Now that law enforcement is legally allowed to search these genetic databases to potentially catch criminalsit looks like even more justice is on the horizon. Find out the strangest unsolved mystery in your state. On December 19, 1959, the four members of the Walker family were brutally murdered in their Osprey, Florida, home. Though in most instances, the breakthroughs were overshadowed by bigger news stories the Olympics, a new American president, an ongoing pandemic but an impressive number of cold cases were solved in 2021 (including, possibly but not definitively, the Zodiac Killer ). Two separate eyewitness accounts revealed they had seen Asha walking along Highway 18 (in the opposite direction of her home) and when they turned around to check on her; she had already disappeared into the woods. Now, using the same method that helped capture the Golden State Killer; familial DNA might also help identify the Zodiac Killer. On November 3, 2021, 18 days after she went missing, Cleo was found by alive and well by police inside a locked house near her family home in Carnarvon. The first time Zodiac struck on December 20, 1968 (shooting and killing two teens parked on a lovers lane), police approached the investigation as a standard homicide casepopulating their suspect list with people whom the victims knew and working the if teens are involved, then drugs must be involved angle. Cooper has never been identified. Still another theory is the killer was Viktorias husband, who, according to the theory, wasnt dead at all but living elsewhere under an assumed name, conveniently, since no one ever suspects a dead man of murder. An hour and a half into dinner, her mother, Kate McCann, went to check on the children and discovered Maddie was gone. On September 23, 1992, Dail Dinwiddie vanished into the night as she was walking along Harden Street in Columbia, SC. They believe Johnny Blake Peterson is the person who killed her. Jamie founded Listverse due to an insatiable desire to share fascinating, obscure, and bizarre facts. Beard, 32, at the time was mentally disabled and had not been heard from by family or friends in several days. OnJanuary 7, 1978, 21-year-old college student Deana Bowdoin was found murdered in her Tempe, Arizona, apartment. The good news is all of these unsolved mysteries actually stand a chance of being solved in the next decade. As such, Belles death remains unsolved. Missy died shortly after paramedics arrived and immediately a murder investigation was launched. Over the next two years, Zodiac claimed responsibility for 37 lives, although law enforcement was only aware of five, and none after 1969. The Somerton Man, as he became known, carried no identification, and all the labels on his clothing had been systematically removed. He is now buried at Ivy Hill Cemetery in Cedarbrook, Philadelphia. New Moai statue found on Easter Island in evaporating lake A new discovery has been made on Easter Island, famous for its massive stone statues carved many centuries ago. Below are 10 cold cases to have seen breaks in 2020. ", killed his mother, wife, and three children. There was a belt around her neck and stab wounds on her chest. The Black Dahlia is one of 14 crimes that are likely to remain cold forever. Founder of Crime Viral community since 2015. In 2008, Boulder County District Attorney Mary Lacy cleared the family of any wrongdoing after examining DNA evidence. Of course, that doesnt stop us from speculating as to who he might have been. In 1955, the man picked up, Robert Peterson, John Schuessler,and Anton Schuessler Jr. when they were hitchhiking after a day of movies and bowling. Since such unsupervised travel was the norm of the day, Nancy had no reason to think her children were in any danger. "It closes it," John Rotunno, one of the special agents who helped convict Hansen, told The Chicago Tribune. Do True Crime Stories & Citizen Sleuths Produce Crowdsourced Justice? Their marriage was difficult. Mike Aamodt, Serial Killer Statistics, Radford, VA: Radford . Her skull had been broken and a garrote was used to strangle her to death. "I just hung up with [special agent] Jimmy Grady. A court of appeals reinstated the murder charge, and this time she decided to plea, according to the Houston Chronicle. Police assumed that two robbers had broken in and murdered her and the case went cold, according to ABC, but 27 years later, they figured out the real story. Shaffer was then separated from his friends and they assumed he had gonehe was never seen or heard from again. After the demands of the man, who was traveling under the alias Dan Cooper, and has been known ever since as D.B. McCullough had been one of about 100 potential suspects, but seemed to have a rock-solid alibi at the time of the murder. If things had gone on who knows if that would be the case," he wrote. Fifty-three years later, his case remains unsolved. He died in 2007. In 2020, there was a new suspect in the case identified as a German sex offender named Christian Brueckner. Six months after Tupacs eventual murder, Biggie, 24, was also gunned down in Los Angeles. The killer shot his entire family in 1971 and left a confession note for his pastor, according to ABC. The good news is all of these 12 unsolved mysteries actually stand a chance of being solved in the next decade. Over the decades, more than 200 people have come forward with potential leads in the case but none proved very useful. On September 29, 1982, seven people around the Chicago area died after taking Extra Strength Tylenol capsules tainted with cyanide. 