Births

Elizabeth Woolcock

1650 – William Bedloe – was a notorious figure in 17th-century England, known for his involvement in political intrigues and his role in the Popish Plot, a fictitious conspiracy that gripped the nation in religious and political turmoil. Born in 1650, Bedloe hailed from a relatively obscure background, and little is known about his early life. However, he emerged onto the historical stage during a tumultuous period in English history marked by religious tensions and political instability. In the 1670s, anti-Catholic sentiment was on the rise, fueled by fears of a Catholic plot to overthrow the Protestant monarchy. Bedloe, a charismatic and opportunistic individual, seized the opportunity to exploit these fears for personal gain. He became embroiled in the Popish Plot, a fabricated conspiracy that falsely accused Catholics of planning to assassinate King Charles II and place his Catholic brother, James, on the throne. The plot was orchestrated by Titus Oates, another infamous conspirator. Bedloe played a key role in the plot by providing sensational and lurid testimony, implicating numerous individuals in the alleged conspiracy. His testimony led to the execution of several innocent people, as the authorities, swept up in the hysteria, took swift and harsh action against those accused. However, Bedloe’s credibility soon came into question, and his motives became suspect. He was exposed as a fraudster and a perjurer, undermining the entire Popish Plot narrative. His downfall came when he was unable to produce evidence to support his claims, and inconsistencies in his testimony were exposed. Following the unraveling of the Popish Plot, Bedloe’s reputation was tarnished, and he faced increasing scrutiny. In 1680, he died under mysterious circumstances, possibly poisoned, leading to speculation that his demise was a result of his duplicitous dealings or retribution from those he had falsely accused. William Bedloe’s legacy is one of deceit and manipulation, as he played a significant role in perpetuating a baseless conspiracy that had severe consequences for the accused individuals and contributed to the political and religious tensions of his time. His life serves as a cautionary tale about the dangers of unchecked sensationalism and the consequences of exploiting public fears for personal gain.

1848 – Elizabeth Woolcock – born Elizabeth Oliver on April 20, 1848, in Burra, South Australia, had a life marked by hardship and tragedy. After her home was washed away in a flood, her family moved to the Ballarat gold fields. At the tender age of seven, she was abandoned by her mother and was raised by her father. Tragically, she was raped by a miner at this young age. In 1855, her father died of consumption, leaving her alone. In 1865, she received news that her mother was alive and looking for her. She then moved to Moonta, South Australia, to live with her mother and stepfather. She taught Sunday school at the Wesleyan Church. In Moonta, she met Thomas Woolcock, a widower with a son. Initially hired as a housekeeper, Elizabeth married Thomas in 1867 to quell rumors about their relationship. Unfortunately, Thomas turned out to be a heavy drinker, a bully, and a wife-beater. Elizabeth attempted to leave him several times, but he continued to find her and bring her back to Moonta. In 1873, Thomas Woolcock died, and Elizabeth was convicted of his murder by mercury poisoning. Despite doubts about the soundness of the verdict, she was executed at Adelaide Gaol on December 30, 1873, at the age of 25. She remains the only woman ever executed in South Australia. Her tragic story has haunted researchers for decades, and some believe she may have been a victim of domestic violence and suffered from battered spouse syndrome.

1889 – Walter Costello – was a notorious gangster in St. Louis, Missouri, and a member of the Egan’s Rats. Born and raised in North St. Louis to Irish-American parents, Costello joined Egan’s Rats in his late teens. He became known as a crack shot with a pistol. At the age of 19, in the summer of 1908, Costello was stabbed and nearly killed in a tavern brawl. A few months later, he was shot and severely wounded during a fight at the Jolly Five Club. Despite these brushes with death, Costello managed to recover fully from his wounds. Costello was known in gangland circles to lead a “charmed life” and grew to be Willie Egan’s bodyguard. He was never without two pistols on his person at all times. Walter also served as a St. Louis City Deputy Constable to Judge Andrew Gazzolo, thereby giving him permission to carry his pistols and even make arrests if he so desired. Costello was one of two men who shot and killed dangerous former Egan hoodlum Harry “Cherries” Dunn at the Typo Press Club on September 19, 1916. This shooting touched off a war between the Egan’s Rats and the rival Bottoms Gang. Despite his reputation and the danger that surrounded him, Costello met his end on July 25, 1917. His life and exploits remain a significant part of St. Louis’s gangster history.

