Serial Killers Who Vanished And Were Never Found

Of course, serial killers are creepy. They wreak havoc in a community, bringing fear and suffering for seemingly no reason other than their own gratification. To many, the mind of a serial killer is difficult to understand, even when they've been apprehended and subjected to all manner of tests and tricks that the likes of the FBI use in their interviews with serial killers. With accounts of serial killing dating back to ancient times, we've had many generations to consider the figure of such a murderer, but with precious few answers as to what makes a serial killer or why they commit such brutal acts.

But what if those serial killers are never found? That introduces a new level of chilling uncertainty, as an arrest at least lets us know that an infamous serial killer is in prison. Those who aren't caught not only evade justice and leave families and communities in a painful limbo, but unsolved serial killer mysteries also continue to haunt our imaginations long after the crimes have been committed.

Jack the Ripper's killings in the impoverished East End of London from August to November 1888, were so brutal that they're difficult to forget. Investigators have linked five murders to him, though others speculate that the shadowy Jack may have been responsible for even more deaths. Those canonical five Jack the Ripper victims had tragic lives and deaths. They were all vulnerable, low-income women. Some resorted to at least occasional sex work to survive and all were found with knife wounds. Perhaps most chilling of all, some of these women were dramatically mutilated, with cuts allegedly so precise that many wondered if someone with surgical training was responsible

The stomach-churning spectacle of the killings, lurid setting, and misogynistic attitudes towards the victims meant that the Jack the Ripper case easily seized attention. Investigators received multiple letters allegedly from the killer, but Charles Warren, then London's Metropolitan Police Commissioner, wrote in October 1888 that "we have received scores of hoaxing letters" (via National Archives). One missive, the "From Hell" letter, was supposedly mailed with part of a kidney but was likely a bad joke.

Despite all the attention, Jack the Ripper was never caught. Police did find evidence that suggested the killer lived locally, but investigative techniques could only go so far, and the transient, wary population of the area did little to help officers.

In the late 1990s, the Belgian city of Mons was threatened by a serial killer known as the Butcher of Mons. The killer took the lives of up to 11 people, though some sources have the count as low as four. The victims were all women, socioeconomically disadvantaged, and were often seen around the city's train station. Many were killed, dismembered, and placed inside garbage bags found in highly visible places.

Despite the careless (or bold) way in which the remains were disposed of, no suspect was officially identified. Speculation has focused on one man: Smail Tulja. In 2007, Tulja, then a long-term resident of Montenegro, was arrested in connection to a 1990 murder in the Bronx, where he had been working as a taxi driver. The victim was Tulja's then-wife, Mary Bell. Reportedly, Tulja killed Bell, dismembered her remains, and placed them in plastic bags he dumped in Brooklyn. Afterward, he allegedly moved to Mons under an assumed identity. However, while he was sentenced to 12 years in prison for the murder of Bell, Tulja was never convicted of any other murders and died in 2012.

The Bloody Benders serial killer family saga began in late 1870, when two men arrived to claim 160 acres of land along the Osage Trail, near the city of Cherryvale. The elder man, John Bender Sr., was unfriendly and spoke little English. The younger, John Jr., was more fluent but struck many as odd. Shortly, two women arrived: Ma Bender, another unfriendly immigrant with poor English skills, and daughter Elvira, who was both alluring and creepy in equal measure. The family — if they ever were a family — began renting out lodgings for travelers.

Then, some of those travelers disappeared. By 1873, Dr. William York, had disappeared in the area. His brother, state senator Colonel Alexander M. York put together a group to look for William and ultimately focused on the Benders. When the family abruptly left town, a posse descended on their property and found the remains of 14 individuals, most of whom were likely killed while staying at the Bender cabin.

Some reports alleged that the Benders were killed by vigilantes, while others said they had escaped by rail into the wilds of Texas. One January 11, 1888 report in the St. Paul Daily Globe even posited the idea that the Benders had become the four-person Kelly family (though some have pointed out that the ages don't line up). Newspapers occasionally reported arrests or confessions, but these were nearly all proven false.

In the 1990s, at least one killer appeared to be operating in the Midwest's I-70 corridor, earning the simple but chilling moniker of the I-70 killer. Six people in three different states were killed; the I-70 killer specifically targeted dark-haired, petite women who worked alone in stores close to the highway and were killed by a single gunshot. Crime scenes showed no evidence of sexual assault or attempted robbery. It began with Robin Fuldauer (killed in Indianapolis in April 1992) and ended with Sarah Blessing (killed near Kansas City, Missouri in May 1992). Some of the deaths were linked by ballistics evidence, suggesting that the same gun was used. Three more shootings with a similar modus operandi are sometimes linked to the same possible killer, though these took place in late 1993 and early 1994 Texas.

The final victim, Vicki Webb, survived. She and other witnesses described a white man of more-or-less average height, in his mid-30s, and noticeably skinny. Webb recalled that, upon hearing his gun misfire, the man simply laughed and left her store. Police have since linked the same still-unidentified man to a 2001 killing of a convenience store worker in Terre Haute, Indiana. In 2024, author Bob Cyphers told Fox59 that he had inside info that police had identified one unnamed but still-living suspect, but no arrests have been made.

