Births
Ladislav Hojer
1913 – Nikifor Maruszeczko – was a Polish criminal and serial killer, considered to be one of the most dangerous criminals in Poland during the interwar period. He was born in Podkarpackie and was raised by an alcoholic mother, never knowing his father. As a child, he wandered in the neighboring villages with a backyard band, but quickly entered the crime scene. He was arrested for the first time for stealing a portfolio at the age of 14, for which he was sent to a correctional home. At the beginning of the 1930s, he went to Upper Silesia, where he quickly gained the reputation of a brutal criminal. He committed several murders, mainly on a robbery background. He was on the list of most wanted people in the country, but on several occasions, he evaded police raids. He hid among others in Berlin, where he continued his criminal activity. He was known for his tendency to abuse alcohol, repeatedly committing his crimes in a state of intoxication. His alcohol addiction contributed to the spectacular end of his criminal career. On January 8, 1938, Maruszeczko made a row in the restaurant “Pod-Orłem” in Bielsko-Biała. Recognized by clients (the newspapers had his portrait printed on them), he tried to escape but was captured and handed over to the police. From October to December 1937, he murdered four people, including two policemen. During the trial, he was only tried for killing one policeman and severely hurting another. On February 24, 1938, he was sentenced to death by hanging. The verdict was carried out on August 8, 1938.
1914 – Aniello Dellacroce – was an American mobster and underboss of the Gambino crime family of New York City. He rose to the position of underboss when Carlo Gambino moved Joseph Biondo aside. Dellacroce was a mentor to future Gambino boss John Gotti. Dellacroce was born in New York City to Francesco and Antoinette Dellacroce, first-generation immigrants from Italy. He grew up in the Little Italy section of Manhattan. His nickname “Neil” was an Americanization of “Aniello”. Dellacroce had one brother, Carmine. Aniello was married to Lucille Riccardi. They had four children. As a teenager, Dellacroce became a butcher’s assistant, but work was scarce and he took to crime. He was jailed once for petty theft. Dellacroce sometimes walked around Manhattan dressed as a priest and called himself “Father O’Neil” to confuse both the police and rival mobsters. Dellacroce allegedly committed a murder dressed as a priest. He also allegedly used a body double for some public events. In the late 1930s, Dellacroce joined the Mangano crime family, forerunner of the Gambino family, and soon became involved with underboss Albert Anastasia. After the disappearance of longtime boss Vincent Mangano, Anastasia became family boss and promoted Dellacroce to Capo. Due to his square-shaped face, some Gambino members nicknamed him “the Polack”, a nickname never used within his earshot. Dellacroce later became a mentor to John Gotti. Dellacroce bought the Ravenite Social Club in Little Italy, which soon became a popular Gambino social club and Dellacroce’s headquarters. On October 25, 1957, gunmen murdered Anastasia in a Manhattan hotel barbershop. Carlo Gambino took over the family. In 1965, Gambino removed the aging Joseph Biondo from his underboss position and appointed Dellacroce to replace him. In 1971, Dellacroce was sentenced to one year in state prison on contempt charges for refusing to answer grand jury questions about organized crime. Dellacroce died in 1985.
1929 – Stanislaw Modzelewski – left an indelible mark as a Polish serial killer known as “The Vampire of Galkowek.” His gruesome legacy unfolded between 1952 and 1967, spanning 15 years. Modzelewski’s criminal spree claimed the lives of at least seven people, marking him as one of the most notorious figures in Polish crime history. Operating with a chilling and sadistic modus operandi, Modzelewski instilled fear in the Galkowek region. His victims fell prey to his heinous acts, contributing to a dark chapter in Poland’s criminal chronicles. The moniker “The Vampire of Galkowek” stemmed from the brutality of Modzelewski’s crimes, which often involved elements of sadism. The details of his actions horrified the public and law enforcement alike. Stanislaw Modzelewski’s reign of terror came to an end when authorities apprehended him in 1967. The capture of this serial killer brought relief to a community haunted by the gruesome acts committed by “The Vampire of Galkowek.” Modzelewski’s case serves as a chilling reminder of the depths of human depravity and the resilience of justice in the face of such malevolence.
