Famous Unsolved Murders

Unsolved Murder Cases Worldwide That Continue to Baffle Authorities

One of the most baffling concepts within the human race is that of murder and yet, for those who believe in the story of Cain and Able, it is a concept which has long played a role in society. Murder cases frequently go unsolved not only for decades, but for centuries and for many people this fact is just as disconcerting as the murder case itself. In this article we will cover some of the most famous unsolved murder cases in history, read on if you dare.

Oscar Romero

Born Óscar Arnulfo Romero y Galdámez, Oscar Romero was recognized for his position as bishop of the Roman Catholic Church in El Salvador. Oscar Romero was born in August of 1917 and went on to become the fourth Archbishop of San Salvador after Luis Chavez. On March 24, 1980 Oscar Romero was assassinated during a mass he was conducting at the hospital La Divina Providencia. The assassination of Romero immediately followed a sermon he had given the preceding day demanding that soldiers of El Salvador must stop repressing citizens and refusing them basic human rights as they were being instructed to do by the government. Romero instructed the soldiers to be men of God and follow the higher ruling of God himself. A 1993 report by the United Nations supports the theory that the assassination of Romero was carried out by a squad of men trained and funded by the United States, charging Roberto D'Aubuisson, a former Major with instructing the squad to carry out the plan for the assassination. One of the men who is identified to have been an active member of the death squad involved in the assassination, Álvaro Rafael Saravia, was found liable in 2004 for aiding, conspiring and participating in the assassination and was ordered to pay a fine of $10 million.

During the funeral of Romero, a smoke grenade was activated and multiple rifle shots heard across the square, somewhere between 30 and 50 individuals were killed and a number of others were wounded during the display. Even as the body of Romero was being laid to rest, the gunfire continued to ring out.

There is no concrete evidence to point to those responsible for the acts that killed Romero or those who were killed during his funeral, no one has officially been charged with the assassination while Saravia was charged with taking part in the assassination plan.

Olof Palme

Olof Palme was the prime minister of Sweden from October 14, 1969 to October 8, 1976. During his time as prime minister of Sweden, Palme had many strong opinions in regard to a number of highly volatile issues including the world powers involved in the Cold War, particularly for the role of the United States in the Vietnam War which put a number of nuclear weapons throughout Europe, something which Palme did not agree with at all. Palme’s criticism of the role of America in the Vietnam War cause extremely strained relationships between Sweden and the United States and it is because of this tension that many believe that the eventual assassination was a result of his opinions.

Palme spent much of his role as prime minister without a security detail, believing that he was not in any danger; however, just before midnight on February 28 of 1986, Palme and his wife were returning from the movie theater when they were fired on by an assassin. While Palme’s wife survived her gunshot wound, Palme was not so lucky and died upon his arrival to the hospital. One man, a local thief and drug addict was arrested for the crime and convicted; however, his conviction was later overturned leaving the crime unsolved. Many people believe that due to his strong opinions on the Cold War during his role as prime minister, that Palme was assassinated by members of the American CIA or perhaps the Russian KGB, but no proof has ever been discovered to support either theory.

More recently records from a German interrogation indicate that the assassination was carried out by a Yugoslavian UDBA operative who currently lives in Croatia; however, to date there has been little to come of this discovery.

The Boy in the Box

The boy in the box is the name used to refer to a murder victim who was discovered on February 25, 1957 in a cardboard box. The body of the boy indicated that he was approximately 4 to 6 years old at the time of his murder. Evidence shows that the young boy was murdered and left in the box in the Fox Chase section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The boy’s body had been wrapped in a plaid blanket and placed in the box and left abandoned. The boy was discovered once by a muskrat trapper checking on his traps and a second time by a college student who spotted a rabbit in the area, neither reported the incident immediately. The day after his discovery though, the college student finally reported the incident.

