- 4 months ago
These chilling cases continue to haunt investigators decades later... Join us as we explore the most disturbing unsolved crimes from the 1980s! Our countdown includes mysterious disappearances, bizarre murders, and terrifying criminal campaigns that left authorities baffled. Which of these cold cases do you think will ever be solved? Let us know in the comments below!
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00:00As far as we know, that was the last person to see Tammy alive.
00:03Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're looking at the most troubling crimes from the 1980s that were never solved.
00:08The joke is on you. Ha ha.
00:15The monster with 21 faces.
00:17Ah! A poisoned apple. Sleeping death.
00:27No, this isn't really a monster. Fear not.
00:30It's the alias of a mysterious criminal group that terrorized Japan in the mid-1980s through blackmail, threats, and alleged food tampering.
00:38Their campaign began in 1984 with the kidnapping of a food company executive, followed by letters taunting the police and threatening further conglomerates.
00:46They claimed to have poisoned various candies and snacks, leading to massive recalls and public paranoia.
00:52The group also sent shocking messages to the authorities, flaunting their ability to evade capture, and that is exactly what they did.
00:59Despite an intense investigation, the group abruptly announced their retirement from crime in 1985, leaving Japan and its authorities utterly bewildered.
01:08Police shall never catch me because I have been too clever for them.
01:12I look like the description passed out, only when I do my thing, the rest of the time I look entirely different.
01:18The murder of Adam Walsh.
01:20Serial killer Otis Toole confessed twice but was never tried for the murder.
01:24At the time, the Walshs told us Toole wasn't important. Saving kids was.
01:29One of the most heinous crimes of the 1980s occurred on July 27, 1981, when Adam Walsh was abducted from a Florida department store and murdered.
01:38The crime horrified the nation and pushed his father, John Walsh, to become a leading advocate for missing children.
01:43Investigators eventually focused on serial killer Otis Toole, who confessed multiple times to killing Adam.
01:49We needed to know. We needed to know. And today we know.
01:58Although Toole was never formally tried, the case was officially closed in 2008.
02:03Still, major doubts linger.
02:05There was little physical evidence tying Toole to the murder.
02:08His story was inconsistent. He was never formally charged.
02:11He was known for making false confessions, and he even recanted said confession.
02:16These uncertainties fuel ongoing debate, and many people continue to doubt Toole's involvement in the murder.
02:22Toole had confessed to killing Adam as far back as 1983, and though he later recanted, his niece would tell John he confessed again on his deathbed.
02:31He was never officially charged.
02:33The abduction of Christopher Abeta
02:35In tonight's special report, a local family is still holding on to hope that their missing son will be found after more than two decades.
02:42On July 15, 1986, seven-month-old Christopher Abeta vanished from his crib in his family's Colorado Springs home.
02:49His parents discovered him missing around 6 a.m., and the front door of the house was found partially open.
02:55Investigators considered the possibility of an abduction by someone close to the family,
02:58especially since his father Gil had recently ended an affair with a woman who had a history of break-ins.
03:04Gil says he thinks Bradshaw wanted a lasting relationship with him, and Christopher got in the way.
03:10I wasn't going to abandon him or anything, I had no other plans, and so she knew that, she knew how I felt, and he became in the way.
03:21However, no charges were ever filed.
03:23Despite nationwide searches, age-progressed photos, and extensive media coverage, no confirmed trace of Christopher has ever been found,
03:30and DNA testing in later years has failed to link him to any potential matches.
03:35His parents both passed away without answers, and today, nearly four decades later, the case remains unsolved.
03:42Colorado Springs police are still searching for answers in a tragic missing persons case that's now nearly 40 years old.
03:50The murder of Lisa Hessian.
03:51This case has remained with me for 40 years.
04:00There's just a handful that you never forget, and this is one of those.
04:0614-year-old Lisa Hessian of Lee, England, was attacked while walking home from a friend's party on December 8th, 1984.
04:12She never made it, and her strangled body was found in an alley about 200 meters from her house.
04:17Police launched a large investigation at the time, speaking to hundreds of people and searching the greater Manchester area.
04:24Police revealed that in the three to four months before her murder, there had been three other attacks on young women,
04:34all within one mile of where Lisa was killed.
