Unsolved Mysteries - General Discussion

[JocelynCavanaugh]

5 minutes ago, azshadowwalker said:

It could also be that the defense could argue that Tim chose to live that way, that it was an accident, that someone else came into the house and did it, etc. Getting the plea put it all to rest. 

Yes, all of that, too! Such a shame, because it's pretty obvious what really happened, but from a legal perspective I totally understand why they had to play it safe at that point.

[Hero]

I just watched the SU TARASKIEWICZ case, the 24 year old woman was the second woman to ever work for Northwest Airlines as a ground service employee. She worked her way up from cleaning the interiors of jets. After three years, she was promoted to ramp supervisor, the first woman to ever hold that position.She was murdered and put into to her trunk. 

What kills me is that she left the night dhe wad murdered to get sandwiches for her employees and doesn't come back. She is missing for a day and a half until she is reported missing. 

I can't believe that Northwest let her get sexually harassed and no one did anything. Also, her death didn't seem to be investigated in depth. 

[stonehaven]

Apparently, the Robert Stack era is on Film Rise for streaming...they cut down the theme song..and I watched a few episodes last night...and even though I am much older than when I first watched them, I still was a bit creeped out last night....I used that theme music in college as part of a dumb camera assignment...Filming a car from all different angles and used the theme....the kid who owned the car was creeped out by his own car for awhile....Got on A on the project!

(I also will say Robert Stack...as I had a weird crush on him....had a friend refer to him as "that old man in a raincoat")..

[lexytheblasian]

This show holds a special place in my heart. I have fond memories as a kid, watching this, Cops and America's Most Wanted with my dad and they all used to scare the living daylights out of me - especially Unsolved Mysteries. The music, the creepy sketches, Robert Stack, some of the re-enactments - all of it combined made for some sleepless nights. 

Anyway, I recently found out that Amazon Prime now carries all of the seasons with Robert Stack as the host so I figured as an adult, it wouldn't freak me out as much. Boy, was I wrong! As some of you have noted, I can't watch too late into the night without getting paranoid and creeped out! 

I didn't fully grasp the horror of the people who mysteriously disappeared as a kid but now, as an adult, I would say those scare me the most. A lot of the people who disappeared have still, to this day, never been found. Folks don't just vanish into thin air - someone, somewhere knows something and how frightening that all these years later, many of their fates remain unknown.

[lexytheblasian]

The case of Keith Warren is one that has stuck with me all these years later. As a kid, it terrified me and now as an adult, it's infuriating at how poorly the cops handled it. I think there was a massive cover-up by the police department.. Keith was a young African-American boy found hanging from a tree in a wooded area behind his family's townhouse. The cops saw "nothing suspicious" about the crime scene and by the time his poor mother was informed of her son's death, police had already picked out a funeral home! 

Keith's mother initially bought the police's "suicide" conclusion but a lot of things later came out that she found incredibly disturbing. One of Keith's friends, Rodney, said that a bunch of black males were urgently asking to speak to Keith in the time leading up to his death. This is odd because according to Rodney, most of Keith's friends were white. 

Eventually Keith's mom asked Rodney to show her the tree where Keith's body was found. When they finally got to the area, Rodney couldn't find the tree - all that was left was the stump. According to the mother, when she asked the police what happened to the tree, they made snarky remarks like, "yeah, the tree was cut down, what do you want us to do about it?"

Years later, on what would have been Keith's 25th birthday, his mom received an envelope with several pictures of Keith hanging from the tree at different angles. The mother said he was wearing somebody else's clothes and had on white sneakers (not only had the mother never seen the pictures before, the only items returned to the family were BROWN BOOTS and a jacket!!). There was also a note reading that "Mark Finley would be next." Finley was one of the young men looking for Keith shortly before his death. He left a message on the mother's answering machine saying he wanted to talk to her. Not long after, the guy turns up dead? What the hell?! The police explained that away as well. I can't remember how they said the guy died but what a strange coincidence that someone who wanted to talk to Keith's mother suddenly ends up dead. 

Finally, when Keith's body was exhumed, tests showed powerful remnants of chemicals found in solvents and glue in his body. The police claimed these were used for the embalming process but this was also met with strong objections. The police department repeatedly told Keith's mother that this case is closed. 

