Do you need a couch moved? Want to give away spare boxes? How about baby clothes? Do you need to hire a quiet assassin to kill your lover’s wife? Craigslist has a number of different uses, and some are downright frightening. The end results often wind up on the news, and while many of the perpetrators are men, it’s unfair to not check out the girls as well. So here are 10 infamous and horrifying women from Craigslist.
10. Christina Guffey
Sometimes Craigslist ads can begin as a blessing but turn into something more sinister. Timothy Radford opened his home to homeless Christina Guffey and her boyfriend Christopher Johnson after Guffey posted an ad that she needed a place to stay, was desperate, and would do anything for it. Since losing her job at Walmart, Guffey couldn’t afford to take care of her children and was devastated to lose them to their father. When she had hit rock bottom she realized she had to do something.
The initial agreement with Radford was sex in return for a safe place to stay. This situation isn’t new for many people, so Guffey agreed to pay back her room and board with companionship. However, the woman started to get cold feet. She backed out, Radford began raising hell, and Johnson decided to shoot him. The overall claim is that Johnson was trying to protect Guffey and mistook Radford for a threat. Even though the crime was never the intention, after shooting the man the two got Bonnie and Clyde tattoos. While Johnson got the bigger sentence, Guffey was still sentenced to at least 10 years in prison for aiding in the slaying.
9. Amanda Knight
Amanda Knight wasn’t acting alone, but it was her call that sentenced eventual victim Jim Sanders to his death. Knight called Sanders about his Craigslist ad for a diamond ring he was selling. Tugging at his heart strings, she made up an elaborate story about wanting to buy it for mothers day. Instead, she and three men showed up at Sanders’ door with different intentions.
Kiyoshi Higashi, Clabon Berniard, and Joshua Reece joined Knight in tying up Sanders and his wife, then proceeded to hold guns on their children. After roughing up one of the kids, Sanders broke free and was shot to death. The intent was robbery, but once things got out of control it quickly became murder. Knight claimed she was forced into doing it by Higashi, but the Jury didn’t buy it. She was sentenced to 71 years in prison.
8. Tami LaFave
We’ve all known that overly clingy girl who’s borderline obsessed with her boyfriend, but would she go as far as murder to keep him? Meet 21-year-old Tami LaFave, the young lady whose life turned upside down on a fateful day in Milwaukee. Attached like glue to boyfriend Travis Zoellick, LaFave became an accomplice in the murder of Haroon Khan. Khan, a 31-year-old student, went missing when his family awaited his company in celebrating Eid al-fitr. He was trying to sell a car on Craigslist, and LaFave and Zoellick went on a test drive with him, where Zoellick pulled a gun.
He took Khan out into a wooded area, and stabbed him to death. The young girl watched the entire thing, knowing she could call 911 or get help in some way, but decided against it. Instead, she drove Zoellick’s own car home while he hid Khan’s at a storage unit. Afterward, the two even went shopping like nothing had happened. Despite not plotting or participating in the actual killing, LaFave’s codependency on her boyfriend kept her from calling the authorities, therefore dooming the young victim, all because she was afraid Zoellick would break up with her. Travis Zoellick shot himself before he could be taken into custody, but LaFave was sentenced to 25 years.
7. Ann Marie Linscott
You can use the internet for so many wonderful things – used furniture, companionship, hired killers. Yep, that last one is very much true, but as Ann Marie Linscott learned, posting an ad for “silent assassins” doesn’t always end well. Linscott had a notorious background filled with obsessive stalking and personal protection orders. She met her lover online years back and began a tumultuous affair while he was still married. In a very classic and expected turn of events, she grew infatuated with him and figured out that the only thing keeping them separate was his wife. Where to go from here? Craigslist, of course!
All the assassin had to do was kill the man’s wife in California and then they could finally be together. There was one catch: Linscott was actually married as well. Amazingly, Linscott’s husband John claims that this was characteristic of her. In 1997 a coworker put a restraining order on her when she fell madly in love and began stalking him. She also became obsessed with a deputy for the short time she was in jail. Linscott was sentenced to the maximum sentence of 12 and a half years in prison.
6. Latoya Jordan
Sometimes people drive you so crazy you just snap. It’s safe to say we’ve all been there, even with little stressors like work or personal problems. Latoya Jordan’s idea of snapping lead to roommate Daniel Somerson dead and rolled up in a carpet. After finding a place to stay on Craigslist, Jordan moved in with Somerson under the idea it was a simple living situation. Problems arose when Somerson started to push for a romance she just wasn’t feeling.
