12 Real Crimes Involving Modern-Day Witches and Witchcraft

Popular culture and entertainment has taken a lot of the fear out of witchcraft these days. Movies, television shows, and books often portray magic and witchcraft as fun, sexy, or silly. But modern-day witches and their victims can be as dangerous today as they were when they still featured in fairy tales and ghost stories.

It seems as if no one believes in real witches anymore, but people who claim to be witches are out there, and their intentions aren't always benign. Some of these self-proclaimed witches have made headlines for committing all-too-real crimes. The crimes committed by witches in real life (as well as those who claim to be possessed or hexed by witches) are not as cinematic, sexy, or glamorous as witchcraft in the movies, but they are definitely as scary.

Angela Sanford was charged for the 2010 murder of Joel Leyva, whom she lured to the Sandia Foothills Open Space Park in New Mexico. Sanford told to Leyva take off his clothes at the park, and after partially undressing herself, she straddled him before stabbing him over a dozen times. Leyva suffered 14 stab wounds in the head and neck, as well as many in the stomach, from a dagger intended to be used in Wiccan rituals.

Wiccans distanced themselves from her actions, saying that the dagger, called an athame, is intended to be used as a ceremonial, symbolic item in nonviolent rituals.

While going through Sanford's cell phone, police found Leyva's number programmed under the word "Sacrifice."

Lawrence Harris of Iowa was sentenced to life in prison for the murders of his stepdaughters, Kendra and Alysha Suing. The two girls were found stabbed and strangled inside their home, and Harris claims that the girls died when he cast a spell to protect their brother. According to him, the spell reversed itself, which led to their deaths.

AlyshSuing's blood was discovered on Harris's hands and body, as well as on a long knife that Harris referred to as his "ritual knife." The knife was found placed inside his spell notebook. Harris's attorneys tried to prove insanity on his part, but the jurors found Harris guilty of two counts of first-degree murder.

In 1996, Diana Haun abducted Sherri Dally in a Target parking lot in Ventura, California. Haun then drove a rented Nissan Altima (which was later discovered to have blood on its seats) to a remote canyon where she killed Dally. Haun, previously an aspiring actress and model, used that experience to dress herself as a security guard before approaching Dally.

Haun also dabbled in witchcraft. She shared her plans to kill Dally with a co-worker, stating that she wanted to make a human sacrifice as a birthday present for a friend. This friend was Michael Dally, the married man she had been seeing for two years. Haun wanted to sacrifice Michael's wife, Sherri, as a gift for his birthday.

Cara Williams-Covert and her boyfriend Dale Farquhar of Ventura, California, were accused of the shooting murder of Larry Roger Fisk in 2009. Originally, the murder was chalked up to jealousy on the part of Farquhar. However, a journal found inside the Palm Springs condo where Fisk was murdered revealed the plans for a strange dual murder with a Satanic basis.

Within the journal, Williams-Covert referred to herself as a "witch," and Farquhar called himself a "true demon." The pair claim that the journal simply contained a horror movie script.

"In the script, Farquhar played a character named Dave Hatcher, a transsexual in an open relationship with a 'witch' named Cat.

"Williams-Covert played Cat, a meth addict who lured men to their condo for sex.

"Prosecutors believe Williams-Covert was acting out the script when she allegedly lured the unsuspecting victim back to the condo to his eventual death.

"Based on the journal, prosecutors alleged Williams-Covert tried to lure a man back to the condo on Halloween 2009 but failed, and that Fisk was killed on Friday the 13th."

Handwritten lyrics were also found inside the journal, which included the words, "get up and kill, kill, kill" and "an epidemic is in Palm Springs... an epidemic of mass murder."

Farquhar was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison. Williams-Covert was released almost immediately from county jail on parole.

Irenia Cotner, Jenny Wolfe, and Oscar Eck of Illinois were all charged in the stabbing death of Joshua Bennett in 2005. They were also charged, alongside Misty D. Gangloff, with the conspiracy to murder Lindsey Kasinger. According to testimony, the conspiracy to murder the pregnant 16-year-old Kasinger was intended to save them all from a hex - a hex that Cotner convinced them they were under.

