Strange Cases

A missing jogger, a nationwide search, and a story that unraveled years later through evidence, not spectacle. The jog that ended in silence On November 2, 2016, Sherri Papini , a 34 year old mother of two, went out for a jog near her home in Redding, California. She did not return. When she failed to pick up her children from daycare, her husband reported her missing. Later that day, Papini’s phone and earbuds were found near the area where she had been running. There were n

A Texas Teen, a 911 Call, and a Family Lost A 911 Call That Stopped Investigators Cold On October 4, 2012, a 17-year-old boy in Parker County, Texas called 911 and calmly reported that he had just killed his mother and his sister. The caller was Jacob Ryan Evans, known as Jake. His voice was calm. Measured. Almost detached. He told the dispatcher that he had just shot his mother and his younger sister inside their family home. There was no shouting. No panic. No attempt to fl

A smiling photo on a cliffside became the last image of a woman seven months pregnant. Hours later, she was gone. The Setting On June 19, 2018, Semra Aysal and her husband, Hakan Aysal, were visiting Butterfly Valley near Fethiye in southwestern Turkey. The area is known for its dramatic cliffs, steep drops, and panoramic views. It is also known for being dangerous. That day, the couple posed together near the edge of a cliff estimated at roughly 300 meters high. In photograp

A young teacher’s death, a disputed ruling, and a question that has refused to stay settled for more than a decade Illustrated portrait of Ellen Greenberg, created for editorial use to respectfully represent her life. Introduction Some cases fade because the answers eventually feel complete. Others linger because the explanation never quite fits the details left behind. Ellen Greenberg’s death is one of those cases. On January 26, 2011, Ellen Greenberg was found dead inside h

A cold case solved after 33 years that exposed one of the most disturbing criminal histories in modern Britain A Cold Case That Never Let Go For more than thirty years, the killer behind two unsolved murders in Tunbridge Wells lived in plain sight. The crimes, later known as the Bedsit Murders , haunted Kent police and the victims’ families for decades. There were no arrests, no trial, and no sense of resolution. When the truth finally emerged in 2020, it did not simply close

Eight People. One House. A Killer Who Vanished Into History. By The day book - http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045487/1912-06-14/ed-1/seq-24/, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=39495446 A Quiet Town Before Dawn In the early hours of June 10, 1912 , Villisca, Iowa, was still and dark. Fewer than 1,300 people lived in the small railroad town. It was a place where doors were often left unlocked and neighbors recognized one another by name.

A quiet mountain home. A missing child. And a crime scene that would haunt investigators for decades. By 3ternalist01 - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=20217856 A Small Resort Town In April 1981, the unincorporated mountain community of Keddie sat just outside Quincy , tucked into California’s Sierra Nevada. The Keddie Resort was modest. Dozens of small rental cabins lined the hillsides, most occupied by families or seasonal visitors. C

Three girls were killed on their first night at camp. A warning note was dismissed. The only man ever tried was found not guilty. The case remains officially unsolved. Illustrated portrait of Lori Lee Farmer, Michele Heather Guse, and Doris Denise Milner. A Quiet Camp in Eastern Oklahoma In June 1977, Girl Scouts arrived at Camp Scott in Mayes County, Oklahoma, near Locust Grove. The camp sat in dense woods, with cabins, trails, and tent units spread across a large area. Thre

Japan’s most unsettling unsolved home invasion Opening In the final hours of the year 2000, a quiet residential neighborhood in Tokyo became the site of one of Japan’s most disturbing unsolved crimes. A family of four was killed inside their own home. The attacker did not flee. Instead, evidence shows he remained inside the house for hours, eating food, using the computer, and leaving behind an extraordinary amount of forensic material. More than two decades later, the case r

The Killing a Town Refused to Explain A Town That Already Knew His Name Skidmore, Missouri was small enough that reputations settled in quickly and stayed there. People noticed who lingered, who caused trouble, and who made others uneasy. By the late 1970s, one name carried a weight no one else’s did: Ken Rex McElroy . For years, McElroy was feared. Court records and contemporary reporting describe repeated intimidation, threats, assaults, and retaliation against people who c

