9 Of The Most Horrific True Crimes Of 2020

Each year a number of big crimes fill the airwaves and make headlines across the nation. This year proved to be no different, with a series of murders, homicides, and killings plaguing the U.S. Here are nine of the most horrific crimes to occur in 2020.

#9 Kentucky Killing

Lorenzo Andrew Simpson shot his partner, 39-year-old Carmelita Lashaun Wright, in a murder-suicide case in Kentucky. The couple’s child was in the house at the time of the incident. The couple was not married but were living together. Officials believe that alcohol was involved and found a .40 caliber handgun in the house. Police were called to the home on two previous instances for domestic disputes, but they were both nonviolent. The child was placed in protective services following the incident.

#8 Texas Shooting

A Fort Worth, Texas, man, Cory Lashaun James, 41, shot his girlfriend and her daughter and then turned the gun on himself in a double murder-suicide. Police were called to the scene after a suicide attempt was reported but arrived to find three people with gunshot wounds.

An argument between the couple is believed to have ensued the morning of the incident. The daughter had tried to calm the situation when James shot her and his girlfriend and then himself. James survived the gunshot wound but later died in the hospital. The girlfriend, Blanca Estela Rodriguez, died at the scene while the daughter survived the shooting.

#7 Marriage Murder

Abul Ahsan Habib, 52, fatally shot his wife, Syeda Sohaly Akter, 43, before he killed himself in a murder-suicide in Phoenix. In the morning leading up to the killing, Akter had called police to ask them to remove her husband from their home. Habib was not home at the time. Officers arrived and talked to Akter about getting a protective order against her husband. Akter’s son was also present at the time. After officers left, Habib returned to the home. Akter called 911 and gunshots were heard on the recording. Police arrived to find both Akter and Habib dead.

#6 Son Finds Parents Dead

An apparent murder-suicide of a New York couple, James Payne, 60 and Shari Payne, 56, occurred in September. The pair were found dead inside their Ridgeway home by their son, who saw his mother lying on the floor from the window. When he broke into the home, he also found his father dead. An investigation revealed that an AK-47 rifle and possibly a knife were used. It was unclear what caused the incident.

#5 Stranger Encounter

Two people were killed in a murder-suicide in Iowa after a man, Floyd Rush, 49, shot and killed 45-year-old Latoya Smith before killing himself. Officers were called to the home when family members saw Smith lying on the bathroom floor from a window. Police found both Smith and Rush dead. Smith was shot by Rush multiple times before he killed himself. It is unclear how the two were related.

#4 Custody Killing

Michele Deegan shot her 7-year-old twin daughters while they were sleeping before killing herself in a double murder-suicide in Washington in October. Deegan, 55, had been in a custody battle over the children, which the preliminary investigation revealed to be the primary motive behind the killings.

#3 Family Affair

Pennsylvania man Gerald Mihalcik, 78, shot his son and daughter-in-law before killing himself in a murder-suicide. Gerald was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, while his daughter-in-law, Rebecca Evans, 51, was also found dead. Gerald’s son, Stephen Mihalcik, 56, was found alive. Stephen later died from his wounds.

The three adults lived together along with two children. It was unclear if the children were home at the time of the killing, but they were unharmed. There was no motive speculated in the case, but officials said there was a rise in domestic violence cases in the county since the start of the pandemic.

#2 Girlfriend Gunshot

In Oregon in September, an 88-year-old man shot and killed his live-in girlfriend and then turned the gun on himself. The man, Thomas Higginbotham, was found by deputies with a self-inflicted gunshot wound on the scene with a weapon on his lap. The woman, Linda Free, 63, was pronounced dead at the time of the incident. Higginbotham was not expected to survive his injuries but no recent updates have been provided. There was no apparent motive for the killing.

#1 George Floyd's Death

In May, protests across the U.S. erupted after George Floyd, a Black man, was killed by a police officer, who knelt on his neck for several minutes even after Floyd said he could not breathe. The former Minneapolis Police Officer, Derek Chauvin, was charged with second-degree murder and manslaughter in Floyd’s fatal arrest. He was released on a $1 million bond, and a trial is pending. Months of protests followed in support of Floyd as protesters called for a defunding of the police.