One thing the Nancy Guthrie case has shown us is that for every qualified investigator diligently following leads, there at least two more armchair detectives trying to solve a society/">crime from the comfort of their homes.
It's been more than 70 days since the mother of Today Show host Savannah Guthrie mysteriously vanished from her Tucson, Arizona home. Since day one, ordinary people around the world have been coming up with their own elaborate theories on who could be responsible, and why.
While the Guthrie case is unique in many ways, it's just one of hundreds of thousands that have remained unsolved long after the deed was done. Someone asked, "What's the one whodunnit mystery that hasn't been solved yet?" and the list read like a must-watch true crime catalogue. From Madeleine McCann, JonBenét Ramsey and of course, Nancy Guthrie, to much older cases like Jack the Ripper, people shared the mysteries that haunt them to this day.
Bored Panda has put together a list of the top answers for you to scroll through while you search for your dusty Cluedo boardgame...
#24
Probably Jack the Ripper.
It’s the classic unsolved whodunnit because you’ve got multiple victims, endless suspects, letters that may or may not be authentic, and more than a century of theories with no definitive proof. Zodiac is up there too, but Jack the Ripper is the one most people mean when they think “famous unsolved mystery.”
If you want the most chilling modern one, I’d say Zodiac. If you want the most iconic ever, Jack the Ripper.
It’s the classic unsolved whodunnit because you’ve got multiple victims, endless suspects, letters that may or may not be authentic, and more than a century of theories with no definitive proof. Zodiac is up there too, but Jack the Ripper is the one most people mean when they think “famous unsolved mystery.”
If you want the most chilling modern one, I’d say Zodiac. If you want the most iconic ever, Jack the Ripper.
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12points
#25
The JFK assassination. Yes, I know, it's the classic "conspiracy theory", but the fact is that even some of the key members of the Warren Commission weren't happy with the robustness of their conclusions.
I can't provide an exhaustive list, but as example:
- the hole in the rear of JFK's head was measured by Dr. Pierre Finck, the only ballistics expert who ever examined JFK's physical remains, as being slightly SMALLER than the calibre of bullet Oswald was supposed to have fired
- in Texas in the 1960's Oswald could have bought a better and cheaper gun than the Mannlicher-Carcano from a car boot sale, or from the classified section of a newspaper, rather than buying it from a company that would have a record of his shipping address
- Wesley Buell Frazier said Oswald told him on the drive to work that day that his long package contained "curtain rods". Frazier remembered how Oswald walked into work with one end of the package cupped in his hand and the other tucked into his armpit. That would have been physically impossible for Oswald to achieve with a Mannlicher-Carcano, even one that had been broken down.
- the Zapruder footage strongly suggests at LEAST four shots, something that would have been impossible for Oswald to achieve. Jackie Kennedy said that she didn't see the moment when JFK was first shot - he was already wounded by the time she looked at him, and it was his reaction to his wounds that caused her to turn to him. Well, in the Zapruder film we see JFK and a person on the crowd perceive the sound of the first bullet - we see JFK stop waving and look at his wife, who is looking away to her left, and we see a little girl in the crowd stop running and turn to look at the Depository. Then JUST as the car is masked by the Stemmons Freeway sign we see a shift in JFK's posture, and when the car emerges from the Stemmons Freeway sign Jackie is now looking at JFK. Given that what made her look at JFK at all was him reacting to a wound, then that is bullet number two. Connally then reacts to a bullet that might also have hit JFK - I'm fine with the idea that a bullet could hit both men, so we'll call that bullet three. Then a bullet hits JFK in the head; that's bullet four. That's at LEAST four shots, not three. And remember, Paul Landis, the Secret Service agent, said he found a bullet behind JFK, laying on the rear seat.
- the response of the Secret Service was suspiciously abysmal, with the driver William Greer slowing the car almost to a stop and looking behind him **repeatedly** before only accelerating the car once the headshot had been delivered. For his part, Roy Kellermann, the senior agent in the car, is seen to react as if he knew shots were incoming, but did not take any action to protect JFK, not even to order the car to accelerate. Agent John Ready, assigned to protect JFK, SAYS that he left the running board of the follow-up car but was recalled by the agent in charge, Emory Roberts. The agent who actually ended up sprinting forwards and jumping onto the back of JFK's limousine, Clint Hill, had been assigned to protect Jackie Kennedy that day, meaning that ALL of the agents most directly concerned with JFK's protection were either unresponsive until after the headshot, or claimed to be very easily deterred from protecting JFK even after it was obvious that bullets were flying.
