True Crime On This Day January 21st

Last Updated on September 20, 2022 by Ben Oakley

January 21st

On January 21st in true crime, government bribery, unsolved murders, the Skid Row serial killer, macabre discovery, and murder in Bradford.

1978

In Bradford, United Kingdom, 21-year-old prostitute Yvonne Pearson was bludgeoned to death by Peter Sutcliffe, AKA: The Yorkshire Ripper. Her body would not be found for another two months.

After appearing at Sutcliffe’s car window, they had quickly agreed a price of only £5 (GBP) for her services. They ended up at a waste ground where Sutcliffe hit her over the head with a hammer and left the body in a shallow grave.

1979

In Los Angeles, Bobby Joe Maxwell, AKA: The Skid Row Killer, killed 26-year-old Luis Alvarez. In mid-1978, Maxwell was sentenced to just two months in jail for mild offences.

Shortly after his release, from October 1978 to December 1978, Maxwell brutally killed 10 people.

On December 14^th 1978, police arrested him again for concealing a weapon on his person and he was only sentenced to one month in prison. After his second release, he killed Alvarez who would become his final victim.

Upon his next arrest in April 1979, he was charged with 10 of 11 murders. In prison, he confessed to another inmate that he killed ‘to obtain the souls for Satan.’

1980

In Spokane County, Washington, the body of an unidentified 35 to 45-year-old white male was discovered in a railroad tunnel, east of Spokane city.

The man was considered to have been homeless and was found by three other homeless people inside the tunnel, two days after his death. The man had been beaten so forcefully that he had received multiple fractures and broken bones.

He was then set on fire and burned to death. The circumstances surrounding the murder and the identity of the victim remain a mystery to this day.

1981

In Washington, National Security Advisor to President Reagan, Richard V. Allen, took receipt of $1,000 (USD) and expensive watches from a Japanese women’s magazine.

The Shufo No Tomo publication gave the items in return for arranging an interview with new First Lady Nancy Reagan. It was Allen’s very first day at the White House. The bribery was exposed when Allen changed offices and the FBI found the $1,000 cheque in his safe.

Allen had not cashed the cheque but was later caught soliciting bribes from Japanese security companies. He was forced to resign on January 4^th 1982.

1982

In Adams County, Colorado, the body of 25-year-old Jesse Bennett was discovered in a snowbank in a field.

Due to the cold weather, an autopsy was unable to determine the exact date of his death but he had been shot dead at any time from two weeks to two days prior to his discovery.

Despite a large investigation at the time, his killer has never been found and his case remains unsolved.

1983

In Cuyahoga County, Ohio, 70-year-old Robinson’s Drug Store owner Robert Robinson was killed at his place of work during an attempted robbery.

He had been shot dead by Ernest Martin who had revealed his robbery plan to his girlfriend, Josephine Pedro. She attempted to dissuade him, but Martin threatened her at gunpoint if she did not cooperate in the robbery.

Robinson unlocked the door to allow Pedro to enter, and Martin intended to follow her in to rob the premises. However, Robinson locked the door again before Martin had a chance to gain entrance.

As Robinson stood in front of the door after locking it, two shots were fired through the glass, killing him instantly.

Both Martin and Pedro were arrested several weeks later, and Pedro ended up testifying against Martin, who was later sentenced to death. He was executed by lethal injection in Ohio on June 18^th 2003.

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