30 Of The Darkest True Crime Stories You've Probably Never Heard Before
We previously asked the BuzzFeed Community to tell us about a true crime story we haven't already heard a million times before. There were SO many comments and responses to that post and a follow-up post that we decided to do a part three. Here are more intense stories people shared:
Warning: Graphic and disturbing content ahead including mentions of abuse, rape, and murder.
1.The vicious unsolved murder of 16-year-old Beverly Jarosz in Garfield Heights, Ohio in December 1964 that appeared to be so specifically planned that authorities actually called it an "assassination."
—Anonymous
According to Metro News, "Beverly, apparently surprised while changing clothes, had been strangled with a rope and stabbed 42 times. Her clothing was yanked away from her torso, but she was not sexually assaulted. The county coroner ruled strangulation as the cause of death, but said the knife wounds would have been enough to kill her." It's believed that she had been stalked.
2.The inexplicable Chen family killings in Guilderland, New York on Oct. 8, 2014, where Jin Feng Chen, his wife, Hai Yan Li, and their two young boys, Anthony and Eddy, were murdered in their home. It was the first quadruple homicide of a Chinese family in New York's Capital Region, which has a large Asian American community.
"The family was brutally murdered, although no one knows exactly how (but rumor has it they were beaten with hammers). It’s very disturbing. The FBI investigated it and everything. Some theories say they were in debt to an Asian mafia or were cooperating with a human trafficking article being written by the New York Times. But it remains unsolved."
—Anonymous
3.The 2020 Nova Scotia attacks, the deadliest mass shooting in Canadian history, where 22 people (and some dogs) were killed by gunman Gabriel Wortman. Wortman went on a 12-hour rampage through rural communities before being shot and killed by police.
"Oh, man… Gabriel Wortman collected decommissioned police cars and uniforms, which he used to disguise himself as an officer before carrying out the worst mass killing in Canadian history. He was also my neighbor, I lived right next to his Dental Clinic. So crazy to think it could’ve been us. You truly never know."
—Anonymous
No official motive was determined, but it was reported and speculated that Wortman, who had a history of domestic violence, may have been fuelled by misogyny.
4.The death of Amber Tuccaro, a Canadian First Nations woman who went missing in 2010 and was last seen hitchhiking near Edmonton. In 2012, her remains were found in the same area. Although authorities have claimed to be looking into the murder, the case is still unsolved.
"The one that always stresses me is the case in Canada where a woman took a ride into town from a stranger and realized he was shady and not driving to town. She either left a voicemail or a phone call to a friend detailing what roads they were on and asking him where he was going. Her name was Amber Tuccaro and the audio is online."
5.The brutal murder of Kimberly Cates, a nurse living in Mont Vernon, New Hampshire in 2009. The killers, 17-year-old Steven Spader and 19-year-old Christopher Gribble, used a machete to hack Cates to death.
![<div><p>"She was killed by four teenagers while her daughter, who was also attacked, slept in the same room. Her daughter miraculously survived and the four teens are in prison, but there was no reason other than they said they wanted to know what it was like to kill. Terrible."</p><p>—Anonymous</p><p>According to <a href="https://go.redirectingat.com?id=74679X1524629&sref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.buzzfeed.com%2Fcrystalro%2Flittle-known-true-crime-stories-june-2023&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nbcnews.com%2Fid%2Fwbna34705825&xcust=7409228%7CBF-VERIZON&xs=1" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" data-ylk="slk:NBC News;elm:context_link;itc:0" class="link ">NBC News</a>, "Five men [including the killers], ages 18 to 20, were charged in connection with the early morning home invasion."</p></div><span> WMUR-TV / Via <a href="https://go.redirectingat.com?id=74679X1524629&sref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.buzzfeed.com%2Fcrystalro%2Flittle-known-true-crime-stories-june-2023&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DuElR1G4Crcg&xcust=7409228%7CBF-VERIZON&xs=1" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" data-ylk="slk:youtube.com;elm:context_link;itc:0" class="link ">youtube.com</a></span>](https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/Aqkav4lT9GbH6JnO60kXew--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MDtoPTU0MA--/https://media.zenfs.com/en/buzzfeed_articles_778/d31f18cf9830a6be347592e1ac127a34)
"She was killed by four teenagers while her daughter, who was also attacked, slept in the same room. Her daughter miraculously survived and the four teens are in prison, but there was no reason other than they said they wanted to know what it was like to kill. Terrible."
—Anonymous
According to NBC News, "Five men [including the killers], ages 18 to 20, were charged in connection with the early morning home invasion."
