Births

Suzanne Margaret Basso

1947 – Maureen McDermott – a former nurse, is a notable figure due to her involvement in a high-profile criminal case. She was known for her gregarious personality and was often the center of attention. In the mid-1980s, McDermott shared a house in Van Nuys, California, with Stephen Eldridge. They were joint tenants of the house and each had a $100,000 life insurance policy on the other. However, their relationship took a tragic turn when McDermott was convicted of arranging Eldridge’s murder to gain control of the house and collect on the life insurance policy. The case was significant as McDermott became one of the few women sentenced to death in California. After her conviction, she was held at the Central California Women’s Facility in Chowchilla. Her case was the first involving a woman on death row to be reviewed by the state’s Supreme Court since the reinstatement of the death penalty in 1977. Despite the gravity of her crimes, McDermott maintained her innocence and her lawyers continued to seek justice in the federal courts.

1950 – Milton Johnson – also known as “The Weekend Murderer”, is an American serial killer and mass murderer. He was born on May 15, 1950, in Joliet, Illinois. His criminal activities spanned over three months in Will County, Illinois, during which he committed ten known murders. Johnson’s criminal history began at the age of 19 when he was convicted of raping a woman and torturing her with a cigarette lighter during a robbery. Despite the severity of his crimes, he was prematurely released from prison, which led to a series of violent crimes. From June 25 to August 25, 1983, Johnson terrorized Joliet and surrounding communities with a series of random “weekend murders” marked by savage violence. His victims included men, women, and two deputy sheriffs. The methods of murder varied, including shooting and stabbing. Johnson was apprehended on March 9, 1984, and was sentenced to death on January 28, 1986. However, his sentence was later commuted to life imprisonment. As of now, he is imprisoned at Menard Correctional Center.

1954 – Suzanne Margaret Basso -Basso was an American woman who gained notoriety for her involvement in the murder of a mentally disabled man, Louis “Buddy” Musso, in 1998. She was born on May 15, 1954, in New York, United States. Basso was accused of orchestrating the murder of Musso, who was her boyfriend, with the help of five other individuals, including her son and three men she had recruited from New York. Musso was beaten and tortured for several days before being killed, and his body was dumped on the side of a road in Texas. During her trial, Basso was accused of exploiting Musso’s disability and using him for financial gain, including collecting his social security benefits. She was also accused of being a manipulative and abusive individual who had a history of exploiting vulnerable individuals for her gain. Basso was ultimately found guilty of murder and was sentenced to death in 2000. She spent more than 14 years on death row, appealing her sentence multiple times, before being executed by lethal injection in February 2014.

1956 – Jeffery Dana Sparks – An American pedophile and rapist who on April 20th, 1998, lured 12-year-old Lacey Robancho who was having fun riding her bicycle to his trailer, once there he abducted, sexually assaulted, and murdered her, her partially clad body was found the next morning. On May 14th, 1999, Jeffery Sparks was sentenced to death.

1958 – Jeffrey Dale Tiner – Tiner’s girlfriend Karlyn Eklof and her children had moved into the home of James Salmu, Salmu had offered them a place to stay whilst they looked for somewhere to rent. On March 15th, 1993, Salmu organized a pizza party for Eklof, her children, and friends, Tiner attended the party and then shortly after it was finished he beat, stabbed, and shot Salmu to death, his body was not found for nearly 2 years. The reason for the murder appeared to be that Eklof had planted seeds of information to Tiner that Salmu was a child molester and had intimated that he was making advances toward her children. Tiner would be sentenced to death for the murder and Karlyn Eklof was convicted of aggravated murder and sentenced to life.

1963 – Kenneth Ray Ransom – Ransom had a previous record for burglary and auto theft when he went with co-defendant Richard Wilkerson to rob the Malibu Grand Prix Track amusement center, Wilkerson had been fired from his job at the center two weeks previously. According to his testimony, he wasn’t involved in the murders of four employees as he was playing an arcade game at the time of the killings. He was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death, he was executed in October 1997.

1967 – Juan Salvez Soria – Soria along with friend Mike Lagunas asked 17-year-old Allen Bolden for a ride in his car, once they were all in the car, Lagunas held a gun to Bolden’s head and told him where to drive, once they arrived Lagunas hit Bolden in the head with a rock before Soria stabbed him twice in the head. Soria confessed that he had killed Bolden and was given the death penalty, and his friend Lagunas was given a sentence of 45 years. One month before he was executed, Soria attacked a 78-year-old volunteer prison chaplain slashing him with a razor and causing serious injuries.

