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Robert Turner was only five years old when his mom collapsed in their Detroit, Michigan, home on February 20, 2006. The terrified boy dialed 911 only for emergency operators Sharon Nichols and Terri Sutton to threaten to call the police if Turner didnt let them speak to his mother who was already dying and couldnt talk.Ok, well, you know what, then shes gonna talk to the police ok? Sutton said, according to CBS News. Shes gonna talk to the police because Im sending them over there. I dont care, you shouldnt be playing on the phone. Now put her on the phone before I send the police out there to knock on the door and youre going to be in trouble.Bill Pugliano/Getty ImagesRobert Turner during a news conference on April 10, 2006, in Southfield, Michigan, about his mothers death.When they finally did arrive in place of an ambulance, 46-year-old Sherrill Turner had already died of a heart attack while Robert Turner could only look on in horror.Her family filed a wrongful death lawsuit for $1 million, and the incident even led to the unprecedented conviction of a 911 operator for willful neglect of duty and calls to overhaul the emergency dispatch system as we know it.Robert Turners Tragic 911 CallsThe fateful day in question started like any other and seemed like a routine Monday for the Turner family. Their tragic loss came without warning shortly before 6 p.m., when Robert Turner witnessed his mother fall unconscious in her bedroom. The young boy responsibly dialed 911.My mom has passed out, said Robert Turner.This first call at 5:59 p.m. was received by emergency services operator Sharon Nichols. The 43-year-old asked him where his father was, which the 5-year-old boy misunderstood. When asked if she could speak to his father, Turner said: Shes not gonna talk. Remarkably, Nichols scolded Turner before ending the call.OK, well, Im going to send the police to your house and find out whats going on with you, said Nichols.Neither police officers nor emergency medical technicians responded to the scene. Bill Pugliano/Getty ImagesRobert Turner with his attorney Geoffrey Fieger.Robert Turner spent the next three hours watching his unconscious mother deteriorate. She had tragically already died of complications from an enlarged heart by the time Turner called 911 again at 9:02 p.m. Operator Terri Sutton not only scolded him but dispatched an officer to the apartment on 1950 Spruce Street to chastise the boy.It was taking too long, said Turner about why he called 911 a second time. And she said the same thing.After police finally arrived at 9:40 p.m., Sherrill Turner was pronounced dead and her son was placed in the custody of his relatives Delaina and Tyrone Patterson. Family attorney Geoffrey Fieger brought suit against Sharon Nichols, Terri Sutton and the City of Detroit, itself.Had somebody even followed up and sent a policeman like they did on the later call, really, to admonish Robert, rather than to help his mother, perhaps we wouldnt be here, said Fieger. But no one came at all. All that happened was that Robert was threatened and, really, intimidated from doing what his mother had taught him to do, which was to make an emergency call in an emergency situation.The Aftermath Of Sherrill Turners DeathWhen Geoffrey Fieger took Robert Turners case, he had already established himself as the attorney who represented Jack Kevorkian the infamous pathologist who stood trial for the assisted suicides of terminal patients. He argued that negligence caused Sherrill Turners death.We believe firmly that his mom would have survived had help come within those critical few minutes, said Fieger. We also are going to show that this is not an isolated occurrence. This is happening much more often than people think. And if this tape didnt exist, no one would believe Robert.We teach our children in the face of an emergency to call for help and call 911. But when children call and ask for help theyre ignored, theyre dismissed, and theyre threatened.36th District Court/FacebookSutton and Nichols were sentenced in 2008 at the 36th District Court in Detroit.Charged with one count of willful neglect of duty, both Terri Sutton and Sharon Nichols stood trial in Detroits 36th District Court in early January 2008. Sutton was essentially accused of ignoring standard protocol by requesting a police dispatch rather than emergency services, but had her charged dismissed on Jan. 16. As for Nichols, she initially argued that she couldnt properly hear Robert Turner over the phone. With the emergency dispatch conversations logged into evidence, however, prosecutors had no trouble convincing the jury of five women and one man that she could and found her guilty after a five-day trial on Jan. 18.She was sentenced on March 11, 2008, to one year of probation, 100 hours of community service, and a $450 fine.We are thrilled that the jury found Ms. Nichols defense to be without merit, said Assistant Wayne County Prosecutor Lora Weingarden. Her defense was that she could not hear the child. If that were true, how could she tell it was a prank call?While Weingarden and Fieger were satisfied with the verdict, they urged 911 operators across the country to take calls seriously and alleged improper training had likely caused many wrongful deaths before.But no matter the consequences for the operators or the overhauls to the system, nothing will ever bring Robert Turners mother back or erase the pain of that one horrifying night in 2006.After learning about Robert Turner and his moms tragic death, read about Debra Stevens 911 call and her tragic final moments. Then, learn about Devonte Hart being murdered by his adoptive mother.The post The Heartbreaking Story Of Robert Turner, The Boy Whose Mother Died Because 911 Failed Him appeared first on All That's Interesting.

