Unsolved cases
Homicides and other crimes with no one held responsible. Some are a century old. Some are from this year.
Harbor City serial shootings
The Harbor City serial shootings were an unsolved series of drive-by shootings committed in the Harbor City neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, United States, during the early months of 1993. A total of four black men were shot within a two-block radius, three of them fatally. Despite a detailed description of the perpetrator and his car given by the surviving victim and witnesses to the murders, he remains…
1959 · CaliforniaUnsolved
Bouncing Ball Killer
The Bouncing Ball Killer, also known as the Bouncing Ball Slayer, the Bouncing Ball Strangler, and the Rubber Ball Strangler, was an unidentified serial killer who is believed to have raped and murdered at least six women between May 1959 and June 1960 in Los Angeles, California. A majority of the victims were elderly, and all but one were strangled to death. During the investigation, a multitude of suspects were…
1998 · CaliforniaUnsolvedPittsburg serial murders
The Pittsburg serial murders refers to the killings of one man and four women in Pittsburg, California, in late 1998 and early 1999. At the time of the killings, the city had a high crime rate, which coupled with the recent murders of several people, culminated in public outcry from both the public and the media for a resolution to the situation and capture of the supposed serial killer. Despite an investigation by…
1976 · CaliforniaUnsolvedGypsy Hill killings
The Gypsy Hill killings were a group of five homicides of young women and girls in San Mateo County, California, during early 1976. The killer became known in the media as the "San Mateo Slasher." It was later proven that there were at least two different perpetrators with Rodney Halbower convicted of the murders of Baxter, Cascio and Michelle Mitchell and Leon Seymour being convicted in the sole murder of Lampe. It…
1968 · CaliforniaUnsolved
Zodiac Killer
The Zodiac Killer (also known by the pseudonym The Zodiac) is an unidentified serial killer who murdered at least five people in the San Francisco Bay Area between December 1968 and October 1969. The Zodiac attacked three couples and a cab driver in Benicia, Vallejo, unincorporated Napa County, and the city of San Francisco. Two of the Zodiac's seven victims survived.
1980 · CaliforniaUnsolvedMurder of Dorothy Jane Scott
Dorothy Jane Scott (April 23, 1948 — May 28, 1980) was an American woman who disappeared on May 28, 1980, in Anaheim, California. After driving two co-workers to the hospital, Scott went to fetch her car to take them back to their workplace. However, as her car approached them, it sped away; neither could see who was driving as its headlights had blinded them.
1972 · CaliforniaUnsolved
Santa Rosa hitchhiker murders
The Santa Rosa hitchhiker murders was a series of at least seven unsolved homicides and unsolved disappearances all involving young female hitchhikers occurring within Santa Rosa and throughout Sonoma County in the North Bay area of California beginning in 1972. All of the victims were found nude and with very little physical evidence and were dumped within rural areas near steep embankments or in creek beds near…
1981 · CaliforniaUnsolvedKeddie murders
The Keddie murders are an unsolved quadruple homicide that occurred over the night of April 11–12, 1981, in Keddie, California, United States. The victims were Glenna Susan "Sue" Sharp (née Davis; born March 29, 1945), daughter Tina Louise Sharp (born July 22, 1968), son John Steven Sharp (born November 16, 1965) and John's friend Dana Hall Wingate (born February 8, 1964). The murders took place in house No.
1996 · CaliforniaUnsolved
Seagram
Seagram Miller (April 13, 1970 – July 31, 1996) was an American rapper from Oakland, California, United States. Seagram released two albums, The Dark Roads (1992) and Reality Check (1994). He was killed in a drive-by shooting on July 31, 1996, which remains unsolved.
1885 · CaliforniaUnsolved
Huang Yuanyong
Huang Yuanyong (黃遠庸), (Pen name: Huang Yuansheng 黃遠生, Wade-Giles: "Huang Yüan-yung") (15 January 1885 – 25 December 1915) was a renowned Chinese author and journalist during the late Qing dynasty (清朝) and early Republic of China (民國初年). Huang made significant contributions to journalism and literacy in China, particularly as an innovator in both journalistic methodology and writing style. His unsolved assassination…
1974 · CaliforniaUnsolvedMurder of Betty Van Patter
Betty Louise Van Patter (née Floyd; October 12, 1929 – c. December 13, 1974) was a bookkeeper for the Black Panther Party, although she herself was white. Van Patter was murdered, a crime which remains unsolved.
