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From early releases to chilling second chances, these cases will make you question our criminal justice system. Join us as we explore notorious killers who were freed after serving time for their crimes. Our countdown includes Charles Sobhraj, Mary Bell, Karla Homolka, Pedro López and more shocking cases that prove some rehabilitation attempts have deadly consequences.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Salvatore Sammy the Bull Gravano, a notorious mafioso turned mob rat, is out of prison today.
00:06Welcome to WatchMojo.
00:08And today, we're exploring the infamous killers across the world who were released from prison
00:13following a conviction. We'll also be including criminals who were sentenced for a different
00:18offense and were released before becoming murderers.
00:21I don't think she expected to at all. I think that she expected to get me locked up
00:25and that she was going to walk away and go home. I don't think she expected to do a day.
00:31Arthur Bomar
00:32In 1978, Larry Carrier was murdered following an argument over a parking space that escalated.
00:38The killer, Bomar, was sentenced for the crime. Eleven years later, he was out on parole.
00:44Despite that, instead of changing his ways, Bomar was called back to prison on various charges.
00:50In 1996, Amy Willard, a student at Virginia's George Mason University, was assaulted and killed.
00:56The person that hurt Amy and took Amy has no idea what they've done. I mean,
01:02she was such an integral, vital part of life.
01:06For a while, the police had no one to charge. However, in 1997, that changed when Bomar was
01:12arrested for theft. DNA was taken from him that matched the culprit behind Willard's murder.
01:16In 1998, Bomar was sentenced to death.
01:20Forensics compares Bomar's DNA profile to semen taken from the victim's body. The result?
01:26A full genetic match.
01:29On December 10th, 1997, Bomar is charged with murder in the first degree,
01:35an offense for which the state announces it will seek the death penalty.
01:38This case caused Amy's Law to take effect in 2000, which places responsibility on states to
01:44keep violent criminals locked up. Marceline Harvey
01:48Is suspected of murdering and dismembering the victim.
01:51In 2022, a grisly discovery was made following Susan Layden's remains being located in New York City.
01:58This led the authorities to her flatmate, Harvey, who had a long and violent criminal history.
02:03Now a trans woman, she'd been convicted twice of taking lives.
02:07After combined sentences reaching nearly 55 years inside, Harvey was released on parole in 2019 due
02:18to her advanced age of 81. The investigation found CCTV footage of Harvey standing up from
02:24her motorized scooter in a store, seemingly showing her sitting on the evidence of the Layden crime.
02:30While she has confirmed her responsibility in killing Bonds and Miranda, Harvey has denied
02:35being behind Layden's murder. Marceline has maintained her innocence in his case,
02:41but has admitted to the first two murders. Catherine Wood. After meeting at the Alpine
02:45Manor nursing home in Walker, Michigan as nurse's aides, Wood and Gwendolyn Graham quickly morphed
02:50from colleagues to friends to lovers to accomplices as they took the residents' lives to seemingly impress
02:56each other. In 1987, within a month, the duo murdered five people. In 1988, after they'd broken up,
03:04Wood confessed to her ex-husband about the crimes who went to the cops. As part of a plea deal, Wood
03:09turned on Graham and claimed her former partner was the killer while she was a lookout.
03:14No matter what a jury found, and no matter what appellate judges have ruled, Graham and Wood were both
03:20nurses' aides at what was then Alpine Manor nursing home in Walker in the late 1980s. They were also
03:27a couple. While Graham was sentenced to five life sentences for the murders, Wood received between
03:3220 and 40 years. In 2020, Wood was granted parole and released from prison. Neighbors on alert as a
03:40serial killer moves in next door. Jiri Straka. In 1985, while most of the citizens in the former
03:46nation of Czechoslovakia, modern-day Czechia, were preparing celebrations for the gymnastic event
03:52Spartakiad, Straka, a teenager, had other, more deadly plans. Throughout Prague, he began assaulting
03:59and robbing women, eventually leading to him taking their lives, too. After one surviving victim spoke
04:05to the police about what happened, Straka was arrested and charged with taking three lives.
