The Chilling Killing Spree of Joanna Dennehy

In the spring of 2013, three bodies were found within a few days in Peterborough. All victims were male and had been killed with the same weapon. It didn't take long for the police to establish a connection to 31-year-old Joanna Dennehy, a neighbor of one victim, a girlfriend of another, and a lover and employee of the third. No one could have suspected that Dennehy was responsible for these brutal murders and that these three men were not her only victims.

BACKGROUND

Joanna Dennehy was born in 1982 and grew up with her mother Kathleen, father Kevin, and sister Maria near St. Albans, Hertfordshire. Her parents seemed to treat their children lovingly.

As a teenager, Dennehy experimented with alcohol and drugs. At the age of 15, she left home and entered into a relationship with 20-year-old John Treanor, with whom she would later have two children. As her babies grew up, Treanor and other family members noticed Dennehy's increasing narcissism - she would put her own desires and needs above everyone else's. At this point, Joanna was addicted to alcohol and drugs.

Dennehy was also involved in petty crime and served time in a youth detention center for burglary. She showed no remorse for her actions or empathy towards others. Consequently, Treanor took the children and moved away, leaving Dennehy alone and homeless. In 2012, she was arrested again and convicted of theft. While in prison, she underwent a psychological test, which diagnosed her with an antisocial personality disorder. Underlying psychopathic traits were also identified, and she was prescribed medication to control her mood.

In 2013, Dennehy met Kevin Lee. Lee rented rooms to homeless people, and Dennehy acted as an "enforcer" for him, threatening and intimidating others on his behalf to collect outstanding rents and debts. Believing she now had control over her life, she stopped taking her antipsychotic medication.

KILLING SPREE

On March 19, 2013, Joanna Dennehy sent a message to 31-year-old Polish man Lucasz Slaboszewski. The two had previously met on the streets of Peterborough. The text invited Slaboszewski to Dennehy's apartment, where they drank and chatted together. Joanna persuaded Lucasz to blindfold himself. While his eyes were covered, Dennehy produced a knife and stabbed him in the heart. Unable to dispose of the body alone, she called Gary "Stretch" Richards, a well-known criminal and accomplice, for help. Richards had been under Dennehy's control for some time and couldn't refuse her requests.

Richards arrived at the apartment with one of his associates, Leslie Layton, and together, they disposed of Slaboszewski's body in a ditch in the Peterborough countryside.

On March 28, 2013, Dennehy invited her neighbor, John Chapman, to her place. The couple drank until Chapman passed out drunk. Using the same knife she had used to kill Slaboszewski nine days earlier, Dennehy stabbed Chapman six times in the chest. Once again, Richards and Layton were called to help dispose of the body.

The next day, Dennehy drank with her landlord and employer, Kevin Lee, in her apartment. She killed him too.

On April 2, 2013, Dennehy and Richards committed a robbery in Norfolk. They contacted one of Richards' employees, Mark Lloyd, who agreed to help them dispose of the stolen goods. As he sat in the car with the pair, Lloyd was shocked to hear Dennehy boast about having killed people. While driving around, Richards randomly selected their next victim for Dennehy. She jumped out of the car, stabbed 64-year-old Robin Bereza in the shoulder, and jumped back into the vehicle. Nine minutes later, Dennehy attacked another man, 57-year-old John Rogers, and stabbed him more than thirty times. Both men survived the attacks and reported them to the police.

INVESTIGATION

Unlike the first two victims, Kevin Lee had a wife and family and was reported missing. His body was discovered on March 30. After the decomposed body was identified, Dennehy became a person the police wanted to locate and question in connection with the murder.

The bodies of Slaboszewski and Chapman were discovered on April 3, but initially, investigators did not see a connection to Lee's murder. However, over time, a common link between the three men emerged: their relationship with Dennehy.

During her arrest, Dennehy reportedly remained absolutely calm.

TRIAL AND CONVICTION

On May 8, 2013, Joanna Dennehy was charged with the murder of Kevin Lee and the attempted murders of Robin Bereza and John Rogers. Connections between Slaboszewski, Chapman, and the other victims were established, as well as Dennehy's relationship with both of them. Pathologists determined that the same knife had been used in all five killings.

During her remand in custody, prison staff found an escape plan in Dennehy's diary. The plan involved killing a prison guard, cutting off their finger, and using it to deceive the prison's biometric security system.

Due to the escape plan, Dennehy was placed in solitary confinement from September 2013 to September 2015. On November 21, 2013, Joanna Dennehy pleaded guilty to all charges. Mark Lloyd testified against her, claiming he had been an unwilling spectator during the last two murder attempts and was not charged with any crime. Layton and Richards were convicted on all charges, including three counts of preventing lawful burial.

On February 28, 2014, Dennehy was sentenced to life imprisonment. The trial judge, Justice Spencer, recommended that she should never be released. Dennehy is thus one of only three women in the United Kingdom expected to serve an actual life sentence. The other two were Myra Hindley and Rosemary West.

As of now, Joanna Dennehy is an inmate at Low Newton Prison in Brasside.