The most notorious unsolved crime in every state

Talia LakritzSep 2, 2020, 03:03 IST

Crime scene tape.Joos Mind/Getty Images

There are serial killers still at large decades after their crimes.
The identity of victims also remains unknown in some cases.
Some children who went missing would be in their 30s and 40s today.

Across the US, there are serial killers who have never been caught and missing people who have never been found.

Some cold cases are finally solved after decades of meticulous detective work, while others remain a mystery.

Here are 50 famous mysteries that have remained unsolved.

Editor's Note: Warning that these accounts may be upsetting to some as they describe details of real-life cases.

ALABAMA: Sherry Lynn Marler went missing from Greenville in 1984.

Sherry Lynn Marler at age 12 (left) and age-progressed to 44 years. NamUs

ALASKA: Passengers on the fishing boat Investor were killed in Craig in 1982.

The book "What Happened in Craig: Alaska's Worst Unsolved Mass Murder." Amazon

ARIZONA: Pauline Robbin Burgett was fatally stabbed in 1978.

The intersection near which Pauline Robbin Burgett was murdered. Google Maps

ARKANSAS: Morgan Nick disappeared from an Alma ballpark in 1995.

A missing person poster for Morgan Nick. NamUs

CALIFORNIA: The "Zodiac Killer" infamously terrorized California.

The Zodiac Killer. Bettmann/Contributor/Getty Images

COLORADO: 6-year-old pageant queen JonBenét Ramsey was found dead in her family's home in Boulder in 1996.

John Ramsey, the father of JonBenet Ramsey, on "The View" in 2012. Donna Svennevik/Walt Disney Television via Getty Images

CONNECTICUT: Mary Badaracco disappeared from Sherman in 1984 under suspicious circumstances.

Mary Badaracco. NamUs

DELAWARE: Jane Marie Prichard was found dead in Blackbird State Forest in 1986.

Blackbird Pond, where Prichard's body was found. Google Maps

FLORIDA: A triple murder in Tallahassee is still unsolved more than 50 years later.

641 Muriel Court, the site of the murders. Google Maps

GEORGIA: Vanessa "Honey" Malone was shot while visiting her friends' apartment in Stone Mountain in 2012.

Vanessa "Honey" Malone was killed when she walked in on an armed robbery. TheaDesign/Shutterstock

HAWAII: Lisa Au's murder has been called "one of Hawaii's biggest unsolved mysteries" by local news station KHON2.

A Honolulu Police Department car. The killer may have impersonated a police officer. TIM SLOAN/AFP via Getty Images

IDAHO: Between 1979 and 1982, five murders and disappearances were linked to a single unknown person.

The Lewiston-Clarkston metropolitan area in northern Idaho. Steve Smith/Shutterstock

ILLINOIS: Jaclyn Dowaliby was kidnapped — her body was found a week later.

A scene from "Gone in the Night." CBS

INDIANA: The "LaSalle Street murders" are still unsolved more than 40 years later.

The cover of "Slaughter On North LaSalle." Amazon

IOWA: A double homicide in Newton committed in 1983 remains unsolved.

The murders remain unsolved. Jaromir Chalabala/Shutterstock

KANSAS: In 1970, 12-year-old Kelly Lynn Albright went missing and was found dead in a field in Reno County.

The cover of "Facing September," a murder mystery based on the case of Kelly Lynn Albright's murder. Amazon

KENTUCKY: The murder of 19-year-old Betty Gail Brown is Lexington's oldest cold case.

The book "Who Killed Betty Gail Brown" by Robert G. Lawson. Amazon

LOUISIANA: The "Jennings Eight" were eight women whose bodies were found in swamps around Jennings between 2005 and 2009.

One of the "Jennings Eight," Necole Jean Guillory. Associated Press

MAINE: The murder of Mary Catherine Olenchuk in Ogunquit in 1970 is the state's oldest unsolved case.

Mary Catherine Olenchuk. Maine State Police Department

MARYLAND: The murder of Carolyn Wasilewski, also known as "Carolyn Wells," made headlines across the world.

Police tape. ALEX EDELMAN/AFP via Getty Images

MASSACHUSETTS: Lizzie Borden was accused of murdering her parents with an ax in 1892 and remained a pariah in Fall River even though she was acquitted.

The Borden home in Fall River, Massachusetts. Donna Hageman/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images

MICHIGAN: The Oakland Child County Killer murdered four children between 1976 and 1977.

"The Kill Jar" by Reuben Appelman. Amazon

MINNESOTA: Mary Schlais was found dead in Spring Brook Township in 1974, and it might have been the work of a serial killer.

Mary Schlais may have been murdered by a serial killer. PRESSLAB/Shutterstock

MISSISSIPPI: Flynt Lee was killed and thrown off a bridge in Simpson County in 2009.