04:10Due to being a minor while committing the atrocious crimes, Straka escaped capital punishment and instead
04:16received the maximum sentence of ten years, which he spent a portion of in a psychiatric hospital.
04:21In 2004, Straka was released, later changing his name, moving to another town and staying away from
04:28crime. John A. Brown David Aikman, better known as Stringbean, was a popular musician and comedian
04:35who was in entertainment for decades, including being a cast member of the TV show Hee Haw. However,
04:41in 1973, Stringbean and his wife, Estelle, were killed during a robbery at their home in Ridgetop,
04:48Tennessee. After hearing that the couple had a stash of cash in their cabin, cousins John and Marvin
04:53Brown ambushed them when they returned, taking their lives. The Browns were convicted, earning them both
04:59two life sentences in jail. In 2003, Marvin passed away from natural causes.
05:04John Brown is now a free man. In 1973, he was convicted of murdering Opry member David Stringbean
05:11Aikman and his wife, Estelle. News Channel 5's Andrea Klein-Thomas was there as he was released
05:16from prison and tells us what's next. Yeah, just to put it into perspective, the last time John Brown
05:20was free, Nixon was president. In 2014, after serving 41 years, John was released, despite outrage from
05:29Stringbean and Estelle's friends and family. Today, John Brown was released from prison. Despite being
05:35sentenced to 198 years, he was paroled last month. He left jail inside this white van, a free man.
05:43The brothers who witnessed Nashville history together say it's a disgrace.
05:47Henry Lee Lucas In 1960, while serving with his sister in
05:51Tecumsef, Michigan, Lucas got into an argument when his mother visited. It quickly escalated when
05:56she allegedly struck him, leading to Lucas taking her life before running away. He was eventually
06:01tracked down and sentenced to 40 years in jail. However, in 1970, after stints in psychiatric
06:07hospitals, Lucas was released due to overcrowding at the prison. From here, he would go on to meet
06:12Otis Toole, committing murders together as Lucas was handed the moniker of the Confession Killer,
06:17for claiming to have taken hundreds of lives, which he later recanted.
06:21And I'll even admit to the crime. Nicknamed the Confession Killer. Lucas was convicted of
06:27multiple murders, earning him the death penalty, which was later changed to life imprisonment.
06:31In 2001, he passed away. She's a woman. Investigators say convicted serial killer
06:37Henry Lee Lucas confessed to killing.
06:42A Netflix documentary profiled his killing spree, but he later recanted many of his confessions
06:48and died in prison. Salvatore Sammy the Bull Gravano
06:52Salvatore Sammy the Bull Gravano, a notorious mafioso turned mob rat, is out of prison today.
06:59In 1988, Gravano graduated to an underboss in New York City's Gambino crime family. However,
07:05in 1990, he, along with others in the family, including boss John Gotti, was arrested following
07:11an investigation by the FBI. Alongside other charges, the authorities had overheard via a wiretap
07:17that Gotti confessed to several murders. However, the tapes also featured Gotti insulting Gravano,
07:23causing the underboss to turn state's evidence against his former leader. During the trial,
07:28Gravano confessed to being involved in 19 murders. As such, he was sentenced to five years. However,
07:34having already served four years in prison, Gravano was released after a year. However,
07:39in 2002, he was sentenced to 20 years for substance trafficking, before being released again in 2017.
07:46That's against our rules, our principles. We would never get away with something like that.
07:52Robert Thompson and John Venables. He was convicted for a murder he committed at just
07:5710 years old. And John Venables was convicted again as an adult.
08:01In 1993, James Bulger vanished from a shopping center in Boodle, England. Days later,
08:06his body was found. It soon emerged that the people responsible for this horrible crime were
08:11Thompson and Venables, who were spotted on CCTV leading Bulger away from the center.
08:15The duo became one of the youngest convicted murderers in UK history, earning them an indefinite
08:21sentence in jail. In 2001, they were released after turning 18, having their identities concealed.
