Births

Bugsy Siegel

1906 – Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel – was a Jewish American mobster who began his criminal career by extorting money from Jewish pushcart peddlers on New York’s Lower East Side. He later teamed up with Meyer Lansky and engaged in car theft, bootlegging, gambling rackets, and a murder-for-hire operation. Siegel built a criminal empire through bootlegging, gambling, and ruthless assassinations. Siegel was born on February 28, 1906, in Brooklyn, New York. He was one of the founders and leaders of Murder, Inc. and became a bootlegger during Prohibition. After Prohibition was repealed in 1933, he turned to gambling. He was one of the key people in the rise of Las Vegas in the 1940s. He opened the famous Flamingo Hotel and Casino, the start of his notorious gambling operation in the middle of the Las Vegas desert. However, his skimming and other duplicities angered Meyer Lansky and other bosses.  In 1947 he was gunned down at his girlfriend Virginia Hill’s home at the age of 41. Despite his notoriety as a dreaded gangster, there was a softer side to Bugsy. He was described as handsome and charismatic and became one of the first front-page celebrity gangsters. His life and crimes have been depicted in various media, including the 1991 movie “Bugsy” where Warren Beatty starred as Siegel.

1939 – Linroy Bottoson – He was involved in a notorious criminal case in Florida. He was convicted for the murder of an Orange County postmistress, a crime that took place over 20 years ago. His case was the subject of legal proceedings, including a writ of habeas corpus. Bottoson was executed by lethal injection on December 9, 2002. His remains are buried in Starke, Florida. Despite the severity of his crimes, his case and its legal implications have been a subject of study in the field of criminal justice.

1943 – Sidney Porterfield – was involved in a notorious criminal case in the United States. He was convicted of first-degree murder for his role in the killing of Ronald Owens, which took place on February 17, 1985. The state’s case was that Gaile Owens, Ronald Owens’ wife, had approached a number of men, offering them money to kill her husband and that Sidney Porterfield had carried out the killing.  Porterfield was tried jointly with Gaile Owens in early 1986. While Gaile Owens was convicted of being an accessory to first-degree murder, Porterfield was convicted of first-degree murder. Both were sentenced to death. Porterfield’s case had ongoing litigation centered on the claim that he had an intellectual disability that would render his execution unconstitutional.  Porterfield remained on death row and died of natural causes at the age of 71. His life and crimes have been the subject of legal proceedings and studies in the field of criminal justice.

1951 – Debora Green – born Debora Jones on February 28, 1951, in Havana, Illinois, is an American physician who was convicted of setting a 1995 fire that burned down her family’s home and killed two of her children, and of poisoning her husband with ricin with the intention of causing his death.  Green showed early intellectual promise, reportedly teaching herself to read and write before she was three years old. She initially planned to pursue a career in chemical engineering but later decided to attend medical school. She married Michael Farrar in 1979 while practicing as an emergency physician. The marriage was tumultuous, and Farrar filed for divorce in July 1995.  Between August and September 1995, Farrar repeatedly fell violently ill, and despite numerous hospitalizations, his doctors could not pinpoint the source of his illness. Green’s emotional stability deteriorated and she began to drink heavily, even while supervising her children. On October 24, 1995, the Farrar family home, occupied by Green and the couple’s three children, caught fire. Kate Farrar and Debora Green escaped without harm, but despite the efforts of firefighters, Timothy and Kelly Farrar died in the blaze.  Investigation showed that trails of accelerant in the house led back to Green’s bedroom and that the source of Michael Farrar’s intractable illness had been ricin, a poison served to him in his food by Green. Upon her arrest on November 22, 1995, Green was charged with two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of attempted first-degree murder, and one count of aggravated arson.  She maintained her innocence throughout pre-trial motions and a show-cause hearing. However, when the defense’s own investigators verified the strength of forensic evidence against Green, she agreed to an Alford plea to all charges. On May 30, 1996, she was sentenced to two concurrent forty-year prison sentences. Green has petitioned for a new trial twice since her conviction. Her first request, which she eventually withdrew, was based on a claim of having been rendered incompetent for plea bargaining by the psychiatric medications she was taking at the time of her hearings; her second, which was denied by a judge, claimed that the evidence used to convict her of arson had been rendered obsolete by scientific advances.

