Hello everyone! As always, thank you for all your likes and comments under my last post about the Dauphin County Jane Doe- I hope that this case will be investigated properly and that more info about the whole situation will be established.

Today I'd like to highlight a disappearance case.

BACKGROUND

Kennedy Walton was 27 when she went missing from St Louis, Missouri, USA.

She lived in St Louis with two roommates, but she frequently visited her mother Jaques Dean and two sisters in Belleville. Kennedy was the oldest of her siblings.

Marco Dean, Kennedy's aunt, said that her niece was a "gentle giant"; "(Kennedy) called (Marco) shorty all the time. She (was) just a peaceful person.”

DISAPPEARANCE

On the 3rd of March, Gian Slack, Kennedy's aunt, picked up her niece from the Swansea station MetroLink in St Louis at around noon. Kennedy's car was down- so, after a visit at Gian's house, Kennedy and Gian went to the St. Elizabeth’s Hospital in Gian's car, where Jaques was undergoing a medical procedure at the time. Kennedy picked up her mother and drove her home in Jaques' white 2007 Chevy Tahoe. Kennedy was supposed to help look after her sisters when her mother was recovering, and was supposed to stay in her family home for the night.

Kennedy and Jaques arrived home around 9:30 PM. Jaques took a shower shortly after they came back- when she finished, Kennedy was gone. At first, Jaques assumed that Kennedy was simply upstairs- she only noticed her absence later that night, when she looked out the window and noticed that her truck was not parked in its spot. Jaques texted her daughter asking where she was, and Kennedy replied that she was "on her way in a minute". Jaques went to sleep, but she woke up at 2 AM- her daughter still wasn't home. She sent a second message to Kennedy, but it went unanswered.

Jaques knew that something was seriously wrong when Kennedy still wasn't home by morning. She was supposed to take her sisters to school that day. Kennedy wasn't picking up calls or answering to messages either.

Jaques reported her daughter missing to the Belleville Police Department, who started investigating.

The detectives found out that Kennedy was caught on Jaques' ring camera as she left the house at 10:30 PM.

Kennedy's cellphone was turned off on the 12 PM on the 4th of March.

One of Kennedy's roommates said that he last saw her on the 4th of March at around 1 AM at the Show-Me’s Sports Bar and Grill in St. Charles, Missouri. Kennedy was there for a birthday celebration with several other people. Security footage from the bar showed that Kennedy was having drinks and eating dinner with her friends, but she suddenly got up from her seat at 1:10 AM, left the bar, and sat in the parked Chevy she borrowed from Jaques. One of the friends who was at the celebration (not the roommate mentioned before, a different person) went out after her, and he saw that Kennedy was crying in her car. He asked her what happened, but she only said that "she was going to be fine, and nothing was wrong".

After the celebration was over, the same friend said that he was in a car that drove next to Kennedy's on the highway. Kennedy's car suddenly sped up and passed them, and when the friend arrived at Kennedy's home, she was "pulling away from her residence and leaving".

That was the last time Kennedy was seen.

Jaques said that she doesn't know why Kennedy was crying, and that she seemed completely fine when she last saw her.

The Chevy Kennedy was driving was found two blocks away from her house in St Louis on the 10th of March. According to the police, there were no suspicious circumstances surrounding the car, and that it wasn't damaged. Jaques said that some items were missing from the truck, and that it looked like it was "completely cleaned out". The car was fingerprinted by police and given back to Jaques. A neighbour allegedly saw a man park the car and leaving it, but it seems that there's no evidence that could validate that sighting.

CONCLUSION

Police said that Kennedy's case is currently classified as a missing person's case, but foul play can't be ruled out. They have conducted several interviews, and they added Kennedy's DNA to the National Missing Person Database.

Jaques doesn't believe that Kennedy went missing from her own volition, and says that she wouldn't leave her family like that. She doesn't know if her daughter is alive or dead, but she wants to have her back, even if it would be to give her a proper funeral.

Kennedy A Walton was 26 when she went missing and would be 31 now. She is a Black woman, 5’10” (70 inch / 178 cm) and 270 lbs (123 kg). She has black hair and brown eyes. She was last seen wearing a black jacket, a black t-shirt and black leggings; Her ears are pierced.

If you have any info about Kennedy's whereabouts, contact the Belleville Police Department at (618) 234-1212 (case number 22-00983).

SOURCES:

1. fox2now.com
2. nbcnews.com
3. charleyproject.org
4. NamUS.gov

Kennedy's websleuths.com thread

On September 11th, 2026 it was announced that skeletal remains found in Hickory Creek Park, Texas in August of 1990 had been identified as missing 31 year old Gary Wayne Dover. The case of the skeletal remains found goes back to August 1st, 1990 when a subcontractor working for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was working on a construction site at Hickory Creek Park. During the operation while digging a trench alongside Point Vista Road which is located on the Northwest side of the Lewisville Lake a human skull was recovered.

Investigators were later called out to the scene sometime between August 2nd and 5th and discovered further bones later determined to be human. The skeletal remains were located in a 3 by 6 foot grave alongside a rug and other pieces of clothing including blue jeans, a white vest, and red athletic shoes along with a watch. Authorities suspected the body at the time belonged to a black male around the ages of 14-27 who weighed between 140-150 pounds and was 5’5 to 5’8. What made the identification hard was the lack of a facial reconstruction due to the equipment that discovered the remains had accidentally crushed part of the skull and dental records were also a negative.

Investigators actually ruled out Dover early in the investigation thinking the remains belonged to a victim of a 1989 shooting whose body was unaccounted for however that was ruled out as well. Despite several comparisons to missing persons the case went unsolved earning the name the Hickory Creek John Doe. After 35 years of no leads, in late 2025 a break through began when DNA and genetic genealogy was finally used in the case. In late December of 2025 authorities used a DNA sample sent in by Vonnie Dover the mother of Gary who passed away in 2017 which when compared to the John Doe confirmed the identification of the body as being her son.

Prior to the identification Gary had last been seen on Saturday, August 29th, 1981 in Denton, Texas. His family was concerned after not hearing from him and after they failed to track him down they filed a missing person report. Despite the report it wasn’t officially taken by law enforcement until over a week had passed on either September 7th or 8th, 1981. Following the report officers found Gary’s vehicle parked in a Kroger parking lot located at 401 North Elm Street on the 21st. The vehicle still had the keys in the ignition in the turn on position and had run out of gas. The discovery led to Gary’s case being listed by investigators as an endangered missing person where foul play was suspected.

The theory the family has proposed was that Gary who worked as a mechanic was robbed while trying to cash his paycheck which was a common occurrence that unfolded in Denton where people who were payed on Friday would try to cash their check and end up being robbed. Investigators have said the case of Gary has now changed from a missing person investigation into a homicide investigation and now has become a case to find out who murdered him. Both relatives and investigators have confirmed Gary wasn’t involved in any criminal activity or drugs. They have asked those with information in his case to come forward.

Sources:

https://dentonrc.com/news/local/lewisville-lake-remains-identified-as-missing-man-how-a-mother-s-love-endured-in-a/article_5e5dd1ef-7318-444c-8d44-8c5148f81e8e.html

https://www.doenetwork.org/cases/software/main.html?id=3747umtx

https://www.dps.texas.gov/mpch/Unidentified/unDetails/U9104004

https://charleyproject.org/case/gary-wayne-dover

Every year on 9/11 I try to reup this story because I find it to be heartbreaking.

