True Crime On This Day October 14th

Last Updated on September 16, 2022 by Ben Oakley

October 14th

On October 14th, in true crime, assassination attempt on Queen Elizabeth II, drug trafficking in Thailand, serial killers, cold cases.

1978

In Bangkok, Thailand, three Australians were charged with drug trafficking after Australian and Thai narcotics agents seized 8.4kg of heroin from their hotel room in Bangkok.

Fearing they would face execution by firing squad, the Australian Government made recommendations to the Thai government for leniency. All of them received varying prison sentences, with the last of them, Warren Fellows, being released in 1990.

1979

In Utah, serial killer and sex offender Arthur Gary Bishop claimed his first victim. Four-year-old Alonzo Daniels was lured from the grounds of his family’s apartment complex and was drowned in Bishop’s bathtub.

Bishop later buried the body in the desert. Bishop was arrested in 1983 and confessed to the murders of five young boys. He was sentenced to death and executed on June 10^th 1988.

1980

In Dade County, Florida, the body of an unidentified black man was found on the ground at North Miami Avenue. Police responded to reports of gunfire and a body on the sidewalk. According to witnesses, the man had been confronted by three other men just before eight shots were heard.

Despite having recognisable features, the man was never identified. No suspects have ever been caught and it remains a cold case in the State of Florida.

1981

In Dunedin, New Zealand, an assassination attempt on Queen Elizabeth II, failed and was covered up by New Zealand authorities until 2018. The Queen and other members of the British Royal Family were on a tour of the country and were on their way to visit the Otago Museum.

Christopher John Lewis went to the building in advance and hid in a toilet cubicle. He shot at the Queen as she exited the vehicle. The shot missed but a loud crack was heard and local police ended up telling journalists that it had been a sign falling down.

Lewis had intended to kill the Queen and was arrested eight days after firing the shot on a separate robbery charge. It was only when he took police to where he had hidden, did they find empty casings nearby.

He was convicted of firearm charges and sentenced to three years in prison, with some being served in a psychiatric unit. He was again arrested in 1997 for the murder of a young mother, Tania Furlan. Before the trial, he electrocuted himself in his prison cell.

Concerned it would show the country in a negative light, New Zealand authorities covered up the attack until a Fairfax Media information request in February 2018. Fairfax were a New Zealand media company who merged with Nine Entertainment later in 2018.

1982

In Georgia, murderers Alvin Howard Neelley, Jr. and Judith Ann Adams Neelley, an American couple responsible for two torture murders in 1982, were arrested.

They abducted and killed 13-year-old Lisa Ann Millican in late September, then raped and tortured her before injecting her with drainage cleaner. 22-year-old Janice Chatman and her boyfriend, John Hancock, were both abducted by Judith on October 4th.

Hancock was shot but survived while Chatman was taken back to the Neelley’s motel room where she was tortured and murdered.

Hancock was able to identify his attacker which led to the Neelley’s arrest. Judith was later sentenced to death but was commuted to life in 1999. Alvin was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole.

He died in prison of natural causes in 2005. Had they not been caught when they were, then it was suspected they would have killed more.

1983

In Rural, Florida, the partial skeletal remains of an unidentified black man in his Twenties were discovered in a plastic bag in a wooded area.

The walkers who found it initially assumed the skeleton belonged to an animal until they saw the human skull inside. His clothes were found in a second bag, buried nearby.

Due to the way the body had been disposed; foul play has long been suspected. Despite an investigation into the discovery, the circumstances of the man’s death, and his identity, remain a mystery.