Innholdsfortegnelse for Issue 77 i Crime Monthly

Welcome to the July issue. This month, the tragic case of three girls seemingly killed by their own father, and the billionaire brothers accused of running a sex trafficking ring. We look at the twisted Twin Flames cult, and once-respected figures who broke the law. We also ask if the search for Madeleine McCann is at an end, examine a rash of murder-suicides in one small US town, and much more. Plus, there’s our round-up of the very best entertainment. As always, email us at Crimemonthly@bauermedia.co.uk. See you next month.…

A Malibu doctor has agreed to plead guilty to federal charges over the ketamine dose that led to Friends star Matthew Perry’s death. Dr Salvador Plasencia will admit to four felony counts of distributing controlled substances without a legitimate medical purpose, after supplying the star with ketamine vials and lozenges in the weeks before his death in October 2023. Prosecutors say Plasencia was paid over $55,000 and allegedly taught Matthew’s assistant how to administer the drug, bypassing medical guidelines. Perry died of the combined effects of ketamine and other drugs, with the overdose ruled accidental. Plasencia faces up to 40 years in prison, though it’s thought he will get less. And as part of the deal, additional charges will be dropped. Three co-defendants have already pleaded guilty, but so-called ‘Ketamine…

The family of a 16 year old allegedly tortured to death by a man she met on a dating app are suing the makers. Miranda Corsette connected with Steven Gress, 35, on Grindr on 14 February, and went to his home. There, it’s alleged Gress turned on the teen after believing she’d stolen a ring, holding her captive and torturing her for 10 days before she was killed and dumped in a bin. Gress and his girlfriend Michelle Brandes are currently awaiting trial and could face the death penalty if convicted. Now, representatives for Miranda’s family have filed a civil suit against Grindr, seeking damages for wrongful death, negligence, infliction of emotional distress, and participation in a sex trafficking venue. Describing the horror of the teen’s last moments, the suit…

Just after 8 am on 4 April 2022, police officer Christopher Schurr pulled over a car in Grand Rapids, Michigan, because the license plate didn’t match the vehicle. Driver Patrick Lyoya stepped out, seemingly unsure what was happening. Within minutes, the routine traffic stop became a nightmare. On a suburban lawn, Schurr fired a single shot into the back of Patrick’s head. The shocking killing – caught on bodycam, dashcam, and a bystander’s phone – sparked protests, headlines, and a legal fight that would stretch on for years. THE VICTIM Patrick Lyoya was 26 years old, the eldest of six siblings, and a father to two young daughters. He came to the US from the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2014, seeking safety after years of violence in his home…

The Private Island ALI LOWE (HODDER & STOUGHTON, £9.99) Fiji, New Year’s Eve. Just as the countdown to the fireworks begins at an exclusive getaway, a body washes up on the shore. And as an investigation gets underway, it becomes clear each guest has their own motive for murder. Sizzling. A Crime Through Time AMELIA BLACKWELL (MACMILLAN, £18.99) When Georgiana Darcy finds something in the woods, she is flung from Pemberley 1799 to Saltram 1995, where a Jane Austen film is being made. But Georgiana has just witnessed a crime – has she been sent here to solve it? Cosy fun. The Inside Man TREVOR WOOD (QUERCUS, £20) Haunted by the death of a colleague, DCI Jack Parker asks DS Emma Steel to get close to a man who may…

Crime, Conspiracy, Cults And Murder (Apple Podcasts) If you are just dipping your toe into the enormous pool of true-crime podcasts, then Crime, Conspiracy, Cults And Murder is the perfect one to ease you in. It’s hosted by Kallmekris, aka Kris Collins, whose breezy conversational style keeps proceedings moving along nicely as she covers ‘tales of notorious figures in history, bizarre murder and conspiracy cases, and unsolved mysteries’, including the enduring Black Dahlia case. You might recognise Collins from her TikTok skits and she brings her animated personality to every 30-minute episode. Short and to the point, it’s ideal for those who want to dive into true crime without graphic imagery or disturbing storytelling. Whitney Jones Truly Criminal (Spotify) Truly Criminal is a podcast series that aims to foreground the…

The UK government has launched a crackdown on grooming gangs after a new report revealed institutional failures to protect children. The National Audit on Group-Based Child Sexual Exploitation, led by Baroness Louise Casey, found a ‘culture of blindness, ignorance and prejudice’ across police and social services, with two-thirds of historic cases failing to record suspect ethnicity. Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has pledged to adopt all 12 recommendations, including a statutory public inquiry, mandatory recording of ethnicity, new child rape laws, and the reopening of more than 800 cold cases. She said, ‘The vulnerable young girls who suffered unimaginable abuse at the hands of groups of adult men have now grown into brave women who are rightly demanding justice for what they went through when they were just children. Not enough…

