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Mystery, crime, murder, unsolved cases. Contribute your own tales of crime to Criminal.
Inside Job
Fictional murder mystery story. Who better to hide evidence than Miami's very best? This is the story of Detective Michael Lundy, a corrupt man who worked Homicide for years and years, covering his own tracks and fabricating evidence, imprisoning the wrong people to avoid getting caught. He was certainly sneaky and insidious, killing his victims in a number of different ways, as not to detect a pattern by other Detectives and brown nosing police Officers. He would stab people, choke people, drown some and even poison a few. He'd use kitchen knives, garden tools, his own fists and different types of rope. Michael liked to experiment, creating his own crime scenes to solve, as a way of boosting his career alongside getting away with murder.
By Joseph Roy Wright2 years ago in Criminal
The Beauty Bias: How Looks Shape Justice
In a world where appearances often shape perceptions, the link between beauty and justice is both intriguing and unsettling. This article explores how attractiveness can influence public reactions to severe crimes, revealing the biases that underpin our judicial system. From media portrayals to courtroom outcomes, the story unfolds with real-life cases and thought-provoking insights, demonstrating how beauty can significantly impact legal proceedings. The interplay between appearance and justice challenges our notions of fairness and raises crucial questions about the role of visual bias in shaping legal outcomes. The Allure of Beauty and Its Hidden Power: It’s a well-known yet often unspoken truth that beauty commands immediate attention and admiration, influencing how individuals are perceived in various contexts. Research consistently shows that attractive individuals are often deemed more trustworthy and competent, a bias that extends into the legal realm. In high-profile cases, media focus on the accused's appearance can distort public opinion, leading to perceptions of guilt or innocence that are influenced by aesthetics rather than facts. This allure of beauty creates a paradox where the physical attractiveness of an individual may overshadow the severity of their alleged crimes, skewing public and judicial perceptions. A High-Profile Case: Beauty and the Courtroom: Consider the 2002 case of Elizabeth Smart, a young woman kidnapped and held captive for months. Despite the grave nature of her ordeal, media coverage frequently highlighted her attractiveness, which inadvertently shaped public perception and sympathy. This phenomenon illustrates a broader trend where visually appealing defendants often receive more lenient treatment and sympathy compared to their less attractive counterparts. Studies reveal that juries and the public may unconsciously favor attractive individuals, suggesting that courtroom decisions can be swayed by appearance rather than solely by the legal merits and evidence of a case, influencing the pursuit of justice. Media’s Role: Crafting Narratives with a Brush of Beauty: The media plays a pivotal role in shaping public perceptions of crime and justice, often focusing on the physical appearance of accused individuals. Sensationalist headlines and striking photographs can create compelling narratives that affect public opinion, sometimes overshadowing the substantive details of a case. This focus on appearance highlights deep-seated biases that influence our views on justice. The portrayal of criminals through a beauty lens underscores the necessity for media responsibility and critical examination of how visual representation impacts our understanding of legal matters and fairness in the judicial system. Public Perception: The Role of Beauty in Shaping Opinions: Public reactions to criminal cases frequently expose a troubling reality: attractive individuals often receive more leniency and sympathy. This bias extends beyond the courtroom into everyday social judgments and perceptions, where beauty can skew our understanding of guilt and innocence. The prevalence of beauty bias reveals the need for increased awareness and scrutiny of how appearances influence our judgments. Addressing these biases is crucial for promoting a more equitable legal system, ensuring that decisions are based on factual evidence and not swayed by superficial traits, thereby advancing fairness and justice. A Call for Change: Addressing the Beauty Bias: Recognizing the impact of beauty on justice is the crucial first step towards meaningful reform. Implementing legal changes and encouraging media responsibility are essential for ensuring that justice is grounded in facts rather than superficial appearances. Public education and awareness about beauty biases can help mitigate their influence and promote a fairer judicial system. By actively confronting and addressing the beauty bias, we can strive for a society where legal judgments are made based on actions and merits, rather than physical attributes, thus fostering a more just and equitable system for all individuals. Conclusion: Beyond the Surface: The influence of beauty on justice reflects deep-seated societal values and biases that impact our legal system. As we navigate the complexities of justice, it is essential to challenge and dismantle these biases to ensure fair treatment for everyone. Confronting the role of appearance in shaping perceptions is a crucial step toward a society where justice is served equitably, based on actions and character rather than superficial traits. Addressing the beauty bias not only enhances the fairness of legal proceedings but also moves us closer to a legal system that genuinely upholds the principles of equality and justice for all.
