December 30, 1997 - Andrew Cunanan - Miami Beach police announced they closed their investigation on the murder of Gianni Versace concluding that Andrew Cunanan killed the famous designer. However, investigators couldn't determine whether the two men knew each other or what motivated Cunanan to kill Versace.
December 30, 1997 - Orville Lynn Majors - In a courtroom packed with relatives of those who died while in his care, Orville Lynn Majors pleaded innocent to six counts of murder. Police suspect the chubby nurse of being directly responsible for 130 other deaths but they do not have enough evidence to file charges. Orville's lawyer claims his client is innocent and believes authorities are using him as a scapegoat to justify the millions already spent in their investigaton.
December 30, 1997 - Andrew Cunanan - Matthias Ruehl -- the owner of the infamous houseboat where Andy Cunanan committed suicide -- held a yard sale of houseboat knick-knacks. Fernando Carreira, the caretaker -- now worldwide celebrity -- who led police to Cunanan, orchestrated the sale . Ruehl said he intended to keep some of the more collectible items like the bed on which Cunanan shot himself, drinking glasses and other personal things, but wants to sell the houseboat.
December 29, 1997 - Saber & Mahmoud Abu el-Ulla - Cairo President Hosni Mubarak ratified the death sentences passed on Saber Abu el-Ulla and his brother Mahmoud for killing nine German tourists and their Egyptian driver outside of the Cairo Museum.
December 29, 1997 - Orville Lynn Majors - Police arrested and charged Orville Lynn Majors, a 36-year-old former male nurse, with lethally injecting six patients at an Indiana hospital.
December 29, 1997 - Theodore Kaczynski - In a dramatic move, lawyers for Unabombing Teddy K. -- bowing to their client's wishes -- dropped plans to use a mental his mental state as the centerpiece of their defense. Though they believe their client is a paranoid schizophrenic, Teddy told them to drop the mental defect defense or he would fire them.
In related news, federal prosecutors -- not budging an inch in their sickening quest to fry out favorite luddite bomber -- turned down an offer from Ted's legal team in which he would plead guilty if he was spared the death penalty. David K., the Unabrother, said he was extremely disappointed and depressed by the prosecutor's insistence of seeking the death penalty even though they promised him not to when he ratted on his brother.
December 25, 1997 - AUM Shinrikyo - A court-appointed trustee for the bankrupt Supreme Truth cult agreed to pay survivors and the families of those killed in the Tokyo subway gas attack a total of up to 1.12 billion yen ($8.62 million) in damages.
December 24, 1997 - God's Salvation Church - A potentially suicidal sect eerily reminiscent to the Heaven's Gate cult has emerged in San Dimas, California. The Taiwan-based God's Salvation Church came to the attention of authorities when Sheriff's detectives went to investigate a Taiwanese woman's claim that her teen-age daughter was kidnapped by her uncle who is in the cult. While rescuing the girl at the church, detectives learned that the group was going to Garland, Texas, where they expect Christ to come down in a flying saucer to pick them up . Oh, have a merry Christmas!
December 23, 1997 - Theodore Kaczynski - Lawyers for Teddy K. offered to withdraw his mental illness defense if they could use schizophrenia as an argument to save his life if he is convicted of being the Unabomber. The government, in their quest to fry the disgruntled ex-math professor, turned down the deal.
December 22, 1997 - Terry Nichols - A Denver jury, after deliberating 41 hours over six days, convicted Terry Nichols of conspiracy and involuntary manslaughter in the Oklahoma City bombing. Nichols, who could recieve the death penalty for conspiracy, was safe in his Kansas farmhouse more than 200 miles away at the time of the blast. Jurors concluded that the circumstantial prosecution case built on fertilizer receipts, phone records and Ryder truck sightings was not enough to make him an equal to McVeigh. Still, there are 160 murder charges pending against him in Oklahoma.
December 22, 1997 - Carlos the Jackal - A French court convicted "Carlos the Jackal" of the 1975 murders of two French investigators and a Lebanese national and sentenced him to life in prison. TFollowing the verdict, the Venezuelan-born Ilich Ramirez Sanchez said, "Viva la revolucion," smiled, shook his fist in the air four times at the audience and walked out of the courtroom escorted by police guards.
In a final four-hour plea to the jury, Ramirez called the proceedings a political spectacle. "There is no law for me," said the dapper and graying revolutionary. "They want to sentence me to life in prison. I'm 48 years old, so it could be another 40 or 50 years. That doesn't horrify me," he added. In his rambling harangue to the jury, Ramirez claimed he was a political combatant with a "love of revolution and love of justice."
December 22, 1997 - Theodore Kaczynski - After five weeks of questioning, the jury that will hear the Unabomber case was chosen out of a pool of 600 candidates. Lead defense attorney Quin Denvir said he was pleased with the nine women and three men selected to decide his client's fate. The final round of jury selection was delayed after the judge, Kaczynski and his attorneys met in chambers, apparently over rifts between the defendant and his lawyers.
December 21, 1997 - Ahmad Suradji - The trial of Ahmad Suradji -- an Indonesian sorcerer accused of murdering 42 women to boost his magic powers -- began near the city of Medan as the 363-page charge against him was read.
December 21, 1997 - Debbie Fornuto - The lawyer for Debbie Fornuto -- whose six babies were all allegedly cot-death victims -- believes that criminal charges against his client "would seem to be inevitable". Amid a long history of bungling by bureaucrats, the death certificates for all the children, none of whom lived longer than two years, have now been changed by Cook County's current medical examiner, altering the cause of death from sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) to "undetermined". Prosecutors, not mincing words, believe "that all of the deaths were caused by suffocation, and the manner of death is homicide".
