In the autumn of 1972, there was a disturbing massacre of an entire family in the Midwestern United States for which a motive has never been determined. Retired Army colonel Bill Peak had formerly served as a military attaché to Russia and Hungary, but by the time 1972 rolled around, he had decided to retire … More The Peak Family

In the summer of 1972, a recent high school graduate in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania would meet a ghastly end at the hands of a probable gang of savage killers. Seventeen-year-old Dolores Della Penna had been an honors student at St. Hubert’s Catholic High School, though she had received her diploma only a little more than a … More Dolores Della Penna

It was approximately six p.m. on Friday, December 17th, 1971 and a man named Werner Schmidt had just dropped off his daughter Patricia—also answering to the nickname Susi—at the home of her friend, sixteen-year-old Frieda Piechnick. Mr. Schmidt then went on to his job as a bartender at the German Club in Adelaide, South Australia. … More Patricia Schmidt

It was approximately five p.m. on the evening of November 21st, 1971 when Kathy Lynn Gloddy decided to walk to a convenience store near her home in Franklin, New Hampshire to purchase some treats. She set out with her beloved German shepherd Tasha trotting faithfully along beside her. At the store, she bought some potato … More Kathy Lynn Gloddy

It was Saturday, November 24th, 1973, two days after Thanksgiving. Thirty-year-old Ethel Higonnet, a fellow of Radcliffe Institute and the wife of Harvard professor Patrice Higonnet, was walking in Longfellow Park only a few blocks from her home when she was suddenly set upon by an unknown assailant at around five-forty-five p.m. According to a … More Ethel Higonnet

It was September 2nd, 1973, and ten-year-old Brian McDermott was playing in Ormeau Park near his home in Belfast, Northern Ireland. He never came back home, and despite a massive search, his fate would be unknown until a week later. On September 9th, the child’s burned and mutilated body was found in a sack in … More Brian McDermott

On August 23rd, 1973, a fifteen-year-old boy named James Teta vanished from his home in Revere, Massachusetts. Two days later, his nude body was found in a wooded area off Route 119 in Rindge, New Hampshire. He had been raped and strangled. The investigation into his death remained stagnant for years, until an unsettling clue … More James Teta

Fifteen-year-olds Diane Compagna and Anne Psaradelis had spent Thursday, July 12th, 1973 at Hampton Beach, approximately fifty miles from their homes in Merrimack, New Hampshire. At around four-thirty p.m., the two girls were spotted trying to thumb a ride back home, but it was the last time they were seen alive. At first, authorities and … More Diane Compagna and Anne Psaradelis

Seventeen-year-old Susan Wickersham drove to the Sage Room Restaurant in Bend, Oregon on the afternoon of July 11th, 1973. Her mother worked there, and Susan was just dropping off her mother’s car, after which she planned to have some friends pick her up and take her back home. A server at the Sage Room, Denice … More Susan Wickersham

Nineteen-year-old Robin Jeanne Hoinville-Bartram and her friend, eighteen-year-old Anita Cunningham were roommates, and both studied graphic art at the Prahran Technical College in Melbourne, Australia. On July 4th, 1972, the girls packed their bags and set out to hitchhike the twenty-five-hundred miles to Bowen, Queensland to visit Robin’s mother. Over the ensuing months, the two … More Robin Jeanne Hoinville-Bartram and Anita Cunningham