A US man who abducted and murdered a young mother during a prison escape has been executed after spending three decades on Death Row. Anthony Wainwright, 54, died by lethal injection on 11 June at Florida State Prison, 30 years after his conviction for the killing of 23-year-old Carmen Gayheart. Wainwright and another inmate escaped from a North Carolina prison in April 1994. When the stolen car they were driving broke down in Lake City, Florida, the pair headed to a nearby supermarket car park. There, they attacked nursing student Carmen Gayheart as she loaded groceries into her boot. She was forced into her own vehicle, raped, strangled, and shot. Her body was dumped and the men fled in her car. Both were caught the next day and sentenced to…

When Michael McCoy ended his relationship with District Judge Sonya McKnight, he thought it would be difficult – but not dangerous. Instead, he ended up with life-altering injuries after being shot in the head. On the night of 10 February 2024, Michael was in bed at home in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, when he was shot at close range. He survived, but barely. The court would later hear that the ‘bullet entered the right side of the victim’s face, travelled through his head in a straight line behind his eyes, and exited the left side of his face’. The blast left him blind in one eye and permanently scarred. While he would go on to testify that he didn’t see his assailant, the only other person in the house was McKnight. It…

DEPT B BALLARD PRIME VIDEO, FROM 9 JULY Back in March, when the final season of Bosch Legacy aired, a new character called Detective Renee Ballard was introduced fairly late on in proceedings, teaming up with Harry Bosch to bring a serial killer to justice. Something about it felt off – everything about the way Ballard was introduced suggested she should be a major character, and yet here we were in what were supposed to be the final episodes of the series. Well, it turns out Prime were messing with us a little bit, as what they were actually doing was cueing up this latest entry in what’s now been dubbed the Harry Bosch Universe. Maggie Q plays the titular Ballard, and as she hinted in Bosch Legacy, like Harry,…

What’s the inspiration for this novel? The starting point was wanting to write a thriller based on a break-up. I thought about how unfortunate it would be if the only person who could save you was the ex-boyfriend you’d had a bad break-up with and had blocked you, then built everything from there. What attracts you most about thrillers? You learn the most about someone when you see them in a stressful situation, so I love picturing the very worst for a character and seeing how they behave. There’s an element of craving justice, too. I often write a book after reading about something desperately sad – perhaps a child being harmed or a woman’s life cut short because of the inability of a man to accept she has free…

BBC SOUNDS The shooting of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson last December shocked the world. Five days later, a chance encounter at a McDonald’s in rural Pennsylvania led to the arrest of Luigi Mangione – a wealthy US college student and seeming golden boy. But by the time he was in handcuffs, he’d already gone viral. Across TikTok, Reddit, and X, Mangione became a symbol – to some, he was a hero, to others a monster hiding behind privilege. And that’s where this pod begins. The Mangione Trial asks how a straight-A student from Connecticut became the centre of an international media storm and the face of a movement. From true-crime obsessives to fringe conspiracy theorists, millions have projected their views onto Mangione. But who is he really? Host Jordan…

Disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein, 72, was at the centre of a contentious new court case last month, when a Manhattan jury issued a split verdict on multiple charges. Weinstein, the former head of the Miramax film production company, was convicted of first-degree criminal sexual acts for forcibly performing oral sex on production assistant Miriam Haley in 2006, but acquitted on a similar charge involving model Kaja Sokola, who was 19 at the time. The jury was deadlocked on a third-degree rape charge brought by Jessica Mann, stemming from an alleged 2013 assault in a New York hotel room. Weinstein was present in the courtroom but did not take the stand, as claims emerged of yelling and screaming among jurors during the deliberations. It was reported that one juror was…

A former Love Island contestant has been jailed for 14 years after playing a key role in a £53million UK drug cartel. Magdalena Sadlo, 30, starred in Poland’s 2021 series before becoming the trusted financial director for a cocaine trafficking operation linked to Dubai-based ringleaders. Dubbed ‘Barbie’ and described as ‘relentlessly efficient’, Sadlo managed spreadsheets tracking hundreds of kilos of cocaine, ketamine, and cannabis, as well as profits, expenses, and customer orders. In one message, she boasted, ‘Having a good month, done 95,895 in profit so far from orders.’ She also acted as a courier, transporting drugs across England in luxury cars, with police estimating she moved nearly 300kg of cocaine. Sadlo was arrested flying first class into the UK, carrying luxury watches worth over £160,000. Sentencing her, the judge…

