Strange Murder Cases You've Probably Never Heard Of: 5 True Stories From The US

There have been murder cases that have rocked the country, like the murders of Laci Peterson or the Murdaugh murders, but there are millions of other murders that never make national headlines. Some spooky, some for petty reasons and some just to hunt on "victims".

We rounded up some of the upsetting murders that took place recently and that you may have never heard of. Take a look.

1) Woman who wrote book on grief after husband's death charged with his murder

A heart-wrenching tale of love and loss took a tragic turn as Kouri Richins, the author of a touching children's book on coping with grief after her husband's death, was arrested for his alleged murder.

The Kamas, Utah, community was left stunned as prosecutors revealed that Kouri had been accused of poisoning her husband, Eric Richins, with a lethal dose of fentanyl. The investigation revealed that Eric's death in March 2022 was unnatural and that the amount of fentanyl in his system was five times the lethal dose.

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According to the police report, Kouri initially claimed she had mixed vodka with soda to celebrate Eric's successful house sale. She claimed she had drunk some of it and left the rest for Eric to finish. But upon returning from checking on one of their children, Kouri allegedly found her husband "cold to the touch."

Citing the affidavit for a search warrant, The Salt Lake Tribune reported, "The day after Eric's death, Kouri closed on the home, alone. She later invited her friends over for a large party at her home where she was drinking and celebrating."

2) Indian-origin man killed 3 US teens because they played doorbell prank on him

In April 2023, a California man was found guilty of murder after being accused of killing three 16-year-olds by ramming their vehicle in 2020 after they played a doorbell prank on him.

Authorities said Anurag Chandra, a man of Indian origin, fled after intentionally ramming his car into a Toyota Prius with six teenagers inside, causing it to crash into a tree. Three of the teenage boys died, and the others were injured. The boys died when a car driven by Chandra struck them, and the vehicle they were in careened off the roadway and into a pole in Riverside County, authorities said.

A jury convicted Chandra, 45, of three counts of first-degree murder and three counts of attempted murder.

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On January 19, 2020, the teens were having a sleepover when one of them was dared to pull off a prank. They drove to a nearby house, where one of the boys rang Chandra's doorbell and ran back to the awaiting car. Chandra, officials said, chased after them and crashed into their vehicle, causing it to be fatal.

Chandra testified during his trial that one of the teens rang the doorbell and exposed his buttocks. Chandra said he was "extremely, extremely mad" and had drunk 12 beers in the hours beforehand, the Riverside Press-Enterprise reported.

3) 4 teenagers murdered 24-year-old female cop when they "were out looking for victims"

Four teenagers have been charged in the murder of a beloved 24-year-old Chicago police officer after one of the teens allegedly confessed his involvement to a friend as detectives listened in, according to court documents.

Officer Ar¨¦anah Preston had just finished her shift and was still in uniform when she was shot and killed at about 1:42 a.m. on May 12, 2023, according to Chicago police.

The four suspects "were out looking for victims" that night and are believed to be connected to multiple robberies and a car theft in the hours leading up to Preston's murder, interim Chicago Police Superintendent Eric Carter said.

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As Preston was returning home, the teens pulled up in a stolen car, and at least two of the teens allegedly fired at her, according to police. Preston returned fire, but the teens continued to shoot, and they allegedly stole Preston's gun before fleeing, Carter said.

On the same night, hours after Preston was killed, the 16-year-old suspect allegedly confessed his involvement to a friend. The 16-year-old asked the friend if he'd seen Preston's murder on the news and claimed "that was his work," according to court documents.

4) US dentist 'killed' wife by lacing protein shake with cyanide to be with lover

In March 2023, New York Post reported that a US dentist was accused of fatally poisoning his wife by putting arsenic and cyanide in her protein shakes.

45-year-old James Toliver Craig allegedly committed the crime to start a new life with the woman he was having an affair with. He was then arrested and was booked into jail on first-degree murder charges, the Aurora Police Department said.

Craig was arrested on suspicion shortly after his wife died after being taken off life support during her third trip to the hospital this month. As per the police, his wife Angela Craig started feeling sick after drinking a shake that her husband made for her a couple of days before she died.

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He then drove her to a hospital after she complained of a headache and severe dizziness. Angela Craig died that day at the hospital, according to the affidavit. After she arrived, she had a severe seizure, was placed on a ventilator and was declared medically brain dead soon after, it said.

The Colorado dentist allegedly ordered the poison online and made several suspicious internet searches in the weeks leading up to her death, including "how to make poison," according to an arrest warrant affidavit. The couple have six children together.

5) Convicted rapist on trial on child pornography charges fatally shot 6 people, 5 of them teens

A convicted rapist on trial on child pornography charges is believed to have fatally shot six people, five of them teenagers, before he died by suicide at the rural Oklahoma property where the kids were having a sleepover last weekend of April 2023, authorities said.

All of the victims were shot in the head, said Okmulgee Police Chief Joe Prentice, the spokesman for a violent crime task force overseeing the investigation into the killings outside the small town of Henryetta. The suspect, Jesse McFadden, 39, also died of a gunshot wound to the head, Prentice said.

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Prentice identified the victims as Ivy Webster, 14; Brittany Brewer, 15; Michael Mayo, 15; Tiffany Guess, 13; Rylee Allen, 17; and Holly McFadden, 35. Holly McFadden's mother, Janette Mayo, identified her daughter as Holly Guess. She married Jesse McFadden last year, Okmulgee County records show.

Prentice said that their bodies were found in two groups on the large property where the McFaddens rented a home.

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