Random People Who Killed Out Of Jealousy (15 items)

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  (#1) Gertrude Baniszewski

  • Dec. at 60 (1929-1990)

  In a highly disturbing murder case, now infamous Gertrude Baniszewski viciously tortured and murdered 16-year-old Sylvia Liken in 1965. Liken and her younger sister were placed under Baniszewski's care for several months by their parents who worked for a traveling carnival.

  During this time, Baniszewski developed an inexplicable dislike for Sylvia, repeatedly accusing her of having loose morals and of sex work. Gertrude punished Sylvia with extreme physical and emotional abuse, encouraging her own teenaged children as well as other neighborhood children to participate and to watch.  Sylvia was beaten, burned with cigarettes and matches, cut, starved, and sexually abused. Once it became clear that Sylvia was near death, Gertrude devised a plan to claim that a neighborhood gang had beaten Sylvia to death. With the help of a neighbor boy, Gertrude carved into the skin of Sylvia's stomach "I am a prostitute and proud of it." However, police recognized evidence of Sylvia's long-term abuse and promptly arrested Gertrude. Sylvia's cause of death was determined to be brain swelling, internal hemorrhaging of the brain, and shock induced by extreme skin damage. She also suffered from extreme malnutrition. 

  Many have theorized about Baniszewski's motive for brutalizing Liken. Attorney Forrest Bowman, Jr., the defense attorney who represented two boys involved in the crime said of Gertrude, "She had a miserable life. What I think this was about was jealousy." In 2014 Bowman published the book Sylvia: The Likens Trial. Gertrude Baniszewski was let out on parole after just twenty years in prison and died in 1990.
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  (#2) Els Clottermans And A Very Strange Love Triangle

  In a bizarre love triangle gone wrong, Belgian woman Els Clottermans murdered her skydiving partner and love rival, Els Van Doren. Clottermans and Van Doren both met and fell in love with the young and handsome Dutchman Marcel Somers at their parachute club in Zwartberg. Though the 38-year-old Van Doren was married, both she and Clottermans began sleeping with 25-year-old Somers according to a strict schedule: Clottermans had Fridays, Van Doren had Saturdays.

  About a week before the murder in 2006, Clottermans spent the night on Somers's couch, where she overheard Van Doren and Somers in his bedroom. Spying Van Doren's parachute within reach, she tampered with the release strings. When the trio all went on a sky-diving trip together the following week, Van Doren plummeted to her death. Sentenced to thirty years in prison, Clottermans is eligible for parole after 10 years.  
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  (#3) Sarah Williams And Kitt Walsh Plotted For Over A Year

  When 60-year-old businesswoman Sadie Hartley got back together with her old boyfriend Ian Johnston, she had no idea the jealous rivalry she ignited. Sarah Williams, 35, had slept with Johnston while he was single and seemingly became obsessed. The pair continued to communicate through occasional sexting once he was back together with Hartley.

  But Williams saw one roadblock, and that roadblock was Hartley. So she enlisted her longtime friend, Katrina Walsh, to plan the perfect murder. The two women spent more than a year plotting ways to kill Hartley, which Walsh documented meticulously in her diary. In January 2016, after enacting a "dry run" of the crime with a fake flower delivery, Williams entered Hartley's home, used a cattle prod to stun her, and stabbed her 41 times to death.

  Despite all of their planning, the two were apprehended not long afterward, and both were found guilty of murder and given life sentences.
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  (#4) Melanie Smith Burned Her Neighbors To Death Because They Were Happy

  In 2013, Melanie Smith was convicted of five counts of murder and branded by her own adult children as "the most evil woman in Britain" after she set fire to her flat building, killing the upstairs residents. Smith had grown jealous and resentful of her upstairs neighbor Lee Anna Shiers and her happy relationship with partner Liam Timbrell, particularly because of Smith's tempestuous relationship with her own boyfriend who she often suspected of cheating.

  After hearing Shiers and Timbrell having sex one night, Smith became increasingly angry and lit the pram Shiers often left in the hallway on fire. The ensuing blaze killed not only Shiers and Timbrell, but her young son, nephew, and niece, who were all staying with her that night. Smith was sentenced to 30 years. 
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  (#5) Christine Paolilla Helped Murder Her New Best Friends

  Christine Paolilla had a rough childhood. Her father passed away when she was just two-years-old, causing her mother to struggle with drug addiction and to send Christine off to live with her grandparents. To top it all off, Christine suffered from alopecia, a hair-loss condition, leaving her to go through school bullied for wearing a wig.