- Clint Hill records seeing the back of JFK's head having been blown off, and so much brain matter missing that it looked like it was all gone. Doctors and nurses at Parkland Hospital consistently described the REAR of JFK's head being blasted open, with an exit portal "about the size of a saucer", with the "cerebellum exposed" (a characteristic part of the brain at the rear of the head, not the side or front). And although the two cars were nearly at a dead stop at the moment of the head-shot, and although any shot from the rear would have projected most of the energy of resulting human debris forwards, the window and bonnet of the follow-up car were spattered with tissue, as was the clothing of some of its occupants while Officer Bob Hargiss, one of the two motor-cycle riders to the left-rear of JFK's car, said that he'd been spattered with tissue coming back at him so forcefully that he at first thought he himself had also been shot.
The list goes on. But basically, the more verifiable and demonstrably true key facts you read about the JFK case the more you smell a huge rat.
I can't provide an exhaustive list, but as example:
- the hole in the rear of JFK's head was measured by Dr. Pierre Finck, the only ballistics expert who ever examined JFK's physical remains, as being slightly SMALLER than the calibre of bullet Oswald was supposed to have fired
- in Texas in the 1960's Oswald could have bought a better and cheaper gun than the Mannlicher-Carcano from a car boot sale, or from the classified section of a newspaper, rather than buying it from a company that would have a record of his shipping address
- Wesley Buell Frazier said Oswald told him on the drive to work that day that his long package contained "curtain rods". Frazier remembered how Oswald walked into work with one end of the package cupped in his hand and the other tucked into his armpit. That would have been physically impossible for Oswald to achieve with a Mannlicher-Carcano, even one that had been broken down.
- the Zapruder footage strongly suggests at LEAST four shots, something that would have been impossible for Oswald to achieve. Jackie Kennedy said that she didn't see the moment when JFK was first shot - he was already wounded by the time she looked at him, and it was his reaction to his wounds that caused her to turn to him. Well, in the Zapruder film we see JFK and a person on the crowd perceive the sound of the first bullet - we see JFK stop waving and look at his wife, who is looking away to her left, and we see a little girl in the crowd stop running and turn to look at the Depository. Then JUST as the car is masked by the Stemmons Freeway sign we see a shift in JFK's posture, and when the car emerges from the Stemmons Freeway sign Jackie is now looking at JFK. Given that what made her look at JFK at all was him reacting to a wound, then that is bullet number two. Connally then reacts to a bullet that might also have hit JFK - I'm fine with the idea that a bullet could hit both men, so we'll call that bullet three. Then a bullet hits JFK in the head; that's bullet four. That's at LEAST four shots, not three. And remember, Paul Landis, the Secret Service agent, said he found a bullet behind JFK, laying on the rear seat.
- the response of the Secret Service was suspiciously abysmal, with the driver William Greer slowing the car almost to a stop and looking behind him **repeatedly** before only accelerating the car once the headshot had been delivered. For his part, Roy Kellermann, the senior agent in the car, is seen to react as if he knew shots were incoming, but did not take any action to protect JFK, not even to order the car to accelerate. Agent John Ready, assigned to protect JFK, SAYS that he left the running board of the follow-up car but was recalled by the agent in charge, Emory Roberts. The agent who actually ended up sprinting forwards and jumping onto the back of JFK's limousine, Clint Hill, had been assigned to protect Jackie Kennedy that day, meaning that ALL of the agents most directly concerned with JFK's protection were either unresponsive until after the headshot, or claimed to be very easily deterred from protecting JFK even after it was obvious that bullets were flying.
- Clint Hill records seeing the back of JFK's head having been blown off, and so much brain matter missing that it looked like it was all gone. Doctors and nurses at Parkland Hospital consistently described the REAR of JFK's head being blasted open, with an exit portal "about the size of a saucer", with the "cerebellum exposed" (a characteristic part of the brain at the rear of the head, not the side or front). And although the two cars were nearly at a dead stop at the moment of the head-shot, and although any shot from the rear would have projected most of the energy of resulting human debris forwards, the window and bonnet of the follow-up car were spattered with tissue, as was the clothing of some of its occupants while Officer Bob Hargiss, one of the two motor-cycle riders to the left-rear of JFK's car, said that he'd been spattered with tissue coming back at him so forcefully that he at first thought he himself had also been shot.
