# What famous cases are still open? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 7, 2005, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-cases-are-still-open/329951 "2005-11-07T19:50:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2005, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-cases-are-still-open/329951/1 "2005-11-07T19:50:57Z")
For example, has Judge Crater ever been found? Or D.B. Cooper or the Black Dahlia’s killer? I’m sure that there are hobbyist detectives working on all sorts of mysteries. I’m just curious which are still unsolved. ---
**Author:** ![Skipper\_Too](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6de8d8/32.png) [@Skipper\_Too](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skipper_Too)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2005, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-cases-are-still-open/329951/2 "2005-11-07T19:57:17Z")
> [@Love Rhombus](#): > > For example, has Judge Crater ever been found? Or D.B. Cooper or the Black Dahlia’s killer? > > I’m sure that there are hobbyist detectives working on all sorts of mysteries. I’m just curious which are still unsolved. If you ask O.J. the killer of Nicole is still unknown. And it is Dan Cooper, D.B. was an man in the Portland Or. area that the news media latched on to and the Intials stuck. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2005, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-cases-are-still-open/329951/3 "2005-11-07T20:05:07Z")
You haven’t been spending enough time in MPSIMS: [Judge Crater “Found!” Sort Of!](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=330920&) Every month someone comes out with a new possible identity for Jack the Ripper. You might want to also consider that many officially “closed” cases are thought by many not to have convicted the real guilty party. The Lindbergh baby kidnapping, for instance. (I’d mention the Kennedy and King assassinations, but that would be opening a real can of worms.) ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2005, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-cases-are-still-open/329951/4 "2005-11-07T20:05:44Z")
> [@Skipper Too](#): > > If you ask O.J. the killer of Nicole is still unknown. But never fear - he’s hard at work tracking down the real murderer. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2005, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-cases-are-still-open/329951/5 "2005-11-07T20:23:52Z")
Maybe it’s the same guy who killed Robert Blake’s wife. ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2005, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-cases-are-still-open/329951/6 "2005-11-07T20:25:06Z")
Or the guy who molested those kids at the Neverland Ranch. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2005, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-cases-are-still-open/329951/7 "2005-11-07T20:33:01Z")
What about Lizze Borden? (Is it Borden or Gorden, my head is hurting and I’m blanking). Still don’t know who killed her parents. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2005, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-cases-are-still-open/329951/8 "2005-11-07T20:34:37Z")
Wouldn’t it be wild if there really _were_ some sort of celebrity-wife serial killer in SoCal? Not that I think so, mind you, but the irony would be pretty heavy. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2005, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-cases-are-still-open/329951/9 "2005-11-07T20:54:18Z")
[Crimelibrary](http://www.crimelibrary.com/serial_killers/unsolved/index.html) is a great place to get all your unsolved celebrity slasher info. It does miss out on odd unsolved cases like the [1957 Boy in a Box](http://www.courttv.com/news/hiddentraces/boyinthebox/boyinthebox_page1.html) murder. ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2005, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-cases-are-still-open/329951/10 "2005-11-07T21:18:41Z")
Did they ever close the case on the Kingsbury run murders back in the 1930’s? ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2005, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-cases-are-still-open/329951/11 "2005-11-07T21:29:49Z")
The [Kingsbury Run Butcher](http://www.crimelibrary.com/serial_killers/unsolved/kingsbury/index_1.html) case is another usolved mystery. The police managed to beat a cofession out of an alcoholic, but his cofession was obviously coached and the evidence the police turned out to crudely faked. ---
**Author:** ![ioioio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ioioio/32/316_2.png) [@ioioio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ioioio)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2005, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-cases-are-still-open/329951/12 "2005-11-07T22:10:16Z")
The anthrax killer has never been found, nor has the [Tylenol killer,](http://www.personal.psu.edu/users/w/x/wxk116/tylenol/) whom we can thank for all our impossible-to-unwrap products. ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2005, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-cases-are-still-open/329951/13 "2005-11-07T22:48:44Z")
[Donald Eugene Webb](http://www.fbi.gov/mostwant/topten/fugitives/webb.htm) is _still_ on the FBI’s Top Ten Most Wanted list, twenty-four years later. ---
**Author:** ![Plynck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Plynck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Plynck)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2005, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-cases-are-still-open/329951/14 "2005-11-07T22:57:49Z")
[The Black Dahlia murder](http://www.crimelibrary.com/notorious_murders/famous/dahlia/index_1.html) is still open. Although I watched a show recently that claimed to have solved the case. Damn, I was also going to link to the Cleveland Torso murders. I had no idea that they were the same as the Kingsbury Run Butcher. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2005, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-cases-are-still-open/329951/15 "2005-11-07T23:01:27Z")
Jimmy Hoffa’s disappearance and final resting place(s) remains unsolved. Who killed Sam Shepard’s wife remains unsolved (there is conflicting information about a supposed deathbed confession from a convict). The West Memphis Three case is officially closed but there is no shortage of people who question the verdict. Is Thelma Todd’s death solved? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2005, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-cases-are-still-open/329951/16 "2005-11-08T02:21:55Z")
The [Zodiac killer](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zodiac_killer) was never identified. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2005, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-cases-are-still-open/329951/17 "2005-11-08T02:27:02Z")
[Chandra Levy’s](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chandra_Levy) killer was never identified, although a person who was believed to have possibly been the killer was convicted for other similar crimes. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2005, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-cases-are-still-open/329951/18 "2005-11-08T02:31:18Z")
A whole bunch of [unsolved murders](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Unsolved_murders) here. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2005, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-cases-are-still-open/329951/19 "2005-11-08T05:11:29Z")
There was a program on either The Hitler Channel or Discovery Channel (yeah, I know, **not** the best source at all), where they stated that the fellow commonly referred to as DB Cooper was most likely caught within a few years. It seems there was a nearly _identical_ hijacking some time after “Cooper” pulled his. The FBI in their efforts to track down the second hijacker (IIRC a National Gaurdsman from Utah), realized that it _had_ to be the same guy. They managed to nab him, but I can’t recall why it was that he wasn’t charged with both crimes. I’m **thinking** that the guy died before the case could go to trial, but I could be mistaken on that. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2005, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-cases-are-still-open/329951/20 "2005-11-08T05:15:14Z")
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