1958 – Scott Louis Panetti – is known for his involvement in a high-profile criminal case in the United States. He was convicted of killing his parents-in-law in 1992 and was sentenced to death in 1995.  Panetti had a long history of serious mental illness, including schizophrenia, and had been hospitalized more than a dozen times in numerous facilities before the crime. His mental health issues became a significant aspect of his case, leading to a Supreme Court ruling that criminal defendants sentenced to death may not be executed if they do not understand the reason for their imminent execution. This decision reaffirmed the Court’s prior holdings in Ford v. Wainwright, and Stewart v. Martinez-Villareal.  Despite his mental health struggles, Panetti had moments of normalcy in his life. He served in the U.S. Navy and was pictured riding a horse with his wife and son around 1980. However, his life took a tragic turn, culminating in the crime for which he was convicted and sentenced to death.  His case has been a subject of legal proceedings and studies in the field of criminal justice, particularly in discussions about the intersection of mental health and capital punishment.

1959 – Michel Peiry – gained infamy as “The Sadist of Romont,” a Swiss serial killer responsible for a gruesome spree in the 1980s. His murderous reign claimed the lives of five individuals within a six-year period, casting a shadow over the peaceful town. Known for his chilling brutality, Peiry’s crimes shocked the nation.  Despite his seemingly ordinary life, Peiry harbored dark tendencies that surfaced in the most horrifying ways. The moniker “The Sadist of Romont” encapsulates the sheer cruelty exhibited in his crimes. The community was paralyzed with fear as Peiry’s actions unfolded, leaving a trail of tragedy.  The details of Peiry’s life, motivations, and the investigation that led to his capture form a haunting narrative of a man whose descent into darkness left an indelible mark on Swiss criminal history. His story serves as a stark reminder of the capacity for evil that can lurk beneath even the most unassuming façade. The legacy of Michel Peiry remains etched in the annals of true crime, a chilling chapter in the collective memory of those who remember the terror he unleashed upon Romont.

1960 – Rudi Apelt – is a German national known for his involvement in a notorious murder case in the United States. He and his brother, Michael Apelt, came to Arizona from West Germany and began courting numerous women. Michael eventually met Cynthia Monkman and married her in October 1988. One month later, Michael applied for $400,000 in life insurance on Cynthia. On the night of December 23, 1988, Michael and Rudi took Cynthia into the desert near Apache Junction and killed her by stabbing her numerous times in the chest and back and cutting her throat. Michael and Rudi returned to Mesa and, in the early morning hours of December 24, Michael called the police and reported that Cynthia had disappeared. A citizen found the body in the desert later that day.  Rudi Apelt was tried separately and was convicted of first-degree murder, and sentenced to death on January 8, 1991. However, he got a reprieve from death row in May after his lawyers convinced a judge that he is mentally retarded. But Apelt won’t be getting out of prison anytime soon.

1967 – John Myles Sharpe – is known for his involvement in a tragic double murder case. He grew up in Mornington and met his New Zealand-born wife, Anna Kemp, while they were both working at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia. They got married in October 1994 and lived in various locations around the Mornington Peninsula area, south of Melbourne.  In March 2004, Sharpe committed a horrific crime that shocked Australia. He killed his pregnant wife, Anna Marie Kemp, and their 20-month-old daughter, Gracie Louise Kemp, in their home in the semi-rural Melbourne suburb of Mornington. Authorities reported that Sharpe repeatedly fired a speargun into the heads of his victims. He later exhumed the body of his wife from a shallow grave, dismembered her, and then disposed of her body in a landfill. Sharpe later appeared in emotional interviews on television seeking information on his family’s whereabouts.  He eventually confessed to the murders and was sentenced in 2005 to two consecutive terms of life imprisonment, with a non-parole period of thirty-three years. He will be eligible for parole in 2037.

1972 – Robert Wayne Harris – was an American mass murderer and serial killer who killed six people in Texas.  Harris had a troubled early life. When he was 8 years old, he witnessed his father kill his mother and then commit suicide. He was then “bounced around among relatives,” developed a stutter, and was placed in special education classes. Harris was bullied in school and dropped out in 9th grade. He was known to physically confront teachers and students and was diagnosed with aggressive conduct disorder. However, he earned his GED when he was 18.  Harris’s criminal history began when he was 15, with the assault of a mall clerk and the burglary of his aunt’s home. After she reported the burglary, Harris struck his aunt on the head with a hammer so hard that it broke. He spent two years in a juvenile correctional facility for this incident. Harris started dealing drugs when he was 17 years old. In 1991, Harris committed three burglaries. He initially received probation but received an 8-year sentence after fleeing a treatment program. Harris was paroled in 1999.  While in prison, he spent most of his time in administrative segregation due to behavioral problems. Harris attended a program for mentally ill offenders, but the incidents continued, and he was eventually discharged for non-compliance. The incidents included setting fire to his cell, threatening to kill prison staff, assaulting prison staff and other inmates, drug dealing, not following orders and sexual misconduct.  In 1999, Harris abducted and killed a woman who he suspected of stealing money from him. The following year, he went on a shooting rampage at his former workplace, a car wash, killing five people. Harris had been fired a few days earlier after he exposed himself to a customer. He was convicted of capital murder for the car wash shooting, sentenced to death, and executed in 2012.

