Births

Andre Rand

1926 – Pauline Dubuisson – was a French woman born on March 11, 1926. She is known for her tumultuous life and the infamous murder case that surrounded her.  At the age of 17, she became the mistress of a German Colonel during World War II and kept a notebook of his and other lovers’ performances. She was listed by the Resistance as a Nazi collaborator. After the war, in 1946, she enrolled as a medical student and began a stormy affair with fellow student Felix Bailey until 1949, when they parted.  She attempted a reconciliation with Felix Bailey, but he had plans to marry another. On March 17, 1951, Dubuisson shot and killed him and attempted to gas herself. She was revived and given a sentence of life in prison.  Her trial elicited a frenzy of press copy, public ire, and soul-searching. Her scandalous wartime past, and reputation as both a “loose woman” and an “exaltée” who sought to build for herself a career more fitting to a man shocked much of the French reading public. However, there were also growing qualms about the severity of her sentence, which was reduced several times due to her exemplary behavior in prison and the evolving public opinion about her crime.  She was released from prison in 1959. Unfortunately, she was unable to escape her past and tragically ended her life on September 19, 1963.

1944 – Andre Rand – born Frank Rostum Rushan on March 11, 1944, is an American convicted child kidnapper, sex offender, and suspected serial killer. He grew up in Ithaca, New York, and served in the army in the early 1960s. From 1966 to 1968, he worked as a custodian at Staten Island’s Willowbrook State School, a state-funded mental institution for children with disabilities.  In 1969, Rand lured a nine-year-old girl into his car and attempted to rape her, but was interrupted by passing police officers. He served 16 months in prison for the attempted sexual assault. After his release, several young girls in the area started to go missing.  He is currently serving two twenty-five years to life sentences in prison for the abductions of two teenage girls and is eligible for parole in 2037. It’s widely believed he was responsible for the murders of many more, making him one of the most notorious criminals Staten Island has ever known. His crimes and the urban legend of “Cropsey” are the subject of the 2009 documentary “Cropsey”.

1955 – Charles Bussell – was handed a death sentence on January 17, 1992, in Christian County. He was convicted for the murder and robbery of Sue Lail, an elderly woman from Hopkinsville, who had hired Bussell for various tasks around her house.  Lail was reported missing on December 3, 1990, and her body was found only on February 22, 1991. Bussell was apprehended on April 11, 1991, and was subsequently tried and found guilty of murder and first-degree robbery on November 21, 1991.

1957 – David Eugene Johnston – On the early morning of November 5, 1983, a man named David Johnston dialed the Orlando Police Department at 3:30 a.m., introducing himself as Martin White. He informed the police about a murder at a specific address, claiming that his grandmother had been killed.  Upon their arrival, the police discovered the lifeless body of 84-year-old Mary Hammond inside the house. She had been subjected to multiple stab wounds and there were indications of manual strangulation.  Johnston was taken into custody after the police observed scratches on his face, blood stains on his clothes, and inconsistencies in the stories he told to different officers at the scene of the crime.  Before the tragic incident, Johnston had been in contact with the victim due to his job at a demolition site near her home. He was spotted in the victim’s apartment, doing the dishes, five days before the murder.  Witnesses reported seeing Johnston earlier without any scratches on his face. Moreover, Johnston’s watch, which was later found smeared with blood in the victim’s bathroom, was seen on his wrist until 1:45 a.m. on the day of the murder.  A butterfly pendant that Johnston was seen wearing until 2:00 a.m. was discovered entangled in the victim’s hair. A butcher knife stained with blood was found hidden under the victim’s mattress and a footprint matching Johnston’s shoe was detected outside the kitchen window. At the demolition site, a pillowcase was discovered containing a brass teapot, a wine bottle, flatware, tableware, and a silver candlestick, all of which were identified as the victim’s possessions.

