True Crime On This Day July 21st

Last Updated on September 27, 2022 by Ben Oakley

July 21st

On July 21st in true crime, hitman in Virginia, Atlanta murders, serial killer victim, murder, bombing, and unsolved crimes.

1978

In Patrick County, Virginia, Dennis Waldon Stockton shot dead 18-year-old Kenneth Arnder. Waldon was arrested in 1982 after a witness claimed they had overheard Waldon accepting $1,500 (USD) to assassinate Arnder.

Based on this evidence alone, Waldon was sentenced to death despite no physical evidence linking him to the murder. Waldon was executed by lethal injection in Virginia on September 27^th 1995.

1979

In Atlanta, Georgia, 14-year-old Edward Smith went missing. His body was discovered on July 28^th alongside that of another young boy, 13-year-old Alfred Evans.

Smith had been shot dead and was a victim of the infamous Atlanta Murders of 1979 to 1981. They were a series of murders committed in Atlanta from July 1979 to May 1981 and included the deaths of at least 28 children and adults.

Later in 1981, 23-year-old Wayne Williams was arrested and charged with the murders. He was convicted on two of the adult murders but linked to some others.

In March 2019, the Atlanta police reopened all the Atlanta murder cases to use new technology that may lead to the culprit of the crime.

1980

In Anchorage, Alaska, the body of a young female was discovered in a shallow grave near power lines. She had been killed with a single stab wound to the neck.

As of 2022, her identity remains a mystery, but she is referred to as Eklutna Annie. She had been murdered by Alaskan serial killer Robert Hansen who killed at least 20 women between 1971 and 1983.

Hansen was convicted in 1983 of 17 murders and sentenced to 461 years in prison.

1981

In the Soviet Union, serial killer Vladimir Storozhenko, AKA: The Smolensky Strangler, was captured after three years of murders.

His crimes were carried out in the city of Smolensk in Russia. In that time period, there were more than 20 violent sexual attacks on women and girls in the city, 13 of them resulted in murder.

Although he was called a ‘strangler’ he would also brutally torture his victims before killing them. One of his younger victims was a 12-year-old student from a local school who was tortured to death before being dumped in a sand pit.

Storozhenko’s final victim managed to escape and recognised his tattoo when shown photos of suspects. Storozhenko was sentenced to death by firing squad in 1984.

1982

In Paris, France, a bomb exploded outside an apartment formerly owned by French activist Regis DeBray, who was also a special adviser to President François Mitterrand.

No one was killed in the attack, but it caused extensive damage to the structure of the building. An anonymous call laid blame on the Revolutionary French Brigades, but an investigation later discovered it had been carried out by members of the Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia (ASALA).

They had placed the bomb in retaliation for France refusing to release four ASALA members held in a French jail. The ASALA were a militant organisation that operated from 1975 to the early 1990s.

1983

In Pima County, Arizona, Deputy Ernest Calvillo and Sergeant Craig Newburn were working off duty, guarding movie equipment outside the Wagon Wheel Post Bar when they attempted to break up a nearby fight.

During the struggle, a man named John Rierson opened fire, hitting Calvillo once in the chest. Newburn pulled his gun and shot Rierson four times.

Another man tried to attack Newburn but was subdued and arrested. Calvillo died of his wound the same night. Rierson died on the way to the hospital.

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