15 Unsolved True Crime Cases that Haunt Our Readers

Sometime between the night of January 14th and the early morning hours of the 15th in 1947, 22-year-old Elizabeth short was murdered. Her body was cut in half, her mouth sliced through from cheek to cheek, and her corpse was further mutilated and posed. She'd been missing for nearly a week prior to her death, and while dozens came forward to confess following the media frenzy, no one has ever been charged. READ MORE

On February 25th, 1957, the body of a young boy was found inside of a cardboard box in the woods of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The boy had been dead for either a couple of days or a couple of weeks, given the chilly weather, and was estimated to be around four to six years old. Malnourished and covered in bruises and scars, the boy died from repeated trauma to the head. His death remained a mystery for decades, though new forensic evidence recently identified him as Joseph Augustus Zarelli. Discovering his identify was a huge break in the case, but the gruesome murder of this four-year-old is far from solved.

April 1st, 2006, Brian Shaffer and his friend William “Clint” Florence were celebrating the start of their college's spring break. They were ending their big night at a place called the Ugly Tuna Saloona, but at some point Brian got separated from his friends. Security footage shows Brian talking to two women outside of the bar shortly before it closed at 2 a.m. before returning inside, where there were no other exits. He was never seen again, dead or alive. READ MORE

When 29-year-old Russell Keith Dardeen didn't show up for his job at the water treatment plant on November 18th, 1987, the police of Ina, Illinois went to his home to stumble upon a brutal discovery. His wife, Elaine, and their three-year-old son, Peter, had been beaten to death with a baseball bat. At the time of the attack Elaine had been pregnant with a second child and went into labor. The killer beat the newborn to death as well. While it was initially thought Keith was responsible for these atrocities, his body was found the next day, mutilated and shot three times. READ MORE

On January 27th, 1959, a group of nine college students set out to hike through the Ural Mountains in Russia. By February 2,  all of them died under mysterious circumstances. Their tent was split open from the inside and they seemed to flee through the snow barefoot. Some were found partially clothed, while others were exposed to high levels of radiation. All of the deaths were traumatic—one victim had a fractured skull, another broken ribs, and another was missing her tongue. There is no confirmed answer on what could have caused such strange behavior and circumstances, but there are plenty of theories. READ MORE

Elisa Lam was staying at Los Angeles's Cecil Hotel when she disappeared on February 1st, 2013. Security footage from the hotel elevator would later show the 21-year-old exhibiting bizarre behavior. The eerie video went viral, but it didn't bring any answers as why her body was found on February 19th floating in one of the hotel's rooftop water tanks. There was no way for anyone but hotel staff to access the roof, it's incredibly difficult to open the hatch, and the water was too low for an able-bodied adult to have drowned. READ MORE

Perhaps one of the most well-known unsolved cases in America, Jonbenet Ramsey was a six-year-old beauty queen who was murdered on Christmas Day in 1996. She was reported missing but found dead in her own family's basement. Her skull had been broken and a garrote was used to strangle her to death. There are plenty of theories flying around about this controversial case, but none have brought justice or closure. READ MORE

While her family was on vacation in Portugal in June of 2007, three-year-old Madeleine McCann seemingly vanished into thin air. While her parents dined with friends at a nearby restaurant, Madeleine and her younger twin siblings were left alone in the apartment they were staying in. The parents took turns checking in on the kids, but at ten o'clock, their mother allegedly discovered Madeleine was missing. Some believe Madeleine's parents covered up her death, while others speculate she could have escaped and had an accident or otherwise become a victim of a child trafficking ring. READ MORE

On the afternoon of February 9th, 2004, Maura Murray left her dorm at the University of Massachusetts Amherst to drive north to an unspecified destination. The last time Maura was seen was when a New Hampshire local caught sight of her and her wrecked vehicle along Route 112. By the time the police arrived at the scene, there was no sign of Maura. And her behavior in the days leading up to her disappearance was beyond peculiar. READ MORE

How could five children vanish without a trace on Christmas Eve? The investigation into the 1945 Fayetteville, West Virginia disappearance of Maurice, Martha, Louis, Jennie, and Betty Sodder never found an answer. The official story is that the kids, ages five to 14, burned to death in a fire that consumed the home. But a series of unusual circumstances led the parents and the surviving children to believe the kids were kidnapped as retribution against the family. READ MORE

On June 6th, 1992, Suzie Streeter and Stacy McCall had just graduated high school. They spent the evening hopping from party to party, finally leaving their last party at around 2:15 AM. Together the girls went to Suzie's house to sleep. It can be assumed that the girls made it to their destination, as their belongings were later found in the home. But Suzie, Stacy, and Suzie's mother, Sherrill Levitt, had vanished without a trace by the time someone came looking for them in the morning light. READ MORE

On June 10th, 1912, the friendly Iowa town of Villisca was the site of a gruesome mass murder. Uneasy about the stillness of her neighbor's home, Mary Peckham called on a relative of the Moore's to check on them. When Ross Moore arrived with a spare key, he found the slain bodies of eight people. Josiah Moore, his wife Sarah, and all four of their children had been butchered, along with two family friends who had slept over. All of them were bludgeoned to death in their beds with an axe. READ MORE

Second-graders Steve Branch, Christopher Byers, and Michael Moore left for a bike ride on May 5th, 1993. They never made it back home. Their bodies were later discovered naked, hogtied, and beaten to death. After the authorities of Arkansas invested for a month with no success, pressure from the community turned their attention to three local teens. Target for their interest in heavy metal and the occult, Jason Baldwin, Jessie Misskelley, and Damien Echols were convicted based entirely on circumstantial evidence. After years of forensic investigating and rallying from lawyers and celebrities, the men were eventually released from prison. But thoughts on who really perpetrated the crime remain divided. READ MORE

December 6th, 1991, firefighters in Austin, Texas arrived to the smoky scene of a yogurt shop gone up in flames. As the responders stepped into the blaze, they made a horrifying discovery: the bodies of four teenage girls. Amy Ayers, Jennifer Harbison, Sarah Harbison, and Eliza Thomas had been raped before they were shot in the head with a .22-caliber handgun, their bodies left to burn away with the evidence. Although two teens were convicted for the murders, the convictions were eventually overturned due to clear coercion from the police department. READ MORE

On September 27th, 1969, Cecelia Shepard and Bryan Hartnell were stabbed and held at gunpoint by a man in a mask. Hartnell managed to survive, becoming one of the few witnesses to have encountered the Zodiac Killer and lived to tell the tale.  But this couple were not the killer's first victims, and they would not be the last. The killer sent cryptic letters and threats to the police, and though many people believe they have cracked the code, there is no official closure for this case. READ MORE