1957 – Ricky Nolen McGinn – was handed a death sentence for the heinous crimes of raping and murdering his 12-year-old stepdaughter, Stephanie Rae Flanary. On May 22, 1993, Janet McGinn, Ricky’s wife, departed from their home in Brownwood, Texas for a journey to Arlington, leaving her daughter, Stephanie, under Ricky’s supervision. That day, Ricky and Stephanie were alone together. Stephanie was sexually violated by Ricky and subsequently bludgeoned in the head with the flat side of an axe. She succumbed to severe head injuries and a fractured skull. Her mutilated body was discovered three days later in a culvert near a farm-to-market road, not far from Ricky’s residence in Brown County. Ricky was granted a last-minute reprieve of 30 days by Governor Bush to conduct DNA testing. However, the DNA test results only served to affirm Ricky’s guilt.

1963 – Mark Wayne Wiles – He was convicted for the murder of 15-year-old Mark Klima, who was a promising student with aspirations to become a doctor. The crime occurred on August 7, 1985, when Klima discovered Wiles burglarizing his horse farm. Wiles stabbed the boy 24 times with a kitchen knife. Before the murder, Wiles had been seen in the vicinity of the victim’s home due to his employment at a nearby demolition site. Witnesses reported seeing Wiles without any scratches on his face earlier in the day. However, on the day of the murder, Wiles was seen with scratches on his face and blood on his clothes, which raised suspicion.  Wiles was sentenced to death for his crimes. While on death row, he expressed a desire to apologize for his actions, stating that he had been wanting to offer an apology for more than 25 years. Despite a last-minute reprieve to conduct DNA testing, the results only served to confirm his guilt. Wiles passed away on April 18, 2012, in Lucasville, Scioto County, Ohio, USA.

1963 – Milo M. Stanley – He was convicted for the brutal murder of his wife, Susan, and their 5-year-old daughter, Seleste. The tragic incident took place on the evening of June 19, 1986, during a heated argument between Stanley and his wife about his drinking problem. Stanley drove his family to a remote area outside Cottonwood, where he shot Susan three times in the head and Seleste once in the top of the head. He spared his 1-year-old son as the boy was too young to recount the events. After disposing of Susan’s and Seleste’s bodies off the side of the road, Stanley returned home, put his son to bed, and reported his wife and daughter missing to the police. However, the following day, Stanley confessed to the crimes. He was sentenced to death for the murder of Seleste and received a life sentence for the murder of Susan. Stanley was found dead in his cell at the Eyman prison complex in Florence on May 10, 2013, in what was reported as an apparent suicide.

1979 – Milton Wuzeal Mathis – He was convicted for a horrific crime that took place on December 15, 1998, when he was just 19 years old. The incident occurred in Fort Bend County, Texas, at a known drug house. Mathis shot three victims in the head with a .45 caliber pistol. One of the victims, a 15-year-old Hispanic female, survived the shooting but was paralyzed from the chest down. Mathis reportedly attempted to shoot two other intended victims, but the gun either misfired or jammed.  Before his conviction, Mathis had worked as a cook, a mechanic’s helper, and a laborer. He had no prior prison record. He was received by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice on December 9, 1999, when he was 20 years old. His physical characteristics at the time of his offense included being 6’2″ tall, weighing 193 pounds, and having black hair and brown eyes.  Despite the severity of his crimes, Mathis maintained his innocence throughout his trial. However, the evidence against him was overwhelming, and he was sentenced to death. His case remains a stark reminder of the consequences of violent crime.

1984 – Juan Raul Navarro-Ramirez – is known for his involvement in a notorious crime that took place in Hidalgo County, Texas. He was a member of the Tri-City Bombers gang and was involved in a mass murder incident known as the Edinburg massacre. On January 5, 2003, Navarro-Ramirez, along with 10 co-defendants, entered a residence with the intent to steal a large quantity of marijuana. During the robbery, six Hispanic males were killed. The victims were Jimmy Edward Almendariz, 22; brothers Jerry Eugene Hidalgo, 24, and Ray Hidalgo, 30; half-brothers Juan Delgado Jr., 32, and Juan Delgado III, 20; and Ruben Rolando Castillo, 32, who were rival gang members. Navarro-Ramirez was the youngest defendant charged with the murders of rival gang members during this drug and weapons raid. He was the first to stand trial for these murders and pleaded innocent to the charges. However, he was sentenced to death on December 23, 2004. His appeal to the state’s highest criminal court was denied. Despite the severity of his crimes, it’s important to note that Navarro-Ramirez had no prior prison record before this incident. His occupation before his incarceration was as a laborer. As of now, Navarro-Ramirez does not yet have an execution date.

