True Crime On This Day January 18th

January 18th

On January 18th in true crime, new cross house fire, macabre discovery, human rights case, cop killers, gruesome discovery and assassination.

1978

After a lengthy inquest, the European Court of Human Rights found the British Government guilty of mistreating prisoners in Northern Ireland.

It stated that Britain had carried out inhuman and degrading treatment of 14 prisoners, but didn’t find the country guilty of torture.

1979

In Garrett County, Maryland, 31-year-old Deputy Sheriff David Livengood was shot and killed after responding to a burglary call.

The former Marine Corps veteran was caught off-guard when Roberto Rezek and Richard Tichnell came out of the Army store and shot him dead.

The suspects also killed his dog with a samurai sword. They were captured by state police the same day and subsequently sentenced for the murder.

Tichnell was sentenced to death which was later commuted to life and Rezek was also sentenced to life. By 2011, they had both died in prison.

1980

At Ballinagee Bridge, near the Turloch Hill power station in Ireland, the decomposing body of factory worker Phyllis Murphy was discovered.

On December 22^nd 1979, she had spent the day Christmas shopping in Newbridge and was last seen at a bus stop outside the Keadeen Hotel in the early evening. She was never seen alive again.

Her murder remained a cold case for 23 years, until 2003 when former Army sergeant and father-of-five John Crerar was convicted of her murder.

He had raped Murphy, before strangling and beating her to death. Crerar was later sentenced to life in prison.

1981

In Deptford, London, a fire at a house party killed 13 young black people between the ages of 14 and 22. At the time of the fire, there was a high level of racial tension in the area from groups including the National Front but police ruled out arson.

One week later, 20,000 people marched peacefully from Fordham Park to Hyde Park, claiming systematic racism and cover-ups among the British elite.

Shortly before the fire, Dame Jill Knight of the Conservative Party had encouraged direct action against noisy parties. Despite the peaceful march, the British tabloids ran with headlines such as ‘Day the blacks ran riot in London’.

A survivor of the fire took his own life in 1983 by jumping from a tall building after having been traumatised by the death of his friends. Inquests into the fire have all resulted in open verdicts.

1982

In Stuttgart, Germany, Kosovo-Albanian activist Jusuf Gervalla was assassinated along with his brother Bardhosh Gervalla, and fellow activist Kadri Zeka.

Jusuf was also a writer, musician, and the founder of the Marxist-Leninist group National Movement for the Liberation of Kosovo. The three were ambushed in a gun attack on a public street.

Though no one has ever been arrested for the assassination, the Yugoslav secret service were alleged to have carried it out, in response to Jusuf’s nationalist activism.

1983

In Atlanta, Fulton County, Georgia, the skeletal remains of a 35 to 50-year-old black female, were unearthed in an open field near the 1600 block of Stewart Avenue.

Though she could not be recognised, she had numerous lower teeth missing, and was found with a green knit sweater, white bra, and yellow dress. The identity of the woman and the cause of her death remain a mystery.

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