Friday 4th of April 0188

Roman Emperor Caracalla aka Marcus Aurelius Severus Antoninus Augustus is born as Lucius Septimius Bassianus in Lyon, Rhône-Alpes, France.

At the time Lyon was called Lugdunum, Gaul. According to Aurelius Victor in his 'Epitome de Caesaribus', Antoninus became known by the agnomen 'Caracalla' after a Gallic hooded tunic that he habitually wore and made fashionable.

Thursday 4th of April 1675

10-year-old Soldier and adventurer Francis Charteris aka The Rape-Master General is baptised in Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom.

Charteris was born in Edinburgh in about 1665, the exact date is unknown.

Saturday 4th of April 1846

Poet Isidore Ducasse de Lautréamont known for Les Chants de Maldoror is born as Isidore-Lucien Ducasse in Montevideo, Montevideo, Uruguay.

Wednesday 4th of April 1888

45-year-old Emma Elizabeth Smith is possibly attacked by unidentified serial killer Jack the Ripper in The London Hospital, Whitechapel Road, London, Whitechapel, Greater London, United Kingdom.

Smith was assaulted at the junction of Osborn Street and Brick Lane the night before. She was taken to the hospital, fell into a coma and died. Medical investigation by duty surgeon Dr G. H. Hillier revealed that a blunt object had been inserted into her vagina rupturing her peritoneum. The case was listed as the first of eleven Whitechapel murders in Metropolitan Police files.

Saturday 4th of April 1896

59-year-old Baby farm murderess Amelia Elizabeth Dyer aka The Ogress of Reading is arrested in London, Greater London, United Kingdom.

Saturday 4th of April 1914

Writer and experimental filmmaker Marguerite Duras is born as Marguerite Donnadieu in Saigon, Ho Chi Minh City Metropolitan Area, Vietnam.

Thursday 4th of April 1929

Automobile designer and manufacturer Carl Benz dies of bronchial inflammation at the age of 85 in Dr.-Carl-Benz-Platz 2, Ladenburg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany.

Monday 4th of April 1932

Actor Anthony Perkins known for portraying Norman Bates in the movie ‘Psycho’ is born in New York City, New York, United States.

Monday 4th of April 1932

Film director Andrei Arsenyevich Tarkovsky is born in Zavrazhye, Ivanovo Industrial Oblast, Russia.

Saturday 4th of April 1936

39-year-old Doctor and serial killer Marcel André Henri Félix Petiot aka The Triangular Chamber of Death Murderer is caught in flagrante delicto stealing a book in Librairie Gibert, 26 Boulevard Saint-Michel, Paris, VIe, Île-de-France, France.

Petiot spent a month in an asylum in Ivry.

Friday 4th of April 1941

Murderer Samuel Morgan is executed by hanging by Thomas Pierrepoint at the age of 29 in Walton Prison, Liverpool, Merseyside, United Kingdom.

Saturday 4th of April 1942

Serial killer Michel Paul Fourniret aka The Ogre of the Ardennes is born in Sedan, Ardennes, France.

Sunday 4th of April 1943

Presumed multiple murderess Judy Judias V. Buenoano aka Florida's Black Widow is born as Judias Welty in Quanah, Texas, United States.

Sunday 4th of April 1943

Murderer Peter Anthony Allen is born in Wallasey, Cheshire, United Kingdom.

Thursday 4th of April 1946

49-year-old Doctor and serial killer Marcel André Henri Félix Petiot aka The Triangular Chamber of Death Murderer is sentenced to death in Cour d'Assises, 34 Quai des Orfèvres, Paris, Ier, Île-de-France, France.

Sunday 4th of April 1954

Multiple murderer Michael Eugene Sharp is born in Eastland, Texas, United States.

Thursday 4th of April 1957

Film director Aki Olavi Kaurismäki is born in Orimattila, Päijänne Tavastia, Finland.

Wednesday 4th of April 1962

Murderer James Hanratty aka The A6 Lay-By Murderer is executed by hanging by Harry Allen at the age of 26 in Bedford Gaol, Bedford, Bedfordshire, United Kingdom.

Sunday 4th of April 1965

Presumed murderer Gaston Dominici known from L’Affaire Dominici dies of unknown causes at the age of 88 in Digne-les-Bains, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France.

Tuesday 4th of April 1967

A group of soldiers of the Korps Mariniers and the Royal Marine clears the main hall of ‘thugs’, hippies and assembled youngsters in Centraal Station, Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, Netherlands.

Thursday 4th of April 1968

39-year-old Martin Luther King is shot dead by assassin James Earl Ray aka The Man Who Shot Martin Luther King in Lorraine Motel, 450 Mulberry Street, Memphis, Tennessee, United States.

