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One thing the Nancy Guthrie case has shown us is that for every qualified investigator diligently following leads, there at least two more armchair detectives trying to solve a crime from the comfort of their homes.
It's been more than 70 days since the mother of Today Show host Savannah Guthrie mysteriously vanished from her Tucson, Arizona home. Since day one, ordinary people around the world have been coming up with their own elaborate theories on who could be responsible, and why.
While the Guthrie case is unique in many ways, it's just one of hundreds of thousands that have remained unsolved long after the deed was done. Someone asked, "What's the one whodunnit mystery that hasn't been solved yet?" and the list read like a must-watch true crime catalogue. From Madeleine McCann, JonBenét Ramsey and of course, Nancy Guthrie, to much older cases like Jack the Ripper, people shared the mysteries that haunt them to this day.
Bored Panda has put together a list of the top answers for you to scroll through while you search for your dusty Cluedo boardgame. We also take a look at when and why a case would be classified as "cold," and what happens once it is. You'll find that info between the images.
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#1
The disappearance of Lilly and Jack Sullivan, a 6 and 4 year old who went missing from their home in Nova Scotia almost a year ago. People searched for weeks, dogs got no scents, no one has any real leads. Two small children just went missing into the woods? This case is full of weirdness.
StrangeOne 1 hour ago
The stepdad is undergoing charges on SA, a*****t and forcible confinement of an adult. It's considered unrelated to the kid's disappearance. I'm leaning towards the stepdad did something to the kids and disposed of their bodies somewhere in the woods and wild animals may have gotten to them.
It's estimated that there are more than 270,000 unsolved homicide cases in the United States alone. There are also more than 500,000 people missing in the country, some of them suspected to have been kidnapped or abducted. Sadly, not all of these cases will be solved, leaving families without much needed-closure.
The Federal Bureau Of Investigation's Kidnappings/Missing Persons page paints a devastating picture. It's a wall of faces, young and old, of people who seemingly vanished and were never found. Some date back decades.
I decided to click on the first photograph on the page. It shows a pretty little girl by the name of Rosa Marie Camacho...
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#2
We will probably never know who actually let the dogs out. 26 years later and the detective trio The Baha Men are no closer to solving the mystery, despite there being numerous witnesses and a mountain of evidence. I just hope the victims have found some peace.
#3
That’s gotta be the Zodiac Killer - killed multiple people in the ’60s and ’70s, sent those creepy cipher letters, and nobody’s ever figured out who he really was. Absolute mystery.
According to the FBI, Rosa was born on the 7th of June 1993. She was just four years old at the time of her disappearance in 1997. She spoke mostly Spanish, and was last seen wearing a black jacket and blue pants. The little girl left a grocery store in Hartford, Connecticut with her mom, in October that year. She was never seen again.
"The body of Rosa's mother was later found in a lake in New Jersey, in November of 1997, but Rosa remains missing," reveals the FBI's site.
#4
West Memphis 3 - boys didn't do it, and police refused to investigate further. My money is on the stepdad.
#5
The black dahlia case still haunts me.. like how does someone do that to another human and just get away with it??
#6
Dupont de Ligonnès murders and disappearance
That French family with four childeren burried in their garden and the father “disappeared”, also known as the Nantes m******e. Very disturbing.
#7
A 16yo girl, Gordana Kotevski, was kidnapped in 1994 in my town. Her disappearance is still a mystery to this day. The family has had no closure.
This one sticks with me particularly because not only is it in my own city, but the area she was walking was very close to where I lived as a student only years prior and walked along, myself, many times. It's very sad.
To the best of my knowledge while the police coroner has stated she is most likely deceased due to foul play there is simply no evidence one way or the other. It's hard to believe today how someone could disappear without a trace but this was outside the days of ubiquitious Internet, smartphones, CCTV or dashcams everywhere, etc. - just nothing. I feel so sad for the family, let alone Gordana herself, of course. It's a lingering mystery here to this day.
#8
The Gardner Museum heist! The Isabella Stewart Gardner museum was a specially curated selection of art by Isabella. Her will had her house turned into a museum.
In 1990, someone broke in and cut out 13 pieces if art out of their frames. The museum has chosen to leaves the empty frames up. It is creepy, but fitting.
That’s all I yam 6 hours ago
A fun aside: Anyone with the first name Isabella receives free admission for life (All Named Isabella, Gardner Museum)
#9
Daniel Morgan - private detective investigating police corruption, found dead in pub car park with axe in head.
Longest running public enquiry in UK I believe.
