List of people killed while running

People running for exercise are murdered for a variety of reasons across the globe. Given that the majority of victims of such attacks are women, such attacks influence women's decisions to engage in physical activity. A 2023 study commissioned by Asics found environmental barriers such as the lack of safe spaces and a fear of harassment were preventing women from engaging in exercise.^[1][2]

People, primarily female, often report being harassed while running for exercise primarily by men.^[3][4][5][6] In a 2023 study commissioned by Adidas, 92% of women in nine countries reported being concerned for their safety while running. Likewise, a 2024 study from the University of Manchester found two-thirds of women in the UK experienced some form of abuse while running.^[7]

Many of the harassment incidents and physical attacks happen during daylight hours.^[8] In one nine-day period in 2016, three women were murdered while they were running, drawing wider attention to this phenomenon.^[9]

While the list below focuses on people murdered while running for exercise, there are a greater number of attacks against runners that did not result in murder. For example, from December 1977 to February 1980, San Francisco Police Department statistics indicate 15 rapes and attempted rapes against joggers occurred in Golden Gate Park alone.^[10]

This list contains people who were murdered while running for exercise.

Name	Date	Location	Details
Suzanne Oakley	August 1975	Tulsa, Oklahoma	[11][12]
Multiple victims	August 1977	Hackettstown, New Jersey	[13]
Armida Wiltsey	November 1978	Lafayette, California	[14]
Kaye Turner	December 1978	Camp Sherman, Oregon	[15]
Peyton Moore	January 1979	Ormond Beach, Florida	[16]
Laura Mae McVeigh	April 1979	Ionia County, Michigan	[17]
Kathleen Wels	July 1979	Whitby, Ontario	[18]
Tammy Sue Aldridge		Alamance County, North Carolina	[19]
Mary Bennett	October 1979	San Francisco, California	[20][21]
Robert Wilshire	March 1980	Boston, Massachusetts	[22]
Joyce McClain	August 1980	East Millinocket, Maine	[23]
David Martin & Ted Fields		Salt Lake City, Utah	[24][25]
Tom Hnat	November 1980	Stuyvesant Town, New York	[26]
Joy McKenzie	July 1981	Wearside, United Kingdom	[27]
Steven Douglas Hearn	October 1981	Detroit, Michigan	[28]
John Hess	May 1982	Acton, Massachusetts	[29]
Mary Ann Thomas	July 1982	Bend, Oregon	[30]
Ricky Stetson	August 1982	Portland, Maine	[31]
Nancy Elizabeth Finch		Montgomery County, Maryland	[32]
Gail Ornstein	September 1982	Washington, D.C.	[33]
Jacinto Ramos	May 1983	Newark, New Jersey	[34]
Sandra Nestle	June 1983	Jasper Township, Michigan	[35]
Robert Soto	August 1983	Brooklyn, New York	[36]
Diana Rae Hanson	December 1983	Clark County, Nevada	[37]
Jerry Posner	February 1984	New Orleans, Louisiana	[38]
Pamela Ellen Page	April 1984	Springville, Utah	[39]
Judy Weichert	July 1984	Oklahoma City, Oklahoma	[40]
Ronald Kaplan		Miami, Florida	[41]
Kathleen Lombardo	August 1984	Oak Park, Illinois	[42]
Heidi Berg		Merrifield, Virginia	[43]
Roberta "Bibi" Lee	November 1984	Oakland, California	[44][45]
Winnifred Teo Suan Lie	May 1985	Singapore	[46]
Lisa Berry	July 1985	Middletown, Connecticut	[47]
