Births
Nicolo Rizzuto
1903 – William Kenneth “Kinnie” Wagner – He was one of eight children of Charles Monroe and Nancy Clinton Wagner. At the age of 14, he left home and joined the Richard Brothers Circus, where he became known as a trick shot artist and dog trainer. At the onset of Prohibition, he left the circus to make and sell moonshine. He was an imposing man, standing six feet three inches tall and weighing 260 pounds. His troubles with the law began in 1925 when he was arrested in Lucedale, Mississippi, for stealing a watch. While awaiting trial, he overpowered the jailer and stole a horse. A posse tracked him to a shack in the woods, but he shot his way out, killing a deputy. He fled to his native mountains and engaged in a shootout with five local lawmen on the banks of the Holston River, near Kingsport, Tennessee, killing two and wounding a third. Wagner fled first on horseback, then on foot. He surrendered to a storekeeper in Waycross, Virginia. Following a trial in Sullivan County ending with a death sentence verdict, Wagner staged a successful escape from state prison. He fled to Mexico and became notorious for bank and train robbery but returned to the United States. He killed two men in barroom brawls and subsequently surrendered to a female sheriff in Arkansas. The two men whom he killed were Will Carper, and his brother, Sam Carper. The sheriff was Lillie Barber, the widow of a slain sheriff. She refused to try Wagner, because in Arkansas, murder in cold blood was a capital offense, and she fell in love with him. Mississippi, Tennessee, and Arkansas wanted him for murder. Since his first killing was in Mississippi, he was tried there and in 1926 was sentenced to life to be served at Parchman Farm. His first escape attempt was foiled by an informant. However, he was allowed to become an armed trustee and head trainer of the prison’s bloodhounds. He tracked escapees alone, armed on horseback. In 1940, he escaped but was located three years later near his old Virginia home. Returned to Parchman, he was again a model prisoner until 1948 when he walked off. His most notable escape was his last attempt which involved a clever trick that was not discovered until Wagner was outside the prison walls. Wagner ultimately died in prison on March 9, 1958.
1914 – Gordon Frederick Cummins – also known as the Blackout Killer, the Blackout Ripper, and the Wartime Ripper, was a British serial killer who committed a series of murders during the height of World War II. Born on February 18, 1914, in New Earswick, North Yorkshire, Cummins was the first of four children born to John Cummins and his wife Amelia. His father was a civil servant who ran a school for delinquent youths, while his mother was a housewife. Cummins received a private education in Llandovery, South Wales, and obtained a diploma in chemistry at age sixteen. After completing his schooling in 1930, he attended Northampton College of Technology but abandoned his studies in 1932. Cummins briefly worked as an industrial chemist in Newcastle before moving to Northampton to work as a tanner. He later relocated to London and obtained a job as a leather dresser in a clothing factory. In 1941, Cummins was called to the colors and joined the RAF. He was nicknamed ‘The Count’ and ‘The Duke’ by his fellow airmen because of his social pretensions. Cummins murdered four women and attempted to murder two others over a six-day period in London in February 1942. He is also suspected of committing two earlier murders in October 1941. The murders were committed during the imposed wartime blackout, earning him the monikers “Blackout Killer” and “Blackout Ripper”. The extensive mutilations inflicted upon three of his victims’ bodies led to his crimes being described by one Detective Superintendent within the Metropolitan Police as “by far the most vicious” he ever investigated during his entire career. Convicted of the murder of 34-year-old Evelyn Oatley, Cummins was sentenced to death and hanged at HMP Wandsworth on June 25, 1942.
