20 Deathbed Confessions That Solved Crimes

Tor Hepsø

In Norway, two brutal murders in the 1970s led to the conviction of a deaf man, Fritz Moen. Two young women, Torunn Finstad and Sigrid Heggheim were each found sexually assaulted and strangled. Despite weak evidence, Moen spent 18 years in prison, his conviction largely based on a disputed confession. Years later, as Moen fought to clear his name, a breakthrough came too late. In 2005, convicted criminal Tor Hepsø confessed on his deathbed to killing both victims. The confession prompted a review of the case, and in 2006, Moen was fully exonerated. By then, he had already died, never seeing his name fully cleared. His case is now considered one of Norway's worst miscarriages of justice.

Michael Lee Wilson

In 1994, Karen Summers was killed in a drive-by shooting in Tulsa. Two teenagers, Malcolm Scott and De’Marchoe Carpenter, were convicted despite no physical evidence linking them to the crime. They spent over two decades behind bars. The truth only surfaced in 2014, moments before Michael Lee Wilson was executed. Strapped to a gurney, he used his final words to confess that he was responsible and that the two men were innocent. His statement sparked renewed investigations. Combined with recanted witness testimony and lack of forensic evidence, the case collapsed. In 2016, Scott and Carpenter were finally freed—after more than 20 years in prison for a crime they didn’t commit.

James Brewer

In April 1977, James Brewer shot and killed his neighbor Jimmy Carroll in Hohenwald, Tennessee, believing Carroll had tried to seduce his wife. Brewer was arrested, but before he could face justice, he fled, starting a new life under a different name. For more than 30 years, he and his wife lived quietly in Oklahoma, becoming respected members of the community. Then in 2009, after suffering strokes and believing he was dying, Brewer phoned Tennessee police to confess. He told detectives he wanted to "cleanse his soul" before meeting his maker. But the ending took an unexpected turn: Brewer survived. Instead of dying with his secret, he was forced to return to court and finally face the crime he had tried to leave behind.

Neil Anderson

On April 20, 2002, 28-year-old Stephen Lindsey was found shot dead in a van outside a motel in Copley, Ohio. The case went unsolved for over two decades, with investigators unable to identify a suspect. In March 2023, Neil Anderson, facing a terminal illness, confessed to his brother that he had killed Lindsey—shooting him rather than repaying money he owed him. Anderson was 41 when he died that same year, never speaking directly to police. His brother waited over a year before coming forward. When he finally told investigators in November 2024, the details he provided matched crime scene evidence only the killer or police could have known. The case was officially closed and the brother himself died a month after meeting with police.

Thomas J. Williams

Hiram "Ross" Grayam survived the horrors of war only to be shot while delivering milk in Vero Beach, Florida, in 1968. His body was found deep in the woods, and the case went cold for decades. In 2006, renewed attention brought Thomas J. Williams onto investigators’ radar, though he denied any involvement. Williams died in 2016 without ever confessing to police. After his death, two people—his ex-wife and a family acquaintance who did not know each other—independently told investigators he had confessed to them. Both had stayed silent while he was alive, fearing for their safety. Their accounts, along with other leads, led investigators to identify Williams as the killer and suggest a second person may have been involved.

Joan Miller

In December 1999, the skeletal remains of a young girl were discovered buried near a Chicago apartment building. The body showed signs of severe abuse, including broken bones and long-term malnutrition. DNA testing and birth records later identified her as Holly Blake, the daughter of Joan Miller, who had denied her existence for nearly four decades. When detectives located Miller in a Nebraska hospital in March 2000, she was gravely ill and unable to speak clearly. Police said that while hospitalized, Miller admitted a role in her daughter’s death and burial. She died days later, before formal charges could be pursued. Despite the apparent breakthrough, the case remained clouded by unanswered questions, including the exact circumstances of the girl’s death.

Unidentified Man (Margaret Cook Case)

In 1946, 26-year-old Margaret Cook was shot dead in a narrow passage outside London’s Blue Lagoon nightclub. Witnesses noticed the gunman, but he vanished into the streets of Soho, and the case went cold for nearly 70 years. In 2015, a 91-year-old man living in Canada, diagnosed with cancer, confessed to the killing. He admitted he shot Cook with a World War II pistol after she cheated him out of money. When shown old case photos, he identified her as his victim. British authorities attempted to extradite him—but his age and condition raised doubts about whether he would ever stand trial, leaving justice uncertain even after the truth emerged.

Larry Webb

In 2000, Natasha “Alex” Carter and her mother, Susan, vanished from West Virginia. For years, the authorities had no idea what’d happened. Yet Alex’s father, Rick Lafferty, kept searching. Finally, they had an answer in 2022. While staying at a nursing facility, Webb informed the police that he'd killed the mother and daughter at his home, where they were residing at the time. After some of his money went missing, he blamed Susan, resulting in a fatal shooting. He then took Alex’s life as she witnessed the crime. Investigators examined the house and found a bullet in the wall of Alex’s bedroom. Shortly after Webb died in 2024, Alex and Susan’s bodies were found buried at his home.

Theodore John Conrad/Thomas Randele

In 2021, Thomas Randele was approaching his demise from lung cancer. Shortly after a chemotherapy session, he decided to come clean to his daughter. He admitted that his real name was Theodore John Conrad and that he’d been on the run since 1969. That year, he’d stolen $215,000, around $1.9 million now, from the bank he worked at in Cleveland, Ohio, before vanishing from the authorities. US marshal John K. Elliott and his son, Peter, who took over the case, spent years searching for Randele. After Randele’s passing in 2021, Peter was tipped off about his obituary and pieced it together. The family admitted they knew about Randele’s confession, but they didn’t face criminal charges for not disclosing it.

