True Crime On This Day June 29th

June 29th

On June 29th in true crime, sniper on the interstate, mummified remains, Hollywood murder, mass murder, missing person mystery.

1978

Hollywood actor Bob Crane was found bludgeoned to death in his Scottsdale, Arizona, apartment. An electrical cord was tied around his neck and the weapon used was suspected to be a camera tripod.

Crane and his new friend, John Carpenter, would film their joint sexual encounters. Because of that link, Carpenter was a suspect in Crane’s murder for many years after. Yet, as of 2022, the murder has never been solved.

1979

In Pernambuco, Brazil, Luiz Gonzaga Pereira dos Santos, AKA: The Monstro de Princesa (Princesa’s Monster) killed seven members of the Almeida family because his daughter had lost her virginity to one of the sons.

In the evening, Santos forced his way into the Almeida house to find them all eating at the table. He ordered them to stand up and face the wall where he shot them dead, one by one. The youngest victim was just seven-years-old.

The son he was looking for was not even in the house and Santos fled the scene. A large manhunt was carried out, but it took almost two years to find him.

On March 3^rd 1981, police and security forces surrounded his new place of residence and a shoot-out ensued for over 10 hours.

When Santos tried to escape, he was killed by multiple gun fire. An autopsy showed that he had been shot 20 times.

1980

In Newark, Delaware, 26-year-old University of Delaware student Anne D. V. Manchester, vanished without a trace. She was last seen at her home in Villa Belmont Apartments by a male friend who had visited her residence just before noon.

A female friend spoke to Manchester by phone shortly after. Manchester had a test scheduled the next day but never showed up.

Investigators discovered that there had been no sign of a struggle and all her personal belongings, including her purse and cigarettes, were still in her residence.

The following week, she was due to complete her master’s degree. No trace of Manchester has ever been found. It’s as if she simply vanished.

1981

In Louisville, Kentucky, David Eugene Matthews killed his estranged wife and his mother-in-law. He had gone to the home with the intention of robbing it but his anger had got the better of him.

He shot his wife, Mary Matthews, dead, before shooting his mother-in-law, Magdalene Cruse, in the head. Magdalene remained alive for a further eight hours before dying of her fatal wounds.

Matthews was arrested shortly after and charged with both murders and robbery of the residence. He was sentenced to death on October 8^th 1982. Despite an appeal in 2008, the sentence was upheld. He remains on death row.

1982

In Morgan County, Utah, 34-year-old truck driver David Earl Williamson was killed by a sniper as he was driving east on Interstate-84 near Mountain Green.

The sniper had used a .22-caliber rifle to shoot Williamson in the head from distance. 18-year-old hitchhiker Brad Pritchard was sitting next to Williamson in his cab when he was shot. Pritchard took control of the truck when Williamson slumped over the steering wheel.

Just a few hours later, another trucker, 38-year-old Woody Smith, was shot in the shoulder by a sniper, but survived the attack. Police set up roadblocks and conducted searches of the area but turned up no suspect.

An investigation confirmed that hitting a moving target at 65MPH could only have been carried out by someone with special training. The motives of the sniper and their identity remain a mystery.

1983

In Detroit, Michigan, the mummified remains of a black female were discovered wrapped in a blanket on a sidewalk under a train viaduct.

The area she was found was off limits to vehicles and was in an industrial zone. It was never clear if she had died at the scene or been dumped there shortly before her discovery.

She had no recognisable features and no identifying clothing nearby. Despite an investigation into the mummy, her identity and cause of death remain a mystery.

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