List Of Unsolved Murders (1980–1999)
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This list of unsolved murders includes notable cases where victims have been
murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse committed with the necessary Intention (criminal law), intention as defined by the law in a specific jurisd ...
ed under unknown circumstances.


1980–1984

* Jeannie Mills (39) was a female early defector from the Peoples Temple along with her husband and teenage daughter, who were all murdered on 26 February 1980 in front of their
Berkeley, California Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Anglo-Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland, Cali ...
home. The murder is still unsolved. * Philadelphia mob boss Angelo Bruno (69) was killed by a shotgun blast to the back of his head as he sat in his car in front of his South Philadelphia house on 21 March 1980. Antonio Caponigro, one of Bruno's underlings, is believed to have ordered the killing over a drug dispute; since the murder had not been sanctioned by the Commission, Caponigro himself was reputedly killed on its orders within a month. However, no suspects have ever been identified as having actually shot Bruno. *
Óscar Romero Óscar Arnulfo Romero y Galdámez (15 August 1917 – 24 March 1980) was a prelate of the Catholic Church in El Salvador. He served as Auxiliary Bishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Salvador, Archdiocese of San Salvador, the Titular ...
, the fourth Archbishop of San Salvador, El Salvador, was killed by a shot to the heart on 24 March 1980, while celebrating
Mass Mass is an Intrinsic and extrinsic properties, intrinsic property of a physical body, body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the physical quantity, quantity of matter in a body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physi ...
at a small chapel located in a hospital. It is believed but was never proven that the assassins were members of Salvadoran
death squad A death squad is an armed group whose primary activity is carrying out extrajudicial killings, massacres, or enforced disappearances as part of political repression, genocide, ethnic cleansing, or revolutionary terror. Except in rare cases in w ...
s. During the funeral a bomb exploded in Plaza Barrios fronting San Salvador Cathedral and shots were fired. Many people were killed during the subsequent mass panic. * The naked and beaten body of Philadelphia mobster Antonio Caponigro (68), nicknamed "Tony Bananas", was found in the trunk of a car in
the Bronx The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It shares a land border with Westchester County, New York, West ...
on 18 April 1980, along with that of his brother-in-law Alfred Salerno. He was believed to have ordered the killing of his own boss, Angelo Bruno, a month earlier over a drug dispute; since he had not gotten the approval of the Commission he was himself killed at their order. No suspects have ever been named. * Dorothy Jane Scott (32) disappeared on 28 May 1980 in
Anaheim, California Anaheim ( ) is a city in northern Orange County, California, United States, part of the Greater Los Angeles area. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a population of 346,824, making it the most populous city in Orang ...
after heading to pick up a colleague who had been discharged from the hospital following treatment for a spider bite. Her car was found burnt out in an alleyway from the hospital the following morning, and her decomposed remains were discovered in August 1984. Her murderer and cause of death remain unknown, but police believe an unidentified male who stalked Scott with harassing phone calls prior to her disappearance and subsequent murder is the likely suspect. *
War War is an armed conflict between the armed forces of states, or between governmental forces and armed groups that are organized under a certain command structure and have the capacity to sustain military operations, or between such organi ...
saxophonist Charles Miller (41), who co-wrote and sang their hit "
Low Rider "Low Rider" is a song written by American funk band War and producer Jerry Goldstein, which appeared on their album '' Why Can't We Be Friends?'', released in June 1975. It reached number one on the ''Billboard'' R&B singles chart, peaked at nu ...
", was killed during a robbery in Los Angeles on 14 June 1980. No suspects have ever been identified. * The explosion that killed all 81 on board
Itavia Flight 870 On 27 June 1980, Itavia Flight 870 (IH 870, AJ 421), a Douglas DC-9 passenger jet en route from Bologna to Palermo, Italy, crashed into the Tyrrhenian Sea between the islands of Ponza and Ustica at 20:59 CEST, killing all 81 occupants on board ...
near the Italian island of
Ustica Ustica (; ) is a small Italian island in the Tyrrhenian Sea. It is about across and is situated north of Capo Gallo, Sicily. Roughly 1,300 people live in the ''comune'' (municipality) of the same name. There is a regular ferry service ...
on 27 June 1980 has been variously attributed to a bomb or a missile strike. Whatever the cause, the investigations have been criticized as ineffective, and no culprits identified. There has also been a series of suspicious deaths, murders or suicides among people involved in or investigating the case, further raising suspicion of a conspiracy. *
Troy Leon Gregg Troy Leon Gregg (April 29, 1948 – July 29, 1980) was the first condemned individual whose death sentence was upheld by the United States Supreme Court after the Court's decision in ''Furman v. Georgia'' invalidated all previous capital punishm ...
(32), the first condemned individual whose death sentence was upheld by the
United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that turn on question ...
after the ''
Furman v. Georgia ''Furman v. Georgia'', 408 U.S. 238 (1972), was a landmark criminal case in which the United States Supreme Court decided that arbitrary and inconsistent imposition of the death penalty violates the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments, and const ...
'' ruling invalidated all previously enacted death penalty laws in the United States, escaped from
Georgia State Prison Georgia State Prison was the main maximum-security facility in the US state of Georgia for the Georgia Department of Corrections. It was located in unincorporated Tattnall County. First opened in 1938, the prison housed some of the most da ...
in
Reidsville, Georgia Reidsville is a city in, and county seat of, Tattnall County, Georgia, Tattnall County, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. The population was 2,515 in 2020. The Georgia State Prison is near Reidsville. History Reidsville was founded in about 1828 an ...
along with three other death row inmates and convicted murderers on 29 July 1980. Gregg's body was found in the
Catawba River The Catawba River is a major river located in the Southeastern United States. It originates in Western North Carolina and flows into South Carolina, where it later becomes known as the Wateree River. The river is approximately 220 miles (350&nbs ...
later that night; he had died as a result of
suffocation Asphyxia or asphyxiation is a condition of deficient supply of oxygen to the body which arises from abnormal breathing. Asphyxia causes generalized hypoxia, which affects all the tissues and organs, some more rapidly than others. There are m ...
. One theory suggests that Gregg was killed in a biker bar in
North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...
after attempting to assault a waitress. Another theory suggests that Gregg was murdered after getting into an argument with one of his fellow escapees, Timothy McCorquodale, and James Cecil Horne, a member of the
Outlaws Motorcycle Club The Outlaws Motorcycle Club, Incorporation (business), incorporated as the American Outlaws Association or its acronym, A.O.A., is an international outlaw motorcycle club. Founded in McCook, Illinois in 1935, the Outlaws MC is the oldest outlaw ...
. Horne was initially charged with Gregg's murder, with William Flamont being charged as an accessory to the crime. All charges against Horne and Flamont were later dropped due to lack of evidence. * Tammy Terrell, a formerly unidentified seventeen-year-old, was discovered on 5 October 1980, in Henderson, Nevada. Authorities believe she may have been the victim of human trafficking. * Giorgio Agatino Giamonna (25), and Antonio Galatola (15) were two young homosexual males discovered deceased in
Giarre Giarre () is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Catania, Sicily. The town is located about southeast of Palermo and around north of Catania. Geography Giarre is bounded by the municipalities of Acireale, Mascali, Milo, Ri ...
,
Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...
on 31 October 1980. Both had been shot in the head and were discovered holding hands. The perpetrator of the murders was never identified, but is believed to have been the 13-year-old nephew of one of the victims. The deaths of Giamonna and Galatola ultimately led to the widespread recognition of homophobia among the Italian public and the strengthening and recognition of Italian gay rights movements. * Dean and Tina Clouse, whose decomposing remains were found outside of
Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...
in January 1981, but were not identified until 2021. Their infant daughter, Holly Marie, was not found with their bodies, and was later located alive in Oklahoma in 2022. It was discovered that Holly Marie had been abandoned at a church in Arizona by members of an unknown Jesus freak cult, who are now considered the main suspects in the murders of Dean and Tina. * Another Philadelphia mobster believed to have been involved in the Angelo Bruno assassination, Frank Sindone (52), was found dead with three gunshot wounds in the back of his head in a
South Philadelphia South Philadelphia, nicknamed South Philly, is the section of Philadelphia bounded by South Street to the north, the Delaware River to the east and south, and the Schuylkill River to the west."." ''City of Philadelphia''. Retrieved November 8, ...
alley on 29 October 1980. His death is believed to have been ordered by the Commission as punishment for the unsanctioned killing of Bruno, but no suspects have ever been identified. * Sherri Jarvis is a formerly unidentified 14-year-old girl whose body was found on 1 November 1980, in Huntsville,
Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...
, United States. A possible runaway matching her description was reported by a witness to have asked for directions to a prison unit, to which she never arrived. She was killed by strangulation and beating, also being sexually assaulted. * Goh Beng Choo, an eight-year-old girl whose body was found in a village in
Bukit Batok Bukit Batok ( ), often abbreviated as Bt Batok, is a planning area and matured residential town located along the eastern boundary of the West Region of Singapore. Bukit Batok statistically ranks in as the 25th largest, the 10th most populo ...
,
Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...
on 19 November 1980. She had died of a ruptured liver resulting from blows to her abdomen, and had been sexually assaulted before her death. * Carol Cole (17) was discovered stabbed to death in Bellevue,
Louisiana Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...
in January 1981, after her 1980 disappearance. Her body was identified in February 2015. The man who found her, now in prison for killing his wife, is considered a person of interest. * Sebastian Russo (56) was a
primary care physician A primary care physician (PCP) is a physician who provides both the first contact for a person with an undiagnosed health concern as well as continuing care of varied medical conditions, not limited by cause, organ system, or diagnosis. The term ...
from
Baltimore Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...
,
Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...
. He was shot and killed in his office on the evening of 27 February 1981. The only clues indicated that a patient and possibly an accomplice targeted him for his supply of prescription drugs. No suspects have ever been identified. *
Philip Testa Philip Charles Testa (April 21, 1924 – March 15, 1981), also known as "The Chicken Man", was an Italian-American mobster known for his brief leadership of the Philadelphia crime family of the Italian-American Mafia. He became crime boss, boss ...
(56), known as "The Chicken Man", was killed when a
nail bomb A nail bomb is an anti-personnel explosive device containing nails to increase its effectiveness at harming victims. The nails act as shrapnel, leading almost certainly to more injury in inhabited areas than the explosives alone would. A nail ...
exploded under his porch as he stepped into his Philadelphia house on 15 March 1981, the second local mob boss to be assassinated within a year. At the time he and several associates were under federal indictment for their activities; Testa's killing sparked a four-year war for control that left 30 other mobsters dead. Two of Testa's underbosses have been described as responsible; however, no actual suspects have ever been named. *The Shinjuku–Kabukicho Love Hotel murders are the murders of three young Japanese females that took place of three different occasions on 19 March 1981, on 25 April 1981, and on 14 June 1981, in
Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...
at nighttime at
love hotel A love hotel is a type of short-stay hotel found around the world operated primarily for the purpose of allowing guests privacy for sex. The name originates from "Hotel Love" in Osaka, Japan. Although love hotels exist all over the world, the ...
s, The three murders are believed to have been committed by the same person who is believed to be a male, who has never been identified or captured. * Thor Nis Christiansen (23) was a Danish-American
serial killer A serial killer (also called a serial murderer) is a person who murders three or more people,An offender can be anyone: * * * * * (This source only requires two people) with the killings taking place over a significant period of time in separat ...
from
Solvang, California Solvang (; Danish for "sunny field") is a city in Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Located in the Santa Ynez Valley, Solvang was founded in 1911 and incorporated as a city on May 1, 1985. The population was 6,126 at the 2020 ...
. He committed his first three murders in late 1976 and early 1977, killing young women of similar appearance from nearby Isla Vista. His crimes motivated large demonstrations opposed to
violence against women Violence against women (VAW), also known as gender-based violence (GBV) or sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), violent, violence primarily committed by Man, men or boys against woman, women or girls. Such violence is often considered hat ...
, and in favor of better transportation for the young people residing in Isla Vista. On 30 March 1981, Christiansen died after being stabbed in the exercise yard at
Folsom State Prison Folsom California State Prison is a California State Prison in Folsom, California, United States, approximately northeast of the state capital of Sacramento. It is one of 34 adult institutions operated by the California Department of Correcti ...
. His killer was not identified. * The
Keddie murders The Keddie murders are an List of unsolved murders (20th century), unsolved Mass murder, quadruple homicide that occurred over the night of April 1112, 1981, in Keddie, California, Keddie, California, United States. The victims were Glenna Susan ...
, in which four people were found dead in
Keddie, California Keddie is a census-designated place in Plumas County, California, United States. The population was 51 at the 2020 census. Geography According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of , all of it land. Keddie is the loca ...
on 11 April (and possibly into 12 April) 1981. * Brenda Gerow (21) was found murdered in early April 1981 in Tucson, Arizona. Her body remained unidentified until 2015 after a photograph of her was found in a convicted killer's possession and led police to believe she was the unidentified victim, based on a resemblance to a facial reconstruction. Gerow was subsequently identified to be the girl in the picture and later confirmed to be the victim through DNA tests. The man who possessed her photograph is considered a person of interest and her murder remains unsolved. * Marcia King (21), who had been nicknamed "Buckskin Girl" prior to her identification in 2018, was found in
Troy, Ohio Troy is a city in and the county seat of Miami County, Ohio, United States. The population was 26,305 at the 2020 census, making it Miami County's largest city and Ohio's 55th-largest. Troy lies along the Great Miami River about north of Da ...
on 23 April 1981. She had been beaten and strangled to death. * Mostafa Chamran (48) was an
Iranian Iranian () may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Iran ** Iranian diaspora, Iranians living outside Iran ** Iranian architecture, architecture of Iran and parts of the rest of West Asia ** Iranian cuisine, cooking traditions and practic ...
physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate cau ...
, politician,
commander Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank as well as a job title in many army, armies. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countri ...
and
guerrilla Guerrilla warfare is a form of unconventional warfare in which small groups of irregular military, such as rebels, Partisan (military), partisans, paramilitary personnel or armed civilians, which may include Children in the military, recruite ...
fighter who was killed on 21 June 1981 in Dehlavieh, during the
Iran–Iraq War The Iran–Iraq War, also known as the First Gulf War, was an armed conflict between Iran and Iraq that lasted from September 1980 to August 1988. Active hostilities began with the Iraqi invasion of Iran and lasted for nearly eight years, unti ...
. The mystery behind his murder remains largely unsolved. * Raymond Nels Nelson (79) was Administrative Assistant to Senator
Claiborne Pell Claiborne de Borda Pell (November 22, 1918 – January 1, 2009) was an American politician and writer who served as a U.S. Senator from Rhode Island for six terms from 1961 to 1997. He was the sponsor of the 1972 bill that reformed the Basic ...
and former bureau chief of ''The Providence Journal'', Rhode Island. He was found bludgeoned to death with a typewriter in his
Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...
apartment on 1 June 1981. * Wonderland murders are four unsolved murders that occurred in
Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
on 1 July 1981. It is assumed that six people were targeted to be killed in the known drug house of the Wonderland Gang, five were present, and four of those five died from extensive blunt-force trauma injuries: Billy DeVerell, Ron Launius, Joy Miller and Barbara Richardson. Launius' wife, Susan Launius, survived the attack. The attack was allegedly masterminded by organized crime figure and nightclub owner Eddie Nash. He, his henchman Gregory DeWitt Diles, and porn star John Holmes were at various times arrested, tried, and acquitted for their involvement in the murders. * Ken McElroy (47), long considered the "town bully" of Skidmore, Missouri, was shot dead while in the cab of his pickup truck on 10 July 1981. None of the 46 potential witnesses to the crime have ever come forward to identify a suspect. * Vishal Mehrotra (8) was abducted from
Putney Putney () is an affluent district in southwest London, England, in the London Borough of Wandsworth, southwest of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. History Putney is an ...
, South London on 29 July 1981. Vishal's partial remains were discovered 25 February 1982, on an isolated farm in
Sussex Sussex (Help:IPA/English, /ˈsʌsɪks/; from the Old English ''Sūþseaxe''; lit. 'South Saxons'; 'Sussex') is an area within South East England that was historically a kingdom of Sussex, kingdom and, later, a Historic counties of England, ...
. His murder remains unsolved. * The Setiabudi 13 case refers to an unidentified male who was murdered and mutilated discovered dead on the sidewalk of
Jalan Jenderal Sudirman Jalan Jenderal Sudirman (''General Sudirman Avenue'') or Jalan Sudirman (''Sudirman Avenue'') is a major thoroughfare in Jakarta, Indonesia. Named after Indonesian national hero Sudirman, the road runs from Patung Pemuda Membangun at the south ...
,
Setiabudi Setiabudi is a district in the administrative city of South Jakarta, Indonesia. It is part of the Golden Triangle of Jakarta (), the centre of business and commercial establishments in the city. Setiabudi is named after an Indonesian hero of part ...
,
South Jakarta South Jakarta (; ), abbreviated as Jaksel, is one of the five administrative cities which form the Special Capital Region of Jakarta, Indonesia. South Jakarta is not self-governed and does not have a city council, hence it is not classified as a ...
on 23 November 1981. The case has now gone
cold Cold is the presence of low temperature, especially in the atmosphere. In common usage, cold is often a subjectivity, subjective perception. A lower bound to temperature is absolute zero, defined as 0.00K on the Kelvin scale, an absolute t ...
and his killer is unknown. * Zoya Fyodorova (73) was a Russian film star who had an affair with American Navy captain Jackson Tate in 1945 and bore a child, Victoria Fyodorova, in January 1946. Having rejected the advances of NKVD police head
Lavrentiy Beria Lavrentiy Pavlovich Beria ka, ლავრენტი პავლეს ძე ბერია} ''Lavrenti Pavles dze Beria'' ( – 23 December 1953) was a Soviet politician and one of the longest-serving and most influential of Joseph ...
, the affair was exposed resulting, initially, in a death sentence later reprieved to work camp imprisonment in
Siberia Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...
; she was released after eight years. She was murdered in her Moscow apartment on 11 December 1981. The murder remains unsolved. * Dana Bradley (14) disappeared while hitchhiking in
St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador St. John's is the capital and largest city of the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. It is located on the eastern tip of the Avalon Peninsula on the island of Newfoundland. The city spans and is the easternmost city in North Ame ...
on 14 December 1981. Her body was found four days later in a wooded area south of St. John's. An intense and highly publicized investigation followed, and in 1986 a man confessed to her murder, but later recanted. , the case remains open and unsolved. * Jorge Sangumba (37–38) served as the Foreign Minister of
UNITA The National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (, abbr. UNITA) is the second-largest political party in Angola. Founded in 1966, UNITA fought alongside the People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) and the National Liberat ...
during the
Angolan War of Independence The Angolan War of Independence (; 1961–1974), known as the Armed Struggle of National Liberation (Portuguese: ''Luta Armada de Libertação Nacional'') in Angola, was a war of independence fought between the Angolan nationalist forces ...
