The Beltway Snipers
For three evil weeks in October 2002, nobody could walk the streets of Washington. A gunman was traveling down the Capital Beltway from Maryland to Virginia, and in 15 long-distance attacks, he had already left 10 dead and three others injured. He began leaving threats: "Your children are not safe, anywhere, at any time." Parents panicked; schools closed.
Police and the public initially fixated on white vans in the area, but focus eventually turned to a blue Chevrolet Caprice that was carrying gunman John Allen Muhammad and his juvenile accomplice Lee Boyd Malvo. The pair were arrested on a tip while at a rest stop in Maryland; the car's trunk bore a small hole through which the rifle was fired. Muhammad was executed on Nov. 10, 2009. Malvo is in prison serving six consecutive life sentences. The episode made a minor celebrity of Montgomery County police chief Charles Moose, who was in charge of the hunt for the killers. His persistence was rewarded with their capture and a book deal.