True Crime On This Day November 8th

November 8th

On November 8th in true crime, murder for hire, serial killers, mystery disappearance, and the murder of a family.

1978

In California, the remains of 16-year-old Adele Jean Corradini were found in a woods in Duarte. She had last been seen alive by her mother on September 6^th when on her way to work.

She had been raped and strangled to death by serial rapist and murderer Michael Dee Mattson who would claim three victims in 1978 alone. Mattson was sentenced to death in 1986 but died in prison in 2009 or natural causes.

1979

In Pennsylvania, Barbara Frey was shot dead by two men posing as police officers after they pulled her over on a remote road. But not all was as it seemed.

Barbara’s husband Roderick Frey had hired the two men, Charles Zehring and Richard Heberlig to kill her and make it look like an accident. Because Barbara struggled too much and almost got away, she was shot dead, and the macabre plan went out the window.

One month later, all three men were arrested and convicted of murder. Roderick Frey was sentenced to death which was later commuted to life. Zehring and Heberlig received life sentences for their part in the murder.

1980

At seven in the morning, near the Dole Train Station in Salaspils, Latvian SSR, a 44-year-old female was stabbed twice in the stomach.

She had been approached by serial killer Stanislav Ivanovich Rogolev, AKA: Agent 000, who had tried to start a conversation with her.

When she refused his advances, he stabbed her and left her for dead. She went on to survive the attack but could not identify her attacker. Rogolev killed 10 women and attacked a further 11 between 1980 and 1982.

1981

In Rock Springs, Wyoming, 21-year-old Amber Elizabeth Scholz disappeared after leaving a party at 3am in the morning. She had gone to the party with her boyfriend and another friend, who accompanied her back to her residence at Plaza Court in the early hours.

Later the same morning, friends became concerned they hadn’t heard from her, so they went back to her home. They discovered there were no signs of a struggle, no forced entry, and no signs of disturbance inside her home.

Her father reported her missing twelve days later on November 20^th. At the time of her disappearance,

Amber was involved in a custody battle with her ex-boyfriend, regarding her young son but there has been no solid link between the two cases. The disappearance of Amber Scholz remains unsolved.

1982

In Orange County, California, Brian Lyle Hefner and John Visciotti devised a plan to rob two fellow employees on their payday. They lured Timothy Dykstra and Michael Wolbert into their car on the promise of taking them to a party but instead diverted to a remote location near Irvine Lake.

When all four men got out of the car, Visciotti pulled a gun on the pair and demanded their wallets. When the wallets turned out to be near empty, Visciotti shot Dykstra twice, killing him instantly, and Wolbert three times, once in the left eye.

Remarkably, Wolbert survived the attack and identified the pair to police. Both men were convicted of murder and attempted murder. Hefner was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Visciotti was sentenced to death. Despite numerous appeals, with the most recent in 2017, he remains on death row.

1983

In Bloomington, Illinois, on November 8th, member of the Plymouth Brethren, David James Hendricks returned home from a business trip to find police at his house.

Inside the home, his wife, 30-year-old Susan Hendricks, and their three children, nine-year-old Rebekah, seven-year-old Grace, and five-year-old Benjamin, had been brutally murdered with an axe and butcher’s knife.

An officer had gone to the home earlier in the afternoon performing a welfare check when he found the massacre inside.

David immediately became the prime suspect, due to his demeanour when he returned to the home. He was charged with their deaths in 1984 and convicted of four murders. He was sentenced to four life terms, one for each murder.

In 1991, after spending seven years in prison, the Illinois Supreme Court overturned the conviction on appeal, citing only circumstantial evidence.

At a retrial, David was acquitted of the murders and released from prison. Upon his release, he married a fourth time and moved to Florida to start an orthopaedic business. No-one else has ever been charged with the murders.

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