Photo: North Port Police Department/Facebook; Minnesota Department of Corrections/AP/Shutterstock
In addition to manypositive momentsandfigures that inspired us all, 2021 was also a year with horrific tragedies, bizarre plot twists and long-awaited verdicts historians will be talking about for years to come.
As the New Year approaches, read on to reflect on the biggest crime stories of the year.
Derek Chauvin Convicted of All Charges in Murder of George Floyd (April)
Derek Chauvin.Minnesota Department of Corrections/AP/Shutterstock
Life for the Turpin Siblings After Escaping from Their Parents' House of Horrors (November)
The Turpin family.David-Louis Turpin/Facebook
Disturbing details came out about thehorrific abuse the 13 Turpin siblings enduredfrom their abusive parents, David and Louise, during a20/20interview with Diane Sawyerin November. Sisters Jordan and Jennifer sat down with the journalist to talk about the cruelty the siblings experienced while being hidden away at home for most of their lives. The Turpin kids, who ranged in age from 2 to 29 at the time they were rescued in 2018, were regularly beaten, starved, chained to their beds or put in cages for breaking house rules.
Jordan was 17 when she snuck out of her Perris, Calif., home with a deactivated cell phone andcalled 911, alerting the operator that she and her 12 siblings had been raised in captivity, and regularly abused. With the help of law enforcement, Jordan was able to free her siblings. After overcoming a lifetime of cruelty and pain — andchallenges assimilatinginto the real world —Jordan remains focused on her futureand newfound possibilities.
“I want to be a motivational speaker to help others,” Jordan saidonGMAin late November. “My whole life it has been so hard for me to understand why everything has happened, but if I can use what I went through to make a difference in the world, then I think that can heal me.”
All 3 Defendants Found Guilty of Murdering Ahmaud Arbery, Black Jogger Chased Down and Shot in Georgia (November)
Travis McMichael, at left, and his father Greg McMichael in their booking photos.Glynn County Detention Center/AP/Shutterstock
Greg McMichael, his son Travis McMichael and neighbor William “Roddie” Bryan wereall found guiltyon Nov. 24 for the murder ofAhmaud Arbery, an unarmed Black man who was jogging down a road when the men pursued and cornered him with their pickup trucks before a physical confrontation in which one of the men fatally shot him. According to the defense, the three men believed Arbery matched the description of someone who reportedly had burglarized a home construction site in the neighborhood, and they were attempting a citizen’s arrest.Arbery was killedon Feb. 23, 2020.
Prosecutors alleged the white suspects chased and confronted Arbery with two firearms after they saw him running, and that Travis fatally shot Arbery during a struggle over Travis' shotgun. Each faced nine criminal charges, according tothe indictment. All three now face life in prison when sentenced.
Lady Gaga’s Dog Walker Ryan Fischer Was Shot and Critically Injured While Walking the Singer’s 3 Dogs (February)
Ryan Fischer and Lady Gaga’s dogs Koji and Asia.Valleyofthedogs/instagram
Lady Gaga’s dog walkerRyan Fischerwas woundedduring an armed robberyin which the singer’s two French bulldogs were stolen on Feb. 24. Fischer was walking Gaga’s three dogs — Miss Asia, Gustav and Koji — when he was shot. Miss Asia escaped into some bushes while Gustav and Koji were snatched. The dogs were returned to police two days after the attack, and in April, police in Los Angelesarrested five suspects in connection with the incident. Fischer wasshot one time in the chest, L.A. Police Capt. Jonathan Tippet told PEOPLE at the time.
Fischer spoke toCBS Morning’s Gayle King about howGaga has helped him recoversince the harrowing incident.
“She’s helped me so much,” he told King. “She’s been a friend for me and after I was attacked, my family was flown out and I had trauma therapists flown to me and I stayed at her house for months while friends comforted me and security was around me.”
Baltimore Church Member Was Murdered After Letting Contractors in for Repairs, and Laborer Is Charged (December)
march funeral homes
“Her family is four generations strong at Southern and all of our hearts should be with them,” said Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott. “This is not OK. None of us should be OK.”
