Who doesn’t like a good mystery? Especially if it is a murder mystery.
Smashing Lists posted their choices for the Top Ten Unsolved Crimes… all of which involved murder. Here are my thoughts about each…
10. The Zodiac Killer – I would have placed the Zodiac Killer much higher on the list.
- Not only did the Zodiac Killer murder at least 7 people, he wrote notes to newspapers taunting the police even as his killing streak continued.
- The Zodiac Killer was the inspiration for many movie serial killers with my favorite being The Scorpio Killer played by Andrew Robinson in Dirty Harry.
- Unfortunately, there was no real life Harry Callahan to bring down The Zodiac Killer, so we may never know his true identity.
09. The Murder of Edgar Allan Poe – This would not have even made my list.
- No one is sure what killed Poe. Note that I said what, not who.
- Poe’s death has been attributed to everything from heart disease to rabies. Murder? Maybe, maybe not.
- So if we’re not sure he was killed, should Poe’s death be part of a list of the top ten unsolved murders? No mystery to my answer — I say, “No.”
08. The Tylenol Poisonings – In 1982, seven people mysteriously died after taking Tylenol.
- Once the link to Tylenol was found, Johnson & Johnson recalled over 31 million bottles of their product nationwide, issued warnings and offered a $100,000 reward.
- The seven deaths caused a national alarm and eventually led to the development of tamper-proof packaging.
- Despite the reward and the involvement of the FBI, the Tylenol Killer was never found.
07. The Murder of JonBenet Ramsey – Six year old JonBenet Ramsey was found in the basement of the family home more than seven hours after she had been reported missing.
- JonBenet had been the victim of blunt force trauma to the head and died of strangulation.
- Immediate suspects included her father, her mother and her brother and this was leaked to the media. A ransom note was found and there was speculation that JonBenet’s mother wrote it.
- The local police bungled the investigation and JonBenet’s killer was never found.
06. The Murder of the Black Dahlia – Elizabeth Short aka the Black Dahlia wanted to be a famous actress. Although she became famous, it was because she was the victim of one of the most infamous murders of all time.
- Short’s nude body was found on a residential street cut in half and drained of all blood.
- Hundreds of men were questioned but the murderer was never caught. Investigations continue to this day.
- I would have placed The Murder of the Black Dahlia higher on the list.
05. The Murder of Tupac Shakur – Tupac Shakur gained fame as a former gang member who became a rapper and was branching out into acting.
- Shakur never backed away from his gang affiliations and was gunned down in a drive-by shooting that came after an earlier gang-related altercation the same evening.
- Tupac’s murderer(s) were never identified.
04. The Lizzie Borden Murders – Over 100 years later, the chant: “Lizzie Borden took an axe and gave her mother forty whacks, upon seeing what she’d done, she gave her father forty-one” is still known.
- Although the counts are wrong and Lizzie Borden was acquitted of the murders, the chant isn’t too far off from the truth. Or is it? Did Lizzie Borden really kill her parents?
- We may never know and that’s why The Lizzie Borden Murders deserves it’s place on this list.
03. Jack the Stripper – Did you know that in the 1960’s there was a serial killer the press named Jack the Stripper because he killed at least 6 prostitutes and left them nude?
- I didn’t either. Perhaps then, this case shouldn’t have made the list. How famous can it be, if we didn’t know about it?
02. The Assassination of Oscar Romero – On March 24, 1980, Oscar Romero, an El Savadorian priest who spoke out against the ruling powers was shot and killed in El Salvidor. His killer was never identified.
01. Jack the Ripper – The most famous of all serial killers.
- For three years, Jack the Ripper killed and mutilated his victims and taunted the police through his letters to newspapers.
- Jack the Ripper inspired scores of movies, books and perhaps serial killers and definitely deserves the top spot.
Had I made the list, I would have included The Assassination of President Kennedy and The Killing of Jimmy Hoffa.
Some may argue that the Kennedy assassination was solved with the capture of Lee Harvey Oswald, I would say that due to the huge number of conspiracy theories about the Kennedy Assassination that it deserves a spot on the list.
While it is true that it was never proven that Jimmy Hoffa was killed, I think that his disappearance coupled with his mob connections and the unsolved nature of the case would allow it’s inclusion on the list.
So… what unsolved murder didn’t make the list that you’d put there?
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