By Rafael Fiuza2 years ago in Criminal
Diamond Eyes
This is a fictional Murder Mystery story. In the English city of London, a strange murder took place. That of the Diamond Eyes incident which shocked many. Bailiffs found a woman who hadn't paid her rent in over a month, they kicked down her doors, only to smell rot and decay emitting from the apartment's bedroom. Suddenly they were worried, their anger had subsided, replaced with concern. Frank Smith, dared to enter the bedroom, only to immediately regret it, as Linda Elise lay naked on her bed, dead and rotting away with her eyes replaced with white diamonds, tears of blood had poured down her cheeks. When police and forensics arrived, they were able to determine that the diamonds were in fact 100% real, they weren't cubic zirconia. Detectives on the scene also concluded; that Linda's apartment had been broken into, as her bedroom window's hatch remained open and not closed. Several shelf items were also tipped over onto the floor, leaning towards the bed, indicating that the murderer snuck into the room from outside the window and possibly made their escape out the same way. CCTV footage revealed a black hooded figure wearing a red scarf over their face, climbing up through the window and breaking out an hour later, with blood splatter on their clothes. This killer walked down a dark tunnel where CCTV could not capture them and waited until the morning, when a ton of people walked under the tunnel, the killer had changed clothes and blended in with the crowd, it was almost impossible to tell who was who, except for a similar gait in their walk, which was unfortunately generic and difficult to point out. The leads were thin and clumsy. It appeared to be a dead end. Two months later, another Diamond Eyes murder too place. This time, it was a woman named Lindsay Carter who was found dead in the streets. Rumour was that she used to be an illegal prostitute, but Lindsay never dressed particularly exotic and family claimed these stories were simply slander. Of course, it could've been one big secret of hers, her meeting strange men on online dating sites was soon proved to be true. Detectives had investigated her internet history, which proved she had agreed to meet a man named Ryan Giles for sexual reasons, the explicit details we will not repeat. It is unclear whether this was an act of prostitution or not, because she only teased and convinced him into wine and dining her, with expensive meals and nights out that he'd have to pay for, rather than a single cash transaction. It could be that she was simply playing him for a fool, which may have began the prostitute rumour around Essex which was where she was found dead. Her eyes replaced with red diamonds this time, again they were 100% real and not Cubic Zirconia. Ryan became Scotland Yard's number one suspect. Turns out his profile was a fake, he had catfished the young woman with a photo of a male model and the name Ryan Giles proved to be made up. However, CCTV showed her running away the night she was murdered, the same killer who killed Linda was chasing her. The figure was dressed in the same outfit as the first sighting, chasing poor Lindsay with a knife. The killer slit her throat the moment they caught up with her, before savagely slicing out her eyes to replace them with diamonds. No pedestrian had seen this, as it was at 3am, down a dark alleyway, where nobody else was around. Detectives scrambled for leads, but the killer had hidden in the dark and escaped with the crowds of London, one of the busiest cities on earth. Again, it was impossible to make out who he or she was on the CCTV footage they had gathered. So they felt no choice but to bait the killer out. The names of both victims, Lindsay and Linda were a big clue, this helped them make the fake online dating profile (on the same website Lindsay had met "Ryan Giles" online) using the nickname "Linds Burke" to attract the killer. A brave Detective named Becca Worth used her image for the profile picture, as she would go undercover to meet anyone the police believed to be the possible killer. She had to dye her hair ginger (like the first two victims) and even dress quite skimpy like them too, in order to lure the killer out. It took Detectives weeks to sort through the hundreds of messages she received and replied to, examining the texts for similar wordings that looked close to "Ryan Giles" messages. Eventually they found a user who was also trying to bribe "Linds Burke" for sex, with promises of expensive dates and shopping trips. The username was a big giveaway, he had called himself; "Riley Grant" the initials R.G had been used again, even the name was eerily similar too. Perhaps the killer's real identity was hidden somewhere within both names, as they contained the letters; A, E, G, I, L, N, R between them. Detectives brainstormed the meaning behind these letters and tried to connect a name that contained all seven letters. They managed to decipher a few names: Rei Lang, Rin Gale, Ali Gern, Lia