Births

Alfredo Galan

1895 – Nellie May Madison – was a woman who became famous for being the first woman to be sentenced to death in California for killing her husband. She was convicted of murder in 1934, after shooting her husband Eric Madison five times in the back, allegedly in self-defense. She claimed that he had abused her physically and emotionally, but she did not mention this during her trial. She also did not have any witnesses or evidence to support her story. Her case sparked a public outcry and a media frenzy, as many people sympathized with her plight and questioned the justice system. Some prominent journalists, such as Aggie Underwood, exposed the fact that Eric Madison had also cheated on his wife and forced her to sign a false confession of infidelity. The governor of California, Frank Merriam, commuted her sentence to life imprisonment after receiving thousands of petitions from people who wanted her to be spared from the death penalty. She spent 19 years in prison before being released on parole in 1953. She died later that year from a heart attack at the age of 58. Her case helped to raise awareness about the issue of domestic violence and the abuse defense, which was not widely recognized or accepted at the time. Her story has been featured in several books, documentaries, and TV shows over the years. Nellie May Madison was a remarkable woman who endured a lot of hardship and injustice in her life. She was brave enough to stand up for herself and fight for her freedom. She was also a victim of a cruel society that did not understand or respect her situation. She deserves to be remembered as more than just a murderer but as a human being with dignity and rights.

1936 – Anthony Francis Caterine – was a prominent figure in the Dallas underworld, known for his lavish lifestyle and his ownership of the Loser’s Club, a popular nightclub that attracted celebrities and mobsters alike. He was born in New Orleans to Italian immigrants and grew up in a poor neighborhood. He joined the Dallas Crime Family at an early age and rose through the ranks to become one of its most trusted lieutenants. He was involved in various illegal activities, such as gambling, extortion, drug trafficking, and murder. He also had close ties with Jack Ruby, who shot President John F. Kennedy in 1963. After Ruby died in prison in 1967, Caterine became one of his allies and helped him maintain his influence over organized crime. In the late 1970s, he moved to Las Vegas and expanded his business interests there. He also maintained contact with his old associates in New Orleans and other cities. He died peacefully at his home in Boulder City, Nevada on July 8, 2020, at the age of 84. He is survived by his wife, children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.

1943 – William Howard Putman – was a man who was executed by the state of Georgia in 2002 for the murders of David Hardin and Katie Christine Back in 1980. He was a truck driver who worked for Braniff International Airways, which ceased operation in bankruptcy in 1982. He was also a motivational speaker and author of a book called The Winds of Turbulence: A CEO’s Reflections on Surviving and Thriving on the Cutting Edge of Corporate Crisis.  According to the Georgia Attorney General’s website, Putman was sentenced to death after a trial in Cook County, Illinois, where he was convicted of shooting Hardin and Back at a rest area on Interstate 75. He had previously appealed his conviction and sentence, but his motions were denied. He was executed by lethal injection on November 13, 2002, at 7:20 pm.  Putman’s case is one of the many examples of people who have been executed in the United States in recent years. According to Wikipedia, there were 71 executions in the United States in 2002, mostly in Texas. The methods of execution varied from lethal injection to electrocution to gas chamber.

1951 – Roosevelt Ferguson – An American thief who broke into Annie Bell Hall Killingsworth’s apartment with an accomplice to steal $10,000 which seemed public knowledge, when Killingsworth disturbed the attempt she was murdered by Ferguson via suffocation and strangulation

1954 – David Edward Maust – Born into a troubled family and marred by a traumatic childhood, David Edward Maust emerged as a serial killer, preying on young runaways. His life was marked by violence and disregard for authority, from early childhood episodes of arson and burglary to a military stint cut short by another stabbing incident. In 1976, he murdered 15-year-old Donald Jones, receiving a four-year prison sentence. Released in 1980, he continued his violent ways, culminating in a 1982 stabbing in Galveston County, Texas, for which he was again imprisoned.  Paroled in 1999, Maust found work as a handyman, using his position to befriend and lure young male runaways into his home. Beneath a veneer of kindness, he harbored a dark secret, committing at least five murders between 1999 and 2003. In 2003, when skeletal remains were discovered buried in his basement, his heinous crimes came to light. Arrested, tried, and convicted, he was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. Sadly, his twisted crimes shocked the nation, underscoring the dangers of releasing individuals with a history of violence.

