True Crime On This Day August 30th

August 30th

On August 30th in true crime, serial killer Frank Spisak, unidentified body, hijacking, cold case murder, solved crime, Jean Seberg death.

1978

In Berlin, hijackers forced LOT Polish Airlines Flight 165 to land in West Germany. The hijackers were East Germans seeking asylum in the West.

The leader was later convicted of hijacking by a West German jury in a special United States Court in Berlin.

1979

In Paris, American actress Jean Dorothy Seberg disappeared after a night out with her partner Ahmed Hasni. Hasni informed the police and told them that she was suicidal and that she had been a victim of ongoing FBI surveillance.

The surveillance was due to her support of the Black Panther Party in the 1960s, but the constant FBI harassment had led to her deteriorating mental health.

Nine days after her disappearance, her decomposing body was found wrapped in a blanket in the back seat of her car which was parked close to her apartment.

The initial response was that Seberg had committed suicide but a year later, Paris police filed charges against an unknown person for ‘non-assistance of a person in danger’.

Seberg’s second husband, Romain Gary, called a press conference where he publicly blamed the FBI’s campaign against her for her death.

He also cited a story that the FBI falsely reported to the media about Seberg being pregnant with a Black Panther Party member’s child in 1970.

Investigators have since confirmed that she had too much alcohol in her system to have driven the car alone and that an assailant, knowingly or unknowingly, left her in the car to die.

In 2019, Amazon Studios released an original film based on Seberg’s battle with the FBI, starring Kristen Stewart.

1980

In Salem, New Hampshire, 73-year-old Henry Travers Jr. was shot dead at the Fireside Motel where he worked as a night clerk. Travers was well-liked by locals and guests.

No suspect has ever been found and there appeared to be no motive behind the attack. Travers’ murder is one of many cold cases from Salem from the 1960s to 1990s that remain unsolved.

1981

In Jefferson County, Colorado, the body of 18-year-old Jeannie Moore was discovered by picnickers at Genesee Park.

She had disappeared five days earlier when she left home for her work at the Tenneco Gas Station. An autopsy showed she had been beaten to death with constant blows to the head.

Two witnesses saw her get into the passenger seat of a red car.

Her murder remained unsolved for 38 years until September 2019 when Jefferson County cold case investigators linked DNA found at the scene to Donald Steven Perea.

It was one of the first instances of solving a cold case with genealogical DNA methods in the State of Colorado.

At the time of Moore’s death, Perea was out of jail on bond and awaiting trial on a rape charge. Perea later was convicted of rape and served a Colorado prison term between 1982 and 1985.

DNA wasn’t linked at the time because it was just before DNA was collected from prisoners as a matter of routine.

Unfortunately for the family of Moore, justice could not be served, as Perea died of natural causes in 2012.

1982

In Cleveland, Ohio, the body of student Brian Warford was discovered in a bus shelter on the campus of Cleveland State University.

He had died from a single gunshot wound to the head, despite four more casings being recovered from the scene.

He had been killed a day earlier by American serial killer Frank G. Spisak Jr., AKA: Frankie Ann ‘Hitler’ Spisak, who killed at least three people over the course of 1982.

He was a transvestite killer who claimed he wanted to become Adolf Hitler. Spisak was arrested a few days later and subsequently sentenced to death. He was executed by lethal injection in Ohio on February 17^th 2011.

1983

In Tampa, Florida, the decomposing body of an unidentified adult white male was discovered in a parking lot at 2121 West Kennedy Boulevard.

He was known to have frequented the area for at least two years before his death. The man had died at least one week prior, but it is unclear if it had been of natural causes or foul play.

Due to the decomposition of the body, he has never been identified.

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