Wednesday 16th of April 1828

Painter and printmaker Francisco Goya dies of complications from a stroke at the age of 82 in Bordeaux, Aquitaine, France.

Goya's body was later re-interred in Spain.

Friday 16th of April 1841

Murderer Peter Robinson is executed by hanging at the age of 32 in New Brunswick, New Jersey, United States.

Robinson fell through the rope on the first attempt to hang him, then painfully strangled to death on the second try. It is commonly thought — thought there does not appear to be any direct evidence for it — that this nationally infamous body-under-the-floorboards murder helped to inspire Edgar Allan Poe‘s classic short story 'The Tell-Tale Heart'.

Tuesday 16th of April 1850

Wax sculptor Marie Tussaud dies of natural causes at the age of 89 in London, Greater London, United Kingdom.

Tuesday 16th of April 1867

Aviation pioneer Wilbur Wright is born in Millville, Indiana, United States.

Friday 16th of April 1869

Presumed murderess Marguerite Jeanne 'Meg' Japy Steinheil aka Lady Abinger aka Mme de Serignac known for her many love affairs with important men is born in Beaucourt, Franche-Comté, France.

Steinheil became notorious when it became known that she was present at the death of President Félix Faure, who allegedly had a seizure while having sex with her.

Saturday 16th of April 1881

Murderer Alan Adams is executed by hanging at the age of 44 in Boston, Massachusetts, United States.

Tuesday 16th of April 1889

Actor and film director Charles Spencer Chaplin is born in East Street, London, Walworth, Greater London, United Kingdom.

Thursday 16th of April 1896

Dada artist Tristan Tzara is born as Samuel or Samy Rosenstock in Moinești, Bacău, Romania.

Friday 16th of April 1915

Black meat thief Caesar Sheffield is taken from the jail at Lake Park and shot to death by unknown parties in Valdosta, Georgia, United States.

Sheffield was arrested the day before, charged with stealing meat from the smoke-house of Elder A. B. Herring and put in jail to await trial.

Friday 16th of April 1920

Murderer Simplico Torrez is executed by hanging at the age of 25 in Arizona State Prison Complex, 1305 E Butte Avenue, Florence, Arizona, United States.

Saturday 16th of April 1921

Actor, writer, filmmaker, theatre and opera director Peter Alexander von Ustinov is born in London, Greater London, United Kingdom.

Sunday 16th of April 1922

Writer Kingsley William Amis is born in London, Clapham, Greater London, United Kingdom.

Wednesday 16th of April 1924

Composer Henry Enrico Nicola Mancini is born in Cleveland, Little Italy, Ohio, United States.

Friday 16th of April 1926

Cop killer Archie Cody is executed by hanging at the age of 34 in Oregon State Penitentiary, Salem, Oregon, United States.

Saturday 16th of April 1927

265th Pope Benedictus XVI is born as Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger in Schulstraße 11, Marktl, Bayern, Germany.

Tuesday 16th of April 1935

Musician Bobby Stanley Robert Vinton aka The Polish Prince of Poch known for Blue Velvet is born in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, United States.

Thursday 16th of April 1936

Double murderess Dorothea Nancy Waddingham aka The Murderous Nurse is executed by hanging by Thomas Pierrepoint, assisted by his nephew Albert Pierrepoint at the age of 37 in Winson Green Prison, Birmingham, West Midlands, United Kingdom.

Waddingham was a mother of five and was still breastfeeding her 3-month old baby at the time of her execution. 10.000 people gathered outside the gaol to demonstrate against the execution chanting "Stop this mother murder!".

Friday 16th of April 1937

Murderer Fred Hart is executed by hanging by John Woods at the age of 44 in San Quentin State Prison, San Quentin, California, United States.

Tuesday 16th of April 1946

Racecar driver and automobile manufacturer Arthur Chevrolet commits suicide by hanging at the age of 62 in Slidell, Louisiana, United States.