1924 – Nicolo Rizzuto – was an Italian-Canadian crime boss and founder of the Rizzuto crime family, a Sicilian Mafia organization based in Montreal, Quebec. He was born on February 18, 1924, in Cattolica Eraclea, Sicily, Italy, and immigrated to Montreal in 1954 with his wife, son, and daughter. Rizzuto married into the mob through his wife Libertina Manno’s family, beginning as an associate in the Sicilian faction of the Calabrian Cotroni crime family, which had most of the control in Montreal. In the late 1970s, a mob war broke out between the Sicilian and Calabrian factions, which resulted in the deaths of Paolo Violi, the acting capo of the Cotroni family, and his brothers. Although Rizzuto was not charged with any of these murders, he was linked to them as the events allowed the Rizzuto family to emerge as the preeminent crime family in Montreal by the early 1980s. Rizzuto was incarcerated twice, once in 1988 on drug charges where he served five years in a Venezuelan prison, and the other in 2006 where he served two years in jail for a tax evasion charge. His son Vito later followed him into the mob, and in 2007 was found guilty of conspiracy to commit murder as well as racketeering, serving a prison sentence until 2012. During this time, a power struggle within the Rizzuto family ensued; his grandson Nicolo Jr. was killed in 2009, followed by Rizzuto himself with a sniper rifle while in his home on November 10, 2010.
1932 – George Porter Jr – In 1985, George Porter and Evelyn Williams began a troubled romance. Despite conflicts with Williams’ children, Porter moved in. Tensions escalated in 1986 with police involvement. Porter vandalized Williams’ car, made threats, and later moved to Michigan. During his return to Florida in 1986, he harassed Williams, culminating in a violent incident. On 10/09/86, he shot Williams and her partner, Walter Burrows. Porter, arrested at a Legion, expressed suicidal tendencies during trial. Despite pleading guilty, his inconsistent statements complicated the legal process.
1949 – Gary Ridgway – earned infamy as the Green River Killer, one of America’s most notorious serial killers. Ridgway’s criminal activities spanned from the early 1980s to the 2000s. He targeted vulnerable women, primarily sex workers and runaways, in the Pacific Northwest. Married multiple times, Ridgway led a seemingly ordinary life as a truck painter and Navy veteran. However, beneath this facade, he harbored dark impulses. Ridgway’s heinous acts came to light in 2001 when advancements in forensic technology linked him to numerous unsolved murders. In 2003, Ridgway pleaded guilty to 48 counts of aggravated first-degree murder, though the actual number of his victims is suspected to be much higher. In exchange for his cooperation and the disclosure of burial sites, he avoided the death penalty, receiving life imprisonment without parole. Ridgway’s case stands as a chilling reminder of the hidden dangers within seemingly ordinary individuals and the persistent efforts of law enforcement to bring justice to the victims and closure to their families.
1953 – Alfonso Rodriguez Jr – is a registered level 3 sex offender in Minnesota. He is the son of migrant farm workers Dolores and Alfonso Rodriguez Sr., who traveled between Crystal City, Texas, and Minnesota and then decided to settle in 1963 in Crookston, Minnesota. He admitted to using many drugs during his youth and committed his first sexual assault with a knife when he was 21 by attempting to rape a woman he asked to give him a ride home. Rodriguez had been released from prison on May 1, 2003, after serving a 23-year prison term for rape, aggravated assault, and kidnapping a woman. Rodriguez had also previously pleaded guilty to rape and was convicted multiple times for rape. He had a long criminal record that included repeated sexual assaults against women. On November 22, 2003, he abducted Dru Katrina Sjodin, a 22-year-old college student at the University of North Dakota, from the Columbia Mall parking lot in Grand Forks, North Dakota. Her disappearance and murder garnered great media coverage throughout the United States and prompted the creation of the Dru Sjodin National Sex Offender Public Registry. Rodriguez was arrested on December 1, 2003, in connection with Sjodin’s disappearance. He was found guilty of the rape and murder of Dru Sjodin and is currently incarcerated.
1963 – Richard Charles Johnson – In September 1985, Dan Swanson was en route to Florida in his RV when he picked up hitchhiker Johnson in North Carolina. The next day, they added hitchhikers Curtis Harbert and Connie Hess. After making stops, they parked along Interstate 95 to rest. While Swanson slept, the appellant fatally shot him with a .357 caliber gun. Harbert and the appellant wrapped Swanson’s body, concealed it in the RV, and continued the journey. Johnson, now driving, exhibited erratic behavior due to alcohol. Police were alerted by concerned motorists, leading Trooper Smalls to stop the RV. During questioning, Johnson shot Smalls six times, resulting in his tragic death.
