1888
Aug 31, Mary Ann Nicholls, a 42-year-old prostitute, was found murdered in London's East End. She is generally regarded as the first of at least five murder victims of "Jack the Ripper." [see Aug 6

1983
Aug 31, In Fairfield, Ca., Kyle Stracner (15) returned home after visiting with friends and found his mother, Priscilla Strole (40), naked and beaten to death on the floor. In 2014 investigators used DNA evidence to identify Robert Hathaway (48), a childhood friend of Kyle, as the murderer. Hathaway hanged himself on Feb 15, 2014.

1984
Aug 31, In southern California Ebora Alexander (57), the mother or 49ers star Kermit Alexander, was shot dead along with his sister and two nephews. Tiequon Cox, a member of the Rollin’ 60 Crips, was later convicted of the murders and sentenced to death. Two others were sentenced to life in prison.

1989
Aug 31, Britain's Princess Anne and husband Mark Phillips announced they were separating.

1997
Aug 31, Prince Charles brought Princess Diana home for the last time, escorting the body of his former wife to a Britain that was shocked, grief-stricken and angered by her death in a Paris traffic accident. Princess Diana (36) and Egyptian billionaire Dodi al-Fayed (42) were killed along with the car’s driver in a car crash in Paris while trying to evade paparazzi photographers. A bodyguard was severely injured but expected to survive. It was later learned that the driver had 3 times the legal alcohol limit and was driving at about 110 mph.



2003
Aug 31, The burned body of Katie Sepich (22) was found at an old dump in Las Cruces, NM. She had been raped and strangled earlier that same day. In 2006 DNA evidence identified Gabriel Adrian Avila, already in prison for burglary and assault, as her killer.

2004
Aug 31, A woman strapped with explosives blew herself up outside a busy Moscow subway station, killing at least 10 people.

2010
Aug 31, In Mexico 6 women and two men died in a fire at a bar frequented by locals in the resort of Cancun. Bar employees told police that unidentified men tossed gasoline bombs at the establishment. Police soon arrested six suspects, who said a drug gang hired them to throw gasoline bombs at the bar, presumably in an attempt at extortion.

2012
Aug 31, The Ohio state Dept. of Health said a woman’s death this week was related to H3N2v, a new strain of swine flu. 12 new cases were reported in the US during the week.