The FBI’s Most Infamous Unsolved Mysteries

The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) was established in 1908 by President Theodore Roosevelt as a way of investigating corruption in government. Agents were scrutinizing crimes that were more white-collar, crimes like bank fraud, copyright violations, and forced labor. The FBI began assisting local law enforcement agencies with fingerprint identification and ballistics testing when it started the first national crime lab in the U.S. Yet, even these advancements weren't enough and the FBI's most infamous unsolved mysteries to date remain just that – unsolved.

Today the FBI is authorized to investigate and solve federal crimes across nine distinct categories: civil rights violations, counterintelligence threats, cyber crimes, organized crime, public corruption, terrorism, violent crime, weapons of mass destruction, and white-collar crime. A unit called the Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU) that investigates serial killers was added in 1972.

This article relied on highlighted cases from shows like "Unsolved Mysteries" and from cold case forums and sorted them by date from oldest to newest. (Also check out 21 of Most Famous Cold Cases in American History.)

• Date: September 16, 1920
• Victims: 300 injuries and more than 30 deaths
• Nature of Crime: Bombing/Terrorism

During the busy lunch hour in mid-September, a man parked his horse and cart in front of the U.S. Assay Office on Wall Street and walked away. An explosion then injured hundreds and killed dozens in what became known as the Wall Street Bombing. Descriptions of the cart's driver were vague, and reconstructing the bomb and fuse provided insufficient clues to identify a suspect. The FBI suspected it was the work of an Italian anarchist, but there wasn't enough evidence to make an arrest.

• Date: January 2, 1935
• Victim: Artemus Ogletree (20)
• Nature of Crime: Murder

Roland T. Owen checked into the President Hotel in Kansas City, and a bellhop took him up to room 1046. Over the next few days, hotel staff found his behavior to be unusual and he had a guest who would sit alone in the dark with the room locked from the outside. Days later, Owen was found with stab wounds, bound ankles and wrists, and a skull fracture. He died at the hospital.

Authorities discovered Owen's real name, Artemus Ogletree, several years into the investigation. His mother had been getting calls and letters from someone posing as Ogletree. While Kansas City detectives named a suspect, the FBI cleared him, and the case remains open today.

• Date: January 15, 1947
• Victim: Elizabeth Short (22)
• Nature of Crime: Murder

This infamous FBI cold case was dramatized in an Oscar-nominated film starring Scarlett Johannsen and Josh Hartnett. Elizabeth Short's life was tragically cut short when she was murdered, her body cut in half and left in a Los Angeles park. The FBI received an anonymous letter, but the fingerprints weren't on file, so the killer has never been identified.

• Date: February 25, 1957
• Victim: Joseph Augustus Zarelli (4)
• Nature of Crime: Child Abuse/Murder

The body of a young boy was found in a JCPenney box hidden in a wooded section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. From that day in 1957 until 2022, the boy's identity remained a mystery. However, advancements in DNA testing finally led to the boy's identity six decades later. While his identity is now known, it's uncertain who killed him.

• Date: June 12, 1962
• Nature of Crime: Prison Escape

Alcatraz, a high-security island prison off the coast of San Francisco, was thought to be escape-proof due to frequent prisoner checks and the failure of 14 escape attempts between 1934 and 1961. However, in 1962, Clarence Anglin, John Anglin, and Frank Morris successfully escaped and were never seen again. Wreckage of their rubber raft and a handmade life vest were found onshore.

• Dates: 1968 and 1969
• Victims: David Faraday (17), Darlene Ferrin (22), Betty Lou Jensen (16), Cecelia Ann Shepard (22), and Paul Lee Stein (29) died; while Bryan Calvin Hartnell (20) and Mike Mageau (19) survived.
• Nature of Crime: Murder

For at least two years, the Zodiac Killer murdered at least five people in Northern California. After the murders, he'd send cryptic letters to authorities and newspapers taunting them to find him. The Zodiac's identity has been debated for decades, but he's never been caught.

• Date: November 24, 1971
• Victim: Northwest Orient Airlines
• Nature of Crime: Hijacking/Ransom

Around Thanksgiving in 1971, a man using the name Dan "D.B." Cooper bought a ticket for a flight from Portland, Oregon, to Seattle, Washington. After boarding and ordering a drink, he handed a note to a flight attendant claiming he had a bomb and showed her wires in his briefcase. He told her to tell the captain, demanding four parachutes and $200,000 in small bills.

After landing in Seattle, Cooper demanded the pilot fly him to Mexico City. Somewhere between Seattle and Reno, he used the parachutes to escape. His identity has never been solved. In the 1980s, a boy found some of the cash in a rotting package, the rest has never been recovered.

• Date: July 30, 1975
• Victim: Jimmy Hoffa
• Nature of Crime: Disappearance

Since his disappearance in 1975, rumors regarding Hoffa's burial site have ranged from the Meadowlands (Giants Stadium) to a ball field below Pulaski Skyway. He's never been found despite several tips that he's buried in a steel drum in different locations.

