 Mystery: June 07, 2017 Issue [#8323] |
  Mystery
This week: It's still a mystery! Edited by: Arakun the twisted raccoon  
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Quote for the week: "Everything we do, every thought we've ever had, is produced by the human brain. But exactly how it operates remains one of the biggest unsolved mysteries, and it seems the more we probe its secrets, the more surprises we find."
~Neil deGrasse Tyson |
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At the end of most mystery stories, the guilty party has been caught, and the investigators have tied up all the details of the case in a neat red bow. However, in real life, some mysteries are never solved. Some particularly puzzling cases still lie in the open police files long after the original detectives (and the killers) have retired or died of old age.
One of the most notorious unsolved cases is the murder of Elizabeth Short, whose mutilated body was found in a vacant lot in Los Angeles in 1947. While you may not have heard of Elizabeth Short, you may be more familiar with the name she was given by reporters: the Black Dahlia. The grisly details of the case attracted worldwide attention. Short's body was cut in half and the corners of her mouth were slashed. While the police had several suspects and many false confessions, the case was never solved.
One of the first known serial killers, is also the most famous, Jack the Ripper. In 1887, the Ripper murdered five women, all thought to be prostitutes in the Whitechapel district of London. Jack the Ripper has been the subject of many books, TV shows, and movies, but he was never caught. The killings stopped in November 1887, possibly because the Ripper died, was incarcerated for another crime, or moved on to another location.
In 1947, a killer prowled the countryside near Texarkana, Texas at night, stalking couples in parked cars in lover's lane areas. Over two months, he attacked eight people, killing five. The only survivor to get a look at him could not describe his face, because it was hidden behind a mask that seemed to be made of a pillowcase, with holes cut for the eyes and mouth. Despite efforts of the police and the Texas Rangers, the killer was never caught. The killings stopped, leaving the people of Texarkana to wonder if the killer had left the area, or was still among them. The Texarkana murders inspired the movie, "The Town that Dreaded Sundown."
Sometimes everyone believes a case has been solved, when, in fact, it has not. One such case happened near the small town of Turtle Lake, North Dakota in 1920. Jacob Wolf, one of the most successful farmers in the area, was found shot to death, along with his wife, five of their six children, and a hired man. The only witness to the crime could not testify because she was only 8 months old. The Wolf's youngest child, Emma, was found alive and unharmed in her crib. Three weeks later, a neighbor, Henry Layer confessed to the crime. He was questioned because he had been seen arguing with Jacob Wolf about a dog that had chased his cattle. Layer was convicted and sent to prison, where he later died. Now, many people believe Layer may have been innocent. Apparently the police and local politicians were under a lot of pressure to close the case, so they resorted to trickery to get a confession from their only suspect. They told Layer that everyone in the area believed he was guilty and wanted to lynch him. They said that the only way they could guarantee his safety and that of his family was if he would confess. Layer was a fairly recent immigrant to the US from Russia, and probably did not understand how the justice system worked. Fearing retaliation to his own family, he confessed.
Many of these older cases were never solved because modern forensic methods, such as DNA analysis were not available at the time. For the cases I mentioned here, local politics and lack of manpower also played a role. Some killers might never be caught because they move around a lot. If victims are found in multiple areas of the country, or even the world, law enforcement might not even realize they are all the work of one serial killer. Others might hide the evidence of their crimes so well that nobody even realizes a crime has been committed.
Something to try: Write a mystery story in which investigators revisit an old unsolved case. |
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