Bonnie and Clyde Theme: 10 Ruthless Criminal Couples

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Year(s): 1957-1958
Location: Lincoln, Neb.
Murders: 10

Caril Fugate and Charles Starkweather were a classic example of teenage love. Charles was 16 and Caril was only 13 at the time of their crimes, and both teens were rebellious and convinced that a life of crime would be the only way to succeed financially. After murdering a man at a gas station for $100, killing seemed to be an easy task; Starkweather murdered Fugate's parents and her two-year-old sister.

The volatile couple lived a life on the road, murdering friends and family to get whatever they deemed necessary. As the two fled to Washington state, killing victims along the way, the authorities were on their heels. After a high-speed chase that resulted in cops shooting out Starkweather's windshield, they finally surrendered. Starkweather was sentenced to a death sentence, while Fugate received life in prison.

Year(s): 1971-1987
Location: Glouchester, England
Murders: 11

Fred and Rosemary West wreaked havoc in Britain for over a decade. Before meeting Rosemary, Fred committed numerous rapes and murders that went unnoticed. After meeting Rosemary, the two led a life that was based heavily on sex. Rosemary was a prostitute, and the two would go on to have a large family who they often sexually assaulted.

While Fred was in prison for theft, Rosemary murdered his child from a previous marriage. The child's mother came to their residence looking for her own child once Fred was released, and was murdered at the hands of Fred himself. The West's murders began to have a pattern: dismemberment including the cutting of the fingers and toes.

Beginning in 1972, the West's preyed on young women. Numerous women fell victim to sexual assault ending with their mutilated bodies buried under the West's house. In 1992, the West's incestuous relationship with their children had been made public. Fred and Rosemary were arrested on charges ranging from rape to child cruelty, but their daughter's refusal to testify meant the charges were dismissed. Authorities dropped the rape suspicion, but came back with a warrant concerning another missing child.

In 1994, the West's home was searched and a slew of female body parts were found. The duo was brought up on murder charges, Fred with a total of 11 murders and Rose with a total of 10. Fred committed suicide before he could receive his sentence. Rose was sentenced to life in prison.

Year(s): 1947-1949
Location: New York
Murders: 3

When Martha Beck put out an ad in the lonely heart section of the newspaper, she didn't expect a relationship with so much intensity. Raymond Fernandez answered her romantic inquiry and the two began visiting each other between Florida and New York.

After being fired from her job, Fernandez took her in under one condition: she had to leave her children behind. Beck did as he asked and the secrets came to the forefront. Fernandez informed Beck that he has made a practice of answering women through personal ads and conning them out of their money. From that point on, Beck had signed on to be Fernandez's sidekick, posing as a relative in order to lure potential victims.

After a string of murders, including bludgeoning and strangulation, Beck and Fernandez's killing spree came to a halt. They were arrested in February of 1949. In the end, the two were found guilty of murder in the first-degree and both sentenced to the death penalty. The duo would be known as the "Lonely Heart Killers" for years to come.

Year(s): 1990-1992
Location: Ontario, Canada
Murders: 3

Karla and Paul Bernardo started off as a one-night stand. The two soon realized that their sexual proclivities were aligned and their romance escalated. Karla and Paul both exercised their sexual fantasies on each other until they decided to broaden their horizons.

Paul and Karla teamed together in search of victims for Paul to sexually assault. Once Paul got Karla's approval, he would inflict a serious amount of pain and humiliation on his victims. Although the pair got along rather well, Paul wished that Karla were a virgin when they met. Karla's 15-year-old sister Tammy was a virgin and the two concocted a plan, using Tammy as a virginal sacrifice. Karla sedated her sister with an animal anesthetic to please her man. The raping of Tammy resulted in her death, but after the drug went unnoticed in the autopsy, her death was ruled as an accident.

The process of replacing the virginal presence in Paul's life was fueling the couple's appetite for murder. The number of victims increased and the couple found creative ways to dispose of the bodies. In some cases, the couple would dismember the corpses, cement the parts, and dispose of the evidence in a lake.

Evidence proving Paul was linked to the rapes and murders of these young women was released and Karla confessed in order to receive a lighter sentence. Karla received a 12-year sentence for her involvement in the crimes, while Paul received a life sentence.

Year(s): Late 1970s-Early 1980s
Location: Sacramento, Calif.
Murders: 11

Gerald and Charlene met in a Sacramento poker club and the two were the perfect match for a not-so-perfect activity. The two indulged in drugs and quickly moved in together. When their sex life began to dull, Gerald's fantasies of sex slaves began to overcome him.

