True Crime On This Day January 2nd

January 2nd

On January 2nd in true crime, serial killer capture, massacre in Pakistan, murder in Northern Ireland, arson, and serial killers.

1978

In Pakistan, the 1978 massacre at Multan Colony Textile Mills took place. It was considered one of the most brutal acts of Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq’s regime.

Paramilitary forces descended on the factories and opened fire on workers who were on strike. At least 200 workers were killed in the attack.

1979

In New Jersey, 21 people were killed in an arson attack at 131 Clinton St. in Hoboken. Most of the victims were Hispanic women and children. In later years it was claimed that the attack was due to gentrification which means to change the character of a poor urban area into a wealthier one.

The Clinton St. fire was one of many in the city from 1978 to 1982. Most new residents who moved into refurbished condominiums had no idea about the fires or the number of dead bodies that had paved the way for their arrival.

In 2018, the Hoboken Fire Victims Memorial Project was set up so that the tragedies would not be forgotten.

1980

In what kick-started a year of murder and bombings in Northern Ireland, former Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR) soldier, Samuel Lundy, was shot dead.

He had been killed at his workplace by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA). No one was ever arrested for the murder but it came about due to the troubles in Northern Ireland in the 1970s and 1980s.

1981

In England, serial killer Peter Sutcliffe, AKA: The Yorkshire Ripper was arrested with 24-year-old prostitute Olivia Reivers. Upon discovering that Sutcliffe had false number plates, the police took him to the station for further questioning.

They learned that he matched all the characteristics of the Ripper, who had terrified the region for a five-period. Investigators found further evidence and presented it to Sutcliffe, who later confessed to multiple murders.

As the murders escalated from 1977 until 1980, over 350 detectives from three counties had been involved at some point.

The Ripper murders had cost the British taxpayer over £4million throughout the investigation. Sutcliffe was convicted of killing 13 people and the attempted murder of seven others from 1975 to 1980.

He later claimed the voice of God had sent him on a mission to kill prostitutes. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole and died in November 2020.

1982

In Montclair, California, Joan Stewart was abducted, raped, strangled, and stabbed to death in remote woodland near her home.

She had been murdered by American serial killer Charles Jackson, AKA: The East Bay Slayer, who was responsible for at least eight murders in the San Francisco Bay Area from 1975 to 1982.

Eyewitnesses to Stewart’s abduction gave police the license plate of the car, which belonged to Jackson.

Jackson was arrested six days later on January 8^th and charged with Stewart’s murder. He was subsequently sentenced to life in prison.

Unknown to investigators and courts at the time, he had killed at least another seven women. It wasn’t until his death in February 2002, when DNA testing of his biological samples were matched to various women and girls prior to 1982.

All seven victims had been raped and strangled and were linked to Jackson using DNA evidence.

1983

In County Londonderry, Northern Ireland, 26-year-old Timothy Rodger Hall disappeared under mysterious circumstances.

The blue-eyed, dirty blonde haired Hall was last seen at his residence. Despite suffering from mental health issues and talking about suicide, it is not suspected that he took his own life.

It is long believed that Hall had been met with foul play but no trace of him has ever been found, dead or alive.

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