  However, in Paolilla's junior year at Houston's Clear Lake High School, she befriended two popular girls, Rachael Koloroutis and Tiffany Rowell. Elevated by her newfound friendships, Paolilla was even voted "Most Irresistible" by the student body. Despite their kindness, Koloroutis and Rowell were shot at point-blank range and killed in 2003, along with a cousin and boyfriend. It took three years to connect the murders to then 17-year-old Paolilla and her boyfriend Chris Snider, thanks to a tip.

  Though Paolilla has since blamed her actions on Snider, who committed suicide, investigators believe she was severely jealous of the beautiful and popular young women who were supposed to be her best friends. While nothing ever came easy for Paolilla, her friends seemed to naturally possess the qualities she wanted most. She was sentenced to 40 years in prison in 2012. 
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  (#6) Daniel Willyam Was Obsessed With His Roommate

  In the summer of 2009, 20-year-old Samantha "Shelley" Nance seemed to have everything going for her. She'd left her small hometown of Italy, TX, to attend the Art Institute of Dallas and she was dating her first boyfriend, Nathan Shuck. Despite the brevity and innocence of their relationship (the couple had held hands once), it was enough to send Shuck's roommate, Daniel Willyam, into a jealous spiral. Willyam, a former Navy pastry chef who was eight years older than Shuck, was obsessed with his roommate and became envious of the new woman in his life.

  So envious, in fact, he went to Nance's apartment when he knew she'd be home alone and stabbed her 42 times in her bed. Willyam was sentenced to life in prison with eligibility for parole after serving 30 years.
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  (#7) Tiana Browne Killed For Shoes

  Tiana Browne wasn't jealous of her cousin per se, but rather her cousin's sneakers, electronics, and success in school. At least that's the reason family members believe she stabbed 16-year-old Shannon Braithwaite 49 times before ripping the shoes off of her feet. 

  Her defense cited that she was raped by a classmate days before the murder and that she suffered from a psychological disorder. The jury still found Browne guilty and the judge sentenced her to 15 years to life, the maximum sentence for a juvenile.
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  (#8) It Took 23 Years To Solve The Murder Of Sherri Rasmussen

  John Ruetten and Sherri Rasmussen met in 1984, and married the following year. Their time together was short-lived, however, as just a few months after tying the knot, John came home to find his wife had been murdered.

  The house had been ransacked and Sherri had been shot three times in the chest; the second two wounds indicated that the gun had been placed on her chest and fired at point-blank range. Investigators theorized that she'd been killed in a robbery gone wrong, but Sherri's father, Nels Rasmussen, disagreed. The killing seemed personal, and his daughter had told him about an ex-girlfriend of John's, a "lady-cop" who had been harassing her. The woman had shown up unannounced at the house, and even at Sherri's workplace, threatening their relationship.

  But the investigators ignored this lead, perhaps wanting to protect their own. The woman Sherri had been concerned about, Stephanie Lazarus (pictured), was LAPD. Forensic evidence was collected, including a swab from a bite mark on Sherri's arm, but the case went cold. When Nels read about the advent of DNA technology, he tried to pay for testing on Sherri's case, but the evidence had disappeared.

  In 2001, LA's Cold Case Homicide Unit reviewed Sherri's case as a matter of routine. They eventually found the misplaced swab in the coroner's freezer and finally ran tests. The results showed no hits in the DNA database, but it did show something interesting: the DNA from the bite mark belonged to a woman.

  Still, Stephanie Lazarus hadn't even been named a suspect. It wasn't until 2009 that a cold case investigator finally made the connection between a note in the file about John's ex-girlfriend and the female DNA. Stephanie Lazarus, who now held a prestigious position in the LAPD's art theft department, was called in for questioning under the premise of helping her fellow detectives out on a case. At the end of the friendly interrogation, Stephanie Lazarus was arrested for Sherri's murder. A secretive test of Stephanie's DNA had already matched the DNA at the crime scene.

