Births

Joseph Paul Franklin

1570Guy Fawkes – Born into a religiously divided household on April 13, 1570, Guy Fawkes’s life was marked by conflict and conviction. His father, Edward Fawkes, a prominent Protestant official, clashed with his mother, Edith Arden, a recusant Catholic. Fawkes’s early education at St. Peter’s School in York was exemplary, but his religious upbringing created discord within his family and the broader society.  Fawkes’s journey to Europe in 1594 marked a turning point. He fought for the Spanish army against Protestant Dutch rebels, adopting the alias “Guido Fawkes” to conceal his English identity. This experience deepened his Catholic faith and intensified his opposition to the Protestant monarchy in England.  Upon returning to England in 1604, Fawkes became entangled with a group of Catholic conspirators plotting to overthrow King James I and replace him with a Catholic monarch. Their daring plan, the Gunpowder Plot, involved stockpiling 36 barrels of gunpowder beneath the House of Lords to assassinate the King and Parliament on November 5, 1605.  Fawkes’s task was to light the fuse and ignite the cataclysmic explosion. However, a government informer alerted authorities, and on November 4, 1605, Fawkes was arrested in the cellar beneath Parliament. Despite interrogation, he remained steadfast in his confession and faced a grim fate.  Tortured in the Tower of London, Fawkes endured the excruciating rack, but his resolve remained unshaken. On February 1, 1606, he was executed at Old Palace Yard, Westminster, a public spectacle involving hanging, drawing, and quartering – a punishment reserved for traitors. His remains were displayed around London as a potent deterrent.  Despite his role in the failed plot, Guy Fawkes’s legacy remains deeply etched in British history. His story has been immortalized in various forms of popular culture, from plays and novels to films.  Annually on November 5th, Guy Fawkes Night, also known as Bonfire Night, commemorates the plot’s foiling. Effigies of Fawkes are burnt amidst bonfires, symbolizing the defeat of rebellion and the triumph of the state.  Fawkes’s complex legacy remains a subject of debate. He is seen as both a symbol of religious extremism and resistance to tyranny, his story sparking discussions about political violence, religious freedom, and the foundations of democracy.

1866Butch Cassidy – born Robert Leroy Parker on April 13, 1866, in Beaver, Utah, was an infamous American outlaw and leader of the Wild Bunch, a notorious group of bank and train robbers in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Raised in a Mormon family, Cassidy displayed early signs of a rebellious spirit and a penchant for trouble. In his youth, Cassidy worked various odd jobs, including as a butcher, which earned him the nickname “Butch.” However, it wasn’t long before he became involved in criminal activities. He started his criminal career by rustling cattle and gradually escalated to more audacious crimes, such as bank and train robberies. Cassidy’s criminal exploits reached their peak during the late 1890s when he formed the Wild Bunch, a gang of outlaws that included notable figures like the Sundance Kid, Kid Curry, and Etta Place. The Wild Bunch gained notoriety for their daring heists and ability to elude law enforcement. Cassidy, known for his charisma and leadership skills, became a folk hero to some and a wanted man to others. The infamous outlaw and his gang operated primarily in the American West, robbing banks and trains in states such as Wyoming, Colorado, and Utah. They were involved in several high-profile heists, making them some of the most wanted criminals of their time. Facing increasing pressure from law enforcement, Cassidy and the Sundance Kid eventually fled to South America, where they continued their life of crime. The exact details of Cassidy’s fate remain uncertain, as there are conflicting accounts of his death. Some reports suggest that he was killed in a shootout with Bolivian soldiers in 1908, while others claim he lived in anonymity for years after. Butch Cassidy’s life has been romanticized in various books and films, immortalizing him as a charismatic and daring figure in the annals of American folklore. Whether celebrated or condemned, Cassidy’s legacy endures as that of a legendary outlaw who left an indelible mark on the Wild West.

1950Joseph Paul Franklin – born James Clayton Vaughn Jr. on April 13, 1950, was an American serial killer and white supremacist who gained infamy for a reign of terror that spanned the late 1970s and early 1980s. Franklin was born in Mobile, Alabama, and grew up in a troubled household, experiencing a tumultuous relationship with his family. Franklin’s criminal activities were characterized by a disturbing mix of racism and violence. He targeted individuals based on their race, with a particular focus on African Americans and interracial couples. His actions were fueled by a twisted ideology rooted in white supremacy, and he believed that he was carrying out a mission to start a race war. Notorious for his sniper-style shootings, Franklin committed a series of hate crimes across the United States, leaving a trail of fear and tragedy in his wake. One of his most infamous acts was the sniper attack on a bar mitzvah in 1977, where he killed two people and injured several others. Franklin’s criminal spree came to an end when he was arrested in 1980 for weapons charges. However, it was his involvement in a series of high-profile cases, such as the attempted assassination of civil rights activist Vernon Jordan and the shooting spree at a synagogue in Missouri, that ultimately led to his capture and conviction. In 1997, Joseph Paul Franklin was sentenced to death for the murder of Gerald Gordon, a crime committed during his racist killing spree. He spent years on death row, and despite numerous appeals and legal challenges, he was executed by lethal injection on November 20, 2013, at the age of 63.