1973 – Pedro Pablo Nakada Ludena – also known as “El Apóstol de la Muerte” (The Apostle of Death), is a Peruvian serial killer who was born on February 28, 1973, in Lima, Peru. He was convicted of 17 murders and claimed to have killed 25 people. His victims were often drug addicts, prostitutes, homosexuals, and criminals, whom he believed he was commanded by God to eliminate in an attempt to cleanse the Earth.  Nakada’s early life was marked by hardship. His biological father was an alcoholic and his mother had an unspecified mental disorder. As a child, Nakada was submissive and often abused by his siblings. He was devastated when his father died at a young age, as he would defend him from the mockery of his sisters and their friends. Nakada also claimed to have been raped by his brothers after they thought that he had killed their pregnant dog. He blamed this incident on his hatred of homosexuals. Nakada claims to have tortured animals as a child.  In 2003, Nakada paid a Japanese citizen 800 Peruvian soles to adopt him as an adult, hoping that this could help him migrate to Japan as a Japanese descendant, and changed his paternal surname from Mesías to the Japanese Nakada accordingly. This tactic is commonly used by Peruvian criminals as a way to flee local justice. Though Nakada never moved to Japan, his younger brother Vayron Jonathan Nakada Ludeña did and was arrested there in 2015, following a three-day killing spree in which he fatally stabbed six people. Nakada’s family claims that both brothers are paranoid schizophrenics.  Nakada killed his victims with 9mm pistols fitted with his own handmade rubber silencers modified from slippers. Nakada was arrested on December 28, 2006, after a shootout with the police inside his workplace. One officer was injured in the shooting. Though he confessed to having killed 25 people, he was convicted of 17 murders only and was sentenced to a maximum prison term of 35 years.

1975 – Michael Lee Wilson – was a man from Oklahoma who was convicted of first-degree murder for planning and participating in the deadly assault on Richard Yost, his co-worker at a Tulsa convenience store, in February 1995. Wilson and three others were found guilty of beating Yost with an aluminum baseball bat 54 times in just over two minutes. They then stole the store’s safe, and Wilson put on Yost’s uniform and worked the cash register as Yost lay dying in a pool of blood, beer, and milk in the cooler.  Four men were convicted of the crime in total; one is serving a life sentence, and the other two have already been executed by the state. Wilson was executed by lethal injection on January 9, 2014, at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary. His final words were, “I feel my whole body burning.”  Before the injection, Wilson gave two brief remarks. First, he said, “I love everybody,” and then, just after the execution was ordered to begin, “I love the world. Love my daughters for me. I’m going to miss you always.” Members of Wilson’s family were present, including his mother, sister, and fiancé. His sister sang a hymn during the execution and recited Psalm 23 after her brother was officially pronounced dead.

1976 – Juan Fernando Hermosa Suarez – known as “Niño del Terror” (Child of Terror), was born on February 28, 1976, in the city of Clemente Baquerizo, Los Ríos Province, Ecuador. He was adopted by Olivo Hermosa Fonseca and Zoila Amada Suárez Mejía, who took him to live in a populous neighborhood north of Quito.  At the age of 15, he began leading a gang of ten youngsters of the same age, frequenting the video game shops in the La Marín sector, in downtown Quito. He often went to bars and clubs in the area known as Puente del Guambra, near the Central University.  Hermosa’s crimes began on November 22, 1991, when he and his friends took a taxi and during the journey, Hermosa shot the driver in the head with a 9mm pistol, killing him instantly. His crimes totaled 22 murders, occurring in only four months, claiming the lives of 8 taxi drivers, 11 homosexuals, a truck driver, and his acquaintance, as well as two others, earning him the nickname “Niño del Terror”. The victims were shot to death with the 9mm pistol, the crimes occurring during the weekends, which caused panic among the taxi drivers and homosexuals who lived in northern Quito.  On January 9, 1992, the police located the Hermosa residence and through an operation, they managed to capture Hermosa after a 15-minute shootout. Hermosa was the youngest serial killer in the history of Ecuador. He died on February 28, 1996, in Nueva Loja, Sucumbíos Province, Ecuador.

