As Halloween approaches, everyone is looking for something to give them a good scare by making their way through the horror films on Netflix. However, fiction can't match up to reality, as evidenced in the popular American TV series "Unsolved Mysteries", which ran originally on NBC from 1988 to 1997. The series explored real life missing peoples cases, murder cases, unexplained deaths, and various other unexplained events. In the years since the show has been on the air, several cases featured have been solved. Many more remain unsolved still.
Here are ten disturbing and scary cases that remain unsolved.
10. The death of Cindy James
Episode featured: S03 EP20
Cindy James was found dead on June 8, 1969, in Vancouver, British Columbia. She had been reporting to the police for seven years that she had received threatening messages over the phone and in the mail, as well as physical violent attacks. The police doubted her claims but her family and close friends all believed her. Cindy disappeared on May 25, 1989. Her body was found two weeks later in an abandoned house. She had been hogtied and gagged, but her cause of death was a morphine overdose. Police claimed the death was a suicide, the coroner was undetermined, and her family believe she was murdered. Cindy was 44 at her time of death.
Read more about her case here.
09. The death of Debbie Wolfe
Episode featured: S03 EP14
Debbie Wolfe disappeared on December 25, 1985, after leaving her job at the hospital. When her family investigated her house, they found it left in disarray and Debbie's dogs left abandoned and unfed. They found a message on Debbie's answering machine from a co-worker of Debbie's indicating that she had missed several days of work. Five days after her disappearance, police started up a search. Two friends of Debbie's mother performed their own search of a local pond, where they found a 55 gallon barrel with a body inside. The body was identified as Debbie. Police ruled her death an accident, but evidence points to an abduction and murder.
Read more about her case here.
08. The abduction of Angela Hammond
Episode featured: S04 EP19
Angela Hammond was 20 years old when she was abducted on April 4, 1991. After a dropping off her fiance, Rob Shafer, at home, Angela left and told him she would call him back in a few hours. When she did call him an hour later from a payphone seven blocks from Rob's house, she claimed to have seen a truck circle her area a few times. As they continued to talk, Rob heard Angela screaming and immediately ran out of the house to drive to where she was. On his way to the payphone, he passed a truck matching Angela's description and heard someone call to him out the window. Rob turned the car around and gave chase through downtown for two miles before his transmission failed. He lost track of the truck. Angela was never seen again. Her case is believed to be connected to two other missing persons cases from the same area around the same time.
Read more about her case here.
07. The murder of Linda Sherman
Episode featured: S12 EP01
Linda Sherman was 27 years old when she disappeared on April 22, 1985. Four years after her disappearance, a human skull was found in the bushes by the window at the Casa Gallardo Restaurant in Missouri. The skull was determined to be that of an adult woman's, and after a mysterious letter to a neighboring police station claimed it was Linda, dental records confirmed it was. Her husband Don became the #1 suspect, but without the rest of her body, they have not been able to find any evidence to conclusively point to him or anyone else. Don maintains his innocence and insists that the leaving of Linda's skull at the restaurant was meant as a threat towards him.
Read more about her case here.
06. The murder of Molly Bish
Episode featured: S13 EP42
Molly Bish disappeared on June 27, 2000, from her job on a local pond where she was a lifeguard. The police called her mother Magi after reports came in that there was no lifeguard and that Molly's belongings remained on the beach. Magi believed that her daughter had been abducted by a man she had seen earlier in the parking lot when she dropped Molly off at work. Several other people saw the same man on the day of Molly's disappearance. No evidence could be found of what happened to Molly until three years later, when her remains were found five miles from the pond.
Read more about her case here.
05. The murder of Don Henry and Kevin Ives
Episode featured: S01 EP02
On August 23, 1987, the bodies of 16 year old Don Henry and 17 year old Kevin Ives were found lying side by side on a railway track after a cargo train made an emergency stop upon seeing them. The momentum of the train carried it too far and ran over both boys. The police ruled that the boys had been high on marijuana and died accidentally on the tracks. Both their parents refused to accept that analysis and had the case reopened. Upon exhuming the remains, it was determined that one boy was already dead when the train hit him and the other was dying. Don had been stabbed prior to being run over by the train.