1950Leo Alexander Jones – was a man who was executed by electrocution in Florida in 1998 for the murder of a police officer. He claimed that he was innocent and that another man, Glenn Schofield, was the real killer. However, his case was controversial and many people believed that he was wrongly convicted and executed. According to Murderpedia, Jones killed Officer Thomas Szafranski on May 23, 1981, in Jacksonville, Florida. The officer was shot in the head by a sniper while sitting in his patrol car. Jones was arrested in a nearby apartment, where two rifles were found under his bed. One of the rifles had Jones’ fingerprints on it. Jones confessed to the murder, saying he killed the officer because of police beatings, but later recanted, saying police forced the confession out of him. He also said that another man, Glenn Schofield, killed Szafranski. Schofield was Jones’ roommate and friend. He had been seen carrying a rifle near the crime scene by several witnesses. One witness said that Schofield told her “them crackers are after me” as he ran away from the scene. Another witness said that Schofield confessed to killing Szafranski to him. However, no physical evidence linked Schofield to the crime. Jones’s lawyers tried to get him a new trial based on new evidence and testimony that cast doubt on his guilt. They argued that some of the key witnesses against him were unreliable or coerced by the police or prosecutors. They also pointed out that some of the forensic evidence was inconclusive or tampered with. They claimed that Jones was innocent and that Schofield was the real killer. However, their efforts were unsuccessful. The courts rejected their arguments and denied them a new trial. In 1997, Florida Supreme Court Justice Leander Shaw wrote an opinion stating that “Jones’ case had become ‘a horse of a different color’”. He cited newly discovered evidence that suggested that one of Jones’ fingerprints did not match any of the rifles found at his apartment. He also noted that some of the eyewitnesses who identified Schofield as the shooter had changed their stories or given inconsistent details. He concluded that “the State has presented sufficient evidence to support its conviction” and recommended the death penalty for Jones. On March 24, 1998, Jones was executed by electrocution at Florida State Prison. His last words were “I love you all” to his family and friends. His execution sparked outrage among human rights groups and civil rights activists who argued that he deserved a fair trial and due process before being put to death. They also questioned the validity and reliability of some of the evidence used against him.

1961Eric Charles Nenno – was a convicted sex offender who was executed for the 1995 rape and murder of seven-year-old Nicole Benton. He was executed in 2008 in Huntsville, Texas, becoming the 1128th murderer to be executed in the United States since 1976. According to his family tree, Eric Charles Nenno was born on April 13, 1961, in Olean, New York. He had two siblings, but their names are unknown. He married an unknown woman and had two children, but their names are also unknown. He died on October 28, 2008 in Smethport, Pennsylvania. Nenno’s criminal history dates back to the spring of 1993 when he was accused of trying to lure a six-year-old girl into his house and pull off her pants. He denied the accusation and claimed that he had never seen the girl before. However, he was later arrested for another child molestation case involving a nine-year-old girl in June 1994. He pleaded guilty to both charges and was sentenced to five years of probation. On March 23, 1995, Nicole Benton disappeared during a birthday party held for her father at the house of a friend. Nenno lived a few houses down the road in a house owned by relatives. He lured Nicole into his home on the pretext of getting a guitar to join her father’s band. As Nicole cried and resisted, he strangled her to death. He raped her lifeless body for several days and hid her corpse in his attic, stuffing her clothing in a filing cabinet. A few days after Nicole’s disappearance, law enforcement agents showed up at Nenno’s residence to question him about the missing girl. They found him dressed only in a white bath towel around his waist and became suspicious of his behavior. They searched his house and found evidence linking him to Nicole’s murder, such as blood stains on his clothes and carpet fibers from Nicole’s dress. Nenno was arrested on March 25, 1995, and charged with capital murder. He pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity and claimed that he had been abused as a child by his father and stepfather. However, the jury rejected his defense and found him guilty on April 14, 1996, after less than three hours of deliberation. Nenno appealed his conviction several times but failed to overturn it. He also filed several motions for clemency but was denied by various governors of Texas. On January 17, 2008, Governor Rick Perry signed Nenno’s death warrant into law. On October 28, 2008, at 6:00 p.m., Nenno was executed by lethal injection at the Huntsville Unit prison in Huntsville, Texas. His last words were “I love you all”. His execution was witnessed by several media outlets and family members of Nicole Benton.

