these murders have bamboozled police to
this day
welcome to watch mojo and today we're
counting down our picks for the top
20 unsolved murder mysteries for this
list
we're looking at the most high profile
and mysterious unsolved murders
number 20. ken rex mcelroy ken rex
mcelroy was by no means the nicest man
in fact this town bully from skidmore
missouri was indicted 21 times in his
life
including for arson and assault in 1980
he shot and injured 70 year old grocer
ernest bowen camp
but was able to appeal the conviction he
immediately went back and threatened to
kill bowen camp
but he never got the chance on july 10
1981
while sitting in his pickup truck with
his wife mcelroy was shot
twice from two different guns a crowd of
up to 46 people looked on
no one called an ambulance and everyone
except his wife claimed to have not seen
the shooters
in the end no one was charged number 19
the lake bottom murders our next entry
is like something out of a horror movie
on june 5th 1960 two teenage couples
were camping near finland's lake bottom
three of them were stabbed and
bludgeoned to death while the fourth
niels wilhelm gustafsson was injured
there were
several suspects including kiosk keeper
carl valdemar gilstrom
said to have cut down tents in the past
and he drowned himself in the lake in
1969
another was a man named hans osman who
turned up in a hospital the next day
with bloody clothes
in 2004 police arrested the survivor
gustafson but he was later acquitted
the case fascinates finns to this day
and finnish heavy metal band children of
bodum named themselves after the mystery
number 18 the lizzie borden axe murders
on the morning of august 4th 1892 lizzie
borden discovered that both her parents
had been murdered
both her father and stepmother had been
repeatedly struck in the head with a
sharp instrument
lizzie became the prime suspect after
providing police with contradictory
accounts
a few days after the murders she was
even witnessed burning a dress in the
kitchen stove
she was arrested and tried in a
sensational landmark trial
but was acquitted due to circumstantial
evidence others suspected of the murder
include lizzie's sister emma
and her maternal uncle john morse who
had slept in the house the night before
number 17 the boy in the box in 1957 a
boy was found naked lying face up inside
a cardboard box in the woods near
philadelphia
he'd been wrapped in a blanket and his
arms were folded across his stomach
investigators determined that he was
four to five years old
and had been killed by several blows to
the head his entire body was covered in
bruises
a woman with a history of mental illness
came forward and claimed that her mother
had bought the boy from his parents and
abused him for years
however police couldn't confirm her tale
and neither the boy nor the murderer was
ever identified
number 16 the mad butcher of kingsbury
run
also known as the cleveland torso
murderer this serial killer murdered at
least 12 people in the cleveland area in
the 1930s
there were also other possible victims
in the 20s 40s and 50s
almost all were beheaded and dismembered
with several never
identified because their heads were
never found and because many were
drifters or
members of the working poor although the
case was reviewed by elliot ness the man
who put al capone behind bars
no suspects were ever charged some
theories have even claimed that there
was no single butcher but rather several
different
individual murderers number 15 bob crane
when hogan's hero star bob crane was
found bludgeoned to death in his arizona
home in 1978
suspicion immediately turned to his
friend john henry carpenter
a video equipment salesman crane's
extensive home video collection showed
that the two were rather close
filming their sex capades with various
women together he was like a mad
scientist
who dealt in photographs of women
carpenter had been with him the night
before and according to crane's son
crane had planned to end their
friendship there were even stains on
carpenter's car door that matched
crane's blood type
however insufficient evidence meant that
carpenter was let go
the case was reopened in 1990 and
carpenter went to trial four years later
but was acquitted number 14
the west mesa bone collector as a woman
walked her dog in the west mesa of
albuquerque new mexico on february 2nd
2009
she stumbled across this awful find the
remains of 11 women
and a fetus which had been buried in the
bank of an arroyo many of these women
were hispanic
and most were caught up in drugs and
prostitution at the time of their
disappearances
three to six years earlier police linked