Deaths

Victor Lustig

1889 – Jessie King – was a notorious figure in Edinburgh, Scotland. She was the last woman to be executed in the city, and her crime was considered so ‘heinous’ that she could not escape the death penalty. Born in 1862, Jessie King was involved in the infamous practice of ‘baby farming’ during the Victorian era. This involved taking in children from others for a fee, only to let them starve or brutally murder them. In March 1889, King was accused of the murders of three babies, whom she had taken on after responding to advertisements in newspapers for “Person wanted to adopt child”.  King’s partner, Thomas Pearson, was also suspected, but King took on all the guilt, claiming that Pearson knew nothing of what went on. Despite her request to withdraw her confession, it was too late, and she was sentenced to death.  Jessie King’s story is a tragic one, reflecting the harsh realities of life in Victorian Britain. Despite the severity of her crimes, some argue that she was a vulnerable and manipulated individual, perhaps even a victim of her time. Her case brought to light the scandal of baby farming and the desperate measures some were driven to in an era of high infant mortality and strict societal norms.

1920 – Will Lockett – Petrie Kimbrough, better known by his alias Will Lockett, was an American serial killer who was born in May 1888 in Pembroke, Kentucky, U.S. He killed three women and one girl between 1912 and 1920 in three states, and also attempted to kill a woman in his native Kentucky.  Lockett began his criminal activities by attacking and murdering a white woman at Carmi, Illinois in either 1912 or 1913, near train tracks crossing Louisville and Nashville. In 1917, he choked, raped, and beat a black woman at Governor and Canal Streets in Evansville, Indiana, leaving her for dead. He was eventually enlisted to serve in the army at Camp Zachary Taylor in Louisville, Kentucky, where he raped and strangled a woman of “uncertain color” in February 1919.  His last victim was a 10-year-old white schoolgirl named Geneva Hardman who lived in Lexington. On February 4, 1920, her school satchel and cap were found near a fence bordering a large cornfield in southern Fayette County by a farmer named Speed Collins. Her body was later found behind a fodder stock, which had been partly covered. Her body and nearby stalks were covered in blood, with a large rock next to it, and one of her hair ribbons was also found in the mud. Lockett was executed by electrocution on March 11, 1920, at the age of 31, at the Kentucky State Penitentiary in Eddyville, Kentucky, U.S. He was convicted of murder and his criminal status was executed.

1947 – Victor Lustig – was a notorious con artist and masterful impostor known for his audacious scams during the early to mid-20th century. Born in what is now the Czech Republic, Lustig possessed a keen intellect and a charismatic demeanor that allowed him to manipulate people with ease.  One of Lustig’s most infamous exploits was his creation of the “money-printing machine” scam in the 1920s. Posing as a government official, he convinced potential victims that he had invented a miraculous device capable of duplicating banknotes. Eager to capitalize on the opportunity, individuals would pay substantial sums for the machine, only to discover later that it was a cleverly crafted hoax.  Lustig’s skills extended beyond the realm of forgery; he was also a skilled confidence trickster. In 1925, he successfully sold the Eiffel Tower – twice. Presenting himself as a government official entrusted with the task of selling the iconic Parisian landmark for scrap metal due to financial difficulties, Lustig managed to persuade two separate groups of scrap metal dealers to part with significant amounts of money. By the time his ruse was discovered, Lustig had vanished without a trace.  The con artist’s criminal career came to an end in 1935 when he was finally apprehended by American authorities. Convicted of counterfeiting and other charges, Lustig was sentenced to 20 years in prison. His later years were spent behind bars, and he died in 1947. Despite his criminal activities, Victor Lustig remains a fascinating figure in the annals of con artistry, celebrated for his ingenuity, charm, and ability to exploit the trust of unsuspecting individuals.

