The astonishing reason why all these men from the same area could have turned into some of the world's worst serial killers - from Ted Bundy to Charles Manson

In the early hours of August 31, 1961, an eight-year-old girl named Ann Burr disappeared during a deafening thunderstorm from her family home in Tacoma, Washington state, and was never seen again. Nobody was ever charged with her murder but police found a small shoe print outside a living room window that was consistent with that of a teenage boy.
Poor Ann is now widely thought to have been the first victim of Ted Bundy, one of America's most prolific serial killers. Then only 14, he lived very close by and delivered newspapers to nearby houses.

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Daily Mail​

26 minutes ago

• Daily Mail​

EXCLUSIVE Urgent warning issued over growing number of migrants paying huge sums to enter UK aboard yachts

Border Force lacks the resources to deal with an increasing number of migrants coming to Britain illegally on yachts, motorboats and trawlers, officials have warned. Growing numbers of migrants are entering the country irregularly by private vessels rather than aboard small boats, a borders trade union said. Lucy Moreton, of the ISU union which represents Border Force staff, said: 'What we are seeing more of now is small yachts being used to transport people. 'They can start from the Brittany coast in France and then sail into one of the small ports around the UK or get dropped off in the water.' The Daily Mail reported last week how a £70,000 six-berth yacht, Tacoma, was hired at a French marina by a man who claimed to be Austrian. He told the owners he planned a pleasure cruise along the Brittany coast – but then headed for Cornwall. The £70,000 six-berth yacht, Tacoma, was hired at a French marina by a man who claimed to be Austrian. He told the owners he planned a pleasure cruise along the Brittany coast – but then headed for Cornwall - with 17 Albanians aboard The Tacoma's owners – monitoring it on a tracker - alerted the UK Border Force who pounced on the yacht as it reached the mouth of the Helford River, near Falmouth, on April 13. Hiding inside the cabin were 17 Albanian migrants, including one woman, hoping to slip illegally into Britain. Ms Moreton said: 'It is now more of a growing issue as the small boat route becomes more and more challenging. 'It's something we have started monitoring more closely, but we simply don't have the staff to do everything.' She went on: 'The problem is, most of the ports in the UK do not have a Border Force officer working at them so it comes down to local police forces and members of the public. 'And the system of boat ownership is very hard to monitor, small boats have transponders switched on to avoid getting hit by bigger boats but they can always switch them off. 'All the unmanned ports have posters which say 'if you see anything which looks suspicious call this number', but that's about it when it comes to security. 'What's happening with small yachts now speaks to the desperation of the people trying to cross the Channel and the pull the UK has.' Fees paid to smuggling gangs to enter the UK on a yacht will be far higher than the amounts charged for a place in a dangerous and ovcercrowded dinghy. Entering Britain clandestinely in a yachts or other small vessel will also be attractive to foreign nationals with a criminal record. Those who have previously made a failed asylum claim here, or have been deported, may also wish to avoid detection by the authorities. Albanian nationals, such as those found aboard the Tacoma, face fast-track removal measures back to their home country under an agreement signed by former home secretary Priti Patel in 2022. In another case in September last year, nine Iranian passengers were caught illegally attempting to enter the UK on board a pleasure boat near Brixham, Devon. Some criminal gangs have been caught in the act attempting to use yachts to cross the Channel by the National Crime Agency (NCA), dubbed 'Britain's FBI'. A Georgian national, Igor Romanovi, was jailed in France in 2023 following an investigation by the NCA and French authorities into an organised crime group suspected of using pleasure boats to smuggle migrants across the Channel. A boat operated by the group was involved in a smuggling run which saw 11 migrants brought to shore in Rye, East Sussex in February 2022. And, in 2021 a different gang was jailed for planning to smuggle 69 Albanian migrants into the UK on a fishing vessel. They had planned to bring in 50 more every week. Small ports and airfields were first identified as a potential weakness in Britain's border security measures as long ago as 2002. Lord Carlile of Berriew KC, then the government's independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, warned they were the 'soft underbelly' of Britain's war against terrorism. Concerns about the vulnerability of Britain's coastline were raised in two reports in 2010 and 2011 by John Vine, the then independent inspector of borders. Both found small ports were at risk from people smuggling. The warnings were repeated by terror watchdog David Anderson in 2017. An NCA spokesman confirmed the 'clandestine manner' of entering Britain may appeal to those with criminal pasts. 'We have seen cases where organised crime groups have used larger maritime vessels, such as fishing boats and yachts, to facilitate entry for migrants,' he said. 'Often these are used by those who may be prepared to pay more to avoid contact with law enforcement, in contrast to small boats where migrants and their smugglers seek contact to enter the asylum system. 'The NCA, alongside our law enforcement partners, have undertaken a number of operations which have seen people involved in this form of people smuggling arrested and prosecuted. 'Bringing people to the UK in this way remains dangerous and also risks our border security. 'Tackling organised immigration crime in all its forms remains a priority for the NCA, and we would ask anyone who lives or works around the coast or in a maritime environment to report suspicious activity to the police.' A Home Office spokesman said: 'We will stop at nothing to dismantle vile people-smuggling gangs, which is why our new maritime directorate within Border Force is explicitly focused on general maritime security to uphold the integrity of the border. 'Through close collaboration across agencies, Border Force will have access to better intelligence, joint operational activity and better engagement with international partners. 'This will ultimately enhance our approach to dealing with irregular migration, including illegal activity involving yachts, and further help to tackle people smuggling gangs.' end