Anxiety levels were high within Jordan when the conflict began. She saw herself homeless and unable to fend for herself just because she refused to sleep with him. After being continuously pushed, she finally snapped, grabbed a knife from the kitchen, and stabbed him while he was in bed. He attempted to escape and call for help, but she responded by stabbing him again, and then once more when he was crawling toward the door in a last ditch effort to save himself. Jordan was sentenced to life in prison, where she hopefully wont “snap” on her cellmate as well.
5. Bria Corrine-Janelle Blackmon
For most of us, it’s common knowledge that starting a relationship through Craigslist is probably just a bad idea. Bria Corrine-Janelle Blackmon met Michael Freeland through a personal ad on the site and developed a strong connection to him. After being together multiple times, however, she decided that instead of taking the relationship to the next level, she’d rather just kill him.
The house was on fire when officials arrived and initially they ruled his death as an accident, but after introducing the arson team to the scene, it became pretty clear that this was not the case. Blackmon stole Freeland’s credit cards, robbed him of his things, beat him to death, and set his house ablaze. Obviously she wasn’t much of a criminal mastermind, as the tremendous sloppiness of her work at the crime scene quickly lead to her arrest.
4. Jamyra Gallmon
The anonymity of online dating can make it a cesspool for secret sexual encounters. David Messerschmitt was a lawyer for a conservative law firm with a lovely wife, so naturally when it came to desiring sex with a man he took to the internet. Messerschmitt posted an ad on Craigslist for sex and got a response, complete with pictures. After approving the future encounter, he booked a night at an upscale hotel and was set on meeting his new friend. Instead, the person who arrived was Jamyra Gallmon.
Gallmon fatally stabbed and robbed Messerchmitt in the hotel room after posing as a gay man through email. So what was the big score that Gallmon came away with? A whopping $40 and a bus card. The original intention was supposedly just robbery, but she pleaded guilty to second degree murder.
3. Diane Warrick
Craigslist once again proves that you never know exactly who you’re dealing with in the case of Diane Warrick, who had the track record of a violent gangster. However, you’d never guess by looking at her. Warrick responded to an ad by Mary Jane Scanlon, a 70-year-old, 94-pound woman who was looking for a caretaker. Not knowing Warrick’s past lead to Scanlon’s murder. While taking care of her, she stabbed the tiny old woman in her own bed.
What were her motives? She claims she was hallucinating about attacking her father. Warrick was also convicted of robbing a Colorado pharmacy in 1988, and afterward she was committed to a mental hospital for four years. Somehow, they released Warrick and she proceeded to take hostages and shoot at police in 1997 at a Napa pharmacy. She ended her run of terror with murder and life behind bars. She’s a nice reminder that the next time you hire someone, you might want to run a stronger background check.
2. Korena Roberts
A lot of people, men and women alike, get “baby fever”, but Korena Roberts took it to the desire to have a kid to an entirely new level. The 29-year-old weaved a web of lies amongst her family and friends about a pregnancy that was bearing twins. Once everyone believed it, it came time to actually prove it was happening. Roberts took to Craigslist and connected with 21-year-old Heather Snively, a woman in her third trimester. The two were planning on exchanging baby clothes. One thing led to another, and Snively wound up bludgeoned to death. That isn’t even the gruesome part. You may want to sit down, take a deep breath, and hug the nearest stuffed animal for this next paragraph. Ready? Don’t say we didn’t warn you…
Roberts cut Snively’s baby boy from her womb, essentially stealing the unborn child for her own. When police arrived on the scene, Roberts hid Snively’s body from view and claimed the child was hers. Not too smart on her part, of course, as it’s pretty easy for doctors to point out that her body lacked any evidence of a birth. Roberts was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole. Geez, after that one you’ll probably want to look at some adorable animals before moving on to the final entry.
1. Miranda Barbour
With most Craigslist killings, it’s typically a situation in which robbery is the intent but things get out of control. But in the case of Miranda Barbour and her husband Elytte, they decided to murder just because. Self-proclaimed Satanists, they used Miranda as bait for female companionship. Luring men into a trap was part of their game, and Troy LaFerrera wound up in a whirlwind that would end his life. After replying to the ad, both Miranda and Elytte stabbed and strangled the man to death. The newlyweds then began looking for a place to dump his body, and during that search they claimed he was still alive. This girl was only 19 when the murder took place.
The story became a news sensation across the country. Miranda made claims that she’s killed 22 more people for her satanic cult practices, and as the story changed, she began telling reporters that she was inspired by the TV series Dexter. She claims that similar to her favorite character, she only murders “bad people”. No evidence supports the claim that she’s killed more than once, but “Super Miranda,” as she called her alter ego, insists she’s big and tough. Thankfully, she’s been sentenced to life in prison alongside her doting husband.
2 Comments
Great list. Good reason that some people need to just be ‘reprocessed.’
Thanks for reading!