17 Unsolved Murders And Disappearances That Still Keep People Up At Night

Recently, Reddit user totsatot0 asked, "What's a mystery you can't believe is still unsolved?" and people had some truly chilling answers. Here are some murders and disappearances where we still don't know what happened.

1."The disappearance of the five Sodder children. Five of the family's ten children vanished in a house fire on Christmas Eve, 1945. Their parents and siblings escaped, but no remains of the other five children were ever found.* The fire did not burn that long or that hot; remains should have easily been found of at least some of the five children. The fire itself seemed suspicious, and the family believed the children were kidnapped."

More information: This happened in West Virginia in 1945. The Italian-American family's father had been an outspoken critic of Mussolini, and there had been multiple strange occurrences leading up to the fire, including a man who directly told the father that the house would set fire, the children would be destroyed, and the father "would pay" for his comments on Mussolini. This same man sat on the coroner's jury and helped declare the fire accidental. There were multiple reports of sightings of the children after the fire, and 20 years later, the family received a postcard with an adult photo of what they believed to be one of their sons. The children are still unaccounted for.

2."Sneha Philip, the doctor who was last seen shopping at a store near her Lower Manhattan apartment the evening of Sept. 10, 2001, but never returned home that night. Obviously, we all know what happened the next morning. Her husband and family hired a private detective and fought to have a review of her case done for several years before she was officially named a 9/11 victim, even though there is no solid evidence to prove she was at or in the WTC at the time either plane struck or when the towers collapsed. BUT there's also no solid evidence to prove she WASN'T at the WTC either. It's so wild. In a nutshell, there are about four or five theories on what happened to her, and all of them are equally plausible."

More information: Sneha was last seen on September 10 and did not come home that night — this was normal for Sneha, who often stayed out all night. She may have died assisting 9/11 victims, perhaps when returning home, as her apartment was under a half-mile from the towers. Security camera footage from the apartment building does show a woman waiting for the elevator just before the attack, then leaving. This woman may have been Sneha, who may have gone outside to see what had happened and died delivering medical care. However, she had also been facing problems in her work and personal life (which her family denied), and some thought she might have run away or been killed the night prior.

3."The Setagaya family murder, in which the Miyazawa family were murdered in their home [in Japan] in December 2000. The killer was confident, having left fingerprints and DNA evidence, as well as the clothes he was wearing, in the house. The sand was analyzed from the scene, and it was sand from the US Southwest. Not only that, only 130 shirts of the kind the killer was wearing were sold. Somehow, still not solved."

More information: The Japanese couple and their two children were killed horrifically in their home by an intruder late one December night in 2000. Three of the victims had been brutally stabbed to death, while the fourth had been strangled. Police believe the killer then remained in the house until dawn. He ate their ice cream and drank their tea. He used their computer, possibly took a nap, treated his wounds, pooped without flushing, and dumped many of their things in the bathtub. Police also found much of his clothing, his blood, and his fingerprints at the scene. But the murder remains unsolved, with no apparent motive.

4."The murder of Elizabeth Barraza. It was caught on camera, and the getaway vehicle was clearly seen. The murderer was speculated as being a woman or man in a wig. Truly bizarre."

More information: Barraza was setting up a yard sale in the driveway of her Texas home one morning when a person walked up, greeted Liz, then shot her four times. The killer then drove their Nissan Frontier away, though they allegedly came back later to ensure she was dead. The shooter appeared to be disguised, and Liz's father believes her murder was part of a murder-for-hire plot. No one has been caught, and no evidence of a motive ever surfaced.

5."Amber Hagerman. She was about my age and was killed in the city where I grew up [Arlington, Texas]. The AMBER alert system in the US was named in her honor and has helped safely recover many abducted children. However, Amber's murderer was never found, and the tip hotline for her case remains open."

More information: 9-year-old Amber was riding her bicycle alone in the parking lot of an abandoned grocery store. A man in a black pickup truck was witnessed pulling up beside her and grabbing her. He drove away, and her body was found four days later. Her killer, however, was never located. Her death received nationwide attention and led to the creation of Amber alerts.

6."Brandon Swanson — he was on the phone with his father late one night after a car accident, said, 'Oh shit!' and was never heard from again."