While much attention was given to the case after it was reported and the boys face was posted all over the news and in the media, no one was ever charged with involvement in the case. There have been a few theories revolving around potential explanations for the young boy’s murder. The first theory states that the young boy had been killed while in a foster home close to the scene; however, this was later ruled out as police interviewed the man who ran the home. The second theory states that the young boy was sold by his parents in to a home that was extremely abusive, the daughter of the woman who was accused of the abuse came forward with the story; however, the accuser had a severe history of mental illness.

While no progress has been made in identifying the boy or his killer, mitochondrial DNA has been extracted from the boy’s tooth and is being run through the mitochondrial DNA database in an attempt to locate his identity.

Jack the Stripper

Upon reading the name “Jack the Stripper” many mistakenly believe that it is a typographical error of “Jack the Ripper;” however, the two cases are two different cases all together. The Jack the Stripper cases are also referred to as the Hammersmith murders or the Hammersmith nudes cases, and the London nude murders. Just like Jack the Ripper, Jack the Stripper was known for targeting prostitutes. He is believed to have killed six, but possibly eight prostitutes between the years of 1964 and 1965. The bodies of his victims were found dumped in London’s River Thames or dumped throughout London.

As with the case of Jack the Ripper, the case of Jack the Stripper had little evidence to point toward a suspect for the murders other than the presence of paint from a motor manufacturing plant that turned up on a number of the bodies. While there was no actual arrest in the case there have been a number of suspects. The most likely suspect in the murder cases was a Scottish security guard named Mungo Ireland. Ireland was tied to the case through his position as a security guard at a factory where the flecks of paint found on the bodies were traced to. Unfortunately for the case Ireland committed suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning shortly after the flecks of paint were traced back to the factory where he worked. The most significant piece of evidence that pointed to Ireland’s involvement in the cases was the suicide note that he left for his wife stating “I can’t stick it any longer” in addition to stating “To save you and the police looking for me I’ll be in the garage.” While this note could indicate an involvement in the cases, other evidence points to Ireland being out of town when one of the Stripper murders took place and that it could not have been his doing. A number of other suspects have been fingered in the case; however, none has ever been convicted.

The Axeman of New Orleans

The axeman of New Orleans is a serial killer who was known for being active throughout New Orleans, Louisiana from May 1918 to October 1919. The victims of the axeman were killed with an axe that was, in some cases, also used to break down the door of the home. While there were some ideas as to who the axeman could be, there was no evidence strong enough to convict anyone of the crime. Unlike many other serial killers, the axeman appeared to attack completely at random and with complete disregard for his victims and not all of those victims died as a result of their wounds. So random were his attacks that victims of the axeman included a pregnant woman and a young infant killed in its mother’s arms. The axeman continued to taunt the city with his crimes and even wrote letters to local newspapers in which he claimed to be a demon from Hell. The axeman seemed to enjoy the power that he held over others more than anything else and in one famous incident he wrote a letter to a local newspaper stating that he would strike again at fifteen minutes after midnight on March 19; however, any location where a jazz band was playing would be spared. Jazz music abounded that night and there were no killings. There are twelve identified victims of the axeman of New Orleans.

There were many speculations as to who the axeman could have been, one such speculation indicated that perhaps the mafia was involved with the killings; however, the later crimes which included the murdering of the young infant were not characteristic of such a murderer. There was also rumor that a man named Joseph Momfre was responsible for the crimes and was eventually murdered by the widow of one of his victims; however, there is little evidence to indicate that this is actually true.

JonBenét Ramsey

The case of JonBenét Ramsey is a much more recent case which involved the murder of a child beauty pageant contestant who was killed in her home in Boulder, Colorado in 1996. At the time of her death JonBenét Ramsey was six years old and her body was discovered in the basement of her home eight hours after her parents reported her missing. JonBenét had been struck on the head and strangled. The most common theory in the murder of the six year old was that her parents and brother had played a role in her death; however, DNA evidence found on JonBenét’s clothes indicated that they were not involved; In July of 2008 both of JonBenét’s parents would be cleared in the investigation in to her death.

