List of unsolved murders and deaths

This list of unsolved murders and deaths covers notable cases where people have been murdered or have died under unsolved circumstances, including murders committed by unknown serial killers. People are listed chronologically by year (For serial killer cases which span multiple years, the entries are listed under the year the first murder took place).= Unsolved murders =

1800-1899

* Thomas C. Hindman, American politician assassinated by one or more unknown assailants on September 27 1868, who fired through his parlor window while he was reading his newspaper with his children in Helena, Arkansas, United States. [cite news |title=HINDMAN, Thomas Carmichael | url =http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=H000628 | work =Biographical Directory of the United States Congress | accessdate = 2008-10-06 ]
* John M. Clayton, American politician, shot and killed instantly by an unknown assailant on the evening of 29 January 1889 in Plumerville, Arkansas after starting an investigation into the possible fraud of an election he took part in. After his death he was declared the winner of the election but his assassin was never found. [cite news |title=John Middleton Clayton (1840–1889) | url =http://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/entry-detail.aspx?entryID=1620 | work =Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture | accessdate = 2008-10-06 ]
*Andrew Jackson Borden and Abby Durfee Borden, father and step-mother of Lizzie Borden, both killed in their family house in Fall River, Massachusetts on the morning of August 4 1892, by blows from a hatchet, which in the case of Andrew Borden, not only crushed his skull but cleanly split his left eyeball. Lizzy was later charged and arrested for the murders as she and a maid were the only ones in the house at the time of the killings. However she was acquitted by a jury and the case remains unsolved. [cite news | title= The Trial of Lizzie Borden | url =http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/LizzieBorden/bordenhome.html | work =University of Missouri–Kansas City School of Law | accessdate = 2008-10-06 ]

1900-1924

* William Goebel, American politician who was shot and mortally wounded on the morning of January 30, 1900 by an unknown assailant in Frankfort, Kentucky one day before being sworn in as Governor of Kentucky. The next day the dying Goebel was sworn in and despite 18 physicians attending him, died the afternoon of February 3, 1900. Goebel remains the only state governor in the United States to be assassinated while in office. [cite book |editor=Kleber, John E. |others=Associate editors: Thomas D. Clark, Lowell H. Harrison, and James C. Klotter |title="The Kentucky Encyclopedia" |year=1992 |publisher=The University Press of Kentucky |location=Lexington, Kentucky |isbn=0813117720 |chapter=Goebel Assassination]

* Rose Harsent, a 6 month pregnant maid who was stabbed to death on 1 June 1902 in Suffolk, England by an unknown assailant. At the time it was alleged that the murderer was a preacher of the Primitive Methodist Chapel named William Gardiner who was having an affair with the victim. The case has been investigated in BBC 1's "Julian Fellowes Investigates" [cite book | last = Fellowes | first = Julian | authorlink = Julian Fellowes | coauthors = Tina Pepler | title = A Most Mysterious Murder | publisher = RDF Media, Touchpaper Television for BBC | date = 2006 | isbn = 156938827X ]

* William Desmond Taylor, popular American actor and director of silent movies from Los Angeles, United States. Killed by a shot in the back on February 1, 1922 inside his bungalow. His murder, along with other Hollywood scandals such as the Roscoe Arbuckle trial, led to a frenzy of sensationalistic and often fabricated newspaper reports. [cite news | title=Taylorology | url =http://www.literateweb.com/taylor/index.htm | work =Literateweb | accessdate = 2008-10-06 ]

1925-1949

* Vampire Murder Case, is the nickname given to the case of an unknown assailant who committed the unsolved murder of a prostitute who was found dead with a crushed skull in her apartment on 4 May 1932 in Stockholm, Sweden. Police had also noticed that someone had been drinking her blood.

