14 Millionaires Who Murdered People And Thought They Could Get Away With It

There's something morbidly fascinating about anyone who thinks they can commit murder and get away with it, but millionaire murderers often have a special sort of delusion to them. Maybe it's growing up spoiled, maybe it's coming into money and thinking you're special, maybe it's just the assumption that everyone has a price and if you get into trouble you just need to find the right person to pay off. But there are way too many wealthy criminals out there who seem to think they should be able to get away with crimes, just because of their bank account.

And we're not talking about white-collar crimes, we're talking millionaire murders. People who kill in angry and violent ways and assume their own impunity. These are stories of crazy murder houses and cannibals who are walking free. They're larger than life, but all the money in the world couldn't keep them from paying for their crimes. 

You can't mention millionaire murderers without mentioning H.H. Holmes. Because, as far as crazy murders go, this guy went above and beyond. He build an entire "Murder Castle" after moving to Chicago in 1886. Small rooms, trap doors, torture chambers, gas chambers - the works. He opened it as a hotel where the guests checked in but didn't check out. After being caught for insurance scams, he once admitted to killing 27 people - though some estimates ranged up to 200.

Getting away with murder is one thing, getting away with murder and cannibalism is another. Issei Sagawa was studying at the Sorbonne in 1981 when he was found with a suitcase - with parts of his classmate in it. He had killed Renee Hartevelt the day before and cannibalized her, which he admitted to the police. The French authorities found him legally insane and unable to stand trial, so he was sent back to Japan. But the Japanese couldn't convict him, meaning that he's a free man. The trust fund baby ended up living in poverty after his parents died in 2005 - so maybe there is justice after all. 

Joran van der Sloot was a typical rich kid until 2007. His father was one of only four judges on the island of Aruba, and he and his family had a close relationship with the police chief. He was the main suspect in the disappearance - and possible murder - of American teenager Natalee Holloway, who went missing in 2007. Van der Sloot was arrested but never charged and, reportedly, bragged about Holloway and claiming he sold her into sexual slavery or threw her body out to sea. He was charged with extortion after trying to get huge sums of money from her family to show them where her body was.

Though he may have not gotten his comeuppance in that case, in 2010 the body of Stephany Flores Ramirez was found in van der Sloot's hotel room. He was sentenced to 28 years in a Peruvian prison for the murder. 

Millionaire Phil Spector was once respected music producer who turned out hits for The Beatles, The Righteous Brothers, and the Ramones. But in 2003 all that changed. Lana Clarkson, an actress, was found with a gunshot wound to her face in Spector's home. Spector insisted it was suicide. But, in part due to previous firearm convictions, on a second attempt the jury was convinced of Spector's violence. He was sentenced to 19 years for murder. 

Made famous from the HBO documentary The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst, Durst's alleged crimes are well-known. In part because it's not just one major crime, it's three. Durst has been suspected in conjunction with three different murders and/or disappearances: his first wife Kathleen Durst in 1982, his neighbor Morris Black in 2001, and his friend Susan Berman in 2000.

The real estate mogul's son admitted to dismembering Black with a paring knife, two saws, and an ax, but was acquitted of murdering Black. Why? He claimed self-defense and the prosecution could not prove otherwise because Black's head was never found. He is currently awaiting trial for the murder of Berman. When the police found Durst, he had his passport, a gun, a latex mask, over $40,000 in cash, and maps of Cuba. 

Finding a dead body is probably pretty disturbing, but finding a dead woman with her throat slit and two of her toddlers playing her blood most be truly harrowing. In 1997, Sheila Bellush was killed by a gunman on the orders of her ex-husband Allen Blackthorne. The couple - who had two children together - had broken up in a nasty way. Blackthorne was a millionaire business man who wanted custody over their children and took matters into his own hands. 

He hired Jose Luis Del Toro Jr. to killer her for $54,000 after she won custody of their two children. He died in prison at the age of 59, while serving two life sentences. 

When John du Pont shot and killed Dave Schultz, an gold medal winning Olympic wrestler training for the Atlanta games in 1996, it was the violent conclusion of a lot of bizarre and erratic behavior. From one of the richest families in America - his grandfather was in the gunpowder business - and obsessed with wresting, du Pont built a state-of-the-art Olympic training facility on his vast estate, having wrestlers train and live there.  His behavior became increasingly strange. He never left the compound and had wrestlers check for ghosts and spirits. It finally erupted when he shot and killed Schultz. The story has been told in a documentary and a movie staring Steve Carell. 

Wealthy and the nephew of Robert F. Kennedy's wife Ethel? Sorry, Michael Skakel, even that doesn't grant you impunity. In 1975, Martha Moxley was bludgeoned to death in her backyard with a golf club. One of her neighbors was none other than Skakel, but he denied being involved. In fact, authorities suspected it was his brother who committed the crime. But it wasn't until 2002 that Skakel was found guilty. The case was only reopened in in 1998 after Skakel changed his story about what had happened that night. Friends of his reported him as saying "I'm going to get away with murder. I'm a Kennedy."

He was sentenced to 20 years in prison. In another twist, years later a judge decided that he hadn't had an adequate defense, but his sentence was reinstated by a higher court. 

This is not your average case of a rich person who thinks they can get away with anything. Brothers, extreme wealth, matricide, patricide - the case of the Menendez brothers had it all. They were incredibly wealthy trouble makers with sociopathic tendencies who decided they wanted their father dead. The brothers said - and still maintain - their father was extremely abusive. But in plotting to kill they father, they realized they would have to kill their mother as well. They staged it to look like a burglary and then got to spending their huge inheritance. What brought them down? One brother, Erik, broke down and confessed to a psychotherapist and an ex-girlfriend. 

Money has long given delusions of grandeur - and smarts. Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb were wealthy friends who got up to a lot of no good. But that came to a head in 1924, when they decided they would carry out the perfect murder. Except it turned out to be a flawed, obvious murder. 

They decide to kidnap, ransom, and murder a child just for fun, because they certainly didn't need the money. In an even sicker twist, that child was Leopold's cousin. They beat his skull and killed him, then sent a ransom note. But the body was discovered before the ransom not arrived, and Leopold's glasses were found at the scene. Leob was killed in prison, while Leopold survived long enough to be released.