A Connecticut man allegedly beat a woman to death with a baseball bat over $200 in cocaine, then lived with her body in their apartment for a week-and-a-half before he dismembered her, put her torso in a suitcase and rolled it to a nearby cemetery.

Donald Coffel stands accused of murder in the death of 58-year-old Suzanne Wormser in the city of Groton. According to a probable cause arrest affidavit posted to local CBS affiliate WFSB, Groton city police began investigating on March 19 when a passerby smelled a foul odor from a suitcase at the entrance of Colonel Ledyard Cemetery. The caller told cops he had noticed the suitcase near some trash cans and became curious about what was inside. When he walked up to the suitcase, it smelled as if something was rotting inside, so he called police.

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Cops got on scene and opened the suitcase to find the torso of a woman’s body that was missing the head and other extremities. Police on April 11 posted a press release on its Facebook page about the death along with an FBI tip line. Wormser’s sister called in to say she hadn’t heard from her in months and she didn’t call to wish her a happy birthday, which was unlike her. She gave cops Wormser’s address and detectives went to check out the apartment in the 100 block of Allen Street, which happens to be less than 1,000 feet from the cemetery.

Officers also learned that Coffel had lived with her for a time. Neighbors told cops they hadn’t seen Wormser in months and Coffel was in the hospital. Cops entered the home and it was evident there had been a crime committed, the affidavit said. There was blood on the walls, rugs, furniture and clothing. Investigators also found a baseball bat hidden behind a bookcase. On the bat, there appeared to be dried blood and strands of brown hair matted on it, according to the cops.

Detectives went to the hospital to speak with Coffel, who was receiving treatment for pancreatic cancer. During a noncustodial interview, Coffel explained that he used to be Wormser’s neighbor before he moved to Arizona for a few months to live near his sister. That didn’t work out, so he moved back to Groton. Since he didn’t have anywhere else to live, Wormser allowed him to live with her starting in late November. He told cops Wormser had drug and mental health problems, and he didn’t particularly like her, but he tolerated her since she was allowing him to live in the apartment.

Coffel said he had back surgery in late December and stayed in the hospital before returning home in late January. He said she was there when he came home, but later left. Cops noted in the affidavit he “seemed to settle on the idea of the victim going missing between January and February when he came back from a hospital visit.” Coffel allegedly said he didn’t know where she went and it wasn’t unusual for her to leave for a day or two at a time and return.

A Pennsylvania man is behind bars for allegedly taking a clothes iron and burning 60% of his girlfriend’s body because he thought she was cheating on him.

Burton L. Byrd proceeded to hold the woman captive in their Pittsburgh appointment from Saturday to Tuesday, not allowing her to leave to seek medical attention, a probable cause arrest affidavit obtained by Law&Crime said. When he did release the alleged victim, he told her to make up a story about being assaulted near a Wendy’s and threatened to hurt her family if she spoke the truth, according to the affidavit.

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Pittsburgh cops responded to the hospital around 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday about a report of a possible domestic violence situation. The woman told police she and Byrd were at their apartment on Saturday when he accused her of infidelity.

“He figured he would punish me,” she told cops.

Byrd allegedly forced the woman to strip naked and tied her hands together with shoelaces. He began beating her with a belt and punching her in the face, cops said. Officers noted the woman had bruising around her eye and broken blood vessels in her right eye, suggesting she had been struck several times in the face.

True crime has become a paint-by-numbers game. The formula is often copied and pasted, and finding a novel approach in the field is rare.

With that in mind, you can imagine my skepticism when I saw yet another true crime documentary suggested to me on Netflix. This time, it was The Kings of Tupelo: A Southern Crime Saga touting itself as a “bizarre true-crime tale” in which “an Elvis impersonator’s conspiracy theory sets off a feud that spirals into an attempted presidential assassination.”

That’s a lead that will make you take notice.

Still, I hated the first episode of the three-part documentary. Honestly, I almost didn’t make it to the second installment.

‘Welcome to Tupelo, Mississippi, where things are different.’

The vast majority of episode one focuses on explaining the environment viewers will navigate. The introduction revolves around one of Tupelo’s most famous sons: Elvis Presley. Elvis “tribute artist” Paul Kevin Curtis, who goes by K.C., is our narrative guide.

One thing is clear: Presley was born in Tupelo, and the town will never let you forget it.

I understood the need to set the stage. Still, the process was far too prolonged. Some of it helped introduce main characters, but that was the exception. I understand the production team’s desire to fixate on the film’s geographical pull—the “South,” and its trappings play a large part in the story—but it was a tad bit overdone.

Nevertheless, I’m glad I made it to the second episode … because this ish is bananas.

‘It was my introduction into the world of conspiracy …’

After meeting his future wife and becoming a father, K.C. realizes he can’t support his family just singing and dancing. He starts a janitorial business focusing on the Presley hook and seems to do well. In 1999, he lands a large contract with North Mississippi Medical Center to clean their facilities.

