Do you ever get a little nervous before a dentist appointment? That slight fear, often called dentophobia, might stem from past discomfort or just the uneasy feeling of someone poking around in your mouth. For most, it’s a routine check-up, maybe a filling. But what if the person you trust with your smile was hiding a truly dark secret? Believe it or not, some healers have become heinous. Prepare yourself for a chilling look at ten dentists who were, in fact, killers.
10. Glennon Engleman
Glennon Engleman, a St. Louis dentist, wasn’t known for his looks. Yet, he had an uncanny ability to persuade women to join his deadly schemes for money. After divorcing his first wife, Ruth Ball, he still supported her. When her new husband, James Bullock (also Engleman’s patient), was murdered, Ruth collected $64,000 in insurance. Though suspected, Engleman had an alibi.
Later, he convinced his dental assistant, Carmen Miranda, to marry Peter Halm. Halm was soon found shot, and Engleman received a cut of the $75,000 insurance. He was linked to several other murders, including Arthur and Vernita Gusewelle and their son Ronald, as well as a business associate, Eric Frey, and Sophie Berrera, to whom he owed money. His then-wife, also named Ruth, eventually helped police by wearing a wire, tired of his boasts about the killings. Engleman was convicted of five murders, though he hinted at more, and died in prison in 1999.
9. Colin Howell
In May 1991, nurse Lesley Howell and policeman Trevor Stewart were found dead in a car, an apparent double suicide due to an affair. The truth was far more sinister: their spouses, dentist Colin Howell and Hazel Stewart, were the ones having an affair. They plotted to kill their partners to be together.
Colin drugged his wife, Lesley, and gassed her with carbon monoxide. When she woke up, he suffocated her. He then drove to Trevor Stewart’s home, where Hazel had already drugged him. Colin gassed Trevor, who also briefly fought back. Howell then staged the scene to look like a suicide pact. Years later, burdened by guilt, especially after a personal tragedy and financial loss, the deeply religious Howell confessed. He was sentenced to a minimum of 21 years. Hazel Stewart was also convicted, though she claimed Colin coerced her.
8. Charles Adelson
Fort Lauderdale dentist Charles Adelson found himself embroiled in a murder-for-hire plot. He was charged in April 2022 for the 2014 killing of his brother-in-law, Dan Markel, a respected law professor. Markel was in a bitter divorce with Adelson’s sister, Wendi.
Prosecutors alleged that Charles Adelson hired two hitmen, Sigfredo Garcia and Luis Rivera, to murder Markel. The connection was supposedly made through Katherine Magbanua, Adelson’s former girlfriend and employee. The hitmen were allegedly paid $100,000. Garcia was convicted and received a life sentence, while Rivera pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and testified against Garcia and Magbanua. Wendi Adelson told authorities her brother had joked about a hitman as a divorce gift but claimed he bought her a TV instead.
7. Larry Rudolph
Pennsylvania dentist and big-game enthusiast Larry Rudolph was accused of a shocking crime. Prosecutors say he murdered his wife, Bianca, during a 2016 hunting trip in Zambia to cash in on millions in life insurance. Bianca, also a hunter, was supposedly there to hunt a leopard. She was found shot in the chest with a shotgun in their cabin.
Rudolph claimed he was in the shower and heard the shot, finding her dead. He quickly had her cremated in Africa, raising suspicions. A U.S. Embassy official found his haste alarming and took photos of Bianca’s body. Friends also suspected foul play, noting Rudolph’s infidelity and suggesting he wouldn’t divorce Bianca due to money. Authorities argued the long barrel of the shotgun made it nearly impossible for Bianca to shoot herself. Rudolph collected nearly $5 million in insurance but pleaded not guilty to murder charges.
6. Gilberto Nunez
In 2015, Kingston, New York, dentist Gilberto Nunez was charged with the 2011 murder of Thomas Kolman. Kolman was found dead in his car from what was ruled Midazolam poisoning, a sedative used in dental practices. Prosecutors argued Nunez, who was having an affair with Kolman’s wife, Linda, killed Kolman to eliminate his rival.
The prosecution painted Nunez as an obsessed lover who tried various schemes to break up the Kolmans, even impersonating his own mother to urge Linda to leave her husband. When these attempts failed, they alleged he resorted to murder. Nunez’s defense argued Kolman died of a heart attack, not poisoning, and that it couldn’t be proven Nunez administered the drug. While acquitted of murder, Nunez was later found guilty of forgery, perjury, and insurance fraud, serving 19 months of a potential seven-year sentence.
