Most interesting unsolved non-serial killer cases

[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.

[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 DA,

Yes, that's why Gatton was on my list. I've heard they still had people confessing to it up into the 1970s - they must have been some really old confessors.

I tend to think that Hauptmann was guilty although not acting alone. Many disagree with that I know.

[detective abberline]

Gatton Murders 1898

The Gatton murders of the 3 Murphy siblings on Boxing Day 1898 is a real attention getter. Never been solved but plenty of suspects. Lizzie Borden fabulous but how did she get away with it? Cleveland Torso Murderer and of course the Black Dahlia. Lindbergh baby - doubtful it wasn't Hauptmann. What about the Ratcliffe Highway murders? Pretty obvious it was a gang but one bloke gets the chop.

Cheers

[sdreid]

It's like a Friday the 13th movie!

[Ally]

I hadn't heard of the cabin 28 murders either. Horrifying. I wonder if they'll make a success of opening the resort back up...

[sdreid]

Hi all,

One thing that I should probably note is that some of these "non-serial killer" cases mentioned are thought by a few to actually be a murder by a serial killer. Since they're unsolved, we have no way of knowing for sure.

Examples:

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

And even some others that I think are more of a stretch.

[sdreid]

Hi all,

Thanks for calling my attention to Cabin 28. I hadn't heard of that one. There are several of those unsolved family mass murders that are very frightening.

I did consider Slater and Sheppard for my list but there are just a lot of these cases.

[Pinkerton]

1--Ciudad Juarez
2--Mad Butcher
3--Zodiac
4--Axeman of New Orleans
5--Black Dahlia
6--Jack the Stripper
7--Bible John
8--Monster of Florence
9--Cabin 28 Murders
10---The Babysitter killer

Especially #1, due to the number of victims involved and the fact that it is comparatively recent.

[mariag]

Black Dahlia
The Bordens
Carrie Brown
The Sam Shepard case
Lindburg

[Paul O'Henry]

Hi all,

Some of the cases allready mentioned did interest me as well,

The murder of JFK,
The Lucie Borden case,
The murder of Julia Wallace,

But I like to add some other cases:

The kidnapping and murder of Charles Lindbergh jun. -> was Bruno Hauptmann really the kidnapper? Was he acting alone?

The Oscar Slater case, -> who was the real killer of Miss Gilchrist?

L'affaire Seznec (France 1923), -> Guillaume Seznec was sentenced for killing his friend and business partner Pierre Quemeneur despite the fact that Quemeneurs body was never found.

The murder of Rosemarie Nitribitt (Frankfurt 1957),-> Rosemarie was a prostitute with a lot of clients in the upper class.

The murder of Dr. Praun aka The Vera Brühne case (Pöcking, near Munich 1960) -> it is assumed that Dr. Praun was involved in illegal arms trade and that the BND (germanys secret service) was involved in killing him, Vera Brühne was the scape-goat.

kind regards
Paul

[Mike Covell]

Looking at both this thread and the British Serial killer thread is quite an eyeopener, with so many murders, and so many murderers, its quite shocking.

Among my cases I would also be intrested in knowing
What happened to Ben Needham
What happened to Christopher Laverack
What happened to Maddie McCann

Mike

[sdreid]

Hi Jdrake,

At least we agree on #1.

The Borden Case was one I debated with myself about including.

Yes, the Villisca Axe Murders are a great choice. I've discussed it some via email with Kelly Rundle who made a documentary movie about the case.

[jdrake]

This will be difficult because I'm more interested in serial killers. I would say that my top five most interesting non-serial murders are:

1. The Black Dalia (1) 1947, California
2. The Borden Murders (2) 1892, Massachusetts
3. The Villisca Axe Murders (8) 1912, Iowa
4. Albert Desalvo (1) 1973, Massachesetts
5. The St. Valentine's Day Massacre (7) 1929, Illinois

[sdreid]

If I was going to include presumed political assassinations, I guess I'd have to put Olaf Palme on the list. I'd be tempted to also add RFK but I have to conclude that it's solved.