Number 8 Vorayuth Yoovidhya
As a young heir to the billion-dollar Red Bull fortune, Vorayuth “Boss” Yoovidhya
was long considered to be above the law in his native Thailand. A grandson of Chaleo Yoovidhya,
who co-founded the energy drink brand, Vorayuth was protected by his wealth to the extent that he
got away with a fatal hit-and-run. On September the 3rd of 2012, he was driving his Ferrari at
high speed while having a concoction of alcohol and illegal drugs in his system. He struck police
sergeant-major Wichian Klanprasert, who was on a motorbike, and dragged his body for over 300 feet
before fleeing the scene. Several charges were brought against him and the authorities ensured
the public that the case would be taken seriously. However, Vorayuth failed to appear in court for 8
consecutive times, as his lawyers had repeatedly postponed summons. He then fled to Singapore,
where he abandoned his private jet. As of late July, 2020, all charges against the young heir
were dropped on instructions from the Thai Attorney General, without any elaboration
or explanation. Number 7 Ethan Couch
When he was only 16 years old, Ethan Couch killed 4 people while driving under the influence.
Couch grew up in Burleson, Texas, under conditions of considerable wealth stemming
from his father’s metal roofing company. He was driving himself to school at the age of 13
and, when the educational institution questioned this practice, Couch’s father threatened to buy
the school. On the evening of June the 15th of 2013, Couch was captured by Walmart security
cameras as he stole two cases of beer. He drove away with seven passengers in his father’s Ford
F-350 pickup truck. Couch was going 70 mph on a rural road where the limit was 40 mph.
He then swerved off the road and struck a group of people assisting another driver. A
collision of multiple cars ensued, in which 4 people were killed and 9 others were injured,
including a passenger of Couch’s Ford who was left paralyzed. In court, Couch’s lawyers called in a
psychologist who argued that the teenager was a product of a condition called “affluenza”, brought
on by his wealthy upbringing. The idea was that he couldn’t connect his action to consequences
because his parents had never given him any boundaries. The judge agreed and Couch was given
a surprisingly lenient sentence of rehabilitation at a North Texas mental health facility.
In December of 2015, however, Couch and his mother were detained in the Mexican resort city of
Puerto Vallarta. He’d been declared a fugitive after a video emerged of him on Twitter, playing
beer pong at a party. For violating his probation, Couch was sentenced to serve two years in prison.
Number 6 Joran van der Sloot & Natalee Holloway When he was still in his teens, Joran van der
Sloot was connected to the disappearance of 18-year-old American high school student
Natalee Holloway. Van der Sloot’s father was a lawyer and his mother an art teacher. The upper
middle class family had moved to Aruba in 1990, where Joran became an honor student at one of
the Caribbean island’s private schools. He was a soccer and tennis star but, according to his
mother, had a problem with lying and sometimes snuck off to go to casinos at night. Holloway,
who’d travelled to Aruba on a class trip, was last seen outside of a club, on May the 30th of 2005,
getting into a car with Van der Sloot and two accomplices. The teenager then vanished
prompting a massive search in a case that earned international attention. In spite of mounting
pressure, no one was charged in the incident, due to a stated lack of evidence, and the teenager’s
remains were never found. In the aftermath, a video was released of Van der Sloot stating,
while under the influence of marijuana, that Holloway had died on the day of her disappearance.
In a subsequent interview, he claimed to have sold her into sexual slavery. He would, however,
retract both statements. A few years later, in 2010, Van der Sloot contacted Holloway’s
family alleging knowledge of where she’d been buried. An operation was mounted by the FBI in
coordination with Aruban authorities and it was revealed that Van der Sloot had false information.
He was charged with extortion and wire fraud. Number 5 Joran van der Sloot & Stephany Flores
On May the 30th of 2010, five years to the day of Natalee Holloway’s disappearance, a young
woman was killed in a hotel room in Lima, Peru. An employee found 21-year-old Stephany Flores
bludgeoned to death in the room that had been registered in Joran van der Sloot’s name.
