Today in History - February 2: 'Machete murderer' brought to justice by leaving glaring clues
February 25
On February 25, 1973, Mexican serial killer Juan Corona was sentenced to 25 life sentences for murdering 25 fruit pickers in California.
Corona gained the nickname "The Machete Murderer" for hacking to death his victims. At the time he was the worst serial killer in the US.
The bodies were buried in shallow graves on farms and orchards along the Feather River north of Sacramento.
Most had been brutally hacked to death and dismembered, possibly with a machete or meat cleaver.
Corona was arrested after a peach farmer who had contracted with him for hired pickers became suspicious upon finding a hole that had been freshly dug and then filled in.
Authorities found the body of a man whose head had been cleaved open and his torso riddled with stab wounds.
Nine more bodies were recovered in another orchard five days later, along with receipts made out to Corona, who was immediately arrested.
He died in jail in California in 2019 aged 85.
Qantas launched its low-cost subsidiary airline Jetstar on February 25, 2004, triggering a price war with rival Virgin Blue.
Three months later the first Jetstar flight took off from the NSW city of Newcastle to Tullamarine airport in Melbourne.
The carrier as since gone on to become one of the world's most successful budget carriers.
On February 25, 1986, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos, fled his country after decades in power and was replaced by Corazon Aquino, shown centre.
Marcos' attempt to ignore a stunning election defeat triggered a people's revolution that forced him to quit.
He fled to exile in Hawaii.
The final tram service in Sydney ran on February 25, 1961, from the city to the coastal suburb of La Perouse.
Trams had been part of life for Sydneysiders over the previous 80 years.
The price of a loaf of bread rose to 2000 marks in the German city of Berlin on February 25, 1923 as hyperinflation began to grip the nation's economy.
The value of the German currency tumbled so much during the ensuing months that by November 1923, the US dollar was worth 4 billion marks.
The dire economic conditions led to social upheaval, and helped the rise of the Nazi party under Adolf Hitler.
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