Top 10 Real Life Crime Stories of 2008

A crime happens in the United States every 3 seconds according to the FBI. The American people talk about crime more than they do any other subject, because crime is something that affects us all. In 2008, we were moved to talk more about the following 10 subjects more than any other. Please remember that these crimes while they made headlines for obvious reasons, there are many people involved and there are victims, please do not forget the victims.

   Without further delay, here are the top 10 real-life crime stories from 2008:

1. Prison for O.J. (after escaping justice nearly 17 years ago for the brutal murder of his ex-wife and Ronald Goldman, O.J. was finally sent to prison (for unrelated charges) and will spent approximately 33 years behind bars.
2. Jennifer Hudson’s family murdered – in a crime that rocked every one that heard about it, singer and actress Jennifer Hudson lost her mother, brother and nephew (just 7 years old) when the child’s step-father murder all three. Jennifer Hudson first got attention when she competed on American Idol, then went on to win a Golden Globe and Oscar for her role in Dreamgirls.
3. Raid on Texas Ranch – Zion Ranch – This made headlines because of all the children involved (over 100) that were taken by police when word got out about the polygamist sect of the Latter-Day Saints (LDS).  All but about 36 of the children have been returned, but charges have been brought against nine of the men. Those charges are sexual assault of a child, bigamy and failure to report child abuse.
4. The Dungeon of Amstetten – Josef Fritzl owned a large, non-descript suburban house in Amstetten, Austria. But in the basement, he kept his daughter Elizabeth prisoner for 24 years, fathering 7 children with her.  Fritzl, 73, is expected to go on trial in 2009 on charges of rape, false imprisonment, slavery and murder. The murder charge comes from the death of the children he fathered with Elizabeth, it died in infancy, which would not have happen has he sought medical care. He through the body into the furnace.
5. Caylee Anthony – Caylee was reported missing a month after her mother claims she was taken. The delay made it nearly impossible for there to be any hope of finding Caylee, but what made it worse was that police zeroed in on a suspect that made America sick – Caylee’s mother – Casey Anthony. On Oct. 14, an Orlando, Fla. grand jury indicted Casey Anthony, 22, on murder charges, which could carry the death penalty.
6. Beheading on Canadian Bus – Vince Weiguang Li, 40, attacked fellow traveler 22-year-old Tim McLean without provocation, beheading the man in front of horrified onlookers. Police reports allege Li then began to cannibalize the corpse. Li remains in jail on second-degree murder charges.
7. Anne Pressly – Anne Pressly was a popular local anchorwoman was brutally beaten in her home, where her mother found her. She died five days later.
8. France’s $7 Billion Bank Bust – On Jan. 24, bank officials acknowledged that Jerome Kerviel, 31, had committed what could amount to one of the biggest insider frauds in banking history.
9. Con Man of 2008 – Clark Rockefeller (aka Christian Gerhartsreiter) never would have made headlines for attempting to kidnap his daughter Reigh, but his con of belonging to the Rockefeller family did.
10. Murder and the Economy – Karthik Rajaram killed his family and then himself made headlines just weeks after Lehman went bankrupt. Rajarm has been living the American dream, he was an immigrant who had made good it and was doing well for himself, and then the bottom fell out from under him.