these serial murders with the area's
yearly state fair which drew prostitutes
to the area in large numbers
but the crimes remain unsolved but the
families aren't the only ones frustrated
this was one of the most horrific crimes
in the history of our city
and there's been no resolution to what
has happened here they are suspected to
have been the work of a serial killer
number 13 the chicago tylenol murders
chicago was gripped with fear in late
1982
when seven locals died after taking
tylenol capsules that had been laced
with cyanide
oh we've been receiving calls uh about
once every 15 seconds
a man named james william lewis wrote to
johnson johnson saying that he was
behind them
and would stop for one million dollars
but since he was in new york the whole
time
he was only charged with extortion
johnson johnson was applauded for its
response
and tamper-proof seals became common
practice when copycat crimes occurred
afterwards
a nationwide search is underway today to
find a man and a woman wanted for
questioning in the tylenol murders
however even with the support of the
government and a huge corporation
the person who really masterminded the
poisonings was never found
number 12 the highway of tears the
highway of tears is a 450 mile long
stretch of road
between prince george and prince rupert
in british columbia canada
from 1969 to 2011 at least 18 women were
murdered along this highway
although it is estimated that the real
number may be in the dozens
and they're still investigating but if
there's no leads then it's
pretty much not a priority so it's
disheartening to the families
many of them were in their teens a
disproportionate number of them were
indigenous
a fact that has led some critics to
accuse the investigating police
of racism although a few victims have
been linked to a convicted serial killer
named bobby jack fowler
there's still no explanation for the
other murders hitting a dead end
the case is seemingly erode to nowhere
number 11 the alphabet murders also
known as the double initial murders
the alphabet murders transpired in new
york state during the early 1970s
there were three victims aged 10 or 11.
carmen colon
wanda walkowitz and michelle mienza each
girl was sexually assaulted before being
strangled
and was found in a town starting with
the same initial as their names
cologne in churchville walkowicz and
webster and mienza in macedon
and strangely each girl came from
similar backgrounds they all had
learning disabilities
were roman catholic and came from
single-parent homes
this case was later connected to a
series of similar murders in california
for which joseph naso was convicted and
sentenced to death
but his dna didn't match the samples
found on the victims
number 10 amber hagerman while the amber
in amber alert does stand for america's
missing broadcast emergency response
it was actually originally named for
amber hagerman the nine-year-old was
abducted while riding her bike in
arlington texas on january
13 1996 just four days later
her body was discovered in a storm
drainage ditch and
her killer still hasn't been found the
outcry in response to this tragedy led
to tougher laws for child abductors and
sex offenders
with bill clinton signing the amber
hagerman child protection act into law
which created the national sex offender
registry and amber
desperately needs justice number nine
the hinter kaific murders
this farmstead in germany was home to
one of the country's strangest murder
mysteries
on march 31 1922 the family living at
hinter kifak was murdered
along with their maid the crime scene
suggested that four of the six had been
led to the barn and killed one by one
among the victims were seven-year-old
cecilia gruber and her two-year-old
brother joseph
just days before the massacre their
grandfather andreas gruber discovered
footprints in the snow leading to the
farm
but none leading back away although
police questioned over 100 suspects
nobody was ever convicted number eight
tupac and the notorious b.i.g
a fierce rivalry between east coast and
west coast rappers led to two of their
biggest stars being gunned down
on september 7th 1996 tupac was shot
four times at a red light on a las vegas
street after leaving a mike tyson boxing
match with death row record ceo suge
knight
the prime suspect was orlando anderson a
member of the south side crips
months later biggie was also shot four
times at a red light
while traveling in los angeles it's been
theorized that knight had biggie killed
in revenge for tupac's murder
however thanks to inconclusive leads and
uncooperative witnesses
no one was ever charged for either
number 7.
