We often associate small towns with tranquility and safety, but lurking beneath the surface of these idyllic communities, darkness can thrive. These are stories of serial killers who shattered the illusion of peace in small-town America.
WARNING: The following content contains descriptions of extremely disturbing crimes.
William Inmon
In September 2009, in the quiet town of Springerville, Arizona, 21-year-old William Inmon walked into the local police station with a bizarre story. He told Chief Steve West that officers from a neighboring town were preparing to search his house. Inmon, seemingly inspired by crime dramas, suggested that Chief West wouldn’t want outside cops invading his territory.
Instead of dismissing him, West invited Inmon to talk. Over the next four hours, Inmon confessed to murdering 16-year-old Ricky Flores with a shotgun, allegedly at the behest of Flores’s girlfriend’s father. The man disapproved of his daughter’s relationship.
Weeks later, Inmon confessed to two more murders. In April 2007, he shot 72-year-old William “Stoney” McCarragher, a local rancher known for carrying large amounts of cash and hiring local kids. Inmon claimed McCarragher had touched him inappropriately and that he killed him to prevent future harm.
His second victim was Daniel Achten, a deaf Vietnam veteran known as “Hummer Dan.” Achten was found in a shallow grave near his home. Inmon claimed he killed Achten because he was a drug addict who had shot his dog.
Inmon justified his actions as a mission to rid the world of the undesirable, stating he would have continued killing if he hadn’t been caught. He received a 24-year sentence after striking a deal with prosecutors.
Dana Sue Gray
Canyon Lake, California, is a gated community that appears to be an affluent, peaceful American town. However, in the mid-1990s, a dangerous individual resided within its guarded borders: Dana Sue Gray.
Her first victim was her 86-year-old step-grandmother, Norma Davis, who was found stabbed to death in February 1994. Next, she strangled June Roberts with a phone cord and bludgeoned her face with a wine bottle, leaving her five-year-old stepson in the car during the crime. After the murder, Gray used Roberts’s credit cards for a shopping spree.
Gray then attempted to strangle Dorinda Hawkins in Lake Elsinore, but Hawkins survived. Her next victim, 87-year-old Dora Beebe, was strangled and beaten to death with a clothes iron after Gray asked her for directions. Beebe’s credit card funded a $1,000 mountain bike, perfume, and a boogie board.
Hawkins provided a description of Gray, leading to her arrest. Gray confessed to the murders of Roberts and Beebe, and the attempted murder of Hawkins, claiming an uncontrollable impulse to shop fueled her crimes.
Scott Williams
Scott Williams, a road crew worker in Monroe, North Carolina, appeared to lead an uneventful life. However, he was responsible for the brutal rapes and murders of several local women.
His first victim was 37-year-old Sharon House Pressley in 1997. In 2000, he attacked another woman, who survived. He killed again in 2004, taking the life of 34-year-old Christina Outz Parker, and then 46-year-old Sharon Tucker Stone in 2006.
All three murder victims were raped, shot in the head, and dismembered. Williams even considered cannibalizing one of the bodies but was repulsed by the smell. Police were led to Williams after the bodies of Parker and Stone were found near his house. DNA and ballistic evidence confirmed his guilt, and he received three life sentences in 2008.
Lee Roy Martin
In early 1968, the town of Gaffney, South Carolina, was terrorized by the disappearances of two young women. Twenty-year-old Nancy Carol Parris vanished on January 29, and 14-year-old Nancy Christine Rhinehart disappeared nine days later.
The day after Rhinehart’s disappearance, the local newspaper editor received a mysterious call, where the caller revealed the locations of the missing girls’ bodies. He also confessed to the rape and murder of 32-year-old Annie Dedmond in 1967, a crime for which her husband was wrongly imprisoned.
After several more phone calls, 15-year-old Opal Buckson went missing. A search party found her stabbed to death, and witnesses spotted Lee Roy Martin’s car nearby. Martin was arrested shortly after.
Dedmond’s husband was released from prison, and Martin was convicted of all four murders, receiving a life sentence for each. He was stabbed to death by his cellmate in 1972.
Filiberto Hernandez
Between 2010 and 2013, five young women disappeared from the town of Tamuin in central Mexico. Only one body was found.
