True Crime On This Day July 22nd

Last Updated on September 27, 2022 by Ben Oakley

July 22nd

On July 22nd in true crime, 42-year-old parking ticket, 35 years on the run, theatre bombing, double murder, Poland’s martial law.

1978

In Maine, on July 22^nd 1978, a parking ticket was issued for a parking violation but was never paid.

Almost 42 years later in June 2020, the Maine police department were sent the ticket and a check for $4 (USD), the amount of the original charge.

Maine Police said they wouldn’t be cashing the check or adding interest but contacted the sender to thank them, even if it was 42 years too late.

1979

In Chicago, 31-year-old shop customer Joe Harris was shot dead by shop owner Ata Yousef El Ammouri.

Harris had walked out the store without paying for a can of beer when Ammouri followed him and shot him dead. He was arrested shortly after and charged with the murder but was released on a $100,000 (USD) bail.

Ammouri fled the country and took up residence in Jordan. For almost 35 years, Ammouri remained a fugitive, until he returned to the United States in June 2013 to attend a graduation.

He was arrested as he left the airplane and taken into custody. He was additionally charged with skipping bail.

1980

In Indian River County, Florida, Harold and Rachel Steinberger were stabbed to death during a robbery and their bodies left in a wooded area behind their home.

They had been killed by Jim Eric Chandler who had broken into the property for a planned robbery. The next day, he phoned the authorities and told them he had found two bodies in the woods while he was in the area checking on his ex-girlfriend’s residence.

The description he gave to police was so detailed that only the killer could have known them. He was arrested and charged with the murders. In 1986, Chandler was sentenced to death.

1981

In Shanxi, China, 32 people were killed when a bomb exploded at the Yangquan theatre. 24-year-old Gao Haiping arrived at the 2,056 seat theatre with the intention of killing himself and a girl who had just ended a relationship with him.

When the girl didn’t arrive, he went into the theatre alone, put the 3kg ammonium nitrate bomb on his lap and manually detonated it.

He killed 32 people including himself and injured another 127. The explosion also damaged the roof and shattered the glass of the entire building.

1982

In Brussels, Belgium, 28-year-old Anna Agnes Maria Neeft disappeared with her four-year-old son and was reported missing the same day.

Her family has never heard from her again. An investigation learned that she may have appeared in the United Kingdom a couple of weeks later and given birth to another son, but it has never been confirmed.

Despite unconfirmed sightings in Canada and England, no trace of Neeft has ever been found. She remains on the endangered missing list and her case remains unsolved.

1983

In Poland, the controversial martial law, which started on December 13^th 1981, ended. The Communist government of the Polish People’s Republic had introduced martial law in an attempt to weaken political opposition.

Over the 19-month period, thousands of opposition activists were imprisoned without charge with an estimated 90 killed. Many political prisoners were not released until a general amnesty in 1986.

Among them were the infamous Bombers from Silesia, who had destroyed a monument dedicated to Soviet soldiers.

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