When affluent Beverly Hills couple Jose and Kitty Menendez were found murdered in their home on August 20, 1989, an entire nation waited for answers. Their deaths seemed to come at the hands of burglars, which left locals in mortal fear until months later when authorities realized this hadnt been a robbery gone wrong, at all.Instead, it was the couples children, brothers Lyle and Erik Menendez, who were found to be the murderers. Despite growing up lavishly in the opulent Mediterranean-style mansion of their parents, the 21 and 18-year-old brothers had allegedly been so tormented by their father that they decided to murder them both at once.Jose and Kitty Menendez, parents to killer siblings Lyle and Erik.The disturbing double-homicide had been in motion for months and involved the calculated purchase of 12-gauge Mossberg shotguns. On a warm summer evening, the two brothers crept into the den of their home where Jose and Kitty Menendez were sleeping and fired into their skulls.Kitty Menendez was shot in the leg, arm, chest, and face, leaving the 47-year-old unrecognizable.Who Was Kitty Menendez?Born on October 14, 1941, in Oak Lawn, Illinois, Mary Louise Kitty Andersen was the youngest of four children. Her father, Charles Milton Andersen, was a United States Army veteran who started his own air conditioning and heating company. Her mother, Mae Helen, worked in an airport before meeting her husband.Oak Lawn Public LibraryKitty Menendez after being crowned Miss Oak Lawn in 1962.Andersen proved to be abusive, and the parents consequently divorced when Menendez was still a child. At 10 years old, she was sent to boarding school for one year.When she returned, Menendez attended Oak Lawn Community High School, where she studied drama, pep, and poster clubs and graduated in 1959. It would be at college at Southern Illinois University where Menendez would fatefully meet her husband.The Relationship Of Jose And Kitty MenendezWhile studying communications and production in college, Kitty Menendez participated in the Miss Oak Lawn beauty contest and won, drawing the attention of a charming Cuban immigrant named Jose Menendez. ABC/YouTubeThe Menendez family.His family disapproved of her because she was a child of divorce, while her parents distrusted Menendez merely because he was Cuban. Despite the mutual lack of familial blessings and the fact that Menendez was three years younger than Kitty, the lovers decided to elope in New York City in 1963.Jose Menendez came from a wealthy family that lost much of its wealth to the communist government during the Fidel Castro uprising. Starting from scratch, he graduated from Southern Illinois University and became a licensed CPA. He then snagged a lucrative job as an RCA executive and left New York for Los Angeles.Kitty Menendez worked as an elementary school teacher but retired when Lyle Menendez was born on Jan. 10, 1968. By the time her second son, Erik, was born on Nov. 27, 1970, the two parents had created a lavish life in a Beverly Hills mansion once owned by Elton John. From the looks of it, the family wanted for nothing.But Lyle and Erik Menendez would later claim in court that their father had been abusive. He had demanded perfection from them on the tennis courts, soccer pitches, and the lap pools where he angrily coached them. Most disturbingly, the brothers claimed he also sexually abused them and hated their mother for staying silent. The Lyle And Erik Menendez MurdersOn August 18, 1989, Erik and Lyle Menendez purchased two shotguns at Big 5 Sporting Goods in San Diego, California, 100 miles from their home. They spent the next day shark fishing with their parents. It would be the last family outing, as they opened fire on their parents half-asleep watching television two days later.Ted Soqui/Sygma/Getty ImagesLyle and Erik Menendez were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.Fifteen blasts were discharged in the den that evening, with Lyle hitting his fathers skull. Erik fired into his mothers leg, arm, and chest. Erik provided the fatal blow into his mothers face. The brothers then disposed of their guns, changed clothes, and went to the movies.Returning home with an alibi in the form of tickets to Batman, Lyle called 911 feigning shock, Someone killed our parents! While the authorities spent half a year investigating the murders, the siblings spent $1 million of their inheritance on parties, Rolex watches, luxury cars, trips to the Middle East and tennis lessons.Ultimately, Erik confessed to his therapist, Dr. Jerome Oziel. The doctors mistress overheard their recorded sessions and notified police, who then arrested Lyle on March 8, 1990, and Erik on March 11.Both brothers were indicted on Dec. 7, 1992, and tried for first-degree murder separately. Each trial was deadlocked in January 1994 and declared a mistrial. A third jury found both brothers guilty on April 17, 1996.The Legacy Of Kitty MenendezKitty Menendezs sister later confirmed some of the brothers claims, saying that there had been weird sexual events in her sisters home. She said that when he was eight years old, Lyle Menendez asked to touch her down there, and that he and his dad had been touching each other in the genitals.Yvonne Hemsey/Getty ImagesKitty Menendez was buried in Princeton, New Jersey.Upon hearing this, Kitty Menendez allegedly dragged Lyle to bed and berated her