In December of 2003 DNA from blood found on JonBenét Ramsey’s clothes was collected and a DNA profile was created. The profile was placed in to CODIS (the FBI’S Combined DNA Index System) to maintain a record of its profile. To date there have been no matches to the DNA profile found on JonBenét Ramsey’s clothing. It was found, however, that in the months preceding JonBenét Ramsey’s death, there were more than 100 burglaries in the area. In 2006 a former schoolteacher, John Mark Karr confessed to being with JonBenét at the time of her death; however, his DNA profile did not match that of JonBenét and no charges were filed against Karr for involvement in the case. The mystery of JonBenét Ramsey’s death remains unsolved.

The Black Dahlia

The Black Dahlia is a nickname used to refer to Elizabeth Short, born in 1924 and murdered in 1947. The body of Short was discovered in Leimert Park in Los Angeles on January 15, 1947. The case of the Black Dahlia has been publicized in book and film form, most significantly for the sheer gruesome nature of the crime. The body of Short was discovered mutilated with a cut across her waist that was so deep that it sliced her in half. Short had been completely drained of blood, she was nude and the corners of her mouth had been slashed up to her ears. The nude body appeared to have been posed with her hands above her head and her elbows bent at right angles. The cause of death is stated to have been blood loss from the cuts to her face combined with shock that resulted from a concussion she received before her death.

There have been a handful of suspects in the case of the Black Dahlia; however, no one has yet to be convicted of the crime and as time passes it is increasingly unlikely that anyone will pay for the crime. The killer of Short is suspected to have contacted the newspapers on numerous occasions when he felt that the coverage of the murder was tapering off and once even mailed an envelope containing personal possessions of Short to prove his involvement in the case. The envelope also contained a small address book with the name “Mark Hansen” on the cover, the last individual known to have seen Elizabeth Short alive. Due to the sheer sensationalism of the case, over the years many people came forward claiming to have plaid a role in the death of Short; however, no one has ever been convicted of the crime.

Jack the Ripper

No list of unsolved murders would be complete without mention of Jack the Ripper. Jack the Ripper is perhaps the single most infamous unsolved murder case in history to date. Ripper is known for his activity in the impoverished areas of the Whitechapel district in London in 1888. The victims of Jack the Ripper were most typically female prostitutes who had their throats slit before having their abdomens completely mutilated. It was widely speculated over the years that Jack the Ripper had some type of anatomy experience whether that of a butcher or a doctor because of the removal of specific organs from his victims. There are five well known Ripper victims: Mary Ann Nichols, Annie Chapman, Elizabeth Stride, Catherine Eddowes and Mary Jane Kelly. There were later murders in the Whitechapel area that some believe were attributed to Jack the Ripper; however, they differed from the five recognized victims of the Ripper.

Over the years there have been many speculations as to the identity of Jack the Ripper, but no speculation have ever been proven without a reasonable doubt and as time progresses the chance of ever discovering the true identity of the famed Ripper, is even more unlikely. Some of the suspected culprits for the murders include: local physicians, doctors, slaughterhouse workers, butchers and anyone else who had access to surgical materials and knowledge.

The Horror of the Unsolved Murder

Regardless of when the crime occurred or who the victim was, there is no such thing as a victimless murder. With every single crime that involves the loss of life, there are a handful of lives at minimum that will never be the same again. The crimes listed above detail only a small sampling of the world’s most recognized unsolved murders and unfortunately the number of cases on this list continues to grow. While our methods of solving crime have certainly advanced since the time of Jack the Ripper, they have still not managed to advance enough to be able to track down killers like the killer of JonBenét Ramsey. It is the hope of many that someday we will be able to track the committers of these heinous crimes down through mandatory DNA samples; however the possible infringement of human rights makes this a questionable practice. So what can be done to help to find out who is guilty of many of these unsolved murders? Unfortunately there is nothing more than can be done at this time other than keeping these cases alive until a new method of processing evidence surfaces or until new evidence arises to help to keep society a much safer place to reside.

Top 10 Unsolved Murders [Video]

For those that want more, here's a creepy collage of some of the most notorious murders that remain unsolved to this day.