Spur-of-the-moment crimes can occur for various reasons, including those that seem hardly worth acting on. Sometimes, criminal activities are born from completely bizarre beliefs to justify actions. Here are ten of the strangest reasons people thought it was a good idea to commit a crime.
10. Rutledge Deas IV: Faked Disability for a Diaper Change
In November 2019, Rutledge Deas IV, a 29-year-old man from New Orleans, was arrested for faking a disability. He hired caretakers to change his soiled diapers by claiming his fake younger brother “Cory” had special needs. One caretaker, a college student, changed “Cory’s”—who was Deas—diaper six times, including at a Walmart and a coffee shop. After realizing the scam, four caretakers went to the police, claiming he would visibly get aroused during the changes.
He was initially booked on ten counts of Sexual Battery, but the District Attorney (DA) charged Deas with four counts of human trafficking. The DA said there was “insufficient evidence to successfully prosecute the alleged counts of sexual battery” because he did not reach out to touch the caretakers. By deceiving the women into touching him, he could be charged with human trafficking. The courts gave Deas a $1.5 million bond. His lawyers claimed he suffered from mental health issues due to sexual trauma from his childhood. In December 2020, Deas avoided up to ten years in prison and received the following sentence:
- Five years probation
- 400 hours of community service
- Maintain employment
- Undergo internet addiction counseling
- Stay off of social media
9. Curtis Reeves: Killed Man For Texting in The Theatre
Curtis Reeves, a retired police captain from Tampa, Florida, took his movie-going experience very seriously. So seriously that, in January 2014, he shot Chad Oulson after a verbal argument about Oulson texting during the previews. According to police reports, Oulson threw his popcorn packet at Reeves’ face during the argument. Reeves told police Oulson hit him in the face with an unknown object. In response, Reeves took out his handgun and killed Oulson on the spot with a shot to the chest.
Reeves tried to claim self-defense, but the court ruled against his claim based on witness reports and charged Reeves with second-degree murder. On December 11th, 2017, the appeals court decided to look into Reeves’ “Stand Your Ground” defense. This Florida law states that someone has the right to use deadly force if they fear physical harm or death by a threatening person. The appeals judge ruled against self-defense, and Reeves finally faced trial in April 2021.
8. Christopher Ragsdale: Assaulted Because of “Horrible” Fart Smell
Christopher Ragsdale, age 41, from Iowa, experienced blind rage on January 5th, 2020, over a complaint about the foul odor of his fart. While hanging out with his girlfriend at a friend’s house in Wichita Falls, Texas, he passed gas, and his girlfriend said it smelled “horrible.” In reaction, he pulled her down by the hair, sat on her back, and began choking her until their friend showed up in the room. The friend went to get keys so they could leave. That was when Ragsdale’s girlfriend walked to another room. He followed her and headbutted her, prompting the friend to call the police. Police arrested Ragsdale for Assault, Family Violence, and choking. The court set his bond at $10,000.
7. Fergus John Glen: He Didn’t Say the Magic Words
While it’s always nice to be appreciated, not getting a thank you is rarely a reason to kill. For 36-year-old New Zealand man Fergus John Glen, it was. On March 7th, 2003, Fergus struck his sleeping 33-year-old brother Craig with a wood-splitting ax eight times across the neck and face. After the murder, Fergus met his mother as he returned the ax to the basement and calmly confessed he had killed his brother. His mother had woken up by the ax blows that sounded like someone was chopping wood. Craig had three children and was staying with Fergus and his mother after recently separating from his wife.
Fergus’s reason for murder? He was annoyed Craig did not thank him for cooking dinner that evening. Court documents quote Fergus as saying, “He just annoyed me and I did it. I’m not proud, but I did it.” The documents also indicate the dinner incident was the last straw of a longtime feud the brothers had, including a fistfight they had four months earlier. Fergus was also drunk.
Despite pleading guilty, Fergus received a life sentence for the murder, with a minimum non-parole period of 10 years. In a hearing on May 16th, 2019, the courts granted Fergus parole to begin in October 2019, with a progress hearing by February 2020. The decision came based on evidence Fergus had completed his rehabilitation, had accommodations, and was supported in the community by his mother. He was also already working outside the prison and living in self-care with no incident.
6. Kuno Hofmann: This Vampire Doesn’t Sparkle
In May 1972, Kuno Hoffmann from Bavaria, Germany, was arrested for grave robberies and killing two people. Police had records of at least 35 incidents where Hofmann trespassed into graveyards and mortuaries from 1971 to 1972. Hofmann would stab the corpses he stole with razor blades and sometimes either cut their heads off, drink their blood, or attempt to have sex with female corpses. He admitted from his prison cell that he did it to become “good looking and strong.”
Hofmann was a mute who suffered a traumatic childhood where his alcoholic father beat him so severely he lost the ability to talk and hear. Following nine years of imprisonment for theft charges, Hoffmann became obsessed with self-improvement through the occult sciences. He read about Satanism and black magic, focusing on necrophilia and vampirism rituals.