It all stinks to high heaven of police corruption and cover-up in my opinion. So many things don't add up, it's ridiculous. The mother sadly passed away in 2009 but his sister continues to seek justice, or at the very least, another investigation into what really happened to her brother. It has been more than three decades and his sister can't even get the medical examiner to change the ruling on Keith's death certificate from "suicide" to "undetermined." 

It reminds me of the black boy who was wrapped up in a gym mat in Georgia a few years ago. Both representations of what miscarriage of justice looks like.

Edited December 29, 2017 by lexytheblasian

[Tenarife60]

The case of Dottie Caylor was on today.  That was so strange for a number of reasons.  They claim the husband didn't even live with her for much of the marriage, and she neither worked or left the house due to social phobias.  If he didn't want to be with her why not divorce her instead of having a 'chick on the side.'  I do believe either he, or someone else, murdered her because she never turned up, but then I wondered: Well maybe she found another man like her husband and now she's living with him, never leaving the house or interacting with anyone, so no one knows she's still around.  Although after the case appeared on 'Unsolved Mysteries" you would think someone would notice and say something.

[WendyCR72]

On 1/18/2018 at 2:10 PM, Tenarife60 said:

The case of Dottie Caylor was on today.  That was so strange for a number of reasons.  They claim the husband didn't even live with her for much of the marriage, and she neither worked or left the house due to social phobias.  If he didn't want to be with her why not divorce her instead of having a 'chick on the side.'  I do believe either he, or someone else, murdered her because she never turned up, but then I wondered: Well maybe she found another man like her husband and now she's living with him, never leaving the house or interacting with anyone, so no one knows she's still around.  Although after the case appeared on 'Unsolved Mysteries" you would think someone would notice and say something.

That husband was a complete dick, pompous and saying how she inconvenienced him, and some crap. I totally think he killed her.

[Tenarife60]

LOL, they reran the Elizabeth Carmichael case today.  They gave it away too early by having a male actor play Elizabeth in drag.  I was surprised how easily she could pack up and move and then find another job wherever she was.  I knew a transgender who was about her size and it took her nearly two years to find a job living in Houston.  I think it was due to the fact so many people suspected she wasn't a genetic woman.  That was one thing I wasn't at all surprised about is as soon as this episode aired Elizabeth was found and identified.  That would be true with the transgender I knew as well.  If I named the town where she lives I do believe anyone who lives there would say, "I know exactly who you are talking about."  It would be hard for her to get by people unnoticed.

There is supposedly a documentary coming out about Liz Carmichael called "The Rose Lady."    

Edited January 24, 2018 by Tenarife60
added a paragraph

[Hero]

11 hours ago, Tenarife60 said:

LOL, they reran the Elizabeth Carmichael case today.  They gave it away too early by having a male actor play Elizabeth in drag.  I was surprised how easily she could pack up and move and then find another job wherever she was.  I knew a transgender who was about her size and it took her nearly two years to find a job living in Houston.  I think it was due to the fact so many people suspected she wasn't a genetic woman.  That was one thing I wasn't at all surprised about is as soon as this episode aired Elizabeth was found and identified.  That would be true with the transgender I knew as well.  If I named the town where she lives I do believe anyone who lives there would say, "I know exactly who you are talking about."  It would be hard for her to get by people unnoticed.

There is supposedly a documentary coming out about Liz Carmichael called "The Rose Lady."    

The 3 wheeled car ?? I can't believe people invested money in that. 

[Blergh]

I liked Mr. Stack better than Mr. Farina (who seemed to have all the personality of a turnip on this show). However; it should be noted that Mr. Stack has been linked to an unsolved mystery of his own re a pair of eyeglasses. A pair of eyeglasses that was considered a key piece of evidence in a murder mystery was sent to the show and Mr. Stack displayed them on the air when recounting the mystery- and that was the VERY last trace of them. To this day, they've not resurfaced even for law enforcement and no one is entirely sure what became of them!

https://www.denverpost.com/2007/07/24/key-evidence-goes-missing-in-georgia-church-murders/

[FrauBlucher]

I watched this show back in the day so when we saw it on amazon prime we started watching from the beginning. We're up to season 4 now and I don't know if it's because I'm older now and I'm a wuss, but this show seriously scares me at times!

