41st year - Nº 107 Friday, 17 April 2026

BIRTH(+)FACT(᙮)DEATH(-)
41st year - Nº 107 Friday, 17 April 2026

17 April / Today's 27 Events:

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(-) 331 years ago Sunday 17th of April 1695 Nun, writer and women's rights activist Juana Inés de la Cruz, originally Juana Inés de Asbaje y Ramírez de Santillana aka The Mexican Phoenix dies of bubonic plague at the age of 44 in Mexico City, Mexico.

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(-) 236 years ago Saturday 17th of April 1790 Founding Father of the United States Benjamin Franklin aka The First American dies of a pleuritic attack at the age of 85 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States.

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(+) 142 years ago Thursday 17th of April 1884 Alleged child killer Leo Max Frank aka Max the Jew is born in Cuero, Texas, United States.

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(-) 141 years ago Friday 17th of April 1885 Murderer Carmine Santore is executed by hanging at the age of 44 in Maine State Prison, Thomaston, Maine, United States.

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(-) 119 years ago Wednesday 17th of April 1907 Auguste Bavouzet is strangled by serial killer Jeanne Weber aka l’Ogresse de la Goutte d’Or in Villedieu-sur-Indre, Centre-Val de Loire, France.

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(+) 108 years ago Wednesday 17th of April 1918 Actor William Holden, originally William Franklin Beedle Jr. is born in O'Fallon, Illinois, United States.

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(+) 103 years ago Tuesday 17th of April 1923 Film director Lindsay Gordon Anderson is born in Bangalore, Karnataka, India.

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(-) 102 years ago Thursday 17th of April 1924 Wilhelm Apel is killed and his meat sold by serial killer Fritz Haarmann aka Der Hannover Werwolf in Das Mordhaus, Rote Reihe 4, Hannover, Niedersachsen, Germany.

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(+) 98 years ago Tuesday 17th of April 1928 Mass murderer Thomas Gene Doty is born in San Antonio, Texas, United States.

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(+) 93 years ago Monday 17th of April 1933 Serial killer Joachim Georg Kroll aka Jockel aka Der Ruhrkannibale is born in Hindenburg in Oberschlesien, Śląsk, Poland.

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(-) 89 years ago Saturday 17th of April 1937 FBI Special Agent Wimberly Baker dies from injuries after being shot by suspected bank robbers Glen Applegate and Robert Suhay at the downtown post office the day before at the age of 27 in Topeka, Kansas, United States.

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(+) 86 years ago Wednesday 17th of April 1940 Victim of William Heirens aka Catch Me Before I Kill More Suzanne Degnan is born in Worcester, Massachusetts, United States.

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(+) 80 years ago He Was Born to Kill Time Wednesday 17th of April 1946 Serial killer Paul John Knowles aka The Casanova Killer is born in Orlando, Florida, United States.

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(-) 66 years ago He Took a Taxi to Heaven Sunday 17th of April 1960 Singer-songwriter and musician Eddie Edward Raymond Cochran dies of severe head injuries suffered in a car crash the day before at the age of 22 in Rowden Hill, Chippenham, Wiltshire, United Kingdom. Cochran was involved in a traffic accident in a Ford Consul taxi taking him to the airport. The speeding taxi blew a tire, the driver lost control and the vehicle crashed into a lamppost. No other car was involved. Cochran threw himself over his fiancée Sharon Sheeley to shield her and was thrown out of the car when the door flew open. Taxi driver George Martin was convicted of dangerous driving, fined £50, disqualified from driving for 15 years, and sent to pris on for six months.

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(x) 62 years ago Friday 17th of April 1964 39-year-old Aviation pioneer Jerrie Geraldine Fredritz Mock known for becoming the first woman to fly solo around the world becomes the first woman to fly solo around the world in Columbus, Ohio, United States. Mock's trip in a single engine Cessna 180 'The Spirit of Columbus' began on 19 March in Columbus, Ohio and took 29 days, 21 stopovers and 36,790 km.

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(x) 59 years ago Monday 17th of April 1967 42-year-old Wiener Aktionist Otto Muehl performs 'Materialaktion nr. 36 / Zock – Exercises / Omo Super Materialaktion Bodylyrik' in Galerie Nächst St. Stephan, Grünangergasse 1, Wien, Wien, Austria.