* Sir Harry Oakes, an American-born British gold-mine owner and philanthropist who was found murdered in his mansion in Nassau, Bahamas on July 8, 1943. His murder became the subject of worldwide press coverage at the time as well as several books, films and documentaries. [cite news | first=Jason | last=Bennetto | title= Great unsolved crimes: The ex-King, the conman and a millionaire's murder | date=19 January 2006 | url =http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/great-unsolved-crimes-the-exking-the-conman-and-a-millionaires-murder-523634.html | work =The Independent | accessdate = 2008-10-06 ]

* Georgette Bauerdorf, a twenty-year-old oil heiress who was found face down in a bath tub in her home at West Hollywood, California on October 12 1944. She had been strangled with a piece of towel stuffed down her throat and although there was was a large roll of $2 bills and thousands of dollars worth of sterling silver lying in an open trunk, Bauerdorf's jewelry and other valuables were not stolen. The police believe her murderer had unscrewed an automatic night light over the outside entrance of the apartment so it wouldn't go on and was lying in wait for her. [cite news | title=Miss Bauerdorf, Oil Man's Daughter, Slain By Strangler in Her Hollywood Apartment | date=14 October 1944 | url =http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F70812FD3B5C167B93C6A8178BD95F408485F9 | work =The New York Times | accessdate = 2008-10-06 ]

* Mary Meyer, a socialite from Washington, D.C. and close friend of US president John F. Kennedy. [cite news | title=Murder on the Canal | url =http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost/access/45553518.html?dids=45553518:45553518&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=OCT+13%2C+1999&author=&pub=The+Washington+Post&desc=Murder+on+the+Canal&pqatl=google | work =The Washington Post | accessdate = 2008-10-06 ] Shot to death on October 12 1964 by an unknown assailant after finishing a painting and going for a walk. She was heard screaming for help by a mechanic on a nearby road who also heard two gunshots and saw an unidentified man standing over her body. Her murder would later stir speculation relating to the Kennedy assassination. [cite news | title=Mary Pinchot Meyer | url =http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/JFKmeyerM.htm | work =Spartacus Educational | accessdate = 2008-10-06 ]

* The Black Dahlia (Elizabeth Short), a 22 year old woman who was found severely mutilated and her body cut in half in Leimert Park, Los Angeles, California on 15 January 1947. Her unsolved murder has been the source of several books, films and widespread speculation. [cite news | title=The Black Dahlia case on America's Most Wanted | url =http://www.amw.com/fugitives/brief.cfm?id=40390 | work =America's Most Wanted | accessdate = 2008-10-06 ]

* Folke Bernadotte, Count of Wisborg and Swedish diplomat assassinated on 17 September 1948 in Jerusalem, Israel by a four-man team who ambushed Bernadotte's motorcade, shot at the tires of the UN vehicles, opened the door of Bernadotte's car and shot him at close range. The bullets also hit a French officer who was sitting beside him. Both were killed. [cite web |url= http://domino.un.org/unispal.nsf/9a798adbf322aff38525617b006d88d7/23e5f866fe7393b585256a680061b348!OpenDocument |title= General Lundstrom Gives Eyewitness Account of Bernadotte's Death |accessdate=2008-10-06 | publisher= United Nations Department of Public Information |date= 1948-09-18 ]

* Emily Armstrong, found in a dry cleaners shop in London, England on April 14 1949 about an hour after she was murdered. An autopsy showed she was beaten to death and her skull shattered by at least 22 blows from a blunt object, later believed to be a claw hammer. [cite book | last = Newton | first = Michael | title = The Encyclopedia of Unsolved Crimes | publisher = Facts On File Inc. | date = 2004 | location = New York | isbn = 0-8160-4980-7 ]

1950-1974

* Marilyn Reese Sheppard wife of Sam Sheppard, attacked and killed in her home in Bay Village, Ohio, United States, on July 4 1954. Sam Sheppard was later convicted of killing his pregnant wife but this was overturned in 1966 and he was acquitted in a new trial. He claimed his wife was killed by a bushy-haired man who also attacked him and knocked him unconscious twice. Their son slept through the night, just down the hall from the bedroom in which his mother was murdered. The trial of Sam Sheppard received extensive publicity and was called "carnival atmosphere" by the U.S. Supreme Court. [ [http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/cgi-bin/getcase.pl?court=US&vol=384&invol=333 "Sheppard v. Maxwell"] , 384 U.S. 333, 358 (1964) (U.S. Supreme Court)]

* Barbara and Patricia Grimes disappeared on 28 December 1956, in Chicago, Illinois after going to a cinema to watch an Elvis Presley movie. Their disappearance launched one of the biggest missing-persons hunts in Chicago history. However, police were not able to determine what happened to the Grimes sisters. In a statement, Elvis Presley asked the girls to go home. [cite news | title=Elvis Urges Missing Girls To Go Home | date=20 December 1957 | publisher=Newspaperarchive.com | url =http://www.newspaperarchive.com/newspapers1/na0022/2888907/15291980_clean.html | work =Hammond Times | accessdate = 2008-10-06 ] On January 1957 their naked bodies were found off a road near Willow Springs Illinois. The corpses contained various bruises and marks (for example puncture wounds in the chest that may have come from an ice pick) that were never fully explained.

