# What is the most fascinating unsolved murder and why? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 18, 2001, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-fascinating-unsolved-murder-and-why/76913 "2001-08-18T17:15:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2001, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-fascinating-unsolved-murder-and-why/76913/61 "2001-09-04T07:27:20Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Ben \* > **…apparently some daycare providers were convicted of Satanically abusing children with killer robots and ball lightning and other such nonsense.** Are you talking about the McMartin daycare case, circa 1983-4? If so, I heard, and it’s probably true, that the woman who first filed charges was a complete loon, and accused the daycare providers of doing things that were physically impossible to do, and also impossible to do without other kids’ parents realizing something was way wrong. * * * I think it’s most likely that Oswald was aiming at Connaly. ---
**Author:** ![buddy1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6a8cbe/32.png) [@buddy1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddy1)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2001, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-fascinating-unsolved-murder-and-why/76913/62 "2001-09-04T12:18:06Z")
-Vince Foster: people are still wondering how he managed to shoot himself in the head, then drive to the park where his body was found! -Ron Brown: he was about to spill the beans-he allegedly died in a plane crash, but wound up with two in the hat! -The two lads in Mena , Arkansas, who smoked too much marijuana (and laid down with their necks across the railroad tracks ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2001, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-fascinating-unsolved-murder-and-why/76913/63 "2001-09-04T13:00:25Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by buddy1 \* > \*\* > -Ron Brown: he was about to spill the beans-he allegedly died in a plane crash, but wound up with two in the hat! > \*\* You realize that you just got your name put on a list, right? ---
**Author:** ![APB9999](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e8cbc/32.png) [@APB9999](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/APB9999)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2001, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-fascinating-unsolved-murder-and-why/76913/64 "2001-09-05T02:55:44Z")
Napoleon Bonaparte: stomach cancer? Arsenic? Marilyn Monroe (hard to believe no one’s mentioned her yet) The Roanoke colony The Octavia’s crew Trotsky Hoffa ---
**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:** [September 5, 2001, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-fascinating-unsolved-murder-and-why/76913/65 "2001-09-05T04:52:21Z")
I’d pick Jack the Ripper as the most famous, but one that hasn’t been mentioned yet is Sacco and Venzetti. I still read accounts of this case in which experts claim to have reviewed all the evidence in an unbiased manner and determined the truth. Unfortunately, the revealed truths seem to be evenly divided on whether they were guilty or innocent (or maybe one of each). ---
**Author:** ![Heath\_Doolin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Heath\_Doolin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heath_Doolin)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2001, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-fascinating-unsolved-murder-and-why/76913/66 "2001-09-05T07:15:15Z")
I got to go with the Roanoke one…though no one has actually said murder. I mean you have a colony of people just disappear like that, no bodies, no signs of war, nothing. And everyone just going poof in a winter? Strange The Black Dahlia was interesting in its own right, I mean a neatly severed woman found in a vacant lot, not a speck of blood on her or around her? Oh and the Calvi case is of high high regard to conspiracy theorists and a meaty mystery. I am amazed that not a lot of people who love a good whodunnit have yet to hear of it. Hell it practically implicates the Church for murder and invokes secret societies and the like. ---
**Author:** ![warmgun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ecccb3/32.png) [@warmgun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/warmgun)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2001, 8:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-fascinating-unsolved-murder-and-why/76913/67 "2001-09-05T08:01:29Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ThisYearsGirl \* > \*\*But the most awesome unsolved crime of all time, just for its bizarreness, and celebrity, and its pure “damn-the-man-ness”–D.B. Cooper. \*\* This case was solved most convincingly by the agent assigned to the case. He wrote a small book on the subject. Sorry, I don’t remember his name or the book title but I found it at the local library. If you can track it down with this sketchy info it’s a very interesting read. People just hate to see a good mystery die. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2001, 8:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-fascinating-unsolved-murder-and-why/76913/68 "2001-09-05T08:07:43Z")
Interesting screen name! Do you know something we don’t? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Sparteye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Sparteye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sparteye)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2001, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-fascinating-unsolved-murder-and-why/76913/69 "2001-09-06T00:47:12Z")