Reng. Rin Gale seemed to make the most sense, since it used the initials R.G. The name was searched extensively online, but there were hundreds of people with that name, none of them lived in England however, so the connection was seemingly flawed, however there was actually an anime character by that name. A male assassin who liked to crush his victims into diamonds and wear them around his neck, like trophies. He was nicknamed; "Diamond Eyes" by the characters on the show, who were coincidentally Tokyo police officers, who hunted down deranged serial killers. The anime character had blue sparkling eyes and a wild set of red hair. The connections were obvious, the killer was a fan of this show, using the Alias of their favourite villain from the anime. That narrowed things down, despite how pissed the Detectives were to discover this. However, that didn't explain why the killer went after women with the word "Lind" somewhere within their names. They looked up the anime and there wasn't a single character, male or female on the show that matched the description of "Lind", so perhaps that was a more personal connection to the killer, rather than something from a silly anime. With no other options available, Becca Worth, under the false identity of "Linds Burke" agreed to meet up with "Riley Grant" late at night, in a secluded spot within northern Essex, near a quiet pub that never got too busy. That night, the Police hid in plain sight. Many of the pub's guests were undercover officers, acting like drunks, walking around the bar, knocking in and out of the toilets, trying to look natural. They were extremely talented at blending in with the real customers, although the bar staff did find it odd how a bunch of men and women who only ordered soft drinks, were acting so drunken by non-alcoholic beverages. Fortunately they didn't question this odd behaviour, otherwise the cover would be blown. Becca Worth undercover as "Linds Burke", sat by the front of the pub, all dolled up and dressed in the best dress she owned. Her face was full of make up and she wore expensive, red lipstick, looking absolutely stunning, so much in fact, random men would pop by and say hi or stare at her. This obviously alerted most of the undercover police, who would subtly tail these men, just in case they were the secret killer, yet it became evident that most of them were just perverts and nothing more. Becca sat there for an hour after the time they had arranged to meet, yet "Riley Grant" refused to show up. At first the Police were worried they had been made, but the captain of the sting operation called her up and asked her to "leave the pub looking disappointed, then walk South towards central Essex." This was in a vain attempt to catch him chasing her, like he did with Lindsay. Becca gulped and did as she was told. Undercover cars were parked outside the pub, hiding under dark shadows, they watched her eagerly, waiting to see if the killer would strike. Then a black shadow, like the grim reaper itself, emerged from behind a dark wall. It was a slim figure, dressed in black, with the very same red scarf all the Detectives had seen a million times before on the CCTV footage. They had spotted the killer, racing up towards her, a silver blade slipping out of their right sleeve. Suddenly, there was a deafening wail of police sirens as all the undercover police cars lit up like Christmas trees. The killer was shocked and dropped the knife. "Get on your hands and knees!" One of them screamed and the killer did just that. They removed the scarf and revealed a young spotty face, that of a young man, appearing to be 18-20 years old. He was barely an adult. A young kid like this would normally be in tears, being man handled and arrested by several armed police officers, but the mad lad only smiled. It was an ugly grimace of twisted satisfaction. "I am... The real life... DIAMOND EYES!" the sick boy laughed. Diamond Eyes was taken into custody and interrogated by Detective Reynolds, that very night, the killer's real name wasn't even close to Ryan Giles or Riley Grant, it was actually Marcus White. He gladly revealed everything to Detective Reynolds, all with a sick, sadistic smile upon the young man's spotty face. "Why'd you kill women with the name "Lind" in their names?" "That bitch..." Marcus grinned, "I asked her out. She said no. So I said please and she laughed. I said you've got diamond eyes! She called me a creep. I said not you, that's me. Your eyes are ugly and mean!" "Was that Linda Elise?" Marcus clapped, a sick smile across the spotty boy's face. "She's much prettier now. No more mean eyes. Now she has pretty little diamond eyes!" "So all this, was just some revenge killing?! Why kill Linda?" "I got a taste... For blood." Marcus moaned, licking his lips, "so this time I gave her blood diamonds!" He laughed loudly, it was disturbing, "don't you get the joke?" Detective Reynolds wasn't laughing, he stood up and left the interrogation room, there was no need to question Marcus further.