Officially, the Zodiac Killer has been linked to five murders and two attempted killings. Unofficially, he's connected to as many as 37 deaths. The first confirmed killings happened on June 4, 1963, when high school seniors Robert Domingos and Linda Edwards went to Gaviota State Park near Santa Barbara, California. They were later found shot dead. Other killings followed, as well as calls to police and letters to local newspapers claiming responsibility. The letters included mysterious ciphers, one of which was only cracked in late 2020 (but offered little useful information).

Another pair, Cecelia Shepard and Bryan Hartnell, were attacked in September 1969. Shepard died, but Hartnell survived and described an assailant wearing a black hooded mask with a cross-in-a-circle symbol on the chest. The man drew a similar symbol on Hartnell's car door, along with dates and locations linked to previous deaths in Vallejo, California. 

In the 1966 death of college student Cheri Jo Bates (which isn't officially linked to the killer), DNA taken from beneath Bates' fingernails may hold a key clue. A criminology team at the University of Maryland has argued that this DNA (currently untested) and circumstantial evidence could point to Gary Francis Poste, who has since died. Some believe the also-deceased Arthur Leigh Allen, currently the only suspect identified by police, is more likely the killer. Others have suggested other suspects, including one theory that alleges the deaths were actually the work of multiple killers.

In 1946, the people of Texarkana — technically two cities on the Texas-Arkansas border – were terrorized by a mysterious attacker. The attacks lasted through the spring and took the lives of five people. The first known attack on February 22 actually did not involve any killings, though it did cause dramatic harm to the young couple involved, Jimmy Hollis and Mary Jeanne Larey. The pair had parked on a dark, rural road and were attacked by a man wearing a burlap mask: Hollis was badly beaten, while Larey was sexually assaulted. On March 24, another young couple, Richard Griffin and Polly Ann Moore, were found shot to death in their car, also parked on an out-of-the-way road. The next month, another couple was killed in similar fashion. In May, Virgil Starks was shot in his own home by an unseen assailant, while his wife, Katy Starks, was also hit but managed to run for help. Many of the cases were linked by the same caliber ammunition and similar tire tracks.

People practically barricaded themselves in their homes while law enforcement worked the case, but no one was identified as the Phantom Killer. Local miscreant Youell Swinney is often cited as the most likely suspect but, despite Swinney's record of violent crimes and admittedly inconsistent testimony from his future wife, nothing clearly linked him to the murders.

If you or anyone you know has been a victim of sexual assault, help is available. Visit the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network website or contact RAINN's National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).

The first evidence of the West Mesa Murders was uncovered in an in-development neighborhood of Albuquerque in February 2009. A subsequent investigation revealed the graves of 11 women or girls and one fetus. Their manner of death was unclear, as investigators didn't find evidence of gunshot wounds or blunt force trauma. Ten of those victims were linked to sex work and frequented a tough neighborhood of the city; some were known to have substance misuse issues. The conclusion for many was that the women were victims of a killer targeting sex workers, a vulnerable, often-neglected population who have historically been ignored by law enforcement.

One set of remains was found with a nursery plant tag linked to Joseph Blea. But, while Blea was convicted of multiple counts of rape in 2015 and is currently serving a 90-year prison sentence, detectives couldn't connect him to the murders. Another man, Lorenzo Montoya, did commit violent crimes against Albuquerque sex workers, but was shot to death in 2006 after attacking one young woman. Detectives noted that since Montoya's death, the crimes appear to have stopped, but that's hardly definitive evidence. Finding more evidence could be difficult, as the same population of people who are vulnerable to serial murders are often reluctant to talk to police.

Starting in 1934 and continuing for four years, 13 known people fell victim to a serial killer in Cleveland. The dismemberments led to the moniker of the Cleveland Torso Murderer, but the case was also called the Kingsbury Run Murders for the rough Cleveland neighborhood in which many were found. While some victims were identified, others are still nameless, though modern investigators have begun DNA testing some remains in the hopes of restoring their identities.

Eventually, the crimes were brought to the attention of city Safety Director Eliot Ness, who had recently come on the job after a stint as one of the federal agents known as the Untouchables, who brought down gangster Al Capone. But the serial killer consistently evaded Ness, and two mutilated bodies were even placed within sight of Ness' office window in August 1938. Ness and the Cleveland Police even went so far as to raid and burn down shacks in Kingsbury Run, yet this did little more than increase the vulnerability of an already endangered population and draw public criticism. 

One man, Frank Dolezal, confessed to one killing, but little evidence actually connects him to the death and his reported death by suicide while in police custody is suspicious. Another suspect, surgeon Francis E. Sweeney, was interrogated by Ness himself. Once Sweeney committed himself to a mental health facility, the deaths stopped. Yet Sweeney never confessed and was never accused.

