True Crime On This Day September 21st

September 21st

On this day, throughout history, there are bombings, mystery disappearances, double murders, and unsolved cold cases. Those born on September 21st are Virgos.

1978

In Northern Ireland, the Provisional IRA detonated bombs at an RAF airfield near County Londonderry. The terminal, two aircraft hangers, and four planes were destroyed in the attack. The attack marked the culmination of weeks of bombings that left almost 40 people injured.

1979

In Pershing County, Nevada, 73-year-old Nan Cecile Dixon vanished under mysterious circumstances. Dixon had left Grass Valley in her car to visit her brother, three hours away in Seven Troughs but was never seen alive again.

Despite hiring psychics and private investigators, Dixon’s disappearance remained unsolved.

In 1982, her car was found in a ravine just off the main road near Seven Troughs. Previous searches had been fruitless because the car could only be seen from directly above a cliff.

But it was no accident, investigators found that the vehicle had been deliberately driven off the road and a suicide note was found in the car. There was also blood found in the trunk of the car, leading to a possibility that Dixon was killed.

A suspect in the case has since passed away and the Pershing County Sheriff’s Department closed the case, listing it as a suicide. More mysteriously, all evidence in the case surrounding her disappearance, no longer exists.

1980

In St. Louis City County, Missouri, Elroy Preston stabbed to death two people in an alcohol-fuelled frenzy. Preston was living in temporary accommodation with his disabled brother, Ervin Preston, who resided downstairs. Upstairs, lived Pee Wee Richardson and Betty Klien.

They had all gone to Ervin’s quarters for an evening of drinking but an argument over sharing chicken between them all became violent.

After Richardson and Klien wanted to go to bed, Elroy ordered them back down to Ervin’s quarters where he stripped off then stabbed them to death, severing Klien’s spinal cord in the process. He had removed his clothes to hide any blood evidence.

After he killed them, he took some left-over chicken and dipped it in the victim’s blood before eating it. He then dragged their bodies outside where they were found the next day. Elroy was arrested and later sentenced to death.

1981

In Las Vegas, Nevada, 27-year-old used car-lot owner Rachel Karr vanished without a trace. She was the co-owner of the Fremont Street Used Car Lot.

Shortly after her disappearance, and based on witness testimony, Leonard D. Vignolo Sr. was arrested for her murder despite no body being recovered. Prosecutors proved he had shot Karr in a dispute over money.

He then cut her body up, buried part of her in the desert outside of Las Vegas, and the rest in the China Lake in California. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Despite four appeals, he remains incarcerated. No trace of Karr’s remains have ever been discovered.

1982

In Queensland, Australia, 26-year-old Carol Margaret Goodlich disappeared and has never been seen again. Goodlich was employed as a massagist in a parlour on the Gold Coast. She was last seen by her husband who claimed she travelled to Sydney with an unidentified woman to seek work there.

Despite her husband’s claim, no sign of Goodlich or the mysterious ‘other woman’ have ever been found. Investigators and Goodlich’s family have long suspected foul play. Her case remains open and unsolved. Some databases list her disappearance date as September 25^th.

1983

In Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, shortly after 9am on September 21st, day nurse Mary Drake arrived at the property of James Lunario for a scheduled appointment and walked into the scene of a massacre.

Inside, she found the bodies of James, his sister Angelina, and his brother, Victor. All three had been stabbed to death multiple times and were found lying in pools of their own blood.

Seven days later, after spending the proceeds he received from the items he had robbed from the Lunario residence, David Chmiel was arrested. He was later sentenced to death for his part in the murders. Despite appeals as recently as 2017, Chmiel remains on death row.