By Joseph Roy Wright2 years ago in Criminal
Hit & Run
This is a fictional murder mystery tale about a Hit & Run incident. New York 2024, three young men were out drinking together one night, walking from nightclub to nightclub, stumbling in and out of the road. Many cars had beeped at them, Sam, Dan and Ben were their names. These three belonged to a gang known as The Snakes, a group of drug dealing scumbags that had hurt a lot of innocent people. The three friends had been involved in a number of shootouts in the past, often getting away with the crimes without any penalty. They were rowdy men, always shouting and demanding drinks at the bar. People were afraid and although they had many enemies, nobody dared mess with them. Ben was the leader of this small group, he called the shots and always carried heat with him, revealing the pistol in the holster around his belt; whenever anybody dared confront them. However the untouchable three soon met an unexpected end, as a speeding truck raced down the street the moment they crossed the road at approximately 3am in central Manhattan, running them over and killing the three men instantly. They were nothing but blood and gore after the impact, everyone screamed and when local police tried to write down the licence plate of the vehicle, the number came up unregistered, it was a fake plate. Somehow, the truck evaded the pursuing cops and CCTV found no footage of its whereabouts after the "accident", it was clearly an intentional vehicular homicide, the question was; by who? That morning at 5am, Detective Jim Morgan arrived on the scene, police had secured the crime scene with police tape and hundreds of people were gathered around, as policemen tried to push them away saying; "move along, nothing to see here!" Over and over again. Paparazzi were the worst, flashing cameras at the crime scene, they were always a pain to get rid of. Somehow eventually they'd scatter like rats and give NYPD enough peace to piece this all together. Unfortunately, they were still there when Detective Morgan exited his black car and was greeted by Lieutenant Samson, who was waiting impatiently, smoking a cigarette. "What took you?!" He sneered in that New Jersey accent Detective Morgan hated. "Traffic." "Yeah, right..." The lieutenant coughed, "follow me." The murder was brutal, the men's shoes had come off during the crash, scattered haphazardly across the road. Blood streaks were long and meaty, rinsing away with the heavy rain, sinking down the drain. Ben's clothes were ripped to shreds, as his legs and arms had gotten tangled under the truck's tires. It was obvious even to the regular police that he was targeted the most out of the three, for Sam and Dan weren't so badly mangled by the hit and run. "The driver braked sharply, five metres before slamming down the accelerator and running the vehicle straight into Ben's back." The forensic examiner named Michael Harrison explained, pointing at the tire burn marks on the road, "Sam was walking to Ben's right and Dan was walking to his left..." he beckoned his hands, showing Detective Morgan why the bodies were propelled in different directions, "my guess... The truck was large enough to take out all three men in one succession." "So this was definitely planned." Detective Morgan nodded. "Looks it!" Michael agreed, "we got ourselves a classic hit and run incident." "Great..." The lieutenant sneered, "can't get enough of those." "I'll identify the bodies." Detective Morgan announced, as he searched the bodies' wallets, finding proof of their names and so on. There were other interesting pieces of information he found too, all three men had flip phones alongside modern touchscreen mobiles. This implied they were drug dealers, marking deals on unregistered phones, not to mention the insane amount of paper dollars they all carried around, this was clearly drug money, no sane man (especially in their early twenties) would carry around such weight. That's when Detective Morgan realised this was likely a drug related killing. He suspected the killer was a victim or associate of these gangsters. It could've been over a missed payment, because they were dealing on the wrong turf, or it could've been a victim out for revenge. That was always the case with gang related deaths, there were always a million enemies, making it sometimes much harder to nail down who exactly was behind it. In some cases this fact narrows it down, at least he knew it was likely over drugs and not some random murder. He was getting closer, the more he investigated the crime scene. Multiple witnesses were knocking around outside the yellow police tape, under his own initiative, he approached