. It is believed that
Jonas Savimbi Jonas Malheiro Sidónio Sakaita Savimbi (; 3 August 1934 – 22 February 2002) was an Angolan revolutionary, politician, and rebel military leader who founded and led the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola ( UNITA). UNITA was on ...
, leader of UNITA, allegedly ordered Sangumba's assassination along with several other potential rivals for leadership of UNITA during the
Angolan Civil War The Angolan Civil War () was a civil war in Angola, beginning in 1975 and continuing, with interludes, until 2002. The war began immediately after Angola became independent from Portugal in November 1975. It was a power struggle between two for ...
in 1982. The murder has been investigated, but nothing has been found out and remains unsolved. * Marcel Francisci (62), a French member of the Union Corse criminal organization who created the
French Connection The French Connection was a scheme through which heroin was smuggled from Indochina through Turkey to France and then to the United States and Canada. The operation started in the 1930s, reached its peak in the 1960s, and was dismantled in the 1 ...
drug pipeline, was shot fatally as he walked to his car from his Paris apartment on 16 January 1982. No suspects have ever been identified. * Andrea Buchanan (26) was an American professional female
tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...
player who was shot and later died on 28 January 1982 in the
Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
fish market, where she worked. Her murder remains unsolved. * Carolyn Eaton (17), formerly known as Valentine Sally, was an unidentified female discovered along I-40 in
Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...
on 14 February 1982. She had likely been seen at a truck stop with an older male early in the morning on 4 February and had been murdered soon after. No suspects have ever been identified, but the case is treated as a homicide. * The severed head and dismembered remains of Nava Elimelech (11) were found in plastic bags at the beaches in
Herzliya Herzliya ( ; , / ) is an affluent List of Israeli cities, city in the Israeli coastal plain, central coast of Israel, at the northern part of the Tel Aviv District, known for its robust start-up and entrepreneurial culture. In it had a populatio ...
and
Tel Baruch Tel Baruch is a luxury neighborhood dating back to 1947, located on the northern side of the Yarkon River, in the northeast of Tel Aviv, Israel. The neighborhood The neighborhood is divided into two parts: * Tel Baruch - The old section of Tel ...
, Israel on 20 March 1982. She had likely been murdered in her hometown of
Bat Yam Bat Yam ( ) is a city on Israel's Mediterranean Sea coast, on the Central Coastal Plain just south of Tel Aviv. It is part of the Gush Dan metropolitan area and the Tel Aviv District. In , it had a population of . History British Mandate Bat Y ...
that same day; despite extensive searches and several arrests, the murderer remains unknown. * Jim Bradley (29) was an American
basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...
player from
East Chicago, Indiana East Chicago is a city in Lake County, Indiana, United States. The population was 26,370 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Centered around heavy industry, the city is home to the Indiana Harbor and Ship Canal, an artificial freshwa ...
who was shot dead on 20 February 1982 in
Portland, Oregon Portland ( ) is the List of cities in Oregon, most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in the Pacific Northwest region. Situated close to northwest Oregon at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, ...
. Whoever killed him is unknown, but it is known to be drug related. * Seventeen Hindu monks and nuns were killed and subsequently burned by a mob in the Bijon Setu massacre, possibly over rumours of child-trafficking. No arrests were ever made. *
Rusty Day Rusty Day (born Russell Edward Davidson; December 29, 1945 – June 3, 1982) was an American rock singer, best known for his work with Cactus, the Amboy Dukes, and Steve Gaines. Career with the Amboy Dukes Day joined the Amboy Dukes in 196 ...
(36) was an American singer who was fatally shot at his home on 3 June 1982. His son, his dog, and Garth McRae were also fatally shot during the same attack. The murder officially remains unsolved, although the Seminole County Sheriff's Office believe the victims may have known the perpetrator, and that the killings may have been drug-related. *
Roberto Calvi Roberto Calvi (13 April 1920 – 17 June 1982) was an Italian banker, dubbed "God's Banker" () by the press because of his close business dealings with the Holy See. He was a native of Milan and was chairman of Banco Ambrosiano, which collapsed ...
(62), CEO of
Banco Ambrosiano Banco Ambrosiano was an Italian bank that was established in 1896 and collapsed in 1982. The Vatican-based Institute for the Works of Religion, commonly known as the ''Vatican Bank'', was Banco Ambrosiano's main shareholder. The Vatican Bank was ...
, was found hanged under
Blackfriars Bridge Blackfriars Bridge is a road and foot traffic bridge over the River Thames in London, between Waterloo Bridge and Blackfriars Railway Bridge, carrying the A201 road. The north end is in the City of London near the Inns of Court and Temple C ...
in London on 17 June 1982. Initially considered a suicide, authorities later changed their minds and investigated it as a homicide. An Italian court acquitted five defendants in 2009; charges against a sixth defendant were later dropped. * Dawn Olanick (17), who was formerly known as "Princess Doe", was a teenage girl from
West Babylon, New York West Babylon is a census-designated place (CDP) in the Town of Babylon in Suffolk County, New York, United States. The population was 43,213 at the 2010 census. Geography West Babylon is located at (40.713399, -73.357106). West Babylon is b ...
who went missing on 24 June 1982 and was found dead on 15 July 1982 in Cedar Ridge Cemetery in
Blairstown, New Jersey Blairstown is a Township (New Jersey), township in Warren County, New Jersey, Warren County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the township's population was 5,704, a decrease of 263 (−4.4%) from the 2010 Uni ...
after being murdered. Her murder remains unsolved. * Thomas Oscar Freeman was murdered at the age of 35 sometime in July 1982 by an unidentified individual by multiple gunshots. His decomposing body was found in a shallow grave on 30 October 1982. In February 2022, it was revealed that Freeman himself had murdered 32-year-old Lee Rotatori on 25 June 1982, by stabbing her in the heart. Authorities believe the two murders are connected. * The body of a strangled teenage girl, found on 1 July 1982 outside
Baytown, Texas Baytown is a city in the U.S. state of Texas, within Harris County, Texas, Harris and Chambers County, Texas, Chambers counties. Located in the Greater Houston, Houston–The Woodlands–Sugar Land metropolitan statistical area, it lies on the nor ...
, remained unidentified for 32 years. In 2014, the corpse's DNA was matched to Michelle Garvey (15), a runaway from
Connecticut Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...
. The investigation is ongoing. * Rachael Runyan (3) was abducted from a park near her home in Sunset, Utah on 26 August 1982. Her body was found three weeks later in a creek approximately away. Her murder remains unsolved. * The bodies of seven people were found on board the remains of the fishing vessel ''Investor'' after it burned off the coast of Craig, Alaska, on 7 September 1982; a coroner's jury found that an eighth known to have been on board died as well even though their remains were not found, and that the fire had been set. Two years later, police arrested a former crewman and charged him with murder and arson. After the first trial ended in a hung jury, he was acquitted in 1988. No other suspects have ever been named. * Kristina Diane Nelson (21), and her stepsister, Jacqueline Ann "Brandy" Miller (18), were found dead in a rural area near
Kendrick, Idaho Kendrick is a city in Latah County, Idaho, United States. Its population was 303 at the 2010 census, a decrease from 369 in 2000. History Founded as Latah or Latah City in 1889 by Thomas Kirby, a post office was established on May 24 with Kir ...
. Nelson and Miller had vanished from
Lewiston, Idaho Lewiston is a city and the county seat of Nez Perce County, Idaho, United States, in the state's North Central Idaho, north central region. It is the third-largest city in the Idaho Panhandle, northern Idaho region, behind Post Falls, Idaho, Pos ...
on 12 September 1982. Stephen Pearsall (35), who knew the sisters and disappeared the same night, was never located and may also have been killed. Police link their deaths with a cluster of other disappearances and murders occurring in the
Lewiston–Clarkston metropolitan area The Lewiston–Clarkston metropolitan area—colloquially referred to as the Lewiston–Clarkston Valley or Lewis–Clark Valley (often abbreviated as LC Valley), and officially known as the Lewiston, ID–WA Metropolitan Statistical Area—i ...
between 1979 and 1982. * The body of Alisha Heinrich was discovered on 5 December 1982, in the
Escatawpa River Escatawpa River is a river in the states of Alabama and Mississippi. It is a tributary of the Pascagoula River. ''Escatawpa '' is a name derived from the Choctaw language meaning "where Canebrake, cane is cut". See also *List of rivers of Alaba ...
in
Moss Point, Mississippi Moss Point is a city in Jackson County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 12,147 in 2020, a decline from the figure of 13,704 in 2010. The Moss Point Historic District and several individual buildings are listed on the National Reg ...
. The child would remain unidentified for nearly 38 years; she had disappeared alongside her mother, Gwendolyn Clemons, about eleven days before. Clemons' remains have never been recovered. * The FBI continues to investigate the
Chicago Tylenol murders The Chicago Tylenol murders were a series of poisoning deaths resulting from drug tampering in the Chicago metropolitan area in 1982. The victims consumed Tylenol-branded acetaminophen (paracetamol) capsules that had been laced with potassium ...
, which took place in late 1982, but has not identified any suspects. * On 20 January 1983, three days before he was to be sentenced for attempting to bribe a U.S. Senator, Allen Dorfman (60), an insurance agency owner, and close associate of
Jimmy Hoffa James Riddle Hoffa (; born February 14, 1913 – disappeared July 30, 1975, declared dead July 30, 1982) was an American labor union leader who served as the president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) from 1957 to 1971. He i ...
believed to have ties to the
Chicago Outfit The Chicago Outfit, also known as the Outfit, the Chicago Mafia, the Chicago Mob, the Chicago crime family, the South Side Gang or the Organization, is an Italian Americans, Italian American American Mafia, Mafia crime family based in Chicago, I ...
, was shot to death in a
Lincolnwood, Illinois Lincolnwood (formerly Tessville) is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States. Per the 2020 census, the population was 13,463. An inner suburb of Chicago, it shares its southern, eastern, and a small section of its western boundary with ...
, hotel parking lot. While it is believed he was killed by former associates to prevent him from offering information about them in exchange for a reduced sentence, no suspects have ever been named. * Sheila Anderson (27) was run over and killed on the promenade at Gypsy Brae in
Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...
on 7 February 1983. Anderson, a sex worker, was in the habit of standing in front of client's cars if they did not pay her to stop them from leaving, and it is suspected that her killer may have run her over after such a confrontation. * St. Louis Jane Doe is the name given an unidentified girl who was found murdered in an abandoned house on 28 February 1983 in
St. Louis St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a populatio ...
,
Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...
. She has also been nicknamed Hope and the Little Jane Doe. The victim was estimated to be between eight and eleven when she was murdered and is believed to have been killed by
strangulation Strangling or strangulation is compression of the neck that may lead to unconsciousness or death by causing an increasingly hypoxic state in the brain by restricting the flow of oxygen through the trachea. Fatal strangulation typically occurs ...
. She was raped and decapitated. The brutality of the crime has led to national attention. *
Peter Ivers Peter Scott Ivers (born Peter Scott Rose, September 20, 1946 – March 3, 1983) was an American musician, singer, songwriter and television personality. He served as host of the experimental music television show '' New Wave Theatre''. Despite ...
, television host and musician, was found bludgeoned to death in his
Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
apartment on 3 March 1983. The
Los Angeles Police Department The City of Los Angeles Police Department, commonly referred to as Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), is the primary law enforcement agency of Los Angeles, California, United States. With 8,832 officers and 3,000 civilian staff, it is the th ...
(LAPD) failed to properly secure the crime scene and the murder was never solved, although on the basis of new information found in the book ''In Heaven Everything Is Fine: The Unsolved Life of Peter Ivers and the Lost History of New Wave Theatre'' (2008) by Josh Frank and Charlie Buckholtz, the LAPD has reopened their investigation into Ivers' death. * Brian Stack (47) was an Irish chief
prison officer A prison officer (PO) or corrections officer (CO), also known as a correctional law enforcement officer or less formally as a prison guard, is a uniformed law enforcement official responsible for the custody, supervision, safety, and regulation ...
at
Portlaoise Prison Portlaoise Prison () is a maximum security prison in Portlaoise, County Laois, Ireland. Until 1929 it was called the Maryborough Gaol. It should not be confused with the Midlands Prison, which is a newer, medium security prison directly beside ...
, who on 25 March 1983 was shot in the neck by unknown members of the
Provisional IRA The Provisional Irish Republican Army (Provisional IRA), officially known as the Irish Republican Army (IRA; ) and informally known as the Provos, was an Irish republican paramilitary force that sought to end British rule in Northern Ireland ...
and died a year and six months later from
pneumonia Pneumonia is an Inflammation, inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as Pulmonary alveolus, alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of Cough#Classification, productive or dry cough, ches ...
, after he was taken to the hospital. His murder remains unsolved. * On 10 April 1983,
Palestine Liberation Organization The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO; ) is a Palestinian nationalism, Palestinian nationalist coalition that is internationally recognized as the official representative of the Palestinians, Palestinian people in both the occupied Pale ...
peace negotiator Issam Sartawi (48) was shot and killed in the lobby of a Portuguese hotel while attending that year's
Socialist International The Socialist International (SI) is a political international or worldwide organisation of political parties which seek to establish democratic socialism, consisting mostly of Social democracy, social democratic political parties and Labour mov ...
conference. The
Abu Nidal Sabri Khalil al-Banna (; May 1937 – 16 August 2002), known by his ''Pseudonym, nom de guerre'' Abu Nidal ("father of struggle"),; translates it as "father of the struggle". was a Palestinian fedayeen, Palestinian militant. He was the founde ...
organization later claimed responsibility, but no arrests have ever been made. * On 10 May 1983, Nancy Argentino (23), the girlfriend and mistress at the time of professional wrestler
Jimmy Snuka James Reiher Snuka (born James Wiley Smith; May 18, 1943 – January 15, 2017) was a Fijian and American professional wrestler, better known by the ring name Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka. Snuka wrestled for several promotions from the 1970s to 2010s ...
, died from being attacked in the hotel room where they were staying. Thirty-two years later Snuka was indicted and arrested in September 2015 on third-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter charges, in relation to Argentino's death. Snuka pleaded not guilty, but was ultimately found unfit to stand trial in June 2016 due to being diagnosed with
dementia Dementia is a syndrome associated with many neurodegenerative diseases, characterized by a general decline in cognitive abilities that affects a person's ability to perform activities of daily living, everyday activities. This typically invo ...
. As his health declined, the charges were dismissed on 3 January 2017, and he died twelve days later from
stomach cancer Stomach cancer, also known as gastric cancer, is a malignant tumor of the stomach. It is a cancer that develops in the Gastric mucosa, lining of the stomach. Most cases of stomach cancers are gastric carcinomas, which can be divided into a numb ...
. * Prithipal Singh (51), an Indian man who played
field hockey Field hockey (or simply referred to as hockey in some countries where ice hockey is not popular) is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with 11 players in total, made up of 10 field players and a goalk ...
, was shot dead on 20 May 1983 at the Punjab Agricultural University located in
Ludhiana Ludhiana () is the most populous Cities in India, city in the Indian state of Punjab, India, Punjab.164.100.161.224 http://164.100.161.224 › filesPDF Ludhiana State: Punjab Business & Industrial Centre, Tier 2 1 ... The city has an estima ...
, and it is disputed who the killers were. * While Dursun Aksoy (39), an administrative
attaché In diplomacy, an attaché () is a person who is assigned ("to be attached") to the diplomatic or administrative staff of a higher placed person or another service or agency. Although a loanword from French, in English the word is not modified ac ...
at the Turkish embassy in Brussels, Belgium, was starting his car on Avenue Franklin Roosevelt 14 July 1983, a man walked up to him and shot him twice in the head; he died almost instantly. Two militant Armenian groups claimed responsibility, but no one has ever been charged. The murder remains unsolved. * George Murdoch (58), a taxi driver from Aberdeen, was strangled to death with cheese wire on 29 September 1983 by a passenger who then stole his wallet. The killer's DNA was recovered in 2023, but could not be matched to a suspect. * Two German tourists, Andrea Scherpf (23) and Bernd Göricke (27), were shot to death in
Chetwynd, British Columbia Chetwynd is a district municipality located in the eastern foothills of the Rocky Mountains, in northeastern British Columbia, Canada. Situated on an ancient floodplain, it is the first town eastbound travellers encounter after emerging from ...
on 3 October 1983 by the unidentified driver of a car that had picked the two of them up. Two separate suspects were named, including one who stood trial for the crime three times, but both were cleared by DNA evidence. * 25-year-old cocktail waitress Heide Marie Villarreal-Fye was last seen alive at a convenience store located off of West Main Street and Hobbs in
League City, Texas League City is a city in the U.S. state of Texas, in Galveston County, Texas, Galveston County, within the metropolitan area. The population was 114,392 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The city of League City has a small portion ...
on 10 October 1983. On 4 April 1984, Heidi's remains were discovered after a dog brought her skull to a nearby house in Calder Field on the 3000 block of Calder Road near League City. The medical examiner determined that Heidi had broken ribs and had been beaten with a club; she is believed to have died from blunt force trauma to the head. * On 13 November 1983, Canadian mobster Paul Volpe (56) was murdered and found dead the next day in the trunk of his wife's
BMW Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, trading as BMW Group (commonly abbreviated to BMW (), sometimes anglicised as Bavarian Motor Works), is a German multinational manufacturer of vehicles and motorcycles headquartered in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Th ...
at
Toronto Pearson International Airport Toronto Pearson International Airport is an international airport located in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. It is the main airport serving Toronto, its metropolitan area, and the surrounding region known as the Golden Horseshoe. Pearson is the ...
; Pietro Scarcella is said to have been the last person to see Volpe alive before his unsolved murder. Johnny Papalia has also been linked with Volpe's death, but no charges were laid.Schneider, ''Iced: The Story of Organized Crime in Canada'', pp. 537 * Ruth Waymire (24) was an American female murder victim who went missing on
Spokane, Washington Spokane ( ) is the most populous city in eastern Washington and the county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It lies along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south o ...
in 1984, and whose partial remains were found on 20 June 1984. Her skull was found in 1998 also in Spokane. Her killer is unknown. * Karl Brugger (41) was a German foreign correspondent for the ARD network and author, best known for his book ''The Chronicle of Akakor'' about the alleged lost city of Akakor that was published in 1976. Brugger was shot down in
Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...
on 3 January 1984, after being shot several times while walking with his friend Ulrich Encke at
Ipanema Ipanema () is a neighbourhood located in the South Zone (Rio de Janeiro), South Zone of the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, between Leblon, Rio de Janeiro, Leblon and Arpoador. The beach at Ipanema became known internationally with the populari ...
beach. Neither his killer, nor the motive for his killing is known. * On the morning of 14 April 1984, the body of a male infant, its neck broken and repeatedly stabbed, was found on the beach at
Cahersiveen Cahersiveen (), sometimes Cahirciveen, is a town in the south-west of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, in County Kerry. As of the 2022 census of Ireland, 2022 census, it had a population of 1,297. Geography Cahersiveen is on the slopes of 376-met ...
in Ireland's
County Kerry County Kerry () is a Counties of Ireland, county on the southwest coast of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. It is bordered by two other countie ...