Chevrolet was suffering from depression.

Wednesday 16th of April 1947

SS-Obersturmbannführer and longest serving commandant of Auschwitz-KZ Rudolf Franz Ferdinand Höss is executed by hanging at the age of 46 in KZ Auschwitz-Birkenau, Birkenau, Małopolska, Poland.

Höss was hanged on a short drop gallows constructed specifically for that purpose, at the location of the camp Gestapo.

Wednesday 16th of April 1969

13-year-old Dawn Basom is raped, tortured and strangled by serial killer John Norman Collins aka The Ypsilanti Killer in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States.

Friday 16th of April 1971

Singer-songwriter Selena Quintanilla-Pérez aka The Queen of Tejano music is born in Lake Jackson, Texas, United States.

Thursday 16th of April 1981

13-year-old Colleen Marian Daignault is abducted, tortured and killed by serial killer Clifford Olson aka The Vancouver Butcher in Surrey, British Columbia, Canada.

Daignault's body was found five months later.

Thursday 16th of April 1981

Member of the Rote Armee Fraktion Sigurd Debus dies due to internal bleeding in his head after being force-fed during a hungerstrike at the age of 39 in Justizvollzugsanstalt Fuhlsbüttel, Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany.

Debus had been hungerstriking since 11 February 1981. Force-feeding started on 19 March 1981 and he fell into a coma on 10 April 1981.

Wednesday 16th of April 1986

Murderer Jeffery Allen Barney is executed by lethal injection at the age of 28 in Huntsville Prison, 815 12th Street, Huntsville, Texas, United States.

Barney's last meal request was for two boxes of frosted flakes and a pint of milk.

Sunday 16th of April 1989

Serial killer Thierry Paulin aka Le Tueur de la Pleine Lune dies of AIDS at the age of 26 in Prison de Fresnes, Fresnes, Val-de-Marne, France.

Paulin was hospitalized in a state of near-paralysis, suffering from both tuberculosis and meningitis.

Monday 16th of April 1990

Over 100 die in train fire and explosion in Patna, Bihar, India.

The inferno was sparked by the explosion of a natural gas cylinder used for welding torches that was brought aboard one of the cars.

Tuesday 16th of April 1991

25-year-old Sabine Moitzi is strangled by serial killer Jack Unterweger aka Jack the Writer aka Der Häfenpoet aka The Pug Dumper in Wien, Wien, Austria.

Moitzi was found on 20 May 1991.

Thursday 16th of April 1992

33-year-old Regina Prem is found strangled by serial killer Jack Unterweger aka Jack the Writer aka Der Häfenpoet aka The Pug Dumper in Wien, Wien, Austria.

Prem was abducted and strangled on 28 April 1991.

Sunday 16th of April 1995

Daughter of actor Marlon Brando Cheyenne Tarita Brando commits suicide by hanging at the age of 25 in Puna'auia, Tahiti, French Polynesia.

Wednesday 16th of April 1997

Murderer Kenneth Edward Gentry is executed by lethal injection at the age of 36 in Huntsville Prison, 815 12th Street, Huntsville, Texas, United States.

Gentry's las meal request was for a combination of butter beans, mashed potatoes, onions, tomatoes, biscuits, chocolate cake and Dr. Pepper. His last words were "Sweet Jesus, here I come. Take me home. I'm going that way to see the Lord".

Wednesday 16th of April 1997

Artist, writer and filmmaker Roland Topor dies of a cerebral hemorrhage at the age of 59 in Paris, Île-de-France, France.

Saturday 16th of April 2005

An unidentified person walking towards the evening sun on a strip of beach in Vladivostok, Primorsky Krai, Russia.

Monday 16th of April 2007

Mass murderer Seung-Hui Cho aka Ismail Ax aka the School Shooter commits suicide by a shot through the head at the age of 23 in Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Virginia, United States.

On this day Cho went on a killing spree and shot 32 students and teachers to death. 29 others were wounded.