1940 – George Franklin Page – a former military serviceman, is slated for execution in North Carolina at 2 am local time on February 27, 2004. He was convicted for the murder of Police Officer Stephen Amos in 1995. On the fateful morning of February 27, 1995, police officers responded to a shooting incident in Winston-Salem. Upon arrival, they discovered that George Page had discharged several rounds from his apartment window using a high-powered rifle. One of these shots ricocheted through two car windows and fatally struck Officer Amos in the chest. A crisis negotiator officer managed to establish telephone communication with George Page, who expressed a desire to speak with his psychologist and psychiatrist, both of whom had been treating him for various mental disorders. After further negotiations, George Page agreed to surrender his weapon and accompany his psychiatrist and the officer to the psychologist’s office, where he was subsequently taken into custody. George Page had a 16-year military career, including service in the Vietnam War. He has a history of mental health issues and alcoholism. At the time of the shooting, he reportedly claimed that he was surrounded by soldiers firing at him, suggesting a possible Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) flashback. Despite serving as a mechanic in Vietnam and not being in direct combat, his military records indicate that he was stationed in an area of active conflict. This aligns with research suggesting that soldiers in various occupations can suffer PTSD. Affidavits from George Page’s former wife and daughter provide further insight into his mental state. His former wife recalls how George Page had changed dramatically after returning from Vietnam, often found crying on the kitchen floor in the middle of the night, with no memory of the incident the following morning. His daughter remembers instances when he seemed to have lost touch with reality, shouting phrases like ‘I got him Charlie. I got him, Charlie.’ Neither of them were contacted by the trial lawyers. A recent evaluation by a mental health expert concluded that George Page suffers from PTSD and bipolar disorder (manic depressive illness). His mental health records indicate suicide attempts and treatment for major depression. He has been prescribed medication, including drugs used to treat bipolar disorder, throughout his time on death row. He has maintained an unblemished disciplinary record on death row.
1951 – Charles Milton – Whilst trying to rob a liquor store, Milton shot and killed Menaree Denton and he also shot Leonard Denton but he survived to testify.
1952 – William Dean Wickline – also known as “The Butcher”, was an American career criminal and later serial killer. He was born on March 15, 1952, in Reynoldsburg, Ohio. Despite growing up in a loving family and showing promise in athletics during his youth, Wickline’s grades fell drastically and he became known as a small-time delinquent. His first arrest came in 1971, at age 19, and until 1984, he would be arrested at least nine more times for charges ranging from burglary and dealing drugs to running a prostitution ring. Wickline was linked to at least three violent murders committed in West Virginia and Ohio from 1979 to 1982. The body of a 34-year-old construction worker from Columbia, South Carolina, Charles Morgan Marsh, was found on his bed in a hotel room in Parkersburg, West Virginia. Marsh’s head had been decapitated and placed on the nightstand beside the bed, while his headless body had his hands handcuffed behind his back. The cause of death was strangulation with a telephone cord and the murderer had severed the head with one or two cuts, indicating he was a skilled butcher. Wickline was convicted of killing the latter victims, whose bodies were never found. He was sentenced to death and subsequently executed on March 30, 2004, at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville, Ohio. He earned his nickname “The Butcher” due to his method of dismembering and disposing of his victims’ bodies. He had learned butchery while working at a prison slaughterhouse. Despite these convictions, Wickline was also a suspect in 6 other murders, although they were later proven not to be his murders.