6.The "Ripper Crew" or the "Chicago Rippers," a group of four men who terrorized, abducted, mutilated, and murdered many women in the Chicago, Illinois area in the early 1980s.
"Four men in a satanic cult suspected of the murder of at least 17 women. The things they did to the bodies were gruesome. One of them was the last person to be executed in Illinois."
—Anonymous
According to the Chicago Tribune, "Based on their own recorded statements and signature style of mutilating their victims, the group known as the Ripper Crew is thought to be responsible for the slayings of as many as 17 women and for an unrelated fatal shooting of a man in the early 1980s. Authorities said they stalked streets in Chicago and the west and northwest suburbs in a reddish-orange van in search of lone women to abduct."
Two of the men were sentenced to death, one was sentenced to 120 years in prison, and the fourth was released from prison on March 29, 2019.
7.The unsolved and suspicious disappearance of Daniel Robinson, a geologist in Arizona who was reported missing in June 2021. Robinson's Jeep was found, crashed, just a few miles away from his job site.
—Anonymous
According to Fox10, "Throughout the last few years, there have been many reports of human remains being found in and around Buckeye, but none of them turned out to be the young man. Robinson's father, David, has been leading search efforts for his son – and dozens have joined in."
8.Bob Ward, a Florida millionaire who was convicted, twice, of killing his wife in 2009. Ward's wife, Diane, was shot to death, but exactly what happened is unknown. The prosecution argued that it was an intentional act, while the defense argued that the couple struggled over the gun.
![<div><p>"After his second trial, his daughters found what they believed was a suicide note [written by Diane] when they were emptying out their house to sell to pay for the trial. It’s been speculated that evidence was falsified in order to get a conviction because he was tried immediately after Casey Anthony in the same courtroom and people were angry. There was no physical evidence saying Bob did it, but no one cares about a rich old white man."</p><p>—Anonymous</p><p>According to <a href="https://go.redirectingat.com?id=74679X1524629&sref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.buzzfeed.com%2Fcrystalro%2Flittle-known-true-crime-stories-june-2023&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.fox35orlando.com%2Fnews%2Fattorneys-for-bob-ward-a-millionaire-convicted-of-killing-his-wife-denied-bond&xcust=7409228%7CBF-VERIZON&xs=1" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" data-ylk="slk:Fox 35;elm:context_link;itc:0" class="link ">Fox 35</a>, "Ward was originally convicted of second-degree murder in 2011, being sentenced to 30 years in prison. However, the trial judge overturned this verdict and Ward stood trial a second time in February 2018. The new jury also found him guilty but of a lesser charge of manslaughter with a firearm. In June, Ward was once again sentenced to 30 years in prison."</p></div><span> Orlando Sentinel / Tribune News Service via Getty Images</span>](https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/ivCl8ujzQ7CTSyYU64jYfg--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MDtoPTYzMQ--/https://media.zenfs.com/en/buzzfeed_articles_778/fe53396ae7f0788dc6d3be544648c0fa)
"After his second trial, his daughters found what they believed was a suicide note [written by Diane] when they were emptying out their house to sell to pay for the trial. It’s been speculated that evidence was falsified in order to get a conviction because he was tried immediately after Casey Anthony in the same courtroom and people were angry. There was no physical evidence saying Bob did it, but no one cares about a rich old white man."
—Anonymous
According to Fox 35, "Ward was originally convicted of second-degree murder in 2011, being sentenced to 30 years in prison. However, the trial judge overturned this verdict and Ward stood trial a second time in February 2018. The new jury also found him guilty but of a lesser charge of manslaughter with a firearm. In June, Ward was once again sentenced to 30 years in prison."
9.The brutal Robison family murders, aka the "Good Hart murders," that happened on June 25, 1968, near Good Hart, Michigan. The Robison family, Richard, his wife Shirley, and their four children; Ritchie, Gary, Randy, and Susan, were shot and killed while on vacation in their Lake Michigan cottage.
—Anonymous
According to Michigan Live, "A couple and their four children were systematically hunted down as they vacationed in their cottage near Good Hart in the summer of 1968. They were shot one by one. Some were also bludgeoned, possibly with a claw hammer. The youngest victim was the family's only girl, just 7 years old.
[Despirte rural myths] there is no mystery behind the Robison family murders. They say the prime suspect identified by police was the only real suspect, a man who killed himself as police were preparing to arrest him on six counts of murder in 1973."
10.The 2011 Zanesville, Ohio animal massacre where the owner of an exotic animal farm released the captive animals — including rare tigers, lions, and bears — and then died by suicide. Nearly 50 of the animals were shot and killed as a result.