According to K.C., while working in a hospital morgue in 1999, he stumbled across a refrigerator containing a severed head and other body parts. He relays the finding to anyone who will listen, quickly catching the ire of the hospital administration. He’s fired, and by his own admission, “that night [he] made a decision to send the rest of [his] life trying to uncover the truth” of those severed body parts.

At this point most of the audience has no doubt picked up on K.C.’s peculiarities.

He quickly purchases a Gateway computer and spends day and night searching the internet and scouring chatrooms and message boards for information regarding body-part harvesting and trafficking conspiracies. Based on reports from his then-wife, brother and others around town, K.C. became somewhat obsessed with the idea that the hospital was involved in organ and body-part trafficking. According to local law enforcement, K.C. started to pop up consistently on their radar.

He was undeterred by what he describes as police harassment. He was “onto something,” and no one was going to stop his “one-man crusade” to share online the information he was discovering. K.C. drafted legislation on the topic and appeared to work very hard to introduce it to local politicians. His abrasive and obsessive tactics bring the ire of local and national politicians, though.

‘I guess God chose me … I am a warrior ninja with a sword of justice.’

He mentions his divine purpose multiple times throughout Kings of Tupelo. K.C. believes God has chosen him to fight the powers that be and expose the underbelly of body-part harvesting and trafficking. By the middle of the second episode, it’s clear he experiences delusions of grandeur at best and some sort of undiagnosed mental health issue at worst.

Throughout the series, I constantly found myself asking when the shoe was going to drop regarding some sort of medical diagnosis. The closest we get is a short segment where his family has him temporarily committed, but there is little discussion or further information.

Paul Kevin Curtis in Netflix’s The Kings of Tupelo: A Southern Crime Saga. (Photo courtesy of Netflix)

If you practice criminal defense, you know how often mental health issues arise in criminal cases. We go so far as to keep a copy of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, or DSM. Obviously, my job isn’t to diagnose my clients, but it’s good to know the potential signs in undiagnosed individuals. And if they have a diagnosis, it’s helpful to have more insight.

Working with a client who experiences mental health episodes can be challenging, but there are degrees of difficulty depending on the individual client.

Here, K.C.’s delusions of grandeur could merely be a primary feature of a delusional disorder, or they could be a symptom of something else, like schizophrenia, bipolar disorder—or many other conditions. Coupling this with what seems like consistent paranoia, though, gives the impression there may be more to the story than the documentary gives off. Make no mistake: He is coherent and sometimes quite funny—purposeful or not—throughout the documentary.

Nevertheless, like many of my clients who exhibit symptoms of an underlying issue, it’s hard to know whether K.C.’s “eccentricity” is an indicator of a potential diagnosis or simply quirks associated with his peculiar personality. Regardless, as his ex-wife explains, “Kevin did not have a big grip on reality.”

‘Sir, I haven’t bought rice in years … I never eat rice.’

When local politicians receive letters containing the poison ricin, K.C.’s name comes up as a possible suspect. When then-President Barack Obama in 2013 receives one such letter, the feds get involved and trace the letters back to a Tupelo mail office; K.C. is arrested and investigated as a terrorist.

His brashness and grandiose demeanor dig him even deeper. Had he mailed letters to all those people? Of course he had. Which politician hadn’t he contacted about his body-part-trafficking legislation? But as authorities begin to examine K.C., things don’t seem to fit. How could this Elvis tribute artist/janitor concoct such a high-level attack? Things didn’t add up—until they do.

I won’t get too far into the twist, as I really want you all to watch the series. It is wonderfully chaotic, and the team behind the documentary deserves applause for stepping outside the genre’s comfort zone.

OK, one hint: The twist involves a feud with a karate instructor.

And it’s this type of mania that ultimately sets Kings of Tupelo apart and makes it well worth the watch. The second half plays out like a cross between a Cohen brothers movie and Step Brothers, the classic Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly film. I mean that in the absolute best way possible.

If this sounds compelling, don’t ask me how; just go with it and find out for yourself.

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Adam R. Banner is the founder and lead attorney of the Oklahoma Legal Group, a criminal defense law firm in Oklahoma City. His practice focuses solely on state and federal criminal defense. He represents the accused against allegations of sex crimes, violent crimes, drug crimes and white-collar crimes.

The study of law isn’t for everyone, yet its practice and procedure seem to permeate pop culture at an increasing rate. This column is about the intersection of law and pop culture in an attempt to separate the real from the ridiculous.

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This column reflects the opinions of the author and not necessarily the views of the ABA Journal—or the American Bar Association.

An Oregon jury convicted a man of stabbing a friend 55 times and then stuffing his body in the trunk of the victim’s own car and lighting it on fire.

