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
It was August 14th, 1979, and a body was discovered lying face down in a casino parking lot near the Sahara Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada. The victim was a white female, believed to be between fifteen and twenty-five years old, with wavy brown hair and brown eyes. Unusually for one so young, the girl … More Gwenn Story: Sahara Sue
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
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