1942 – Hans Van Zon – A Dutch serial killer who murdered his first victim, an ex-girlfriend simply because she would not leave him alone!! He became friends with Dutch criminal Arnoldus Rietbergen who went by the nickname “Old Nol” and told him of his past crimes, the two would carry out robberies together with Rietbergen picking out the victims and Van Zon carrying out the crime, in the course of the robberies he murdered several people and it is believed he may have killed more but these have not been proven. He was convicted and sentenced to life which was made out to be 28.5 years and was released in early 1986. 

1948 – Hilma Marie Witte – is a notorious figure known for her involvement in two shocking murders within her own family. Marie met her husband, Paul Witte, at a nudist camp in Delray Beach, Florida. They had two sons, Eric and John, and the family resided in Beverly Shores in Porter County, Indiana. In a tragic turn of events, Marie convinced her son Eric to kill his father, Paul, in 1981. Eric, who was 15 at the time, shot his father while he was lying on a couch in their home. The shooting was initially ruled as an accident. Three years later, Marie persuaded her younger son, John, to kill his grandmother, Elaine Witte. John, who was 14 at the time, killed Elaine with a crossbow. The family then dismembered Elaine’s body and scattered the remains throughout California. The family’s crimes came to light when they were arrested for forging Elaine’s signature on her Social Security checks. Marie was convicted of murder and conspiracy to murder in the cases of her husband and mother-in-law. She received a 90-year prison sentence. As of 2022, she resides at the Indiana Women’s Prison in Indianapolis. She is due for release in 2027, by which time she will be 79 years old.

1960 – Anthony Darrell Hines – An American thief and rapist who robbed, raped, and murdered Katherine Jean Jenkins, the maid from the motel he stayed overnight at, when she came to see if he wanted to check out he attacked her. He had stabbed her multiple times in the chest and pubic areas and then left her wrapped in a sheet. 

1968 – Ronald Wayne Clark Jr – Clark and his friend John Hatch were hitchhiking to Jacksonville in Florida whilst messing about with a firearm, shooting at random items along the road when Ronald Willis pulled up in his truck and offered the men a lift, they got in the truck and after a short, while Clark told his friend he intended to steal the truck, he then ordered Willis to pull over and get out, when he did, Clark shot Willis eight times and then lifted the dead man back into the truck and later that night after partying the men dumped Willis’s body. 

1969 – Kevin B. Burns – An American thief and murderer who robbed and killed 17-year-old Damond Dawson and 23-year-old Tracey Johnson of their money and jewelry as they sat in a car in Dawson’s driveway in Shelby County, Tennessee. Burns was convicted and sentenced to death for the murder of Dawson and he received a life sentence for murdering Johnson. 

1973 – Thomas James Moore – is a convicted criminal known for a heinous crime committed in his neighborhood. Moore was convicted of robbing and killing Johnny Parrish, an adult resident of his neighborhood, and subsequently burning down Parrish’s house. The two were considered friends, and the crime took place on January 21, 1993. On that day, at approximately 3:00 p.m., Moore and Parrish were seen sitting outside Parrish’s house, drinking. Moore was charged with six counts: first-degree murder, attempted armed robbery, conspiracy to commit robbery, armed burglary, arson, and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. The possession of a firearm count was not submitted to the jury. Moore was convicted of all remaining counts, and the jury recommended the death sentence. As aggravation, the court found that Moore was previously convicted of the violent felonies of armed robbery and aggravated battery, committed the capital felony for the purpose of avoiding arrest, and committed the capital felony for pecuniary gain. In mitigation, the court gave Moore’s age of 19 slight weight (he had been tried as an adult at age 15 for his prior armed robbery charge). Also, testimony as to Moore’s character, offered as a nonstatutory mitigator, was given little value because the witnesses had little knowledge of Moore’s criminal history.

