True Crime With Caledonian Kitty

Molly McLaren was a beautiful and talented 23 year old woman who seemed to have the world at her feet. Not only was she a natural beauty, she had the brains and beautiful personality to match. A self motivated individual, Molly always worked hard towards her dreams and goals, always putting 100% effort into everything she did. Her passion was fitness and she even had an online blog dedicated to her passion. 

Molly was always busy with her university studies, close-knit group of friends, her fitness regime and her part time job as a barmaid. Despite her model looks, she was quite humble person and signed up to a popular dating app called 'Tinder'. It seemed to be the thing that all the young people at University were doing so she thought it would be a bit of fun to sign up and didn't take it too seriously. 

Whilst being on the app she did come across the usual creeps and time wasters but there was this one guy who did look promising, his name was Joshua Stimpson and the pair struck up a conversation back and forth. He seemed to like the same things that she did and he was very passionate about health and fitness too, it seemed like the perfect match and it didn't take long before the pair were making arrangements to properly meet each other for dinner. 

When they finally met, it seemed that Joshua (who was a little bit older at the age of 26) just could not do enough for Molly, he seemed to be the perfect gentleman and Molly was on cloud nine. It was a very fast paced romance with the pair getting very close from the get-go but it did seem that Joshua was getting a bit too infatuated with Molly which was viewed at first as being quite sweet by herself and her friends. 

The nice guy persona soon begun to turn sour though as Joshua became very overprotective of Molly. It had gotten to the point that every time she turned around, he was there. Her phone was bombarded with endless calls and messages and his behaviour towards her was very controlling. Molly and her friends were growing sick and tired of Joshua's behaviour and Molly decided to put an end to the relationship which only lasted for four months in the later months of 2016. 

Instead of accepting that the relationship was not working out, Joshua was not prepared to let Molly go and when his begging and pleading didn't work, he soon took his mask off to reveal the real him. He began to harass Molly, both in everyday life, through texts and online. He would say malicious things about her and make up lies telling people who knew her that she had taken drugs which was not true. Molly put her heart and soul into her fitness blog and he tried his best to ruin this and her reputation. 

Having a night out with friends was a problem too, he hated the idea of Molly going out and being the attractive girl that she was, he knew that other guys would be looking at her, he would often stalk her and her friends on nights out. 

As his behaviour began to get worse, Molly and her mother got the police involved and the officer dealing with the situation actually contacted Joshua whilst Molly and her mum were present and told him specifically to remove any malicious online posts about Molly and to leave her alone. Joshua was very cocky and cavalier about it. 

Having been banned from contacting Molly, Joshua was trying to find ways to continue to stalk her so he encouraged another girl online to befriend Molly and find out personal details about her whereabouts and plans for the week. 

He appeared again on one of Molly's night's out with friends and it just seemed that no matter what she did he just would not leave her alone. Molly ended up leaving earlier that night, she managed to make it to her car safely but there's no doubt that Joshua was watching. 

Things took a more sinister turn when Joshua decided to purchase two knives and a pick axe, it was soon clear what his intentions were, if he couldn't have Molly, then nobody could. 

He knew that the next day after the night out with friends, that Molly would be attending the gym. Joshua loaded the weapons into his car and made his way there. From the CCTV footage recorded that day, we see Joshua, dressed in workout clothes, trying to move close to Molly who was understandably freaked out that he was there. 

(Text conversation between Molly and her friend. Molly's text is in white. Picture credit: kentlive)

Molly thought that, by going to the gym at that time there would be no danger of bumping into him but there he was, yet again. She was scared and confused as to how he knew she would be there at that time. She texted her friend her concerns and was advised to leave. All of Molly's friends and family were concerned about the situation but never did a moment cross their minds that things could go as horrific as they did. Joshua was a pest, a mentally unstable person who seemed to talk the big talk but didn't walk the walk so nobody took him seriously. 

Feeling tired and frustrated at him spoiling another day, Molly walked over to her car to begin her journey home. Out of nowhere, Joshua Stimpson appeared and launched a horrific attack on Molly stabbing her 75 times. 

Molly sadly died. It was a sickening and needless crime and one that could have been avoided if the police had taken a different approach because, once again we see how they have mishandled a stalking case. What Molly and nobody else knew was that Joshua Stimpson had a history of stalking and threatening women, he was a ticking timebomb and it was there in his police file but nobody bothered to check, nobody bothered to warn Molly and her family. Instead the police officer that Molly had made the complaint to, as mentioned earlier, simply called Joshua to take the abusive online posts down. This action didn't threaten Joshua into stopping his behaviour, it made him more cocky, more invincible (in his eyes) and furthermore, angry with Molly daring to complain about him further cementing the fact that she would not take him back. 