1956 – James Ernest Hitchcock – An unemployed American man who moved in with his brother, on the 31st of July 1976 he stayed up late watching tv with his brother and then went out and smoked marijuana and drank beer, when he returned to the house in the early hours he raped his 13-year-old step-niece, Cynthia Driggers he then proceeded to murder her and dumped her body outside the house

1975 – Sean Derrick O’Brien – He was the son of Eddie Wymon O’Brien and Ella Louise (Walker) O’Brien. He had a troubled childhood and was involved in drugs and gangs since his early teens. He joined the Black and White gang when he was 17 years old and participated in several crimes, including robbery, assault, and burglary. On June 24, 1993, O’Brien and five other gang members attacked Jennifer Ertman and Elizabeth Peña, two teenage girls who were friends at school. They lured them into a secluded area near T.C. Jester Park by offering them beer and cigarettes. There, they brutally raped, tortured, strangled, and stabbed them to death with a belt. They also took their jewelry and clothes as trophies. The murders shocked the community and made headlines across Texas. The police arrested six suspects within a week of the crime. O’Brien was identified as one of the killers by DNA evidence from his belt buckle that matched the blood of one of the victims. He confessed to his role in the crime during an interrogation with Detective John Buechele on July 10, 1993. He became eligible for execution on July 11, 2006. He chose lethal injection as his method of execution. He requested that his execution be carried out on July 11, 2006, at Huntsville Unit State Prison. His execution took place at 6:19 p.m., CST. He died without showing any remorse or emotion.

1977 – Jason Bryce Looney – is a convicted murderer currently on death row at the Florida State Prison. He was sentenced to death for the first-degree murders of Melanie King and Robin Keith Spears in Florida in 1997. Looney, along with his codefendants Guerry Wayne Hertz and Jimmy Dempsey, broke into the victims’ home, bound and gagged them, stole their belongings, poured gasoline on them, and set fire to the house. The victims died from gunshot wounds inflicted by Hertz and Looney. Despite a history of drug abuse and mental illness, and being a member of a motorcycle gang called the Outlaws, Looney testified against his codefendants at their trial in exchange for a possible life sentence. His conviction and sentence were affirmed by the Supreme Court of Florida in 2001, and he has since filed several motions for postconviction relief, but none have been granted so far.

1978 – Alfredo Galan – known as “The Playing Card Killer”, is a Spanish serial killer who left playing cards at the scenes of his murders. Born on April 5, 1978, in Puertollano, Spain, he lost his mother at the age of ten and was raised by his father. He joined the Spanish Army in 1998 and became a corporal in the Parachute Regiment of Alcalá de Henares. After stealing a car, he was diagnosed with neurosis and anxiety at the Gómez Ulla Military Hospital in Madrid. Despite his mental health issues, he worked as a security guard at Madrid–Barajas Airport from March 2003 until his arrest. His killing spree began on January 24, 2003, when he shot Juan Francisco Ledesma, a 50-year-old man, in the head. His second victim was Juan Carlos Martín Estacio, a 28-year-old airport cleaner. His third victim was Mikel Jiménez Sánchez, an 18-year-old student who worked at a bar called Bar Rojas with his mother Teresa Sánchez García, and her friend Juana Dolores Ucles López. His fourth victim was Santiago Eduardo Salas, a 27-year-old man who worked as a security guard at Bar Rojas. His fifth and sixth victims were George and Diona Magda, a married couple who worked as cleaners at Bar Rojas, and José Luis García Pérez and María del Carmen García Pérez, two other cleaners who worked at Bar Rojas. He was arrested in July 2003 after he confessed to the police but later recanted. He was sentenced to 142 years and three months in prison for his crimes.

1979 – Nasim Najafi Aghdam – was a Persian-American YouTuber, vegan activist, and fitness personality who died in a shooting at the YouTube headquarters in San Bruno, California on April 3, 2018. She was born in Urmia, Iran on April 4, 1979, to Ismail and an unknown mother. Her parents immigrated to Iran from the Republic of Azerbaijan. She had a brother named Shahran and a sister whose name is not known. She moved to the United States with her family in 1996 and settled in San Diego, California. She was a Bahá’í by faith and practiced veganism and animal rights. She had a YouTube channel with more than 5,000 subscribers where she posted videos of her workouts, cooking, and rants against YouTube for demonetizing her content. She also launched the first Persian TV commercial and music video for veganism and animal rights in 2010 through Iranian satellite television. On the day of the shooting, she entered the YouTube headquarters through an exterior parking garage and opened fire with a Smith & Wesson semi-automatic pistol. She wounded three people before killing herself with her weapon. The motive for the shooting is unclear, but some sources suggest that she was angry about YouTube’s policies on monetization and content removal.

