Tuesday 17th of May 1510

Renaissance painter Sandro Botticelli dies of unknown causes at the age of 65 in Firenze, Toscana, Italy.

Tuesday 17th of May 1864

Murderer John Alexander Dickman is born in Newcastle upon Tyne, Northumberland, United Kingdom.

Thursday 17th of May 1866

Pianist and composer Erik Satie is born as Éric Alfred Leslie Satie in Honfleur, Basse-Normandie, France.

Sunday 17th of May 1868

Automobile manufacturing pioneer Horace Elgin Dodge is born in Niles, Michigan, United States.

Saturday 17th of May 1873

Writer Henri Barbusse is born in Asnières-sur-Seine, Île-de-France, France.

Monday 17th of May 1875

Executioner Alwin Engelhardt is born in Nordhausen, Thüringen, Germany.

Thursday 17th of May 1900

25-year-old Mass murderer John Filip Nordlund aka Mälarmördaren aka Mordlund aka Svarte Filip kills the Princ Carl steamboat's captain Olof Rönngren, a butcher, an old lady, a farmer and a cattle merchant and wounds another nine passengers in Arboga, Västmanlands Län, Sweden.

Nordlund's plan was to rob and kill as many people as possible on the ship and steal the ship's register. To avoid early detection he also planned to torch the ship. This plan failed because scared passengers on the boat managed to attract the attention of the Köping ferry.

Tuesday 17th of May 1904

Actor Jean Gabin is born as Jean-Alexis Moncorgé in 23 Boulevard Rochechouart, Paris, IXe, Île-de-France, France.

Saturday 17th of May 1924

Numerous skulls and bones are found in the river Leine between Schloss Herrenhausen and the Bruckmühle. They are all presumed victims of 45-year-old Serial killer Fritz Friedrich Heinrich Karl Haarmann aka Der Hannover Werwolf in Hannover, Niedersachsen, Germany.

Tuesday 17th of May 1927

Cop killer Albert Brownlee is executed by hanging at the age of 29 in Oregon State Penitentiary, Salem, Oregon, United States.

Tuesday 17th of May 1927

28-year-old Serial killer John Reginald Halliday Christie aka The Strangler of 10 Rillington Place is sentenced to 6 months imprisonment for malicious wounding in South Western Magistrates Court, 176A Lavender Hill, London, Greater London, United Kingdom.

Sunday 17th of May 1931

Founder of Heaven's Gate religious cult Marshall Herff Applewhite aka Bo and Do is born in Spur, Texas, United States.

Monday 17th of May 1937

Actor and film director Dennis Lee Hopper known from the film ‘Easy Rider’ is born in Dodge City, Kansas, United States.

Saturday 17th of May 1941

36-year-old Geisha, prostitute, actress and murderess Sada Abe is released from prison on the occasion of the 2.600th anniversary celebrations of the mythical founding of Japan in Tochigi, Kantō, Japan.

Wednesday 17th of May 1950

Founding member of the Symbionese Liberation Army Patricia Monique Soltysik aka Mizmoon is born in Goleta, California, United States.

Friday 17th of May 1963

Victim of Lawrence Singleton Mary Bell Vincent is born in El Centro, California, United States.

Friday 17th of May 1963

Victim of Bobby Joe Long aka The Adman Rapist Kim Marie Swann is born in Hillsborough County, Florida, United States.

Friday 17th of May 1974

Six members of the Symbionese Liberation Army are killed in a shootout more than 400 LAPD officers under the command of Captain Mervin King, along with the FBI, Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department (LASD), California Highway Patrol (CHP) and Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) in 1466 East 54th Street, Los Angeles, Alameda, California, United States.

The SLA dead were: Nancy Ling Perry aka Fahizah, Angela Atwood aka General Gelina, Camilla Hall aka Gabi, Willie Wolfe aka Kahjoh, Donald DeFreeze aka Cinque and Patricia Soltysik aka Mizmoon. All of the bodies but one were found huddled in a crawl space under the house which had burned down around them.

Saturday 17th of May 1980

17-year-old Martyn Duffey is drowned in the kitchen sink by serial killer Dennis Nilsen aka Killing For Company in 195 Melrose Avenue, London, Greater London, United Kingdom.

Tuesday 17th of May 1988

Mass murderer Robert Arthur Hawkins aka The Omaha Mall Gunman is born in RAF Lakenheath, Lakenheath, Suffolk, United Kingdom.

Thursday 17th of May 1990

Murderer Johnny Ray Anderson is executed by lethal injection at the age of 31 in Huntsville Prison, 815 12th Street, Huntsville, Texas, United States.

Anderson's last meal request was for three hamburgers, french fries, chocolate ice cream with nuts and iced tea.

Tuesday 17th of May 1994

Triple murderer John Frederick Thanos is executed by lethal injection at the age of 45 in Maryland State Penitentiary, East Madison Street, Baltimore, Maryland, United States.

At his trial in 1992 Thanos taunted the families of his victims saying he wished he could dig up their bodies and defile their corpses. Thanos stated: "their cries bring laughter from the darkest caverns of my soul. I don't believe I could satisfy my thirst yet in this matter unless I was to be able to dig these brats' bones up out of their graves right now and beat them into powder and urinate on them and then stir it into a murky yellowish elixir and serve it up to their loved ones" during his sentencing hearing for the murder of 16-year-old Billy Winebrenner and 14-year-old Melody Pistorio in September 1990. Thanos' last words were "Adios!"

Wednesday 17th of May 2006

Double murderer Jermaine Herron is executed by lethal injection at the age of 27 in Huntsville Prison, 815 12th Street, Huntsville, Texas, United States.

Herron's last meal request was for sirloin steak, spicy worcestershire sauce, a bacon cheeseburger with ten slices of bacon, onion rings and fries with cheese, french dressing, a butterfinger blizzard with carmel, pecan pie, vanilla ice cream and peach cobbler.

Thursday 17th of May 2007

On the way from Tampere for a performance in Kulttuuritalo Annis, Annankatu 6, Pori, Satakunta, Finland.

Monday 17th of May 2010

Entertainer, entrepreneur, singer-songwriter and professional whistler Bobbejaan Schoepen dies of cardiac arrest at the age of 85 in Turnhout, Antwerpen, Belgium.

Thursday 17th of May 2012

Singer-songwriter Donna Summer aka The Queen of Disco dies of lung cancer at the age of 64 in Naples, Florida, United States.

Summer believed she developed her lung cancer by inhaling toxic particles following the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York.