If you’re as obsessed with true crime as we are, never miss a documentary or docuseries, tune into the weekly podcasts, and always double-check that all of your doors and windows are locked each and every night just in case, then you too will be terrified to learn that a number of serial killers have somehow weaseled their way out of jail and back to everyday life to walk among us. Let’s take a look at just a few.
Wolfgang Abel & Marco Furlan
If we heard that two men went on a vicious killing spree that included burning a drug addict alive, crushing the skulls of two priests, stabbing a waiter over 30 times, and hammering a nail into the head of another priest, we would assume they would be behind bars for life, but that wasn’t the case. After their initial 30-year sentence the two men were released after an appeal, Furlan fled the country which was a big no-no; after he was captured again, the men faced another 27 years, resulting in Furlan being released in 2009 and Abel in 2013.
Mary Bell
Born in 1957 to say Mary Bell was stripped of her childhood is an understatement, as claims state she was forced into performing sexual acts since the age of four. In December of 1968 at the age of only eleven, Mary was convicted for the manslaughter of Martin Brown and Brian Howe. Mary served only 12 years in prison before her release where she was granted anonymity with the hopes she would be able to start a new life at the age of 23. Since then all that is known of Mary is that she has lived a seemingly calm life and is now a grandmother.
Charlene and Gerald Gallego
Also known as The Love Slave Killers, this husband and wife duo killed ten people, most of whom were teenagers between 1978 and 1980. They would abduct people off of the streets and use them as sex slaves before killing them, once again, we would consider these acts worthy of a lifetime sentence, however, Charlene was offered a plea deal of 16 years and 8 months in prison and all she had to do was testify against her husband Gerald. Charlene accepted this deal and was released in 1997, while Gerald died in prison awaiting execution. (www.disabilityhelpcenter.org)
The Lainz Angels of Death
Maria Gruber, Irene Leidolf, Stephanija Meyer, and Waltraud Wagner were all women, all nurses, and all convicted of murdering at least 49 patients from1983 – 1989 by way of morphine overdoses or by forcing water into their lungs. All of the women were convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison, however, by 2008 all of them had been released due to good behavior.