I'm watching it with my daughters and the cases that are the hardest for me to take are the ones where a young lady goes missing or is killed. Yesterday we watched a couple episodes where the woman was beaten/killed by her husband. I came to the realization that, if either of my daughters were ever in that situation (God forbid) I'd kill him myself and then turn myself in to the authorities and pray for forgiveness. Better for me to sit in jail than my daughters to be hurt or killed. 

On a lighter note, I forgot about how silly some of the stories are, like the "Loch Ness Monster" wannabe that looked like a beaver in the pictures. As I was watching it I distinctly remembered myself 30 years earlier yelling at the tv "It's A BEAVER!!"

[Hero]

What do you guys think about the Wacker's case? Do you think they made it up or do you think they are telling the truth? 

http://unsolvedmysteries.wikia.com/wiki/Bill_and_Dorothy_Wacker

[mansonlamps]

Has anyone watched the Unsolved Mysteries Buzzfeed series on Amazon?  

[Angelsmom1009]

They have the original series on Amazon Prime, and watching it made all sorts of childhood memories come back. I used to watch it in my parents room when they worked late, the only room in the house that had cable. I would watch it in the dark (stupid me) and being terrified to leave the room in fear that the killer was just outside the door and he had murdered my entire family. I also learned what strychnine was thanks to this show, and the theme song still gives me knots in my stomach ?

[Dr.OO7]

Plenty of these stories frighten me, especially because they happen in the course of something so mundane and commonplace. It's chilling how many people set out to go to the supermarket/ATM/coffee shop, etc, only to disappear/be assaulted/be murdered. Let's face it, that could easily be any of us or someone we know.

I think the most truly frightening one for me is the story of Thomas Hotard and Audrey Moate, an adulterous couple who would meet every Saturday to have a tryst in an isolated swamp. One day, his body was discovered in his car, while she had disappeared, never to be seen again. Eventually, it was determined that the likely killer was a local ill-tempered recluse who lived near the murder scene, but he died before he could be prosecuted.

I love that cases are being solved even now--another especially scary one was the murder of Jay Cook and Tanya Cuylenborg. 31 years later and they caught the bastard who did it.

[Dr.OO7]

I think one of the most truly frightening ones was the story of the Connecticut River Valley Serial Killer. The  segment depicting the attack on the pregnant woman is terrifying, and while she and most of the police who investigated believe that they know who's responsible, the man killed himself before he could be arrested (after killing his girlfriend and her daughter and being a suspect in the disappearance of ANOTHER girlfriend), meaning that her attack and the slew of murders that came before are officially. . . unsolved.

[Dr.OO7]

On 9/11/2014 at 4:10 PM, scowl said:

Too often Unsolved Mysteries ignored information that would have solved the mystery

I wish they wouldn't do that. I get that they don't want to victim blame or turn someone into an Asshole Victim, but you never know what might be pertinent. Sneha Philips (a doctor who disappeared on 9/10/2001) apparently had a drinking problem and a habit of frequenting lesbian bars, but there's no mention of that in the segment. She's officially ranked as a 9/11 victim, but i still think there's a chance she could have met with foul play the night before because of either of those tendencies.

(I apologize for how bad that might sound, but I couldn't find a better way to phrase it)

On 12/30/2014 at 1:40 PM, scowl said:

As you would expect, the crime was never solved.

Actually, they did solve that one. Matthew Chase's killer was a gang member who was killed himself several days after Matt's abduction/murder.

What I remember about that story was that Robert Stack took the time to make a PDA, which he hardly ever did, because at the time of the segment, ATMs were a new invention and as people were using them more often, crimes like this were increasing.

If you go to the website www.unsolved.com, there's a list of the stories that have been solved. It's never too late for justice.

Count me in among those who loved the murder/missing persons/wanted stories, even as they scared the hell out of me.

There's a Facebook group called "Misterios Sin Resolver", where someone posts the old stories with Stack's narration. I love it. It's as close as you can get to the original, but with Spanish subtitles.

[Itsmerainy]

I know this is old thread.... but unsolved mysteries... with robert stack is on plutotv!

[BetterButter]

Netflix hopes that perhaps you may be able to help solve some Unsolved Mysteries

[Dr.OO7]

On 12/30/2014 at 1:40 PM, scowl said:

As you would expect, the crime was never solved.

Actually it was.

Years later, it was determined that a gang member--who has since been murdered himself--was Matt's killer.

