True Crime News Roundup: Texas Man Accused of Kidnapping and Torturing Woman He Met On Dating App

Plus: Utah family of 8 found fatally shot in murder-suicide; Probable cause affidavit released for University of Idaho murder case.

January 06, 2023
Zachary Kent Mills, pictured here, was arrested and charged with felony aggravated kidnapping.

Zachary Kent Mills was charged with felony aggravated kidnapping for holding a woman captive at his apartment for five days.

Photo by: Harris County Police Department

Harris County Police Department

On Dec. 30, Zachary Kent Mills, 21, of Spring, Texas, was arrested and charged with felony aggravated kidnapping after holding a woman he met on a dating app captive at his apartment. Mills reportedly met the woman on Bumble and the two had begun a romantic relationship before he picked her up on Christmas Eve and brought her back to his apartment. He allegedly became angry when she denied his sexual advances and bit her on the neck and face and beat her repeatedly with a screwdriver. For five days, Mills allegedly wouldn’t let her leave his apartment and denied her food and water. She was able to escape when Mills left the apartment to visit his father. Mills was released on a $50,000 bond. He has pleaded not guilty. His next hearing date is scheduled for March 3.

Read more on PEOPLE.

Utah family of 8 found shot dead inside their home

On Jan. 4, officers responding to a welfare check found the bodies of a family of eight, including five children, fatally shot inside their ​​Enoch City home. According to a news release from the city manager, Rob Dotson, the family died from a murder-suicide. Dotson identified the suspect as Michael Haight, 42. The two adult victims were his wife, Tausha Haight, 40, and Tausha’s mother, Gail Earl, 78, according to the release. The other victims were the couple’s five children – 17, 12, and 7-year-old girls, and 7 and 4-year-old boys. The investigation is ongoing.

Read more on CNN.

New details revealed from affidavit in University of Idaho murder case

On Jan. 4, the probable cause affidavit for the case of four University of Idaho students found murdered in November was released. According to the affidavit, a sheath of the knife used in the stabbings was left at the scene in the bed where Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves were found deceased. DNA from the sheath is what linked Bryan Kohberger, 28, to the crime. The affidavit also revealed that one of the surviving roommates said they saw the killer, described in the affidavit as "a figure clad in black clothing and a mask," who walked past her as he left the crime scene, and she heard crying on the night of the killings. Kohberger has been charged with four counts of murder in the first degree, along with one count of felony burglary.

Read more on PEOPLE.

Stories we’re also tracking:

Next Up

Texas Father, Son Arrested In Connection With Pregnant Teen, Boyfriend Found Shot

Police say surveillance video and phone data aided detectives in making sense of a “very, very perplexing” crime scene.

North Carolina Couple Accused Of Murdering Woman Who Refused Threesome With Them

“They bled her out in a bathtub like an animal in a slaughterhouse,” the victim’s grandmother says of the “depraved” case.

Colorado Security Guard Arrested For Murder Found With Severed Hand In His Pocket

After police in Pueblo, Colorado, discovered the decapitated body of a woman in a creek, they arrested a security guard who was found with a severed hand in his pocket.

Man Accused Of Murdering Grad Student In L.A. Furniture Store Indicted On New Charges

In January 2022, Shawn Laval Smith allegedly attacked 24-year-old Brianna Kupfer after he entered the business where she was working alone, police say.

Kidnapping Victim Helps Orchestrate Her Own Rescue By Holding Up Sign Saying 'Help Me'

A 13-year-old girl was rescued after holding up a sign from the window of Steven Robert Sablan’s car in a Long Beach, California parking lot.

Oklahoma City Attorney And Her Client-Turned-Lover Face Death Penalty For Triple Murder

Keegan Harroz and her client-turned-lover Barry Titus II have been charged with triple murder for the deaths of the Titus’s ex-girlfriend along with the ex’s parents.

The Horrific Murder Of Deborah Brandão

In August 2023, Danelo Souza Cavalcante broke out of jail and caused a massive manhunt that ended in his successful recapture, but many don’t know about the horrifically cruel crime that sent him to jail.

True Crime News Roundup: Missing California Woman Found Dead In Remote Woods, Ex-Husband Arrested

Plus: Four University of Idaho students brutally murdered; Pregnant Florida mom found shot; Gabby Petito’s family awarded $3 million in lawsuit; Parents of boy found dead in washing machine charged with his murder.

How The Abduction And Murder Of A 9-Year-Old Led To The AMBER Alert System

The AMBER alert system first debuted in 1996 as a collaboration between news media and police in Arlington, Texas. Named for Amber Hagerman, the alerts have helped find more than 1,000 abducted children.

New Jersey Teenager ‘Casually’ Slaughtered His Family During New Year’s Eve Party

“He killed them because he could,” the prosecutor said of Scott Kologi fatally shooting his parents, sister, and grandfather’s partner on Dec. 31, 2017.