Twins Who Killed Together

The fascinating and sometimes creepy connection between twins is nothing new. Some sets of twins have secret languages, or are so in tune it's almost as though they can read each other's thoughts. For the most part this connection is harmless - and really, really interesting. But can there be a dark side? What happens if the deep connection between twins is rooted in extreme violence? That's where you get killer twins. 

There have been a surprising amount of cases of killer twins. There's the Spahalski twins who both were murderers at the same exact time, just not together. Or the Menendez brothers who brutally killed their own parents. Often when it comes to twins who kill people, they're working as a team. Their cosmic twin connection is dark and deadly. 

These two brothers brutally murdered their parents in 1989. Together they shot and killed Jose and Kitty Menendez in the family room of their Beverly Hills mansion. Their trial was televised nationally on CourtTV. 

According to investigators, the twins grew up wealthy and came from a dysfunctional family. Prosecutors said they wanted to kill their parents and take the family fortune, while their lawyers said it was an act of self defense. 

They were both sentenced to life without parole.

Twin members of the UN - no, not that UN, a gang in Canada - admitted to helping the criminal organization murder Jonathan Barber and Kevin LeClair in 2016. The UN is active in British Columbia. One of the twins provided the murder weapon while the other was guarding a safe house during the attack. The gang was involved in selling drugs.

They were each only given a two year sentence despite pleading guilty to knowingly participating in the gang “for the purpose of enhancing the ability of a criminal organization to commit the indictable offense of conspiracy to commit murder." Although it was stressed that they had no direct role in the murder, some found the sentence suspiciously light. Apparently “two sealed documents... were a key part of the recommendation for the light sentences.”

Pete and Pat Bondurant were twins who killed together and separately as well. In 1991, they were convicted of the murder of 24-year-old Gwen Dugger. She was described as a bubbly blonde who Pete had allegedly drugged until she was incapacitated. The brothers then had sex with her and bludgeoned her to death with an ax handle. Because her body was never found, they were convicted of 25 years instead of life in prison.

But that wasn’t their only conviction. Pat was found guilty of murdering his co-worker by beating him to death and Pete was found to have murdered his girlfriend. Pete was charged with helping Pat dismember his coworker. 

Keishon and Kenyata Blake were charged with the murder of an elderly woman who was returning home from the grocery store. The teenage boys also stole her purse. She was out shopping for ingredients to cook Christmas dinner. 

Although they were only 18, they “had a criminal record that consisted of robberies and assaults and having these two thugs off the streets right now, people should feel a lot safer," according to an LAPD detective. 

Betty Wilson and Peggy Lowe were twins who allegedly plotted murder together. When Jack Wilson, Betty’s husband, was brutally murdered with a baseball bat it was thought that Wilson had hired a man named James Dennison White to kill Jack. Wilson was sentenced to life in prison. Lowe was acquitted, but the prosecution believed she had been in on the whole thing. 

Twins Deo and Charles Tamale of Edmonton, London committed a brutal stabbing during a robbery gone wrong. The two were allegedly trying to steal the phones of four people from a party when 23-year-old Khiry Ford stepped in and was stabbed more than a dozen times. During his attempt to be a peacekeeper, Ford apparently said “It’s my cousin’s 18th birthday, there’s no need.”

His mother,  Joanne Duncan, has spoken passionately about how she hopes the twins are never released. The twins were sentenced to 22 years for murder. 

The Kray twins, Reggie and Ronnie, were boxers turned criminals in 1950s and '60s London, and reached celebrity status. Although they took part in all sorts of mafia-related activity - from arson to to robbery - they were only convicted of murder. Reggie was arrested for Jack "The Hat" McVitie's murder, and Ronnie was charged with the murder of George Cornell. But that’s not to say they weren’t linked. They were known for doing everything together - including crime. The Cult of Violence: The Untold Story of the Krays described how “they seemed to be telepathic, as if they were one."  Reggie died of cancer shortly after his release from prison in 2000, while Ronnie died of a heart attack in 1995.

Tasmiyah and Jasmiyah Whitehead really wanted to keep it in the family. The two pled guilty in 2014 to voluntary manslaughter. The victim? Their mother. While they were still teenagers, the girls severed their mother's spinal cord with a kitchen knife in 2010. In the days before her death, she had complained about their out of control behavior. Investigators said the teens attacked their mom after a fight broke out between the three, and the murder was a crime of passion. They stabbed her and strangled her before dragging her to the bathtub where she died as the girls watched. 

The Berndt brothers are a tragic tale somewhere between murder and neglect. The 48-year-old twins were charged with felony murder of their mother after neighbors reported they hadn’t seen her in months. Officers went to the house, which was in a deplorable state, and found their mother dead face down on the floor. The twins said she had slipped and fell. They also said they had left her laying there for three days before she eventually died. She was conscious the entire time. After her death, continued to live in the house, walking around and over the body. But charges were eventually dropped because of the twins' mental states.