Caril Ann Fugate & Charlie Starkweather
In the early morning hours of December 1, 1957, teenage spree killer, Charlie Starkweather and his girl friend, Caril Ann Fugate, murder gas station attendant Robert Colvert for refusing to sell him a stuffed animal on credit. Starkweather returned several times during the night to purchase small items, then finally, brandishing a shotgun, forced Colvert to hand over $100, then drove Colvert to a remote area. After Colvert was injured during a struggle over the gun, Starkweather killed him with a shot to the head.
Aileen Wuornos
On November 30, 1989, Richard Mallory, a storeowner in Palm Harbor, Florida, is last seen taking a ride with Aileen Wuornos. The following day, his car was found abandoned in a remote area of Ormond Beach. Nearly two weeks later, his body turned up in a Daytona Beach junkyard with three bullets in his chest.
Charles Peace at his murder trial in 1879
Charles Frederick Peace was a notorious English burglar and murderer from Sheffield, whose somewhat remarkable life later spawned dozens of novels and films. Peace is mentioned by name in the Sherlock Holmes short story, The Adventure of the Illustrious Client and in Mark Twain’s Captain Stormfield’s Visit to Heaven. Peace's earliest criminal exploit is said to have been stealing an old gentleman's gold watch, and he soon passed to burglary.
Jeffrey Dahmer
On November 28, 1994, convicted serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer is beaten to death by a fellow inmate while performing cleaning duty in a bathroom at the Columbia Correctional Institute gymnasium in Portage, Wisconsin. During a 13-year period, Dahmer, who lived primarily in the Midwest, murdered at least 17 men.
Ross McWhirter (right) with his twin brother Norris
On November 27, 1975, Ross McWhirter was assassinated by two IRA terrorists. He was shot outside of his home in north London. His killers Harry Duggan and Hugh Doherty, both of whom were members of what became known as the Balcombe Street Gang were captured and charged with his and nine other murders.
Scene of the Brink's Mat Heist
On November 26, 1983, six robbers break into the Brink's-MAT warehouse at Heathrow Airport, London and steal millions in gold, diamonds and cash. At the time, it was described as "the crime of the century.” The robbers gained entry to the warehouse from security guard Anthony Black, who was in on the heist.
Thierry Paulin
On November 25, 1987, French serial killer Thierry Paulin murders Rachel Cohen, age 79. On the same day, he attacked 87-year-old, Berthe Finalteri, whom he suffocated and left for dead. Two days later, he strangled Genevieve Germont, who would be his last victim.
On the night of November 29, 1988, near the impoverished Marlborough neighborhood in south Kansas City, an explosion at a construction site killed six of the city’s firefighters. It was a clear case of arson, and five people from Marlborough were duly convicted of the crime. But for veteran crime writer and crusading editor J. Patrick O’Connor, the facts—or a lack of them—didn’t add up. Justice on Fire is OConnor’s detailed account of the terrible explosion that led to the firefighters’ deaths and the terrible injustice that followed. Also available from Amazon
