Births

Judy Buenoano

1942 – Michel Fourniret – was known as the “Ogre of the Ardennes” due to his horrific crimes against young women and girls. Raised in a working-class family, Fourniret had a difficult relationship with his mother and was a quiet and introverted child with a fascination for violence and death. His criminal life began in 1966 when he was arrested for sexually assaulting a young girl. Despite being released on probation, he continued to offend. His killing spree started in 1987 with the abduction and murder of 17-year-old Jeanne-Marie Desramault in Le Quesnoy, France. Over the next 16 years, he kidnapped, raped, and murdered nine more victims, including eight young women and one young man. Fourniret would lure his victims into his van, often posing as a police officer or a religious figure, and take them to secluded locations where he would torture and kill them. In 2003, he was arrested in Belgium for the attempted kidnapping of a young girl. His wife, Monique Olivier, turned him in to the police, leading to his confession. In 2008, Fourniret was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the murders of seven victims and the murder of Farida Hammiche, the wife of a former accomplice, in 1988. Fourniret died in prison on May 10, 2021, at the age of 79, reportedly suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. His crimes, which caused immense pain to his victims and their families, have made him a reviled figure in French and Belgian history.

1943 – Peter Anthony Allen – was a British man who was executed by hanging on 13 August 1964, along with his accomplice Gwynne Owen Evans, for the murder of John Alan West. He left school at age 15 and worked as a pipe cleaner for three months. He married Mary I. Hannett in 1961. On 7 April 1964, he and Evans went to rob West, a van driver for a laundry company, at his home in Seaton, Cumberland. They beat and stabbed him to death with a knife. They also stole his watch and a medallion that had Evans’s name on it. They were arrested and charged within two days of the crime. At trial, they both blamed each other for the murder, but the jury found them equally guilty and both were sentenced to death. The use of capital punishment in the United Kingdom had been declining at the time, and public opinion was turning against the practice. As a result, the decision not to reprieve them came as a surprise. They were executed by hanging at Manchester’s Strangeways Prison and Liverpool’s Walton Prison respectively. These were the last two hangings in Britain before capital punishment was abolished in 1965.

1943 – Ronald Turney Williams – is a notorious American criminal convicted of numerous crimes including murder, burglary, arson, kidnapping, and prison escape. His criminal career began in his teenage years with various crimes such as theft, assault, and robbery, leading to multiple arrests and time spent in juvenile and adult prisons. In 1975, he was sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of a West Virginia state trooper during a robbery and was also implicated in another robbery that resulted in the death of an off-duty trooper. In 1979, he was involved in a mass escape from the West Virginia State Penitentiary with 14 other inmates, during which they hijacked a car, killed the driver, and fled to Arizona. In Arizona, Williams continued his crime spree, breaking into homes and businesses and committing armed robberies. On March 12, 1981, he shot and killed John Bunchek, a neighbor who had come to investigate a noise at his house. After he escaped from prison, Williams became one of the FBI’s most wanted fugitives and was eventually tracked down to New York City by FBI agents on June 8, 1981. A shootout ensued in the lobby of a hotel where he was staying, resulting in Williams being wounded by gunfire and arrested. He was extradited to Arizona and tried for two counts of first-degree murder: one for killing Bunchek and one for killing an off-duty trooper during the prison break. Despite pleading not guilty because of insanity, he was found guilty by a jury on February 10, 1984, and was sentenced to death by lethal injection on April 23, 1984. Williams is currently incarcerated at Mount Olive Correctional Complex in West Virginia. He has appealed his conviction and sentence several times but has been unsuccessful so far. He is considered one of the most dangerous criminals in American history.

