Dark Stories: On This Day In True Crime History - Dark Stories True Crime Tours

1989: The Night Stalker Convicted on All 43 Counts: Richard Ramirez Faces California Justice

Richard Ramirez, the serial killer known as the Night Stalker who terrorised California in 1984 and 1985, was found guilty on every one of the 43 charges brought against him: thirteen counts of murder, five attempted murders, eleven sexual assaults, and fourteen burglaries.

The trial itself became a spectacle of its own, dragging on for years and costing an estimated 1.8 million dollars, making it one of the most expensive criminal trials in California history at the time.

Ramirez showed no remorse throughout proceedings, at one point flashing a pentagram drawn on his palm to reporters and declaring his admiration for Satan.

⬅ See all events from 20 September

Burglary California Murder Serial Killer Sexual Assault Trial USA

Spread the word on your favourite platform!

1822: Eight Convicts Fled Macquarie Harbour, and Two Ate the Rest

On 20 September 1822, Alexander Pearce, Bob Greenhill and six other convicts escaped the brutal penal outpost of Macquarie Harbour on Tasmania’s west coast, plunging into some of the most impenetrable wilderness in the colony with almost no food or supplies.

As starvation set in, the group turned on itself. Greenhill, who had once been a butcher, took the lead in killing and butchering their companions one by one to survive, and Pearce joined him in eating the flesh of the dead.

Eventually only Pearce and Greenhill remained, each watching the other, until Pearce killed Greenhill as well and continued alone, becoming the last man standing from the original party of eight.

⬅ See all events from 20 September

Australia Cannibalism Escape Murder Prison TAS

Spread the word on your favourite platform!

1980: Smuggled in a Book Spine: the Hillside Strangler Plot to Fake a Copycat Killing

On September 19, 1980, Veronica Compton attempted to strangle a 26-year-old woman at a motel in Bellingham, Washington. The attack was part of a plot to convince authorities that imprisoned Hillside Strangler Kenneth Bianchi was innocent—and that the real killer remained at large.

Bianchi had supplied Compton with a semen-filled condom concealed in the spine of a book. She was to plant its contents at the scene of a staged rape and murder, creating false evidence to cast doubt on his guilt. But the woman survived, and the scheme unravelled.

Compton was convicted of first-degree attempted murder in March 1981. She remained imprisoned until 2003.

Close-up of worn book spine titled Modern English Drama

⬅ See all events from 19 September

Arizona Attempted Murder Escape Murder Prison Serial Killer Trial USA Washington

Spread the word on your favourite platform!

1952: Steps From Home: the Unsolved Murder of Betty Shanks in Brisbane

On the night of 19 September 1952, 22 year old Betty Shanks stepped off a tram at the Grange terminus in Brisbane and set off on the short walk home. She never made it and her body was found the next morning, in the front garden of a house just metres from her parents’ own home.

Despite an extensive police investigation and decades of renewed interest, no one was ever charged over her death. The case has become one of Queensland’s most haunting cold cases. A young woman killed almost within sight of her own front door, with her killer never identified.

⬅ See all events from 19 September

Australia Brisbane Cold Case Murder QLD Unsolved

1989: The Night Stalker Convicted on All 43 Counts: Richard Ramirez Faces California Justice

Spread the word on your favourite platform!

1822: Eight Convicts Fled Macquarie Harbour, and Two Ate the Rest

Spread the word on your favourite platform!

1980: Smuggled in a Book Spine: the Hillside Strangler Plot to Fake a Copycat Killing

Spread the word on your favourite platform!

1952: Steps From Home: the Unsolved Murder of Betty Shanks in Brisbane

Spread the word on your favourite platform!

Subscribe to Dark Stories