Karen Read has been acquitted of all major charges in the death of her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O’Keefe, following a high-profile retrial. The Norfolk County jury found Read not guilty of second-degree murder, manslaughter, and motor vehicle homicide. She was convicted of operating under the influence, and given a year’s probation. John was found unresponsive outside a Canton home in January 2022 after a night of drinking. Prosecutors alleged Read had struck him with her SUV and left him to die in the snow after the couple had an argument. But her defence team claimed she was framed by members of law enforcement to conceal a fight that occurred inside the house. The retrial followed a 2024 mistrial, and Read hugged her lawyers and wept as the verdict…

On 17 June 2025, human remains found 11 days earlier in Australian bushland were confirmed to be those of missing 17-year-old Pheobe Bishop. The case of the teenager’s sudden vanishing had captured the attention of the country, flooding the news cycle as friends, family and hundreds of volunteers all joined in the desperate three-week search for her. Sadly, that ended in tragedy and now authorities are left piecing together Pheobe’s final hours. LAST SIGHTING Pheobe was reportedly last seen alive by her housemates James Woods and Tanika Bromley on 15 May. Investigators were able to confirm Pheobe had made a bank transaction the day before, but no confirmed sightings or online activity were recorded after that date.. The teen had been living with Woods, 34, and Bromley, 33, in a…

In May, a former Coast Guard pleaded guilty to second-degree murder for the ‘execution-style’ shooting of the man she had accused of rape. On 9 March 2021, hikers discovered the body of Matthew Dunmire, 31, in Ohio’s Cuyahoga Valley National Park. He had been killed by a single gunshot to the back of the head. And investigators quickly zeroed in on a suspect: 35-year-old Chelsea Perkins. The two had known each other since high school in Virginia. In 2017, Perkins accused Matthew of rape, but the case was not prosecuted due to lack of evidence. Four years later, in February 2021, the pair reconnected on Facebook and on 6 March 2021, Perkins drove more than 300 miles across state lines, luring Matthew to the national park under the guise of…

Since 2006, the UK Government has published the national threat level – an official measure of how likely the authorities believe the country is to suffer a terrorist attack. The level is jointly set by MI5 and the independent Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre (JTAC). There are five levels of danger: low, moderate, substantial, severe and critical. When the measure was first published in August 2006, the threat was deemed to be severe. Nine days later, that rose to critical, and on four different occasions since then, the country has been considered to be at the highest level of imminent danger, most recently in September 2017. In the summer of 2019, the system was changed to reflect the threat of all potential forms of terrorism regardless of ideology, a response to…

HOT NEW PICKS THE CONVERSATION STARTER Her Many Faces NICCI CLOKE (HARVILL SECKER, £16.99) March House is one of those exclusive clubs where rich and powerful politicians, businessmen and property magnates gather to make deals. Katherine works there as a waitress, and tonight, she was serving in the private Voltaire room, keeping everyone well-lubricated with brandy. Only, after she left her shift early, four men were found poisoned to death – and she is the prime suspect. Now, five men will tell her story to decide her fate: the barrister tasked with defending her; the loving father who doesn’t recognise the woman being talked about in the press; the hungry journo looking for a scoop; the childhood friend who wanted more; and the lover who wants to forget he ever…

Whether you’re jetting off somewhere hot or holidaying in your back garden, we’ve lined up the perfect escape. This summer, we have teamed up with Spotify and Simon & Schuster to bring you the best in crime fiction, from exclusive giveaways to unmissable new releases. This month, to celebrate the release of The Woman In Suite 11 by Ruth Ware, we’re giving away a free audio download of The It Girl. This deliciously dark thriller sees Hannah start at Oxford University, only to be pulled into the vivacious orbit of April and her friends – until April is found dead. Years later, a journalist has new information about the case that rocks all their worlds. Who has been hiding a terrible secret? TO CLAIM YOURS: Send an email marked ‘The…

When it comes to Hollywood royalty, they don’t come much more illustrious than the Baldwin acting dynasty. Brothers Alec, Daniel, William and Stephen have all made their mark in film and television – but as the eldest, it’s Alec, now 67, who made the name famous. However, he’s also had a few brushes with the law over the years, mostly due to heated spats with the paparazzi. In 1995, while bringing home his newborn daughter Ireland with then-wife Kim Basinger, Baldwin allegedly punched a paparazzo and broke his nose. Though Baldwin denied the charge, he was ordered to pay $4,500 damages in a civil case. And in 2019, he admitted a charge of harassment relating to an assault the previous year, where he’d punched a man in an argument over…