1943 – Judy Buenoano – born Judias Welty in Texas in 1943, was a notorious serial killer who suffered abuse and starvation from her father and stepmother, and ran away from home at the age of 14. She became a nursing assistant and gave birth to an illegitimate son, Michael, in 1961. In 1962, she married James Goodyear, a sergeant in the Air Force. They moved to Florida and had two more children, James Jr. and Kimberly. In 1971, James died of natural causes after taking small doses of arsenic that Judy had been secretly adding to his food for months. Judy then moved to Colorado with her children and started dating Bobby Joe Morris, who also died of arsenic poisoning in 1978 after Judy had taken out large life insurance policies on him. In 1980, Judy’s son Michael joined the Army and was stationed at Fort Benning, Georgia. On his way there, he stopped by Judy’s home in Florida and showed signs of arsenic poisoning. He was discharged from the army and returned to his mother’s home. In May 1980, Judy took her sons on a canoe trip on the East River in Florida. The canoe capsized and Michael drowned while wearing heavy metal braces on his legs due to his condition. Judy collected $20,000 from his military life insurance policy. In October 1982, Judy began dating John Gentry, a businessman from Florida. She convinced him to take out life insurance policies on each other and also gave him special vitamins that she claimed would improve his health. John fell ill in December 1982 and was hospitalized. In January 1983, John died of heart failure after taking the vitamins that Judy had given him. His death certificate stated that he had no underlying medical conditions or drug abuse problems. In February 1983, John’s body was exhumed by the police after they received an anonymous tip about the suspicious circumstances of his death. They found traces of arsenic in his blood that matched those found on James Goodyear’s body. The police also discovered that John had been having an affair with another woman named Linda Smith while he was dating Judy. They arrested Linda as a suspect but she denied any involvement or knowledge of John’s death. The police then focused their investigation on Judy Buenoano as the prime suspect for both murders. They found evidence that linked her to both victims: arsenic residue on her hands and clothes; receipts for arsenic purchases; letters from Bobby Joe Morris; phone records; bank statements; etc. On January 11, 1984, Judy was arrested at her home in Florida after she tried to flee with $10,000 that she had taken from Bobby Joe Morris’ safe before he died. On June 6, 1984, Judy was convicted of first-degree murder for killing James Goodyear and sentenced to death by electric chair. On November 26, 1985, Judy was executed at Florida State Prison after exhausting all her appeals. Judy Buenoano is considered one of the most prolific serial killers in American history. She is estimated to have killed at least six people for their life insurance money over nine years. She is also believed to have been involved in other murders that were not solved or linked to her.

1944 – Sandra Camille Bridewell – was adopted as an infant by Arthur and Camille Powers of Sedalia, Missouri. Known as the “Black Widow,” she swindled hundreds of thousands of dollars from lovers and friends over several decades. She was also suspected of being connected to several mysterious deaths, including the murder of her third husband, Alan Rehrig, in 1985. After a troubled childhood marked by the death of her adoptive mother in a car accident, she dropped out of high school and began dating men who were attracted by her “ladylike” persona. She married David Stegall, a dentist from Los Angeles, in 1967 and had three children with him. After divorcing Stegall in 1978, she married John H. Smith Jr., a wealthy businessman from Dallas, in 1980 and had two more children. She divorced Smith in 1985 after he discovered her fraudulent use of his credit cards. In 1986, she married Alan Rehrig, a lawyer from Oklahoma City, who was found shot in his Ford Bronco near a power station in Oklahoma City in 1985. The police ruled it as a homicide but no suspects were ever identified or arrested. Bridewell disappeared from Dallas shortly after Rehrig’s death, moved to California with her children, and changed her name several times. She was involved with several men who loaned her money that she never repaid, leading some of them to sue her for fraud or misrepresentation. The FBI and the Oklahoma City Police Department are still investigating the murder of Rehrig and other possible crimes committed by Bridewell. Her current whereabouts are unknown.