1965 – Gregory Scott Johnson – He was legally executed on May 25, 2005, at the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City, Indiana. Johnson was convicted of the crime of homicide. He beat and stomped 82-year-old Ruby Hutslar to death in Anderson, Indiana on June 23, 1985. In an attempt to conceal his crime, he set her house on fire. His case was notable as he sought a reprieve, asserting that he wanted to donate a portion of his liver to his ailing sister, 48-year-old Deborah Otis, who was suffering from non-alcoholic cirrhosis of the liver and was in need of a transplant. His reprieve was denied because most doctors believe that it is unethical to harvest organs after death by lethal injection, and because Johnson was not a suitable donor himself. Johnson was infected with Hepatitis B himself, and his liver was too large to be suitable for his sister. In a statement before his death, Johnson criticized the Parole Board for refusing his request.
1968 – Keith Bernard Clay – He was executed on March 20, 2003, at the Huntsville Unit, Huntsville, Texas, U.S. Clay was convicted of capital murder and was sentenced to death. He was involved in the killing of a total of four people between December 1993 and January 1994. Clay was present during the Christmas Eve, 1993 murders of 32-year-old Roberto Rios and his two children: 10-year-old Maria Rios and her 11-year-old brother, Victor Rios, in their Baytown, Texas home. He confessed to attacking Roberto. In addition, Clay was convicted of the murder of a gas station clerk in 1994. This killing occurred less than two weeks after the Rios family murders. The victim was severely beaten and shot repeatedly by Clay during a robbery at a Houston convenience store. Both Clay and his accomplice, Shannon Charles Thomas, were executed by lethal injection by the U.S. state of Texas, in 2003 and 2005, respectively.
1970 – Marlon Duane Kiser – He was sentenced to death by lethal injection in 2003 for the first-degree killing of Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Donald Bond on September 6, 2001. The incident occurred when Bond caught Kiser attempting to burn down Nunley’s Produce in East Brainerd. During Kiser’s trial, a county medical examiner testified that Bond was shot nine times, with as many as seven bullets coming from an AK-47 rifle. Prosecutors said Kiser also shot Bond with his own Glock handgun. Kiser maintained his innocence during multiple post-conviction relief efforts, charging that his former roommate Michael Chattin, a key prosecution witness in the original trial, framed him for Bond’s slaying in an elaborate set-up. No date had been set for his execution. Kiser was found dead in his Riverbend Maximum Security Institution cell on October 1, 2020. The cause of his death appeared to be from natural causes, but the exact cause was pending official determination by the medical examiner.
1974 – Johnnie Roy Baston – was a 36-year-old African-American man who was sentenced to death in 1995 for a murder committed during a robbery in 1994. He was executed in Ohio on March 10, 2011. His execution was notable as it was the first time the anesthetic pentobarbital had been used as the lone drug in a lethal injection. After his execution, a hearse carrying his remains passed by a group of death penalty opponents as it left the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility.
1982 – Renee Marie King – is a convicted felon who was sentenced to life in prison for the sexual assault and murder of her 2-year-old stepdaughter, Lily Lynette Furneaux-Wolfenbarger. The incident occurred on November 20, 2010, when the child’s biological mother, Lauren Furneaux, brought Lily to the mobile home King shared with the girl’s father and never saw her again. King was convicted of felony murder and child abuse in late February by a Macomb County Circuit Jury. The trials revealed that Lily had been sexually abused and murdered by King because she had wet her pants. Medical examiners stated that the trauma to Lily’s genitals was equivalent to a woman giving birth, and the trauma to her head, after being repeatedly slammed over 20 times, was equivalent to the injuries sustained in a car crash. King will spend the rest of her life in prison with no appeals. Her conviction and the horrific nature of her crimes have left a lasting impact on the community and the family of the victim.