* Boy in the Box, sometimes known as "America's Unknown Child" is a name given to an unidentified murder victim, approximately 4 to 6 years old. The body of the boy was found battered and naked inside a cardboard box on February 25 1957 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The case received massive media attention and pictures of the boy were placed in every gas bill in Philadelphia. It has been featured on the America's Most Wanted television series but despite all attention the case remains unsolved and the boy's identity unknown. [cite news | first=Bean | last=Matt | title=TOSSED AWAY: The Boy in the Box | date=2002 | url =http://www.courttv.com/news/hiddentraces/boyinthebox/boyinthebox_page1.html | work =Court TV | accessdate = 2008-10-06 ]

* Lynne Harper, 12 years old, was last seen alive on June 9 1959 riding on the handlebars of her friend Steven Truscott's bike near an air force base which is now Vanastra, Ontario, Canada. Two days later her body was discovered in a nearby farm woodlot, she had been raped and strangled with her own blouse. 14 year old Steven Murray Truscott was convicted and sentenced to death for the murder, becoming Canada's youngest person to be sentenced to death. The sentence was later commuted to life in prison and in 2007 he was formally acquitted and the case remains unsolved. [cite news | title=Victim's family stunned by Truscott compensation | date=July 8 2008 | url =http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2008/07/08/truscott-reaction.html | work =CBC News | accessdate = 2008-10-06 ]

* The Lake Bodom murders, were an infamous multiple homicide that took place in Finland on June 4 1960. That night four teenagers were camping on the shores of the lake when between 4 am and 6 am they were attacked by an unknown individual or individuals with a knife and a blunt object. Three of them died and the fourth one was wounded but survived. Although the sole survivor became a suspect for some time in 2004, the case remains unsolved and the killer(s) identity unknown. [cite news | title=Man remanded on suspicion of infamous unsolved triple murder from 1960 | date=April 5 2004 | url =http://www2.hs.fi/english/archive/news.asp?id=20040405IE7 | work =Helsingin Sanomat | accessdate = 2008-10-06 ]

* Betsy Aardsma, was a 22 year old girl from Holland, Michigan, United States, who was stabbed to death in broad daylight in a school library on November 28 1969. She was stabbed a single time through the heart with a single edged small knife and approximately one minute later two men came from Betsy's location and told a desk clerk that "Somebody better help that girl" and they exited the library, the men were never identified. 25-35 minutes later Betsy arrived at a hospital were she was pronounced dead. She had worn a red dress and since there was only a small amount of blood visible, no one immediately realized that she had been stabbed. [cite news | title=Police on Lookout For 2 in Coed Case | publisher=Google newspaper Archive | url =http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=GEYNAAAAIBAJ&dq=betsy%20aardsma&sjid=2WwDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6132%2C279330 | work =Pittsburgh Post-Gazette | accessdate = 2008-10-06 ]

1975-1999

* Barbara Colby, an American actress from Venice, California, United States, was shot to death while walking with a colleague to their car on July 24 1975. She died instantly from her wounds but her colleague was able to describe the shooting to the police before he also died from his wounds. He said the shooting occurred without reason or provocation and said that there were two gunmen who he didn't recognize. There had been no attempt to rob the two and the killers and their motivation are still unknown. [cite news | title=Six Youths Seized In Three Slayings And Thefts on Coast | date=26 July 1975 | url =http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FA0715FE3858157493C4AB178CD85F418785F9 | work =The New York Times | accessdate = 2008-10-06 ]