It's not the first time that I have heard of police officers telephoning stalkers and advising them to stop their behaviour, I had the horrible experience myself of a former work colleague who tormented me, I got the police involved thinking that would put an end to the harassment but all they did was call him and he actually mocked me for it and continued to harass me. I eventually had to leave my job and move house and stay indoors for six months in an effort to keep myself safe. I was lucky enough to move past that situation but you never forget it and your heart goes out to anyone (male or female) who is going through a similar situation because it is hell. 

A beautiful young girl had her life taken away from her. She was a shining star and what was he? nothing but a pathetic, spoiled little man child who couldn't take no for an answer. Red flags were there from day one, the police knew it and so did his family. Ex girlfriends came forward to say that he put them through hell too. 

Some would say that Joshua Stimpson was a good looking guy and didn't fit the the stereotypical idea of what a stalker looked like, there was also the fact that he and Molly did have a brief relationship, could this have been some of the reasons why this case was not taken as seriously at should have been? Molly was killed in 2017, not that long ago and we are still hearing these similar types of stories all of the time. We still have a long way to go with how we handle stalking not just in the UK where this case occurred but elsewhere. 

Joshua Stimpson was found guilty and sentenced to a minimum of 26 years in prison with the residing judge commenting:

 ''This was a cruel, calculated and cowardly act. You slit her throat whilst repeatedly stabbing her. You were determined to punish her for finishing with you. You were seeking revenge.''

After the murder of Molly, 'experts' were trying to pinpoint why Joshua had such a compulsion to stalk and harass women, they tried to understand why he took rejection so strongly. Their theory is that he suffered very badly when his parents had split up and it caused him behaviour problems. 

In my opinion, there's plenty of people who's parents split up (mine did when I was two) and they don't go on to harass, hurt and murder people. There was more to Joshua Stimpson's mental health than met the eye. The dissolving of his parents marriage might have been the straw that broke the camel's back but I believe there is more to this, we may never know the full truth of why he did what he did. What we do know is that he was selfish and didn't want anyone else to have Molly. He denied her of her life because he couldn't get what he wanted. 

Molly's family and friends created The Molly McLaren Foundation in her name to help support charities who raise awareness and help support people with eating disorders. Molly had battled with an eating disorder in the past and as someone who always went out of her way to help other people, this was a wonderful tribute to her and a lasting legacy. 

You can make a donation to The Molly McLaren Foundation here if you wish. You can also find them on Instagram and Facebook

You can also find Molly's Instagram / blog here

Further Reading & Sources:

- Molly McLaren: Article | The Sun

- Molly McLaren: Article | Daily Mail

- Molly McLaren: Article | Mirror

- Molly McLaren: Article | Kent Online

- Molly McLaren: Article | BBC News

- Joshua Stimpson: Article | Bustle

- Molly McLaren: Article | Stoke Sentinel

- Joshua Stimpson: Article | The Guardian

- Molly McLaren: News Report | ITV News

Thank you for taking the time to read this difficult post. It's heartbreaking to think that Molly is no longer with us due to the cruel and selfish actions of a horrible individual. The red flags with Joshua Stimpson were there but nobody informed Molly or her family about his past and the way the police dealt with the situation on a whole, was quite appalling. My heart goes out to Molly's friends and family. Molly's death has left a huge wound which will never heal. 

I hope you will join me in my next post and please keep yourselves safe out there. If you are going through a similar situation to what Molly or myself went through, please check out the Suzy Lamplugh website or contact the National Stalking Helpline on 0808 802 0300. 

This post is going to be a little bit different to what I have written before. Sometimes I feel the need to come on here and write about a particular case or cases that have been on my mind and the stories of these 3 beautiful girls (in the picture above) have been on my mind a lot this past week. I was originally going to be focusing on one true crime case as I usually do and that was going to be, the horrendous crimes of an individual named John Taylor, but whilst researching that case, I took a break to check on my TikTok account. Whilst I was scrolling through, I stumbled across two tribute videos to two young girls who had sadly passed away and that led me down a path of research and what I found not only disturbed me but left me feeling both a sense of sorrow and anger. I wanted to share their stories here because they deserve to be remembered, their stories need to be told and they deserve justice.

I'm conscious that this may be a very long post but I will try to be as brief as possible about each story but hopefully deliver enough facts and information to give you a real insight and knowledge about each of these wonderful girls, what happened to them, who was to blame as well as everything else. One of the tragic details that these 3 angels have in common?.... they are sadly no longer with us and that is a true crime in itself. 

