True Crime On This Day October 21st

October 21st

On October 21st, in true crime, a pilot mysteriously vanishes, Atlanta murder victims, a headless body, and murder.

1978

Australian pilot Frederick Valentich vanished in a Cessna 182 over the Bass Strait south of Melbourne, after reporting contact with an unidentified aircraft.

The training flight was being accompanied by an aircraft that was 1,000 feet above him who lost track of Valentich.

That very evening, there were reports of UFO sightings and they became forever linked with the disappearance.

Even today, it is still the subject of conspiracy theorists and ufologists. The disappearance remains unexplained. Valentich or his plane have never been found.

1979

In Atlanta, Georgia, nine-year-old Yusuf Bell went missing after visiting a shop for his neighbour. His body was discovered weeks later at an abandoned school.

He had been bludgeoned and strangled to death. Bell was a victim of the Atlanta Murders of 1979 to 1981.

28 people, mostly children, were murdered over a two-year period. Wayne Williams was arrested and charged with two of the adult murders and was sentenced to two life terms, despite pleading his innocence.

Police have since attributed more of the murders to Williams, but no charges have been brought forward. As of 2022, Atlanta police have reopened some of the investigations as active cold cases.

1980

In Florida, Kenneth Darcell Quince was sentenced to death for the December 1979 rape and murder of 82-year-old Ms. Bowdoin.

Quince had entered Bowdoin’s home with the intention of robbing it when he encountered her in a nightdress. A struggle ensued in which Quince ended up sexually attacking and then killing Bowdoin.

Bowdoin’s body was found on December 30^th 1979 after family had not heard from her. Quince was arrested shortly after and charged with murder before being sentenced to death.

1981

In Florida, the headless body of realty salesperson Margo Delimon was discovered in a remote wooded area. Delimon had been abducted by James Delano Winkles on October 3^rd, after he had met her at an open house viewing.

He invited her to breakfast where she agreed to show him properties in remote locations around the region. While at one of the remote properties, he abducted her and held her hostage in an abandoned house.

He raped Delimon multiple times before deciding to kill her because she knew where she was being held. He killed her by using an overdose of sleeping tablets.

A week later, he removed the head and teeth and discarded the body. Delimon’s skull was discovered on May 23^rd 1982.

Winkles confessed to the murder in 1998 while serving a life sentence for the kidnapping of Donna Maltby in 1982. He also confessed to the 1980 murder of Elizabeth Graham in the same area.

Investigators claimed that if he had not confessed to the murders then they would have remained unsolved. In a 2003 trial, Winkles was convicted of the two murders and sentenced to death. He died of natural causes on September 9^th 2010.

1982

In Vandenburgh County, Indiana, Donald Ray Wallace Jr. was sentenced to death for the murders of four people in 1980.

On January 14^th 1980, Wallace robbed the home of Ralph Hendricks, while Hendricks was out for the night. Wallace then became greedy and decided to break into the house next door.

He found the Gilligan family inside. Patrick Gilligan, his wife Teresa and their two children aged four and five, were tied up and shot in the head, killing them all instantly.

Wallace then robbed the property of guns, collectables, and other belongings, all of which were traced, leading to Wallace’s arrest. Initially, Wallace was found incompetent to stand trial and remained in a psychiatric hospital for two years.

He was later convicted and sentenced to death for all four murders. He was executed by lethal injection in Indiana on March 10^th 2005.

1983

In Indianapolis, Indiana, on October 21st, 19-year-old Michael Pack, his girlfriend, and her daughter, were attacked during a robbery.

They were attacked by Keith Lamont Patton and Leroy Johnson, who had become drunk, armed themselves with shotguns, and travelled to Washington Park with the sole intention of robbing someone.

Both men approached Pack’s vehicle and ordered him out, but Pack tried to escape by driving away. Both attackers opened fire and one of the shots killed Pack instantly.

Patton dragged Pack’s girlfriend out of the car then raped her while her daughter was forced to watch. Both men were arrested shortly after and sentenced to death, but later commuted to life in 1987.

The Black Dahlia Murder.