Mysterious Cold Cases That Are Still Unsolved part 2 of 2

This week in part 2 of my blog about cold cases. I'm continuing with a brief look at more baffling unsolved police cases and mysteries. Not only are they unsolved after many decades, there's a good chance that they never will be solved.

LIZZIE BORDEN

Lizzie Borden took an axe and gave her mother forty whacks. When she saw what she had done, She gave her father forty-one. A popular children's rhyme from days gone by. But do we know what event it actually refers to? The oldest of the cold cases covered in parts 1 and 2 of my blog—on August 4, 1892, Lizzie Borden's step-mother was murdered with several blows from an axe (but not anything near forty whacks) then shortly afterward her father came home from his office at lunch time, stretched out on the couch to take a nap, and was subsequently also murdered with an axe. Lizzie was arrested for the crime but acquitted by a male jury who believed that a woman couldn't have committed such a crime. No one else was arrested.

THE TORSO MURDERS

A serial killer committed brutal murders in Cleveland, Ohio, between September 5, 1934, and August 16, 1938. They were dubbed Torso Murders because the victims were decapitated, some of them while still alive. Eliot Ness of prohibition's Untouchables fame was Safety Director of Cleveland at the time. For five decades the murders remained unsolved. On December 5, 2022, a man already in prison for similar murders in New York and New Jersey claimed responsibility for the Cleveland murders but so far it's unproven.

THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER

Elizabeth Short has become one of the most investigated murder victims in history. The aspiring actress' brutal murder has had Hollywood's attention for decades. Her nude and dismembered body was discovered in a vacant lot in Los Angeles on January 15, 1947. There were many suspects, arrests were made but never went to trial, many books written, movies made, many theories about the identity of the killer, one put forth by a retired Los Angeles police detective who believed his father was the killer, but none of the accusations were ever proven.

JIMMY HOFFA

A name certainly representative of 'unsolved crime.' The former Teamster's Union president disappeared on July 30, 1975, from Bloomfield, a suburb of Detroit, Michigan. He disappeared and his body was never found. The prevailing theory is that he was murdered by the Mafia with a long list of possible sites where they allegedly disposed of his body. He was declared legally dead in 1982.

DIAN FOSSEY

The anthropologist studying gorillas in Rwanda was hacked to death with a machete. Her body was discovered December 26, 1985, in her cabin. It is commonly believed that she was murdered by poachers although no one has ever been arrested.

BOB CRANE MURDER

The star of Hogan's Heroes was found bludgeoned and strangled in his apartment in Scottsdale, Arizona, on June 29, 1978. He was appearing in a dinner theater production of Beginner's Luck. Following his death, many accusations and theories appeared about his sex addition which was placed at the cause for his murder. Many years later John Henry Carpenter, Crane's longtime friend and sometimes business partner, was arrested for the crime. He was acquitted after a trial in 1994. No one else has ever been accused.

JONBENET RAMSEY

The 6 year old child beauty contest participant was discovered murdered in the basement of the family home in Boulder, Colorado, on December 26, 1996. Her parents and a 9 year old brother were the only people in the house at the time. Lots of speculation and accusations, even a public conflict between the District Attorney's office and the Police Department on how the case was handled. No suspects have ever been arrested.

This is only a sampling of the many unsolved cases on record.