December 21, 1997 - Paul Bernardo - A Kingston court ruled that Paul Bernardo -- Canada's most infamous sex killer -- will be granted a public defender for the appeal of his murder convictions. Bernardo was convicted in 1995 of abducting, sexually assaulting and killing two teen-age girls. He was sentenced to life in prison, with no chance of parole for 25 years. Subsequently he was declared a dangerous offender and, under Canadian law, could be held indefinitely in prison.
December 20, 1997 - Paul Michael Stephani - A prison inmate known as the "weepy-voiced killer" for his tearful phone calls taunting police in the 1980s has confessed to committing three murders, two of them previously unsolved. Paul Michael Stephani, 53, told investigators he wanted to confess and apologize to the victims' families before he died from cancer. He has melanoma and has been told he less than a year to live.
December 19, 1997 - Arturo Reyes Torres - A disgruntled state transportation worker shot and killed four men at a maintenance yard before he was shot to death by police in a gun battle.
December 19, 1997 - Anthony Deculit - In keeping with a lethal holiday tradition, Anthony Deculit -- a postal worker who had been turned down for a transfer to the day shift -- opened fire in Milwaukee's main post office, killing a co-worker and wounding two others before killing himself. "He was standing there pointing the gun at me," said fellow postal worker, Michael Witkowski. "He said, 'Mike, you don't want to be here.' And I told him, 'Tony, don't do this.'" Deculit then asked his postal buddy to call his wife and proceeded to kill himself. "He put the gun in his mouth," Witkowski said. "I said, 'Tony, you don't want to do this.' But he blew his brains out."
Tony, 37, warned co-workers during his overnight shift in a mail sorting room at Milwaukee's main post office to stay away from him because "something bad might happen." When supervisor Joan Chitwood, 55, approached Deculit to take an inventory ticket from him shortly before midnight, Tony handed her the ticket with one hand and shot her in the face with a 9mm pistol.
Chitwood had recently reprimanded Deculit after catching him sleeping on the job and denied his request to be transferred to a day shift. The other wounded person, Rodrick Patterson, 44, was treated and released for a gunshot wound to the foot. The man killed, Russell "Dan" Smith, 42. reportedly had a running feud with Tony and they would not speak to each other.
December 18, 1997 - Timothy McVeigh - Convicted Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh told The Dallas Morning News in a letter that he expects his appeals to fail. "Because of the intense public pressure and demand for my blood, I do not see an appeals court ruling in my favor." Still living out some weird Soldier of Fortune fantasy, he wrote: "I have no fear of execution. If anything, death by execution is much more predictable than normal life or combat -- because I at least know when and how I'm checking out."
December 18, 1997 - Unidentified Caltrans Rampager - A unidentified former state worker armed with an assault rifle, shotgun and handgun opened fire in a Caltrans maintenance yard in Orange, California, killing four former co-workers. He was then shot dead in a gunfight with police as he tried to drive away in his black Mercedes Benz. An officer, who was shot once in the stomach, was taken to St. Joseph Hospital, where he was in stable condition and undergoing surgery. A motive for the shooting was not immediately known. Unidentified sources in Caltrans confiremd the suspect had been fired from the maintainance plant a short time ago.
December 17, 1997 - Internet Crime Archives - In our desire to keep the Archives lively, we'll start incorporating flash animations to all pages. The animations will be coded so that if you do not have the Flash Plugin, then you'll just see a gif. If you want to see what all the hype is about, check the Index Page. Hopefully you will not be getting any type of error messages. If you do, let us know and tell us what type of system and browser you are using. In any case we strongly recommend you pick up the Flash plugin from Macromedia.
December 17, 1997 - Aida Nourredin Mohammed Abu Zeid - An Egyptian nurse, Aida was charged with killing one patient and trying to kill another 29 to avenge her unrequited love for the doctor treating them. Aida Nourredin Mohammed Abu Zeid, 25, also faces charges of stealing drugs and forging documents to cover up the thefts. It is unclear if she is the nurse who confessed killing 18 patients in a Cairo hospital for distrubing her sleep.
December 16, 1997 - Carlos the Jackal - Once considered the world's most feared terrorist, Carlos the Jackal -- who's real name is Illich Ramirez Sanchez -- is on trial in Paris for the 1975 killings of two French police officers and a Lebanese police informer for which he was already found guilty in absentia. In his long career as an international terrorist -- or, as he called himself, "professional revolutionary" -- he is believed to be responsible for at least 834 deaths. Hunted by police around the world for almost three decades, he was snatched by French agents in Sudan in 1994 and flown to Paris in a bag.
Deflating the myth of the noble revolutionary, his former wife and girlfriend said he was a "megalomaniac madman" who killed without compunction. According to author, David Yallop, Carlos was also an incompetent killer. In his book To The Ends of the Earth, he describes Carlos as a "would-be revolutionary of gross incompetence" who often killed in panic. He says the legend of the ice-cold assassin was propagated by Western intelligence services who believed Carlos to be a Russian-trained KGB agent.
December 16, 1997 - 25 Dead in Pakistan - A tribal feud in Pakistan lead to 25 deaths. According to local officials the Balolzaimadai and the Zamankiel tribes waged a ferocious daylong rocket duel over a land dispute in a remote corner of northwestern Pakistan. Violent feuding is common in Pakistan's lawless tribal region, where tribal elders enforce laws. Many of the tribesmen are heavily armed, often with weapons bought from neighboring Afghanistan, which was flooded with arms after the 1979 Soviet invasion.
December 15, 1997 - Three Dead in Molbile, Alabama - Three people were shot to death in the office of a car dealership in Mobile, Alabama. The victims were identified as dealer Stephen Dyas, 48, saleswoman Sherry Gaston, 42, and her husband, Bruce Gaston, an automobile wholesaler. All three had been shot in the head. Police wouldn't say if any money was missing from the victims or the office, but they said they were attempting to locate a Ford Mustang convertible that might have been taken from the dealership.