. Later named Baby John, the police investigation became known as the Kerry Babies case after it led to a young woman in nearby
Abbeydorney Abbeydorney () is a village in County Kerry, Ireland. Located north of the county town of Tralee, the village had a population of 418 as of the 2016 census of Ireland. Abbeydorney falls within the civil parish of O'Dorney, and is sometimes co ...
who was mistakenly charged with the crime along with her family. While she had in fact hidden the corpse of a baby she gave birth to who died of undetermined causes shortly afterwards, she was found to have no connection to the Cahirseveen baby, whose identity and killer remains unknown. *
Gérard Lebovici Gérard Lebovici (25 August 1932 – 5 March 1984) was a French film producer, editor and impresario. Background His mother was executed in a Nazi concentration camp during the Second World War. As he was on the verge of embarking on a promising ...
(51), a French film producer, was found in his car on 7 March 1984, in a Paris parking garage. He had been shot several times two days earlier. No suspects have ever been identified. *
Hukum Singh Hukum Singh (5 April 1938 – 3 February 2018) was an Indian politician who served as the Member of Parliament from Kairana in Uttar Pradesh as a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate. He was a member of the Panel of Chairpersons of the 16th ...
(32), who was also known as "Tutu Bana", was found murdered on 17 April 1984 after being hacked to death by someone who had used Singh's own sword. * Vernon County Jane Doe was an unidentified victim was found on 4 May 1984, near
Westby, Wisconsin Westby is a city in Vernon County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 2,332 as of the 2020 census. The name "Westby" is a Norwegian name and literally translates to "Western city". History Westby was named after general store owner an ...
. Her hands were severed and never found. * Catrine da Costa was a Swedish sex worker. Parts of her dismembered body were found just outside Stockholm, in
Solna Solna ( or , ), also known as Solna Municipality, is a municipality in central Stockholm County, Sweden, located just north of Stockholm City Centre. Its seat is located in the town of Solna, which is a part of the Stockholm urban area. Solna i ...
, during the summer of 1984. Her murder remains unsolved. * Ong King Hock (26), a Singaporean lorry driver, was held hostage by an armed robber and gunman Khor Kok Soon, who forced Ong to help him escape after he engaged in a gunfight with police officers at Singapore's
Shenton Way Shenton Way is a major trunk road serving Singapore's Central Area and is most commonly known for the commercial skyscrapers flanking both sides of the road. The road is a one-way street that starts at the junction of Boon Tat Street, Raffles Qu ...
on 30 July 1984. Afterwards, Ong was found dead inside his abandoned lorry at
Teo Hong Road Teo Hong Road () is a one-way road located in the Tanjong Pagar area within the Outram, Singapore, Outram Planning Area of Singapore. The road links Bukit Pasoh Road to New Bridge Road, and is lined with a row of conserved shophouses, built durin ...
, with a gaping bullet wound on the right side of his neck. Ong's death was ruled as murder in the coroner's verdict in 1998, with Khor, who escaped to Malaysia, being the prime suspect. Although Khor was arrested in 2003 and later
sentenced to death Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence ordering that an offender be punished in s ...
for discharging his firearm under the Arms Offences Act, he was never brought to trial for Ong's murder, as the prosecution had withdrawn the preliminary murder charge against Khor before he was hanged. * The strangled bodies of Margaret Tapp (35) and her daughter Seana (9) were found at their home in Melbourne's Ferntree Gully neighborhood on 7 August 1984; Seana had been sexually assaulted. Two suspects were cleared after their DNA did not match that left at the scene; the case was reopened in the 2010s. * Lenny Breau (42) was a music teacher and guitarist. His body was found floating in the swimming pool at his Los Angeles apartment complex on 12 August 1984; the coroner's office found that he had been strangled. While his wife was suspected, she was never charged, and no one else has been.Forbes-Robert, Ron. (2006). "One Long Tune: the life and music of Lenny Breau". Denton, TX. University of North Texas Press. . * Laura Lynn Miller (16) was last seen alive on 10 September 1984, using a payphone to call her boyfriend at the same convenience store in
League City, Texas League City is a city in the U.S. state of Texas, in Galveston County, Texas, Galveston County, within the metropolitan area. The population was 114,392 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The city of League City has a small portion ...
where 25-year-old Heide Marie Villarreal-Fye was last seen a year earlier. Miller's remains were found on 2 February 1986, 60 feet from where police discovered Villarreal-Fye's remains. * After an anonymous caller to the house of Grégory Villemin (4), of Lépanges-sur-Vologne, France, told his family on 16 October 1984, he had taken the boy, who had been playing unsupervised in front of the house, a search found Grégory's body, bound and gagged, in the
Vologne The Vologne () is a river of the Vosges department in France. It is a right tributary of the Moselle. Its source is in the Vosges Mountains, on the northwestern slope of the Hohneck. It flows through the lakes of Retournemer and Longemer, and p ...
River away, where he had apparently been drowned (although the autopsy suggested the drowning had occurred in a different body of water). This began a case that has continued to receive extensive national media attention. An anonymous note suggesting the writer had killed the boy led to the arrest of Bernard Laroche, a Villemin cousin, who was now suspected of having written a long string of threatening anonymous letters to members of the family, socially and economically prominent in that area of the
Vosges The Vosges ( , ; ; Franconian and ) is a range of medium mountains in Eastern France, near its border with Germany. Together with the Palatine Forest to the north on the German side of the border, they form a single geomorphological unit and ...
. Grégory's father, Jean-Marie, shot and killed Laroche several months later; he would serve several years in prison as a result. Handwriting experts then linked Grégory's mother to the notes; she was charged with the murders but, after seven years and two trials, acquitted. Efforts to recover DNA from the principal evidence in the early 21st century failed, but in 2017 three of Grégory's other relatives were charged, although police say they do not yet know who actually killed him. *
Günther Stoll Günther Stoll (Duisburg, 18 August 1924 – Gelsenkirchen, 10 January 1977) was a German actor. Partial filmography * ''Liebe, wie die Frau sie wünscht'' (1957) .... Toni * ''Epitafios gia ehthrous kai filous'' (1965) .... Captain Ivanov * ' ...
, a German food-engineer, is suspected to have been murdered under strange circumstances on 26 October 1984, after leaving behind the cryptic message "YOGTZE". * Leon Burns (42) was an
American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...
running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offense ...
who was shot dead in southeast Los Angeles, California on 22 December 1984 by persons unknown, and the murder remains unsolved.


1985–1989

* Nathan Blenner (20) was an American man who was kidnapped in 1985 in
Queens Queens is the largest by area of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Located near the western end of Long Island, it is bordered by the ...
, New York and later found dead after being shot in the head. Two teenagers were convicted of killing him, but they were later proven innocent and exonerated. The real killer is unknown. * The bombing of a Madrid restaurant on 12 April 1985 killed 18, making it at the time the deadliest terrorist attack in Spain since the
Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...
. Responsibility has been claimed by both domestic groups such as the
ETA Eta ( ; uppercase , lowercase ; ''ē̂ta'' or ''ita'' ) is the seventh letter of the Greek alphabet, representing the close front unrounded vowel, . Originally denoting the voiceless glottal fricative, , in most dialects of Ancient Greek, it ...
and radical Muslim groups, all of whom it is believed may have been wanting to target the restaurant since it was popular with U.S. Air Force personnel from a nearby base. The investigation is continuing. * Winnifred Teo (18) was found dead on 22 May 1985 on the Old Holland Road in Singapore after being stabbed to death and may also have been raped, after failing to return home the night before after going jogging. The case has never been solved. * In May 1985, two older women were murdered in
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
hotels just days and blocks apart, one with 'an axe-like weapon' and the other a 'blunt instrument'. On 25 May 1985, Janet C. Scott, 85, was found murdered in her room at the Bryant Hotel, a residential hotel. She suffered a few wounds to her head, believed to be caused by an axe, machete, or cleaver. The suspected motive was robbery. Five days later, 58-year-old Ruth Potdevin, of Ridgewood, New Jersey, was found murdered in her room at the Dorset Hotel located at 30 West 54th Street, near Fifth Avenue, just two blocks away from the Bryant. Ruth's husband found her body in the hotel room after she failed to return after going to the room to change clothes for a luncheon. Both women bore similar wounds on her skull and a similar ritualistic procedure was performed with a shorn piece of her hair and scalp. Credit cards had been taken from Ruth's wallet, and just one day following the murder, a man and woman were seen using one of the credit cards in a camera store in Times Square. There were suspect composites created of the individuals who used Ruth's credit cards, but they were likely not the murderers. Neither case was ever solved. * Tony "Spaghetti" Eustace, Australian fugitive, was found murdered on 23 April 1985, after he had been shot six times. He was found dead by two schoolchildren who were returning home from sports training at about 7 pm. The murder remains unsolved. * In June 1985, a bomb at Germany's Frankfurt Airport killed three, with several Islamic organizations taking credit; the
Abu Nidal Organization The Abu Nidal Organization (ANO; ), officially Fatah – Revolutionary Council ( ), was a Palestinian militant group founded by Abu Nidal in 1974. It broke away from Fatah, a faction within the Palestine Liberation Organization, following t ...
is believed to have been the real perpetrator, but no arrests have ever been made. * Haruo Ignacio Remeliik (52) was a politician from
Palau Palau, officially the Republic of Palau, is an island country in the Micronesia subregion of Oceania in the western Pacific Ocean. The Republic of Palau consists of approximately 340 islands and is the western part of the Caroline Islands ...
. He served as the first
President of Palau The president of the Republic of Palau is the head of state and head of government of Palau. The president is Direct election, directly elected to a four-year term, and can be reelected once in a consecutive manner. List of officeholders ; ...
from 2 March 1981, until his assassination on 30 June 1985. In March 2000, former presidential candidate and convicted felon John O. Ngiraked claimed responsibility for the conspiracy to kill Remeliik, but has not yet been charged with his murder, so the case is officially unsolved. * On 1 July, a bombing of several international airline offices in Madrid was followed by a submachine gun attack on another nearby airline office, killing one. Representatives of several Muslim groups claimed credit; it is today believed by some to have been perpetrated by the
Abu Nidal Organization The Abu Nidal Organization (ANO; ), officially Fatah – Revolutionary Council ( ), was a Palestinian militant group founded by Abu Nidal in 1974. It broke away from Fatah, a faction within the Palestine Liberation Organization, following t ...
. No individual suspects have ever been identified. * The Rev. Niall Molloy (52), a Catholic priest, was found beaten to death in the master bedroom of Kilcoursey House in
Clara, County Offaly Clara () is a town on the River Brosna in County Offaly, Ireland. It is the 10th largest town in the midlands of Ireland. The town had a population of 3,403 as of the 2022 census. Clara's local services include churches, schools, a branch ...
, Ireland on 8 July 1985. There were signs of a struggle and evidence that the body had been moved. Richard Flynn, the owner and a longtime friend of Molloy's, confessed the killing to the garda but, at trial, the judge granted the defense a
directed verdict In law, a verdict is the formal finding of fact made by a jury on matters or questions submitted to the jury by a judge. In a bench trial, the judge's decision near the end of the trial is simply referred to as a finding. In England and Wales, ...
of not guilty after merely four hours, believing the medical evidence insufficient to support a manslaughter charge. A coroner's jury later found that Molloy died of head injuries, which led to calls to reopen the case. In subsequent years, it emerged that the investigation had been perfunctory, leaving much evidence unexamined and witness uninterviewed; a 2011 review of the surviving medical evidence found it highly likely that Molloy had survived his injuries for several hours, which raised the question of why emergency services were not called until after he was dead. In 2015 the Irish government declined to open a review, since many of the original witnesses had since died and it did not think any new information would be obtained; Molloy's relatives felt otherwise. * Ellen Rae Simpson Beason (29), was last seen with friends on 29 July 1985 at the Texas Moon Club in
League City, Texas League City is a city in the U.S. state of Texas, in Galveston County, Texas, Galveston County, within the metropolitan area. The population was 114,392 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The city of League City has a small portion ...
, where she met local construction worker Clyde Hedrick. Later that evening she told her friends that she and Hedrick had made plans to go swimming. Beason's decomposed remains were discovered underneath a sofa in a wooded area beside Old Causeway Road in Galveston County, Texas. Though the medical examiner was initially unable to determine the cause of death, upon the exhumation of Beason's remains in 2012, it was ruled that she had suffered several severe skull fractures. * The Mineral, Washington murders which the media has called "the Tube Sock Killings" is a series of unsolved murders that occurred in between 12 August 1985 to 12 December 1985 in the remote areas of
Lewis Lewis may refer to: Names * Lewis (given name), including a list of people with the given name * Lewis (surname), including a list of people with the surname Music * Lewis (musician), Canadian singer * " Lewis (Mistreated)", a song by Radiohe ...
and
Pierce County, Washington Pierce County is a County (United States), county in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 921,130, up from 795,225 in 2010, making it the second-most populous ...
, located close to the remote community of
Mineral, Washington Mineral is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Lewis County, Washington, Lewis County, Washington (state), Washington, on Washington State Route 7, State Route 7 near the Pierce/Lewis county line. Mineral originally b ...
. It involves the murders of couple Steven Harkins (27) and Ruth Cooper (42), who had left their
Tacoma, Washington Tacoma ( ) is the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. A port city, it is situated along Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, southwest of Bellevue, Washington, Bellevue, northeast of the state capital, Olympia ...
home for a weekend camping trip at Tule Lake in Pierce County. And also couple Mike Riemer (36) and Diana Robertson (21), and their daughter, Crystal Louise Robertson (2), who had left their Tacoma home on 12 December 1985 to travel to Pierce County, as they sought to find a camp site near the
Nisqually River The Nisqually River is a river in west central Washington in the United States, approximately long. It drains part of the Cascade Range southeast of Tacoma, including the southern slope of Mount Rainier, and empties into the southern end of ...
. Everyone involved was found dead over periods of time as they were all murdered and the murder cases became publicized widely, and in 1989 were featured on the television series ''
Unsolved Mysteries ''Unsolved Mysteries'' is an American mystery documentary television series, created by John Cosgrove and Terry Dunn Meurer. Documenting cold cases and paranormal phenomena, it began as a series of seven specials, presented by Raymond Burr, Kar ...
''. Whoever the killers were was never discovered, so the murders remain unsolved. * Tscherim Soobzokov (61) was a Circassian man accused of collaborating with
Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...
during the invasion of the
Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
and serving as a ''
Waffen-SS The (; ) was the military branch, combat branch of the Nazi Party's paramilitary ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) organisation. Its formations included men from Nazi Germany, along with Waffen-SS foreign volunteers and conscripts, volunteers and conscr ...
'' officer. Soobzokov denied these charges and sued CBS and ''The New York Times''. On 15 August 1985, a pipe bomb set outside his home in
Paterson, New Jersey Paterson ( ) is the largest City (New Jersey), city in and the county seat of Passaic County, New Jersey, Passaic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.Jewish Defense League (JDL) said they had carried out the bombing. A spokesman for the JDL later denied responsibility. No one was ever charged with his murder. * Keith Blakelock (40) was a British police officer who responded to the
Broadwater Farm riot The Broadwater Farm riot occurred on the Broadwater council estate in Tottenham, North London, on 6 October 1985. The events of the day were dominated by two deaths. The first was that of Cynthia Jarrett, an Afro-Caribbean woman who died the p ...
in
Tottenham Tottenham (, , , ) is a district in north London, England, within the London Borough of Haringey. It is located in the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Greater London. Tottenham is centred north-northeast of Charing Cross, ...
on 6 October 1985. While protecting a group of firefighters who were under attack by the rioters, Blakelock was overwhelmed by a group of about 50 people who kicked, beat and stabbed him. He received over 40 injuries inflicted by machetes and similar weapons, and a six-inch-long knife was buried up to the hilt in his neck when he was found. Three men - Winston Silcott, Engin Raghip, and Mark Braithwaite - were convicted of participating in the murder; however, their convictions were overturned after their three separate confessions to the crime were all found to be either coerced or outright fabricated. Another man, Nicholas Jacobs, who had previously been described as a "leading figure" in the riot and had served time in prison for his participation, was charged with Blakelock's murder in 2014 but was found not guilty. To date none of the approximately 50 attackers have been conclusively identified. *
Alex Odeh Alexander Michel Odeh (; April 4, 1944 – October 11, 1985) was a Palestinians, Palestinian activist. Odeh was serving as West Coast of the United States, West Coast regional director of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) whe ...
(41) was an Arab-American anti-discrimination activist who was killed on 11 October 1985 during a bombing incident that occurred at his office in
Santa Ana, California Santa Ana (Spanish language, Spanish for ) is a city in and the county seat of Orange County, California, United States. Located in the Greater Los Angeles region of Southern California, the city's population was 310,227 at the 2020 census. As ...
. The murder remains unsolved. * Twenty-eight people were killed (and 22 injured) in a series of violent armed robberies in shops, restaurants and supermarkets in
Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...
between 1982 and 1985, most of them in the
Province of Brabant The Province of Brabant (, ; ) was a province in Belgium from 1830 to 1995. It was created in 1815 as South Brabant, part of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands. In 1995, it was split into the Dutch-speaking Flemish Brabant, the French-speaki ...
. They were perpetrated by a gang of three called the Brabant killers or the "Nijvel gang". Despite decades of investigations (initially chaotic) the Belgian authorities failed to catch them or even make serious inroads into solving the case, leading to conspiracy theories that state actors were somehow involved in the crimes. It remains Belgium's most notorious unsolved crime spree. *
Dian Fossey Dian Fossey ( ; January 16, 1932 – ) was an American primatologist and conservationist known for undertaking an extensive study of mountain gorilla groups from 1966 until her murder in 1985. She studied them daily in the mountain forests of ...
(53) was an American primatologist and conservationist known for undertaking an extensive study of
mountain gorilla The mountain gorilla (''Gorilla beringei beringei'') is one of the two subspecies of the eastern gorilla. It is listed as endangered by the IUCN . There are two populations: One is found in the Virunga Mountains, Virunga volcanic mountains of C ...
groups from 1966 until her murder on 6 December 1985; she was found bludgeoned to death with visible machete wounds. The perpetrators have not been identified, although they are believed to have been poachers opposed to her conservation efforts. *
Olof Palme Sven Olof Joachim Palme (; ; 30 January 1927 – 28 February 1986) was a Swedish politician and statesman who served as Prime Minister of Sweden from 1969 to 1976 and 1982 to 1986. Palme led the Swedish Social Democratic Party from 1969 until as ...
(59), Prime Minister of Sweden and the leader of the Swedish Social Democratic Party, was shot in the back while walking home from a cinema together with his wife shortly after 11 pm on 28 February 1986, in
Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...
, Sweden. * No charges were ever brought after the death of Italian banker Michele Sindona (65), who was found dead in his prison cell on the morning of 22 March 1986, after drinking a cup of coffee that had been laced with
cyanide In chemistry, cyanide () is an inorganic chemical compound that contains a functional group. This group, known as the cyano group, consists of a carbon atom triple-bonded to a nitrogen atom. Ionic cyanides contain the cyanide anion . This a ...
