Most interesting unsolved non-serial killer cases

[sdreid]

2-The Tylenol Poisoner (7) 1982 Illinois

I see that the cops raided James Lewis' residence in regard to this case today. Wonder what's up.

[sdreid]

Lucan is "technically" unsolved like Kiss.

Yes, this thread is still listed in Shades of Whitechapel with a designation of "moved". I don't get it though.

[Sara]

Two or three murders (or alleged attempts rather) which fascinate me, as I have met people who knew either the victim or the suspect:

The Lord Lucan case:
I know a guy who was a 'debs delight' with Lucan and the Clarement Club set. He is adamant - as they all are - that Lucan would never have sullied his family honour by killing his wife - esp by lurking behind a door at the bottom of the service stairs like some mad axeman! My contact told me that Lady Lucan had - allegedly - once attacked a nanny and badly injured her, and that the girl was taken to hospital, and the family later paid a great deal of money to keep it quiet. His theory was that Lucan was called by Lady L to the house... well you will have to infer the rest. I do know that the Lucan children have - reportedly, I don't know them in person - had no contact with their mother since early adulthood. Lucan's friends are (or were - many are dead now) acc to my friend convinced that Lucan committed suicide pereferring to take the rap, so to speak in absentia, rahter than have the children submitted to an ugly court case &tc. It's an intruiging story!


The David Kelly 'suicide':
A friend of mine, a well known historian, lives in the same village as the Kellys. No-one in the village believed in the suicide story - and neither do I, and never did. Nor did something liek 30 forensic doctors who wrote to The Times the following week.... (or was it the Telelgraph...)

Anyway, at the races about three years ago I met an owner who was working in the 'nuclear industry' but was in fact attached to the embassy in the far NE European country where he was based - he said he'd been in Iraq before that. Such a background screamed M16... I asked him if he'd known Kelly, and he said yes, very well (which confirmed my inference).

I asked him outright on the spot if he thought Kelly had been murdered. He held my gaze for a few moments and then answered "Without a doubt." He then paused for a few seconds, and added " - there were a lot of people who would have wanted Kelly dead - he'd 'gone over' you see". Then he clammed up and changed the subject - he realised he'd said a bit too much I think (we'd been drinking champagne as one does at the races!)...

The Lib-Dem MP Norman Baker is so convinced that Kelly was murdered he's been waging a campaign to get an inquiry for years (there was a TV documentary about this a couple of years ago, and he's written a book on the case). He's amassed a lot of evidence. But I don't think Kelly's widow wants the whole thing looked into, so tha tmakes it hard.
Sites about this campaign here: http://tinyurl.com/7cb66u


Rinkagate:
The third instance isn't quite a murder either, but it concerns another Liberal, Jeremy Thorpe, his ex lover Norman Scott, and the shot great dane Rinka. Dan Farson, familiar to JtR aficionados, was fascinated by this case as he knew Thorpe very well - they were more or less neighbours down in Appledore. Dan told me that Thorpe had as good as confessed to him that he did order the murder - he was trying to involve Dan in some kind of cover-up at the time and to get him to testify on his (Thorpe's) behalf. They shared certain, shall we say, proclivites of course; and had done so since such practices were illegal (not long beofre in fact, hence the scandal and the possibility of blackmail). Thorpe was wrong in thinking that this would induce Dan to connive in helping Thorpe to evade the law (though he didn't shop him either, since no-one had died)

Dan had a phenomenal memory (he could recite the entire script of Citizen Kane for example) and he repeated to me verbatim the relevant conversation with Thorpe, of which I can only remember the finale, which delighted Dan: "... believe me, Farson, in this case QUEENSBERRY RULES DO NOT APPLY!" - repeated by Dan several times with huge relish LOL


If there is anything libellous here then someone had better remove it, tho so far as I know neither person 'fingered' is in a fit mental state to bring charges!

[Celesta]

Hey Stan,

Yeah, I have this memory of it not being in this section. I remember this being above the pub section. The other thread I was thinking of may still be in here somewhere, but this thread was above the Other Mysteries slot.

Best,

Cel

[sdreid]

Hi Cel,

I think it's automatically deleted here if it goes dormant. That's why I never start threads here. If I did, it was by mistake.

[Celesta]

Stan,

I thought this was the one where I posted the Mary Shotwell Little links, which was definitely in the other mysteries section, but they sure aren't on the thread.

Why would anyone want to delete the thread? It's a good one. Wouldn't they have said something if they moved it? They have in the past.

We just need to make sure it gets new posts.

[sdreid]

Hmm - I thought I started this thread in "Shades of Whitechapel". They must have moved it here so it can be deleted.

[sdreid]

9--Cabin 28 Murders

I've seen several references on the Net claiming that the 2008 film The Strangers was inspired by this case. The movie's tag line does say that it was inspired by true events. I haven't seen it but the synopsis sounds somewhat like the unsolved 1980 Drew-Hack murders in Wisconsin as well. Maybe it's a mix and match.

[sdreid]

I am intrigued by at least the superficial similarities among the Florence, Italy murders, the Zodiac killings in California, and the Son of Sam / Berkowitz shootings in New York.

Hi FL and welcome to Casebook,

You could also add the Texarkana Phantom Murders to that set. There was someone on here, perhaps pre-crash, who was trying to tie that case to Zodiac although the time gap seems a bit excessive to me. All the cases have movies about them as well. I just watched to two best Zodiac films, in my view, last week.

Of course, all are serial killer cases where Black Dahlia is not or at least not for sure.

[FraterLibre]

I am intrigued by at least the superficial similarities among the Florence, Italy murders, the Zodiac killings in California, and the Son of Sam / Berkowitz shootings in New York.

Separately, the best single book I've read yet on the Black Dahlia killing, best because it places it into a comprehensible and cogent context, is The Black Dahlia Files by Donald H. Wolfe. His take makes perfect sense of all the odd quirks in the case, although on first glance his suspect seems ludicrous. Read the book, it's well worth it.

[sdreid]

Thanks Dougie,

I guess I need to refresh my memory regarding the case. Right now, the TV rendition is the freshest version in my mind.

[dougie]

stan....Mary ann Keber a servant ,and the one who raised the alarm initially,and who had the duty of filling up bravos water jug every evening,because bravo apparently ALWAYS drank a few glasses of water before going to bed. ........
dougie

[sdreid]

Hi Dougie,

Who was Mary Ann, a servant?

[dougie]

Hi stan
I believe she was part black.......interestingly cox was suspected because a presumed motive would have been financial....i.e charles bravo had told her she would be dismissed,and she would be in deep monetary trouble without employment,income,place to live.But she inherited a plantation in Jamaica (where she lived 6 months after the murder),but the point is she knew of the inheritance several years before charles bravo died.So its hard to know what her motive might be.However someone emptied bravos water jug(the jug with the antimony in) within a short period immediately after bravos death,as there was no trace of antimony in the jug when examined after bravos cpollapse.Only 3 people had the opportunity, cox,florence and mary ann (forget the surname)..........hmmmm
regards

[sdreid]

Hi Dougie,

It's a hard one for me to sort out, whether Cox was involved and if she had help. That TV series, A Most Mysterious Murder, posited that Bravo poisoned himself accidentally.

They also said that Mrs. Cox was born in Jamaica "of mixed blood". Was she half black?