December 11, 1997 - Cleamon "Big Evil" Johnson - Los Angeles judge Charles Horan said, the death penalty was the only way to stop Cleamon "Big Evil" Johnson. According to police "Big Evil," 29, together with 25-year-old Michael "Fat Rat" Allen -- who is already serving a 35-to-life sentence for murder -- was reponsible for at least 60 killings. The two South-Central gangbangers were sentenced to death for the cold-blooded murders of two potential witnesses who had planned to testify against members of their gang. Prosecutors said they have had a hard time getting convictions against Johnson and members of his 89 Family Bloods gang because they kill, or threaten to kill, witnesses.
December 11, 1997 - Michael Carneal - A McCracken County grand jury in western Kentucky indicted a 14-year-old Michael Carneal on three counts of murder, five counts of attempted murder and one count of burglary following the fatal shootings at Heath High School. McCracken Circuit Judge Jeff Hines said Mike will continue to be held without bond pending his January 16 arraignment.
In related news, doctors for one of the surviving victims have said she likely will not walk again. The bullet that struck Missy Jenkins entered her left shoulder and spiraled downward toward her spinal cord before exiting.
December 11, 1997 - Ricky & Barbara Brown and Janette Ables - Three adults -- Ricky Brown, 23; his wife, Barbara, 32; and Janette Ables, 22 -- killed their five children in an arson fire they set in their own home to cash in on an insurance policy. Following the fire that killed five children ages 3 to 10, suspicion of the two parents and a stepfather mounted partly because the house was immediately engulfed in flames before firefighters arrived from just two blocks away. Horrified neighbors in Weston, West Virginia, called for burning them alive after finding out they had killed their kids.
December 11, 1997 - David Gorton - As the family of Heidi Challand wiped their tears, David Gorton, her fiancee, pleaded guilty to murdering her and her four children. David, 37, told police he "snapped" because he thought his fiancee -- who he was to marry a month later -- was being unfaithful. Not one to hold back bludgeoned to death her and four of her children with an ax.
December 11, 1997 - Theodore Kaczynski - The first round of jury selection in Teddy K's trial ended after five weeks witha remaining pool of 85 potential jurors.. From here attorneys will have to whittle the number down to 12 jurors and six alternates before December 29 when opening statements are set to begin.
December 11, 1997 - Nasib Kelewang - Indonesian press reported the start of the trial of Nasib Kelewang, an Indonesian sorcerer who allegedly murdered 42 women to boost his powers. Nasib Kelewang said his father told him in a dream to kill 70 women to attain strong black magic powers. The victims -- women who sought his help to keep their hiusbands faithful -- were strangled and buried with their heads pointing to Nasib's home.
December 10, 1997 - Vuthy Seng - A jury rejected the insanity defense Vuthy Seng, 34, and sentenced him to three life terms for fatally shooting his girlfriend's three sons in the head.
December 10, 1997 - Michael Lee Lockhart - The state of Texas -- one of the most lethal killing machines in the industrialized world -- executed Michael Lee Lockhart for killing a police officer. Lockhart, 37, was also sentenced to death in Indianna and Florida for killing two girls. Lockhart became the 37th man to be executed in Texas this year, extending the state's record year.
December 9, 1997 - Myra Hindley - Myra's lawyer claimed in London's High Court that she has been unlawfully "singled out" and condemned to die in prison by successive Home Secretaries because of the notoriety of her case. Acting through Edward Fitzgerald, the infamous Moors Murderer challenged the confirmation of her life sentence by the present Home Secretary, Jack Straw. In a strange twist of words, Fitz called Myra the "victim of injustice" because the Home Secretary's refusal to review the merits of her continued detention. Perhaps the series of bodies pulled out of the moors in 1966 might be viewed by the Home Secretary as an "injustice" meriting a lifetime in jail.
December 8, 1997 - Possible Washington, D.C. Serial Killer - A cluster of six recent deaths around a Northwest neighborhood of the nation's capital less than three miles from the White House has residents and authorities fearing thay're the work of a serial killer.
December 6, 1997 - Daniel Vitaver - A man depressed about financial problems shot and killed his wife and two teen-age children as they sat at the breakfast table. Then, daddy dearest turned the gun on himself.
December 6, 1997 - Moses Sithole - As people in the gallery cheered and applauded Moses Sithole, South Africa's deadliest serial killer, was handed a 2,410 year sentence for commiting 38 murders and 40 rapes. Relatives of the victims shouted for his head and called for the return of capital punishment. The judge -- who also made a plea for the restoration of the death penalty -- said he would have sentenced Sithole to death without hesitation.
December 6, 1997 - Five Dead in South Africa - Five people were killed and four seriously wounded when a gunman opened fire on a group drinking and singing in a back yard bar in South Africa. A second gunman kept watch at the front of the house, firing at people in the road to warn them off during the attack. A third man was waiting in a getaway car, a white Nissan Sentra.
December 5, 1997 - Theodore Kaczynski - Teddy K's famous Montana cabin arrived triumphantly to Mather Field, a former Air Force base near Sacramento, where it will be stored until the defense needs it. Escorted by California Highway Patrol officers and a county sheriff's deputy, the truck was greeted by cheering throngs reporters and camera crews as it pulled into the decommissioned Air Force base shortly before noon.
December 5, 1997 - Patrick J. Biller - The previously reported mass murder in Yonkers is now being called a murder-suicide. According to authorities short tempered Patrick J. Biller, 53, killed his wife and three children early in the morning before putting a bullet through his head.
