innocence, faced life in prison but eventually accepted a plea of 60 years
which was upheld on appeal. Number 3 Hugo Castro
In October of 2015, California man Hugo Castro walked into the Santa Clara County Main Jail
trying to turn himself in for killing his ex-girlfriend. He handed a civilian staffer
a handwritten note disclosing her body’s location. Strangely enough,
a deputy turned him away, claiming the case didn’t fall under the jail’s jurisdiction,
and instructed him to take the matter to the San Jose Police Department. The move was later heavily
criticized as it could’ve potentially resulted in a murderer walking free and the deputy in question
was reassigned. Perhaps stranger still, Castro did exactly as told by the lawman and walked,
unaccompanied, to the police headquarters where he surrendered once more. He then led the officers
to a condominium where aspiring nurse Alessandra Barlas, aged 27, was found strangled and stabbed
to death. Castro would eventually be sentenced to 50 years in prison for the murder. A motive
wasn’t made public but, in the past, Castro had been imprisoned on charges stemming from domestic
violence. In 2009, he was sentenced to three years at a work camp in Carson City, Nevada, following
a conviction for battery with a deadly weapon against ex-girlfriend Katrina Esparza. She drove
from Reno and spoke at his trial stating that with him behind bars she no longer lived in fear.
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Number 2 Mateo Zavala Tucson woman Marilynn Pacheco
was gunned down in a drive-by shooting, on the US’ I-29 highway, on June the 29th of 2019. The main
suspect in the killing of 25-year-old Pacheco was her ex-boyfriend Mateo Zavala, aged 21. According
to those familiar with their relationship, Zavala had been stalking Pacheco after they’d broken up.
On multiple occasions, he’d threatened to kill her and anyone that she started dating.
While worried for her, Pacheco’s mother claimed that she never thought Zavala would go through
with his menacing claims. On the day of the shooting, Pacheco was in a car with a friend
and his young daughter when Zavala pulled up next to them in a second vehicle and unleashed
a hail of bullets. Pacheco was fatally struck while the other occupants were injured but they
later recovered. Zavala was taken into custody on charges that included first-degree murder,
aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and felony endangerment, with bond set at $1 million.
Number 1 David Joshua Reed In December of 2020, Texas man David Joshua Reed,
aged 41, killed his ex-girlfriend and her boyfriend by ramming his propane-filled
pickup truck into their RV. 23-year-old Shelby Duarte had told Reed that she was pregnant with
his child but that she wasn’t going to leave her boyfriend, Timothy Nelson, who, like Reed,
was also in his early 40s. Reed was unable to come to grips with her decision and loaded the front
seat of his Dodge with propane tanks. He’d hoped that by smashing the pickup into the camper shared
by Duarte and Nelson he’d trigger an explosion and blow himself up in the process as well.
Moments before, he sent a chilling message to his ex-girlfriend’s phone, which read
“You reap what you sow. I will see you in hell.” He then smashed his vehicle into the RV and,
while it didn’t generate the blast he’d expected, the high speed impact was devastating. Duarte and
Nelson were knocked over 65 feet from the camper and struck the front of a house. The latter died
at the scene while Duarte was airlifted to a local hospital where she too ultimately passed
away from her catastrophic injuries. Reed survived the crash, pleaded guilty in court and, in October
of 2021, was handed down two life sentences. Thanks for watching! Would you rather be forced
to date a serial killer or a clone of yourself? Let us know in the comments section below!