Believe it or not, it was actually kind of difficult to find enough rich folks to populate this list. We dug around and managed to find 20 of the most awful murders but it seems that the wealthy have a knack for getting away with murder. There are quite a few people out there who’ve managed to slip away without a conviction because they’ve been able to afford really good legal representation. It must be nice to have the best lawyers protecting you when you’re on trial for murder! We’ve tried to only include convicted murderers on this list and boy are they awful. It turns out that most of these folks are pretty greedy. All these nasty people are either very wealthy or come from well to-do families. However, reading through what this group of folks has done will make you realize that money really doesn’t buy happiness.

20. Robert Durst

You’ve probably heard of Robert Durst. He was the focus of the HBO documentary ‘The Jinx.’ You know, the one where at the end he essentially confesses to murder? He didn’t know his mic was on, though. All that burping must have been some kind of physiological manifestation of guilt. But Robert Durst hasn’t been convicted of murder just yet. In early 2015, he was arrested on suspicion of first-degree murder for the slaying of his BFF, Susan Berman. But get this, Durst was also suspected of killing his neighbour back in 2001. He was acquitted of murder but convicted of dismembering the body. Really? Who dismembers a body of a person they didn’t kill? Let’s be real.

19. H.H. Holmes

H.H. Holmes is the infamous Murder Castle guy. Apparently, he owned a home that was outfitted with secret passages, rooms, and lots of rooms prepped for murdering people. The stuff of nightmares. There no actually hard number regarding Holmes’ potential victims. Some people estimate that a lot of the hubbub about Holmes is way exaggerated. But there are some estimates that put his murder count at more than a hundred people. It’s thought that Holmes mainly targeted women and that he even made a profit on his kills by selling their skeletons. Crafty guy. But really? A murder house? A little over the top, dude.

18. The Menendez Brothers

Well, these guys sure are a piece of work. The wealthy Menendez brothers (Lyle and Erik) were sentenced to life in prison for killing their mom and dad. The defense for the brothers painted a portrait of two abusive parents and two damaged sons. The prosecution put forth the argument that the brothers killed their parents for money. It wasn’t a far-fetched argument and the evidence supporting the conclusion clearly convinced the jurors. Soon after their parent’s tragic murder, the brothers were dropping cash left and right. The two even went on a freaking vacation. Sure people act strangely following a loss, but these two clearly seemed to be partying it up.

17. Phil Spector

Phil Spector was a hit songwriter but he’s also a convicted murderer. In his early twenties, he achieved success with tons of smash hit songs. He even collaborated with the Beatles. In 1989, he became part of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. But life wasn’t all rosy and perfect for Spector. The millionaire was sentenced to 19 years in prison for the second-degree murder of Lana Clarkson. The original 2007 murder trial ended in a mistrial. In 2008, he was retried and the guilty verdict came in 2009. There’s an HBO film called ‘Phil Spector’ where Al Pacino plays the eccentric millionaire.

16. Leopold and Loeb

Just looking at these two gives us the creeps. The two were pretty sure they would get away with their heinous crime but the wealthy university students weren’t able to evade the law and escape the consequences of their actions. In 1924, they murdered a young teen named Robert Franks. Alfred Hitchcock’s movie ‘Rope’ (adapted from a play of the same name) was inspired by the case. The two young men were sentenced to life in prison. In case you weren’t sure of their creepiness, Leopold even said that, “[the killing was] just as easy to justify as is it to justify an entomologist killing a beetle on a pin.” Mmmmhmmm….no.

15. Harold Landry

In the photo above, Harold Landry’s wife definitely doesn’t look pleased with him. Maybe it’s just the camera capturing an unflattering moment. But maybe she’s starting to get a bad feeling about him. She would have been justified. Landry, a wealthy Louisiana native, met Lucy Davies online when he was 53 and she was just 28. The two hit it off and Landry was happy as a clam buying Lucy expensive things and then finally, an engagement ring. But the two didn’t have a happy ending. After 10 years together, Landry’s wife wanted a divorce. It also seems there may have been infidelity involved. It all drove Landry to stab his wife to death.

