Twenty-six-year-old Roberta Elam was a native of Minnesota, but in early June 1977 had moved to a convent in Wheeling, West Virginia, and was preparing to become a nun. Known as Sister Robin to the other women at the Sisters of St. Joseph Mother House, Roberta was last seen alive on the morning of June … More Roberta Elam

On July 15th, 1975, twenty-year-old Diane Merckx went missing from Columbia Park in Kennewick, Washington. Though her body would not be found for nearly two years, another young woman in Kennewick would also go missing only weeks later. In this latter case, though, the victim would be found soon afterward, leading authorities to speculate that … More Diane Merckx and Shannon Varley

In the autumn of 1975, in sunny south Florida, a father and son would be gunned down in their own home in what appeared to be a revenge-motivated attack. Early on the morning of October 10th, police entered the house located at 10720 SW 43rd Lane in Miami and found the bodies of the two … More Clarence and Brian Gehrke

In spring of 1975, twenty-two-year-old Eve Stratford was living a somewhat glamorous life in east London, working as a “bunny girl” at the upscale Playboy Club on Park Lane, and living with her musician boyfriend Tony Priest and a couple of his bandmates. On the afternoon of March 18th, at around four p.m., Eve was … More Eve Stratford and Lynne Weedon

In the winter of 1974, in California, a woman who allegedly knew too much would go missing, only to turn up dead early the next year. For the previous six months, forty-five-year-old Betty Van Patter had been working for an organization called the Educational Opportunities Corporation, which had been formed in order to provide educational … More Betty Van Patter

On August 14th, 1974, a grim find was made in a ditch in south Kansas City, Missouri. The previous evening, fifteen-year-old David Eyman had left his girlfriend’s house, intending to hitchhike back to his own home. However, at approximately three-forty-five a.m. on the morning of Wednesday, August 14th, a Raymore police officer called in and … More David Eyman

Forty-eight-year-old Joan Maschek was known around Nottingham, England as something of an artistic type, often clad in outrageous fashions and interested in ballet, classical music, and hosting small parties with friends of similar proclivities. She lived alone in a tiny flat, having moved back to her native Nottingham after divorcing her former husband, American GI … More Joan Maschek

Eighteen-year-old David Stack was a popular, charismatic high school graduate who loved rock music, partying, and travel. In early summer of 1976, he decided he was going to do some of the latter, planning to hitchhike his way to California, ostensibly to visit some family members in Berkeley or Truckee. He left his home in … More David Stack

Early June of 1976 would feature a shocking multiple homicide in Switzerland that remains officially unsolved, though developments in the 1990s might have highlighted a culprit, if not a motive. Over the Pentecost weekend of 1976, a family of five—consisting of sixty-two-year-old Elsa Clara Siegrist-Säckinger, her sixty-three-year-old husband Eugen, Eugen’s eighty-year-old sister Anna Westhäuser-Siegrist, and … More The Seewen Murder Case

It was February 21st, 1976, and twenty-two-year-old Maureen Mulcahy left her two children—four-year-old Penny and one-year-old Sean—in the care of her mother before going over to a friend’s house in Aberavon, Wales. Maureen and the friend then walked down to the nearby Green Meadow pub, where they both enjoyed a few pints of cider. At … More Maureen Mulcahy