Cable Briefs (Press, 27 February 1978)

On 27 February 1978, a variety of news stories were reported, highlighting significant events in the United States and Germany. First, an auction in New York showcased antiques formerly owned by Henry Ford II and his ex-wife, Anne. The event attracted considerable attention and fetched a total of $2.1 million, with nearly half the items sold exceeding the auctioneer's top estimates. The assortment mainly featured exquisite 18th-century French furniture, clocks, gold boxes, and porcelain. In a darker story, Patrick Wayne Kearney, infamous for being the "trash bag murderer," narrowly evaded execution in California's gas chamber. Kearney confessed to the brutal killings of 32 young men and boys between 1975 and 1977. However, he escaped the death penalty due to a hiatus in the state's capital punishment laws; California abolished the death penalty in 1972 and reinstated it only in August 1977 for mass murderers such as Kearney. In West Germany, the exhumation of the body of Anneliese Michel drew public interest. Anneliese had passed away 19 months earlier at the age of 23 following exorcism rituals, believed by her parents to have been caused by demonic possession rather than a severe illness. Following the exhumation, it was confirmed that her body had decomposed at a normal rate, contrary to the parents' assumptions that signs of no decomposition would indicate a demonic influence. In Sydney, a tragic incident unfolded involving an 18-year-old girl who suffered severe injuries from a brutal gang rape. After leaving a group of friends at a hotel in Caringbah, she was attacked by a group of six or seven men. The young woman tragically lost her left eye as a result of the assault and was hospitalized with additional injuries but was reported to be in satisfactory condition. Lastly, a West German parliamentary inquiry into the deaths of three Baader-Meinhof guerrilla leaders—Andreas Baader, Jan-Carl Raspe, and Gudrun Ensslin—failed to reach a consensus on political accountability regarding the circumstances surrounding their demise. Officially deemed suicides, the inquiry raised questions regarding the claims that lawyers smuggled in firearms used by Baader and Raspe, while also concluding that Irmgard Moeller, a convicted guerrilla found stabbed in her cell on the same day, had inflicted her injuries upon herself, despite her allegations of being attacked by an unknown assailant. These reports indicate a range of societal issues and events, reflecting the complexities of human behaviour and the legal system during this period.

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