Most interesting unsolved non-serial killer cases

[Graham]

My Most Interesting non-SK Cases are:


Lindbergh Case 1932 - Hauptmann involved, but I don't think he killed the baby. Was it an accident anyway?
James Hanratty 1961 - guilty, but why did he do it?
John Cartland 1973 - revenge killing? Hangover from WW2?
Janice Weston 1983 - no known motive + other weird goings-on.
Suzi Lamplugh 1986 - did John Callan do it and is he keeping his trap shut?

There are others, but the above cases are the one I never tired of reading about.

Re: Lindbergh, I've always thought that the mysterious Isidore Fisch was the instigator of the plot and split when things got too hot. I think Hauptmann was much too smart an individual to get stitched up by Fisch - for my money the police fabricated most of the evidence against him, with or without the connivance of Dr Condon, whose presence in the case has always seemed inexplicable to me.

Cheers,

Graham

[sdreid]

Hi Graham,

Weston and Lamplugh are creepy as well as shocking. They are similar in some ways also, that is, perhaps lured to their deaths by some diabolical person.

[Pinkerton]

Guess I should have read the title of the thread better! Didn't notice its actually called "NON -serial killer cases". Guess I can remove several from my list which are serial killings...

Yeah the Cabin 28 killings were horrendous. This site has a lot of information on them ( http://www.cabin28.com/ ). Whoever perpetrated them was truly a monster.

[sdreid]

Hi Pinkerton,

Thanks for the link.

There is another thread to name Intriguing Unsolved Non-JtR Serial Killer Cases so please contribute there if you wish.

[jdrake]

Black Dahlia/Elizabeth Short-The Werewolf Killer
Marilyn Sheppard-Richard Eberling
Carrie Brown-Jack the Ripper
Evelyn Hartley-Ed Gein
Villisca Axe Murders-Henry Moore

Hi Sdreid,

Some of those are pretty obscure and I'm having problems finding any information on them. In particular, The Werewolf Killer (the one that keeps popping up took place well after Short was killed) and Henry Moore. Could you point me to some resources about them?

[jdrake]

And for another note, I saw a televison show on the Dahlia case that speculated that it was linked to Chicago's Lipstick Murders.

[Pinkerton]

Thanks Stan. Actually I'll submit another list that this thread addresses.

1--Black Dahlia
2--Ax Murders of Villisca
3--Cabin 28
4--Oklahoma Girl Scout Murders (this may be solved soon, after 30 some years)
5--West Memphis Three (they may all soon be released)
6--Lizzie Borden
7--Murder of Frank Olson
8--Jon Benet Ramsey
9--Jenner, California Double-Murder
10--Jimmy Hoffa

[sdreid]

Hi Pinkerton,

I remember the tragic Girl Scout Murders. One of the TV crime shows covered it but I don't recall which one.

When I was driving into Tennessee, I would travel through West Memphis and that case would come to mind and especially the documentary film about the murders.

[sdreid]

Hi Jdrake,

At least one of the LA newspapers lumped the Dahlia murder in with a bunch of other slayings at the time and tried to say that it was a serial killer they called the Werewolf Killer. Actually several think she was just one of a serial.

There are some who want to connect Short to the Chicago murders (especially Degnan) as well as the Torso Case in Cleveland.

Maybe it would be better to say Henry Lee Moore.

[jdrake]

Stan,

I can see the connection between the Dahlia and Cleveland cases but Short wasn't decapitated and wasn't that one of the signitures of the Torso Killer?

[sdreid]

Hi Jdrake,

Yes, that's why I don't connect them myself. Some people just compare the bisected torso and think that's enough plus there's that supposed letter from the Butcher that claimed he'd moved to California. It's probably a hoax though in my view. Also, the object of the Short slaying seemed to be torture which didn't appear to be the case with Torso.

[sdreid]

The headline for a special edition of the February 10, 1947 Los Angeles Herald-Express

WEREWOLF STRIKES AGAIN
KILLS L. A. WOMAN
'B. D.' ON BODY

This was referring to the Jeanne Axford French slaying that some think was by the same killer as Dahlia although it appeared that she'd been stomped to death. It occurred days later in early February of 1947.

[Mayerling]

Hi all,

My list constantly changes but would include the following:

1) Lincoln Assassination and aftermath
2) JFK Assassination and aftermath
3) RFK Assassination
4) Martin Luther King Assassination (was James Earl Ray the killer or involved or what?)
5) Malcolm X Assassination
6) Lindbergh Kidnapping (I agree with Stan - I feel Hauptmann was involved, but I wonder if he was alone or not).
7) The Black Dahlia (to me the fate of Elizabeth Short was the most horrendous in a famous homicide since that of Mary Jane Kelly).
8) Lizzie Borden
9) Florence Maybrick (not her husband's activities in the autumn of 1888)
10) The death of Charles Bravo
11) Adelaide Bartlett
12) Madeleine Smith
13) Steinie Morrison
14) Dr. Hawley Crippen
15) Mrs. Caroline Luard
16) Lt. Percy Roper's Mysterious Murder at the Chatham Military Barracks in
early 1881.

There are other cases I would probably include if I thought of them - but some of them are serial killers (Cream, Belle Gunness) and some are on minor points that intrigue me (Percy Lefroy Mapleton - his antecedents).

Jeff

[detective abberline]

The Gatton Murders

Hi Stan. Yes there were people still confessing in the 70's they'd killed the Murphy's. The youngest Murphy sibling died of old age in the 70's so the confessors would have to be ancient. I've read recently Donald Wolfe's "The Black Dahlia Files' where he postulates Short's murder was linked with Georgette Bauer's death in LA. He comes to the conclusion she was killed by Bugsy Siegal and 3 or 4 men and an abortionist doctor actually cut her up after she was dead. He includes a PM photo of her face which shows the awful misery she endured as she died.

Cheers

[sdreid]

Hi DA,

Yes, John Gilmore connected the Short and Bauerdorf murders in his book also except he blamed a guy named Jack Wilson. I think George Hodel also connected the two slayings as well as a bunch of others in his book except he blamed his father.

The first I heard about Gatton was in Ripperana.