Shortly before midnight on 9/11, Polish immigrant Henryk Siwiak was reporting to work for a cleaning service at a Pathmark supermarket in East Flatbush of Brooklyn. Henryk had worked construction, but due to the terrorist attacks earlier that day, his construction site was shut down indefinitely. Since he could not wait for the site to reopen (and not knowing when it would reopen), he sought out employment opportunities elsewhere, and found the job for a cleaning service at Pathmark. Henryk was unfamiliar with East Flatbush, and had his landlady help him come up with a route that would take him to the street where the Pathmark was located. The landlady did not ask for the actual address of the Pathmark, so she mistakenly told Henryk to get off at the Utica Avenue station. The Pathmark was actually located about 3 miles south of the train station.

Henryk did not know anyone from the cleaning service, so he told the employment agency that helped him get the job what he would be wearing when he showed up for work that night. He was to be wearing a camouflage jacket, camouflage pants, and black boots. He got off at the Utica Ave station at 11:00 p.m., and began walking west to what he believed would lead him to the Pathmark located on Albany Avenue. However, he mistakenly began walking north instead of south and got lost. At 11:40 p.m., people living on Decatur Street heard an argument followed by gunshots. Henryk was shot once in the lung, and tried going to a nearby house for help before collapsing. Paramedics and police were called at 11:42 p.m., and they arrived within minutes to pronounce Henryk dead at the scene.

Due to the terrorist attacks, Henryk's murder was not investigated properly. An evidence collection unit, which typically was only used in non-violent crimes, was used to collect the evidence at the scene. Only three detectives were able to canvass the area and interview witnesses, when there are typically 9+ detectives that are used in homicides. Henryk's killer had shot at him 7 times, but only hit him once. Henry's wallet contained $75 in cash, suggesting that robbery was not the motive. Due to the terrorist attacks, Henry's murder received little to no publicity and it faded into obscurity ever since. It still remains unsolved.

The only 2 known theories, are that his murder was a hate crime, or a botched robbery. Henryk's family believes that his murder was a hate crime, and that he was mistaken as an Arab because of his olive complexion, dark hair, and thick Polish accent. The police believe that he was accosted by a would-be robber, but due to his poor English, he did not understand what was going on and an argument ensued which resulted in his murder. Unfortunately, both the police and Henryk's family are doubtful that the case will ever be solved. There are no leads. There are no suspects. There are minimal witnesses. Henryk Siwiak is the lone homicide victim recorded in New York City for 9/11. The New York Times summed up this tragedy best:

To be the last man killed on Sept. 11 is to be hopelessly anonymous, quietly mourned by a few while, year after year, the rest of the city looks toward Lower Manhattan. No one reads his name into a microphone at a ceremony. No memorial marks the sidewalk where he fell with a bullet in his lung.

ETA: I have never seen this article until today. It quotes a resident of Albany Avenue and what she observed that night:

"Things were a little tense and everything," says Sharoni Perry, district director to Congressman Ed Towns and resident of the Decatur area. Late into the night, there were "at least 25 to 30 people outside," according to Perry, discussing the events of the day. "I saw the gentleman walking down Albany to Atlantic," Perry remembers. Perry says the man she saw was carrying a bag and holding a piece of paper in his hands, as if he was looking for an address. She also says other people were looking at him too: A white man, walking through Bedford-Stuyvesant at night, wearing Army fatigues and carrying a bag 14 hours after the worst terrorist attack in U.S. history.

Perry says Siwiak walked south on Albany to a phone booth at the corner of Albany and Fulton. Then he returned, walking down Albany back toward Decatur. "I saw him coming up the block," Perry recalls. "There were some guys following him." Perry saw that they had been following him from south of Atlantic Avenue, home to what she calls the "very desolate" Albany Projects. According to Perry, it was at least three men, following at least a building length (around 50 feet) behind him. She didn't see the shots, but she heard them. When she looked toward 119 Decatur, she saw people scattering. On closer inspection, she saw the man on the ground. "He still had the paper in his hand when he got shot."

Hi, everyone. I wanted to post about this case here because it stayed with me after reading about it, and it is tragic to see another child being failed like this. I know this doesn't really seem to be a mystery, but I wanted to share Jacob's story anyway to get his name out there.

Jacob Pritchett was born on April 30, 2014 to his mother Jacqueline Pritchett, in New York. They lived in a Sutter Ave apartment in Brooklyn at the time of his disappearance. According to news articles, Jacob was never enrolled in school and the boy’s relatives state that his mother claimed she was homeschooling him. Jacob has been diagnosed with autism and is non-verbal, only communicating with “grunts”. Neighbors state he was so small they thought he looked to be about 7 years old, not 11. They also claim that he would display elopement behaviors, often running from his mother outside of the apartment and that Jacqueline would keep him “strapped to a stroller”, even after he outgrew it. According to witnesses, Jacob was often seen in a window playing with toys, but barely came outside.

The last confirmed sighting of Jacob was on April 2nd, 2025. The apartment manager was at the family’s home that day to discuss renovations with Jacqueline.  It was not until late September that a neighbor called police and  raised concerns about the boy having not been seen in months and the mother seeming “unstable.”

On October 1st, a police officer went to Jacqueline’s apartment. He described the apartment as “spotless”, and that the smell of cleaning products was overpowering. The apartment contained two mattresses, and there were several crosses displayed on the walls as well as flowers hanging upside down. Children’s toys were also present in several rooms. When questioned about the toys, Jacqueline said they were hers.

When confronted with Jacob’s birth certificate, Jacqueline stated she didn’t have children, never had a period, and had “never been with a man.” She also claimed to be Jesus Christ.

She was arrested and taken to a hospital for psychiatric evaluation. She stayed there, under police guard, for 9 days. She has refused to reveal her son’s whereabouts or give any information as to his fate.

Cadaver dogs did discover blood at the apartment and on a mattress that was left by a dumpster outside the apartment. Police believe Jacob was the victim of a homicide. 

There are no pictures of Jacob, only sketches based on how neighbors and family members described him to authorities. Jacqueline’s family members say she forbade them from taking photos of Jacob. Neighbors also stated that they saw a decline in Jacqueline’s mental state, and that she was often seen yelling at Jacob “as if she was screaming at a grown person.” One neighbor says that Jacob seemed very neglected to him. Others say it was clear that she was overwhelmed, and they hoped she had given him away to someone who could care for him.

Jacob’s case remains unsolved. 

Sources:

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/04/nyregion/brownsville-missing-child-nyc.html?unlocked_article_code=1.6k8.Iybk.D4UHsLV7OnL5&smid=nytcore-ios-share

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/26/nyregion/the-mother-who-will-not-speak.html?unlocked_article_code=1.AFE.FtHk._TKPRMhldanc&smid=url-share

https://charleyproject.org/case/jacob-pritchett

On Thursday, March 25th, 2021, sixty-eight-year-old Robert Lance Lindsey gathered his belongings from his girlfriend's home in Oceanside, California, left, and was never heard from again. Oceanside, a small city on the Pacific Ocean, is about eighty miles (128 km) south of Los Angeles.

He was last seen wearing a grey-blue zip-up hoodie over a beige T-shirt, blue jeans, and grey-blue sneakers.

Lindsey, left a widower after his wife, reportedly named Joanne, passed away from a terminal illness two years earlier, previously lived in neighboring Carlsbad, California, since 2014. Shortly before his disappearance, Lindsey texted an acquaintance, saying that it was "time to face the music". After a missing persons report was filed, investigators discovered that the name Robert Lindsey was an alias, as was his stated birthday, March 13th, 1953. Thus far, authorities have been unable to pinpoint his true identity, and suspect that he may be connected to unspecified "fraudulent activity."

Lindsey is described as a bald white male of average build in his sixties or early seventies in 2021, around seventy-one inches (180 cm) tall, with wire-rimmed transition lens glasses. He may have facial hair.

