# Unsolved mysteries and murders **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 12, 2018, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unsolved-mysteries-and-murders/810443 "2018-03-12T18:49:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Princess\_Perfume](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/princess_perfume/32/16518_2.png) [@Princess\_Perfume](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princess_Perfume)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2018, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unsolved-mysteries-and-murders/810443/1 "2018-03-12T18:49:18Z")
the Walker County Jane Doe is one I wish Robert Stack had done a segment on. > **[Murder of Sherri Jarvis](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walker_County_Jane_Doe)** > > Sherri Ann Jarvis (March 9, 1966 – November 1, 1980) was an American murder victim from Forest Lake, Minnesota whose body was discovered in Huntsville, Texas on November 1, 1980. Her body was discovered within hours of her sexual assault and murder, and remained unidentified for 41 years before investigators announced her identification via forensic genealogy in November 2021. > Despite initial efforts to discover both her identity and that of her murderer(s), the investigation into Jarvis's murde... She looks so young in her post mortem pics ☹ I wonder who she was trying to meet at the prison? ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2018, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unsolved-mysteries-and-murders/810443/2 "2018-03-12T19:36:47Z")
Interesting story. Makes you wonder how someone can get murdered/disappear and nobody even notices or can identify them. 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2018, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unsolved-mysteries-and-murders/810443/3 "2018-03-12T19:59:55Z")
[quote=“Princess\_Perfume, post:1, topic:810443”] Unsolved mysteries and murdersQUOTE] Were you looking for suggestions? As a story, D B Cooper takes some beating: > **[D. B. Cooper](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D._B._Cooper)** > > D.B. Cooper is a media epithet for an unidentified man who hijacked Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 305, a Boeing 727 aircraft operated by Northwest Orient Airlines, in United States airspace on November 24, 1971. During the flight from Portland, Oregon, to Seattle, Washington, the hijacker told a flight attendant he was armed with a bomb, demanded $200,000 in ransom (equivalent to $1,338,000 in 2021), and requested four parachutes upon landing in Seattle. After releasing the passengers in Sea... ---
**Author:** ![Princess\_Perfume](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/princess_perfume/32/16518_2.png) [@Princess\_Perfume](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princess_Perfume)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2018, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unsolved-mysteries-and-murders/810443/4 "2018-03-12T20:01:36Z")
[quote=“Treppenwitz, post:3, topic:810443”] > [@Princess\_Perfume](#): > > Unsolved mysteries and murdersQUOTE] > > Were you looking for suggestions? As a story, D B Cooper takes some beating: > > [D. B. Cooper - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D._B._Cooper) I agree with the FBI that Cooper didn’t survive the jump and the money that was found fell from his body. ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2018, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unsolved-mysteries-and-murders/810443/5 "2018-03-12T20:26:09Z")
Ah, we could argue about this for hours. Because it’s such a good story. It’s one off those not-even-half remembered news articles that you come across again and think oh, yeah, that thing… If I knew how to start a thread (newbie here) that would be an interesting one. The news stories from a generation ago that suddenly flood back at a random prompt. Has it been done before? Joyce McKinney isn’t an unsolved mystery but… j ---
**Author:** ![Princess\_Perfume](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/princess_perfume/32/16518_2.png) [@Princess\_Perfume](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princess_Perfume)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2018, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unsolved-mysteries-and-murders/810443/6 "2018-03-12T20:30:53Z")
What do you think of Walker County Jane Doe? Such a gruesome end for someone who was only 14-15. Another case is Michelle Angela Garvey who ran away because she couldn’t cope with her parent’s divorce. LE think Michelle was killed in Texas by a serial killer who took her bra and shoes as souvenirs. ---