1979 – Mario Rashad Swain – An American murderer who killed 44-year-old Lola Nixon with the intention of stealing from her

Deaths

Bruce Reynolds

1888 – Charles Earl Boles – also known as “Black Bart”, was born in 1829 in Norfolk, England. He was an American outlaw noted for the poetic messages he left behind after two of his robberies. Often called Charley by his friends, he was also known as Charles (or C.E.) Bolton. He was considered a gentleman bandit with a reputation for style and sophistication. He was one of the most notorious stagecoach robbers to operate in and around Northern California and Southern Oregon during the 1870s and 1880s.  Boles was the third of ten children, having six brothers and three sisters. When he was two years old, his parents immigrated to Jefferson County, New York, where his father purchased a farm four miles north of Plessis Village in the direction of Alexandria Bay.  In late 1849, Boles and his brothers David and James joined in the California Gold Rush, prospecting in the North Fork of the American River near Sacramento. They traveled back to New York in 1852, but Boles later returned with his brothers David and Robert. Both brothers fell ill shortly after their arrival and died.  In 1854, Boles married Mary Elizabeth Johnson. By 1860, they were living with their four children in Decatur, Illinois. On August 13, 1862, Boles enlisted as a private in Company B, 116th Illinois Regiment. He was a good soldier and became a First sergeant within a year. Boles was seriously wounded at the Battle of Vicksburg and took part in Sherman’s March to the Sea. He received brevet commissions as both second lieutenant and first lieutenant, and on June 7, 1865, was discharged with his regiment in Washington, D.C. He returned home at last to his family in Illinois.  In 1867, Boles went prospecting for gold in Idaho and Montana. In a surviving letter to his wife from August 1871, he told her of an unpleasant encounter with some Wells, Fargo & Company agents and vowed to exact revenge. His wife never heard from him again, and in time she presumed he had died.  Boles adopted the nickname “Black Bart” and proceeded to rob Wells Fargo stagecoaches at least 28 times across northern California between 1875 and 1883. He only left two poems – at the fourth and fifth robbery sites – but this came to be considered his signature and ensured his fame.

1930 – James Howard Snook – was an American athlete, veterinarian, and murderer. He is the only Olympic gold medalist to be executed for murder. Snook was a member of the U.S. Olympic Pistol Team, which won a Gold Medal in the Men’s 30-metre team military pistol event at the 1920 Olympics in Antwerp, Belgium.  Snook was a 1908 graduate of the Ohio State Veterinary School and in 1920 was a professor of veterinary medicine at Ohio State. He invented the snook hook, a surgical instrument that is still used in spaying animals. He also was a founding member of the Alpha Psi veterinary fraternity. In June 1929, Snook was arrested and accused of the murder of Theora K. Hix, a medical student at Ohio State with whom he had had a three-year sexual affair. Snook claimed that he had killed Hix because she was threatening to kill Snook’s wife and family and that he feared she would shoot him. The trial was considered shocking for the sexual activities discussed, including fellatio. The jury took 28 minutes to deliberate before finding Snook guilty, after which he was sentenced to death by electrocution.  Snook was executed on 28 February 1930 at the Ohio Penitentiary, by means of the electric chair. He was buried in Green Lawn Cemetery after a short service at the King Avenue Methodist Church.

1996 – Juan Fernando Hermosa – The youngest serial killer in the history of Ecuador responsible for 23 murders – for more information, see the births section.