sister, claiming the children could drive a wedge between a husband and wife. Testimonies during trial alleged that Jose took group showers with his sons after tennis, and that Kitty would turn up the volume on the TV when he dragged them into their room and shut the door.I love my mother, and I still cry over my mother, and I dont forgive her, said Lyle Menendez. Her life ended and our lives essentially ended all because of this fateful decision. There had to be a series of decisions she made of not to tell what was happening. What kind of mother lets it happen?But Kittys brother, Brian, said: The idea that Erik and Lyle were abused by my sister Kitty is absolute insanity. And Deputy District Attorney Pamela Bozanich agreed.She was 100 percent sure that they fabricated their defense. I was told during the trial by the bailiffs that the brothers would high five each other, particularly after a good day in court when they were testifying. They would high five each other because they pulled it off.Ultimately, Jose and Kitty Menendez were buried on August 25, 1989, in the Princeton Cemetery in Mercer County, New Jersey.After learning about the murder of Kitty Menendez at the hands of her own children, read about Devonte Harts murder at the hands of his adoptive mother. Then, learn about Evelyn McHale, the woman behind the most beautiful suicide.The post The Tragedy Of Kitty Menendez, The Beverly Hills Mother Killed By Her Own Sons appeared first on All That's Interesting.

From ingenious bank robberies, and that time a couple of malicious thieves fastened a collar bomb around a pizza delivery guys neck, to the elaborate mafia-backed Lufthansa Heist, these are the most astonishing grafts in recent history.And as notorious as some of these heists are, its likely youve never heard of the people who carried them out and some were so brilliantly conceived that we may never find the true culprits.The Still-Unsolved Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum HeistDavid L Ryan/The Boston Globe via Getty ImagesAn empty frame where Rembrandts The Storm on the Sea of Galilee, circa 1633, once was at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. It was stolen in one of the biggest heists in history.Eccentric art collector Isabella Stewart Gardner had only the noblest intentions when she opened her magnificent Boston home to the public in order to display her impressive art collection. Gardners collection was made up of masterpieces from the likes of Rembrandt and Vermeer, and it was assembled after a lifetime of travel. Thats why it was all the more devastating when, on the night of March 18, 1990, two men posing as police officers forced their way into the museum and made off with over $500 million worth of the worlds finest paintings and drawings.The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum heist remains the largest private property theft in American history and featured the largest bounty ever offered by a private institution.Wikimedia CommonsA Napoleonic eagle, like this one, was stolen by the thieves, possibly in the belief that it was gold.On the night of the burglary, the two security guards at work at the museum, Rick Abath and Randy Hestand, had no reason to believe that it would be anything more than a perfectly ordinary shift. But at 1:20 a.m., Abath allowed two police officers to enter the museum when they claimed that they were investigating a noise complaint.Within 11 minutes, the two intruders handcuffed and blindfolded both guards and told them of their true intentions, then left them tied up in the museum basement with a warning to keep quiet. The burglars claimed that they would receive a reward in a years time if they did so.With no one to interfere, the thieves went on a crime spree through the museum, cutting Jan Vermeers The Concert, Rembrandts The Storm on the Sea of Galilee and A Lady and Gentleman in Black, as well as Govaert Flincks Landscape with Obelisk from their frames after flinging them to the floor in order to break their protective glass cases. They then snatched a bronze beaker from Chinas Shang dynasty, followed by a tiny self-portrait by Rembrandt, five sketches by Edgar Degas, a French imperial eagle, and finally they pinched Chez Tortoni by douard Manet.David L Ryan/The Boston Globe via Getty ImagesBesides the Rembrandts, Vermeers, and Manets, the thieves took largely worthless pieces, showing they knew nothing about art.After the guards were discovered the next morning, investigators could only say one thing for sure: that the two thieves almost certainly knew nothing about art. Theyd overlooked some of the most priceless paintings and objects in the city, while the sketches, eagle, and bronze beaker were worth only a few tens of thousands of dollars collectively. Over the years, police have failed to prove that any of their numerous suspects, which included international art thieves and local gangsters, were responsible. Indeed, the polices best lead, a geriatric Boston mobster named Robert Gentile, is set to be released from prison, where he was incarcerated on a weapons charge.To this day, the stolen artwork has never been recovered, and the museum still offers a $10 million reward for any information leading to its recovery. The post 7 Of Historys Most Unbelievable Heists, From D.B. Cooper To The Lufthansa Robbery appeared first on All That's Interesting.