08:28But Venables was back behind bars in 2010, after indecent images of children were found on his
08:33computer. Just one of the reasons why in May this year, James Bulger's mother argued he shouldn't get
08:39parole. However, in 2010, Venables was arrested for violating his parole by possessing indecent
08:45material, earning him a two-year sentence. While he was released in 2013, Venables was re-arrested
08:52for gathering more indecent material, earning him a further three years and four months in jail
08:57in 2018.
08:59The murderers of Junko Furuta In 1988, high school student Furuta vanished
09:05as she walked home from her part-time job in Tokyo, Japan. While the authorities and her family searched
09:10for her, Furuta was being held captive by Hiroshi Miyano, Ju Agura, Shinji Minato, and Yasushi Watanabe,
09:18a group of teenagers working for the Yakuza. For 44 days, they tormented and assaulted her before taking
09:24her life. Over a year later, in 1989, when arrested for an unrelated crime, Miyano confessed to Furuta's
09:32murder and showed the police her body, which was located within a drum of concrete. The group received
09:37various sentences ranging from three to twenty years in jail. Each killer was eventually released,
09:43with only one Watanabe not having any other legal issues afterwards. Charles Sobhraj
09:49After years of committing petty crimes throughout Asia, Sobhraj moved on to murder in 1975.
09:56The French nationalist would primarily target Western tourists, taking at least 12 lives.
10:02And as you may know, Americans do not prosper in this part of the world.
10:06In 1976, Sobhraj was arrested in India and was sentenced to 12 years for several murders.
10:13In 1997, he was released and went back to France. However, when he traveled to Nepal in 2003 to open a
10:19business, he was arrested for a killing he'd also committed there. The following year, the serial
10:24killer known as The Serpent was sentenced to life. In 2022, Sobhraj was released from jail due to his
10:31advanced age of 78. He was immediately deported from Nepal and banned from the country for 10 years.
10:37As he returned to France… once again…
10:40From where are you taking this number? You are exactly as many the victim of brainwashing by the media.
10:51Graham Burton
10:53New Zealander Graham Burton got heavily into substances as a teen and young adult while under
10:58the care of his adoptive mother. In 1992, while under the influence of both alcohol and drugs,
11:04Burton stabbed and killed a nightclub lighting technician named Paul Anderson. He was sentenced to life in
11:09prison but spent just 14 years inside before he was paroled in 2006. It was requested that Burton be
11:16slowly reintegrated into society with the help of home leave, but he was fully released into the custody
11:22of his biological mother. But in January 2007, Burton went on a crime spree that left one other person
11:29dead. He was shot in the leg and taken back to prison, having received another life sentence.
11:34Timothy Chavira
11:36Back in 1986, 23-year-old Timothy Chavira killed his stepmother, Lori Ann Chavira, and stashed her body
11:44in the trunk of a car. The vehicle was later found abandoned in Burbank, California, and Chavira was
11:49found guilty of homicide. He was sentenced to life in prison and spent approximately 30 years inside
11:55before he was released on parole in July of 2017. Chavira was out for over two years before he killed a
12:02retired doctor named Edita Cruz de Leon in December 2019. He was arrested for the crime two weeks later,
12:09pled guilty, and was given a second life sentence at the age of 57.
12:15David Cook
12:16This man was serving time in prison in the 1980s for various robberies when he became pen pals with a
12:21woman named Beryl Maynard. David Cook was eventually released from prison, but when he was, he met and
12:27strangled Maynard to death. He was sentenced to life in prison in the 80s and served about 20 years of
12:33the sentence before he was paroled in 2009. Following his release from prison, he moved next door to a
12:39man named Leonard Hill. But with a supposed financial motive, Cook strangled and killed Hill. He was found
12:46guilty and sentenced once again to life in prison. He remained imprisoned for the rest of his life,
12:51eventually dying of COVID in December 2020 at the age of 74.
12:57Albert Flick
12:58A repeat offender, Albert Flick has been in and out of prison throughout most of his life.