1958 – Ladislav Hojer – was a notorious figure in Czechoslovakia, known for his heinous crimes. He was a sadistic rapist, a serial killer, and a cannibal, responsible for the murder of five women between 1978 and 1981. Hojer’s life was marked by tragedy from a young age. He lost his father to cancer when he was still a child. His mother remarried shortly after, but she too succumbed to cancer. His stepfather, lacking experience and perhaps overwhelmed by the situation, left Hojer and his brother Jaroslav to fend for themselves in an apartment in Motol. Hojer completed his education in a special school and later trained as a glazier. His intelligence quotient (IQ) was measured at 88, which is considered below average. Just before his arrest, he was living alone in an apartment, as his brother had joined the military service. Hojer’s criminal activities came to light when he was arrested on February 11, 1982, during an investigation into the murder of a woman named Anna Š., which had occurred in early October 1981. As the investigation progressed, Hojer revealed the existence of other victims. He eventually confessed to four additional murders, eighteen instances of rape, and one attempted murder.
1960 – Eduard Lykov – was a Russian-born Belarusian criminal and serial killer, responsible for five murders between 2002 and 2011. He was born on March 15, 1960, in Moscow, Russian SSR, and died in November 2014 at the age of 54 in Pishchalauski Castle, Minsk, Belarus. His cause of death was execution by shooting. Lykov was convicted of murder with aggravating circumstances and was sentenced to death. Despite concerns from human rights activists over his possible Russian citizenship, his drunken state during the murders, and his petition for clemency, Lykov was sentenced to death by the Minsk Regional Court, and subsequently executed in 2014. Little is known about Lykov’s early life. He was a Muscovite, was married, and had two children (a son living in Russia and a daughter living in Germany), with whom he didn’t keep in contact. Lykov and his mother moved to the city of Baranavichy at an unknown time, dropping their Russian citizenship in favor of Belarusian. While living in the country, he was at various times convicted of theft, robbery, embezzlement, hooliganism and not paying his alimony. While serving time in prison, Lykov met 38-year-old Viktor Gladky, who would later become his first victim. In October 2002, Lykov visited Gladky’s house in the village of Kirsha, Minsk Region, with the latter’s mother present there as well. According to Lykov, he and Viktor were talking normally when Gladky mentioned how good his life was. Soon after, a quarrel started between the two, with Lykov beating Gladky with his hands, feet, wooden logs, and other objects. Gladky’s mother started screaming, grabbing a knife, and threatening to kill Lykov if he persisted. However, Lykov managed to get the knife away from her hands and stabbed the woman multiple times. After she died, he put her bloodied body on the sofa. While Lykov was cleaning up the crime scene, he overheard the barely-living Viktor trying to say something to him. To prevent being identified, Lykov grabbed an axe and hit Gladky on the head, killing him instantly. Lykov evaded suspicion, as Viktor’s drunken brother, Mikhail, believing he had committed the double murder, falsely confessed to the crime. He was sentenced to serve 8 years in prison and was released in 2010, a year before the actual perpetrator was captured.
1968 – Paul Holes – is an American former cold-case investigator for the Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Office. He is best known for his contributions to solving the Golden State Killer case using advanced methods of identifying the killer with DNA and genealogy technology. Holes studied at the University of California, Davis, from 1986 to 1990, where he received his Bachelor of Science in biochemistry. He was sworn in as an investigator for the Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Office in Martinez, California, in 1994. In the same year, Holes first discovered the cold case files of the East Area Rapist (EAR). His interest in the case was ignited and he remained close to the files, reviewing them any chance he had between active cases in Contra Costa County until a DNA break in 2001 expanded the case even further. When DNA from the EAR matched other unsolved murder crimes throughout California, the case again gained traction and expanded in evidence. After years of gathering evidence and using as many DNA samples as he could without depleting the evidence, Holes made contact with genealogist and scientist Barbara Rae-Venter. Rae-Venter used DNA from the Golden State Killer to construct a genetic profile of the suspect and create a family tree that was detailed enough to narrow down the suspects to Joseph James DeAngelo. In March 2018, Holes visited the Citrus Heights home of DeAngelo on his final day as an investigator before his retirement. Holes watched the home for the activity of DeAngelo, who at the time was only a leading suspect tied to the Golden State Killer rapes and murders. Holes decided not to approach the home for fear of causing a disturbance or tipping off DeAngelo of any suspicion of his involvement as a suspect in the case. Using discarded DNA samples from DeAngelo’s home, detectives were able to match his DNA to that known to be from the Golden State Killer. DeAngelo was later taken into custody by the Sacramento Police on April 24, 2018. Since retiring in March 2018, Holes has contributed to books, television, and podcasts about the Golden State Killer and true crime. In 2019, Holes and investigative journalist Billy Jensen released a true crime podcast called The Murder Squad that explored evidence and discussions of unsolved murders, unidentified remains, and missing persons cases.
