In the fall of 1982, a wave of violence shattered the community of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, forever marking September 25th as a day of tragedy. On this day, Regina Ann Yuhas Clemens, a 29-year-old white female, became one of the many victims in a horrific mass murder. Her life, along with her 6-year-old daughter Montanzima Banks, was brutally cut short in a rampage that stunned the city and the nation.
The perpetrator of this heinous act was 40-year-old George Emil Banks, a former
prison guard. His killing spree began in the early morning hours at a mobile home park in Jenkins Township before he continued his path of destruction to his own home in Wilkes-Barre. It was there that he murdered Regina Clemens, her young daughter, and several other women and children who were present in the house. In total, Banks claimed the lives of 13 people, including five of his own children.
The devastating event culminated in a tense three-hour standoff with law enforcement. After his eventual arrest, the full scope of the day's horrors came to light. George Emil Banks was subsequently charged with multiple counts of first-degree murder. The legal proceedings that followed found him guilty of his crimes, and he was sentenced to death for the massacre that claimed the lives of Regina Clemens and twelve others.