1978Paul Warner Powell – was a man who committed a horrific crime in 1999. He killed his friend Stacie Reed, who was 16 years old and tried to rape her. He also attacked her sister Kristie, who was 14 years old and stabbed her several times. Kristie survived the attack and testified against Powell at his trial. Powell was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death, but his conviction was overturned on appeal by the Virginia Supreme Court. He then wrote letters to the prosecutor and the victims’ family, bragging about his crimes and claiming that he was not guilty of double jeopardy. His letters were used as evidence against him in a second trial, where he was convicted again and executed by electrocution in 2010.

 

Deaths

Marie Fikackova

1920Frederick Rothwell Holt – was a British soldier and murderer who was executed by hanging in 1920. Born in 1887, Holt served with the 4th Loyal North Lancashire Regiment during World War One but was invalided out of the army with shell shock and was suffering from depression. After the war, he returned to Lancashire and began an affair with Kitty Breaks, a woman six years his junior who was separated from her husband. Breaks insured her life for £5,000, naming Holt as her beneficiary. On 24 December 1919, Breaks’ body was found near Blackpool, shot three times with a revolver. Footprints, a Webley service revolver, and blood-stained gloves were found nearby in the dunes. Holt confessed to the murder, claiming that he had killed Breaks because he loved her too much and had been trying to kill himself by shooting himself in the head, but failed. His trial took place at Preston Assizes in March 1920, where his defense barrister, Sir Edward Marshall Hall, argued that Holt had been insane due to his war injuries and his relationship with Breaks. He also suggested that the police had tried to kill Holt using mad dogs, germ-carrying flies, and gas. The prosecution contended that Holt had killed Breaks to collect the insurance money and presented evidence of his financial troubles and his violent temper. Holt was found guilty of murder by a jury of twelve men and was sentenced to death by hanging at Manchester’s Strangeways Prison on 13 April 1920. He was hanged by public hangman John Ellis.

1923Paul V. Hadley – also known as William Estaver, was a notorious criminal born in 1887 in Oklahoma. He grew up on a farm with his family and married Ida Johnson from Kansas in 1914. They had two children, but their marriage was troubled due to Hadley’s violent behavior and alcoholism. In 1916, Hadley shot and killed Sheriff Giles of Checotah County, Oklahoma, and escaped with his wife to Kansas City, Missouri. There, he met an elderly couple, John and Mary Smith, whom he killed and robbed. He then fled to Tucson, Arizona, where he killed another elderly couple, John and Mary Jones. Hadley was eventually arrested and his fingerprints were found on the stolen items. He was tried twice for the murders and was sentenced to death by hanging in 1923. Despite appealing his conviction to the Arizona Supreme Court and the U.S. Supreme Court, both appeals were rejected. Hadley died on death row at the Arizona State Prison later that year. His crimes, known for their brutality and cunning, shocked the public and earned him the nickname “The Claw”. His case is a fascinating example of how forensic science can help solve crimes using physical evidence.

1945U.L. Holley – was an African American man born in 1906 who was executed by lethal gas in Arizona for the murder of a saloon owner and his wife in 1944. After being refused service at the Owl Buffet, a popular spot in Globe, Arizona, due to his inebriated state, he returned with a gun and shot the owner, Morgan Nielson, and his wife, Lillian Nielsen, as well as three other men who were present at the scene. He was arrested and tried for his crime, but he pleaded guilty and said he deserved to die. He was executed on April 13, 1945, by asphyxiation gas. He was married to Bessie L Holley and had a brother named James Holley who also lived in Globe. The Arizona Republic described him as big, brawny, and darkly handsome. His last meal consisted of fried chicken, fried potatoes, and lemon pie.

1961John A. Bennett – Bennett was a private in the US Army, stationed in Austria, and in late December 1954 he drank copious amounts of alcohol which made him heavily intoxicated when he left Camp Roeder looking for a brothel or just a woman so that he could have sex with, when he came across his 11-year-old victim who he took into a field and raped, she survived her ordeal and was able to give evidence against him. He was the last member of the armed forces to be executed after a court-martial

1961Marie Fikackova – was born on September 9, 1936, in Sušice, Czechoslovakia. She grew up in a dysfunctional family and her marriage failed. She graduated from the medical school in Klatovy in 1955 and started working as a nurse in the obstetrics department of the hospital in Sušice in 1957. She was known to be a decent woman and a hard-working nurse. On February 23, 1960, two newborn babies died at the hospital while Fikáčková was on duty. The autopsy revealed that they had suffered severe brain injuries and broken bones. Fikáčková confessed to the killings after being interrogated for several hours. She said that she hated children and that she felt rage when she heard them cry. She also said that she had attacked ten more newborns before, but they had survived. Fikáčková was charged with murder and sentenced to death by hanging on October 6, 1960. She appealed her sentence, but it was upheld by the Supreme Court of Czechoslovakia on March 8, 1961. She was executed by hanging at Pankrác Prison on April 13, 1961. Fikáčková’s case shocked the public and raised questions about the safety of newborns at the hospital. The hospital lacked proper supervision mechanisms to deal with the deaths of newborns, and no responsible physician or administrator was charged or even demoted for negligence or incompetence. The case was kept secret from the public for decades until it was revealed by journalist Jan Kopecký in his book “The Sušicka Bestie” (The Sušice Beast) in 2004. 

