True Crime On This Day May 19th

Last Updated on September 23, 2022 by Ben Oakley

May 19th

On May 19th in true crime, macabre discovery, cold case murder in New Jersey, bombing, vanished without a trace.

1978

In Prince George’s County, Maryland, the skeletal remains of a 30-45-year-old male were unearthed in wooded area of College Park.

The body was found in a faded green sleeping bag near to the back yard of a private residence that had been demolished in March 1978.

An autopsy showed that the person was killed from late 1977 to early 1978. As of 2022, the discovery remains a mystery and the body unidentified. It is an active cold case to this day.

1979

In Middlesex County, New Jersey, the partially nude body of 18-year-old Donna Cote was discovered face down in a ditch near her home. She had been raped and strangled to death.

In the early hours of the morning, she phoned a friend and told her that she was going out for a walk but never returned home. As of 2022, her murder remains unsolved and is an active cold case in the State of New Jersey.

1980

In Rochester, New York, the body of 74-year-old Mary Hull was found in her apartment. She had been abused and strangled to death.

Her neighbours had phoned the police as they had not seen her for a few days. The subsequent investigation reached a dead end and the case went cold for 34 years until 2014.

A cold case investigation matched DNA to Nat Lee Jones, AKA: The Northeast Rapist. Jones would later confess to Hull’s murder. He had been in prison since 1987 after being convicted of attacking and raping seven girls and five women at knifepoint in 1986.

In 2014, he was sentenced to an additional 14 years for Hull’s murder, on top of the 25 to 50-year sentence he had received for the rapes.

1981

In County Armagh, Northern Ireland, the Bessbrook landmine attack took place, killing five British soldiers. The soldiers were travelling in an armoured vehicle when they drove right on top of a 1,000lb landmine, which was detonated by a command wire.

All five soldiers were killed instantly, and the explosion left a giant crater in the ground. The attack was a response to the death of IRA member Bobby Sands on May 5^th, who died during a hunger strike at the Maze prison in County Down.

Bessbrook was the deadliest attack on the British Army since the Warrenpoint ambush in 1979, when 18 British soldiers were killed along with one civilian.

1982

In King County, Washington, 37-year-old Robin Joyce Bull disappeared under suspicious circumstances. She had recently moved from California and was known to have been depressed at the time of her disappearance.

She was last seen leaving her mother’s home in Seattle and never returned, despite being in good spirits. Her 1970 Datsun 110 was found abandoned in Issaquah two days later. Despite a search of the area, no trace of Bull has ever been found. Her disappearance remains unsolved.

1983

In Tamarac, Florida, 22-year-old white female Robyn Melanie Adler vanished without a trace. She was last seen driving her red 1977 Toyota Celica on a C road in Loxahatchee, after visiting her boyfriend in the area.

She never arrived home. Four days later, the car was discovered in a deserted area of Royal Palm Beach on the north side of the M Canal.

The car had hit a tree and the doors were wide open. The battery had been removed and no personal belongings were left inside.

It is suspected that Robyn was abducted from the scene but no trace of her has ever been found. The circumstances surrounding her disappearance remain a mystery.

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