How warning signs accumulated long before the consequences were understood A Man Who Seemed Ordinary In September 1978, a man appeared on the television show The Dating Game . He answered questions calmly, smiled for the cameras, and was chosen as the winning contestant. His name was Rodney Alcala . Nothing about the broadcast suggested danger. It was presented as routine entertainment, watched casually by audiences across the country. At the same time, Alcala was already a v

What happened On August 20, 1966 , two Brazilian electronics technicians, Manuel Pereira da Cruz  and Miguel José Viana , traveled from Campos dos Goytacazes to Niterói , across the bay from Rio de Janeiro. They told family members they were going to buy electronic supplies and a used car. That same day, witnesses saw the men buying raincoats and a bottle of water. They then headed to Morro do Vintém , a wooded hill overlooking the city. They were never seen alive again. By B

A Routine Medical Visit Ends in Tragedy Keith McAllister went to an imaging center in Westbury, New York in July 2025 to support his wife during a medical appointment. It was an ordinary visit, the kind most people never think twice about. Within minutes, that routine moment inside an MRI facility turned into a fatal accident that would raise lasting questions about medical safety. What happened was not caused by a machine malfunction. It involved the dangerous interaction be

She Sued McDonald’s for Hot Coffee and Became a Joke She spilled coffee on herself and sued McDonald’s for millions. America laughed. Then they learned what the coffee actually did to her body. Albuquerque, New Mexico. February 27, 1992 Stella Liebeck was 79 years old. She sat in the passenger seat of her grandson’s car in a McDonald’s parking lot after going through the drive thru. Before they drove away, she wanted to add cream and sugar to her coffee. She placed the Styrof

A Perfect Morning That Felt Wrong On the morning of December 26, 2004, ten year old Tilly Smith was walking along Mai Khao Beach in Phuket, Thailand, with her parents. It was their first overseas family holiday. A Christmas gift meant to be carefree. The beach looked calm. The weather was clear. Everything appeared normal. But to Tilly, something felt wrong. She watched the ocean closely and noticed it was not behaving the way it should. The water was not gently moving in and

A Celebrated Beauty Who Vanished In the late 1800s, Blanche Monnier was well known in French high society. Born in 1849, she came from a wealthy and respected family in Poitiers, France. Blanche was described as intelligent, kind, and strikingly beautiful. She attended social events, was admired in aristocratic circles, and was once considered a desirable match. Then, suddenly, she disappeared. No missing persons report was filed. No public concern followed. Among the upper c

A Global Phenomenon Affecting Diplomats Since 2016 It began quietly. A strange pressure in the head. A sudden wave of dizziness. Ringing in the ears that would not stop. In late 2016, American diplomats stationed in Havana, Cuba, started reporting symptoms no one could explain. What followed became one of the most debated and controversial mysteries in modern diplomacy. This phenomenon would come to be known as Havana Syndrome. The First Reports in Cuba The earliest known cas

On January 31, 2013, surveillance cameras inside a Los Angeles hotel captured a young woman behaving in a way no one could explain. She stepped in and out of an elevator, pressed multiple buttons, hid in a corner, and gestured as if someone else were there. Days later, she would vanish without a trace. Her name was Elisa Lam. Source: Wikimedia Commons The Disappearance That Captured the World What followed those final images was a chain of events so unusual that, even after o

On a hot summer morning in August 2004, a man was found unconscious behind a Burger King in Richmond Hill, Georgia. He was sunburned, dehydrated, and covered in fire ant bites. Paramedics assumed they were dealing with a homeless man who had simply passed out in the heat. But when he woke up in the hospital, he couldn’t answer the simplest question anyone had asked him that day. “What is your name?” The man stared back blankly. He didn’t know. He couldn’t remember his birthda

A missing child case that solves itself is almost unheard of. For more than thirty years, a man named Steve Carter lived an ordinary life, unaware that he had once been the subject of a nationwide search. His name, his records, and his history all told one story. The truth told another. As a baby, he disappeared without explanation. No witnesses. No answers. Just an abandoned stroller and a mother who vanished. Decades later, the missing child would be the one to uncover the