As I always like to remind readers, some of the details that I will be sharing in this post will be disturbing, I will be talking about sensitive subjects such as sexual assault/rape, bullying, self-harm and suicide. If you  feel in any way that this might be difficult for you to carry on with, please feel free to leave reading the rest of the post, I still appreciate you taking the time to check out my work and hope that you will join me in my next post. For those who feel that they can continue to read on, I appreciate you too. Let's begin...

Leanne Tiernan

As I stated at the beginning of this post, I was originally going to focus on one true crime case and that was the crimes of a British sexual sadist and murderer, John Taylor. John, who was born and bred in Leeds, West Yorkshire (England) was first brought to the public's attention when he was found guilty of the rape and murder of 16 year old, Leanne Tiernan. 

Leanne was a bright, bubbly and beautiful young woman who was doing what a lot of us did as teenagers, she spent the day going shopping with her friend in the city of Leeds on the 26th of November 2000. I used to live in Leeds when I was a young teenager and I would do pretty much the same routine as Leanne. Me and my friends would get on the bus or train and spend the day in the city, it was fun and all part of growing up, the normal everyday things that teenagers do. It was close to Christmas and Leanne was Christmas shopping with her friend so it was an extra fun occasion, however that day was to turn into a horrible nightmare. 

After the girls had finished their shopping and decided it was time to return home, they caught the bus and arrived at their usual stop. Leanne and her friend went their separate ways and Leanne decided to take a short cut home as she had always done before. It was 4:50pm and with it being November it was starting to get dark but after such a long day Leanne must have been in the mood to get home, get her shoes off and make a cup of tea, as we all would I'm sure. When I look back at things I have done as a teenager, I sometimes cringe at the thought of some of the risky actions I have taken and I have, on a number of occasions, walked through a wooded area on my own or walked down a dimly lit path at night. You don't think anything about it at that age and because you've done it before without any problems you seem to have this false sense of security. 

So Leanne took this usual route which she had done many times before and unfortunately on this particular evening something horrible was lurking and ready to strike. As the young girl made her way, possibly thinking about Christmas, maybe her boyfriend, music or whatever, a man walked came up behind her and grabbed her. Before there was even any time for her to fully register what was happening, he had already tied her hands with a dog leash and put his jacket over her head, no doubt saying terrifying threats to her as he forced her to walk the short distance to his home. 

It's impossible to imagine what must have been going through Leanne's mind at that moment or the sheer level of fear that must have engulfed her. We don't know the exact events of what happened in that house of horrors that was owned by the monster known as 44 year old John Taylor. What we do know is that Leanne went through a hell of an ordeal, an ordeal that nobody, let alone a 16 year old child should ever have to go through. 

Leanne was well thought of and loved by all who knew her so when her friend tried to call her home phone number to check if she'd gotten home safe, she was concerned to find that she wasn't there. Leanne's mother didn't waste anytime trying to contact her daughter on her mobile phone, a mother's instinct told her something was not right when the phone rang out at first and the second time it was as if someone had switched it off. She was straight on the phone to the police to report Leanne missing. The police acted fast and a search was underway, it was to be one of the biggest missing persons cases and search investigations in the UK's history. 200 hundred officers were on the case and countless hundreds of volunteers searched the local area high and low, buildings, fields, ditches, everywhere you can think of, they searched and not a trace of Leanne was to be found. 

Posters were everywhere, a local businessman donated £10,000 for a reward to find out if anyone knew any information, popular supermarket chain, Iceland, printed Leanne's picture on their milk carton as another effort to help bring her home. It wasn't until the 20th of August 2001 that Leanne's body was discovered in woodland near Otley. 

Leanne's body had been wrapped in plastic bags and a duvet. She had been bound with cable ties and had a scarf around her neck. She was identified by her fingerprints. In a another gruesome discovery by forensic experts, they believed that due to the decomposition of the body and the state of the internal organs, that Leanne's body must have been kept in a freezer for a certain amount of time. 

Forensics and DNA made an incredible breakthrough in this case because they were able to trace the tiniest of fibres and DNA evidence right back to John Taylor. This evidence together with statements that were provided to the police by his former girlfriends (who claimed that he had a fetish for tying women up with cable ties and extreme bondage plus he would take these women to the same area that Leanne was found). With all the evidence stacked up against him he had no choice but to confess and he was found guilty and sentenced to a minimum of 30 years in prison. 

