20 Times People Confessed to Crimes on Camera

#20: Mark Castellano

Mark Castellano shared an apartment in Houston, Texas with his ex-girlfriend Michelle Warner and their young son, Cayden. In September 2012, the former couple got into a heated argument that ended in Warner’s death at Castellano’s hands. The 31-year-old mother was reported missing by her family and all eyes soon turned to Castellano as the suspect. As the case gained traction, Castellano sat for an interview with Dr. Phil, in which he insisted that Warner had left the apartment after their argument and never returned. Just days later, however, Castellano turned himself in and owned up to the crime in a taped interrogation with the police. He was later found guilty of Warner’s murder and sentenced to 27 years in prison.

#19: Natavia Lowery

The 2007 murder of celebrity realtor and former music manager Linda Stein in her Manhattan apartment soon became the subject of a media frenzy. Upon close investigation, authorities narrowed in on Stein’s personal assistant Natavia Lowery, who was reported to have had a strained relationship with her boss. In her interrogation, Lowery seemingly confessed to her role in Stein’s murder, claiming that the real estate broker had provoked her by blowing smoke in her face and uttering racially insensitive remarks. Apparently, Lowery had stolen $30,000 from Stein and likely killed her when she was confronted about it. Although she later recanted her confession, Lowery was convicted and sentenced to 25 years to life in prison.

#18: Jordy Brook

In November of 2014, Peter Steer, an Australian cameraman for 7News, was sent to the coastal town of Noosa Heads in Queensland to cover a shooting. On his way there, he was hailed down by a man on a motorbike named Jordy Brook who disclosed that he was the perpetrator of the incident in question. Steer then called the authorities, as he filmed Brook making a teary confession to the crime. While waiting for police, Brook had a change of heart and stole the cameraman’s car at gunpoint. He was eventually arrested after crashing into a gas station, and brought up on multiple charges including attempted murder and armed robbery.

#17: Jerrod Murray

Jerrod Murray and Generro Sanchez were both freshmen at East Central University in Oklahoma in 2012. On December 5th, Murray lured Sanchez into driving him to a Walmart by offering to pay him $20. This would be Sanchez’s last ride, as he was gunned down by Murray in his own car. Murray fled the scene but was eventually arrested while attempting to hitchhike to Canada. During police interrogation, Murray quickly owned up to the crime, giving a chilling confession seemingly devoid of any remorse. He admitted to planning the murder weeks ahead and believed he deserved the death penalty. Instead, he was found not guilty by reason of insanity and remanded to a mental health facility.

#16: Christian Romero

Even before he became a teenager, Christian Romero had already committed murder. In November of 2008, Romero shot and killed his father Vincent, and their tenant, Timothy Romans, after they got home from work. The crimes baffled investigators, who examined a bunch of other suspects before confronting the inevitable truth. Initially, Romero had stated that he returned from school to find both men already dead. However, when police questioned him further, he admitted to committing the murders himself. In a deal with the prosecution, Romero pleaded guilty to the negligent homicide of Romans, but was spared from being charged with the death of his father. He was first committed to a treatment facility indefinitely, but gained his freedom when he turned 18.

#15: Russell Williams

Having served in the Canadian Air Force for 23 years, Russell Williams rose to the rank of Colonel and was commander of the largest military airbase in Canada. In February 2010, Williams was linked to the assault and murder of Jessica Lloyd through the tire tracks found outside her home. He was taken in for questioning and eventually broke, confessing not only to Lloyd’s murder, but also to other assaults and burglaries in the area. Williams forcefully entered women’s homes, not to steal any valuables, but to collect their underwear, which he would then wear and take pictures of himself in. He was tried on multiple charges including murder, assault, and 82 counts of breaking and entering, resulting in a life sentence.

#14: Earl Valentine

While many individuals have confessed to their crimes in interviews or during police interrogations, Earl Valentine basically bragged about his on Facebook. In an eerie livestream in September 2016, Valentine admitted to shooting his ex-wife, Keisha, and their son, Earl Jr. Keisha had moved to Norlina, North Carolina, with Earl Jr. in an attempt to escape Valentine after her restraining order against him had expired. In the video, Valentine accused his ex-wife of trying to tarnish his image and claimed to have shot her in retribution. Police later tracked Valentine to a motel in Columbia, South Carolina but found that he had already taken his own life.

