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Some crimes haunt history, their perpetrators forever elusive. Join us as we examine the most notorious unsolved cases that continue to baffle investigators! Our countdown includes Lizzie Borden, Jack the Ripper, the Zodiac Killer, and more. Which unsolved mystery keeps you up at night? Let us know in the comments below!
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00:00Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're diving into historic cases which time left unsolved
00:12and ultimately never saw justice.
00:19The Borden Murders Lizzie Borden's tale is so famous and disturbing
00:23that it has become part of American folklore.
00:26In August 1892, her father Andrew and stepmother Abby were found brutally murdered in their
00:32Massachusetts home.
00:33Lizzie quickly became the prime suspect.
00:36It was so shocking for the police to come to the conclusion that the daughter had killed
00:43her father and stepmother.
00:45Why?
00:46She was at home during the killings, gave conflicting statements, and was rumored to have tried
00:50purchasing poison the day before.
00:53Reports also suggest a deep tension in the Borden home months before the murders.
00:58The Borden sisters reportedly resented their stepmother and also argued with their father
01:03over giving away property to Abby's family.
01:06In front of a panel of three judges and a jury of 12 men, the prosecutor began his opening
01:13statement with a simple premise.
01:16That Lizzie Borden is the only person with the opportunity and the motive to have committed
01:20the crimes.
01:21Yet in 1893, Lizzie was found not guilty due to weak evidence.
01:26To this day, theories abound, but no one truly knows if Lizzie committed the murders.
01:31Did Lizzie ever talk to the press?
01:34Did she ever give her side of the story?
01:38No.
01:39Lizzie Borden remained silent.
01:41Murder of Lord Darnley.
01:43Henry Stewart's murder was orchestrated so carefully that proving anything was impossible.
01:49Henry's story is equal parts annoying, tragic, and fascinating.
01:55Among other things, his murder is, I would argue, a fulcrum point in his wife Mary's life.
02:03On February 10th, 1567, an explosion tore through the house he was staying in in Edinburgh.
02:10Yet Henry's body wasn't burned.
02:12It was found in the garden, apparently strangled, suggesting the blast was a cover up.
02:19The centuries long mystery in this case is who was responsible for it?
02:24Who actually did it and who knew about it?
02:27His wife, Mary, Queen of Scots, soon fell under suspicion.
02:31Their marriage had soured and their closeness to James Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell, only deepened
02:36doubts.
02:37Though Bothwell escaped conviction, many believed he masterminded it with Mary's knowledge.
02:42Or silence, at least.
02:44There is a general consensus that this trial was actually rigged because it allowed Bothwell
02:49to be acquitted on the 12th of April, 1567.
02:53Some of his servants and acquaintances were, however, arrested and executed.
02:58When Mary married him months later, the scandal destroyed her reign.
03:03Centuries later, Henry Stewart's death remains a puzzle, meticulously planned but forever unsolved.
03:09Do you love me?
03:11Do you love me?
03:16Do you love me?
03:21You've given me an heir to two thrones.
03:25That matters more than love.
03:28The Axeman of New Orleans.
03:31Between 1918 and 1919, fear gripped Louisiana as a mysterious figure terrorized Italian-American
03:38families.
03:39They have never caught me, and they never will.
03:41They have never seen me, for I am invisible, even as the ether that surrounds your earth.
03:47The killer would break into homes at night, often using the victim's own axes to hack them
03:52to death.
03:54He murdered at least six people and injured several others.
03:57Despite citywide panic, the Axeman was never identified.
04:01After 1919, the Axeman of New Orleans disappeared and was never heard from again.
04:05However, theories about his identity and motivations ran wild.
04:10Some believe he was jazz-obsessed, inspired by a bizarre letter claiming he'd spare anyone
04:15playing jazz at night.
04:26Others suspected mafia involvement, due to the targeting of Italian grocers.
04:30Or even a sexual sadist driven by thrill.
04:34Then just as suddenly as the murders began, they eventually stopped, leaving only terror and
04:39uncertainty.
04:40I'm sure the transcendence of my relationship with your mother is hard for you to understand.
04:47But I'm happy that she told you about us.
04:51She didn't tell me anything.
04:53The monster with 21 faces.
04:56In the 1980s, a shadowy group pulled off one of Japan's boldest crimes, a massive campaign
05:02of extortion against major candy companies.
05:05To the police, fools.
05:07Are you all stupid?
05:08What the hell are you doing with all that manpower?
05:11They called themselves the monster with 21 faces, and were never caught nor identified.
05:17It began in 1984, when Glico's president, Katsushisa Izaki, was kidnapped and held for
05:23ransom.
05:24Though he escaped, the nightmare was far from over.
05:28Soon shelves were emptied as Glico products were threatened with cyanide poisoning, costing
05:33the company millions.
05:34It didn't take advanced technology.
05:36It didn't even really take violence either.
05:40Just words, fear, and timing.
05:42Then, the gang began targeting other food companies, taunting the police with numerous letters
05:47signed under their chilling alias.
05:50Investigators chased leads.
05:52From the elusive fox-eyed man and videotaped man, but even their prime suspect, Manabu Miyazaki,
05:58son of a Yakuza boss, was ultimately cleared of any wrongdoing.
06:04The Hall Mills murders.
06:06This local murder case is a perfect example of how a crime, when turned into a media circus,
06:12can derail justice.
06:14The story was tailor-made for a whole new brand of journalism.
06:18In 1922, the bodies of a married Episcopal priest, Edward Wheeler Hall, and a married choir
06:24singer, Eleanor Mills, were discovered under a crabapple tree in Somerset County.
