3,576 articles
Murder of Kelly Anne Bates
Murder of Kelly Anne Bates: English teenager, 17, killed by James Patterson Smith in Gorton, Manchester, after grooming from age 14; 150 injuries, drowning, life sentence in 1997.
Murder of Kelsey Smith
Murder of Kelsey Smith: 2007 abduction of 18-year-old Kelsey Ann Smith from a Target in Overland Park, Kansas; killed by Edwin Hall; the Verizon location-data delay led to the Kelsey Smith Act.
Murder of Kendra Hatcher
Murder of Kendra Hatcher, also called the Brenda Delgado murder-for-hire case: the 35-year-old Dallas pediatric dentist was shot September 2, 2015 in her Uptown apartment garage by gunman Kristopher Love, driven by Crystal Cortes, in a plot arranged by Delgado, her ex-boyfriend's jealous ex-girlfriend.
Murder of Kenneth Meers
Murder of Kenneth Meers: 1992 robbery-murder of an Oklahoma City convenience store owner by Emmanuel Littlejohn and Glenn Bethany; conflicting triggerman theories led to a death sentence and a life sentence, and Littlejohn was executed in 2024.
Murder of Kim Ha-neul
Murder of Kim Ha-neul (김하늘): the February 10, 2025 killing of an 8-year-old first-grader by teacher Myeong Jae-wan at Seonyu Elementary School in Daejeon, South Korea; a premeditated stabbing that led to the proposed Ha-neul law and a life sentence.
Murder of Kim Wall
Murder of Kim Wall: the 2017 killing of Swedish journalist Kim Wall aboard Peter Madsen's submarine UC3 Nautilus in Køge Bay, Denmark; Madsen was convicted of premeditated murder in 2018 and sentenced to life imprisonment, upheld on appeal.
Murder of Kimberly Leach
Murder of Kimberly Diane Leach (1966–1978), a 12-year-old Lake City, Florida seventh-grader abducted February 9, 1978 and killed by Ted Bundy; last of his victims, Orlando 1980 trial, death sentence, 1989 execution.
Murder of Kirsten Costas
Kirsten Marina Costas was a 15-year-old cheerleader stabbed to death in 1984 by classmate Bernadette Protti in Orinda, California, inspiring the film Death of a Cheerleader.
Murder of Kitty Genovese
The 1964 murder of Catherine "Kitty" Genovese in Kew Gardens, Queens, by Winston Moseley, famous for the false New York Times report of 38 unresponsive witnesses that launched bystander effect research and the 911 system.
Murder of Kriss Donald
Murder of Kriss Donald: 2004 racially motivated killing of a 15-year-old white Scottish boy in Glasgow by five Pakistani-origin men; first racially aggravated murder convictions in Scotland, sentences up to 25 years.
Murder of Kristen French
Murder of Kristen French: April 1992 abduction, sexual assault, and killing of a 15-year-old St. Catharines schoolgirl by Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka; Bernardo received life, Homolka 12 years for manslaughter.
Murder of Kristin Smart
Murder of Kristin Smart: 1996 disappearance of a 19-year-old Cal Poly freshman after an off-campus party; Paul Flores, last seen with her, convicted of first-degree murder in 2022 and sentenced to 25 years to life; her body remains unfound.
Murder of Kyle Dinkheller
Murder of Kyle Dinkheller: 1998 fatal shooting of a 22-year-old Laurens County, Georgia deputy by Vietnam veteran Andrew Brannan during a 98 mph traffic stop; dashcam video, death sentence, 2015 execution, police-training legacy.
Murder of Laci Peterson
Murder of Laci Peterson: 2002 killing of a pregnant Modesto, California teacher; husband Scott Peterson convicted of first- and second-degree murder in 2004, death sentence reversed in 2020, case now pursued by the Los Angeles Innocence Project.
Murder of Lai Ying Xin
Lai Ying Xin, a Malaysian schoolgirl, was murdered in Kulai, Johor, in 2008. The four perpetrators, who attended her school, were initially sentenced to death but later commuted.
Murder of Laken Riley
The 2024 killing of 22-year-old nursing student Laken Riley while jogging on the University of Georgia campus; Jose Antonio Ibarra, an undocumented Venezuelan migrant, was convicted of all counts and sentenced to life without parole; the case drove the 2024 immigration debate and the Laken Riley Act.