This sentence was later explained by the judge who had heard of the public outcry over the sentence. He explained that he did not wish for John Taylor to be released from prison in 30 years for that would be up to the parole board to decide not him. The police were not finished with John Taylor, they had suspicions that he had murdered before with how carefully he carried out his sadistic kidnap, murder and disposal of Leanne's remains. 

It turned out that the police were right, for years later it was discovered that John Taylor had been a predatory rapist for years, even being responsible for a sick sexual attack on a 7 year old girl. In 2018 with yet more sickening evidence of his crimes towards women, he was given what many people agreed that he should have gotten in the first place, a whole life order for a string of evil and violent sexual attacks. He was a beast, a monster and had been doing it for years. There's unsolved cases that have his name written all over them but more evidence needs to be found. John worked as a Parcelforce delivery man so he had driven all over the country and throughout the UK, who knows how many other sexual attacks and possible murders he is responsible for. 

He is currently rotting in 'The Monsters Mansion' known as Wakefield Prison. Because of this selfish, disgusting and evil pervert, Leanne (and others) have either had their lives cut short or have had to live with the horrible nightmares and terrible memories of what he has done to them. 

The beautiful pictures of Leanne are all that remain of a bright, bubbly teenager who had her whole life ahead of her, just 16 years old, who knows what she would have become. Leanne would have been in her 30s now, maybe with a family of her own, who knows? that was stolen from her, her life was stolen from her in such an evil way. It's hard to find the words to describe the loss and the anger. My thoughts are with her family who must cherish the pictures and the memories of the Leanne that they loved and knew so well. She was so much more than a pretty girl on an missing poster. I hope that John Taylor lives in agony every day, I hope he has nightmares every night for what he has done to countless women, young girls and children. 

Semina Halliwell 

The little beaming face in the picture above is Semina Halliwell, doesn't she look as cute as a button? Just 12 years old, whole life in front of her, she should have been enjoying her childhood without a care in the world but instead this poor little darling felt like she had the weight of the world on her shoulders and made the decision to take her own life. Where is the sense in that? where is the sense in a beautiful 12 year old child feeling that she has no other option than to cease to exist. 

Semina had been put through hell and suffered a horrendous rape by an older boy from school, when she told her heartbroken family they did what they could to support her and the police were contacted. Instead of the police being sympathetic to Semina, her mother claims that they made her daughter feel like she was an inconvenience and it pretty much felt like her daughter was the one who was being made out to be the perpetrator instead of the actual victim that she was. 

The officer who interviewed Semina complained that if she was to press charges against her attacker that he would have to spend a long time filling in forms and that the case would take months and months to go to court. Hearing the details of this officer's handling of this situation disgusts me but it's not the first time I have heard such a story of how the police tend to treat victims of rape and sexual assault. 

 I used to work as a case worker for an organisation called S.T.A.R which offered support, advice and help for people who had been through rape and sexual assault. I mostly worked with young people and was there though medical examinations right up to court appearances. 

Many people are afraid to report that they have been raped/sexually assaulted because in many cases it can feel like the victim is being put on trial and that is how many others and Semina felt. It's disgusts me entirely that a 12 year old child was being subjected to this type of pathetic, judgemental and lazy behaviour by an adult member of the police force. I've heard about this type of treatment towards victims time and time again and I'm angry to hear that it is still going on. 

To add more trauma, Semina had to deal with bullies both online and at school as well as going through self-harm. Both Semina and her family were threatened by individuals (believed to be connected to Semina's attacker) to keeping quiet or acts of violence would be committed against them. Semina was constantly threatened at school and was beaten up a few times with the bullies recording everything on their mobile phones and posting the videos online. It was absolute hell and there was no escape, the bullies continued their campaign of intimidation and abuse online. The final straw came after the cold and unsympathetic interview with the police officer and Semina had told her family that she had, had enough. 

Without her families knowledge she opened up a bottle of pills and took an overdose. When she was found she was taken to hospital where she battled for her life for 4 days. She was placed in an induced coma but her poor body couldn't get through it, her organs continued to shut down and she sadly passed away. 

Her mother and her family were beside themselves and angry with how Semina was treated and who could blame them? More hell and evil treatment was dished out by the bullies who had made threats to cause disruption at Semina's funeral. The police had to attend to make sure there was no incidences at Semina's memorial. 

Not long after Semina's death and the funeral, her family were subjected to more hell with the bullies posting nasty things about Semina online, horrible pictures made of her lying in her coffin which they sent to her mother, posts celebrating her death and they even posted a £10,000 offer online for someone to go and trash Semina's grave. Just a couple of weeks after this the family had the heartbreak of finding Semina's grave vandalised and covered in dog feces and bricks.

