True Crime On This Day May 24th

May 24th

On May 24th in true crime, hijacking, cold case mystery, President’s plane crash, bomb attack, unidentified body, unsolved murders.

1978

In Illinois, 43-year-old Barbara Oswald hijacked a charter helicopter, in order to break her friend, Garrett Brock Trapnell, out of prison at USP Marion.

The pilot of the helicopter just so happened to be decorated Vietnam War veteran, Allen Barklage. A resulting fight ended with Oswald being shot dead by Barklage, as he tried to wrestle the gun from her.

On December 21^st, Oswald’s daughter hijacked a passenger airline, in order to free Trapnell, which also resulted in failure.

1979

In Luther, Michigan, 39-year-old pregnant mother Diane Faye Chorba went missing, never to be seen again. She was reported missing almost two months later by her family who were getting worried.

An investigation learned that she was last seen with her lover, a married man named Clarence Oliver ‘Ollie’ Bean. When interviewed, he said that Chorba had taken Flight 191 out of Chicago on the 25^th May, heading to California.

That plane crashed shortly after take-off, killing all 271 people on board. A passenger manifest and coroner’s report later confirmed that Chorba was not on the flight. No charges were brought to Ollie due to lack of evidence

In 1999, Judy Bean, Ollie’s wife, told investigators that Ollie had shot Chorba dead and buried her in a shallow grave in the woods near Bristol.

She claimed that Ollie showed her the burial site to ensure she would not talk. In 2001, Ollie maintained his innocence but was convicted of second-degree murder, despite a body never having been found.

1980

In Deerfield Beach, Florida, black man George Briggs was shot dead by a then unidentified individual. The shooting came a week after South Florida’s black neighbourhoods erupted into violent rioting after five white police officers were acquitted in the death of black insurance salesman Arthur McDuffie.

The investigation into Briggs’ murder came to a standstill until 25 years later. In 2005, 37-year-old white musician George Blancett, was charged with the murder, in what was a racially-motivated attack.

Investigators had responded to a tip that Briggs had bragged about the murder. He later confessed to the murder and the racial motive behind it. He was sentenced to life in prison.

1981

In Ecuador, an Avro 748 aircraft, carrying 40-year-old President of Ecuador Jaime Roldós Aguilera, crashed into the side of a mountain. There were no survivors.

Other people on board at the time were the President’s wife, the Ecuadorean defence minister, and six other officials. The plane was on the way to the town of Zapotillo for a local ceremony.

The crash was considered an accident until 2004, when researcher and author John Perkins claimed the plane had been brought down deliberately as part of an assassination.

At the time of the crash, Aguilera had threatened oil companies that operated in Ecuador with closure or extra tariffs. Shortly after the crash, Vice President Osvaldo Hurtado was sworn in as the 34th President of the country.

In 2014, it was suggested that the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the Israeli Mossad were responsible for crashing the plane. The reasons why remain unknown.

1982

In Beirut, Lebanon, a large car bomb exploded at the French Embassy, killing 12 people and injuring another 27. The car was inside the embassy grounds at the time.

It was the first attack in what was known as the Third Phase of the Lebanese Civil War, which lasted from 1975 to 1990.

The Third Phase was between 1982 and 1984. Ten Lebanese and two French people were killed in the embassy attack.

1983

In Haleiwa, Hawaii, the body of an unidentified man in his Twenties was discovered alongside a hiking trail. He had been dead for five days and was already decomposing when he was discovered.

As such, he had no recognisable face or features but had all his clothes and personal belongings nearby.

He was wearing jewellery and had prescription medication along with stimulants on his person. It is suspected he was British due to Thomas Cook receipts and an assortment of female cosmetics from England.

Despite the amount of evidence on him, his identity and the circumstances of his death remain a mystery to this day.

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