The Reid Scale: Classic Unsolved Murder Cases

[sdreid]

Hi Chris,

By "good", I meant of some merit not that they are likely. There are also some of little or no merit.

[ChrisGeorge]

Thanks, Stan.

I have an immediate question about your "Level 3: Cases where there are good suspects but they are independent and/or conflicting (Jack the Ripper)."

Do we really think any of the suspects in the case are good suspects?

Or when it comes down to it, are all of the suspects that so far have been mentioned "iffy" with some being somewhat better than others?

Chris

[sdreid]

Hello,

There seems to be some dispute about what cases should be considered unsolved so I thought I'd create a scale like we have for tornadoes. I'll post it here and over on that other site. Here are the categories and at least one example of each.

The Reid Scale: Classic Unsolved Murder Cases

Level 0: Cases with a standing conviction and where there is no serious doubt regarding the verdict (Ted Bundy).

Level 1: Cases where there is a standing conviction but some doubt about it (James Hanratty) or cases where there is no conviction but where there is little doubt regarding the perpetrator (Bella Kiss).

Level 2: Cases where there is no standing conviction but where there is a better than even chance that one suspect did it (Lizzie Borden).

Level 3: Cases where there are good suspects but they are independent and/or conflicting (Jack the Ripper).

Level 4: Cases where there is no serious suspect (The Original Nightstalker).

So there you be.