. He was serving a life sentence for murder; investigation of his activities and ties to the
Sicilian Mafia The Sicilian Mafia or Cosa Nostra (, ; "our thing"), also referred to as simply Mafia, is a secret society, criminal society and criminal organization originating on the island of Sicily and dates back to the mid-19th century. Emerging as a form of ...
had led to the exposure of Italy's P2 Masonic lodge.Michele Sindona, Jailed Italian Financier, Dies of Cyanide Poisoning at 65
''The New York Times'', 23 March 1986
* Pauline Martz, on 13 April 1986, was left in her burning home after being bound and gagged by someone who had broken in. A man named Johnny Lee Wilson would be imprisoned for her murder after confessing, but was pardoned in 1995. Another man, Chris Brownfield, also confessed to the crime with an accomplice. No other charges have been made in this case, and is currently inactive and remains unsolved. *
Lolita ''Lolita'' is a 1955 novel written by Russian-American novelist Vladimir Nabokov. The protagonist and narrator is a French literature professor who moves to New England and writes under the pseudonym Humbert Humbert. He details his obsession ...
(36) was an Italian pop singer. The night of 27 April 1986, she had intended to attend a musical event, but did not show up; she was found dead the morning later, murdered by stabbing, with her body disfigured in several parts. The crime remains unsolved. * Alejandro Gonzalez Malave, a Puerto Rican who was involved in the Cerro Maravilla murders case, was shot at his mother's home on 29 April 1986. The assailants were never apprehended. * Tanya Moore (31), and Tina Rodriguez (27) were two
transgender A transgender (often shortened to trans) person has a gender identity different from that typically associated with the sex they were sex assignment, assigned at birth. The opposite of ''transgender'' is ''cisgender'', which describes perso ...
friends working as prostitutes on Philadelphia's Thirteenth Street in 1986. The pair disappeared on 30 June 1986, after getting into the car of a couple of clients. On 3 July 1986, their mutilated and dismembered bodies were found burning at a baseball diamond in Middletown. Their murders remains unsolved. * Sherry Ann Duncan (16), a Thai-American high school student, was abducted after leaving her school in Bangkok, Thailand on 22 July 1986. Her body was found a few days later in some wetlands. Four men were arrested and sentenced to death for her murder, but were later proven to be innocent and acquitted in 1995. Duncan's true killer(s) has/have never been found. * Yvan Leyvraz (32), a Swiss member of the international solidarity brigades in
Sandinista The Sandinista National Liberation Front (, FSLN) is a socialist political party in Nicaragua. Its members are called Sandinistas () in both English and Spanish. The party is named after Augusto César Sandino, who led the Nicaraguan resistan ...
-run
Nicaragua Nicaragua, officially the Republic of Nicaragua, is the geographically largest Sovereign state, country in Central America, comprising . With a population of 7,142,529 as of 2024, it is the third-most populous country in Central America aft ...
, was killed in a
contra Contra may refer to: Places * Contra, Virginia * Contra Costa Canal, an aqueduct in the U.S. state of California * Contra Costa County, California * Tenero-Contra, a municipality in the district of Locarno in the canton of Ticino in Switzerla ...
ambush upon leaving Wiwili, with four others, on 28 July 1986. No arrests have ever been made and the murders remains unsolved. * Dutch mathematician Willem Klein (73) was found dead of stab wounds in his Amsterdam apartment on 1 August 1986. A young man was arrested shortly afterwards, but was released. No other suspects have ever been named. * Dele Giwa (39) was a
Nigerian Nigerians or the Nigerian people are citizens of Nigeria or people with ancestry from Nigeria. The name Nigeria was derived from the Niger River running through the country. This name was allegedly coined in the late 19th century by British jo ...
journalist, editor and founder of '' Newswatch'' magazine who was killed by a mail bomb in his Lagos home on 19 October 1986. The murder has never been solved. * Chaim Weiss (15) was a yeshiva student who was found bludgeoned to death in his dormitory bedroom in
Long Beach, New York Long Beach is an oceanfront city in Nassau County, New York, United States. It takes up a central section of the Long Beach Barrier Island, which is the westernmost of the outer barrier islands off Long Island's South Shore. As of the 2020 ...
on 1 November 1986. The '' Daily News'' called it "one of New York's most baffling unsolved mysteries". * Sylvie Aubert (22), a cashier working at a supermarket in
Chalon-sur-Saône Chalon-sur-Saône (, literally ''Chalon on Saône'') is a city in the Saône-et-Loire Departments of France, department in the Regions of France, region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in eastern France. It is a Subprefectures in France, sub-prefectu ...
, France, disappeared after she left her workplace. Her severely decomposed body was recovered five months later, on 4 April 1987, from the river Dheune. Her body was naked, her wrists were bound by wire, and she had been strangled. Aubert is one of multiple victims of the unsolved A6 disappearances. *
Immanuel Shifidi Immanuel Hafeni Augustus Shifidi (16 July 1929 – 30 November 1986), born in Windhoek, was a Namibian activist. He was one of the fighters at OmugulugwombasheNamibian activist and one of the fighters at
Omugulugwombashe Omugulugwombashe (also: ''Ongulumbashe'', official: ''Omugulu gwOombashe''; Otjiherero: ''giraffe leg'') is a List of villages and settlements in Namibia, settlement in the Tsandi Constituency, Tsandi electoral constituency in the Omusati Region o ...
.Namibia: Immanuel Shifidi – a Martyr of the Namibian Revolution
, '' New Era'', 15 July 2011, Shimpapi Shiremo
After the defeat at Omugulugwombashe, he was sentenced to death, but this was converted to life in prison following international pressure, and he was released in December 1985. On 30 November 1986, he was assassinated at a
SWAPO The South West Africa People's Organisation (SWAPO ; , SWAVO; , SWAVO), officially known as the SWAPO Party of Namibia, is a political party and former independence movement in Namibia (formerly South West Africa). Founded in 1960, it has been ...
rally marking the United Nations International Year of Peace. His killer is unknown. * Christelle Maillery (16), French teenage girl was found dead in
Le Creusot Le Creusot () is a Communes of France, commune and industrial town in the Saône-et-Loire Departments of France, department, Regions of France, region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, eastern France. The inhabitants are known as Creusotins. Formerl ...
on 18 December 1986, after being killed by persons unknown by being stabbed multiple times. * In February 1987, Jaye Potter Mintz was found murdered in her home in Leland, North Carolina. Her two sons were found alive in their house. A few hours before the murder, Mintz's mother called to explain to her that she had given her address to a man who was looking to purchase a waterbed that Mintz had advertised in a newspaper. However, Mintz had already sold the waterbed earlier that day and explained to her mother that she'd apologize to the man. A newspaper clipping with the advertisement circled was discovered at the scene, but it did not lead investigators to any possible suspects. * Police in
East Orange, New Jersey East Orange is a City (New Jersey), city in Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the city's population was 69,612, an increase of 5,342 (+8.3%) from the 2010 United States ...
, initially believed that the 8 March 1987, death of 79-year-old Harry Dudkin, former judge, Congressional candidate and clerk of the state Assembly, was due to a fall in his family's stationery store. But the autopsy revealed a bullet lodged in his brain, and on further investigation discovered the store's receipts for that day were missing. The case remains open. *
Daniel Morgan Daniel Morgan (c. 1736 – July 6, 1802) was an American pioneer, soldier, and politician from Virginia. One of the most respected battlefield tacticians of the American Revolutionary War of 1775–1783, he later commanded troops during the sup ...
was a
private investigator A private investigator (often abbreviated to PI; also known as a private detective, an inquiry agent or informally a wikt:private eye, private eye) is a person who can be hired by individuals or groups to undertake investigatory law services. ...
who was murdered in
Sydenham Sydenham may refer to: Places Australia * Sydenham, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney ** Sydenham railway station, Sydney * Sydenham, Victoria, a suburb of Melbourne ** Sydenham railway line, the name of the Sunbury railway line, Melbourne un ...
, south-east London, on 10 March 1987, by an axe blow to the back of the head.Sandra Lavill
"Daniel Morgan Axe Murder Case: timeline"
guardian.co.uk website, 11 March 2011, accessed 7 July 2011
He was said to have been close to exposing
police corruption Police corruption is a form of police misconduct in which a law enforcement officer breaks their political contract and abuses their power for personal gain. A corrupt officer may act alone or as part of a group. Corrupt acts include taking ...
, or involved with Maltese drug dealers. Morgan's death has been the subject of several failed police inquiries, and in 2011 it was at the centre of allegations concerning the suspect conduct of journalists with the British tabloid ''
News of the World The ''News of the World'' was a weekly national "Tabloid journalism#Red tops, red top" Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published every Sunday in the United Kingdom from 1843 to 2011. It was at one time the world's highest-selling ...
''. This unsolved murder has been described as a reminder of the culture of corruption and unaccountability within the Metropolitan Police Service, London's main police force. * On 12 April 1987, nine-year-old Malaysian schoolgirl Ang May Hong was last seen by her eldest brother when the siblings split up while on the way to buy breakfast at a market near her house in Jalan Ipoh,
Kuala Lumpur Kuala Lumpur (KL), officially the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur, is the capital city and a Federal Territories of Malaysia, federal territory of Malaysia. It is the largest city in the country, covering an area of with a census population ...
,
Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...
. Three hours after she went missing, Ang's family discovered the naked body of Ang at an empty house in a nearby desolated area. A metre-long piece of wood with nails had been stuffed into her private parts, rupturing her inner organs, and an autopsy report confirmed that Ang was sexually assaulted by her killer(s) before her death, and it was also speculated that at least eight people were involved in her murder based on the teeth marks left on her body. The murder of Ang remains unsolved till today. * Gary Driscoll (41), an American R&B rock drummer who performed with a number of successful bands in the 1960s, was found murdered at his home in
Ithaca, New York Ithaca () is a city in and the county seat of Tompkins County, New York, United States. Situated on the southern shore of Cayuga Lake in the Finger Lakes region of New York (state), New York, Ithaca is the largest community in the Ithaca metrop ...
on 8 June 1987. Two men were charged in the killing, but one fled before he could be charged while the other was acquitted. * A body found on 11 June 1987 in
Fort Collins, Colorado Fort Collins is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Home rule municipality, home rule municipality in Larimer County, Colorado, United States, and its county seat. The population was 169,810 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, an i ...
field turned out to be that of Peggy Hettrick (37). She had been stabbed and "sexually mutilated." Police initially suspected Timothy Masters, a teenage boy who lived nearby, and eventually arrested him a decade later. His 1999 conviction was vacated in 2008 when physical evidence that had been withheld from the defense at his original trial was found to rule him out as a suspect. Two other individuals, one of whom took his own life in 1995, have been described as possible suspects. The case remains open. * Isaac Barrientos (21) was a male boxer from
Puerto Rico ; abbreviated PR), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a Government of Puerto Rico, self-governing Caribbean Geography of Puerto Rico, archipelago and island organized as an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territo ...
who was shot dead on 14 June 1987 by unknown persons in
San Juan, Puerto Rico San Juan ( , ; Spanish for "Saint John the Baptist, John") is the capital city and most populous Municipalities of Puerto Rico, municipality in the Commonwealth (U.S. insular area), Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the ...
. * In July 1987, in a case dubbed the Viking Sally murder mystery, German tourist Klaus Schelkle (20) was murdered and his girlfriend, Bettina Taxis (22), seriously injured, on board the cruise ferry MS ''Viking Sally'', en route from Stockholm, Sweden, to Turku, Finland. In December 2020, charges were filed against a 1969-born Danish man who was among those discovering the victims. The suspect denies any guilt. * Marthe Buisson (16), French teenage girl was found dead on 15 August 1987 alongside the emergency lane on the A6, after people claimed to have seen her thrown from a vehicle by persons unknown. * Don Henry (16) and Kevin Ives (17) – on 23 August 1987, a 75-car, 6,000-ton
Union Pacific The Union Pacific Railroad is a Class I freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Pacific is the second largest railroad in the United States after BNSF, ...
locomotive A locomotive is a rail transport, rail vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. Traditionally, locomotives pulled trains from the front. However, Push–pull train, push–pull operation has become common, and in the pursuit for ...
en route to
Little Rock, Arkansas Little Rock is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Arkansas, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arkansas. The city's population was 202,591 as of the 2020 census. The six-county Central Arkan ...
spotted two boys lying motionless across the tracks, who were run over by the oncoming train. They also claimed they were wrapped in a green tarp. Nearby was a .22-caliber rifle and a
flashlight A flashlight (US English) or electric torch (Commonwealth English), usually shortened to torch, is a portable hand-held electric lamp. Formerly, the light source typically was a miniature incandescent light bulb, but these have been displaced ...
. How the boys ended up there and who caused this murder is unknown. * Nadji al-Ali, a
Palestinian Palestinians () are an Arab ethnonational group native to the Levantine region of Palestine. *: "Palestine was part of the first wave of conquest following Muhammad's death in 632 CE; Jerusalem fell to the Caliph Umar in 638. The indigenous p ...
cartoonist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comics illustrators/artists in that they produce both the litera ...
noted for his political criticism of the Arab regimes and Israel in his works, was shot at outside the London office of Kuwaiti newspaper ''
Al Qabas ''Al-Qabas'' () is an Arabic daily Kuwaiti newspaper and tabloid published by Dar Al Qabas Press Printing Publishing and Distribution Company in Kuwait City. History and profile ''Al-Qabas'' was launched on 22 February 1972. The founding share ...
'' in Ives Street on 22 July 1987, causing him to fall into a coma. He died on 26 August 1987. It remains unknown who shot at him, with the
PLO The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO; ) is a Palestinian nationalist coalition that is internationally recognized as the official representative of the Palestinian people in both the occupied Palestinian territories and the diaspora. ...
or
Mossad The Institute for Intelligence and Special Operations (), popularly known as Mossad ( , ), is the national intelligence agency of the Israel, State of Israel. It is one of the main entities in the Israeli Intelligence Community, along with M ...
being suspected to be responsible for the killing.
Force 17 Force 17 () was a commando and special operations unit of the Palestinian Fatah movement and later of the Office of the Chairman of the Palestinian Authority. It was formed in the early 1970s by Ali Hassan Salameh (Abu Hassan). Initially, the ...
, acting under orders from
Yasser Arafat Yasser Arafat (4 or 24 August 1929 – 11 November 2004), also popularly known by his Kunya (Arabic), kunya Abu Ammar, was a Palestinian political leader. He was chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) from 1969 to 2004, Presid ...
, has also been claimed to be responsible for his assassination. * Nathalie Maire (18), French teenage woman was found dead on 2 September 1987 after being assaulted by persons unknown. * On 17 November 1987, police found the beaten bodies of Elaine Dardeen (30) and her son Peter (3), as well as a newborn female infant to whom she had apparently given birth prematurely during the attack, tucked into bed in the family
mobile home A mobile home (also known as a house trailer, park home, trailer, or trailer home) is a prefabrication, prefabricated structure, built in a factory on a permanently attached chassis before being transported to site (either by being towed or ...
south of Ina, Illinois. Her husband Keith (29) was the prime suspect until his body was found in a nearby wheat field the next day. After shooting him, the killer had cut his penis off. Nothing of value was taken from the home and Elaine had not been raped, nor were police able to find any other evidence that might have suggested a motive. In 2000, serial killer Tommy Lynn Sells confessed to the crime; however, he was never charged as there were doubts about his confession and authorities in Texas, where he was imprisoned, would not allow him to be taken to Illinois to resolve them before he was executed in 2014. No other suspects have ever been named. * The decomposing body of Deanna Criswell (16) was found off
Interstate 10 Interstate 10 (I-10) is the southernmost transcontinental highway in the Interstate Highway System of the United States. It is the fourth-longest Interstate in the country at , following I-90, I-80, and I-40. It was part of the origina ...
near
Tucson, Arizona Tucson (; ; ) is a city in Pima County, Arizona, United States, and its county seat. It is the second-most populous city in Arizona, behind Phoenix, Arizona, Phoenix, with a population of 542,630 in the 2020 United States census. The Tucson ...
, on 23 November 1987. She had been there for any time from several days to several weeks. She remained unidentified for 28 years until DNA tests matched her with her family in
Spokane, Washington Spokane ( ) is the most populous city in eastern Washington and the county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It lies along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south o ...
; they had not reported her disappearance at the time because she habitually ran away only to return later. Another DNA profile at the scene matched that of the main suspect in her death, William Ross Knight, a local criminal who had died in 2005. * Alexander Harris (7), of
Mountain View, California Mountain View is a city in Santa Clara County, California, United States, part of the San Francisco Bay Area. Named for its views of the Santa Cruz Mountains, the population was 82,376 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Mountain V ...
, vanished from the video arcade of Whiskey Pete's Hotel and Casino in
Primm, Nevada Primm (formerly known as State Line) is an unincorporated town in Clark County, Nevada, United States, primarily notable for its position straddling Interstate 15 at the Nevada–California border. It sits on Ivanpah Dry Lake, which extends to ...
, on 27 November 1987. His body was found 33 days later under an off-property trailer. Howard Lee Haupt, a computer programmer from San Diego who was staying at the hotel when the boy disappeared, was arrested on suspicion but acquitted in 1989 after a five-week trial. No further arrests were ever made in the case. * Víctor Yturbe (51) was a Mexican singer, nicknamed " El Pirulí", who was murdered on 28 November 1987 in Atizapan de Zaragoza. Yturbe was shot after he opened the door to his house. The cause was never established and no one has ever been charged with his killing. * Heidi Härö (19) disappeared in
Mäntsälä Mäntsälä () is a municipality in the province of Southern Finland, and is part of the Uusimaa region. It has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is . The municipality is unilingually Finni ...
in December 1987 after leaving a local bar and possibly hitching a ride. Her decomposed body was found five months later in a forest area in
Pukkila Pukkila (; Swedish: ''Pukkila'', also ) is a municipality of Finland. It is located in the Uusimaa region. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is . The municipality is unilin ...
with some of her clothes missing. Härö may have been a victim of the Hausjärvi Gravel Pit Murders. * The Favoriten Girl Murders involves the murdering of three females that took place from 1988 to 1990 in the
Viennese Viennese may refer to: * Vienna, the capital of Austria * Viennese people, List of people from Vienna * Viennese German, the German dialect spoken in Vienna * Viennese classicism * Viennese coffee house, an eating establishment and part of Viennese ...
district of
Favoriten Favoriten (; ), the 10th district of Vienna, Austria (), is located south of the central districts. It is south of Innere Stadt, Wieden and Margareten. Favoriten is a heavily populated urban area with many residential buildings, but also la ...
. One of the murders remain unsolved. * Several motorcyclists opened fire on
Punjab Punjab (; ; also romanised as Panjāb or Panj-Āb) is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia. It is located in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising areas of modern-day eastern Pakistan and no ...
i singer Amar Singh Chamkila (27) and his wife as they got out of a car before a performance in Mehsampur on 8 March 1988. The couple and two of Chamkila's musicians were killed. Several theories as to who might have been responsible for the killings have been floated since then, but no suspects have ever been officially identified. * Brian Spencer (39), who played for several
National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...
teams during a 10-year career that ended in 1979, was shot during a robbery after allegedly buying cocaine in
Riviera Beach, Florida Riviera Beach is a city in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States, which was incorporated on September 29, 1922. Due to the location of its eastern boundary, it is also the easternmost municipality in the Miami metropolitan area. In the 2020 ...