jimmy hoffa a union activist since his
teens
jimmy hoffa became the president of the
international brotherhood of teamsters
in 1958
his role with the teamsters led him to
organized crime however
and he was even sentenced to prison for
jury tampering and fraud
this connection may have led to his
subsequent disappearance
hoffa was last seen in the parking lot
of the maxis's red fox restaurant on
july 30th
1975. hoffa had allegedly been there to
meet with two members of the mafia
he was officially declared dead in 1982
and his body has yet to be found
although there is no shortage of rumors
as to the circumstances surrounding his
death
number six the axeman of new orleans
between 1918 and 1919
a serial killer simply known as the
axeman terrorized new orleans
the axe-man is believed to have murdered
eight people although
it is speculated there were several more
victims almost
all the confirmed victims were italian
americans and killed with an axe
on march 13th 1919 a person claiming to
be the axeman had a letter published in
the newspaper
claiming he or she was not human but
rather quote
a demon from the hottest hell the
murders suddenly stopped shortly
thereafter
and the axeman's identity was never
discovered he
or she was apparently a jazz fan and
promised to spare anyone whose home had
a jazz band
in full swing number 5. jonbenet ramsay
in the late 90s this murder gripped the
nation and gave rise to numerous
theories
six-year-old beauty queen jonbenet
ramsay was found dead in the basement of
her colorado home on the day after
christmas
her skull was broken and she'd been
strangled with a garat
that morning her mother patsy had
discovered a ransom note and contacted
police
due to the unusual details in the note
patsy and her husband john immediately
came under suspicion and then
for someone to accuse you it's just you
can't believe
that that would happen the book says
that parents always did it
however forensic evidence cleared them
of involvement criticism has since
focused on shoddy police work at the
scene
in 2006 elementary school teacher john
mark carr claimed to have killed her
but the dna found on jumbine's body was
not a match
number four the long island serial
killer a present day jack the ripper
this unidentified serial killer is said
to have murdered at least 10 people
and dumped them along long island's
ocean parkway the victims include eight
women
a man and a toddler with the earliest
killed in 1997.
some were wrapped up inside burlap sacks
three
remain unidentified their remains were
discovered in 2010 and 2011.
often choosing people who advertise
themselves as sex workers on craigslist
the so-called gilgo killer has remained
nameless since the first victim surfaced
it's been speculated that the killer may
have had some knowledge of law
enforcement
and how to best evade capture number 3.
the black dahlia perhaps the most
striking detail about 22 year old
elizabeth short's gruesome murder in
1947
was that her mouth was slashed at either
edge giving the false impression of a
wide smile
her body was found naked and cut in half
at the waist in a vacant lot in lemert
park los angeles
coverage was sensational and even shamed
short for her relationships with men
she became known as the black dahlia and
her unsolved murder sparked theories
books and films in the years after her
death although police identified more
than 150 suspects
the perpetrator was never found number
two
the zodiac killer the zodiac killer
began taunting authorities in the late
1960s when a string of similarly
murdered victims surfaced in northern
california
he sent letters and cryptic puzzles to
police and media
naming himself zodiac and daring them to
catch him
while he's known to have killed at least
five people he claimed to be responsible
for the murder of up to 37
his letters included four cryptograms
once solved
one stated that he was collecting slaves
for the afterlife the others remain
unsolved while there were several
suspects and even a hollywood movie
the zodiac killer's identity still
remains a mystery
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number 1. jack the ripper the murder of
five prostitutes in london's white
chapel district in 1888
has become one of the most infamous
unsolved crime mysteries in history
the victims were found with their
throats slashed and their abdomens
mangled
three had internal organs removed this
led to the belief that the killer may
have been well educated or even a
surgeon
several later murders in white chapel
were also blamed on the same perpetrator
at the time the media and authorities
received a barrage of letters that
claimed to be from the killer
the nickname jack the ripper came from
one another came with half a human
kidney
the case received intense media scrutiny
but was never solved
and it continues to spawn new theories
even today
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