True Crime On This Day April 2nd

Last Updated on September 23, 2022 by Ben Oakley

April 2nd

On April 2nd in true crime, Bristol riots, Taplow murder, shooting in Florida, cold case body, murder, gruesome discovery, and invasion.

1978

In Miami-Dade County, Florida, Manuel Valle shot dead police officer Louis Pena after being stopped for a traffic violation. Valle also shot another officer at the scene who survived and ended up testifying at the trial.

Valle was arrested two days later and subsequently sentenced to death. Valle is infamous for having served one of the longest times on death row. 33 years later in September 2011, he was executed by lethal injection.

1979

In Collier County, Florida, the body of an unidentified 21 to 35-year-old male was discovered near a highway. No one in the area had been reported missing and no one came forward to identify the man.

The identity of the man and the circumstances surrounding his death remain a mystery.

1980

In Bristol, England, the St. Paul Riots took place, leaving 25 people injured and extensive damage to emergency services vehicles. In the evening, police raided the Black and White Café on Grosvenor Road which led to a riot.

Some people have claimed that the riot started when a police officer ripped the trousers of a customer inside the café. An hour later, an estimated 2,000 people were rioting on the streets of Bristol.

A bank and a Post Office were damaged, along with several fire engines and 12 police cars. Despite 130 arrests, no convictions were made.

1981

In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the body of an unidentified white male between the ages of 30 to 50-years-old was discovered in a river.

He had been spotted by hikers, floating face down in the Schuylkill River at 24th & Walnut Streets. An autopsy was unable to determine the cause of death but it is suspected he had eloped from the nearby Philadelphia State Hospital a couple of days earlier.

He was found wearing a yellow metal crucifix on a chain. Foul play has long been suspected and his case remains unsolved.

1982

Argentina invaded the British territory of the Falkland Islands in the south Atlantic. The islands, off the coast of Argentina, had been a cause of friction between the two countries since Britain claimed them in 1833.

The subsequent war cost the lives of 655 Argentine and 255 British servicemen, many of them sailors who died during attacks on warships. It ended on June 14^th 1982 when the commander of the Argentine garrison at Port Stanley surrendered to British troops.

The victory greatly boosted the popularity of Margaret Thatcher’s government which went on to win the next election.

1983

In Taplow, Buckinghamshire, England, the home of 74-year-old Mary ‘Molly’ Willmore, was set on fire in the early hours of the morning.

Her body was discovered in the kitchen the following morning. She had been beaten to death by one or more unidentified robbers who had broken into her home. An autopsy suggested she had been hit over the head multiple times with a shovel.

Willmore lived alone with at least 15 cats and was known to have been a private individual. No suspects have ever been found and her murder remains unsolved.

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