True Crime On This Day November 20th

November 20th

On November 20th in true crime, the Grand Mosque Siege, bar attack, unidentified bodies, macabre discovery, and a church attack.

1978

The body of 17-year-old Mary Gallacher was found on waste ground near a footbridge at Barnhill Railway Station in Glasgow, Scotland.

She would come to be known as a victim of one of Scotland’s worst serial killers, Angus Sinclair. The judge who first sentenced him, called Sinclair; ‘a dangerous predator capable of sinking to the lowest depths of depravity.’

1979

In Mecca, Saudi Arabia, The Grand Mosque Seizure began. Armed members of the public took over the Masjid al-Haram with the intention of overthrowing the House of Saud.

They believed that the ‘redeemer of Islam’ was among their group and called on Muslims to obey him. The attack lasted for two weeks and left hundreds dead. The ensuing battles involved Saudi Special Forces, GIGN French Commandos and various other security forces.

The siege shocked the Islamic world, and it took two weeks for security forces to take back the mosque, ending the siege on December 4^th. 68 militants survived the attack and were later beheaded.

1980

In Zarautz, Spain, the Basque separatist organisation ETA opened fire on a group of civil guards in a bar. They stormed the bar with machine guns killing four guards, one civilian and injuring five others.

The attack was one of many during the Basque Conflict that lasted from 1959 to 2011 between Spain and the Basque National Liberation Movement who were seeking independence from Spain.

1981

In Los Angeles, California, the decomposing body of an unidentified white man in his twenties was discovered in an abandoned warehouse.

He had been dead for a least one month prior to his discovery. Due to decomposition, he had no recognisable features but it is suggested he had been met with foul play.

He has never been identified and his case remains unsolved.

1982

In New Jersey, on November 20th, 17-year-old Betsy Bacon disappeared and was reported missing. Her disappearance remained unsolved until January 1983 when Dherran Fitzgerald led investigators to a shallow grave near Asbury Park where Bacon had been buried.

Fitzgerald was the wife of serial killer Richard Biegenwald, AKA: The Thrill Killer, who was captured around the same time. Bacon had been lured away by Biegenwald and shot twice in the head, he later confessed to his wife where the body was buried.

Biegenwald was an American serial killer who murdered at least six people over a 25-year period from 1958 to 1983 and is suspected of two other murders in the same time frame. He died in 2008 of natural causes in prison.

1983

In Darkley, County Armagh, Northern Ireland, The Darkley Killings took place, leaving three dead and seven wounded.

Three masked rogue gunmen of the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) walked into Mountain Lodge Pentecostal Church and opened fire on Protestant worshippers. 60 people were inside the church at the time of the attack.

Despite many suspects over the years, no one has ever been convicted of the attack.

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