December 5, 1997 - Scott Heidler - Information obtained from the surviving children of the "Dasher Street Massacre" led investigators to the arrest of Jerry Scott Heidler -- who the children knew as Scott Taylor -- for the murder of their foster parents and their two children.
December 5, 1997 - Moses Sithole - Now officially South Africa's worst serial killer Moses Sithole was found guilty of all 38 charges of murder, 40 of rape and six of robbery in the Pretoria High Court. Sithole -- who's overwhelming arrogance had ultimately brought about his downfall -- sat emotionless, taking down notes throughout the three-hour judgment. After the judgment, he gathered up his briefcase and left the courtroom with a smile on his face.
December 5, 1997 - Five Dead in Yonkers - Yonkers Police Commissioner Donald Christopher said five adults and children were found shot to death today in a two-family house. Donna Shine, who lives across the street, said her husband was leaving for work at about 5:30 a.m. when "he heard a bang, bang." He waited outside a while, heard nothing else and "figured someone was fixing a jammed window or something." At about 10:30 a.m., Mrs. Shine watched as police began to take out bodies. She said a relative of the victims who lived downstairs apparently called the police.
December 5, 1997 - Ira Einhorn - Convicted murderer and hippy guru Ira Einhorn was freed by a court in Bordeaux after it rejected an American request to extradite him to Pennsylvania, where he faces a life sentence for the 1977 killing of his girlfriend, Holly Maddux. No reasons were given for the rejection of the American extradition request, although Einhorn's claim that he would not be allowed a retrial in Philadelphia but would be sent straight to prison for life appeared to impress the judge, Claude Arrighi. French law requires a retrial for any person convicted in absentia.
December 4, 1997 - Possible Florida Serial Killer - Local law enforcement agencies in three different counties in south-west Florida are comparing notes about a possible serial killer responsible for at least three dead girls. Detectives from West Palm Beach, Plantation and Coral Springs police departments each have an unsolved murder on their hands and each victim had criminal records stemming from drug or alcohol problems. What has been keeping police from declaring the murders of Sandra Kay Walters, Ellen Louise Stowe and Tammy Strunk the work of a serial killer is incomplete forensic evidence.
December 4, 1997 - Michael Carneal - Prosecuting attorney Timothy Kaltenbach said that Hollywood was to blame for Mike's lethal outburst. Especifically the 1995 Leonardo DiCaprio movie Basketball Diaries. The film -- based on the life of Jim Carroll, a high school basketball player who turned to drugs and violence -- includes a dream scene, in which Carroll shoots classmates and a teacher.
December 4, 1997 - Quadruple Murder in Santa Claus - A Georgia couple who cared for foster children, along with two of their own children, were shot to death while they slept by an intruder who then took three other children from the home, abandoning them unharmed some miles away. Toombs County Sheriff Charles Durst said a man who is not related to any of the children was later arrested by authorities.
December 4, 1997 - Theodore Kaczynski - With news crews in tow, the tarp-covered, 10-by-12-foot Unabomber shack has turned into some type rolling exhibition drawing cheering crowds of reporters as it crosses the nation en route to Sacramento. Meanwhile back in court Teddy K. played tic-tac-toe with his lawyer as jury candidates struggled with what they would do if they had the option of giving the Unabomber suspect the death sentence.
December 4, 1997 - Quadruple Murder in Florida - A co-owner and three employees of a conveyor-belt factory in Bartow, Florida, were found dead inside the one-story block building. Police ruled out robbery and believe the killings stemmed from a rift between the three co-owners of Erie Manufacturing, which makes garment conveyors and tarpaulins for dry cleaners. Apparently business partners George Gonsalves, Felice Dosso and Nelson Serrano had a falling out. When Gonsalves and Dosso stripped Serrano of his title and salary and fired his son from a top job, Serrano sued for alleged mismanagement.
Attention immediately focused on Serrano's son, Francisco, 32, who was escorted off the property by police last June, when he refused to leave after he was fired. But police said Frankie was quickly out of consideration. "We interviewed him last night, and he's not a suspect." However, police are now looking for his father, Nelson, though they wouldn't call him a suspect.
December 3, 1997 - AUM Shinrikyo - Japanese prosecutors said on they would take the extremely rare step of speeding up the snail-paced murder trials of the doomsday cult guru Shoko Asahara. "The prolongation of Asahara's trials would sharply amplify public distrust in Japan's criminal justice," deputy chief prosecutor Kunihiro Matsuo told a news conference. "This is also an extremely serious issue in terms of maintaining order.
December 3, 1997 - Michael Carneal - Nichole Hadley -- one of the three girls shot to death at Heath High School -- donated both her lungs to a 42-year-old man suffering from severe emphysema, and her heart to a second patient. Both transplants were performed immediately after her death. Nichole's parents, Chuck and Gwen Hadley, agreed to the donation of her heart, lungs, kidney, liver and pancreas. "What she wanted to do in life was help other people. This is one way she can do this," Nichole's father said.
In related news, West Paducah sheriff Frank Augustus said he believed Carneal may not have acted alone. He acknowledged that his theory was based on a "gut feeling" and had no evidence of a conspiracy. "He did bring five guns. Is he the only one who was supposed to be there? Are there more people involved in this, who maybe chickened-out or used him as a patsy?" Inquiring minds want to know.
December 3, 1997 - Theodore Kaczynski - After a well publicized false start the truck carrying Teddy K's Montana retreat left the Malmstrom Air Force Base and headed towards California. Leaving shortly before dawn, the flatbed truck made its way through Great Falls to Interstate 15, where it turned south. As a wide-load vehicle it will only be allowed on the highway during daylight hours.
