9.
MIGUEL ENRIQUE SALGUERO-OLIVARES
19-year-old college student Faith Hedgepeth was found dead nearly a decade ago in an off-campus
apartment near the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
She had been raped and died from a severe beating to the head, according to an autopsy.
Sadly, the case went cold, leaving the young woman’s friends and family members without
closure for 9 long, agonizing years.
Finally, last September, the Chapel Hill Police Department announced that they had arrested
someone in Faith’s murder.
Using DNA obtained from a rape kit, investigators connected 28-year-old Miguel Enrique Salguero-Olivares
to the horrific crime.
The suspect also reportedly resembles a DNA profile sketch that police released in 2016.
It’s unclear how he became a suspect in the first place.
Police carried out several search warrants on the man’s apartment and collected blood,
hair, and saliva samples from him.
They charged Salguero-Olivares with first degree murder the following day.
North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein said in a statement that the arrest underscores
the importance of DNA in solving crimes.
He went on to say that “no matter how long ago you committed your crime, we will never
stop coming for you.”
8.
THE GOLDEN STATE KILLER
Throughout the 1970s and ‘80s, a serial rapist, killer, and burglar terrorized women
across California.
He murdered at least 13 victims and committed at least 50 rapes and 120 burglaries between
1974 and 1986.
The suspect went on at least three different crime sprees, earning himself three different
nicknames, before it became apparent to law enforcement that the crimes were all being
committed by one person known as the Golden State Killer.
Both police and victims received taunting phone calls that are believed to have come
from the deranged criminal.
The Golden State Killer’s identity remained a mystery for decades.
Numerous suspects were eliminated through alibis and DNA evidence.
In 2016, the FBI and local law enforcement agencies announced that they were embarking
on a renewed effort to identify the killer.
A $50,000 reward was offered for information leading to the suspect’s capture.
It wasn’t until 2018 that investigators finally identified a former police officer
named Joseph James DeAngelo as the Golden State Killer.
They found him through forensic genetic genealogy, which enabled them to identify him through
his family members’ DNA.
The process was complicated and time consuming, and involved ruling out other suspects based
on things like age, sex, and place of residence.
But after eliminating other potential matches, one-by-one, detectives were left with just
one possible culprit.
To make sure they had the right suspect, they tested the Golden State Killer’s DNA with
samples that were stealthily taken from DeAngelo’s car door handle and his curbside garbage can.
It was too late to charge DeAngelo with rapes or burglaries, based on the state’s statute
of limitations.
Instead, police charged him with 13 counts of murder and 13 counts of kidnapping.
Realizing that they had a huge case on their hands that could cost taxpayers upwards of
$20 million, prosecutors accepted DeAngelo’s offer to plead guilty in order to avoid the
death penalty.
He pleaded guilty to 13 murders in 2020 and will spend the rest of his natural life behind
bars – a sentence that many would argue is long overdue after he got away with his
crimes for so long, he probably thought he would never get caught.
7.
FRANCESCO PELLE
The ongoing global COVID-19 pandemic has thrown a wrench into many people’s life plans,
to say the very least.
Criminals are no exception.
And while the virus has mostly complicated things in almost every imaginable aspect,
in some cases it has actually made things easier.
Take, for example, Italian mobster Francesco Pelle.
In 2019, he was convicted of ordering the 2006 murder of another mobster’s wife as
a revenge killing during a feud between mob families.
Four others, including a child, were injured but survived the attack, which happened just
days after Pelle was shot in the back by the rival gang.
Pelle challenged the conviction, which was upheld by Italy’s Supreme Court, and vanished
right before his sentencing date.
His disappearance came as startling news to Italian interior minister Luciana Lamorgese,
who described the fugitive as one of the country’s most dangerous criminals.
Anti-mafia prosecutors and paramilitary police searched diligently for Pelle, but it wasn’t
until early last year that the authorities finally caught up with him at a clinic in
Portugal, where he was being treated for COVID-19.
His capture brought the years-long pursuit to a surprisingly quiet end, and he will now
face justice for crimes that he probably thought were part of his past.