1969 – Jean-Laurent Olivier – was a French agricultural worker who was convicted of the murder of two children, Pierrette and Lucien Demarle, with rape on the girl, and was executed in Amiens by executioner André Obrecht. Olivier was born in Aisne and was abandoned early by his mother. He was entrusted to a public assistance nurse and was sent at the age of 15 to work as a farmhand in Montlevon. There, he impregnated Yvette, the owner’s daughter, with whom he was eventually forced to marry. On June 17, 1967, Olivier was plowing one of his fields on his tractor when he spotted two familiar figures: Pierrette Demarle, 12, and her brother Lucien, 10. When their father, Gaston Demarle, left to look for work in a factory at Lizy-sur-Ourcq, Olivier approached Pierrette and Lucien. He asked Lucien to follow him to his tractor, claiming to have a commission for his father. Lucien agreed and disappeared into the La Futaie de Montlevon woods with him. A few minutes later, he came to fetch Pierrette and took her to the woods of La Futaie as well. There, he raped her before strangling her and her brother. He then returned to his tractor as if nothing had happened and did not return home until nightfall. The next morning, a farmer found the bodies of the Demarle children. They had been strangled, and Pierrette had been raped beforehand. The gendarmes questioned Olivier who, after 48 hours, confessed to the crimes. He claimed not to know what had come over him. His trial opened in September 1968, more than a year after the events, at the assizes of Laon. After 45 minutes of deliberation, Jean-Laurent Olivier was found guilty without mitigating circumstances, and he was sentenced to death. In March 1969, the defendant’s lawyers pleaded for clemency before President De Gaulle. Clemency was refused. Thus, on March 11 of that year, the gallows were erected in the courtyard of the Amiens prison where Olivier had been transferred for his execution. At 5 a.m., he was awakened. Thirty minutes later, he was executed. Jean-Laurent Olivier was the last condemned man to be executed under the presidency of De Gaulle.

1993 – Dino Bravo – Adolfo Bresciano, better known by his ring name Dino Bravo, was an Italian-Canadian professional wrestler and promoter. Born on August 6, 1948, in Campobasso, Molise, Italy, he started his career in Montreal in the 1970s, working for Lutte Internationale after training under Gino Brito.  Bravo was self-proclaimed as “Canada’s Strongest Man” and later the “World’s Strongest Man”. He became one of the top professional wrestling stars of Canada, winning several major titles including the Canadian International Heavyweight Championship six times, the NWA Canadian Heavyweight Championship (Toronto version), and the NWA Mid-Atlantic Tag Team Championship. He later signed with the World Wide Wrestling Federation, where as a partner to Dominic DeNucci he won the WWWF World Tag Team Championship. He was also the sole holder of the WWF Canadian Championship before the title was abandoned in 1986.  After leaving professional wrestling, Bravo became involved in organized crime, allegedly working for the Cotroni crime family. He was killed in his home by multiple gunshots in March 1993, and the crime remains unsolved. Despite his controversial life and tragic end, Dino Bravo left a significant mark on the world of professional wrestling.