If you go to www.unsolved.com, they're very good at immediately updating if a case has been solved. It's amazing to see closure come even decades later.

[Dr.OO7]

The link to the FilmRise YouTube channel:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzirOgADPOz0eapgwBcX9Gw

This is legit. Not the bootleg stuff doomed to be taken down in five minutes.

[Mrs. Hanson]

On 3/6/2018 at 12:41 PM, Hero said:

What do you guys think about the Wacker's case? Do you think they made it up or do you think they are telling the truth? 

http://unsolvedmysteries.wikia.com/wiki/Bill_and_Dorothy_Wacker

There is a message board called sitcomsonline.com and it has a pretty active UM thread.  The prevailing thought the person was an unknown person to the Wackers.  I don't think either one of them was in on it.

[Queena]

On 1/18/2018 at 2:10 PM, Tenarife60 said:

The case of Dottie Caylor was on today.  That was so strange for a number of reasons.  They claim the husband didn't even live with her for much of the marriage, and she neither worked or left the house due to social phobias.  If he didn't want to be with her why not divorce her instead of having a 'chick on the side.'  I do believe either he, or someone else, murdered her because she never turned up, but then I wondered: Well maybe she found another man like her husband and now she's living with him, never leaving the house or interacting with anyone, so no one knows she's still around.  Although after the case appeared on 'Unsolved Mysteries" you would think someone would notice and say something.

On 1/22/2018 at 11:22 PM, WendyCR72 said:

That husband was a complete dick, pompous and saying how she inconvenienced him, and some crap. I totally think he killed her.

He's still alive. Still creepy. He lives in Utah and ran for some type of political office and lost. 

Unsolved Mysteries is also on Tubi TV. I appreciate them offering it for free on many platforms. I've probably rewatchd the earlier episodes 3 or 4 times since they hit Amazon. They're great for falling asleep. 

[WendyCR72]

47 minutes ago, Queena said:

He's still alive. Still creepy. He lives in Utah and ran for some type of political office and lost.

Thank God the people of Utah had the brains not to vote for the POS!

[Queena]

On 3/31/2019 at 6:24 PM, WendyCR72 said:

Thank God the people of Utah had the brains not to vote for the POS!

Just don't ever say on the internet that Jule Caylor murdered his wife Dottie Caylor. He hates that. 

Jule Caylor murdered his wife Dottie Caylor. 

I know that he constantly Googles Jule Caylor murdered his wife Dottie Caylor. I'm helping him out a little. 

[funky-rat]

I was hooked on this show back in the day.  It started when I was in high school.  I also used to like America's Most Wanted (but was never a fan of Cops or Rescue 911 - my dad liked both of those).  I was never really big on the Lost Love segments (with the exception of one or two), or the alien/ghost segments, but loved the rest.

I can't recall many of the specific segments, but 3 haunted me for years, and thankfully all were solved:

1)  The Murder Of Lisa Marie Kimmel (a/k/a L'il Miss): it took eons to solve the case, but they finally did, and found her car buried on the land of the man who killed her (who is now in jail, but sadly not before he attempted to kill some other people) - a random stranger who saw her when she stopped at a rest area for a break, followed her, and ran her off the road.  Sadly, U/M continued to call her mom - even after they found her killer and her car - to tell her somoene called in and saw her car - some 30-odd years after she was killed.  It got to be too much for her mom, and she kept asking them to update her case, but the last time they called, she was told they had no plans to do so.  I think she threatened to sue them, and they finally updated it and stopped calling.  They're looking in to her killer's background as they believe they will find more victims.  She had been found just a few days after she disappeared, but what happened to her, her car, and who did it was the mystery.

https://unsolvedmysteries.fandom.com/wiki/Lisa_Marie_Kimmell

2)  The Murder Of The Rogers Women:  this one aired when I was in college, and it shook me, because two of them resembled a family I knew, and the 3rd one resembled a friend I'd known since childhood.  The family I knew were also from a rural area, and naieve, and I could see them also accepting a boat ride from a friendly stranger who charmed them.  The case was finally solved a few years after airing, thanks to the tenacity of a neighbor of the killer, and a prior victim who was visiting Florida from Canada (they think she lived because a friend of hers bailed on the boat ride at the last mintue, and he fantasized about killing more than one person at once, but he did sexually assault her) because he followed the same scheme with her that he eventually did with the Rogers women.  After he was caught, he was tried, sentenced to death, and executed.  Since then, they've linked him conclusively to another murder, and believe they will find more.  I felt terrible that the father/husband was accused of it initially.  There was a book written about this case called "Death Cruise" and it goes very in-depth, and is really good.

