5 Terrifying Unsolved Serial Murder nothing more than similar murders.

Those are
Cases
the theories and cases that captivate the
Jared Keever 05.20.14 Most Shocking minds of thousands.

Because moviegoers and true-crime buffs

love to get caught up in such mysteries, these
When Gary Ridgway was arrested in 2001 and
unsolved murder cases and the
subsequently convicted in 2003 of 49
accompanying theories are studied just as
murders, it answered a question that police in
closely as the mysteries that have been
Washington state had been asking for nearly
solved.
two decades: Who is the Green River Killer?

Indeed, the theories surrounding unsolved

Police suspect Ridgway killed between 49 and
murders leave more room for the imagination
90 female prostitutes during the years he was
to run than the grisly details of, say, Ted
dumping bodies along the banks of the Green
Bundy’s work.
River between Seattle and Tacoma. He had
originally been suspected of involvement in Here then is a list of five of the strangest
the murders in 1982 after police began unsolved serial murders in recent history and
discovering the bodies. He passed a polygraph the accompanying theories.
test in 1984 and police turned their focus to
other suspects. The Zodiac Killer

In 2001 he was linked to four murders by DNA Other than Jack the Ripper, the Zodiac Killer is
probably the most famous, most baffling and
evidence.
most sensational unsolved serial murder
crime in history. The story of the crimes is
His arrest closed a case that had nearly gone complete with an audacious killer who
cold. Prior to 2001, few had any hope that the taunted the police and press in Northern
identity of the Green River Killer would ever California with riddles and “cryptograms” for
six years.
be uncovered. Indeed, many believed that
Ted Bundy, the executed serial killer who
Because the crime went unsolved and
once lived in Washington, could have been
because the suspected perpetrator did taunt
the true killer.
the police it is unclear just how many victims
the Zodiac Killer took. The generally accepted
Despite their best efforts, police are not
number is seven victims (two actually
always able to solve crimes like Ridgway’s.
survived) although the killer himself claimed
The United States boasts an extensive list of
the number was as high as 37.
serial killers who have been stopped and
brought to justice. But there are a few cases,
The first confirmed murder happened in 1968
even high-profile cases, that police just never
the last was in 1969. Police suspect Zodiac’s
could crack.
involvement in murders up to 1971. The last
known communication between the press
Other serial-murder cases go unsolved
and the killer came in 1974. After three years
because police never suspect that a set of
of silence Zodiac sent a final taunting letter to
individual crimes are actually part of a string
the San Francisco Chronicle.
of related murders. Not until some savvy
sleuthing from a fresh-eyed detective is it
After that communications ceased. Murders
discovered that an old murder actually fits a
that fit the Zodiac’s profile stopped
pattern. Once discovered, such a pattern can
happening and police never arrested a
lead to other clues and those clues may lead
suspect.
to an arrest.
But that was not for a lack of trying. The police
Or the pattern simply remains a theory, just a
and the press both floated numerous,
loose grouping of coincidences that point to
complicated theories; 2,500 suspects were
questioned. In 2004 the San Francisco Police
Department marked the case “inactive,” only
to reopen it in 2007.
The case has provided inspiration for
numerous feature films, including Dirty
Harry.
The Smiley Face Killer
Two former New York detectives think they
have an answer to explain over 40 accidental
drownings throughout the United States.
Kevin Gannon and Anthony Duarte had
promised the parents of Patrick McNeil that
they wouldn’t rest until they could sufficiently
explain the death of their son.
McNeil was a student at Fordham University
in 1997 when he went missing, having been
seen for the last time leaving a bar in New
York. Two months later his body washed up
along the banks of the East River.
In 2002, another college student, Chris
Jenkins, disappeared in Minneapolis. He, like
McNeil, was a popular, athletic and successful
student. He had also disappeared after a party
where he had been drinking.
Police originally ruled his death an accidental
drowning once his body turned up in the
Mississippi River, but they reopened the case
as a homicide at the insistence of his parents.
The case caught the attention of Gannon and
Duarte. Working backwards from where both
bodies were found, using GPS and
information on water flow, the detectives
believe they have been able to pinpoint
where the bodies were dumped into the
rivers.
At each site they found some version of a
smiley face painted on a nearby tree or wall.
For that reason, the theory came to be known
as “The Smiley Face Killer” theory.
The two put their methods to work on
numerous other accidental drowning cases
across the country. They believe they have
uncovered the existence of either a single
killer or gang of killers responsible for over 40
