Friday 16th of February 1770

Zaro Ağa aka The Longest Living Human Ever is born in Mutki, Bitlis, Turkey.

He supposedly became the oldest man in the world and died at the age of 164.

Wednesday 16th of February 1848

Writer Octave Mirbeau known for his novel Le Jardin des Supplices is born in Trévières, Basse-Normandie, France.

Thursday 16th of February 1899

7th President of France Félix François Faure dies suddenly from apoplexy while having sex with 30-year-old Marguerite Steinheil at the age of 50 in Palais de l'Élysée, 55 Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré, Paris, VIIIe, Île-de-France, France.

It has been widely reported that Faure had his fatal seizure while Steinheil was fellating him but the exact nature of their sexual intercourse is in fact unknown. Steinheil was later suspected of the murder of her husband and stepmother.

Friday 16th of February 1917

Writer Octave Mirbeau known for his novel Le Jardin des Supplices dies of unknown causes at the age of 69 in Paris, Île-de-France, France.

Friday 16th of February 1923

49-year-old Archaeologist and Egyptologist Howard Carter known for discovering the tomb of Tutankhamun opens the sealed doorway of KV62 and gets his first glimpse of the sarcophagus of Tutankhamun in KV62, Valley of the Kings, Thebe, Egypt.

Tuesday 16th of February 1926

Film and stage director John Richard Schlesinger is born in London, Hampstead, Greater London, United Kingdom.

Saturday 16th of February 1935

Musician and born-again politician Sonny Salvatore Phillip Bono known from Sonny & Cher is born in Detroit, Michigan, United States.

Monday 16th of February 1942

28-year-old Serial killer Gordon Frederick Cummins aka The Blackout Ripper is arrested in London, Greater London, United Kingdom.

Monday 16th of February 1942

Second Supreme Leader of North Korea Jong-il Kim is born in Vyatskoye, Khabarovsk Krai, Russia.

Kim Jong-il's official biography states he was born in a secret military camp on Paektu Mountain in Japanese-occupied Korea.

Monday 16th of February 1948

Spree killer James Edward Pough aka Pop is born in Jacksonville, Florida, United States.

Tuesday 16th of February 1954

Mass murderer Hastings Arthur Wise is born in Aiken, South Carolina, United States.

Wise's mother died right after giving birth.

Tuesday 16th of February 1954

Triple murderer John Donald Merrett aka Ronald Chesney commits suicide by a shot through the head at the age of 46 in Köln, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany.

Merrett shot his 55-year-old mother Bertha on 17 March 1926, she died on 1 April. Charged with murder and forgery the jury returned a verdict of not proven in February 1927. In 1954 he strangled his 43-year-old wife Veronica Bonnar and drowned her 72-year-old mother Lady Mary Menzies.

Wednesday 16th of February 1955

100 die in elderly home for Catholics fire in Yokohama, Kantō, Japan.

Sunday 16th of February 1958

Serial killer Rudolf Pleil aka Der Großten Todmacher commits suicide by hanging with a towel at the age of 34 in Justizvollzugsanstalt Celle, Celle, Niedersachsen, Germany.

Friday 16th of February 1962

Musician John 'Jhonn' Balance known from the experimental music group Coil is born as Geoffrey Laurence Burton, later Geoff(rey) Rushton in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, United Kingdom.

Saturday 16th of February 1963

24-year-old Constance Lucy Madrill is raped and strangled by serial killer Eric Edgar Cooke aka The Australian Nightmare aka The Nedlands Monster in Perth, Western Australia, Australia.

Tuesday 16th of February 1965

28-year-old Bridget 'Bridie' O’Hara aka Bridget Moore is found naked and choked to death by unidentified serial killer Jack the Stripper in Heron Trading Estate, London, Acton, Greater London, United Kingdom.

O'Hara had been missing since 11 January. She was the last known victim of Jack the Stripper.

Wednesday 16th of February 1972

Leslie Richardson is attacked by multiple murderer Donald Neilson aka The Black Panther in Rochdale Road, Heywood, Lancashire, United Kingdom.

A photofit of Neilson made by sub-postmistress Margaret Grayland was extremely accurate.

Thursday 16th of February 1978

20-year-old William Kindred aka Billy Shotgun is strangled by serial killer John Wayne Gacy aka The Killer Clown in 8213 West Summerdale Avenue, Chicago, Cook, Illinois, United States.

Kindred was the last victim that was buried in the crawl space under Gacy's house. Running out of space he dumped his next victims in the Des Plaines River.

Thursday 16th of February 1978

21-year-old Cindy Lee Hudspeth is abducted, raped and strangled by serial killer Kenneth Bianchi aka The Hillside Strangler in 703 East Colorado Street, Glendale, California, United States.

Hudspeth's body was put into the trunk of her Datsun and was pushed off a cliff on Angeles Crest Highway.

Thursday 16th of February 1995

Murderer Billy Conn Gardner is executed by lethal injection at the age of 52 in Huntsville Prison, 815 12th Street, Huntsville, Texas, United States.

Gardner's sister Barbara Gray stumbled out of the building after watching her brother gasp and jerk and die. "Don't let anyone tell you this is a peaceful way to die," she said. "It's a lie, it's a lie, it's a lie."

Tuesday 16th of February 1999

Triple murderer Johnie Michael Cox is executed by lethal injection at the age of 52 in Cummins Unit, Varner, Arkansas, United States.

Tuesday 16th of February 1999

Triple murderer Andrew Flores Cantu is executed by lethal injection at the age of 32 in Huntsville Prison, 815 12th Street, Huntsville, Texas, United States.

Wednesday 16th of February 2000

Cop killer Anthony Lee Chaney is executed by lethal injection at the age of 46 in Arizona State Prison Complex, 1305 E Butte Avenue, Florence, Arizona, United States.

Chaney's last meal request was for two over-easy eggs, four slices of bacon, coffee, one pint of vanilla ice cream, one can of peaches and strawberry jam.

Wednesday 16th of February 2005

60-year-old Serial killer Dennis Lynn Rader aka The BTK Killer sends a purple 1.44-Megabyte Memorex floppy disk with his writings to Fox TV affiliate KSAS-TV in Wichita from his home in Park City, Kansas, United States.

Also enclosed were a letter, a gold-colored necklace with a large medallion, and a photocopy of the cover of a 1989 novel about a serial killer: 'Rules of Prey'.

Thursday 16th of February 2006

Harry Heirmans making a large wrapped ball containing all that remained from my Chinese Village installation at Factor 44 in Factor 44, Bleekhofstraat 44, Antwerpen, Borgerhout, Antwerpen, Belgium.

Monday 16th of February 2015

Singer Lesley Gore dies of lung cancer at the age of 69 in Langone Medical Center, New York City, New York, United States.

Thursday 16th of February 2017

Arte Povera artist Jannis Kounellis dies of unknown causes at the age of 81 in Villa Mafalda, Via del Monte delle Gioie 5, Rome, Lazio, Italy.

Saturday 16th of February 2019

Actor Bruno Ganz dies of intestinal cancer at the age of 78 in Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland.

Friday 16th of February 2024

Russian opposition leader, lawyer, anti-corruption activist and political prisoner Alexei Anatolyevich Navalny dies of unknown causes at the age of 48 in FKU IK-3 aka Polar Wolf, Kharp, Tyumen Oblast, Russia.

The Federal Penitentiary Service announced that Navalny had died in prison after taking a walk and feeling unwell that morning. The prison statement claimed that "All necessary resuscitation measures were carried out but did not yield positive results".