10 Obsessive Lovers Who Responded To Heartbreak With Savage Murder
People do crazy stuff when they’re in love. They Facebook stalk to the point of finding prom photos, they pull a Lloyd Dobler and blast music from boom boxes outside of windows, they even get really regrettable tattoos of names and faces and singlehandedly keep laser removal in business. But every now and then someone takes the cake and does the craziest thing of all in the name of love: they kill.
Kind of makes you feel okay for being single and watching movies alone, huh?
Eric McLean
In March of 2007 Eric McLean shot and killed 18-year-old Scott Powell who was waiting in his car outside of McLean’s house. The high school student had been having an affair was McLean’s wife, Erin, who was his English TA. Eric had suspected that his wife had been up to something as she was constantly talking about one of her students (Scott Powell) in an almost obsessive manner, and the couple’s two young sons told their father about outings with their mom and her “friend.” Erin didn’t do much to hide the affair from her husband who, when asked why he didn’t simply leave his cheating wife said, “Because I love her.”
Eric McLean was convicted of reckless homicide in 2008, and served no jail time. He later won a custody battle for his songs against his ex-wife who had ANOTHER affair with a student in 2009.
Els Clottemans
If you’ve always been afraid to go skydiving read about Els Clottemans at your own risk.
Dubbed “The Parachute Murder” by the Belgian Media, Els Clottemans was convicted of the first degree murder of fellow skydiver Els Van Doren in 2006. Both women were romantically linked to Marcel Somers, and although Clottemans went on record saying she didn’t mind being his “number two” a jury felt a little differently. Police first suspected Clottemans after she attempted suicide, presumably out of guilt, after speaking to them. She then continually tried to contact both Somers and Van Doren’s family, and investigators came to the conclusion that she wanted Somers all to herself. After reviewing both the tape that had been on Van Doren’s helmet during her 2 mile plummet (yeah, it was recorded) and the evidence showing that the lines of her parachutes had been cut, Clottemans was sentenced to 30 years in prison. Her first appeal was denied.
Rachel Wade
I knew teenaged girls had a tendency to get crazy over boys, but the fight between Rachel Wade and Sarah Luddeman over Joshua Camacho was above and beyond crazy.
After Rachel and Joshua had broken up, he started dating Sarah Luddeman. Rachel and Sarah had a heated rivalry over this boy. Police had spoken to Sarah roughly once a month in the six months she’d been dating Joshua about harassment from Rachel. The girls would show up to each other’s work to taunt the other, Rachel would leave volatile voicemails and Facebook posts threatening Sarah, and eventually one night April things came to a grisly boiling point.
Sarah went to confront Rachel on the night of April 14th after hearing Rachel scream, “I’m going to stab you and your Mexican boyfriend,” at her as she drove by. Both girls allegedly lunged at each other but Rachel pulled out a steak knife and repeatedly stabbed Sarah, eventually hitting her heart. When the fight was over Rachel threw the murder weapon into the neighbors yard and calmly said, “I’m done.” She is currently serving 27 years in a prison in Florida.
Leslie Hylton
In the 1940s Leslie Hylton, a test cricket player from Jamaica, fell for Lurline Rose the daughter of the Police Inspector. Their relationship had caused controversy because of the difference in class between the two, but despite her disapproving parents and the family’s efforts to squash the relationship, love won out and the two were married in 1942.
Fast forward to 1954 and the love that triumphed over all had taken a disastrous turn.
Leslie had begun receiving anonymous letters stating that his wife was cheating on him while she was away in New York City attending to her dressmaking business. Despite Lurline’s insistence that Roy Francis (the alleged other man ) was merely an acquaintance, eventually she gave in and confessed that she had been cheating on her husband and that it was because he was such a lower class and that “the sight of him made her sick.”
Leslie then grabbed a shotgun off the wall and shot Lurline. He claimed he had been trying to commit suicide and missed, but the seven bullets recovered from Lurline’s body proved otherwise. He was convicted of murder and hanged for his crime in 1955.
Sixto Balbuena
Back in 2010 21-year-old Sixto Balbuena came home to find his finaceé, 48-year-old Tamara Hoffman, cheating on him with another man. The two had begun their relationship a few years prior when Tamara was his teacher. He had come upstairs in their Arizona home after hearing a strange noise, and allegedly feared for her safety. What he found was her in bed with 18-year-old Samual Valdivia, another one of her students who she’d gotten involved with. He stabbed Samual multiple times, and despite claiming he’d only meant to “teach him a lesson” Sixto told police that the knife “went into him like butter.”
He will be up for release in 2020.