A tennis racket was discovered, which a coroner identified as a possible murder weapon. Van der
Sloot, who’d fled to Chile in the meantime, was arrested and extradited to Peru. He would
initially confess to the fatal bludgeoning but later tried to retract it, alleging intimidation
by Peruvian authorities and having been framed by the FBI. The evidence against him was consistent,
however, and included video footage as well as blood stains on his clothes which matched Flores’
blood type. There was public outcry in the country regarding the incident, with the media labeling
Van der Sloot a monster and a psychopath. In December of 2010, Time magazine would name his
arrest as the most notable criminal event of the year. For the killing, Van der Sloot was sentenced
to 28 years in a maximum security prison. Number 4 Murder of Rick & Suzanna Wamsley
On December the 11th of 2003, upper class Texas couple Rick and Suzanna Wamsley were found shot
and stabbed to death in their Mansfield home. Earlier that same year, their 19-year-old son,
Andrew, had started dating Chelsea Richardson but the Wamsleys reportedly disapproved of their
relationship. Andrew and Chelsea orchestrated a plan to murder them and, in doing so, collect on
their $1.65 million estate. They reportedly forced Susana Toledano, who was roommates with Chelsea,
to carry out the double homicide. In November, she shot the gas tank of the Wamsleys’ car,
in a failed murder attempt. The following month, however, Susana carried out the killings. The
conspirators had also planned to kill Andrew’s sister, Sarah, but she wasn’t home at the time.
Susana would end up testifying against the other two, in order to avoid the death penalty,
and will be eligible for parole in 2034. Andrew was sentenced to life in prison while Chelsea was
deemed a “danger to society” and became the first woman sentenced to death in Tarrant County, Texas.
Her sentence was later commuted to life in prison. Number 3 Nathan Leopold & Richard Loeb
Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb came from rich families and enjoyed an upscale life in Chicago’s
Kenwood neighborhood. They bonded while at the University of Chicago, in the mid-1920s,
as they shared a similar interest in crime. Both young men were extremely intelligent and Leopold,
in particular, was fascinated by Friedrich Nietzsche’s concept of “supermen”. The two
came to believe that their intellectual prowess placed them above the law and plotted to carry out
“the perfect crime” to prove their perceived transcendence to the world. Leopold, then
19 years old, and Loeb, aged 18, kidnapped and murdered Robert Franks, the son of a wealthy
Chicago watch manufacturer. They rented a car and offered to give the 14-year-old, who was actually
Loeb’s second-cousin, a ride home. Franks was in the passenger seat when one of the men struck him
in the head repeatedly with a chisel, then dragged him in the backseat where he was gagged and soon
died. It’s still disputed who killed Franks and who was driving, as neither Loeb nor Leopold took
responsibility in the aftermath, blaming each other instead. To conceal the victim’s identity,
they poured hydrochloric acid on his face and genitals. The pair then sent a ransom note to the
family, to mask their true intentions. Leopold’s glasses, which were of a rare prescription,
were found near the body and both he and Loeb were called in for questioning. Their
fabricated story crumbled under interrogation and both were sentenced to life in prison.
Number 2 Lyle and Erik Menendez Lyle and Erik Menendez were born
into an affluent family with their father, José, working as an executive for LIVE Entertainment. On
August the 20th of 1989, their parents were gunned down in the den of their Beverly Hills home. José
had been shot in the head with a 12-gauge shotgun while the mother, Kitty, had been shot in the leg,
arm, chest and face, leaving her unrecognizable. The couple had also had their kneecaps blown off,
which led the police to suspect involvement by organized crime. Lyle, then in his early 20s,
and Erik, aged 19, called the police and, at first, weren’t considered suspects. However, in
the months that followed, the authorities focused their attention on the brothers because of their
lavish spending. Lyle bought a Porsche Carrera, a café and a Buffalo wings restaurant. Erik hired
a full-time tennis coach and went to compete in tournaments in Israel. The brothers drove
around in their deceased mother’s convertible Mercedes-Benz SL and, after leaving the mansion,
lived in adjoining condos in Marina del Rey. The brothers were eventually arrested and confessed to
killing their parents, citing a history of abuse as a motive. In 1996, they were sentenced to life
in prison without the possibility of parole. Number 1 Orachorn Thephasadin na Ayudhya
On December the 27th of 2010, teenager Orachorn Thephasadin
na Ayudhya was driving one of her father’s cars on a Thai freeway, without a license. The
16-year-old was texting while behind the wheel and crashed into a university van, killing 9 people
and injuring 4 others. An infamous photo of the teen became viral online and contributed to the
outrage that followed. In it, Orachorn was leaning on a concrete barrier, next to her dismantled car,
still texting and seemingly unfazed by what had just happened. Her family’s wealth protected
the teen from the severe ramifications of her actions. Instead of jail time, she was given a
suspended sentence and 128 hours of community service, which was only completed in 2016,
years after the fatal accident. Orachorn’s family was ordered to pay the equivalent of nearly $1
million to the victims. Nine years later, the victims claimed that they still hadn’t received
any amount of the compensation. Thanks for watching! Would you spend a
year without any human contact for $100,000? Let us know in the comments section below!