13:04In January 1979, his wife Sandra filed for divorce and Flick killed her in response. He spent 21 years
13:11in prison for the crime before getting released on good behavior in 2000. He was sent back to prison in
13:172007 after stabbing his girlfriend with a fork. He was released again in 2010 and he committed violence
13:23again, this time hitting another woman with a knife. He was released yet again in 2016 and met a woman
13:30and mother named Kimberly Dobby. In fact, if prosecutors had gotten what they wanted in 2010,
13:36Albert Flick may have still been behind bars. He developed an unhealthy obsession with Dobby and
13:41stabbed her to death on July 15, 2018. The 77-year-old was given a 25-year sentence in return.
13:48Malcolm B. Benson
13:50In 1995, Michigan man Malcolm B. Benson pled no contest to a second-degree homicide charge
13:57and was sentenced to between 20 and 40 years in prison. This came as a result of a plea deal.
14:02Benson was originally charged with first-degree homicide and if found guilty, he would be sentenced to life.
14:08By pleading no contest to second-degree, he was given the lighter sentence.
14:13Furthermore, a good behavior credit system allowed him to leave prison in early 2015,
14:18having served 19 years. Nine months after his January release, Benson walked up to Army veteran
14:24Stanley Carter at a bus stop and shot him. Carter later died in a nearby parking lot and Benson was
14:30sent back to prison with a life sentence. Mary Bell
14:34A very controversial case, Mary Bell is currently the youngest female killer in British history.
14:40When she was just a young girl, Bell strangled and killed Martin Brown and Brian Howe. The incidents
14:46occurred two months apart, with Brown's death taking place in May 1968 and Howe's the following July.
14:52Following an investigation, Bell was charged on August 7 and met it with complete indifference.
14:58She was found to suffer from psychopathic personality disorder and convicted of manslaughter. She spent
15:04over 11 years in custody before getting released in 1980. She has lived the rest of her life in
15:09anonymity and is known to have both a daughter and granddaughter.
15:14Juha Valiokala A Finnish killer, Juha Valiokala committed three homicides in the
15:20Omsella area of Sweden the night of July 3, 1988. Valiokala stole a bike and was chased to the local
15:28cemetery by Sten Nilsen and his teenage son. In return, both were shot and killed inside the cemetery
15:34by Valiokala. Nilsen's wife Ava then went looking for her husband and son, as they had not returned to
15:40the house. She too was ambushed and killed by Valiokala. He and his then-girlfriend were eventually caught
15:46in Denmark, but only he was sentenced to life in prison. After various escapes, he was officially
15:52released in February 2008, having served just under 20 years. Valiokala changed his name to
15:58Nikita Berrienstrom in 2013. Arthur Shawcross
16:04This is arguably one of the most infamous cases of an early release leading to even further disaster.
16:10In May of 1972, Shawcross assaulted and killed a boy named Jack Blake.
16:15He struck again four months later in September, doing the same thing to Karen Hill.
16:20Both killings occurred in the city of Watertown, New York. In a highly controversial decision that
16:25defied the advice of psychiatrists, Shawcross was released from prison in 1987 after serving 14 years.
16:32Had Shawcross been held responsible for murder in the second degree and received what would have been a
16:40well-deserved maximum sentence of 25 to life at the time. I know one thing as sure as I'm sitting here,
16:46he would not have committed these other homicides. Between 1988 and December 1989,
16:51Shawcross took the lives of at least 11 women and was named the Genesee River Killer.
16:55I was convicted of 11, suspected of 19 more, and I'm not going no farther.
17:02He was arrested in January 1990 and spent the rest of his life in prison, having died of cardiac arrest
17:08at the age of 63. Kenneth McDuff
17:12Also known as the Broomstick Killer, Kenneth McDuff is responsible for at least nine deaths,
17:18but is believed to have killed many more. He got his thrills from causing pain and causing terror.
17:25Women were less than human to him. They were something to be used and used up, as he said.
17:30The so-called broomstick murders occurred on the night of August 6, 1966, in the city of Everman,
17:36Texas. He killed three people, including Edna Sullivan, whom he sexually assaulted and choked with
17:42a broomstick, leading to his moniker. McDuff was ordered to be executed for his crimes,
17:47but his sentence was commuted to life, and he was later released on parole in 1989.
17:53He committed further crimes after being released and killed six women between 1989 and 1992.
