No. 86: Police: Lawyer slain in D.C. hotel met alleged killer after online solicitation

No. 86:
Date: February 2015
City: Washington, D.C.
Victim: David Messerschmitt
Search: http://goo.gl/slPN4N

No. 85: 20-year-old woman charged with murder of Sterling Heights man she met on Craigslist

No. 85:
Date: March 2015
State: MI
City: Sterling Heights
Victim: Michael Freeland
Search: http://goo.gl/7WH7wV

List of 'Craigslist Killings' victims -- February 2015 to 2007

Below are the names of those whose deaths were connected to a transaction on Craigslist, from Feb. 28, 2015 through 2007, the earliest news account we could find. There may be more victims. These are those cases we could identify through Internet searches.

This list is for informational purposes only. We state no intent to keep it updated.

No.	Date	State	City/Comm	Victim	Search URL
84	Feb-15	GA	Marietta	James Jones	Search
83	Jan-15	GA	Telfair County	Bud Runion	Search
82	Jan-15	GA	Telfair County	June Runion	Search
81	Nov-14	KY	Louisville	Papa Thiam	Search
80	Oct-14	PA	Norristown	Manuel Hakimian	Search
79	Oct-14	NC	Durham	Jawad Ali Razai	Search
78	Oct-14	CA	Los Angeles	Abdullah Abdullatif Alkadi	Search
77	Oct-14	Queensland	Coomera	Mark "Zeb" Spencer	Search
76	Sep-14	MI	Wyoming	Charles Oppeneer	Search
75	Sep-14	MI	Wyoming	Brooke Slocum	Search
74	Sep-14	MI	Wyoming	Baby Slocum	Search
73	Sep-14	AZ	Phoenix	unidentified	Search
72	Sep-14	GA	Sandy Springs	Danny Zeitz	Search
71	Sep-14	TX	Houston	unidentified	Search
70	Sep-14	NJ	Patterson	Mamuka Chamiashvili	Search
69	Aug-14	GA	Hapeville	Vernicia Woodard	Search
68	Aug-14	WV	Cross Lanes	Ericka Brown	Search
67	Jul-14	FL	Ocala	Robert Hiles	Search
66	May-14	NJ	Monroe Township	Fatima Perez	Search
65	Apr-14	FL	Coral Springs	Jason Mageau	Search
64	Apr-14	SC	Lexington County	Tycus Toland	Search
63	Apr-14	PA	Allentown	Eric Ervin	Search
62	Mar-14	TN	Memphis	Larry Wilkins	Search
61	Mar-14	AL	Coden	Robert Lee Perry	Search
60	Jan-14	IL	Naperville	Charles Clark	Search
59	Dec-13	IN	Indianapolis	James Vester	Search
58	Dec-13	CA	San Francisco	Ikenna Uwakah	Search
57	Nov-13	PA	Sunbury	Troy LaFerra	Search
56	Nov-13	NC	Asheville	Timothy Keith Radford	Search
55	Nov-13	GA	Lithonia	Jevon Nathan Freeman	Search
54	Nov-13	WI	Porter	Aprina Paul	Search
53	Nov-13	MI	Kalamazoo	Drew Thorngate	Search
