Births

John Paul Knowles

1884 – Leo Frank – was born in Cuero, Texas on April 17, 1884, to Rudolph Frank and Rachel “Rae” Jacobs. The family moved to Brooklyn when Leo was three months old. He attended New York City public schools and graduated from Pratt Institute in 1902. He then attended Cornell University, where he studied mechanical engineering. After graduating in 1906, he worked briefly as a draftsman and as a testing engineer. In 1907, Frank moved to Atlanta, Georgia, to take a job as superintendent of the National Pencil Factory. The factory employed a large number of young women and girls, many of whom were African American. Frank was a strict but fair manager, and he was well-liked by his employees. On April 22, 1913, 13-year-old Mary Phagan, a worker at the National Pencil Factory, was found murdered in the basement of the factory. Frank was arrested and charged with her murder. Frank’s trial was a sensation. The prosecution’s case was based largely on the testimony of Jim Conley, a black janitor at the factory who claimed that he had seen Frank assault Phagan. However, Conley’s testimony was inconsistent and unreliable, and there was no other evidence to support the prosecution’s case. Despite the lack of evidence, Frank was convicted of murder and sentenced to death. His appeals were unsuccessful, and he was scheduled to be hanged in June 1915. In August 1915, Georgia Governor John M. Slaton commuted Frank’s death sentence to life imprisonment. Slaton believed that Frank was innocent, and he was concerned that the trial had been unfair. Slaton’s decision was met with outrage by many white Georgians, who believed that Frank was guilty. On August 17, 1915, a mob of masked men stormed the prison where Frank was being held and lynched him. The Leo Frank case is still a controversial topic today. Some people believe that Frank was guilty of murder, while others believe that he was innocent. The case has been the subject of several books, movies, and documentaries. In 1986, the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles granted Frank a posthumous pardon. The board concluded that Frank had been wrongly convicted and that he should be exonerated of all charges. The Leo Frank case is a reminder of the dangers of prejudice and mob violence. It is also a reminder of the importance of due process and the presumption of innocence.

1911 – Joseph Paul “Dutch” Cretzer – was born in Anaconda, Montana, in 1911. His parents, both deaf and mute, faced significant challenges navigating a world built for the hearing. This early exposure to hardship may have played a role in shaping Dutch’s later path. By his teenage years, Dutch had already begun a life of crime. He drifted across the western United States, committing robberies and engaging in other illegal activities. He formed a particularly close partnership with Arnold Kyle, his brother-in-law, and together they became known as the Cretzer-Kyle Gang. The 1930s were a time of desperation and opportunity for many Americans. The Great Depression had ravaged the country, and the allure of quick money often outweighed the risks of criminal activity. Dutch and Kyle capitalized on this climate, staging a series of daring bank robberies across the West Coast. Their exploits caught the attention of the fledgling FBI, and Dutch was soon dubbed Public Enemy No. 4. He gained a reputation for ruthlessness and violence, and his face became plastered across wanted posters all over the country. Dutch and Kyle’s reign of terror eventually came to an end in 1939. After a series of close calls and daring escapes, they were finally apprehended by federal agents. Dutch was sentenced to life imprisonment and sent to Alcatraz, the notorious high-security prison on an island off the coast of San Francisco. Alcatraz was designed to be escape-proof, and for most inmates, it lived up to its reputation. But Dutch was not like most inmates. In 1946, he participated in a daring escape attempt that became known as the “Battle of Alcatraz.” The escape attempt was ultimately unsuccessful, and Dutch was killed in the ensuing shootout with guards. His death marked the end of a life lived on the edge, a life defined by crime, violence, and the desperate pursuit of freedom.

