Mysteries That Left Us Disturbed Even Though They're Solved
Vote up the most disturbing solved mysteries.
So much in life is built on following our safe, established patterns and being able to luxuriate in the familiar. When something unknown or unexplainable appears, we can't help but be intrigued. And when an explanation for the unknown is offered, sometimes that explanation is still so extraordinary that, while it may close the mystery, it does nothing to settle our shaken nerves.
These mysteries have all been solved, but every one of them has left us disturbed.
- 12,519 VOTES
When Police Rescued A Recently Missing Child, They Also Found A Boy Who Was Missing For Four Years
In January 2007, 13-year-old Ben Ownby disappeared from a school bus stop in rural Missouri. A witness saw the white pick-up truck that carried Ownby away, which eventually led police to the one-bedroom apartment of 41-year-old Michael Devlin. Upon arriving at the scene, investigators not only discovered Ownby alive and well, but another boy, Shawn Hornbeck, who had been missing from the area for four years and was sitting comfortably on the couch.
Devlin had quite literally been on the prowl in rural neighborhoods, looking for a boy to victimize when he abducted Hornbeck and took him back to his apartment just 50 miles away. Eventually, Hornbeck was allowed out of the apartment to lead a relatively normal life, under the threat that if he tried to leave or tell anybody about his captivity, Devlin would kill his family. This arrangement, coupled with sexual abuse, lasted for four years, until Devlin decided Hornbeck was getting too old and he started looking for another victim. That's when he spotted Ownby at the bus stop.
With the eyewitness tip fresh in mind, officers happened to be responding to an unrelated call at Devlin's apartment complex when they spotted the white pick-up. The next day, they questioned Devlin at the pizza shop where he worked, which was just around the corner from the police station; he confessed to kidnapping not one but two boys.
Authorities were stunned not only at his confession, but at the result: two abducted boys, found alive, not more than an hour's drive from their homes. Devlin received 74 life sentences for his crimes.
- 23,865 VOTES
A Perplexing Suicide Note Led Police To Discover Pots Of Body Parts In A Kitchen
On an October night in 2006 in New Orleans, the body of Zachary Bowen, an Iraq War veteran who was just 28 years old, was found on top of a parking garage. In his pocket, police discovered his dog tags, a suicide note, and a key to his girlfriend's apartment. The note read:
This is not accidental. I had to take my own life to pay for the one I took. If you send a patrol car to 826 N. Rampart, you will find the dismembered corpse of my girlfriend Addie in the oven, on the stove, and in the fridge and a full signed confession from myself... Zack Bowen.
When police arrived at Addie Hall's apartment, that is exactly what they found. Her head was in a pot on the stove, as were her hands and feet, and her legs and arms were covered with seasoning salt on a roasting pan in the oven. Upon further searches of the scene, police found Bowen's journal, in which he calmly described how he strangled Hall to death and, not surprised that he had no remorse for the act, decided it was time to leave this world.
- 32,736 VOTES
A Missing Young Woman Was Finally Found When Her Kidnapper Went Out With Their Children
Jaycee Dugard was kidnapped in 1991, but the mystery of her whereabouts wasn't solved until 2009, when she was found and rescued from her kidnappers, Phillip and Nancy Garrido.
Dugard was 11 when the couple kidnapped her as she walked to the school bus stop in her neighborhood in Meyers, CA, near South Lake Tahoe. Philip and Nancy (a certified nursing assistant) held Dugard in captivity in a labyrinth of sheds and outbuildings Philip had built in their backyard. He regularly sexually assaulted Dugard and forced her to raise the two daughters she had with him.
In August 2009, Phillip went to UC Berkeley to inquire about hosting religious events on the campus and brought along the two girls. A campus staff member, Lisa Campbell, immediately became suspicious of him and requested a background check, which revealed Phillip was a registered sex offender. He was required to attend a parole meeting, where authorities uncovered that the children were Dugard's, and Dugard was the girl who had been kidnapped in 1991.
