True Crime On This Day December 1st

December 1st

On December 1st in true crime, the Bedroom Basher, the Sunday morning slasher, serial killers, missing persons and murder.

1978

In California, American serial Killer Gerald Parker, AKA: The Bedroom Basher, claimed his first victim. 17-year-old Sandra Fry was discovered by her flat-mate in Anaheim late at night. She was nude from the waist down and her blouse was pulled up, exposing her bra.

She had been raped and then hit in the face and head with a blunt object, fracturing her skull. The weapon was deduced to be either a baseball bat or wooden pole. She was barely alive when found and died shortly after in the emergency room.

Parker would go on to brutally murder six people from 1978 to 1979. He was convicted in February of 1999 and sentenced to death.

1979

In Michigan, 25-year-old Helen Dutcher was stabbed to death by serial killer Carl ‘Coral’ Watts. Also known as The Sunday Morning Slasher, Watts body count is suspected to be close to 100 victims across an eight-year period.

Ever since he was 12-years-old, Watts claimed that he began dreaming of torturing and killing girls and women. Watts is suspected to have killed his first victim by the age of 15-years-old.

He claimed he killed over 40 but subsequent investigations linked him with closer to 100 murders in total. He died of cancer in 2007, while serving life in prison.

1980

In Curry County, New Mexico, 25-year-old Laura Maria Hernandez vanished without a trace. Amazingly, she wasn’t officially reported missing until 1993.

She had last been seen leaving her house in Clovis. Despite a late investigation, no trace of Hernandez has ever been found. There have been no sightings and no sign of any remains. Her disappearance remains a mystery to this day.

1981

In Jefferson County, Texas, 22-year-old Ronald Gene Goode was shot dead by his brother-in-law, Johnny Ray Anderson. Ronald had been killed in an attempt to collect $67,000 (USD) of insurance money which would have been paid out upon his death.

Johnny conspired with his sister and Ronald’s wife, Laura Anderson Goode, her mother, Rowena Anderson, and a family friend, Delvin Johnson, to plan the killing. They were all arrested the day after.

Laura, Rowena, and Delvin were sentenced to life in prison for their involvement in the murder. Johnny was sentenced to death and executed by lethal injection on May 17^th 1990.

1982

In Dunnville, Ontario, Canada, 22-year-old Robert Allan Asher disappeared without a trace. He had last been seen driving his 1970 Pontiac LeMans around his hometown.

Asher was known to have been involved with the drug trade and investigators believed it had something to do with his disappearance. He wasn’t reported missing until May 1^st 1983.

Despite a large investigation and police search, no trace of Asher or his Pontiac were ever found. His case remains unsolved.

1983

In Mecklenburg County, Virginia, 43-year-old Mecklenburg Correctional Center employee William H. Ricketson was robbed and killed. He had been attacked by Joe Louis Wise, who had approached him near his vehicle and forced him onto the ground at gunpoint where he beat him.

Wise then shot Ricketson in the face and chest before dumping him in a hole that had been dug for a toilet behind an old factory plant in Chase City.

An autopsy showed that his wounds would have ultimately killed him but the cause of death was labelled as drowning, from the water in the hole.

Wise was arrested the same day as he was putting oil in Ricketson’s pickup. He was sentenced to death and executed in the electric chair in Virginia on September 14^th 1993.

Check out the Mega List of True Crime Podcasts