Deaths
Charles Harrelson
1878 – Joseph LaPage – Born in 1837 (or 1838 according to some sources) as Joseph Paget, northwest of Montreal, he married a local woman named Rousse at the age of 20. The couple had five children. In 1862, he and his family moved to Saint Beatrice in Quebec. By this time, he had gained a reputation as a wife and child beater, who also associated with “vile company” in his spare time. In June 1871, he committed his first known sex crime: the rape of his wife’s 13-year-old sister, Julianne, a girl he had known since her early childhood. By the time she recovered from her physical injuries, La Page had fled Canada. On Friday, July 27, 1874, in Vermont, schoolteacher Marietta Ball set out on a desolate stretch of road to visit a friend. She never made it. The next day, Marietta Ball’s body was found by a search party scouring the woods. Found naked, she was raped, and her skull had been crushed with a rock. A Boston detective was brought in and learned that a man named Joseph La Page had been “asking the school children about Miss Ball’s route home.“ When police found him for questioning and noticed scratches and bruises on his face, La Page was immediately arrested. However, La Page managed to get witnesses to falsely testify that he was working in a hayfield at the time of the murder. He claimed the scratches on his face came from thorns while he was berry picking. With no conclusive evidence, the killer was released. In March 1875, La Page and his family moved to Pembroke, New Hampshire. In September of the same year, while threshing rye, La Page noticed 16-year-old Letia Fowler and Sarah Prentiss, both Pembroke Academy students. La Page, as he had done in the past, began asking those closest to Fowler about her; beginning with Fowler’s 20-year-old brother, Andrew: who she was, where she went to school, and what road she took to get there. Oblivious, Andrew freely answered the stalking La Page. On Monday, October 4, 1875, La Page planned his ambush of Litia Fowler, but the plan went sour as his timing was off. By the time he arrived at his attack point, both his targets already made it to school. Undeterred, La Page then set his sights on another student, Josie Langmaid. At 8:00 PM that same day, Josie Langmaid’s body was found in a marshy patch of woods. Her skull was crushed as evidenced by a clear imprint of a boot heel on her cheek. After the murder of Josie Langmaid, Joseph La Page was arrested about a week later. He was tried and found guilty of her murder. The State of New Hampshire executed him by hanging on March 15, 1878, in the state capital of Concord.
1945 – Herman Perry – was an African-American soldier serving in the U.S. Army during World War II. He was born on May 16, 1922, on the rural outskirts of Monroe, North Carolina. His mother, teenager Flonnie Perry, and father Prouda Salsbrook were unmarried. Salsbrook left when Herman was young. Herman moved with his mother to Washington, D.C., and got a job as a butcher’s apprentice. Following America’s entry into the Second World War in December 1941, Perry was enlisted. He did not attend his first draft board appointment and was arrested for non-compliance. As a soldier in the army’s 849th Engineer (Aviation) Battalion, he served in the China-Burma-India Theater, helping to construct the Ledo Road. On March 3, 1944, Perry’s CO, Lt. Harold Cady, attempted to apprehend him for dereliction of duty and place him in the area’s military prison. Perry had previously served time in this prison and was well aware of the abuses that went on there. When he was found he was holding a rifle and repeatedly warned Cady not to approach him and to “Get back.” Cady continued to advance and Perry fired his rifle, shooting Cady in the stomach, a fatal wound. Perry fled into the wilderness and lived out a fugitive’s life of jungle survival. He eventually won the respect and approval of a tribe of the Naga people of northeastern India and northern Burma, to the extent that he even married the 14-year-old daughter of one of the tribesmen. Perry was eventually recaptured once more and court-martialed. He was hanged for murder and desertion on March 15, 1945, making him the only American executed in the China Burma India Theater during World War II.
