Page 13 - Unusual Deaths - AFI-LLC Newsletter September 2021

Unusual Deaths – Or Are They - AFI-LLC Newsletter September 2021

“West Memphis Three” Released From Prison After 18 Years (08/19/2011)
On August 19, 2011, three men, Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley, who were convicted as teenagers
in 1994 of the murders of three boys in Arkansas, are released from prison in a special legal deal allowing them to
maintain their innocence while acknowledging that prosecutors had sufficient evidence to convict them.
-- continued at www.history.com/this-day-in-history/west-memphis-three-released-from-prison-after-18-years

The Menendez Brothers Murder Their Parents (08/20/1989)
Lyle and Erik Menendez shoot their parents, Jose and Kitty, to death in the den of the family’s Beverly Hills, California,
home. They then drove up to Mulholland Drive, where they dumped their shotguns before continuing to a local movie
theater to buy tickets as an alibi. When the pair returned home, Lyle called 911 and cried, “Somebody killed my
parents!”
-- continued at www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-menendez-brothers-murder-their-parents

Sacco and Vanzetti Executed (08/23/1927)
On April 15, 1920, a paymaster for a shoe company in South Braintree, Massachusetts, was shot and killed along with his
guard. The murderers, who were described as two Italian men, escaped with more than $15,000. After going to a garage
to claim a car that police said was connected with the crime, Sacco and Vanzetti were arrested and charged with the
crime. Although both men carried guns and made false statements upon their arrest, neither had a previous criminal
record. On July 14, 1921, they were convicted and sentenced to die.
-- continued at www.history.com/this-day-in-history/sacco-and-vanzetti-executed

Confederate spy Rose O’Neal Greenhow is arrested (08/23/1861)
Allan Pinkerton, head of the new secret service agency of the Federal government, places Confederate spy Rose O’Neal
Greenhow under house arrest in Washington, D.C.
-- continued at www.history.com/this-day-in-history/rose-greenhow-is-arrested

Murdered Students are Discovered at the University of Florida (08/28/1990)
(and wrong person arrested as suspect)
The bodies of Tracy Paules and Manuel Taboada are discovered at the Gatorwood Apartments, near the campus of the
University of Florida. Their murders came two days after the discovery that three young female students had been killed
and mutilated in two separate locations near the campus. The serial killer was known for positioning his victims’ bodies
in a lewd manner before he left. Authorities determined that all five murders were connected, and the Gainesville
student community panicked.
-- continued at www.history.com/this-day-in-history/murdered-students-are-discovered-at-the-university-of-florida

Thurgood Marshall Confirmed as Supreme Court Justice (08/30/1967)
From a young age, Marshall seemed destined for a place in the American justice system. His parents instilled in him an
appreciation for the Constitution, a feeling that was reinforced by his schoolteachers, who forced him to read the
document as punishment for his misbehavior. After graduating from Lincoln University in 1930, Marshall sought
admission to the University of Maryland School of Law, but was turned away because of the school’s segregation policy,
which effectively forbade Black students from studying with whites. Instead, Marshall attended Howard University Law
School, from which he graduated magna cum laude in 1933. (Marshall later successfully sued Maryland School of Law for
their unfair admissions policy.)
-- continued at www.history.com/this-day-in-history/thurgood-marshall-confirmed-as-supreme-court-justice

A Murdering Couple is Sentenced to Death (08/30/1989)
Cynthia Coffman and James Marlow are sentenced to death in San Bernardino, California, for the 1986 murder of
Corinna Novis. Coffman was the first woman to receive a death sentence in the state since capital punishment was
reinstated in 1977.
-- continued at www.history.com/this-day-in-history/a-murdering-couple-is-sentenced-to-death

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