Some crimes stay a mystery no matter how hard people try to solve them. Who was Jack the Ripper? What happened to Amelia Earhart? Who killed JonBenét Ramsey? Where did D.B. Cooper disappear to? People have been asking some of these questions for years—and while there are a lot of theories, so far, there’s been no luck in solving them. Are certain crimes impossible to solve, or are people not looking in the right places? Are the answers out there for these cold cases?
These stories explore unsolved crimes old and new. Is there evidence lost to history? Are there people out there keeping secrets? Are some people just really good at hiding? These stories feed into innate human curiosity. There’s something unsettling about not having all the answers and it’s only natural to try and find them. Some questions have become impossible to answer, but the stories are fascinating nonetheless.
If you’re as fascinated (and disturbed) by unsolved true crime cases as we are, start with these stories:
And when you’re done with those, peruse the stories below.
As if the episodes about mysterious deaths and serial killers on the run weren’t terrifying enough...
These eerie enigmas continue to mystify.
Michelle McNamara’s obsessive search for the man who terrorized California during the 1970s and ‘80s is chronicled in her book, I’ll Be Gone in the Dark.
Pauline Picard’s family thought their missing daughter had come back home—then a body was discovered.
It was a murder scene that could appall the most hardened homicide detective...
By Robert Walsh
Prepare to get the chills all over again.
The crime was considered too brutal and gruesome to be reported on daytime TV...
By Orrin Grey
These eerie demises were far from glamorous.
At least 45 deaths of young men are attributed to the Smiley Face Killer, but most police departments say he doesn’t exist.
On a cold January morning, John Hoskins slaughtered three members of his family.
Barbara Forrest and Mary Ashford lived in different centuries, but they died in chillingly similar ways.
We know the details of their deaths, but we don’t know their names—or the names of their killers.
These mysteries will make you believe in the impossible.
He checked in as Roland T. Owen. It wasn’t his real name, and that was just the beginning of the mystery.
The mysterious death of Norway's Isdal Woman continues to transfix investigators across the globe.
These chilling unsolved mysteries will give you the creeps.
By Abbey White
Despite a conviction, the young girl's murder remains a mystery.
What happened to Maura on that cold night in New Hampshire?