1957 – Burton Abbott – was a University of California at Berkeley accounting student living in Alameda, California. He was convicted in November 1955 of the rape and murder of 14-year-old Stephanie Bryan. The evidence against him was discovered in his home’s basement by his wife, Georgia Abbott. Stephanie’s body was found buried near the Abbott family’s cabin. Abbott was sentenced to death in California’s gas chamber. On March 15, 1957, a stay of execution from the governor of California was communicated to the prison just moments too late to halt his execution. The case is sometimes cited when discussing the appropriateness of condemning a person based on circumstantial evidence alone. However, most criminal convictions are based on circumstantial evidence, although it must be adequate to meet established standards of proof. Before his execution, Abbott spoke to the doctor at San Quentin. The doctor said that when he asked Abbott about the crime, he said “I can’t admit it, doc. Think of what it would do to my mother; she couldn’t take it.” Stephanie Bryan was last seen on April 28, 1955, walking home from school where she went through the parking lot of the Claremont Hotel in the Berkeley Hills. A large-scale search failed to find her. In mid-July, Georgia Abbott reported finding personal effects that had belonged to the girl, including a purse and an ID card, in the basement of the Abbotts’ home in Alameda. The basement was in the home she shared with her husband, their son Christopher, and Burton’s mother, Elsie Abbott. Police subsequently recovered Stephanie’s glasses, a brassiere, and other evidence in the basement. No one in the family could account for how the victim’s personal effects came to be there. Burton Abbott told multiple, contradictory stories including that he had been at the family’s cabin 285 miles away near Weaverville, California, in Trinity County, when Stephanie disappeared. On July 20, 1955, the victim’s body was found by a reporter in a shallow grave a few hundred feet from the cabin, and Abbott was charged with her rape and murder.
1963 – Victor Feguer – was a convicted murderer and the last federal inmate executed in the United States before the moratorium on the death penalty following Furman v. Georgia, as well as the last person put to death in the state of Iowa. Feguer was a drifter, native to the state of Michigan. In the summer of 1960, Feguer arrived in Dubuque, Iowa, renting a room at a decrepit boarding house. Soon after arriving, Feguer began phoning physicians alphabetically from the local Yellow Pages and found Dr. Edward Bartels. Feguer claimed that a woman needed medical attention. When Dr. Bartels arrived, Feguer kidnapped and killed him in Illinois. Bartels’ body was found in a cornfield there with a single gunshot to the head. A few days later, Feguer was arrested in Birmingham, Alabama, after trying to sell Dr. Bartels’ car to James B. Alford, who tipped off the FBI. Alford later told a local newspaper he suspected Feguer was a crook because he had an out-of-state car but no title papers. Authorities believe that Feguer had kidnapped and killed Dr. Bartels in order to gain access to any drugs that Bartels may have carried to treat patients. Because Feguer transported his hostage across state lines, federal charges were filed against Feguer. In his defense, Feguer claimed a drug addict from Chicago, whom Feguer met in Dubuque, had actually murdered Bartels. Feguer said he killed the drug addict and dumped his body in the Mississippi River. However, authorities could not find any evidence that this other person ever existed. Feguer was tried and convicted in federal court for these crimes. He was sentenced to death. Feguer submitted an appeal, which was denied. At that point, only President John F. Kennedy could have commuted the death sentence. Iowa’s governor, Harold Hughes, an opponent of capital punishment, along with Feguer’s attorney, contacted Kennedy to request clemency for Feguer. Kennedy thought the crime was so brutal that he denied their request. On March 5, 1963, Feguer was taken to the Iowa State Penitentiary at Fort Madison, Iowa, and placed on the state’s death row to await execution. He remained there for the next ten days until his execution was carried out.
