True Crime On This Day November 21st

November 21st

On November 21st in true crime, an embassy attack, armed robbery, murder, serial killers, and unidentified bodies.

1978

In Johnston County, North Carolina, the partial skeletal remains of an unidentified man were discovered in a soybean field.

The black man was aged between 45 to 55-years-old but the cause of death was unknown.

Due to the skeletal remains available it was suspected that he had been the victim of foul play and was killed up to one year prior to the discovery.

1979

In Islamabad, a violent mob attacked the U.S. Embassy and burned it to the ground. The five-hour siege began as an organised protest outside the locked gates.

But as the demonstration grew, the protesters broke through the walls and into the embassy itself.

Six people were killed, including one U.S. Marine who was shot dead as he tried to protect the compound from the roof.

1980

In New York, on this day, five-month-old Ronald Winters was rushed to hospital, but he was dead on arrival. The initial verdict was that he had died due to sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) but the truth was far more macabre.

Ronald’s mother, Shirley Winters, was convicted in 1997 of arson and served eight years in prison.

Upon her release, during a visit to the River’s home, she drowned their two-year-old grandson, Ryan Rivers, in the bathtub and was arrested shortly after. Realising who had carried out the crime, investigators exhumed

Ronald’s body in 2007 and found that he had been suffocated. It was not the first time that Shirley had been connected to child murders.

Back in 1979, there was a fire at the Winter’s family cabin on Hyde Lake. Three-year-old Colleen Winters and 20-month-old John Winters were killed in the fire.

Their bodies were also exhumed in 2007 and coroners found that they had died from a blunt-force trauma to the head. A day earlier, another cabin went up in flames, three young children were killed in the fire, they were cousins of Ryan Rivers.

Shirley’s lawyers made a plea bargain that she would plead guilty to first-degree manslaughter in Ronald’s and Ryan’s death and not be charged with the arson attacks. She was sentenced to 20 to 25 years in prison.

1981

In Middletown, Pennsylvania, 75-year-old bar owner Carroll Ritchie was fatally shot during a robbery. At approximately 7pm, two men, Christopher Nolen and Dauntel Evans, entered Richie’s Bar and Tavern.

Getaway drive David Crater remained in the vehicle parked just outside. Nolen and Evans demanded money from Ritchie, who refused and ordered them out of the bar.

Three shots were fired, with one hitting Ritchie, killing him instantly. All three men were arrested shortly after and Crater testified against the other two.

On November 10^th 1982, Nolen and Evans were sentenced to life along with additional sentences for burglary. Crater was later sentenced to six to 12 years in prison.

1982

In Texas, American female serial killer, Genene Anne jones was arrested and charged with multiple murders. Jones killed up to 60 toddlers and children in her care when she was a nurse in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

She killed by injecting her victims with digoxin, heparin or succinylcholine, to cause the deaths. The drugs would cause paralysis of skeletal muscles which also meant the patient wouldn’t be able to breathe under their own control.

In children, they would suffer heart attacks or stop breathing. Jones’s motivation for the murders was to see herself become the hero.

She enjoyed putting small children in real danger and then jumping in to save the same child. She was later sentenced to a total of 159 years in prison, where she remains to this day.

1983

In Narborough, England, 15-year-old Lynda Mann was on her way home from a babysitting job when she was attacked by 23-year-old Colin Pitchfork.

She was dragged into the bushes from a rural footpath known as the Black Pad, where she was raped and strangled to death. Despite a large investigation, the case went unsolved until 1987 when Pitchfork was arrested for the murder of 15-year-old Dawn Ashworth on July 31^st 1986.

He was convicted of both murders and sentenced to life in prison on January 22^nd 1988. In 2020, Pitchfork was released on parole.

Check out the Mega List of True Crime Podcasts