Shortly afterward, police raided the Garrido home and arrested Phillip and Nancy, charging them with 29 felony counts. Phillip was sentenced to 431 years in prison, while Nancy received 36 years to life. Dugard was reunited with her family, and has since published two memoirs.
- 42,018 VOTES
A Murder Investigation Went Cold Until A Family Found A Drifter In Their Attic
In the fall of 1941, while his wife Helen was recovering in the hospital from a broken hip, Philip Peters returned home to find a man going through his icebox. He confronted the man, and was promptly beaten to death by the intruder with a cast-iron stove shaker. Worried neighbors came to check on Philip that evening, as they usually saw him every day; that's when they discovered his body.
No evidence was present at the scene, dumbfounding the police. Even more mind-boggling were the calls from neighbors - and even Helen, once she returned home - insisting they heard someone in the house, or telling of odd smells. Every time officers responded, they found nothing suspicious. Helen eventually moved out and the house stayed vacant, yet calls from the neighbors continued.
Police finally caught a break when two officers stationed in front of the house spotted a man inside. They rushed in just in time to see a pair of spindly legs disappearing into an attic trapdoor. The suspect, Theodore Coneys, was apprehended and confessed to murdering Philip Peters. Upon viewing the filthy, cramped quarters Coneys had been living in for months, Officer Fred Zarnow declared, "A man would have to be a spider to stand it long up there." And so began the legend of "The Denver Spider Man."
- 51,603 VOTES
It Took Decades For The Identity Of The Golden State Killer To Be Revealed
The so-called Golden State Killer began his spree in California in the 1970s: He typically went into homes, where he raped women and sometimes committed murder. The culprit eluded detection. His tendency to commit offenses in different parts of the state confounded investigators, who initially didn't realize one person was responsible. As a result, his identity remained a mystery for decades.
But DNA testing finally solved the mystery. In 2018, former police officer Joseph James DeAngelo was caught - now a senior in his 70s and still living in California. Investigators identified him through DNA that a relative had uploaded to a genealogy website. He eventually received several life sentences without the possibility of parole.
- 61,452 VOTES
A Man Who Appeared To Have Passed Of Natural Causes Was Actually Shot Through The Scrotum
Sometimes a murder victim is deemed to have passed of natural causes. Although rare in modern times, this was the case with Greg Fleniken, who was discovered deceased in a hotel room in 2010. Initially a heart attack seemed to be the cause, but the medical examiner uncovered severe internal trauma and a small incision on Fleniken's scrotum and deemed the death a homicide.
Due to the lack of forthcoming results or evidence after almost a year, Fleniken's wife Susie decided to hire a private investigator. While working alongside the police, the investigator examined the hotel room Fleniken had stayed in, where he found small indentations in the wall, filled with toothpaste. Further examination uncovered that a bullet had left the room next door and entered Fleniken's room, piercing his scrotum and traveling through his body, causing severe internal damage.
Police investigated the three men who had stayed in the next room over and learned that the guests had been drinking and fooling around with a loaded gun. The gun accidentally discharged and killed Fleniken. The man responsible for accidentally shooting Fleniken received a 10-year prison sentence.
- 71,547 VOTES
A Woman Solved Her Own Kidnapping Case 23 Years After It Happened
Back in 2005, when Nejdra "Netty" Nance was 17 and pregnant in Bridgeport, CT, she asked her mother, Ann Pettway, for her birth certificate so she could receive prenatal care from the state. When Pettway kept procrastinating about giving her the document, Nance decided to visit the Bureau of Vital Statistics in New Haven herself, providing her birthdate and name. No records came up, and officials visited her house to speak to Pettway.
After the meeting, Pettway told Nance she was not her birth mother, and that Nance's mother had left her daughter and never come back. Pettway said she did not remember anything more, and the pregnant teen took in the news and tried to go on with her life, especially after giving birth to her daughter, Samani.
When Nance shared this story with an aunt she was close to, the aunt advised her to keep looking. Nance scoured the internet for missing children, using her birthdate as a reference. She wondered if DNA could help, but was told that tactic was "TV stuff." She then searched the website of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, and found a picture of a missing baby girl who looked just like her daughter Samani as an infant.