6.
DARREN P. DEVINE
Last September, 30-year-old Darren P. Devine escaped from a hospital in Boston, Massachusetts
after being ordered there by a judge.
At the time, he faced multiple charges including assault with intent to rape, assault and battery
with a dangerous weapon, domestic assault and battery, strangulation, breaking and entering,
vandalism, possession of narcotics, escaping from a penal institution, and more.
Devine also had 91 prior convictions.
The suspect managed to scale a tall fence and then fled the hospital on foot.
Investigators reportedly knew that catching him might be a challenge, given his history
of violence and ability to survive in the wilderness.
The U.S. Marshals Service got involved in the search and worked with numerous local
and state agencies in an effort to capture Devine, who they considered to be an imminent
threat to the public.
They finally found him after receiving a tip that he might be traveling through rural Georgia
with his brother, Jordan Devine.
First, the authorities went after Jordan.
Once they had him in custody, they tracked Darren’s whereabouts to a swamp where he
was camping out and set up a perimeter overnight to ensure that he wouldn’t somehow slip
out of sight.
They captured him the next morning along a roadside.
Devine was extradited to Massachusetts, where he’ll answer for the latest slew of allegations
in what appears to be a years-long criminal lifestyle.
5.
JAMES CLANTON
A few years ago, a Georgia woman named Jessi Still bought a DNA kit from 23AndMe to learn
more about her ancestry.
As a self-proclaimed true crime enthusiast, she had become interested in learning about
her genetic history after reading about how the Golden State Killer was captured through
a technique called Forensic Genetic Genealogy (FGG).
Still uploaded her results to GEDMatch, a website that helps consumers find their long
lost relatives through DNA.
She had no idea that in doing so, she would become entangled in a 40-year-old cold case
and a debate about DNA-related privacy concerns and how law enforcement uses this information
to catch criminals.
Using FGG, the method that had fascinated Still enough to do a personal DNA test in
the first place, police identified her as a familial match to James Clanton, a suspect
in the 1980 murder of a 21-year-old Colorado woman named Helen Pruszynski.
The college student was abducted near a bus stop in Englewood, and was later found raped,
bound, and stabbed to death in an empty field.
And Ms. Still just happened to be a distant cousin of the suspect.
She told news station 11 Alive that she didn’t think it was a big deal to upload her DNA
results to GEDMatch until months later, when she received an email from across the country.
The Douglas County Sheriff’s Department told her in the message that she was identified
as the suspect’s closest DNA relative.
And it was her genetic information, specifically, that had led them to James Clanton in the
first place.
He was apprehended in Florida and received a life sentence after pleading guilty to first-degree
murder.
Of course, the news was shocking to Still, who said that the ordeal made her realize
that “everything is connected and it’s a small world.”
Cases like this are increasingly calling into question whether there should be any limits
on law enforcement’s ability to conduct investigations using publicly available DNA
information.
The debate is ongoing, with one side arguing that forensic detective work is an invasion
of privacy, while others claim that it’s a groundbreaking tool that is finally helping
police bring even the most clever criminals to justice.
What do you think?
Let us know in the comments below, but first, be sure to subscribe!
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4.
MARCO DILAURO
Dubbed a “super fugitive” and Italy’s 2nd-most dangerous criminal, Marco DiLauro
was a mafia boss who spent 14 years on the run.
Authorities failed to find him despite an international arrest warrant being issued
in 2006, along with an Interpol bulletin showing his picture and information.
So it probably came as a huge surprise when detectives learned in 2019 that DiLauro might
still be in Italy.
They figured this out after suspicious activity in Naples tipped them off to the man’s possible
presence.
Their search led them to an inconspicuous flat, where 150 officers conducted a raid.
Based on the massive number of police involved, it’s probably safe to say that they didn’t
expect things to go down peacefully.
They walked in on DiLauro sitting with his two cats and eating pasta and arrested him
without incident.
Officers found no weapons and a small amount of money.
Being a career criminal runs in DiLauro’s blood.
He’s the 4th son of Paolo DiLauro, a former boss of the Neopalitan mafia clan who’s
been in prison since 2005.