several of them asking questions. "Did you see the truck that did this?" Detective Morgan asked a shy, young blonde woman. "Yes, it was a large blue pickup truck, but it had no lumber in the back. I think they might've come out here just to kill those poor men!" She cried. "That's what we suspected." Detective Morgan nodded, he was relieved his theory was making sense. "Did you get a good look at the driver?" He asked an old moustached man. "Son, I'm sorry. My eyes ain't what they used to be..." "I understand, what can you tell me about the truck?" "Blue pickup truck, no timber in the back of it." That confirmed the woman's story. He asked another witness if they saw the driver, but the lead was bad news. "The driver was wearing a black balaclava over his face, I couldn't make out a damn thing!" A young man explained. "What about his eyes, did you see his skin colour?" "Yeah, he was white as snow under that mask." "You say it was a he, what makes you so sure?" "Guy was built like a brick wall!" "Ok, thank you!" Detective Morgan grinned, patting the young man on the back. The killer was a light skinned, male body builder, likely between the ages of 20-35, not much to go on, but a good start. He was likely a gangster himself, taking out the competition. Detective Morgan sighed deeply, he knew he had a lot of digging to do back at the office. Looking up the crime records of all three men was a daunting task, it revealed a long history of drug busts and possession charges. They were involved in a lot of gang wars throughout the years too, most recently it was suspected that they had been involved in a recent drug deal that went wrong in a housing estate within the Bronx. CCTV shows multiple criminals fitting their description, fleeing from the scene with small machine guns firing at the other gangsters. It is unclear who began the attack, but theories claim it was The Snakes who started it. The footage is grainy and unfocused, it is near impossible to actually tell who is who exactly, but Detective Morgan had a good hunch that at least Ben was at the shootout. So he planned to go down there by himself the next day and ask around the neighbourhood. He also discovered that an innocent Japanese boy had been shot and killed in the crossfire, alongside an African/American mother of three children and several other innocent victims, who were out walking their dogs, jogging or simply out for a walk late at night when the drug deal turned into a gunfight. Detective Morgan and his partner Detective Wright, drove to the neighbourhood where the recent drug deal had taken place on a Monday morning. Even at this time of day, the area felt dangerous, most of the citizens here didn't work, at least not officially like the detectives were. "Dangerous place..." Detective Wright commented. "We're just going to ask around a bit." Morgan reassured him, "don't get worked up, kid..." "Whatever." Wright groaned. Detective Morgan had already tracked down the address of the boy victim's house, he knocked on the door and was greeted by a grieving Japanese woman. "Why are you here?" She sighed, "I already told the police everything last week!" "This isn't about that... Well, not directly." Detective Morgan announced. "Then why are you here?!" "There's been a recent possible murder, a hit and run happened two days ago outside Manhatta-" "What does that have to do with my son?!" "His killers are dead!" Wright interjected. Morgan pulled a frustrated look upon his face. "What? No, that's..." She stammered. "May we come in?" Morgan asked politely. "I- I- I guess..." She mumbled, opening the door and allowing the detectives inside. There were family photos of the three of them, her, the husband and their son. The father was a huge man, he was a karate instructor, this became evident as Detective Wright spotted pictures of him smiling in the uniform with his son. Then the most glaring piece of evidence stuck out to them, it was of a family camping trip. There in the background was the family car, a blue pickup truck. "Do I have the best hunches, or what?" Morgan whispered into Wright's ear, the moment the mother turned away from them. "Can you tell us where your husband was this Saturday night?" Detective Morgan asked. "Oh, he's been grieving really hard lately. Drinking again." "Again?" Wright asked. "He has a problem, ever since Jackie died last week, he's not been the same man..." "I see..." Wright wrote that down in his notebook. "What is this about, Detectives?" "We're just going around the neighbourhood, asking questions. Trying to see if anybody was involved in the recent murder of three young gangsters." "My husband wouldn't..." She shook her head, "I don't