The series of crimes began with the disappearance of 16-year-old Rosa Maria Sanchez in 2010. Thirteen-year-old Adriana Martinez disappeared in 2011 and was later found dead. In 2013, nine-year-old Dulce Jimena Reyes, 12-year-old Itzel Castillo, and 32-year-old Eliehoenai Chavez also went missing.
In 2014, police detained Filiberto Hernandez, a 43-year-old karate instructor, who confessed to the rapes and murders. He led police to a field where he buried his victims. The bodies of Sanchez and Castillo were recovered, while the search for Reyes and Chavez continues.
Kendall Francois
From 1996 to 1998, eight prostitutes disappeared in Poughkeepsie, New York. Suspicion fell on Kendall Francois, an unemployed teacher’s aide. Police interviewed him, aware of past complaints from local prostitutes. However, there was insufficient evidence to charge him.
On September 21, 1998, Francois called a prostitute to his house and attempted to strangle her. She escaped and flagged down a police car. Francois admitted to strangling eight women and hiding their bodies in his attic.
Francois received eight 25-year life sentences. His family was not charged, supposedly unaware of the bodies due to Francois claiming the smell was from a dead raccoon.
Francois died in prison in 2014 at the age of 43.
The Jeff Davis Eight
Between May 2005 and June 2009, eight badly decomposed bodies were discovered in Jefferson Davis Parish, Louisiana. These women, aged 17 to 30, were from the small towns of Jennings and Lake Arthur. Many knew each other and were involved in drugs and the sex trade.
Locals criticized the sheriff’s department for their investigation, suspecting corruption and a cover-up. Police officer Jesse Ewing claimed to have audio tapes implicating higher-ranking officers in the crimes. No one has been arrested in connection with the deaths.
The case resurfaced in 2014 when similarities between the murders and the show True Detective were noted.
Juan Corona
Juan Corona, a labor contractor in Yuba City, California, murdered 25 men in 1971. On May 19, a peach farmer discovered a suspicious hole in his orchard. The next day, the hole was filled, prompting a call to the police, who unearthed the mutilated body of Kenneth Whiteacre.
Over the next four days, 24 more bodies were found in shallow graves. The victims had been hacked or stabbed to death, likely with a machete. Receipts signed by Juan Corona were found with the bodies.
Corona had a history of violence and mental issues. He had attacked a gay man in 1970 and had been hospitalized for schizophrenia. The police found circumstantial evidence in his home, including possible weapons and ledgers containing the victims’ names.
Corona was convicted in 1973, but the verdict was overturned in 1978. He was found guilty again in 1982 and received 25 concurrent life sentences. At the time of the murders, he was the most prolific serial killer in the United States.
David Parker Ray
David Parker Ray, based out of Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, is believed to have killed as many as 60 people. His crimes centered around a storage trailer converted into a torture chamber known as “The Toy Box.”
Ray and his girlfriend, Cindy Lea Hendy, kidnapped women and locked them in the trailer. Outfitted with S&M sex toys, surgical tools, and anatomy books, victims were strapped to a gynecological chair while Ray tortured them, often recording the acts.
Ray was arrested on March 22, 1999, after a victim escaped and sought help. Police found evidence, including a video of a woman being tortured. Ray received a 223-year sentence in exchange for a lighter sentence for his daughter. He died of a heart attack in prison at 62.
Donald Henry Gaskins
Donald Henry Gaskins, known as “Pee Wee” due to his small stature, had a long history of criminal activity. He began his killing spree in Sumter, South Carolina, in 1969. Gaskins abducted hitchhikers, holding them prisoner to rape, mutilate, and torture them. He also claimed to have committed acts of cannibalism.
In 1970, he began targeting people he knew, including his 15-year-old niece and one of her friends. He murdered a pregnant woman and her toddler son, drowning them in a pond behind his house.
In 1972, Gaskins moved to Prospect, South Carolina. He drove a hearse and told people he used it to transport bodies to his personal cemetery. People didn’t take him seriously.
Gaskins was arrested after asking a friend to dispose of a van used in a murder. He received the death sentence, later commuted to life imprisonment. In 1982, he rigged a radio to explode, killing another murderer, Rudolph Tyner. Gaskins received the death penalty and was executed in 1991.
Gaskins had 13 confirmed victims but claimed to have killed over 100.
These stories remind us that darkness can exist even in the most unsuspecting places. What do you think about these chilling cases? Leave your comment below!