The Sun

39 minutes ago

• The Sun

Mum caught committing sick act on her frail daughter, 3, as she lay in a hospital bed – & it exposed an even darker past

LYING in her hospital bed, three-year-old Alyssa was desperately ill – painfully thin and dehydrated, her little frame covered with tubes. Her apparently doting mother Brittany Phillips sat by her side. But, when the nurses' backs were turned, she did the most unspeakably depraved act to her defenceless little girl. 4 4 When no one was looking, Phillips smeared human faeces onto Alyssa's feeding tube in a bid to make her MORE ill. She was aping a case she read about online concerning Emily McDonald, a 23-year-old mother from Austin who, four months earlier, had been sentenced to 20 years in prison for poisoning her daughter by putting poo onto her IV catheter. It was later revealed that Phillips had keyed in terms to her computer like 'poo in the feeding tube' and 'pee in veins'. Sick poisoning Hours later, Alyssa developed a rare and extremely dangerous blood infection caused by her mother's perverted act. Without the swift actions of doctors at Cook Children's Medical Centre – she could have suffered from heart failure, a stroke or even death. And that was just the tip of the iceberg of the horrendous abuse Phillips had put her daughter through in her short life. Phillips had insisted that Alyssa had to be in leg restraints for medical reasons. She also said she needed to be fed by a tube as she choked if she ate solid food. The little girl was emaciated and her growth stunted. Several family members had been so concerned that they'd filed reports with the CPS in Fort Worth, Texas, but no action was taken. Distant family members Bill and Laura Waybourn had been suspicious ever since they'd seen Alyssa at a family party a few months before. 4 They'd heard Phillips warn everyone that Alyssa couldn't eat anything, if she did, she'd choke. "We witnessed her eat a piece of cake and she didn't choke at all. She appeared to be very hungry," Waybourn said. And his wife, a CPS worker "was suspicious". "She got a close-up look at Alyssa and felt like something wasn't right. But nobody had any idea what was really going on behind the scenes, which was actually torturous," he told The Daily Mail. It transpires Phillips had Munchhausen by proxy – also known as medical child abuse – where a parent or care giver fakes, exaggerates and even causes illness in their child for the purpose of getting attention or some other benefit. A later search of her laptop revealed pages and pages of online research into the illnesses and symptoms she then tried to manufacture in her defenceless young daughter. It also showed her prolific activity on mums' internet forums – where she catalogued Alyssa's many 'illnesses' in a bid for sympathy. The day that changed everything In August 2011, a few weeks after that family party, Alyssa was taken to Cook's hospital, where her mother told medics she had dehydration. This was one of many hospital visits Alyssa had endured by the time she was three, so much so, she had spend much of her life in hospitals, and was worryingly underweight and short for her age. Despite concerned friends and family filing several reports to CPS over the years, it was this hospital visit that set off alarm bells with medical staff. During that day, Phillips repeatedly tried to stop Alyssa from eating, claiming she would choke, despite medical staff observing otherwise. She was aggressive and rude, and she piled blankets on her daughter then claimed she had a fever. She appeared to paint Alyssa's mouth blue and then claimed she was alarmingly cold. Then, Phillips suddenly demanded blood tests on her daughter. The blood test results revealed a life-threatening infection that doctors said had to have been caused by the three-year-old being poisoned. Medics feared Phillips was abusing her child, so moved Alyssa to another room which had surveillance cameras monitoring any activity inside. Phillips quickly noticed the cameras and was furious. Alyssa, on the other hand, under the watchful eye of a camera, rapidly got better. So much so, hospital staff alerted the authorities and Alyssa was taken out of Phillips' care and an investigation was launched. Following a brief period in foster care, the Waybourns took the little girl into their home, later adopting her. In an interview, Bill Waybourn said they 'saw tremendous improvements immediately' adding: 'She started eating by mouth everything in sight. The doctors were blown away by how well she was doing.' But over time, the Waybourns noticed trauma manifesting in Alyssa's behaviour. 'She was really protective of her food. If she had a plate of food and got down from the table for a minute and came back and the plate was gone, she would be extremely upset,' Waybourn recalled. 'She also had a funny gait where she would walk on her toes. We had to coach her out of doing that, to walk on her whole foot.' Alyssa's reaction to medical staff and treatments was also telling. British cases of Munchausen Syndrome revealed In August 2016 a woman from south London has been jailed for fraud and child abuse after causing her children to undergo surgery for fictitious medical problems. Croydon Crown Court heard the mother of six, who cannot be named for legal reasons, persuaded doctors to prescribe copious medication and provide equipment for her children worth more than £145,000, which - as they did not require it - was potentially dangerous for them, the prosecution said. She also convinced them to perform invasive operations and insert feeding tubes into her son and daughter's stomachs. Serial killer nurse Beverly Allitt, dubbed the Angel of Death was given 13 life sentences in 1993 for murdering four children, attempting to murder another three and causing grievous bodily harm with intent to further six at Grantham and Kesteven hospital in Lincolnshire. The former nurse was diagnosed as suffering from Munchausen syndrome by proxy (MSbP) when she carried out the attacks between 1991 and 1993. In January 2010, Lisa Hayden-Johnson was sentenced to three years and three months in prison after pleading guilty to charges of child cruelty and perverting the course of justice – in one of the most notable examples of Munchausens by proxy. Hayden-Johnson began her deceitful actions shortly after the birth of her son Matthew in 2001. Claiming he was afflicted with numerous severe health issues, including cerebral palsy, cystic fibrosis, diabetes, and severe food allergies, she subjected him to unnecessary medical procedures and interventions. These included the use of a wheelchair, feeding tubes, and numerous hospital visits, totalling over 325 medical encounters. 'If you took her to a doctor or a paediatrician - even for something small like an earache - she would just totally freeze up,' he said. 'Those were all things we saw in the beginning. That went on for a long time.' Waybourn says a 'big fear' for him and Laura was that Phillips would try to regain custody of Alyssa. Terrifyingly she was allowed to visit at the beginning – up until the time Alyssa developed a rash after her mother had given her new toys. The Waybourns were sure she had put a substance on them to cause it. After that she wasn't allowed to see her. Over the years Alyssa has told her adopted parents some of what she endured. She confided that her mother used to pull her feeding tube in and out. She also coached her to choke in the doctor's surgery. In 2015, aged seven, she testified against her mother in court. Cuddling a teddy bear, she raised her T-shirt to reveal the physical evidence of her mother's torture – a scar on her stomach from unnecessary surgery to insert the feeding tube. Mental scarring No one will ever know the extent of the mental scarring. Despite her mother's actions though, Alyssa, who's now 17, is flourishing. 'Alyssa is not a victim,' Waybourn says. 'She is a thriving little woman and I couldn't be more proud of her.' Phillips' original court case was declared a mistrial. But soon after, in exchange for a five-year prison sentence, Phillips pleaded guilty to serious bodily injury to a child. In April 2022, a couple of years after she was released from prison, Phillips was found dead from an apparent overdose. According to Waybourn, Alyssa was initially teary. She went for some time alone in her room, and then when she came out she said: 'I'm free, free at last.' Finally she knew that her mother could never hurt her again. Alyssa's story is told in a book by Andrea Dunlop and Mike Weber entitled The Mother Next Door: Medicine, Deception and Munchausen by Proxy. Mike Weber, a now-retired Tarrant County investigator worked on Phillips' case. 4