5. James Ryan
Oral surgeon James Ryan from Maryland faced accusations in 2022 related to the death of his girlfriend, Sarah Harris, 25. Harris, a former patient, overdosed on addictive anesthesia drugs. Police claimed that shortly after moving in with Ryan, Harris developed a severe addiction to substances he provided.
Evidence included autopsy results, interviews, and text messages between Ryan and Harris. In one exchange, Harris texted about feeling disoriented, and Ryan allegedly replied it was due to ketamine and another pain medication. It was also suggested Ryan might have been addicted himself. Authorities believed Ryan didn’t intend to kill Harris but charged him with second-degree murder due to “extreme indifference” to her life by supplying the drugs, knowing their dangers as an oral surgeon.
4. Bart Corbin
In December 2004, Jennifer Corbin was found dead in her bed from a gunshot wound to the head. Her 7-year-old son alerted neighbors. A .38 caliber pistol and divorce papers from her husband, dentist Barton “Bart” Corbin, were found nearby. Bart claimed he was at his brother’s house after a night out.
Initially, Bart seemed clear, but the autopsy revealed Jennifer couldn’t have placed the gun where it was found due to her injury. Gunshot residue tests on her were negative, ruling her death a homicide. Then, a call came in about Dolly Hearn, Bart’s dental school classmate, who died in 1990 from a gunshot wound, ruled a suicide, shortly after rejecting Bart’s marriage proposal. Re-examination suggested Dolly couldn’t have shot herself. The motive for both killings appeared to be rejection. Bart was eventually arrested and pleaded guilty to two counts of malice murder, receiving two concurrent life sentences.
3. Bert Franklin
Tulsa dentist Bert Franklin was convicted in 2018 for the murder of Lincoln Lewis, his mistress’s 19-month-old son, in 2016. Lincoln died from fatal skull fractures. Franklin was also found guilty of trying to arrange the murder of Lincoln’s mother, Roxanne Lewis Randall, from jail to prevent her testimony.
Crucial evidence was a home surveillance video. Prosecutors argued it showed Franklin kicking Lincoln and then slamming him headfirst onto the floor, though the actual impact was obscured. Franklin claimed he was interacting with the family dog, not the child. However, footage showed Lincoln awake and upright before the unseen incident, and then limp like a “ragdoll” in Franklin’s arms moments later. Prosecutors suggested Franklin’s hatred for the boy’s father and jealousy over his mistress’s attention to her child motivated the attack.
2. Hartmut F.
A German neo-Nazi dentist, identified as Hartmut F. due to privacy laws, was charged with a triple murder in May 2021. He first used an Uzi submachine gun to kill his ex-wife, Hanna F., and her new boyfriend, Tobias H. He then murdered his best friend, Carsten B., whom he blamed for his marriage’s failure.
Hartmut confessed, stating jealousy drove him to kill Hanna and Tobias. He admitted to killing Carsten, suspecting him of being another admirer of his wife or for revealing Hartmut’s infidelities. Hartmut had also planned to kill his wife’s lawyer but didn’t proceed. After 16 years of marriage and four children, Hanna had separated from the abusive, Nazi-sympathizing dentist. Enraged by her new relationship and a restraining order, he snapped. He shot Carsten in the face twice, then three more times. If convicted, Hartmut F. faces life in prison.
1. Gabriel Wortman
In April 2020, Nova Scotia denturist Gabriel Wortman embarked on Canada’s deadliest rampage. Over two days, he killed 22 people and set 16 fires. Dressed as a Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) officer and driving a replica police car, his spree began in Portapique and ended over 100 kilometers away when he was killed by police at a gas station.
Authorities described the attacks as partly random. Among the victims was RCMP Constable Heidi Stevenson, a mother of two. Some victims were targeted, but many were random individuals, some even trying to help Wortman, believing he was a real officer. The motive remains unclear, but the violence shocked the nation. Nova Scotia’s Premier called it one of the most senseless acts of violence in the province’s history.
These chilling accounts remind us that darkness can exist in the most unexpected professions. While the vast majority of dentists are dedicated to our health, these stories open a disturbing chapter in true crime, where the chair you sit in could have belonged to someone with a horrifying secret.
What do you think about these cases? Do you know of any other professionals with shocking double lives? Leave your comment below!
