While plenty of people have idly fantasized about killing their boss, a select few people have actually done it. Whether it's a work-related dispute, a robbery, or revenge for being laid off, employees giving the ultimate bad performance review happens more often than you might think. Most of these cases involve long-held grudges, but a few appear to have been spur of the moment.
In a few cases, the murder happens because the employee has been discovered stealing from the employer, like in the case of the murder of pop star Selena by her fan club president. And in a few cases, we'll never know, because the killer was themselves shot dead, or committed suicide.
Here are some cases of employers who killed their bosses, and what became of them.
Employees Who Killed Their Bosses,
Yolanda Saldívar
Saldivar was president of singer Selena's fan club, a position she obtained by essentially harrassing the singer's manager until he gave in. She was also embezzling from the singer, and when Selena's management found out, they fired her. When Selena set up a meeting with her in a motel room in March 1995, to discuss the situation, Saldivar first claimed she'd been raped and asked Selena to take her to a hospital. When the hospital punted her for not having been raped, Selena demanded financial papers from Saldivar, who shot her.
At her trial, Saldivar claimed the gun accidentally went off, which prosecutors refuted with evidence that the gun was so heavy it couldn't fire on it's own. Also, Saldivar didn't call 911, instead chasing a bloody Selena into the hotel lobby calling her a bitch. She was sentenced to life in prison, while internet hoaxes constantly proclaim her as being dead.
Natavia S. Lowery Killed the Celeb Real Estate Agent She Worked For
A celebrity real estate broker and former manager of the Ramones, Linda Stein was found dead in a pool of blood on the floor of her Manhattan apartment. While a murder weapon was never recovered, Lowery, then her personal assistant, confessed to beating Stein to death with a yoga stick during an argument where Stein accused Lowery of stealing from her - a confession she soon recanted.
Lowery claimed that Stein was dealing with massive mood swings due to anti-cancer medication, had called her a racial slur, and blew marijuana smoke into her face, though no marijuana was found in Stein’s system. Her family attempted to pin the murder on Stein’s daughter, Mandy, but Lowery did herself no favors by looting Stein's bank account after the murder - and was found guilty.
Carter Cervantez and Clarence "David" Mallory Strangled Their Ex-Manager
Cervantez and Mallory were accused of stealing $18,000 from the Fort Worth American Eagle store they worked at during the summer of 2014, and subsequently disappeared. They came back Thanksgiving weekend to brutally murder their former boss, Ashlea Harris. The store manager was found in her apartment bound with duct tape, beaten, burned, and strangled.
The duo took her keys, which led police to track them back to the American Eagle store, which they were attempting to rob.
Russell Carter Strangled His Boss With His Tie
Recently-fired Welsh truck driver Russell Carter believed his boss, Kinglsey Monk, had stiffed him out of $4,000 in wages. So he took Monk and three other workers hostage, then beat Monk with a pipe and strangled him with his own tie. To finish off his debt collecting, Carter doused the other people in gasoline and set the building on fire. They escaped, and Carter claimed he was insane, therefore not liable for his actions. The UK legal system disagreed, and gave Carter 30 years in prison.
Ernesto Hernandez Avalos Beat His Boss to Death with a Shovel
In January 2007, Avalos was a 27-year-old California day laborer. While doing some landscaping work, his boss, Woo Sung Park told him he was working too slowly. Avalos responded to the criticism by hitting Park in the back of head with his shovel, then beating him to death with it.
Police arrived, and attempted to take Avalos into custody, at which point Avalos grabbed a pick axe to finish Park off. Once subdued, Avalos admitted to using methamphetamine prior to work that day, but maintained he felt Park was going to physically attack him. He was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison anyway.
Jessica Dayton Conspired to Murder Her Boss With a Rock
Dayton was a 19-year-old waitress at Missouri's Lincoln Café when she entered into a convoluted plot to kill her manager, 33-year-old Curtis Bailey. Dayton conspired with Bailey’s live-in girlfriend Denise Frei to get Bailey to black out from drinking, so that Frei’s teenage son Jacob Hilgendorf could kill him.
However, this Swiss watch of a plan went awry when Bailey woke up from his stupor and started to struggle. Dayton hit on the head with a rock before Hilgendorf delivered the final blow. After the trio of master criminals was arrested, they insisted that they simply wanted to beat Bailey, not kill him. Dayton ended up getting life in prison for her role in the killing.
Sarah McLinn Nearly Beheaded the Boss Who Was Taking Care of Her
Harold Sasko was the 52-year-old owner of a Cici’s pizza restaurant franchise in Kansas City when he hired 19-year-old Sarah McLinn. Knowing she'd recently been involved with drugs and gangs, he invited McLinn to live with him. She returned the favor by mixing sleeping pills in his beer, binding his hands and feet with zip-ties, and sawing his head nearly off.
McLinn's defense attorneys argued that dissociative identity disorder was to blame, and that McLinn had as many as four different personalities - one of whom, named Alyssa, was the actual killer. Prosecutors claimed McLinn had researched vulnerable spots on the neck, and planned to flee after the killing. She was found guilty and sentenced to a minimum of 50 years in prison.
Jeffrey Johnson Shot His Boss and Caused a Bloodbath at the Empire State Building
After six years working at Midtown, Manhattan clothing design firm Hazan Imports, Johnson was laid off in 2014. He returned to the design firm with a .45 caliber pistol and shot his former boss, with whom he'd exchanged harassment complaints before his layoff. After shooting the man four more times on the ground, he started walking toward the Empire State Building. Once he got there, NYPD officers confronted him, and a shootout erupted. Nine people were hurt, all by stray bullets from the police, while Johnson was shot dead.
Randolph Sanders Executed His Boss After She Found He'd Stolen from Their Non-Profit
Kim Jones, program director at Philadelphia non-profit Turning Points for Children, was shot in the head execution-style in public by a man who took a gun out of a bag and fled afterwards. Several weeks later, Philly police zeroed in on Randolph Sanders, Jones's assistant director, and someone she'd worked with for years.
Jones had determined that Sanders had stolen at least $40,000 from the non-profit, and was about to go to Philadelphia's Department of Human Services with her findings, which likely would have ended with Sanders being arrested. After Sanders was caught, he confessed to the murder.
Eric Allen Kirkpatrick Shot His Boss at the Company Christmas Party
Kirkpatrick murdered his former boss, Benjamin Banky, the CEO of natural health products company TallGrass Distribution, shortly after he was fired. Kirkpatrick showed up at the company Christmas party with a shotgun and opened fire, shooting and killing Bank. After a quick standoff, Kirkpatrick gave himself up, pleaded not guilty, and was convicted of murder anyway.