1948 – Frank Winfield Anderson – Anderson along with 21-year-old Bobby Poyson and 15-year-old Kimberly Lane had stayed the night with Leta Kagen, her son Robert and her partner Roland. Anderson, Poyson, and Lane agreed to murder all three and steal Ronald’s truck as well as other belongings. Whereas they killed Leta simply by shooting her, the two males didn’t get off so easily, with Robert having his throat slashed, a knife forced into his ear, and then his head crushed with a rock, Roland was shot in the mouth, they bludgeoned him with a rifle stock and a lantern and then crushed his skull with a cinder block

1954 – Anthony Lee Chaney – Chaney was on the run from authorities for burglaries in New Mexico & Texas when he and his “wife” carried out a crime spree when Chaney, who was a confessed gun nut shot and killed Coconino County reserve, Deputy John B. Jamison over 30 times with a semi-automatic rifle

1957 – Joaquín Archivaldo Guzmán Loera who is more commonly referred to as “El Chapo” is a former Mexican drug lord and the leader of the Sinaloa Cartel, one of the most powerful and notorious criminal organizations in the world. He was born in 1957 in a poor farming family in Sinaloa, Mexico, and started his criminal career as a member of the Guadalajara Cartel in the 1980s. He rose to prominence after the cartel’s leader, Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo, was arrested and disintegrated. He then established his cartel and expanded its operations to produce and smuggle various kinds of illicit drugs, such as marijuana, heroin, cocaine, and methamphetamine, into the United States and Europe. He was known for his creative smuggling techniques, such as building tunnels under the border, hiding drugs in chili pepper cans and fire extinguishers, and catapulting drugs over the border. He also had connections with corrupt officials, politicians, journalists, and law enforcement agents who helped him evade capture or reduce his sentences.  Guzmán was arrested three times by Mexican authorities between 1993 and 2014. In 2001 he escaped from a high-security prison with the help of corrupt guards. He then went into hiding for several years until he was recaptured in 2014 by Mexican Marines after a massive manhunt. He was extradited to the United States in 2017 and faced trial on multiple charges of drug trafficking, money laundering, murder, kidnapping, and conspiracy. In January 2019 he was found guilty on all counts by a jury in New York and sentenced to life imprisonment without parole plus 30 years. He is currently incarcerated at ADX Florence near Florence, Colorado.  Guzmán’s life has been depicted in various books, documentaries, movies, and TV shows. He is considered to be one of the most influential and notorious figures in modern history.

1962 – John Glenn Roe – was a white man who was executed by lethal injection in Ohio on February 3, 2004. He was convicted of raping and murdering Donette Crawford, a 11-year-old girl, in 1999. He was also convicted of raping and murdering William Dean Wickline Jr., a 52-year-old man, in 2003. He confessed to both crimes and showed no remorse. John Glenn Roe was born in Ohio and had a troubled childhood. He dropped out of school and joined the army at the age of 18. He served in Iraq and Afghanistan and received several medals for his bravery. He also suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and drug addiction. He married twice and had four children from his first marriage. John Glenn Roe was arrested in 1999 after Crawford’s mother reported her missing daughter. He initially denied any involvement, but later admitted to killing her after she found out he was cheating on her with another woman. He also confessed to killing Wickline, whom he met at a bar and lured into his car with promises of sex. He said he killed him because he did not like his appearance or smell. John Glenn Roe’s case attracted national attention because of the brutality of his crimes and the lack of empathy he showed for his victims or their families. His lawyers argued that he should be executed by electric chair instead of lethal injection, but the state rejected their request. His execution date was set for February 3, 2004, despite protests from human rights groups and religious organizations who opposed capital punishment as a violation of human dignity and morality. John Glenn Roe was executed at the Ohio State Penitentiary in Mansfield, Ohio, at 6:00 p.m. His last words were “I love you all”. His execution took about an hour to complete, during which he remained calm and composed throughout. His body was cremated after the execution and his ashes were scattered at sea by his family.

