True Crime On This Day July 30th

July 30th

On July 30th in true crime, the boozing barber, murder in Leicester, deadly shoot-out, coup, robbery, prison break, murder.

1978

The Tison Gang of Arizona

The Arizona Summer in 1978 was best remembered for the Tison Gang. Some residents slept with guns nearby and kept their children indoors as the gang had a fearsome reputation.

The bodies that were found in the days after the escape showed fear of the Tison gang was well-founded.

Murderer Gary Tison and his serial killing friend Randy Greenawalt escaped from prison on July 30^th, which resulted in a 13-day manhunt across the State.

Serial killer, Greenawalt, had been sentenced to life in prison for the 1974 killing of a trucker who was sleeping in his vehicle, it is suggested that he killed up to four truckers.

Tison had been serving a life sentence for killing a corrections officer who was taking him to the State prison in Florence in 1967.

They were helped in their escape by Tison’s brainwashed sons, Donny, Ricky and Ray. After their car got into trouble, they kidnapped a family of four in order to use their vehicle instead.

Shortly after they abducted them, the Tison gang shot dead the entire family. Their bodies were discovered in the desert, with one victim having crawled a thousand feet before dying.

The gang then attempted to drive across the border in a stolen van. An older couple on vacation who owned the van were later found dead in the woods.

On August 11^th 1978, a police shoot-out forced the van off the road. Greenawalt, and Tison’s sons were arrested.

Tison himself escaped into the desert where he died of dehydration and exposure. Greenawalt was subsequently executed by lethal injection in Arizona, in 1997.

1979

In Harris County, Texas, John Henry Selvage and accomplices were in Ventura’s Jewellery store with the intention of robbing it.

Albert Graza, who was a friend of the store’s owner and a Harris County police officer, entered the shop to use the phone.

When the owner raised suspicions about Selvage, Graza took off his coat to reveal his badge and gun. Without warning, Graza was shot dead and the group robbed the store of jewels and over $10,000 (USD) in cash.

One of Selvage’s accomplices was later killed in a shoot-out with police. Selvage was arrested one week later and subsequently sentenced to death.

In November of 2011, while on death row, Selvage died of natural causes in his prison cell.

1980

In Queens, New York, customs officer Roger Von Amelunxen was shot dead after witnessing a taxicab robbery. Amelunxen was on his way home from his work at John F. Kennedy Airport when he witnessed the robbery.

He intervened and a shoot-out began which resulted in Amelunxen being shot in the heart. In 1996, four suspects were arrested and charged with his murder.

In 1982, Roger’s parents started the Roger Von Amelunxen Foundation which provided financial assistance to U.S Customs, Border Protection and Immigration workers and their families.

In the decades that followed, the foundation provided $5.2million (USD) of funding.

1981

In the Gambia, while President Dawda Jawara was attending the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana in the UK, he was deposed in a coup.

A group of 12 National Revolutionary Council (NRC) members, led by Kukoi Sanyang, seized control of the country.

The coup ended less than one week later when the neighbouring nation of Senegal sent 3,000 troops into Gambia to restore power to Jawara. Sanyang later eloped to Libya where he sought refuge.

1982

In Vancouver, Canada, Native American Mary Johns died from severe alcohol poisoning at 2503 Kingsway. The residence was a barbershop that belonged to Gilbert Paul Jordan, AKA: The Boozing Barber.

Johns death was caused by Jordan supplying her with a fatal level of alcohol, which was his murder weapon.

He was linked to the murders of up to ten women over a 22-year period from 1965 to 1987. His other convictions were for rape, assault, kidnapping, hit and run, and car theft.

Jordan would seek out women in bars and ply them with drink, sometimes paying them for sex. He was arrested multiple times, but no murder charges could be brought against him because of the nature of the deaths.

In 1988, he was sentenced to 15 years in prison for manslaughter, which was reduced to nine on appeal. He served six years and was released in 1994. Jordan died of natural causes on July 7^th 2006.

1983

In Leicester, England, 33-year-old dog grooming shop owner Caroline Osborne was brutally stabbed to death while walking her dog.

The next day, a neighbour called police after seeing her dog wandering around outside. Police found Osborne’s body on a waste ground near to where she lived.

The case went unsolved until another murder in 1985. In the same county, 21-year-old nurse Amanda Weedon was stabbed 30 times while walking alone.

The killer was 19-year-old meat factory worker Paul Bostock, who had visited Caroline’s grave just moments before killing Amanda. He was a sadist who was known to be fascinated with dark occult practices.

He was captured after a large investigation and ultimately sentenced to 20 years in prison in 1986. While incarcerated, he claimed he was an animal who should be prevented from walking the streets again.

Yet, in October 2020, at age 53-years-old, Bostock was released from prison and given a new identity.

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