In late-1960s Glasgow, a man who came to be known only as Bible John killed at least three women who had gone dancing at the Barrowland Ballroom. The first was Patricia Docker, a 25-year-old nurse and single mother. On her last night, someone strangled Docker and left her body to be discovered on the streets on February 23, 1968. The next, Jemima MacDonald, was another mother who also went dancing, only to be found dead next door to her own home on August 18, 1969. She left behind a daughter and two sons.

The final known victim was Helen Gowans Puttock, once again a young woman of 29 who had gone dancing. Though Puttock was found dead on October 31, 1969, her case contains some of the best evidence that could lead to the killer. Puttock's sister, Jean, also went dancing with her that final evening. Leaving the dance hall, the two shared a taxi with an unnamed man. Jean later told investigators that he had said his name was John and occasionally quoted from the Bible, leading to the killer's moniker. Yet, despite Jean's evidence, little else has brought police closer to identifying a suspect.

Just eight months after Jack the Ripper terrorized London, another serial murderer appeared an ocean away. In Managua, the capital of Nicaragua, at least six women were found murdered in a manner that contemporary news reports claimed matched Jack the Ripper's brutal methods. New York City newspaper The Sun speculated in a February 6, 1889 edition that the ripper's crimes inspired similar knife attacks of vulnerable women in low-income neighborhoods. However, it's worth noting that not all of Jack the Ripper's victims were actually sex workers, and that their characterization as such is a symptom of late Victorian misogyny. Much the same may have happened here, further muddying the investigative waters.

In 2005, researcher and retired detective Trevor Marriott told The Guardian that he believed the Sylph, a large cargo ship, arrived on British shores in time for the first canonical Jack the Ripper murder, and departed shortly after the last. Moreover, the Sylph arrived in the Caribbean in time for someone to make the trip to Nicaragua. Perhaps Jack the Ripper was a sailor, as Marriott and others have suggested, though it remains a highly speculative theory.

In 1985 Japan, unsuspecting customers might buy a vending machine drink, down the beverage, and then suddenly become ill and require hospitalization. By December 1985, it was reported that at least 10 people in Japan had died via these tainted drinks, while another 35 had been seriously harmed (later sources claim as many as 12 died). The culprit, at least chemically, was the herbicide paraquat, which can cause major damage to an individual's lungs even when ingested in a beverage.

By the time of the paraquat murders, Japan had already faced at least two major food tampering scandals. One involved candy dosed with cyanide, purportedly made by a mysterious group known as the Monster with 21 Faces, which seemed more focused on extortion and even labeled the poisoned candies: Fortunately, no one was reported harmed. In another incident, imported wine was mixed with antifreeze; though the product was added in Europe, the Japanese importer blended the beverage with Japanese wine to cut losses. No injuries were reported in that case, either.

Yet the paraquat murders stand out for the deaths and intent to cause harm. Investigators found that many of the dosed beverages were actually left in the dispenser slot of machines and not alongside other drinks. However, due to a then-common marketing tactic, machines sometimes dispensed double drinks, meaning this didn't necessarily arouse suspicion in customers. No arrests were ever made in the case.

Few murderers have operated for as long as the Highway of Tears killer — or killers. From at least the 1950s to today, this 450-mile section of the Trans-Canada Highway, located in western Canada, has seen many deaths and disappearances. These involve anywhere from 18 to over 50 cases of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls (MMIWG), depending on who you ask.

The Highway of Tears is a grim example of the effects of colonialism suffered by the Indigenous people of North America. Generations have faced a complex mix of disease, cultural suppression, economic disadvantage, and more that contribute to Indigenous women encountering dangerous situations on or near the highway, such as hitchhiking. Modern advocates claim that law enforcement is doing little to address the issue.

As for the killer, the long timeline and maybe deaths and missing women suggest multiple murderers. Some fit the bill of serial killers like Cody Legebokoff, who was convicted in 2014 of four murders. Others wonder if acknowledged Vancouver-area serial killer Robert Pickton, who died in prison in 2024, may be responsible for some of the disappearances and deaths. Yet that leaves many more unsolved and some wondering if there's still a serial killer out there.

From 1917 to 1919, an unidentified killer was targeting New Orleans. Four would die while others were critically wounded by an axe, leading to the moniker of the Axeman of New Orleans. One attack on the Cortimiglia family in nearby Gretna, Louisiana was also attributed to the killer. Many concluded that the Cortimiglias' neighbors, Iorlando and Frank Jordano, were the killers.

But, while the Jordanos had argued with the Cortimiglias, little evidence linked them to the crime. Even Rosie Cortimiglia, who initially identified the Jordanos, recanted her testimony. Even so, both were convicted of murder and 17-year-old Frank was sentenced to death. A December 1920 retrial exonerated the pair.

But if the Jordanos were innocent, who committed the killings? Survivors said that the man was of average height, and investigators found that he used a new-to-him axe every time, attacked sleeping victims, and often left front doors open as he left the scene. The attacks seemingly stopped after August 1919, but not before someone sent a very creepy letter to The Times-Picayune. The March 1919 missive alleged that anyone playing live jazz would be spared and that he was "a fell demon from hottest hell." But that letter could have been hoaxed and, besides, did very little to track down the killer.