* Bob Crane, an American actor, was discovered violently bludgeoned to death with a weapon that was never found (but was believed to be a camera tripod) at the Winfield Place Apartments in Scottsdale, Arizona on June 29, 1978. Crane had allegedly called his friend John Henry Carpenter the night before to tell him their friendship was over. Crane had been living a double life and filmed his numerous sexual escapades with the help of Carpenter, who was an audio-visual expert. [cite news | first=Lynn | last=Hirschberg | title=First came the sitcom. Then came the murder. Then came the pornographic Web site. | date=29 September 2002 | url =http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A01E3DD1439F93AA1575AC0A9649C8B63 | work =The new York Times | accessdate = 2008-10-06 ] [cite news | first=Paul | last=Rubin | title=The Bob Crane Murder Case Part Two | date=28 April 1993 | url =http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/1993-04-28/news/the-bob-crane-murder-case-part-two/ | work =The new Phoenix Times | accessdate = 2008-10-06 ] [cite news | first=Denise | last=Noe | title=The Bob Crane Case | url =http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/notorious_murders/classics/bob_crane/3.html | work =Crime Library TruTV | accessdate = 2008-10-06 ] [cite news | title=A star is porn | date=4 July 2003 | publisher=theage.com.au | url =http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/07/04/1057179135350.html | work =The Age | accessdate = 2008-10-06 ] Police later found blood smears in Carpenters car that matched Crane's blood type but never filed charges. Carpenter maintained his innocence until his death in 1998 and the case went cold. [cite news | title=How did Bob Crane die, anyway? | date=8 May 2008 | url =http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2795/how-did-bob-crane-die-anyway | work =The Straight Dope | accessdate = 2008-10-06 ]

* Raymond Washington, original founder of the notorious South Central Los Angeles street gang that came to be known as the Crips. Washington was shot dead at the age of 25 when he walked up to a car on the corner of 64th and San Pedro Streets in Los Angeles. At the time of his death, Washington no longer had any real control over the gang he originally founded. He wanted to unite warring gangs in peace and had always opposed guns. Different theories exist on why he was killed and who did it but no one was ever arrested for his murder. [cite web |title=Tookie's Mistaken Identity: On the trail of the real founder of the Crips |first=Michael |last=Krikorian |publisher=LAWeekly.com |url=http://www.laweekly.com/news/news/tookies-mistaken-identity/48/ |date=2005-12-14 |accessdate=2008-01-06]

* Óscar Romero, the fourth Archbishop of San Salvador, El Salvador, was killed by a shot to the heart on 24 March 1980 while celebrating Mass at a small chapel located in a hospital. It is believed but never proven that the assassins were members of Salvadoran death squads. During the funeral ceremony, a bomb exploded on the Cathedral square and shots were fired, many people were killed during the following mass panic. [cite web | url=http://www.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/romero-wp-3-31-80.html | title=40 Killed in San Salvador: 40 Killed at Rites For Slain Prelate; Bombs, Bullets Disrupt Archbishop's Funeral | accessdate=2008-01-17 | pages=A1 | author=Christopher Dickey | work=Washington Post Foreign Service]

* Dian Fossey, an American zoologist who observed and studied gorilla groups over a period of 18 years in Rwanda. She was brutally murdered in the bedroom of her cabin on December 26, 1985. Her skull had been split by a native panga (machete), which she had confiscated from poachers years earlier and hung as a decoration on the wall of her cabin. Fossey was found dead beside her bed and 2 meters away from a hole in the cabin that was cut on the day of her murder. [Mowat, Farley. "Woman in the Mists: The Story of Dian Fossey and the Mountain Gorillas of Africa". Warner Books, 1987.]

* Olof Palme, leader of the Swedish Social Democratic Party was shot in the back while walking home from a cinema together with his wife shortly after 11 pm on February 28 1986 in Stockolm, Sweden.. [cite news | title = Experts doubt Palme case to reopen | url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/1626232.stm | work = BBC | date = 2001-10-29 | accessdate = 2008-10-06 ]

* Julie Ward, murdered in Kenya in 1988 while on safari in the Masai Mara game reserve. Her burned and dismembered body was found a week after she went missing, The original statement by Kenyan officials was that she had been eaten by lions and struck by lightning but this was later revised to say she was murdered. [cite news | first=Karen | last=Mcveigh | title=New Kenyan government may re-open Julie Ward murder case | date=3 january 2003 | url =http://news.scotsman.com/kenyanelections/New-Kenyan-government-may-reopen.2390594.jp | work =Scotsman | accessdate = 2008-10-06 ]