This meant Nance could be that missing baby girl. She contacted the center, and over time, via a birthmark and DNA tests, Nance learned she was Carlina White, the missing daughter of Joy and Carl White. Nance had been taken by Pettway from the hospital when she was 19 days old; the reunion with her birth parents took place 23 years later.
It sounds like a happy ending, but Netty/Carlina still had feelings for Pettway, and getting close to Carl did not come easily to her, although she did bond with Joy.
Pettway gave herself up and received a 12-year prison sentence. Nance, who now officially goes by Carlina White, is a motivational speaker and Instagram model, although the last time she spoke publicly was at a 2014 conference.
- 81,268 VOTES
A Documentary Filmmaker And A Victim’s Brother Brought A Klansman To Justice
Charles Eddie Moore and Henry Hezekiah Dee were 19 when Ku Klux Klan members drowned them in the Mississippi River in 1964. The Mississippi police botched the case, allegedly out of prejudice, and those responsible never faced the consequences of their crimes. In 2004, documentary filmmaker David Ridgen teamed up with one of the victim’s brothers, Thomas Moore, to further research the killings.
The men discovered that James Ford Seale, the previously identified alleged killer, still eluded the law. Moore and Ridgen confronted the former Klansman at his house and eventually convinced authorities to reopen the case. Seale stood trial and received a conviction in 2007 of life in prison.
- 91,370 VOTES
A Plane Disappeared In 1947, And No One Found Its Wreckage For 51 Years
On August 2, 1947, the Star Dust, a plane operated by British South American Airlines, took off from Buenos Aires, Argentina, headed for Santiago, Chile. It never arrived.
Minutes before the Star Dust was supposed to land in Chile, radio operators received a series of Morse code signals from the pilot that said the same thing: STENDEC. After sending the signal three times, the plane and its 11 passengers and crew disappeared.
What happened to the plane? And what did STENDEC mean? The mysteries prompted a string of theories - ranging from hypoxia to UFOs - to explain the Star Dust's disappearance and the meaning of STENDEC. Was it an anagram of "descent"? One theory is that it was code for "Severe Turbulence Encountered, Now Descending, Emergency Crash-landing."
Some of the mystery was laid to rest decades later. In 1998, mountain climbers found detritus on Mount Tupungato in the Andes, and authorities suspected it was the Star Dust. Two years later, soldiers from Argentina combed through the site of the impact and discovered that the freezing temperatures on Mount Tupungato actually preserved the body parts of the passengers.
Although the plane's wreckage has been found, the mystery of STENDEC endures.
- 101,388 VOTES
A Man Woke Up Next To A Dumpster And Forgot The Last 15 Years Of His Life
The story sounds like the beginning of a bad joke: Someone wakes up naked next to a Burger King dumpster - in this case in Richmond Hill, GA - with no recollection of the night before. For Benjaman Kyle, however, the situation was anything but funny. It wasn't just the night before that was a complete blank; Kyle couldn't remember his name, anyone he knew, or anything from the past 15 years of his life.
Believing he was a drunk vagrant, police took him to the local hospital. He refused to eat or drink for nearly a week, and when he did start talking, he told nurses he had lived in the forest for 17 years and called everyone trying to help him "devils." In extreme distress, he was transferred to a psychological ward and eventually a home for the indigent and homeless.
For years, nurses and staff tried to help Benjaman Kyle (the name he eventually took) jog his memory. Detectives, journalists, and the FBI all tried to ascertain information to help identify who he really was, where he came from, or anyone who knew him - all to no avail. His photo was posted on various missing persons outlets, and his fingerprints run in the FBI database. Nothing. He went on all the major TV networks and even appeared on Dr. Phil. Numerous psychologists interviewed Kyle, trying to discern if he was lying, or to help him uncover hidden memories.
Not until 2016, when adoption researchers - using Kyle's DNA and that of other donors - were able to finally solve the mystery. Benjaman Kyle was William Burgess Powell (or possibly William Brent Powell), a man from Indiana who had cut ties with his allegedly abusive family in the 1970s, then moved around from job to job. Although his identity was eventually solved, there was still no record for virtually the last 20+ years of his life. That mystery has yet to be solved.
