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17

The figures born on this date share no common geography or era, yet each left a pattern of violence that drew sustained attention from investigators and courts. Moses Sithole, whose crimes across South Africa's Gauteng, North West, and KwaZulu-Natal provinces in the mid-1990s became known as the ABC Murders, is among the most documented serial offenders in post-apartheid South African history. Alongside him stand Alexander Astashev, whose poisoning campaign in Cheremkhovo gave him one of Russia's grimmer regional epithets, and Gregory Brazel, whose record in Australia spans serial killing, arson, and armed robbery. The three represent distinct criminal typologies across three continents, bound here only by the calendar.

November 17, 1964 - Moses Sithole

Operating across multiple townships in South Africa over roughly sixteen months, Sithole carried out one of the country's most extensive series of killings, targeting women he lured under the pretense of offering employment. The geographic spread of his crimes — spanning Atteridgeville, Boksburg, and Cleveland — reflected both his mobility and the time it took investigators to connect the cases. The sentence handed down, over two thousand years, reflects the scale of what the courts determined he had done.

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November 17, 1956 - Alexander Astashev

Operating across multiple Russian regions over roughly two years, Astashev led a poisoning campaign that killed 17 people and injured 14 others — crimes motivated by robbery rather than ideology or personal grievance. What distinguishes his case is the coordinated involvement of two female accomplices and the geographic spread of the attacks, which complicated investigation and allowed the scheme to continue well into 2005. His ultimate ruling of criminal incompetence meant he never faced trial, while those who carried out the crimes alongside him were imprisoned.

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November 17, 1954 - Gregory Brazel

Brazel's crimes span nearly a decade and cross distinct categories of violence — armed robbery resulting in murder, and the targeted killing of sex workers — making his case notable for both its breadth and the long delay before full accountability. His 1982 confession, offered eighteen years after the fact, reflects a pattern of control that extended well beyond the crimes themselves. His reputation within Victoria's prison system as among the most manipulative and dangerous incarcerated individuals has kept him from parole despite eligibility.

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