* Jessica Keen, a fifteen-year-old girl from Columbus, Ohio, United States, whose body was found at the back of Foster Chapel Cemetery two days after she disappeared from a Weinland Park bus stop about 6 p.m. March 15, 1991. She was raped and severely beaten and was killed near a fence in the cemetery, presumably by her abductors. [cite web |ref name=Columbus Dispatch| title=Man expected to be charged 17 years after girl's murder| date=2008-04-09 | url=http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2008/04/09/jessica.html?sid=101| accessdate=2008-10-06]

* O. J. Simpson murder case, Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman, were found fatally stabbed outside Brown's condominium in Brentwood, California, United States, on June 12, 1994. O.J. Simpson and Nicole Brown Simpson had divorced two years earlier. Police believed O.J. Simpson was the murderer but he was acquitted in 1995 after a lengthy trial. Nicole had been stabbed multiple times through the throat, to the point of near decapitation and a swollen face, while Goldman's body was found with 'teaser' wounds on it, implying the murderer taunted him with the knife before actually killing him. [cite news | title=O.J. Simpson Main Page | url =http://edition.cnn.com/US/OJ/ | work =CNN | accessdate = 2008-10-06 ]

* Deanna Cremin, a 17-year-old girl from Somerville, Massachusetts, United States, was found behind a senior housing complex an autopsy revealed she had been strangled. She was last seen alive by her boyfriend who unlike other occasions when he would walk her to the door, he walked her only half way and she continued on her own toward her house. Her murder remains unsolved. [cite news | first=Megan | last=Tench | title=A mother's renewed hope for justice | date=30 March 2005 | url =http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2005/03/30/a_mothers_renewed_hope_for_justice/ | work =Boston Globe | accessdate = 2008-10-06 ]

* Amber Hagerman, victim of an abduction and murder. On 13 January 1996, she was riding her bike near her grandparents' home in Arlington, Texas, and was kidnapped soon thereafter. Four days later, a man walking his dog found her body in a creek bed. An autopsy revealed that her throat had been cut. Although a $75,000 reward was offered for information leading to Hagerman's killer, he has not been found. Her murder would later inspire the creation of the AMBER Alert system. [cite news | title=About Amber Hagerman | date=December 3 2000 | url =http://www.amber-plan.net/about_amber.htm | work =Houston Regional Amber Plan | accessdate = 2008-10-06 ]

* Sophie Toscan du Plantier. Wife of French filmmaker Daniel du Plantier, found beaten to death outside her home in Toormore near Schull in Co Cork Ireland on the morning of the December 23 1996. Former French President Jacques Chirac was a friend of the couple and gave the case national attention. [cite news | first=Shane | last=Phelan | title=High-profile killing remains unsolved over a decade later | date=14 July 2008 | url =http://www.independent.ie/national-news/highprofile-killing-remains-unsolved-over-a-decade-later-1432461.html | work =Irish Independent | accessdate = 2008-10-06 ] [cite news | first=James | last=Helm | title='Black cloud' of unsolved murder | date=19 January 2004 | url =http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/3411625.stm | work =BBC News | accessdate = 2008-10-06 ]

* JonBenét Ramsey, an American girl and child beauty pageant contestant made famous by her Christmas time murder and the subsequent media coverage. She was found dead in the basement of her parents' home in Boulder, Colorado, on December 26, nearly eight hours after she was reported missing. The official cause of death was asphyxia due to strangulation associated with craniocerebral trauma. After several grand jury hearings, the case is still unsolved. [cite news | title = Murder of JonBenét Ramsey | publisher = Tru TV Crime Library | url = http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/notorious_murders/famous/ramsey/index_1b.html | accessdate = 2008-07-09 ]

* Tupac Shakur, a top-selling American Rapper who was shot four times in a drive-by shooting on September 7, 1996, in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States, and died six days later of respiratory failure and cardiac arrest at the University Medical Center.

* Notorious B.I.G., a famous Jamaican American rapper killed by an unknown assailant in a drive-by shooting on his way back to his hotel, while waiting for a red traffic light to change on March 9, 1997, in Los Angeles, California, United States. Eventhough a composite sketch [Lait, Matt and Glover, Scott [http://web.archive.org/web/20010417092049/http://www.latimes.com/news/state/updates/lat_corrupt991209.htm "Ex-LAPD Officer Is Suspect in Rapper's Slaying, Records Show"] "Los Angeles Times", 1999-12-09. Retrieved on 2007-01-01] of the perpetrator was made, the case is still unsolved.