1985 – Lee Boyd Malvo – also known as John Lee Malvo, was born on February 18, 1985, in Kingston, Jamaica. His parents, Leslie Malvo and Una James, were never married. Malvo spent most of his childhood in Jamaica, often neglected and left in the care of others due to the frequent absence of his parents. In 1998, Malvo and his mother moved to Antigua, where he first met John Allen Muhammad. Malvo entered the USA in 2001 and began living with his mother in Miami. He attended high school for a brief period before they moved to Bellingham, Washington. During this time, Malvo developed a bond with Muhammad, considering him as a father figure. Muhammad, a former member of the US military, taught Malvo how to shoot, and they would often practice shooting together. In 2002, Malvo and Muhammad began a series of attacks that would later be dubbed the D.C. sniper attacks. Over a three-week period in October 2002, they killed 10 people and injured three others in the Washington, D.C. area. They had no particular pattern and attacked anyone irrespective of age, causing fear among the residents of Maryland and Virginia. Malvo was aged 17 during the span of the shootings. He is currently serving multiple life sentences at Red Onion State Prison in Virginia, a supermax prison. Muhammad was executed in 2009. Although their actions were classified by the media as psychopathy attributable to serial killer characteristics, researchers have debated whether their psychopathy meets this classification or that of spree killing. In 2012, Malvo claimed that Muhammad had sexually abused him. According to Craig Cooley, one of Malvo’s defense attorneys, Malvo believed Muhammad when he told him that the $10 million ransom sought from the U.S. government to stop the sniper killings would be used to establish a Utopian society for 140 homeless Black children on a Canadian compound.
1987 – Steven Lawayne Nelson – is a convicted criminal who was sentenced to death in Texas on October 16, 2012. He was involved in the robbery and murder of a pastor, which led to his conviction for capital murder. Nelson was known for his disruptive behavior, often causing chaos in his surroundings. This included dousing fellow inmates in an excrement solution, brawling with guards, and flooding areas of the prison. Nelson was also a suspect in the murder of a mentally ill inmate from Tarrant County. He was witnessed strangling the inmate with a blanket. Despite his violent history, Nelson’s time on Death Row has been relatively uneventful, which some attribute to the strict procedures in place on Death Row rather than any change in Nelson’s behavior. In addition to his crimes, Nelson was known for his resourcefulness. He managed to create a small key that he used to repeatedly get out of his cuffs and anklets in the visiting area. He kept this key hidden from jailers by attaching it to his genitals. Despite his violent past and current incarceration, Nelson’s life on Death Row has been of interest to many, leading to visits from reporters curious about his day-to-day life. However, those who have prosecuted him warn that Nelson is simply biding his time and will likely resort to violence again given the opportunity.
Deaths
Lavinia Fisher
1820 – Lavinia Fisher – was born in 1793 and died on February 18, 1820. She was an American criminal who, according to urban legends, was the first female serial killer in the United States of America. However, historians have begun to question the veracity of the traditional legend and some assert that Lavinia Fisher never killed anyone. She was married to John Fisher, and both were convicted of highway robbery, a capital offense at the time, not murder. Fisher was hanged for her crimes. Her origins are unknown. Fisher and her husband resided in Charleston, South Carolina, for most of their lives. Together, they owned an inn, the Six Mile Wayfarer House, which they managed in the early 19th century. The hotel was located six miles north of Charleston, hence the name. During the couple’s time there, reports were made to the local sheriff about guests disappearing. Due to lack of evidence, and the popularity of the couple with many locals, these complaints came to nothing. Lavinia Fisher would invite lone travelers into the Six Mile Wayfarer House to dinner and ask them questions about their occupations, trying to determine if they had money. She would send them up to their rooms with a cup of poisoned tea. Once the men drank their tea and went to bed, her husband would go to the room to beat them almost to the point of killing them. Another version of the legend was that the tea would only put the men to sleep for a few hours. Then, when they were almost asleep, Lavinia would pull a lever and the bed would collapse and drop the victim into a pit. Some believed that there were spikes waiting at the bottom of the pit. Much of what actually occurred in the alleged murders at the hands of John and Lavinia Fisher has become wildly exaggerated through time, so factual details are hard to find.
