There's an old adage that says true friends will do anything for each other, even murder. However, for some people, they take that proclaimation a little too literally. That's what happened with Robyn Davis and Carol Saltzman, who were both convicted of killing Robyn's husband. Prosecutors threw the book at them even though, today, they still claim they're innocent. Investigators even dubbed the crime the Thelma and Louise case after the famous movie where two best friends kill an abusive husband. But what is the motivation to commit a crime in pairs? For some, it's thrill seeking and for others, it's to help each other get out of a dire situation. Whatever the reasoning is, these cases below of people who committed murder together prove that best friends really are "partners in crime."
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Partners in Crime — BFFs so Close, They Committed Murder Together
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Robyn Davis and Carol Saltzman
These two besties did everything together, including, according to prosecutors, killing Robyn's husband. In 2009, the body of Brian Davis was found at the end of a deserted road. At the crime scene, his car had been staged to look like he was fixing a flat tire, but his tire wasn't punctured, which investigators found strange. Once the two women were charged with murder, they denied they were anywhere near where Brian's body was found. However, their cell phone records proved the opposite.
"He had had an affair, she caught him in the affair, she confronted him about the affair," prosecutor Rick Bryant said. "Number two, she had no money at all yet she was out gambling, video poker. We showed her bank records, overdrafts, overdraws. Also, the insurance proceeds. He had over $700,000 in insurance proceeds. Saltzman was her friend. She and Robyn Davis were joined at the hip."
The two best friends are serving life sentences, but they still maintain their innocence.
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Rachel Shoaf and Shelia Eddy
When 16-year-old Skylar Neese was found murdered, her body covered with dirt, no one suspected the murderers were her two closest friends. Skylar met Shelia when she was eight and, according to her family, they were like sisters. Once Rachel transferred to their school, she became part of their circle too. However, conflicts arose amongst the friends when Rachel and Shelia's friendship grew tighter. Eventually, they became best friends while Skylar found herself drifting away from the group.
One night, Skylar snuck out of the house to hang out with her two former besties and smoke pot. While her back was turned, Rachel and Shelia stabbed her 50 times. Months after the murder, Rachel confessed the killing to her attorney. “We asked Rachel, ‘Why did you guys kill Skylar?’ And her only answer to that was, ‘We just didn’t like her,’” State Police Corp. Ronnie Gaskin said.
Sheila was convicted of first-degree murder and is currently serving 15 years to life. Rachel was convicted of second-degree murder and will be eligible for parole when she's 27.
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Anissa Weier and Morgan Geyser
Back in 2014, these two 12-year-old friends concocted a dubious game of hide-and-seek to murder their classmate, Payton "Bella" Leutner. The two lured her out into the woods and then stabbed her 19 times. Miraculously, Payton survived after crawling out of the woods to safety. The case made national news when the girls told police their motivation for the murder was to appease "Slender Man," a fictional Internet boogeyman. They believed that by killing their classmate, they could become "servants" to Slender Man and protect their families from being killed by him.
"These girls were losing their minds in the narrative that was Slender Man," Irene Taylor Brodsky, who made the documentary Beware the Slenderman, said. "You can't say Slender Man made them crazy, but most kids don't watch Slender Man and go out and kill somebody. You have to look at this through the prism of their mental illness."
Today, both girls have been sentenced to 25 to 40 years in a mental hospital.
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Kinzie Noordman and Damien Guerrero
Back in 2003, these two college friends were devastated when their 18-year-old pal, Kelly Bullwinkle, was found shot to death in the woods. They joined other mourners at Kelly's vigil where they both loudly sobbed over the loss of their friend. “Kinzie was crying and Damien was like, ‘It’s okay.’ Then he started crying a couple of times,” fellow friend Becky Skipton said in 2003. "That’s why nobody suspected anything."
Several weeks later after Kelly's body was found, the whole community was shocked when police arrested Kinzie and Damien. According to Kinzie, she said the whole murder was an unfortunate prank gone wrong. The two friends' plan was to dig a shallow grave in the woods, lure Kelly to it, and then scare her with the gun. However, prosecutors didn't believe the story. During the trial, the real story slowly evolved.
The three friends were actually in the middle of a love triangle, with Kelly upset about her unrequited love with Damien. According to former friends, both Damien and Kinzie used to bully and tease Kelly all the time. "He and Kinzie were making fun of her, mocking and gossiping," Becky said. "She was in love with Damien, and he’d be like, 'Leave me alone.' And she wouldn’t."
Today, Damien is up for parole this year after serving an 18-year sentence, and Kinzie is still in prison completing her 45-year sentence.
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Pauline Parker and Juliet Hulme
On June 22, 1954, two teenage girls ran screaming into a tea shop covered in blood. They both said Pauline's mother, Honorah Parker, had fallen in the woods and hit her head. However, when police showed up to the crime scene, they found a woman who had clearly been bludgeoned to death. Once they found the murder weapon (a brick in an old stocking), the two girls were arrested for murder.
Prior to the murder, the teens shared a very close relationship, which scared the girls' parents who suspected the best friends were lesbians. Since homosexuality was still considered a mental illness back then, the parents decided to concoct a plan to keep the girls from seeing each other. Angry, the two girls decided to hatch a plan to kill Pauline's mother so that they could stay together.
Because they were both juveniles during their trials, they avoided the death penalty and only served five years each. Today, Pauline lives in the UK under a new name. As for Juliet, surprisingly, she's now a successful mystery author who writes under the name "Anne Perry."
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The Angela Wrightson Murder
Two UK best friends, who cannot be named because of their ages, called each other "partners in crime," together "through thick and thin." And, apparently, they took that proclamation seriously when the two friends committed a senseless murder in 2014. The two girls, who both dabbled in alcohol and drugs, tortured and killed 39-year-old Angela Wrightson.
According to locals, Angela was an alcoholic who was a little too trusting of strangers. She befriended the two girls and invited them inside her apartment to drink. What happened later was nine hours of every person's worst nightmare. During Angela's horrific nine-hour ordeal where she was beaten, the two teens, who were 13 and 14 at the time of the crime, took selfies and Snapchat videos throughout the whole thing. They even left Angela's apartment for two hours, came back, and continued the ordeal. After the girls' arrest, they both blamed each other for the crime. In 2016, they were both given life sentences.