1933 – Joachim Georg Kroll – He was the sixth of nine children in a poor mining family and had a difficult childhood marked by poverty and abuse. His education was limited, and he only attended school for five years. From a young age, Kroll exhibited disturbing behavior. He reportedly mutilated small animals and displayed an obsession with blood and gore. As a teenager, he began working in slaughterhouses, further desensitizing him to violence. Kroll’s first confirmed murder occurred in 1955 when he strangled a hitchhiker. Over the next two decades, he went on to kill at least 14 people, though he confessed to as many as 28. His victims were primarily young women and girls, whom he would lure, attack, and then strangle. Kroll’s crimes were characterized by extreme brutality and sexual sadism. Perhaps the most unsettling aspect of Kroll’s crimes was his cannibalism. He admitted to consuming parts of his victims, often claiming that he did so “because meat was expensive.” This grisly detail earned him the moniker “The Ruhr Cannibal.” Kroll evaded capture for so long due to a combination of meticulous planning, a low profile, and the police’s initial misidentification of other suspects. However, his reign of terror came to an end in 1976 when he kidnapped and murdered four-year-old Marion Ketter. A neighbor alerted the police to a suspicious clog in the building’s drainpipe, which turned out to be Ketter’s remains. Kroll was arrested soon after and the grisly discovery in his apartment led to his connection to several unsolved murders. Kroll’s trial was highly sensationalized, capturing the attention of the entire nation. He was convicted of eight murders and one attempted murder and sentenced to life imprisonment in 1982. He died in prison in 1991 at the age of 58. Joachim Georg Kroll remains one of the most notorious serial killers in German history. His crimes were shocking in their brutality and depravity, and they continue to fascinate and horrify true crime enthusiasts today.

1946 – Paul John Knowles – also known as the “Casanova Killer,” was an American serial killer who is believed to have murdered 18 people in 1974, although he claimed to have killed 35. He was known for his charming personality and good looks, which he used to lure his victims. Knowles was born in Orlando, Florida, on April 17, 1946. His childhood was troubled, and he spent time in foster homes before being incarcerated for the first time at the age of 19. In early 1974, Knowles was serving time at Raiford Prison in Florida when he began corresponding with a divorcee named Angela Covic in San Francisco. They eventually became engaged, and Covic paid for Knowles’ legal counsel. Upon his release, Knowles flew directly to California to be with Covic, but she called off the wedding. Knowles then embarked on a cross-country killing spree, traveling through Florida, Ohio, Nevada, Texas, Alabama, Virginia, Georgia, and Connecticut. He targeted young women and couples, often posing as a hitchhiker or a charming stranger. He would gain their trust and then kill them, usually by shooting or stabbing them. Knowles was eventually apprehended in Georgia on November 17, 1974. He was convicted of six murders and sentenced to death. He was executed by electric chair on December 18, 1974. The Casanova Killer case is one of the most well-known and horrifying in American history. Knowles’ good looks and charming personality made him a particularly dangerous predator, and his case has been the subject of many books, articles, and documentaries.

1947 – James Allen Paul – was an American convict who became notorious for his spree killing spree in 1984. He murdered three people in New Jersey, Connecticut, and Vermont, using the same gun and shooting them in the face. He was arrested after a nationwide manhunt and pleaded guilty to avoid the death penalty. He died in prison in 2000. His motives for the killings remain unclear, but he may have been suffering from mental illness or drug addiction. He used various aliases, such as James Dalton and Steve Sanders, to evade detection and identification. He was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole and spent most of his time at New Jersey State Prison.

1952 – Margaret Ann Kastanis – Margaret was married to Sam and they had three children but on November 17th, 1991, Margaret, who had a history of mental health problems seems to have had a psychotic break when she bludgeoned and stabbed her three children aged 6,9 and 11 to death, she then took her own life by stabbing herself in the heart. The initial suspect in the crime was Sam Kastanis but luckily for him, the doctor who carried out the examination was able to prove otherwise.

1962 – Hiroaki Hidaka – Hidaka was a taxi driver and serial killer who operated around the Hiroshima area of Japan. He would get customers in his taxi and then strangle them with his tie before robbing them and burying their bodies. He was convicted of killing 4 people and 6 years after the guilty verdict he was executed.

1963 – Martin C. Link – An American murderer and pedophile who abducted 11-year-old Elissa Self as she waited for a bus to school. Once abducted, he raped and murdered her before dumping her body. Authorities apprehended Link when he was pulled over on a traffic stop and a jar of petroleum jelly was found in his vehicle, upon examination it had DNA from both Link and young Elissa

1979 – Richard Vasquez – Vasquez was a serial domestic abuser, drug addict, and general waste of space on the 5th of March 1998 he had an argument with his girlfriend who wouldn’t tell him where she had put some cocaine in retaliation for this, Vasquez beat 4-year-old Miranda Lopez in the head several times with a closed fist before savagely sexually assaulting her.  When she was examined at post-mortem by the pathologist it was found that she had double the lethal amount of cocaine in her body for an adult!