3. The 1947 murder of a 22-year-old Hollywood hopeful in Los Angeles has never been solved. I'm glad he's dead.". It was DNA evidence that led to a conviction in the 1998 murder case of 10-year-old Anna Palmer who was attacked and killed outside of her own front door in Salt Lake City, according to KSL.com. Other tipsters also said they witnessed Asha getting into a green 1970s model Ford Thunderbird or Lincoln Mark IV on the night she disappeared. Between 1968 and 1969, a serial killer only known as "The Zodiac Killer" killed five people in the San Francisco area. Tragically, their bodies were discovered at Monon High Bridge the following day. Holmes and his murder castle, and the 1934 murder of notorious gangster John Dillinger, among many other famous murders in Illinois which remain unsolved, including the 1956 murders of the Grimes sisters. A piece of chewing gum led to the capture of, Bell was found guilty of manslaughter and sent to jail for 12 years. The twist in this whole puzzling case is that an attorney for Florence believes Shaffer is still alive. Her parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, told the BBC they will do whatever it takes, for as long as it takes to find their daughter. The Crime: Over 17 years, Rader brutally murdered at least 10 people in Kansas. Mary attracted a slew of admirers, who knew her as the Beautiful Cigar Girl, from her job working in a downtown cigar emporium. "I just hung up with [special agent] Jimmy Grady. Dunns sister, Jessie Jackson, contends that he has become a changed man in all of those years, turning away from drug addiction, addressing his struggles with mental illness, and accepting Christ. We are no longer supporting IE (Internet Explorer), 13 biggest mysteries surrounding the royal family, 15 other crimes that have frustrated investigators, five members of the Gruber family, along with their maid, were murdered, 13 unsolved mysteries are easily explained by science, 14 crimes that are likely to remain cold forever. Sam, who was distrusted and reviled by the general public, spent ten years in prison before the U.S. Supreme Court found excessive publicity had deprived him of a fair trial. 1. Nearly half a million Information Wanted flyers were sent out to homes in the Philadelphia area and beyond. The unsolved cold case bothered a detective from the Los Angeles Police Department. Five-year-old Geoffrey Lyman Brown and 7-year-old Leslie Michelle Brown were found murdered on March 12, 1975, at 4:45 p.m. Each had been shot twice in the head while lying on a coat in a small clearing in McIver Park, near the City of Estacada. He has been described as wearing blue jeans, a blue jacket or coat, and a hooded sweater. Sams determination inspired the television show, The Fugitive, as well as the film of the same name. In the late 70s, the Golden State Killer launched a reign of terror that terrified residents in California. The whole tragic tale might have faded from history, except that author Edgar Allen Poe, who had become obsessed with the case, memorialized it in The Mystery of Marie Rogt. On the morning of January 15, 1947, a mother taking her child for a walk in a Los Angeles . Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. Screams were heard about 11 p.m. on May 21, 2005, reported 10-News, but it was not until the following afternoon that her body was found under a deck behind the house. A double homicide of two teens in Montana has been solved after more than 60 years thanks to forensic genealogy. In Persian, this means Finished or Ended and these are the last words of a collection of Persian poems known as The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. It enabled police and the FBI to submit the DNA left on Wilkowitz's body to consumer DNA databases that include countless people outside the criminal justice system. But thats not the only case that went cold that day. The cause of death was multiple blows to the head, and it appeared the boy had been given a fresh haircut either immediately before or after his death. On December 25th, 1996, 6-year-old pageant queen JonBent Ramsey was murdered at her family home in Boulder, Colorado. Despite all suspicions, Josh was never charged in his wifes disappearance due to a lack of physical evidence. Another puzzling clue is that authorities also found in The Somerton Mans trousers a piece of paper with the printed words: TAMAN SHUD. More than 260, to be specific. 13 True Crime Cases That Were Solved In 2022 For years, these cases have been cold until 2022, when advancements in DNA technology helped bring closure to the victims' family and friends. Although Dunn plead guilty in 1971, there wasnt enough evidence to convict him at the time and he was released. Police said Todd Barket murdered Sondra Better in 1998 at a consignment. But before a solid case against Belle could be put together, Belles farmhouse burned to the ground on April 28, 1908, and Belles remains were thought to be found inside by investigators. It belonged to a 51-year-old man named Edwin Hiatt. That was until 2018 when Joseph James DeAngelo was arrested and identified as the serial killer. Top 10 Scariest Unsolved Cold Cases WatchMojo.com 109K views 1 year ago Top 10 Most Shocking Religious Scandals WatchMojo.com 6.9M views 6 years ago Mix - Top 10 Cold Cases That Were Finally. The following day, she was reported missing by her parentsPatsy and John Ramsey. Ohio State medical student 27-year-old Brian Shaffer has been missing since April 1st, 2006. The lead investigators on the case suspected the killer was left-handed. Discover more about the Unabomber and other notorious criminals from each state. I am not afraid of the gas chamber because it will send me to paradice (sic) all the sooner because I now have enough slaves to work for me.. In July 2000, in a small town in Kentucky, Jessica Currin was the victim of a sexual assault, beating, and murder. So he had the evidence retested in 2006, but to no avail. Though it took investigators years tomake headway in the Golden State Killer case, it isn't the only one that evaded authorities for years. Unfortunately, their bodies yielded so few clues, investigators werent even able to settle on time or cause of death. There was no sign of forced entry and no scent for search dogs to follow. As The Huffington Post reports, Sheriff Todd Bonner just couldnt let the case go. He nicknamed himself "BTK" in keeping with his method of binding, torturing and killing his victims. The FBI worked the case for 45 years, but the man known as D.B. Despite that the FBI surmises Cooper likely didnt survive the parachute jump and that all the favorite suspects (including Richard Floyd McCoy and Robert Rackstraw) are now dead, amateur sleuths continue to probe. It was not forensic evidence, but the July 2013 testimony of a former friend, Eric Freeman, who said he saw Tibbs strangle Rison and then assisted him in disposing of her body in the pond.