* Ita Martadinata Haryono, an Indonesian human rights activist, found dead on October 9, 1998 in her bedroom in Central Jakarta, Indonesia. She was stabbed ten times and her neck had been slashed. The murder occurred just three days after a Jakarta press conference held by the human rights organizations she had been involved with. [cite news | title=Counselor of rape victims killed in Indonesia | date=10 October 1998 | url =http://edition.cnn.com/WORLD/asiapcf/9810/10/indonesia.rape/ | work =CNN | accessdate = 2008-10-07 ]

* Jill Dando, an English journalist and television presenter who worked for the BBC for 14 years. She was killed by a single gunshot wound to the head on April 26, 1999, after leaving the home of her fiancé. Her death sparked "Operation Oxborough", the biggest murder inquiry and largest criminal investigation since the hunt for the Yorkshire Ripper. [cite news | title=A meticulous investigation | date=2 July 2001 | url =http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/low/uk_news/1409999.stm | work =BBC News | accessdate = 2008-10-07 ]

2000-2008

* Amanda Dowler, a 13-year-old girl from Walton-on-Thames, England. Last seen walking home around 4 pm on March 22 2002, her skeletal remains were found almost six months later in a forest 25 miles from where she was last seen. None of the clothes, purse, rucksack or mobile phone Dowler had with her at the time of her disappearance were found, and as of 2008 they are still missing. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/2272211.stm|title=Milly police seek fresh clues|publisher=BBC News|date=21 September 2002|accessdate=2006-08-05]

* Evelyn Hernandez, and her 5-year-old son Alex, last heard from on May 1, 2002 at her residence in San Francisco, California. Her wallet was found several days later, in South San Francisco. Hernandez's was nine months pregnant at the time and on July 24, 2002 her torso was found floating in San Francisco Bay. Her unborn child and her son Alex have not been found. The case was profiled twice on "America's Most Wanted" during the summer of 2003. [ [http://web.archive.org/web/20031210060540/http://www.amw.com/site/thisweek/H/HernandezEvelynKiller/hernandezkillerindex.html Evelyn Hernandez killer] , archived version of "America's Most Wanted". URL last accessed May 13, 2007.]

* Rashawn Brazell, disappeared after leaving his home in Bushwick, Brooklyn, New York, United States, on the morning of 14 February 2005. His dismembered body parts were later found in garbage bags. America's Most Wanted profiled the case three times, on 29 September 2005; 1 April 2006; and 9 December 2006. [cite web | title=Unknown Rashawn Brazell Killer | date=13 august 2008 | url =http://www.amw.com/fugitives/brief.cfm?id=32526 | work =America's Most Wanted | accessdate = 2008-10-07 ] [cite news | first= | last= | coauthors= | title=A Year After a Teenager Was Dismembered, Still No Answer | date=13 february 2006 | publisher= | url =http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/13/nyregion/13dismember.html?_r=1&oref=slogin | work =The New York Times | pages = | accessdate = 2008-10-07 | language = ]

= Unsolved serial killer murders =

1800-1899

* Jack the Ripper murders, 1888 London, England,
* Servant Girl Annihilator (aka Austin Axe Murderer), Austin, Texas, 1884-1885.

1900-1949

* Axeman of New Orleans murders, 1918-1919.
* Cleveland Torso Murderer (aka The Mad Butcher of Kingsbury Run), Cleveland, Ohio, 1935-1938.
* Phantom Killer, Texarkana (Texas and Arkansas), 1946.

1950-1999

* Jack the Stripper murders, London, 1963-1964.
* Zodiac Killer murders, Northern California, 1968-1969
* Bible John murders, Glasgow, Scotland, 1968-1969.
* Alphabet Killer murders, Rochester, New York, early 1970s.
* Oakland County Child Killer, Oakland County, Michigan, 1976-1977.
* Original Night Stalker murders, Southern California, 1979-1986.
* Stoneman murders, Calcutta, India, 1989.
* Lisbon Ripper murders, Lisbon, Portugal, 1992-1993.
* Claremont serial killer, Claremont, Western Australia, 1996-1997.

= Suspected serial killers =
* John Bodkin Adams murder case, physician suspected of being a serial killer, England. One alleged victim, Gertrude Hullett, was found to have committed suicide at the inquest in 1956, but Dr. Adams was indicted for her murder the following year. The case was then dropped by the prosecution via a nolle prosequi, an action described by the judge as an "abuse of process."