Read more about their case here.
04. The disappearance of Jodi Huisentruit
Episode featured: S08 EP16
Jodi Huisentruit, a news anchor in Mason City, Iowa, disappeared on June 27, 1995 when she failed to turn up for work. A colleague had called her that morning when she was late for work and reached Jodi, who had overslept but was coherent and preparing to come to work. The police were called to check on Jodi and found her personal items strewn around her parked car and no sign of her anywhere. Despite massive search efforts, Jodi has never been found. A popular theory suggests that she was abducted by an obsessed fan.
Read more about her case here.
03. The murders of Mary Lou Morris and Mary Mcginnis Morris
Episode featured: S13 EP06
The body of Mary Lou Morris was found in a burned car just outside Houston, Texas, on October 12, 2000. Three days later, the body of Mary Mcginnis Morris was found in the same area, also burned in a car. Friends of Mary Mcginnis said that she had been spooked by a man that she had seen in a drug store. Police have a tape that contains audio of Mary Mcginnis's death but have not released the tape to the public. It is believed that a hit was put out on Mary Mcginnis and that Mary Lou was killed by mistake, but this has not been proven.
Read more about her case here.
02. The Circleville Writer
Episode featured: S07 EP07
In 1976 in the town of Circleville, Ohio, a bus driver named Mary Gillispie started receiving letters that accused Mary of having an affair with the superintendent of schools and threatened her family. Mary kept the letters to herself until a letter addressed to her husband, Ron Gillispie, arrived. Ron's letter told him to end Mary's affair or his life would be in danger. Ron and Mary believed they knew who was sending the letters and so Ron went to confront him. When leaving the confrontation, Ron lost control of his car and swerved into a tree, which killed him. He was found with his gun in the vehicle, which had been fired once. After his death, the letters continued being sent to Mary. Then in 1983, the letter writer began putting up signs along Mary's bus route that indicated he was targeting Mary's daughter. The sign was booby trapped to conceal a gun that was meant to fire at Mary if she took the sign down, but it did not work. Mary's brother-in-law, Paul Freshour, was eventually convicted for attempted murder in this case. However, after his imprisonment, the letters continued to arrive. Paul was granted parole in 1994 and maintains his innocence, and most experts now believe he did not write the letters and that Ron's death was not an accident.
Read more about this case here.
01. The disappearance of Lauria Bible and Ashley Freeman
Episode featured: S12 EP02
On December 30, 1999, the home of the Freeman family in Vitia, Oklahoma, was found to have been set ablaze and reduced to ashes. In the rubble, an adult body was found. It was identified as Kathy Freeman, and she had died from a gunshot wound to the head before the fire started. Still missing were her husband Danny, her daughter Ashley, and Ashley's best friend, Lauria Bible, who had spent the night with the family to celebrate Ashley's 16th birthday the day before. Lauria's parents began to search the scene themselves, and very quickly they found another body, an adult. It was later identified as Danny Freeman. He too had been shot in the head. Lauria's purse, with her drivers license and $200 in cash, were found at the scene. The Freeman family had been having trouble with the Craig County Sheriff's Department after they killed Shane Freeman, Ashley's brother, when Shane stole a neighbor's truck and gun. The Freemans believed his death was unjustifiable, and the Bible family believes this conflict may have played a part in their death, or at least the handling of the case afterwards. Lauria and Ashley's bodies were not located at the sight of the house fire, and neither girl has ever been seen since.
Read more about their case here.
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So what happened to these people, ONTD? And what are some other unsolved true crime stories (from Unsolved Mysteries or otherwise) that still haunt you? Do you think any of these cases will ever be solved?