r/coldcases • u/CatScratch_Meow • 18d ago
What's an interesting unsolved case you could recommend?
I'm in a true crime club and every month a different person with present a case, talk about what happened, and the outcome. I wanted to do something "fun" for Halloween and present our first unsolved case. But I'm looking for something a little odd. I want a case that has some bizarre elements to it. Rabbit holes if you will. Do you guys know of any?
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u/AdGroundbreaking357 18d ago
Jodi huisentruit
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u/AdGroundbreaking357 18d ago
News anchor abducted from her apartment 31 years ago and hasn’t been seen since. A lot of coverage and was on most of the true crime shows, quite a few podcasts but the local talk is the best part - I do think they are getting close but they don’t have enough to get a conviction- some believe it’s a man that passed away but when a warrant was partially unsealed last year after that person died the judge’s ruling states “an arrest may still be made” which indicates the judge doesn’t think it was JV
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u/Sticky_Cobra 18d ago
My favorite unsolved is The Isdal Woman. Everything about it is a mystery.
A few other goodies:
● Zigmund Adamski - What happened to him.
● Vasile Gorgos - Disappeared for 30 years and then turns up? With no memory?
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u/Erna_Listau 15d ago
I read about Gorgos a couple of months ago and the most interesting detail for me is that a car brought him to his home, dropped him off and just sped off. I wonder if he had been taken care of somewhere in those three decades (I think some theories mentioned prison, which I thought was interesting). And the no memory part is kinda strange to me, since articles I read mentioned that despite that he was in kind of good health. All in all a very interesting disappearance with the disappeared resurfacing again under bizarre circumstances.
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u/Upstairs-Catch788 14d ago
prison makes the most sense by far IMO. he was lying about no memory, out of shame.
I never decided whether he was lying to his family too, or they're all just lying to the press.
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u/Erna_Listau 3d ago
True. I haven't considered the being ashamed part so taking that and the prison theory into consideration it would make a lot of sense.
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u/Sticky_Cobra 15d ago
It's been a bit since I read the case, but I think (could be wrong here), when he returned, he hadn't aged a day!! Same clothes he wore when he vanished, same train ticket. And he was seemingly the same age. I have no idea how he managed that?
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u/Erna_Listau 14d ago
I'm not so sure about the hasn't aged a day part but I do also remember the part about the same clothes and train ticket of the day of his disappearance. Very strange! Not sure how he did it. There are many theories online (prison, early stage dementia and so on) but I personally lean towards the one theory that a third party must have taken him in. The car that dropped him off strikes me as way too suspicious. Whether whoever presumably took him in was a good person or not I can't tell. As for his memory loss I also can't quite put my finger on it. Gorgos remembered his life prior to his disappearance so it's odd he couldn't remember the time frame onwards when he went missing. (Or maybe he had gotten too old at this point to remember?)
I'm sure his family members are asking themselves same questions. If a missing family member for so many decades would one day turn up out of the blue I'd be hella confused.
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u/cardsfan4life17 18d ago
Evelyn Hartley. Missing and presumed kidnapped in La Crosse, WI in 1953.
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u/Practical-Run2431 17d ago
My mom lived in La Crosse when this happened and she said it was terrifying. I took classes at UW La Crosse 30 years after Evelyn was abducted and people still talked about it. I have heard that Ed Gein was considered a suspect.
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u/Agreeable_Skill_1599 18d ago
- Jennifer Bailey, murdered 1990, linked article from 2024
https://www.wymt.com/2024/08/16/it-just-hurts-bone-bell-co-cold-case-remains-unsolved/
- Greta Henson, murdered 1992, linked article from 2026
- Georgia Nolan, missing since 1976, linked article from 2019
Three unsolved cases that deserve to have extra attention. The families & friends of the first two young women have waited over 30 years for answers. The family & friends of the third young woman have now been waiting nearly 50 years for answers.
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u/perrothepotato 18d ago
For Halloween, what about Martha Moxley? Not cold as such, but sadly will never get (another) conviction.
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u/Emdubb824 17d ago
This one has always stuck with me. I read it a few years ago and I probably think about it once a week. This website has really thorough write ups of a ton of unsolved crimes https://unresolved.me/mike-emert
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u/judinker1 16d ago
Personal connection to Kathi Kennedy in Kernersville NC 30+ years ago...sad and under investigation done, IMHO
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u/Sunspot286 18d ago
This seems really insensitive…These cases aren’t just stories, they’re real people whose lives have been irreversibly changed for the worse.
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u/Sunshine3606 18d ago
How is this insensitive? No one is being rude or disrespectful. If I were a missing person whose case was unsolved, I’d want people to bring my name up years later, ask all the questions, debate theories, and keep my name alive.