1976 – David Copeland – David Copeland is a British former far-right extremist and domestic terrorist. He was born on May 15, 1976, in Isleworth, West London, England. Copeland grew up in a working-class family and left school at the age of 16 to work as a laborer. He joined the British National Party (BNP) in 1997 and became increasingly radicalized over time. He was a member of several far-right groups, including Combat 18 and the National Socialist Movement. In 1999, Copeland carried out a series of bombings across London, targeting the city’s Black, Asian, and LGBTQ+ communities. He planted three homemade nail bombs in Brixton, Brick Lane, and Soho, killing three people and injuring more than a hundred others. Copeland was arrested shortly after the attacks and was later convicted of murder and multiple counts of causing explosions. He was sentenced to life imprisonment with a recommendation that he never be released from prison. Since his conviction, Copeland has expressed remorse for his actions and has reportedly renounced his extremist beliefs. He has also reportedly apologized to the families of his victims. However, his release remains highly unlikely given the severity of his crimes and the widespread impact they had on the community.

Deaths

Ian Brady

1916 – Jesse Washington – Washington was an African-American teenager who was the victim of a brutal lynching in Waco, Texas, in 1916. He was born on September 15, 1899, in Texas, and worked as a farm laborer. In May 1916, Washington was accused of the murder of a white woman in Robinson, Texas. He was arrested and charged with the crime, and despite the lack of evidence against him, he was quickly found guilty and sentenced to death. On May 15, 1916, a mob of white vigilantes broke into the Waco courthouse where Washington was being held and dragged him out onto the streets. They beat him, castrated him, and burned him alive in front of a crowd of thousands of people. The brutal lynching was captured on film and widely reported in the national media, sparking outrage and condemnation across the country. The lynching of Jesse Washington became a symbol of the racial violence and injustice that African Americans faced in the Jim Crow South. It is remembered as one of the most horrific examples of lynching in American history and is considered a stark reminder of the legacy of racism and violence that has shaped the United States.

1940 – Willem Adriaan Bonger – was a Dutch criminologist, sociologist, and philosopher known for his pioneering work in the fields of criminology and penology. He was born on October 26, 1876, in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Bonger studied law and philosophy at the University of Amsterdam, where he developed an interest in the causes and prevention of crime. He became a professor of criminal law and criminology at the University of Amsterdam in 1905 and later served as a professor of sociology at the University of Groningen. Bonger’s most influential work was his book “Criminality and Economic Conditions,” published in 1905. In this book, he argued that poverty and social inequality were key factors contributing to crime and that the criminal justice system should focus on addressing these underlying social issues rather than simply punishing offenders. Bonger’s ideas were highly influential in shaping the field of criminology, and he is regarded as a key figure in the development of the social theory of crime. His work has been cited by criminologists and sociologists around the world, and his ideas continue to be debated and discussed in academic circles today.

1986 – Jay Kelly Pinkerton – was born on Valentine’s Day in 1962. A native of Amarillo, Texas, he dropped out of school by age 17 to work as an apprentice butcher. At the young age of 17, Pinkerton committed heinous crimes. On October 26, 1979, he brutally killed 30-year-old Sarah Donn Lawrence. He raped and then stabbed Lawrence over 30 times. Five months later, Pinkerton raped and murdered Sherry Welch, a former beauty queen, at the furniture store she managed. Pinkerton was arrested in the months that followed the first murder and released due to insufficient evidence. However, he was eventually arrested again due to new evidence found regarding a bloody handprint found on Lawrence’s thigh that matched Pinkerton’s. In May 1981, Pinkerton was convicted and sentenced to die for the murder of Sarah Lawrence. In April of 1982, he was convicted and given a second life sentence for the murder of Sherry Welch based on bite marks found on Mrs. Welch’s breast that matched teeth impressions of Pinkerton’s. He was executed by lethal injection on May 15, 1986. At 24, he became one of the youngest people Texas has ever put to death.