It's just too utterly heartbreaking and sickening to put into words. I didn't know Semina or know her family personally but my heart goes out to them and I feel so much anger for how Semina was treated, what she endured and what they have had to endure. The fact remains also that nobody has been properly brought to justice for any of this. I can't imagine the pain that Semina's mother and her family feel. 

This whole horrible nightmare only took place last year (2021), what kind of world are we living in that people can do this to a 12 year old child, push her to suicide and then terrorise her family without a single person being held accountable. It is utterly insane. I do hope that anyone in the true crime community who reads this post takes it upon themselves to write about it or include Semina's story in their YouTube video or podcast. This horrible story needs to be told. Our 'justice' system is flawed, we need laws brought in for online trolls. We have to do something to make sure that this doesn't happen again. 

Leah Cantillon

TikTok (which I have only recently joined) seems to be a mixed bag of people just like any other social media but what I have noticed (and this is just based on my experience) is that it's not moderated well. I've seen some shocking videos and clips pop up on my feed and I've seen some horrendous comments too. 

It seems to be that some of these miserable, sour people who are unhappy with their own lives, decide to jump onto TikTok, as well as other platforms and proceed to try and wreck someone else's day with their nasty comments. I've never understood this mentality, I know that it makes them feel some sort of release, some sort of power in their insignificant lives. I have no sympathy for people who do this. I'm sure we've all been through some kind of tragedy in our lives, maybe we lost a job or a relationship broke down but do you see us (normal people) jumping onto TikTok and leaving horrible comments in an attempt to hurt someone, no! 

For Leah, who, for a 17 year old was way ahead of her time when it came to style, the constant nasty comments about her 'tan' as well as being branded a 'chav' amongst other insults, began to take their toll. This wasn't a weakness on her part, you could be the most confident person but if you had a whole bunch of people sending you online abuse day in day out, eventually that takes it's toll and another dangerous thing about these trolls is that they could strike on a day where you are feeling low. All us girls (and I'm sure guys do too) have those days when we don't feel so good or have a hang up about a part of our bodies (especially during periods) but most of us tend to snap out of it.

I'm speaking as someone who is older than Leah, I don't know what it's like to be a 17 year old in today's world and to be honest it scares me. The constant pressure that young people must feel in today's 'Selfie Society' where shows like 'Love Island' promote perfection and the Kardashians promote wealth and plastic surgery. If I was a teenager right now, I would struggle to know where I would fit in to all of that, it was hard enough when I was a kid without the internet, it must be 10 times worse now. 

We know its harder for young people today because we see a horrible and heartbreaking rise in suicides because of trolls online and the constant pressures. As much as there are positives to having come so far with technology, there is also a huge negative side to it too. In writing this post I am reminded of the Amanda Todd story where I wrote about her sadly taking her own life due to severe bullying online and threats by an evil predator. Amanda's family also had to endure nasty comments by trolls after her death. 

Leah made it no secret that part of the reason she had such a lovely tan was because she would use sunbeds on a regular basis. Using sun tan beds is not a great idea but she was 17 and like a lot of younger people today, she wanted faster results. She looked amazing (don't take this as an incentive to go on a sun bed because I heavily advise against it, Fake tan all of the way) but trolls would mock her for her tan and for her love of Rap & Hip Hop music, she had been accused of trying to change her skin colour too to appear to look more like a black woman. It's difficult to know exactly what sent Leah to the point of where she felt like she couldn't go on but her last video to TikTok was posted on the 20th of February which was a Sunday. The short clip was of her lip syncing to a song, the very next day she tried to take her own life and was admitted to hospital. her family have kept the exact details of her death private but what we do know is that she was kept on a life support machine before officially being declared deceased on the Friday (25th of February of this year, 2022). 

Like the reaction to Semina's death, there was an outpouring of shock and grief at the news of what had happened to Leah. People could not understand how a beautiful girl who seemed to have it all could suddenly decide to want to end her life. 

Sometimes there's a build up to suicide and sometimes it's a split second decision. None of us know what was going through Leah's mind but it's heartbreaking to think that she felt that it was her only option. 

So, as you can see, if you have read through this whole post (I told you it was going to be a long one. if you've made it this far, my absolute appreciation) why I have had these three angels on my mind this week. It's just devastating that they are no longer here and in the case of Semina and Leah, the very people that caused them to have such unhappiness, that planted the seeds of thoughts of suicide, are still out there, online and nobody has been held accountable! Beautiful lives have come to an end for nothing. 

It just goes to show that in 2022 we still have a long way to go with dealing with cyberbullying, laws concerning trolls, abuse online and mental health as well as the police's approach to victims of sexual assault needs to be addressed properly. 

