From plots of corrupt cops to revenge slayings, we look at 8 unsolved mysteries of murdered
families.
8.
The Jamison Family • In 2013, four years after the Jamisons
were reported missing, their remains were discovered in the Oklahoma mountains.
Sherilynn, Bobby and their daughter Madyson’s bodies were just 3 miles from where their
truck was found shortly after their disappearance.
• Inside their truck was $32,000 dollars.
They’d told their pastor that their house was haunted by evil spirits and that Bobby
had been possessed by these spirits.
It’s been suggested that the family were engaged in witchcraft that went horribly wrong.
The large amount of cash they had led police to suspect they were killed in a drug deal
gone wrong.
• But Sherilynn’s mother believes that they saw something they shouldn’t have in
the mountains and were murdered as a result.
Unfortunately the remains of the Jamisons were too badly decimated to even find a cause
of death.
7.
The Walker Family • In 1959 Florida, a couple and their two
children were murdered in their home.
• Police believe that Christine Walker knew her attacker or was at least friendly with
him.
The Walkers were trying to sell their car so it’s been suggested that the perp approached
Christine pretending to be a potential buyer.
She was sexually assaulted and then shot twice.
When the rest of the family returned home the perp shot Mr. Walker and his two children.
• Murderous duo Perry Smith and Richard Hitchcock committed a remarkably similar crime
just 34 days before this.
They were suspected of the killings but passed polygraph tests, so were ruled out.
It’s later been shown that polygraph tests in the 1960s were incredibly inaccurate.
6.
The Sodder Children • On Christmas eve 1945 the Sodder family
home burnt to the ground in a suspicious fire.
• Five of the Sodder children were missing and none of their remains were found.
Despite an inquest stating that the children died in the fire, the Sodders were convinced
that the fire was lit to cover up the abduction of the children.
In 1968 the family received a photograph of a young man bearing the striking resemblance
of their son, Louis.
The Sodders hired an investigator to look into it but he mysteriously disappeared and
was never heard from again.
• The family suspected that the Sicilian mafia was responsible.
Others have speculated that the children were sold and sent to Italy.
Unfortunately both George and Jennie Sodder passed away before anybody could find out.
Their youngest daughter Sylvia continues to seek answers about whether her siblings did
perish that day or if they were abducted.
5.
The Gruber Family • In 1922 just outside of Munich 5 members
of the Gruber family and their maid were brutally murdered.
• Days before the murders, Andreas Gruber told neighbours there were footsteps in the
snow leading to his house, but none leaving and that the family had heard footsteps in
the attic.
Their maid had quit six months prior, saying that the place was haunted.
• Police believe that the elderly Mr. and Mrs. Gruber, their daughter and granddaughter
were lured to the barn one by one.
They were the brutally killed with a pickaxe.
Then the killer entered the house, killing the replacement maid and the Gruber’s grandson.
After the murders the killer stayed in the victim’s house, feeding their cattle and
eating their food.
After years of speculation and questioning, police were never able to solve this mystery.
4.
The Bordens • Many people assume Lizzie Borden killed
her stepmother and father, like the nursery rhyme says.
But the jury took only 90 minutes to acquit her of all of the charges against her.
• On August 4th, 1892 the bloodied bodies of Andrew and Abby Borden were discovered.
Andrew was a rich man but not a popular one.
He was known to be a huge tight wad and quite a few people had reasons to want him dead.
Police suspected Lizzie because immediately after the murders her story slightly changed.
But in hindsight, it makes sense that the trauma of finding your father’s corpse,
would leave you pretty shaken.
• Some speculate that Andrew’s illegitimate son was seeking to extort money from his father.
Or that Andrew’s ex-brother in law committed the murders, who was visiting when the murders
occurred.
Or maybe Murderess Lizzie conned a jury into thinking she wasn’t the killing type.
I guess we’ll never know.
3.
The Sharps • This quadruple homicide occurred in 1981
the small town of Keddie, California.
• The bodies of Sue Sharp, her son Johnny and his friend Dana were discovered the morning
after the murders occurred.
All three of them were bound with electrical tape and bludgeoned with a hammer, then stabbed.
The perpetrator then kidnapped Sue’s daughter Tina and her skeletal remains were found 3
years later.
Three boys in a back bedroom were luckily left unharmed.
• This story is a pretty tangled web that nobody’s been able to unravel.
The county had a notoriously corrupt police department.
The main suspect, a neighbor of Sue’s, was allowed to skip town shortly after the murders.
He was close friends with the local sheriff and had ties to organized crime.
The other suspects are an array of child molesters, drugs dealers and corrupt cops.
Three decades have passed and there’s been no justice for the Sharp murders.
2.
The Moore Family • In 1912, the Moore family and two houseguests
were brutally slain with an axe.
• The murders occurred on a farm in Villisca, Iowa.
Two adults and six children were killed as they slept.
The windows were covered with sheets to stop any passerby from looking in.
Police found cigarette butts in the attic, which suggested that the killer waited patiently
for the household to go to bed.
• There were a number of disturbed individuals suspected of the murders, one which actually
confessed but later recanted his confession.
He was acquitted of the murders in two separate trials.
There was even a traveling minister suspected.
Unfortunately these leads led the police no closer to an answer.
1.
The Robison Family • In 1968, while vacationing at Lake Michigan,
Richard Robison, his wife and their four children were shot and killed.
• The bodies of the Robison family weren’t discovered for 27 days, which meant that they
were badly decomposed.
The prime suspect was an embezzling employee from Richard’s business.
Despite failing two polygraph tests, Joe Scolero wasn’t charged because of a lack of evidence
against him.
• When the case was being looked into again five years later, their prime suspect, Joe
Scolero caught wind of this and killed himself.
It’s been suggested that Scolero was involved in other illegal activities he didn’t want
brought to light, but his suicide prevented this mystery from ever being solved