Morbidology

Over the past decade and a half, the rise of smartphones and social media has combined, making it all too easy for teenagers to live their lives online. Understandably, many parents worry about what takes place behind the veil of secrecy of the internet. Many wonder if their children are being bullied or talking to people that they shouldn’t be. In Surrey in 2014, the case of Breck Bednar was a ch...

In Augusta, Maine, in 2001, a little girl was found dead in a turned over high-chair in the unfinished basement of her foster home. Nothing reveals more about a society than the welfare of its own children and the death led to public outrage, legislative hearings, and changes in the way Maine cares for its most vulnerable children. The case became a chilling reminder that it’s a misconception that...

Children are among the most vulnerable members within our community and great lengths are taken to protect them at all costs. Adults – especially parents – have a responsibility to protect youngsters and it’s one that isn’t taken lightly. The schoolyard is patrolled by teachers, at the playground, parents watch like hawks, and tiny hands are grasped tightly while out in public. There are also soci...

Bend is a picturesque former lumber town at the foot of the Cascade Range in Oregon. Over the years, the population of Bend has risen exponentially. People are drawn to the area by its warm climate, its hiking, skiing, fishing, and cycling opportunities as well as its breweries. But in summer of 2016, a string of crimes sent shock waves throughout the town. Even more shocking was that when the per...

It was around 1:40AM on the 28th of November, 2001, when firefighters in Chester, South Carolina, were alerted to a fire in a home on Slick Rock Road. When they arrived on the scene, they initially, believed that the home was empty. However, after extinguishing the flames, they found the bodies of 66-year-old Joe Pittman and his wife, 62-year-old Joy, in their bed on the second floor. They were in...

In 2011, Tampa police were conducting a welfare check on a family in the upmarket gated community of Royal Park Court in Tampa Palms, Florida. When they arrived on scene, they discovered somebody sitting on the porch, spattered almost head to toe in blood. What they found inside traumatized even the most seasoned officers, so much so, that a stress team needed to be called in for specialized couns...

The 2000 disappearance of teenager Leanne Tiernan from Bramley, Leeds, sparked one of the largest manhunts in West Yorkshire Police’s History. During the painstaking search, police officers visited more than 10,000 homes and scoured almost 40 drains. Leanne’s disappearance led to a first in British criminal investigation and unmasked a prolific sexual predator known locally as the Pet Man. PANDIA...

The purpose of the police is to protect and serve but what happens when a failure on their behalf leads to the death of a young woman? Well in Gateshead, Newcastle, in 2016, this is exactly what happened. There were missed opportunities and procedural failings by police and the army when 24-year-old Alice Ruggles contacted them for help and for protection while being the victim of a stalking campa...

The two most common early signs of domestic violence are jealousy and controlling behaviour. It’s easy for people to say: “why don’t they just leave?” but statistics show that up to 75% of abused women who are murdered are murdered after they leave their partners. Domestic violence comes on not like a tsunami but as a steady wave, said Kit Gruelle, a survivor of domestic violence. Too often, many...

The intellectually disabled are among the most vulnerable within the community. While many can lead normal lives, including holding down a job and raising a family, there are a number that sadly suffer in silence and need that extra bit of help. In an ideal world, those that struggle mentally would have a mentor or a guardian that have their very best interests at heart and assist them with their...

Redlands is a tranquil city in San Bernardino County, California. It’s known for its gracious Victorian homes, the Lincoln Shrine, acres of orange groves and low crime rate. While many surrounding cities are rife with gang violence and random street violence, residents of this bucolic city like to think that they inhabit an oasis. But throughout the 1990s, a wave of youth violence rocked the city...

Lancashire is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is made up of beautiful and lush countryside and charming villages. One of the most gorgeous villages in the area is arguably Helmshore. This quaint village has the River Ogden running through it and the majority of the homes are brick faced and nostalgically attractive. In 2016, however, a jealous obsession was brewing in Helmshore, one...

