This day in history: 2 people found dead in car at Spokane Valley Zip’s. Witnesses gave conflicting testimony in manslaughter case

From 1975: A lunch customer at the Zip’s Drive-In at Sprague and Fancher noticed something unusual about a car in the parking lot.

He saw a woman sitting in the car, apparently slumped over. He walked up to the car to investigate, and saw two people, neither of whom were moving.

The customer went into Zip’s and notified the manager. When they went out to investigate, they tried to wake the couple up, without success.

Sheriff’s officers arrived and found the man and woman dead, apparently asphyxiated by carbon monoxide. The car’s engine was still running.

The 23-year-old woman had been reported missing that day by her father when she had not returned from work at Zip’s. She had two children. The investigation continued.

From 1925: The prosecution already had presented several witnesses who testified that Bernard Newman was drunk when his auto slammed into Joseph Kennedy on Apple Way.

The prosecution’s “star witness” testified that Newman had tossed a half-empty liquor bottle into an old basement after the accident. The witness retrieved the bottle.

Now, the defense presented Mary Clayton, “pretty stenographer,” who testified that he was “perfectly natural” at a meeting right before the accident, and there was nothing to indicate he was under the influence of liquor.

An occupant of Newman’s car also testified that Newman “handled the car as any sober man would.”

Also on this day

(From onthisday.com)

1961: 1,400 Cuban exiles land in the Bay of Pigs in a doomed attempt to overthrow Fidel Castro.