True Crime On This Day March 26th

Last Updated on September 22, 2022 by Ben Oakley

March 26th

On March 26th in true crime, gruesome discovery, cold case murder, unsolved homicide, cinema bombing, and murder in Germany.

1978

On Easter Sunday, the body of 21-year-old prostitute Yvonne Pearson from Bradford, UK, was discovered under a sofa at a waste ground. She had been bludgeoned to death by The Yorkshire Ripper on January 21^st 1978.

Peter Sutcliffe was convicted of killing 13 people, along with the attempted murder of seven others over a period of five years.

He later claimed the voice of God had sent him on a mission to kill prostitutes. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

1979

In Phoenix, Arizona, the body of 44-year-old bar owner Robert Clemons was found in a locked freezer by a worker in the early hours. He had been shot dead just hours earlier after having interrupted a robbery at the premises.

His car was also stolen but later recovered on the other side of the city. As of 2022, the robbery and murder remain unsolved but it is an active cold case in the State of Arizona.

1980

In Will County, Illinois, the body of an unidentified 50-year-old man was discovered in a ditch just off the I-394. His body was hidden underneath a blanket.

A coroner’s report showed that his hands had been chewed off but remained unclear if it had been an animal or a human.

Despite having a recognisable face and dying just three days earlier, the identity of the man has remained a mystery ever since.

1981

In Denver, Colorado, 23-year-old Gail Martinez was shot dead as she was seated at her dinner table. She had returned home in the early evening from her work as a supervisor for Master-Clean.

She sat down with her mother to have dinner and a bullet shot through a nearby window, striking her in the torso. She was rushed to hospital but died a few hours later.

At the time of her murder, she was engaged and had made plans to be married in November of 1981. Despite the unusual circumstances of her death, no suspect has ever been caught and her murder remains unsolved.

1982

In Beirut, Lebanon, a bomb exploded in a cinema in the Armenian section of the city. The movie theatre was known to have been frequented by Turkish nationals and showed Turkish films or foreign movies with Turkish subtitles.

The explosion killed two people and injured 16 more. The attack was carried out by the Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia (ASALA), who were a militant organisation that operated from 1975 to the early 1990s.

ASALA attacks and assassinations resulted in the deaths of 46 people with more than 300 injured. The group also claimed responsibility for more than 50 bombings.

1983

In Munich, Germany, 43-year-old Duro Zagajski was murdered by an associate of the State Security Service (UDBA), the infamous Yugoslav secret police.

He was one of an estimated 30 victims to have been murdered by the UDBA from 1970 to 1989 in the Federal Republic of Germany.

His body was found the following morning in Munich’s Pheasant Garden Park. No one has ever been charged with his death.

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