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A journalist in Macedonia, 56-year old Vlado Taneski, was arrested and charged with the murders of two elderly women, and was being investigated in connection with the murder of a third woman and the disappearance of a fourth. All of the victims, whom police say bore similarities to Taneski’s mother, had been sexually assaulted before being strangled, stuffed into nylon bags, and wrapped with telephone cords.

Police became suspicious of Taneski when he wrote articles for a national newspaper in which he reported facts the police had not revealed to the media.

Days after being jailed, Taneski was found dead in the cell he shared with two other men. According to a police spokesman the journalist is believed to have committed suicide. He was found with his head in a bucket of water.

An odd way of committing suicide, don’t you think?

In an interview with police, Paul Bernardo, one of Canada’s most notorious serial killers, insists he’s not a liar. Yes, he admits he made some mistakes in the past (like kidnapping, raping, torturing, and murdering two teenage girls) but he denies lying about anything.

Police have re-opened their investigation into the murder of Elizabeth Bain in June of 1990. Originally, Bain’s boyfriend, Robert Baltovich had been convicted for the crime, but he was acquitted earlier this year after Crown attorneys conceded they had no case against him. Now suspicion centers on Paul Bernardo, who terrorized Bain’s neighborhood between 1987 and 1990 as the “Scarborough rapist.”

When asked by police if he murdered the young woman in June of 1990, Bernardo replies, “Well, that’s a loaded question. I mean, are we going to go back and go through the time sequence of what happened in my life? I mean I could just give a yes or no answer. But you know, there are a lot of issues about that.”

Eventually, after complaining about police procedures, Bernardo says, “Anyways the answer to that is no. But the 800 pound gorilla in a room — that’s a life-25 sentence, you know. It really comes down to credibility.”

Credibility indeed.

Michel Fourniret will spend at least 30 years behind bars, his wife at least 28. The couple, called “a devil with two faces” by the state prosecutor Francis Nachbar, have been found guilty in the kidnapping, rape, and murder of seven young girls and women in France between 1987 and 2001.

Fourniret admitted he had a sexual obsession with virgins and told the court, “I remain an extremely dangerous individual.” He reportedly had sex with one of his victims, a 13 year old, after stabbing her to death.

Monique Olivier, Fourniret’s wife, was not just an unwilling participant in the crimes. She actively aided her husband in the kidnappings and murders, acting, as one prosecutor described her, as a “catalyst.”

Australian Colin Campbell Ross has received a pardon after forensic tests on hair samples cast doubt on his guilt for the rape and murder of 12-year-old Alma Tirtschke.

Prosecutors claimed that Ross gave the girl alcohol before raping and strangling her. While Ross professed his innocence and while witnesses supported his alibi for the time of the murder, he was nevertheless convicted based on hair samples that supposedly matched those of the victim, found on one of Ross’ blankets. Once proper forensic tests showed the hair was not the girl’s, Alma’s relatives petitioned the government for the pardon, which was granted this past Tuesday.

Unfortunately for Ross, the pardon came 86 years too late. He was hanged for the crime in 1922

Apparently being a convicted serial killer is not without its dangers. Peter Sutcliffe, Britain’s Yorkshire Ripper, should know. This past February he was attacked by a fellow inmate in the high security Broadmoor mental hospital. Patrick Sureda went after The Ripper with a cutlery knife, but only succeeded in causing minor wounds.

Nine years ago, Sutcliffe wasn’t so lucky. An attack then left him blind in his left eye.

Charges have been laid in this most recent attack and when it goes to trial Sutcliffe will likely be called upon to testify, although he’ll probably do so only via video link.