1998 – Jerry Lee Hogue – was born on October 24, 1944, in Little Rock, Pulaski County, Arkansas, USA. He passed away on January 29, 2022, in Yukon, Canadian County, Oklahoma, USA.  Hogue was involved in a controversial case in Texas. In January 1979, a house in Arlington, Texas, erupted in flames. Hogue had known the three people who lived at the house for only a few days. In the ruins, firefighters found the body of a young woman, who had been bound and burned to death in a back bedroom. The two other residents survived and told police Hogue had taken them hostage and raped the women. The two survivors testified that Hogue spread gasoline through the house and set it afire. Hogue said another resident had done it. The jury convicted Hogue and sentenced him to death.  Hogue spent two decades on death row trying to convince the state of Texas that he was innocent. He insisted he was innocent until the moment he died. A last-ditch request for DNA testing was turned down. Hogue did have a record. In Colorado, in the 1970s, he had been convicted of raping his ex-wife. That case helped convince Texas prosecutor Rufus Adcock that Hogue was guilty in the arson-murder case. Years after Adcock won a death sentence against Hogue, his Colorado rape conviction was thrown out.  Almost 20 years later, a few weeks before Hogue was scheduled to die, one of the survivors was charged in another arson case, with burning down his own house. Comparing the evidence in both fires, an arson investigator began to worry that the state of Texas might be on the verge of executing an innocent man. He began helping Hogue’s lawyers, trying to obtain a stay of execution so that authorities could investigate further. Despite these efforts, Hogue was executed. 

2005 – William Dillard Powell – a white male, was born in 1946 and was sentenced to death in North Carolina in 1993 for the murder of a shop assistant, Mary Gladden. The murder took place on October 31, 1991, while Mary was working at a convenience store in Shelby, Cleveland County, North Carolina. An autopsy showed that she had died as a result of blunt trauma to the head, inflicted by a heavy instrument. At William Powell’s trial, the judge found that there was no evidence of premeditation in the murder. The defendant was unarmed when he entered the store and had no history of violence. After the jury convicted him of first-degree murder, the trial moved into the sentencing phase.  In mitigation, the defense presented evidence of William Powell’s good character. After his ex-wife gave up custody of their autistic and profoundly retarded son in 1988, William Powell assumed custody. Experts have described this father/son relationship as “very, very close and very, very intense and tight”, and that the son benefited greatly from his father’s care.  The defense also presented evidence that William Powell had served on the advisory council for the Parent Teacher Organization at his son’s school for students with physical or mental disabilities, and had previously worked as a correctional officer and with the Shelby Fire Department. Two officers from the Cleveland County jail testified that William Powell had been a model inmate in pre-trial detention. A mental health expert testified that the defendant had some mental impairment, exacerbated by alcohol and cocaine abuse. His substance addictions had left him unable to hold a job down. He had robbed the Shelby store to steal money to buy drugs. He was intoxicated at the time of the crime.  The jury found one aggravating factor – that the murder was committed for monetary gain – and no mitigating circumstances. It sentenced him to death. William Powell has had an exemplary disciplinary record on death row, where he has been for more than a decade.

2009 – Tim Kretschmer – was born on July 26, 1991, and lived with his parents in the neighboring municipality of Leutenbach. He graduated from Albertville Realschule in 2008 with relatively poor grades. After graduation, he began an apprenticeship.  Kretschmer is known for the tragic event that took place on March 11, 2009, at the Albertville-Realschule, a secondary school in Winnenden, southwestern Germany. Kretschmer, who was 17 years old at the time, initiated a shooting spree at the school, which resulted in 16 deaths, including his own. He had graduated from the school a year earlier.  On the day of the incident, Kretschmer began shooting with a 9mm Beretta 92FS pistol, which he had stolen from his parents. He targeted two top-floor classrooms and a chemistry laboratory. In the first classroom, Kretschmer fatally shot five students in the head at close range without warning. He then entered the next classroom, killed two more students, and wounded nine more, two of whom would die of their wounds en route to the hospital. As Kretschmer left the room to reload his weapon, the teacher reportedly closed the door and locked it. After unsuccessfully trying to shoot off the lock, Kretschmer then moved on to the chemistry laboratory, where he shot and killed the teacher. Students escaped Kretschmer by jumping out of windows. In the three targeted classrooms, he killed nine students (eight female and one male, 15–16 years old) and a female teacher. He shot most of his victims in the head. Kretschmer fired more than 60 rounds at the school.  After the school shooting, Kretschmer fled the building, killing two female teachers in the hall as he departed. He killed a total of 12 people at the school. A quantity of unused ammunition was recovered from the school. The shooting spree ended with a shootout at a car dealership in nearby Wendlingen, where Kretschmer committed suicide.  Kretschmer’s actions shocked the community and the world, leaving many to question what could have led this young man to commit such a horrific act. Despite speculation about possible motives, the true reasons behind Kretschmer’s actions remain unknown.

