The Zodiac Killer coded message
Everybody loves a good mystery, but what happens when there
isn't a satisfying ending? The moment where those meddling kids of the Scooby
Do gang reveal who the culprit is? Probably the most famous cold case is Jack
The Ripper, but through modern DNA testing, he was finally identified a few
years ago. The following unsolved police cases are strange, creepy, and without
a conclusion. There are lists of more famous unsolved cases, some of which I'll
look at next week in part 2 of 2, but these are some of the most baffling
unsolved police cases and mysteries of our time.
1. THE ZODIAC KILLER
Most people are usually quiet about their crimes, but
"Zodiac", as he dubbed himself, was anything but. In 1968-1969, he
terrorized San Francisco with his murder spree, taunting the police with coded
letters he sent to the local newspaper. He had at least five killings directly
connected to him, although he claims to have killed 37 people. The Zodiac
Killer continued killing and leaving frustrating evidence for the police—coded letters,
anonymous phone calls, the crossed-circle—but the police never found him.
2. THE TARA CALICO CASE
On the morning of September 20th, 1988 in Belen, New Mexico,
Tara Calico borrowed her mother's bike to go out for a spin. She never returned.
Every lead went to a dead end until a year later, when a photo was found
depicting a young woman her age and a missing boy, both gagged. The Polaroid
photograph was found in a parking lot outside a Junior Food Store in Florida.
The nine-year-old, Michael Henley, went missing in the same area as Calico in
April of 1988. In 1990, the boy's body was found in Zuni Mountains where he was
last seen, which strongly disconnects the one time theory that the two were
abducted and taken to Florida. Calico's parents would eventually die, never
finding out who took their daughter.
3. THE SEVERED FEET MYSTERY
In 2007, a girl was roaming a beach in British Columbia when
she found a sneaker. To her horror, as she opened up the sock, she found that a
human foot was inside. Since then, a number of severed feet had washed ashore.
The feet have been connected to five men, one a woman, and three of unknown
sex. The Vancouver police managed to identify one foot in 2008, matching its
DNA to a man who was described as suicidal. They later were able to match two
other feet to a woman who was also believed to have committed suicide. Because
of these findings, many speculate that the feet belong to those who jumped off
a bridge to their deaths. However, because of the rarity of only feet and no
other body parts showing up, some believe that the feet were connected to a
plane crash by a nearby island. Other suggest they were those of the victims of
the Asian Tsunami in 2004, since the make of the shoes were all manufactured
before 2004. Whatever sources these feet are coming from, they have left the
world baffled for years.
4. THE DEAD WOMAN WHO NAMED HER KILLER
Although this case has been solved, how it was solved
remains a mystery. In 1977, a respiratory therapist in Chicago was murdered in
her apartment. Teresita Basa was found under a flaming mattress, a butcher
knife buried in her chest. Police attempted to track her stolen jewelry with no
luck. They also failed in trying to link any of the suspects to the crime. It
seemed impossible to find the perpetrator, that is, until Remy Chua, a
co-worker who barely knew the victim, involuntarily became a leading source of
information. She began having frequent visions and nightmares about Basa and
eventually revealed the solution. Was it really Basa's ghost who named her
killer? Whatever led police to the killer remains a mystery.
5. THE BOY IN THE BOX
It was the year 1957 in Philadelphia when a hunter found the
bruised body of a boy in a JC Penney box. The boy, around four to six
years-old, was nude and wrapped in flannel. He seemed to have died from blows
to the head. Fearing his muskrat traps would be confiscated by police, the
hunter didn't report the body. It was two days later when a college student
found the body, that the police started on the case of "America's Unknown
Child." It immediately attracted the media's attention, and flyers of the
boy were seen throughout Pennsylvania. Although police received thousands of
leads, they were never able to uncover the identity of the young boy. They
tried tracing back the JC Penney box and checking the boy's fingerprints, but
everything led to a dead end. A medical examiner, who pursued the case until
his death, had a psychic lead him to a foster home, where he found a bassinet
similar to the one that was sold in the box. Hanging on the clothesline were
blankets much like the one wrapped around the boy. He believed the boy belonged
to the stepdaughter of the man who ran the home, and she didn't want to be
found as an unwed mother. Police interviewed the couple, but closed the
investigation. In 2003, they opened the case again when interviewing a woman
identified as "M" who claimed her abusive mother bought the child
back in 1954. According to "M", her mother killed the boy in a fit of
rage. Because "M" was mentally unstable, the investigation was
closed, leaving the boy to remain "America's Unknown Child."
6. THE JEANETTE DEPALMA CASE
Usually people connect witches to Salem, MA, but for this
particular case, the witches were in Springfield, New Jersey. It all started in
1972 when a dog brought home a decomposed forearm. This prompted a police
search and a body was soon found afterwards atop a cliff in Springfield. The
body was identified to be that of Jeanette DePalmer, a 16-year-old who had gone
missing six weeks earlier. Immediately, rumors began spreading as to the cause
of her death. The hill where she was discovered was covered with occult symbols
and many believed her body was placed on a makeshift altar. Many locals, even
some police members, blame a coven of witches, otherwise known as Satanists,
who used DePalma for a human sacrifice. Much of the case details have been
destroyed by a flood. However, some reports from local papers mention that
police couldn't determine the cause of death due to her badly decomposed body.
They had also investigated a local homeless man who was a prime suspect, only
to find no connection with the killing. As for the occult theory, many believe
that DePalma may have provoked a group of Satan worshipping teens at her high
school when she was trying to evangelize them. She was involved with a group
who helped drug addicts by finding faith in Christ. The reverend who ran the
group theorized that she was selected as a sacrifice to the group because of
this. Was she a human sacrifice? Or did these suspicions help hide the real
killer? Perhaps no one will ever know
7. THE SS OURANG MEDAN
Ghost ships aren't just portrayed in legends and movies such
as The Pirates of the Caribbean. In this true story, the entire crew
mysteriously perished. It all started in 1947, when ships traveling the straits
of Malacca (located between Sumatra and Malaysia) heard a troubling distress
call. An American ship, Silver Star, answered the distress call and
found the Ourang Medan, but there were no signs of the crew on the deck,
even when they tried to call to them. And so they boarded the ship, only to
find themselves in a horror scene. Scattered across the deck were the corpses
of the Dutchmen, their faces construed in such a way one would think they had
witnessed something ghastly before their demise. The captain's body was found
on the bridge, while the communication officer was still at his post. Retreating
to their ship again, they decided to tow the Ourang Medan to port. But
as soon as they attached the tow line, smoke began billowing out of the ship, it
exploded, and sank into a watery grave. Some believe it was the work of the
paranormal. Others, have more scientific explanations. Many theorize that the
Dutch ship was smuggling hazardous materials such as potassium cyanide and
nitroglycerin. Sea water may have interacted with the cargo, causing the toxic
gases to be released and poison the crew. The nitroglycerin would later cause
the explosion.
