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Most people can name at least one unsolved mystery out there, but you might be surprised to hear that around 40% of murders in the US go unsolved. So it simply stands to reason that most places where humans live will have at least a few crimes or weird occurrences that are still unexplained.
Someone asked “What's the strangest or most bizarre unsolved mystery from your country/state/hometown etc?” and people shared their examples. So get comfortable as you scroll through, upvote the most interesting ones and detail your own local mysteries in the comments below.
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#1
Here in Stockholm, it’s probably the m****r of prime minister Olof Palme. It’s not only strange that someone could m****r the prime minister in the middle of the capital and not get caught, but both witnesses and police have said and behaved strangely throughout the investigation.
Check out The Unlikely Murderer on Netflix if you want more.
RELATED:
#2
Grew up in Adelaide, m****r capital of Australia. Can probably take your pick between:
- the Beaumont children, 3 sisters who were led away by a man at Glenelg Beach and disappeared with no trace after six decades
- Adelaide Oval kidnapping, potentially linked to the Beaumont children, another two young girls disappeared without a trace from a football game
- Family murders, the perpetrator of one of the crimes was put away but the dark mystery was how many h**h profile people in the city were potentially involved, doctors, politicians etc
And we also had the Somerton Park mystery cadaver but that got solved recently.
Rose the Cook 7 hours ago
The Beaumont children were actually 2 girls and 1 boy. Jane aged 9, Amna aged 7 and Grant aged 4in 1966.
#3
My great great aunt was systematically sexually assaulted for years by a number of men in the village, the whole village knew and then she was found dead under suspicious circumstances and the police did no investigation.
That village is a black hole of toxic secrecy and people know what happened to her, they're just too cowardly to say.
Her name was Agnes Amalie Waade and she was a wonderful, kind human being who loved animals and who was extraordinarily kind to everyone. But especially children and animals.
Edit: Case from Norway.
#4
Rachel Mellon Skemp - Bolingbrook, IL
She was sick home that school day during winter with her stepdad and suddenly "disappeared" without a jacket, shoes or her purse during a wintery Chicago suburb evening. Her stepdad was covered in deep scratches on his chest, neck and arms and told the police it was from "fixing up an old car in the garage". What Rachel's stepfather stated was that he went to check up on her in the afternoon and she was sleeping in bed. He left the house to supposedly walk the dog but the dog ran off and he stated he chased after it and came home without the dog and without checking up on her.
Many people speculate that due to her crying a few days before to her friend about "having to take care of a problem" that her stepfather sexually abused her to the point of pregnancy, which further raised suspicion when she had a hidden kitchen knife in her bedroom as well as her personal diary about the sexual abuse and mistreatment her stepfather inflicted on the young teen. The only missing articles from the home were just her bedsheets and many people believe that he hid and ditched her body in the trunk of his car when police were called to investigate.
Her biological mother wasn't too keen on looking for her nor Rachel's stepfather and they both moved to different states together. Rachel's biological father however hasn't given up on hope for searching what remains of his daughter as he moved back to Illinois and has spent decades with what resources he has to uncover the truth.
The last I heard he was trying to hire a company to search the ground via sonic waves for anything.
#5
August 15, 2002, Michael and Mary Short of Oak Level, VA, were shot in the head while sleeping in separate rooms. (He slept apart from her due to his snoring.) When his employee found their bodies later that morning, it was also discovered their 9-year-old daughter, Jennifer, was missing. Six weeks later, Jennifer was found dead under a bridge--45 minutes away in North Carolina.
This case was heavily investigated with no cure, and continues to be revisited periodically without resolution. Theories (professional and amateur) have ranged from criminal enterprise to business dealings to stalkers/traffickers, to revenge to family abduction, but all have come up empty.
#6
I’m from Wales - Trevaline Evans a 52-year-old lady disappeared from Llangollen in 1990 after leaving a sign on the door of her antique shop that said “back in two minutes.”.
John O'Donnell 2 hours ago
They believe she made it back to the shop too. A banana skin was found in the bin, and she had bought a banana while she was out.
#7
From Texas- The Ice Box Murders. On June 23, 1965, police were sent to the home of Fred and Edwina Rodgers. The door was locked, there was food on the table, but there was no sign of a struggle, or of the couple. Their heads and dismembered body parts were later found in the fridge. The couple had a 43 year old son that lived with them, he disappeared on the day of their murders and was legally declared dead 10 years later.
