Category: Type: Proxy Homicide

Homicide through influencing or paying a third party.

Diana Robles

Photo of an overgrown gravestone. It reads, "Wife and mother Diana M. Robles. 1948-1993. To life everlasting."Name: Diana Maureen Weiland Robles.
Died: April 18, 1993.
Age at death: 44.
Cause of death: Stabbed.
Location: Bartlett, Illinois, USA.
Disability: Mobility impaired due to polio; used crutches.

Details:
Diana’s son offered his classmate $100 to kill her and her husband Peter. Her son held her down while the other man stabbed her to death.

Case status:
Eric Robles (Son), sentenced to 1oo years.
Sean Helgesen (hired killer), sentenced to 90 years.

Source:
ROBLES SENTENCED TO LIFE
Appellate court upholds 90-year sentence for Bartlett double murder by teen
Diana M. Robles (1948-1993) – Find A Grave
People v. Helgeson, 2020 IL

Trevor Horn

Photo of Trevor Horn, a little boy with olive skin and short curly brown hair. He is smiling. He is wearing a blue suit with a red bow tie that is a bit too big for him.Name: Trevor Horn.
Died: March 3, 1993.
Age at death: 8.
Cause of death: Hypoxia; ventilator disconnected.
Location: Montgomery County, Maryland, USA.
Disability: Quadriplegic, intellectually disabled.

Details:
In an attempt to collect the money that was going toward Trevor’s care, Trevor’s father hired a hit man to kill him. The hit man disconnected Trevor’s respirator, and then shot his mother, Mildred Horn, and his overnight nurse, Janice Saunders. Trevor’s two sisters, who had been out of the house that night, survived.

Case status:
Lawrence Horn (Father), convicted of murder, sentenced to life without parole, died in prison.
James Edward Perry (Hit man); convicted of murder, sentenced to death, died in prison.

Source:
Lawrence T. HORN
Father arrested in 3 murders
The chilling story of how a book by a cash-strapped mum from Florida is behind a triple murder

Anita Spearman

Photo of Anita Spearman's gravestone, which reads, "Anita J. Spearman, December 8, 1936 to November 15, 1985." There are flowers in an attached vase.Name: Anita Spearman.
Died: November 16, 1985.
Age at death: 48.
Cause of death: Blunt force injury.
Location: Palm Beach, Florida, USA.
Disability: Breast cancer.

Details:
Anita’s husband was tired of being married to a woman who had cancer. He was worried she wouldn’t look good in a bathing suit, so he hired a hit man to kill her. The man bludgeoned her to death as she lay recovering from a recent mastectomy.

Case status:
Robert Spearman (Husband), convicted of murder, sentenced to life plus 20 years.
Sean Doutre (Hit man), convicted of first-degree murder, sentenced to life plus 30 years.
Richard Savage (Hit man’s boss), convicted of second-degree murder and conspiracy, sentenced to 40 years.

Source:
Want Ads in Soldier of Fortune Magazine Led a Blundering Gang of Alleged Killers to Their Victims
Savage Found Guilty 3rd Man Convicted In Spearman Death
Spearman Found Guilty
Spearman Suspect Convicted
Murder Charges Detailed Witness: Spearman Said Death A Mercy Act
Motions Heard In Murder-for-hire Trial
‘Gun for Hire’ Had Many Clients : Bumbling Gang of Killers Left Trail of Death, Terror

John Muir

No PhotoName: John Muir.
Died: November 6, 1985.
Age at death: 65.
Cause of death: Stabbed.
Location: Aptos, California, USA.
Disability: Partial paralysis from polio.

Details:
John was stabbed to death. His wife, who had married him only three months before, most likely paid two men to kill him. She had been the caregiver for his deceased first wife, and the two had recently separated.

John was a retired IBM executive.

Case status:
Richard Vance Richardson (hired killer), pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, sentenced to 15 years to life.
Clinton Lee Burns, pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter.
Charlene Richardson (Stepdaughter), charged with accessory to murder, sentenced to 6 months in jail.
Barbara Muir (Wife), charged with accessory to murder, sentenced to 6 months in jail.

Source:
Man who killed IBM executive in Aptos in 1985 denied parole