Archives: Dark Stories: On This Day In True Crime History - Page 34
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.
2006: The Scream Recovered Two Years After Brazen Oslo Museum Theft
Edvard Munch’s iconic painting The Scream, stolen from the Munch Museum in Oslo on 22 August 2004, was recovered by Norwegian police on 31 August 2006. The theft had been carried out in broad daylight by masked gunmen who forced staff to the ground before fleeing with the painting and another Munch work, Madonna.
The recovery came after a lengthy investigation involving multiple arrests. The paintings were found hidden and showed some damage, but were ultimately restored and returned to public display.
Edvard Munch, The Scream (1893). Photo: Børre Høstland/National Museum of Norway. CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
In the early hours of 31 August 1997, Diana, Princess of Wales, died after a high-speed car crash in the Pont de l’Alma tunnel beside the River Seine in Paris. The Mercedes carrying her struck a concrete pillar while being pursued by press photographers. Diana was 36. Dodi Fayed and driver Henri Paul were also killed; bodyguard Trevor Rees-Jones was the sole survivor.
French investigators concluded that Paul had been driving at excessive speed while affected by alcohol and prescription drugs. The crash nevertheless became the subject of numerous conspiracy theories, including claims that Diana and Dodi were deliberately killed, that British intelligence or members of the Royal Family were involved, and that the collision had been engineered to prevent an alleged marriage or pregnancy.
These allegations were examined in detail by Britain’s Operation Paget investigation, which found no evidence of a conspiracy to murder Diana. A subsequent British inquest, concluded in 2008, returned a verdict of unlawful killing caused by the grossly negligent driving of Henri Paul and the pursuing paparazzi.
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.