Daily Mail​

an hour ago

• Daily Mail​

Disgraced granddaughter of late Saints owner arrested for altercation with South Carolina cop

The granddaughter of late New Orleans Saints and Pelicans owner Tom Benson was arrested Monday and accused of interfering with a Charleston, South Carolina police officer as he attempted to put a parking boot on her vehicle. Rita LeBlanc, 48, was released on a personal recognizance bond the following day after being charged with hindering an officer/city employee, according to online jail records. reported that Sargent Christ Stinson accused LeBlanc of taking the locking tool from a parking boot as he attempted to fasten it to one of the wheels of her car. LeBlanc, a former vice chairperson for the Saints, is due back in court on July 24. A child of Benson's adopted daughter, Renee, Rita was fired by her grandfather from the team in 2015 before being disinherited altogether along with her mother and brother, Ryan. She would respond with a lawsuit, challenging Benson's mental competency at the time of his decision. The two sides settled in 2016. Previously, in 2012, Jeff Duncan reported she was suspended from the team because of 'lack of focus and abrasive management style.' Sources told Duncan that LeBlanc's sense of entitlement became an issue with her grandfather, who'd frequently worked six-day weeks despite his immense wealth. Benson's third wife and LeBlanc's stepmother, Gayle, became the Saints' principal owner in 2018 following his death. The Saints have failed to reach the postseason since 2020, while Gayle has faced criticism over a Catholic Church sex scandal in the Archdiocese of New Orleans. The Associated Press reported in January of 2020 that senior vice president of communications Greg Bensel provided PR advice to church officials as they navigated fallout from a child sex-abuse scandal. The scandal resurfaced before February's Super Bowl in New Orleans when the AP released emails showing the extent of the Saints communications team's involvement with the church. 'This is disgusting,' state Representative Mandie Landry (Democrat - New Orleans) said in February. 'As a New Orleans resident, taxpayer and Catholic, it doesn't make any sense to me why the Saints would go to these lengths to protect grown men who raped children. All of them should have been just as horrified at the allegations.'