https://unsolvedmysteries.fandom.com/wiki/Joan%2C_Michelle%2C_and_Christe_Rogers\

**The above link has one thing wrong - their killer wasn't a fisherman - he was a contractor who specialized in installing siding**

This award winning article is in a number of parts, and is a faster read than the book, and still goes pretty in-depth.  The whole thing is sad, including why they needed a vacation in the first place):

https://www.tampabay.com/projects/classics/angels-and-demons/

3)  The Disappearance Of Wendy Camp, her young daughter, and Sister-In-Law:  I never once believed her hag of an ex-mother-in-law dropped the 3 of them at Wal-Mart, as she said she did.  It's bad enough they wanted to knock-off their disabled ex-daughter-in-law (who may have been disabled due to her ex-husband's drug habit - he also had many other kids with underage girls), but to also take her young daughter from a previous marriage (no relation to them) and her sister-in-law in the process was just disgusting.  There were long-standing rumors that the family had connections to law enforcement and the courts, which would explain why they were essentially able to kidnap their grandson and not give him back while his mother was in the hospital very ill, able to move away and not give the court a forwarding address or notify the boy's mother they were moving, and why a court found them in contempt but never had them return the boy to his mother.  It took 20 years, but they found all 3 buried in an unmarked grave on land owned by the family.  The boy's grandmother and a relative of hers are in jail.  The boy's father is not, and the great-grandmother is dead.  Sadly, the boy- now an adult - refuses to believe the family had anything to do with this, and had nothing but good things to say about all of them.

https://unsolvedmysteries.fandom.com/wiki/Wendy_Camp,_Cynthia_Britto,_and_Lisa_Kregear

Edited July 10, 2019 by funky-rat

[CrazyInAlabama]

What amazed me on the original Robert Stack Unsolved shows were the disappearances.    Robert Stack said the incredible number of adults who just walk away, and no one knows what happened to them.    I imagine with Real ID, and other identification protocols now, it's harder to get a new identity, but people still disappear with no trace.   I have to wonder if some people still just walk away, but voluntarily.  

 I lived near El Paso when one case was resolved.    The college president who disappeared one day, and no one heard about him for many years, Jay Carsey.  He eventually surfaced as a bartender in El Paso, and there was a lot of publicity about it.   He eventually worked at a local community college, had another wife, and then one day disappeared again.   He divorced the second wife, resurfaced in Jacksonville, and died almost 20 years ago.     

I didn't like the recreations, and facts they included in a couple of cases that were local to me.   A lot was left out, so I imagine it was for legal reasons, and to get people to cooperate with the production crew, but a lot was left unsaid.  

Edited July 17, 2019 by CrazyInAlabama

[funky-rat]

1 hour ago, CrazyInAlabama said:

I didn't like the recreations, and facts they included in a couple of cases that were local to me.   A lot was left out, so I imagine it was for legal reasons, and to get people to cooperate with the production crew, but a lot was left unsaid.  

The ID channel does that too.  I notice it on cases I'm familiar with.  The one I mentioned prior with the Rogers women - I've seen it on a number of TV shows over the years, and none of them mention the reason the 3 women were on vacation in the first place.  It's a horrible thing that led them to "get away" for a few days and try to relax, and could be viewed as senstaional, so perhaps they kept quiet about it to protect the victim (the older of the two daughters - even if she was killed with her mom and sister).  But it proved to be important to the story because it was part of why Hal Rogers (husband/father) was suspected of it, and then later other people in his family initially (it was a stranger who killed them).  They also never mention how it's strongly suspected that their killer took them out for a boat ride in the daytime to further gain their trust so they could go out on the sunset cruise where he killed them (since the daytime cruise went well and he returned them safely - it's the same MO he used with the Canadian Tourist who helped crack the case).  It explains the timeline of what happened better and corroborates some witness statements.

There is a really dedicated group of fans over at Sitcoms Online, and they will follow-up on cases, dig deeper, post about families and deaths of people who appeared, etc.  Sometimes a family member will show up.  The mom of Lisa Kimmel made a few posts (they were sure it was her).

