On this day in conspiracies

Remains later identified as Florence Polillo, a local woman in her early forties, are discovered near Orange Avenue. She becomes one of only a handful of victims ever named.

A postcard signed 'Black Dahlia Avenger' promises the sender will surrender to police on January 29; no one appears, and the LAPD spends weeks chasing false confessions and copycat letters.

On Australia Day, during a summer heatwave, Jane (9), Arnna (7), and Grant (4) Beaumont catch a bus from near their Somerton Park home to the beach at Glenelg, a short ride away. Their mother, Nancy, expects them back around noon.

The regional newspaper Gifu Nichi Nichi Shinbun runs an article on the rumor. Moving the story from playground whisper into print gives it authority and a wider audience, an early step in turning a local scare into a national one.

Joseph Kabila, the late president's son and army chief of staff, is sworn in as president at the age of 29, beginning a transfer of power that holds despite the country's ongoing war.

Elisa Lam, traveling alone on a West Coast trip, checks into the Cecil Hotel in downtown Los Angeles, on the edge of Skid Row. Part of the building had been rebranded as a budget hostel called Stay on Main. She keeps in daily contact with her family in Vancouver.