= Unsolved deaths =

1100-1899

* Harold II of England, (Harold Godwinson). Either killed by an arrow to the eye, by four Norman milites, or by some other manner (possibly a combination of both). Nothing is completely certain.
* King William II of England, 1100, killed by an arrow while hunting.
* Agnès Sorel, 1450, mistress of King Charles VII of France. While the cause of death was originally thought to be dysentery, scientists have now concluded that Agnès died from being poisoned by mercury. The culprit remains unknown.
* Regiomontanus (aka Johannes Müller), 1476, German mathematician and astronomer died in Rome in mysteriously: some say of plague, others by (more likely) assassination.
* Moctezuma II, 1520, Aztec emperor. According to Spanish accounts he was killed by his own people; according to Aztec accounts he was murdered by the Spanish.
* King Charles XII of Sweden, 1718, killed in action.
* Emperor Kōmei of Japan, 1840, Emperor of Japan. He died of smallpox at the age of 35. There is a theory that he was actually poisoned by the anti-Bakufu clique.

1900-1924

* Émile Zola, 1902, French author, died in Paris in, 1902 of carbon monoxide poisoning caused by a stopped chimney. His enemies were blamed, but nothing was proved.
* Death of Rudolf Diesel, 1913, the place is unknown and many theories are given about Diesel's death. He disappeared in the English Channel and was found dead in the Schelde river in Rupelmonde, Belgium.
* S. L. MacGregor-Mathers, 1918, well-known magician and occultist, died of an unknown cause; it is known that he had many enemies. The manner of death is unknown; his death certificate lists no cause of death. Violet Firth (Dion Fortune) claimed his death was the result of the Spanish influenza of 1918. As few facts are known about Mathers' private life, verification of such claims are very difficult.
* B. H. DeLay, 1923, Aviator Actor who died while performing on 4th of July in Venice Beach (Los Angeles) California area, plane sabotage of wings caused killing him instantly on crash impact.

1925-1949

* Ottavio Bottecchia, 1927, Italian Cyclist, was found by the side of a road, covered with bruises and with a serious skull fracture. His bicycle was undamaged, propped against a nearby tree. He was brought to a hospital but died soon afterwards. An official inquiry concluded accidental death but many suspected that he had run afoul of the powerful and growing fascist movement in Italy at the time.
* Death of Ivar Kreuger, 1932, in a Paris hotel room. Probably a suicide.
* Ghazi of Iraq, 1939, King of Iraq, He died in a mysterious accident involving a sports car he was driving. Some believe he was killed on the orders of Nuri as-Said.
* King Ananda Mahidol of Thailand, 1946. Died of gunshot wounds; suicide, accident or assassination.
* Jan Masaryk, 1948, son of Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk; Czech diplomat, politician and Foreign Minister of Czechoslovakia, was found dead in the courtyard of the Foreign Ministry below his bathroom window. The initial investigation concluded that he committed suicide by jumping out of the window, although many are convinced that he was pushed.
* The Taman Shud Case, 1948, Adelaide, Australia, a man was found dead on the beach. His dental records did not match any known person. He carried no identification. The labels on his business suit and clothing were all missing. In one trouser pocket there was a piece of paper with the words 'Taman Shud' on it. This is a phrase on the last page of collection of poems called the The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam and it means 'the end.'

1950-1974

* Barthélemy Boganda, 1959, Prime Minister of the Central African Republic, in a plane crash.
* Death of Dag Hammarskjöld, 1961, in Ndola, Northern Rhodesia, aeroplane crash.
* Dorothy Kilgallen, 1965, New York City, death certificate reads "acute ethanol and barbiturate intoxication / circumstances undetermined." People who have said publicly that she could have been murdered (perhaps by needle injection after drinking an unknown amount of alcohol) include Larry King, Dominick Dunne, Bob Bach (who booked the mystery guests on Kilgallen's TV show "What's My Line?"), writer Mary Brannum Bringle (a colleague of Patricia Bosworth) and Kilgallen's son Kerry Kollmar.
* Death of George Washington Vanderbilt III, (1961), in San Francisco, California.
* Edward Mutesa, 1969, died, possibly from alcohol poisoning, in his London flat.
* Hale Boggs and Nick Begich, 1972, Democratic U.S. House members whose plane disappeared in the Alaska wilderness. Remnants of plane and bodies never recovered.
* Aman Mikael Andom, 1974, Ethiopian military figure, sources say that he committed suicide, while others say that he was killed by political rivals among the coup leadership, possibly including Mengistu Haile Mariam.
* Jimmy Hoffa, 1975, International Brotherhood of Teamsters leader who disappeared from the parking lot of a Michigan restaurant. Body never recovered; declared legally dead by the state of Michigan in 1982.
* Haile Selassie, 1975, Emperor of Ethiopia until his deposition in 1974. His death was officially said to be from natural causes, but a persistent allegation is that he was smothered with a pillow.