As an FYI, to those who are not from the area: an ice box is a term used for the refrigerator. It was mostly used by older generations, and is not commonly used now, but I grew up hearing this term.
#8
Austria, Wiener Neustadt: Pencil Murderer
1973 an 11 yo girl was brutally murdered on the way home from school with her own pencil.
#9
Livia Beirnes. She used to babysit me when I was young. Someone tied her up in her basement and burned the house down and they never caught the culprit.
#10
Tacoma, Washington state, Tekah Lewis, toddler that disappeared from a bowling alley 20+ (?) years ago. She's never been found.
Emma London 7 hours ago
These are the worst. Imagine the parents hoping that thier child would be kidnapped and thus still alive instead of just murdered with body never been found.
#11
Italy.
Emanuela Orlandi vanishing: the 15yo daughter of a Vatican employee disappeared while coming back from a music course in 1983. Since then there have been a lot of investigations and suspects but no real clues about what happened.
Potential leads regarded Pope John Paul's attempted assassination, dirty bishops, the notorious Roman "banda della Magliana" (a criminal g**g that robbed, k**led, kidnapped, dealt d***s and p**********n during the '70s and '80s), and white women s***e trade.
At a certain point, a possible suspect - who said a lot of lies but was alsso able to produce a flute that really seemed Emanuela's one - made a correlation with another girl, k**led in 1984, with no relationship whatsoever with Emanuela during life.
This time he was right and Kethy's grave was actually opened to find it robbed and the casket taken away.
Emanuela's family is still fighting for the truth, her brother firmly believes in some Vatican responsibilities, while the original investigator still believes in a "plain" sexual a*****t ended in m****r.
The image of Emanuela used in the missing posters is very familiar to any Italian and especially Roman grown up in the '80s, with her flute and her black hairband, and for a long time there was some hope that she could be still alive (there was a trace that lead to an English college in the '90s), but nowadays all is wanted is some justice for a 15 yo vanished in a hot summer afternoon.
Nils Skirnir 7 hours ago
Penetrating the Vatican’s mysteries is more difficult than finding the truth about the Ancient Roman Empire
#12
Oregon, the Kyron Horman case. Hoping they find him someday.
#13
Illinois has plenty but I can't believe the Lane Bryant murders haven't been solved yet (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lane_Bryant_shooting). Five women were k**led mid-morning at a clothing store in 2008. Another survived, and there's a sketch of the shooter but no suspects.
#14
Not my hometown itself but just down the highway…the murders of Barry and Honey Sherman. Billionaire Toronto couple who were found hanging by belts from a railing that surrounded their indoor pool. There is video of a suspect near their home but you can’t see the face…and there’s no other leads despite a 35 million dollar reward.
#15
Austin, TX - 1991 Yogurt shop murders. Unsolved quadruple homicide. Victims were 13-17 year old girls.
Emma London 7 hours ago
Are we supposed to just know about these by name, or go to ask Google? Because just naming the cases doesn't get us anywhere.
#16
I'm from Argentina. There's many i'm interested in, Cecilia Giubileo, Claudia Ferro (i mean, we kinda know but there's no official statement), Sofia Herrera (i have so much hope she'll be found safe and well)
The one that really stuck with me tho is Maria Rosa Di Leo. Excuse me if i miss use some words.
Okay, this was years ago. Maria Rosa was a daycare teacher (or kinder, not sure what the word is for 3-5 year olds in English) who lived with her parents in Rosario, Santa Fe, was dating a man called Luis (who lived in Buenos Aires, another province) planning to marry
Maria had the daycare in their (parents and her) place. It was a humble daycare, nothing big or that had something different that you might really want your child to go there.
For months she kept receiving calls from a woman who wanted to make the inscription for her kid to go there althought, according to the calls, she lived on the other side of the city. Again, this is a humble place, not something you'd drive a long time daily for.
Anyway on one of those calls the woman apparently tells her she'll sign her kid there.
She actually goes not long after, (which they find weird, its not like she lived 5 blocks away) and Maria Rosa brings out the paperwork, she is about to write down the info when she gets shot, there's actually a pen trail on the paper.