14. Ashton Sachs

Here’s another parent killer, Ashton Sachs. The young man murdered his rich parents and even managed to paralyze his younger sibling. Now, that’s cold blooded. By all accounts, before the heinous crime, he was a good kid. Sachs shot his parents while they were in bed. He blamed the act on “just a lot of problems” and accused his parents of not loving him enough. Is that really a good reason to murder your mom and dad? Not even a little bit. What’s even strange is that Sachs had a very close relationship with his little brother. What could possess someone to hurt someone they apparently care so much about?

13. Robert Pickton

When you think of Robert Pickton, wealth is not the first thing that comes to mind. If you know anything about the Pickton case, you’ll likely know that he was Canadian pig farmer. The Pickton family managed to make quite a bit of money off the sale of part of their farm in 1994. Several parts of the farm were sold off for millions of dollars. But Pickton wasn’t only swimming in cash around this time, he was also busy murdering women. Pickton would lure sex workers back to his property so he could kill them. He apparently even fed the dead women’s bodies to his pigs. *shudder*

12. Ethan Couch

You’re probably more familiar with Ethan Couch as the ‘affluenza’ teen. Couch didn’t intentionally murder his victims, but he’s probably just as terrible as the rest of the people on this list. He managed to kill four people in a drunk driving crash. That’s not exactly an uncommon occurrence, though. So why all the fuss about Couch? It turns out his legal defense was that he grew up too wealthy to be able to know the difference from right and wrong. Apparently, too much money is some kind of disease. We kind of agree but it doesn’t mean the punishment for taking four lives should be any lighter for a wealthy person.

11. Michael Skakel

Michael Skakel was convicted in 2002 of murdering young high school student Martha Moxley. Skakel and Moxley were both 15 years old at the time of the murder. Skakel was sentenced to 20 years to life for the heinous crime. The case has gotten a lot of media attention because Skakel is related to the widow of Robert F. Kennedy. Moxley was murdered on the night before Halloween. Her body was discovered the next day in her backyard. It turns out she had been beaten to death and stabbed. In 2013, a new trial was granted for Skakel where he was released on bail. In 2016, though, the Supreme Court of Connecticut upheld the original murder conviction.

10. Dennis Oland

Gosh, another Canadian murder! Aren’t Canadians supposed to be peaceful? In 2015, Dennis Oland was convicted of second-degree murder in Newfoundland, Canada. The jury found him guilty of killing his very wealthy father. There were some issues with the Oland case. Much of the evidence was circumstantial and no one ever even located the murder weapon. That’s kind of an important part of a criminal case. Richard Oland, Dennis’ father, was beaten to death in a savage attack. The prosecution explained that Dennis murdered his father over money. It’s always about money, isn’t it? Nobody needs to kill anybody over it, though. That’s definitely a step too far.

9. Narcy Novak

Narcy Novak is the only woman on this list. Narcy was convicted of murdering her estranged husband, Ben Jr., and his mother, Bernice. The two weren’t killed at the same time, though. Bernice’s death was originally thought to be an accident but when Ben turned up dead the police started to get suspicious. Narcy and her brother were tried together and accused of getting two men to carry out the killings. The defense? Narcy blamed her daughter! Narcy was well-off when married to Ben Jr. but a potential divorce and a rock solid prenup would mean that she would get very little if the couple were to split. It seems, once again, that greed was a motive for murder.

8. Bob Ward

Bob Ward was convicted of second-degree murder for killing his wife, Diane Ward. The wealthy developer was convicted in 2011 for the shooting death of his wife. Diane was shot right in the face. Now, that’s rage. Ward has since appealed his case and requested a new trial and maintained his innocence. The odd 911 call is often pointed to as an admission of guilt in itself. On the call, Bob says, “She’s dead. She’s done. I’m sorry.” It’s definitely a weird thing to say, especially if you didn’t just shoot your wife in the face. Some alternative arguments from the defense have included that Diane committed suicide or that the shooting was some kind of tragic accident. Yeah, right.

