Even during the most wonderful time of the wear, we see some of the worst acts against humanity. Crimes during the Christmas holiday aren’t isolated to the typical shopping mall robberies, thefts or credit card scams. Every horrid crime you could think of can and will occur during holiday season.
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Mysterious murders, unsolved disappearances, serial killings, witchcraft and more have tainted the holidays for some families over the past few decades. Not every crime made the news either. Instead, one murder in cold blood was detailed in the midst of a folk song.
Don’t believe me? Keep scrolling to gaze upon 15 Christmas crimes that snatched the joy out of the holiday.
Lloyd Price’s Chilling Song Lyrics
While tapping your foot to “Stagger Lee” by post-war folk artist Lloyd Price, you might not have noticed it was inspired by a grueling Christmas crime.
“It was Stagger Lee and Billy
Two men who gambled late
Stagger Lee threw seven
Billy swore that he threw eight
Stagger Lee told Billy,
I can’t let you go with that
You have won all my money and my brand new Stetson hat”
On Christmas Eve of 1895, driver Billy Lyons and pimp Lee Shelton got into a heated political argument, per Missouri Life. The intensity led Shelton to but a dent in Lyons’s derby. In response, Lyons allegedly snatched Shelton’s sleek Shetson hat from his head. Then, Shelton threatened to shoot him. Lyons is told to have pulled out a knife and yelled, “i’m going to make you kill me!”
Shelton bopped Lyons on the head with a .44-caliber Smith & Wesson then shot him in the abdomen. “I told you give me my hat,” Shelton said before walking home. On Christmas Day, the pimp was arrested and, after two trials, sentenced to more than two decades in prison.
Killing of Kashmier James
On Christmas Day back in 2010, Kashmier James was shot nine times right in front of her 3-year-old daughter, Neveah. This happened right after James stepped out of her car. Police say three gang members were identified as suspects and believed to mistake James for someone else, per ABC 7 News.
The trio was charged with murder and attempted murder. In a news conference following the shooting, Neveah told the world, “Please help my mommy, please.” She also testified at their trial years later n 2015, asking the men why they haven’t apologized for taking her mother away and saying she’s still frightened from that night.
“You are supposed to love people, not hurt and kill them,” she said. Two of the men received life sentences and the third, 40 years to life in prison.
Abandoned Toddler
On December 21, 2023 , Jackson, Mississippi residents called the police after a man named Herman Coleman allegedly brought a baby to their steps, claiming the baby boy he was having trouble breathing and eating.
Jackson Police Chief Joseph Wade said 1-year-old named Protégé Hunter was found with a massive amount of trauma and bruises to the body. After being transferred to the hospital, the baby died, succumbing to his injuries. The chief said the boy’s mother, Yolanda Hunter, was brought to the station for questioning and charged with felony child abuse the following day but was released from jail after making bail.
The two are currently on the run from capital murder charges.
Mother’s Call for Help Gone Wrong
Instead of wrapping presents or decorating a Christmas tree, 27-year-old Nina Finlayson called the police on Dec. 4 to report a domestic dispute with her ex-boyfriend. According to a statement from the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department, the dispatcher recalled hearing screams and the sounds of a struggle in the background while on the phone.
Officers said they located Finlayson inside the home with her 9-year-old daughter, armed with a knife threatening to stab her ex-boyfriend. Her family said she was armed to protect herself because the man has injured her and her daughter in the past. However, police claimed that Finlayson allegedly walked toward the man with a knife, and one responding officer fired several times at her. She died on the scene.
Christmas Car Robbery
On Christmas Eve, a group of three sisters in San Francisco were driving back home to the airport after spending time with their family. A Newsweek report says the three stopped at the Mission District to grab something to eat but when they returned to their car, they realized someone had broken in and stolen their gifts and pieces of their luggage.
However, as the suspect ran, the sisters found he ditched items on the sidewalk because they’d been larger and had more weight.
Murder of Harry and Harriette Moore
The Civil Rights power couple founded a chapter of the NAACP in Brevard County, Fla. The two were teachers but worked to help Black people vote, investigated hate crimes and overall fought for racial equality. They both fought in the Groveland case where four Black men were wrongfully convicted of raping a woman. However Christmas night in 1951, a handmade explosive of dynamite detonated under the couple’s bed.
Harry died on his way to the hospital, and Harriette died nine days later. It was found 50 years later that four KKK members were behind the killing and no one was arrested.
Club Q Shooting
Just as the holiday season was approaching, five people were killed and 19 were injured while partying at an LGBT+ club in Colorado Springs. Anderson Lee Aldrich walked into the club the night of Nov. 19, 2022 with an AR-15 style semiautomatic rifle, per The AP.
As the bar patrons dove for cover, one Navy petty officer disarmed the shooter and beat them down before the police arrived. Aldrich , who was found to hold neo-Nazi beliefs, was sentenced to over 2,000 years in prison on five counts of first-degree murder and 46 counts of attempted murder.
