On January 6, 1994, Olympic hopeful Nancy Kerrigan is attacked at a Detroit ice rink following a practice session two days before the Olympic trials. A man hit Kerrigan with a club on the back of her knee, causing the figure skater to cry out in pain and bewilderment.
On January 4, 1964, Mary Sullivan was raped and strangled to death in her Boston apartment. The killer left a card reading "Happy New Year" leaning against her foot. Sullivan would turn out to be the last victim killed by the notorious Boston Strangler, Albert DeSalvo, who had terrorized the city between 1962 and 1964, raping and killing 13 women.
On January 3, 1967, Jack Ruby, the Dallas nightclub owner who killed Lee Harvey Oswald, the alleged assassin of President John F. Kennedy, dies of cancer in a Dallas hospital. The Texas Court of Appeals had recently overturned his death sentence for the murder of Lee Harvey Oswald and was scheduled to grant him a new trial.
On January 2, 1981, Peter Sutcliffe, the Yorkshire Ripper was apprehended by British police, ending one of the largest manhunts in history. For five years, investigators had pursued every lead in an effort to stop the serial killer who terrorized Northern England. Sutcliffe was spotted in a stolen car with a prostitute and arrested by Sergeant Robert Ring. Near the scene of the arrest police found a hammer and knife, the Yorkshire Ripper's weapons of choice. Sutcliffe confessed to the murders when confronted with this evidence.
Bernard Goetz
On December 31, 1984, Bernhard Goetz, who was dubbed the "subway vigilante" after he shot four young black men on a New York City subway train, turns himself in at a police station in Concord, New Hampshire. Goetz claimed that the men, all of whom had criminal records, were trying to rob him and that he had acted in self-defense. At the time, New York was in the midst of a crime wave and Goetz was viewed by some people as a hero, an ordinary citizen fighting back against his attackers.
On December 30, 1916, Rasputin, a self-fashioned Russian holy man, is murdered by Russian nobles eager to end his sway over the royal family. Rasputin won the favor of Czar Nicholas II and Czarina Alexandra through his ability to stop the bleeding of their hemophiliac son, Alexei.
On December 28, 1793, Thomas Paine is arrested in France for treason. Though the charges against him were never detailed, he had been tried in absentia on December 26th and convicted. Before moving to France, Paine was an instrumental figure in the American Revolution as the author of Common Sense, writings used by George Washington to inspire the American troops. Paine moved to Paris to become involved with the French Revolution, but the chaotic political climate turned against him, and he was arrested and jailed for crimes against the country.
On the night of November 29, 1988, near the impoverished Marlborough neighborhood in south Kansas City, an explosion at a construction site killed six of the city’s firefighters. It was a clear case of arson, and five people from Marlborough were duly convicted of the crime. But for veteran crime writer and crusading editor J. Patrick O’Connor, the facts—or a lack of them—didn’t add up. Justice on Fire is OConnor’s detailed account of the terrible explosion that led to the firefighters’ deaths and the terrible injustice that followed. Also available from Amazon