**Author:** ![Lamoral](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lamoral/32/16078_2.png) [@Lamoral](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamoral)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2018, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unsolved-mysteries-and-murders/810443/7 "2018-03-12T20:33:10Z")
[The Brabant Killers.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brabant_killers) Just what the fuck happened there exactly? I’ve been following that case on the Unresolved Mysteries reddit for years. With some digging, and the release of recent information regarding a possible suspect, I’ve managed to discern that the Belgian Gendarmerie’s counterterrorist unit “Diane” may have been involved, and that at least one of the members of the gang, Christian Bonkoffsky, was a serving law enforcement officer at the time of the killings. Everything about it is just fucked up beyond belief. ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2018, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unsolved-mysteries-and-murders/810443/8 "2018-03-12T21:00:17Z")
> [@Princess\_Perfume](#): > > What do you think of Walker County Jane Doe? > . Well, I never heard of these cases before your post(s) - different continent and all. Ghastly. Perplexing that she was never reported missing, and wasn’t identified by a prison inmate. Plus I hope that not all interstates are as cluttered with unidentified bodies as I-45. That’s almost the strangest thing about it. j ---
**Author:** ![Princess\_Perfume](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/princess_perfume/32/16518_2.png) [@Princess\_Perfume](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princess_Perfume)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2018, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unsolved-mysteries-and-murders/810443/9 "2018-03-12T21:06:40Z")
The window’s closing for ID’ing Walker County Jane Doe. If she was 15 in 1980, her friends in school would be in their early fifties now and any adults that knew her would be elderly or dead. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2018, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unsolved-mysteries-and-murders/810443/10 "2018-03-12T23:55:21Z")
[Moderating] Since this thread seems to be more about the events, rather than the _Unsolved Mysteries_ TV show, I’ll move it from CS to IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2018, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unsolved-mysteries-and-murders/810443/11 "2018-03-13T00:28:51Z")
According to FBI statistics, about 40% of all known homicides are never cleared by arrest. Which is about 15,000 known homicides still unsolved per year. Another 15,000 adults are listed in missing person reports (not counting a half a million under 21). Plenty of room in there for so many “unsolved murders” that they don’t even make the local papers. ---
**Author:** ![Princess\_Perfume](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/princess_perfume/32/16518_2.png) [@Princess\_Perfume](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princess_Perfume)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2018, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unsolved-mysteries-and-murders/810443/12 "2018-03-13T00:49:24Z")
the Beaumont Children Mystery. The poor parents are still alive… ---
**Author:** ![Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/les_espaces_du_sommeil/32/308_2.png) [@Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Les_Espaces_Du_Sommeil)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2018, 10:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unsolved-mysteries-and-murders/810443/13 "2018-03-13T10:54:06Z")
> [@Jacquernagy](#): > > [The Brabant Killers.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brabant_killers) Just what the fuck happened there exactly? I’ve been following that case on the Unresolved Mysteries reddit for years. With some digging, and the release of recent information regarding a possible suspect, I’ve managed to discern that the Belgian Gendarmerie’s counterterrorist unit “Diane” may have been involved, and that at least one of the members of the gang, Christian Bonkoffsky, was a serving law enforcement officer at the time of the killings. Everything about it is just fucked up beyond belief. Yes, that one is the Loch Ness Monster of recent Belgian history, except that it’s real, and I’ve mentioned it here before. I was a child at the time and I remember my parents telling my grandmother to stop taking me and my brother shopping with her as she’d done for years. There really was a palpable atmosphere of paranoia and fear at the time. Heck, after all this time, I still find myself thinking about it occasionally when I’m at a supermarket. Among the most puzzling (and heart-breaking) elements: - The loot was almost always small compared to the violence used (torture and kill a restaurant manager for some coffee and wine ? Kill eight bystanders in two separate attacks an the same day for a few thousand dollars ?) - The violence itself. Completely indiscriminate : people fleeing? Shot in the back. Children in the parking lot or on the floor? Shot. - The behaviour of the killers, decribed by various witnesses as methodical and professional, their skills with firearms (they shot to kill, not at random) and cars (evading capture several times by using excellent but unusual escape routes), suggesting serious training and/or experience. The identity of “the Giant” may indeed have been [discovered](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/oct/24/deathbed-confession-may-crack-case-of-the-crazy-brabant-killers-belgian-gang) but there have been so many false leads and “it’s all going to be solved real soon” news stories in the past 35 years that I don’t hold much hope. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2018, 11:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unsolved-mysteries-and-murders/810443/14 "2018-03-13T11:05:43Z")