04:38But despite the extensive efforts of the police, her killer was never found.
04:42And while recent forensic developments have provided investigators with some new leads,
04:47there is still no suspect in the case.
04:49Great R Manchester police still appeal for information to this day,
04:53hoping that advances in science or some fresh witness accounts will eventually lead to answers for her family.
04:59Lisa was Christine's only child.
05:02She continued to campaign to try and find the truth, to try and get justice.
05:07And sadly, she died in 2016 without getting that.
05:12The disappearance of Emanuela Orlandi.
05:14The Vatican's promoter of justice said he is looking for all the documentation in the Holy See
05:19that is related to the disappearance of Emanuela Orlandi in 1983.
05:23The story of Emanuela Orlandi is a wild one with plenty of twists.
05:28The Italian teenager vanished on June 22nd, 1983, after leaving a music lesson in Rome.
05:33Over the decades, her case has been entangled with theories involving organized crime,
05:38secret services, the Vatican, and even the KGB.
05:41In these four decades, several hypotheses have come to light about how the 15-year-old Italian girl
05:46disappeared without a trace in the center of Rome.
05:49Shortly after Orlandi's abduction, anonymous callers associating with a terrorist organization
05:54demanded her release in exchange for the freedom of Mehmed Ali Aja,
05:58the attempted assassin of Pope John Paul II.
06:01However, investigators learned that this was merely a misdirection
06:04and that her kidnapping had nothing to do with Ali Aja.
06:07Despite decades of investigation, alleged sightings, and even the opening of tombs in various Vatican
06:12cemeteries, no trace of Orlandi has ever been found.
06:16Orlandi expressed his satisfaction with his meeting at the Vatican.
06:20He said that in 40 years, no one had ever listened to him as they did in that encounter.
06:25He explained he was able to make all his petitions known and even hand over a list of names of people
06:29in high positions who he believes may have some information about what happened to his sister in 1983.
06:35The Colonial Parkway Murders.
06:37The agencies are sharing information on this case, the killing of a couple the year before,
06:43and two other double homicides committed in the next two years.
06:47They are collectively known as the Colonial Parkway Murders, and none of them are solved or closed.
06:54Between 1986 and 1989, a series of killings known as the Colonial Parkway Murders terrorized the American state of Virginia.
07:02At least 10 people, often young couples, were murdered along the scenic Colonial Parkway,
07:07a dark and remote stretch of road connecting historic sites like Jamestown and Yorktown.
07:12I miss him.
07:18I miss him very much.
07:20The area is known for being a lover's lane, and the young victims were typically found in or near their vehicles.
07:26In 2024, authorities conclusively linked two of the canonical Parkway murders to a local fisherman named Alan Wilmer Sr.,
07:33who died back in 2017.
07:35However, it's still unclear who murdered the others, whether it was Wilmer, an accomplice, or some other unconnected killer altogether.
07:43A major break in a cold case homicide.
07:46Police identified in Northern Neck man, Alan Wilmer Sr.
07:50Authorities say he killed three people nearly three decades ago.
07:54It was DNA that ultimately linked him to the brutal murders.
07:58The disappearance of Tammy Lynn Liepert.
08:01Tammy, what's the problem?
08:03Honey, talk to me.
08:05Tammy?
08:07I saw something awful.
08:09What?
08:10Something really bad.
08:11Honey, what did you see?
08:13I wasn't supposed to see it.
08:15Known for her beauty, Tammy Lynn Liepert was an aspiring actress, briefly appearing in the classic crime drama Scarface.
08:21However, the movie was released posthumously, as Liepert mysteriously disappeared on July 6th, 1983.
08:29According to Tammy's friend, he dropped her off at approximately 3 p.m. on July 6th, 1983, five miles from her house.
08:37She was barefoot and carried no purse.
08:40Liepert's life took a troubling turn before she vanished.
08:42Friends and family reported that she began acting paranoid, convinced that someone wanted to harm her.
08:47And on the fateful day of July 6th, she was dropped off at a Cocoa Beach parking lot by a friend and was never seen again.
08:54However, a local detective received two anonymous phone calls after she disappeared, informing him that Liepert was still alive and that she had gone to school to become a nurse.
09:03Unfortunately, there was never a follow-up on these mysterious calls.