James Washington

In 2009, while serving a 15-year sentence for attempted murder, Washington suffered a heart attack that caused him to be hospitalized. Believing his life to be nearing its end, he called over prison guard James Tomlinson and confessed to the 1995 murder of Joyce Goodener, whose body was found in an abandoned house in Nashville, Tennessee. At the time, there was no physical evidence linking anyone to the crime. Unfortunately for Washington, he survived his medical crisis and was charged with Goodener’s murder. Washington alleged that the medicine he was given in the hospital caused him to give a false confession. However, that wasn’t believed, and he was found guilty of Goodener’s murder in 2012, earning him a life sentence.

Naaman Diller

In 1983, the L. A. Mayer Museum for Islamic Art in Jerusalem experienced a heist. After casing the place, memorizing guard routes, and taking advantage of a broken alarm, the thief took off with 106 timepieces, including the legendary Marie Antoinette watch by Abraham-Louis Breguet, worth over $30 million. Despite a $2 million reward for information, the items weren’t seen again. However, in 2006, that changed when Nili Shamrat agreed to sell some of the goods back to the museum for around $40,000. However, after the news of the deal leaked, the police investigated. Shortly before her husband, Diller, passed away in 2004, he confessed to Shamrat that he'd robbed the museum. For keeping it secret, she was sentenced to probation and community service.

Ottis Toole

In 1981, Adam Walsh vanished from a department store in Hollywood, Florida. While the media descended on the area to publicize the search for him, after two weeks, Adam’s remains were found. For decades, the killer wasn’t found. Adam’s father, John, became an anti-crime activist and hosted “America's Most Wanted.” One person linked to Adam's murder was Toole, who confessed to it multiple times. However, he recanted it each time. In 1984, Toole was found guilty of several other murders, earning him life imprisonment. During that period, he admitted to further killings. In 1996, just before he died, Toole’s niece stated he confessed to Adam’s murder. Despite that, it wasn’t until 2008 when the police concluded Toole was responsible and closed the case.

Sharron Diane Crawford Smith

In 2008, Smith was approaching the end of her life with a terminal illness. With time running out, she decided to put to bed a secret she’d held on to for decades. In 1967, Smith was working at High’s Ice Cream shop in Staunton, Virginia. After being mocked by her co-workers, Constance Smootz Hevener and Carolyn Hevener Perry, for being a lesbian, Smith fatally shot the duo at the shop and stole money from the register. No one was sentenced in the case. Smith also claimed the lead detective, David Bocock, knew what she’d done, and he’d hidden the firearm to cover the crime up. However, he passed away in 2006. A month after being charged with the double murder, Smith passed away.

Geraldine Kelley

For over a decade, Kelley’s two children believed their father, John, had left the family and perished in a car accident. Yet in 2004, shortly before succumbing to cancer, she finally told them the truth. When the couple were working as in-house managers at a California motel, they regularly fought, which was reportedly witnessed by their children, who later became estranged from them. The violence resulted in Kelley fatally shooting John around 1992 before conducting her deception. She then placed his body in a storage freezer, even moving it with her when she relocated from California to Somerville, Massachusetts. The police investigated and found John’s remains still in the freezer.

Harvey Richardson

In 2008, decorators were inside Richardson’s home in Aspull, England. They were there to clean up after his passing. However, the workers stumbled upon a satchel containing an envelope labeled “private and confidential.” Inside was a nine-page confession that Richardson had taken the life of Lorraine Jacob in Liverpool during 1970. The envelope also had a newspaper clipping about the case. In 2009, after Richardson’s DNA matched with evidence in Jacob’s case, the police confirmed that if he were alive, he would’ve been charged with her murder before closing the case. Richardson’s envelope also contained a clipping about Jacqueline Ansell-Lamb’s unsolved murder in 1970. However, no confession or evidence linked him to that crime.

Paul Michael Stephani

In 1997, while serving a 58-year sentence for murdering Barbara Simons and attempting to murder Denise Williams, Stephani, better known as the Weepy-Voiced Killer for the remorseful phone calls he made to the cops, had been diagnosed with terminal cancer. So, he decided to come clean about some more killings and attacks he’d done in Minnesota and Wisconsin. As well as confirming he was responsible for the crimes he was already convicted of, in 1980, Stephani severely attacked Karen Potack. In 1981, he took Kimberly Compton’s life. While he was suspected of these murders due to the phone calls to the police, Stephani also confirmed he killed Kathy Greening in 1982, which he had no connection to. In 1998, Stephani died from his illness.

Satoshi Kirishima

In 1975, as part of the extremist group, the East Asia Anti-Japan Armed Front, Kirishima took part in a series of bombings in Japan. However, shortly after, the group was raided by the police, resulting in several arrests. Yet Kirishima vanished, becoming one of the country’s most wanted fugitives. In 2024, Hiroshi Uchida was undergoing treatment for terminal cancer in a hospital. With his life approaching its end, he told staff he wanted to spend his remaining time not living under his pseudonym, but his real name, Kirishima. The police then arrested him, taking a DNA sample to test his claims. Yet, while the test comparing his sample to relatives confirmed he was Kirishima, he passed away before it was completed.

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