17:59McDuff was once again sentenced for execution, and it was carried out on November 17, 1998.
18:05His last words were, release me. And that summarizes the murderous life of Kenneth Allen
18:12Magduff. To the very end, he considered himself the victim. He considered himself the object of
18:21oppression. David McGreevey. This man from Lancashire, England was first court-martialed
18:26from the Navy and then kicked out of his family home. Now both homeless and without a job, he went
18:32on to live with a friend named Clive Ralph. Ralph was a truck driver and was often away from home,
18:38and Ralph's wife Elsie was a bartender who worked late nights. As a result,
18:42McGreevey took to babysitting the couple's three young children. David McGreevey showed
18:47no signs of the monster he would become. To others, he appeared placid and friendly.
18:54Neighbors remembered this man as educated, knowing the difference between right and wrong,
18:59a bit of a know-it-all. On the night of April 13, 1973, a drunk McGreevey killed the three of them in a
19:06fit of rage and displayed what he did to them on the neighbor's fence. He spent nearly 50 years in
19:12prison before he was considered rehabilitated and released on parole in December 2018.
19:18Arnfin Nesset Beginning in 1977,
19:22this Norwegian man began working as a nursing home manager in the municipality of Orkdal.
19:27Nearly five years after his hiring, Nesset confessed to killing dozens of patients by injecting them with
19:32an anesthetic. He admitted to killing 27 patients and was eventually convicted of 22. However,
19:39it's believed that Nesset may be responsible for up to 138 deaths. He was given the then-maximum
19:45sentence in Norway, which was 21 years. But thanks to his good behavior inside, Nesset was freed after
19:51serving 12. He then took on a new name and as of 2022, is living as a free man.
19:58Mitchell Johnson and Andrew Golden On March 24, 1998, Mitchell
20:03Johnson and Andrew Golden committed fatal crimes at Westside School in Craighead County, Arkansas.
20:09Using various firearms, Johnson and Golden killed five people, four students and one teacher, and
20:15injured a further ten. At the time, it was the deadliest incident to occur in a non-college school.
20:21Both perpetrators were arrested and tried as juveniles. Under Arkansas state law, they were ordered to
20:27remain in prison until they turned 21. As a result, Johnson served seven years and Golden served nine.
20:34Johnson continued to get into legal trouble for various charges since his release in 2005,
20:39and Golden died in a car accident July 27, 2019. Wolfgang Abel and Marco Furlan
20:47These two met in high school and bonded over their extremist views. Beginning August of 1977,
20:53they enacted their plan to clean up the streets of Europe and targeted people who were gay,
20:58people who had substance use disorders, sex workers, and more. At the site of each killing,
21:04the duo left behind a leaflet emblazoned with Nazi imagery and proclaimed their slogan and motives.
21:10It's believed that Abel and Furlan were responsible for between 10 and 28 deaths throughout their seven-year
21:16spree. Both were eventually sentenced to 30 years in prison. Abel was given house arrest in 2009
21:23and was officially freed in 2016. Furlan was released from prison in November 2010.
21:30Louis VanScore
21:32I've read a lot of newspaper articles where they've called me a serial killer,
21:37a mass murderer. I don't agree with that. I was a crime fighter.
21:41Hailing from South Africa, Louis VanScore is commonly known as the apartheid killer.
21:47Between 1986 and 89, VanScore worked as a security guard and targeted black and mixed-race individuals.
21:54It's believed that VanScore would most often kill those who were in the process of surrendering,
21:58and in some cases, he even snatched passerbys off the street and killed them on the guarded premises.
22:04The loose South African laws of the time, combined with the institutional racism of apartheid,
22:09allowed VanScore to walk free again and again. His true body count is unknown,
22:14although he was eventually convicted of 9 homicides and sentenced to 20 years.
22:19He served 12 and was released in 2004.
22:23Mika Muranen
22:24In 1994, Finnish man Mika Muranen was serving in the country's military.
22:30In April of that year, Muranen stole a weapon from the military and made his way home to the city of
22:34Kötka, which lies on the southern shore of the country. After taking a crossbow from his home,
22:39Muranen embarked on a two-day killing spree that claimed the lives of three people.
