True Crime On This Day October 10th

October 10th

On October 10th, in true crime, a fishing trip murder, Pinellas County John Doe, a bombing, and an unidentified victim.

1978

In Williamsburg County, South Carolina, John Dan Cook sexually involved himself with a child for the first time. The victim would have to wait 41 years before Cook was finally arrested for the crime.

He is also alleged to have performed sex acts with other children aged between two and 16-years-old from October 1978 all the way up to November 2018. Investigators gathered enough evidence to charge Cook in 2019 with multiple crimes of sexual misconduct with a minor.

1979

In Rifle Creek, Colorado, 50-year-old John Montgomery was shot dead while fishing in the area. He had been visiting Colorado for a fishing and hunting trip with a friend.

For no apparent reason, a suspect parked nearby then walked over and shot Montgomery dead before making his getaway.

Montgomery’s friend was close by at the time and witnessed a mid-1970s yellow Chevy Blazer driving away. Despite a large investigation, no suspect has ever been caught and the murder and motive remain a mystery.

1980

In Pinellas County, Florida, the body of a 15 to 25-year-old man was discovered under a bridge in the Tampa Bay area. He had died less than a day earlier before being discovered.

Because he had no top on, some investigators suggested that he was swimming nearby when he got into trouble but an exact cause of death has never been found. Investigators never eliminated murder as a possibility.

The curious thing about the Pinellas County John Doe is that no one could identify him through his picture or forensics. The identity of the man remains a mystery.

1981

In the City of Westminster, London, a remote-controlled nail bomb hidden in a laundry van killed two civilians and injured forty more, including 23 British soldiers.

The attack was carried out by the IRA in retaliation for the death of Bobby Sands during the Irish hunger strike. The IRA claimed that retaliatory action needed to be taken against the British Army or British Government, to match the sacrifice made by those who went on strike.

The attack occurred at noon in the Belgravia area, as a bus carrying British soldiers passed the van containing the bomb. It was the worst attack carried out by the IRA in England since the 1975 London Hilton bombing.

1982

In Clark County, Nevada, the decomposing body of an unidentified man between the ages of 25 to 35-years-old was discovered near the Lake Mead Recreational Area.

He was wearing a white, long-sleeved shirt torn in multiple areas, and black pants. His hands were tied behind his back with electrical cord.

An autopsy was unable to determine how he had been murdered due to the putrefaction of the remains. Despite having a DNA profile available, the identity of the man remains a mystery, and the case is unsolved.

1983

In Oklahoma, on October 10th, former Shawnee bakery owner, Alvie James Hale, kidnapped and murdered 24-year-old William Jeffrey Perry, who was a banker in Tecumseh.

The same evening, Perry’s family received a phone call with demands for $350,000 (USD) in cash. The FBI were brought in and traced the call to Hale’s address.

He was arrested two days after the murder. Just two hours after his arrest, the bullet-riddled body of Perry was discovered in Hale’s storage shed, wrapped in a blanket, beside the ransom note.

Hale was sentenced to death for the kidnapping and murder. He was executed by lethal injection on October 18^th, 2001.