Suzanne Marie Collins		Millington, Tennessee
Judith DeMaria	August 1985	Sterling, Virginia	[48]
Melissa Montz	October 1985	Baton Rouge, Louisiana	[49]
Jeanette Kirby	June 1986	Holt, Michigan	[50]
Amy Clayton	July 1986	Tupelo, Mississippi	[51]
Julie Guida		Manchester, Tennessee	[52]
Wendy Snowdon	November 1986	New Plymouth, New Zealand	[53]
Marguerite Telesford	January 1987	Victoria, British Columbia	[54]
Margaret Coon	February 1987	Mandeville, Louisiana	[55]
Janice Christensen	August 1987	Hudson, Ohio	[56]
Margaret Louise McWilliam		Toronto, Canada	[57]
Julie Kaye Cunningham	November 1987	Kalamazoo, Michigan	[58]
two victims - names not released	December 1987	Patiala, Punjab, Pakistan	[59]
Mary Elaine Shereika	May 1988	Gambrills, Maryland	[60]
Brenda Gail Mills	August 1988	Tucson, Arizona	[61]
Donald Welling	April 1989	Tuscarawas County, Ohio	[62]
Mandy Stavik	November 1989	Acme, Washington	[63]
Jennifer Bailey	August 1990	Pineville, Kentucky	[64]
Linda Yalem	September 1990	Amherst, New York	[65]
Maria Jane Weidhofer	November 1990	Berkeley, California	[66]
Patsy Taylor	July 1991	Farmington, New Mexico	[67]
Valerie McPherson	August 1991	San Antonio, Texas	[68]
Jodi Watts	January 1992	Houghton, Michigan	[69]
Kristen Ann Lodge-Miller	July 1993	Chapel Hill, North Carolina	[70][71]
Vanessa Chappell	February 1994	Germany	[72]
name not provided	February 1994	Baton Rouge, Louisiana	[73]
Karen Styles	October 1994	Pisgah National Forest, North Carolina	[74]
Christine Munro	June 1995	Redding, California	[75]
Jane Carver		Fountain Valley, California	[76]
Catherine Casler	August 1995	Coppell, Texas	[77]
Maria Isabel Pinto Monteiro Alves	September 1995	New York City, New York	[78]
Kimberly Ernest	November 1995	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	[79]
James Halverson	January 1997	Centereach, New York	[80]
Laura Smither	April 1997	Friendswood, Texas
Cynthia Quinn	May 1997	Yaphank, New York	[81]
Nancy Adleman	July 1997	Houston, Texas	[82]
Alice Underdahl	September 1997	Renton, Washington	[83]
James Walker	November 1997	Hannibal, Missouri	[84]
Penny Brown	May 1999	Salamanca, New York	[85]
Matthew Herman		New York City, New York	[86]
Donna Zinetti	October 1999	Laurel, Maryland	[87]
Shanna Marie Van Dyn Hoven	June 2000	Kaukauna, Wisconsin	[88]
Sue Wen Stottmeister	January 2001	Rockville, Maryland	[89]
Margaret Lynne Baxter		Hastings, New Zealand	[90]
Treavor Jones	August 2001	Tuscaloosa, Alabama	[91]
Chandra Levy	May 2002	Washington, D.C.
Jack Wyatt	June 2002	Honolulu, Hawaii	[92]
Margaret Muller	February 2003	London, United Kingdom	[93]
Rebecca Park	July 2003	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	[94]
Sarah Fox	May 2004	New York City, New York	[95]
Judith Nilan	December 2005	Woodstock, Connecticut	[96]
Chee Gaik Yap	January 2006	Sungai Petani, Malaysia	[97]
Egeli Rasta	July 2006	London, England	[98]
Joan Diver	September 2006	Clarence, New York	[99]
Jose Marchese	May 2007	Coral Gables, Florida	[100]
Egeli Rasta		London, United Kingdom	[101]
Cuc Thu Tran	September 2007	Seffner, Florida	[102]
Alma Mendez	October 2007	Chicago Heights, Illinois	[103]
Nicole Ganguzza	June 2008	Orlando, Florida	[104]
Wendy Ladner-Beaudry	April 2009	Vancouver, Canada	[105]