2009 – Luis Cervantes Salazar – Salazar unlawfully entered the residence of Martha Sanchez through a window. He seized a knife from the kitchen and proceeded to Sanchez’s bedroom, where he initiated an attack on her, stabbing her in the chest. Sanchez’s 10-year-old son, Erick, was awakened by his mother’s screams and rushed into her bedroom, only to witness Salazar’s violent assault. Erick tried to seize the knife from Salazar, but was stabbed in the chest in the process. Sanchez managed to escape and sought help from a neighbor. Subsequently, Salazar dialed 9-1-1 to surrender himself to the police, confessing to his crime. The medical examiner’s report indicated that Sanchez had sustained injuries suggestive of an attempted sexual assault. During his trial, Salazar admitted to the stabbings but also revealed a disturbing aspect of his psyche – he derived pleasure from violent acts and had even fantasized about committing murder.

2010 – Joshua Maxwell – The tragic discovery of Sergeant Rudolfo Lopes’ body, a member of the Bexar County Sheriff’s Department, was made in a San Antonio field. His hands were tied, his eyes covered with a blindfold, and a single gunshot wound from a .9 mm handgun was found on the top of his head.  A week later, Maxwell and his partner, Tess McFarland, were apprehended following a high-speed chase and a shootout in the heart of San Francisco. They had Lopes’ vehicle, which held his personal belongings, and a .9 mm handgun. This weapon was later confirmed to be the same one used in Lopes’ murder. Following their arrest, Maxwell admitted to both homicides.  In an incident a month prior, Maxwell and McFarland had abducted Robbie Bott near Indianapolis. They coerced him into withdrawing money from ATMs. The following day, Bott’s car was discovered, abandoned, and set on fire, a mere fifteen-minute drive from his residence. His burnt, hogtied remains were found in the vehicle’s trunk. The post-mortem examination revealed that a gunshot wound to the torso had been the cause of death.

2014 – Raymond Leslie Morris – born on August 13, 1929, in Walsall, Staffordshire, England, was a notorious criminal known for his heinous crimes. He was reported to have an IQ of 120 and held various jobs before becoming a foreman engineer at a precision instruments factory in Oldbury, West Midlands, in 1967. Morris was infamous for the murder of three young girls, which led to one of the largest manhunts in Britain’s history. His crimes, often referred to as the Cannock Chase murders, took place between 1965 and 1967 in Staffordshire, England. The victims, aged between 5 and 7, were all found on Cannock Chase, a vast area of countryside in Staffordshire. Morris was arrested in 1968 for the attempted abduction of a fourth victim. In February 1969, he was convicted for the 1967 murder of seven-year-old Christine Ann Darby. Although he was never charged with the murders of the first two victims, investigators were convinced that all three children had been murdered by Morris. He is also believed to be responsible for the abduction, sexual assault, and attempted murder of a fifth girl in 1964. His crimes were so impactful that they served as the inspiration for the film Red Riding 1974. Morris passed away from natural causes at HMP Preston on March 11, 2014.

Events

Jayna Murray

1855 – The Bowery Boys gang leader William Poole aka Bill the Butcher is buried in Brooklyn with 155 carriages and 6000 mourners

1920 – Petrie Kimbrough was executed for killing a 10-year-old girl, whom he killed by crushing her head with a stone

1927 – The first armored commercial car hold-up in the US takes place in Pittsburgh

1971 – Jim Morrison, lead singer of “The Doors” leaves for Paris to reorient himself emotionally & creatively and to avoid the jail sentence given to him in Miami. He would never return to the United States

2009 – Winnenden School Shooting

2011 – Brittany Norwood killed co-worker Jayna Murray in a Lululemon yoga store

2012 – The Kandahar Massacre

2020 – Shamed Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein is sentenced to 23 years in prison for a criminal sex act and rape in New York