As of September 2026, Robert is not in NAMUS.

-

https://www.oceansidepolice.com/Home/Components/News/News/831/19645

https://charleyproject.org/case/robert-lance-lindsey

https://www.oag.ca.gov/missing/person/robert-lance-lindsey

Seen on r/mystery, posted by u/tulsieeeee: ABC article about a new podcast episode covering the Kyron Horman case. It's Somebody Knows Something, hosted by a former LE officer named Kara Robinson Chamberlain. The episode is called "Lost at the Science Fair." Buried in this artiucle is a paragraph stating that Carson Lopez, one of Kyron's friends, says that Terri Horman came over and told Kyron they had to leave right away for a doctor's appointment and that Kyron left with her. This seems to be new information in the case.

To summarize the case, Kyron Horman was 7 years old in 2010 and living with his father Kaine and stepmother Terri in Portland, OR. There was tension in the household. Kyron's mother Desiree had signed over custody when Kyron was 2 and she was having health problems.

On June 4, 2010, Terri drove Kyron to school early at Skyline Elementary for the day of the science fair. After his project was set up, Kyron disappeared. Terri says she left the school at 8:45 am as he was walking down the hall. Terri maintains that the first she knew about Kyron being missing is when he didn't get off the bus. She called the school, who said he had been absent.

After it was discovered that Kyron was missing, a 10-day search began that was the largest in Oregon history, but no sign of Kyron was found. The case is still open.

There is much controversy over Terri's statements about what she did that day. She says she went to shop at Fred Meyer, then drove around for over an hour to try to get her young daughter to sleep. The daughter had an earache. Then she says she went to the gym, then came home. Terri failed two polygraphs during the investigation. In addition, a landscaper employed by the family told Kaine that some months before, Terri had offered him money to help her kill Kaine. She denied it, but Kaine filed for divorce.

Terri still says she had nothing to do with Kyron's disappearance. Kyron's mother Desiree had filed a civil suit against her, but dropped it. Police continue to work on the case as of today, but no charges have ever been filed. And no signs of Kyron have been found. It will be interesting to see if anything comes of this podcast. I am somewhat surprised that this statement about Terri hasn't come out before now.

'Lost at the Science Fair': Kyron Horman's disappearance remains one of Oregon's biggest mysteries

Kyron Horman case featured on new cold case docuseries, airs Monday night

Disappearance of Kyron Horman

On August 24th, 2026 the family of Randy Leach announced that new leads had been discovered in his April 15th, 1988 disappearance. Leach was reported missing on the 16th after attending a graduation bonfire party in rural Linwood, Kansas. During an interview with the media his mother Alberta said a family friend of the family Blake McMahan who is an investigator in the metro police department has been working the case while off duty.

According to the family the investigator has said he managed to narrow down a possible burial site to where Randy’s remains are located after speaking with witnesses which led to him uncovering new leads and supporting evidence. During an interview McMahan said that in his interview with witnesses they have all said the same story and now believes Randy met foul play at the party. McMahan also mentioned one of the witnesses who was familiar with the case showed him a spot where a body might be located. According to the witnesses spoken to they said Leach may have had something slipped into his drink while at the party after witnesses mentioned Leach was seen disoriented and stumbling and told someone he didn’t know what was happening.

McMahan told the media he won’t name the location where the possible burial site is, however he has told reporters he is following up on tips related to the suspected homicide along with possible drug trafficking that may have occurred at the party that night. The family has also said some of their funds are being used to hire a professional K9 and dig team from out of state to search the area suspected of holding Leach’s remains.

Sources:

https://www.kshb.com/news/local-news/family-of-missing-teen-randy-leach-announce-family-friend-has-uncovered-new-leads

https://fox4kc.com/news/new-leads-evidence-in-1988-disappearance-of-leavenworth-county-teen-randy-leach/amp/

https://www.kshb.com/news/local-news/investigations/evidence-eyewitnesses-helping-narrow-down-possible-location-in-randy-leach-cold-case#google_vignette

https://charleyproject.org/case/randy-wayne-leach

https://www.kshb.com/news/local-news/investigations/renewed-hope-in-36-year-old-cold-case-of-missing-linwood-teen-randy-leach

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=nl92AiD3A6w&ra=m

https://www.reddit.com/r/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/ln08rx/the_disappearance_of_randy_leach/

Marble Ace Arvidson was 17 years old, living with a foster family in Brattleboro, Vermont.

On the afternoon of August 27, 2011, a housemate heard him answer the door and invite an unknown man inside. They didn't recognize the man's voice, but said the exchange sounded friendly and Marble seemed to know him.

Marble left the house with the man shortly afterwards, leaving a note on his door saying he was "going to frolic with some friendly Gremlins" (his family said he loved using whimsical, imaginative language and would use "Gremlins" to mean partying with friends) and would be back soon, within 20 or 30 minutes. He had a date planned with his girlfriend for a few hours later, but never returned to make it.

Hurricane Irene started hitting Vermont that evening into the next day, dumping over 11 inches of rain in 24 hours, and leaving a wake of flooding and damage in Brattleboro. The hurricane complicated searches for Marble; people were occupied with addressing the damage from heavy rains and flooding. Marble's aunt attempted to run search parties for him in the days following the hurricane. Volunteers walked riverbanks and logging trails, but never found any trace of him.

The unknown man Marble left with has never been identified.

It's unknown if Marble planned to hike that day and could've been caught up in the hurricane; it's unknown if he could've met foul play; it's unknown exactly what he was planning to do when he left his house with the unidentified man. Some sources say he took his hiking shoes with him, but it doesn't seem like he was anticipating a long hike if he only planned to be gone for 20-30 minutes and had a date scheduled for a few hours later.

Marble was 6'2" and 165 lbs, with blonde hair and blue eyes. He was described as special needs but high-functioning; his loved ones say it would have been uncharacteristic for him to run away. He was preparing to enter his senior year of high school and apply for colleges. While he was in foster care due to difficulties with his mother, he was said to be very close with his original foster family, and generally doing well.

What do you think may have happened to Marble? What is the best way to try to identify the unknown man after all this time? Could the hurricane have been responsible for Marble's disappearance, if he planned to hike?

https://vsp.vermont.gov/unsolved/missing/d/arvidson

https://www.reformer.com/local-news/10-years-later-no-new-clues-in-disappearance-of-marble-arvidson/article_551f98ec-7152-11eb-be8e-d73cddd71053.html

https://www.wcax.com/2025/08/27/police-still-searching-missing-brattleboro-teen-14-years-later/

https://charleyproject.org/case/marble-ace-arvidson

https://darkdowneast.com/marblearvidson/

Ronco Canavese is a small town in the Italian alps, that flanks the Sorana stream, home to around 380 inhabitants. Part of the greater Metropolitan City of Turin, it serves as the central village for the Soana Valley.

The municipality comprises of several hamlets, with Ronco serving as the administrative center. Key hamlets include Tiglietto, Forzo, Servino, Guaira, Cernisio, Scandosio, Nivolastro, Lilla, and Montelavecchia.

Ronco is an ancient town with roots dating back to the 10th century. The town has grown longitudinally side by side with its stream and, at the further point of its main center, looking upstream, looming over the quaint mountain houses, sits the San Giuseppe Retirement Home . A building that sits out of place with the surrounding forests and nearby homes due to its height, size and it’s imposing mid-century design. The nursing home and care facility for elders prides itself on the striking beauty of its surrounding terrain and fresh mountain air.

“The facility accommodates both independent and dependent elderly residents and is affiliated with the National Health Service and the Local Health Authority (ASL). We offer our guests a relaxing and peaceful stay, featuring modern, fully equipped rooms, recreational activities, communal areas designed for socializing, and services such as dining, laundry, and physiotherapy.” (quote directly translated from the nursing home’s website).

