True Crime On This Day November 12th

November 12th

On November 12th in true crime, a murder mystery, a double murder, massacre, cold case, and an Australian mystery.

1978

In Los Angeles, serial killer and self-confessed satanist, Bobby Joe Maxwell, killed two people in one evening. It was a violent step up and would see him continue taking more lives until January 1979.

In a parking lot at 237 East Fifth Street, he stabbed to death 36-year-old Frank Floyd Reed. Shortly after and just a few blocks away, Maxwell killed 49-year-old Augustine E. Luna.

Maxwell would later claim to another prison inmate that he was collecting the souls on behalf of Satan.

Maxwell had two murder convictions overturned in 2010 due to there being only circumstantial evidence at the scene but he currently remains in prison awaiting a retrial for the killings.

1979

In Greensburg, Louisiana, the body of 17-year-old Daniel Wayne ‘Danny’ Dewey was found near a highway. He had been killed by an unknown assailant.

His body remained unidentified until 2008 when his fingerprints were matched to an FBI database for a misdemeanour in early 1979. He had previously been known as the St. Helena John Doe.

Danny had become homeless two months earlier with his siblings but was never reported missing. It is suspected he had been killed by an unidentified serial killer.

1980

In Chhintang, Nepal, 16 local people were killed by the Panchayat Government for protesting and demanding democracy. One woman was pregnant and was tortured to death after being raped by security personnel.

Another victim was a 14-year-old boy who was shot dead for supporting the protest. The mass killing by the King’s autocratic regime is known in Nepal as the Chhintang Massacre.

In 2018, 39 years after the massacre, the 16 victims were given martyr status.

1981

In San Luis Obispo, California, 23-year-old Jeffrey Leland Lowery disappeared after running away from his mother’s car. She had driven him to a mental health facility so he could get treatment for his depression.

When they arrived, Lowery jumped out of the car and ran away in the direction of Johnson Avenue. Despite his deteriorating mental condition, investigators suspect he may have been met with foul play.

His mother waited two years before reporting him missing on September 11^th 1983. His case remains unsolved.

1982

In Denver, Colorado, on November 12th, police were called to a residential area on reports of a dead body near Stapleton Airport. Their investigation confirmed the body was that of 32-year-old Robert Tolliver, who had been shot to death by an unidentified assailant.

Despite Tolliver being known to police, his murder has never been solved and remains an active cold case.

1983

In the Tasman Peninsula, Australia, 49-year-old British born Judah Zachariah Rueben Wolfe Mattathyahu disappeared without a trace. He was last seen alive at his farm home by his landlord and his wife, John and Anne Hull, who were living with him.

The case went cold quickly but investigators never gave up. In 2011, police placed a listening device in the home of John and Anne Hull and discovered that Judah had been having an affair with Anne at the time of his disappearance.

However, a court threw out the findings at a hearing, citing abuse of police powers that had caused stress on the now elderly couple.

Judah was a known storyteller, who used many aliases and backgrounds, including being a commando, mercenary, and Nazi hunter. No trace of Judah has ever been found, dead or alive.

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