True Crime On This Day November 10th

Last Updated on September 16, 2022 by Ben Oakley

November 10th

On November 10th in true crime, a Hells Angel’s assassin, cold case murder, disappearance in Louisiana, and an armed robbery.

1978

Serial killer, Yves ‘Apache’ Trudeau assassinated an outlaw leader named Brian Powers. He knocked on his door then shot him in the head nine times when he answered.

Known as The Mad Bumper, Trudeau killed 43 people and was a member of the Hells Angels North Chapter outlaw motorcycle gang in Quebec.

He was labelled a psychopathic killer and killing machine by those who knew him and interviewed him afterwards. His victims would die from gun shots, bombs, beatings or strangulation.

1979

In Caledonia, New York, the body of 16-year-old Tammy Jo Alexander was discovered in a field.

At the time, the identity remained a mystery and was not officially named until 2015 when new technology led to her being identified. She had formerly been known as the Caledonia Jane Doe.

Alexander had been shot dead after running away from home in Florida in early 1979.

Most of the forensic evidence at the time has been washed away by heavy rain. In 1984, serial killer Henry Lee Lucas had confessed to the crime but the confession had been deemed invalid.

1980

In Trinity County, California, on November 10th, seven-year-old Donna Lee Fowler was kept home from school where her grandfather packed her bags to help her run away.

Her grandfather claimed that she thought she was joking and packed her bags as part of a game. Fowler was last seen walking near the House Historical Museum.

A large investigation began including mass searching of the local area, sniffer dogs, and hypnosis of various witnesses but no trace of her was ever found.

In 2007, on a tip, investigators dug up a well in Weaverville believing that Fowler’s remains had been dumped there but no trace of a body was found.

In 2008, Wayne Harvey Smith confessed to killing Fowler. DNA later linked him to another cold case in Los Angeles County.

As part of a plea deal to avoid the death penalty, Smith pleaded guilty to murdering Fowler and dumping her body at an open landfill. He was sentenced to life in prison for multiple crimes. Despite no body ever having been found, the investigation was closed.

1981

In East Baton Rouge, Louisiana, 18-year-old Eleanor C. Parker disappeared without a trace. She had last been seen at her parent’s home when she stopped by to pick up some Winter clothing.

She drove off in the direction of her apartment on Gardere Lane and was never seen again. On November 14^th, one of Parker’s former classmates claims to have seen her at the Cortana Mall in the city but there was no evidence to back up the sighting.

On November 18^th, Parker’s car was found abandoned near her place of work at the Goudchaux’s department store. Her clothes were found neatly folded in the trunk and there was no sign of a struggle.

Eleanor disappeared under suspicious circumstances and her case remains unsolved.

1982

In Galveston County, Texas, 39-year-old owner of Joe’s Pharmacy Center, Joseph Sanchez was shot dead during a robbery. According to witness and co-worker Ronald Dyda, the assailant James Roy Knox entered the store with a gun in his hand and demanded drugs.

When Sanchez told them they didn’t have the drugs he wanted and that he would not get away with the crime, Knox ordered them to lay down on the ground. Dyda did as he was told but Sanchez remained standing, where he was shot in the heart at point blank range.

Knox then turned the gun on Dyda who gave him $15 (USD) from the cash register and a few bottles of Demerol worth $80 (USD).

After a lengthy investigation, Knox was arrested in 1985 and subsequently sentenced to death. He was executed by lethal injection in Texas on September 18^th 2001.

1983

In Mecca, California, the partial skeletal remains of an unidentified non-white male in his late teens, were discovered near a citrus grove in an open field by agricultural workers.

The man had been dead for at least five months, and an investigation noted extensive animal activity near the body. There was also a stained yellow sheet nearby.

Due to the location, along with a forensic examination, it was suspected the man had been murdered but the cause of death could not be determined. His identity remains a mystery, and his case remains open.

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