From the adventures of Sherlock Holmes to the myriad shows created by the BBC over the years, it’s certainly true that people sure do love murder mysteries. However, it’s important to note that we’re talking about fiction here, not real life, when these sorts of events take place amongst us it can be quite disconcerting, of course. Certainly in most cases, brilliant detectives will get to the bottom of each case and determine who did the deed(s). Nevertheless, there are a number of rather high-profile murders on the books which have yet to be solved (or even adequately explained in some cases). Now, let’s take a look at some truly inexplicable cases, shall we?
While many might tend to think that Northern California in the late 1960’s was all about music, flowers, and hippies, the Zodiac murders stand as perhaps one of the disturbing crimes of the era. In short, an unknown individual who has subsequently become known as the “Zodiac killer” took the lives of at least 5 innocent people and while there have been a number of people who have claimed to have been responsible, the case remains unsolved to this very day. What made this string of murders different from others in the past was the fact that the killer actually sent coded messages to the press, which were then picked up and fueled the fires of his terror-laden campaign of sick and twisted love of taking lives.
Arguably, the murders that took place in 1888 in the Whitechapel district of London said to have been committed by a “Jack the Ripper” are among the most famous throughout the world. Of course this title came to the fore in a letter which had been distributed via the local press, which explains where the name actually originated from. Along with the letters, human body parts, such as kidneys were also occasionally included, which only further added to the macabre nature of the incidents. Of course no one was ever identified as the killer and many today tend to believe that virtually all of the letters sent in by the supposed killer(s) were all hoaxes.
In Albuquerque, New Mexico in 2009 one of the largest crime scenes in history developed around an incident where someone walking their dog happened to discover a human bone. Preferring to mostly take the lives of prostitutes, the killer, who has become known as the “bone collector”, has never been identified. Perhaps what makes the exploits of this particular psychopath even more disturbing is that there’s virtually nothing in the way of evidence (no weapons, DNA, motive, descriptions…nothing).
Lastly, we have the so-called “Tylenol Killer”, who replaced normal packages of Tylenol with capsules loaded with cyanide in Chicago in the fall of 1982. This of course led to the deaths of 7 innocent people and helped to create the tamper-proof packaging initiative. To date, no one has ever been brought to justice for this horrendous and cowardly crime.