True Crime On This Day October 5th

Last Updated on September 16, 2022 by Ben Oakley

October 5th

On October 5th, in true crime, unsolved murder, cold cases, unidentified remains, and a bus massacre.

1978

In Trenton, Detroit, 20-year-old Anthony Giannola was murdered in his apartment. The murder remains unsolved to this day and is an active cold case in the State of Michigan. Giannola was well-liked and had five younger siblings.

1979

In Cowbridge, Wales, taxi driver John Armstrong drove to pick up a customer known only as Williams and it was the last time he was ever seen alive. Armstrong’s body was found three days later, 11 miles from where the abandoned taxi had been dumped. He had been beaten to death but no apparent motive has ever been found.

1980

In Wiggins, Mississippi, the decomposed skeletal remains of an unidentified white adult female were discovered just off Highway 26.

The remains were split between two green trash bags and she had been tied up before being killed. The victim has never been identified, despite having available dental records and DNA. She became known as Ms. Wiggins, or the Wiggins Jane Doe.

1981

In Phippsburg, Maine, 47-year-old Swanton H. Wyman disappeared after heading out on his boat. He had taken the boat out alone to go lobstering and fishing just off the coast but it was found later the same evening, over two miles offshore with no one onboard.

There are three theories, one that he died by accident when hauling traps from the water but Wyman was an accomplished fisherman. Two, he had faked his own death, and three, he had been met with foul play.

Despite the most common suggestion being that he died by accident, his case is still being treated as endangered missing.

1982

In North Portland, Oregon, on October 5th, 22-year-old Rosie Mae Pilcher disappeared under suspicious circumstances. She was carrying approximately $50 (USD) and wearing a long white fur coat at the time of her disappearance. Despite an investigation, no trace of Pilcher has ever been found, dead or alive. Her case remains open and unsolved.

1983

In Punjab, India, pro-Khalistan Sikh anti-Government militants, attacked a bus travelling from Dhilwan to Jalandhar and killed six Hindu people.

The Khalistan movement is a Sikh separatist movement who seek to create a homeland for Sikhs by establishing a sovereign state, called Khalistan. The proposed state would consist of land that currently forms Punjab, India, and Punjab, Pakistan.

Following the bus massacre, an emergency rule was imposed in Punjab which lasted more than a decade. No one was ever charged with the killings.