On This Date in Crime History

Mary Kay Letourneau marries her victim - 2005

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Mary Kay Letourneau and Vili Fualaau

On May 20, 2005, ex-teacher and convicted pedophile Mary Kay Letourneau, marries her former victim and the father of two of her children, Vili Fualaau. Just nine months earlier, Letourneau had been released from prison after serving a seven-and-a-half year sentence for raping Fualaau.

Oscar Wilde is released from prison - 1897

Oscar Wilde

by Michael Thomas Barry

On May 19, 1897, writer Oscar Wilde is released from jail after two years of hard labor. His experiences in prison were the basis for his last work, The Ballad of Reading Gaol (1898).

Teamsters are murdered by renegade Indians in Texas - 1871

Chief Satanta

by Michael Thomas Barry

On May 18, 1871, Kiowa Chief Satanta joins with other Indians to massacre a wagon train near the Red River in northeastern Texas. One of the leading chiefs of the Kiowa in the 1860s and 1870s, Satanta was a fearsome warrior but also a skilled orator and diplomat. He helped negotiate and signed treaties with the U.S. establishing a Kiowa reservation in Indian Territory (modern-day Oklahoma), but Satanta remained resistant to government efforts to force the Kiowa to abandon their nomadic ways.

LAPD raid leaves six SLA members dead - 1974

The famous S.L.A. publicity image of new member Patty Hearst

by Michael Thomas Barry

On May 17, 1974, Los Angeles police surround a home in Compton where the leaders of the terrorist group known as the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA) are hiding out. Several months earlier the SLA had kidnapped Patricia Hearst, heiress to the Hearst family publishing empire. Police found the house in Compton when a local mother reported that her kids had seen a bunch of people playing with an arsenal of automatic weapons in the living room of the home.

President Andrew Johnson is aquitted of High Crimes & Misdemeanors - 1868

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Andrew Johnson

by Michael Thomas Barry

On May 16, 1868, the U.S. Senate votes against impeaching President Andrew Johnson and acquits him of committing high crimes and misdemeanors. In February 1868, the House of Representatives charged Johnson with 11 articles of impeachment for vague "high crimes and misdemeanors."

San Francisco's 2nd Vigilance Committee is formed - 1856

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Symbol of the 2nd Vigilance Committee

by Michael Thomas Barry

On May 15, 1856, angered by the shooting of a prominent journalist, San Franciscans form their second vigilance committee to combat lawlessness. The need for vigilance committees in San Francisco was obvious. Only two years after gold was discovered at Sutter's Mill in 1848, San Francisco had grown from a sleepy little village with 900 inhabitants to a booming metropolis with more than 200,000 residents.

Young girl is kidnapped from her hospital room - 1948

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Peter Griffiths

by Michael Thomas Barry

On May 14, 1948, three-year-old June Devaney is kidnapped from her room at Queen's Park Hospital in Blackburn, England. The child had been recovering from a recent bout of pneumonia. Nurses discovered her missing at 1:20 a.m. the next day, and police were immediately summoned to investigate.

Pope John Paul II is shot in Vatican Square - 1981

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Pope John Paul II is shot

by Michael Thomas Barry

On May 13, 1981, Pope John Paul II is shot and seriously wounded while passing through St. Peter’s Square in an open car. The assailant, 23-year-old escaped Turkish murderer Mehmet Ali Agca, fired four shots, one of which hit the pontiff in the abdomen, narrowly missing vital organs, and another that hit the pope's left hand.

Body of Lindbergh baby is found - 1932

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Charles Lindbergh Jr.

by Michael Thomas Barry

On May 12, 1932, the body of aviation hero Charles Lindbergh’s baby is found, more than two months after he was kidnapped from his family’s Hopewell, New Jersey home. Lindbergh, who became the first worldwide celebrity five years earlier when he flew The Spirit of St. Louis across the Atlantic, and his wife Anne discovered a ransom note in their 20-month-old child's empty room on March 1, 1932.

British Prime Minister Spencer Perceval is shot to death 1812

British Prime Minister Spencer Perceval

by Michael Thomas Barry

On May 11, 1812, British Prime Minister Spencer Perceval is shot to death by demented businessman John Bellingham in the lobby of the House of Commons. Bellingham, who was inflamed by his failure to obtain government compensation for war debts incurred in Russia, gave himself up immediately.