1934: The Pyjama Girl: A Body in a Culvert and a Mystery That Lasted Decades

On 1 September 1934, the body of a woman with a bullet through the neck was found in a culvert beneath near Albury, New South Wales.

Dressed in silk pyjamas, she remained unidentified for a decade, preserved in formalin and viewed by thousands before police named her as Florence Linda Agostini, an English-born woman who had lived on Darlinghurst Road in Kings Cross and later moved to Melbourne with her husband Tony Agostini.

Tony Agostini confessed to killing Linda and was convicted of manslaughter, sentenced to six years. He served just over three years before being deported to Italy.

Photograph of Linda Agostini(Linda Platt) - Pyjama Girl Mystery
Photograph of Linda Agostini(Linda Platt) – Pyjama Girl Mystery

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1963: The Trap That Caught Serial Killer Eric Edgar Cooke

In August 1963, Perth police discovered a rifle hidden in bushes, linked to the murder of Shirley McLeod. Rather than remove it, they set a trap: replacing the weapon with an inoperable replica tied with fishing line, then waited.

On 1 September 1963, Eric Edgar Cooke returned to retrieve the rifle and was arrested on the spot. Under questioning, he confessed to 22 violent crimes, including eight murders, making him one of the deadliest serial killers in Australian history.

Captured trying to retrieve the hidden weapon
Captured trying to retrieve the hidden weapon

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1825: John Riddel Hanged at Hobart for Murder, Confessing Two More Killings

A dispute over the butchering of a pig turned fatal in Hobart in 1825. John Read Riddel, a carpenter, had hired a butcher to cut up a slaughtered pig. Dissatisfied with the work, the two men came to blows, and Riddel drove a knife into the man during the struggle.

Standing on the gallows for his crime, on 31 August 1825, Riddel confessed to the gathered crowd to smothering two of his wives while they slept in a drunken stupor, to forging a letter with an English postmark to deceive a clergyman into marrying him, and to a failed attempt on the life of his Captain, where he had snatched a concealed sword and was about to strike when a bystander intervened.

Riddel himself requested that the full weight of his crimes be made public, before being launched into eternity.

Piggy bank hanging from a hangmans noose on a golden rope
Piggy bank hanging from a hangmans noose on a golden rope

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1825: Thomas Peacock Hanged at Hobart for the Murder of Constable Craggs

Thomas Peacock, transported from Macquarie Harbour to stand trial, was convicted in the Supreme Court of the murder of Constable Craggs. Craggs had apprehended Peacock in the bush; Peacock stabbed him deliberately in the left side, declaring at the time that he would die happy having caused the constable’s death.

Peacock was hanged on the new drop at Hobart Gaol on 31 August 1825. His loud sobbing on the scaffold suggested the happiness he had claimed was nowhere to be found in his final moments.

Young woman bows head over execution block crying
Young woman bows head over execution block crying

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On This Day in True Crime History

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