"I don't know if this is technically a crime, but in 2011 in Zanesville, Ohio a guy who owned dozens of exotic animals released them all to wander the town and then shot himself. His body was found partially gnawed, and the sheriff's department hunted the animals. People from out of state always think I'm making this up until I show them the Columbus Dispatch article about it."
—Anonymous
11.The gruesome and unsolved triple murder of three women, Karen Scarbrough, Sharon Lake, and Deborah Frank, at the site of a housing development in Dale City, Virginia in 1978 that left police "perplexed."
"There was a triple homicide in a model home trailer in Dale City, Virginia in the late '70s that has never been solved, and I have never heard anything since then about it. The killer or killers have never been found."
—Anonymous
According to the Washington Post, "The three women were found lying side by side on the floor of the trailer. Each had been shot once in the back of the head with a handgun. Their purses had been rifled, but there was no sign of struggle or sexual assault.
Police theorized that Lake and Frank walked into the trailer to pick up literature on houses in the area and may have stumbled on a robbery or intended rape. But officers say they do not know for sure how the incident turned into a triple slaying.
The man who police and prosecutors generally agree is the top suspect in the case was seen in the area of the trailer the afternoon of the killings. They say he contradicted himself in interviews with law enforcement officials but there was never enough evidence to charge him."
12.The hit-and-run killing of 11-year-old Dierdre Week in Wisconsin on March 24, 1995. Week had been riding home on her bike when she was hit and killed by a vehicle. She was so close to home that her father heard the crash.
"Some people believe that there was a HUGE cover-up in Wood County Wisconsin. This story definitely needs national attention."
—Anonymous
According to NBC News, "A case file filled with thousands of pages of witness statements and reports detailing the investigation shows inconsistencies and mistakes, the family said."
13.The disappearance of teenager Mary Lou Bostwick on July 17, 1972, in Waverly, New York, who was last seen just three days before her sixteenth birthday. Before she disappeared, Bostwick's father dropped her off at a friend's home for a babysitting job. According to authorities, foul play was believed to be involved and the case remains unsolved.
—Anonymous
It was reported that "three days later, Mary Lou's mother went to the house with her daughter's birthday cake and gifts, and the occupants said Mary Lou had never arrived there to babysit. However, her belongings were there, including the change of clothes she'd carried in a grocery bag."
Interestingly, Mary Lou's mother believed her daughter's disappearance was related to the murder of another teenage girl, Sharron Coston, who went missing from Sayre, Pennsylvania in October 1973. Allegedly, one of the people who testified against Coston's killer is a suspect in Bostwick's case.
14.The disappearance of Jim Thompson, aka the "Silk King," an American businessman who "changed the Thai silk industry" during the 1950s and 1960s, then went missing one day.
"He built a silk empire and one day he went for a walk into the jungle and was never seen again. They searched and found no traces that an animal got him but also no sign of him and he didn’t bring food or water with him. WHERE DID HE GO???"
—Anonymous
According to a CNN report from 1967, "He loved to roam through the jungle, searching for old ruins and occasionally kicking up a Buddha's head. One afternoon last week, when his hosts had retired to rest, he left their house without a word and went for a walk into the jungle. This time, Jim Thompson did not return. Alarmed when he did not show up by dark, the Lings [his hosts] called the police, who launched the most massive manhunt ever seen in the Malayan mountains."
Though there were some conspiracy theories at the time (including a suspected prior aborted kidnapping attempt), Thompson's disappearance remains unsolved.
15.The murder of Junko Furuta, a Japanese high school student who was abducted, raped, tortured, and then subsequently murdered in 1989 by four teenage boys.
"Her case was called the 'concrete-encased high school girl murder case,' because her body was discovered in a concrete drum. She was essentially tortured to death and upon discovering her story I had to continuously stop because it was making me physically ill to read about the cruelty that she had to endure, and they did it in the home of one of their parents, but his parents were too scared of him to stop him or go to the police (nothing happened to the parents)."
—Anonymous
According to Tokyo Reporter, "The case became widely known not only due to the graphic nature of the repeated beatings and sexual assaults endured by the victim but also the perception that the perpetrators received lenient sentences."
16.The unsolved case of the "Mad Butcher" of West Virginia, a suspected serial killer active in the Fayette County area in the early 1960s who was never identified.
—Anonymous
According to West Virginia Explorer, "To this day no one has identified who murdered at least some of seven people who went missing in the area in 1962 and 1963, though body parts were found across southern West Virginia.
Officials have never been able to find enough evidence to charge anyone nor have they ever determined whether the murders popularly attributed to 'the butcher' were committed by a single killer."
