unsolved murder

Four decades after 16-year-old Roxanne Sharp was found murdered in the woods of St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana, a true crime podcast has helped authorities crack the cold case. Four men were arrested this week following tips generated by the podcast series, marking a major breakthrough in a case that had gone unsolved since 1982.

From Alabama death rows to Nordic courtrooms, at least ten people have been exonerated for crimes they did not commit. These cases reveal a troubling pattern: investigative bias, procedural failures, and the transformative power of DNA analysis in correcting judicial errors across the Atlantic.

Arlene Fraser, a 33-year-old mother of two from Elgin, Scotland, disappeared from her home on 28 April 1998. Despite a murder conviction, her body has never been found, and questions about the case persist to this day.

On Halloween Eve 1975, Martha Moxley, a 15-year-old Connecticut student, was bludgeoned and stabbed to death in her family's Belle Haven backyard. Nearly five decades later, the case remains a tangled web of wealth, power, and allegations involving the Kennedy family.

On 28 August 1976, Elizabeth Plunkett was abducted from Brittas Bay, County Wicklow, by two English serial killers planning a spree of rape and murder across Ireland. Her body was found a month later—but she never saw justice in court.

Emilie Anine Skovgaard Meng, 17, vanished in the early hours of 10 July 2016 after leaving a railway station in Korsør, Denmark. Her body was discovered six months later in a lake 60 kilometres away. In June 2024, a marketing manager and youth football coach was sentenced to life imprisonment for her murder.

Between April and July 1981, Clifford Olson murdered 11 children across British Columbia. His subsequent confession came with an unprecedented and deeply controversial condition: the Canadian government would pay him $100,000 for the locations of his victims' bodies.

Charles Edmund Cullen, a registered nurse, murdered at least 29 patients—and possibly far more—across multiple hospitals in New Jersey and Pennsylvania between 1988 and 2003. Operating under the cover of medical care, the 'Angel of Death' administered lethal drug overdoses while healthcare systems failed to stop him.

Herbert Richard Baumeister, a successful German-American businessman, operated one of America's most prolific killing sprees from the late 1980s until his 1996 suicide in Canada. Police discovered the remains of at least 11 men buried on his 18-acre Indiana estate, with evidence suggesting he may have killed at least 25 victims overall.

On 7 August 1985, five members of Jeremy Bamber's adoptive family were shot dead at White House Farm in Tolleshunt D'Arcy, Essex. Nearly four decades later, Bamber remains imprisoned with no possibility of parole, maintaining his innocence while his case continues to divide those who knew him.

Rex Heuermann, a Manhattan architectural consultant, pleaded guilty on April 8, 2026, to murdering eight women, including the four victims of the notorious Gilgo Beach serial killings. The Massapequa Park resident's confession ended one of New York's most puzzling criminal sagas.

Robert Durst, the eldest son of a New York real estate dynasty, died in prison in January 2022 after being convicted of murder. Despite investigations into three deaths across multiple states, Durst was convicted of only one crime—yet his name remains synonymous with evasion and privilege.

In April 2008, Austrian police discovered Elisabeth Fritzl locked in a hidden cellar beneath her father Josef Fritzl's home in Amstetten, Lower Austria, where she had been imprisoned and repeatedly raped for 24 years. Her escape came only after one of her seven children—all fathered by Fritzl himself—fell dangerously ill and was taken to hospital.

In 1998, Marion Barter sold her house, told her family she was traveling the world, and vanished without a trace. Nearly three decades later, her daughter Sally Leydon is using podcasting to solve what authorities couldn't—or wouldn't.

Rozanna Purcell, former Miss Universe Ireland, has become the voice of an unsolved injustice. The model and charity worker now hosts *Stolen Sister*, a new RTÉ podcast that reopens the case of Elizabeth Plunkett, a 23-year-old killed by serial killers John Shaw and Geoffrey Evans in 1976—men who confessed but were never convicted of her murder.

Stine Bolther is a Danish journalist and bestselling author who has spent over 25 years reporting on crime and emergency services. In 2025, she reached new heights by co-writing Department Q #11 with celebrated crime novelist Jussi Adler-Olsen, earning shared recognition as Favorite Author of the Year.

Steve Ainsworth spent over 30 years investigating homicides and major crimes for the Boulder County Sheriff's Office, examining more than 2,500 deaths and leaving an indelible mark on some of America's most notorious cases.

We cannot publish a profile on Kurt Kragh at this time due to insufficient verified information in English-language sources.

2026 brings a slate of major true crime documentaries across Netflix, ID, and HBO Max, featuring everything from Elizabeth Smart's firsthand account of her 1996 kidnapping to the Hillside Strangler's shocking on-camera confession. These releases promise archival footage, FBI investigations, and perspectives rarely heard before from victims and perpetrators alike.

Henry Lee Lucas confessed to around 600 murders between 1983 and 1985, but investigators later determined most were fabrications. The case exposed dangerous interrogation practices that allowed a convicted killer to manipulate law enforcement across multiple states.