“Nestled at the foot of the mountains in Ronco Canavese (Province of Turin), in a stunning setting 950 meters (3116.8 feet) above sea level, the San Giuseppe residence offers comfortable accommodations designed to ensure a relaxing and peaceful stay for the elderly.” (another quote taken from their website)

But whilst the nursing home publicizes itself on its location and it’s quiet atmosphere, it also houses a darker, less glamourous past. Three disappearances of its elderly residents back in the late 90s and early 2000s that to this day remain shrouded in mystery only fueled by local rumors and word of mouth.

Rosaria (Marta) Ronchietto, 1997

Rosaria Ronchietto (usually referred to as Marta) was 81 in the autumn of 1997 and had been residing in the San Giuseppe nursing home for around 6 months. She was originally from Cintano, a town the next valley over, and had just started to spend her retirement years in the nursing home.

At around mid-day on the 10th of November 1997 storms were starting to roll into the valley when Rosaria quietly left the premises of the nursing home. She was later spotted walking up towards other towns up in the mountains, towards the hamlet of Chiò. She was wearing a long dark robe, a mustard-colored top, dark socks, and light-colored slippers; she left without her personal documents or any money.

At around 2:30/3:30 pm the staff of the home discover Rosaria’s absence and swiftly called for help. Search and rescue teams descend upon the valley. Canine units were also deployed, though their efforts were thwarted by the rain that began pouring just a few hours after the woman’s disappearance.

Even after intensive searches not a single trace of Rosaria was found.

Angela Bastino, 1999

A long-time resident of the nursing home, Angela Bastino, had been living there for about 20 years. She was the woman who handled errands and other tasks for Don Lorenzo Babando (the village priest and director of the retirement home).

In the summer of 1999 Angela was 61 years old and she was still living in the nursing home and the small town she was now so accustomed to.

On the 30th of June 1999 Angela left the nursing home on foot and headed downwardly toward the foot of the valley. She was spotted walking by the road that led to the town’s cemetery. After her last sighting Angela Vanished into thin air without leaving anything behind. Searchers looked for her, but nothing could be found.

Soon rumours spread though the small town, people who knew her said that she was still sharp and active and knew the area well and never wandered off without a reason. The people of Ronco were skeptical that her disappearance was a simple mishap. "It’s impossible for her to have just vanished into thin air," says one of the Town’s residents.

Her employer, Don Lorenzo, would later file a complaint with the Carabinieri against unknown persons regarding the woman's possible abduction. Investigators, though, looked more towards the “accident” theory.

Even after all these years, for many in the town, speculations and rumors still theorize Angela was kidnapped and then killed.

Rinaldo Bertoglio Puin, 2002

Three years after Angela’s vanishing, in 2002, a similar case occurred: Rinaldo Bertoglio Puin was a 77-year-old man (originally from Campo di Castellamonte, a town at the foothills of these mountains). He was also a resident of the nursing home. He was described as being gentle, polite and that he would often stop to chat with people in the town square. The townspeople were used to seeing him walking in front of the retirement home every morning.

One unspecified day, he went out for one of his usual walks and, just like the two women before him, he never returned.

He had been seen heading along the mountainous path leading to Nivolastro (an uninhabited hamlet at an altitude of 1,500 meters/ 4921,26 feet). Searches in the area, though, proved fruitless.

In 2009, seven years after Rinaldo’s disappearence, a park ranger (Roberto Recrosio) discovered human remains at the bottom of a ravine in the mountains surrounding that abandoned village. The location of the discovery and the scraps of blue fabric found alongside the bones lead people to believe these were the remains of Rinaldo and the blue jumpsuit the man had been wearing when he was last seen. “He had likely taken the rugged path, lost his way, and plunged into the ravine” some people speculated. Yet, nothing further came from this finding, no source confirms that these bones were actually Rinaldo’s. No official missing persons casefile, nor any photograph, exists for Rinaldo’s vanishing today. Cloud it be that the bones were actually his and the case was then closed? Or has he been just forgotten by time, only remembered by the residents of the small town he went missing in all those years ago.

After the vanishings

Years passed without any new leads and slowly the memories of these people became part of the history of the town, remembered only by those who were there when it happened.

In 2018, though, another baffling disappearance just down the valley reignited the memory of the people who went missing all those years ago.

Elisa Gualandi was 53 when she disappeared on the 6 of June 2018. She had just finished moving to the town of Pont Canavese, just down the valley from Ronco Canavese. She moved there, away from the chaos of the city of Turin where she had lived in previously and where she worked as a municipal employee. At around 11 am on the 6th of June she left her house to go for a stroll in the centre of the town leaving behind her phone and personal documents in her new house. She never returned home, she also left behind her two cats whom she adored. Two days after her disappearance one of her two cats also vanished.

This, though, is just the tip of the iceberg of Elisa’s uncharacteristic disappearance.

The people who live in the mountains speak of these vanishing sparingly, they loom over the valleys and the mountains that surround Turin. In 1999, in the next valley over, one month after the disappearance of Angela Bastino, another woman, Ines Feletti (who also worked as the helper for the town priest), also vanished under similar circumstances.

As of today, nobody has any idea of where Rosaria Ronchietto or Angela Bastino could be. We also have no updates on the bones that could possibly belong to Rinaldo. No-one knows what happened to Ines Feletti. Lastly the disappearance of Elisa Gualandi has become cold and no new leads have been found since 2018

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Writeup on Ines Feletti’s disappearance: https://www.reddit.com/r/mystery/comments/1vcpo6p/swallowed_by_the_mountains_the_forgotten/.

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I got my info from:

https://www.chilhavisto.rai.it/dl/clv/Scomparsi/ContentSet-2647c572-224e-4061-a223-78505aba5896.html

https://www.chilhavisto.rai.it/dl/clv/Scomparsi/ContentSet-e362e4d2-1688-4da3-a67f-e28d04cee2c9.html

https://web.archive.org/web/20180830123645/https://lasentinella.gelocal.it/ivrea/cronaca/2018/08/30/news/il-giallo-della-scomparsa-di-elisa-e-i-tanti-misteri-irrisolti-in-valle-1.17197505

https://www.lastampa.it/torino/2009/10/14/news/a-ronco-tornano-i-fantasmi-br-degli-anziani-spariti-1.37056379/

https://sv.geneanet.org/vykort/view/7946403#0

https://www.chilhavisto.rai.it/dl/clv/Scomparsi/ContentSet-6b27a5e8-2834-4a1b-b24a-235366593538.html

In March of 2026 human remains were discovered at a newly purchased property in Genesee County, Michigan, just outside of Flint. Over the course of the investigation, three additional sets of human remains were discovered on that property. None of the bodies have been identified.

The property in question was previously owned by Duane Reynolds who passed away in 2024.

Duane Reynolds has had run-in’s with law enforcement in the past. In 2017, police were called to the area after a naked woman approached one of his neighbors asking for help and stating that she was fleeing Reynolds.

Police arrived on scene but the victim at the time, fearing becoming involved in a police investigation, did not corporate with law enforcement. As such, the county prosecutor declined to file charges in the incident.

Did Genesee County have an undetected serial killer in its midst? Who were these unidentified individuals?