Before the sexual revolution, there were the pinup girls. From Marilyn Monroe to Betty Grable, the most famous pinup models were known for making eyes pop with their sexy photos during the 1940s and 1950s.While the history of the pinup didnt begin or end with World War II, this era is often seen as the golden age of the pinup girls. And considering how many American soldiers clamored to get their hands on these pictures, its no wonder why.Gerard Van der Leun/FlickrBettie Page, one of the most iconic pinup girls of the 1950s.Shortly after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, American troops began to decorate their lockers, walls, and wallets with photos of pinup models in various stages of undress. Meanwhile, the U.S. military unofficially sanctioned the distribution of these photos to raise morale during the war.As for the pinup girls themselves, posing for these photos was a chance to help with the war effort, to explore their sexuality, and to possibly make it into showbiz. So even after the war was over, many models continued to pose for pinups in the hopes of achieving fame and fortune. And a few of the lucky ones became superstars because of it.Bettie PageClick here to view slideshowOften called "the queen of pinups," Bettie Page was widely admired for her naughty-yet-nice, simple-yet-exotic look. Known for her blunt black bangs and freely-expressed sexuality, Page inspired countless pinup models to follow in her footsteps.Bettie Page was born on April 22, 1923, in Nashville, Tennessee. She had a rough childhood, to say the least. Her family moved around frequently in search of economic stability, and her parents divorced when she was 10. At one point, she and her sisters spent a year in an orphanage. And she was sexually abused by her own father.But despite all her struggles, Page was an excellent student in high school, making almost straight As and graduating second in her class. She later graduated from Peabody College, a part of Vanderbilt University in Nashville.Ever the free spirit, Page moved around a lot after college and tried a few different careers but none were quite a fit. By the late 1940s, she had moved to New York, where she enrolled in acting classes and had a few stage and TV appearances.In 1950, she met Jerry Tibbs, a police officer and photographer who put together her very first pinup portfolio. Soon after, Page became one of the most beloved pinup girls of the era.At the time, many pinup photos tended to focus on humiliation the oops-I dropped-my-panties pose was a popular one. What set Bettie Page apart from other early pinup models was the sense that she was in on the set-up.Her self-assuredness and joyous expressions showed that she did not regard sexuality as shameful. As Page told The Los Angeles Times, "I want to be remembered as the woman who changed people's perspectives concerning nudity in its natural form."Her attitude was widely credited with setting the stage for the sexual revolution of the 1960s. But for all her daring photoshoots, her most shocking moment was when she abruptly retired from modeling in 1957 and went into seclusion.As one of the most infamous recluses of all time, Page struggled with mental health issues while she was out of the spotlight. She even had some run-ins with the law after threatening her family members and acquaintances with knives.She later re-emerged as a born-again Christian and offered the occasional interview to select publications. However, she often refused to be photographed in her later years. Page ultimately died on December 11, 2008, after suffering a heart attack. She was 85 years old.Eerily, she had become so secretive near the end of her life that many were surprised to hear that she'd lived as long as she did.The post 7 Iconic Pinup Girls Who Made Jaws Drop All Over America And Beyond appeared first on All That's Interesting.