December 2, 1997 - Michael Carneal - School authorities in West Paducah, Kentucky, decided to hold classes at Heath High School today -- the day after Michael Carneal's post prayer meeting rampage -- because "we can't let one mixed-up person destroy our society." Throughout the day students, with the help fo teachers, counselors and priests, tried to make sense of the tragedy.
President Clinton -- unable to understand what led the 14-year-old high school freshman to open fire on his classmates -- offered the sympathies of a nation to the families of the three dead girls. "Like all Americans, I was shocked and heartbroken by the terrible news," he said from Washington.
December 2, 1997 - Heaven's Gate - A prospective buyer has offered to swap an estate in Hawaii for the mansion where the 39 Heaven's Gate cultist committed suicide last spring. The Hawaii offer, an "even swap" of an Oahu estate for the 9,000-square-foot, seven-bedroom mansion, is one of at least three under consideration. The other offers come from a Texan who specializes in problem properties and a local buyer. To screen out gawkers, people who wanted to see the house were charged $250. According to the realtor, the fees went to charity.
December 2, 1997 - Theodore Kaczynski - A spokesman for the Malmstrom Air Force Base that a previous report of Teddy K's cabin leaving the base was erroneous and the transfer was on hold for the time being. No explanation for the delay was made available.
December 1, 1997 - Shane Harrison - Esther Beckley testified at the murder trial of Shane Harrison, that she thought they would be armed with nothing more than a BB guns when they went to rob an video store. Instead, Harrison had a pump-action shotgun and a Tech-9 semiautomatic pistol. Harrison allegedly killed three video employees and Ms. Beckley later pulled the trigger on the grandparents of one of the employees who had showed up to pick up their grandson after work.
December 1, 1997 - Michael Carneal - In what's becoming frighteningly commonplace, another high school student went on a deadly rampage killing three fellow student and wounding five others. Michael Carneal, a self-professed atheist, calmly shot 11 rounds at a crowded high school lobby after a morning prayer ended. The boy, who had three spare clips of ammunition and four other guns, surrendered when Ben Strong -- a pastor's son and leader of the prayer circle -- grabbed him.
December 1, 1997 - Theodore Kaczynski - Though he skipped a day of jury selection last week after throwing a tantrum, Teddy K. decided to show up to court again. However, unlike previous days, the taciturn ex-math professor did not take notes or talk to his lawyers. The only time he showed any signs of life was a nod in agreement when a prospective juror who said police officers are more likely to be suspicious of anyone who is "different."
November 30, 1997 - Daryl Keith Holton - In a twisted attempt to resolve a child custody fight, Daryl Keith Holton, 36, shot his three children and his ex-wife's 4-year-old daughter and surrendered to police. After the killing Holton -- who lived in Shelbyville, Tennessee -- went to the police station and confessed.
November 26, 1997 - Killer T-Shirts - They're here! Celebrating the start of the Unabomber trial here at the Crime Archives we have produced a t-shirt to commemorate the event. The shirts -- 100% cotton, all attitude -- are available in black or white for a mere $15 plus shipping. Order now while they're still legal!
November 26, 1997 - Andras Pandy - The Hungarian Nepszava newspaper reported that Andras Pandy fostered an undetermined number of orphaned or homeless Romanian children in his home in Brussels. The children -- who became orphaned or homeless in Romania's 1989 revolution which toppled communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu -- were taken in by a charity club named YDNAP (PANDY backwards) founded by the lethal pastor. They stayed under his care for varying periods of time, "and nobody knows what happened to them or if they returned home."
November 26, 1997 - Theodore Kaczynski - A day after throwing a temper tantrum during a discussion of his mental health, Unabomber suspect Teddy K. decided to remain in his jail cell rather than attend jury selection.
November 25, 1997 - Heriberto Seda - New York's alleged "Zodiac Killer" was denied a motion to get out of jail without bail. Prosecutor Robert Masters said the alleged killer seems to be spending all his time in the law library at Rikers filing "the Xerox copy, fill-in-the-blank" kind of legal motions. Heriberto, who is suspected of committing three slayings and six shootings in New York between 1990 and 1994, demanded that the judge presiding over his case --Supreme Court Justice Thomas Demakos -- step down. The cantankerous killer also demanded that his lawyer, David Bart, be tossed from the case. Justice Demakos -- signaling that he was fed up with the Heriberto's histrionics -- surprised lawyers when he said he was turning over the case for assignment to another judge for trial.
November 25, 1997 - Theodore Kaczynski - Not one to take his mental health lightly, Teddy K. threw a pen across the defense table as his lawyers discussed his paranoid schizophrenia. The gloomy ex-math professor then angrily passed notes to and spoke in a heated whisper with his lawyer, Judy Clarke. The only word overheard during the exchange was "psychiatrist!"
November 25, 1997 - French Butchers - Butchers in France have complained that their image is getting a bum rap because their "innocent trade" is repeatedly associated in the press with mass killings. The Confédération Française de la Boucherie said in a statement: "The massacres, shootings, throat-cuttings which crop up in the news are currently dressed up with the name of butchery, with their perpetrators described as butchers. A butcher distributes meat which is shared at the same time as bread and wine. His role evokes peace and fraternity. He is not an executioner or a torturer. He is an artisan, in love with his trade."
November 25, 1997 - Andras Pandy - The daughter of Andras Pandy confessed to helping him kill five relatives -- her mother, two brothers, a stepmother and her daughter -- is now being investigated possible links to the disappearance of others in the family. Authorities have also linked Agnes to the disappearance in 1993 of a 12-year-old girl whose Hungarian mother had a relationship with Pastor Pandy.
November 22, 1997 - Pvt. Vladimir Maltsev - In what's becoming a routine event, a Russian teen-age conscript allegedly shot to death five fellow servicemen.