deaths in the Midwest and New York.
All of the victims are young, athletic college
students who were last seen leaving a party,
probably intoxicated. They have also been
able to pinpoint a dumping site for each
victim and managed to turn up a painted
smiley face at each one.
Some law enforcement officials dismiss the
theory. No arrests have been made in any of
the cases.
The Phantom Killer
The case of the Phantom Killer is sometimes
referred to as the Texarkana Moonlight
Murders. Between the months of February
and May, 1946 four couples were brutally
attacked and then shot with a .32 caliber
handgun. Most of the attacks happened in
secluded, “lover’s lane” type areas just
outside the city limits of the small Texas town.
Three of the eight victims survived the
attacks, all of which happened about three
weeks apart.
For the four months in which the attacks
occurred residents of the town lived in near
constant fear. The fourth attack occurred in
the home of the victims’ and many believed
the killer was growing more bold. Because a
different gun was used in that attack police
later decided that it had nothing to do with
the previous three attacks.
The string of murders ended as abruptly as it
had begun, the killer seemingly receding into
the shadows.
To this day no one really knows who was
responsible. Some believe the murders
closely resemble the modus operandi of the
Zodiac Killer. Given that the crimes occurred
nearly 20 years apart many dismiss that
theory.
Another theory is that the killings were the
work of Youell Swinney who moved to
Texarkana shortly before the attacks began.
His wife fingered him for the crimes but her
stories proved unreliable. Police still arrested
and questioned him but he never confessed.
They later put him in prison for car theft.
There was not another attack once he was
initially picked up.
The events in Texarkana inspired the
movie The Town That Dreaded Sundown.
The Alphabet Murders
There are actually two cases of Alphabet
Murders in the United States. And they both
have disturbing similarities. The case that
remains unsolved happened in the early
1970s around Rochester, New York.
Between November, 1971 and November,
1973 three young girls turned up missing only
to be found dead a few days later. Their
names were Carmen Colon, Wanda
Walkowicz, and Michelle Maenza.
Police were convinced the assaults and
murders were linked. Once the press put the
alliterative last names of the victims together
the murders were dubbed the “Double Initial”
killings but that was later changed to the
catchier “Alphabet” murders.
The cases remain unsolved to this day. Any
suspects that police have identified have been
exonerated though DNA testing.
In 2011, 77-year-old Joseph Naso was
arrested for killing four women in California in
the late 70s. The victims’ names were Roxene
Roggasch, Pamela Parsons, Tracy Tofoya, and
(another) Carmen Colon.
Naso had been born in the Rochester area and
police thought they finally had the man
responsible for killing the young, New York
girls. It seems, though, the similarities
between the murders ended with the names,
which is still a creepy coincidence.
Police were suspect of the theory because
evidence showed Naso typically attacked and
murdered prostitutes, not young girls. They
finally gave up on him as a suspect when his
DNA did not match evidence taken from
Walkowicz’s body.
In 2013, Naso was sentenced to death for the
California murders.
The Daytona Beach Killer
The Daytona Beach Killer is the name
area police have given to a suspected serial
killer they believe is responsible for the
deaths of four women in the Florida beach
town.
Three of the women were killed between
December 2005 and March 2006. A fourth
body was discovered in 2008 but police
believe the woman was killed in December of
2007. DNA evidence links the victims. That is
the strongest indicator that the murders are
the work of a serial killer. The women also had
similar physical attributes; they were all shot
in the back of the head, and were either
suspected to be prostitutes or had a history of
drug problems.
Fear of repeated killings gripped the beach
community in the winter months in the years
after the bodies were discovered.
The FBI theorizes that the murders could be
linked to the deaths of 28 other women in the
state — all suspected murders, possibly the
work of a long-haul truck driver.
If that turns out to be the case, it could mean
that a killer is still prowling the interstate
highways of the Sunshine State. And that
would be the most chilling prospect of the
unsolved murders listed here.
Worksheet for ‘5 Terrifying Unsolved Serial Murder Cases’
(source: http://www.therichest.com)

1. Which killer was mistaken for someone else’s deeds =(actions, acts, behaviours)?
2. Presumably, what does ‘The Daytona Beach Killer’ do?
3. Who killed the most?
4. What does the ‘Double Initial’ refer to in the ‘Alphabet Murders’?
5. Which two serial killers’ modus operandi are similar, according to the text?
6. How many years did ‘The Zodiac Killer’ kill?
7. While inspecting a case, another serial killer was arrested. What was his name?
8. How long was the case of ‘The Zodiac Killer’ inactive?