True Crime On This Day November 19th

Last Updated on September 16, 2022 by Ben Oakley

November 19th

On November 19th in true crime, the Ramrod Massacre, missing persons, murder, unsolved homicide, and a rampage.

1978

In Monmouth County, New Jersey, 21-year-old Jennifer Ann Prince vanished without a trace.

She had last been seen at the Monmouth shopping mall when her husband dropped her off for a modelling job, but she never returned home.

Jennifer’s disappearance has long been seen by investigators as suspicious. Her disappearance remains unsolved and is an active cold case in the State of New Jersey.

1979

In Butte County, California, 24-year-old Deborah Diane Owens vanished and was reported missing by her husband two days later. For almost 40 years, her disappearance remained unsolved until her husband, Marvin Gail Owens, confessed to her death.

He had strangled her during an argument, and in a state of panic decided to bury her body in a shallow grave at the Oroville Wildlife Area. He pleaded guilty to manslaughter in 2015. Despite leading investigators to the burial site, no remains have ever been recovered.

1980

In Greenwich Village, New York, the Ramrod Massacre took place and left two people dead and six injured. Remarkably, the massacre was barely mentioned in the press of the day. 38-year-old Ronald Crumpley armed himself to the teeth on a mission to kill gay men.

On the way to the Ramrod Club, he shot and wounded three random people walking down the street, with an Israeli-made Uzi submachine gun. He then jumped out of the car opposite the club and fired into the crowd outside.

The Ramrod Club was a known gay bar in the city and at the time of the shooting, 150 men were in and around the bar. Police arrived at the scene shortly after and chased Crumpley in a high-speed pursuit before being arrested shortly after.

Seven men were taken to hospital where two of them died. Crumpley was charged with multiple crimes but was found not guilty by reason of insanity. He was committed to a mental institution where he has remained ever since.

1981

In Houston, Texas, on November 19th, bar employee Sara Earwood, was attacked and stabbed during a robbery at the J&J Bar. Shortly after midnight, she had begun the processing of closing down and cashing up when she was attacked by an unknown number of assailants.

Despite her injuries, she managed to crawl outside the bar where she collapsed and died. The bar owner, William Goodrum, drove to the bar to check on her, where he found her dead in the car park. An unknown amount of cash had been stolen from the bar.

There were no witnesses to the incident and the investigation fell flat shortly after. No suspect has ever been caught and Earwood’s murder remains unsolved.

1982

In Portland, Oregon, 18-year-old prostitute Laronda Marie Bronson disappeared under suspicious circumstances. She had last been seen standing at a bus stop in the city.

Her disappearance has been linked to serial killer Gary Ridgway, AKA: The Green River Killer but no evidence has yet been found to link him to the case.

Bronson’s disappearance is also being investigated in King County, Washington, but her case remains unsolved.

1983

In Cole County, Missouri, landlady Geneva Roling was shot dead by one of her tenants, Emmett Clifton Nave. In the morning of the 19^th, Nave threatened to kill his wife if she didn’t drive him to the hospital and help him get some drugs.

He then said that he wanted to see Roling before going to the hospital. When Roling answered the door, Nave shot her with his rifle multiple times.

Around eight in the morning, Jefferson City Police officers responded to the Roling residence on reports of a shooting. They discovered Roling’s body and reports that Nave was at the hospital obtaining drugs.

At the hospital, the nurses had refused to give him the drugs, and he took five female nurses hostage.

He took the hostages to a nearby residence, where he raped them. Four of the hostages escaped as he took one of them to a shed to inject him with Valium.

She overdosed him and he lost consciousness, leading to his arrest. Nave was ultimately convicted of first-degree murder, kidnapping, and rape, and sentenced to death. He was executed by lethal injection in Missouri on July 31^st, 1996.

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