#13: Daniel Wozniak

A community theater actor in Costa Mesa, California, Daniel Wozniak was arrested in May 2010 after the body of Julie Kibuishi was discovered in his neighbor, Sam Herr’s apartment. At the time, police were on the hunt for Herr, who was presumed to have fled after ending Kibuishi’s life. While in police custody, Wozniak initially denied having anything to do with the crime. But after a few hours of questioning, he eventually confessed to killing Kibuishi and Herr, who was a war veteran, in a bid to collect his combat pay savings. In 2016, Wozniak was found guilty of two counts of first-degree murder and handed the death penalty.

#12: Israel Keyes

To describe Israel Keyes as terrifying will be quite an understatement. The Utah-born serial killer orchestrated multiple carefully planned murders across several states in the United States. After kidnapping and killing his last confirmed victim, Samantha Koenig, Keyes was arrested in Alaska when he tried withdrawing money from an ATM with her debit card. While in police custody, Keyes chillingly described his crimes, although leaving out just enough detail to avoid being directly linked with any confirmed case. Still, he confessed to the murders of Koening and a middle-aged couple named Bill and Lorraine Currier. Prosecutors were still putting their case against Keyes together when he took his own life in his jail cell.

#11: Steve Stephens

37-year-old Steve Stephens became the subject of an extensive police manhunt in April 2017, when he uploaded a video to Facebook, which showed him committing a murder. In the clip, recorded on his phone, Stephens randomly stops Robert Godwin, an elderly man walking down the street, who he briefly talks to before fatally shooting him. The crime was reportedly motivated by problems Stephens was having with his girlfriend at the time. That same day, he uploaded another video in which he also admitted to killing more people, although those claims were not verified by police. Two days later, Stephens was spotted at a McDonald’s drive-thru, but ended up taking his life before police could arrest him.

#10: Melissa Miller

In February of 2013, colleagues of Annie Meyer filed a missing person’s report after she was absent from work for several days. Over the next few months, police questioned those close to Meyer, but found it difficult to gain any substantial information from her roommate and former partner, Melissa Miller. It wasn’t until July, when Meyer’s remains were found that Miller decided to cooperate with the police. In her taped interview with investigators, Miller painted a relationship with Meyer that was fraught with tension due to money problems. She then confessed to killing her while they were on a hike in the Colorado mountains. After pleading guilty to second-degree murder, Miller was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

#9: Sean Vincent Gillis

The crimes of Sean Vincent Gillis were so despicable that even he referred to himself as “pure evil.” Over a ten-year period, Gillis claimed the lives of eight women in and around the Baton Rouge area in Louisiana. Dubbed “The Other Baton Rouge Killer,” he was known to perform disturbing acts on the bodies of his victims. In 2004, he was arrested and charged with three murders, and ended up confessing to all three plus an additional five. Gillis went into detail about how he would hunt down his victims and the gruesome ways he ended their lives. He was, however, only convicted of the initial three murders and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

#8: David Tarloff

David Tarloff had struggled with mental illness from at least his early 20s. In 1991, he was diagnosed with schizophrenia by a psychiatrist named Kent Schinbach, who recommended his involuntary commitment to a psychiatric facility. Fast forward to 2008, Tarloff visited Schinbach’s office once again, only this time, his goal was to rob the doctor and use the money to care for his ailing mother. Instead, Tarloff ended up killing Kathryn Faughey, another psychiatrist who shared an office with Schinbach, in what he claimed was self-defense. Police traced fingerprints from the crime scene to Tarloff, who rambled his way through a confession when questioned. Following two mistrials, he was eventually convicted and handed a life sentence in 2014.