1974 – Jonathan Bryant Moore – was a man who was executed by the state of Texas in 2007 for the murder of a police officer in San Antonio in 1995. He was born on April 4, 1974, in Fort Walton Beach, Texas. He had a history of mental illness and paranoid delusions, which he claimed influenced his actions on the night of the crime. He shot and killed Fabian Dale Dominguez, a San Antonio police officer, during a home invasion attempt. He pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, but the jury rejected his defense and sentenced him to death. He was executed by lethal injection on January 17, 2007, at the Huntsville Unit of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. He was buried at Captain Joe Byrd Cemetery in Huntsville.

1991 – Eric Hainstock – had a troubled childhood. His parents divorced when he was two years old, and his mother’s parental rights were terminated when he was nine. He was adopted by his stepmother, Priscilla, who married Shawn Hainstock in 1997. Throughout his childhood, he suffered from abuse and neglect by his father and stepfather, who kicked him, hit him, and sexually abused him by his older brother. He ran away from home twice, once at age eight and once at age 15. He had significant problems with anxiety, depression, hyperactivity, aggression, and social skills. He was diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and oppositional defiant disorder (ODD). He had a history of suicidal thoughts and attempts. On September 29, 2006, he entered Weston High School with a .22 caliber revolver and a 20-gauge shotgun taken from his father’s locked gun cabinet. He aimed the shotgun at a social studies teacher and the revolver at Principal John Klang. Klang wrestled the shotgun away from him and confronted him with the revolver. Hainstock shot Klang several times before being subdued by other staff and students. Klang died later that day at the hospital. This tragic event led to Hainstock’s life sentence in prison, he will be eligible for parole in 2037 at the age of 46.

Deaths

Cheryl Crane in 1958

1836 – Sophie Charlotte Elisabeth Ursinus – was a German serial killer who poisoned her husband, aunt, lover, and servant with arsenic. She was born in 1760 in Glatz, Prussia, as the daughter of an Austrian diplomat. She married Theodor Ursinus, a counselor of the Supreme Court when she was 19 years old. She had an affair with a Dutch officer named Rogay, who died of tuberculosis shortly before her husband. She inherited a large sum of money from her aunt Christiane Witte, who also died of arsenic poisoning shortly after her. She tried to poison her servant Benjamin Klein by giving him emetic and soup, but he survived and exposed her crimes by having his plums tested by a chemist. She was arrested and charged with four murders and one attempted murder. Her trial led to the development of a method of identifying arsenic poisoning by measuring the amount of arsenic in the urine or blood samples. She was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1803 but was pardoned in 1833 and died in prison in 1836.

1878 – Richard M. Brewer – born on February 19, 1850, in St. Albans, Vermont, moved to Wisconsin with his family when he was four years old, and then to Missouri before settling in Lincoln County, New Mexico. He worked as a farmer and a cattle foreman for John H. Tunstall, one of the largest ranchers in the area. In 1878, Tunstall was murdered by unknown assailants. A posse was formed to arrest the killers, and Brewer was chosen to lead it. He recruited some of his friends and acquaintances from Tunstall’s ranch, including Billy the Kid and Jose Chavez y Chavez. They became known as the Regulators, a group of vigilantes who claimed to uphold justice and order in Lincoln County. The Regulators soon clashed with other factions involved in the Lincoln County War, such as the Cowboys (led by Pat Garrett), the Pinkertons (led by Tom O’Folliard), and various outlaws and lawmen. The Regulators participated in several shootouts and killings, such as those of Sheriff William Brady, Deputy George W. Hindman, Frank Baker, Buckshot Roberts, and William McCloskey. Brewer did not approve of some of these actions, but he followed his own code of honor and loyalty to his friends. Brewer’s life ended on April 4, 1878, at Blazer’s Mills. He was shot by an old hunter named Buckshot Roberts during a confrontation between two rival groups of Regulators. He died at the age of 28 from his wound. He is buried at Blazer Cemetery in Mescalero, New Mexico Territory.