Chilling Killing of Sam Cooke
In December of 1964, soul, gospel and rock legend Sam Cooke shot and killed. According to PEOPLE, the 33-year-old spent his last night at a chic restaurant in LA. with Elisa Boyer, then headed to his hotel. Boyer said once the two got to the room, she feared Cooke was going rape her. When he went into the bathroom she fled and called the police.
Cooke allegedly assaulted the motel manager, Bertha Franklin, demanding to know where Boyer had gone. Franklin said she grabbed her pistol and shot him three times. Some believe there’s more to the story.
One theory suggests Boyer and Franklin conspired to lure Cooke to the hotel and rob him of his money. Another detail revealed that the bullet that killed Cooke didn’t match Franklin’s firearm. Others believe Cooke’s turn from love-song singer to civil rights activist had made him another target for the feds.
Waffle House Brawl
A Christmas-time Waffle House brawl seems to be an annual occurrence but this one went viral.
On Christmas Day in 2022, a man named Roderick Ramone Brown was allegedly served the wrong order at a Waffle House in Georgia. From there, sheer chaos ensued. Videos of the incident showed restaurant patrons hopping over the cooking counters, punches being thrown between patrons and cooks, workers throwing and breaking coffee cups and more. Two people were arrested in connection to the incident, according to Insider.
Dayton, Ohio Christmas Killing Spree
On Christmas Eve of 1992, Marvallous Keene, Heather Matthews, DeMarcus Smith and Laua Taylor – a group of runaway teenagers nicknamed “The Downtown Posse” -brought terror to Dayton, Ohio.
According to a WHIOTV 7 report, the group launched a killing campaign. They shot and killed a General Motors worker, a teenager using a payphone, another teen who was the ex of one of the Posse’s members and then, a mother who was working at a mini mart. Most of the victims were looted of their money, belongings or vehicles.
The day after Christmas, the crew was approached by a Dayton Police sergeant who noticed their car was stolen. Upon being arrested, they confessed to killing two more people. The teens were all handed life in prison except one. Keene was sentenced to death and executed in 2009.
The Lynching of Willie Howard
On Christmas Day of 1943, 15-year-old Willie Howard sent off holiday cards to his coworkers at a shop in Live Oak, Fla. According to the Equal Justice Initiative, one of those cards went to a white girl, Cynthia, to whom he revealed he had a crush on, saying he hopes one day white people would like Black people.
Cynthia’s father read the letter and demanded to see Howard. Days following the New Year, he and his friends kidnapped Willie and his father and drove them to the freezing Suwanee River. They bound Willie by his hands and feet and told him to jump or be shot. He jumped in the water and drowned while his father watched being held at gunpoint.
Willie’s father was then forced to co-sign on a statement that Cynthia’s father made up, claiming Willie became hysterical and jumped into the water in fear of getting a whooping from his father.
Witchcraft Couple
Over in East London in 2010, 15-year-old Kristy Bamu was tortured and killed by his sister, Magalie, and her boyfriend Eric Bikubi because they believed he was overtaken by evil spirits.
According to The Guardian, Bamu was tortured with mental bars, a chisel and hammer and a pair of pliers. He also was denied sleep and food. On Christmas Day, he was weak and practically begged to be killed, so much so that he confessed to being a witch in hopes the violence would stop. Instead, he was placed into a bath of freezing water where he drowned.
Investigators say he suffered 101 injuries including deep cuts and missing teeth. The couple was sentenced to over 20 years in prison.
Cruel Death of Za’Zell Preston
Preston was a mother of three, studying to be a domestic violence counselor in Anaheim, Cali., according to The AP. However, in her own home, she dealt with brutal beatings from her husband, William Wallace.
Authorities say he’d previously went to prison for beating her. However, during a Christmas Eve party at a neighbor’s house, a pretty intense argument was overheard. Prosecutors say Wallace beat Preston to death that night, dragging her body from the bedroom and propping her up on the couch in the living room before propping sunglasses on her face.
“Mommy ruined Christmas, she got drunk and ruined Christmas,” he allegedly told the toddlers. He then allowed them to open their Christmas gifts in front of their mother’s rotting corpse.
Wallace was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison on second-degree murder charges.
Disputed Death of Tamla Horsford
Three years ago, just ahead of Thanksgiving, Tamla Horsford was found dead in a friend’s backyard. She had been invited to a slumber party where she’d been drinking, according to 11Alive News. Witnesses claimed Horsford went out on the balcony for a cigarette. She allegedly fell over the balcony to her death. However, the position of her body at the crime scene and an independent autopsy found inconsistencies in what led to her death.
Investigators suspected Horsford sustained injuries before she fell. It’s even uncertain whether she’d fallen at all, due to the absence of skull fractures and broken bones. After the story of her death went viral, many in the cyber world suspected it was a murder, given that Horsford was the only Black woman at the party, but that’s never been confirmed.
10-Year-Old Killed After Christmas
On New Years Eve, 10-year-old Keith “KJ” Frierson asked his mother if he could play with the new bike he received for Christmas. While outside, he was approached by another 10-year-old boy who had gone to fetch his father some cigarettes from the car. However, he also retrieved his firearm. According to the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office, the boy then bragged about his father having a gun and fatally shot KJ.
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