True Crime On This Day June 13th

June 13th

On June 13th in true crime, Sioux Nation compensation, massacre, the Freeway Killer, Queen Elizabeth shooting, and Robert Hansen.

1978

In Lebanon, politician and military commander Antoine Frangieh was assassinated during the Ehden Massacre.

In the evening, a 1,200 strong militia attacked Frangieh’s residence and killed him and his entire family. They killed him because it eliminated one of the protagonists vying for political power in the Christian Lebanese community.

The Ehden Massacre was a turning point in Lebanese Civil War and ended the lives of at least 40 people.

1979

The American Indian Sioux Nation won a $100million USD settlement from the United States Court of Claims in the largest claim and settlement at the time of its kind.

The award was compensation for land that the Federal Government had confiscated over 100 years earlier.

The court said the Indians were entitled to $17.5million for the Black Hills area of South Dakota, which had been taken by the U.S. Government in 1877.

It was claimed that the confiscation of the land violated the Indian’s constitutional rights. Interest on the payment brought the total to around $100million.

1980

In California, after extensive surveillance, serial killer William George Bonin, AKA: The Freeway Killer, was captured after having killed at least 21 people from 1979 to 1980.

He was initially convicted of 10 murders in one trial and then another four in a separate trial. Although convicted of 14 murders in total, he was known to have killed at least 21 with some investigators suspecting it may have been closer to 44.

In 1986, after a lengthy trial, he was sentenced to death. He was executed by lethal injection in California on February 23^rd 1996.

1981

In London, during the Trooping The Colour ceremony, 17-year-old Marcus Sarjeant, fired six shots at Queen Elizabeth, who was riding on horseback along The Mall.

The Queen’s horse was startled but she managed to bring it under control. The gun used was firing blanks as Sarjeant had unsuccessfully tried to source ammunition for his father’s .455 Webley revolver.

He joined an anti-royalist movement after failed attempts to join various sections of the British Military left him unemployed.

Sarjeant was disarmed and arrested by the Scots Guards. He later claimed that he wanted to be famous and known as a ‘somebody’.

He cited the John Lennon assassination and the attempt on the Pope as direct influences. Sarjeant was found guilty of treason and admitted to a psychiatric prison. He was released with a new identity in 1984.

1982

In Cher Province, France, former OAS Commando Delta member Jean-Pierre Maïone-Libaude, was assassinated inside the Argent-sur-Sauldre commune.

The OAS (Organisation Armée Secrète or Secret Armed Organisation) were a nationalist terrorist group. Jean-Pierre was a veteran of the Algerian War turned police informant, who was suspected to have been involved in the assassination of left-wing political activist Henri Curiel in 1978.

Jean-Pierre’s murder has never been solved.

1983

In Anchorage, Alaska, 17-year-old prostitute Cindy Paulson was abducted, tortured, and raped, by Alaskan serial killer Robert Hansen.

She escaped while Hansen was busy loading his plane at Merrill Field Airport. Hansen gave chase but Paulson managed to flag down a passing truck and reported the kidnapping to the police. Based on her testimony and evidence against him, Hansen was arrested in October 1983.

Hansen raped and murdered at least 17 women in Alaska between 1971 and 1983 and is known to have killed over 30. He was subsequently sentenced to life in prison where he died in 2014.

His killings were the subject of the film ‘The Frozen Ground’ with Nicholas Cage and John Cusack.

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