09:07During a breakdown on the set of Scarface, Tammy Lynn had mentioned money laundering.
09:13According to an official at the U.S. Customs Service, dozens of money laundering cases in Florida were under federal investigation at that time.
09:22Some call it sheer coincidence.
09:24Tammy's mother believes it is no coincidence at all.
09:28The Circleville Letters
09:29For the past 18 years, residents in and around Circleville, Ohio, have received literally thousands of bizarre letters and postcards.
09:38They represent an insidious campaign of character assassination, which some believe has left one man dead and another unfairly imprisoned.
09:47Beginning in 1977, residents of Circleville, Ohio, began receiving anonymous and threatening letters that exposed secrets about their personal lives.
09:55And while they began in the late 70s, the threat really ramped up in the 80s.
10:00The most infamous case involved school bus driver Mary Gillespie, who was accused of having an affair with the school's superintendent.
10:07I know where you live.
10:09I've been observing your house and know you have children.
10:13This is no joke.
10:15Please take it serious.
10:17In 1983, Mary discovered a booby-trapped gun that was allegedly intended to kill her.
10:22The weapon was traced to her brother-in-law, Paul Freshour, who was convicted of attempted murder.
10:28But the letters continued while Freshour was in prison, casting significant doubt on his guilt.
10:33To this day, the author remains unknown, and the Circleville letters remain one of America's most baffling unsolved mysteries.
10:39In May of 1994, Paul Freshour was finally granted parole after serving 10 years.
10:47To this day, he staunchly maintains his innocence, and he is sure that the real criminal is still at large.
10:54The Keddie Cabin Murders.
10:56But the rainfall can't wash away the horror of what happened on this now empty lot in the tiny resort town of Keddie, 35 years ago.
11:06Back in April of 1981, the small town of Keddie, California, was shaken by the brutal murders of Sue Sharp,
11:12her son John, and John's friend Dana Wingate, who were found dead in cabin 28 of the Keddie resort.
11:18Sue's daughter Tina was also missing from the scene, and her remains were discovered years later in a remote location.
11:23An envelope with a cassette recording of a man telling the sheriff's dispatcher a body found three years after the murders
11:31could be that of one of the victims, Tina, who was kidnapped from the scene.
11:36Investigators believe it was no random call.
11:38It came on the three-year anniversary of the killings.
11:41The victims were found bound, beaten, and stabbed.
11:44Yet strangely, some children that were also in the home at the time were left unharmed.
11:49Despite multiple suspects, no one was ever convicted.
11:52The investigators were heavily criticized for their performance, having mishandled evidence and dismissed potential leads.
11:58Even with modern DNA testing and reopened inquiries, the case remains unsolved.
12:03I actually put in my mind that I'll probably go to my grave, that it will never be solved.
12:10And then when all this is coming out, it brought up the hope again.
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12:35The Chicago Tylenol Murders
12:37This crime captivated the nation, put the nation on its ear, and had probably hundreds and hundreds of thousands of households going through their medicine cabinets to try to determine, do we have poison in our house?
12:47Throughout the fall of 1982, the greater Chicago area was shaken by a string of sudden deaths that were traced to Tylenol capsules laced with potassium cyanide.
12:56Seven people, including children and adults, died after ingesting the poisoned capsules.
13:01Investigators discovered the tampering occurred after the products had already left the factory, indicating that someone had poisoned the bottles in stores.
13:08When you opened a bottle of Tylenol in the early 1980s, or any product for that matter, you didn't see this protective seal.
13:16Now it's the law because of what happened in the Chicago area starting on September 29, 1982.
13:23Johnson & Johnson swiftly recalled millions of bottles and introduced tamper-evident packaging, setting new safety standards in the pharmaceutical industry.
13:31But despite a massive investigation and even the might of the FBI, no suspect was ever convicted of the murders.
13:38A man named James Lewis was convicted of extortion for demanding money from Johnson & Johnson, but he was never traced to the poisonings themselves.
13:46Lewis spent 11 years in prison for this shakedown, but through the decades has denied being responsible for the murders.
13:52I think the Tylenol murderer is still out there dancing in the streets.
13:57Do you think you have the answers? Let us know in the comments below.
14:00She disappeared without a trace.
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