From the Peoples Temple to Children of God, the most famous cults in the world have captivated and manipulated countless people for years. Though it might be hard for the average person to believe they could ever fall for the tricks of a cult, its a lot easier than you would think.Although cults are often believed to be based on religion, some famous cults have actually strayed away from traditional faith-based practices in order to attract a bigger audience. By advertising opportunities such as self-improvement strategies, modern cults have a much better chance at pulling in a secular person who simply wants to improve himself or herself.But whether cults are religious or not, many of these groups follow one central leader. And while most cult leaders are men, most cult followers tend to be women. In fact, its been estimated that 70 percent of global cult members are female. Often trained to adore a male central figure, members are often incapable of processing their own abuse until its too late.Some famous cults have reeled in very smart and capable men and women, which goes against the myth that only the most gullible or the most desperate people are willing to join these groups. In order to grasp how easy it is to end up in one, weve explored life inside nine of the worlds most famous cults with the survivors who were lucky enough to escape.NXIVM: A Famous Cult With Hollywood TiesKeith Raniere ran the NXIVM sex cult.Though NXIVM was often portrayed as a female empowerment group, it was actually a sex cult. Between 1998 and 2018, founder Keith Raniere basically ran NXIVM as his own personal flytrap for vulnerable young women.From brainwashing women into becoming his slaves to branding their flesh with his initials, Raniere led his cult with brutal precision for 20 years, until he was finally arrested in 2018. But he wasnt acting alone. Raniere managed to convince celebrities like Smallville actress Allison Mack to help him fulfill his twisted fantasies and recruit other women to be his slaves. In fact, Mack later claimed that she came up with the idea of branding the women herself. Of course, no one outside of Ranieres innermost circle knew exactly what they were getting into at the beginning. Thousands of women and men were lured in by Ranieres promises of Executive Success Programs, which were supposed to help boost peoples confidence and help them thrive in the real world.While these programs were expensive, they seemed innocuous enough. But before long, some members were introduced to more nefarious parts of NXIVM. One of these members was a woman named Sarah Edmondson.Sarah Edmondson talks to ABC News about the NXIVM branding ritual.Edmondson had first joined NXIVM around 2007, and she found many of the workshops to be fulfilling. She even helped found a chapter in Vancouver, where she lived, since the organization was based in Albany, New York.She was so excited when Lauren Salzman an important member of the group came to Vancouver to teach in early 2017. Edmondson was even more thrilled when Salzman had something really amazing to share.According to Salzman, it was a secret sisterhood meant to empower and challenge women. As Edmondson recalled, Salzman said, It is kind of strange and top secret and in order for me to tell you about it you need to give me something as collateral to make sure you dont speak about it. A couple of months later, Edmondson found herself blindfolded and taken to a house for a secret initiation into the sorority. Though she was told shed be given a small tattoo as part of the ritual, nothing could have prepared her for what actually happened.In a scene straight out of a horror movie, Edmondson was forced to watch women get branded like cattle with a cauterizing pen while they were crying, sweating, and squirming before she was branded herself. I was just thinking, How the f*ck am I gonna get out?' Edmondson recalled. And they werent doing well. They were squirming, they were crying, they were twitching, they were screaming. And at one point Lauren pulled me aside and said, Youre green. You need to show them how to do this.'Wikimedia CommonsLauren Salzman instructed many cult members to say, Master, please brand me, it would be an honor.All in all, the branding itself took about 20 to 30 minutes per hip. The smell of burning tissue quickly filled the room. I wept the whole time, Edmondson said. I disassociated out of my body.As if the branding werent awful enough, most members of this group were referred to as slaves, who were forced to communicate with their master (in one case, Salzman was one of those masters). Some were forced to severely restrict their calorie intake, and others were pressured into sending nude photos as collateral to ensure their silence about the group.Luckily, Edmondson was able to escape in May 2017, just a couple months after shed been branded. But the scars both physical and emotional remain to this day.In 2019, Raniere was found guilty of sex trafficking, forced labor conspiracy, human trafficking, and multiple counts of racketeering including the sexual exploitation of a child.Scientology: One Of The Most Famous Cults In The WorldWikimedia CommonsScientology has come under intense scrutiny following Tom Cruises publicized involvement.Founded by science-fiction author L. Ron Hubbard in 1954, the Church of Scientology was practically destined to be controversial. A few years before founding the church, Hubbard initially put forth his self-help ideas in the book Dianetics which would ultimately help form the basis of his new religious movement. Hubbards philosophy suggests that people are basically good, but they need spiritual salvation in the form of auditing sessions. The churchs version of therapy, this pseudo-scientific practice is believed to cleanse people of their thetans or spirits that consume their psyche. In Scientology, completing this auditing is enormously expensive costing about $800 per hour.Scientology became even more notorious after David Miscavige took over in 1986. In the years following, the church was widely known for boasting celebrity members, including Tom Cruise and John Travolta. But despite the glitz and glamour, leaks and testimonies from former members have revealed Scientology to be an alleged cult leading people into financial ruin, manual labor, and disconnection from any person who leaves the church. And yet at one point, an estimated 100,000 people were involved. (Recent membership is estimated at about 20,000.)One former member was a woman named Amy Scobee. A member for about 27 years, Scobee said she first joined Scientology in 1978. She wouldve been just 14 years old at the time.Amy Scobee recalling David Miscavige forcing Scientologists to watch Tom Cruises Scientology speech.Scobee, who was in charge of Celebrity Centres, alleged that she was a victim of statutory rape by her boss, who was 35 years old at the time. She claimed that the church was fully aware of the abuse but failed to inform the police or her parents.And they indoctrinated in me that if anything serious goes on, its handled internally, Scobee said. It happened to me, so therefore I mustve done something that caused it.Scobee also described the infamous leader Miscavige as a very angry man, who could be emotionally or even physically abusive toward members.If you said something that didnt please him he would go off on you, Scobee said. If you were a man he would likely hit you, punch you, knock you down, choke you.Wikimedia CommonsScobee recalled Scientology leader David Miscavige abusing members and colleagues on a regular basis.But Scobee had been so well-indoctrinated with the tenets of Scientology at this point that she believed David Miscaviges violent outbursts were not only acceptable but necessary.Scobee excused these abuses as essential because were clearing the planet, because we have no time, because Miscavige has most of the pressure, because people are failing at their jobs and hes having to do it, thats why its okay that he is beating people.I was rationalizing, she said. My mind would immediately justify why this crap was okay. Then I had a blinding realization. I realized that what I was doing was rationalizing insanities.Scobee eventually left in 2005, after several stints in the infamous Rehabilitation Project Force, which has been described by former members as a slave labor program. The Church of Scientology rejects all claims of abuse.The post What Life Was Really Like Inside 9 Famous Cults According To Survivors Who Got Out appeared first on All That's Interesting.