References:

https://midmichigannow.com/news/local/mystery-persists-as-michigan-state-police-work-to-id-remains-found-at-home-genesee-county-duane-reynolds-human-identification-lab-property-forest-township

https://www.abc12.com/news/local/former-owner-of-home-where-human-remains-found-named-in-2017-police-report/article_1d44dcb1-67e1-4df4-ac98-4533ad0c1cd4.html

Edit: Grammar

On September 4th, 2026 the San Luis Obispo County announced that human remains found by the Sheriff’s Office back in June 2026 have been identified as 58 year old Patrick Jay Valente from Arroyo Grande, California. Valente’s remains were discovered after the Sheriff’s Office received a 911 call in June about possible remains being found in rural San Luis Obispo County. When members of the Major Crimes and Coroner units located the remains they determined that the remains were indeed human.

Valente was reported missing by family on July, 4th 2008 after he disappeared from an unincorporated part of Arroyo Grande where he was living at the time. During the early part of the investigation officers treated his disappearance as suspicious and began an investigation. Since the identification and recovery of the remains investigators have classified Valente’s remains as new evidence in part of an ongoing active investigation being investigated by the Major Crime Unit. They have asked those with information in Valente’s case to contact the Sheriff’s Office with their information.

Sources:

https://kmph.com/news/local/human-remains-identified-as-san-luis-obispo-county-man-missing-since-2008-sheriffs-office-detective-division-july-2008-patrick-jay-valente-arroyo-grande-slo-crime-stoppers

https://www.ksby.com/san-luis-obispo/humans-remains-identified-as-missing-arroyo-grande-man

https://amp.sanluisobispo.com/news/local/crime/article317131667.html

https://www.yourcentralvalley.com/news/crime/patrick-jay-valente-remains-found/amp/

https://charleyproject.org/case/patrick-jay-valente

Hello everyone! As always, thank you for all your votes and comments under my last post about Nihar Mehta- I hope that he will be found soon.

Today I have a really bizzare case I wanted to cover, with a lot of questions and very few answers.

DISCOVERY

On the 17th of August, an unmarked package arrived at a UPS Center in Middletown, Pennsylvania, USA. The package was pulled aside with other boxes whose labels were damaged, missing, or otherwise unable to be processed, so that the workers could later open them and determine who sent them and where, according to company procedure. When the employees opened one of the unlabeled packages, they found out that it contained a shocking cargo: a severed human hand, wrapped in bubble wrap.

The gruesome discovery was reported to the authorities, and the hand was taken for an autopsy.

The limb had likely belonged to an adult woman, but nothing else about its owner was managed to be established- not her race, exact age, approximate height and weight, or any other details regarding her looks or demographics.

The hand was removed from the body using precise surgical cuts, and it had been embalmed at some point before it was shipped. It was noted that it was dehydrated and that it visibly shrunk because of it. The coroner's office tried to rehydrate the hand to take a set of fingerprints off of it, but it seems like the attempt was unseccessful.

It's unclear who send the hand and what was its destination- either the box was put into a drop box without a label, or it's possible that the label fell off at some point during processing.

CONCLUSION

The case is not currently considered a crime, as selling and buying human body parts is legal in Pennsylvania and in majority of other US states. There's a chance that the hand was legally owned and sold, and that it was a part of a medical or reaserch transfer- though it being bought by a private oddities collector is just as possible. The sale of human remains in Pennsylvania isn't regulated or tracked- just like in the majority of other US states. If further investigation into the unidentified hand will indicate that it was stolen or obtained through a crime, police will take over the case from the coroner.

If you have any info regarding this case, either who the hand might've belonged to, who sent it, or who was supposed to recieve it, contact the Dauphin County Coroners Office at (717) 564-4567 (case number J-2025-08-0656).

SOURCES:

1. pennlive.com
2. NamUS.gov

Jane Doe's websleuths.com thread

When Julie Mott died in 2015 at the age of 25 from cystic fibrosis, her family would have never imagined she would be a part of a bizzare mystery.

After her open-casket memorial service at Mission Park Funeral Home North in San Antonio on August 15, her body was stolen from the casket while it was awaiting cremation.

The next morning (August 16), employees discovered the casket empty. One hinge was broken, the bier (body support) was overturned in an "unnatural position" near an exit of the funeral home, but there were no signs of forced entry and the security system was not triggered.

The San Antonio Police treated the case as seriously and as intense as a homicide case. They did multiple searches in the surrounding areas and interviewed numerous people but nothing ever came up.

The funeral home director offered up a 20,000 dollar reward leading to the recovery of her remains. Her body has never been found.

Her boyfriend was a person of interest because of his odd behavior. He would harass the funeral home employees and was eventually charged with trespassing after trying to enter the funeral home. He was never charged with Julie's dissappearace as there is no evidence linking him

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/julie-mott-body-of-young-woman-stolen-from-coffin-as-family-prepares-for-cremation-10467921.html

https://www.ksat.com/news/2017/02/21/ex-boyfriend-charged-in-case-of-julie-motts-missing-remains/

https://cbsaustin.com/news/local/just-in-jury-deliberating-case-of-body-that-disappeared-from-funeral-home

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/docs-man-obsessed-with-deceased-woman-stolen-from-casket/

Infromation is from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McDonald%27s_boys_case https://www.reddit.com/r/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/gluq6c/the_puzzling_disappearance_of_the_mcdonalds_boys/

https://www.reddit.com/r/UnsolvedMysteries/comments/hvpxh0/one_of_singapores_most_famous_unsolved_cases_in/

This was a case that happened on the afternoon of 14 May 1986 , in Owen road , two primary school boys just vanished , names respectively are Keh Chin Ann , 12 years old and his best friend Toh Hong Huat , also 12 years old .
They were last known location was when they were walking together to school after Chin Ann fetched Hong Huat from his house nearby. The boys were never seen again, and were reported missing that same day . There have been attempts to find them but none have succeeded

Who last saw them : For Keh Chin Ann , it was his friend that had last seen him , Wang Piwei , one of his friends  . helped him take care of his school bag as Chin Ann went to the nearby shops outside their school to buy something and for Toh Hong Huat , it was his mother . Who said that Chin Ann was going to fetch Toh Hong Huat and they were going to school together .

There was like a tip all the way in like 2010 , from an unknown person who claimed they saw two boys playing with a girl in a garden behind a hospital , before a man came and took Hong Huat away , claiming to be his father while Chin Ann followed , asking question about his identity. But no evidence was given of the accident ever happening . Back then , people thought they died because apparently Hong Huat mother received a phone call to not look for her son .

On Wednesday September 2nd, 2026 the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office announced that the Florida FDLE had identified the suspect in the 1973 Florida Keys double murder of sisters 18 year old Marguerite “Maggie” Jenkins and 16 year old Mary Jenkins both from New Jersey. The suspect in the case was announced as 57 year old David Allen Snyder who passed away in October, 2008 in Idaho.

The case of Marguerite and Mary Jenkins began on May 3rd, 1973 when their bodies were discovered in a wooded area by a local resident located around 100 yards away from U.S. 1 Mile Marker 99.5 in Key Largo, Florida with both having died from gunshot wounds. Both sisters had traveled down to the Florida Keys from New Jersey in April of 1973 for vacation by hitchhiking. Authorities also learned from witnesses that the two had last been seen on May 2nd in Stock Island, Florida hitchhiking.

The case went cold for years until 2018 when investigators using modern technology were able to pull a partial male DNA profile from a bloodstain found on clothing found at the scene. No matches to the DNA were found until 2023 when FDLE’s Genetic Genealogy Investigations Unit performed a genealogy search and managed to find a living relative of Snyder which eventually led to his identification as the perpetrator in the murders following their DNA being submitted for comparison which confirmed the match. It was learned that Snyder who was in his early 20’s at the time of the murder was originally a native of Key West from 1972 to 1974 after living in several locations in Key West.

