The Jack the Ripper thread and the upcoming Black Dahlia movie got me feeling we needed another Great Unsolved Murders thread, replete with wild-assed guesses. Feel free, of course, to add your own murders.
Well, not your own murders; you know what I mean.
William Desmond Taylor. I think Mary Miles Minter’s mother did it, both on the available evidence and on the fact that it’s fun to say “Mary Miles Minter’s mother.”
Thelma Todd. I think it was a plain old boring accident: she came home from a night of partying and fell asleep in the car with the motor running. The Mob does not kill you by putting you in a running car in an unlocked garage; they put a bullet in your head.
Lizzie Borden. I used to think the maid, Bridget Sullivan, might have done it, but the more reading I do, I think it was indeed Lizzie.
As far as the Black Dahlia and Jon-Benet, I’m going with “I have not the slightestidea,” except that the same person probably did not kill them both.
Thelma Todd:
An Accident. Drunk as a monkey she reached her car, but passed out after turning it on.
Wm. D. Taylor:
I’m going to say Margaret Gibson’s confession was genuine. She had been involved ibn othe rbad lawbreaking schemes
Borden:
I think that Lizzie gave her mother 40 whacks and when she saw what she had done…
How about:
Marilyn Monroe:
My Take: Marilyn Accidentally overdosed. Her housekeeper discovered this about midnight and called her Doctor - either her personal Physician or her Psychiatrist (probably the former). This Doctor had negligently prescribed drugs w/o consultation (or perhaps Marilyn didn’t tell him she was seeing the Psychiatrist and/or that he had prescribed anything). Whatever, he had prescribed the barbiturates that killed '62’s Jessica Simpson/ParisH/Lindsay Lohan rolled into one. He cleaned the scene and may have made some calls. About 4:30 AM he told the House keeper to call the police. A Conspiracy Theory/mystery death is born.
Black Dahlia - No Idea - Having said that a 48 Hours really gave a big maybe about an LA Doctor - but I dunno …
Jon-Benet: Based on what I know, I would not vote to convict the Ramseys in a court of law as a Jury member. But the Boulder DA says all the evidence is in the public domnain, and they are the best suspects that I can think of - by far.
How about the mystery of the Mary Celeste?
I have always thought a mutiny and mass murder the likeliest answer.
I have no opinion on the murders you mentioned Eve, The Borden case is the only one I am familiar with and I do not know enough to make an educated guess.
The solution to the infamous (at least in Australia) Bogle/Chandler deaths/murders in 1963 is supposedly going to be revealed this week in a television documentary.
Mary Miles Minter’s mother did it. She was one scary old battleaxe. It’s a credit to Taylor’s unrestrained libido that he was doing both her and her hot daughter.
So, you don’t think Lizzie and Bridget were Um-Friends, Mom found out, and they did her in plus Dad because he’d probably disapprove of murder? I’ve never seen a crime scene photo of Mom (a situation I expect to be corrected within the next 24 hours) but Lizzie killed Dad several times over.
Whoa! Bogle had as many as five affairs going at once? Never question the horniness of physics nerds! Where he found five female physics groupies in the early sixties is a wonder, though. And in underpopulated Oz? I think he was making it up.
As for Thelma Todd, why was the garage door closed with her behind the wheel? Huh? I run circles around you logically!
But yeah, the Guys typically make no effort to make it look like an accident. The victim is not the person who is supposed to take a lesson away but if the others who have transgressed the unwritten law can justify it away as an accident they didn’t learn much of a lesson, did they?
The Princes in The Tower. I said Edward did it, i.e., ordered it done, though it’s possible a supporter did it on his own hook. Yes, the Tudors doubtless dressed up the story for publicity purposes, but no other theory I’ve seen covers the facts. But I admit that Edward’s guilt has not been (and probably cannot be) conclusively proven.