Real-life Copycat Crime and Killers
The film supposedly inspired a real-life crime, the Faraday School kidnapping. In October 1972, soon after the release of the movie in Australia, two armed men (one of whom coincidentally had the last name 'Eastwood') kidnapped a teacher and 6 school children in Victoria, Australia. They demanded a $1 million ransom. The state government agreed to pay, but the children managed to escape and the kidnappers were subsequently jailed.
On September 1981, a case occurred in Germany under circumstances quite similar to the Barbara Jane Mackle case (though the Mail Online network paper states that the idea with the box was inspired by Dirty Harry): A ten-year-old girl, Ursula Hermann, was buried alive in a box fitted with ventilation, lighting and sanitary systems to be held for ransom. Unfortunately, the girl suffocated in her prison because autumn leaves had clogged up the ventilation duct. 27 years later, a couple was arrested and tried for kidnapping and murder on circumstantial evidence. This case was also dealt with in the German TV series Aktenzeichen XY … ungelöst.
Read more about this topic: Dirty Harry
Famous quotes containing the words crime and/or killers:
“Although good early childhood programs can benefit all children, they are not a quick fix for all of society’s ills—from crime in the streets to adolescent pregnancy, from school failure to unemployment. We must emphasize that good quality early childhood programs can help change the social and educational outcomes for many children, but they are not a panacea; they cannot ameliorate the effects of all harmful social and psychological environments.”
—Barbara Bowman (20th century)
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—Anne Sexton (1928–1974)