On March the 2nd of 2013, 72-year-old William Strickland walked out of his home in the 400
block of East 95th Street in Chicago, Illinois in order to catch a bus that would take him
to his weekly dialysis appointment.
However, after exiting his Far South Side residence, Strickland was reportedly shot
in the back 6 times, and died instantly.
In the incident’s aftermath, Cook County investigators uncovered that the senior citizen
had actually been gunned down by his grandson, also named William.
The 23-year-old hadn’t acted alone, however, having allegedly been persuaded to commit
the murder by his grandmother, Janet Strickland, the victim’s wife of 30 years.
It was subsequently reported that Janet, aged 67, had devised a plan to have her husband
killed so that she could freely spend his money.
William’s defense team later claimed that the woman had initially solicited a man identified
only as “Black” to carry out the shooting.
After “Black” backed out, however, Janet called upon her grandson to perform the murderous
deed himself.
In February of 2016, William was convicted of the murder and consequently sentenced to
40 years in prison.
Janet also faced numerous criminal charges in connection to her husband’s slaying,
and in August of 2016, she was sentenced to 18 years behind bars by a Cook County Circuit
Court judge.
#6 - Clayton Hobby
On May the 16th of 2022, the police in East Hampton, Connecticut revealed that a local
man and his grandson had been caught running an illegal ghost-gun operation out of their
backyard.
The term “ghost-gun” refers to untraceable firearms produced with at-home kits in order
to evade government detection and regulation.
The suspects, identified as 64-year-old Kerry Schunk and Clayton Hobby, aged 18, had allegedly
been manufacturing and selling unserialized AR-15 rifles, as well as various other firearms,
for an undisclosed period of time.
The illicit backyard operation was ultimately foiled by a concerned neighbor, who alerted
the authorities to the unsavory activities of the teen and his grandfather.
The police reportedly seized multiple ghost-gun AR-15s in different “stages of assembly”,
including one that had been converted to fire fully automatic.
Schunk and Hobby were also found to be in possession of 3 ghost-gun polymer handguns,
15 high-capacity magazines, and roughly 1,000 rounds of ammunition.
Hobby, who was said to have been the mastermind behind the operation, faced 23 counts of gun
making and weapons possession charges and was held on a $250,000 bond.
His grandfather faced 22 criminal counts, and was held on a $100,000 bond.
In the wake of their arrests, Schunk told the police that he didn’t believe his grandson
had evil intentions, but that he’d simply “built his arsenal to protect his family”.
#5 - Elyjah Marrow
In the afternoon of June the 26th of 2014, Georgia police were called to the Marietta
residence of 19-year-old Elyjah Marrow after receiving reports of a shooting on the premises.
Upon their arrival, officers discovered that Marrow’s roommate, Daryus Johnson, had suffered
a critical gunshot wound before falling unconscious.
The victim, who was also 19 at the time, was taken to a hospital, where he later died from
his injuries.
According to the resulting police report, Marrow, the grandson of prominent rapper and
actor Ice-T, had been “recklessly handling” a firearm, which was later revealed to have
been stolen.
The teen then inadvertently discharged the weapon, fatally wounding his unsuspecting
roommate.
Marrow was arrested in connection to the accidental shooting, for which he was charged with involuntary
manslaughter, possession of a firearm in the commission of a felony, and reckless conduct.
The young man also reportedly faced unrelated drug possession charges.
The teenager was ultimately indicted by the Cobb County Grand Jury, and he was later imprisoned
for 5 years.
Following his release in 2019, Marrow kept a low public profile, and, as of recent updates,
has remained out of the headlines.
#4 - Nathan Billingsley
The lifeless body of 67-year-old Hazel Billingsley was found inside a metal shed in the backyard
of her mobile home in Cypress, Texas on March the 12th of 2017.
After arriving at the scene, investigators reportedly came upon the victim’s grandson,
Nathan, hiding out in the woods near the residence with a firearm and his girlfriend.
The 21-year-old allegedly admitted to shooting his grandmother, but claimed the incident
had been entirely accidental.
The police immediately cast doubt as to the veracity of the young man’s claims, however,
as the evidence collected at the scene of the crime suggested that Hazel’s killing
had been purposeful, and that there had been subsequent steps taken to clean up after the
murder.
The woman had reportedly sustained multiple fatal gunshot wounds, after which her body
was wrapped in a blanket and stuffed inside the shed.
Detectives spoke with Nathan’s girlfriend, who claimed to have heard the gunshots while
she was standing outside the home.
She then rushed inside to find her boyfriend wrapping his grandmother’s body in the blanket.
Nathan allegedly threatened to kill her, too, before they fled into the woods on foot.