1915 – Frank James – born Alexander Franklin James on January 10, 1843, was a Confederate soldier and guerrilla during the American Civil War. He later became an outlaw in the post-Civil War period. He was the older brother of the infamous outlaw Jesse James, and together they were part of the James–Younger Gang. Frank was born in Kearney, Missouri, to Baptist minister Reverend Robert Sallee James and his wife Zerelda (Cole) James. As a child, he showed interest in his late father’s sizable library, especially the works of William Shakespeare. He attended school regularly and reportedly wanted to become a teacher. The American Civil War began when Frank was eighteen years old. Despite his parole and oath of allegiance to the Union, by early 1863, Frank had joined the guerrilla band of Fernando Scott. He soon switched to the more active command led by William Clarke Quantrill. Frank took part with Quantrill’s company in the August 21, 1863, Lawrence Massacre where approximately 200 mostly unarmed civilians were killed. After the war, Frank and his brother Jesse were not ready to surrender their arms. They started robbing banks and trains, which were often run by former Republican militiamen. Newspapers quickly realized the popularity of stories about the outlaw brothers and eagerly published as many stories as possible about the James brothers’ exploits, presenting them as heroes of the repressed Southern states. Frank James died on February 18, 1915, in Kearney, Missouri. Despite his notorious life, he was quite different from his brother Jesse. While Jesse was showy, daring to the point of recklessness, and had a thirst for fame, Frank was shy, preferred to spend his time reading, and married a schoolteacher. However, both brothers shared a fierce love of their Southern home and a deep resentment of the “Northern aggressors.”
1916 – Hans Schmidt – was a German Catholic priest who was born in 1881 in Aschaffenburg, Kingdom of Bavaria, German Empire. He was ordained on December 23, 1904, and served at St. John’s Roman Catholic Church in Louisville and St. Boniface’s Church in New York City. Schmidt was known for his troubled past. From his early childhood, he was regularly beaten by his father and watched his father beat his mother. He also had a fascination with drinking blood and dismembering animals. According to relatives, Hans once beheaded two of his parents’ geese and kept the severed heads in his pocket. He also frequented the village slaughterhouse daily, where he would watch the death and dissection of farm animals with rapt fascination. During his later seminary studies, Schmidt was arrested by the Bavarian police in 1905 and charged with forging diplomas for failing students. Although the public prosecutor of Mainz was determined to send Schmidt to prison, his father hired a lawyer who arranged for the charges to be dropped for reasons of mental defect. Schmidt was convicted of first-degree murder and was executed at Sing Sing Prison in New York State on February 18, 1916, for murdering and dismembering a pregnant woman in the United States. He remains the only Roman Catholic priest in American history to face capital punishment. His criminal status and the cause of his death were execution by electrocution. He was also a suspected serial killer. Despite his heinous crimes, Schmidt claimed that he was ordained by Bishop Kirstein of Mainz on December 23, 1904. He recalled “The Bishop ordained me alone. I do not like to speak of it. The real Ordination took place the night before. St. Elizabeth, she ordained me herself. I was praying at my bedside when she appeared to me and said, ‘I ordain you to the priesthood.’ There was light during her appearance. I told no one. I thought it best to keep it to myself. They would make fun of me. They always made fun of me for these things.”
1958 – Rudolf Pleil – born on April 21, 1902, in Germany, gained notoriety as a serial killer and rapist. Known by the chilling nickname “Der Totmacher,” translating to “The Deadmaker” in English, Pleil’s criminal activities unfolded during the mid-20th century. Pleil’s criminal record includes multiple counts of murder, and he was particularly infamous for his gruesome acts of violence. His reign of terror came to an end when he was apprehended and later convicted for his heinous crimes. In 1958, Rudolf Pleil left an indelible mark on the history of crime, leaving a legacy that continues to be a subject of morbid fascination. His case serves as a haunting reminder of the dark depths of human depravity. The details of his life and the atrocities he committed stand as a grim testament to the relentless pursuit of justice in the face of unspeakable horrors.