Eck admit to "messing with witchcraft" for over a year, after developing an interest from vampire and Harry Potter movies. Gangloff denied an interest in witchcraft, but admit to owning books on the topic and pushing pins through a doll many times a week in order to "relieve pressure."

The group allegedly participated in a séance where they were told to murder Kasinger ans her unborn child:

"Three days before the Aug. 23, 2005, slaying of Bennett, Eck said he participated in a séance with Cotner and David Lindner, a fourth suspect who died on Feb. 28, 2006, of gunshot wounds he received during the alleged home invasion that resulted in Bennett’s death. He said he was led to believe that his own family and friends would die if Kasinger and her baby lived.

Eck said Cotner interpreted the flickering of candles during the séance. She said Kasinger and the baby must die and anyone else in the house must be hurt, Eck testified."

Canadian Cherrylle Dell received a life sentence for murdering her husband, Scott Dell, in 1995. The pair had been estranged for four years when Cherrylle gave Scott a bottle of wine laced with anti-freeze as a gift. She later stayed on the phone with him for nine hours to coax him into drinking the entire bottle while she promised him they would get back together.

While the anti-freeze is what ultimately killed Scott, witchcraft is believed to have been a major tool in regaining his trust. According to Nancy Fillmore, one of Cherrylle's lovers, once Scott left her home, Cherrylle "got out her witchcraft books and lit candles" before vocalizing weird "rituals or prayers or whatever." Other testimonies at the trial claim that Cherrylle Dell performed bizarre rituals on a home-made doll that resembled Scott Dell. The doll had pins in it, and eventually Cherrylle buried it.

Nancy Fillmore died in 1997, soon after her testimony. Her apartment was set ablaze by a young teenage boy whom Cherrylle had seduced into murdering Fillmore.

Wayne Hartung, Sr. of Pensacola, Florida, was arrested for the murders of three of his family members in 2015. Voncile Smith and her two sons, Richard and John, were found dead during a welfare check at their home. Authorities state that all three bodies had slit throats and had been badly beaten with claw hammers. Richard Smith was also found with a gunshot wound in his head.

Family members state that Hartung dabbled in the practice of witchcraft and kept at least one Wiccan book in his office. Authorities claim that the evidence they gathered leads them to believe that witchcraft was involved in the ritualistic deaths. The triple homicide also occurred near the night of a blue moon, which carries important symbolic significance in witchcraft, and only occurs once every three years.

Heather Miller was convicted of attempted murder, solicitation to commit murder, and aggravated and simple assault in 2000. The victim was her own husband, Kevin Miller. Before considering murder, however, Heather tried to push her husband from her life with black magic. When that wasn't effective, she made a plan to poison Kevin's lunch each day with belladonna, also known as deadly nightshade.

The downfall to Heather's plans was telling her neighbor, Mindi Robbins, who alerted police. Apparently, the two women had a sexual relationship and had bonded over a shared interest in witchcraft. 

Joseph Cala II is serving a 30-year prison sentence for the murder of his 79-year-old mother, Lydia Cala, in 2001. Cala admit to beating his elderly mother to death before cutting open her body and removing a few of her organs. One officer on the scene testified that he saw Cala, naked and bloody, through a bedroom window. He was standing over a mutilated body eating what looked like an organ. That organ turned out to be Lydia's heart, which contained teeth marks where a piece was missing.

Cala, who has battled schizophrenia for decades, claims that he was overcome by the spirits of witches who made him commit the violent acts. Other officers who came upon Cala at the crime scene state that he was talking about worshipping the devil and that he accused them of interrupting his sacrifice.

In 2016, Sarra Gilbert murdered her own mother in her New York apartment. Sarra's mother, Mari, had apparently been involved in the occult since she was a teenager and her children had been severely affected by her practices. While it isn't clear whether or not Sarra practiced witchcraft herself, she claimed to experience delusions involving witches and demons.

Sarra struck her mother with a fire extinguisher and stabbed her several times with a 15-inch kitchen knife because she believed that her mother was a demon.