#10
I live in Northern Ireland. In 2020 a 14 year old called Noah Donahoe went missing and was found a week later dead in a storm drain on the other side of Belfast from where he lived. There’s no evidence of foul play but it’s a truly bizarre case and you wonder if his mum will ever get closure.
turk 4 hours ago
Very strange case. He basically left his Belfast home with a number of items and a backpack, but slowly discarded them as he rode his bicycle, wrecked once, then was riding naked and ditched his bike. Lots of CCTV of his last day. He was found days later 625 meters inside a storm drain tunnel, in a location that could only be reached by crawling on all fours. And it filled up in high tide. Cause of d***h was almost certainly drowning. I can only guess maybe he had a head injury from the crash. But oddly, he was obsessed with the writings of Jordan Peterson. And that would mess anyone up.
#11
The m****r of Isidore Fink in 1929. He was found m******d in a room that was bolted on the inside, and the windows were locked shut. A neighbor heard sounds of a scuffle and calked the police, who were unable to get into the room. They found a small boy and lifted him through the transom over the door and he unbolted it.
Inside, they found Fink's body- he had been shot twice in the chest and once on his left wrist at close range. No money was missing and no m****r weapon was found.
#13
The JFK assassination. Yes, I know, it's the classic "conspiracy theory", but the fact is that even some of the key members of the Warren Commission weren't happy with the robustness of their conclusions.
I can't provide an exhaustive list, but as example:
- the hole in the rear of JFK's head was measured by Dr. Pierre Finck, the only ballistics expert who ever examined JFK's physical remains, as being slightly SMALLER than the calibre of bullet Oswald was supposed to have fired
- in Texas in the 1960's Oswald could have bought a better and cheaper gun than the Mannlicher-Carcano from a car boot sale, or from the classified section of a newspaper, rather than buying it from a company that would have a record of his shipping address
- Wesley Buell Frazier said Oswald told him on the drive to work that day that his long package contained "curtain rods". Frazier remembered how Oswald walked into work with one end of the package cupped in his hand and the other tucked into his armpit. That would have been physically impossible for Oswald to achieve with a Mannlicher-Carcano, even one that had been broken down.
- the Zapruder footage strongly suggests at LEAST four shots, something that would have been impossible for Oswald to achieve. Jackie Kennedy said that she didn't see the moment when JFK was first shot - he was already wounded by the time she looked at him, and it was his reaction to his wounds that caused her to turn to him. Well, in the Zapruder film we see JFK and a person on the crowd perceive the sound of the first bullet - we see JFK stop waving and look at his wife, who is looking away to her left, and we see a little girl in the crowd stop running and turn to look at the Depository. Then JUST as the car is masked by the Stemmons Freeway sign we see a shift in JFK's posture, and when the car emerges from the Stemmons Freeway sign Jackie is now looking at JFK. Given that what made her look at JFK at all was him reacting to a wound, then that is bullet number two. Connally then reacts to a bullet that might also have hit JFK - I'm fine with the idea that a bullet could hit both men, so we'll call that bullet three. Then a bullet hits JFK in the head; that's bullet four. That's at LEAST four shots, not three. And remember, Paul Landis, the Secret Service agent, said he found a bullet behind JFK, laying on the rear seat.
- the response of the Secret Service was suspiciously abysmal, with the driver William Greer slowing the car almost to a stop and looking behind him **repeatedly** before only accelerating the car once the headshot had been delivered. For his part, Roy Kellermann, the senior agent in the car, is seen to react as if he knew shots were incoming, but did not take any action to protect JFK, not even to order the car to accelerate. Agent John Ready, assigned to protect JFK, SAYS that he left the running board of the follow-up car but was recalled by the agent in charge, Emory Roberts. The agent who actually ended up sprinting forwards and jumping onto the back of JFK's limousine, Clint Hill, had been assigned to protect Jackie Kennedy that day, meaning that ALL of the agents most directly concerned with JFK's protection were either unresponsive until after the headshot, or claimed to be very easily deterred from protecting JFK even after it was obvious that bullets were flying.
- Clint Hill records seeing the back of JFK's head having been blown off, and so much brain matter missing that it looked like it was all gone. Doctors and nurses at Parkland Hospital consistently described the REAR of JFK's head being blasted open, with an exit portal "about the size of a saucer", with the "cerebellum exposed" (a characteristic part of the brain at the rear of the head, not the side or front). And although the two cars were nearly at a dead stop at the moment of the head-shot, and although any shot from the rear would have projected most of the energy of resulting human debris forwards, the window and bonnet of the follow-up car were spattered with tissue, as was the clothing of some of its occupants while Officer Bob Hargiss, one of the two motor-cycle riders to the left-rear of JFK's car, said that he'd been spattered with tissue coming back at him so forcefully that he at first thought he himself had also been shot.
The list goes on. But basically, the more verifiable and demonstrably true key facts you read about the JFK case the more you smell a huge rat.
#14
The Brandon Swanson case is one that I wish they could figure out what happened. So sad. I can’t imagine being on the phone with my kid one second and then never hearing anything again.