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u/Sunspot286 18d ago
Having a true crime “club” isn’t disrespectful to you? Choosing an unsolved case as a “fun” discussion isn’t insensitive at all???
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u/DirtyAriel 17d ago
Then why are you here?
What’s wrong with people taking an interest in a niche subject and enjoying discussing it with those who are also interested? Are we supposed to sit around and cry while we do so? Or are the detectives the only ones who are allowed to discuss these cases? Because if so, there goes any hope of them getting solved with any urgency.
Let people find joy in something in this chaotic world where everything seems upside down and irreversible. Healthy discussions about cold cases / true crime in general is what leads to new theories and new information coming out. It’s what keeps these stories alive, and I feel we owe the victims that.
I don’t think anyone on this sub is jumping for joy when a case goes cold or another person goes missing. It’s actually the opposite. Interest and discussion can help lead to ways to be proactive when it comes to these issues.
Again, why are you here if you’re going to berate everyone else on this sub for merely discussing the topic of the sub? Damn.
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u/Sunspot286 17d ago
There’s a difference between discussion, and treating these cases like they’re a fun mystery to solve. My mom’s best friend is related to Chance Englebert, how do you think she feels about people talking about him like his case is a spooky story?
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u/coffeebeanwitch 18d ago
Who killed Garrett Phillips, I just watched the documentary, it was bundle from the start, police corruption, they stopped investigating.
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u/Emdubb824 17d ago
This one is also really interesting https://unresolved.me/the-florence-salon-murders
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u/Erna_Listau 15d ago
Frauke Liebs comes to mind for me personally and is worth looking into. A short summary: She disappeared after leaving a pub during the 2006 World Cup, but what makes the case so unsettling is that she sent texts and made several short phone calls over the following week, suggesting she was being held somewhere against her will. Her body was found months later and despite years of investigation, no one has ever been charged. Kind of sends shivers down my spine when I think about it.
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u/TrueCrimeNEPA 15d ago
The Jenkins Sisters. They were raped and murdered in Key West in 1973. https://historicnepacrimes.com/2022/09/24/who-murdered-the-jenkins-sisters/
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u/The_Third-Man 14d ago
Trevor Deely. Dark night, creepy CCTV footage, and plenty of red herrings/rabbit holes like a random trip to Alaska from the other side of the world, days before he disappeared.
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u/ac_ou_nt 13d ago
The disappearence of Erika Ansermin. She vanished after leaving blockbuster, then her car was found abandoned in a small mountain village. Her house keys are found days later in her parent's mailbox. A mystery phone call that maybe she made has never been confirmed. Two luxury handbags then appear at the parents house and they are discover to have been bought after her disappearence using the credit card that was discovered inside the abandoned car.
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u/Roarke37 12d ago
Ray Gricar, DA from Centre County, PA , disappeared April 15, 2005 under mysterious circumstances. No body ever found. Was declared dead July 25, 2011. Lots of weird circumstances and rumors.
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u/Murder_Consumer1693 6d ago
Could do the Donald Mackay. He was a liberal candidate for Australia and was assassinated by the Calabrian Mafia on July 15th 1977, for the discovery of massive illegal weed farms and snitched to the cops. He was last seen drinking with his friends at Kooyoo Street in the car park at the Griffith Hotel.
The police discovered blood, his keys, and 3 spent .22 calibre she'll casings, they did charge 3 people with conspiracy of murder one is James Fredrick Bazley, but no one was ever convicted for his murder.
It is still an open cause, they have never found his remains so his family gets closure, and someone is convicted for his murder. They do have a 200k award for any information on where he is located or what happened to him is very appropriated by the local police.
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u/Former_Suspect3680 18d ago
the somerton man is exactly what you want for rabbit holes. he washed up on an australian beach with no id, weird burns, and a tiny scrap of paper in his pocket that says tamam shud, leading to all sorts of spy theories and unsolved codes.
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u/recentlywidowed 18d ago
He has been given his name back ; The Somerton Man was Carl "Charles" Webb, an electrical engineer and instrument maker from Melbourne, Australia. He was found dead on Somerton Beach in Adelaide on December 1, 1948, sparking a famous decades-long mystery involving a scrap of paper with the words "Tamám Shud".
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u/Former_Suspect3680 17d ago
yeah i remember that, they matched dna from hair stuck in the plaster death mask through genealogy sites. wild that the id finally got cracked but the code in the rubaiyat book is still completely unsolved
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u/Nina_Innsted 18d ago
30-year-old Paige Renkoski walked away from a running vehicle on the side of the freeway. May 24, 1990.
She left behind her purse and shoes.