06:30Love letters between them were scattered around their bodies.
06:33A shocking detail that fed sensational headlines.
06:36One tabloid, the up-and-coming New York Daily News, went so far as to try to elicit a confession
06:43from Eleanor Mills' husband by staging a seance.
06:47As authorities debated jurisdictional issues, the crime scene turned chaotic.
06:52Curious onlookers and reporters trampled the scene, destroying crucial evidence.
06:58All eyes soon turned to Frances Hall, the priest's wife and her brothers.
07:03But the damage was done, with evidence compromised and unreliable witnesses.
07:08They eventually walked free.
07:09Today, the Hall Mills case remains unsolved, remembered more for its scandal than anything
07:15else.
07:16People who very much want to solve this crime, these sort of amateur detectives and historians.
07:20The Murder of Mary Rogers.
07:22In 1842, Edgar Allan Poe wrote The Mystery of Marie Roget, which is considered the first detective
07:29story based on a real crime.
07:31It was inspired by the murder of Mary Rogers, a New York cigar clerk whose body was found
07:36in the Hudson River in 1841.
07:38Sir Anderson had wanted to employ Mary, as he believed that having such a beautiful young
07:43lady working in his cigar store would bring in more customers.
07:47Her murder shocked the public and the press, sparking endless speculations.
07:52Some believed she was murdered by a lover.
07:55And a remorseful note from her fiancé, before he took his own life, hinted his involvement in
08:00her death.
08:01Others suggested a gang.
08:03One woman even claimed that Rogers' body was dumped after a botched abortion to cover
08:07it up.
08:08The truth, however, remains lost to time.
08:10The police had no more suspects, and the case of the beautiful cigar girl was no longer
08:15appearing in the newspapers.
08:17No one knows what really happened to the beautiful cigar girl.
08:25Even with all the clues, codes, and public fascinations, the Zodiac Killer's true identity remains a mystery
08:34to this day.
08:41Between 1968 and 1969, the infamous killer carried out his murders in California, attacking young
08:47people and a lone cab driver.
08:50Officially, he's confirmed to have killed five people, but in his letters, he claimed
08:54as many as 37 people.
09:04He even mocked the police and the public through taunting letters and cryptic ciphers, some of
09:09which were decoded.
09:11But that didn't solve the case, either.
09:14Several suspects emerged.
09:15Most famously, Arthur Lee Allen, a disturbed former teacher.
09:19But none were ever proven guilty.
09:28Decades later, the Zodiac victims remain without justice, their stories lost in the shadow of
09:35his legacy.
09:40The Black Dahlia Anyone fascinated by true crime has likely
09:44heard of the Black Dahlia.
09:50The name belongs to Elizabeth Short, whose murder shocked 1940s Los Angeles.
09:55On January 15, 1947, Short's body was found in a vacant lot near the Limert Park area, brutally
10:03mutilated and eerily posed.
10:06Among the suspects was nightclub owner Mark Hansen, who knew her but was never charged.
10:11In fact, police interrogated over 150 suspects, but found nothing tangible.
10:16I think there's a possibility that he could be still walking around.
10:20Someone claiming to be the killer even promised to surrender, then vanished.
10:24And for a huge reward, many falsely confessed.
10:27Meanwhile, the media sensationalized every detail, dubbing her the Black Dahlia, inspired by
10:33a film or her style.
10:40Years later, George Hodel drew attention after his son accused him.
10:43But the case remains unsolved.
10:46Jimmy Hoffa's disappearance.
10:48He wasn't just any labor leader.
10:51Jimmy Hoffa was the fiery boss of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, who allegedly had ties
10:56with organized crime.
11:06In July 1975, he vanished without a trace after supposedly meeting two mob figures, Anthony
11:12Provenzano and Anthony Giacalone near Detroit.
11:16His last call was to his wife, saying he'd been stood up and then nothing.
11:29His close associate, Chuck O'Brien, became a prime suspect when Hoffa's hair and possible
11:34blood traces were found in a car he borrowed.
11:36Despite an extensive FBI investigation, Hoffa's fate remains unknown.
11:41Legally declared dead in 1982, many believe the mafia is behind his disappearance.
11:59Here we are, decades later, and his vanishing remains one of America's greatest mysteries.
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12:34The Whitechapel Murders In 1888, London's Whitechapel district was
12:39swallowed by fear.
12:41Jack the Ripper, a ghost wielding a blade, targeted sex workers.
12:45It was a widely held belief in the area that the authorities cared little for the fates of
12:49those who lived hereabouts.
12:52The inadequacy of local policing had long been a bone of contention.
12:56Their throats were slashed, bodies carved with surgical menace, and organs stolen under
13:01moonlight.
13:02The savagery peaked with Mary Jane Kelly's mutilated corpse, left like the killer's
13:07grim signature.
13:09Then came the chilling letters, such as Dear Boss and From Hell, which contained a piece
13:14of kidney, igniting a media storm.
13:28Suspects ranged from butchers to royalty, yet police had nothing, no fingerprints, no DNA,
13:34just shadows and alibis.
13:37In 2002, Patrick Cornwell's $4 million hunt pointed to painter Walter Sickert, but evidence
13:43was lacking and experts dismissed it.
13:46The Ripper's identity, still unknown, and justice, a fading echo.
13:51Unfortunately, many of the papers relating to the Jack the Ripper investigation have either
13:55been destroyed or else have disappeared from the official files, and without them, it is
13:59impossible to establish the guilt of one particular suspect above all others.
14:05What other infamous unsolved crime didn't make the list?
14:09Let us know in the comments.
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