[Dr.OO7]

On 7/10/2019 at 12:48 PM, funky-rat said:

It's bad enough they wanted to knock-off their disabled ex-daughter-in-law (who may have been disabled due to her ex-husband's drug habit - he also had many other kids with underage girls), but to also take her young daughter from a previous marriage (no relation to them) and her sister-in-law in the process was just disgusting

The heartbreaking irony is that the sister-in-law came along for moral support and safety, only to become a victim herself.

[funky-rat]

10 hours ago, Camille said:

The heartbreaking irony is that the sister-in-law came along for moral support and safety, only to become a victim herself.

Yes - so sad.  Her new husband wanted to come along, but her ex's family made nasty false allegations about him, saying he was a child molester, among other things.  Wherever the ex-husband's deceased family members are, I hope it's very hot there.

[nkotb]

On 7/10/2019 at 11:48 AM, funky-rat said:

**The above link has one thing wrong - their killer wasn't a fisherman - he was a contractor who specialized in installing siding**

This award winning article is in a number of parts, and is a faster read than the book, and still goes pretty in-depth.  The whole thing is sad, including why they needed a vacation in the first place):

https://www.tampabay.com/projects/classics/angels-and-demons/

Thank you for sharing this link; I've spent the better part of today reading through it. I'm up to part 6. Wow, I had no idea. I'd seen the Forensic Files episode about the murders, but I didn't know all of the details, or the backstory. Poor Hal ~ being socially-awkward doesn't make one a triple-murderer. 

[funky-rat]

On 8/9/2019 at 4:58 PM, nkotb said:

Thank you for sharing this link; I've spent the better part of today reading through it. I'm up to part 6. Wow, I had no idea. I'd seen the Forensic Files episode about the murders, but I didn't know all of the details, or the backstory. Poor Hal ~ being socially-awkward doesn't make one a triple-murderer. 

I always felt so badly for Hal.  I grew up in a rural area with many  multi-generational farmers, and they're just a different breed of people.  They think differently, and while those who are in their area will understand (I completely get it, and we didn't have a farm), outsiders will see it as cold, unemotional, etc, when it's really that the farm is literally their life.  They just can't take a vacation, or walk away for a time, or they lose their livelihood.

One reason I appreciated that article is that it shows while Hal was cool and collected on the outside, he was completely destroyed on the inside.  He was already struggling with the whole situation with his brother and that his family sided with the brother (I can't imagine), and he encouraged Joan and the girls to get away for a bit, to try and heal.  A number of years after the article, he re-married.  He also tore the house down that they lived in, and built a new one.  He just couldn't handle seeing them everywhere he looked.

The shows that profile this case skip over so much.  I understand why they don't want to touch what happened to Michelle, but it's crucial, in some ways, to the backstory.  If the show is only a half hour, it skips a ton.  If it's an hour, it will cover more, but still often miss a lot of crucial details.  The article won a Pulitzer Prize.  It's very well written, and I've sent it to a number of people who love a "good" true crime story.

[nkotb]

I completely understand why it won the Pulitzer. It's really, really good. I hate saying that about a triple-murder, but it's just really in-depth, & really well-written. I haven't gotten to the part where Hal remarried, but I'm glad that he found some happiness again. 

I'm so happy for Pluto TV for reintroducing me to some of the cases on this show. Unfortunately, in today's society, a show like Unsolved Mysteries probably wouldn't generate as many captures, simply because there's millions of channels to watch, so the fanbase wouldn't be as strong as it was in the 80s & 90s. It really did a great job helping get the names & most importantly, faces, out there, back in the day.

[Dr.OO7]

It's sickening how many of these people who are guilty as hell will give interviews swearing that they're as innocent as a newborn. 

And I don't just mean that it's supposedly pathetically obvious to the viewers, I mean finding out x amount of time later that they've been arrested.

[LadyChatts]

On 2/22/2020 at 1:51 AM, Camille said:

It's sickening how many of these people who are guilty as hell will give interviews swearing that they're as innocent as a newborn. 

And I don't just mean that it's supposedly pathetically obvious to the viewers, I mean finding out x amount of time later that they've been arrested.