7. Thomas Gilbert Jr.

Here’s another case of patricide. Thomas Gilbert Jr. will soon stand trial for the murder of his father. He’s accused of shooting his elderly father in the head. The trial has been delayed, so there’s still no verdict on this case. Gilbert Jr. was found not competent to stand trial. Some believe that his statements about fake jailhouse doctors are just a way to stall the trial. It could be. But the defense is adamant that his statements are proof that he’s not of sound mind. It’s believed that Gilbert Jr.’s motivation had something to do with money. Surprise, surprise. Time will tell what happens with this case. We’ll be watching closely.

6. Ian Workman

This wealthy guy murdered his wife while the two were dealing with tumultuous divorce proceedings. Ian Workman stabbed his wife square in the chest in 2011. He killed her in a murderous rage, it seems. His anger wasn’t just about losing his wife to divorce, he was angry at the possibility that she might collect a hefty sum of money from him in the split. Two of his sons are actually suing him for his fortune. They argued that their father, should he get to keep his money, would actually end up benefitting from his heinous crime. They’re not wrong.

5. Henri Van Breda

This is a South African murder story. Three members of the Van Breda family were murdered in early 2015. The main suspect, Henri van Breda, actually turned himself in last year. Breda is accused of killing his father, his mother, and brother. His sister was also seriously hurt in the attack. All the victim’s wounds were the result of blunt force trauma from an axe. Henri’s sister managed to survive the attack but cannot remember anything. There’s quite a bit of evidence that points to a financial motive for Henri. Hopefully, the trial will bring more answers than questions. But it will never reveal how someone could do something so terrible to anyone, let alone family.

4. Elliot Turner

Elliot Turner’s case is one of classic domestic violence. He killed his girlfriend, Emily Longley, in a fit of rage. He thought she was stepping out on him and of course, this infuriated him. Apparently, his wealthy parents helped to cover up their son’s awful deed. Turner was sentenced to a minimum of 16 years in prison for strangling Emily. His parents also faced the consequences of their actions, and were charged with obstruction of justice. It’s true that a parent’s love knows no bounds, but in this case, we think the Turner’s should have thought a little bit more about their actions.

3. John Brooks

Doesn’t John Brooks look mad in the above photo? You mad, bro? Well, it might be because he was convicted in a capital murder case. This shitty millionaire hired someone to kill his handyman. He paid two men to help kill Jack Reid and even helped in the commission of the murder. Reid was beaten to death and Brooks had no problem joining in, even brandishing the murder weapon – a hammer – himself. One of the men who was hired by Brooks explained that Brooks paid him $10,000 to participate in the crime. Beating someone to death, that takes a lot of anger to do.

2. Robert Ekaireb

In 2014, Robert Ekaireb, a very wealthy man, was convicted of murdering his wife, Lihau Cao. It turns out that Cao was also pregnant at the time of her death, so Ekaireb took two lives on the day he killed his wife. Just a short three months after getting married, Cao was dead. It’s thought that Eikareb murdered his wife because he was angry about her former lap-dancing career. Unfortunately, closure for Cao’s family has been difficult since her body was never found. Despite the lack of a body, the jury was well convinced of Eikareb’s guilt and he was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole.

1. Thanos Papalexis

This guy is just a total dickhead and that’s putting it mildly. Thanos Papalexis, a wealthy property developer, was found guilty of murdering Charalambos Christodoulides. The man refused to leave a warehouse he was living in that was owned by Papalexis. He needed Christodoulides to move out so could sell the property. Instead of having a civilized discussion with his tenant, Papalexis essentially tortured him to death. If anyone needs to be taught some extra problems solving skills, it’s Papalexis. He made a confession to an escort girlfriend, essentially confessing to her how, “this man was giving me problems.” Oh yeah, totally logical.

Sources: theverge.com, today.com, eonline.com, telegraph.co.uk, cbsnews.com