CRIMES THAT HAVE NEVER BEEN SOLVED
Added on: 3rd Aug 2015
GARDNER MUSEUM
The Gardner Museum, named after Isabella Stewart Gardner
experienced the world’s biggest art heist ever on St. Patrick’s Day
in 1990. Two men, who posed as policemen sent to purportedly
investigate something, stole 13 paintings worth an estimated
$300 million. The artworks, which were hacked from their frames,
were apparently uninsured and in spite of a $5 million reward,
they were never found.
TUPAC SHAKUR, BIGGIE SMALLS
Tupac Shakur, listed as one of the most successful gangster rappers
ever, was killed in a drive-by shooting a few hours away after the
Mike Tyson-Bruce Sheldon match in September 1996, that he attended
with his record producer Suge Knight in Las Vegas. He died from
injuries six days later and six months later, his rival Biggie Smalls, 24,
was also gunned down in Los Angeles. Rumours have it that the two
former friends became entangled in hip-hop’s East Coast vs. West Coast
rivalry when Shakur switched teams. Investigations made by the
Los Angeles Times suggested that it was Smalls who paid the
Southside Crips to gun down Shakur. Meanwhile, a documentarian
named Nick Broomfield, implicated Suge Knight, who allegedly got rid of
Smalls to confuse authorities. Whatever the truth is, no one knows
as both cases remains open.
JONBENÉT RAMSEY
The six-year-old beauty queen of a wealthy Boulder, Colorado executive
was found bludgeoned and strangled to death in the basement of her
family home around Christmas of 1996. Clashes between the family
and the police and district attorney fed the media frenzy while public
speculations centred on her parents John and Patsy Ramsey. They
appeared in media channels for years defending their innocence
and demanded justice for their daughter, until they were cleared from
any involvement in 2008 through the newly-discovered DNA evidence.
Who the real culprit was, however, remains a mystery.
AMBER HAGERMAN
Amber Hagerman, 9, and her little brother Ricky, 5, were pedalling their
bikes to an abandoned grocery store on the afternoon of January 13, 1996.
Ricky went home alone, and an eyewitness, a 78-year old retiree,
accounted that Amber was biking alone when a man in a dark pickup
grabbed her and pulled her into the vehicle. He contacted the police,
who did a massive search along with some volunteers in the area.
She was found four days later on a creek bed, dead and had been sexually
assaulted for the two days she had been kept alive. No suspects had
been found but this led to the start of the now well-known Amber Alert,
an international child abduction alert bulletin.
CIUDAD JUARÉZ
On July 27, 2004, the body of Alma Brisa Molina Baca, a 34-year old factory
worker, was found dead in an empty lot in Ciudad Juaréz, Mexico. She had
been raped and strangled just like the 1,000 women or so, who
“disappeared” since 1993, most of them dumped in the desert.
This decade-long killing spree, which targets the poor workers at
nearby ‘maquiladoras’ or factories, has sparked Amnesty International
and other human rights advocates worldwide to urge the Mexican
authorities to find the killers.
THE AMSTERDAM DIAMOND HEIST
This is not as disturbing as some of the other crimes, but what is crazy
about this heist is the fact that it was pulled off in broad daylight before
multiple witnesses. Two men disguised as KLM employees rode a stolen
car from the cargo terminal of Amsterdam Schipol Airport and hijacked a
truck carrying uncut diamonds estimated at US $118 million bound for Antwerp.
The police hinted at an inside job though they have yet to solve the case.
ALEXANDER LITVINENKO
If you like spy stories, this will definitely captivate you. A former officer
of the Russian Federal Security Officer, FSB and KGB, Alexander Litvinenko
had received political asylum in the United Kingdom. However, on November 1,
2006, he became the first person ever to be poisoned with polonium.
He died a few days later and speculations on who could inflict such a
merciless murder became rampant though no one was charged.
The mystery only fanned the fear and mass hysteria regarding the use
of biological and chemical weapons.
THE SALISH SEA FOOT MYSTERY
When several detached feet washed up on the shores of the Salish Sea
in British Columbia, some officials didn’t think it too odd as they may
have come from boating accidents or plane crashes. What was strange
about these feet, however, was the fact that they kept washing up and
every single one of them had running shoes on. Speculations range from
suicides to tsunami victims but as of yet, there has been no
official conclusion.
Comment on this