If there's ever been a case where I felt like someone was flat out guilty and then came on here to say they were innocent (basically knowing they got away with it, for now), it's the Christi Nichols case.  She was a young wife and mother from Nebraska who disappeared after going out with her husband, Mark.  Christi claimed Mark was abusive, and even went as far as consulting a divorce attorney out of town so he wouldn't find out.  The night she disappeared, they left their kids with a baby sitter, but only Mark returned later that night.  The baby sitter said she didn't see or hear Christi in the house, despite Mark saying she had already come in ahead of him and must have walked right by the sitter.  The next day Mark sold their house and cars and moved out.  Mark of course claimed she ran off with another man, that he wasn't abusive, and that if she ever was injured by him it was due to him defending himself from her.  When I was looking for updates on this case, I ran across a blog that had a lengthy write up on the case, with some insight from Christi's family.  The blog poster I think use to moderate an Unsolved Mysteries forum.  They had a screen shot from Mark's Facebook (as he's never been charged, despite being the prime suspect), and it was one of those memes from a divorce lawyers office that was supposed to be funny because of their names.  The meme was 'Ditcher, Quick, and Hyde'.  I've been re-watching Unsolved Mysteries on Prime, and this case has always gotten to me.  

This is Christi's case:

 https://unsolvedmysteries.fandom.com/wiki/Christi_Nichols

[Jaded]

I remember an Unsolved Mysteries related website/forum years ago. I wish I could remember the name as it wasn't just about the show. I just remember the site had a black background and was really colorful outside of that.

Edited May 20, 2020 by Jaded

[Dr.OO7]

On 5/20/2020 at 4:18 PM, LadyChatts said:

If there's ever been a case where I felt like someone was flat out guilty and then came on here to say they were innocent (basically knowing they got away with it, for now), it's the Christi Nichols case.  She was a young wife and mother from Nebraska who disappeared after going out with her husband, Mark.  Christi claimed Mark was abusive, and even went as far as consulting a divorce attorney out of town so he wouldn't find out.  The night she disappeared, they left their kids with a baby sitter, but only Mark returned later that night.  The baby sitter said she didn't see or hear Christi in the house, despite Mark saying she had already come in ahead of him and must have walked right by the sitter.  The next day Mark sold their house and cars and moved out.  Mark of course claimed she ran off with another man, that he wasn't abusive, and that if she ever was injured by him it was due to him defending himself from her.  When I was looking for updates on this case, I ran across a blog that had a lengthy write up on the case, with some insight from Christi's family.  The blog poster I think use to moderate an Unsolved Mysteries forum.  They had a screen shot from Mark's Facebook (as he's never been charged, despite being the prime suspect), and it was one of those memes from a divorce lawyers office that was supposed to be funny because of their names.  The meme was 'Ditcher, Quick, and Hyde'.  I've been re-watching Unsolved Mysteries on Prime, and this case has always gotten to me.  

This is Christi's case:

 https://unsolvedmysteries.fandom.com/wiki/Christi_Nichols

I read that blog too. I had no idea about the extra information.

That was one of the more infuriating cases. It must be so enraging for cops to know that some SOB is guilty and not be able to do anything about it because there isn't enough evidence.

And these missing persons cases are always so chilling and haunting for one key reason--where is the body? What on earth could their killer have done that no trace of them has ever been found? 

Edited May 21, 2020 by Camille

[LadyChatts]

20 minutes ago, Camille said:

I read that blog too. I had no idea about the extra information.

That was one of the more infuriating cases. It must be so infuriating for cops to know that some SOB is guilty and not be able to do anything about it because there isn't enough evidence.

And these missing persons cases are always so chilling and haunting for one key reason--where is the body? What on earth could their killer have done that no trace of them has ever been found? 

Yeah, when I read that blog and learned more about the case it made me feel even more sad for this poor woman.  What really angered me was that they found blood that was determined to be hers at the house, and he said it was menstrual blood.  I don't know how anymore obvious it is that this guy is guilty.  

One of the creepiest kidnapping cases I remember was the girl who was on the phone with her boyfriend and he heard her get abducted.  He actually got in his car and managed to catch up with the truck (which if I'm remembering right, was hanging out around where she was and she told him what it looked like).  And then as he was giving chase his car died on the street.  And another case that always kind of stuck with me years later was the woman who was looking for her missing son, and believed a biker gang had something to do with his disappearance.  She would dress the part of a biker lady and go out to these dive bars to try and get information.  Eventually they were able to convict the people responsible for his disappearance, but his body was never found.  