Chip HIRES/Gamma-Rapho/Getty ImagesThousands were buried in the mud that flooded Armero in 1985. On Nov. 13, 1985, the Nevado del Ruiz volcano erupted in Colombia. Before long, lahars fast-moving volcanic mudflows made of lava, ash, and rock began to race down the mountainside toward the farm town of Armero. Sadly, the destruction of the volcano, and the lack of warning from the government, would lead to the Armero tragedy.Within a matter of hours, some 25,000 people were killed. Others were hopelessly trapped in the mud and debris. And some, including more than 500 children, were never seen again.But the terrible destruction of the Armero tragedy the worst natural disaster in Colombian history could have likely been prevented.The Eruption Of The Nevado Del Ruiz VolcanoEdgar/Wikimedia CommonsThe Nevado del Ruiz, as seen in 2007.At around 3 p.m. on Nov. 13, 1985, the Nevado del Ruiz volcano started to rumble. It spewed ash into the air which began to fall gently on the nearby towns, including Armero, 30 miles away. But the residents of the town, which then had a population of 29,000, didnt panic at first. According to the 2015 documentary El valle sin sombras (The Valley Without Shadows), one of the towns residents asked the local priest what to do about the ash. He advised her, enjoy this beautiful show, it will never be seen again. A few hours later, a fire truck drove through Armero, telling residents that they should stay home and there was no need to panic. Then, shortly after 9 p.m., the Nevado del Ruiz volcano erupted. The force of the eruption created powerful lahars, a kind of volcanic mudflow, which cascaded down the mountainside and toward Armero. Thirty feet deep and moving at roughly 25 miles per hour, the lahars sped toward the town. It would take two hours for them to reach Armero but, sadly, the residents had still not been told to evacuate. No one realized anything was wrong until they heard a roar and, by then, it was far too late. The sound was like a whole bunch of helicopters in the sky, Marco Rivera, an Armero tragedy survivor who was 18 when the disaster struck, recalled to NPR in 2025. Lights were flashing in the dark because the mudslide swallowed up cars with their lights on and they were flipping over and over.The lahars from the volcano pummeled the town starting around 11:30 p.m. Within a matter of minutes, most of the towns inhabitants were killed. Jacques Langevin/Sygma/Sygma/Getty ImagesAerial photographs capture the scape of the crisis in Armero. Yet emergency teams did not reach Armero for 12 hours. The Harrowing Aftermath Of The Armero TragedyThough most of the town of Armero had been killed when the lahars hit, some people managed to survive through the night. Fernando Angarita was one of those survivors. A veterinarian in the town, Angarita first tried climbing a tree to escape the rush of mud and debris. But the mudslide caught him, dragging Angarita for four miles. Somehow, he survived, though he suffered 16 fractures to his face and jaw. Bernard Diederich/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images/Getty ImagesThe mudslide buried Armero, turning the town into a graveyard. The churning mud felt like being in a blender, Angarita told NPR, noting: I have no idea why Im still alive. Not everyone was as lucky as Angarita. One of the most well-known victims of the Armero tragedy was 13-year-old Omayra Snchez. Snchez also survived the initial mudslide, but heavy rubble pinned her in the mud, leaving only her head exposed. The girl was hopelessly trapped in the ruins of own home and, though rescuers spent 60 hours attempting to free her, they could not extract her from the muddy debris. During this time, Snchez was conscious and lucid. She spoke to her rescuers, sang, prayed, and cried. Near the end of her life, she began to hallucinate and worried out loud about missing school. Then, after surviving in the ruins for more than two days, Snchez sadly died of hypothermia and gangrene. Bouvet/Duclos/Hires/Gamma-Rapho/Getty ImagesThough Omayra Snchez survived the mudflow, she was hopelessly trapped in the rubble. Other children in Armero, however, were never seen again. In the aftermath of the disaster, families reported 583 missing children. Some likely died in the landslide, but families suspect that others were recovered and given up for adoption or worse. Indeed, Reuters reports that four adoptees from Armero have since been reunited with their families. The fate of the rest, however, remains a mystery.My brother did survive. Lots of people saw him. A doctor saw a photo of him and told me that he treated him, Mariela Daz told NPR. So, we still have hope that, maybe, he will reappear.But while some survivors of the Armero tragedy cling to hope, many others have turned to anger. In the aftermath of the natural disaster, it