1941 – Samuel Morgan – On November 2, 1940, the lifeless body of a young girl named Mary Hagan, aged 15, was discovered in a concrete blockhouse in Liverpool. She had been sexually assaulted and strangled. A piece of fabric, later identified as part of a military medical dressing used on a finger or thumb, was found nearby. A fresh bootprint was also observed amidst the muddy remnants on the floor.  A few days later, Samuel Morgan, a 28-year-old soldier from the Irish Guards at Seaforth Barracks who was absent without leave, was apprehended in London. He explained that his thumb injury was due to barbed wire and he had used his field dressing to cover it. Forensic experts confirmed that the bandage found at the crime scene and the one used by Morgan were a perfect match. Additionally, the soil on Morgan’s uniform was consistent with samples from the murder site, and his bootprint corresponded to the one found.  Following these findings, Morgan was charged and subsequently convicted for the crime. His sentence was carried out at Walton Jail, Liverpool, where he was executed on April 4, 1941.

1946 – Patrick Carraher – a Glaswegian known for his penchant for alcohol and a string of arrests spanning a decade, faced a murder charge on August 13, 1934. This accusation stemmed from a fatal altercation in a pub where he fatally stabbed James Shaw, a young soldier. During his trial, Carraher pleaded drunkenness as a defense. Despite his plea, he was found guilty of “culpable murder,” akin to an American manslaughter charge, leading to a three-year imprisonment. After completing his sentence, Carraher found himself in trouble again in 1943, facing charges of razor-slashing, assault, and battery. Tragically, on November 23, 1945, Carraher committed a second murder, taking the life of another young soldier, John Gordon, in Glasgow. Despite Carraher’s pleas for leniency, a jury convicted him of first-degree murder. On April 4, 1946, Carraher met his end at Barlinnie Prison, where he was hanged.

1958 – Johnny Stomponato – born in Woodstock, Illinois in 1925, was a former Marine and a gangster who became the bodyguard and enforcer for Mickey Cohen, the notorious mob boss of Los Angeles. He was also the boyfriend of actress Lana Turner, who had a turbulent relationship with him marked by physical abuse and jealousy. On April 4, 1958, Stomponato was stabbed to death by Turner’s daughter, Cheryl Crane, who claimed she did it to defend her mother from a vicious beating by Stomponato. His death was ruled as justifiable homicide because he had been killed in self-defense. Stomponato’s relationship with Turner was abusive and violent. He often hit her, choked her, and threatened her with guns. He also controlled her finances and career choices. Turner tried to end their relationship several times, but Stomponato always threatened to harm himself or others if she left him. In 1958, he moved into Turner’s rented home in Beverly Hills with his son from his previous marriage. On April 4 of that year, he got into an argument with Turner over money matters and tried to assault her again. Crane heard the commotion from her bedroom upstairs and armed herself with a kitchen knife from the kitchen downstairs. She ran downstairs and stabbed Stomponato several times in the stomach as he was leaving the house through the front door. She then called 911 and confessed to killing him out of self-defense when Turner came out of her bedroom to confront him. She turned herself in to the police later that night at a juvenile hall where she was interned until April 11 when she was released after an inquest cleared her of any wrongdoing. Stomponato’s death sparked a media frenzy and public outrage over Turner’s alleged involvement or negligence in his murder. Many people accused her of being cold-blooded or even complicit in his death because she had been unfaithful or abusive to him before or during their relationship. Some also speculated that she had hired someone else to kill him or that she had stabbed him herself while pretending to be attacked by him for publicity purposes or insurance money reasons. However, there is no evidence to support these claims or theories. Stomponato’s ex-wife filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Crane’s father Steve Crane and Turner for $750,000 in damages for causing Stomponato’s death by negligence or malice aforethought. The lawsuit was settled out of court for $20,000 in 1962. Stomponato’s killing has been depicted in various media forms over the years, such as books, films, TV shows, documentaries, songs, comics, etc. In 2007, Time magazine named Stomponato’s killing one of the most notorious crimes of the 20th century.