When molesting the graveyard corpses didn’t make him handsome, Hoffmann assumed he needed fresher bodies. That’s when he decided to kill Markus Adler, age 24, and Adler’s fiancée Ruth Lissy, age 18, on May 6th, 1972. He shot them in their car and drank their blood. Hofmann confessed readily, and the courts sentenced him to life imprisonment in a mental asylum.
5. Glenna Brook Pinkerton: False Report On Dead Baby
While women are known to fake pregnancies for various reasons, including wanting a significant other to stay with them, someone rarely fakes a birth and death of a baby. However, 32-year-old Glenna Brook Pinkerton from Nashville, Tennessee, did just this for attention.
In March 2020, Pinkerton claimed her ex-boyfriend, Antonio Allen, shot her 1-year-old daughter in the head. Pinkerton told authorities she buried her daughter in March 2018 at Two Rivers Park. She led forensic investigators and cadaver dogs on a wild goose chase as they searched the area for the body with no success. The problem is, she never gave birth to a child. Her brother also confirmed he was “unaware” his sister was ever pregnant. Pinkerton later admitted she created the story. When authorities asked her why, she said, “Attention, I guess.” Police arrested and charged Pinkerton for filing a false report.
4. Anatoly Yuryevich Moskvin: The World’s Creepiest DIY Dolls
If science or black magic finds a way to bring people back to life, historian Anatoly Yuryevich Moskvin was ready to revive the children’s bodies he stole. On November 2nd, 2011, the police arrested 45-year-old Moskvin for having twenty-six bodies of girls in his apartment and garage. Moskvin was exhuming the bodies and using mummification techniques before concealing them in dry places around cemeteries. Once dried up, he would bring the bodies home and dress them up to look like dolls. He gave them female clothes, stockings, knee-length boots, and applied make-up and lipstick. He also put music boxes in their rib cages. Moskvin’s parents, who lived in the apartment with him, saw the mummified bodies but thought they were large dolls.
When asked about his motive, Moskvin said he felt sorry for the girls and wanted to give them functional bodies when he discovered a way to bring them back to life. By “beautifying” them, he would make them comfortable and happy once they revived. Moskvin would search for obituaries of recently deceased children and select ones that “spoke” to him. He would sleep on the child’s grave and said he only dug up graves when he got permission.
In May 2012, the courts determined Moskvin had paranoid schizophrenia and sentenced him to a psychiatric hospital. In November 2020, a medical commission recommended releasing Moskvin due to the successful treatment of his schizophrenia. Still, the judge extended his sentence for an extra six months.
3. Kevon Watkins: Killed Over WiFi Password
While not having a strong WiFi connection to play video games can be frustrating, it’s usually not something to kill over. For Georgia teen Kevon Lamar Watkins, it was. In February 2018, 16-year-old Watkins killed his 20-year-old sister, Alexus Breanna Watkins, in a deadly chokehold. Kevon and his mother were arguing because he changed the home WiFi password to play video games without interruptions. As the argument escalated, Alexus stepped in to protect her mother. Kevon and Alexus wrestled onto the floor, and he placed his sister in a chokehold. His mother called 911. By the time police showed up, at least 10 minutes later, Kevon still had a hold of his sister. Deputies tried to save her with CPR, but she was pronounced dead later that night at a local hospital.
Watkins was charged with felony murder and aggravated assault by strangulation. In February 2018, Watkins received a life sentence for the murder. He cried at the result of his sentence and said he was sorry.
2. Katie Jade Gates: Tomatoes for Dinner? Please Pass the Assault.
In Callahan, Florida, on September 12th, 2019, Katie Jade Gate threw a fit at dinner because she wanted “her fair share of tomatoes.” Her family tried to reprimand her, but she became enraged. The 19-year-old threw a pack of cigarettes, hitting her 73-year-old great-grandmother, Carolyn Schaeder, in the eye. She also grabbed a knife and chased her grandfather, Edward Schaedel, around the house, saying she would stab him in the face.
Police arrested and charged Gates with two felonies: aggravated battery on a person over 65 and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. By September 24th, 2019, she left jail after posting an $18,000 bond. However, the judge restrained her from contacting her grandfather and great-grandmother as she waited for trial.
1. Joshua Davies: It’s the Most Important Meal of the Day
While bets can be fun and games, when it’s taken too seriously and leads to death, the fun goes out the window. In early 2010, Joshua Davis killed his 15-year-old ex-girlfriend, Rebecca Aylward, in Bridgend, Wales. His motive? A schoolyard dare that would win him a fried breakfast.
The 15-year-old Davies murdered Aylward by hitting her on the head with a large rock. He had also planned two alternative methods of poisoning her with Ribena or drowning her in a river. Davies’ trial started on June 2011, and on July 27th, 2011, the jury found him guilty of murder. The court sentenced Davies to a minimum of 14 years in prison.
During the trial, the friend who had dared him said he received a text message two days before the murder. Davies wrote, “Don’t say anything, but you may just owe me a breakfast.” The friend told the jury he thought it was only a joke and that Davies was “messing about.” It wasn’t until 2018 that Davies finally confessed to his crimes in the hopes of a bid for early release.