Robert Thomas Colon, 44, was found guilty of the Sept. 5, 2018, murder of Andrew Hathaway, 27, in Portland, the Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office said last week in a press release. Before the trial began, Colon pleaded guilty to arson, abuse of a corpse and tampering with physical evidence. He’s slated to be sentenced on Wednesday. Colon faces a life sentence with the possibility of parole after 25 years.

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According to prosecutors, Colon and Hathaway were visiting a home where two other men lived, and they all got high. At some point during the night, Colon and Hathaway began a fistfight. Colon was winning the fight and Hathaway began screaming for help. The two other men broke up the fight and things calmed down for a bit. But then the fight started up again with “Colon beating and stabbing Hathaway until he was dead,” prosecutors said.

Colon and one of the other men moved the body to the trunk of Hathaway’s car. They then drove to a vacant lot and lit it ablaze. Fire crews put out the blaze and discovered the remains. Hathaway’s body was unrecognizable as 80% of his remains were charred, prosecutors said.

The trial of a 24-year-old woman in Georgia accused of killing her 20-month-old son and tossing his body in a dumpster began on Monday with prosecutors telling jurors that in the days leading up to the toddler’s death, the victim’s mother had been having relationship issues, taking a spate of narcotic drugs, and later told police a bizarre array of stories.

At one point during an interview with police, Simon explained that she stopped at a secluded dumpster in the middle of the night shortly after her son’s disappearance because she was throwing away “spoiled shrimp pasta.”

As previously reported, Leilani Simon in December 2022 was indicted on 19 criminal counts, including malice murder, felony murder, concealing the death of another, and making false statements to police in the slaying of young Quinton Simon. Authorities allege that Simon on Oct. 5, 2022, intentionally killed her son with an unknown object “that when used offensively against a person did result in serious bodily injury,” and “cause Quinton’s death.”

The felony murder charges stem from accusations that Simon killed Quinton while also committing felonious acts of aggravated assault and first-degree cruelty to a child by “maliciously” causing Quinton “cruel and excessive physical pain” in a manner that was unknown to the grand jury at the time of the indictment.

A Kentucky woman is behind bars after pieces of another woman’s dismembered body were found behind her mother’s home earlier this week, police in the Bluegrass State say.

Torilena Fields, 32, stands accused of one count each of obstructing governmental operations, tampering with physical evidence, and abuse of corpse, according to Bourbon County jail records.

Law enforcement says multiple indices of occult practices came up during the so-far brief investigation into the macabre crime scene.

A Florida man convicted of killing his wife amid a messy divorce and leaving her body in the woods was sentenced to 55 years in prison.

Jose Luis Pacheco, 38, learned his fate on Thursday after pleading guilty to second-degree murder charges in the killing of his estranged wife Mimose Dulcio, 39. Broward County Circuit Judge Frank Ledee refused the defendant’s initial plea of no contest after hearing powerful victim impact statements.

“You’re a monster … murderer … manipulator … a narcissist … and you don’t deserve to live,” Dulcio’s sister, Seminta Dulcio, told the defendant, local ABC affiliate WPLG reported.

A man hit a woman over 100 times, shot her in the stomach, bound her with zip ties, gagged her and taped a plastic bag around her head before covering her body with a sleeping bag. He then put the body it the car and crashed into a pole.

Cops in Alaska made the grisly discovery in 2016 and charged Benjamin Wilkins with murder. On Wednesday, a judge sentenced Wilkins, now 43, to 75 years behind bars.

Anchorage police on June 27, 2016, responded to the traffic crash in the 2800 block of Debarr Road near Alaska Regional Hospital. Cops quickly realized Wilkins was impaired. As they were waiting for the tow truck, they saw what appeared to be a passenger under a sleeping bag and found the body of 30-year-old Jacqueline Goodwin. She had plier marks and bruises throughout her body and her teeth were broken, the Juneau Empire reported at the time. The medical examiner determined the cause of death was from asphyxiation, blunt force trauma and gunshot wound to her stomach, the outlet reported.

Jurors on Friday convicted a Pennsylvania man of murder for brutally and extensively beating his girlfriend — jumping on her and dropping a sofa on her body, according to The Daily Local News.

Leroy Brahm, 33, will receive a mandatory sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole for first-degree murder, but the judge at a later sentencing date will establish the formal punishments for charges of aggravated assault, simple assault, and recklessly endangering another person.

Chester County prosecutors reportedly told jurors that jealousy fueled his violent beating of Annabel Rose Meenan, 21, to death on Dec. 4, 2021. Brahm reportedly arranged for some kind of three-way sexual relationship involving another man, and they even all went on a cruise together, but the defendant became angry and controlling, believing that Meenan, who he dated since she was a high schooler, developed a relationship with the man outside of his presence.

“The Defendant unfathomably, brutally, and systematically beat his girlfriend to death during the course of a night,” District Attorney Christopher L. de Barrena-Sarobe said in a statement Friday. “The jury rightfully recognized that the Defendant was guilty of all charges.”