Milestones
DIED. SWAMI SATCHIDANANDA, 87, Indian guru who opened the 1969 Woodstock festival by teaching the crowds to chant "om"; in Madras. A native of South India, the thickly bearded swami went to the U.S. in 1966 on the crest of a wave of counterculture interest in Eastern religion, and he eventually served as spiritual adviser to such celebrities as Carole King, Jeff Goldblum and Laura Dern. Satchidananda founded a number of ashrams, including Yogaville in Virginia, where he made his home. At Woodstock he shared the stage with rock luminaries Jimi Hendrix, the Who and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young.
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CONVICTED. DAVID WESTERFIELD, 50, of kidnapping and murdering seven-year-old Danielle Van Dam; in San Diego. Prosecutors have vowed to seek the death penalty against the former engineer, a neighbor of the girl's family. He is believed to have abducted the girl from her bedroom in early February.
CHARGED. IAN HUNTLEY, 28, with the murders of 10-year-olds Jessica Chapman and Holly Wells, whose Aug. 4 disappearance stunned Britain; in Cambridgeshire. Huntley, a caretaker at the school attended by the two girls, told police he saw them as they passed his house on the evening of their disappearance, at which time he claims they were "as happy as Larry." His girlfriend, Maxine Carr, a teaching assistant at the school, has also been arrested in the case.
DETAINED. HIROSHI MINAMI, 24, a former officer in the Japanese Self-Defense Force; for joining Chechen rebels in their insurrection against Russia; by security authorities in Georgia. Minami, a convert to Islam, was apprehended as he tried to enter Georgia with a group of Chechen guerrillas.
REJECTED. An appeal by AMINA LAWAL KURAMI, 30, to overturn a court decision sentencing her to death by stoning for having sex outside of wedlock; in Funtua, Nigeria. Kurami's lawyers plan to appeal the decision to a higher court.
DIED. EDUARDO CHILLIDA, 78, Basque abstract sculptor whose works, known for combining grace with colossal size, earned him the nickname "Man of Iron"; in San Sebastian, Spain. Giving up careers in soccer and architecture, Chillida moved to Paris in 1948 to set up his first studio, but returned to Spain two years later. His piece Comb of the Winds, featured on Spanish coins, became a symbol of the ongoing conflict in Chillida's native Basque region.
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