, on 2 June 1988. He died the next day. The year before, Spencer had been acquitted of a 1982 murder and kidnapping. Despite not entirely believing the story told them by Spencer's companion that night, police said he was not a suspect. No one else has ever been named in connection with the crime. * Two
Victoria Police Victoria Police is the primary law enforcement agency of the Australian States and territories of Australia, state of Victoria (Australia), Victoria. It was formed in 1853 and currently operates under the ''Victoria Police Act 2013''. , Victor ...
constables, Steven Tynan, 22, and Damian Eyre, 20, were shot and killed in an apparently planned ambush as they responded to a report of an abandoned car early on the morning of 12 October 1988, in the
Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...
suburb of
South Yarra South Yarra is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 4 km south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the Cities of Melbourne and Stonnington local government areas. South Yarra recorded a populati ...
.Revisiting the Walsh Street murders
The Age ''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria (Australia), Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Austral ...
, 1 October 2005
Police suspected six members of the local Pettingill gang of having carried out the killing in response to recent police killings of other gang members which they believed to have been premeditated. Two were themselves killed when police attempted to arrest them; the other four were tried and acquitted. In 2005 the widow of one of the acquitted men said in an interview that she believed her late husband was guilty. The case later inspired the 2010 film '' Animal Kingdom'' and the identically named American TV series. * Skeletal remains found 11 November 1988, off a road near Lake Nasworthy outside
San Angelo, Texas San Angelo ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Tom Green County, Texas, United States. Its location is in the Concho Valley, a region of West Texas between the Permian Basin (North America), Permian Basin to the northwest, Chihuahuan Desert ...
, turned out to be the bodies of Sally McNelly (18) and Shane Stewart (17), missing since they had last been seen on the lakeshore, alone, the night of the previous 4 July. Both had been shot in the head. Local rumor at the time connected the killings to a supposed Satanic cult the two had been involved in and were trying to get out of, but no arrests were ever made. In 2017, a drug arrest led police to identify a local
person of interest "Person of interest" is a term used by law enforcement in the United States, Canada, and other countries when identifying someone possibly involved in a criminal investigation who has not been arrested or formally accused of a crime. It has no leg ...
. * Julie Ward was murdered in Kenya on 6 September 1988, while on safari in the
Maasai Mara Maasai Mara, sometimes also spelt Masai Mara and locally known simply as The Mara, is a large national game reserve in Narok County, Kenya, contiguous with the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania. It is named in honour of the Maasai people, th ...
game reserve. Her burnt and dismembered body was found a week later. The original statement by Kenyan officials was that she had been eaten by lions and struck by lightning, but this was later revised to say she was murdered. * Jaclyn Dowaliby (7) disappeared from her home in
Midlothian, Illinois Midlothian () is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States. It is a southwestern suburb of Chicago. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census the population was 14,325. History Like many southwest suburbs of Chicago in the 180 ...
during the night of 10 September 1988. Her body was found in a nearby dump four days later. Her mother and adoptive father were charged with her murder; she was acquitted and he was convicted, a verdict later overturned on appeal due to lack of evidence. * Seymour and Arlene Tankleff were found murdered in their
Long Island Long Island is a densely populated continental island in southeastern New York (state), New York state, extending into the Atlantic Ocean. It constitutes a significant share of the New York metropolitan area in both population and land are ...
home on 17 September 1988. Their 17-year-old son Martin was charged with the crime and convicted, a verdict overturned on appeal in 2004; the state decided in 2008 not to retry him. His lawyers accused the police detective who originally arrested Martin of having lied during the investigation to cover for a business associate who they believe was the actual killer; he denies it. Neither the business associate nor anyone else have ever been formally named as a suspect. * Pamela Walton (25) was a transgender woman believed to have been murdered between July and September 1988 who was found in
Clermont, Florida Clermont is the most populous city in Lake County, Florida, Lake County, within the U.S. state of Florida. The population was 43,021 in 2020. It is about west of Orlando, Florida, Orlando and southeast of Leesburg, Florida, Leesburg. The cit ...
, on 25 September 1988. Prior to her identification in March 2025, she was nicknamed "Julie Doe". * Kazem Sami Kermani (52–53) was Iran's minister of health in the transitional government of
Mehdi Bazargan Mehdi Bazargan (; 1 September 1907 – 20 January 1995) was an Iranian scholar, academic, long-time pro-democracy activist and head of Interim government of Iran, 1979, Iran's interim government. One of the leading figures of Iranian Revolutio ...
and leader of the Iranian Nation Liberation Movement (JAMA). He was found murdered on 23 November 1988 in his private medical clinic. The case has not been solved. * Venus Xtravaganza (23) featured in the documentary film '' Paris Is Burning'', was found strangled under a New York City hotel bed on 21 December 1988, four days after having been killed. There are no suspects.Butler, J (1993) 'Gender is Burning: Questions of Appropriation and Subversion', in Thornham, S (Ed) (1999) ''Feminist Film Theory, a Reader'', Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press * On 3 February 1989, the partially undressed body of 10-year-old Christina Beranek was found in an apartment complex situated in the
Favoriten Favoriten (; ), the 10th district of Vienna, Austria (), is located south of the central districts. It is south of Innere Stadt, Wieden and Margareten. Favoriten is a heavily populated urban area with many residential buildings, but also la ...
district of Vienna, Austria. She had been abused and strangled to death, then tied to a nearby railing with her own clothes. Her murder was the second in a series of three murders that occurred in the area, initially thought to be the work of a serial killer, but the two other cases were later found to be unrelated. The investigation into her killing was the largest in Austrian history, but to this day, nobody has been convicted. Authorities suspected that Herbert P., the man who killed one of the other two victims in the so-called "Favoriten Girl Murders", is responsible for her death. * John Holmes Jenkins III (48–49), an American historian, poker player, antiquarian bookseller, and publisher. who was killed near
Bastrop, Texas Bastrop () is a city and the county seat of Bastrop County, Texas, United States. The population was 9,688 according to the 2020 census. It is located about southeast of Austin and is part of the Greater Austin metropolitan area. History S ...
on 16 April 1989, after being shot from behind by persons unknown. The murder remains unsolved. *
Paul C Paul C. McKasty (September 20, 1964July 17, 1989), better known as Paul C, was an American East Coast hip hop pioneer, producer, engineer, and mixer in the 1980s.Pritt Kalsi McKasty gained recognition for his work with notable artists such as De ...
. McKasty (24), better known as "Paul C", was an
East coast hip hop East Coast hip-hop is a regional subgenre of hip-hop music that originated in New York City during the 1970s. Hip-hop is recognized to have originated and evolved first in the Bronx borough of New York City. In contrast to other styles, East Co ...
pioneer, producer,
engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, build, maintain and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials. They aim to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while ...
, and mixer in the 1980s.Pritt Kalsi On 17 July 1989, McKasty was shot to death in Rosedale, Queens. His murder was featured on ''
America's Most Wanted ''America's Most Wanted'' (often abbreviated as ''AMW'') is an American television program whose first run was produced by 20th Television, and second run is under the Fox Entertainment#Fox Alternative Entertainment, Fox Alternative Entertain ...
'', and the murder remains unsolved. *
Luis Carlos Galán Luis Carlos Galán Sarmiento (29 September 1943 – 18 August 1989) was a Colombian liberal politician and journalist who ran for the Presidency of Colombia on two occasions, the first time for the political movement New Liberalism that he f ...
(45), Colombian journalist and liberal politician, was murdered on 18 August 1989, in
Bogotá Bogotá (, also , , ), officially Bogotá, Distrito Capital, abbreviated Bogotá, D.C., and formerly known as Santa Fe de Bogotá (; ) during the Spanish Imperial period and between 1991 and 2000, is the capital city, capital and largest city ...
, Cundinamarca, Colombia by unknown persons before he was to give a speech. The murder remains unsolved. * Heidi Hazell (26) was a
German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...
woman who on 7 September 1989 was killed by an unknown member of the
Provisional Irish Republican Army The Provisional Irish Republican Army (Provisional IRA), officially known as the Irish Republican Army (IRA; ) and informally known as the Provos, was an Irish republican paramilitary force that sought to end British rule in Northern Ireland ...
. Her murder remains unsolved. * Anton Lubowski (37) was a Namibian
anti-apartheid activist Several independent sectors of South African society opposed apartheid through various means, including social movements, passive resistance, and guerrilla warfare. Mass action against the ruling National Party (NP) government, coupled with So ...
and advocate. He was a member of the
South West Africa People's Organization The South West Africa People's Organisation (SWAPO ; , SWAVO; , SWAVO), officially known as the SWAPO Party of Namibia, is a political party and former independence movement in Namibia (formerly South West Africa). Founded in 1960, it has been ...
(SWAPO). On 12 September 1989, Lubowski was shot by a group of assailants who were operatives of South Africa's
Civil Cooperation Bureau The South African Civil Cooperation Bureau (CCB) ( (BSB)) was a government-sponsored death squad during the apartheid era. The CCB, operated under the authority of Defence Minister General Magnus Malan. The Truth and Reconciliation Committee ...
in front of his house in Sanderburg Street in central
Windhoek Windhoek (; ; ) is the capital and largest city of Namibia. It is located in central Namibia in the Khomas Highland plateau area, at around above sea level, almost exactly at the country's geographical centre. The population of Windhoek, which ...
. He was hit by several shots from an
AK-47 The AK-47, officially known as the Avtomat Kalashnikova (; also known as the Kalashnikov or just AK), is an assault rifle that is chambered for the 7.62×39mm cartridge. Developed in the Soviet Union by Russian small-arms designer Mikhail Kala ...
automatic rifle and died from a bullet wound to his head. The true identities of the killers is unknown. * Alfred Herrhausen (59), then chairman of
Deutsche Bank Deutsche Bank AG (, ) is a Germany, German multinational Investment banking, investment bank and financial services company headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany, and dual-listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange. ...
, was assassinated on 30 November 1989, in his hometown
Bad Homburg Bad Homburg vor der Höhe (, ) is the district town of the Hochtaunuskreis, Hesse, Germany, on the southern slope of the Taunus mountains. Bad Homburg is part of the Frankfurt Rhein-Main urban area. The town's official name is ''Bad Homburg ...
when an explosively formed projectile penetrated his armored car. The German left-wing terrorist group RAF claimed responsibility shortly after, but while it seems likely that the group was responsible, the actual killers could not be identified so far.


1990–1994

* The body of
Amy Mihaljevic Amy Renee Mihaljevic (, ; December 11, 1978 – October 27, 1989) was a ten-year-old American elementary school student who was kidnapped and murdered in the U.S. state of Ohio in 1989. Her murder case received national attention. The story of ...
(10) was found in Ruggles Township, Ohio, on 8 February 1990. She had been abducted from a Bay Village shopping center three months earlier. No suspects have ever been named, although police have been exploring some leads in recent years. * Despite extensive investigation and publicity, the gunmen who killed four people, including two children, at a
Las Cruces, New Mexico Las Cruces (; ; lit. 'the crosses') is the List of municipalities in New Mexico, second-most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico and the county seat, seat of Doña Ana County, New Mexico, Doña Ana County. As of the 2020 United States ce ...
, bowling alley on 10 February 1990, have never been identified or apprehended. * Cornell Gunter (53), an American
rhythm and blues Rhythm and blues, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R'n'B, is a genre of popular music that originated within African American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predomina ...
singer from
Coffeyville, Kansas Coffeyville is a city in southeastern Montgomery County, Kansas, United States, located along the Verdigris River in the state's southeastern region. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 8,826. Coffeyville is the most pop ...
, died after being shot on 26 February 1990 while he sat in his car. Who killed him is unknown. * Çetin Emeç (54–55) was a Turkish journalist and columnist, who was assassinated on 7 March 1990, by persons unknown. The case has not been solved. * John Evers Robinson AKA "Rokked" (24), a musician in a Connecticut hardcore trio named Sold On Murder, was bludgeoned to death on 12 March 1990. His body was found two days later in a locked office space in downtown
New Haven, Connecticut New Haven is a city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound. With a population of 135,081 as determined by the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, New Haven is List ...
. The case is currently unsolved. * Canadian-American weapons designer
Gerald Bull Gerald Vincent Bull (March 9, 1928 – March 22, 1990) was a Canadian engineer who developed long-range artillery. He moved from project to project in his quest to economically launch a satellite using a space gun, huge artillery piece, to which ...
(62) died in
Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...
, Belgium, on 22 March 1990, two days after being shot several times near his apartment. It has been speculated that the Israeli
Mossad The Institute for Intelligence and Special Operations (), popularly known as Mossad ( , ), is the national intelligence agency of the Israel, State of Israel. It is one of the main entities in the Israeli Intelligence Community, along with M ...
was behind his death, as they may have believed his work for
Saddam Hussein Saddam Hussein (28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was an Iraqi politician and revolutionary who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 1979 until Saddam Hussein statue destruction, his overthrow in 2003 during the 2003 invasion of Ira ...
's Iraq might allow that country to develop weapons that could be used against their country, after he had refused to work with Israel. Other theories have implicated Iraq itself, Iran, the U.S. or other countries he was known to have dealt with. The identities of the killers remain unknown. * Lü Wei (23–24), a female Chinese diver who was a gold medalist in
Universiade The FISU World University Games, formerly the Universiade, is an international multi-sport event, organized for university athletes by the International University Sports Federation (FISU). The former name is a Blend word, portmanteau of the wor ...
and
Asian Games The Asian Games, also known as Asiad, is a continental multi-sport event held every four years for athletes of Asia. The Games were regulated by Asian Games Federation from the 1951 Asian Games, first Games in New Delhi, India in 1951, until ...
from 1982 to 1987 who while at her friend's house on 9 May 1990, was murdered along with the friend. The killers were never found. * Mami Matsuda (4), a Japanese girl from Ashikaga,
Tochigi Prefecture is a landlocked Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Tochigi Prefecture has a population of 1,897,649 (1 June 2023) and has a geographic area of 6,408 Square kilometre, km2 (2,474 Square mile, sq mi ...
,
Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...
, went missing on 12 May 1990 from a pachinko parlor, and was later found dead at the Watarase River which was located nearby. Whoever killed Matsuda is unknown. * Kelly Tan Ah Hong (21) was a Singaporean who was killed by one of the two men who attacked both Tan and her boyfriend while they were having a date at Amber Beacon Tower inside
East Coast Park East Coast Park is a beach and a park on the southeastern coast of Singapore. It stretches along the south of Marine Parade, Bedok, and Tampines. It was opened in the 1970s, after the Government of Singapore, Singapore government had completed ...
on May 15 1990.Although the male victim, 22-year-old James Soh Fook Leong, survived despite being stabbed on the back, Tan died after her assailant(s) knifed her on the neck, causing her to bleed to death. The motive for the attack was suspected to be robbery despite the victims not losing anything. A coroner's court issued a verdict of murder by an unknown person(s) two years after Tan's killing. Despite extensive police investigations and public appeals by the family and authorities, the killer(s) were never caught and the murder remains unsolved as of today. * French Baptist minister
Joseph Doucé Joseph Doucé (13 April 1945 – ) was born to a rural family in Sint-Truiden, Belgium. He was a psychologist and a (defrocked) Baptist pastor in Paris. He was openly gay and was among the founders of the International Lesbian and Gay Associatio ...
(45) disappeared on 19 July 1990 and was found dead in a forest in October 1990, two months after he was last seen being led away from his apartment by men who claimed to be police officers. No suspect has ever been identified. * Alexander Men (55) was a
Russian Orthodox The Russian Orthodox Church (ROC; ;), also officially known as the Moscow Patriarchate (), is an autocephaly, autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodox Christian church. It has 194 dioceses inside Russia. The Primate (bishop), p ...
priest, theologian, biblical scholar and writer on theology, Christian history and other religions. He was murdered early on 9 September 1990 by an ax-wielding assailant outside his home in Semkhoz, Russia. The case is currently unsolved. * The Bowraville murders is the name given to three deaths that occurred over five months from 13 September 1990, to 18 February 1991, in Bowraville, New South Wales, Australia. All three victims were Aboriginal. All three victims disappeared after parties in the Aboriginal community in Bowraville, in an area known as The Mission.Australian Story – Truth be Told – Transcript
, 2006-09-04, abc.net.au

By Alex Mitchell, 2004-02-08, The Sun-Herald
Two of the victims were later found dead. A local labourer, who was regarded by police as the prime suspect, was charged with two of the murders but was acquitted following trials in 1994 and 2006. On 13 September 2018, the
New South Wales Court of Criminal Appeal The New South Wales Court of Criminal Appeal, part of the Supreme Court of New South Wales, is the highest court for criminal law, criminal matters and has appellate jurisdiction in the Australian States and territories of Australia, State of Ne ...
decided that the man could not be retried for the murders. The murders remain unsolved. * Roy Francis Adkins (42), English gangster from
Hammersmith Hammersmith is a district of West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It is the administrative centre of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, and identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. It ...
,
London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
, was murdered in
Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...
on 28 September 1990 by unknown people after being shot. * Danny Rodriguez (22), whose stage name was "D-Boy Rodriguez", was an American Christian rap artist who was murdered in
Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...
, Texas on 6 October 1990Dallas Morning News , News for Dallas, Texas , Breaking News for Dallas-Fort Worth , Dallas Morning News
/ref> by persons unknown. The murder remains unsolved. *
Bahriye Üçok Bahriye Üçok (1919 – 6 October 1990) was a Turkish people, Turkish academic of theology, left-wing politician, writer, columnist, and women's rights activist whose assassination in 1990 remains unresolved. Early life and education Born in ...
(70–71) was a Turkish academic of theology, left-wing politician, writer, columnist, and
women's rights Women's rights are the rights and Entitlement (fair division), entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st c ...
activist whose assassination on 6 October 1990 remains unresolved. * Janie Perrin (73) was sexually assaulted and murdered on 2 November 1990, in her home in Bourke, a town in the Far West of the Australian state of
New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...
. The crime remains unsolved and the
New South Wales Government The Government of New South Wales, also known as the NSW Government, is the executive state government of New South Wales, Australia. The government comprises 11 portfolios, led by a ministerial department and supported by several agencies. Th ...
offered a reward of $100,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible. * Carole Soltysiak (13), French teenage girl was found dead on 18 November 1990 was discovered in a forest that is close to
Montceau-les-Mines Montceau-les-Mines () is a Communes of France, commune in the Saône-et-Loire Departments of France, department in the Regions of France, region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in eastern France. It is the second-largest commune of the metropolitan C ...
