Top 10 Scariest Unsolved Cold Cases
#10: Room 1046
Top 10 Must-Watch YouTuber Room & House Tours
The Murder of Artemus Ogletree sounds like an Agatha Christie novel. Instead, it’s a baffling true crime case from the mid ‘30s. On January 2, 1935, Ogletree signed into Kansas City’s Hotel President under an alias and began acting suspiciously, like keeping the curtains drawn and living in the dark. He was also seen writing to and speaking with a man named “Don.” Two days later, Ogletree was found in his room stabbed and bound by cord. Ogletree insisted that nobody had attacked him before slipping into a coma and dying. Ogletree’s mother later received a phone call stating that Ogletree was now living in Cairo with his new wife, but this mystery caller and the person who attacked Ogletree was never identified.
#9: The Keddie Killings
20 Cold Cases That Were Finally Solved
It’s tragic when a quadruple homicide goes unanswered. On the morning of April 12, 1981, teenaged Sheila Sharp discovered the bodies of her mother, brother, and brother’s friend in their California home. Her sister was also missing, and her remains were found three years later, officially making her the fourth victim. Weirdly, her younger brothers and her brothers’ friend, who was sleeping over at the time, were unharmed. The friend’s father, Martin Smartt, has long been the primary suspect in the case, but nothing has been officially proven. Unfortunately, the case went cold after Tina’s remains were found in 1984. In 2018, DNA recovered from a piece of tape supposedly matched that of an unidentified suspect, but the case remains unsolved.
#8: Lake Bodom
The most infamous cold case in Finnish history involves the deaths of teenagers Maila Björklund, Anja Mäki, and Seppo Boisman, who were all camping at Finland’s Lake Bodom. A fourth victim, Nils Gustafsson, survived with various facial fractures. The deceased were attacked through the tent wall, and at 6 AM the next morning, a group of birdwatchers saw a blond man walking away from the site. Unfortunately, the investigation was horribly bungled by the responding police force, so the two main suspects were never arrested. Gustafsson was later arrested on suspicion of committing the killings, but he was found innocent of all charges and paid nearly 45,000 euros for the anguish.
#7: Tylenol Tampering
In the fall of 1982, Chicago was beset by a horrible rash of deaths. By October of that year, seven people (including a preteen) had died after taking Tylenol. Once the link was made, tests were carried out on the tablets, and traces of potassium cyanide were found, indicating that they had been tampered with. Investigators determined that the suspect had taken Tylenol from stores, injected the bottles with cyanide, and placed the poisoned bottles back on the shelves. A man named James William Lewis blackmailed Johnson & Johnson, asking for $1 million to stop the killings. He was arrested but released, as prosecutors could find no evidence linking him to the crime. The real perpetrator was never caught.
#6: The Isdal Woman
Top 10 Cold Cases That Were Finally Solved
Hiking along Norway’s Death Valley (so-called for its numerous hiking-related accidents), a family noticed a burning smell and found the charred remains of a woman. Police uncovered various belongings, but all personal information leading to her identity had been rubbed away. An autopsy later revealed that the woman had taken up to 70 sleeping pills and had died from carbon monoxide poisoning. Later investigation revealed that the mystery woman had traveled around France and Norway with multiple fake passports. She was also known to frequently change hotel rooms, wear wigs, and speak multiple languages. The leading theory is that the Isdal Woman was a Cold War spy or some sort of military figure, but many questions remain unanswered.
#5: The Mad Butcher of Kingsbury Run
Top 10 Cold Cases Solved with DNA
Essentially a 1930s version of Jack the Ripper, The Mad Butcher of Kingsbury Run targeted the seedy Cleveland neighborhood The Roaring Third (known pejoratively as Hobo Jungle), killing between 12 and 20 people. The victims’ remains were found in the nearby Kingsbury Run area, and most were identified as vagrants or working poor individuals who lived in the local shanty towns. In the most famous instance, The Mad Butcher placed the remains of two victims directly outside city hall as a means to taunt The Untouchables’ Eliot Ness, who was then working as Cleveland’s Public Safety Director. The leading suspect was Dr. Francis Sweeney, but political obstacles prevented his arrest. He died in a veterans’ hospital in 1964, and the case went cold without him.
#4: Hinterkaifeck
One of the scariest cold cases in history, the story of Hinterkaifeck is ripped straight from a horror movie. Andreas Gruber, the owner of a small Bavarian farm, found a random Munich newspaper on his property and later discovered footprints in the snow leading from the nearby forest to his farm. That night, Gruber heard footsteps in the attic but found nobody in the house. The bodies of Gruber, his family, and his maid were found in the barn and throughout the house four days later. It’s believed that the barn victims were lured there one by one and struck by a perpetrator wielding a mattock. They then entered the house and disposed of the rest. Countless suspects were considered, but the case wasn’t solved.
#3: JonBenét Ramsey
A child beauty queen, Ramsey’s body was found by her father in the basement of their Boulder home on Boxing Day, 1996. The parents immediately came under suspicion, both for the killing itself and for hindering the prosecution with their secretive behavior. Their reputation was further hindered by a ransom note that was found inside the house, which many experts believed was written by Ramsay’s mother. Hers were the only fingerprints found on the note, and analysis revealed that the note was written inside the Ramsay home. The district attorney was of the opinion that an intruder had killed Ramsey, but this has been disputed by Boulder police.
#2: Black Dahlia
Portals in Disguise | A New Theory On Black Holes | Unveiled
Around 10 AM on January 15, 1947, the body of 22-year-old waitress Elizabeth Short was found lying in Los Angeles’ Leimert Park. The violent nature of Short’s death made it a national sensation, and police were left under an extraordinary amount of pressure. A few days after the discovery, an unidentified man began corresponding with the media and sent a letter with Short’s birth certificate. The following March, a note was found inside a pile of clothing left on the beach, indicating that the writer was Short’s killer and that he had ended his life by wading into the ocean. The desperate and panicked police force ended up with no less than 150 suspects but nothing stuck, and Short’s killing went cold by the spring.
#1: The Zodiac Killer
10 Biggest Mistakes That Damaged Investigations Into Unsolved Cases
Perhaps the most infamous cold case in American history, the Zodiac Killer has been confounding authorities since 1968. So shadowy is the perpetrator that next to nothing is known about him or his crimes. All we know is that he killed at least five. Everything else - the timeline, the true number of victims, where he operated, and of course, his identity - remains unknown. Perhaps the most tantalizing aspect of the case is the cryptic and taunting letters that Zodiac sent to the media as a means of arrogant boasting. He’s one of the rare serial killers to outsmart the law, and despite sketches, eyewitness accounts from survivors, and direct contact with the media, the Zodiac Killer was never caught.