More information: 19-year-old Brandon was coming home from a night out with friends in Minnesota. He took rural farm roads home instead of the highway and accidentally became stuck in a ditch. Brandon then called his parents to come pick him up, but he didn't have an exact location. His parents stayed on the phone with him, trying to find him, but were unsuccessful. Brandon said he would start making his way back towards Lynd, a town he believed he was near so that they might have an easier time finding him. He was crossing a large field when he said, 'Oh, shit.' The call then disconnected. Police did find Brandon's car, but there was no trace of Brandon or belongings like his key and phone anywhere. He's never been found.

7."In MA, there was a young girl named Molly Bish who disappeared from her post as a lifeguard. Her body was found three years later. Twenty-four years later, her killer has never been found."

More information: Molly was a 16-year-old lifeguard at Comins Pond in Warren, Massachusetts. Just 13 minutes into her shift, she disappeared. Her bag and flip-flops were left by her chair, and the lifeguard medical kit had been opened. Police initially thought she drowned, but her body was found in the nearby woods three years later. Her killer was never found, though Frank Sumner, a convicted rapist who died in 2016, is a suspect, and evidence is being reexamined.

8."As a native of the Portland, Oregon, metro area, it's really sad that Kyron Horman's disappearance is still unsolved. He will be 21 this year. He disappeared at 7."

More information: Kyron was dropped off at school in Portland by his stepmother in June 2010. When she came to pick him up from the bus that afternoon, he was not there. Kyron's mother has stated witnesses saw his stepmother take him from school during the day — his teacher said she hadn't thought anything of him not being in class as she'd been told he had a doctor's appointment. She also claimed to have been driving around to calm her younger daughter after dropping Kyron off. Police later found evidence that she had once allegedly attempted to hire a landscaper to kill her husband but was never named a suspect in Kyron's disappearance.

9."How did reporter Dorothy Kilgallen, who was investigating the Kennedy assassination and had interviewed Jack Ruby [the man who killed Lee Harvey Oswald, who assassinated JFK], end up dead hours after appearing fine on the What's My Line? TV show? She was found sitting up in bed at home, in a room she didn't normally sleep in, with her makeup still on and her Kennedy case file missing. It was never found, and her death was never properly investigated."

More information: Dorothy was also found in clothes she didn't normally wear, with a book she'd already finished. She died of a drug and alcohol overdose and did regularly take two sleeping pills, but her autopsy revealed far more than usual in her system and another drug she had not been prescribed.

10."The Missy Bevers murder should have been solved a long time ago. There's tons of video footage of the killer and their car, if I remember correctly."

More information: 45-year-old Missy was murdered as she got ready to teach a fitness class in a church in Midlothian, Texas early one April morning in 2016. There's security footage of someone in tactical gear with a hammer and a video of the murderer's alleged car, but her killer of the mother of three was never caught.

11."Brian Shaffer's disappearance. He was in a bar and afterward disappeared. Surveillance photos never show him exiting, but a search never found him."

More information: 27-year-old medical student Brian disappeared early in the morning hours of April 1, 2006, after grabbing drinks with friends at a nearby bar in Columbus, Ohio. Security footage shows him arriving at the bar and leaving to speak with two women outside just before 2 a.m. before reentering the bar. His friends could not find him when they left soon after, and Brian was never captured on the security cameras (covering all exits) leaving the bar. He was never seen again.

12."Johnny Gosch, a paper boy who went missing during his route in west Des Moines, Iowa. He was seen giving directions to someone, and his dog was found attached to the wagon he used for the papers. No one knows where he is, but it's suspected he was sold into trafficking and is in hiding now. His mother, Noreen, has claimed to have seen him as an adult. It's so eerie. He was also one of the first milk carton kids."

More information: Johnny, a 12-year-old paperboy, disappeared one early morning in 1982, after a man in a blue car asked him for directions. He began his paper route, but a man was seen following him, and he quickly disappeared, leaving his wagon of papers behind. A woman later claimed she'd seen Johnny on a street corner, out of breath, and that he'd told her his name and asked for help, but two men showed up and pulled him away. About a year later, Johnny's mother, Noreen, got several phone calls from someone she believed was Johnny, though his speech was slurred. A month later, there was a possible sighting in Texas, and years after his disappearance, a man came forward to admit to his part in the kidnapping.