like this, I think you should leave!" "Sorry to trouble you, Ma'am..." Morgan apologised, before exiting with Wright behind him. "You think her husband did it?" Wright asked Morgan, as they returned to their undercover police car. "Grieving father... Out for revenge. You saw how big he looked on those photos. Light skin... Built like a brick wall. Could be our guy..." "We just need proof." Wright grinned, "that camping trip photograph, the truck looked exactly like the one that escaped the crime scene." "A common vehicle, Detective Wright... It's not enough to go on. Not yet. If we could only find it..." "Maybe it was demolished?" "Could be. That's why it isn't here in his driveway. It's gone!" "That's going to be hard to find. Maybe it was dumped at the bottom of the ocean?" "Good point, Gordon Wright." Morgan nodded, "maybe we tail him, see where he takes us." "A classic stakeout, like the movies." Wright laughed, "we waiting here?" "A little further up, his wife will be suspicious of us." Morgan nodded, driving a few houses up the road. Then they waited. The husband had walked home, it was late and he was drunk, yelling in Japanese, angering his neighbours. Morgan and Wright watched, as he knocked on his house door, only to see the scared housewife they had recently interviewed, only she looked twice as terrified, as he threw her to the ground. "Oh shit!" Wright gasped, equipping his pistol and storming out the car. "Wait!" Morgan yelled, racing behind his partner. "FBI!" Wright yelled at the man. "Fucking pigs!" He roared, slamming the door. Morgan could hear the Japanese man running from behind closed doors. "Don't just run after them like that!" Morgan warned his partner. "Sorry." "Doesn't matter, our culprit's on the run!" Morgan yelled, running around the house. The runner pulled out his pistol and commandeered a nearby car, pulling the driver out onto the road. "We've got a grand theft auto on 44 Francis Street, The Bronx!" Morgan yelled into his handheld radio and ran back to his car. "Look out!" Wright yelled, as the stolen car made a U turn and almost ran over Detective Morgan, who managed to dive out of the way, just in time. Wright got in their undercover cruiser and drove it around, so that the passenger door faced Morgan. He got in immediately and soon the pursuit began. "Think that's our guy?!" Wright laughed. "No shit!" Morgan growled, before switching on the police sirens. The drunk driver was swerving violently, the alcohol making him reckless. "If we don't stop him, there will be another homicide on our hands!" Morgan exclaimed. "Then shoot out his bloody tires!" Wright ordered. Morgan began firing, as the stolen car almost ran over a dozen citizens on the sidewalk. Fortunately Morgan shot the car's back tire, slowing the stolen car down to a halt. The driver got out the car and began shooting at the Detectives. They had no choice, Morgan had to shoot him. There were several bangs and then the drunkard fell to the ground, dropping his pistol, fainting due to blood loss. Wright checked the man's pulse, he was still alive, but bleeding out. They called an ambulance that raced to the scene almost immediately, taking away the dying killer before he bled out and died himself. Lieutenant Samson met the two Detectives, when the rest of the police came to secure the crime scene. For the first time in years, Samson actually looked pleased. "Well done you two." He grinned, "you stopped the hit and run killer from striking again." "You believe he's our guy?" "Yes, I do, Morgan." He grinned, "at least for now, all the evidence suggests he was behind the Manhattan hit and run. If not, you still caught a drunk driver who beat up his wife, another bad man is behind bars because of your hard work, Detectives. The city owes you its gratitude."
By Joseph Roy Wright2 years ago in Criminal
The Silent Witness
Detective Claire Lawson had seen her fair share of grisly crimes, but the small town of Ravenswood had always been a quiet refuge, far removed from the chaos of the city. That was until the body of a local teacher, Emily Harris, was discovered in the woods, her lifeless eyes staring up at the canopy above. The community was shaken to its core, and Claire was determined to find the killer.
By gyan prakash upadhyay2 years ago in Criminal
True Crime
True crime has a unique allure, drawing us into the dark and often perplexing world of criminal cases that remain unsolved. These mysteries captivate our imagination, leaving us with questions that beg for answers. Here, we delve into some of the most intriguing unsolved mysteries that continue to baffle investigators and fascinate the public.
By Faith Jacob2 years ago in Criminal