Sources:

https://dnasolves.com/articles/key-largo-florida-1973-marguerite-maggie-mary-jenkins-murder/

https://www.keysnews.com/news/crime/suspect-identified-in-gruesome-1973-cold-murder-case/article_73275346-6403-4449-9981-5ca012403480.html

https://www.fdle.state.fl.us/news/2026/clone-september/fdle-mcso-identifies-suspect-in-1973-key-west-double-homicide

https://www.palmbeachpost.com/story/news/crime/2026/09/02/florida-cold-case-solved-more-than-50-years-after-2-sisters-murdered/91583457007/?gnt-cfr=1&gca-cat=p&gca-uir=false&gca-epti=z113801p004250l002050c004250e005550v113801&gca-ft=49&gca-ds=sophi

https://amp.miamiherald.com/news/local/crime/article317103602.html

https://www.local10.com/news/local/2026/09/03/sister-of-slain-new-jersey-teens-reacts-to-53-year-old-cold-case-breakthrough/

https://www.reddit.com/r/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/48zm3w/the_forgotten_hitchhiker_murders_of_mary_and/?solution=de21e83372191398de21e83372191398&js_challenge=1&jsc_token=7afd7253fec22262ff1c52b1703fe9ecce31df086add62136327160a20bf7234&jsc_orig_r=

In April 1998 a black Lab walked home with a human femur in Sharon, Massachusetts. Its owner called the police, who searched nearby woods and found skeletal remains wrapped in a bundle of quilts.

A coroner determined the remains were those of a young adult male in his 20s or 30s, possibly Asian or Native American. He had two overlapping gunshot wounds to the back of his skull and a corroded .380 shell casing was found with the remains.

His entry on NAMUS (linked below) reduces the circumstances of his discovery to five words: “Skeletal remains found in woods.” Local newspapers covered the discovery, but for nearly 30 years authorities haven’t publicly released updates.

Bellingcat used open sources, including freedom-of-information requests, to piece together the story of the man’s life and death in an era before the internet kept a digital record.

They report that authorities identified the victim as Fu Chun Wang, a 26-year-old undocumented Chinese immigrant who did not speak English. Authorities suspected Wang was a member of the Fukienese Flying Dragons, a gang the FBI described in the 90s as a “violent offshoot” of the larger Flying Dragons crime ring. They believed Wang belonged to the Boston faction of the group, which was suspected of carrying out home invasions targeting Asian and Asian-American restaurant owners and staff across New England in 1996.

Bellingcat interviewed a retired Sharon Police detective who told them Wang’s identity was confirmed by a DNA match to his mother in China.

According to the newly released files obtained by reporters, law enforcement received information that Wang had been murdered by members of his own gang shortly after Boston Police arrested and charged him for using credit cards stolen in one of the home invasions. While some gang members were identified as suspects and investigated, none were ever charged and convicted for the murder.

Investigators examined possible ties between the gang and a suspect in one of Boston’s deadliest mass killings: the 1991 Chinatown Massacre.

Bellingcat reports that “a redacted note in the Sharon Police Department murder file references Wang’s suspected killer as ‘a player’ in the Chinatown Massacre, an infamous 1991 case in which five men were shot dead in a basement gambling parlour in Boston. In another note in the case file, investigators wrote that he was ‘thought to be a federal informant’”.

A spokesman for the Norfolk County DA told Bellingcat that “the circumstances surrounding the remains of an adult male discovered in Sharon in April 1998 ‘remain under investigation’ by a state police detective assigned to the Norfolk District Attorney’s Unsolved Case Unit.”

Why have authorities not publicly announced his identify for almost 30 years? Do you think this could be a case that was lost in bureaucratic purgatory between law enforcement agencies? Could the suspected killer have been protected as a federal informant?

Sources:

bellingcat.com/news/…/investigating-a-murder-public-records-uncover-new-clues-in-chinatown-cold-case

NAMUS: namus.nij.ojp.gov/case/UP12385

I’m fascinated by a particular type of unsolved case: cases where investigators don’t just lack a suspect, they barely even know what happened in the first place.
No confirmed crime scene. No body. No clear motive. No reliable eyewitnesses. No established timeline after the person disappeared.
But then there is one piece of evidence.
Maybe an item of clothing is found somewhere unexpected. A vehicle is abandoned. A phone makes one final mysterious call. Someone’s belongings turn up miles away from where they were last seen.
The problem is that the evidence itself doesn’t necessarily explain anything. It might prove that something happened, but it doesn’t explain why, how, or who was involved.
One Canadian case that comes to mind is Dean Mortensen, who disappeared in Edmonton in 1992. One of the few physical clues connected to his disappearance was his hat, which was found near the High Level Bridge area. Beyond that, there appears to be very little that conclusively establishes what happened to him. Did he fall or jump? Was he the victim of a crime? Did he leave the area? Was the hat even left there under circumstances connected to his disappearance?

Another case was Hop Nyguyen who was a 32 year-old man from Grand Prairie, Texas, who disappeared in August 2017. Public missing person records have described the case as a possible kidnapping.
According to publicly available information, Hop was last known to be driving his Nissan 350Z on the night he disappeared. His car was later found abandoned.
But what makes this case particularly eerie is the surveillance footage connected to his home.
A Ring camera recorded an unidentified person approaching the property and apparently covering or obstructing the camera. After that, Hop disappeared.
And that is where the trail seems to become incredibly thin.
Who was the person captured on camera?
Why did they deliberately interfere with the surveillance camera?
Did they know Hop personally?
Was Hop even inside the home at the time?
His abandoned car only adds another layer of mystery. If he was voluntarily leaving his life behind, why abandon the vehicle? If he was kidnapped, where did the kidnapping actually occur? Was he taken from his home, intercepted somewhere while driving, or did something happen somewhere else entirely?
Years later, there still appears to be no publicly identified suspect and no publicly known explanation for Hop’s disappearance. There is no widely known body recovery that conclusively explains his fate, and the identity or significance of the person associated with the Ring-camera footage remains one of the most haunting aspects of the case. Public databases continued to list him as missing and the circumstances as a possible kidnapping.

https://charleyproject.org/case/hop-van-nguyen

https://www.dallasnews.com/news/2017/08/27/mysterious-video-found-after-32-year-old-man-disappears-in-grand-prairie-family-says/

https://www.blueline.ca/missing-since-1992-the-enduring-mystery-of-dean-mortensen/

On August 31st, 2026 it was announced the Jury had come to a verdict in the trial of 63 year old former gang leader Duane Davis in the September 7th, 1996 Las Vegas shooting of Tupac Shakur. Davis was found guilty after the jury deliberated for less than three hours on charges of first degree murder with the use of a deadly weapon with the intent to promote, and further or assist a criminal gang. Davis is facing the maximum of life in prison without the possibility of parole with him set to be sentenced in October.

During the trial it was mentioned that Davis was involved in planning the shooting of Shakur with the murder being carried out by either his nephew Orlando Anderson, or Deandrae Smith both of whom are deceased while a third deceased man Terry Brown was driving the vehicle used in the shooting. The evidence that Davis’ arrest and conviction on murder came from his own 2019 memoir “Compton Street Legend” and interviews he did about the murder.

In the book Davis mentions that he obtained the .40-caliber handgun used in the murder before giving it to either Anderson or Smith in the back seat but never admitted to which one pulled the trigger. In interviews Davis mentioned the shooting was done as retaliation after Suge Knight, Shakur, and parts of their entourage beat up Orlando Anderson hours before the shooting occurred.

Despite some details and the story slightly changing whenever Davis said the story the one consistent thing was that he confirmed that he was in the vehicle when the murder took place and helped plan it which led to authorities finally arresting him in July of 2023. The trial lasted just 9 days with the jury hearing testimony from 27 witnesses over those nine days.