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(-) 52 years ago Wednesday 17th of April 1974 Susan Elaine Rancourt is abducted, assaulted and strangled by serial killer Ted Bundy aka The Only Living Witness in Central Washington State College, Ellensburg, Washington, United States. Rancourt's skull and mandible were found on Taylor Mountain in March 1975

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(x) 51 years ago Thursday 17th of April 1975 Lillian Dresch is attacked by serial killer Bernd Bopp aka Der Hammermörder in Neckarau, Mannheim, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Dresch was Bopp's first victim. He stabbed her in the throat but her screams alerted the neighbourhood and he ran off. Dresch survived.

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(-) 49 years ago Sunday 17th of April 1977 Valentina Francesca Suriani is shot dead by serial killer David Berkowitz aka Son of Sam in Bronx, New York, New York, United States. Suriani's 20-year-old boyfriend Alexander Esau was also shot and died in hospital later that day.

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(x) 49 years ago He was Son of Sam Sunday 17th of April 1977 Police discover the “I am Son of Sam, I am the Monster - Beëlzebub”-letter by 24-year-old Serial killer David Richard Berkowitz, originally Richard David Falco aka Son of Sam at the crime scene where he shot Valentina Suriani and Alexander Esau in Bronx, New York, New York, United States. "I am deeply hurt by your calling me a wemon hater. I am not. But I am a monster. I am the "Son of Sam." I am a little "brat". When father Sam gets drunk he gets mean. He beats his family. Sometimes he ties me up to the back of the house. Other times he locks me in the garage. Sam loves to drink blood. "Go out and kill" commands father Sam. Behind our house some rest. Mostly young—raped and slaughte red—their blood drained—just bones now. Papa Sam keeps me locked in the attic, too. I can't get out but I look out the attic window and watch the world go by. I feel like an outsider. I am on a different wave length then everybody else—programmed too kill. However, to stop me you must kill me. Attention all police: Shoot me first—shoot to kill or else. Keep out of my way or you will die! Papa Sam is old now. He needs some blood to preserve his youth. He has had too many heart attacks. Too many heart attacks. "Ugh, me hoot it hurts sonny boy." I miss my pretty princess most of all. She's resting in our ladies house but I'll see her soon. I am the "Monster"—"Beelzebub"—the "Chubby Behemouth." I love to hunt. Prowling the streets looking for fair game—tasty meat. The wemon of Queens are z prettyist of all. I must be the water they drink. I live for the hunt—my life. Blood for papa. Mr. Borrelli, sir, I dont want to kill anymore no sir, no more but I must, "honour thy fa ther." I want to make love to the world. I love people. I don't belong on Earth. Return me to yahoos. To the people of Queens, I love you. And I wa want to wish all of you a happy Easter. May God bless you in this life and in the next and for now I say goodbye and goodnight. Police—Let me haunt you with these words; I'll be back! I'll be back! To be interrpreted as—bang, bang, bang, bank, bang—ugh!! Yours in murder Mr. Monster"

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(-) 40 years ago Thursday 17th of April 1986 Aircraft designer Marcel Dassault, originally Marcel Bloch dies of unknown causes at the age of 94 in American Hospital, 63 Blvd Victor Hugo, Neuilly-sur-Seine, Île-de-France, France.

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(x) 31 years ago Monday 17th of April 1995 53-year-old Serial killer Myra Hindley aka The Moors Murderers (with Ian Brady) falls in the exercise yard and fractures her left femur in several places in Durham Gaol, Elvet, Durham, North East, United Kingdom.

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(x) 24 years ago He Purchased Seven Air Insurance Policies Wednesday 17th of April 2002 112 die in China Northern Airlines Flight 6136 McDonnell Douglas MD-82 crash in Bohai Bay, Dalian, Liaoning, China. The plane crashed into the bay shortly after the pilot reported "fire on board". A passenger named Zhang Pilin apparently set fire to the passenger cabin with gasoline, causing the loss of control and crash. Zhang had purchased seven air insurance policies worth a total of 1.400.000 renminbi prior to boarding the flight.

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21 years ago The Eyes had it Sunday 17th of April 2005 A train conductor waiting for passengers to embark on the Trans-Siberian Express in Vladivostok, Primorsky Krai, Russia.

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(-) 15 years ago Sunday 17th of April 2011 Actor Michael Jacques Michel André Sarrazin known from the film ‘They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?’ dies of mesothelioma at the age of 71 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

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8 years ago The Eyes had it Tuesday 17th of April 2018 An abandoned abri de bus discovered during a performance workshop in Villers-Sainte-Gertrude, Luxembourg, Belgium.

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4 years ago The Eyes had it Sunday 17th of April 2022 Creative fencing in Pulderbos, Antwerpen, Belgium.

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