True Crime On This Day November 11th

November 11th

On November 11th in true crime, a double murder in California, missing persons, serial killers, and a deadly bombing.

1978

In California, Rhonda Wicht and her four-year-old son Donald were found murdered in their home. Donald had been smothered, Wicht had been strangled with a macrame cord and raped.

A suspect named Craig Coley was arrested and sentenced to life, all the while maintaining his innocence.

After 39 years in prison, new evidence overturned his conviction and the resulting federal lawsuit saw Coley receive $21million (USD) as his settlement. It was the longest prison term to be overturned in California history.

1979

In New South Wales, Australia, 37-year-old Robert James Woolcock vanished without a trace. He was a husband and father of two, who had last been seen leaving Hornsby Hospital after suffering a nervous breakdown.

He was leaving to head back home to his family when he disappeared. No trace of Woolcock has ever been found but foul play is suspected.

1980

In California, a 72-year-old female was raped and strangled before being killed by blows to the head. She had been killed by David Edwin Mason, who had broken into her home with the intention of robbing it. He used a car wrench to beat her over the head.

She was his third victim of 1980. Mason knew most of his victims and found it easy to access their properties before killing them to not leave any witnesses. He was arrested in 1982 and convicted of four murders.

While awaiting trial, along with an accomplice, they killed another inmate and hung him from the showers to make it look like a suicide. Mason was later sentenced to death and executed on August 24^th 1993.

1981

In Delaware County, New York, four-year-old Christopher Swan disappeared when walking alongside the Susquehanna River. The brown-haired, blue-eyed child was dressed in a blue quilted coat, brown pants, and might have also worn a black hat with a white stripe.

His parents reported him missing shortly after. Despite an investigation into a possible abduction, no trace of Swan has ever been found and his case remains open.

1982

In Tyre, Lebanon, a suicide bombing took place against Israel Defence Forces’ headquarters building. After invading Lebanon in June, the Israeli military set up command posts to run the cities they occupied and the IDF headquarters was one of those posts.

A Peugeot car packed with explosives hit the side of the building and exploded with enough force to collapse the entire seven-story structure.

An estimated 149 to 163 people were killed in the explosion. The Israeli government claims to this day that the explosion was an accident resulting from gas cylinders exploding, despite witnesses seeing the car slam into the building.

1983

In Kansas, Missouri, drug dealer Calvert Antwine was looking for a man named Eric Jones, one of his employers in the drug business.

During the search, he robbed several workers who were refurbishing one of Eric’s buildings and shot and killed Winston Jones, Eric’s brother and business partner. When he finally encountered Eric, their struggle over a gun attracted police attention.

The police arrested both men and placed them in a holding cell. Five minutes later, an officer heard some yelling and looked into the holding cell to find Eric lying face down on the floor, bleeding from the nose and mouth. He had been beaten to death by Calvert, dying of his injuries the same day.

Calvert was sentenced to life in prison for the murder of Eric, along with 30 years for the robberies. He was also sentenced to death for the murder of Winston.

The death sentence was later commuted to life in prison with no parole for 50 years.

Check out the Mega List of True Crime Podcasts