I think there's a lot of ways people can get rid of a body for it to never be found.  Sometimes they just bury it and then something gets built over top of the site, so odds are it'll never be found.

[Dr.OO7]

33 minutes ago, LadyChatts said:

One of the creepiest kidnapping cases I remember was the girl who was on the phone with her boyfriend and he heard her get abducted.  He actually got in his car and managed to catch up with the truck (which if I'm remembering right, was hanging out around where she was and she told him what it looked like).  And then as he was giving chase his car died on the street.

There is an Investigation Discovery show episode (either Murdertown or Murder Comes To Town) based on that case, though it's actually focused more on one of the women who disappeared before her--Trudy Darby. They caught the guys who killed Trudy and the detectives have made it clear that they believe they're responsible for the disappearances/deaths of the other two women.

37 minutes ago, LadyChatts said:

think there's a lot of ways people can get rid of a body for it to never be found

And indeed, on the occasions that they catch these bastards and they confess, they do mention doing something like that. I've learned that lakes/rivers/the ocean are unfortunately also a good place to dispose of someone.

[Dr.OO7]

https://tvweb.com/amp/unsolved-mysteries-new-episodes-release-date-netflix/

[Nicmar]

There are 2 episodes that always scared me..

A young girl who went on a cruise with her family, only to disappear off the ship and was I think was forced into prostitution

2nd takes place in California where a guy received a motorcycle for his birthday and went for a ride and never came back, biker gang had something to do with , I believe they stole his bike and tortured and killed him

[LadyChatts]

Quote

A young girl who went on a cruise with her family, only to disappear off the ship and was I think was forced into prostitution

I've seen several TV episodes based on this case.  What's creepy is that there was a picture her parents were sent from an adult escort website a few years after she went missing, and the girl in the picture looked a lot like their daughter.  I've heard theories, too, that she might have stumbled on some of the crew doing something illegal (drugs or money laundering) and was killed as a result.

Quote

2nd takes place in California where a guy received a motorcycle for his birthday and went for a ride and never came back, biker gang had something to do with , I believe they stole his bike and tortured and killed him

Was this the one where the mom started going out to biker bars trying to get information about her son?  

Another one I thought of that I discovered was recently solved was the one where the 3 women in Oklahoma went missing-the one woman was involved in a really nasty custody dispute with her ex husband and his mother.  The ex called her one day to say she could come see her son, so she left with her daughter and her sister in law (she had re-married someone else at that point), and the 3 women were never seen again.  Her ex mother in law had picked them up, and said when she was driving them home from the visit they got into a big fight so she dropped them off and left them stranded.  They ended up finding the 3 women a few years ago buried on a property belonging to her ex mother in law.  

[BetterButter]

 

[Annber03]

First the new "Baby-Sitters Club" series, now this-sounds like I'll be getting some good use out of Netflix for the next couple months or so :). 

[Queena]

I can't wait until July 6. I do wonder what cases they will cover, and will they update the cases that have been solved since the Prime release? 

[starri]

In addition to them having the good sense not to mess with the theme song, I liked that they included a brief sillhouette of Robert Stack in the opening credits.

[Hero]

I know this isn't an exact replicate of the original, and it reminds me of Dateline or 48 Hours, but I still liked it. 

I don't think the reboot could ever be like the original, because Robert Stack played a major part of how creepy it was.

 

[non sequitur]

Really disappointed with the reboot so far. It feels like just another generic true crime docuseries with none of the creepy atmosphere of the original. I also miss the reenactments.

[Enero]

I watched the first episode on Rey Rivera. Very strange. Neither murder or suicide seems like the answer. Even if he was murdered elsewhere and his body thrown off the roof it doesn’t seem plausible considering how far the surrounding buildings were from where the body was found. It was also strange that the company he worked for wouldn’t allow his colleagues etc., to speak to police and the friend who ran that company whom he moved to Baltimore for due to the job opportunity, would not speak to police. Very odd situation. 
 

I feel bad for his wife. It’s been 14 years and the grief is still very raw for her. It doesn’t look like she’s moved on ie remarried or had children. Very sad for her and his family. 

Edited July 2, 2020 by Enero

[BookWitch]

Yeah I think the coworker/friend had something to do with it.  Very weird that the whole company immediately lawyer-ed up.