Deaths

Anna Svidersky

1534 – Elizabeth Barton – An English Catholic nun who gained nicknames such as “The Nun of Kent”, “The Holy Maid of London” and others who professed to have visions (some of which would come true) and she made prophecies about the marriage of Henry VIII & Anne Boleyn and had several meetings with Cardinal Thomas Wolsey and Henry VIII himself.  When Henry started to take the church back from the Catholic church, Barton’s visions stated that if he remarried he would die within months and she says she had seen the place in hell where he would go after death. Due to this she was tried and convicted of treason, and on this day in 1534 she was executed by hanging, once she was dead her head was removed and hung on a spike on London Bridge for all to see, this was a warning to all future prophets of doom

1869 – William Sheward – was a tailor by profession, born in 1794. He is infamous for the murder of his wife, Martha Sheward, in 1851. The couple had a quarrel over money, which led to Sheward stabbing Martha to death with a pair of scissors. After the murder, he dismembered her body and scattered the parts around the streets of Norwich. The crime went undiscovered for nearly 18 years. Despite the gruesome act, Sheward managed to keep his composure and even attended a job interview in Great Yarmouth after changing his blood-splattered clothes. The murder was only discovered when Sheward, in a fit of remorse, confessed to the crime on New Year’s Day in 1869. He was subsequently tried and found guilty. Sheward was executed by hanging at Norwich City Gaol on April 20, 1869. His crime and the subsequent discovery left a lasting mark on the city of Norwich and is remembered even today.

1999 – Eric Harris & Dylan Klebold – were the perpetrators of the Columbine High School massacre, one of the most infamous mass shootings in the United States. Eric David Harris was born on April 9, 1981, in Wichita, Kansas. His parents were Wayne Harris, a transport pilot for the United States Air Force, and Katherine Ann Poole, a homemaker. The family moved frequently due to Wayne’s job, living in Dayton, Ohio; Oscoda, Michigan; and Plattsburgh, New York, before settling in Littleton, Colorado. Harris was described as intelligent, but with a “dark side”. Dylan Bennet Klebold was born on September 11, 1981, in Lakewood, Colorado. His parents were pacifists and attended a Lutheran church with their children. Klebold was the youngest of Thomas and Susan Klebold’s two children. Both Harris and Klebold were seniors at Columbine High School in Columbine, Colorado. They worked at Blackjack Pizza, with Harris as a shift leader and Klebold as a cook. On April 20, 1999, they killed 13 people and wounded 24 others at their school. After the massacre, they committed suicide in the school’s library. At the time, it was the deadliest high school shooting in U.S. history.

1999 – Arthur Ray Jenkins III – was a convicted murderer from the United States, born in 1969. He committed a double murder in Warren County, Virginia on October 12, 1991. The victims were his uncle, Floyd Jenkins, aged 72, and Lee Hopewell Brinklow, aged 69. The murders were described as excruciatingly brutal, involving the use of both a firearm and a butcher knife. After an argument, Jenkins took a .22-caliber rifle from a bedroom and shot his uncle and Brinklow, then repeatedly stabbed his uncle. He was convicted of capital murder and robbery. While on death row, Jenkins continued to display violent behavior, assaulting guards and being found in possession of a homemade knife. His request for clemency was denied by Governor Jim Gilmore, and he was executed by lethal injection at the Greensville Correctional Center on April 20, 1999. He was pronounced dead at 9:05 p.m.

2005 – Douglas Alan Roberts – An American man who had previous convictions for credit card fraud and aggravated robbery, in May 1996 he robbed a convenience store in San Antonio and proceeded to steal a car at knifepoint but that wasn’t the end of his day, he drove into the car park belonging to an apartment complex and pulled a knife on Jerry Velez who was sat in his car, he forced Velez to drive him out of town when they arrived on a back road Roberts told Velez to pull over and get out, Velez fearing for his life lunged at Roberts who stabbed him numerous times before stealing his car and running him over. When Roberts was caught he instructed his lawyer to not provide a defense and pick a jury that favored the death penalty. 

2006 – Anna Svidersky – was a teenager who lived in Vancouver, Washington. She was born on April 26, 1988, in Novoorenburg, Russia, and her family moved to California before she turned two. After her parents’ divorce, her mother, Esther, relocated with the children to Vancouver, Washington, where they had relatives. Anna was a student at Fort Vancouver High School and worked at the Andresen Road McDonald’s. She was known for her hard work, often managing up to three jobs at a time in addition to her school studies. She had plans to attend college after her senior year and was set to graduate in June. Unfortunately, Anna’s life was tragically cut short when she was murdered while working at the McDonald’s restaurant by David Barton Sullivan, a schizophrenic twice-convicted sex offender. The news of her murder spread worldwide, initially through the Internet friends site MySpace, where she had a personal page, and then through other similar sites. The widespread expression of grief over Anna’s death by strangers around the world was compared by The Guardian newspaper in Britain to that seen after the death of Diana, Princess of Wales.