She is found by her mom at the place, obviously police is called
Anyway there's no suspects. Some people nearby said they saw a brunette woman, some people saw a blonde woman, but they dont know who she is or if it was even her who shot Maria Rosa. More than that and the calls, they have nothing.
Months after a tv channel gets an anonymous message saying a woman, Miriam Buisart, was who shot Maria Rosa. They give this info to the police in charge who start investigating. Turns out Miriam lived in Colon, Buenos Aires, which is were Luis, Maria Rosa's boyfriend lived.
They investigated and she was brunette -not blonde like some people had said- had money and had dated Luis.
She got detained, at her place they found a blonde wig, she had missed work, her car was similar to one described to have been there the day of the m****r and she took it to the carwash althought the neighbours did not recognize that as the car, the hair found in the crime scene did not belong to her, her phone line was investigated and had no ties to the daycare.
On the day of the crime she says she had been with her boyfriend, claims to have casually dated Luis in the past but it was not serious and meant nothing, she had last seen him 5 or so months before the crime. The blonde wig, she said was for a costume from a party and had she done it, she would not have gotten such a cheap wig.
She did say that a few weeks before, her daughter picked up a call from Luis -or someone claiming to be him- telling her to tell Miriam to call to another phone number later, she didn't call but thinks it was probably an attempt to incriminate her.
Anyway she did went to jail for two years but then was absolved. Many things fit but there was no actual proof. Maria Rosa's parents weren't happy with the fact that she didn't contact them, apparently Luis stopped talking to them during the investigation (and he didn't say anything or help with the investigation in any way, which imo is suspicious) the case went cold and to this day there's no answer.
#17
Central Iowa, United States— Johnny Gosch was a paperboy who disappeared at the age of 12 one morning in 1982 while doing his paper route. Despite being the first missing child to have his picture printed on milk cartons, he still hasn’t been found. His mom claims that she met him in the 90s and got photos of him in the 2000s, but most people here don’t think that happened. It’s a sad case for a lot of people in my dad’s generation, that something like that could happen here and a boy could go missing without a trace. I hope he’s found, if nothing else but to give his parents peace.
#18
Vancouver BC - Cindy James. A woman who reported ~90 instances of stalking, harassment, and attacks over a 7 year period from 1982-1989. She went missing in 1989 and was later found dead in the yard of an abandoned house hogtied in the fetal position with nylons around her neck. Cindy had several d***s in her system and a huge dose of morphine that was suspected to be intravenously administered (though no needle was found near her body).
I’m not even sure what popular opinion is on this case and I go back and forth between it being self inflicted and the result of a third party. Ultimately I think it was someone else, and that she likely knew who.
Nils Skirnir 7 hours ago (edited)
Tough to hogtie oneself in a fetal position and then strangle oneself to death
#19
Germany - the YOGTZE case.
It is an unsolved m****r case where the victim wrote down a "word" with unknown meaning.
Also the unsolved disappearance of Lars Mittank (although it happened in Bulgaria).
#20
They found a severed hand in the dog park across the street from my old house. Never found out who it belonged to or where it came from. Not exactly the best safest town, there’s a good deal of d***s and crime, but the neighborhood was still outta place for that kinda thing, just a small cul de sac with old people and kids so it was pretty wild.
#21
The r*pe and murder of Rachel Hurley in Jupiter Florida, USA in 1990. It happened in the middle of the day, walking from one part of the beach to another to meet her mom. No eye witnesses or anything. She was only 14 years old.
ETA: it happened on St. Patrick's Day, a generally busy day at Jupiter Beach/Carlin Park. I've been there literally hundreds of times and it's shocking how close other people had to have been. It's also a relatively open area. While there are trees and other foliage on the path she took, it's not dense at all.
#22
North Carolina - Asha Degree. I grew up in a neighboring county and have always wondered what happened to her.
#23
Where I come from in Central Scotland has low crime and the inhabitants generally have their feet on the ground so there is a lack of mystery ... with one striking exception: Roughcastle Brickworks m****r (1949)
This is a fantastically obscure case.
#25
Maryland, USA Sister Catherine Cesnik, Netflix docuseries, The Keepers is about her unsolved m****r.