The list goes on. But basically, the more verifiable and demonstrably true key facts you read about the JFK case the more you smell a huge rat.
12points
#26
The Brandon Swanson case is one that I wish they could figure out what happened. So sad. I can’t imagine being on the phone with my kid one second and then never hearing anything again.
12points
#27
In 2007, a man entered the Mocksville, NC Sagebrush attempting to rob the steakhouse. He ended up shooting a man and fleeing the scene. Police still haven't found out who they were and have a $10,000 reward for info.
Maybe not as interesting as D. B. Cooper, but it was quite exciting for middle of nowhere North Carolina. The Sagebrush has since closed down.
Maybe not as interesting as D. B. Cooper, but it was quite exciting for middle of nowhere North Carolina. The Sagebrush has since closed down.
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12points
#29
Rebecca Reusch.
She was 15 when she disappeared in 2019 in Berlin. She slept at her sister's place, was supposed to go to school and just.. never did.
Her sisters husband is the most likely subject, and many people argue that she didn't leave the home alive. Only a handful of people believe that shes still alive, kidnapped or runaway.
The sisters husband went to Poland twice during the disappearance, he was allegedly spotted in a piece of forest near Frankfurt Oder (where he grew up).
The craziest part? Her family believe that he's innocent and didnt have anything to do with it.
She was 15 when she disappeared in 2019 in Berlin. She slept at her sister's place, was supposed to go to school and just.. never did.
Her sisters husband is the most likely subject, and many people argue that she didn't leave the home alive. Only a handful of people believe that shes still alive, kidnapped or runaway.
The sisters husband went to Poland twice during the disappearance, he was allegedly spotted in a piece of forest near Frankfurt Oder (where he grew up).
The craziest part? Her family believe that he's innocent and didnt have anything to do with it.
11points
#31
I'm most interested in the Hinterkaifeck m*****s. One of the most mysterious m*****s in Germany.
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10points
#32
Jill Dando's m****r on her doorstep in broad daylight.
9points
#33
Local to Montgomery County, MD: 50 years ago, a h**h ranking State Dept worker named Bradford Bishop came home early, k****d his whole family and took off in the family car. Cops found the car in the Shenandoah Mountains, but no sign of Bishop.
He's probably dead by now. Yes, there were occassional sightings (maybe) over the years, but nothing definite.
He's probably dead by now. Yes, there were occassional sightings (maybe) over the years, but nothing definite.
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9points
#34
Alexandra Wiwcharuk
Went out for a walk in 1962 and never came home. Found in a shallow grave just blocks away two weeks later. Still unsolved. City police are still asking for witnesses to come forward despite them finding dna after an exhumation that they could trace genealogically, despite having suspects right next door who have a rabbit hole story of their own if you dig.
Went out for a walk in 1962 and never came home. Found in a shallow grave just blocks away two weeks later. Still unsolved. City police are still asking for witnesses to come forward despite them finding dna after an exhumation that they could trace genealogically, despite having suspects right next door who have a rabbit hole story of their own if you dig.
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8points
#36
For me, it has to be the Zodiac K****r. Decades later, with all the technology we have, parts of the case are still a mystery. The letters, the ciphers, the random pattern of attacks—it feels like we’re missing one key piece that would make everything click.
What makes it even more unsettling is that he could’ve just… lived a normal life after all that, blending in like anyone else. The idea that someone can leave behind such a trail and still remain unknown is what keeps this case so haunting.
What makes it even more unsettling is that he could’ve just… lived a normal life after all that, blending in like anyone else. The idea that someone can leave behind such a trail and still remain unknown is what keeps this case so haunting.
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5points
#37
The m****r of rapper The Notorious BIG. Some say crooked LAPD cops (Perez, Mack, Gaines) were involved. Streets say Poochie who was a known h****n affiliated to Deathrow Records did it. Some say it was a muslim member of the Fruits Of Islam. Diddy’s bodyguard Gene Deal thinks its Aamir Muhammad who he believes he saw him on the night of m****r wearing a blue suit, white shirt and blue bow tie and also resembling a peanut head on the night of the m****r. Officially the case has not been closed and biggies mother (RIP) and family has never got justice. It would be nice to know who was the actual trigger man and get the case closed officially but ultimately it was a setup orchestrated by Suge Knight in retaliation of Tupac Shakur’s m****r. Suge is currently in jail for other reasons but finally facing karma for his past actions and wrong doings.
2points