True Crime On This Day August 15th

Last Updated on September 27, 2022 by Ben Oakley

August 15th

On August 15th in true crime, serial killers, murder, killed in the line of duty, mystery body in Wales, macabre discovery, and cold cases.

1978

In Jackson County, Wisconsin, the partial skeletal remains of a 30-50-year-old male were discovered. A skull, lower mandible and vertebrae were recovered from a shallow grave in the Knapp township area.

Based on the evidence located at the scene and the autopsy carried out on the remains, the person had been the victim of a violent murder.

As of 2022, the identity of the person is a mystery but it is an active cold case in the State of Wisconsin.

1979

In Port Talbot, Wales, the body of an adult male between the ages of 45 to 60-years-old, washed up on the beach. The unidentified male had grey hair and no teeth.

He was wearing a shirt and tie and was dressed in a formal manner. No missing person reports matched his description and no one came forward to say they may have known him.

The identity of the man and the circumstances of his death have long remained a mystery.

1980

In Denver, Colorado, the body of 32-year-old local business owner Travis McGilvray was found on the side of the North Platte River. He had been beaten to death the same day.

A heavy object had been used to hit him on the head. McGilvray was the owner of M&G Electronics, and it was initially suspected the motive was robbery, but it was never proven.

Despite many customers being interviewed and many leads, the murder remains unsolved.

1981

In Seymour, Indiana, 39-year-old Patrolman Jack William Osborne was struck and killed by a drunk driver. Osborne was helping an Indiana state trooper to investigate an accident on Interstate 65 in the Three Bridges Area.

He was inspecting a damaged guardrail when a drunk driver slammed into the rear of his patrol car. A second vehicle hit the drunk-driver’s car, and Osborne in the process.

He was thrown in the air then carried over 80 feet during the incident, dying of his wounds shortly after. The drunk driver was only sentenced to two years’ probation, along with court costs and community hours.

1982

In Washington State, on the same day that the bodies of 17-year-old Cynthia Jean Hinds and31-year-old Marcia Faye Chapman were found, the body of 16-year-old Opal Charmaine Mills was also discovered in the Green River.

They had all been brutally murdered by Gary Ridgway, AKA: The Green River Killer. Mills had last been seen and heard of when she spoke to her family three days earlier on August 12^th.

Ridgway was arrested in 2001 and sentenced to life in prison in 2003 after entering a plea bargain to plead guilty to 48 charges of murder. He remains one of the most notorious serial killers in the United States.

1983

In Manatee County, Florida, 34-year-old schoolteacher Sharilyn Ritchie was kidnapped at gunpoint then shot dead.

She had parked her car at Bradenton Mall when she was kidnapped by Robert Dewey Glock and Carl Puiatti. They stole her wedding ring, forced her to withdraw $100 (USD), then drove her car north to Pasco County.

They released her in an orange grove but decided to kill her because she could identify them. Both men shot her multiple times. Five days later, Glock and Puiatti were arrested while driving Ritchie’s car.

They both confessed to the murder and were sentenced to death. Glock was executed by lethal injection in Florida on January 11^th 2001. Puiatti remains on death row.

Check out the Mega List of True Crime Podcasts