#15
The deliberate derailment of the City of San Francisco passenger train near Harney, Nevada in 1939. Someone disconnected one of the rails and moved it sideways, disguised the gap with a tumbleweed, and bridged the gap with a wire so the signals wouldn’t detect the track break. The train hit the gap at 90 mph and plunged into the Humboldt River k*****g 24 people and injuring 121 people.
It took a lot of work to move a railroad track, wire it to not trip a signal, and hide the damage. Despite an award, the sabotage case was never solved.
Kabuki Kitsune 1 hour ago
The book "Tragic Train: The City of San Francisco" by Donald P. Denevi (1977) ends with the statement that the authorities had a pretty good idea who did it but never had the evidence to bring charges. As this person is presumably now deceased maybe someone can elaborate on who the wrecker was and why (s)he did it.
#16
Madeline McCann and JonBenét Ramsey haven’t been *definitively* solved.
There are obvious suspects in both cases - and people will talk as if they 100% know the k**ler - but neither case will probably ever be solved to satisfactory degree.
Lukas (he/him, it/its) 2 hours ago
There is a wonderful deep dive by Redditor u/CliffTruxton into the JonBenet Ramsey case on Reddit that concludes that the most likely subject is the father, who was sexually abusing her and k****d her to prevent being discovered. They went very deep into all possibilities and have multiple very long posts about their theories and what they think happened. Obviously there is no 100% proof, but this account is very compelling and thorough. I recommend it, it's a long read but a good one. I'll link his account and conclusions in a reply!
#18
D.B. Cooper and Jonbenet Ramsey.
Stephanie L Thesing 49 minutes ago
Tbh, I’ve heard about the DB Cooper story since I was in grade school and it’s been run into the ground - just doesn’t seem that interesting anymore..
#19
Jill Dando
5 people have been charged with her m****r (4 of which were Serbian Secret Service) but then had their convictions quashed.
Because of her line of work there are so many different people that had reasons for her to die.
Norfolk and good 3 hours ago
For the non-Brits, Jill Dando was a TV presenter and BBC newsreader in the UK. She was shot d**d on her doorstep in 1999. One of the shows she presented was called Crimewatch, which would show images of unsolved crimes and asked members of the public for information so it's possible that her m****r was connected to something she'd reported on.
#20
Barry and Honey Sherman.
#21
I'm most interested in the Hinterkaifeck murders. One of the most mysterious murders in Germany.
#22
Princes in the Tower, hands down.
Personally, I think they're in the two small coffins found in their father's tomb--who else would it be?--but we may never really know who put them there and how, particularly given the posthumous smear campaign enjoyed by Richard III.
Norfolk and good 2 hours ago
Most historians agree that Richard III is the most likely suspect.
#23
The disappearance of the Beaumont Children and the abduction of Joanne Ratcliffe and Kirsty Gordon from Adelaide oval. I think both cases are linked, and my money is on Arthur Stanley Brown for both of them, but also the Joanne and Kirsty case seems like it could have been a two person/group job, (there was apparently a pretty big, well known paedophile ring operating in Adelaide at the time.) So while a witness did identify the man she saw with the kids as Brown, there certainly is some major compelling evidence against another man named Stanley Arthur Hart, who's own grandson alleges that he was with his grandfather the day the girls were abducted/k****d. .
#24
Hoffa. I mean we know why and the general who but not the exact person and circumstances that happened when they disappeared him.
That’s all I yam 4 hours ago
Everyone knows he was buried under third base of the old Yankee stadium : - )
#25
Malaysian flight mh370.
#26
Rebecca Reusch.
She was 15 when she disappeared in 2019 in Berlin. She slept at her sister's place, was supposed to go to school and just.. never did.
Her sisters husband is the most likely subject, and many people argue that she didn't leave the home alive. Only a handful of people believe that shes still alive, kidnapped or runaway.
The sisters husband went to Poland twice during the disappearance, he was allegedly spotted in a piece of forest near Frankfurt Oder (where he grew up).
The craziest part? Her family believe that he's innocent and didnt have anything to do with it.
Kira Okah 5 hours ago (edited)
The girl's father has said of the Poland thing: "The whole thing is connected to something else, but I'm not allowed to say". This is believed to be connected to dㅤrug trafficking, which the BiL's sister also believes to be true. Several witnesses also have stated that they saw her alive outside after she last used her phone; and her disappearance date also has a connection with her favourite band, BTS, where on group member birthdays the fandom do celebrations tat corroborate some witness statements.
#28
Probably Jack the Ripper.
It’s the classic unsolved whodunnit because you’ve got multiple victims, endless suspects, letters that may or may not be authentic, and more than a century of theories with no definitive proof. Zodiac is up there too, but Jack the Ripper is the one most people mean when they think “famous unsolved mystery.”