1993 – Tucker Robert Cipriano – is the adopted son of Robert and Rose Cipriano. He had a troubled childhood, marked by involvement in drugs, gangs, and violence, and he moved out of his parents’ home at the age of 16. On April 15, 2012, Tucker Cipriano and his friend Mitchell Young planned to rob and kill a family they knew in Farmington Hills, Michigan. They broke into the house using a credit card they found in the car of Robert Cipriano’s son-in-law. When confronted by Robert Cipriano, they attacked him with a baseball bat. They also injured Rosemary Cipriano and Salvatore Cipriano, who were hiding in another room. Tucker Cipriano and Young fled the scene but were later arrested by the police after a high-speed chase. Young pleaded guilty to second-degree murder as part of a plea deal that reduced his sentence from life to 40 years to 25 years to life with parole eligibility after 25 years. Tucker Cipriano pleaded no contest to first-degree murder as part of another plea deal that reduced his sentence from life to life without parole with parole eligibility after 25 years. Tucker Cipriano is currently incarcerated at the Macomb Correctional Facility in Clinton Township, Michigan. He has been denied parole several times by the Michigan Board of Parole Review due to his violent behavior and lack of remorse. His next parole hearing is scheduled for June 2024.

Deaths

Elmo Patrick Sonnier

1531 – Richard Roose – was a cook in the household of John Fisher, the Bishop of Rochester, in the early 16th century. In 1531, Roose was accused of poisoning the bishop’s household by adding a white powder to the porridge served to Fisher’s guests and servants, as well as some beggars who received food from him as charity. Two people died from the poisoning: Burnet Curwen, a member of Fisher’s household, and Alice Tryppyt, a beggar. Roose claimed that he had been given the powder by a stranger and thought it was meant to be a joke. He said he did not know it would kill anyone. Fisher survived the poisoning because he ate nothing that day. He was arrested and tortured for information about the plot. Henry VIII addressed the House of Lords on the case and accused Roose of treason. He also passed an act that made murder by poison punishable by death. Roose was brought to Smithfield in April 1532 and thrown into a large cauldron of boiling water three times until he died. His execution was witnessed by thousands of people who cheered for his suffering. Fisher left London after his house was attacked by cannon fire from Thomas Howard, Earl of Wiltshire’s house. He was later executed in 1535 for refusing to acknowledge Henry VIII as the head of the Church of England. 

1984 – Elmo Patrick Sonnier – was a convicted American murderer and rapist in Louisiana who was executed by electrocution at Louisiana State Penitentiary on April 5, 1984. He was sentenced to death on April 25, 1978, for the November 5, 1977, rape and murder of Loretta Ann Bourque, 18, and the murder of David LeBlanc, 17. His younger brother, Eddie James Sonnier, was also involved in the crime and received a life sentence. Sonnier’s case attracted national attention when Sister Helen Prejean, a Catholic nun and anti-death penalty activist, wrote to him as part of her community outreach program. She became his spiritual adviser and eventually wrote Dead Man Walking (1993), a memoir based on her experience with Sonnier and her belief that the death penalty was morally wrong. Sonnier claimed that he was innocent of the murders and that Eddie had confessed to him before they were arrested. He also said that he had been abused by his father as a child and had suffered from mental illness. He expressed remorse for his actions and asked for forgiveness from the families of his victims. Sonnier’s execution sparked controversy among some people who argued that he deserved a chance to prove his innocence or receive clemency. Others defended the state’s right to carry out its judgment without delay or interference. Prejean opposed Sonnier’s execution and appealed to various authorities to spare his life. She also visited him in prison before his death and prayed with him. Sonnier’s case is one of the most famous examples of the debate over capital punishment in America. It also raises questions about the role of religion, justice, mercy, and human rights in society.

1994 – Flemming Nielsen – The Aarhus University shooting was a tragic event that occurred on April 5, 1994, when a former student named Flemming Nielsen killed two female students and wounded two others with a sawed-off shotgun at the university cafeteria. He then committed suicide in a bathroom stall. The motive for the shooting is unclear, but it is believed that he was suffering from depression and had taken antidepressants before the incident. He also left a suicide note at his home, expressing his despair and desire to kill some people before ending his own life.  To date, this is the only school shooting that has ever happened in Denmark, and it shocked and saddened the nation. The university offered counseling and support services to the survivors and their families and held memorial services for the victims. The university also increased security measures and mental health awareness programs to prevent such violence from happening again.

2005 – Glen James Ocha – Ocha, who was also known as “Raven Raven” went to the Kissimmee bar in Florida, he was already high on Ecstacy and proceeded to get drunk too when he met Carol Skervja, she gave him a ride home and they had sex, later in the night she told Ocha she was going to tell her boyfriend and she teased his body, he became angry and grabbed a rope attempting to strangle her, however, due to the drugs and alcohol he was too weak, so he hung her from a door and had a beer whilst he watched her die

Events

Ethel & Julius Rosenberg

1951 – Julius & Ethel Rosenberg, atomic spies are sentenced to death

1996 – John Bobbitt is put under house arrest in Las Vegas for 120 days