UNSOLVED CRIMES

WHITECHAPEL KILLINGS

Possibly one of the most famous unsolved crimes ever, in 1888

there were eleven brutal murders committed in the Whitechapel

District of London’s east end. All of the victims were prostitutes

murdered by the same killer who became known as “Jack the Ripper”

and whose identity has never been uncovered.

JOHN MIDDLETON CLAYTON MURDER

The notorious murder of John Middleton Clayton on January 29, 1889

in Pinkerton, Arkansas happened while he was contesting his defeat

for a seat in congress. He was gunned down in front of his home and

despite the $5,000 reward, an investigation by the Pinkerton detectives,

and strong suspicions, no one was charged or implicated.

After his death, the House of Representatives found that his

opponent had in fact committed election fraud.

ANDREW AND ABBY BORDEN

The murder of husband and wife Andrew and Abby Borden on August

4, 1892 attracted media attention not only due to their affluence in

Fall River, Massachusetts, but also for the fact that the suspect who was

tried and acquitted was a family member named Lizzie Borden.

Andrew sustained 11 blows from an axe on his head while taking a nap

on the couch, while Abby, who died an hour or so before him,

had suffered 18 or 19 blows. Speculations about properties,

strained relationships, and food poisoning abounded.

THE AXEMAN OF NEW ORLEANS

The feared “boogeyman,” who created a mass hysteria in

New Orleans around the turn of the 20th century, first appeared on

May 23, 1918 when a local grocer named Joseph Maggio and his wife

were found butchered in their sleep with an axe which was found in

the room still covered with the couple’s blood. The entryway was a

chiselled panel in the rear door and the only clue to the murder,

as no valuables were taken, was a message written in chalk near the

couple’s home. The Axeman killed at least 8 more people until it

stopped and the killer was never found.

THE ATLAS VAMPIRE CASE

In 1932 in Stockholm, Sweden, an unnamed 32-year-old prostitute

was found dead approximately 48 hours after her murder.

Though murders of prostitute weren’t that rare at the time, the

woman who had been killed by a crushing blow to the skull had

attracted significant media attention as it appeared in the autopsy note

that the killer had apparently been drinking the woman’s blood.

Due to the absence of forensic technology and the lack of witnesses,

this spine-chilling mystery remained unsolved.

THE BLACK DAHLIA

This is a moniker given to a 22-year old aspiring starlet named Elizabeth

Short, due to her dark hair and wardrobe, who was the victim of a

gruesome and much-publicized murder. Her body was found mutilated,

sliced with surgical precision and drained of blood on January 15,

1947 in Leimert Park, Los Angeles, California. The oldest unsolved

case in LA was the subject of widespread speculations that led to a

number of suspects but no convictions.

THE TAMAN SHUD CASE

This unsolved case that received worldwide attention involved an

unidentified man that was found dead on the morning of December 1,

1948 on Somertone beach in Adelaide, South Australia. Despite the

best efforts of numerous agencies and governments around the world

the man was never identified and the only clue was a piece of

scrap paper in his pocket that had two words written on it from the

final page of the Rubaiyat: “taman shud”, which translates to “ended”.

MARILYN SHEPPARD

The killing of Marilyn Sheppard in her family’s home on July 1954

in Cleveland led to the conviction of her husband, neurosurgeon

Dr. Sam Sheppard. However, he maintained his innocence throughout

and always claimed it was a “dark-hair intruder.” Dr. Sheppard was

acquitted when the US Supreme Court overturned his convictions

due to the excessive media hype that may have influenced his trial,

and was still seeking his wife’s killer until his death in 1970. His son,

who was 7 years-old at the time of the brutal killing and was just

sleeping next door when it happened, and continues his

family’s quest up until this day.

BOY IN THE BOX

This was a name given to an unidentified murdered boy, about

4 to 6 years old, whose naked body was found in a cardboard box on

the edge of the Susquehanna Road in Northeast Philadelphia on

February 25, 1957. He had numerous bruises on his entire body and

in spite of being featured on a television series such as

“America’s Most Wanted,” his identity remains unknown.