True Crime On This Day November 5th

November 5th

On November 5th in true crime, an embassy attack, the all-saint’s massacre, a cold case solved, and a serial killer.

1978

In Iran, rioters sacked the British Embassy in Tehran. The riots were part of the Iranian Revolution and Tehran saw widespread violence that began on November 4^th.

Protesters took to the streets, looting and burning government buildings, banks, hotels and shops.

1979

In La Paz, Bolivia, The All Saints’ Massacre took place. It was a violent crack-down against protests, by the military coup regime of Alberto Natusch Busch that had seized power a few days earlier.

Over 100 people were killed, with another 200 injured.

1980

In Rapides Parish, Louisiana, the then unidentified partial skeletal remains of a teenage female were discovered in a remote area.

The skeleton of a dog was also found near the body. In 2014, a cold case investigation used DNA evidence to identify the victim as 18-year-old Donna Gayle Brazzell.

The evidence also led to two suspects. In 2019, almost 40 years after the body had been found, 64-year-old Leo Laird and 54-year-old Gary Haymon were charged with the rape and murder of Brazzell.

1981

In Clairton, Pennsylvania, 14-year-old Clairton High School student Toni Lynn McNatt-Chiappetta disappeared under suspicious circumstances. She had left her family residence headed to her high school for a sports meeting which was only two blocks from her home.

She was last seen walking past the bar where her mother worked in the early evening. Toni never arrived for the sports meeting.

Police first suspected she had run away but her family claimed she had no reason to elope and was not the type to be out of contact for more than a day.

She also had many friends, enjoyed sports, and volunteered at her local church. Her father, Sam Chiappetta, was considered a suspect as he was alleged to have abused his wife and children but was never charged, despite failing a polygraph test regarding his daughter’s disappearance.

Then in April 1982, her mother, Audrey, confessed to having concealed information about her daughter’s disappearance.

She claimed when she returned home after her bar shift, that Toni’s sports clothes were drying in the basement, meaning she had returned home at some point.

Despite the revelations, Toni’s disappearance remains unsolved. No trace of her has ever been found.

1982

In Naramowice, Poland, on November 5th, an unnamed 11-year-old girl was brutally murdered, mutilated, and partially dismembered. She had been killed by polish serial killer and necrophile Edmund Kolanowski.

He murdered three people and mutilated numerous corpses from 1970 until his arrest on May 16^th 1983. He was sentenced to death and executed by hanging on July 28^th 1986.

1983

In Hoxton, London, 26-year-old Lloyd Simpson was shot dead as he watched television at his apartment in Shaftesbury Street.

His body was found by his father the following morning when he failed to show for work. Simpson had been shot in the head and stomach but his pit bull terrier had been left untouched.

Despite the thinness of the walls between properties, no one heard gunshots, but the murder was suspected to have taken place at the same time as a fireworks display nearby.

Investigators believed Simpson had been executed due to his work in the second-hand car business but it was never proven. His apartment had been searched thoroughly by his killer, leading some to believe that the killer was looking for something of great value to him.

A later investigation found that Simpson was involved in underground dogfighting and may have kept records of dogfights in his apartment.

Despite an investigation and widespread national interest, Simpson’s murder remains unsolved.

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