1962 – James Hanratty – a British criminal executed in 1962 for the A6 murder, was one of the last eight people to be hanged in the UK before capital punishment was abolished. Born in 1936 in Kent, England, Hanratty had a troubled childhood, leaving school at 15 and working as a refuse sorter and a road hauler. He suffered from mental health problems and had a history of petty crime and violence. In August 1961, Hanratty abducted Michael Gregsten, a research scientist, and his girlfriend Valerie Storie, at gunpoint from a cornfield near Buckinghamshire. He forced them to drive to a lay-by on the A6 near Bedford, where he shot Gregsten dead and raped Storie before shooting her five times at close range. Storie survived but was left paralyzed from the waist down. Hanratty was arrested in Blackpool two months later after Storie identified him as her attacker in a line-up. His trial lasted only four days and he was convicted by the jury based on her testimony alone. He maintained his innocence until his deathbed when he wrote to his family: “I’m dying tomorrow but I’m innocent.” Hanratty’s conviction has been controversial ever since. Many people doubt that he was the killer or that he received a fair trial. Some evidence suggests that another man, Peter Alphon, may have been involved in the murder or that it may have been part of a wider conspiracy. In 1997, the Home Office conducted an unpublished police inquiry that concluded that Hanratty was wrongfully convicted and that DNA testing proved his guilt beyond any doubt. The case was referred to the Court of Appeal in 2002, which upheld Hanratty’s conviction by a majority vote. Hanratty’s case is one of the most notorious examples of wrongful execution in British history. It has sparked debates about justice, evidence, eyewitness testimony, and human rights. It has also inspired books, documentaries, films, and plays that explore the themes of crime, punishment, identity, and memory.

1981 – Bruce Lindahl – Born on January 29, 1953, into an ordinary family in St. Charles, Illinois, Bruce Everitt Lindahl emerged as a mysterious figure from an early age. With a troubled personality marked by petty theft, vandalism, and a disturbing fascination with violence, Lindahl’s unsettling tendencies escalated in the late 1970s, culminating in a series of horrifying rapes and murders that cast a dark shadow over northern Illinois communities.  Lindahl’s criminal odyssey commenced in 1976 when he assaulted a young woman in Naperville, Illinois, setting the stage for a spree of brutal attacks that spanned the next five years. His preferred victims were typically young women, often hitchhikers or those isolated in remote locations. Employing methods such as strangulation or stabbing, Lindahl left behind a trail of fear and despair.  Throughout his spree, Lindahl adhered to a consistent modus operandi. Targeting those who appeared vulnerable or isolated, he would feign assistance before unleashing his violent tendencies, leaving shattered lives and enduring trauma in his wake. As the victim count mounted, so did the fear gripping the region. Law enforcement found themselves confounded by the lack of tangible evidence, and Lindahl’s elusive nature further fueled the mystique surrounding his identity.  In 1981, Lindahl’s luck finally waned. On April 4, while attempting to abduct another victim in Naperville, he inadvertently stabbed himself in the leg with his own knife, severing his femoral artery and succumbing to exsanguination.  Bruce Lindahl’s legacy is one of violence, instilling fear and leaving countless questions unanswered. His crimes cast a lasting shadow over the lives of those he targeted, and his premature demise left many yearning for a more definitive resolution to the serial killings that haunted northern Illinois in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Events

Kathryn Bright

1958 – Chery Crane (14) daughter of Lana Turner stabs to death organized crime figure Johnny Stomponato, her mother’s boyfriend, in self-defense, the crime is later ruled a justifiable homicide

1968 – Martin Luther King Jr is assassinated

1974 – Kathryn Bright is murdered by BTK, Dennis Rader

1975 – Steve Miller is arrested for burning his girlfriend’s clothes

2008 – A raid on fundamentalist church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints-owned YFZ ranch in Texas; 401 children and 133 women are taken into state custody

2013 – 9 people have been killed on an axe murdering rampage in Chhattisgarh State, India