The Simpson, Mississippi, courthouse. BOB WESTON/Getty Images

MISSOURI: A prepubescent girl was found decapitated in St. Louis in 1983 in a case that still haunts detectives.

The sweater that "Little Jane Doe" was found in. FBI

MONTANA: The murder of Nels and Annie Anderson in 1924 is one of Billings' oldest unsolved cases, according to the Billings Gazette.

The site of the barber shop where Nels and Annie Anderson were killed. Google Maps

NEBRASKA: Chadron State professor Steven Haataja was found tied to a tree and burned to death, but some think it could have been suicide.

A still from "Love and Terror on the Howling Plains of Nowhere." YouTube Movies/YouTube

NEVADA: Rapper Tupac Shakur was killed in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas in 1996.

Tupac Shakur. Ron Galella/Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images

NEW HAMPSHIRE: "The Connecticut River Killer" is responsible for at least seven deaths between 1978 and 1987.

The Connecticut River in New Hampshire. Dominic Labbe/Shutterstock

NEW JERSEY: "The Eastbound Strangler," a serial killer suspected of killing four women in Atlantic City in 2006, remains at large.

The Golden Key Motel in Egg Harbor Township, New Jersey. Mary Godleski/File/AP

NEW MEXICO: It took police a year to identify the remains of 11 women killed in the West Mesa Murders, but they still haven't identified the killer.

Forensic experts excavate human remains in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Susan Montoya Bryan/File/AP

NEW YORK: The beloved owner of 2nd Ave Deli was shot and killed in 1996.

2nd Ave Deli in New York City. Spencer Platt/Getty Images

NORTH CAROLINA: A 72-year-old grandmother was found with her throat slashed in her Pinehurst home in 1989.

A sidewalk in Pinehurst, North Carolina. bettsb/Shutterstock

NORTH DAKOTA: The serial killer who murdered six people in Niagara is known, but the names of the victims are still a mystery 100 years later.

The victims' identities remain a mystery. South_agency/Getty Images

OHIO: The identity of the "Cleveland Torso Murderer" from the 1930s is still unknown.

"In the Wake of the Butcher: Cleveland's Torso Murders." Amazon

OKLAHOMA: The Lawton Serial Killer struck from 1999 to 2003, killing five women.

The US courthouse in Lawton, Oklahoma. Carol M. Highsmith/Buyenlarge/Getty Images

OREGON: Two women were attacked by a man with an ax while camping in Cline Falls in 1977.

"Strange Piece of Paradise." Amazon

PENNSYLVANIA: An unidentified boy discovered in a box in 1957 became known as "The Boy in the Box."

The historic marker for "America's Unknown Child." Google Maps

RHODE ISLAND: Joanne Lee Reynolds was found dead in her apartment in 1980. Investigators hoped to find a lead on Facebook.

Joanne Lee Reynolds' Facebook page, created by the North Kingstown Police Department. Facebook

SOUTH CAROLINA: 4-year-old Jessica Gutierrez was kidnapped in Lexington County in 1986.

Jessica Suzanne Gutierrez at age 4 when she went missing (left), and age-progressed to 32 years old. NamUs

SOUTH DAKOTA: A mother and her two children were shot dead in Mount Vernon in 1981. The father was charged with first-degree murder, but later acquitted.

Mt. Vernon Cemetery in South Dakota. Google Maps

TENNESSEE: The "Redhead Murders" of red-haired women occurred in Tennessee as well as four other states over three decades.

A serial killer targeted redheads. Pop Paul-Catalin/Shutterstock

TEXAS: A young couple was found dead in a "lovers' lane" in Houston.

Some secluded roads are known as "lovers' lanes." DebashisK/Shutterstock

UTAH: The "February 9 Killer" carried out two similar murders, two years apart, on the same day.

The killer murdered both victims on February 9. Joos Mind/Getty Images

VERMONT: Between 1920 and 1950, as many as 10 people disappeared in the "Bennington Triangle" in southwestern Vermont.

Paula Jean Welden disappeared in the Bennington Triangle in 1946. The Charley Project/Wikimedia Commons

VIRGINIA: The "Colonial Parkway Murders" remain unsolved after 30 years.

Virginia's Colonial Parkway. Sean Xu/Shutterstock

WASHINGTON: Murders in Mineral in 1985 became known as the "Tube Sock Killings."

Two of the victims had tube socks tied around their necks. Julio Macias/Shutterstock

WEST VIRGINIA: When the Sodder family home burned down in 1945 in Fayetteville, four of their nine children escaped, but the other five disappeared completely.

A house fire. Mikhail Noev/Shutterstock

WISCONSIN: Seven women affiliated with the University of Wisconsin-Madison died in the "Capital City Killings" between 1968 and 1982.

Madison, Wisconsin. Walter Bibikow/Getty Images

WYOMING: "Gabby's Bones" were found in an old trunk from the 1930s in Thermopolis in 1986.

Not the actual bones. PlusONE/Shutterstock

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