1975-1999

* Pope John Paul I, 1978, has been contended by authors David Yallop and Malachi Martin, among others, to have been assassinated.
* Omar Torrijos, 1981, brigadier general and president of Panama, died in a plane crash.
* Roberto Calvi, 1982, CEO of Banco Ambrosiano, found hanged under Blackfriars Bridge in London.
* Eduardo Frei Montalva, 1982, president of Chile from 1964 to 1970. As of 2005, his death is being investigated because of allegations that he was poisoned. [2]
* Samora Machel, 1986, President of Mozambique, killed in air crash on the border of South Africa, hillside in the Lebombo Mountains. He was leading anti-Apartheid spokesman.
* Uwe Barschel, 1987, minister-president of Schleswig-Holstein.
* Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, 1988, military ruler of Pakistan, died in a plane crash in 1988.
* Pablo Escobar, 1993, head of the Medellín Cartel, war against Escobar ended in 1993, as he tried to elude the Search Bloc one more time. Using radio triangulation technology provided as part of the U.S. efforts, a Colombian electronic surveillance team found him hiding in a middle-class barrio in Medellín. A shootout between Escobar and the Search Bloc personnel ensued. Some believe U.S. special ops snipers may have taken part in the final shootout with Escobar. Accordingly, how Escobar was killed during the confrontation has been debated, but it is known that he was cornered on the rooftops of Medellín and suffered gunshots to the leg, back, and the fatal one behind his ear.
* Zviad Gamsakhurdia, 1993, former president of Georgia - In 1993, died in circumstances that were (and still are) very unclear. It is known that he died in the village of Khibula in the Samegrelo region of western Georgia.
* Kurt Cobain, 1994, lead singer and guitarist for the band Nirvana; apparent suicide (self-inflicted gunshot wound) in his home in Seattle, but various theories conclude he was a victim of murder.
* Juvénal Habyarimana, 1994, President of Rwanda killed in mysterious plane crash in Kigali airport. The resulting political instability led to the genocide in Rwanda and the outbreak of full-scale war in Burundi.
* Cyprien Ntaryamira, 1994, President of Burundi, killed in mysterious plane crash in Kigali airport. The resulting political instability led to the genocide in Rwanda and the outbreak of full-scale war in Burundi.
* Jack Nance, 1996, cult actor, died of mysterious circumstances in his South Pasadena home.

2000-2008

* Giorgi Sanaia, 2001, Georgian journalist known for opposition to government, shot in apartment in Tbilisi.
* Maj. Gen. Abed Hamed Mowhoush, 2003, Iraqi general, died in American custody 200 miles (321 kilometers) northwest of Baghdad, ending a 16 day detention that included intense beatings and the use of violent and illegal interrogation tactics.
* Enrique Salinas, 2004, brother of former Mexican president Carlos Salinas. Found with a plastic bag over his head in a parked car. The vehicle was abandoned in the upmarket municipality of Huixquilucan, Estado de México outskirts of Mexico City.
* Nicola Calipari, 2005, Italian intelligence agent (circumstances of the death are well-established; the motives are unclear), Calipari was killed while escorting a recently released Italian hostage, journalist Giuliana Sgrena, to Baghdad International Airport.
* John Garang, 2005, Sudanese politician and former rebel leader (suspicious helicopter crash), Southern Sudan. One theory was poor visibility. Second one was arranged by Sudanese Government.

= Date of death disputed =
* Raoul Wallenberg, death is dated by Soviet authorities as July 16, 1947, but this is disputed; remains an unsolved case.

= References =