CrimeAtlas

Most Notorious Unsolved Murders & Cold Cases

Some crimes are never solved. The killer is never caught, the victim is never identified, or the case simply goes cold — leaving families without answers and investigators with files that stay open for decades. These are among the most infamous unsolved murders and cold cases documented on CrimeAtlas.

They are listed from the oldest open case to the most recent — beginning with the mysteries that have defied investigators the longest. Each entry links to the full case file, with the known facts, locations, and sources.

  1. 1 Madame Delphine LaLaurie and the Royal Street Mansion Atrocities New Orleans, USA · 1834 A wealthy New Orleans socialite whose 1834 mansion fire exposed enslaved people who had been chained, tortured, and abused; she fled the city and was never prosecuted.
  2. 2 Jack the Ripper - Mary Jane Kelly Murder Whitechapel, London, United Kingdom · 1888 Mary Jane Kelly was the fifth and final canonical victim of Jack the Ripper, killed in her rented room at Miller's Court in the most gruesome of the Ripper murders.
  3. 3 Belle Gunness - Lady Bluebeard La Porte, Indiana, USA · 1908 Belle Gunness lured men to her Indiana farm with promises of marriage, then murdered them for their money.
  4. 4 The Black Dahlia - Elizabeth Short Leimert Park, Los Angeles, USA · 1947 Elizabeth Short's bisected body was found in a vacant lot in Los Angeles.
  5. 5 Zodiac Killer - Lake Berryessa Attack Napa County, California, USA · 1969 The Zodiac Killer attacked two college students at Lake Berryessa, wearing his infamous executioner-style hood with the crosshair symbol.
  6. 6 Chicago Tylenol Murders Chicago metropolitan area (Cook and DuPage counties), USA · 1982 In 1982, seven people in the Chicago area died after taking Extra-Strength Tylenol capsules laced with potassium cyanide by an unknown poisoner.
  7. 7 The Monster of Florence Florence, Italy · 1985 A series of double murders of courting couples in the hills around Florence between 1968 and 1985, attributed to an unidentified serial killer dubbed the Monster of Florence.
  8. 8 O.J. Simpson Case - Nicole Brown Simpson Murder Brentwood, Los Angeles, USA · 1994 Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman were stabbed to death outside her Brentwood condo.
  9. 9 JonBenet Ramsey - Child Beauty Queen Boulder, Colorado, USA · 1996 Six-year-old beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey was found murdered in her family's basement on Christmas Day.
  10. 10 Murder of Chandra Levy Washington, USA · 2001 Chandra Levy, a federal intern, vanished in Washington D.C.
  11. 11 Madeleine McCann Disappearance Praia da Luz, Algarve, Portugal · 2007 Three-year-old Madeleine McCann vanished from her family's holiday apartment in Portugal while her parents dined nearby.
  12. 12 Casey Anthony - Caylee Anthony Murder Orlando, Florida, USA · 2008 Two-year-old Caylee Anthony went missing for 31 days before her mother reported it.
  13. 13 Philip Onyancha - The Blood-Drinking Killer Nairobi, Kenya · 2008 Philip Onyancha confessed to killing 17 people and drinking their blood, claiming a cult teacher told him to kill 100 people to become successful.
  14. 14 Anni Dewani - Honeymoon Murder Cape Town, South Africa · 2010 Anni Dewani was shot dead during an alleged hijacking in a Cape Town township on her honeymoon.
  15. 15 Death of Elisa Lam (Cecil Hotel) Los Angeles, USA · 2013 Canadian student Elisa Lam was found drowned in a rooftop water tank of LA's Cecil Hotel; her death was ruled an accident after bizarre elevator footage drew global attention.
  16. 16 Death of Debanhi Escobar Escobedo, Mexico · 2022 An 18-year-old law student vanished after a party near Monterrey, Mexico, and was found dead in a motel water cistern 13 days later, in a case marked by disputed autopsy findings.

Explore all cases on the interactive map, or browse every case by country.