After he was no longer able to be sexual with Charlene because of her pregnancy, Gerald went to desperate measures to get satisfaction. Charlene and Gerald went to a local mall to scout their victims. Charlene would lure the girls in, only for Gerald to finish the job. Charlene found two teenage girls and tempted them with a smoking session.

When the two girls arrived in Charlene's van, Gerald held the girls at gunpoint. After assaulting and murdering the two teens, Gerald disposed of their bodies at a nearby farm. Although the two had gotten away with murder, Gerald's daughter from a previous relationship had spoken out about the molestation she had experienced at the hands of her father. The authorities had a warrant out for Gerald's arrest, but in order to take the heat off himself, he and Charlene fled to Nevada and were married under an alias. After their first two victims, eight others were also coerced into being the couple's sex slave.

In 1984 the two were arrested and charged with murder. Charlene testified against Gerald and was only sentenced to 16 years and eight months in a Nevada prison. Gerald was handed the death penalty.

Year(s): 1984
Location: Norwood, Ohio
Murders: 10

Alton Coleman had a criminal history long before he met his partner-in-crime Debra Brown. By the time he was 19, Coleman had already racked up six rape charges, along with other property damage charges.

1983 marked the year of Coleman's arrest following the rape of a 14-year-old girl. His sexual appetite was one that needed to be satisfied by anyone he saw fit, null of discrimination of gender or age. He took his girlfriend Debra Brown across the Midwest region, in a murder-rape spree through six states. During their trip, the duo killed and raped ten people in a span of two months.

Toward the end of their reign as Midwest murderers, Coleman and Brown had acquired 14 armed robberies and three kidnappings in addition to their numerous murders and rapes. Both Brown and Coleman were sentenced to death by lethal injection.

Year(s): 1989
Location: Missouri
Murders: 5

Ray and Faye Copeland go down in history as the oldest couple sentenced to the death penalty. The senior citizens story is a bit different from other couples that lived their lives on the run.

In October of 1989, the Missouri authorities were tipped off anonymously that there might have been human remains on the Copeland's farmland. It wasn't long before the Missouri police found bodies on the elderly's property. A rifle was found in the home, linking the weapon to the victims who had been shot at point blank range. The bones found around the premises were not the most disturbing piece of the case. Faye sewed a quilt of her victim's clothing. Once the cases received more attention, the seniors caught a case of convenient dementia. Faye claimed not to know about any of the murders and Ray took an insanity plea.

Both were found guilty and sentenced to the death penalty.

Year(s): 1997
Location: Pleasanton, Calif.
Murders: 1

The deadly duo of Michelle Michaud and James Daveggio took the life of unsuspecting 22-year-old college student Vanessa Lei Samson in California. When the couple held Samson hostage, they promised that her life would be spared.

After they sexually assaulted Samson, they disposed of her body in a snowy area. This assault was not the only one. The murder of the college student was the sixth sexual assault the couple had committed. Research on serial killers proved the killing of Samson was no accident—they even looked to the Gallegos killers as inspiration.

Michaud and Daveggio were arrested the next day for a sexual assault charge of a student from a few months prior in Reno. The Reno case gave Michaud a 15 year sentence and Daveggio a 25 year sentence. In the case of Samson, both of the murderers were sentenced to the death penalty.

Year(s): 1986
Location: Redlands, Calif.
Murders: 4

The attraction between Cynthia Coffman and James Marlow was almost instant, and shortly after their marriage the two began doing their dirty work. From October to November 1986, the couple were accused of murdering four women. Among them were Corinna Novis, who disappeared after last being spotted at an ATM and Lynel Murray, who went missing from her job. The couple was eventually tried and sentenced to death. 

Year(s): 1982
Location: Alabama
Murders: 2

The Neelley's were a fairly typical serial killer couple (if there is such a thing). Judith Neelley dabbled in a bit of crime prior to her and her husband's murderous streak. Then, in September of 1982, the Neelley's found their first target in the Riverbend Mall. Thirteen-year-old Lisa Ann Millican was captured and taken back to a motel where the couple sexually assaulted her.

As if the assault wasn't enough, the couple resorted to one last measure of torture: giving her an injection of Drano in the head and then dumped the body in a local lake. The Neelley's next targets were a couple. The man, John Hancock was shot, while his girlfriend was taken to a motel where she was later tortured and murdered. Luckily, Hancock's shot was not fatal and he was able to identify the Neelley's as the perpetrators.

Judith Neelley was sentenced to the electric chair at an Alabama prison and Alvin Neelley was sentenced to an Alabama prison as well.