- 111,107 VOTES
An Entertainer's Strange Apparent Suicide Was Revealed To Be A Murder
In 2006, writer, actor, and director Adrienne Shelly was found deceased in her apartment of an apparent suicide. She had given no indication or clue that she had ever been at risk of taking her own life. Authorities were baffled by how they had found her, as there was an unknown shoe print near her body.
Authorities discovered construction worker Diego Pillco was the culprit after they managed to match his boot print to the one found near Shelly’s body. Allegedly, he and Shelly got into an argument over a noise complaint, which led to her slapping him. In a fit of rage, he punched Shelly so hard she fell unconscious. Reportedly, he feared he would be deported, so he staged her body to look like a suicide, leading to her unfortunate demise.
- 121,081 VOTES
Two Missing Women's Cadavers Were Found After 40 Years, When A Creek's Water Level Was Low Enough To Reveal Their Car
Teenagers Cheryl Miller and Pamela (sometimes spelled Pamella) Jackson were supposed to attend an outdoor party near their hometown in South Dakota in May 1971. But they never made it. For decades, the mystery of the young women's disappearance haunted their community.
Decades later, Miller and Jackson's families finally got an answer. In September 2013, a drought caused water levels in the area to drop. The level in nearby Brule Creek was low enough to reveal an old Studebaker, with its wheels up in the shallow water.
It was soon clear the girls' remains were there as well; investigators even found Miller's purse still inside. The discovery helped authorities determine that it had been a tragic incident, not foul play. Somehow, the driver lost control of the vehicle as they headed to the party, and the car ended up in the creek, trapping the girls inside.
- 13924 VOTES
Authorities Found A Missing Woman Alive Seven Days After Her Car Plunged Off A Cliff
Angela Hernandez was traveling from Oregon to California to visit family when she suddenly went missing. On July 5, 2018, she sent her family a text message saying she was pulling over in a grocery store parking lot to sleep in her car. After texting the following morning that she was getting back on the road, communication suddenly stopped. Her family could not reach Hernandez via phone, prompting them to contact authorities on July 6.
While heavy fog initially hampered search efforts, eventually two hikers in Big Sur, CA, noticed the wrecked remains of Hernandez's SUV at the bottom of a cliff and called police. Emergency responders found Hernandez alive in a rocky spot in the mountains after being missing for seven days. She reportedly used the radiator hose from her car to siphon water from a nearby creek while awaiting rescue.
- 14758 VOTES
A Social Security Investigator Finally Solved The Mystery Of A Dead Identity Thief
When Lori Ruff took her own life in 2010, Social Security investigator Joe Velling discovered she was not who she had claimed to be. After conducting an investigation, he determined Ruff had stolen the identity of a 2-year-old girl killed in a fire decades ago.
Although Velling knew from whom she had stolen the identity, he could not determine her true identity for years. He tried to uncover Ruff's identity by running a story on her in the Seattle Times, hoping someone would recognize her, but the effort yielded no results. In 2016, a forensic genealogist contacted Velling, claiming he had uncovered a list of people related to Ruff based on DNA and had created a family tree.
With this family tree, Velling, who was now retired, found a relative to contact. After meeting with the family member, he finally determined the identity of the woman known as Lori Ruff; she was actually Kimberley McLean, a teenage runaway who left home when she turned 18.
- 15627 VOTES
A Man Killed A Young Couple In 1987 And Was Convicted Using DNA Samples In 2018
Every year, forensic science is evolving and adapting to better solve criminal cases. Genetic genealogy is the latest scientific tool for solving cold cases throughout the US. After three decades, the 1987 cold case of Jay Cook and Tanya Van Cuylenborg was solved with the aid of GEDMatch, a public ancestry website.
A genealogist used the site to link William Talbot II to the deaths of the missing couple. This finding led to his trial and conviction, putting to rest the mystery surrounding what happened to Cook and Van Cuylenborg.