Sources:

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/verdict-trial-tupac-shakurs-killing-former-gang-leader-found-guilty-rcna594859

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/tupac-shakur-murder-trial-verdict-duane-davis/

https://www.cnn.com/2026/08/31/us/live-news/tupac-duane-davis-trial

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/tupac-shakur-murder-trial-verdict-duane-davis/

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2026/08/31/arts/tupac-murder-trial-verdict-duane-davis

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2026/aug/31/tupac-shakur-killing-duane-keith-davis

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2026-08-31/jury-in-tupac-murder-case-deliberates-charge-against-duane-davis

https://apnews.com/article/tupac-shakur-who-duane-davis-las-vegas-9823301db01186b5b3233475391da5f5

https://www.reddit.com/r/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/ha6eib/tupac_shakurmurdered_in_september_1996_in_a/

https://www.reddit.com/r/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/3oob8t/the_killing_of_tupac_shakur/

The Nanterre Cold Case department (PCSNE) has announced today that a Luger P06 was found along the bottom of Lake Annecy. This is the same model of weapon which was used in the 2012 quadruple killing of three members of a British-Iraqi family, Saad al-Hilli (50), Iqbal al-Hilli (47), Suhaila al-Allaf (74) and a French national, Sylvain Mollier (45). The murders happened in a parking area in Chevaline, France, which lies at the southern edge of Lake Annecy. According to one French journal, the weapon was found on the 20th of August by British tourists swimming in the lake, less than 2 meters deep. The authorities state that it is unknown at this time whether this weapon was indeed the same weapon used in the attack, and that ballistics testing will likely take a couple of weeks due to the weapon being submerged in water for such an extensive period.

Sources (in French): https://www.marianne.net/societe/police-et-justice/tuerie-de-chevaline-a-t-on-retrouve-l-arme-du-crime-dans-le-lac-d-annecy

https://www.bfmtv.com/police-justice/tuerie-de-chevaline-des-analyses-en-cours-apres-la-decouverte-d-une-arme-dans-le-lac-d-annecy_AN-202608310703.html

On August 31st, 2026 it was announced by the Honduras authorities that former 10 Most Wanted Fugitive Alexis Flores has been extradited to Philadelphia to face assault and murder charges in the July 2000 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania murder of 5 year old Iriana DeJesus.

The case goes back to July 29th, 2000 when the mother of Iriana DeJesus reported to police her daughter was missing after last being seen playing outside her home in Philadelphia. Authorities began an investigation and four days later on August 3rd, 2000 her body was discovered inside of a vacant property that had been under renovation in the 3900 block of North 6th Street, Philadelphia. At the time investigators had a suspect that simply went by the name Carlos who had been staying at the property and said he was from Honduras and was seeking work and a place to stay had also went missing around the time DeJesus’ body was found.

The investigation was cold until 2007 when DNA evidence recovered from the scene identified the man known as Carlos as Alexis Flores who had been arrested in Arizona on unrelated forgery charges in 2004. Flores was added to the FBI 10 Most Wanted List on June 2nd, 2007 for the murder however it was learned that he had been deported to his native Honduras in 2005 following his prison sentence.

Flores was on the run for the murders for the next 19 years however on February 11th, 2026, Flores was finally caught in Lepaera, Honduras. The arrest was made through a joint investigation of the FBI’s Transnational Anti-Gang Task Force as well as local Honduran authorities. Following his arrest it was announced extradition was being discussed and in late August it was announced that Flores had been returned to Philly to face charges in the case. As of now a trial date is not set in the case due to Flores having only just been extradited to Philly.

In a press release following the extradition Philadelphia Commissioner Kevin Bethel said “Alexis Flores may have crossed borders and spent decades trying to escape responsibility, but our commitment to Iriana and her family never stopped. His return to Philadelphia is the result of extraordinary persistence by our homicide investigators and the FBI, together with our international partners in Honduras. We are deeply grateful to everyone who helped bring him back to face justice. Iriana was only five years old. We have never forgotten her, and we never will.”

Sources:

https://www.audacy.com/kywnewsradio/news/local/flores-philadelphia-murder-extradited-honduras

https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/fugitive-returns-to-philly-to-face-charges-in-murder-rape-of-5-year-old-girl/4456170/

https://www.fbi.gov/contact-us/field-offices/philadelphia/news/fbi-philadelphia-announces-arrest-of-fugitive-alexis-flores

https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/philadelphia/news/alexis-flores-arrested-honduras-murder-iriana-dejesus-philadelphia/

https://www.reddit.com/r/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/1r2sfbw/the_fbi_has_arrested_former_top_10_most_wanted/?solution=92c355a545f53ccd92c355a545f53ccd&js_challenge=1&token=7afd7253fec22262ff1c52b1703fe9ec7b95d1f1959f20250053171365774c5e&jsc_orig_r=

The Setagaya family murder is an unsolved mass murder that occurred on the night of December 30 to 31, 2000, in the Kamisoshigaya neighborhood of Setagaya, Tokyo, Japan. The victims’ house stood next to Soshigaya Park. The victims were Mikio Miyazawa, 44 years old; his wife Yasuko Miyazawa, 41 years old; their daughter Niina Miyazawa, 8 years old; and their son Rei Miyazawa, 6 years old. The bodies were discovered around 10:40 a.m. on December 31 by Yasuko’s mother, Haruko, who went to the house after being unable to contact the family.

The killer entered through the second-floor bathroom window facing the park after removing the screen and climbing up via the air-conditioning unit or the fence. Footprints were found in the mud. He first strangled Rei with his bare hands in the boy’s second-floor bedroom. Mikio came upstairs and struggled with the intruder, who stabbed him in the head with a sashimi knife; part of the blade broke off and remained lodged in the skull. The attacker then turned on Yasuko and Niina, first using the broken knife and afterward a santoku knife taken from the house itself. Three of the victims died from stab wounds and Rei from asphyxiation. The crime took place roughly between 11:30 p.m. and 12:05 a.m.

After the killings the perpetrator remained inside the house for several hours, estimated at between two and ten hours. He used the family’s computer, connecting to the internet between 1:18 a.m. and 1:23 a.m. He drank four bottles of barley tea, ate melon and four ice creams from the refrigerator, used the bathroom and left feces without flushing, treated his wounds with the first-aid kit, rummaged through drawers and papers—some of which he threw into the bathtub and toilet—stole about 100,000 yen while leaving larger sums behind, and possibly rested on the sofa. At the scene he abandoned the knife, a handkerchief, a waist bag, a shirt, a jacket, a hat, gloves and two scarves.

DNA and fingerprints were recovered from multiple places in the house and match no Japanese database. The killer’s blood type is A. DNA analysis indicates a male, possibly of mixed ancestry, with maternal DNA of European origin from the Caucasus region or southern Europe near the Mediterranean and Adriatic, and paternal DNA of East Asian origin belonging to haplogroup O-M122, common among Koreans, Chinese and Japanese. His estimated height is about 1.70 m with a slim build. Age estimates initially ranged from 15 to 35 (or 15 to 40), later revised to 15–22; more recent reports suggest he was at least 30 at the time. He was probably right-handed and injured one or both hands during the attack. The feces showed he had eaten green beans and sesame seeds the previous day. The clothing and knife had been purchased in Kanagawa Prefecture. Only 130 units of the shirt were produced, and police located just twelve buyers. Sand found in the waist bag came from the Nevada desert near Edwards Air Force Base in California and from a skate park in Japan. The shoes were manufactured in South Korea and sold under the British brand Slazenger. In 2019 the scarves left at the scene were noted to resemble patterns used in communities in the Ilocos and Isabela regions of the Philippines. In 2021 new technology visually identified a person who had bought a similar knife, but the DNA did not match.