1980 – Steven Michael Woods Jr – was an American man who was executed by lethal injection in Texas in 2011. He was convicted of killing two people, Ronald Whitehead and Bethena Brosz, in 2001, but he claimed that he was innocent and that his co-defendant, Marcus Rhodes, was the real killer. He also said that he was a victim of the Texas law of parties, which holds someone responsible for the actions of another person if they help or encourage them to commit a crime. Woods was born in Detroit, Michigan, on April 17, 1980. He attended Milford High School and graduated in 1998. He worked as a security guard and a truck driver before joining the military in 2000. He served in Iraq and Afghanistan and received several medals for his bravery. In 2001, Woods moved to Texas with Rhodes, who was his friend from high school. They lived together in The Colony, Texas, where they met Whitehead and Brosz at a gas station. According to the prosecution’s case, Rhodes shot Whitehead with a gun that he had stolen from his father’s home and then lured Brosz into his car with the promise of drugs. Woods then shot Brosz when she tried to escape or scream for help. The prosecution argued that Woods knew about Rhodes’ plan and participated in it willingly or without knowing what it involved. Woods denied any involvement in the murders and said that he only went along with Rhodes’ scheme because he trusted him and wanted to avoid trouble with the law. He also said that he did not know anything about the gun or the drugs until after the shooting. He testified at his trial that he saw Rhodes shoot Whitehead first and then heard him say “Let’s go” before driving away with Brosz. He said that he followed them in another car but did not see them kill anyone else or take any drugs from them. He said that he tried to stop them but they ignored him or threatened him with violence if he interfered. Woods’ trial lasted for three weeks and ended with a guilty verdict on May 2, 2002. The jury deliberated for less than an hour before reaching their decision. The judge sentenced Woods to death by lethal injection on August 21, 2002, after rejecting his appeals for a new trial or mercy on death row status. Woods spent more than nine years on death row before his execution date arrived on September 13, 2011. His last words were: “You’re not about to witness an execution, you are about to witness a murder.” He also said: “I am strapped down for something Marcus Rhodes did.” He added: “I never killed anybody, never.” He expressed his love for his mother and sister and asked God for forgiveness before being injected with lethal drugs at Huntsville Unit prison in Texas.

1983 – Petri Erkki Tapio Gerdt – was a Finnish student who died in a bomb explosion at the Myyrmanni shopping mall in Vantaa, Finland, on October 11, 2002. He was 19 years old at the time of his death. Gerdt was a chemical engineering student at EVTEK (Espoo-Vantaa Institute of Technology) and a hobbyist bomb-maker. He was also an active member of Kotikemia, an online forum for amateur chemists. The motive behind Gerdt’s act is unclear. Some sources suggest that he intended to leave the bomb in the mall and remotely detonate it after leaving, but it exploded prematurely and by accident. Others speculate that he had links to radical groups or terrorist organizations, but there is no evidence to support this claim. Gerdt’s father, Armas Gerdt, wrote a book about his son’s life and death called Petrin matka Myyrmanniin, “Petri’s Path to Myyrmanni”. The book describes how Gerdt became interested in chemistry and explosives, how he built his bombs in his apartment, and how he planned to carry out his attack. The book also explores the psychological and social factors that may have influenced Gerdt’s actions. The Myyrmanni bombing was one of the worst terrorist attacks in Finland’s history. It killed seven people, including two teenagers and a 7-year-old child, and injured 159 others. The bombing also caused extensive damage to the shopping center and nearby buildings. The incident shocked the nation and sparked a national day of mourning on October 15, 2002.

Deaths

William Darrell Lindsey

2000 – Jin Xiangwu – Xiangwu and his brother Jin Xiangyu, in February 2000, lured 3 young boys to his shop to play games, when they arrived they both stabbed the children to death, the reason given for this heinous attack on three boys under the age of 12 was that they owed 2.5 Yuan which is the equivalent of 30 US cents!!! Xiangwu was convicted and received the death penalty, his brother was also convicted and received a ten-year sentence.