1885 · CaliforniaUnsolved
Jane Stanford
Jane Elizabeth Lathrop Stanford (August 25, 1828 – February 28, 1905) was an American philanthropist and co-founder in 1885 of Stanford University (opened 1891) with her husband Leland Stanford, in memory of their only child, Leland Stanford Jr., who died of typhoid fever in 1884 at age 15. After her husband's death in 1893, Jane Stanford funded and operated the university almost single-handedly until her unsolved…
1974 · CaliforniaUnsolved
Murder of Arlis Perry
Arlis Kay Perry (née Dykema; February 22, 1955 – October 12, 1974) was a 19-year-old American newlywed who was murdered inside Stanford Memorial Church, within the grounds of Stanford University in California, on October 12, 1974. The murder went unsolved for more than forty years before police named Stephen Blake Crawford as the perpetrator following DNA profiling in 2018. Crawford, a security guard at Stanford who…
1978 · CaliforniaUnsolvedMurders of Kerry Graham and Francine Trimble
The murders of Kerry Graham and Francine Trimble are the unsolved abduction and murder of two teenage girls—aged 15 and 14 respectively— who disappeared after leaving their homes in Forestville, California, to visit a shopping mall in Santa Rosa on December 16, 1978; their remains were discovered in July 1979 approximately 80 mi (130 km) north of Forestville, concealed within duct-taped garbage bags and buried…
1977 · CaliforniaUnsolvedMurder of Melinda Beardsley
Emigrant Gap Jane Doe was a formerly unidentified murder victim whose body was found on December 17, 1977, near the intersection of I-80 and Highway 20 in Emigrant Gap, California. Despite extensive investigation by the Placer County sheriff's office, no identification of this decedent was made at the time. NamUs and The Doe Network announced that the woman had been identified in 2026.
1969 · CaliforniaUnsolvedMurder of Reet Jurvetson
Reet Silvia Jurvetson (Estonian: Jürvetson; September 23, 1950 – c. November 14, 1969) was an Estonian-Canadian woman who was murdered in California in November 1969 at age 19. Her body remained unidentified for 46 years, until an online mortuary photograph was recognized by her family and friends in 2015.
1994 · CaliforniaUnsolvedMurder of Kori Lamaster
Kori JoAnne Lamaster was a formerly unidentified American murder victim who was found on January 29, 1994, after being killed in Pogonip Park, California, in 1993. She was reburied in an unmarked grave at nearby Soquel Cemetery. Lamaster's body remained unidentified for nineteen years until the comparison of familial DNA and a finger print card revealed her identity in 2013.
2015 · CaliforniaUnsolvedMurder of David Stack
David Arthur Stack (July 5, 1957 – June 9, 1976) was an American man who was murdered while hitchhiking from his home in Broomfield, Colorado to California. Stack was murdered by an unknown assailant or assailants in Wendover, Utah. His body was found approximately one day after his murder in a landfill in rural Tooele County, although he remained an unidentified decedent for 39 years until 2015 when his body was…
1978 · CaliforniaUnsolvedKilling of Marilee Bruszer
Marilee Lee Bruszer, previously known as Juab County Jane Doe, was a formerly unidentified American murder victim who was found on September 3, 1978. Bruszer's body was not identified until August 2015, 37 years after her discovery, due in part to inaccurate estimates of her age and physical characteristics, and also due to the long distance between the site of her disappearance in California and the discovery of…
1998 · CaliforniaUnsolvedMurder of Jill Ann Weatherwax
Jill Ann Weatherwax (October 26, 1970 – March 24, 1998) was an American model and aspiring singer. A former "Miss Hollywood", Weatherwax was found stabbed on March 25, 1998, in Fresno, California. Her murder remains unsolved.
1966 · CaliforniaUnsolvedMurder of Cheri Jo Bates
The murder of Cheri Jo Bates occurred in Riverside, California, on October 30, 1966. Bates, an 18-year-old college freshman, was stabbed and slashed to death on the grounds of Riverside City College. Police determined the assailant had disabled the ignition wiring and distributor of Bates's Volkswagen Beetle as a method to lure her from her car as she studied in the college library.
1974 · CaliforniaUnsolved
Doodler
The Doodler is an unidentified serial killer believed responsible for between 6 and 16 murders and three assaults of men in San Francisco, California, United States, between January 1974 and September 1975. The nickname was given due to the perpetrator's habit of sketching his victims prior to stabbing them to death. The perpetrator met his victims at gay nightclubs, bars and restaurants.
Year unknown · CaliforniaUnsolvedGeorgette Bauerdorf
Georgette Elise Bauerdorf (May 6, 1924 – October 12, 1944) was an American socialite and oil heiress who was strangled in her home in West Hollywood, California. Her murder remains unsolved.