True Crime On This Day December 6th

Last Updated on September 19, 2022 by Ben Oakley

December 6th

On December 6th in true crime, robbery in Australia, serial killers, cold cases, mystery body, and unidentified murder victim.

1978

In Melbourne, Australia, a butcher named Vernon Mangin stole $1,000 (AUD) from his employer. He then went to a betting shop and lost it in one afternoon.

Deciding he needed to get the money back to the butchers, he staged an armed robbery in the betting shop but only managed to get a little over $300 (AUD) back.

He later raided a bank to make up the difference, but he was caught and arrested. Mangin was sentenced to just over three years for the robberies.

1979

In Baltimore, Maryland, the body of an unidentified murder victim was found at the edge of a pond in Fort Smallwood Park. The mixed-race female was aged between 13 to 17-years-old.

She had been wrapped in a blanket and sheet before being dumped in the waters. The exact circumstances of her death and her identity remain a mystery to this day.

1980

In California, a 75-year-old female was strangled and beaten to death. She was found partially clothed the next door by relatives. She had been killed by David Edwin Mason, and was his fourth victim of 1980.

He was arrested in 1982 and convicted of four murders. While awaiting trial, along with an accomplice, they killed another inmate and hung him from the showers to make it look like a suicide.

Mason was later sentenced to death and executed on August 24^th 1993.

1981

In Stockton, California, 19-year-old San Joaquin Delta College student Dena Viola McHan disappeared under suspicious circumstances.

She left her friend’s apartment block in the early hours of the morning and stopped off at a gas station on her way home. The gas attendant witnessed two unidentified men harassing McHan and asked if she needed assistance, but McHan declined.

No trace of her or her 1974 Toyota has ever been found since. It is suspected she was met with foul play. Her case remains unsolved.

1982

In Ballykelly, Northern Ireland, a bomb was detonated in a nightclub, killing 17 people and injuring 30 more. The bomb, which was on a timer, had been planted by the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA).

The club was known to have been frequented by British Army soldiers from the nearby Shackleton Barracks. 11 soldiers and six civilians were killed, which made it the deadliest attack to have been carried out by the INLA.

The club was called the Droppin Well and the attack became known as the Droppin Well Bombing.

1983

In Chautauqua County, New York, the body of an unidentified female in her thirties was discovered in a ditch. She had been found by utility workers alongside Interstate 86 (previously NY State Route 17).

She had been shot dead, once in the face, once in the back, and twice in the chest, just hours before her discovery. She was believed to have been of European descent due to documents found on her at the time but she has never been identified.

It was suspected that she had been picked up while hitchhiking then thrown out of the car before being killed. Her case remains unsolved.

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