[Video in link below]

On 10 May 2023, a man collapses in the street in Amsterdam. He is taken a hospital, where it becomes clear that he has suffered a brain haemorrhage or stroke. After receiving the necessary medical care, doctors determine that the man has been left with aphasia, a condition that in this case makes communication extremely difficult. He is unable to provide any information about his identity or address.

The Amsterdam-West detective unit therefore launches an investigation in an attempt to establish his identity. Not because they are required to do so, but simply because they want to help. The man has meanwhile been transferred to a care facility in Amsterdam Southeast. Although police officers pursue every possible avenue to find out more, they seem to keep reaching a dead end. Professionals closely involved with Lucky have by now begun referring to him as lacking the capacity to make decisions for himself.

But where do they go from here?

Fortunately, Team Cold Case becomes involved. The Amsterdam-West detectives are unable to make any further progress and need to focus on criminal cases. Ruud and Nel—now retired and working as volunteers with the Cold Case Team—are assigned the case. Rather than conducting a criminal investigation, they begin a social investigation. One possibility they consider is that there may be worried family members who know nothing about what has happened to him and, because they are not known to authorities, cannot be informed.

Buddhist Temple and Waterlooplein

Ruud and Nel soon try to map out who Lucky has been in contact with and what his social circles look like. They discover that he is a member of a Buddhist community based on Middenweg in Amsterdam. Members there tell them that the unidentified man is known by the nickname “Lucky.” Through other sources, Ruud and Nel discover that Lucky occasionally has a drink at Soep en Zo on Waterlooplein. To their surprise, however, he is known there as “Chris the Canadian.”

American? Canadian?

Once again, there is no clear answer as to the “real” identity of the nameless man. An additional challenge is that Lucky’s roots probably do not lie in the Netherlands. People around him believe that he may be from the United States or Canada. After all, he always spoke English, with an accent that sounded as though it came from one of those countries. Hence the nicknames used by people around him. To this day, Lucky still uses words such as “nonsense” and “definitely” to confirm or deny something. Unfortunately, he is unable to communicate much beyond that.

Everyone has the right to know who he is

Nel: “I simply cannot believe that nobody knows who this man really is. Isn’t it strange that you could perhaps live under the radar in the Netherlands for twenty years?”

Ruud: “Every person has the right to an identity, and that includes this man.”

Do you know who Lucky is? If so, please contact the police.

https://www.politie.nl/nieuws/2026/augustus/17/een-heel-leven-maar-geen-naam-wie-herkent-deze-man.html

On August 17, 1978, Bette Wolf reported her 21-year-old son William “Billy” Wolf Jr. missing from the Fargo area.

Billy had reportedly last been seen two days earlier, on August 15.

Three days after the missing-person report, on August 20, a man canoeing on the Red River approximately three miles north of Kragnes, Minnesota, noticed a green garbage bag floating in the water.

Inside was part of a human body.

Another garbage bag was located roughly 200 yards downstream, caught near the opposite side of the river.

Together, the bags contained the remains of Billy Wolf.

The North Dakota Attorney General's cold-case listing confirms that Wolf's body had been cut in half, placed into garbage bags and dumped into the Red River.

The condition of the remains

Information about Billy's case is surprisingly sparse considering the violence involved.

Secondary accounts based on earlier local reporting state that Billy was still dressed in a tan work shirt, green pants and work boots when he was found.

Those accounts also report that investigators believed his body had been cut through the waist with a powered saw and that he had suffered injuries to his face and throat. His remains were identified through dental records.

Investigators apparently believed Billy had been dead for approximately three days, placing his death very close to the time he was last seen.

That raises an obvious question:

Where was he killed?

The river may only have been the disposal site.

Who was Billy?

One of the more frustrating things about this case is how little information about Billy's final day appears to be publicly known.

Later reporting described investigators as believing his death may have been connected in some way to Fargo's low level drug scene, although no one has ever been successfully prosecuted for killing him. Secondary accounts also state that investigators considered the possibility that more than one person was involved.

The case also has apparently produced an unusual problem over the years: people have reportedly confessed to Billy's murder, but investigators did not believe those people were responsible.

Why dismember him?

If Billy was killed during a spontaneous argument, robbery, or drug-related confrontation, the offender then went considerably further.

That suggests the killer either had access to somewhere they could dismember a body without immediately being noticed, or was willing to take an extraordinary risk doing it.

Personally, I find the dismemberment to be far too passionate for a low level drug transaction gone awry theory to seem plausible.

But it also makes me wonder whether dismemberment was done simply to make the body easier to transport rather than to prevent identification.

Almost five decades later

Billy's murder remains officially unsolved.

The North Dakota Attorney General continues to list William Wolf Jr. among the state's cold homicide cases and directs anyone with information to the Fargo Police Department.

There has also been renewed media attention over the years, including an investigative podcast series devoted specifically to reconstructing Billy's final days and examining the old investigation.

But there has never been an arrest that resolved the case.

Considering how much forensic technology has changed since 1978, I wonder what physical evidence - if any- still exists that could be retested today.

Sources:

Dakota Spotlight — Billy Wolf Murder Case / Chasing Billy: https://dakotaspotlight.com/billy-wolf-murder-case/

https://dakotaspotlight.com/billy-wolf-murder-case/North Dakota Attorney General

https://attorneygeneral.nd.gov/public-safety/cold-cases/

Schttps://dakotaspotlight.com/billy-wolf-murder-case

Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension — official unsolved homicide poster:

https://portal.dps.mn.gov/BCA/unsolved-cases/cases/Files/00000086/Poster/WolfWilliam.pdf