In California, in the spring of 1971, a teenage girl possibly went missing in a mysterious case that may or may not have been the bellwether of a terrifying series of murders of young, hitchhiking women that continued throughout the decade. Seventeen-year-old Lisa Smith was thumbing a ride on Hearn Avenue in Santa Rosa, California … More The Santa Rosa Hitchhiker Murders

The first day of March 1978 was a Wednesday, and nineteen-year-old Lina Marciano was setting out from her home in Wayville, a suburb of Adelaide, in South Australia. It was a little past six p.m. She said goodbye to her sister Teresa, put on her motorcycle helmet, and hopped onto her blue and white Honda … More Lina Marciano

In the summer of 1978, a man in Waunakee, Wisconsin would also make a grisly discovery just off a highway. It was the afternoon of Wednesday, June 21st, and contractor John Wagner was busy clearing some land in a wooded area near Highway 12 when he stumbled across the nude body of a young woman … More Julie Ann Hall

It was the morning of January 19th, 1979, and thirty-year-old Lynda Farrow had been out on a shopping trip with her mother. Lynda, the mother of two daughters aged eleven and eight, had recently split up with her husband, and was dating a man who ran a produce stall. Lynda and her boyfriend were expecting … More Lynda Farrow

It was the first day of February, 1979, and twenty-year-old waitress Julia Woodward had decided to make a new start in life. She said goodbye to her mother and left her home in San Rafael, California, after which a friend dropped her off at the San Francisco Airport. Julia was planning to fly to Lake … More Julia Woodward

August 5th, 1979 was a Sunday, and fourteen-year-old Karen Oatley decided to go on a bike ride, setting out from her home in Lansing, Michigan at approximately six p.m. When she hadn’t returned after four hours, her worried parents reported her missing. At around noon on the following day, Karen’s grandfather found the girl’s abandoned … More Karen Oatley

In the autumn of 1979, an unidentified woman would turn up dead in southeast England. Informally known as Bedgebury Doe, the victim was found in Bedgebury Forest in Kent on October 24th. The victim was a white woman between twenty-five and thirty-five years old, with shoulder-length brown hair and brown eyes. Post-mortem examination suggested that … More Bedgebury Doe

Thirty-nine-year-old Josephine Backshall lived in Witham, Essex, England, with her husband and three young children. She had been looking for part-time work in the area, and had placed an ad in the local newspaper, the Maldon and Burnham Standard, offering her services. Much to her surprise, she got a response to her ad almost immediately: … More Josephine Backshall

Seventeen-year-old Deborah Kozlarek and her thirteen-year-old friend Carolyn Vandermolen were seen several times on the evening of September 23rd, 1972, near their homes on the south side of Chicago. Deborah washed some clothes at a laundromat on 51st Street, and both girls were seen by multiple witnesses walking around the vicinity, as well as sitting … More Debbie Kozlarek & Carolyn Vandermolen