Manhunt - Dark Stories True Crime Tours

1995: He Phoned a Journalist to Boast of 76 Victims: The Capture of the ABC Serial Killer

Moses Sithole murdered at least 37 women and a toddler across South Africa between July 1994 and late 1995, the killings spread between three towns so that newspapers dubbed him the ABC Killer. Police lost his trail that August after linking him to one victim and uncovering an earlier conviction for an assault on a woman, and the case went cold until Sithole himself broke the silence, phoning a journalist to claim the murders were revenge for his unjust imprisonment and boasting of 76 victims, twice the official count, before giving directions to a body to prove he was telling the truth.

The call let investigators close in, and on 6 November 1995 police cornered Sithole in Johannesburg. He attacked a constable with a hatchet during the confrontation and was shot by officers, bringing the manhunt to an end.

⬅ See all events from 6 November

Africa Johannesburg Manhunt Murder Police Serial Killer South Africa

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1990: A 350-Officer Manhunt Could Not Stop the Rostov Ripper Killing Again

Soviet authorities refused to admit serial killers existed, so the public had no idea a predator was stalking the region's railway stations, gouging out his victims' eyes before vanishing back into the crowds. Andrei Chikatilo had been doing this for years by the time investigators finally grasped his pattern and threw everything they had at stopping him: roughly 350 officers in uniform and plain clothes, stationed on platforms and lurking among commuters at stations across the region.

It made no difference. On this day in 1990, a man named Viktor Tishchenko simply went to collect some train tickets and crossed paths with Chikatilo, becoming his latest victim despite the massive police presence meant to prevent exactly this. The killer's capture was still weeks away.

⬅ See all events from 3 November

Europe Manhunt Murder Russia Serial Killer Unsolved

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1791: Twenty Convicts and a Pregnant Woman Flee Parramatta, Convinced China Lay Just Over the River

Twenty male convicts newly arrived from Ireland, along with one pregnant woman, vanished from the settlement at Rose Hill, near Parramatta, on this day in 1791, taking their tools, bedding and a week's rations with them. Passing settlers who saw them pass asked where they were bound; the convicts answered that they were walking to China, certain that a great river lay only about a hundred miles to the north, beyond which a copper coloured people would receive and treat them kindly.

An officer and a detachment of troops were sent after them, tracing the group as far as the harbour before Sydney before losing the trail entirely. Within a week most had stumbled back starving and half naked, having survived on wild berries and shrubs, while one or two of the runaways were killed by spears from the people whose country they had wandered into.

Watkin Tench, recording the episode, could not resist a final barb: insisting he intended no "illiberal national reflection" on any people, he added that it was certain every one of the escapees was Irish.

Portrait of Watkin Tench: Narrator of the establishment of the Port Jackson colony(Sydney)

⬅ See all events from 1 November

Australia Colonial History Convict History Escape Manhunt NSW Parramatta Sydney

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1878: Shoot on Sight: the Extraordinary Law That Outlawed Ned Kelly

Just four days after three police officers were shot dead at Stringybark Creek, the Victorian government introduced the Felons Apprehension Bill on 30 October 1878, paving the way for extraordinary powers that would allow Ned Kelly and his gang to be declared outlaws.

Once Ned and his brother Dan were formally declared outlaws, they could legally be shot on sight by police or any member of the public, without first standing trial. The legislation also threatened severe penalties for anyone knowingly sheltering or assisting the fugitives.

The crackdown extended beyond the outlaws themselves. Police arrested suspected Kelly sympathisers, with around twenty men detained for months as authorities attempted to break the gang's network of support. The heavy-handed campaign fuelled resentment among sections of the local population, strengthening sympathy for the very men the government was determined to capture.

Even after the gang robbed banks at Euroa and Jerilderie, prompting Victoria and New South Wales to offer a combined reward of £8,000 in February 1879, the outlaws remained at large. It took another sixteen months, and the bloody siege at Glenrowan in June 1880, before Ned Kelly, wearing his homemade iron armour, was finally captured.

Troopers pursuing the Kelly Gang on horseback

⬅ See all events from 30 October

Australia Bushranging Legislation Manhunt Outlaw Political Crime VIC

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