1. The Zodiac Killer
The Zodiac
Killer was a serial killer who operated in northern
California in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The killer's identity
remains unknown. Four men and three women between the ages of 16 and 29
were targeted. The killer originated the name "Zodiac" in a series of
taunting letters sent to the local Bay Area press. These letters
included four cryptograms. Of the four cryptograms sent, only one has been
definitively solved.
2. Tupac and Biggie Smalls
On the 1996 night Tupac Shakur
was killed in Las Vegas, Suge Knight was nabbed for violating his probation
(for stomping a guy); he spent five years in prison. During this time, Knight's
former high school classmate and head of security, Reggie Wright Jr., took over
the bulk of Knight's duties at Death Row Records, the once–obscenely
popular rap imprint, which was about to go downhill.
3. D.B Cooper
After hijacking a plane Northwest company that made
traveling between Portland and Seattle, Cooper got that authorities will
provide $ 200,000 in cash and two parachutes in exchange for free the
passengers of the flight. He then ordered the pilot to go to Mexico City and in
a desert area between Seattle and Reno, jumped into the gap. Almost
forty years later, still has not solved the mystery of the fate of criminal
famous after his daredevil jump.
4. Tylenol poisonings
The Chicago Tylenol murders were a series of poisoning
deaths resulting from drug tampering in the Chicago metropolitan area in 1982.
The victims had all taken Tylenol-branded acetaminophen capsules that had been laced
with potassium cyanide. James William Lewis was convicted of extortion for
sending a letter taking credit for the deaths and demanding $1 million to stop
them, and he was also the primary suspect in the killings despite living in New
York City at the time. The incidents led to reforms in the packaging of
over-the-counter substances and to federal anti-tampering laws.
5. The Black Dahlia
"The Black Dahlia" was a nickname given to
Elizabeth Short (July 29, 1924 – c. January 15, 1947), an American woman who
was the victim of a gruesome and much-publicized murder. Short was found mutilated;
her body sliced in half at the waist, on January 15, 1947, in Leimert Park, Los
Angeles, California. Short's unsolved murder has been the source of widespread
speculation, leading to many suspects, along with several books and film
adaptations of the story. Short's murder is one of the oldest unsolved murder cases
in Los Angeles history.
6. Jonbenét Ramsey
JonBenét Patricia Ramsey (August 6, 1990 – December
25, 1996) was an American girl who was murdered in her home in Boulder,
Colorado in 1996. The six-year-old's body was found about eight hours after she
was reported missing, in the basement of the family home, during a police
search of the home. She had been struck on the head and strangled. The case
remains unsolved, even after several grand jury hearings, and continues to
generate public and media interest.
Colorado law enforcement agencies initially suspected
Ramsey's parents and her older brother Burke. However, the family was partially
exonerated in 2003 when DNA taken from the victim's clothes suggested they were
not involved. Her parents were not completely cleared until July 2008. In
February 2009, the Boulder Police Department took the case back from the
district attorney to reopen the investigation.
7. Disembodied feet
Since August 2007, five human feet have washed ashore
near Vancouver, British Columbia. No bodies, no heads, no clothes, just feet (4
left, 1 right), nearly all still clad in sneakers. Canadian authorities have
yet to determine how the feet ended up there or why, though DNA tests matched
one of the severed feet to a man who'd been missing for several months. A
number of theories have been tossed around, including the possibility of foul
play (though coroners familiar with the case say ocean currents and
decomposition could have naturally separated the feet from their owners). Others
speculate the remains might belong to four unrecovered victims of a 2005 plane
crash off Quadra Island.
8. Gardner Museum
In the early morning hours of March 18, 1990—as the
city was preoccupied with Saint Patrick's Day celebrations—a pair of thieves
disguised as Boston police officers gained entry to the Isabella Stewart
Gardner Museum and stole thirteen works of art. The thieves had to make two
trips to their car with the artwork. The theft lasted 81 minutes. The guards
remained tied and handcuffed until the police arrived at 8:15 a.m. later that
morning.
9. Jimmy Hoffa
James Riddle "Jimmy" Hoffa (born February
14, 1913 – disappeared July 30, 1975) was an American labor union leader who
vanished in late July 1975, aged 62. He is widely believed to have been
murdered. Hoffa became involved with organized crime from the early years of
his Teamsters work, and this connection continued until his disappearance in
1975. He was convicted of jury tampering, attempted bribery and fraud in 1964.
He was imprisoned in 1967 and sentenced to 13 years, after exhausting the
appeal process. In mid-1971 he resigned as president of the union, an action
that was part of a pardon agreement with President Richard Nixon, to facilitate
his release later that year. Nixon blocked Hoffa from union activities until
1980 (which would have been the end of his prison term, had he served the full
sentence). Hoffa attempted to overturn this order and to regain support.
Hoffa was last seen in late July 1975, outside the
Machus Red Fox, a suburban Detroit restaurant. His disappearance gave rise to
many theories as to what happened to him.
10. Whitechapel
The Whitechapel murders were committed in or near the
impoverished Whitechapel district in the East End of London between 3 April
1888 and 13 February 1891. At various points some or all of these eleven
unsolved murders of women have been ascribed to the notorious unidentified
serial killer known as Jack the Ripper. The Metropolitan
Police, City of London Police, and private organizations such as the
Whitechapel Vigilance Committee were involved in the search for the killer or
killers. Despite extensive inquiries and several arrests, the culprit or
culprits evaded identification and capture. The murders drew attention to the
poor living conditions in the East End slums, which were subsequently improved.
The enduring mystery of who committed the crimes has captured public
imagination to the present day.