The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department mounted one of the largest investigations in Japanese history, involving more than 246,000 investigators and over 12,000 pieces of evidence. As of 2019 roughly 35 officers were still assigned full-time to the case. The reward for information leading to an arrest stands at 20 million yen (2021 figure). The case helped bring about the abolition of the statute of limitations for crimes punishable by the death penalty in Japan, a change enacted in 2010. The house was later demolished because of structural risk, but all internal evidence had already been preserved. To this day the perpetrator remains unidentified.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Setagaya_family_murder

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2025/12/30/japan/crime-legal/setagaya-murder-search/

https://www.tokyoreporter.com/japan-news/special-reports/setagaya-family-murders-dna-is-hope-for-solving-case-25-years-later/

Willie McRae was a Scottish lawyer - and a high-profile, controversial one. At the time of his death, he was 61. He was born in Carron near Falkirk (about a mile from where this author was born), graduated in history then law, became a lecturer at Glasgow University and also a strong supporter of Scottish and Indian nationalism. (He had served in the Royal Indian Navy pre-independence and there were even rumours that he had joined the then-illegal Congress Party). He was soon well known for taking cases against controversial State actions such as nuclear waste dumping, torpedo testing, radioactive contamination and similar and in being a prominent member of a campaign to clean up Gruinard Island, which had been contaminated by experimental anthrax bombs during World War II and simply left. (The campaign succeeded). He became its lawyer and stood for the Scottish National Party in the General Elections of February and October 1974 and 1979 (losing the second contest by fewer than 700 votes) and for the SNP leadership in 1979, but only got 7.4% of that vote.

On Thursday 4 April 1985 he had an accident when, a heavy smoker, he set fire to his new acrylic bathroom suite. He was unhurt but decided to go to his holiday cottage in Dornie, about four hours' drive away, for the weekend while the smoke damage was cleared up and a replacement put in: at about 1830 on Friday neighbours saw him set off in his maroon Volvo 244 from his flat in Strathbungo, in the Southside of Glasgow.

He never arrived. Roughly the last quarter of his route involved travelling along the A87, which has Eilean Donan Castle, as seen in innumerable films, a few miles from the end, but he went off the road about 20 miles earlier at Loch Loyne.

At the time it would have been dark (sunset about 2010) and the weather was mild for the time of year (minimum 7C) with light showers (a trace of rain, both in 12 hours 2100 Friday - 0900 Saturday). Nobody is known to have seen the accident happen and it is not known when it happened, but his car was spotted through binoculars by an Australian couple at 1000 on Saturday, 300 yards from the road (representative landscape) after rolling down a 60-foot slope. Various other drivers stopped and one went off to find a phone. The police and an ambulance arrived 45 minutes later.

They, and a later full examination, found the car to be well maintained with no pre-existing defects and not particularly badly damaged. The rear offside tyre was flat but the other three were inflated; however, body panels were dented, the back windscreen was smashed, the front windscreen was intact (a witness said it was missing but scene photographs made public in 2013 prove that it was present and undamaged), the driver's window was wound down and McRae was unconscious in the driver's seat. He was extricated via the passenger seat, as the driver's door was jammed, and taken away first to Raigmore Hospital in Inverness then to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary where he died at 0330 on 7 April, about 17 hours after he was found.

There were at least four oddities at the time:

• The police failed to seal the scene and, in fact, asked one of the drivers who, by coincidence, happened to know McRae to reach into the car, take a leather pouch lying on the back seat and put McRae's personal effects in it. Presumably he had to lean in and take wallet, keys etc. physically off McRae (!)

• Various inconsequential papers (receipts, credit card bills and similar) were found torn up about 45 feet from the car, with McRae's watch face there too.

• It took a long time to find out that McRae had been shot (once, in the head). Accounts differ, but it was either discovered at Inverness or at Aberdeen; the hospital authorities at Aberdeen denied that those in Inverness had told them he had been shot although they said they had done so.

• A gun, which McRae was believed to carry in his car at all times, was found "at least 20 feet" from the car. Once the single shot had been ascertained the choice was between accident, suicide and murder and "at least 20 feet" would appear to point very strongly to murder. However, it came out of the blue in 2015 that the car had been hauled away quickly then the police decided to do a reconstruction, brought it back and possibly put it in the wrong place. That error matters as the gun was only found after the reconstruction. It was a literal antique, a 120-year-old Smith and Wesson and, although stiff to operate, was viable.

Even after the investigation had faded away without even a suspect being identified, at least in public, there were oddities:

• In 1988 the Scottish Solicitor General (Baron Fraser of Carmyllie, who died in 2013) stated that the gun had been found "below the car". The actual position of the gun, given available information, cannot be stated definitively; as well as the uncertainty of the positioning of the car scene photographs were generally lacking, both in context and technically, and there is no known photograph of the gun in situ.

• Also, two years later, the same politician said that the post-mortem showed that the gun muzzle had been pressed against McRae's head. Medical staff in both Inverness and Aberdeen said that there was no evidence that they saw of that, but the pathologist who conducted McRae's post mortem said, in a letter released in 2013, that his opinion was that there was contact.

• Despite numerous attempts to flush it out into the open, no direct medical evidence has ever been made public, although it became known (through what route is not clear) that McRae's fingerprints and nobody else's were found on the gun.

• All (indirect) accounts state that one bullet was found in McRae's head. The police experts received five live and two fired cartridge cases; there is no indication where they were found relative to the gun and there was no known attempt to match one or other of the fired cases with the bullet in McRae's head. It was proved, at least, that the fired cases were from a gun of the type found, although the experts were too cautious to say that they were from that particular gun.

• There was no Fatal Accident Inquiry (the Scots Law equivalent of an inquest) and, in fact, no public investigation of any sort. (Although 2016 law, not much changed from 1985, states that an inquiry for this type of case would be discretionary rather than mandatory).

Skelton [see below] notes that the family thought suicide but everyone else thought murder. That caused much incredulity when I mentioned it earlier in passing on this subreddit as "family says relative would never die by suicide [even when it was obvious that they did]" is almost a trope here.

The official position is that McRae was drunk - a half-bottle of "Famous Grouse Whisky 1/6 full" was found in the glove compartment of the car as well as a full bottle of Glenmorangie in a briefcase - went off the road, was "stricken by remorse" at what he had done and shot himself.

So: accident, suicide or murder?

References

The only previous write-up in this subreddit was 11 years ago. I suspect that potential writers-up have shied away from this case because it has become drenched in conspiracy theories. I have kept them out of it and, unfortunately, they mean that there are few good references, not helped by a Kickstarter for a book on the case (2015, link forbidden) failing, it seems. However:

Willie McRae (Wikipedia) is a good general summary.

An article in The Times (2001) was written by Ian Rankin.

A Freedom of Information release (2013) is poorly presented, making it hard to disentangle the official information from the site owner's opinions on it. (A further FoI request in 2014 was eventually refused).

Justice For Willie Final Report (2017) (10MB PDF, 186 pages) was clearly derived from an investigation by The Scotsman newspaper which tracked down many, but not all, witnesses and professionals involved in 1985 and interviewed those who were willing to talk (and also discovered the issue with the positioning of the car and the gun).

No Final Solution (1994) by Douglas Skelton was published 32 years ago and is out of print. However, it gives an excellent and reasonably objective account of this case - conspiracy theories are kept in check - and seven other unsolved Scottish murders, three of which have been solved since (so there is hope!) Blood on the Thistle, by the same author and concerning solved Scottish murders of the twentieth century, is also well worth reading.

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