1983 – Thomas Bunday – was an American serial killer who, from 1979 to 1981, committed a series of murders of young women and girls in the city of Fairbanks, Alaska. At the time of the killings, Bunday was serving at the Eielson Air Force Base near Fairbanks. Bunday was born on September 28, 1948, in Nashville, Tennessee. He was the younger of two children in the family, his elder brother Ralph being 15 years older than him. Bunday spent his childhood and youth in a socially unfavorable situation: his father, a World War II veteran, suffered from mental disorders and was aggressive towards his wife and younger son. After his father died in 1963, Thomas refused to attend his funeral and ran away from home for several days. Bunday was unpopular among the other children at school, but he was a good student, a sociable child who had many friends and acquaintances, which helped develop his positive outlook on life. After graduating from high school in 1966, he married his high school sweetheart and in 1967 joined the United States Air Force, where he achieved the rank of technical sergeant. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Bunday was serving in Southeast Asia. During this period, his wife gave birth to a son fathered by another man. Despite this, he continued to live with his wife, who later gave birth to a daughter, but an extramarital child strained their relationship. In the mid-1970s, Bunday was sent to further service at Eielson Base, Alaska. During this period, he began to show signs of emotional burnout and began visiting a psychotherapist. The murder series began on August 29, 1979, when Fairbanks resident Glinda Sodemann, 19, went missing. Her decomposed body was found two months later in a gravel pit near the highway, 23 miles south of Fairbanks. Despite confessing to the crimes, Bunday was not immediately arrested due to a legal mistake and remained at liberty for another eight days until his apparent suicide in a motorcycling accident, during which, for unknown reasons, he did not make any effort to evade justice.
1985 – Kazimierz Polus – born on September 10, 1929, and deceased on March 15, 1985, was a notorious Polish serial killer and pedophile, responsible for the deaths of two young boys and an adult man. Polus completed his education up to the 7th grade of primary school, without acquiring any professional skills. He entered into matrimony in 1950, but the marriage was short-lived, ending in divorce just a year later. His first encounter with the law occurred in 1953 when he was found guilty of assault and rape, resulting in a 10-year prison sentence, of which he served 7 years. In 1961, he was again convicted, this time for lewd acts, and was sentenced to another 10 years in prison, serving his time at the Kalisz Penal Institution. Upon his release, Polus relocated to Szczecin and found employment at the local Cellulose and Paper Works. In May 1971, he committed his first murder, taking the life of an 8-year-old boy. The post-mortem examination confirmed that the boy had been sexually assaulted before his death. In 1975, Polus returned to Poznań and worked at the Voivodeship Transport Company, and later at the Municipal Transport Company. He committed his second murder in December 1975, killing a 17-year-old boy after sexually assaulting him. His third and final murder occurred in December 1982 in the village of Plewiska, where he killed a 21-year-old man. Polus was arrested on January 5, 1983. The charges were filed with the Poznań Provincial Court in January 1984, accusing him of three sexually motivated murders and theft of money from one of his victims. On April 13, 1984, he was sentenced to death. Despite his attempts to appeal the verdict, the Supreme Court in Warsaw dismissed it on September 18, 1984. The State Council denied him clemency, and on February 28, 1985, the court set the date for his execution. The sentence was carried out at the Poznań Remand Prison on March 15, 1985.
