Los Angeles, California – On this day in 1979, Kenneth Bianchi, also known as the ‘Hillside Strangler’, was arrested. Alongside his cousin Angelo Buono Jr., they were known for their heinous crimes of kidnapping, raping, and killing. Bianchi was also a suspect in the Alphabet murders in Rochester. He is currently serving a life sentence in prison, having been denied parole in 2010 and scheduled to reapply in 2025.
In 1982, tragedy struck when an Air Florida jet crashed into Washington D.C.’s 14th Street Bridge, plunging into the Potomac River and claiming the lives of 79 people.
Serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer pleaded guilty, but insane, to the murders of 15 young men and boys on this day in 1992. However, a jury later ruled that he was not only guilty but also fully sane.
In 1997, the Supreme Court was faced with a high-profile case involving a sexual harassment lawsuit brought against President Clinton by Paula Jones. The ruling allowed the lawsuit to proceed unanimously.
On this day in 2005, US Army reservist Charles Graner was found guilty of abusing prisoners at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, receiving a ten-year sentence in military prison.
In 2012, the Italian cruiseliner Costa Concordia ran aground at Isola de Giglio, Italy, causing the tragic deaths of 32 people.
The article closes with significant events such as the record Powerball lottery in 2016, the erroneous ballistic missile alert in Hawaii in 2018, and President Donald Trump’s historic impeachment by the US House of Representatives in 2021. It marked the first time in American history that a sitting president had been impeached twice.