Vasile Culea
Vasile Culea is a Romanian man convicted of murdering 86-year-old Freda Walker and assaulting her 88-year-old husband Kenneth during a burglary in Langwith, England.
On 14 January 2022, Culea broke into the Walker home in Langwith Junction, Derbyshire, after hearing that they had recently withdrawn £30, 000 from the bank. He lay in wait at the house until Freda and Kenneth Walker arrived home, at which point he attacked them and demanded the money. When Kenneth Walker told him he did not know where the money was, he violently battered the two of them for over three hours before hogtying them, gagging them with plastics bags and pillowcases and making his escape. The couple were found by a neighbour the following morning, by which time Freda had died from her injuries. Kenneth survived his injuries, which included a brain haemorrhage and a fractured spine, but died from unrelated causes later that year.
Police conducted an extensive sweep of CCTV cameras throughout Derbyshire in an attempt to find the killer. They also found a cap belonging to the burglar left at the scene and performed DNA testing, receiving a positive DNA hit for Vasile Culea. He was arrested at his home in Church Warsop on 20 January. With his face now known, Culea could be identified in CCTV footage which showed him driving to, staking out, entering and leaving the Walker home on 14 January.
Culea soon admitted that he was the attacker in an attempt to mitigate his sentence. He pled guilty to manslaughter and inflicting grievous bodily harm, claiming that he had accidentally injured Freda after tying her up when he slipped and trod on her chest. However, medical experts testified that both Walkers had suffered injuries too extensive to have been caused in the way that Culea claimed; they had both been subjected to a sustained assault which had resulted in Freda's death. Culea was found guilty of murder, and of wounding Kenneth Walker with intent, although he was found not guilty of attempted murder. He was sentenced to a minimum of 34 years in prison.