2013 – Bruce Reynolds – was an English criminal who masterminded the 1963 Great Train Robbery. Born in Strand, London, England, he was also known by the names Keith Clement Miller and Keith Hillier. He had various occupations including thief, messenger, cyclist, and antiques dealer.  Reynolds was initially brought up in Putney, and his mother, a nurse, died in 1935 when he was aged four. His father, a trade union activist at the Ford Dagenham assembly plant, married again, and the family moved to Gants Hill. Reynolds found it difficult to live with his father and stepmother, choosing often to stay with one or other of his grandmothers. During the London Blitz of the Second World War he was evacuated to Suffolk and then to Warwickshire.  On leaving school at 14½, Reynolds failed the eyesight test to join the Royal Navy and decided he wanted to become a foreign correspondent, so he applied in person for a job at Northcliffe House. Employed first as a messenger boy, he then worked in the accounts department of the Daily Mail. By the age of 17, he had become bored with the routine and was working in the Bland/Sutton Institute of Pathology at Middlesex Hospital, before joining Claud Butler as a bicycle messenger and a member of their semi-professional racing team, where he first met criminals and began a life of crime.  After undertaking some petty crime and spending time in HMP Wormwood Scrubs and Borstal for theft (from which he escaped and was eventually caught and sent to Reading Prison), he spent six weeks of the required two years doing National Service in the British Army, before absconding to return to petty crime. Sentenced to three years’ imprisonment in 1952 for breaking and entering, he was sent to the juvenile wing of Wandsworth Prison in London. He then embarked on jewelry thefts from large country houses.  In 1957 Reynolds was arrested, together with Terry Hogan, for assault and robbery of £500 from a bookmaker returning from White City Greyhounds. The police stated their belief that the intent of the cosh attack was grievous bodily harm and not robbery.  The Great Train Robbery of 1963, which Reynolds led, was at the time Britain’s largest robbery, netting £2,631,684, equivalent to £58 million today. Reynolds spent five years on the run before being sentenced to 25 years imprisonment in 1969. He was released in 1978. He also wrote three books and performed with the band Alabama 3, for whom his son, Nick, plays.  Reynolds died on 28 February 2013 in Croydon, Greater London, England.

2020 – Kenyel Brown – was born on July 3, 1979, in River Rouge, Michigan, U.S. He was known as an American criminal and was the prime suspect in a series of murders that occurred in three cities in Wayne County, Michigan between December 7, 2019, and February 22, 2020.  Brown spent his childhood and youth in the city of River Rouge, where he attended the local River Rouge High School. In his school years, Brown, who was physically capable and athletically gifted, became a successful basketball player. However, in his teens, he developed a drug addiction, which caused a drastic change in his personality.  Between 1997 and 2019, Brown was arrested and imprisoned several times. His criminal career began in August 1997 when he was arrested on charges of attacking a person with a weapon. He was convicted and given a year of imprisonment, which he served at the Wayne County jail. He was released in 1998 but rearrested the following March for illegal carrying of weapons and resisting arrest. He pleaded guilty and was conditionally sentenced to 4 years imprisonment.  In February 2001, Brown became the cause of an accident during which one person died and another was seriously injured. He tried to flee the crime scene but was arrested soon after and charged with second-degree murder, resisting arrest, intentionally inflicting moderate injury resulting in death, driving without a license, and illegal weapons possession. He was convicted and received 10 years’ imprisonment, but was paroled in 2010.  On February 24, 2020, his whereabouts were discovered, but during the arrest attempt, Brown shot himself in the head. He survived his injuries and was taken to a hospital, where he died four days later due to complications, without regaining consciousness. The killings caused a stir both in the city and the entire state after it was found that Brown, a dangerous recidivist, worked as a police informant.

2021 – Roger Kibbe – born on May 27, 1939, was an American rapist and serial killer infamous for his heinous crimes. Often referred to as the ‘I-5 Killer,’ Kibbe’s criminal activities terrorized California, leaving a trail of victims in his wake. His life took a dark turn as he evolved into one of the most notorious criminals in recent history.  Kibbe’s reign of terror unfolded during the late 1970s and early 1980s, a period marked by a series of abductions, assaults, and murders along the Interstate 5 corridor. His modus operandi involved preying on vulnerable individuals, often hitchhikers, whom he targeted for his sadistic acts.  The notorious ‘I-5 Killer’ was finally apprehended, and in 1991, Kibbe was convicted on multiple counts of first-degree murder. His chilling crimes earned him a life sentence without the possibility of parole. Behind the facade of an ordinary life, Kibbe harbored a darkness that forever altered the lives of his victims and their families.  The name Roger Kibbe remains etched in the annals of true crime, serving as a grim reminder of the dangers that can lurk unseen in the midst of everyday life. His story is a testament to the resilience of those who tirelessly pursued justice and brought an end to the reign of a remorseless predator.

Events

The North Hollywood shootout

1990 – Dutch police seize 3,000kg of cocaine

1993 – A gun battle erupts near Waco, Texas at Branch Davidian compound after the FBI attempts a raid

1994 – The Brady law, imposing a waiting period to buy a handgun in the USA comes into effect

1997 – FBI Agent Earl Pitts pleads guilty to selling secrets to Russia

1997 – The North Hollywood shootout takes place