became clear that it could have been averted. Could The Armero Tragedy Have Been Prevented?The Volcano Didnt Kill 22,000 People, a banner proclaimed outside a funeral mass held in the weeks after the Armero tragedy, according to the Los Angeles Times. The Government Killed Them.After all, the government had been warned about the potential for disaster. Only one month before the tragedy, Columbian volcanologist Marta Luca Calvache Velasco warned the government that an eruption could strike in the near future possibly in only a few months. Meanwhile, Armeros mayor Ramn Antonio Rodrguez had also called the volcano a time bomb.Jeffrey Marso, USGS geologistThe lahars from Nevado del Ruiz mixed with rivers, with some mudflows swelling to four times their size. The mayor asked the government to clear a recent rock collapse that created a reservoir of water above the town. The mayor correctly predicted that a volcanic eruption would pour water into the valley below.In the end, Rodrguez was right about the impending catastrophe. But when the tragedy hit, he refused to leave Armero. In his last phone call, the mayor said, I have to help all these people get out, and Ill be the last one to leave.He died in the mudflow while calling for help on a radio transmitter.Lessons Learned from the Armero TragedyToday, Armero looks as it did in 1985, as the town has never been rebuilt. Buildings remain partially encased in mud. Gravestones remember the dead. And a shrine to Omayra Snchez marks the spot where she died. The 1985 eruption of Nevado del Ruiz was the second deadliest volcanic eruption in the 20th century, and the scale of the tragedy pushed Colombia to prevent similar disasters in the future. The country rolled out new monitoring stations, hazard maps, and early warning systems and, when Nevado del Ruiz erupted again just four years later, no one died. Wikimedia CommonsArmero was not rebuilt after the devastating mudflow.Thats little comfort to the survivors of the Armero tragedy, who lost their town and their loved ones in one of the worst natural disasters of the 20th century. After reading about the Armero tragedy, the catastrophic volcanic eruption in Colombia that killed some 25,000 people in 1985, go inside the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, the Italian volcano that destroyed the nearby town of Pompeii in 79 C.E. Or, learn about the 1815 Mount Tambora eruption, the most powerful volcanic explosion in world history.The post The Armero Tragedy: The Colombian Natural Disaster That Killed 25,000 People appeared first on All That's Interesting.

Mary Pearcey was one of the only female suspects considered by London police to be the notorious Jack the Ripper serial killer.In 1888, the streets of Londons East End were stalked by a grisly killer known only as Jack the Ripper. Though that murderer was never caught, over 100 suspects were identified including a murderess named Mary Pearcey.Indeed, some historians have long suspected that the vicious butcher might have been a woman all along, especially after the DNA results of a 21st-century scientist suggested as much. But thats not the only reason some believe that Jack the Ripper was actually Jill the Ripper.The Theory Behind Jill The RipperWikimedia CommonsOne of hundreds of letters sent from Jack the Ripper to Scotland Yard in September 1888.In the summer and fall of 1888, five women were found mutilated on the streets of Londons Whitechapel district. Some of the victims had been choked so violently they were nearly decapitated, while others were found missing vital organs that had been carved expertly out of their bodies.The killings terrified London, and the murderer was consequently named the Whitechapel Butcher and the Leather Apron by the papers. But the killer referred to themself as Jack the Ripper, according to a series of taunting letters they sent to Scotland Yard.London police received 600 letters from Jack the Ripper. Many were hoaxes, but some contained details only the murderer could know. One letter even predicted two murders and promised the killer would cut off part of a victims ear, all of which came true. But the identity of the butcher remained lost to history until May 2006, when Australian scientist Ian Findlay took a shot at unraveling the 118-year-old cold case. He used cutting-edge techniques to recover DNA from the stamps and envelopes sent by the Ripper. The technique required at least 200 human cells, which Findlay painstakingly collected from the saliva on the back of the stamp and from the envelope. Wikimedia CommonsThis letter from the killer was received with a three-inch-square cardboard box containing half a human kidney preserved in wine.Findlay uncovered a potential bombshell. Though the century-old DNA made it impossible for him to identify a particular individual, he