True Crime On This Day October 6th

Last Updated on September 16, 2022 by Ben Oakley

October 6th

On October 6th, in true crime, assassination of Egyptian President, shootings, murders, decomposing body, and a double murder.

1978

In Harris County, Texas, Carl Johnson Jr. shot dead 75-year-old security guard Ed Thompson during a robbery attempt. Johnson with an accomplice entered a family-owned convenience store with the intention of robbing it.

Johnson claimed that the guard shot at them and so he shot back out of self-defence. His accomplice testified against him and received 40 years in prison. Johnson was sentenced to death and executed by lethal injection in September 1995.

1979

In Denver, Colorado, 42-year-old Willie Bender was shot dead at the Pooh’s and Sha’s Restaurant. An unknown man began arguing with Bender and just moments later a shot was heard.

Bender was found dead on the floor. As of 2021, the identity of the shooter remains a mystery and is an active cold case investigation. Bender was known to his friends as ‘L.A. Bender’.

1980

In Meenthalakkara, India, the bodies of K. C. George and Rachel George were found in the home by their house maid, Gowri. The couple were living in their retirement home in the remote village when their bodies were found.

They had been beaten to death during a home invasion robbery. Despite minimal clues, the investigation led to one of the George’s relatives. Reni George and three accomplices were addicted to drugs and needed money to fund their lifestyle.

They hatched a plan to rob the George residence but ended up killing them instead. All four were sentenced to death which was later commuted to life in prison. They were released after 15 years on 23^rd June 1995.

1981

While watching the Armed Forces Day parade in Nasr City, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat was gunned down and killed. A military vehicle stopped in front of the stands as a jet formation flew overhead.

Six men jumped out and opened fire at Sadat and those around him, they also threw multiple stun grenades into the crowd. Sadat was hit by two bullets and died in hospital of his wounds shortly after.

Seven others, including two of the attackers, were killed in the attack. The four surviving assassins were arrested at the scene and convicted of the murders. They were all executed on the same day on April 15^th 1982.

1982

In Santa Cruz, Sonoma County, California, the decomposing body of an unidentified adult male in his twenties was discovered at the Natural Bridges State Park. He was found by workers in a eucalyptus grove along a service road near Moore Creek.

Due to the decomposition of the remains, there are no DNA, dental, or fingerprint records available to link him with a missing person.

He had a Tattoo on his left wrist of a red rose with three green leaves and a tattoo on his right forearm of an Indian face with red eyes and feathers. Investigators have long suspected foul play. His case remains unsolved.

1983

In Chetwynd, Canada, on October 6th, the bodies of German tourists Andrea Scherpf and Bernd Göricke were discovered near British Columbia Highway 97 and the Pine River. They had last been seen hitchhiking in the area three days earlier and were spotted getting into a 1960s Chevrolet pick-up truck.

The pair were shot dead shortly after. Canadian Andy Rose was arrested in 1989 after being implicated in the murders by local workers. Based almost entirely on their statements, Rose was convicted and sentenced to life in prison in 1991.

In 1998, he was released on bail after new DNA technology exonerated him from the crime. Yet, it didn’t stop investigators believing he was the suspect. Police spent the next three years attempting to get a confession out of him before a retrial in 2001 where he was acquitted.

DNA also eliminated another suspect who was arrested and charged with the murders. The police investigation into Rose and the constant belief that he was the suspect, allowed the true killer to put almost 20 years between himself and the investigation.

Despite an ongoing cold case, the killer has never been found and the murders remain unsolved. It continues to fascinate true crime communities.