The 7 craziest true crime cases of 2023
From the Alex Murdaugh double murder trial to an arrest in the Gilgo Beach murders, it was another shocking, twisting year.
From the Alex Murdaugh double murder trial to an arrest in the Gilgo Beach murders, 2023 had more than its share of true crime news. Here are seven high-profile cases that dominated the headlines this year — and are likely to do so in the months ahead.
Idaho killings
What happened: In January, Bryan Kohberger, a 28-year-old Ph.D. student and teaching assistant in the Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology at Washington State University, was charged in the stabbing deaths of Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20 — students at the University of Idaho — in an off-campus home in Moscow, Idaho, in November 2022.
Authorities have not cited a motive for the killings, but data from Kohberger’s cellphone suggests he was in the area of the victims’ residence on at least 12 occasions prior to the night of the killings, per court documents. The knife used in the killings was not found but a bloody sheath linked to Kohberger through DNA was recovered at the scene.What’s next: In May, a judge entered a not guilty plea on Kohberger’s behalf. He could face the death penalty if found guilty. No trial date has been set, but prosecutors have proposed one for the summer of 2024.
Alex Murdaugh trial
What happened: Following a weeks-long double murder trial packed with drama worthy of a Netflix series, Alex Murdaugh was found guilty of fatally shooting his wife, Maggie, and son Paul at their 1,770-acre hunting lodge in the South Carolina Lowcountry in June 2021 in a botched scheme to cover up his financial fraud.
The 54-year-old former lawyer and scion of a powerful legal family was sentenced to consecutive life terms with no chance for parole. In November, he was sentenced to an additional 27 years in prison for financial crimes.What’s next: Murdaugh adamantly denies killing his family members. His lawyers have alleged that the court clerk tampered with the jury and are seeking a new trial.
Gilgo Beach murders
What happened: In July, Rex Heuermann, a 59-year-old architect, was taken into custody without incident near his office in Manhattan and charged in the deaths of three women — Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman and Amber Costello — in a long-unsolved string of killings known as the Gilgo Beach murders. Heuermann pleaded not guilty.
In 2010, their bodies were found strangled and wrapped in burlap along a desolate stretch of beach on Long Island, leading to the discovery of seven more bodies in the area — a grisly murder mystery that spawned a bestselling nonfiction book, a Netflix series and a podcast.What’s next: Heuermann is also the prime suspect in the 2007 disappearance and death of a fourth woman, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, and is awaiting a grand jury decision on whether he’ll be charged with her killing.
No trial date has been set, but Heuermann’s family, including his wife, Asa Ellerup, will participate in a NBC documentary during the proceedings. Ellerup filed for divorce days after Heuermann’s arrest and is not a suspect in the killings.
Brian Walshe case
What happened: Brian Walshe, a 47-year-old Massachusetts man, was charged with murder in connection with the disappearance of his 39-year-old wife, Ana Walshe. He pleaded not guilty. Surveillance footage showed him buying $450 worth of cleaning supplies at a Home Depot near their Cohasset, Mass., home on Jan. 2, the day after his wife was last seen.
Prosecutors believe Walshe dismembered his wife and disposed of her remains after using their son’s iPad to Google the best ways to get rid of a body, as well as other incriminating internet searches, such as “Can you be charged with murder without a body,” “How long before a body starts to smell” and “What does formaldehyde do?”
Walshe, who had pleaded guilty to federal fraud charges involving the sale of fake Andy Warhol paintings in April 2021, was under home confinement orders as he awaited sentencing at the time of his wife’s disappearance.What’s next: At his arraignment in April, Walshe’s attorney Tracy Miner hinted at his possible defense, arguing that in Massachusetts, a missing person is not presumed dead for seven years because of the ease with which someone can disappear. “There has been no body found,” Miner said. “There is no murder weapon. There is no motive.” The next hearing in the case is scheduled for Jan. 23.
Cyclist murder in Austin
What happened: Last month, Kaitlin Armstrong, a 35-year-old Texas yoga instructor, was found guilty in the 2022 murder of Anna Moriah Wilson, a 25-year-old professional cyclist who had been romantically linked to Armstrong's then boyfriend and fellow professional cyclist, Colin Strickland.
Wilson was found dead from multiple gunshot wounds in a friend's home in Austin, Texas, hours after meeting up with Strickland. Both Strickland and Armstrong were questioned for hours by police. Strickland was cleared in the case but Armstrong fled the country before police could arrest her.
She was arrested in June 2022 at a hostel in Costa Rica. A search warrant showed she had her sister’s passport and a receipt for $6,360 in plastic surgery. Armstrong was extradited to Austin, where she was charged with first-degree murder.
During her trial, prosecutors presented evidence including surveillance video showing Armstrong’s 2012 Jeep Cherokee circling the block where Wilson was shot — and her DNA on Wilson's bicycle.What’s next: Armstrong was sentenced to 90 years in prison for Wilson's murder.
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Dentist who allegedly poisoned wife’s protein shakes
What happened: In March, James Toliver Craig, a 45-year-old Colorado dentist, was charged with the murder of his wife, Angela Craig. Prosecutors say he laced her pre-workout protein shakes with arsenic and cyanide, eventually killing his 43-year-old spouse so he could be with a woman with whom he was having an affair.
Investigators allege that Craig first put arsenic in one of his wife’s shakes in early March and, when she survived, he ordered a rush shipment of potassium cyanide that he falsely told the supplier was needed for a surgery.
According to court documents, Craig made several incriminating internet searches, including “how to make poison” and “is arsenic detectable in autopsy?”What’s next: In October, Craig pleaded not guilty to charges of first-degree murder and tampering with evidence. His trial is set to begin on April 19, 2024.
Natalee Holloway case
What happened: Nearly two decades after her disappearance, the Natalee Holloway case was finally solved in October, when Joran van der Sloot admitted he bludgeoned the Alabama teenager to death on an Aruban beach and pushed her body into the water.
Holloway’s 2005 disappearance had long been linked to van der Sloot, whose stunning admission came in a plea deal in a related extortion and wire fraud case. In his plea agreement, van der Sloot said he was on a beach in Aruba when Holloway rebuffed his sexual advances and kneed him in the crotch. He then kicked her in the face, found a cinder block nearby and used it to “smash her head in with it completely” before taking her body and pushing it into the ocean.
“I would like to apologize to the Holloway family,” van der Sloot said at his sentencing hearing. “I am no longer that person back then than I am today. I gave my heart to Jesus Christ, he helped me through all of this.”What’s next: Van der Sloot was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison in the extortion and wire fraud case. He was already serving a 28-year sentence in Peru, where he’s serving time for the murder of 21-year-old college student Stephany Flores. The 20-year sentence will run concurrently while he’s in jail in Peru.
And while he will never be tried for Holloway’s murder, her mother said she was satisfied with his confession.
“As far as I’m concerned it’s over, it’s over,” Beth Holloway told reporters outside court. "Joran van der Sloot is no longer the suspect in my daughter’s murder. He is the killer.”