November 22, 1997 - Josef Gautsch - A man shot and killed his ex-wife, her 3-year-old daughter and four other people in a central Austrian town before turning the gun on himself.
November 21, 1997 - Clarence Smith - The one-time regional boss of the Outlaws motorcycle gang was convicted in federal court of five murders. Clarence Smith, 53, was found guilty of the 1983 quadruple homicide of four bikers in Fort Lauderdale and the attempted murder of a fifth person who survived. Smith also was convicted of a 1981 New Orleans bombing that killed a federal witness. Three other bikers were convicted with Smith of conspiracy and racketeering. Smith also was convicted of plotting to kill a rival biker in Indiana in 1994, interstate transportation of explosives in the Louisiana case and distribution of drugs.
November 21, 1997 - Theodore Kaczynski - U.S. District Judge Garland Burrell Jr. -- indicating he will probably allow a limited mental defect defense -- ruled that Theodore Kaczynski should be asked again to undergo neurological testing by the government.
November 21, 1997 - Andras Pandy - Police have arrested Agnes Pandy, the eldest daughter of the suspected Hungarian killer-pastor Andreas Pandy, and charged her with playing an active role in the murders of her two brothers, her step-mother and two step-sisters.
November 21, 1997 - David Housler - A former soldier was convicted of murder for the deaths of four Taco Bell workers during a robbery in 1994. David Housler, who confessed to being the getaway driver and lookout man, faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison. "You've just convicted an innocent 23-year-old man," defense attorney Michael Terry told the jury.
November 21, 1997 - Myra Hindley - Supporters of Myra Hindley expressed "total disgust" at the Home Secretary's insistence that she should never be released from prison. Campaigners called for a review of sentencing procedures after Jack Straw reaffirmed the decision of his predecessor, Michael Howard, that the Moors murderer should die in jail. Hindley is expected to press ahead next month with a legal challenge to Mr Howard's ruling.
November 20, 1997 - Possible Bastille Serial Killer - Police in Paris announced they are hunting a suspected serial killer responsible for five attacks on young women -- resulting in four deaths -- committed around the Bastille area over the past two-and-a-half years.
November 20, 1997 - Theodore Kaczynski - Not one to take literary criticism lightly, Teddy K. showed flashes of anger when two prospective jurors criticized the 35,000-word, anti-technology Unabomber manifesto. One potential juror said: "I read part of the manifesto and quit reading it after a while." Ted, visibly irritated by the man's nonchalance over his ouvre, took off his glasses, crossed his arms and rocked back and angrily forth in his chair. When the other potential juror said he found the manifesto "too long," Teddy stiffened in his chair.
November 19, 1997 - Jamie Rouse - A Tennessee high school senior was found guilty of two counts of murder and two counts of attempted murder in the 1995 rampage at Richland High School. Angry over poor grades Jamie Rouse, 19, walked into school with a rifle and shot teachers Carolyn Foster and Carol Yancey and 14-year-old student Diane Collins who accidentally got in the way. Only Carol Yancey survived.
November 19, 1997 - Theodore Kaczynski - Court documents filed by the defense said Kaczynski has not only refused to be tested by prosecution doctors, but also ended contact with defense team psychiatrists. One psychiatrist, Dr. David Foster, said the visits ended after he began discussing symptoms of paranoid schizophrenia and Ted turned to him and said, "You are the enemy."
November 18, 1997 - Terry Nichols - Tears streamed down Terry Nichols' face as his former wife testified about a sealed letter he gave her nearly five months before the Oklahoma City bombing telling her how to distribute his belongings in the event of his death. In the November 1994 letter, Nichols asked Lana Padilla to clean out a storage locker and divide his assets -- including a life insurance policy -- between their son, Josh, and his new wife and daughter in the Philippines. "I was very concerned, real concerned," Mrs. Padilla testified. "I cared about Terry and I was concerned that there was something awful, that he was not coming back." In the storage locker she found a ski mask, wig and pantyhose in a bag. "I looked at the mask and said, 'What is he doing, robbing banks?'"
November 18, 1997 - Theodore Kaczynski - In journal entries submitted by the government Teddy wrote: "I intend to start killing people'' and compared himself to a tower sniper Charles Whitman. Wanting to set the record straight, he wrote: "If I am successful at this, it is possible that, when I am caught (not alive, I fervently hope!) there will be some speculation in the news media as to my motives for killing people (as in the case of Charles Whitman, who killed some 13 people in Texas in the '60s).
November 18, 1997 - Shane Harrison - Jury selection began in the murder trial of Shane Harrison for the slaying of five people in a 1996 botched armed robbery at an Albuquerque video store. A panel of 200 prospective jurors have been summoned for the trial, which was moved to Las Cruces due to publicity in Albuquerque. The trial is expected to take four to six weeks to complete.
November 15, 1997 - "Vampire Clan" - Sondra Gibson, the mother of one of Kentucky's teen-age "Vampire Clan," pleaded guilty to trying to entice a teen-age boy into sex as an initiation rite. Gibson, 35, was originally charged with solicitation to commit rape, but instead pleaded guilty to a felony charge of unlawful transaction with a minor. The Vampire mom wrote to her 14-year-old would-be lover, "I longed to be near you ... to become a Vampire, a part of the family immortal and truly yours forever... You will then come for me and cross me over and I will be your bride for eternity and you my sire."
November 15, 1997 - Moses Sithole - Prosecutor Retha Meintjies argued that alleged Gauteng serial killer Moses Sithole's life story, as told to fellow prisoners at Boksburg prison in 1995, should be accepted as evidence against him. Meintjies said Sithole -- an avid talker -- had been a willing party to a series of video and audio tapes made by fellow prisoners. Meintjies said that the tapes showed that Sithole had complete disregard for the lives of others. He was arrogant about his ability to mislead women and to commit crimes without being detected.