52	Oct-13	CA	Los Angeles	Rene Balbuena	Search
51	Oct-13	SC	Mount Pleasant	William Apps	Search
50	Oct-13	MD	Harmans	Rene Archila	Search
49	Aug-13	GA	DeKalb County	Clarence Gardenhire	Search
48	Aug-13	PA	Long Pond	Brandon Fraser	Search
47	Jun-13	PA	Philadelphia	Daniel Cooke	Search
46	May-13	CT	Hartford	Felix DeJesus	Search
45	Apr-13	TX	Dallas	Gerald Canepa	Search
44	Apr-13	TX	Fort Worth	Desmond Paige	Search
43	Mar-13	IL	Tinley Park	Thomas Mastro	Search
42	Dec-12	IN	Indianapolis	Nishant Patel	Search
41	Oct-12	CA	Downey	Josimar Rojas	Search
40	Oct-12	CA	Downey	Irene Reyes	Search
39	Oct-12	CA	Downey	Susana Ruelas	Search
38	Aug-12	MN	St. Paul	Aung Thu Bo	Search
37	Aug-12	OH	New Albany	Deanna Ballman	Search
36	Jun-12	MO	O'Fallon	Joseph Givens	Search
35	Dec-11	OK	Blanchard	Jaymie Adams	Search
34	Nov-11	NY	Medford	Jennifer Papain	Search
33	Nov-11	CO	Denver	Thomas Bashline	Search
32	Nov-11	OH	Akron	Ralph Geiger	Search
31	Nov-11	OH	Akron	David Pauley	Search
30	Nov-11	OH	Akron	Timothy Kern	Search
29	Aug-11	CO	Mesa County	Luis "Beto" Oliva	Search
28	Jul-11	FL	Fruit Cove	Daniel Somerson	Search
27	May-11	CA	San Diego	Garrett Berki	Search
26	Feb-11	MI	Hazel Park	Jonathan Clements	Search
25	Feb-11	MI	Detroit	Alexander Lyons	Search
24	Feb-11	MO	Kansas City	Yuri Ives	Search
23	Jan-11	NY	Long Island	Maureen Brainard-Barnes	Search
22	Jan-11	NY	Long Island	Melissa Barthelemy	Search
21	Jan-11	NY	Long Island	Megan Waterman	Search
20	Jan-11	NY	Long Island	Amber Lynn Costello	Search
19	Sep-10	MN	Lake Elmo	Youa Lor	Search
18	Aug-10	GA	West Chatham	Thai Lam	Search
17	Jul-10	FL	Jacksonville	Tiara Poole	Search
16	Jun-10	TX	Houston	Sarah Weyrik	Search
15	Jun-10	CA	Pleasant Hill	Mary Jane Scanlon	Search
14	Apr-10	WA	Edgwood	James Sanders	Search
13	Feb-10	FL	Miami	Bob Tombo	Search
12	Dec-09	TX	San Antonio	Lenora Frago	Search
11	Jun-09	OR	Tigard	Heather M. Snivley	Search
10	May-09	TX	Austin	Amy Elizabeth Dicky	Search
9	Apr-09	MA	Boston	Julissa Brisman	Search
8	Mar-09	NY	New York	George Weber	Search
6	Feb-09	TX	Dallas	Christian Marton	Search
7	Feb-09	CA	Vallejo	Theodore Neff	Search
5	Dec-08	VA	Arlington	Matthew Hicks	Search
4	Oct-08	WI	Milwaukee	Haroon Khan	Search
3	Mar-08	NC	Iredell County	Bonnie Lou Irvine	Search
2	Oct-07	MN	Savage	Katherine Ann Olson	Search
1	Jun-07	CA	Los Angeles	Donna Jou	Search