#27
Omaha, NE: Jason Jolkowsi disappearance. In June 2001, the 19 year old man was walking 6 or 7 blocks from his home in a middle class, semi urban residential neighborhood to a nearby high school to meet a coworker for a ride to their job. He was last seen by his younger brother and a neighbor bringing trash cans back up from the curb up to his family's garage then walking west toward the high school. Sometime during the short 10 to 15 minute walk on a bright summer day around lunchtime, Jason vanished. Neighbors and people living in the area saw and heard nothing unusual, and no trace evidence (keys, wallet, discarded clothing, etc) has ever been found. I get it that kidnappings/disappearances can happen in the matter of seconds, but it's still so crazy that a young, 6'2" man could vanish while walking in the middle of a semi-busy neighborhood. This is a neighborhood not far from major thoroughfares in the city of Omaha (those familiar with Omaha know what I'm talking about: Fontenelle Blvd, Saddle Creek Road/Northwest Radial Highway, Maple Street, 52nd Street etc.) and even within the neighborhood there is regular foot and car traffic. This wasn't some isolated rural area out in the boonies at night with nobody else around.
It's quite baffling, also considering there were no other disappearances reported in the area before and since. It's literally like he was there 1 second and gone the next. Also frustrating because when Jason's parents called Omaha PD that afternoon, they were brushed off with the "Oh he probably ran away" trope and OPD didn't start a serious investigation until almost a week later.
#28
Phoenix AZ area. Mikelle Biggs. It has always bugged me because she was my age and the short amount of time she disappeared was just scary.
#29
I’m from Maryland. The m****r of Kanika Powell (in August 2008) is both baffling and terrifying.
#30
Chelsea Small’s murder in 2013. She was a single mom who was gunned down while working at a check cashing place. The suspect is on video but the police don’t think he has a previous connection to her.
#31
Jefferson Davis parish, Louisiana.
Jeff Davis 8, 8 girls k**led by a serial k**ler right? Well…all the girls knew each other, all were in p**********n and d***s, all witnessed a cop k**l a d**g d****r in a d**g den.
After that it just gets even weirder, from dirty cops, to a local criminal, to a politician who was supposedly running a d**g and p**********n ring and had national ambitions for congress.
Watch m****r on the bayou or read the book. This story is crazy and unsolved.
#32
Oh my god this:
I didn't know them or anyone who knows them personally but I heard about this and it's bothered me.
Basically, two twins, one died of unknown causes and the other outed herself, probably when she found her sister dead. They were incredibly close. Even though they seemed to have friends and did activities outside the house regularly, people who knew them said it was only really on a surface level. No one really knew anything about their childhood or anything else personal. Only family was someone a bit distant (neither married or had kids.) Their house was designed for a lot of privacy from the street. Someone who worked with them (a dr, I think, also per a different article) said he always thought if one of them died, the other would take herself out, which is what happened.
So it's not just mysterious that the one twin's death was unknown causes, but their whole lives were very secretive. Just another case of twins who kept almost entirely to themselves. I've checked periodically over the years for any update or anything new on them. It's been mostly crickets. .
Agfox 6 hours ago
This refers to 58yo Valerie and Diane Blackler, who were found dead in their house in Naples, Longbeach on 1st February 2017, though it was estimated they'd been dead for approx 2 weeks. The coroner’s report ruled Diane’s death a suicide. No cause of death was found for Valerie. Toxicology reports for both women came back negative for d***s. Alcohol — 0.08 gram percent in a sample from Valerie’s heart and 0.05 gram percent from Diane’s liver — was found. No trauma was noted in Valerie’s examination notes. Trauma found on Diane’s body was found to be consistent with suicide hanging. Both bodies were decomposed when found. Despite both sisters working as nurses, they were described by neighbours as reclusive & inseparable https://www.presstelegram.com/2014/04/17/coroners-reports-released-on-blackler-twins-found-dead-in-naples-in-february/
#33
North-East France : "Le petit Gregory".
A little boy found dead in a stream near his parents' home, where he was playing under their supervision. Hands and feet tied, and a hood on the head
A mysterious raven who sends anonymous letters before and after the incident to taunt parents.
After 37 years of investigation, we still haven't found the culprit. Part of the family was suspected, the father k**led an alleged culprit..