2000 – Darrell Keith Rich – An American rapist and serial killer who gained the nickname “The Hilltop Rapist”, he murdered 3 women and an 11-year-old girl in California in mid-1978
2000 – Patrick Gene Poland – was born on March 8, 1950, in Prescott, Yavapai County, Arizona, USA. He is known for his involvement in the 1977 Arizona armored car robbery, which he committed with his brother, Michael Kent Poland. The robbery took place along Interstate 17, where the two guards of the car were murdered. The brothers impersonated police officers to pull over the armored car, after which they took control. The guards were then put into bags and dumped into Lake Mead. The brothers stole $228,000 during the robbery. The investigation initially focused on the two missing couriers, but they were ruled out as suspects when their wives reported that they had no financial problems, and their employer reported that each courier had faithfully worked for the company for over 20 years. The van was eventually found in the remote desert near the town of Bumble Bee. Blood was found in the back of the van, along with several thousand dollars in coins. $293,000 worth of paper currency was missing. Patrick and his brother were eventually executed for their part in the crime, becoming one of two sets of brothers executed in Arizona. Patrick Gene Poland died on March 15, 2000, in Florence, Pinal County, Arizona, USA, at the age of 50. He was buried in the Arizona State Prison Cemetery.
2005 – Jimmie Ray Slaughter – was a man from Oklahoma, United States. He was sentenced to death in 1994 for the murder of Melody Wuertz, with whom he had an affair, and their 11-month-old daughter, Jessica Wuertz. Despite maintaining his innocence, he was executed on March 17, 2005. His case drew attention due to key evidence against him being called into question. In an attempt to prove his innocence, Slaughter underwent a controversial new test known as brain fingerprinting. This test, which monitors brain activity to determine whether a subject is telling the truth about witnessing certain events, suggested that Slaughter did not recall key details of the crimes. However, this was not enough to overturn his conviction. His case remains a point of discussion in debates about the death penalty and the use of scientific evidence in court cases.
2006 – Tommie Collins Hughes – was a convicted murderer born on August 15, 1974. He was involved in the murder of 25-year-old Foluke Erinkitola and 29-year-old Roxanne Mendoza in northwest Dallas, Texas on August 13, 1997. The crime was a robbery that ended in the tragic death of the two women. Hughes was apprehended by the police who were conducting an undercover operation in the theater parking lot where the crime took place. The victims’ belongings and the murder weapon were found in the car Hughes was in, and blood from one of the victims was found on Hughes’ clothing, suggesting that he shot her at close range. During his trial, Hughes’ defense attorneys presented no witnesses. He was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death. Despite filing a petition for a writ of habeas corpus in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas, his petition was denied and he was executed by lethal injection on March 15, 2006. His final words were, “I love my family. You all stay strong. Watch over each other. Stay strong. I love you. I love you. It’s my hour. It’s my hour. I love you. Stay strong.”
2007 – Charles Voyde Harrelson – was born on July 23, 1938, in Lovelady, Texas. He served in the US Navy and later worked as an encyclopedia salesman before turning to professional gambling. In 1960, he was convicted of armed robbery. Harrelson later admitted that he had been involved in dozens of murders beginning in the early 1960s. Harrelson was the father of actors Brett and Woody Harrelson. According to Woody, his father disappeared from the family’s home in Houston in 1968, leaving his wife Diane to raise Woody and his two brothers. Woody lost track of his father until 1981 when news broke of Harrelson’s arrest for the murder of Judge Wood. Harrelson was an American contract killer and organized crime figure who was convicted of assassinating federal judge John H. Wood Jr., the first federal judge to be assassinated in the 20th century. He was sentenced to 2 life terms, though he denied having killed the Judge. As he tried to escape from prison, he was moved to a super-max prison in Colorado, where he died of a heart attack at 68. In April 2023, actor Matthew McConaughey claimed that he and Woody Harrelson, who have been long-time friends, could potentially be half-brothers, implying that Charles Harrelson could also be his father. According to McConaughey, his mother claimed to have known Woody’s father around the time that she bore McConaughey, and the two actors have discussed taking a DNA test to be certain. Harrelson was tried for the 1968 murder of Alan Harry Berg, a carpet salesman from Houston, Texas. Harrelson’s ex-girlfriend Sandra Attaway testified against him, stating she had seen Harrelson fire the gunshot. Harrelson engaged the well-known attorney Percy Foreman to represent him. In September 1970, he was acquitted of the murder charge. In 1968, Harrelson was again tried for the murder of Sam Degelia Jr. He had allegedly accepted a contract (for $2,000) for killing Degelia, a grain dealer from Hearne, Texas. The man was assassinated in McAllen, Texas.