#7: Mark “Chopper” Read

One of the most notorious criminals in Australian history, Mark “Chopper” Read had a long rap sheet that included crimes like armed robbery, kidnapping and arson. Read’s notorious activities led to him spending a large chunk of his adult life incarcerated. While in prison, the infamous gangster contracted hepatitis C and was diagnosed with liver cancer years later. Just before his death, Read sat for a televised interview with “60 Minutes Australia,” where he admitted to having been responsible for the deaths of four people. Perhaps the most shocking thing about the interview, which was granted just 16 days before his death, was the casual nature with which Read described his graphic crimes.

#6: Robert “Willy” Pickton

Possibly one of Canada’s most prolific serial killers, the crimes of Robert “Willy” Pickton sent shockwaves through the country when they were eventually discovered. Pickton had inherited a large pig farm from his family, and reportedly fed the corpses of his victims to his pigs. In 2002, police stormed Pickton’s farm on an illegal firearms warrant but ended up finding personal effects belonging to multiple missing women. He was charged with 26 counts of murder, but in a chilling jail cell surveillance video, Pickton confessed to an undercover officer that he had claimed the lives of 49 women and even “wanted one more.” For his despicable crimes, Pickton was sentenced to life in prison, with no possibility of parole for 25 years.

#5: Gary Ridgway

Dubbed the Green River Killer, Gary Ridgway terrorized girls and women in the states of Washington and Oregon in the ‘80s and ‘90s. While his victim count is believed to be as high as 90, Ridgway was convicted of 49 murders, the second highest number of confirmed killings in U.S. history. Ridgway sat for multiple interviews with the authorities, most notably with FBI profiler Dr. Mary Ellen O’Toole, in which he confessed to more killings and detailed how he picked up his victims. Throughout these interviews, he owned up to the most murders for any American serial killer. Due to his plea agreement, Ridgway avoided execution and was instead sentenced to life in prison, without the possibility of parole.

#4: Ed Kemper

Truly a disturbing figure, Ed Kemper was responsible for the deaths of ten people, including his own mother and paternal grandparents. After killing his mother and one of her friends on April 20th 1973, Kemper called the police and confessed to the crimes. Of the ten murders, Kemper was charged with and convicted of eight, for which he was handed eight consecutive life sentences. Throughout his life in prison, Kemper granted multiple interviews, such as for the documentary “Murder: No Apparent Motive,” during which he opened up about his crimes in explicit details. He was also profiled by agents of the FBI’s Behavioural Science Unit, which was portrayed in the Netflix series “Mindhunter.”

#3: Robert Durst

“The Jinx” was a six-part true crime docuseries that aired on HBO in 2015. The critically acclaimed show centered around real estate tycoon Robert Durst who, at the time, was suspected of killing his wife, Kathleen McCormack, and friend, Susan Berman. In the final episode, Durst is shown a damning handwritten letter about Berman’s murder that seemed to match his writing, but he flat out denies being the author. Then, in what is arguably one of the most shocking moments in TV history, he goes to the bathroom and seemingly confesses to the crimes, while his mic is still recording. Durst was later given a life sentence for Berman’s death, but he died of cardiac arrest just three months later.

#2: The BTK Killer

The BTK Killer was the self-imposed nickname of American serial killer Dennis Rader. Rader murdered ten people in the state of Kansas between 1974 and 1991, and sent letters to the authorities bragging about it. He was eventually caught in 2005 after sending police a floppy disk with metadata that revealed his identity. On the day of his trial, Rader surprised the court by instead pleading guilty to all ten counts of first-degree murder and vividly recounted how he carried them out. Throughout the chilling, nearly one-hour long confession, Rader offered no apologies for his actions, and was later handed ten consecutive life sentences.

#1: Ted Bundy

You’d be hard pressed to find an American adult who hasn’t heard the name Ted Bundy. The infamous serial killer claimed at least thirty lives over a four-year period, although that number is believed to be much higher. After he was caught and sentenced to death for three of the murders, Bundy appealed the decision up to the U.S. Supreme Court to no avail. On the eve of his execution, Bundy sat for a taped interview, in which he admitted guilt to the crimes and described the true nature of his murderous tendencies. A few hours later, Bundy’s reign of terror came to an end when he was executed in the electric chair on January 24th 1989.