Mass shootings have become such a part of American life that a simple word can evoke them from the nation’s collective memory. For example, Columbine, Sandy Hook and Luby’s. One thing you’ll notice about almost all mass shootings is that the perpetrator is male. Female mass shooters are rare. Female mass shooters that target their place of employment are even rarer. But in Goleta, California, in 2...

During the 1960s, hitchhiking was a common occurrence in Britain as well as across the United States and Canada. It was seen as an easy and cheap way to get from place to place and maybe meet some new friends along the way. While the Moors Murders happened between 1963 and 1965, many Britons felt as though this was a terrible one-off and it didn’t deter them from hitchhiking. While nowadays, a chi...

Bermuda is a British dependent territory in the North Atlantic Ocean, just around 590 miles off the United States Coast. It isn’t a third-world country or a struggling developing nation. It has the one of the highest per capital incomes in the world. In 1996, it had a population of around 60,000 and prided itself on its low crime rate, white sandy beaches and golf courses. Because of this, Bermuda...

Just as families across the world were settling down to celebrate Easter Sunday with their loved ones, a brutal crime scene was being discovered in Fresno, California. East Park Circle Drive was affluent neighborhood in Southern California. The half-a-million-dollar homes were well-kept and their gardens well-manicured. The murders stunned the community and highlighted the fact that violent murder...

Colchester is a town in the county of Essex. It is known for being a market town and holds one of the most popular markets in North Essex. In 2014, the small town was rocked by two extremely brutal murders and the investigation to catch the killer was one of the biggest carried out by Essex Police. The town was held on edge as the spectre of a serial killer loomed over. Sales of stab proof vests r...

Potsdam is a small college town in New York of around 9,400 residents. It is located around 20 miles from the Canadian border and has an active downtown strip from the 1950s which morphs into the usually combination of strip malls and chain stores. It is predominantly white. In 2010, it was almost 90% white and less than 3% black. On the 24th of October, 2011, a young boy lay dead on his apartment...

In the grim lifestyles of homeless youths, instant and transitionary friendships are as routine as day and night. In the late 1980s in Sydney, New South Wales, a group of transient youngsters drifted in and out of each other’s lives just as easily as they drifted around Sydney’s streets and the city’s rail system. Studies have indicated that a common characteristic of young violent offenders is th...

One of the most terrifying things in the world for young African American men is knowing that certain people can feel threatened by you, simply by existing. Black blindness is a phenomenon that makes white cops see an imaginary gun on an African American man during a routine traffic stop. Sometimes, it can go hand in hand with the Stand your Ground Law. In 2012, the Tampa Bay Times found that thos...

For a lot of students, middle school is the place for a number of big changes in their life: a new campus, new teachers and even new friends. It is also a time when a lot of teenagers try to find out who they truly are and experimenting in any direction is completely normal. However, sadly middle school can also be a place where bullies target those who they feel are not conforming to the expected...

Almost every single day, children pay for the bad choices that adults make. They’re left to die in hot cars. They’re sent into foster care while their parents make their way through the prison system. They’re left in sleazy motels while their guardian tries to get their next drug fix. They’re sexually abused or beaten by a relative supposed to care for them. Sometimes the simple proximity to bad d...

Chuck E. Cheese's has long been a place where parents take their children for a good and affordable time. This simple restaurant is complemented by arcade games, amusement rides and animatronic displays. It is synonymous with family fun. But on a crisp winter night in Aurora Colorado in December of 1993, this family style restaurant was the scene of a mass shooting that highlighted just how easily...

The internet provides a cloak for monsters with nefarious thoughts and ideas. It provides these seedy characters easy access to freely consume our homes, thoughts, and lives. Social media is virtually an invisible world. A place where people can choose to be whatever – or whoever – they want to be. Of course, the internet can be a fantastic place for children and teenagers to explore their interes...

It’s said that your teenage years are the most formative years of your life. They’re the years for finding yourself. Yeah, we’re all familiar with that cheesy cliché. But then there was Devon Guzman from Easton, Pennsylvania. At just 19-years-old, Devon knew exactly who she was. Openly gay, she drove around with a rainbow flag on the bumper of her car, always attracting an unamused glance from the...