some missing adults don’t want to be found. We had a local NC guy like that , just left home one day. A few years later a guy spotted him on the gulf coast. After that he came back to town and got divorced and then headed back to the gulf area. ---
**Author:** ![Steken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@Steken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steken)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2018, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unsolved-mysteries-and-murders/810443/15 "2018-03-13T11:33:27Z")
The Brabant Killers is definitely way up there. Scary as fuck. My personal favourite is [the Somerton Man](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamam_Shud_case), though. You can spend hours - nay, _days_ - on that one. Creepy, yes, but strangely, poetically compelling rather than horrific. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2018, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unsolved-mysteries-and-murders/810443/16 "2018-03-13T12:23:43Z")
There’s been [a conviction](http://www.richmond.com/news/local/crime/judge-sentences-ex-midlothian-doctor-to-years-in-murder-of/article_8b542e16-1230-52e0-8132-e958f2cebdba.html) in the disappearance of a nurse in Virginia (her doctor boyfriend was found guilty in her murder) even though the body never turned up. Prosecutors think that has something to do with [the 23 bottles of drain cleaner and 7 boxes of muriatic acid he bought](http://www.richmond.com/news/local/central-virginia/chesterfield-jurors-weigh-testimony-of-unusual-purchases-odd-computer-searches/article_982c56a6-8efb-5a84-84ea-bc2de98e01f7.html). ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2018, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unsolved-mysteries-and-murders/810443/17 "2018-03-13T13:48:45Z")
[The Hall-Mills Murders](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hall%E2%80%93Mills_murder_case). Still unsolved, but it was the “crime of the century” back in the 20s. The trial would make a great movie (the Pig Woman testifying in a hospital bed in the courtroom dying of cancer, Willie testifying), though the fact it didn’t resolve makes it difficult to come up with a ending. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2018, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unsolved-mysteries-and-murders/810443/18 "2018-03-13T14:08:12Z")
I have a few of these: The Tylenol Murders. Back in the 80s someone filled Tylenol pills with cyanide. No one was ever arrested. It is looked at as a a good example of how a company should handle horrible news and also the reason you have a hard time opening pill bottles. [The Long Island Serial Killer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_Island_serial_killer). I read a good book about this that focused on the victims (all sex workers) and about how we devalue victims who are sex workers when they are people who deserve better. [Elisa Lam](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Elisa_Lam). This one is just weird and creepy. [Tamam Shud](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamam_Shud_case). Another weird one. I don’t remember the specifics but the one where two guys were found dead in the middle of a field with lead lined suits on for seemingly no reason. ---
**Author:** ![Steken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@Steken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steken)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2018, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unsolved-mysteries-and-murders/810443/19 "2018-03-13T14:34:23Z")
> [@Quimby](#): > > I don’t remember the specifics but the one where two guys were found dead in the middle of a field with lead lined suits on for seemingly no reason. [Masks, not suits](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lead_Masks_Case). ---
**Author:** ![xizor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xizor/32/102_2.png) [@xizor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xizor)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2018, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unsolved-mysteries-and-murders/810443/20 "2018-03-13T14:53:17Z")
> [@Quimby;20842001\[Elisa Lam](#): > > ([Death of Elisa Lam - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Elisa_Lam)). This one is just weird and creepy. Just the history of that [hotel](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_deaths_and_violence_at_the_Cecil_Hotel) is enough to give one the creeps. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unsolved-mysteries-and-murders/810443.md?page=2)