True Crime On This Day November 7th

November 7th

On November 7th in true crime, a mystery washed up body, mass prison escape, serial killer, and grave robbers.

1978

In Broward County, Florida, the body of a 21 to 35-year-old black male washed up on the shoreline at 4000 South Surf Road.

The estimated date of death was only one day prior, but the body had suffered a huge amount of decomposition and putrefaction. The identity of the body remains a mystery to this day, but suspicious behaviour has long been suspected.

1979

At the West Virginia State Penitentiary, a mass breakout of prisoners occurred, including some serving life sentences for murder.

One of the escapees was triple murderer Ronald Turney Williams who went on the run for almost two years. While a fugitive, he shot dead a homeowner during a robbery.

In June 1981, Williams was shot and injured in a hotel lobby by FBI agents, which resulted in his recapture. He was later sentenced to death for the shooting of the homeowner.

1980

In Detroit, the nude body of 23-year-old Cecilia Marie Knott was discovered in Littlefield. She had been stabbed in the chest and neck the day before and was found with her own sweater wrapped around her neck.

She had been murdered by American serial killer and sex offender Donald Murphy who was arrested on December 15^th and charged with six murders of sex workers in Detroit.

In his confession of the Knott murder, Murphy claimed that he had solicited her services and had sex in his vehicle. While he was having sex, he started stabbing her in the chest and did not stop until Knott was dead.

He was convicted of two murders, including Knott’s, and sentenced to 30 years for each murder. He is suspected to have killed at least six people.

In the late 1970s and 1980, 18 prostitutes were killed in Detroit. It led investigators to believe that two serial killers had been active in the area at the same time as Murphy.

1981

At the Church of San Geremia in Venice, Italy, the skeleton of Christian martyr Saint Lucy was taken by two masked youths. The two robbers had left her skull behind for some unknown reason.

Also known as Saint Lucia or Lucia of Syracuse, she was martyred upon her death in the year 304. An investigation recovered the remains on December 13^th 1981, near a hunting lodge owned by one of the robbers.

1982

In Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, Canada, 57-year-old William Slywka disappeared under suspicious circumstances. He was a resident of Prince Albert’s North Park Centre, which was an institute for mentally handicapped people.

The centre closed in 1988 and was demolished in 1991. No trace of Slywka has ever been found but it is suspected he was met with foul play. His case remains unsolved.

1983

In Los Angeles, California, after being under police surveillance, 26-year-old serial killer Brandon Tholmer, AKA: The West Side Rapist, was captured.

He was a Louisiana-born serial killer and rapist who murdered at least 12 elderly women between 1981 and 1983 in Los Angeles’ West Side.

He was arrested at his apartment where more than 200 pieces of jewellery, watches, photographs, and other small items were discovered.

In 1986, he was found guilty of 12 murders and sentenced to life in prison for four of them.

Later investigators have confidently linked another 22 murders to him as some of the items found in his apartment were linked to other victims, bringing the total to 34.

He has never been charged with the additional 22 but remains in prison to this day.

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