10 Shocking Crimes Of Passion Committed On Valentine’s Day

Valentine’s Day is the day of love — where couples find romantic ways to express their love for their special someone at least once a year. However, Valentine’s day isn’t always about love for everyone. A 2014 study shows that break-ups spike shortly after February 14, and request for divorce lawyers increase around Valentine’s day. What is it with V-day and why does it spell trouble for many couples? In fact, some individuals go as far as assault or murder, all because of love. Here are the 10 horrifying crimes that happened during Valentine’s day.

Oscar Pistorius

Oscar Pistorius was an amputee runner that competed in several Paralympics and 2012 Summer Olympics, but rose to notoriety when he shot his South African model girlfriend on February 14, 2013. Reeva Steenkamp was in the bathroom at Oscar’s home when he fired 4 shots through the locked door, which killed Reeva. The amputee claimed he’d mistaken her for an intruder, but he was nonetheless found guilty of culpable homicide and sentenced to five years for murdering his girlfriend.

Tiana Notice

Tiana Notice was a student finishing her master’s degree at the University of Hartfod when her ex, James Carter II, stabbed her with a knife 18 times.

Tiana ended the relationship with him and even got a restraining order, yet Carter was persistent. Tiana’s parents even installed a surveillance camera outside her place to monitor her security, and that same camera captured her running away from James on V Day, 2009. The camera audio captured Tiana’s last screams and efforts to escape. She had tried to call 911 but was bleeding profusely, and died later on. James Carter II was sentenced to 60 years in prison.

Shia LaBeouf

Transformers star Shia Labeouf claims that he was raped by a fan on Valentine’s day, 2014. Labeouf claims that a woman stripped him, whipped and then raped him while his Shia’s girlfriend and the woman’s boyfriend stood in line waiting for him. No one can validate the accuracy of his story, but if the former Disney star’s story was true, he certainly had a very strange Valentine’s that year!

Kierra Reed

Men are notoriously bad at remembering important dates. This is a common cause of fight for couples, but for this particular girlfriend, she went more extreme. After learning her boyfriend Henry Brown didn’t get her a Valentine’s present, she went berserk. Kierra started pushing and scratching him, who then ran into the toilet and locked himself in. Kierra wasn’t done — she took a kitchen knife and screamed that she was going to cut him, and proceeded to stab the door many times with the knife like straight out of a horror movie. Brown was able to contact 911, who then arrested Kierra Reed. She was charged with aggravated menacing.

Nathan Leuthold

Nathan Leuthold of Illinois had shot his wife, Denise, in her parents’ home on Valentine’s Day, 2013. He tried staging it as a break in, but police became suspicious of the husband’s actions. Nathan is said to have killed his wife so he could be with his 21-year-old mistress Aina Dobilaite. The young woman was a Lithuanian student whom the family sponsored to study in USA. Nathan Leuthold was sentenced to 80 years in prison for his crime of passion.

Juan Miguel Navarro

Juan Miguel Navarro did the unspeakable. In a jealous rage, he shot his wife, Ignacia, on Valentine’s day of 2014 in the parking lot of a hospital. Worse, he did the act in front of their four-year-old son. During the interview, the boy described the scene saying, ‘ketchup was everywhere.’

Navarro fled to Mexico where he started a new family. In 2010 he was finally extradited and sentenced to serve16 years in prison.

Cassie Turton

Cassie Turton learned that she was carrying a child. As Casie suffered from Marfan’s syndrome, it could elevate pregnancy risks — for this reason her partner Michael Fysh requested her to have an abortion. Cassie refused and Michael ended their relationship on Valentine’s day of 2014.

The pregnant Cassie was so distraught of the breakup that she took an overdose of pills and slit her wrists. She took photos of her wounds and sent them to her ex, who promptly contacted Cassie’s mother. The mother rushed to Cassie’s apartment but was too late. The woman died just a few hours after arriving to Papworth Hospital, Cambridge.

Stacey Schoeck

Stacey Schoeck had arranged a date with her fifth husband Richard Schoek for Valentine’s Day. They were to have a romantic evening in Belton Bridge Park — but what her husband didn’t know was the whole thing was a ruse to have him murdered. She paid Reginald Coleman a deed for a house and US $10,000. In order to avoid death penalty, Stacey cooperated with police and admitted to plotting the murder, with intentions to get the $500,000 life insurance policy.

John Hamilton

John Hamilton, an ob-gyn, was the perfect family man and husband. He lavished his wife with gifts, even giving her a Porsche as a present. However, in their 14 years of marriage, something horrible happened in Valentine’s day of 2001. John called 911 and reported that he found his wife in the bathroom in a pool of blood and her head smashed so badly that her brain was showing. Initially, police suspected pro-life activists who were threatening the family for the abortions Hamilton had performed. However, several things were amiss, including several calls to a stripper from John’s phone. Eventually Hamilton was convicted and is currently behind bars for life.

Tomicka Peterson

Tomicka Peterson decided to break up with her boyfriend Gibson Paul. She’s even made plans to change the locks of her Palm Beach home. When Paul learned of her plans, she confronted Tomicka on Valentine’s day of 2011. The two had a big altercation, and in a rage, Paul shot Tomicka in her car multiple times. Another woman and young child was in the car were injured.

During the trial Paul decided to serve as his own lawyer and asked several strange questions like “Why was the gun never found?” or “How can a person travel 1,000 miles so quickly?” Eventually, A public defender took over, but he still ended up sentenced to life in prison.