True Crime On This Day May 18th

May 18th

On May 18th in true crime, murder in Travis County, serial killer William Bonin, mystery disappearance, and murder mystery in Hampshire.

1978

In Travis County, Texas, David Lee Powell shot dead 26-year-old police officer Ralph Ablanedo with an AK-47 machine gun. Powell had been pulled over by police for a standard traffic violation.

Just as Powell was driving away, a dispatcher told Ablanedo that Powell was wanted for theft. Ablanedo stopped the car again but Powell fired at him through the rear window.

Powell was arrested on the same day and subsequently sentenced to death. He was executed by lethal injection on June 15^th 2010.

1980

In Westminster, California, another victim of serial killer William George Bonin was discovered in a dumpster behind a service station.

17-year-old Lawrence Sharp had been killed a few days earlier, he had been raped, beaten, and strangled to death. Bonin killed at least 21 people from 1979 to 1980 and was later sentenced to death. He was executed in February 1996.

1981

In North Brookfield, Massachusetts, 31-year-old Edith Margaret LaRiviere disappeared under suspicious circumstances as she walked away from her home.

Her vehicle and personal belongings were left at her residence, and according to family, she had no reason to run away. LaRiviere was married but her husband died in 2008.

Despite an investigation into her disappearance, no trace of her has ever been found but investigators have long-suspected foul play.

1982

In Aldershot Common, Hampshire, England, 44-year-old Ann Lee and 65-year-old Margaret Johnson were walking their dogs on the common when they were stabbed to death in a vicious attack.

A 21-year-old Bournemouth Hospital porter named Peter Fell confessed to the attack. Drunk and depressed, he phoned the police and claimed that he had murdered Lee and Johnson.

On his drunken confession alone, which he told investigators he made up, he was convicted and sentenced to life.

He served 17-years in jail until 2001 when three appeal judges cleared him of the murder, due to him being nowhere near the common at the time of the women’s deaths.

Fell was described by psychologists as a fantasist whose confession to the murders could not be trusted.

The attack happened in broad daylight near an army base. Robbery and rape were ruled out as motives which made the murders even more mysterious.

At the time, almost 100 police and investigators were working on the case. Despite a large cold case investigation into the murders, which goes on to this day, the true suspect has never been caught.

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