• Date: March 24, 1978
• Victim: President Truman
• Nature of Crime: Theft

On the morning of March 24th, two suspects broke into the Truman Presidential Library in Independence, Missouri, and smashed the display case containing three ceremonial swords and two daggers. These items had been gifted to President Truman by the Saudi Arabian Crown Prince and the Shah of Iran. In 1978, their value was estimated at over $1 million, equivalent to about $4.61 million today.

• Date: April 11, 1981
• Victim: Sue Sharp (36), John Sharp, (17), Dana Wingate (17), Tina Sharp (12)
• Nature of Crime: Murder

Sue Sharp left her abusive husband and moved her five children across the country from Connecticut to California. Sharp and her children stayed with her brother until she landed a job at a nearby lodge and was offered a cabin as part of her employment benefits.

Fourteen-year-old Sheila returned from a sleepover on the morning of April 11th to find her mother, brother, and brother's friend murdered. Her other two brothers were upstairs asleep and hadn't heard anything. No one could find the other child, 12-year-old Tina. Tina's body was found in 1984 about 100 miles away. DNA found at the scene has never been matched to a suspect.

• Dates: July 1988 to March 1989
• Victim: At least nine women
• Nature of Crime: Murder

The New Bedford Highway Killer is believed to have murdered at least nine women along Route 140 in New Bedford, Massachusetts. Additionally, two more women from the area vanished, and their bodies have never been found. Despite having three potential suspects, no one has ever been arrested for these crimes.

• Date: March 18, 1990
• Victim: Museum
• Nature of Crime: Robbery

In the early morning, two men in police uniforms rang the buzzer at Gardner Museum's employee entrance and stated they were responding to a disturbance. Once inside, the men handcuffed the two on-duty guards and put them in the basement. Those men walked out with 13 priceless works of art from the Dutch Room. Despite a $10 million reward, the paintings remain missing and the FBI keeps looking for the clues needed to solve this famous cold case.

• Dates: April 8, 1992 to January 15, 1994
• Victims: Ten people, including two survivors
• Nature of Crime: Murder

Since the 1990s, authorities and the FBI have been attempting to identify a serial killer responsible for multiple murders. Each victim either worked or shopped in stores near the I-70 corridor. While most of the killings occurred in Kansas and Indiana, officials believe that two unsolved murders in Texas may also be connected to the I-70 killer.

• Date: May 24, 1993
• Victim: Junior Burdynski
• Nature of Crime: Disappearance

When 10-year-old Junior Burdynski went missing, the FBI discovered that three neighborhood men were sexually abusing neighborhood boys. This launched the FBI's first online undercover child predator investigation. Two years later, the FBI's Innocent Images program launched. Despite these advancements, he's never been located.

• Date: January 13, 1996
• Victim: Amber Hagerman
• Nature of Crime: Abduction and murder

Amber Hagerman's tragic abduction and murder remain unsolved, but her case led to the creation of AMBER alerts. She was riding her bike when she was abducted and found dead four days later. DNA evidence was collected at the scene, and there is hope that it will eventually solve this case.

• Date: December 26, 1996
• Victim: JonBenet Ramsey
• Nature of Crime: Strangulation

Six-year-old JonBenet Ramsey's death is one of the best-known modern FBI cold cases. After being found dead in her home, Ramsey's parents also found a lengthy ransom note. Strangulation is her official cause of death. While there have been many suspects over the years, her killer has not been identified.

• Date: June 30, 1999
• Victim: Ricky McCormick
• Nature of Crime: Murder

McCormick was a felon who couldn't read or write. After taking a bus from St. Louis to Orlando, he returned to St. Louis days later. McCormick then went back to work but soon disappeared. His body was found three days later, and investigators were baffled by the cryptic notes found in his pockets. Despite being illiterate, McCormick had these mysterious notes that even the FBI's cryptography experts were unable to decode. Authorities believe McCormick was murdered, although many questions remain unanswered.

• Date: October 2009
• Victims: Bobby, Madyson, and Sherilyn Jamison
• Nature of Crime: Disappearance

The Jamison family disappeared while looking to purchase 40 acres of land in the San Bois Mountains. Investigators found the family's pickup, dog, and personal items, but there was no trace of the parents or their young daughter. Four years later, hunters found the remains of two adults and a child. While a medical examiner confirmed they were Jamison's remains, their disappearance and cause of death remain under investigation.

• Date: April 18, 2016
• Victim: Missy Bevers
• Nature of Crime: Murder

Bevers arrived early in the morning to set up for a Camp Gladiator fitness class she taught at Creekside Church in Midlothian, Texas. Thirty minutes later, her first group of students discovered her dead body, having suffered a fatal head wound. The FBI's primary lead is based on video footage of an individual dressed in tactical clothing with "Police" marked across it.

• Date: February 13, 2017
• Victims: Liberty German and Abigail Williams
• Nature of Crime: Murder

German (14) and Williams' (13) parents dropped the girls off at the Delphi Historic Trail in Indiana. They arranged to pick them up later, but the girls never showed up at the designated pick-up location. The next day, volunteers found their bodies. German captured video footage of their killer, but the suspect's identity remains a mystery.