My heart goes out to these angels and their families. 

RIP Semina, Leanne and Leah. 

Further Reading & Sources: 

- Leanne Tiernan: Police Files | West Yorkshire police

- Leanne Tiernan: Article | Yorkshire Evening Post

- Murder of Leanne Tiernan | Wikipedia

- John Taylor: Article | Examiner Live

- John Taylor: Article | Daily Mail

- John Taylor: Article | Crime & Investigation UK

- John Taylor: Article | Leeds Live

- John Taylor: Article | Murderpedia

- Otley | Wikipedia

- Leeds | Wikipedia

- Wakefield Prison | Wikipedia

- Semina Halliwell: Article | Sky News

- Semina Halliwell: Article | Daily Mail

- Semina Halliwell: Article | Daily Mail

- Semina Halliwell: Article | Lancs Live

- Semina Halliwell: Article | Wales Online

- Semina Halliwell: Article | Liverpool Echo

- Rachel Halliwell Twitter Page

- Semina Halliwell: Article | Mirror

- Semina Halliwell: Article | Daily Post

- Semina Halliwell: Article | Manchester Evening News

- Semina Halliwell: Article | Daily Record

- The Semina Halliwell Foundation

- Leah Cantillon: Article | Irish Mirror

- Leah Cantillon: Article | Sunday World

- Leah Cantillon: Article | USA Today News

- Leah Cantillon: Article | The Sun

- Leah Cantillon Tik Tok Account

- Anti-Bullying Alliance

- Cyberbullying | Wikipedia

- Cyberbullying | UNICEF

- Bullying & Cyberbullying | Childline

This post has been quite a long emotional one and even though I have come to the end of researching and writing about these three tragic stories, I am still left with a feeling of sadness, anger and confusion as to why this sort of thing is allowed to continue happening, we need stricter laws regarding online and punishment for trolls. There's a difference between having a decent opinion and being a straight out bully. If you've got nothing nice to say then shut your mouth and scroll on! If you don't like someone's tan, or lashes or what they are wearing, just scroll past and go about your day. If you're the sort of person who goes online to vent your unhappiness via nasty comments to innocent strangers, then I suggest you do yourself a favour (as well as the rest of us) and seek professional help. 

I wish I could say that valuable lessons will be learned from all of this but we know, in reality, they won't be.As well as telling the trolls to cut their crap, we have a responsibility to ourselves to protect ourselves. Be careful with your personal information, try not to post personal details about your life, take proper breaks from social media. The world of social media is like a shark tank at times with people just waiting to strike on the next innocent victim, we have to be aware of this and if it means locking your account or taking a break for a few weeks or months then so be it! Social media is not your whole life! There's a difference between the social media world and the real world out there, we make mistakes sometimes and get too caught up in things and opinions online when they do not matter. 

How many times have I had 'Bob or Larry from Massachusetts' pop up in my comments section telling me I'm covered in Make-up or have fake boobs, I'm this or I'm that. I no longer care but when I was younger I did care and that is why younger people need that extra support.

My email is always open for any young person or anyone who is going through online bullying and they need a little chat if they feel like the walls are closing in. YOU'RE NOT ALONE!! 

I appreciate you taking the time to read this post and I hope you will join me in my next one. You can find me on social media here!! and my email is: jocaledoniankitty@gmail.com

Stay safe x 

 (Derrick Todd Lee: Picture credit: Washington Times)

You may remember me recently sharing the Sean Vincent Gillis case about the sadistic serial killer from Baton Rouge, Louisiana (USA) who murdered, sexually assaulted and mutilated women from the early 1990's up until 2004. Well, I also mentioned that Sean Vincent Gillis was carrying out his evil crimes at the same time as a well known serial killer, Derrick Todd Lee. For some reason Derrick is the one who is more notorious and the one out of the two that people seem to know more about. 

I asked my readers if they would like me to cover the Derrick Todd Lee case and they wanted me to so here we are. I would advise anyone who's just happened to stumble on this page to go and check out my Sean Vincent Gillis post first and then come back to this one. 

As we know (if you are a regular reader of true crime books or watch documentaries on the subject) Baton Rouge is no stranger to some very shocking and disturbing crimes, as I've mentioned before on this blog, it once had the unfortunate tag of having 5 active serial killers over a 10 year period. 

The cops sure had a job on their hands especially with this case that I am writing about here. Unbeknown to the police, they had two serial killers operating at the same time and a number of deceased women with no clue as to who could be responsible. Sean Vincent Gillis was eventually caught and so was Derrick Todd Lee but the story doesn't end there. As I always say, there are the victims that we know about and then there's the victims who's tragic and disturbing end is unknown and here we have quite a number of deceased women who's cases have still remained unsolved and sadly we may never know the truth and that is a heartbreaking tragedy for them and their families. 

