True Crime On This Day June 6th

June 6th

On June 6th in true crime, murder in Italy, The Love Slave Killers, deadly shoot-out in San Diego, cold cases, and the Beauty Queen Killer.

1978

Cesare Battisti, once a left-wing militant, shot dead prison governor Santoro in North Italy, for allegedly mistreating prisoners. He would subsequently be charged in the involvement of four killings.

Battisti escaped from prison in 1981 after being convicted of two murders and being involved in two others.

He was finally extradited from Brazil to Italy in January 2019 and is due to serve out the rest of his life sentence in Italy.

1979

In Tulsa County, Oklahoma, Anthony Rozelle Banks raped and murdered 25-year-old Korean national Sun ‘Kim’ Travis but was arrested shortly after for a different crime.

Back in April 1978, Banks had shot dead a convenience store worker during a robbery and was a wanted man.

He was sentenced to life in prison for the robbery murder, but it would be another 18 years before he was linked to the death of travis through DNA technology.

In 1999, while still serving a life sentence, a new trial found him guilty of the Travis murder and he was sentenced to death. Banks was executed by lethal injection in Oklahoma on September 10^th 2013.

1980

In Oregon, 21-year-old pregnant hitchhiker Linda Teresa Aguilar was abducted and brutally murdered. She had been killed and sexually abused by Gerald Armond Gallego and Charlene Adell Gallego, AKA: The Love Slave Killers.

Aguilar’s body was found in a shallow grave near Gold Beach in Oregon. She was one of a few victims who were based in Oregon and not California, which was the Gallego’s preferred hunting grounds.

The Gallego’s were captured in November 1980 after killing at least 10 young girls between 1978 and 1980. They turned their victims into sex slaves before brutally murdering them.

Charlene testified against her husband in a plea deal that only saw her receive a 16-year sentence.

Gerald was sentenced in 1983 to death by gas chamber at the notorious San Quentin State Prison. He died of cancer in a Nevada prison medical centre, in 2002.

1981

In San Diego, two police officers and a Linda Vista civilian were killed after a dispute between two neighbours.

32-year-old Officer Harry K. Tiffany and 34-year-old Officer Ronald R. Ebeltoft had responded to a dispute over a rose bush that bordered two properties.

Shortly after they arrived, a shoot-out began and lasted over an hour.

They arrived on the driveway at the home of 39-year-old electrician Tom Siota. As they approached his garage, Siota appeared out of nowhere with a rifle and shot them dead.

SWAT arrived at the scene within minutes and after a lengthy gun battle, managed to shoot and kill Siota at the scene. Despite medical personnel on site, both Harry and Ronald died at the scene.

1982

The 1982 Lebanon War, also known as the First Lebanon War, began when Israel invaded the Southern region of the country for the purpose of attacking the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).

During the conflict, according to various sources, between 15,000 and 30,000 people were killed, mostly civilians. The death toll includes approximately 1,500 PLO fighters, who Israel had sought to destroy.

The invasion was caused by repeated attacks and counter-attacks between the PLO and the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) that had caused civilian casualties on both sides of the border.

The war came to an end in 1985 with Israel proclaiming tactical victories, including the expulsion of the PLO from Lebanon.

The Lebanese Civil War continued until 1990, at which point, Syria had established complete control of the country.

1983

While on holiday in Cocoa Beach, Florida, 25-year-old Illinois native Nancy Kay Brown disappeared under suspicious circumstances.

Her decomposed remains were discovered in Canaveral Groves in March 1984. She was suspected to have been murdered by Australian serial killer Christopher Bernard Wilder, AKA: The Beauty Queen Killer.

He was known to have raped and killed at least eight young women and girls in 1984 but was linked to another 10 victims from 1981.

He was active in and around Cocoa Beach at the time of Brown’s disappearance and she fitted his victim profile. Wilder was killed in a shoot-out with police on April 13th 1984, taking his secrets to the grave.

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