1973 – Frank Costello – born Francesco Castiglia on January 26, 1891, was a notable Italian-American crime boss. He was the head of the Luciano crime family. Costello was born in Lauropoli, a frazione of the town of Cassano allo Ionio in the province of Cosenza in the Calabria region, Italy. In 1895, he moved to the United States with his mother and his brother Edward to join their father, who had moved to New York City’s East Harlem several years earlier and opened a small neighborhood Italian grocery store. While still a boy, Costello was introduced to gang activities by his brother. By the age of 13, he had become a member of a local gang and started using the name Frankie. Costello committed petty crimes and went to jail for assault and robbery in 1908, 1912, and 1917. In 1918, he married Lauretta Geigerman, a Jewish woman who was the sister of a close friend. That same year, Costello served ten months in jail for carrying a concealed weapon. During his criminal career, Costello formed an alliance with Charlie “Lucky” Luciano, the Sicilian leader of Manhattan’s Lower East Side gang. The two Italians immediately became friends and partners. Along with Italian-American associates Vito Genovese and Tommy “Three-Finger Brown” Lucchese, and Jewish associates Meyer Lansky and Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel, the gang became involved in robbery, theft, extortion, gambling, and narcotics. Costello’s criminal empire was threatened by a failed assassination attempt masterminded by his rival, Vito Genovese, and executed by Vincent Gigante in 1957. However, the altercation persuaded Costello to relinquish power to Genovese and retire. Costello died on February 18, 1973.
1988 – Phillip Husereau – was a notorious individual who strangled five of his girlfriends during sexual encounters between 1983 and 1984. His crimes took place in New York and Nevada. He confessed his actions to his sister. Husereau’s life ended in a similar manner to his victims, as he died from autoerotic asphyxia on February 18, 1988.
2010 – Andrew Joseph Stack III – was a software consultant born on August 31, 1956. He resided in the Scofield Farms neighborhood in North Austin. Stack had a challenging childhood, having been orphaned at the age of four and spending some time in a Catholic orphanage. He pursued engineering at Harrisburg Area Community College from 1975 to 1977 but did not complete his studies. On February 18, 2010, Stack made headlines when he intentionally crashed his single-engine Piper Dakota light aircraft into an office complex in Austin, Texas. This tragic incident resulted in his death and the death of Internal Revenue Service (IRS) manager Vernon Hunter. Additionally, thirteen others were injured, two of them severely. Prior to this incident, Stack had posted a suicide note on his website expressing his dissatisfaction with corporations and government agencies, including the IRS. On the same day, Stack’s two-story house in North Austin was set on fire and was largely destroyed. Stack is suspected to have been responsible for this fire.
Events
CNN reports on the $50 million diamond heist
1878 – John Tunstall is shot dead by Sheriff’s deputy Jesse Evans, sparking the Lincoln County war in Lincoln County, New Mexico
1884 – Police seize all copies of Tolstoy’s “What I Believe In”
1965 – Church deacon Jimmie Lee Jackson is beaten and shot during a peaceful march in Marion, Alabama. His death 8 days later helped to inspire the Selma to Montgomery marches
1970 – The Chicago Seven defendants are found innocent of attempting to incite a riot
1972 – The California Supreme Court abolishes the death penalty – it didn’t stay abolished
2001 – FBI Agent Robert Hanssen is arrested for spying for the Soviet Union. He is ultimately convicted & sentenced to life in prison without parole
2013 – $50 million worth of diamonds are stolen in an armed robbery at Brussels airport in Belgium, not a shot was fired
2019 – The 25-year-old murder of a woman is solved when police in Minnesota run DNA through a genealogical website and find a suspect