November 15, 1997 - Louis James Peoples - Suspected of at least four slayings, Peoples was arrested on November 12 with a backpack that had a stolen badge and identification card belonging to an Alameda County sheriff's deputy. Missing was the deputy's .40-caliber Glock that was later found buried in a muddy field.
November 15, 1997 - Theodore Kaczynski - Contradicting previous claims that Teddy K. is terrified of psychiatrists, prosecutors provided letters showing that Ted sought mental help several times between 1988 and 1993. In the letters, Ted suggested that he and the therapist conduct his sessions by mail, saying that he cannot afford to travel from his remote Montana cabin to the sessions. "Actually, I'd even PREFER to handle it this way because, in writing, I can express what I have to say much more precisely, clearly, and completely than I can in speaking," he wrote in a July 1988 letter to Mental Health Services Inc. in Helena.
November 15, 1997 - Terry Nichols - In the second week of testimony in the Terry Nichols trial in Denver, Colorado, prosecutors called 46 witnesses and showed the members of the jury more than a dozen weapons -- including rifles and a gas grenade gun -- found in cabinets, cupboards and above the garage ceiling of Nichols' home in Herington, Kansas. During cross examination by lead defense attorney Michael Tigar key prosecution witness Michael Fortier said Timothy McVeigh told him that Nichols wanted to pull out of the plot a month before the explosion. "Tim told me that Terry no longer wanted to help him mix the bomb," he testified.
November 15, 1997 - Nathaniel Jamal Abraham - The 11-year-old boy charged in the sniper-slaying of a man outside a Pontiasc, Michigan, convenience store was ordered to stand trial as an adult. The boy's mother said the move was unfair. "He needs to be placed in a facility to get help," Gloria Abraham said. "He has needs that need to be met to get him back on the right track, to get better self-esteem for himself." If the boy is convicted, the judge has the right to sentence him either as an adult -- which would mean an automatic life sentence -- or as a juvenile, which means he could receive no time at all behind bars.
November 14, 1997 - Daniel Blank - Authorities in Polk County, Texas, arrested 35-year-old Daniel Blank on charges in connection with the slayings of six people over the past two years in southeast Louisiana. Sheriff Jeff Wiley of Ascension Parish, La., said Blank confessed on videotape to stabbing, bludgeoning or shooting six people -- bosses, neighbors, and customers -- to pay for his gambling habit.
November 14, 1997 - Thomas Quick - Following instructions from Swedish serial killer Thomas Quick, Norwegian police found bone fragments from a calf that are believed to be of nine-year-old Therese Johannessen. The case -- one of Norway's most notorious murders -- was under investigation for almost ten years. The girl disappeared from a residential area in Drammen on July 3, 1988. Nothing was ever heard of her again until March 30, 1996, when Quick confessed to abducting and killing her. He described her wristwatch with great detail, and pointed out a gravelpit near the pond where he supposedly buried her.
November 14, 1997 - Saber Abu el-Ulla - An Egyptian military court sentenced Dr. Nessim Abdel-Malak, former director of the el- Khanka Hospital for Mental Diseases, to life in prison for accepting bribes for the release of Saber Abu. During one of his unauthorized trips out of the hospital Saber, with the help of his younger brother, murdered nine German tourists and their bus driver.The court also sentenced eight other hospital workers to jail terms of three to 10 years.
November 13, 1997 - Coy Wayne Wesbrook - Annoyed that his ex-wife had sex with another man at a party, Coy Wayne Wesbrook went on a murderous rampage killing her and three others. A fifth person, the woman's 28-year-old boyfriend, was critically wounded.
November 13, 1997 - Theodore Kaczynski - On the first day of jury selection lawyers started sorting through the unusually large pool of 600 prospective jurors. They managed to interview 11 people over a seven-hour period and excusing four for hardship or other causes. Defense attorneys zeroed in on the death penalty as their top concern selecting the jury. Having undergone a complete makeover from his wide-eyed mountain looks, Ted appeared in court sporting a tweed jacket with his hair and beard neatly cropped, looking every bit the professor he once was.
November 13, 1997 - Hubert Geralds - On the day of his 33rd birthday, jurors in a Chicago court deliberated for 12 hours to convict Hubert Geralds of first-degree murder. Allegedly having the IQ of an eight-year-old, Geralds confessed to killing six prostitutes, but told police he killed them over drugs.
November 12, 1997 - Theodore Kaczynski - Get ready for the battle of the minds. That is, the Teddy K's two coexisting minds. On one hand you have the brilliant college professor suffering from a "mental defect." On the other there is the lethal techno-hating-bomb-making freak at war with society. Although the mountain of evidence found in his Montana cabin has prosecutors salivating, lawyers for the alleged hermit-terrorist claim the same stack of evidence will prove his innocence.
November 11, 1997 - Theodore Kaczynski - With questioning of potential jurors due to begin this week, prosecutors and defense lawyers in the Unabomber case are sparring over who should take part in the questioning. Attorneys for the defense filed a motion arguing that lawyers, not the judge, should handle the questioning because jury prospects would be unlikely to bare any hidden biases unless prodded by skilled attorneys. Prosecutors said the judge should participate in the questioning of potential jurors, along with the attorneys.
November 9, 1997 - Theodore Kaczynski - As the November 12 trial date nears, defense lawyers hope to transport the cabin -- found crammed full of incriminating evidence, including letters, a diary and an unexploded bomb -- to Sacramento and plan to build their defense around it. They consider Ted's spartan 10-by-12 feet cabin, were he lived for 25 years, as a reflection of his whacked out mind.
