Gilgo Beach killer to Natalee Holloway, most shocking crime stories in US that made headlines in 2023

Like every year, 2023 has been a grim year for many across the United States. As we ring in the new year with celebrations and music, survivors of crimes battle to move on in life, and families of victims struggle to deal with the loss of their loved ones.

Natalee Holloway’s killer’s confession and alleged Gilgo Beach killer Rex Heuermann’s arrest were among various crime stories that made headlines this year (James Carbone/Pool via REUTERS, Natalee Holloway Resource Center/Facebook)

From local cases that created national attention to cold cases that were finally solved, several crime stories made headlines this year. Here’s a look back at eight of these cases:

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1) Idaho murders investigation

The Idaho student murders took place on November 13, 2022, when four University of Idaho students were brutally stabbed to death while they slept in their off-campus residence in Moscow. 28-year-old Bryan Christopher Kohberger was arrested in Monroe County, Pennsylvania, days later, and charged with the murder of Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin. The murmurs around the case refused to die down even in 2023 as the victims’ families waited for Kohberger’s trial. In the latest development in the case, Idaho prosecutors requested that the trial begin next summer so that it does not coincide with dates when local high school and college classes are in session.

FILE – Bryan Kohberger, right, who is accused of killing four University of Idaho students in November 2022, is escorted into a courtroom to appear at a hearing in Latah County District Court, Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2023, in Moscow, Idaho. On Monday, Nov. 20, 2023, an Idaho judge overseeing Kohberger’s trial issued an order banning media cameras from the courtroom. A livestream of the proceedings will be available to ensure public access. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, Pool, File)(AP)

2) Joran van der Sloot’s confession

This year, the prime suspect in the disappearance of Natalee Holloway admitted that he bludgeoned her to death. Joran van der Sloot appeared in an Alabama court, where prosecutors said that he confessed that he killed Natalee for refusing his sexual advances. Natalee disappeared from the Caribbean island of Aruba in 2005, and was 18 at the time of the killing. She went missing during a trip with school friends, and was reportedly last seen with a Dutch citizen. Despite Joran’s confession, US District Judge Anna M. Manasco has said that Natalee’s remains will never be found.

FILE – Dutch citizen Joran van der Sloot is driven in a police vehicle from a maximum-security prison to an airport to be extradited to the U.S., on the outskirts of Lima, Peru, Thursday, June 8, 2023. Van der Sloot, the chief suspect in Natalee Holloway’s 2005 disappearance, is scheduled to appear in court Wednesday morning, Oct. 18, where he is expected to plead guilty to trying to extort money from her mother and provide new information about what happened to the missing teen. (AP Photo/Martin Mejia, File)(AP)

3) Delphi murders investigation

The investigation into the Delphi murder case continues, and conversations around the same remained active throughout 2023. Richard Allen, from Delphi, Indiana, was taken into custody on October 26, 2022, for the 2017 murders of minor girls Abigail Williams and Liberty German. According to the latest developments in the case, Allen was ordered to be moved from Westville Correctional Facility to another prison in the state. His trial is currently scheduled for October 2024.

Richard Allen, from Delphi, Indiana, was taken into custody on October 26, 2022, for the 2017 murders of two minor girls (Indiana State Police)

4) Alleged Gilgo Beach killer’s arrest

A suspect was arrested in 2023 in connection with the Gilgo Beach murders. Rex Heuermann was caught by plainclothes cops as he strolled down a Midtown sidewalk on Thursday night, July 13. Heuermann’s arrest is tied to the ‘Gilgo Four,’ referring to the four women whose bodies were found within days of each other in 2010. The women in question were Melissa Barthelemy, 24, Megan Waterman, 22, Amber Lynn Costello, 27, and Maureen Brainard-Barnes, 25.

Rex Heuermann, right, appears in Suffolk County Supreme Court with his attorney, Michael Brown, Wednesday, Nov. 15, 2023, in Riverhead, N.Y. Heurmann was arrested in July on murder charges in the killings of Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman and Amber Costello, three of the women whose bodies were found along a remote beach highway on Long Island, and has been named as the the prime suspect in the death of a fourth woman. (James Carbone/Newsday via AP, Pool)(AP)

5) Alex Murdaugh found guilty

Alex Murdaugh was found guilty of murdering his wife Maggie, and son Paul after jurors deliberated for three hours on March 2. Murdaugh was already in prison for charges relating to embezzlement and fraud. He has been accused of shooting dead Paul and Maggie in “execution-style” killings.

6) ‘The Boy in the Box’ identified

A decades-old cold case was finally solved after police identified ‘the Boy in the Box’ as Joseph Augustus Zarelli. Zarelli was a four-year-old boy whose nude, beaten and malnourished body was found on the side of Susquehanna Road, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on February 25, 1957. This case was reportedly the oldest unsolved homicide of Philadelphia.

Joseph Augustus Zarelli was a four-year-old boy whose nude, beaten and malnourished body was found on the side of Susquehanna Road, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on February 25, 1957 (Philadelphia Police)

7) The Lori Vallow Daybell trial

This year, a not guilty plea was entered by the court for Lori Vallow Daybell, an Idaho mom convicted of killing two of her children. Vallow is on trial for the deaths of her children JJ Vallow and Tylee Ryan. She is also accused of being involved in the deaths of her fifth husband Chad Daybell’s former wife, Tammy Daybell, as well as her fourth husband, Charles Vallow. JJ and Tylee’s bodies were found buried on Chad’s property in 2020.

Lori Vallow Daybell sits during her sentencing hearing at the Fremont County Courthouse, July 31, 2023, in St. Anthony, Idaho (Tony Blakeslee/EastIdahoNews.com via AP, Pool, File)(AP)

8) Maine mass shooting

A shooter gunned down 18 people in separate massacres across Lewiston, Maine, on October 25. Several others were injured. The suspect, 40-year-old Robert Card, fled the scene and was later found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound in a tractor trailer near a recycling centre in Lisbon. The shooting is reportedly the deadliest in the history of Maine, and the tenth-deadliest in US history.

Rain soaked memorials for those who died sit along the roadside by Schemengees Bar & Grille, Monday, Oct. 30, 2023, in Lewiston, Maine (AP Photo/Matt York, File)(AP)