His claims were considered unsubstantiated to police, but Noreen believed them, especially because he seemed to know things about Johnny. Noreen later claimed that Johnny came to see her in 1997 with another man and told her many details that corroborated what his alleged kidnapper had said. Still, he said he couldn't come home until everyone involved in his kidnapping — he had allegedly been sold into sex trafficking and used to "sexually compromise businessmen and politicians." — was arrested. The whole case is truly wild, and I highly recommend this article.

13."Carlene Tengelsen. In 1972, she disappeared after stopping by Westgate Mall in Macon, Georgia. Carlene's mom got a phone call from her youngest daughter, who was at a day camp. She called because Carlene hadn't picked her up. Mr. Tengelsen found the car later that night. It was parked across the street from the mall at a donut shop. When Carlene's parents moved away a year later, they asked a neighbor if they could keep a phone with Tengelsen's telephone number at their house in case she ever called. Carlene never called."

More information: On her first time driving alone to pick up her little sister, 16-year-old Carlene likely stopped at the Westgate Shopping Center, as a few boys later remembered seeing her there. She never made it to pick up her sister — her car was later found in a parking lot for the mall. She was never found, and there were never any apparent leads.

14."The origin of Smurfette Jane Doe's T-shirt. Her murderer has never been caught, and she remains unidentified, but what's truly bizarre is her distinctive shirt. No one has been able to figure out where it came from — it's never been sold by any store, and no one has admitted to making it. It seems like something so unique should be traceable."

More information: The body of a teenage girl was found in Texas in October 2016. She had likely died about a month prior. Her identity has never been discovered, but she was wearing a distinctive t-shirt with Smurfette picking flowers and the text "He Smurfs Me."

15."When I was a kid, over the course of about 10 years, a bunch of severed feet washed up upon the shores of Vancouver Island. It was almost always one foot in a shoe, 3–5 years apart. It was super odd."

More information: Over 12 dismembered feet — wearing shoes — washed up on beaches in British Columbia and Washington in an 11-year period between 2007 and 2018 (the number has now risen to 21). All but one victim have been identified. The last victim had two shoes wash ashore at different times — size 12 New Balance sneakers. Nothing else about the victim has been discovered. While creepy, though, it's likely the feet were severed by sea scavengers after the person was dead and that the remains floated ashore because of how buoyant sneakers are.

16."The disappearance of Tamra Keepness, age 5, from Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada, on July 5, 2004. It's been twenty years and four days since anyone has seen or heard from Tamra. Tamra would now be 25 years old. If she is still alive, Tamra Keepness will turn 26 on Sept. 1, 2024."

More information: 5-year-old Tamra disappeared from her home in 2004. The mother of her family, Lorena, along with her boyfriend, Dean, were reportedly drinking separately on the night, as the eldest of the six children watched the other five. Their friend, Russell Sheepskin, was also in the home to help watch the children, but he fell asleep. Russell awoke around three and claimed that Tamra was still there. He went outside for a cigarette and was assaulted by Dean, who went to the hospital. Lorena later returned and found the house locked, so she broke in through a window and went to bed. When she woke up in the morning, Tamra was gone. She was never found.

17.And finally...."There is a 'mystery' that nobody thinks is a mystery. But personally, I'm suspicious. There are a lot of missing Native American teenage boys in the area around Yakima, Washington. Some of them were high-risk, but not all of them ... Some were as young as 12 or as old as 23. The police don't properly investigate. They just write them off as at-risk teens who ran away. As of now, they are not considered connected, and there are more, but you have to dig through Yakima County's missing persons. I don't know, I feel like so many serial killers get away with it because they target Native Americans (look at the center for missing and murdered Indigenous women) and police in rural areas are often racist pieces of shit. I think one day we are going to uncover what's happening to these boys."

More information: In 2022, it was reported that 17 Indigenous children were missing from Yakima County and its reservation. People go missing from Yakima — and Indigenous populations in general —at alarmingly large rates in what has been referred to as a "silent crisis."

What unsolved mystery still haunts you? Let us know in the comments.

Submissions have been edited for length/clarity.