#34
Couple off top of my head:
-Disappearance of Catherine Sjoberg outside of Oconomowoc, WI in 1974. Vanished from a party at the Concord House and place notable due to another double murder that happened there 6 years later which has been solved. I've been in that general area for work, strangely unsettling feeling when I'm there.
-Karl Lotharius in Milwaukee, 1981. Murdered with a crossbow. 2 prime suspects, 1 of whom was an ex lover with crossbow experience but as Karl lay dying he identified the other suspect. The ex lover k**led himself months later, other suspect vehemently denies involvement.
#35
Rex McElroy murdered on the street of Skidmore Missouri in the 1980s. He terrorized the town for years, with rape, arson, attempted murder. They finally had enough and one morning shot him dead in his brand new truck with his wife seated next to him. No one ever confessed and no one was convicted.
DaisyBee 4 minutes ago (edited)
This case is one where you truly understand why it happened. Rex was a true menace and tormented the town. His 2nd “wife” (see: victim) was 12 when they met (he was 35). He raped her repeatedly, and when her parents tried to stop him from marrying her, he burned down their house and killed the family’s dog. After his “wife” gave birth at 14, she and his first wife fled from him with the baby and returned to her parents’ house. He then returned, burned the house down again and shot the new family dog - taking both the “wives” back by force. When he was finally being held accountable for these crimes, his 2nd “wife” and child were taken into foster care. He would sit outside the foster family’s house for hours and threatened to take their biological daughter as a “trade” unless they gave him back his “wife” and child. And this is only one set of his crimes. The town took the trash out.
#37
British Columbia -- the disappearance of the Jack family, 1989. This case is unusual even in a province that has a lot of missing persons cases, compared with the rest of the country. (A lot of sparsely-populated terrain that's difficult to search due to rugged topography, dense forests, and coastlines/lakes is a major factor.) Multiple people disappearing at the same time is much less common than individuals going missing -- an entire family, including the kids, is very strange. I don't think there's another case like it in Canada. The circumstances suggest they didn't go out camping/boating and have an accident -- the fact that other people, who have not been identified, were involved is rather ominous.
#40
This is from just down the road from where I live. I believe law enforcement has an idea of who did it, but doesn't have the evidence for arrest.
#42
Lauren Speirer from Indiana.
What do you think ?
John O'Donnell 2 hours ago
I’m from London, so we have Jack The Ripper, you may have heard of him. The less famous one is The Thames Nude Killer, responsible for six victims in West London in the early 1960s. Where one of the victims was found I could see from my bedroom window in my old house.
Sapna Sarfare 4 hours ago
India: The Stoneman Serial Killer: It started in Mumbai in 1985 with the killing of poor and homeless sleeping on the pavements at night. The killer bludgeoned their heads with stone. It happened mostly in the Sion and King's Circle areas of Mumbai. Only one person survived but he could not see the person due to lack of lighting in that part. The killing went on for almost two years and then mysteriously stopped. No one could find the real stoneman serial killer. Then in 1989, a series of similar killings happened in Kolkata (then Calcutta). The modus operandi was similar but they could not confirm if it was the same man. The victims were homeless or poor people who slept on the pavements in one part of the city. Even here, they could not really define the killer. The case remains one of the most haunting episodes of crime in India. The Stoneman Serial Killer is yet to be identified.
John O'Donnell 2 hours ago
I’m from London, so we have Jack The Ripper, you may have heard of him. The less famous one is The Thames Nude Killer, responsible for six victims in West London in the early 1960s. Where one of the victims was found I could see from my bedroom window in my old house.
Sapna Sarfare 4 hours ago
India: The Stoneman Serial Killer: It started in Mumbai in 1985 with the killing of poor and homeless sleeping on the pavements at night. The killer bludgeoned their heads with stone. It happened mostly in the Sion and King's Circle areas of Mumbai. Only one person survived but he could not see the person due to lack of lighting in that part. The killing went on for almost two years and then mysteriously stopped. No one could find the real stoneman serial killer. Then in 1989, a series of similar killings happened in Kolkata (then Calcutta). The modus operandi was similar but they could not confirm if it was the same man. The victims were homeless or poor people who slept on the pavements in one part of the city. Even here, they could not really define the killer. The case remains one of the most haunting episodes of crime in India. The Stoneman Serial Killer is yet to be identified.
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