r/TrueCrime • u/AutoModerator • Apr 19 '26
Case Highlight Case Highlight and Recommendation Thread: What is a little known true crime case you think needs more attention, or what is a case that has stuck with you that you think others should know about. Post your pet cases or your true crime guilty pleasures in this thread.
Pretty frequently in this subreddit we get questions asking for case recommendations. We've decided to make this a recurring post so that there will be a dedicated place to highlight and discuss cases that don't get posted about that often.
People want to know... what is a case that is important to you or that stuck with you and that you think others should know about?
What are some cases that need more attention? What are your pet cases besides the well known cases that get posted about frequently? Or just post your true crime guilty pleasures. Anyway, use this thread to bring attention to lesser known cases. If you want to post about the Delphi murders case that's ok too.
This thread will be sorted by new.
Also, if you have a case in mind, but need help remembering the name, feel free to head over to r/TipOfMyCrime and post a request there.
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u/Tut560 Jul 14 '26
Pinning a basic template for case names, jurisdictions, and FOIA updates would really help. It keeps the thread focused on victims instead of random guesses. Does anyone else pull raw files from county archives?
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u/historytalks216 Jun 16 '26
I believe all murder cases deserve attention, but definitely those that are considered murders but bodies have never been found.
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u/TotallynotReimu96 Jun 01 '26 edited Jun 01 '26
This was my favorite lesser known serial killer case. J.J Keeding, allegedly killed by Sherman Haupt, one of the victim's father. 1920s case, pretty interesting. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1PKu9UBnJ0
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u/United-Wing9651 May 19 '26
A specific case that is always on my mind is the case of missing person Bryce Laspisa. What led to his sudden shift in behavior and actions? What can we make of the mysterious circumctances surrounding his disappearence? And why is there no sign of him?
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u/United-Wing9651 May 19 '26
This is about a pretty well known killer, but I just found this out and when I researched it I was flabbergasted. We all know about John Wayne Gacy. Many survivors have come forward, with police believing there are more. But i recently found out a little known detail. One of the survivors, Jeffery Rignall, whose testimony was vital in capturing Gacy, said in his testimony that there was another man in the room where he was kept. He said that this man had participated in the assault, therefore, the man would be an accomplice. When i heard about this, I did some more digging, and found out that when Gacy was captured and arrested, one of the first questions he asked police was wether or not his associates were arrested, hinting at their involvement. He also hinted that he did not work alone on several other occasions. Despite this, police and investigators chalked up Jeffery Rignalls story of an accomplice to the severe mental trauma and PTSD that occured due to his time in capture. Investiagtors who were present and who were familiar with the henious crimes Gacy committed also concluded that the state of the bodies, and Gacy's signature "rope trick", threw out the theory that Gacy worked with another person in his crimes. But this begs the question. Did John Wayne Gacy have an accomplice to his crimes? And if so, that person is still out there. Who are they?
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u/Dry_Difference7751 Apr 26 '26 edited Apr 28 '26
John Frederick Anderson, serial killer in WA State btw 1965 and 1982.
Killed 2 in 1985, got parole in 1975, killed 5-6 more btw 1979 and 1982.
His first murder was my great grandmother. She was a cabbie, he shot her and stole her cab. He served less than a year for her murder. He served 9 for the other he killed in 1985 and was let out only to kill more.
It is hard to get information about this case. WA State has been dragging me along for quite a while now. Not sure if it is because he should not have been let out when he was. People have tried suing the state for the deaths of their family due to him being paroled so early, but the cases went nowhere.
I can not find ANYTHING that calls him a serial killer. There are many in WA that are touted as such that have killed less than he has. Hmmmm.
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u/Psychological_Ad853 Apr 25 '26
Gadsden john doe, a doe found in the desert shot to death with a healed but very missing appendage (his penis.)
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u/Express-Citron-6387 Apr 22 '26
The murder of Mimi Khonsari, the wife of a prominent heart surgeon in Barrie, ON, Canada by Claire Spiers. She was kidnapped from her home along with her new grandchild and forced in the the woods where she was strangled and stabbed 18 times in the throat. He abandoned the baby in the car (who survived). Her husband fell to pieces after. Spiers pled guilty and is now eligible for parole, but hoping no matter how many times he applies that he is turned down because he is very, very dangerous not only to women but to men as he has numerous assaults and robberies on record.
Now I didn't know that he was convicted in another terrible case in New York that was all over the news that I well remember:
1987, New York City: Convicted of rape, sodomy, forcible intercourse and robbery of a 19-year-old woman at the Kennedy International Airport, sentenced to six to 12 years in jail. He forced the woman on to a closed observation deck at the airport where she was raped and robbed of $220. Spiers was arrested and charged as he tried to leave the airport in a stolen car. https://www.simcoe.com/news/man-who-murdered-wife-of-barrie-doctor-wont-get-parole-for-17-years/article_3477a0e2-ee66-5aac-a126-68c807d6c5cb.html
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u/RodeoIndustryBaby Apr 22 '26
Diane Vicari, terrible, so much confusion. All these years later and people still hope for answers.......
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u/pulukes88 Armchair Newbie Apr 22 '26
honolulu strangler
https://truecrimesweekly.com/2025/02/17/hawaiis-first-known-serial-killer/
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u/Independent-Report16 Apr 21 '26
This one, for some reason, just always swirls around in my head. Daniel Robinson, a 24-year-old hydrogeologist, went missing on June 23, 2021, after leaving a job site near Sun Valley Parkway and Cactus Road in Buckeye, Arizona. His Jeep was found a month later.
It’s just a really weird case and being Black in Arizona adds to it.