. Her killer is unknown. * On 20 November 1990, the body of Susan Poupart was discovered in Wisconsin's Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest, six months after she had last been seen leaving a party in Lac du Flambeau. The two men she was last seen with have been considered suspects. Charges against one led to several hearings in 2007, but were dropped after witnesses failed to testify. * The Teteringen Girl (15–25) is an unidentified female murder victim discovered on 25 December 1990 in Teteringen, in a forest and was missing certain clothes. Her killer is not known. *
Enrique Bermúdez Enrique Bermúdez Varela (December 11, 1932 – February 16, 1991), known as Comandante 380, was a Nicaraguan soldier and rebel who founded and commanded the Nicaraguan Contras. In this capacity, he became a central global figure in one of the m ...
(58), also known as "Comandante 380", was a
Nicaraguan Nicaragua, officially the Republic of Nicaragua, is the geographically largest country in Central America, comprising . With a population of 7,142,529 as of 2024, it is the third-most populous country in Central America after Guatemala and ...
who founded and commanded the Nicaraguan
Contras In the history of Nicaragua, the Contras (Spanish: ''La contrarrevolución'', the counter-revolution) were the right-wing militias who waged anti-communist guerilla warfare (1979–1990) against the Marxist governments of the Sandinista Na ...
. In this capacity, he became a central figure in one of the most prominent conflicts of the
Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...
. On 16 February 1991, Bermudez was assassinated in
Managua Managua () is the capital city, capital and largest city of Nicaragua, and one of the List of largest cities in Central America, largest cities in Central America. Located on the shores of Lake Managua, the city had an estimated population of 1, ...
, by persons unknown. * Five boys aged 9 through 13 went to the woods around South Korea's Mount Waryong on 26 March 1991, to hunt for
salamander Salamanders are a group of amphibians typically characterized by their lizard-like appearance, with slender bodies, blunt snouts, short limbs projecting at right angles to the body, and the presence of a tail in both larvae and adults. All t ...
s (which became known as frogs because salamanders were not known that well at that time) and never returned. Despite a massive search of the mountain and surroundings, their bodies were not found until 2002, after an anonymous phone call led police to an area that had already been searched near the boys' village. At first, it was theorized that they had died of exposure, a conclusion disputed by their families since the boys knew that area well and their clothes had been tied in knots. An autopsy showed that four had died of blows to the head and the other had been killed with a shotgun. Although the
statute of limitations A statute of limitations, known in civil law systems as a prescriptive period, is a law passed by a legislative body to set the maximum time after an event within which legal proceedings may be initiated. ("Time for commencing proceedings") In ...
on the case expired in 2006, police continue to investigate for historical reasons. * On 1 April 1991, at 23:30, Detlev Rohwedder, president of the German organization
Treuhandanstalt The (, " Trust agency"), colloquially referred to as , was an agency established by the government of the German Democratic Republic to reprivatise/ privatise East German enterprises, Volkseigene Betriebe (VEBs), prior to German reunification ...
, was shot and killed through a window on the first floor of his house in the suburb of Düsseldorf-Niederkassel by the first of three rifle shots.
West German West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republic after its capital c ...
far-left Far-left politics, also known as extreme left politics or left-wing extremism, are politics further to the left on the left–right political spectrum than the standard political left. The term does not have a single, coherent definition; some ...
militant group
Red Army Faction The Red Army Faction (, ; RAF ),See the section "Name" also known as the Baader–Meinhof Group or Baader–Meinhof Gang ( ), was a West German far-left militant group founded in 1970 and active until 1998, considered a terrorist organisat ...
(RAF) claimed responsibility for this act, but the sniper was never identified. In 2001, a DNA analysis found that hair strands from the crime scene belonged to RAF member Wolfgang Grams. However, the attorney general did not consider this evidence sufficient to name Grams as a suspect of the killing. * Karmein Chan (13) was abducted from her family's home in Templestowe, Victoria on 13 April 1991 by an unidentified man who was later dubbed " Mr. Cruel" by
Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...
newspapers. Her body was discovered on 9 April 1992, in Thomastown; she had been shot in the head. Although
Victoria Police Victoria Police is the primary law enforcement agency of the Australian States and territories of Australia, state of Victoria (Australia), Victoria. It was formed in 1853 and currently operates under the ''Victoria Police Act 2013''. , Victor ...
knew a great deal about the perpetrator from previous, non-fatal child abductions and rapes dating back to 1985, there has never been enough evidence to charge any of the 27,000 men interviewed at the time. The case is still open, with a second police operation, Taskforce Apollo, formed in 2010 to examine new evidence and material from the original Operation Spectrum. If the perpetrator is still alive, he would be between approximately 60 and 75 years old in 2014. The murder of Karmein Chan is still one of the most extensive and expensive investigations in Victorian history, with a combination of investigative errors and the perpetrator's precautions preventing his identification and arrest. * Mary Joe Frug (50), a feminist professor teaching at
New England Law Boston New England Law Boston (formerly New England School of Law, and styled as New England Law Boston) is a Private university, private law school in Boston, Massachusetts. It was founded as Portia School of Law in 1908 and is located in downtown B ...
, was attacked and stabbed to death by an unknown assailant on the streets of
Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is a suburb in the Greater Boston metropolitan area, located directly across the Charles River from Boston. The city's population as of the 2020 United States census, ...
on 4 April 1991. Her killer has not been found. * Tuula Lukkarinen (28) disappeared on the morning of 17 April 1991 after leaving a Kellokoski psychiatrist hospital where she had been staying as an inpatient, planning to travel to
Hyrylä Hyrylä (, also ) is one of the three villages and the administrative centre of Tuusula, with a population of about 19,500 residents.http://www.tuusula.fi/teksti.tmpl?id=751;numero=101253120 Tuusula.fi information It is located at the southern ...
to attend a meeting about her son's custody case. The following day, Lukkarinen's mutilated body was discovered by a landowner in Hikiä. Police also recovered her handbag and a possible murder weapon at the scene. * Ioan P. Culianu (41), a
Romanian American Romanian Americans () are Americans who have Romanian ancestry. According to the 2023 American Community Survey, 425,738 Americans indicated Romanian as their first or second ancestry, however other sources provide higher estimates, which a ...
professor of religion at the University of Chicago, was shot in the back of the head in a bathroom of the university's divinity school building on 21 May 1991. While rightist Romanian nationalists in the then-new Romanian government of Ion Iliescu, some of whom openly celebrated his death, and members of the Communist-era ''Securitate'' intelligence service were suspected, along with occultists who also clashed with Culianu, no one has ever been formally identified as one. * Death of Timothy Wiltsey, Timothy Wiltsey (5) disappeared on 25 May 1991 while visiting a carnival in Sayreville, New Jersey with his mother, Michelle Lodzinski. His body was found in Edison, New Jersey, Edison in April 1992. His death was ruled to be a homicide. Lodzinski was convicted of Timothy's murder 23 years later, but her conviction was overturned in 2021; no other suspects were identified. * Murder of Penny Bell, Penny Bell (43), was an English businesswoman who was murdered on 6 June 1991 in the car park of Gurnell Leisure Centre, Greenford, London, England, London on 6 June 1991. She was stabbed over fifty times as she sat behind the wheel of her car. There were a few witnesses in the case, one of them came forward six months after the murder and claimed he saw Bell driving into the car park with a passenger, and mouthing an appeal for help, which he ignored. Despite some potential suspects, her murder remains unsolved. * Hitoshi Igarashi (44), a Japanese scholar of Arabic and Persian literature and history and the Japanese translator of Salman Rushdie's novel ''The Satanic Verses (novel), The Satanic Verses'', was murdered on 12 July 1991 in Tsukuba, Ibaraki in the wake of fatwas issued by Iranian Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini calling for the death of the book's author and "those involved in its publication." * A retired police officer accused of Father's Day Bank Massacre, killing four security guards in the course of stealing $200,000 from the United Bank Tower in downtown Denver, Colorado on 14 June 1991 was acquitted the following year. He died in 2013; the case remains open. *Mandy Lemaire (11) disappeared form Tazlina, Alaska on 22 August 1991 and was found dead ten days later after being killed. Suspect Charles Smithart was charged and convicted with killing her, but the decision was overturned and he later died from lung cancer, leaving her case unsolved. * The body of Bobby Donati, Robert Donati (51), a Boston-area mobster believed to have masterminded the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum theft, theft of $500 million worth of art from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum the year before, was found beaten and stabbed multiple times in the trunk of his car on 24 September 1991, three days after he had last been seen alive leaving his nearby home in Revere, Massachusetts. He was likely a casualty of an ongoing war for control of the Patriarca crime family, but no suspects have ever been charged with the crime. * Igor Talkov (34) was a Russian rock singer-songwriter, who was shot backstage at the Yubileyny Sports Palace, Yubileiny concert hall in Saint Petersburg, Leningrad on 6 October 1991. While Valeriy Schlyafman, Talkov's one time manager, was found guilty of the murder by a Russian court, he fled via Ukraine to Israel before he could be arrested. He remains in Israel to this day, insisting he is not guilty of the crime while Israel refuses to extradite him. Schlyafman and his supporters have claimed that the KGB orchestrated the murder. Since no one has been charged and it is unclear for sure who the true killer is, the case remains unsolved. * Wilson dos Santos had served as the representative of the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (
UNITA The National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (, abbr. UNITA) is the second-largest political party in Angola. Founded in 1966, UNITA fought alongside the People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) and the National Liberat ...
), a rebel group in Angola, to Portugal. He was murdered in November 1991 by unknown persons. The case remains unsolved. * On 5 December 1991, the dead body of Heinz Bonn, a professional German football player who today is considered the Homosexuality in association football#Germany, first professional German football player known to be homosexual, was found in his apartment in the Hanover district of Linden-Limmer, Linden. After last being seen alive in Hannover on 27 November 1991, it was estimated that Bonn, who had been stabbed multiple times, had died a week prior to his body being found. The culprit for Bonn's murder has never been found. * On 6 December 1991, police in Austin, Texas, Austin, Texas discovered the 1991 Austin yogurt shop killings, bodies of four young women, stripped, bound and shot in the head after a nighttime fire at a yogurt shop. Eight years later, two suspects were convicted, but those convictions were overturned in 2009 and charges dismissed due to questions about the DNA evidence. No other suspects have ever been named although the investigation is continuing. * Katrien De Cuyper (15) disappeared on her way home in Antwerp, Belgium, on the night of 17 December 1991. Her body was found buried in the port of Antwerp six months later. In 1997, Regina Louf confessed to killing De Cuyper while being part of a "paedophile network", but no concrete evidence was found to support her testimony. In 2006, a 35-year-old man was arrested and charged with De Cuyper's kidnapping and murder after it was established that he had written anonymous letters about her to a magazine, but he was later released due to a lack of evidence. * Murder of Joe Cole, Joe Cole (30), Road crew, roadie, was shot and killed on 19 December 1991, during a robbery outside the Venice Beach, California, home he shared with Black Flag (band), Black Flag lead singer Henry Rollins, who was present and escaped. No suspects have ever been identified. * Akio Kashiwagi was a wealthy Tokyo-based real estate investor who was known for the large amounts of money he wagered at Las Vegas and Atlantic City casinos. On 3 January 1992, he was killed by being stabbed as many as 150 times with a samurai sword. His body was discovered in his home in Japan near Mount Fuji. According to a story published in ''Politico'' magazine, Kashiwagi owed Donald Trump $4 million in unrecovered gambling debts. The murder remains unsolved. * Albert Glock (66), a Lutheran biblical archaeologist who had spent 17 years in Jerusalem and the West Bank as a part of various expeditions, was shot and killed in Ramallah on 9 January 1992. Neither reason for the murder nor who did it was reliably identified, though it is thought that Hamas could have been responsible. * A Suicide bombing, suicide bomber drove a truck filled with explosives into 1992 attack on Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires, the Israeli embassy in Argentina on 17 March 1992, killing 29 in the deadliest attack ever on an Israeli diplomatic mission. Argentinian officials said they strongly believed Iran was behind the attack. They have not formally prosecuted any suspects, though they suspected that Imad Mughniyah was involved in both this attack and the deadlier AMIA bombing two years later. * Anjelica Castillo (4) was discovered in a cooler in Manhattan, New York on 23 July 1991, several days after her death. The victim remained unidentified for 22 years. Her cousin, Conrado Juarez, was arrested for her murder and sexual assault after the remains were identified in 2013. Juarez would later claim his confession was coerced and he died before his trial in 2018, changing his plea to "not guilty". Juarez died in police custody on 19 November 2018, from pancreatic cancer. * Exiled Iranian dissident Fereydoun Farrokhzad (53) was found dead of multiple stab wounds in his house in Bonn, Germany, on 13 August 1992. The autopsy established that he had been killed five days earlier. No one has ever been named as a suspect although it is widely believed that he was killed at the behest of the Iranian government. Prior to his murder, Farrokzhad had been involved in producing an opposition radio program and reportedly received death threats. In his show at the Royal Albert Hall in London, he had criticized Ruhollah Khomeini and made fun of Khomeini's obsession with sex in his ''Ressaleh'' book. He had consequently received death threats and there were concerns for his safety. * Piotr Jaroszewicz (82), a former Prime Minister of Communist Poland, was found murdered along with his wife Alicja Solska at their home in the Warsaw suburb of Anin, Warsaw, Anin on 3 September 1992. He had been strangled with a belt, which was still around his neck, after being beaten; his wife had been shot several times with one of the couple's hunting rifles after her hands were tied behind her back. She may have injured one of their attackers, who apparently also tried to kill the couple's dog with poison gas, while fighting back. A safe was left open and documents were taken from it while valuables were left behind. The killings were found to have occurred two days before; friends and family say that Jaroszewicz, who was obsessed with security to begin with, had been acting extremely paranoid in the days before the murders. No suspects have been named. * Jeremias Chitunda (50) and Elias Salupeto Pena were both representatives of the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (
UNITA The National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (, abbr. UNITA) is the second-largest political party in Angola. Founded in 1966, UNITA fought alongside the People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) and the National Liberat ...
), an anti-Communist rebel group that fought against the People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) in the
Angolan Civil War The Angolan Civil War () was a civil war in Angola, beginning in 1975 and continuing, with interludes, until 2002. The war began immediately after Angola became independent from Portugal in November 1975. It was a power struggle between two for ...
, to the Joint Military and Political Commission. Chitunda and Pena were killed on 2 November 1992, and their murder remains unsolved. * Clare Morrison (13) was an Australian girl who was murdered on 19 December 1992 in Geelong, Victoria. Her near-naked body was discovered by surfers early morning on 19 December near Bells Beach, bashed, strangled and shark-bitten. As of 2019, the murder remains unsolved. * Kori Lamaster (17), a formerly unidentified female American murder victim, was killed in 1993 after running away from home. Lamaster was later found dead on 29 January 1994, Lamaster's identity was unknown for the next nineteen years and her murder remains a mystery. * In between 1993 and 2005 it was calculated that more than Femicides in Ciudad Juárez, 370 women were killed in northern Mexico in a city called Ciudad Juárez. The killers behind these mass murders remain unknown. * Uğur Mumcu (50), a Turkish investigative journalist for the daily ''Cumhuriyet'', was assassinated on 24 January 1993, by a bomb placed in his car outside his home.About
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His murder remains unsolved. * Peter Gibb#Capture, Archie Butterley was an Australian fugitive and a sidekick of Peter Gibb who escaped from jail on 7 March 1993 and was shot dead on 13 March 1993 by persons unknown. The murder remains unsolved. * Retired Canadian professional wrestler Adolfo Bresciano (44), who performed under the name Dino Bravo, was found dead of multiple gunshot wounds in his Laval, Quebec, home on 10 March 1993. It is believed by law enforcement and those who knew him that he was killed by the Montreal Mafia over his successful cigarette smuggling business. Officially, no suspects have ever been identified. * In the late hours of 22 April 1993, Black British teenager Stephen Lawrence (18) was killed by a group of White British males in a Hate crime, racially motivated attack in
London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
. While the exact number of Stephen Lawrence's killers who remain unidentified is not definitively known, it is widely believed that there were at least five people involved and three of the suspected individuals have never been convicted. The five suspects were identified as Gary Dobson, David Norris, Neil & Jamie Acourt, and Luke Knight. Of these, only Gary Dobson and David Norris were ever convicted; they were found guilty in January 2012 and were given life sentences in prison. The other three suspects were arrested and charged just weeks after the murder but the charges were dropped in July 1993 due to insufficient evidence. * Madan Bhandari (41), the General-Secretary when CPN (ML) merged into the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist–Leninist) in 1991, and the husband of Biddha Devi Bhandari, who was the second president of federal democratic Nepal, died in a car accident on 16 May 1993. His death is suspected of being a murder case. * Jayne Furlong (17) was a New Zealand teenager from Auckland who disappeared from a street in Auckland on 26 May 1993, while working in the Sex industry, sex trade. She had been Kidnapping, abducted and murdered. The case remains unsolved. * Colin Ridgway (56), the first Australian to play in the National Football League, was murdered in his University Park, Texas, home on 13 May 1993. Police suspect that a man serving time in Florida for a 2011 murder committed the crime after being hired by Ridgway's wife and his father; however, they have not found sufficient evidence to arrest anyone. * Chekannur Maulavi (57), an Indian secular Islamist and founder of the Quran Sannath, was kidnapped and likely murdered by ultra-orthodox Muslim sectarians. While two men were arrested for his murder, they have never been brought to trial and the case is considered unsolved. * Brett Cantor (25), part-owner of the Dragonfly nightclub in Hollywood, Los Angeles, Hollywood, was found stabbed to death in his nearby home on 30 July 1993; no suspects have ever been identified. The case gained renewed attention a year later when O. J. Simpson's defense team successfully petitioned the court trying him for the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson, his ex-wife, and Ronald Goldman, for access to the case file, on the grounds that the way in which all three were stabbed suggested the same killer. Since Goldman had worked for Cantor as a waiter, and Nicole Simpson was a regular at Dragonfly, some books about the case have raised the possibility that the three killings may also have resulted from involvement in drug trafficking. * The body of Holly Piirainen (10) was found on 23 October 1993 in the woods of Brimfield, Massachusetts. She had disappeared in August while visiting her grandparents in nearby Sturbridge, Massachusetts, Sturbridge. Police have identified two persons of interest, one of whom died in 2003, the other of whom has been named in connection with the Molly Bish murder which occurred several years later in the region. Neither has been named as a suspect in the case, however. * Đuro Kurepa (86), a Yugoslav mathematician who wrote over 700 academic papers and 1,000 scientific reviews on scientific theory, was beaten to death by thugs in front of his apartment in Belgrade on 2 November 1993. His killers have never been captured. * Raúl Esnal (37) was a Association football, football Defender (football), defender from Uruguay, who was murdered on 15 December 1993, in El Salvador, on the road between Ahuachapán and Acajutla. The murder case has never been solved. * David Cox (Marine), David Cox (27) was a U.S. Marine involved in a 1986 hazing incident which was later dramatized in the film ''A Few Good Men''. On 5 January 1994, eight years after the hazing incident, Cox was murdered, with no suspects or motive known. * Sergei Dubov (54) was a Russian journalist, publisher and entrepreneur; ''The Independent'' called him a "brilliant businessman". He was murdered in Moscow on 1 February 1994. The assassin waited in a phone booth; when Dubov was going to his car in the morning, he was shot in the back of the head. Earlier, Dubov had received threats by telephone and by mail. Dubov's son, Sergei Dubov Jr, aged 15, was killed the year before by being thrown from a 14th floor window. Both murders remain unsolved as their killers are unknown. * Miran Hrovatin (44) was an Italian photographer and camera operator killed in Mogadishu, Somalia, together with the Italian journalist Ilaria Alpi (32), under mysterious circumstances on 20 March 1994. In 2000, Somali citizen Hashi Omar Hassan was convicted and sentenced to 26 years in prison for the double murder. In October 2016, a court in Perugia, Italy, reversed the conviction and Hassan was awarded more than three million euros for the wrongful conviction and nearly 17 years he had spent in prison. Both of the murders remain unsolved. * Rwandan president Juvénal Habyarimana (57) and Burundian president Cyprien Ntaryamira (39) were both killed when their plane was Assassination of Juvénal Habyarimana and Cyprien Ntaryamira, shot down over Kigali by a surface-to-air missile on 6 April 1994. The assassination was the spark that ignited the Rwandan genocide. Responsibility for the attack is disputed, with most theories proposing as suspects either the Tutsi rebel Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) or government-aligned Hutu Power followers opposed to negotiation with the RPF. The true perpetrator remains a mystery. * Dada Vujasinović (30) was a Serbian journalist and reporter for the news magazine Duga (magazine), ''Duga'', published in Belgrade. Vujasinović was found dead in her apartment on 8 April 1994, and the murder remains unsolved. * The Inokashira Park dismemberment incident happened in Japan on 23 April 1994; the people responsible for it remain unknown. *
Provisional IRA The Provisional Irish Republican Army (Provisional IRA), officially known as the Irish Republican Army (IRA; ) and informally known as the Provos, was an Irish republican paramilitary force that sought to end British rule in Northern Ireland ...