17.The disappearance of 12-year-old Celina Mays, who was also nine months pregnant when she went missing in December 1996. Although there have been hundreds of leads in the decades since, the case remains unsolved.
"Horrible stories from my town. Very sad."
—Anonymous
According to the Burlington County Times, "One of the first angles police looked at was identifying the father of Celina's child. Family members claimed she never revealed who got her pregnant. In fact, her father C.J. Mays said she became upset when she learned blood tests done on the baby could lead to the identification of the baby's father. Mays said his daughter told him the father was 16 and not a member of their church.
In an effort to prevent certain rumors from spreading out of control, Mays submitted to the police that he had gotten a vasectomy years before. His doctor confirmed this.
Despite Celina's age, the family objected to an abortion because of their faith. Amplifying the urgency to find her was the fact that due to her being so young, she likely wouldn't have been able to perform a vaginal birth and would have needed a cesarean section."
18.The "Oakland County Child Killer," aka the "Babysitter Killer," who was active in Oakland County, Michigan between 1976 and 1977. The unidentified perpetrator (or perpetrators) is responsible for kidnapping, holding captive, and then violently killing at least four children.
—Anonymous
According to WDIV Local 4 News, "There are four children police consider confirmed victims in the Oakland County Child Killer case: Mark Stebbins, 12; Jill Robinson, 12; Kristine Mihelich, 10; and Timothy King, 11. [...] Police believe only the boys had been sexually assaulted. The cause of death in three of the cases is listed as suffocation, but Jill Robinson was murdered with a shotgun. [...] The investigation into the serial killings was the largest of its kind in US history at the time."
19.The disappearance of 14-year-old Margaret Ellen Fox, who was last seen in Burlington, New Jersey in 1974. Fox went missing under strange circumstances which involved a babysitting job interview with an unknown man.
—Anonymous
According to the FBI, "Margaret Ellen Fox was last seen on June 24, 1974, after traveling by bus to meet with a man who called himself 'John Marshall' and had advertised for a babysitting job. Margaret was planning to go by bus to have an interview with this man about babysitting his young son. The man's phone number was later traced to a pay phone in a local supermarket. Margaret was seen getting on the bus in Burlington, New Jersey, at approximately 8:40 a.m., but she has never been heard from again."
20.Derrick Todd Lee, aka the "Baton Rouge serial killer," who was suspected of killing seven women between 1998 and 2003 in the Baton Rouge area of Louisiana. Although he was linked to multiple deaths, he was ultimately convicted of two murders.
"Derrick Todd Lee in Baton Rouge near LSU."
—Anonymous
According to WAFB, "Lee was linked through DNA to the deaths of multiple women. He was convicted in two of those deaths. In 2004, he was sentenced to death in the 2002 first-degree murder of Charlotte Murray Pace, 22, of Baton Rouge. She was a graduate student at LSU at the time of her death. Lee was also convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to life in the January 2002 killing of Geralyn DeSoto." Lee died in 2016 from heart disease.
21.The mysterious and unsolved disappearance of former Teamsters president Jimmy Hoffa, who had a history with organized crime, in July 1975.
—Anonymous
Hoffa, who had a history of being involved with organized crime, was a labor union leader and former president of the Teamsters Union who disappeared on July 30, 1975. Hoffa left his home that day in Lake Orion, Michigan and allegedly met with reputed mob figures Anthony "Tony Jack" Giacalone and Anthony "Tony Pro" Provenzano. Although Hoffa called his wife from a payphone that afternoon, he was never seen or heard from again after that. The FBI soon got involved with the search for Hoffa, but he was never found and declared legally dead in 1982.
22.The kidnapping and murder of Amy Mihaljevic in Bay Village, Ohio in 1989. Her story was featured on the TV show American's Most Wanted but still remains unsolved over 30 years later.
"This is a local case so I don't know how much wider attention it got. In 1989, Amy Mihaljevic was kidnapped in broad daylight from a shopping center in Bay Village by a man who arranged to meet her via phone call. There were various leads, for example, it could've been a man who worked at the local nature center or someone who was calling other girls with unlisted numbers with similar stories to the one he caught Mihalvec with. My mom used to drive us past the shopping center Amy was kidnapped from regularly and told us the story every time."
—Anonymous
23.The disappearance of 11-year-old Cody Haynes in 2004 from his father's home in Kittitas, Washington. It was reported that his father and his father's girlfriend were the last people to see Cody alive. The case is still an open investigation.
"His father and stepmother were prime suspects for his disappearance due to previous reports of child abuse and neglect. Cody was my former classmate before he got homeschooled and I never forgot about him. His case deserves the attention it never got when he disappeared. I just wish he will be found someday."
