True Crime On This Day February 12th

Last Updated on September 21, 2022 by Ben Oakley

February 12th

On February 12th in true crime, passenger airline shot down, murder in Georgia, macabre discovery, the Scorecard Killer double murder.

1978

An elderly lady named Ruth Schwob was attacked in Georgia. Ruth managed to trigger her bedside alarm causing serial killer Carlton Gary to flee the scene.

Not being able to end the night without killing, he broke into another house only two blocks away and raped and strangled 78-year-old, Mildred Borom.

African American Carlton Michael Gary was finally executed on March 15^th 2018. He was convicted of armed robbery and the murders of three elderly women in Columbus, Georgia. He is suspected of killing four more but was never convicted on them.

1979

In Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), Air Rhodesia Flight 827was shot down between Kariba and Salisbury.

The Zimbabwe People’s Revolutionary Army (ZIPRA) used a Strela 2 missile, shortly after the passenger airliner had taken off, destroying it in mid-air. All 59 people on board were killed in the explosion.

1980

In Volusia County, Florida, the skeletal remains of an unidentified 25 to 40-year-old female were discovered near a roadway. She had died at least one year earlier.

Despite having no recognisable features, an investigation suspected she had been the victim of foul play. No missing person in the area was linked to her.

The circumstances surrounding her death remain a mystery and she has never been identified.

1981

In Greenville County, South Carolina, Dale Yates and an accomplice, Henry Davis, robbed Wood’s Grocery store after spending all night looking for the best place to rob.

When they entered the store, they ordered the shopkeeper, Willie Wood, to empty the cash which amounted to $3,000 (USD).

Davis then ordered Yates to shoot at Wood as he suspected he may have been reaching for a weapon.

As they exited they got into a scuffle with Wood’s mother, Helen Wood. In the process, both Willie and Helen were killed by gunshot and knife wounds.

Willie also managed to get some rounds off and killed Davis. Yates escaped but was caught shortly after. Despite not having killed anyone directly, he was convicted of murder and sentenced to death.

Under South Carolina law the following is in place:

Where two persons combine to commit an unlawful act, and in execution of the criminal act, a homicide is committed by one of the actors as a probable or natural consequence of those acts [sic], all present participating in the unlawful act are as guilty as the one who committed the fatal act.

Yates’ death sentenced was overturned on appeal on August 9^th 1991 and commuted to life in prison.

1982

Back on April 3^rd 1980, in Maryland, 18-year-old Cynthia Joan Gastelle disappeared while heading for a job interview at a deli in Takoma Park.

Her disappearance remained unsolved for another 32 years. On this day in 1982, skeletal remains were discovered on Bull Run Mountain but were not identified as Gastelle’s until 2012.

She was identified when DNA from a relative came back as a match. Investigators confirmed she had been killed by an unknown assailant. Over 40 years later, her murder remains unsolved.

1983

In Buena Park, California, serial killer Randy Steven Kraft, AKA: The Scorecard Killer, attacked and killed two men.

18-year-old Geoffrey Nelson and 20-year-old Rodger DeVaul were last seen outside of a friend’s house on their way to get something to eat. A few hours later, Nelson’s nude body was found near the Garden Grove Freeway.

The following day, DeVaul’s body was discovered down a mountainside close in San Bernardino County. Both men had been raped and strangled to death with a cord.

The murders went unsolved until Kraft’s arrest later in the year. He was convicted of 16 murders but it is suggested he may have been responsible for 67 killings during his campaign of terror from 1971 to 1983.

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