did form a partial profile. Its possible the Ripper could be female, he declared.Findlay wasnt the first to make this shocking claim. In 1888, the British Chief Inspector Frederick Abberline also thought a woman might have committed the murders based on witness statements after the death of Mary Kelly, the Rippers last known victim.Hours after the time of her death, witnesses swore they spotted Kelly, leading Abberline to believe that the killer donned Kellys clothes to escape the crime scene. Even Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, author of the Sherlock Holmes books, speculated that a woman might be behind the crime as only a midwife could walk through London with blood on her clothes without drawing much attention.The state of the victims mutilated bodies also pointed to the possibility of a female Ripper. While the killers knife skills earned them the Butcher monicker, many 19th-century women had the anatomical knowledge to commit the crime. In particular, a midwife or an abortionist would have been able to surgically remove the uterus, as the Ripper did to some of their victims.And if Jack the Ripper was actually Jill the Ripper, there was one suspect who stood out to 19th-century investigators: Mary Pearcey.Was Mary Pearcey The Person Behind The Jack The Ripper Murders?James Barry/Internet ArchiveA sketch of Mary Pearcey drawn by Victorian-era executioner James Barry.Born Mary Eleanor Wheeler, Pearcey was executed for brutally murdering her lovers partner with a knife and leaving her body on the sidewalk in 1890. Around the same time Jack the Ripper terrorized London, Pearcey lived with John Charles Pearcey, an English carpenter who she never legally married. Meanwhile, Mary Pearcey carried on several affairs until John kicked her out of his house.Pearcey then moved in with Frank Hogg, who cheated on her as she cheated on him. Soon, however, Hogg announced hed gotten another woman named Phoebe Styles pregnant and planned to marry her instead.Even after Hogg wed Styles, he continued to have a sexual relationship with Mary Pearcey. But when Styles gave birth, Pearcey snapped and lured the new mother and her baby over for tea on October 24. Shortly after Styles arrived, Pearcey slashed her throat then smothered her baby and threw it out onto the street.She barely bothered to cover up the crime, too. When the police arrived at her house, she attributed the bloodstains to a nosebleed. I do not enjoy very good health, She told police. When I came home my nose bled violently. But then she claimed the blood must have come from mice shed recently killed.The police werent fooled and arrested Mary Pearcey for murder, removing Styles stolen wedding ring from her finger in the process.Pearcey went on trial in December 1890 and was quickly found guilty and sentenced to death. At her execution, executioner James Barry said Pearcey was remarkably calm. He recalled hearing her say, My sentence is a just one, but a good deal of the evidence against me was false.The Case For Mary Pearcey As Jill The RipperBefore she was put to death, Mary Pearcey was suspected by London detectives as being Jill the Ripper.Besides her cryptic last words that suggested she deserved to die for other crimes, Pearcey also placed a mysterious ad in a Spanish newspaper that read M.E.C.P. Last wish of M.E.W. Have not betrayed.The puzzling message has never been decoded. M.E.W. could refer to Mary herself, considering her birth initials were Mary Eleanor Wheeler. But what of the other initials, M.E.C.P.? Could they refer to the four Ripper victims Mary Jane Kelly, Elizabeth Stride, Catherine Eddowes, and Polly Nichols (the fifth was Annie Chapman)?If so, the message implies Pearcey was working alongside an accomplice as no one else would be able to decode the message.Fortun Maulle/Wikimedia CommonsAn 1891 illustration showing police discovering a body in Whitechapel.Pearcey also clearly had the strength and ability to kill. When she murdered Styles, she nearly beheaded her.Pearcey also stood out among other 19th-century female killers. The preferred murder weapon for most of these women was poison. For instance, when Mary Ann Cotton murdered 20 people, becoming Victorian Englands first serial killer a decade before Jack the Ripper, she used arsenic.However, little more than circumstantial evidence suggests Mary Pearcey was Jill the Ripper. While she was certainly capable of murder, she also happened to be the best-known female killer active at the same time as the Whitechapel murders.After this look at murderess Mary Pearcey and why she might be the real Jill the Ripper, read up on fellow Jack the Ripper suspects Aaron Kosminski and James Maybrick.The post Meet Mary Pearcey, The 19th-Century Murderess Who May Have Actually Been Jack The Ripper appeared first on All That's Interesting.