Murder of Lana Clarkson
Murder of Lana Clarkson: 2003 shooting of actress Lana Clarkson at Phil Spector's Alhambra, California mansion; Spector convicted of second-degree murder in 2009 after a mistrial and retrial, sentenced to 19 years to life.
Murder of Laquan McDonald
Murder of Laquan McDonald: the October 20, 2014 fatal shooting of a Black 17-year-old by Chicago officer Jason Van Dyke, who fired 16 shots; withheld dashcam video, 2018 conviction, and 2019 consent decree distinguish the case.
Murder of Lauren Giddings
Murder of Lauren Giddings: 2011 killing of Mercer University law graduate Lauren Giddings, 27, strangled and dismembered by neighbor Stephen McDaniel in Macon, Georgia; he pleaded guilty in 2014 to life in prison.
Murder of Layla Cummings
Murder of Layla Cummings: July 1984 kidnapping, rape, and killing of 7-year-old Layla Dawn Cummings of Elk City, Oklahoma; her former stepfather Richard Norman Rojem Jr. was convicted in 1985, sentenced to death three times, and executed June 27, 2024.
Murder of Leann Whitlock
Murder of Leann Whitlock: 1990 kidnapping and killing of 19-year-old JMU sophomore Leann Marion Whitlock in Harrisonburg, Virginia, by Tommy David Strickler (executed 1999) and Ronald Lee Henderson (life sentences).
Murder of Lee Standifer
Murder of Lee Standifer: 1981 killing of a 23-year-old intellectually disabled Knoxville woman by David Earl Miller, her date, who beat and stabbed her; convicted 1982, executed by electric chair December 6, 2018 after 36 years on Tennessee death row.
Murder of Leesa Gray
Murder of Leesa Gray: 2000 kidnapping, rape, and killing of 16-year-old waitress Leesa Marie Gray in Itawamba County, Mississippi, by Marine recruiter Thomas Edwin Loden Jr., who pleaded guilty and was executed in 2022.
Murder of Lesandro Guzman-Feliz
Murder of Lesandro "Junior" Guzman-Feliz, the Justice for Junior case: a 15-year-old Bronx teen was dragged from a bodega and killed by Trinitarios gang members in a mistaken-identity attack on June 20, 2018; 13 defendants were convicted or pleaded guilty, with sentences from 12 years to life without parole.
Murder of Leslie Mahaffy
Murder of Leslie Mahaffy: 1991 kidnapping, rape, and killing of a 14-year-old Burlington, Ontario girl by Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka; body dismembered, encased in cement, dumped in Lake Gibson; led to Bernardo's first-degree murder conviction and Homolka's controversial 12-year manslaughter plea deal.
Murder of Leslie Preer
Murder of Leslie Preer: 2001 killing of a 49-year-old woman in Chevy Chase, Maryland, unsolved for 23 years until genetic genealogy linked DNA to Eugene Gligor, her daughter's ex-boyfriend, who pleaded guilty in 2025 and received 22 years.
Murder of Linda Reaves
Murder of Linda Reaves: January 24, 1985 Oklahoma City killing of 35-year-old schoolteacher Linda Reaves by Bigler Stouffer, who also shot Douglas Ivens; Stouffer was executed December 9, 2021.
Murder of Lindsay Buziak
Unsolved 2008 killing of Lindsay Buziak, a 24-year-old Saanich, British Columbia realtor stabbed at 1702 DeSousa Place during a staged showing by an unidentified couple; police call it a targeted, planned murder.
Murder of Lindsay Hawker
Murder of Lindsay Hawker: 22-year-old British teacher Lindsay Ann Hawker, killed by Tatsuya Ichihashi (市橋達也) in Ichikawa, Chiba, Japan, March 2007; body in sand-filled bathtub; fugitive caught 2009; life sentence 2011.
Murder of Lizbeth Medina
Murder of Lizbeth Medina, 16-year-old Edna High School cheerleader found stabbed in her Edna, Texas bathtub on December 5, 2023; Rafael Govea Romero pleaded guilty in 2025 and received two life sentences plus 20 years.