At least 84 'Craigslist Killings' since 2007

From 2007 to Feb. 28, 2015, at least 84 people have been killed as a result of a connection they made on Craigslist – including four in the first six weeks of 2015.

Eighty-three deaths took place in the U.S. One death took place in Australia in December 2014, after the victim answered a personals ad on one of Craigslist’s Queensland sites.

Is this a definitive list? We doubt it. It’s a list of what we could find in Internet searches of news stories that involve the initial crime reports, and in most cases, subsequent arrests and convictions of the killers.

We have no idea how many how many killings might have occurred in which investigators failed to make a Craigslist connection, or how many times news reporters didn’t notice because Craigslist connections weren’t highlighted on the police blotter or otherwise pointed out to them.

Who would know? Likely, Craigslist has a more accurate number. For years, Craigslist has emphasized its willingness to work with police when asked. According to most reports, investigators combed through email exchanges, browser histories and mobile phone records to hunt down the killers. It’s reasonable to assume that homicide detectives reached out to Craigslist in more cases than not – at least in the U.S.

Is Craigslist culpable?

No. Craigslist is not to blame for the actions of predators of any sort. Also, the U.S. Communications Decency Act of 1996 protects Craigslist and all other electronic “forums” from civil and criminal liability over the actions of its members. We certainly don’t hold Craigslist responsible. 

However, we would like to see Craigslist take more responsibility for the protection of its users. At this writing, its “Personal Safety” page lists seven “simple precautions” and links to four websites where its members can read more about safety.

How hard would it be to flag high-dollar, highly portable, easily fenced items such as mobile phones, watches and jewelry with an automated messages that encourage extra precautions?

How the 85 died

•         43 victims were shot (52%).
•         8 victims were stabbed (9%).
•    8 were strangled (9% after rounding).
•    5 were bludgeoned (6%).

Counted separately were incidents where victims were bludgeoned and shot, kidnapped and shot, stabbed and shot, bludgeoned and burned, stabbed and burned, stabbed and strangled, tied and throat slit. One victim was kidnapped, bound, killed by undisclosed means and buried. Another was buried alive. One victim was raped and given a lethal injection of heroin, after which her corpse was defiled. One victim died after a night of sex and drugs; her paramour burned her body in his backyard barbecue pit. Four deaths were positively linked to a known prolific serial killer; three other deaths were the work of two men.  A few other killers admitted killing for the thrill of it; one said he “hoped to do it again.” One full-term infant died as the result of her mother’s death. Another baby was cut from her dead mother’s womb but was declared stillborn, so law officers didn’t count the child among the killings.

How they were lured to their deaths

•     18 answered or placed a personals ad (21%).
•    16 wanted to sell a vehicle (19%).
•    12 sought to sell sex (14%).
•    7 wanted to sell a mobile phone (8%).
•    5 wanted to buy a mobile phone (6%).
•    4 answered a job ad (5%).
•    3 wanted to buy a vehicle.
•    3 wanted to sell a game system.
•    3 wanted to sell jewelry.
•    2 placed a job ad.
•    2 sought to buy sex.
•    2 sought to lease rooms.
•    2 wanted to sell a computer or tablet.

One person died in each of these ad transactions: sought a roommate, sought to buy a game system, sought to buy a computer or tablet, sought to sell medical marijuana.

One suspect’s death is attributed to his partner in crime, who shot him because he was bragging about their successful robbery spree.

Safety usually ignored

In nearly every case, victims appeared to have taken no extraordinary precautions to keep themselves safe.  However, in one case, the victim, who sought to buy a vehicle, prudently met his killers at a restaurant; sadly, he bought their story that they needed a ride home. In another, the seller was robbed and killed in a public park, in broad daylight.

The obvious perspectives

From 2007-2013, one in 1,574 U.S. homicides was a “Craigslist killing.” (According to FBI’s full-year Uniform Crime Reporting data, 94,432 people were slain in the U.S. between 2007 and 2013. Full-year data for 2014 are not compiled yet. We divided the FBI’s number by 60 – the number of slayings we found through 2013.)

 How many safe transactions were conducted on Craigslist between 2007 and February 2015? More millions than even Craigslist can count.

So statistically, Craigslist is a safe place to conduct business.

Except when it isn’t. 

The perspective you don’t see

Digging through news accounts, poring over trial testimonies, obituaries, memorials and social-media tributes – underscores the only perspective that truly matters:  These killings shattered families forever and years later continue to crack the safety and security of whole communities.  To reduce these deaths to statistics is to dishonor the dead and those who loved them.

For this reason, we have listed the victims but we don’t get into the tragic details of each individual's death, even though we compiled that information.  We linked each incident to its unique search result for anyone who might seek to research. 

Finally, we make no promise that we will continue to update this list. It's an egregious exercise. Enterprising reporters are welcome to use this list as a starting point. We suggest they set their news traps for any future mentions, as we did.