Sara Kuszak	July 2009	Fajardo, Puerto Rico	[106]
Tyler Jefferson	November 2009	Pensacola, Florida	[107]
Cynthia Ann Langrall	December 2009	Glendale, Arizona	[108]
Chelsea King	February 2010	Escondido, California	[109]
Jonathan Garcia-Valladares	November 2010	Phoenix, Arizona	[110]
Sherry Arnold	January 2012	Sidney, Montana	[111]
Harry Stone	May 2012	Raytown, Missouri	[112]
Brenna Morgart		Topeka, Kansas	[113]
Sarah Hart	June 2012	Russell County, Kentucky	[114]
Colombe Smithdeal	December 2012	Avondale, Arizona	[115]
Chris Lane	2013	Duncan, Oklahoma	[116]
Lauren Bump	January 2013	San Antonio, Texas	[117]
John "Jack" Fay	May 2013	Warwick, Rhode Island	[118]
Jane E. Juergens	October 2013	Westerville, Ohio	[119]
Rebekah Bletsch	June 2014	Dalton Township, Michigan	[120]
Constance McClain-Murray	August 2014	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	[121]
Melissa Millan	November 2014	Simsbury, Connecticut	[122]
Ida Johansson	August 2015	Upplands Väsby, Sweden	[123]
Dave Stevens	October 2015	Dallas, Texas	[124]
Jo Pert	January 2016	Remuera, New Zealand	[125]
Yangjie Li	May 2016	Dessau, Germany
Adam Gutierrez		Federal Way, Washington	[126]
Ally Brueger	July 2016	Rose Township, Michigan	[127]
Karina Vetrano	August 2016	New York City, New York
Vanessa Marcotte		Princeton, Massachusetts
Vicente Bermúdez Zacarías	October 2016	Metepec, Mexico
Carolin Gruber	November 2016	Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany	[128]
Mollie Tibbetts	July 2018	Brooklyn, Iowa	[129]
Wendy Karina Martinez	September 2018	Washington, D.C.	[130]
Gary Dean		Barnsley, England	[131]
Mia Lutzenberger	October 2018	San Antonio, Texas	[132]
Victoria Marinova		Ruse, Bulgaria
Laura Luelmo	December 2018	El Campillo, Huelva, Spain	[133]
Carolina Cano	March 2019	Jersey City, New Jersey	[134]
Hidde Bergman	May 2019	Groningen, Netherlands	[135]
Miguel Angel Valdez-Hernandez	June 2019	Brownsville, Texas	[136]
Suzanne Eaton	July 2019	Crete, Greece	[137]
Tessa Majors	December 2019	New York City, New York	[138]
Nicholas Day	January 2020	Blue Mounds, Wisconsin	[139]
Ahmaud Arbery	February 2020	Satilla Shores, Georgia
Tay Rui Hao	May 2020	Singapore	[140]
Sarmistha Sen	August 2020	Plano, TX	[141]
Sydney Sutherland		Newport, Arkansas	[142]
Victor Sidambe		Johannesburg, South Africa	[143]
Janell Mora	September 2020	Mesa, Arizona	[144]
Micala Siler		Kyiv, Ukraine	[145]
Warren van der Vyver	December 2020	Kenton-on-Sea, South Africa	[146]
Esther Horgan		West Bank	[147]
Greg Moore	July 2021	Maple Valley, Washington	[148]
Melody Rohrer	September 2021	Decatur, Michigan	[149]
Ashling Murphy	January 2022	County Offaly, Ireland	[150]
Eliza Fletcher	October 2022	Memphis, Tennessee	[151]
Susan Karnatz	September 2022	Raleigh, North Carolina	[152]
Lauren Heike	April 2023	Phoenix, Arizona	[153]
Stanislav Rzhitsky	July 2023	Krasnodar, Russia	[154]
Rachel Morin	August 2023	Bel Air, Maryland	[155]
Kirsten Kluyts	November 2023	Sandton, South Africa	[156]
Samantha Murphy	February 2024	Ballarat, Australia	[157]
Laken Riley		Athens, Georgia	[158]
Anna W. (full name not released)	May 2024	Zurich, Switzerland	[159]
Alyssa Lokits	October 2024	Nashville, TN	[160]

See also

• List of marathon fatalities