1984Christopher Wilder – was an Australian-born serial killer and sexual predator who terrorized women across the United States in the late 1970s. Born on March 13, 1945, in Sydney, Australia, Wilder moved to the United States in the early 1960s. He initially gained attention as a successful and charismatic photographer, establishing himself in the world of fashion photography. Despite his seemingly normal life, Wilder harbored dark and violent tendencies. In the late 1970s, he embarked on a cross-country crime spree, abducting and murdering numerous young women. His victims ranged in age, and he often targeted aspiring models or women he lured with promises of modeling opportunities. Wilder’s modus operandi involved approaching his victims with the offer of a photo shoot and gaining their trust before subjecting them to a nightmarish ordeal of abduction, torture, and sexual assault. He was adept at eluding law enforcement, leaving a trail of unsolved crimes in his wake. The FBI eventually caught up with Wilder in April 1984, after a high-profile manhunt. He was killed in a shootout with law enforcement in New Hampshire, bringing an end to his reign of terror. The investigation into Christopher Wilder’s crimes uncovered the extent of his brutality and the suffering he inflicted on his victims.

1988Leslie Lowenfield – was a Guyanese immigrant who was executed by electric chair in Louisiana in 1988 for the murder of his girlfriend, a sheriff’s deputy, and four members of her family. He was convicted of three counts of first-degree murder, one of which involved the aggravating circumstance of intentionally killing more than one person. His case was appealed to the Supreme Court, which upheld his death sentence and rejected his claim that the jury polls and the supplemental charge violated his constitutional rights. Lowenfield’s execution was controversial and drew attention to the issues of capital punishment, jury deliberations, and racial bias in the criminal justice system.

1996James “Jimmy the Gent” Burke – was an Irish-American gangster and Lucchese crime family associate who gained infamy for his ruthlessness, intelligence, and involvement in some of the most notorious crimes of the 20th century. Born in Queens, New York, in 1931, Burke began his criminal career in his teens, engaging in petty theft and gambling scams. He quickly rose through the ranks of the Lucchese family, known for his meticulous planning, icy demeanor, and ability to get things done. Burke mentored a group of young criminals, including Henry Hill and Tommy DeSimone, who would become his loyal crew and accomplices in future endeavors. Burke’s claim to fame is undoubtedly the 1978 Lufthansa heist at JFK International Airport, the largest cash robbery in American history at the time. The heist netted over $5 million, but Burke’s paranoia and fear of loose ends led to a brutal wave of murders to eliminate anyone who might talk. This ruthless streak earned him the nickname “The Irishman” and cemented his reputation as one of the most dangerous mobsters in New York. Despite his success, Burke’s paranoia eventually proved his undoing. He became increasingly suspicious of Henry Hill, who, fearing for his life, became an FBI informant and testified against Burke in the 1978-79 Boston College basketball point-shaving scandal. Hill’s testimony led to Burke’s conviction and a 12-year prison sentence in 1982. Released in 1990, Burke continued his criminal activities but was unable to regain his former power. He died of cancer in 1996 while serving a 20-year sentence for another murder. Burke’s life and crimes have been immortalized in popular culture, most notably in the 1990 Martin Scorsese film “Goodfellas.” Robert De Niro’s portrayal of Jimmy “The Gent” Conway, loosely based on Burke, is considered one of the most iconic gangster characters in film history.

2006Robert Shulman – A former postal worker from New York who was found responsible and convicted of the murders of five women in 5 years beginning in 1991. For the one murder he committed in New York State he was given the death penalty and for the other four, he received life sentences.

 

Events

Alferd Packer

1873 – The Colfax massacre takes place in Colfax, Louisiana

1883 – US prospector Alferd Packer is convicted of manslaughter and accused of cannibalism

1980 – Serial killer John Wayne Gacy is sentenced to death for the murder of 12 people

2001 – Barbara Opel paid five teenagers including her 13-year-old daughter, to murder a 64-year-old man with terminal cancer

2015 – Jodi Arias is sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the murder of Travis Alexander

2019 – A 38-year-old woman is discovered in an abandoned mine and starts the hunt for Cyprus’s first serial killer

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