This Day In History

May 9 1950
L. Ron Hubbard publishes the first edition of Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health. This follows on the heels of a feature article in the pulp sci-fi magazine Astounding Science Fiction. A book review in the The New Republic describes the work as "a bold and immodest mixture of complete nonsense and perfectly reasonable common sense, taken from long-acknowledged findings and disguised and distorted by a crazy, newly invented terminology." The subsequent movement goes on to become one of the scariest, most powerful pseudo-religious cults in modern history.

May 9 1979
Northwestern University graduate student John Harris opens a cigar box left sitting on a table in the Technological Institute. The resulting blast only manages to inflict minor lacerations and burns. It is later determined to be the second explosive device fabricated by the Unabomber.

May 9 1980
35 people are killed in Tampa, Florida when the Liberian cargo ship Summit Venture smashes into a supporting pier of the Sunshine Skyway Bridge. Seven vehicles, including a Greyhound bus, topple into the water 150 feet below.

TV Pitchman Billy Mays Had Heart Disease, Coroner Says

TAMPA, Florida (CNN) -- TV pitchman Billy Mays' death appeared to be from heart disease, not a bump to the head, according to the Hillsborough County medical examiner.

The final cause of death will not be known until after toxicology results are available, Dr. Vernard Adams said at a Monday news conference.

Mays, 50, was pronounced dead at his home near Tampa Sunday morning, after his wife Deborah found him unresponsive, Tampa police said.

The autopsy conducted Monday morning revealed Mays suffered from hypertensive heart disease, Adams said.

"It's not uncommon to have a sudden death with this kind of disease," Adams said.

"Billy would be overwhelmed to see that his life touched so many people in a positive way," Deborah Mays said in a statement Monday.

"While it provides some closure to learn that heart disease took Billy from us, it certainly doesn't ease the enormous void that his death has created in our lives," she said.

Billy Mays had told a friend before he went to sleep Saturday he was not feeling well.

"He said he was groggy, he wasn't feeling that great. He wanted to get some sleep," Todd Schnitt said.

Mays was on a US Airways flight from Philadelphia that had a hard landing Saturday at Tampa International Airport after the front tire of the plane blew out.

After the flight, Mays told a Tampa TV station, "All of a sudden as we hit, you know, it was just the hardest hit, all the things from the ceiling started dropping. It hit me on the head, but I got a hard head."

Mays, with his booming voice, was famous for fronting products such as OxiClean and Orange Glo in TV commercials.

No evidence of exterior or interior head trauma was found during Mays' autopsy, Adams said.

The Discovery Channel -- which airs "Pitchmen" co-hosted by Mays -- issued a statement saying, "It is with incredible sadness that we have to report that Billy Mays died in his sleep last night. Everyone that knows him was aware of his larger-than-life personality, generosity and warmth. Billy was a pioneer in his field and helped many people fulfill their dreams. He will be greatly missed as a loyal and compassionate friend."

Billy Mays, OxiClean Pitchman, Found Dead

(CNN) -- Infomercial pitchman Billy Mays died at his Tampa, Florida, home Sunday morning, authorities told CNN.

The 50-year-old known for his shouting OxiClean ads was pronounced dead at 7:45 a.m. The Hillborough County medical examiner will perform an autopsy, Tampa police Lt. Brian Dugan said.

Mays was on the US Airways flight from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Tampa on Saturday that had a hard landing at Tampa International Airport when the plane's front tire blew out. There were no reported injuries on Flight 1241, US Airways told CNN.

According to a local Tampa TV station, Mays said: "All of a sudden as we hit you know it was just the hardest hit, all the things from the ceiling started dropping. It hit me on the head, but I got a hard head."

The bearded Mays was a spokesman for Orange Glo and detergent OxiClean and appeared in commercials for other products.

He is featured on the reality TV show ''Pitchmen'' on the Discovery Channel, which follows pitch people in their jobs.

"It is with incredible sadness that we have to report that Billy Mays died in his sleep last night," said a statement from the Discovery Channel. "Everyone that knows him was aware of his larger-than-life personality, generosity and warmth. Billy was a pioneer in his field and helped many people fulfill their dreams. He will be greatly missed as a loyal and compassionate friend. Our deepest sympathies go out to his family at this time of incredible loss."

Teens Charged As Adults in Locker Room Sexual Assault Case

(CNN) -- Four teenage boys in Tampa, Florida, were charged as adults Wednesday on allegations of sexually assaulting a 13-year-old boy.

Charged with four counts each of sexual battery were Randall John Moye, 14; Raymond A. Price-Murray, 14; Lee Louis Myers, 14; and Diamante J. Roberts, 15. CNN is naming the defendants because they were charged as adults.

Hillsborough County prosecutors allege the four boys raped the 13-year-old victim multiple times over two months with a broomstick and hockey stick.

At a bond and arraignment hearing, the defendants appeared before Hillsborough County Judge Wayne Timmerman to hear the counts against them read in court.

Prosecutor Kimberly Hindman described to the court how two defendants held down the victim while the other two defendants violently sodomized him with the sticks. "The victim screamed and cried, telling them to stop," Hindman said.

The prosecutor said the victim's screams could be heard outside the boys' locker room at Walker Middle School, in southern Tampa, where the alleged assaults took place.

Multiple people witnessed the attacks, but no one reported the incidents, including the victim, Hindman said.

The school began an investigation after a fight that began on the football field and continued until a coach broke it up in the locker room, said the prosecutor. During the fight, the victim said, "I'm tired of them getting on me," Hindman said.

When school officials questioned the defendants, all four admitted in a written statement that they had sexually assaulted the victim.

The defendants "all implicated themselves in a sexual-battery incident," Hindman said.

The victim did not acknowledge the attacks until questioned. School officials contacted authorities, who initially charged the four as minors with sexual assault and false imprisonment.

Several students witnessed the incidents over the two months, said the prosecutor, who added that she could not understand why no one reported the attacks.

The victim made a statement in court, telling the judge how his father was angry and his mother couldn't stop crying when they heard about the attacks.

Defense attorneys told the judge their clients were good students and had never been in trouble before. Attorney Tim Taylor, representing Randall Moye, said his client's family is among the finest in the community.

Taylor presented six character witnesses, including his client's mother, Jeanne Myers, who said her son wants to attend college. The prosecutor asked her about her son's written statement about the attacks. Myers said her son described clowning around in the locker room with a hockey stick. She added that he told her about holding down the victim for a few seconds.

The victim finished the academic year at home instead of returning to school, authorities said.

The judge set bond for each defendant at $15,000, with ankle monitors for all but one, who has left the area. The four boys were taken into custody in court and booked into the adult jail. The judge warned the four to have no contact with one another, the victim or any witnesses in the case.

The defendants could spend up to 120 years in prison if convicted on all four counts.