2001 – William Darrell Lindsey – was a notorious serial killer who confessed to murdering at least eight women in Florida and North Carolina between 1983 and 1996. He was also known as “Crazy Bill” or “Red Bird” by the media and the public. Lindsey was born William Armstrong Jr. on May 18, 1935, in Palatka, Florida. He was the only child of William and Mabel Armstrong, who died in a car crash when he was five months old. He was adopted by Cecil and Olean Lindsey, who had three other children from previous marriages. Lindsey grew up in a violent and abusive household, where he suffered physical and emotional abuse from his adoptive mother. He also developed a fascination with animals, fire, and drugs. Lindsey dropped out of school at age 21 and worked as a busboy at a local restaurant. He had no close friends or hobbies, except for watching TV shows about serial killers. He also had several failed marriages and affairs with women, whom he often manipulated or coerced into sexual acts. He developed an alter ego called “Bad Bill”, which emerged when he felt angry or frustrated with women or himself. Lindsey started his killing spree in 1983, when he killed Lisa Foley, a regular at the Tradewinds Lounge on Charlotte Street in St. Augustine. He then began to stalk and rape prostitutes in Lincolnville and West Augustine, using various aliases such as “Red Bird” or “Crazy Bill”. He also killed six other women in St. Augustine: Anita McQuaig (1988), Connie Terrell (1988), Lashawna Streeter (1988), Cheryl Lucas (1989), Donetha Snead-Haile (1990), Diana Richardson (1990), and Lucy Arnett Raymer (1990). Some sources claim that he killed up to 25 women between 1983 and 1996, but this has not been confirmed by official records. Lindsey’s crimes were not discovered until December 29, 1996, when he was arrested in Asheville, North Carolina, on suspicion of murder. He confessed to killing Anita McQuaig after being confronted by her sister during an interrogation with the Saint Johns County Sheriff’s Department. He also implicated himself in several other murders that occurred between 1983 and 1996. He pleaded guilty to six of the murders in Florida as part of a plea deal that reduced his sentence from death to life imprisonment without parole. He died of cancer on April 17, 2001, while incarcerated at the Marion Correctional Institute in Ocala, Florida. Lindsey’s case remains one of the most sensationalized and controversial serial killer cases in American history. His motives for killing remain unclear, but some possible factors include his childhood trauma, his mental illness, his sexual deviance, his drug addiction, his narcissism, his sadism, or his copycatting of other serial killers such as Ted Bundy or John Wayne Gacy.

2003 – Larry Kenneth Jackson – was a black man who was executed by lethal injection in Oklahoma on April 17, 2003. He was convicted of second-degree murder for killing his girlfriend, Wendy Cade, in a motel room in 1994. He had previously served a 30-year prison term for the first-degree murder of his common-law wife, Freda Laverne Washington, in 1986. He had hoped to marry Cade after his release, but she broke up with him and started dating someone else. Jackson stabbed Cade to death with a box cutter knife that he had received from prison officials to open boxes of furniture. He then fled the scene and was arrested two days later. He confessed to the crime and expressed remorse for his actions. He also asked for forgiveness from Cade’s family and said he wanted to take care of his mother before he died.

2010 – Edward Arthur Anthony Rawlins – was a notorious Australian murderer who spent 54 years in prison for killing a 12-year-old girl in Townsville, Queensland, in 1955. Rawlins was born in 1927 and grew up in a poor family. He worked as a stockman and a laborer before joining the army during World War II. After the war, he moved to Townsville and became involved in petty crimes such as theft and fraud. He also developed a drinking problem and was addicted to morphine. On December 28, 1955, he met Fiona Pronger, also known as Fiona Pronger, on the beach of Kissing Point Military Reserve. He bought her lunch and then lured her to an isolated area near The Strand. He sexually assaulted her and then strangled her with a belt after she rejected his advances. The next day, he was arrested by the police after they found Fiona’s body in an underground vault at Kissing Point. He confessed to the murder and showed no remorse. He was sentenced to life imprisonment on February 15, 1956. He appealed his conviction several times but was always rejected by the courts. He also applied for parole many times but was denied every time. In prison, he became involved in various activities such as boxing, gardening, carpentry, and education. He also attended Alcoholics Anonymous meetings regularly and claimed to have never stopped thinking about what he had done. On April 17, 2010, he died at Wolston Correctional Centre at the age of 82. He was Australia’s longest-serving prisoner at the time of his death.

Events

George Curry

1865 – Mary Surratt is arrested as a conspirator in the assassination of US President Abraham Lincoln

1900 – George Sutherland Currie aka George “Flatnose” Curry was killed by a Sheriff whilst rustling

1969 – Sirhan Sirhan is convicted of assassinating Senator Robert F. Kennedy

1974 – Bundy victim Susan Rancourt disappears from Central Washington University, Ellensburg, Washington

1984 – During the Libyan Embassy demonstration in London, British police officer Yvonne Fletcher is shot dead

1993 – Two LAPD officers are convicted of violating Rodney King’s civil rights

2018 – Protests across India at the rape & murder of an 8-year-old Muslim girl in Kathua, Bengalu

2019 – A terror alert closes schools in Denver, Colorado due to an 18-year-old woman who is obsessed with the Columbine Massacre, she is then found dead