volunteer Martin Doherty (Irish republican), Martin Doherty was gunned down on 21 May 1994 while attempting to prevent members of the Ulster Volunteer Force planting a bomb in the Widow Scallans pub in Dublin. * Savaş Buldan (32–33), a Turkish citizen of Kurds in Turkey, Kurdish descent, was kidnapped, tortured and killed on 3 June 1994. The murder has never been solved. * Nicole Brown Simpson (35) and Ronald Goldman (25) were found dead with multiple stab wounds in front of Simpson's condo in the Brentwood, Los Angeles, Brentwood section of Los Angeles late on the night of 12 June 1994. Her ex-husband, former professional football star O. J. Simpson, was arrested and charged with the crime two days later; after an Murder trial of O. J. Simpson, eight-month trial covered heavily by the media, in which the defense argued that there had been extensive mishandling of the evidence and that some investigators were racially biased, he was acquitted. However, strong public sentiment remained that he was guilty, and he was held liable in a suit by the victims' families later. No other suspects have ever been officially named. * David Cullen Bain of Dunedin, New Zealand, was initially convicted of the 20 June 1994 Bain family murders, murder of his parents and three siblings at their home. Prosecutors claimed he had staged the crime to look like his father had committed a murder-suicide of his family while David was out delivering papers; his defence claimed that murder-suicide was exactly what had happened. With help from former rugby star Joe Karam, David pursued appeals and was eventually acquitted after a 2009 retrial. Other than David and his father, no other person was suspected. * On July 7, 1994, Bodies of Linda Gibson (21) and Cody Lee Garrett (4) were discovered in high weeds on the edge of a field in Somerset, Kentucky, On July 3, Linda and Cody were last seen walking at a Dairy Mart on Bourne Ave in Somerset, Kentucky, Some witnesses state that were seen possibly entering a vehicle on Bourne Ave, Family members began concerned and reported them as missing to the Somerset Police Department the next day. No arrests have been made, However, police have found possible suspects. * Mehdi Dibaj (58–59) was an Iranian former Muslim who later became a Christians, Christian pastor, whose body was discovered west Tehran in a park on 5 July 1994. after he had been murdered by unknown members of Iran's regime. * The Gentleman of Heligoland was found beaten and weighed down in waters west of Heligoland on 11 July 1994. * The 18 July 1994 AMIA bombing, suicide bombing of a Jewish organization's building in Buenos Aires killed 85, surpassing the similar attack on the Israeli embassy two years earlier as Argentina's deadliest terror attack. Five suspects, four of whom were local police officers, were acquitted in a 2004 trial; the investigating judge was removed from the case and later impeached after it was disclosed that he had paid for evidence. British authorities arrested an Iranian suspect named by Argentina in 2003, but declined to extradite him due to weak evidence. No other suspects have been named although investigations continue, one of which has since led to the unsolved murder of Alberto Nisman, the investigating prosecutor. * The day after that bombing, another suicide bomber brought down Alas Chiricanas Flight 901, a plane in Panama, killing 21, 12 of whom were Jews. While an apparently fictitious Arab terrorist organization claimed responsibility, no suspects have ever been identified. * Irish crime boss Martin Cahill, Martin "The General" Cahill (45) was shot and killed at a Dublin intersection on 18 August 1994. The
Provisional IRA The Provisional Irish Republican Army (Provisional IRA), officially known as the Irish Republican Army (IRA; ) and informally known as the Provos, was an Irish republican paramilitary force that sought to end British rule in Northern Ireland ...
claimed responsibility, citing Cahill's dealings with the Ulster Volunteer Force; however, it has also been reported that the IRA took exception to this only after being paid by two of Cahill's subordinates who were not eager to share profits from a drug operation with him. No arrests have ever been made. * Dmitry Kholodov (27) was a Russian journalist who investigated corruption in the military and was assassinated on 17 October 1994, in Moscow. His assassination was the first of many List of journalists killed in Russia, killings of journalists in Russia. The murder remains unsolved. * Johan Heyns (66), an Afrikaner Calvinism, Afrikaner Calvinist theologian, was shot and killed from outside his house in Pretoria, South Africa's capital, while playing cards with his wife and grandchildren on 5 November 1994. While no suspects have ever been identified, it is widely believed the killing was the work of radical white supremacists unhappy with Heyns' increasingly liberal political views, which in addition to opposition to apartheid had also called for tolerance of homosexuals. * Segametsi Mogomotsi (14) was a schoolgirl who was found murdered on 6 November 1994, in Mochudi, Botswana. Her body was found mutilated in an open space. The discovery was followed by many protests at the school she attended. Her murder remains unsolved to this day. * Igor Platonov (60) was a Ukrainians, Ukrainian–Soviet Grandmaster (chess), Grandmaster of chess (Soviet Union Grandmaster, ''Гроссмейстер СССР''). He was active between 1958 and 1984, with his best years from 1967 to 1972, when he earned the Soviet Union Grandmaster title. On 13 November 1994, he was murdered in his Kyiv apartment by two thieves. The identities of the killers remain unknown.


1995–1999

* Killing of Melanie Carpenter, Melanie Carpenter (23) was a Canadian woman who was abducted and murdered in Surrey, British Columbia, on 6 January 1995. Carpenter was taken from her workplace and found dead in the Fraser Canyon several weeks later; the prime suspect, Fernand Auger, committed suicide before arrest. * Lazım Esmaeili (49–50) was a Kurdish people, Kurdish Iranian spy and Askar Simitko (41–42), a spy who were both operating in Turkey were both found tortured and shot dead on 28 January 1995, by unknown persons in Istanbul. * Vladislav Listyev (38) was a Russian journalist and head of the ORT TV Channel. On the evening of 1 March 1995, when returning from the live broadcast of his evening show ''Chas Pik'', Listyev was shot dead on the stairs of his apartment building by persons unknown. * Deanna Cremin (17), from Somerville, Massachusetts, United States, was murdered on 30 March 1995. Her body was found behind a senior housing complex. An autopsy revealed she had been strangled. She was last seen alive by her boyfriend who, unlike on other occasions when he would walk her to the door, walked her only halfway and she continued on her own toward her house. Her murder remains unsolved. * The body of Murder of Lindsay Rimer, Lindsay Rimer (13), originally from Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire, England, was found in the Rochdale Canal between Manchester and Sowerby Bridge five months after she disappeared following a visit to a local Spar (retailer), Spar Supermarket to buy corn flakes. She had been strangled and her body weighed down with a concrete block. Despite repeated appeals for information by police, her murder remains unsolved. * Death of Ramapiram Kannickaisparry, Ramapiram Kannickaisparry (39) was a Singaporean production operator of Apple Computer who was found murdered at a forest near Sembawang on 17 April 1995. The woman had thirteen stab wounds on her head and neck, and also sustained broken ribs and pelvis, which was due to a vehicle repeatedly running over her body. Her lover Nadasan Chandra Secharan was initially arrested and capital punishment in Singapore, sentenced to death in 1996, but later acquittal, acquitted of her murder upon Nadasan's appeal in 1997 due to the prosecutors' weak and insufficient evidence against him, and he was thus released. As a result, the murder remains unsolved till today and the real killer(s) remains unidentified. * Vasil Iliev (30), a Bulgarian former wrestler, businessman and influential mobster, was shot dead while driving to his favorite restaurant in Sofia on 25 April 1995. The high-profile nature of the killing indicates that it was related to organized crime, but nobody was ever arrested. * In June 2019, the Police discovered burnt human remains in McComb, Mississippi that might have belonged to Disappearance of Donald Izzett, Donald Izzett (44), who disappeared in May 1995 whose case is now being regarded as a murder. * On 25 June 1995, Lim Shiow Rong (7), a schoolgirl, was found raped and murdered at a drain in Jalan Woodbridge,
Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...
. Her suspected killer was said to be a male customer who often came to Lim's mother's coffee shop to have drinks, and claimed to be a friend of her father. However, the suspect, who never re-appeared since Lim's murder, was never found despite police investigations. As there was no
statute of limitations A statute of limitations, known in civil law systems as a prescriptive period, is a law passed by a legislative body to set the maximum time after an event within which legal proceedings may be initiated. ("Time for commencing proceedings") In ...
for criminal cases like murder in Singapore, the police investigations remained unclosed, and until today, the murder of Lim remains unsolved. * Michael Ljunggren (33), president of the Bandidos Motorcycle Club in Sweden, was shot and killed by a sniper while riding his motorcycle on the E4 motorway, south of Markaryd, Småland on 17 July 1995. No-one has been charged with his murder, although it is believed that he was killed by a member of the rival Hells Angels Motorcycle Club in relation to the Nordic Biker War that was occurring at the time. * Michael Nigg (26), an aspiring actor and waiter at a
Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
restaurant, was shot and killed during an attempted robbery on 8 September 1995, while withdrawing money from an ATM. Three suspects were arrested a month later but released for lack of evidence and the case remains unsolved. Since Nigg was a friend of Ronald Goldman, with whom he had worked, and seemed to live quite well for someone in his position, leading to some reports that he was involved in drug trafficking, his death has been used to support theories that the Murder trial of O. J. Simpson, murders of Goldman and O. J. Simpson's ex-wife Nicole the year before were drug-related as well. * The 1995 Palo Verde, Arizona derailment is an incident that took place when Amtrak's ''Sunset Limited'' was derailed by saboteurs on Southern Pacific Railroad tracks that happened close to Palo Verde, Arizona on 9 October 1995, that killed car attendant Mitchell Bates while he was sleeping. Whoever was behind this was unknown. * Murder of Victoria Cafasso, Victoria Cafasso (20) was an Italian tourist found stabbed 17 times with some of her clothing missing on Beaumaris, Tasmania, Beaumaris Beach in Tasmania on 11 October 1995. * Gojko Zec (60) was a Serbian Association football, football manager. He coached OFK Beograd, FK Partizan, FK Borac Banja Luka, NK Rijeka, Red Star Belgrade, Aris Thessaloniki F.C., Aris, Yugoslavia national football team, Yugoslavia FK Borac Čačak. He was murdered during an armed robbery on 3 November 1995, in Luanda, Angola. * A body found in Greece and thought to be a murder victim was believed to be that of Bruno Bréguet#Disappearance, Bruno Bréguet (45), who last seen on 12 November 1995, after he disappeared at sea. This was not proven, and the murder case remains unsolved. * Rapper Randy Walker (27), better known as Stretch (rapper), Stretch, was shot and killed by the occupants of a vehicle passing his minivan in Queens Village, New York, shortly after midnight on 30 November 1995. No suspects have ever been identified, but it is often believed to be related to Tupac Shakur's later death, since it took place exactly one year after Tupac Shakur#1994 Attack at Quad Recording Studios, an apparent robbery attempt in which Shakur had been seriously injured. * Randi Boothe-Wilson (34), originally referred to as the Jacksonville Jane Doe, was found on 6 December 1995, in Jacksonville, North Carolina. She remained unidentified until February 2019, when her DNA was matched to Randi Boothe-Wilson, who had last been seen in Greenburgh, New York on 26 October 1994. * A dog that belonged to a family in North Port, Florida, North Port came home with a male human skull on 1 January 1996. The police were eventually able to put together much of its skeleton and concluded that it had its genitalia removed by being cut out, similar to another 1994 murder victim. The skeleton from North Port remains unidentified,David Conahan Jr, the Hog Trail Murderer, ''Chapter 3''
by David Lohr for the Crime Library.
and is thought to be a victim of Daniel Conahan#Murders, Daniel Conahan, yet its killer is unknown. * Amber Hagerman (9) was abducted on 13 January 1996, while riding her bike near her grandparents' home in Arlington, Texas. Four days later, a man walking his dog found her body in a creek bed. An autopsy revealed that her throat had been cut. Although a $75,000 reward was offered for information leading to Hagerman's killer, the perpetrator was never found. Her murder would later inspire the creation of the Amber alert system. * Diao Aiqing (19), a student at Nanjing University, China, disappeared after leaving her dormitory on 10 January 1996. Her brutally mutilated remains, over 2,000 of them, were discovered nine days later at various location. Little evidence of her killer have been found and the case remains open. * The body of Murder of Barbara Barnes, Barbara Barnes (13), from Steubenville, Ohio, was found strangled on a riverbed on 22 February 1996, over two months after she was last seen walking to school. Some of her relatives have been suspected, but the case remains open. * Bob Mellors (49), a British gay rights activist who was involved with the Gay Liberation Front (GLF) in New York (state), New York during the 1970s, was stabbed to death in his flat in Warsaw, Poland during a burglary. No suspects have ever been identified. * Kutlu Adalı (60–61), was a Turkish Cypriot journalist, poet, socio-political researcher, and peace advocate who on 6 July 1996, was fatally machine-gunned outside his home. Some sources state the Grey Wolves (organization), Grey Wolves are responsible for his death; however, another source states the Turkish Revenge Brigade is responsible. To this day, the perpetrators of this crime are yet to be brought to justice * On 11 July 1996, the half-naked body of Canadian Murder of Blair Adams, Blair Adams (31) was found in a parking lot in Knoxville, Tennessee; scattered around his body was German, Canadian, and U.S. currency, totaling nearly $4,000. Authorities believe he knew no one in Tennessee, and investigators retracing his steps found the way he arrived made as little sense as the way he died. * Paulo Cesar Farias (50) and Suzana Marcolino were both found dead, shot by a .38 Special caliber Rossi revolver in Farias's beach house in Maceió, Brazil on 23 June 1996. The deaths were at first ruled as suicide, but it was later said to be a murder which has yet to be solved. * Jan Krogh Jensen (37), a Danish member of the Bandidos Motorcycle Club, was shot and killed on 16 July 1996, in Mjøndalen, Norway. A member of the rival Hells Angels Motorcycle Club was prosecuted for the murder but later acquitted in court. * Seagram (rapper), Seagram (26), an American rapper who released two albums during his lifetime, was killed in a drive-by shooting on 31 July 1996, in Oakland, California. His killer(s) have never been apprehended. * Ramzan Khadzhiev (40), chief of the Northern Caucasus bureau of Channel One Russia, Russian Public Television who on 11 August 1996 was killed as being shot by unknown soldiers in Grozny. * On the morning of 13 August 1996, Indonesian journalist Murder of Udin, Udin (33) was beaten to death at his home with a metal rod by two men who gained entry by claiming they wanted to leave a motorcycle with him for safekeeping; they then fled on that motorcycle. The investigation became a political issue with opponents of the Suharto regime claiming the dictator himself or other government officials were behind it as retaliation for his reporting on their misdeeds, while the government and police suggested it had been the work of a jealous husband. A suspect arrested on the latter theory was later acquitted, protesting his innocence as his trial revealed some investigation shortcomings, among them that he had been pressured to confess. The police have declined to investigate the case further, saying their responsibility was fulfilled when they arrested the original suspect. * American Hip hop music, hip hop artist Tupac Shakur (25) was Murder of Tupac Shakur, shot four times by unknown assailants in a drive-by shooting after attending the Bruce Seldon vs. Mike Tyson boxing match in Las Vegas on 7 September 1996, succumbing to his injuries on September 13. The primary suspect, Orlando Anderson, was killed in an unrelated gunfight in 1998. In 2023 Anderson's uncle Duane Davis (gangster), Duane Davis was charged with Shakur's murder. * Nigerian businesswoman Bisoye Tejuoso (80), daughter of a former Egba people, Egba tribal chief, was assassinated on 19 September 1996, during a dispute over the tribe's Oba (ruler), obaship. The killers have never been identified. * Choe Deok-geun (53), a South Korean consular official was murdered in Vladivostok on 1 October 1996 by suspected North Korea, North Korean agents. The assailants were never caught. * Andrey Lukanov (58), a Bulgarian politician who served as the final Prime Minister of the People's Republic of Bulgaria, was assassinated in his Sofia apartment on 2 October 1996. While several men were tried for his murder, they were later found to be innocent and released, leaving the case unsolved. * Murder of April Lacy, April Dawn Lacy (14), who was previously known as the "Brush Girl" before being identified, is a female murder victim discovered in Decatur, Texas on 8 October 1996 after disappearing on 5 October 1996. Her murder remains unsolved. * A6 disappearances#Christelle Blétry, Christelle Blétry (16), French teenage girl was found dead in a ditch on the edge of a country road in Blanzy on 18 December 1996 after being stabbed multiple times. Her killer is unknown. * Sophie Toscan du Plantier (39), who was the wife of French filmmaker Daniel Toscan du Plantier, was found beaten to death outside her home in Toormore near Schull in County Cork, Ireland, on the morning of 23 December 1996. Former French President Jacques Chirac was a friend of the couple and gave the case national attention. The main suspect, Ian Bailey, has been questioned twice by the Irish authorities in relation to the murder, but the DPP (Director of Public Prosecutions) decided not to prosecute. In early April 2010, the French authorities issued an arrest warrant for Bailey. Later that month, the Gardaí in Ireland arrested Bailey and brought him in front of the High Court in Dublin to appeal his extradition. The court sided with Bailey in his appeal in 2012; Bailey then brought a civil suit against the Garda, alleging improprieties in the investigation, which he subsequently lost. Bailey is now expected to be tried in France for the murder during the first half of 2019. * JonBenét Ramsey (6), an American girl who had competed in child beauty pageants, was found dead in the basement of her parents' home in Boulder, Colorado, on 26 December 1996, nearly eight hours after a ransom note was apparently found and she was reported missing. The coroner listed cause of death as "asphyxia due to strangulation, associated with" a broken skull and concussion. Police suspected the parents of staging the ransom note and strangulation to cover up an accidental killing by either the mother or nine-year-old brother. A 1999 grand jury recommended charging the parents with obstruction and endangerment, but the district attorney declined to prosecute. Discovery of trace DNA from an unknown male in 2003 led a new district attorney in 2008 to write an apology to the Ramseys, declaring them "cleared of any involvement". Contradictory evidence seems to support both the family and outside intruder theories, and after several independent investigations, the case is still unsolved . * Ahmad Tafazzoli (59) was an
Iranian Iranian () may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Iran ** Iranian diaspora, Iranians living outside Iran ** Iranian architecture, architecture of Iran and parts of the rest of West Asia ** Iranian cuisine, cooking traditions and practic ...
