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

Lesley Ann Downey had been missing since Boxing Day 1964, taken from a Manchester fairground and killed by Ian Brady and Myra Hindley, who recorded her final minutes on tape. In October 1965 police digging on Saddleworth Moor spotted a bone protruding from the peat.

The body recovered was still visually identifiable. It was formally confirmed the next day as Lesley Ann, and her mother identified her by the clothing recovered with her, bringing a grim end to months of searching in one of Britain’s most notorious crime cases.

Grim Murder Discoveries on Saddleworth Moors

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Cold Case England Manchester Murder Serial Killer UK

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Andrei Chikatilo cut the eyes from his victims, believing the dead retained an image of their killer burned into their retinas. He could only reach climax while torturing or murdering, and prosecutors said he ate parts of his victims, including their sexual organs, over a killing spree across the Rostov region that claimed at least 52 lives, mostly women and children lured into forests and fields.

On this day a Russian court convicted him on all counts. He was executed by a single shot to the back of the head, a death far quicker than any he gave the people he killed.

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Cannibalism Europe Execution Murder Russia Serial Killer Trial

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Caroline Grills was the kind of woman neighbours trusted: she brought cups of tea and homemade treats to relatives and friends, and several of them sickened and died. On this day she was convicted of the attempted murder of Eveline Lundberg with thallium, the same insidious poison police believed had already killed members of her own family.

Her manner in the dock attracted attention. When the jury returned its guilty verdict, Grills shrugged her shoulders and smiled broadly. After the judge recorded a sentence of death, she reportedly turned to police and asked, “Is that all?” She had protested her innocence throughout the trial.

The sentence was later commuted to life imprisonment. Grills died on 6 October 1960 never expressing remorse for the deaths linked to her name.

Caroline Grills arriving at Sydney Central Court, 9 July 1953. Unknown photographer. Originally published in the Brisbane Telegraph. Source: Trove, National Library of Australia. Public domain.

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Australia Execution Murder NSW Poisoning Sydney Trial

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George Williams had already been flogged once for attacking warder James McEvoy at the Fremantle Convict Establishment, and as the irons went on he was overheard to say he was sorry he had not killed him, and would have blown out some brains with a pistol if he’d had one. Fellow convicts later testified he had vowed from his cell to throw McEvoy from the gallery and kill him.

Williams would get his chance. Seeing McEvoy pass by while on work duty, he ran at him with a shovel, beating him to the ground across the legs and head until the handle snapped, leaving the warder with a fractured skull. Convicted of wounding with intent to murder, Williams was hanged on this day at old Perth gaol.

On the scaffold Williams insisted he had never meant to kill McEvoy, and asked that no revenge be taken on those who had given evidence against him.

Businessman burying a womans body in a field with a shovel

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Assault Australia Execution Fremantle Murder Perth Prison Trial WA

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