22:44Muranen shot two neighbors with a crossbow on April 18, and the next day killed a mailman with the
22:49assault rifle he had previously stolen. After a chase of the police, Muranen was apprehended
22:55and sentenced to life in prison. He served 20 years and was released on parole in 2014.
23:02Charlene Gallego
23:03This woman was one half of the love slave killers, alongside her husband, Gerald. Between 1978 and
23:111980, the Gallegos prowled the streets of Sacramento, California, and killed 10 people. The couple would
23:17often abduct their victims from the likes of malls, fairs, and bars. The victims would then be subjected
23:28to sexual assault before getting killed. Following their capture, Charlene Gallego was granted a
23:34lenient plea deal and offered a light sentence in exchange for testifying against her husband.
23:39She was given 16 years, while Gerald Gallego was sentenced to death, though he died of cancer in
23:452002 before his sentence could be carried out. Charlene Gallego was freed five years earlier, in 1997.
23:53Alexander Rubel
23:55Between 1997 and 1998, teenager Alexander Rubel killed at least six people in the Estonian city of Tallinn.
24:02His first victim was a neighbor named Tunu Pold, whom Rubel killed on September 19, 1997.
24:09For one homicide, Rubel was aided by his father, Andre, who received a prison sentence of seven years in
24:15return. His final homicide came in June of 1998, when he killed Alice Sivas. Rubel was tried as a
24:22minor and as a result was given a sentence of eight years. This was the maximum sentence that
24:27was allowed to be given to a minor under Estonian law. Rubel was released on June 8, 2006 at the age
24:33of 25 and has since changed his name. Carla Homolka
24:37This Canadian serial killer is infamous for both her crimes and her insufficient punishment.
24:43Throughout the early 90s, Homolka and her husband Paul Bernardo killed three people,
24:48including Homolka's younger sister. Tammy Homolka was their first victim,
24:52as she choked on her own vomit after being drugged by her sister and brother-in-law.
24:57Tammy Homolka's unexpected death would not signal the end of Paul and Carla's deviant games.
25:03When they were finally apprehended, Homolka tricked the investigators and diminished her role in the
25:08killings. Like Charlene Gallego, she was given a lenient sentence in return for testifying against
25:13Bernardo. She was released in 2005 and subsequently married and had three children.
25:19Since then, she's kept a low profile, going by the name Leanne Thiel, and for the past two years,
25:24she has reportedly lived in this suburb south of Montreal with her husband and their three children.
25:29The Lions Angels of Death
25:31This moniker refers to four Austrian nurses' aides who intentionally killed their patients while
25:36working in Vienna. The first death came in 1983, when Waltraut Wagner killed a patient with
25:42morphine. Three others joined Wagner and they killed their subjects by pouring water down their
25:47throats. It's common for elderly patients to have fluid in their lungs, so this method of death hid
25:53the women from culpability and didn't raise questions. As a result, the Angels of Death were able to
25:59operate for six years. The true number of victims is unknown. While some believe that it is in the hundreds,
26:05the women confessed to 49. They were given various sentences, ranging from 15 years to life.
26:11Regardless, all four have since been released.
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26:31Pedro Lopez
26:33Known as the monster of the Andes, Pedro Lopez is currently the second most prolific serial killer
26:38in recorded history. Between 1969 and 1980, Lopez claimed the lives of at least 110 girls throughout
26:46northern South America. However, Lopez personally claims to have killed over 300 at a rate of three
26:52victims per week. He seemed like an ordinary person. It was unbelievable that this man killed so many
26:58little girls. He was finally arrested in 1980 and remained imprisoned until 1994. However, Lopez was
27:05quickly re-arrested and sent to a mental institution in his native Colombia. He remained there for four
27:11years and was released in 1998. He was released with two conditions. He had to continue to receive
27:17psychiatric treatment and report once a month to a judge. Following his release, Pedro Lopez disappeared
27:23from record and neither his location nor his status are known as of 2022. Did we miss any other infamous
27:31stories of convicted killers being released from jail? Let us know below.
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