King stood on the motel's second-floor balcony when the bullet entered through his right cheek, smashing his jaw, then traveled down his spinal cord before lodging in his shoulder. After emergency chest surgery, King was pronounced dead at St. Joseph's Hospital at 7.05 pm.

Thursday 4th of April 1968

Members of die Rote Armee Fraktion aka Baader-Meinhof Gruppe Andreas Baader, Gudrun Ensslin, Thorwald Proll and Horst Sohnlein are arrested for an arson-attack on Kaufhaus Schneider in Frankfurt am Main, Hessen, Germany.

Thursday 4th of April 1968

30-year-old Wiener Aktionist Hermann Nitsch performs his 28. Aktion 6. Abreaktionsspiel im Rahmen des Spring Art Festivals in University Great Hall, Cincinnati, Ohio, United States.

Saturday 4th of April 1970

27-year-old Leader of the Baader-Meinhof-Gruppe aka Rote Armee Fraktion Andreas Bernd Baader is arrested during a traffic control in Berlin, Berlin, Germany.

Baader was using a fake ID in the name of Peter Chotjewitz but was placed under arrest when he failed to answer personal questions like the names and ages of Chotjewitz's children.

Wednesday 4th of April 1973

13-year-old Son and victim of Joseph Kallinger aka The Shoemaker Joey Kallinger is arrested and charged with vandalism, trespassing and conspiracy in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States.

Friday 4th of April 1975

153 die in Lockheed C-5A Galaxy crash in Tan Son Nhut Air Base, Saigon, Ho Chi Minh City Metropolitan Area, Vietnam.

There were 175 survivors. The flight was part of 'Operation Babylift', in which American caregivers were paired with South Vietnamese orphans.

Wednesday 4th of April 1979

Founder of the Pakistan People's Party Zulfikar Ali Buttho is executed by hanging at the age of 51 in Central Jail, Rawalpindi, Punjab, Pakistan.

Wednesday 4th of April 1979

Actor Heath Andrew Ledger is born in Perth, Western Australia, Australia.

Wednesday 4th of April 1979

19-year-old Josephine Whitaker is beaten and stabbed to death by serial killer Peter Sutcliffe aka The Yorkshire Ripper in Saville Park, Halifax, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom.

Whitaker was hit from behind with a ball-pein hammer. Sutcliffe then proceeded to stab her twenty-one times with the screwdriver in the chest and stomach, and six times in the right leg, and also thrust the screwdriver into her vagina. Her skull had been fractured from ear to ear.

Monday 4th of April 1983

Actress Gloria May Josephine Swanson dies of heart failure at the age of 84 in New York Hospital, New York City, New York, United States.

Wednesday 4th of April 1984

16-year-old Tina Marie Risico is abducted, raped and tortured by serial killer Christopher Wilder aka The Beauty Queen Killer in Del Amo Fashion Center, Torrance, California, United States.

After 9 days of torture Risico was taken to Logan Airport in Boston where Wilder bought her a ticket to Los Angeles.

Monday 4th of April 1988

An unidentified woman is stabbed to death by serial killer Andrei Chikatilo aka The Rostov Ripper in Krasny Sulin, Rostov Oblast, Russia.

Her body was found on 6 April in the grounds of a metals factory near the railway station.

Monday 4th of April 1988

Spree killer Jakrapanth Thomma known for the Nakhon Ratchasima shooting is born in Chaiyaphum, Chaiyaphum, Thailand.

Wednesday 4th of April 1990

31-year-old Lyubov Zuyeva is stabbed to death by serial killer Andrei Chikatilo aka The Rostov Ripper in Donleskhoz, Rostov Oblast, Russia.

Zuyeva encountered Chikatilo while travelling from Novocherkassk to Shakhty. Zuyeva's skeletonized body was found in woodland close to Donleskhoz station on 24 August.

Monday 4th of April 1994

Murderer Richard Lee Beavers is executed by lethal injection at the age of 39 in Huntsville Prison, 815 12th Street, Huntsville, Texas, United States.

Beavers' last meal request was for six pieces of french toast with syrup, jelly, butter, six barbecued spare ribs, six pieces of well-burned bacon, four scrambled eggs, five well-cooked sausage patties, french fries with ketchup, three slices of cheese, two pieces of yellow cake with chocolate fudge icing, and four cartons of milk.

Saturday 4th of April 2015

An early morning procession during the Holy Week in Calanda, Teruel, Spain.

Thursday 4th of April 2019

A sturdy metal gate in Helsinki, Uusimaa, Finland.

Thursday 4th of April 2024

Triple murderer Michael Dewayne Smith aka The Hoover Killer is executed by lethal injection at the age of 42 in Oklahoma State Penitentiary, McAlester, Oklahoma, United States.

Smith's last words were "Nah, I'm good."