Then on Dec. 1, after hundreds mourned the loss of Player, law enforcement arrested Manzie Smith Jr. He was charged with first-degree murder, WBAL reported.
‘Big Family, Old Money, New Drama’: Inside the Powerful S.C. Family at Center of Murder Mystery (June-Present)
From left, Buster Murdaugh, Margaret “Maggie” Murdaugh, Paul Murdaugh, Alex Murdaugh.Maggie Murdaugh/Facebook
On June 7, prominent South Carolina attorneyAlex Murdaugh made headlinesafter coming home to find his wife Maggie and their son Paul shot and killed. Over Labor Day weekend, Alex made headlines again when he called 911 to report that he himself had been shot in the head on the side of the road. People across the nation who had been following the shocking string of events wanted to knowwhy someone was targeting Alex’s family.
On the heels of several twists and turns in the case — Alex being pushed out of his law firm for allegedlymisappropriating millions of dollarsin funds, the death of Alex’s 81 year-old father Randolph Murdaugh just days after his wife and son were murdered, and a2019 boating incident that lead to Alex’s son Paul’s arrestfollowing the death of 19-year-old Mallory Beach — the story got even more surprising when Alex turned himself into the police following an alleged botched suicide-for-hire plot involving himself and Curtis Edward “Eddie” Smith, who allegedly assisted with Alex’s attempt to commit suicidefor the insurance money.
Aiden Fucci and Tristyn Bailey.St. Johns County Sheriff (2)
A day after Florida teenagerTristyn Bailey’s body was found in the woods near her home in St. John’s, the St. John’s Sheriff’s Officearrested Aiden Fucci, 14, who grew up in the same neighborhood and went to the same private school. Bailey was found to bestabbed 114 times, with at least 49 stab wounds to her hands, arms and head that were “defensive in nature,” R.J. Larizza, State Attorney in the 7th Judicial Circuit, told reporters at the time.
Fucci was initially charged with second-degree murder in connection with Bailey’s death, which took place on May 9. But in late May, State Attorney R.J. Larizza announced he had upgraded the charge against Fucci to first-degree murder and said the teen would be tried as an adult. Fucci has pleaded not guilty and is being held without bond while he awaits trial.
According to the medical examiner’s report, there was no evidence of sexual assault. However, Bailey’s body did have the word “KARMA” handwritten in blue ink on her left ankle and a “smiley face” drawn on her right ankle, according to the report, which does not state how it got there.
GoFundMe
David Robinson, a man from New York, wascharged with murder and two counts of manslaughterin the death of 58-year-oldHtwe Than Than, according to the New York City Police Department in November. Robinson was accused of attacking the woman and her son in July in what her family called “a botched robbery turned lethal.”
According to Than’s family’sGoFundMe, on the morning of July 17, she and her 22-year-old son were walking up the stairs of the Canal Street “N” subway station when a man approached them,WCBSreported at the time. As the assailant tried to take the son’s belongings, Than intervened and fell down the stairs, suffering a serious head injury. Two weeks later, she died of those injuries.
Mary Kay Letourneau Wrote Nearly 30 Letters to Family, Friends Before Death: ‘She Had Wrongs to Right’ (October)
Courtesy A&E
Before her death in 2020from stage 4 cancer, former teacher and convicted child rapistMary Kay Letourneauwrotea series of letters to friends and family, a legal source close to the former teacher told PEOPLE in October.
“She had a lot of wrongs to right,” said the source, who knew Letourneau for more than 20 years and received a note from her. “She had a lot of things to say. She made a lot of mistakes in her 58 years — not just the big one everyone knows about — and she wanted everyone to know that she was sorry for the mistakes she made.”
“She told me she wrote a lot of letters,” continued the source. “She was closing in on 30 of them.”
The source doesn’t know if Letourneau wrote a letter to husbandVili Fualaau, who was 12 at the time the then sixth-grade teacher began to sexually abuse him in 1996. “I don’t know if he received a note, but I do know that she made things right with him as best as she could,” the source said. “She loved him until the end.”
Letourneau and Fualaau shared two daughters, Georgia and Audrey.
source: people.com
