hello and welcome back to the crime rail for today's true crime narration we shall be looking at the life of david burke david augustus burke was born on the 18th of may 1952 in the united kingdom he was the second of four sons born to iris and altamonte burke the family emigrated from the uk to the u.s where they settled in rochester new york when the youngest of the four boys died from a heroin overdose it devastated the entire family david never married but had seven children by four different women information about david's character and personality vary greatly with some describing him as being incredibly mercenary with an extremely violent temper whilst others state that he was a friendly and helpful man who was well liked when he was in his early twenties david began working at u.s air in new york he worked there for around 14 years and during this time was being investigated for being involved in smuggling cocaine into the u.s from jamaica however no charges were ever brought against him for this there was also many allegations that he was involved in a stolen car ring this again was unproven because of this david had become well known to local law enforcement in 1986 david moved from new york to los angeles this was rumored to be so that he could escape the cloud of suspicion which hung over him and also to be closer to his girlfriend jacqueline camacho still working for us air who in may 1987 had completed the purchase of pacific southwest airlines david was now a ticketing agent working at los angeles international airport he lived in a modest condo in west spring street in long beach california by late 1987 jacqueline had taken out a restraining order against david as his behaviour towards her had become increasingly violent on 19th november 1987 david was fired from his job with u.s air a hidden camera had recorded him stealing 69 from the airline cocktail fund this is the equivalent of around 150 today after david was fired he scheduled a meeting with his manager ray thompson in december 1987. rey was a 48 year old supervisor at usair who was married to dorothy a flight attendant with american airlines ray lived near san francisco and would fly between san francisco and los angeles on his daily commute when david arrived for the meeting at around 12 30 pm on monday the 7th of december 1987 he was determined to get his job back however ray who was described as being a firm but fair supervisor was not prepared to change his mind david had been caught stealing and therefore there was no alternative he had to be fired david was not happy with the outcome of the meeting and once it was over purchased a one-way flight ticket for the pacific southwest airline flight number 1771 from los angeles to san francisco the flight which lasted around 1 hour 12 minutes was scheduled to leave los angeles at 3 30 pm that afternoon still using his employee credentials david boarded the flight and waited for takeoff also on board the plane was his former boss ray thompson the flight ascended to around 22 000 feet and david left his seat making his way along the aisle towards ray as david walked past rey he dropped a note into his lap which he had written on an air sickness bag the note read hi ray i think it's sort of ironical that we end up like this i asked for some leniency for my family remember well i've got none and you'll get none david then continued down the aisle and went into the aircraft toilet in the privacy of the cubicle david got out the smith and wesson revolver which he had brought with him onto the plane as david had boarded using his employee credentials he was able to bypass the usual passenger security and simply boarded the plane with a gun david walked out of the toilet and headed back down the aisle towards where ray was sitting as he approached ray david shot him twice at close range realising what was happening a flight attendant by the name of debra neal ran into the cockpit shouting to the pilot captain greg lindemood and first officer james nunn that they had a problem when the captain questioned what the problem was david shot deborah and calmly stated i am the problem david then turned the gun on the captain and first officer shooting them both with the flight crew incapacitated the plane started to nosedive towards the ground possibly due to either the captain or first officer being slumped over the control column or perhaps due to david deliberately pointing the plane downwards another passenger on board the flight was the los angeles chief pilot for pacific southwest airlines 41 year old douglas arthur douglas rose from his seat and tried to get to the cockpit to save the aircraft david used his final bullet to shoot douglas at 4 14 pm the plane by now in an almost vertical descent and traveling at over 700 miles per hour crashed into the hillside of a cattle ranch in the santa lucia mountains approximately 175 miles northwest of los angeles it took just 47 seconds from the moment the first shot was fired until the time of impact all 43 people on board lost their lives the first detective at the scene initially thought that the crash plane must have been a small aircraft possibly carrying something like paper the debris was spread out over an extremely large area and the wreckage no longer had any shape which could easily be recognized as part of a plane both the national transportation safety board and the fbi were brought in to investigate the crash two days into the search on december the 9th 1987 they found part of a gun it contained six spent cartridges and in the trigger they found a fragment of a finger which was subsequently matched as belonging to david this led to investigators believing that he was alive and holding the gun up until the moment of impact disproving some theories that he had taken his own life the plane's black box was discovered which gave crucial details enabling investigators to work out the timeline of the events on the plane further evidence was discovered including the note written on the air sickness bag this was identified as being in david's handwriting as well as david's airline credentials were also found as the investigation continued it was found that the gun used in the attack had belonged to one of david's co-workers who confirmed that he had lent the gun to david a few days before the crash in addition it was discovered that david had left a goodbye message on jacqueline's answering machine as well as changing his life insurance and will in the week prior to his death whilst david's family did not believe he was capable of such an atrocity all of the evidence pointed to david being responsible and had he has survived the crash he would have been charged with air piracy and murder with no survivors to tell exactly what happened on board the flight and evidence being scattered and at times destroyed due to the force of the crash the exact sequence of events can never be fully determined but there seems to be general agreement that the events unfolded as stated on board the flight amongst others was 53 year old james seiler the president of chevron usa together with three of the company's executives 60 year old owen murphy 56 year old jocelyn kemp and 45 year old alan swanson additionally there were three top officials from pacific bell as a result of their deaths many large corporations created policies which stopped multiple executives traveling on the same flights together in the aftermath of this disaster federal laws were passed which required immediate seizure of employee credentials after an employee's termination from an airline or airport position 42 innocent people needlessly lost their lives that day stemming from a disciplinary hearing over 69 today's story was recommended by three people gustav babbage lemon sky and liberty's incursion if anyone else recommended it sorry i didn't make a note in the garden of hope section of the los ossos valley memorial park there is a granite and bronze marker honoring the passengers and crew of pacific southwest airlines flight 1771 a number of the 43 crash victims were buried in that particular cemetery it reads in memory of those who lost their lives in the air tragedy of december the 7th 1987 san luis obispo county california please add any comments down below and now it's time for petty crime from queensland in australia mel has kindly sent in pictures of rafferty who is also known as riffraff riff raff is their nine-month-old shelter rescue louisiana catahoula leopard pup some of us can relate to this on his first ever day being left home alone for two hours he destroyed two rooms gathered up his toys and crept into the master bedroom and fell fast asleep thanks for the pictures mel next up we have tink the cat and pep the pup these have kindly been sent in by psy b syby is worried she may be overthinking it but thinks tink's sweet face is unsettling soybean is also a fan of my tongs so just for you here's a picture thanks for the pictures i as ever thanks very much for listening to the crime reel stay safe goodbye [Music] last friday i went to the dentist for emergency treatment i had a wisdom tooth removed that's three bits of wisdom gone now just one left goodbye