November 7, 1997 - "Operation Foxglove" - Authorities in San Francisco believe they cracked a ring of young gipsy women who seduced older men, swindled them out of their savings and slowly killed them using measured doses of digitalis, a heart drug derived from the foxglove plant. Police arrested five of the eight people indicted by the Grand Jury on charges ranging from conspiracy to commit murder to fraud, grand theft and elder financial abuse.
November 7, 1997 - Theodore Kaczynski - Unabrother David K. said he feels "fear and sorrow" at prosecutors' insistence on seeking the death penalty for his bombing-suspect brother. According to Dave the alleged terrorist acts by Ted were the result of "illness rather than evil." Unfortunately for the K. clan a federal judge ruled that the jury can consider the death penalty if they find Ted guilty.
November 7, 1997 - Howard Unruh - Superior Court Judge Linda G. Rosenzweig refused to move 76-year-old rampager Howard Unruh, 76, , to a less secure psychiatric hospital even though he is no longer actively psychotic or an escape risk. Juge Rosenzweig said Unruh is still a threat to society. She said she could not put aside the psychotic homicidal rampage on Sept. 7, 1949, that led to his incarceration.
November 6, 1997 - Slobodan Misic - Police arrested a bitter former Serb soldier Slobodan Misic after he told reporters he killed up to 80 Croats and Muslims, decapitating some and selling their ears as souvenirs. Misic's story could not be independently verified, but it contained the names of commanders and units known to have been fighting in the region. It was the most detailed story on atrocities to come out of Serbia.
His public confession came two months after a similar account of atrocities was published in Croatia. Former soldier Miro Bajramovic told the Croatian weekly Feral Tribune that he killed 72 people while fighting for Croatia in 1991 and was responsible for the deaths of 14 others. He was arrested shortly after and is now awaiting trial.
November 3, 1997 - Ivan Milat - Backpacker killer Ivan Milat -- convicted last year of murdering seven people -- began an appeal in the New South Wales Supreme Court. Milat, 53, fired his trial lawyer and will conduct his own appeal.
November 3, 1997 - Nathaniel Jamar Abraham - Chalk one up for the future serial killer file. Prosecutors want 11-year-old Nathaniel Jamar Abraham -- who was arrested in his Halloween costume-- to be tried as an adult on a first-degree murder charge. The pre-teen terror-tot was charged as a juvenile with first-degree murder, assault with intent to commit murder and two felony weapons charges. He is accused of firing his rifle from a hill, killing 18-year-old Ronnie Lee Green Jr. as he walked out of a convenience store. Hours earlier, police say, the boy shot and barely missed a neighbor who later turned him in. If convicted as a juvenile, the boy could be held only until he turns 21.
When police arrested the sixth-grader at his junior high school he had his face painted for Halloween. Some officers in the station house thought that it was a joke that the 4-foot-9, 65-pound boy was brought in as a murder suspect. According to police, the boy has a history of violent behavior, including pulling a gun on fellow elementary school pupils, beating an older boy with a pipe, arson and burglary. In September, his mother told authorities she needed help managing him and filed to have him declared incorrigible. His dad, on the other hand, thinks the kid is just misunderstood.
November 3, 1997 - Terry Nichols - After nearly two months of jury selection, the trial of suspected Oklahoma City bomber Terry Nichols opened in Denver with prosecutor Larry Mackey stating that Nichols was just as guilty as Tim McVeigh, although he was safely at home in Herington, Kansas, at the time of the blast. Nichols is accused of robbing a gun dealer to raise money for the bombing, helping McVeigh stow a getaway car in Oklahoma City and helping assemble the bomb. He faces the same murder, conspiracy and weapons charges for which a jury convicted McVeigh. Attorneys are expected to paint much different pictures of Nichols -- from a brooding former soldier unhappy with the federal government to an independent adventurer and devoted family man.
November 3, 1997 - Suicidal Australian Pedophiles - Two men died and another was in a critical condition after what police described as an attempted group suicide by alleged pedophiles. The three men, all youth workers in New South Wales, were found in a parked car near the Queensland town of Esk. Two of the men had been charged last week with child sex offenses. The third man was wanted by detectives for questioning. The deaths follow a major judicial investigation into police corruption in New South Wales, which exposed networks of child abusers.
November 3, 1997 - "Postal" - Now everyone can feel the lethal rush of going "Postal," a new computer game that boasts of being "so freakin' real, your victims actually beg for mercy and scream for their lives!" The game -- designed by Running With Scissors -- gives players several "Mass Murder opportunities: spray protesters, mow down marching bands and char-broil whole towns." Adding fuel to the fire Ripcord games, the marketeers of "Postal," have been sending out copies of a letter from Postmaster General Marvin Runyon, who went postal over the title, claiming it perpetuates inaccurate and unfair stereotypes about postal workers.
November 3, 1997 - Andras Pandy - Police in Hungary, who are searching Pandy's home near Budapest, announced that an "old family tragedy" could explain why he might have killed his two ex-wives and four of his children. Much to the exasperation of the Belgian judiciary, Hungarian police declined to give further details, preferring to wait in case the suspect decided to confess. Questions have also been raised over the identity of the pastor. Belgian investigators think the man in custody could be the younger brother of the real Andras Pandy, who died in Hungary in 1956.
November 1, 1997 - Gerald Stano - In the wake of the recent charred inmates taking a seat on "Old Sparky," Florida's Governor Lawton Chiles said the next two scheduled executions -- that of cop killer Leo Jones and serial murderer Gerald Stano -- will be put on hold until at least late March so Legislature can authorize lethal injection as an alternative means of execution.
August-October, 1997 - Morgue Archives - For previous entries to the Morgue check in the casualties filling the archives.
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