The 2023 crimes that shocked America

The 2023 Crimes That Shocked America

Some crime stories gripped the nation and the world. From two shocking killings during the Hamas/Israel war to mass shootings and the murder of a hiker, here are some of the biggest crime stories of 2023.

The Disappearance of Ana Walshe

Massachusetts woman Ana Walshe disappeared on New Year’s Day, 2023.

Her husband, Brian Walshe, was arrested and subsequently indicted by a Norfolk County grand jury on charges of first-degree murder, misleading a police investigation and the improper conveyance of a human body. He is awaiting trial and could spend life in prison without the possibility of parole if convicted.

It emerged that Brian Walshe had hired a private detective to spy on his wife before her death.

The mother of three was last seen at the family home in Cohasset, Massachusetts, and was expected to travel to Washington, D.C., for work. She wasn’t reported missing until January 4, however, when her co-workers called the police.

Her body has not been found.

On December 13, it emerged that Brian Walshe’s lawyer was withdrawing from the case. Tracy Miner did not offer an explanation but filed a withdrawal motion in court.

Lindsay Clancy’s Alleged Murder of Her Children

A Massachusetts mother, Lindsay Clancy, was charged with two counts of homicide after allegedly strangling her two young children and attempting to kill her baby on January 24.

Police found her 5-year-old daughter, Cora, and 3-year-old son, Dawson, suffering from “obvious signs of severe trauma” after allegedly being strangled.

Clancy had slit her wrists before jumping out a second-floor window. She survived, as did her 7-month-old baby, Callan.

Plymouth County District Attorney Tim Cruz said that police responded to a home in Duxbury—some 35 miles southeast of Boston—after Clancy’s husband called 911 to report that she had jumped from a window in the house.

In October, unsealed court documents showed that Clancy allegedly researched “ways to kill” prior to the tragedy.

Texas Family Killings

A man was arrested in April for shooting five neighbors “execution style” Texas police said.

Francisco Oropeza, 38, is alleged to have gone on a killing spree with an AR-15-style-rifle in Cleveland, eastern Texas.

The five victims were identified as Sonia Argentina Guzman, 25; Daniel Enrique Laso Guzman, 9; Diana Velazquez Alvarado, 21; Julisa Molina Rivera, 31; and Jose Jonathan Casarez, 18. All five were from Honduras.

The women were found lying on top of two surviving children, “protecting them,” Sheriff Greg Capers told Newsweek.

Police were able to identify Oropeza through his Mexican consulate card and a doorbell camera, which captured him walking to his neighbor’s front door with a rifle, Capers said.

Law enforcement used scent-tracking dogs and drones in the extensive search for Oropeza.

The massacre seemed to be the result of a confrontation where one or several of the victims approached Oropeza’s fence and asked the suspect to stop shooting his gun because they were trying to sleep. Oropeza was taken into custody after a nearly four-day manhunt.

On December 7, prosecutors notified Oropeza’s defense team that they will be seeking the death penalty. On the same day, Oropeza formally entered a not guilty plea.

Seven Killed by Sex Offender in Oklahoma

On May 1, police found seven bodies in a house in Oklahoma.

Among them was 39-year-old Jesse McFadden, a registered sex offender.

Authorities said McFadden killed his wife, her three teenage children and two teenage girls who were visiting their rural home for a weekend sleepover. He then killed himself.

Both the sleepover guests, Ivy Webster, 14, and Brittany Brewer, 15, had signs of sexual assault.

The other victims were Holly Guess, 35, and her children, Rylee Elizabeth Allen, 17; Michael James Mayo, 15; and Tiffany Dore Guess, 13.

Search teams in Okmulgee County found the bodies on a property in Henryetta, a town of roughly 6,000 people. A missing advisory had been issued on the morning of May 1 for Webster and Brewer after the two failed to return home the night before.

Okmulgee County Sheriff Eddy Rice told a news conference later on May 1 that police had found the bodies of the two missing teenagers.

Rice said that in his decades in the role, he had never seen a crime of this magnitude.

Carlee Russell’s Fake Disappearance

Nursing student, Carlee Russell, went missing in Hoover, Alabama, on July 13, shortly after calling police claiming she’d seen a lone toddler walking alongside the road. After 48 hours, Russell reappeared at her parents’ home claiming she had been kidnapped by a man with orange hair who “came out of the trees” while she was checking on the toddler. She said she was forced to strip by the man, who took photos of her, before she escaped from his car and made her way back home.