2010 – James Van Adams – On the 9th of February, 1996, Michelle Anglin, a real estate agent, was showing a model home to Adams. Upon reaching a bedroom upstairs, Adams overpowered Anglin, removed her clothes, and attempted to sexually assault her while simultaneously choking her. Evidence of the struggle was found in the bedroom closet, including buttons from Anglin’s blouse and semen stains. Signs of a struggle were also evident in the damaged household furnishings. When Anglin’s family members and husband couldn’t contact her via pager, they requested a welfare check from the police. The police discovered her body hidden under a bed in an upstairs bedroom during their visit to the model home office. Adams was subsequently convicted on charges of first-degree murder, kidnapping, attempted sexual assault, and second-degree burglary.
2012 – Timothy Shaun Stemple – was a man convicted for the brutal murder of his wife, Trisha Stemple, in 1996. The crime took place in Tulsa County, Oklahoma, and was initially staged to appear as a hit-and-run accident. However, the police investigation revealed it to be a premeditated homicide. Stemple, who was reportedly having an affair with another woman at the time, orchestrated the murder to claim a life insurance policy worth nearly one million dollars. He enlisted the help of a teenager, Terry Hunt, promising him a substantial sum of money for his assistance in the crime. The murder was carried out with a baseball bat and involved staging the crime scene to resemble a car accident. Despite the horrific injuries inflicted on Trisha, she managed to crawl away into some grass before the culprits ran over her with a pickup truck. Stemple was eventually convicted of the murder in 1998 and was sentenced to death. He was executed by lethal injection by the State of Oklahoma in 2012. Terry Hunt, who had pleaded guilty and testified against Stemple, was sentenced to life in prison. Despite the conviction, Stemple’s family maintained his innocence, and there were appeals for a stay of execution up until the last minute.
2018 – Carlton Gary – was an American serial killer born on September 24, 1950, in Columbus, Georgia. He was known for murdering three elderly women in Columbus, Georgia, and one in Syracuse, New York, between 1975 and 1978, though he is suspected of at least four more killings. Gary’s father was a construction worker who wanted nothing to do with him and would not accept any financial responsibility for him. Gary met his biological father only once when he was 12 years old. His mother was extremely poor and, as a result, they frequently relocated. He was malnourished most of the time and was often left with his aunt or great-aunt, both maids for elderly, wealthy women. In elementary school, Gary suffered serious head trauma when he was knocked unconscious in a playground accident. In his teens, he was a heavy drug user. Between the ages of 14 and 18, he was arrested numerous times for robbery, arson, and assault. During that time, he married a woman named Sheila and had two children. In 1970, he moved to Albany, New York, where he had plans to become a singer, but he continued with his criminal activities. Gary was arrested in December 1978 for an armed robbery and sentenced to 21 years in prison. He escaped from custody in 1983 and was caught a year later. Evidence was found linking him to the earlier murders and he was convicted and sentenced to death in August 1986. He was executed by lethal injection on March 15, 2018.
Events
Julie Cunningham
1975 – Bundy victim Julie Cunningham disappears from Vail, Colorado
1982 – Actress Theresa Saldana is stabbed repeatedly by an obsessed fan
1993 – In a landmark case, Mohamed Tabet, Police Commissioner of Casablanca, is convicted of sexually abusing over 1500 women and sentenced to death
2019 – Christchurch Mosque shooting