  It turned out that Stephanie and John hadn't ever been boyfriend and girlfriend, but had a sexual relationship after meeting in college, up until Sherri entered the picture. When Stephanie discovered John planned to marry Sherri, she became distraught. She visit John to declare her love for him. The two had intercourse, but John saw it as closure before he married Sherri. But to Stephanie, if she couldn't have him, no one could.
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  (#9) Ramon Salcido Murdered Most Of His Family

  On April 14, 1989, Ramon Salcido went on a murderous rampage. According to Salcido, the night before the murders, his wife told him that their first daughter was not his. In a delusional fit, he decided to end the lives of his three daughters, wife and three others. He then fled to Mexico to see his mother where he was apprehended and returned to the US for trial.

  Miraculously, Carmina, who was just 3-years-old at the time, survived the attack. Salcido is currently on death row. 
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  (#10) Eric McLean Wanted To Take His Own Life, But Took Someone Else's Instead

  In 2007, Knoxville, TN, got a huge dose of scandal from the McLean family. Husband and family man Eric McLean discovered that his wife, Erin, a 30-year-old who worked as a student teacher, was having an affair with 18-year-old student Sean Powell. 

  On the night in question, Powell was parked in a car outside of the McLean residence. After McLean threatened Powell with a phone call to the police, the teen still wouldn't leave. So Eric threatened him with a gun. At this point he claims Powell tauntingly grabbed the barrel of the gun and it "accidentally" went off, "accidentally" killing his wife's lover. The only person who could corroborate this version of events was the deceased Powell. McLean was convicted of reckless homicide, with a potential sentence of two to four years in prison. However, his attorney negotiated for probation and no prison time.
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  (#11) Sarah Kolb's Jealousy Of Her Friend Turned Deadly

  In 2005, Illinois high schooler Sarah Kolb invited her former friend, Adrianne Reynolds, to lunch at Taco Bell before beating and strangling her to death in the parking lot.

  Kolb, who was assisted in the murder by her friend Cory Gregory, was reportedly jealous of the attention Reynolds was receiving from boys at school. According to classmates, she expressed her desire to kill Reynolds multiple times but was never taken seriously. 

  Kolb was found guilty and sentenced to 53 years in 2006. 
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  (#12) Sibling Rivalry Drove Elizaveta Dubrovina Insane

  22-year-old Russian Elizaveta Dubrovina was taken into police custody in 2016 for allegedly murdering her 17-year-old sister, Stefania. Elizaveta was reportedly jealous of her younger sister. The two were partying in a photographer's apartment in St. Petersburg when he left to buy alcohol.

  During his absence, Elizaveta allegedly gouged out her sister's eyes, cut off her ears, and stabbed her 189 times.
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  (#13) Brian Bates Killed His Ex-Wife For Dating

  Belinda Jo Bates was so ready to divorce her husband, Brian Bates, that when he wanted her to sign a contract stating that she would never date anyone else, she did. They divorced in 2007 after 10 years of marriage. When Brian Bates finally left their home in Florida to live in Maine, Belinda thought the states in between would rid her of her jealous husband and his psychotic contract. She began quietly dating a former high school sweetheart, Michael Kemp, and the two got engaged.

  Brian found out and returned to Florida, shot and killed his ex-wife, and then turned the gun on himself. 
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  (#14) Pedro Bravo Killed His Best Friend Over A Girl

  Miami high schooler Pedro Bravo fell hard when he started dating his first girlfriend Erika Friman. The couple dated for three years, but Friman felt relieved when she ended the relationship. She ended up moving for college, along with a mutual friend of Bravo's, Christian Aguilar. Friman and Aguilar began quietly dating, and Bravo did not take the news well.

  Despite Aguilar's effort to reach out to Bravo, who he knew was having a difficult time, Bravo ended up drugging his former friend, strangling him, and burying his body in a shallow grave in the woods, after apparently asking Siri for dump site suggestions. Aguilar was "missing" for days before his remains were discovered by hunters. Bravo continues to maintain his innocence despite his conviction and sentence of life without parole. 
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  (#15) Sixto Balbuena's Teacher-Student Love Affair Ended Very Badly

  Navy sailor Sixto Balbuena didn't meet his fiancée in the most conventional manner. Tamara Hofmann, 48, was his high school math teacher in Arizona before becoming his lover.

  On naval leave in 2009, Balbuena showed up to Hofmann's house at 2 a.m. on a Friday and grabbed a knife upon hearing suspicious noises. When he found Hofmann in bed with 17-year-old Samuel Valdivia, he flipped into a jealous rage, started beating him, and threw a printer at him. Sometime in the midst of all this, he "inadvertently" stabbed and killed Valdivia. He expressed remorse for the killing.

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