Clara Harris
In 2002 Clara Harris found out her husband, David Linn Harris, had been cheating on her with his secretary. Clara had hired a private investigator who notified her that her husband and his mistress were at a Texas Hilton, and she went to confront them.After getting into an altercation with Gail Bridges (the mistress), Clara was removed from the hotel and escorted back to her Mercedes Benz where her step-daughter was waiting in the passenger seat. Clara circled the hotel, waiting for her husband and Gail to leave, and upon seeing them ran David over three times with his daughter in the car. Clara tried to claim that she didn’t know it was her husband, and that she would never have mean to kill him. But with her step-daughters eye-witness account, a video showing her park her car next to the dead body, and reports that she backed up for a round two and then three, Clara was convicted of first degree murder. She’ll be up for parole in two years.
Yvonne Chevalier
In the late 1940s, Yvonne Chevalier found herself in a completely unhappy marriage with her husband Pierre. Despite having several years and two sons together, Pierre would frequently leave Yvonne and the boys in Orleans, France and spend months without them in Paris. Reportedly he no longer loved Yvonne and even told her, “You disgust me.”
In 1951 Yvonne received an anonymous letter that stated her husband had been having an affair. She attempted to confront her husband in Paris about it but he refused to see her and had her sent back to Orleans. She was able to find out that it was their neighbor, Jeannette, and after an altercation with her that went nowhere came up with one final plan to attempt to save her marriage.
When Pierre was home in August Yvonne aimed a handgun on herself and insisted that if Pierre were to leave her, she’d kill herself. Her husband laughed and only requested that she wait until he left the room. So Yvonne turned the gun on him, and shot him four times. After making sure her children were with the maid, she came back to the body and shot him again in the back to make sure it was over, and then called the police and calmly waited for their arrival.
She was found not guilty of murder and lived out her days in French New Guinea with her sons.
Emilia Carr
In 2008 Emilia Carr was engaged to marry Joshua Damien Fulgham, who a month later turned around and married Heather Strong. Despite the drastic change in plans, the three remained civil and Emilia even babysit Heather’s kids for her. A year later, however, Joshua and Heather’s marriage was not a good one and she began seeing another man, while he started to see Emilia again. Joshua and Heather were also locked in a nasty custody battle for their children after the two filed for divorce.
In February of 2009, Heather went missing. Her remains were later found in a shallow grave a month later. After undercover audio where Emilia discussed her crimes with her sister was recovered, Emilia was arrested and charged with kidnapping and murder. That fateful day in February Emilia had tricked Heather into a storage unit on their property, duct taped her to a chair, and asphyxiated her with a plastic bag after being unable to break her neck.
She was convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to death. She is currently one of five women on death row in the state of Florida.
Shawna Nelson
Shawna Nelson had been involved in a 3 year affair with Ignacio Garraus, who was married to Heather Garraus. Though Shawna and Ignacio had a child together, he still was married to another women and decided to call off the affair.
Overcome with jealousy, Shawna confronted Heather in the parking lot of the credit union where Heather worked. Witnesses saw an assailant dressed in all black force Heather to the ground and yell, “You ruined my life!” before shooting her twice, execution style. As Ignacio was a police officer, it didn’t take long before the fingers were pointing at Shawna. Police officers found Shawna’s shoes less than 700 feet from the scene of the crime, gun shot residue on both them, her clothes, and a mask in her truck, and had statements from over 40 witnesses.
Despite maintaining her innocence, Shawna Nelson was sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole in March of 2008.
Amy Fisher
You can’t talk about crimes of passion without talking about Amy Fisher, The Long Island Lolita.
In 1992 when Amy was 17, she met Joey Buttafuocco at the New York auto-shop where he worked. She had wrecked her parents car and pleaded with the then 35-year-old to keep the damage a secret. The two then became involved in affair despite their age difference and Joey’s marriage to Mary Jo Buttafuocco.
In May of that same year Amy had a friend drive her to the Buttafuocco house with the intent of confronting Mary Jo about the affair. When Mary Jo wouldn’t listen and turned away, Amy shot her in the head and left. But miraculously, Mary Jo survived and was able to i.d. Amy as the perpetrator.
In September Amy was convicted of first degree attempted murder and sentenced to 5 to 15 years in prison. She ended up serving 7 years, and was released in 1999. She became a columnist for the the Long Island Press, before joining the adult entertainment industry as a pornographic actress in 2007.
Mary Jo made a full recovery, had extensive plastic surgery to her face, divorced Joey, re-married, and was featured guest on Oprah talking about the experience. 