Iranology, Iranist and professor of ancient Iranian languages and culture at Tehran University, who was found in January 1997 in Punak, a suburb northwest of Tehran. He had been murdered and the case remains unsolved. * On 5 February 1997, Interstate 84 in New York#Incidents, Richard Aderson (47), a school administrator from LaGrange, New York, had a minor collision with another driver just before crossing the Newburgh-Beacon Bridge along Interstate 84 in New York, Interstate 84. Across the river, just outside Fishkill (village), New York, Fishkill, the two pulled over to exchange information. After they argued briefly, the other driver shot Aderson. He was able to describe the assailant and his vehicle before dying at the scene. A sketch has been circulated, but no suspect has ever been identified. * Ali Forney (22), an advocate for homeless LGBT youth in the New York neighborhood of Harlem, was found shot dead on a street there on 5 February 1997. The case remains unsolved. * Yi Han-yong (36), a North Korean defectors, North Korean defector who was also the nephew of the country's leader, Kim Jong Il was shot dead by suspected North Korean agents on 25 February 1997 in Seongnam, South Korea. The assailants were never caught. * Ebrahim Zalzadeh (47–48) was an
Iranian Iranian () may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Iran ** Iranian diaspora, Iranians living outside Iran ** Iranian architecture, architecture of Iran and parts of the rest of West Asia ** Iranian cuisine, cooking traditions and practic ...
editor and author who mysteriously disappeared on 22 February 1997 and was found dead on 29 March 1997 in a morgue in TehranCPJ Journalists Killed in 1997: Ebrahim Zalzadeh, Mayar, February 22, 1997, Tehran
/ref> after being murdered. Whoever killed Zalzadeh is unknown. * The Notorious B.I.G., an American rapper, Murder of the Notorious B.I.G., was killed by an unknown assailant in a drive-by shooting on 9 March 1997, in Los Angeles. Even though a Facial composite, composite sketch of the perpetrator was made, the case is still unsolved. * Murder of Yasuko Watanabe, Yasuko Watanabe (39) was a senior economic researcher at the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), moonlighting as a prostitute on the streets by night who disappeared on 9 March 1997. She fell victim to murder by
strangulation Strangling or strangulation is compression of the neck that may lead to unconsciousness or death by causing an increasingly hypoxic state in the brain by restricting the flow of oxygen through the trachea. Fatal strangulation typically occurs ...
by an unknown assailant; after being reported missing from home by her mother, with whom she lived, her body was discovered on 19 March 1997 in a vacant apartment in the Maruyamachō neighborhood of Shibuya, Tokyo. * Jaidyn Leskie (1) was an Australian child who was kidnapped and murdered on 15 June 1997. On 1 January 1998, his body was found in a Blue Rock Dam, lake far from his home. Despite leads, and the arrest and trial of a prime suspect, his murder remains unsolved. * Star Stowe (40), whose real name was "Ellen Louise Stowe", was a model who achieved much success working for ''Playboy'' magazine was found murdered in Coral Springs, Florida on 16 March 1997 by someone whose identity is not known. * Murder of Tanya Jackson, Tanya Jackson (26), who was previously known as "Peaches" and "Jane Doe No. 3" while unidentified, was a female murder victim whose severed torso was discovered on 28 June 1997, in Lakeview, New York, located close to Hempstead Lake State Park. The murder remains unsolved. She was identified in April 2025. * Two Polish university students, Anna Kembrowska (22) and Robert Odżga (25

were murdered on 17 August 1997 while hitchhiking in Stołowe Mountains, Table Mountains. They were both executed by a shot in the back of the head. Number of theories were made, including involvement of a neo Nazi group, but the case remains unsolved. * Bones found on a hillside by hunters in Pisgah National Forest near Asheville, North Carolina, on 7 September 1997, were later identified as those of Killing of Judy Smith, Judy Smith (50), a nurse from Newton, Massachusetts, who had last been seen five months earlier at a Philadelphia hotel where she was accompanying her husband at a legal conference. Cutting marks on the bones, along with slash and puncture marks on a bra found near the body, led investigators to conclude she had been stabbed to death. The case remains open. * Jane Thurgood-Dove (34) was shot outside her car, in full view of her young children, as she pulled into the driveway of her home in the Melbourne suburb of Niddrie, Victoria, Niddrie on 6 November 1997; the killer escaped into a waiting getaway car which was found burnt shortly afterwards not too far away. Her husband and a police official believed to have been infatuated with her have been eliminated as suspects. More recently a theory has been floated that the killers were members of a local biker gang who had mistaken her for their real target, another local woman of similar appearance married to a fellow criminal. Police believe that the shooter and getaway car driver have since died of a heart attack and boating accident, respectively; they have offered the remaining participant immunity if he testifies against the man who they believe ordered the killing. * Eileen Costello O'Shaughnessy (47) was beaten to death on 30 November 1997 while working as a taxi driver in Galway city, Ireland. Her murder remains unsolved. * Dini Haryati (19), an Indonesian student and hotel receptionist based in Singapore, was found murdered in a forested area nearby Woodlands MRT station on 6 January 1998, two days after she disappeared. Dini was last seen by a colleague, who saw Dini leaving her workplace before her untimely death. An autopsy report certified that Dini was raped before she was brutally bludgeoned to death, and she died due to a skull fracture. Despite the extensive police investigations, the murder remains unsolved as of today. * Australian organized-crime boss Alphonse Gangitano (40), the "Black Prince of Lygon Street", was found in his home dead from gunshot wounds shortly before midnight on 16 January 1998, the first of the Melbourne gangland killings. Graham Kinniburgh and Jason Moran (criminal), Jason Moran, both of whom were believed to have been in Gangitano's home that night, were suspected. They were both murdered later themselves. No arrests have been made. The majority of Melbourne gangland killings murders are still unsolved as well, although police from the Purana Taskforce believe that Carl Williams (criminal), Carl Williams was responsible for ten of them. * Murder of Stephanie Crowe, Stephanie Crowe (12) was found stabbed to death in her bedroom in Escondido, California on the morning of 21 January 1998. Since there were no signs of forced entry, police focused on and eventually arrested her older brother Michael and two friends; however, charges against them were abruptly dismissed when later lab tests found several drops of Crowe's blood on a local transient. He was tried and convicted, but the conviction was overturned on appeal and a 2013 retrial acquitted him. The Crowe family reached a legal settlement with San Diego County, California, San Diego County over the wrongful prosecution of their son. No other suspects have been named. * Vjekoslav Ćurić (40), a Bosnian Franciscan friar and humanitarian known for his work in aiding the victims of the 1994 Rwandan genocide, was murdered under unclear circumstances in Kigali on 31 January 1998. No suspects have ever been identified. * Fat Pat (27), whose real name was Patrick Hawkins, was an American rapper from
Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...
, Texas who was murdered on 4 February 1998, in the very city that he was from by persons unknown. The murder remains unsolved. * Murder of Alfred Kunz, Father Alfred Kunz (56), a Roman Catholic priest, was found with his throat cut on 4 March 1998, in his Dane, Wisconsin, church. A wide pool of initial suspects was narrowed to one unnamed individual by 2009, whom police say they still track in the hope that eventually they will have enough evidence to arrest.(available at Google news)
/ref> * In the predawn hours of 15 March 1998, the body of Rudi Arnstadt#Hans Plüschke, Hans Plüschke (59) was found in the countryside from his car near Wiesenfeld, Eichsfeld, Wiesenfeld in central Germany. He had been shot through the right eye. Since no money or valuables were taken, this led to theories that the killer or killers had intended to avenge the death of Rudi Arnstadt, an East German border guard Plüschke had killed with a similar shot during a 14 August 1962, shootout during Plüschke's service as a West German border guard, which got him sentenced to 25 years in prison in absentia by an East German court; West Germany insisted the shooting had been justified as return fire and never extradited him. Plüschke had publicly identified himself as the shooter two years earlier and reportedly received regular death threats afterwards. A Special Commission formed by the German police to investigate was dissolved a year later when it exhausted all its leads; the case remains open. * On 25 March 1998, NASCAR driver Chris Trickle (24) died of injuries sustained in a Las Vegas drive-by shooting on 9 February 1997. A quirk in Nevada law at the time meant that the gunmen could not be prosecuted for his murder, since his death had occurred more than a year and a day after the attack; it was subsequently changed. No suspects have ever been identified, and the case is considered cold. * Radovan Stojičić (45–46), a Serbian police general and head of the Public Security Service, was killed at a restaurant in Belgrade on 11 April 1997. The motive for the killing is unclear. * Tristan Brübach (13) was last seen alive at Frankfurt Höchst station, Frankfurt Höchst railway station on 26 March 1998, at 3:20 pm. Later that afternoon, his dead body was found near the railway station. He had been knocked unconscious and choked, and parts of his body had been cut out. The cause of death was a cut in the throat. The murderer was never identified. * Tomás Caballero Pastor (63) was a Spaniards, Spanish union leader and politician from Navarra. He was assassinated by the Basque separatist organization
ETA Eta ( ; uppercase , lowercase ; ''ē̂ta'' or ''ita'' ) is the seventh letter of the Greek alphabet, representing the close front unrounded vowel, . Originally denoting the voiceless glottal fricative, , in most dialects of Ancient Greek, it ...
on 6 May 1998. The murder remains unsolved. * Murder of Akiel Chambers, Akiel Chambers (11) was found dead in a pool after a birthday party the previous day in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, on 24 May 1998. He was determined to have been sexually abused prior to his murder. No suspect has ever been identified in the case. * Murder of Sinéad Kelly, Sinéad Kelly (21) was a female Irish Prostitution, prostitute who was murdered on 22 June 1998 in the city of Dublin by unknown persons. Her killer has not yet be found. * Marek Papała (38), former Chief of Polish State Police, was shot in the head on 25 June 1998, while parking his car. In 2012, a former Motor vehicle theft, car thief turned state witness given immunity of prosecution came forward with the revelation that he had killed Papała. He also testified that some Polish mafia bosses had encouraged the crime. However, in 2013 the indictment against the mafia bosses was dropped due to numerous factual and logical inconsistencies. The murder of Papała remains unsolved. * Hamid Hajizadeh (42), whose pen name was "Sahar", was an
Iranian Iranian () may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Iran ** Iranian diaspora, Iranians living outside Iran ** Iranian architecture, architecture of Iran and parts of the rest of West Asia ** Iranian cuisine, cooking traditions and practic ...
poet who on 22 September 1998 in Kerman, Iran was murdered with his young son. The case remains unsolved. The killing became known as the "Chain murders of Iran, chain murders". and also involved other writers as well. * The 1998 abduction of foreign engineers in Chechnya happened on 3 October 1998, when four male specialists from the United Kingdom were seized by unidentified Chechen people, Chechen gunmen in Grozny, kidnapped and later killed. The killers remain unknown. * Ita Martadinata Haryono (18), an Indonesian human rights activist, was found dead on 9 October 1998, in her bedroom in Central Jakarta, Indonesia. She had been stabbed ten times and her neck had been slashed. The murder occurred three days after a Jakarta press conference held by the human rights organizations she had been involved with. * Galina Starovoytova, Galina Starovoitova (52) was a Soviet dissident, Russian politician and ethnographer known for her work to protect ethnic minorities and promote democratic reforms in Russia. She was shot to death in her apartment building on 20 November 1998, by persons unknown. * Suzanne Jovin (21), a senior at Yale University, was found stabbed to death on 4 December 1998, on campus. Allegations that her thesis advisor was a suspect led to the end of his career at Yale, but the crime remains unsolved. * Mohammad-Ja'far Pouyandeh (44) was an Iranian writer, translator and activist. He was a member of the Iranian Writers Association, a group that had been long banned in Iran due to their objection to censorship and encouraged freedom of expression. Pouyandeh was last seen alive leaving his office at four o'clock in the afternoon of 8 December 1998, and still had not returned home three days later when his wife wrote and delivered a letter to Iran's president expressing her anguish over his disappearance. His body was discovered on 11 December in the Shahriar County, Shahriar district of Karaj, south of Tehran, and he appeared to have been strangled. * Tito Díaz (28) was a El Salvador, Salvadoran professional Association football, footballer, who was shot dead in a bar in Santa Rosa de Lima, La Unión, Santa Rosa de Lima on 12 December 1998. The murder remains unsolved. * Murder of Rick DeVecchi, Rick DeVecchi (37) was an American trucker who was killed in an intentional hit and run in
Berkeley, California Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Anglo-Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland, Cali ...
on 17 December 1998. The suspect, described as an African-American whose car had the license plate "CUS", has never been apprehended. * Bindy Johal (27) was a self-confessed drug trafficker who operated in British Columbia, Canada. On 20 December 1998, he was killed from behind at a crowded nightclub in Vancouver, British Columbia, by a person whose identity was and remains unknown. * Kirsty Bentley (15), a teenage girl from Ashburton, New Zealand, went missing while walking her family dog in the afternoon on 31 December 1998; after an extensive search lasting several weeks, her Cadaver, body was found in dense Scrubland, scrub approximately away. New Zealand Police, Police consider the case to be a homicide, and it remains one of the highest-profile Cold case, unsolved murders in New Zealand. Her killer has never been identified. * Lois Roberts (37–38) was an Australian woman who was last seen outside The Nimbin Police Station on 31 July 1998. Her badly mutilated body was found about six months after her disappearance in January 1999. Her murder remains unsolved. * On 6 January 1999, the mutilated and skinned remains of Polish people, Polish college student Katarzyna Zowada (23) were recovered from the Vistula by the crew of a Pusher (boat), pusher tug. As more of Zowada's remains were recovered from the river, it was determined that she had been tortured and skinned alive, and her skin was prepared in such a way as to create a kind of bodysuit that the murderer was probably wearing. Though the Polish authorities were able to arrest a suspect in 2019 following the discovery of new information, he remains in custody while authorities continue searching for more evidence, and the case is still officially classified as unsolved. * Jaki Byard (76) was an American composer and multi-instrumentalist renowned for his signature style of musical performances dating back to the late 1950s. On 11 February 1999, he was shot to death at his home in the Hollis, Queens, Hollis neighborhood of
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
by an unknown assailant. * Big L, whose real name was Lamont Coleman, was an American songwriter and rapper who was murdered on 15 February 1999, in his hometown of East Harlem, New York, after being shot multiple times by an unknown person. The murder remains unsolved. * Agim Hajrizi (38), a Kosovo Albanian human rights activist and President of the Union of Independent Trade Unions of Kosova, was murdered along with his mother and son on 24 March 1999, by Serbian paramilitaries in Mitrovica, Kosovo, Mitrovica. Nobody has been charged in their murders. * The body of Immigration and Naturalization Service attorney Joyce Chiang (28) was found in the Potomac River in April 1999 by a canoeist, three months after she had last been seen. Washington police, who had initially called the case a suicide, later changed their minds and said it was a homicide. They have suspects, who are currently in prison, but have not publicly identified them. * Slavko Ćuruvija (49), a Serbian journalist and newspaper publisher, was shot to death by two men in front of his house in Belgrade on 11 April 1999. While investigation into his murder is ongoing and suspects have been arrested, it officially remains unsolved. * Jill Dando (37), an English journalist and television presenter who worked for the BBC for 14 years, was killed by a single gunshot wound to the head on 26 April 1999, after leaving the home of her fiancé. Her death sparked "Operation Oxborough", the biggest murder inquiry and largest criminal investigation since the hunt for the Yorkshire Ripper. * On 5 May 1999, 43-year-old Murder of Aw Teck Boon, Aw Teck Boon, a Singaporean seaman and notorious gang lord who headed the Sio Kun Tong gang, was found dead with three stab wounds on his neck, armpit and waist. Aw, who left behind a wife and daughter, was last seen drinking at a Geylang coffeeshop before he went to sleep at a nearby Wushu (sport), Wushu association club, and he was found murdered at the club shortly after. It was presumed that the murder happened as a result of monetary disputes or unsettled gangland conflicts. The coroner's court recorded a verdict of "murder by person or persons unknown" in 2002 after hearing the case. A suspect named Chew Tse Meng was placed on the wanted list by the Singapore Police Force, but Chew was never found despite extensive investigations, and the murder of Aw remains unsolved as of today. * Fehmi Agani (67), a Kosovar sociologist, politician and strategist for the Democratic League of Kosovo, was abducted by Yugoslav security forces on 6 May 1999, while attempting to flee into Macedonia. His body was found several days later, but to this day, nobody has been charged in his killing. * A6 disappearances#Vanessa Thiellon, Vanessa Thiellon (17), French teenage girl was found dead on the banks of the Saône in Mâcon on 5 June 1999. Her killer is unknown. * Ricky McCormick's encrypted notes, Ricky McCormick's body was found in a field by sheriff's officers in St. Charles County, Missouri, on 30 June 1999. The only clues to the mystery are two notes in his pockets, apparently written in a complex cipher. * Ezzat Ebrahim-Nejad (24–25) was an Iranian student, poet and demonstrator who was shot and killed on 9 July 1999, in the attack by security forces on Tehran University dormitory, who preceded and provoked the Iran student protests, July 1999, July 1999 student riots in Iran. The case remains unsolved. * Raonaid Murray (17), an Irish teenager, was stabbed to death within a few hundred metres of her home in Glenageary, Co. Dublin, in the early hours of Saturday, 4 September 1999. * On 28 December 1999, a friend visiting the apartment of Larry Dale Lee (41), an American journalist in Guatemala City, found his body with multiple stab wounds. It was determined that he had been killed two days earlier, shortly after he was last seen alive. Police developed several theories of the crime but no arrests have ever been made.


See also

* List of unsolved murders (before 1900) * List of unsolved murders (1900–1979) * List of unsolved murders (2000–present)


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Unsolved murders 1980s murders 1990s murders 1980s-related lists 1990s-related lists Lists of attacks, Unsolved murders (20th century) Lists of people by cause of death, Unsolved Unsolved murders,