Member-only story
Today in True Crime: September 1
1875 — The Molly Maguires, an Irish anti-owner coal mining group, disband after a murder conviction.
1979 — Cary Ann Medlin, 8, gets into a stranger’s car in Greenfield, Tennessee. Her body was found the following day. Robert Glen Coe is arrested at a bus station. He was executed for the murder in 2000.
1981 — Eric Witte, 15, shoots his father, Paul, in their Indiana home. Eric claimed it was all an accident, and he was released from police custody. Eric’s 74-year-old grandmother, Elaine, is killed with a crossbow three years later. Then, several family members were arrested for forging Elaine’s signature on checks. It also came to light that Eric’s mother, Hilma, had tried to kill Paul as well. She apparently recruited Eric to kill Paul and then persuaded her younger son, John, to kill Elaine. Hilma received a 90-year sentence. John and Eric received considerably shorter sentences.