2007 – William A. Phillips – was an employee of Jacobs Engineering who worked at the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center (JSC) in Houston, Texas. He was known to be unmarried and lived by himself. He had worked as a NASA contractor for 12 to 13 years. Michael Coats, director of the JSC, said Phillips was “until recently, a good employee”. On April 20, 2007, Phillips was involved in an incident of hostage-taking that occurred in Building 44, the Communication and Tracking Development Laboratory, at the JSC. He shot and killed one person and took a hostage for over three hours before committing suicide. Police said Phillips was under review for poor job performance and he feared being dismissed. The incident began when Phillips entered a conference room, pointed a revolver at one person, and ordered everyone else to leave. He immediately confronted David Beverly about his job review, saying “You’re the one who’s going to get me fired.” The two talked for several minutes. Then, at approximately 1:40 p.m., three gunshots were heard. Police said Beverly was initially shot twice, but he was still alive. Phillips left and then returned seconds later to shoot Beverly twice more. Phillips then took Fran Crenshaw, who happened to be in the area, hostage, and bound her to a chair with duct tape. Phillips barricaded himself and Crenshaw inside the second floor of Building 44 for the next three hours. During this, Crenshaw attempted to calm Phillips, with whom she was reported to have had a positive relationship. Later, Crenshaw was able to get herself out of the tape and alert authorities about what was happening. The incident ended at 5:00 p.m. as the SWAT teams attempted to communicate with Phillips when the gunman committed suicide with a single shot to the head.

2012 – Shannon M. Johnson – An American man who had a ridiculously long rap sheet that consisted of 57 arrests on 145 misdemeanors and 33 felonies in ten years, in September 2006 Johnson went to his ex-girlfriend’s home with the hope of reconciliation however he found her in a car with her new man Cameron Hamlin, furious, Johnson pulled out a gun and shot several times into the car fatally wounding Hamlin before making his getaway. Two months later he tried and end the life of his ex-girlfriend but luckily his gun jammed and he ran off. Eventually, Johnson was tried, convicted, and executed for the murder of Hamlin.

2014 – Rubin “Hurricane” Carter – was a man whose life story embodied both the elation of triumph and the crushing weight of injustice. Born in 1937 in New Jersey, Carter’s path was marked by hardship from a young age. He spent time in reform schools and joined the army to escape his troubled surroundings. But it was in the boxing ring that Carter found his calling. With his shaved head, goatee, and devastating left hook, Carter earned the nickname “Hurricane” for his ferocious fighting style. He quickly rose through the ranks of the middleweight division, challenging for the world title in 1964. Though he fell short that time, Carter’s talent and charisma were undeniable. However, in 1966, Carter’s life took a dramatic turn. He was wrongly convicted of triple murder and sentenced to life in prison. Despite maintaining his innocence throughout, Carter spent nearly two decades behind bars. During this time, he became a symbol of racial injustice and a rallying point for activists around the world. Carter’s fight for freedom wasn’t just about his own exoneration; it was a fight against a system that he believed had failed him. He channeled his frustration and despair into writing, poetry, and activism, inspiring others to fight for their own rights. Finally, in 1985, Carter was released after a federal court overturned his conviction. Though his boxing career was long over, his spirit remained unbroken. He dedicated the rest of his life to helping others who had been wrongfully convicted, founding the organization Innocence International. Rubin “Hurricane” Carter’s story is one of resilience, hope, and the enduring power of the human spirit. He never gave up on his dream of freedom, and his fight for justice continues to inspire generations to this day.

Events

Ed Kemper

1973 – Ed Kemper attempts to dispose of his mother’s vocal cords in a domestic waste disposal

1981 – Rocker Papa John Phillips is arrested for drug possession

1994 – Danny Rolling is sentenced to death

1999 – Columbine School massacre

2007 – Johnson Space Center shooting

2017 – In a terrorist attack on the Champs Elysee in Paris, France, 1 police officer was killed and 2 injured

2018 – Allison Mack is arrested on charges of sex trafficking concerning the sex cult NXIVM

2021 – Derek Chauvin is found guilty of the murder of George Floyd