On July 28, Russell was charged with two misdemeanors, false reporting to law enforcement and falsely reporting an incident, and bailed on a $2,000 bond. The Hoover Police Department published a mugshot of Russell smiling broadly at the camera, which caused public outrage.

Four days before she was charged, a statement on behalf of Russell was read out by her attorney, Emery Anthony, admitting there “was no kidnapping on Thursday, July 13.”

It continued: “My client did not see a baby on the side of the road. My client did not leave the Hoover area when she was identified as a missing person. My client did not have any help in this incident, this was a single act done by herself.”

It concluded: “Carlee, again, asks for your forgiveness and prayers.”

The Murder of Rachel Morin

In August, mother-of-five Rachel Morin was murdered in a Maryland.

Morin, 37, went for a hike on August 5 at about 6:30 p.m. on the Ma and Pa Heritage Trail in Bel Air in northeast Maryland. The next day, her body was found in a wooded area adjacent to the path.

The suspect’s DNA left at the scene matched DNA evidence recovered from an unsolved Los Angeles home invasion and assault of a young girl in March.

The Harford County Sheriff’s Office released surveillance video in August of the suspect leaving the Los Angeles home and described him as Hispanic, in his 20s, 5 feet 9 inches tall and weighing 160 pounds.

No one has come forward to identify the killer despite a $30,000 reward.

In November, law firm, Rice, Murtha, Psoras Trial Lawyers, printed 10,000 English-Spanish flyers to be hand-delivered in the Los Angeles neighborhood where the young girl was attacked in the hope of finding Morin’s killer.

The Killing of Wadea Al-Fayoume

A 71-year-old Illinois man, Joseph M. Czuba, is accused of fatally stabbing a 6-year-old Palestinian-American boy and seriously wounding his mother on October 14.

The crime was allegedly in response to the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7.

The Will County Sheriff’s Office said the 32-year-old woman called 911 to report that her landlord had attacked her with a knife. She then ran into a bathroom and continued to fight him off.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) identified the boy as Wadea Al-Fayoume and the woman as his mother, Hanaan Shahin.

Czuba allegedly yelled “you Muslims must die!” as he choked Shahin and attacked her with a knife, she wrote in text messages sent to her son’s father, according to CAIR-Chicago.

An autopsy on Wadea Al-Fayoume found he had been stabbed 26 times.

Responding officers found Czuba, of Plainfield, “sitting upright outside on the ground near the driveway of the residence” with a cut on his forehead, the sheriff’s office said.

Maine Mass Shooting

On October 27, the suspect in a Maine mass shooting that killed 18 people was found dead after two days of frantic searching.

Robert Card, 40, an army reservist, shot randomly into a bowling alley and then a restaurant in Lewiston, Maine, on October 25.

Among the dead were Bill Young, 44, of Winthrop and his 14-year-old son, Aaron. They were attending an event at the Just-in-Time bowling alley.

In a statement, the superintendent of Winthrop Public Schools confirmed that a high school freshman and his dad were among those killed. Jim Hodgkin’s statement said an uncle of another high school student was also killed.

“This is a tremendous tragedy for our area, our town, our students, and everyone. This is uncharted territory,” Hodgkin said.

Card’s body was found near the Androscoggin River, about 8 miles southeast of where the second shooting took place.

He had been employed as a driver for a recycling company for about a year and left voluntarily in late spring.

Jewish Man Killed at Counter-Protest

A 69-year-old Jewish man died after allegedly being beaten when pro-Israeli and pro-Palestinian protesters clashed in California.

The Ventura County Medical Examiner’s Office said Paul Kessler’s November 5 death was a homicide caused by a blunt force head injury.

A pro-Palestinian protester allegedly beat Kessler over the head with a megaphone during the confrontation. Kessler was waving an Israeli flag when pro-Palestinian demonstrators allegedly confronted him.

“The Ventura County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the incident and has not ruled out the possibility of a hate crime,” the medical examiner’s office said.

The alleged perpetrator could be seen talking to police after the alleged attack.

Ventura County police said in a statement that the assault happened at about 3:20 p.m. on November 5 at an intersection where simultaneous pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian protests were taking place.

On November 16, a college professor was charged with involuntary manslaughter and battery.

Ventura County District Attorney Erik Nasarenko said that Loay Abdelfattah Alnaji, 50, personally inflicted “great bodily injury” on Kessler.