The girlfriend wasn’t ultimately charged in connection to the incident.
Nathan, however, faced a charge of murder and was held in custody on a $200,000 bond.
Although the authorities didn’t reveal what they believed to be the young man’s motive
for the shooting, other members of the Billingsley family attributed his violent outburst to
his past history of mental illness and drug abuse.
#3 - Brandon Gasper
The police in Muncie, Indiana were called to a house in the 2000 block of South Clark
Street on January the 30th of 2016 after receiving reports of a domestic disturbance.
Upon their arrival, officers were met by 76-year-old Nancy Nicewander, who denied that there had
been any disturbance and indicated that all was well.
Later that same day, however, Muncie police received a second distress call to the same
address before reportedly encountering an injured young woman walking down South Clark
Street.
The officers subsequently learned that, at the time of their initial visit to the home,
the victim was being held inside against her will by her boyfriend, later determined to
be 35-year-old Brandon Gasper, Nicewander’s grandson.
During the police’s brief interaction with Nicewander at the front door, Gasper was allegedly
holding his girlfriend in a headlock, and had shoved a sock in her mouth to keep her
from calling out to the officers.
The victim reportedly received treatment for a dislocated shoulder at Indiana University’s
Health Ball Memorial Hospital.
Both Gasper and Nicewander were taken into custody, with the former facing charges of
domestic battery, aggravated battery, criminal confinement, and strangulation.
The man’s grandmother was accused of obstruction of justice, assisting a criminal, and interfering
with the reporting of a crime.
It subsequently emerged that Gasper had an extensive criminal track record, with previous
charges including domestic battery, theft, and possession of a controlled substance.
#2 - Lorenzo Moss
On the morning of February the 14th of 2022, emergency responders were dispatched to the
scene of a house fire on Meadow Drive in Oakwood, Georgia.
68-year-old Andrew Donaldson was found dead inside the burning home, but investigators
soon discovered that it hadn’t been the blaze that had killed him.
An autopsy conducted by the Hall County medical examiner determined that the victim’s death
had actually been caused by a gunshot wound suffered prior to the onset of the fire.
Detectives thus concluded that the inferno had been started by Donaldson’s killer in
order to destroy evidence of the shooting.
The ensuing homicide investigation eventually led the authorities in Georgia to identify
29-year-old Lorenzo Moss, a Wisconsin resident, as a suspect in the case.
Moss, who was Donaldson’s grandson, had recently traveled from his home in the Badger
State down to Georgia, but his reasoning for the more-than-1,000 mile journey wasn’t
clear.
Investigators theorized that the young man had been involved in some sort of tension-fueled
dispute with his grandfather, which had culminated with the fatal shooting and subsequent house
fire.
As of the case’s latest updates, Moss had been located and arrested in Brown Deer, Wisconsin
on a charge of malice murder.
He was held in custody without bond while awaiting his eventual extradition to Georgia.
#1 - Marcos Jarrell Martinez
On the evening of January the 28th of 2018, Arizona woman Vicky Ten Hoven was found in
critical condition on the kitchen floor of her Maricopa residence by her husband, who
promptly contacted emergency services.
Members of the Maricopa Fire and Medical Department arrived at the scene a short time later, and
within 15 minutes of the initial 9-1-1 call, Ten Hoven was pronounced dead.
Following an autopsy by the Pinal County medical examiner, it was concluded that the 62-year-old
woman had died of blunt force trauma to the head, as well as 5 stab wounds to her face
and neck.
The case was subsequently classified as a homicide, and investigators quickly identified
the victim’s grandson, Marcos Jarrell Martinez, as their prime suspect.
During their sweep of the crime scene, the police had found blood spattered throughout
various sections of the house, as well as numerous bloody knives with broken blades
and handles.
An official police report detailed how officers had also discovered a trail of blood that
led from the kitchen to a bedroom.
A subsequent DNA analysis of that blood suggested that it belonged to 23-year-old Martinez,
who’d reportedly lived with his grandparents temporarily prior to the incident.
Shortly after midnight on January the 30th, the police came upon Martinez inside his grandmother’s
vehicle, which had gone missing following her murder.
The man was said to have sustained injuries consistent with the physical struggle Ten
Hoven was believed to have had with her attacker in the moments before her death.
He was consequently taken into custody on charges of first-degree murder, tampering
with evidence, and unlawful use of means of transportation.
Martinez, who was reported as having suffered serious mental health issues for much of his
life, rejected a plea bargain from prosecutors, instead opting to take his case to trial,
where he faced the overwhelming likelihood of spending the remainder of his life behind
bars.
Thanks for watching!
Would you rather be asked by your grandparents to commit a murder or learn that your parents
both have secret second families?
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