I think what makes some of these serial killers even more disturbing to us is the fact that they can lead double lives, one of a hardworking, family orientated individual who is often seen as the pillar of the community and then on the other hand, a sick, depraved and murderous monster. They are capable of showing love and affection to those nearest and dearest to them but think nothing of destroying a stranger's life, torturing someone, killing someone, sexually assaulting someone and mutilating them in a final act of pure evil. They commit these evil atrocities and then walk away to continue their other life. Their ability to switch from one to the other has always frightened and disturbed all of us and I think that is why we study them, we read books about them and watch the documentaries. We are trying to understand and figure out how someone could be so evil but the truth is we may never know the answer, the human mind is a complicated puzzle and people themselves are hard to figure out. You could know someone (or think you know someone well) for 20 years and they could turn around and surprise you. It's human nature and it's scary. 

So now that I've waffled on a bit in this intro I think it's best we get into this horrendous case and fill you in (in case you didn't know) about Derrick Todd Lee. 

Derrick came into the world on the 5th of November (same date as me but obviously not the same year) 1968 in St. Francisville, Louisiana (USA). From the get-go, you probably won't be surprised to hear that there was troubles from day one in the family household. Derrick's father Samuel had long suffered mental illness and walked out on the family not long after Derrick was born. His mother, Florence was glad to see the back of his father who eventually ended up in a Psychiatric hospital due to his illness, behaviour and attempts at trying to murder her. Florence tried to do the best that she could for Derrick and didn't want Samuel around her son. 

It wasn't long before Florence met and fell in love with another man, Coleman Barrow. Coleman was a good man who took his responsibilities seriously and looked after the family. Florence and Coleman eventually got married and the marriage and the home life was said to have been a stable and happy one. 

Some people might make a connection with Samuel's mental illness and Derrick's strange behaviour in childhood as Derrick began harming small animals and had became fixated at peeping through windows to watch women in the neighbourhood. This compulsion to watch women in their private moments became a constant and very disturbing hobby for Derrick that would last all the way up until he was finally locked up for good. When he was just thirteen years old, he had another thing to add to this list of strange and criminal behaviour, burglary. Apparently all of this was well known to the police, Derrick had already made quite a name for himself at such a young age. He managed to get away with the Peeping Tom and burglary incidences as it was just cast aside as a phase and because he had not exhibited violent behaviour at that point his actions were not taken as serious as they should have been. 

As a result of constantly getting off the hook with the authorities, Derrick pushed his luck and did exhibit violent behaviour when he got into a disagreement with another boy and threatened him with a knife. He still continued on with his perverted hobby of spying through windows of the women in the neighbourhood and there was an incidence when he was arrested but this came to nothing and he was soon off Scot-free again without suffering the consequences of his actions. 

As Derrick got older, he was able to lead a double life, he met and fell in love with a woman called Jaqueline, it was a happy relationship and the pair were soon married and had two children together. Despite his happy marriage and lovely children, Derrick was never satisfied and could not let go of his old habits. He was unfaithful to his wife on more than one occasion and would go to late night bars to meet women.

Despite a happy marriage and children, Derrick's behaviour was spiralling out of control. He committed a ferocious attacked on a young couple whilst they were just sitting in their car. It was a horrendous and very frightening ordeal for the couple who were attacked with a six feet long harvesting tool. Thankfully the couple survived as Derrick spotted another car coming towards his direction so he ran off and the brave couple were able to identify him later. 

Jacqueline had inherited a large sum of money from her side of the family and Derrick, his wife and children were able to live quite comfortably for a while. Derrick even had the nerve to use that money to take other women out on dates behind Jaqueline's back. He even had a long-term mistress named Cassandra Green who ended up pregnant with his child. Derrick was very flash with the money and it was no surprise that after the endless nights out to dinner, the other women, the mistress, the shopping sprees etc, that the money was soon gone and Derrick seemed to be in more of a worse state than what he was in before both Psychologically and financially. 

His relationship with his long-term mistress was very toxic with the pair coming to heated arguments on a regular basis. Things went too far quite a few times but Cassandra had eventually had enough and contacted the authorities in an effort to keep some distance from herself and Derrick. Being the control freak that he was, he harassed Cassandra and physically assaulted her for which he spent some time in prison. Part of the conditions of his release from prison was that he must obey the rules and restrictions but Derrick being Derrick he cut corners again and managed to get away with it. 

