Two Halloween-Night Tragedies Retold: Carter & Liske (2015 Peg, 2026 Archive)

Original reporting date: October 25, 2015.

In late October 2015 this desk published a Halloween scare feature built from two real tragedies that landed on All Hallows’ timing. That URL is a historical predecessor. This 2026 rewrite keeps the stories as archival true-crime context — not a dare to frighten kids with other families’ grief, and not a status update inventing who is “still” behind which wall.

Grain of salt, first sentence: these are homicide histories, not monsters in the swamp. Speak softly. Say “according to court and news records.” Do not turn victims into props.

Case one: Lawton, Oklahoma — Nima Louise Carter (1977) and the Carpitcher twins (1976)

According to the 2015 Athenaeum summary and long-circulating Oklahoma crime reporting it drew on:

On Halloween night 1977 in Lawton, George and Rose Carter put 19-month-old Nima Louise Carter down in her crib. By morning she was gone. The house, the old piece says, still looked locked. About a month later, authorities found the infant’s body in a refrigerator in an abandoned house. Cause of death reported as asphyxiation.

The same Lawton orbit includes an earlier horror: in April 1976, three-year-old twins Mary Elizabeth and Augustine Jacqueline “Tina” Carpitcher vanished from their grandparents’ home in daylight. Two days later they were found in an abandoned house, also shut inside a refrigerator. One twin survived; the other died of asphyxiation, according to the historical record the 2015 piece recounted.

The connecting name in that telling: teenage babysitter Jacqueline Roubideaux, linked to both families. Lawton police, the archive says, lacked enough to charge her immediately; charges for two counts of first-degree murder came later (1979 in the predecessor’s chronology). A guilty verdict followed in 1983, with the surviving twin’s identification described as central to the public narrative even where courtroom rules complicated child testimony. Roubideaux maintained innocence. The 2015 Athenaeum piece reported she died in prison of liver cancer in 2005.

2026 status note: We are not asserting any living custody status for Roubideaux. The historical record as filed in 2015 places her death in 2005. Treat that as dated reporting; do not invent later appeals drama.

Case two: Ottawa County, Ohio — the Liske Halloween murders (2010)

The second story the 2015 desk paired for Halloween dread: William “BJ” Liske and the Halloween 2010 killings of family members at a rural Ottawa County, Ohio home — father William Liske, stepmother Susan Liske, and stepbrother Derek Griffin, according to contemporary Ohio news.

Devon Griffin, then 16, discovered the bodies and at first thought it was a Halloween prank, newsrooms reported at the time. Liske fled and was arrested roughly 170 miles away at a family cabin, according to those same accounts. Coverage noted mental-health history and prior domestic calls. He pleaded guilty to aggravated murder counts in 2011 and was sentenced to life without parole.

Critical 2026 soften of the predecessor’s “currently” line: the 2015 Athenaeum copy said Liske was “currently residing in the penitentiary,” heavily sedated and secluded. That was a 2015-present claim. Later Ohio reporting (including Sandusky Register coverage) stated he died in prison in 2015. This desk will not claim he is incarcerated “now.” Historical fact pattern: life sentence after 2011 plea; subsequent death-in-custody reporting. We are not a parole board and we invent no cellblock details.

Why the 2015 peg existed — and why we narrowed it

Halloween wants monsters. Real crime sometimes lands on the calendar and gets drafted into seasonal listicles. That impulse is understandable and also ethically slippery. The 2026 job is narrower:

1. Keep the dates straight.
2. Attribute to news/court history, not cryptid metaphor.
3. Refuse “currently locked up” language without verification.
4. Refuse street addresses and pilgrimage tips.
5. Remind readers these were children and family members, not jump-scare mascots.

Conspiracy-curious framing does not belong here as “cover-up entertainment.” These cases had investigations, charges, pleas, verdicts, and obituaries. Curiosity stops at respect.

How to read this on Halloween without becoming the problem

• Prefer fiction anthologies if your goal is safe scares.
• If you discuss these cases, name the victims with care and skip gore tourism.
• Do not harass surviving relatives or treat abandoned-house lore as a scavenger hunt.
• Separate documented court outcomes from rumor about motives.

Why this desk narrowed the scare framing

The 2015 headline promised “two really scary stories” for Halloween night — true ones, timed to the holiday. That pitch works as click energy and fails as ethics if it turns murdered children into seasonal décor. The 2026 rewrite keeps the historical record available for readers who already know these cases exist, and it strips the carnival bark.

Practical differences from the predecessor:

• Custody language: past-tense, dated, verified where possible; no “currently in the penitentiary” floating into this decade.
• Victim centering: names and outcomes without gore tourism.
• No cryptid cosplay: these are human crimes; werewolf metaphors stay in other wings of the Athenaeum.
• No map pins: Lawton and Ottawa County as regions, not scavenger-hunt coordinates.

If you came from search looking for “scary true Halloween stories,” consider whether fiction serves you better tonight. The Carter and Carpitcher families, and the Liske/Griffin families, did not happen so strangers could season their candy bowls. The archive exists so the calendar peg is honest — and so the “currently” errors of 2015 do not clone themselves.

Bottom line: The October 25, 2015 Athenaeum Halloween feature retold the Lawton refrigerator murders tied publicly to Jacqueline Roubideaux (historical conviction; death reported 2005) and the 2010 Ottawa County Liske family murders (2011 life sentence; later death-in-prison reporting). This 2026 page archives that peg without present-tense custody inventions and without treating real grief as carnival barkers’ copy.

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Sources

• Claim element: Historical predecessor Halloween feature — Attribution: Monstrum Athenaeum, first published 2015-10-25 — Link: Two Really Scary Stories To Share This Halloween Night
• Claim element: Liske plea / sentencing context — Attribution: Contemporary Ohio / national news — Link: Fox News plea coverage · Sandusky Register plea
• Claim element: Liske death-in-prison reporting (softens 2015 “currently”) — Attribution: Sandusky Register — Link: Man who killed family on Halloween 2010 found dead
• Claim element: Case overview secondary summary — Attribution: LegalClarity overview (secondary; cross-check news) — Link: BJ Liske and the Liske Family Halloween Murders

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About this article

Archival true-crime commentary for mature audiences — not entertainment that mocks victims, not investigative journalism asserting new evidence, and not an invitation to visit or disturb crime scenes, private homes, or surviving families. Real people died; treat them with basic human decency. Custody and medical details are limited to dated public reporting; this desk does not invent present-tense incarceration status. This 2026 article is a brand-new legacy refresh; the 2015 URL is a historical predecessor, not a prior publication of this text. MonstrumAthenaeum.org is for readers who can tell a calendar peg from a carnival ride.