You’ve named a lot of good ones, but Lizzie Borden fascinates me. ---
**Author:** ![Paksennarion8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c67d28/32.png) [@Paksennarion8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paksennarion8)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2001, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-fascinating-unsolved-murder-and-why/76913/70 "2001-09-10T20:47:10Z")
Definitely the Black Dahlia. Zodiac Killer a close second. Also, there is the Green River serial killer, in Washington state, I think, still unsolved. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2001, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-fascinating-unsolved-murder-and-why/76913/71 "2001-09-10T21:06:42Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by hardygrrl \* > **The Black Dahlia.** That’s the one I was specifically thinking of when I read the thread title. I remember reading about that case way back when I first found _The Book of Lists_. It’s stuck with me this long – probably because it seems like something right out of film noir. > [@](#): > > \*\* > … And IMHO, the murder of Kurt Cobain. Yes, I know the police ruled it a suicide. However, he managed to shoot himself with a triple overdose of heroin in his bloodstream and not leave any fingerprints on the gun or bullets. There were two (according to handwriting experts) different types of writing on the note-Kurt’s and somebody else’s. The part of the letter in Kurt’s handwriting sounds like a retirement letter. The other parts are more in the style of a suicide note. > > Feel free to flame me but I believe he was murdered. \*\* I’m not about to flame you for this. In fact if I were to ask you for a cite, it would be out of my own curiosity, not any doubt shed upon you. So … cite? ---
**Author:** ![tygre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c4cdca/32.png) [@tygre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tygre)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2001, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-fascinating-unsolved-murder-and-why/76913/72 "2001-09-10T21:12:55Z")
Try this link: [http://www.cobaincase.com](http://www.cobaincase.com) ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2001, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-fascinating-unsolved-murder-and-why/76913/73 "2001-09-10T21:31:12Z")
Don’t know if this really qualifies as a murder or not, but what about the [Mary Celeste](http://www.occultopedia.com/m/mary_celeste.htm)? ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2001, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-fascinating-unsolved-murder-and-why/76913/74 "2001-09-10T21:49:27Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by APB9999 \* > \*\*Napoleon Bonaparte: stomach cancer? Arsenic? > \*\* I _just_ read about this _somewhere_. The house he was imprisoned in had arsenic in the wallpaper - there’s a theory that prolonged exposure (I think it slowly leeched into the air) poisoned him. > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by APB9999 \* > \*\* > The Roanoke colony > \*\* Is there _really_ much mystery about what happened there? The word “Croatoan” was etched into a tree… ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2001, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-fascinating-unsolved-murder-and-why/76913/75 "2001-09-10T21:53:45Z")
How about King Ludwig II of Bavaria? [Murder or Suicide](http://www.friendsofeurope.com/Articles/Holmes.htm)? ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2001, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-fascinating-unsolved-murder-and-why/76913/76 "2001-09-10T21:54:50Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by bup \* > \*\*Napoleon Bonaparte: stomach cancer? Arsenic? > I _just_ read about this _somewhere_. \*\* Here: [http://www.grand-illusions.com/napoleon/napol1.htm](http://www.grand-illusions.com/napoleon/napol1.htm) I think it was a quiz question at the “Whaddya Know?” site a month or so back… ---
**Author:** ![sorrel554](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/91b2a8/32.png) [@sorrel554](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sorrel554)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2001, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-fascinating-unsolved-murder-and-why/76913/77 "2001-09-10T22:29:42Z")
I just finished an interesting book on this topic, called **The Cases That Haunt Us** , by John Douglas and Mark Olshaker. Douglas is the former FBI profiler whom you often see on TV discussing high-profile cases. This book has chapters on Jack the Ripper, Lizzie Borden, the Lindbergh kidnapping, the Zodiac, the Black Dahlia, JonBenet and several others. Douglas kind of breaks down all the available evidence to analyze which suspects/theories are plausible and which aren’t. ---
**Author:** ![Ariadne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/71c47a/32.png) [@Ariadne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ariadne)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2001, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-fascinating-unsolved-murder-and-why/76913/78 "2001-09-11T03:42:12Z")
Apb9999, what was Octavia’s crew? I tried to look it up on Google, but just got a lot of pages about rowing teams and Roman history. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-fascinating-unsolved-murder-and-why/76913.md?page=3)