In the fall of 1983, twenty-three-year-old Andrea Scherpf and twenty-seven-year-old Bernd Göricke, a young engaged couple from West Germany, were fulfilling a dream adventure: hitchhiking across western Canada. The pair was exploring the vast landscapes of British Columbia as part of a broader North American trip. They were described as adventurous, friendly, and typical of … More Andrea Scherpf and Bernd Göricke

The Brabant Killings, also known as the Bende van Nijvel (Gang of Nijvel) or the Tueurs du Brabant (Brabant Killers), represent one of Belgium’s most infamous and enduring unsolved crime sprees. Between 1982 and 1985, a small group of assailants—widely believed to consist of three core members—carried out a series of violent armed robberies and … More The Brabant Killings

The unsolved murders of Janet C. Scott and Ruth Potdevin in May 1985 remain one of the more chilling and mysterious cases from New York City’s mid-1980s crime landscape. Occurring just days apart in hotels on West 54th Street in Manhattan, the brutal killings—both involving severe head wounds from a sharp, heavy weapon—prompted police to … More Janet C. Scott and Ruth Potdevin

The murder of Nathan Blenner remains one of the more tragic and controversial cases in New York City’s criminal justice history from the 1980s. On October 20th, 1985, twenty-year-old Nathan Blenner, a resident of South Ozone Park in Queens, New York, was abducted in front of his home in a daylight carjacking-style attack. His body … More Nathan Blenner

Lenny Breau was one of the most innovative and underappreciated guitarists in jazz history. Born Leonard Harold Breau on August 5th, 1941, in Auburn, Maine, he grew up in a musical family and began performing as a child. By his teens, he had become a prodigy, blending jazz, country, flamenco, classical, and folk influences into … More Lenny Breau

On June 20th, 1984, two fishermen spotted a horrific sight floating near the T.J. Meenach Bridge over the Spokane River, close to Spokane Falls Community College in Washington State. The nude torso of a young woman had been dumped in the water. Her body was missing its head, hands, and feet: deliberately removed, authorities believed, … More Ruth Waymire, formerly Millie Doe

Tracy Marie Neef was a bright, energetic seven-year-old first-grader born on January 6th, 1977. On the morning of Friday, March 16th, 1984, her mother, Susan Neef, dropped her off at Bertha Heid Elementary School in Thornton, Colorado (in Adams County). The drop-off occurred between eight sixteen and eight twenty a.m., about ten minutes late. Due … More Tracy Neef

In the early summer of 1982, a quiet suburban home at 173 Parsons Road in Longwood, Florida—a small city in Seminole County near Orlando—became the scene of a shocking triple homicide that claimed the lives of a former rock musician, his young son, and a houseguest. The victims were thirty-six-year-old Russell “Rusty” Day, his eleven-year-old … More Rusty Day, Russell Davidson Jr., and Garth McRae

On the evening of September 29th, 1983, fifty-eight-year-old George Murdoch, a well-liked taxi driver from Aberdeen, Scotland, was brutally murdered in a crime that became known across the UK as the “Cheese Wire Murder” due to the unusual weapon used in the attack. George Murdoch, often called “Dod” by friends and family, was born in … More George Murdoch

On the night of Thursday, April 7th, 1983, Edinburgh’s waterfront at Gypsy Brae (Granton)—a windswept promenade overlooking the Firth of Forth—became the scene of one of Scotland’s most haunting cold cases: the murder of Sheila Anderson, a twenty-seven-year-old mother of two who made her living as a sex worker. In the early hours leading up … More Sheila Anderson