Centenaries - whole and half

[sdreid]

50 years ago - 1959 May 29 - Two AWOL soldiers, George York, 18, and James Latham, 19, murder Althea Ottavio and Patricia Hewitt in Jacksonville, Florida by strangulation. The rampage has just begun.

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50 years ago - 1959 June 1 - Dagmar Klimet is thrown from a train, raped and stabbed to death by Heinrich Pommerenke, the Beast of the Black Forest. His tally reached at least ten and he eventually got life terms. Pommerenke claimed that he'd been set off by the "disgusting" sight of dancing girls in the film The Ten Commandments.

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50 years ago - 1959 June 7 - The roving spree continues as James Latham and George York kill John Whittaker in Tennessee.

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50 years ago - 1959 June 8 - James Latham and George York have come to Illinois where they murder Albert Reed and Martin Drenovac. They are now headed west.

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50 years ago - 1959 June 9 - A young girl named Lynne Harper vanishes in Ontario. She was later found murdered. A 14-year-old named Stephen Truscott was convicted of the killing and sentenced to hang. That was later reduced to a prison term and then the conviction was eventually overturned.

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50 years ago - 1959 June 9 - In Kansas, James Latham and George York kill Otto Ziegler and they aren't finished yet.

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50 years ago - 1959 June 10 - George York and James Latham murder Rachel Moyer in Colorado and are finally captured. They will eventually be extradited back to Kansas where they will be hanged together in 1965.

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50 years ago - 1959 June 17 - The partially clothed body of a prostitute name Elizabeth Figg is found floating in the Thames. Some think that she was the first victim in the unsolved Jack the Stripper serial killings. Strangulation was determined to be the cause of her death.

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50 years ago - 1959 June 17 - The Ruhr Hunter, Joachim Kroll kills Klara Jesmer. He murdered at least 14 in a career that lasted more than 20 years and wound up with a life term in prison.

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50 years ago - 1959 June 16 - George "Superman" Reeves is found dead from a gunshot in Beverly Hills. Is it suicide or murder?

[sdreid]

Sorry I got those last three a bit out of order but I just noticed today that it was 50 years ago that Superman died.

[Jeff Leahy]

50 years ago - 1959 June 17 - The partially clothed body of a prostitute name Elizabeth Figg is found floating in the Thames. Some think that she was the first victim in the unsolved Jack the Stripper serial killings. Strangulation was determined to be the cause of her death.

Actually Stan, I don't think this is correct. Elizabeth Figg's body was discovered leaning against a tree by the river bank. It was Tailfords body discovered in the river.

Rees body was buried on waste ground. I think Lockwood was also in the river?

The rest were placed or posed, similar to Figg...or just discarded like O'Hara hidden on waste ground .

But I agree it is interesting that it is the 50th anniversary..

Many thanks

Pirate

[sdreid]

Thanks Jeff. I was just going by what Newton's Encyclopedia of Serial Killers said. They must have gotten that slightly wrong. I didn't think to verify it in a video or other book. It looks like they have Rees correct in the encyclopedia.

I've had some contact with Mr. Newton and he's a stickler so this is not to be taken as a pattern.

[sdreid]

50 years ago - 1959 June 25 - Charles Starkweather dies in a Nebraska electric chair. In late 1957 and early 1958, he'd murdered eleven people.

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50 years ago - 1959 July 13 - British police officer Raymond Purdy is shot and killed while attempting to arrest Guenther Podola. Authorities had traced a phone call to the killer who was trying to blackmail a woman he'd once burgled. Podola will be hanged later this year.