If you want the most chilling modern one, I’d say Zodiac. If you want the most iconic ever, Jack the Ripper.
Catie D 7 hours ago (edited)
The single most remarkable aspect of that case is that there has likely never been a more intensive manhunt concentrated in such a small area and yet the m******r was never found. That's why I think there could be something to the theory that he was either a high ranking police officer or a member of the aristocracy. In both cases the group would have closed ranks and protected their own. The sheer number of both police and citizen vigilante groups searching for the killer was unbelievable. I think there had to be a reason why he was not found and this is one of the very few that makes sense.
#30
For me, it has to be the Zodiac Killer. Decades later, with all the technology we have, parts of the case are still a mystery. The letters, the ciphers, the random pattern of attacks—it feels like we’re missing one key piece that would make everything click.
What makes it even more unsettling is that he could’ve just… lived a normal life after all that, blending in like anyone else. The idea that someone can leave behind such a trail and still remain unknown is what keeps this case so haunting.
Minino 5 hours ago
"I HOPE YOU ARE HAVING LOTS OF FUN IN TRYING TO CATCH ME THAT WASNT ME ON THE TV SHOW WHICH BRINGS UP A POINT ABOUT ME I AM NOT AFRAID OF THE GAS CHAMBER BECAUSE IT WILL SEND ME TO PARADICE ALL THE SOONER BECAUSE I NOW HAVE ENOUGH SLAVES TO WORK FOR ME WHERE EVERYONE ELSE HAS NOTHING WHEN THEY REACH PARADICE SO THEY ARE AFRAID OF D***H I AM NOT AFRAID BECAUSE I KNOW THAT MY NEW LIFE IS LIFE WILL BE AN EASY ONE IN PARADICE D***H"
#32
Alexandra Wiwcharuk
Went out for a walk in 1962 and never came home. Found in a shallow grave just blocks away two weeks later. Still unsolved. City police are still asking for witnesses to come forward despite them finding dna after an exhumation that they could trace genealogically, despite having suspects right next door who have a rabbit hole story of their own if you dig.
#33
The Missy Beavers case in Texas. Still unsolved.
Upstaged75 6 hours ago
Her last name is Bevers. And this one is terrifying. There was someone in the church waiting for her and he was caught on video.
#35
In 2007, a man entered the Mocksville, NC Sagebrush attempting to rob the steakhouse. He ended up shooting a man and fleeing the scene. Police still haven't found out who they were and have a $10,000 reward for info.
Maybe not as interesting as D. B. Cooper, but it was quite exciting for middle of nowhere North Carolina. The Sagebrush has since closed down.
#36
Local to Montgomery County, MD: 50 years ago, a high ranking State Dept worker named Bradford Bishop came home early, k****d his whole family and took off in the family car. Cops found the car in the Shenandoah Mountains, but no sign of Bishop.
He's probably dead by now. Yes, there were occassional sightings (maybe) over the years, but nothing definite.
#37
The m****r of rapper The Notorious BIG. Some say crooked LAPD cops (Perez, Mack, Gaines) were involved. Streets say Poochie who was a known hitman affiliated to Deathrow Records did it. Some say it was a muslim member of the Fruits Of Islam. Diddy’s bodyguard Gene Deal thinks its Aamir Muhammad who he believes he saw him on the night of m****r wearing a blue suit, white shirt and blue bow tie and also resembling a peanut head on the night of the m****r. Officially the case has not been closed and biggies mother (RIP) and family has never got justice. It would be nice to know who was the actual trigger man and get the case closed officially but ultimately it was a setup orchestrated by Suge Knight in retaliation of Tupac Shakur’s m****r. Suge is currently in jail for other reasons but finally facing karma for his past actions and wrong doings.
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What do you think ?
Júlia Fortes 5 hours ago
Yu Menlong. I mean, he for sure didnt jump off that building. And where is his dog???
PirellisMiracleElixer 6 hours ago (edited)
The m****r mystery centered in Canadian, Texas, revolves around the 2016 disappearance and d***h of 18-year-old high school senior Tom Brown. This case is a notorious small-town mystery marked by a missing person investigation, the later discovery of remains, and ongoing theories of m****r, s*****e, or cover-up. Some believe a small town policeman was involved and that’s why it wasn’t investigates any further.
Júlia Fortes 5 hours ago
Yu Menlong. I mean, he for sure didnt jump off that building. And where is his dog???
PirellisMiracleElixer 6 hours ago (edited)
The m****r mystery centered in Canadian, Texas, revolves around the 2016 disappearance and d***h of 18-year-old high school senior Tom Brown. This case is a notorious small-town mystery marked by a missing person investigation, the later discovery of remains, and ongoing theories of m****r, s*****e, or cover-up. Some believe a small town policeman was involved and that’s why it wasn’t investigates any further.
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