Centenaries - whole and half

[sdreid]

200 years ago - 1816 October 29 - In Ireland, the Wildgoose Lodge is set ablaze my a mob of men, killing all eight occupants inside. A secret society that was active in the area was blamed and 18 men, some of whom were probably innocent, were executed for the murders.

50 years ago - 1966 October 29 - While her husband is at work, Anita Taylor, 20, is beaten, stomped and raped in her Ohio home. Her infant son was also savagely beaten but eventally recovered. Anita's murder was never solved.

[sdreid]

50 years ago - 1966 October 30 - After disabling her car this evening, someone murders Cheri Jo Bates with stabs to the throat. The 18-year-old Riverside City College co-ed was just leaving the school's library. After a few weeks, several people, including Cheri's father, began to receive taunting letters from an individual believed to be the murderer. Her slaying was never solved and some think she was an early victim of California's Zodiac Killer.

[sdreid]

50 years ago - 1966 November 3 - In California, Mary Brinker Arden dies after being given a massive dose of insulin by her husband William Dale Archerd. He was also suspected of murdering five others, including two earlier wives, two "friends" and a teenage nephew. Archerd was sent to prison for life and died there in 1977.

[sdreid]

50 years ago - 1966 November 4 - Diane Olkwitz, 19, is stabbed more than 100 times in the Wisconsin factory where she's employed. The prime suspect in her murder is Michael Lee Herrington but he was only convicted of two other killings and sent to prison for life.

[sdreid]

100 years ago - 1916 November 5 - In Everett, Washington, IWW Union members who've come to the city on two ships to support striking shingle workers, are ordered not to leave the boats by Sheriff Donald McRae who is backed by his posse. In addition to the men with the Sheriff on the dock, another detachment is aboard a tugboat just off the shore. A gun battle ensues in which a reported 7 to 14+ men are killed. Union leader Thomas Tracy and a number of his men are arrested for murder relating to the pair of men killed on the Sheriff's side but he is acquitted at trial and the charges against the rest of the men are dropped.

[sdreid]

50 years ago - 1966 November 9 - During a nature walk through an English woods, Dr. Helen Davidson is battered to death with a tree limb. The middle aged physician's murder was never solved.

[Joshua Rogan]

I've not heard of this case before, but apparently it has been recently solved, according to the author of a book about it;

http://www.getbucks.co.uk/news/local-news/50-year-old-amersham-cold-11325318

[sdreid]

I've not heard of this case before, but apparently it has been recently solved, according to the author of a book about it;

http://www.getbucks.co.uk/news/local...-cold-11325318

Thanks-I saw that and I suppose the guy is as good a suspect as any but I wasn't too convinced.

[sdreid]

50 years ago - 1966 November 12 - In a Mesa, Arizona beauty salon, Robert Benjamin Smith, 18, orders the 5 women and two children to lie on the floor then shoots them in the back of the head. Five of the seven individuals die as a result. He was asked why he did it and he claimed that it was because he wanted to be famous; possibly inspired by the Richard Speck killings. He eventually wound up in prison after a death sentence was commuted.

[sdreid]

50 years ago - 1966 December 6 - Memphis liquor store clerk Hillman Robbins is shot and killed during a robbery by Glenn Nash and Margo Freshwater. The duo also murdered two others in a three state killing spree. Nash was admitted to a mental facility after being found unfit to plead. Freshwater was sent to prison but escaped in 1970 and was not recaptured and sent back until 2002. Both perpetrators have since been released.

[sdreid]

50 years ago - 1966 December 9 - Lula Kerrick, 81, is found strangled inside an elevator. Her murder has not been solved but some authorities think she might be a victim of Posteal Laskey, aka the Cincinnati Strangler. The serial killer was convicted of another murder and sent to prison where he died in 2007.

[sdreid]

150 years ago - 1866 December 13 - In Lexington, Missouri, James-Younger Gang associate Archie Clement is shot and killed by militiamen while resisting arrest.

[sdreid]

50 years ago - 1966 December 18 - Esther Bouyea is shot and killed in the Florida convenience store where she works by Glenn Nash and Margo Freshwater. The duo also murdered two others in a three state killing spree. Nash was admitted to a mental facility after being found unfit to plead. Freshwater was sent to prison but escaped in 1970 and was not recaptured and sent back until 2002. Both perpetrators have since been released.

[sdreid]

50 years ago - 1966 December 21 - Salt Lake City cab driver Grant Strong is found with a fatal gunshot wound to the back of his head at the airport. His killers, Myron Lance and his love Walter Kelbach, then make their way to a local bar and murder three more individuals. The men, who had killed two others in the days leading up to this carnage, were condemned to death but their sentences were later reduced to life in prison. Lance died in 2010 while still incarcerated.

[sdreid]

50 years ago - 1966 December 22 - Ilona Harke, 5, is raped and drowned in a ditch at Wuppertal, (then West) Germany. She was the tenth known victim of serial killer Joachim Kroll who will continue murdering for another decade. In 1976, the plumbing in Kroll's apartment building was found to be clogged with the remains of a small child and this led to his arrest. He was given a life term and died imprisoned in 1991.