1992 – Robert Neal Rodriguez – was an American serial killer and former police officer. He was responsible for the murders of two girls and a woman in Florida in 1984 and 1992. Although never charged with the crimes, he left a note confessing to them when he committed suicide in New Mexico. Rodriguez was born as the son of a 22-year United States Air Force veteran. He attended several different schools while growing up in Florida, Georgia, and Alabama. He graduated high school in Fort Walton Beach, later attending Okaloosa-Walton Junior College before enrolling at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, where he became a Mormon. After spending two years in Guatemala as a Mormon missionary, Rodriguez earned a law enforcement degree from Brigham Young University. He was later hired by the Portland Police Bureau in March 1975 but resigned only two years later. Rodriguez then moved to Tallahassee, Florida with his mother and attended Florida State University, working as a sign painter and janitor. He was also an active member of the Unity Church, occasionally delivering sermons there. In June 1984, 22-year-old Valerie Hunt, a student from Tallahassee Community College, disappeared from a shopping center. Her skeletonized remains were located in a sinkhole in Wakulla County three months later. On March 27, 1992, two 16-year-old girls from Thomasville, Georgia named Megan Carr and Cherish DeSantis, were found dead at a secluded Alligator Point beach. The girls, who had traveled for a simple day on the beach and were still in their swimsuits, had been shot twice in the head. The bodies showed no signs of a struggle, as well as neither of them being sexually assaulted or robbed, as their purses and valuables had been left untouched. When the bodies were discovered, the Alligator Point Homicide Task Force pursued more than 100 possible leads. During this time, Rodriguez’s mother had passed away, and he disappeared from his apartment on May 5, shortly after he was interviewed for his car, which carried a stolen Utah license plate. He then proceeded to write two letters addressed to the FDLE and another to the Arizona Daily Sun, before eventually taking his own life using cyanide at an I-40 stop in New Mexico. Eventually, authorities decided to check out his car concerning his license plate. In their search, they found Rodriguez’s body, as well as a glass vial containing white powder and a warning note on the car, the note contained a confession with details only the killer would know.

2006 – Fred Lewis Way – In mid-July 1983, Way was in the garage of his home with his wife Carol and they were having a discussion that turned into an argument and became extremely heated to the point that Carol was shouting at Way, Way grabbed the nearest thing which was a hammer and smashed Carol over the head several times, he then shouted his daughter to come into the garage and she started screaming so he used the hammer to incapacitate her. Way, trying to cover his crime but making things worse then poured gasoline over the two women and set them on fire. Way was arrested the same day and was sentenced to death on January 23, 1984. His sentence was reaffirmed on August 22, 1991. He died in prison on May 15, 2006.

2013 – Jeffrey Demond Williams – was born on December 16, 1975. He was involved in a fatal incident on May 19, 1999, where he shot and killed Troy Blando, a 30-year-old police officer. The incident occurred in Harris County, Texas, when Officer Blando attempted to arrest Williams, who was driving a stolen vehicle. Williams shot Officer Blando in the chest and fled the scene. Despite managing to return to his car and radio for help, Officer Blando succumbed to his injuries. Williams was arrested the same day and was sentenced to death on March 29, 2000. He was executed by lethal injection on May 15, 2013. His final words were a bitter denunciation of the police.

2017 – Ian Brady – Brady was a notorious British serial killer who, along with his accomplice Myra Hindley, committed a series of murders in the 1960s that shocked the nation. Born in Glasgow, Scotland, Brady grew up in a troubled home and was reportedly a troubled and abusive child. As a young man, he moved to Manchester and worked in a variety of odd jobs before meeting Myra Hindley in 1961. Together, Brady and Hindley began a killing spree that lasted from July 1963 to October 1965, during which they murdered at least five young people, including two children, and buried their bodies on Saddleworth Moor near Manchester. Brady was known for his cold, calculated demeanor and his fascination with Nazi ideology and the philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche. Brady and Hindley were finally arrested in October 1965 and were convicted of multiple murders the following year. Both were sentenced to life in prison, with Brady being sent to Ashworth Hospital, a high-security psychiatric institution, where he remained until he died in 2017. Throughout his imprisonment, Brady remained unrepentant and refused to reveal the whereabouts of his victims’ bodies, causing immense pain to their families.

Events

Anne Boleyn

1536 – Anne Boleyn and her brother George, Lord Rochford are accused of adultery and incest

1718 – James Puckle, a London lawyer, patents the world’s first machine gun

1934 – The US Department of Justice offers a $25,000 reward for John Dillinger, dead or alive

1967 – In re Gault the US Supreme Court rules that juveniles accused of crimes should be given the same legal rights as adults

1972 – An assassination attempt on US Governor George Wallace of Alabama by Arthur Bremer in Laurel, Maryland

2010 – Nadiyah Venable fatally stabbed her romantic rival and was later sentenced to 55 years in prison.

2017 – The first US prosecution under the Federal Hate Crimes Act of violence against transgender persons – the murder of Mercedes Williamson

2019 – Alabama passes a law banning abortion in almost all cases including rape and incest