Given his connections, it’s not exactly shocking that he wound up on a wayward path,
or that he had the resources and support to remain conveniently hidden for such a long
time.
3.
OCTAVIANO JUAREZ-CORRO
Back in 2006, a lone gunman opened fire at a Memorial Day picnic at Milwaukee’s South
Shore Park along Lake Michigan, killing two victims and wounding three others among the
hundreds that were there at the time.
Law enforcement suspected that the shooting was committed by Octaviano Juarez-Corro, whose
estranged wife was among the wounded.
Milwaukee County issued warrants for his arrest for two counts of second-degree homicide and
three counts of first-degree attempted homicide, but he fled town before police could get him
into custody.
Eager to bring the suspect to justice, the FBI obtained a federal warrant charging him
with unlawful flight to avoid prosecution, put him on their Ten Most Wanted list, and
offered a $100,000 reward for information leading to his arrest.
Juarez-Corro managed to evade law enforcement for nearly 16 years until a tip came in about
him possibly being located in the city of Zapopan in Guadalajara, Mexico.
The FBI and Mexican authorities worked together to pinpoint the fugitive’s exact whereabouts
and they recently finally captured him.
In a press release, Special Agent in Charge Michael Hensle mentioned that Juarez-Corro
hid in another country, “believing time and distance was on his side.”
Hensle commended the efforts of the numerous law enforcement agencies that helped the FBI
finally catch the fugitive, who now has no choice but to answer in court for his alleged
actions.
It’s unclear whether Juarez-Corro has been extradited yet and if he has hired an attorney
to represent him in the case.
2.
JESSE SPITZER
30-year-old Jesse Spitzer recently found himself under the scrutiny of numerous law enforcement
agencies as he embarked on an alleged interstate crime spree throughout the Northwestern United
States.
His campaign of recklessness began in Washington and Northern Idaho, where he was suspected
of committing numerous burglaries and vehicle thefts.
As detectives turned up the heat on Spitzer, he went on the run.
Police and K-9s chased him into the forest near Gold Bar, Washington, but he managed
to evade their clutches and fled the area.
He reappeared in a neighboring county after a local resident found that someone had stolen
a gun from their car and another witness saw him creeping suspiciously near a home.
Police closed in on Spitzer, who allegedly threatened to commit suicide if they didn’t
leave.
He then ran on foot and managed to once again escape before officers could take him into
custody.
Spitzer continued fleeing, taking the chase across state lines as he carjacked people
at gunpoint and shot at officers to try getting them off his trail.
He was finally caught hiding out in a camper in Haugan, Montana.
It appears as though shooting at cops is nothing new for Spitzer, whose criminal history dates
back to 2011.
At just 19 years old, he was sentenced to up to 22 years in prison for reportedly shooting
at a sheriff’s sergeant while fleeing from law enforcement in Nevada.
1.
LORINZO NOVOA WILLIAMS
Between June and October 1999, three women in southeast Cobb County, Georgia awoke to
a man standing over them in their homes.
The man proceeded to brutally assault the victims, who all lived within three miles
(4.8 km) of each other.
DNA evidence confirmed that the same home intruder was responsible for all three rapes,
but at the time, police were unable to match the DNA to any known offenders through the
CODIS criminal database.
The case went cold and fell off the investigative radar until it was reopened in 2018 with funding
from the Georgia Sexual Assault Kit Initiative.
Using forensic genealogy, detectives connected the crimes to a suspect named Lorinzo Novoa
Williams.
They obtained a warrant to travel to Arkansas and collect a DNA sample from him.
It was a match.
Williams denied responsibility for the rapes.
He vanished and was found dead days later from an apparent suicide.
Even though it’s unfortunately too late to bring him to justice, the assault survivors
now have the closure of knowing the perpetrator’s identity, and that he will never harm another
living soul.
Cobb County District Attorney Joyette Holmes reassured the public that justice is always
a priority, stating “Even if it takes 20 years, we refuse to give up.”
Thanks for watching!
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Bye for now! :)