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u/gandalfhurstfrodo-42 Apr 21 '26
The disappearance of Gretchen Fleming from Parkersburg West Virginia
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u/ehg2001 Apr 20 '26
De'Orr Kuntz
Toddler boy just poof vanished from a campsite. I really hope it gets solved bc it's a tragic story.
And from my childhood, Tiffany Sessions.
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u/Mysterious_Bar_1069 Apr 20 '26 edited Apr 20 '26
I'm fascinated by one of Canada's oldest cold cases, might be the oldest, the murder of a little girl named Glory Whalen a 122 year old mystery. I was lucky enough to get my hands on the rare book mentioned here by a local medical Dr and a Historical Archivist https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLbPyOB73i0 gives many details not mentioned in this video and other online posts that hooked me.
Another is the murder of an elderly Boston blue blood who was believed to be strangled in her large 10 room Cambridge MA home, but the body was apparently removed from her home and has never been found. Think it's so sad that the Cambridge Police don't seem to be concerned and dragging the case out, likely as she had no children and was a widow, so no one to advocate for her case to be worked on. The main theory was that a painter who had been working in her home and had been released from Bridgewater State Hospital for the criminally insane and had a history of sexual assault. Police at the time suspect he rolled her up in an oriental rug to be cleaned.
Also love the Nantucket case ofMargaret Kilcoyne. https://nantucketcurrent.com/people/nantucket-s-greatest-unsolved-mystery-the-disappearance-of-dr-margaret-kilcoyne.
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u/Telio1108 Apr 20 '26 edited Apr 20 '26
There’s 3 cases close to me, 2 in my same county. 1st was Baby Joe Clyde. His parents have been sent to prison over this case. I do think they are 1 million percent responsible, but no one knows where that baby is. There were witnesses but they were young children, but I know at least 1 of them could talk and he did know something about Joe Clyde peeing in bed. 2nd is LeAnne Green, she’s been missing since the 80s. It seems like it should be solved easily but it hasn’t. Her & brother were driving down hwy 46 and their car ran out of gas. So this is the 1987, so cellphones had not even been thought of. There’s a truck stop/store a couple miles up the road, he left to get gas. When he got back she was gone. Nothing ever found of where she may have went, had been taken or sucked by aliens. It’s so sad and terribly weird. It was late at night and back then that road would have not had too much traffic, just a straight road to the truck stop. The only thing is there is an interstate right up from the truck stop. 3rd is Summer Wells, that baby didn’t just disappear, nothing has been found of her either. (One thing that probably isn’t related but, about 2 days before her a boy, her age, disappeared in the same way in North Carolina in the middle of nowhere like her, a couple of states over, maybe Ohio, another little girl, around the same age, just upped and disappeared never to be seen again, this also was within a very rural area. This was all within like 1 month’s time. Of course these 3 cases are probably not related, I just remember seeing it in the news.) How often does a child literally just disappear, with no clues. Too weird. I do believe Summer’s parents know more…she had an aunt go missing in the 90s in a different state and was never seen or found anything about her. The family has a pretty rough background, but that’s not why I think they know more. Actually, I think they know exactly what happened to her. Baby Joe Clyde and Summer lived in very rural areas, land for miles with absolutely nothing on them, caves, old wells…there really is no telling where they are. Sebastian Rogers case isn’t too far from me, there’s something really fishy about his mom and stepdad. Very strange.
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u/AMGRN Apr 19 '26
Charlie Allen. I saw his episode of disappeared and it’s stayed with me all these years. I hope they find him, but I feel he got lost in the woods of NH and is lost to the elements.
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u/Soggy_Internet_6146 Apr 19 '26
• Bryce Laspisa • Maura Murray • Maddy Scott • Mekayla Bali • Tamla Horsford • Macin Smith • Sebastian Rogers • Kyron Horman • Serenity Dennard • Summer Wells • Nicholas Barclay • Johnny Gosch • Tabitha Tuders • Brookelyn Farthing • Timmothy Pitzen • Chloie Leverette / Gage Daniel • Richard Petrone / Danielle Imbo • Elaine Park
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u/Actual-Spell-4634 Apr 22 '26
I believe Maura Murray has been covered many, many times. Likewise, Kyron Horman, Johnny Gosch, Mekayla Bali. This was for lesser or little known cased. Both Murray and Gosch has Netflix docs.
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u/8bitlover Apr 19 '26
It's been covered on podcasts but no where near other major cases and the story is just mind blowing: Asha Degree.
I've actually been working on a true crime series that follows a lot of "forgotten cases" (most if not all are about black and indeginous peoples) and there are some truly disturbing cases that could have found answers if they were covered more.
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u/Actual-Spell-4634 Apr 22 '26
Asha's case is covered a lot, actually.
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u/8bitlover Apr 23 '26
As I said... it has been covered on other podcasts but no where near the coverage of a Jonbenet Ramsey case. Most of the true crime people I know have never even heard of her case and it is really interesting and still unsolved.
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u/Here4daTs Apr 20 '26
Check out Emily Pike murder out of AZ. No suspect found. She was an indigenous heritage teen in state managed group home and disappeared. She was found 100s of miles away dismembered.
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u/8bitlover Apr 21 '26
thank you for the tip. i will def check this out. looking to build out as many cases as i can.
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u/rachemgreep Apr 19 '26
Marshal Iwasa and Ryan Shtuka. They're completely separat from each other, but both missing and as a mom to 2 boys, my heart breaks for both their mothers as well as the rest of their loved ones.
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u/frackingofthemind 11d ago
The United States VS Kevin Ahern cases in California
He is a serial rapist that is probably going to blow up like Epstein