May 28, 1981 (Thursday)
- Bambi Bembenek murdered Christine Schultz, her husband's first wife, in Milwaukee. Convicted in 1982 and was released from prison ten years later, but not before she had escaped to Canada and been extradited. Bembenek's case inspired two made-for-TV movies and many books.
- Died: Mary Lou Williams, 71, American jazz composer; Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski, 79, Polish Roman Catholic archbishop; and Lem Billings, 65, long-time confidant of John F. Kennedy
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