According to investigators, Derrick began his murderous rampage in 1998 in Zachary, Louisiana with the murder of Randi Mebruer. We can never know for sure if this is the exact year that he had started killing because the incident with the two teenagers in the car happened in 1993 and knowing his temperament, that's a bit of a gap between the attempted murder of the teenage couple and the murder of Randi.  

Randi is often classed as Derrick's first official victim although her body was never found, the state of her house told investigators that something horrifically wrong had happened there. Blood was found all over the place but Randi was nowhere to be seen. 

There was another big jump in the timeline of reported events of Derrick's crimes, his second reported victim was said to have been Gina Wilson Green (no relation to Cassandra Green) who was sexually assaulted and murdered in her own home. One of the similarities in Derrick's crimes was that he was able to charm his victims and able to get into their homes, that's why there was never a sign of forced entry. One imagines that he must have been dressed in one of those designer suits that he had bought with the inheritance money and because of his charming, manipulating personality and smart suit, people felt they could trust him. 

It was no longer about spying on women that gave Derrick a cheap thrill, he had escalated from peeping through windows to murdering and raping women. More horrendous murders ensued with one victim being stabbed 83 times with a screwdriver and another was slashed so severely that she was almost decapitated. It was clear to the police that these murders were sexually motivated and they had no idea who was responsible. 

As I mentioned earlier, there was a lot of unsolved murders in the area at that time (and Serial Killer, Sean Vincent Gillis was on a crime spree of his own at that time) and as sad as it was, it wasn't unusual for a sex worker to have met a tragic end, in Baton Rouge there was always something going on. 

There were mistakes made earlier on in the investigation with the authorities believing that the killer responsible for these murders was a white man. As a result, a numerous amount of time and money was spent questioning/DNA testing various white men in the area. Eventually they got it right though and they realised after various tests had been done, that they were looking for an African-American male. 

Dianne Alexander, who is often dubbed 'the only known survivor' was brave enough to help the police. Dianne had been through a hellish ordeal with Derrick Todd Lee and was almost murdered but luckily her son came home at that crucial moment and Derrick ran off, otherwise she would have met the same horrible fate as many others had. 

Using a sketch of what Derrick could possibly look like together with Dianne's help and a criminal profile by a leading expert, the police were able to piece everything together and when the DNA was tested, the results proved that Derrick Todd Lee was one of the monsters that had been plaguing Baton Rouge. On the day that Derrick submitted his DNA sample he actually fled town with his family but was soon tracked down and faced 2 trials, he was sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of Geralyn DeSoto and then given the death penalty in his second trial for the murder of Charlotte Murray Pace. 

There's always a divide when it comes to the death penalty but in this case, a lot of people believed that the death penalty was a suited outcome because of everything Derrick had done. 

The story didn't end with his execution for he never got to see that day, to a lot of people's disappointment at not fully facing justice, Derrick passed away on the 21st of January 2016 from heart disease. 

There are currently a high number of unsolved murders in Baton Rouge and many of them are from the time period that both Derrick Todd Lee and Sean Vincent Gillis were operating and the victims fit the profile of the people that they targeted. Sadly we will never know but Derrick is suspected of being the killer of a further 17 women, some people believe it to be more and some believe that he started killing very early on than what is reported. It's one of those cases that leaves you with a lot of questions and not enough answers. 

Sadly it seems that the apple did not fall far from the tree in the case of Derrick's son Dedrick who has also fallen into a life of crime with burglary and he was even involved in a fatal shooting in recent years of a teenage boy for which he spent a short time in prison in 2019. 

As I usually do, I like to take a little moment in my posts to remember the victims that we know about and the many other victims who have never been identified. I also think about the survivors and their families. I pray for their strength and some sort of peace in their lives. 

RIP

Randi Mebruer 

Gina Wilson Green

Geralyn Barr DeSoto

Charlotte Murray Pace

Pamela Kinamore

Trinesha Dene Colomb

Carrie Lynn Yoder

And the possible unknown victims. 

Further Reading & Sources:

- I've Been Watching You | Book by Susan Mustafa, Tony Clayton & Sue Israel

- Derrick Todd Lee | Article: Nola

- Derrick Todd Lee | Article: Seattle Times

- Derrick Todd Lee | Wikipedia

- The Big Book of Serial Killers | Book by Jack Rosewood

- The Anatomy of Evil | Book by Michael H. Stone, MD

- Dedrick Lee | Article: WBRZ

Thank you for joining me in this latest disturbing case, I hope you will join me again for my next one. Take care until next time & I hope to see you on Socials x