—Anonymous
24.Ivan Milat, aka the "Wolf Creek serial killer," who was convicted of killing seven people near Sydney, Australia between 1992 and 1996. Milat's crimes inspired the 2005 horror film, Wolf Creek.
"The Wolf Creek murders in SW Virginia from1979–1981."
—Anonymous
According to CNN, "The victims were stabbed, shot or beaten to death, with one decapitated. Their decomposed remains were discovered in the remote Belanglo State Forest, 138 kilometers (85 miles) from Sydney, between 1992 and 1996. Milat was ultimately identified by 24-year-old British backpacker Paul Onions, who escaped a car when a gun was pulled on him near Belanglo State Forest."
Milat, who never confessed to the crimes "despite a wealth of forensic evidence against him," died in October 2019 after spending more than 20 years in prison.
25.The grisly murder of eight-year-old Sandra Cantù in Tracy, California in 2009. After going missing, Cantù's body was found inside a suitcase in an irrigation pond. A former Sunday school teacher was later charged with her brutal murder, which involved poisoning and "homicidal asphyxiation."
"Being from Northern California and growing up not far from the city it happened in, the one that I find most disturbing is the Sandra Cantù murder from 2009. It was so horrific I will not detail it here."
26.The disappearance of medical student Brian Shaffer who was last seen in Ohio on CCTV at 2 a.m. on April 1, 2006. The video showed Shaffer going up an escalator to a popular campus bar but never showed him leaving. Foul play has still not been ruled out
"On the night of March 31, 2006, Shaffer went out with friends to celebrate the beginning of spring break; later he was separated from them and they assumed he had gone home. However, a security camera near the entrance to a Columbus bar recorded him briefly talking to two women just before 2 a.m. on April 1, and then apparently re-entering the bar without any evidence of him leaving the area. Shaffer has not been seen or heard from since."
—Anonymous
27.The strange and unsolved disappearance of Leah Roberts in Bellingham, Washington in March 2000. Roberts had only just left home, in North Carolina, days earlier.
"The disappearance of Leah Roberts isn't a well-known one, but is so strange. She left her home in North Carolina without telling anyone and drove across the country. Her car was found crashed on a mountain highway in Washington state (where I live) and she was missing. Years later they finally investigated her car and found the engine had been tampered with to cause an accident. There was surveillance of her speaking with a couple men at a bar shortly before she disappeared."
28.Nathaniel Bar-Jonah, a convicted child molester and suspected serial killer who was believed to have engaged in cannibalism. Bar-Jonah was convicted of attacking several young boys in Massachusetts in the '70s but was released in 1991. He later moved to Montana where he was eventually convicted in 2002 of the kidnapping and assault of a 15-year-old boy and his 12-year-old cousin in 1998 and 1999.
"I am absolutely shocked that more people don’t know about him. Just look him up. It’s wild the things he did and got away with. I mean there are stories of him cooking people and serving it to neighbors…"
—Anonymous
According to the Spokesman-Review, "Police also considered Bar-Jonah their chief suspect in the 1996 disappearance of a 10-year-old Great Falls boy, Zachary Ramsay. Murder and kidnapping charges against him were dropped in 2002, however, after the boy’s mother said she was prepared to testify she believed her son was alive."
29.The Phillip Island murder mystery where 23-year-old Beth Barnard was found brutally murdered on Phillip Island in Australia in September 1986. Beth's body was found with an "A" carved into her chest and she was allegedly having an affair with a man named Fergus Cameron. Not long after, Fergus's wife Vivienne disappeared and has not been seen since.
"Who killed Beth Barnard? Where is Vivienne Cameron? Is she dead, too? What really happened that night? What is Fergus Cameron not telling us? I have so many questions and will probably never find out, but I've never been more perplexed about an unsolved crime."
30.Finally, the killing of Henryk Siwiak, a Polish immigrant who was shot and killed in New York just hours after the two planes struck the Twin Towers on 9/11. Siwiak had been on his way to a new job that night but was given the wrong directions in a neighborhood known for heavy drug use and gang involvement. Siwiak "was engaged by a group" and shot dead.
"He was fatally shot in New York just before midnight. Unfortunately for him, he just so happened to be murdered on 9/11, and police resources that day were too occupied with the terrorist attacks to investigate his death. His case remains unsolved to this day."
Note: some submissions were edited for length and/or clarity.
If you or anyone you know has information on a missing person case, call local law enforcement first. You can also contact the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children at 1-800-843-5678 (THE-LOST) or visit the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System site for regional case assistance.
