True Crime On This Day October 16th

October 16th

On October 16th, in true crime, a Croatian assassination, cold cases, political murder, unsolved homicide, and serial killers.

1978

In Croatia, famous writer and critic of the government of Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Ante Bruno Bušić, was killed in Paris, France. He was one of the best known victims of the Yugoslav Secret Police (UDBA).

21 years later in 1999, after Croatia had gained independence, his body was moved from Paris to the Mirogoj Cemetery in Zagreb. He was reburied next to the dead of the Croatian War of Independence.

1979

In Baltimore, Maryland, 14-year-old Lisa Monique Lambert disappeared after getting into a car. Her parents reported her missing the next day but her brother claimed he had seen her getting into a Mark 7 Lincoln a few days later.

Lambert had been on her way to a dance class at a local church when she vanished. Her disappearance remains unsolved and no trace of her has ever been found.

1980

In Kenya, the body of Esther Njoki Muiga was discovered at her vast farm and home in Nairobi. Muiga was the fifth wife of Peter Muigai Kenyatta, the son of President Jomo Kenyatta.

Witnesses had heard Muiga scream as she was attacked during an ambush at her home. A group or men dragged her into a vehicle where they murdered her and dumped her body on the vast estate.

Shortly before midnight, her partially burnt body was found. The murder became an instant mystery. The estate was only accessible via a private road which was under constant security surveillance.

One newspaper, The Nation, ran a story that she might have been murdered to protect the family name. Despite widespread media and public attention, the circumstances surrounding Muiga’s death remain a mystery.

1981

In Aurora, Colorado, 30-year-old Dale Curtis was shot dead in his home by an unknown assailant. An investigation concluded that Curtis had interrupted a robbery at some point in the late evening.

He appeared to have been chased through the residence before being shot with his own gun. A further three shots were found to have been fired within the home.

A revolver was found on the bed in the guest bedroom with the cylinder open and some of the shells ejected onto the bed. No suspects have ever been caught and his murder remains unsolved.

1982

In Maine, on October 16th, 34-year-old Jerilyn Towers disappeared after leaving a bar with serial killer James R. Hicks. He raped and murdered her, before dismembering her body and dumping her in the same river where he had dumped his 23-year-old wife, Jennie Lynn Hicks, in 1977.

Hicks was arrested in 1983 and convicted of Jennie Hicks’s murder. He couldn’t be charged with the Towers murder due to a lack of evidence against him. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison but released after only six years, in 1990.

Shortly after, he started seeing 40-year-old Lynn Willette, who he met at the motel they both worked in. They moved in together pretty quickly but on May 26^th 1996, Hicks brutally murdered her and dumped her remains in the river.

Due to a lack of evidence in her disappearance, he was not charged at the time. In 2000, he moved to Levelland in Texas and robbed a 67-year-old woman. He held a gun to her head and forced her to write a cheque and a suicide note.

Fortunately, she had managed to escape, and it led to his arrest. He was convicted and sentenced to 55 years in prison. The remains of Willette were mostly found in concrete buckets, buried near to the river. The parts discarded into the river were never found.

1983

In San Antonio, Texas, a security guard on his regular patrol discovered the body of 48-year-old father of six Richard Edmonson lying in the middle of the road. He had been shot dead at a different location then dumped on John Peace Boulevard.

He was wearing a plaid shirt, blue jeans, and western style boots, and had been shot multiple times in the head. No suspect was ever caught and the murder remains unsolved.