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Justice delayed is justice denied — but sometimes, it still arrives. Join us as we count down some of the most haunting cold cases that finally saw a breakthrough, from decades-old murders to long-unidentified victims. Modern DNA technology, forensic science, and relentless investigators have brought long-overdue answers to these chilling unsolved mysteries. Which case do you find most haunting?
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NewsTranscript
00:00For 42 years, I've always wondered, of course, who did this?
00:04Welcome to WatchMojo.
00:05And today, we're looking at cases that went unsolved for years
00:10before finally seeing a breakthrough last year.
00:13The Boulder County Sheriff's Office says it's been solved thanks to new technology.
00:19The Yogurt Shop Murders
00:21In 1991, in Austin, Texas, a patrolman reported a fire at a local yogurt shop.
00:28But it wasn't just arson.
00:30Inside, four teenagers were found brutally murdered in what would become one of the city's most horrific crimes.
00:36The victims were Jennifer and Sarah Harbison, Eliza Thomas, and Amy Ayers.
00:46For years, the investigation was plagued by false confessions and numerous suspects.
00:51Due to their self-incriminating statements, Robert Springsteen and Michael Scott were put on trial,
00:57only to be released in 2009.
00:59Both Scott and Springsteen's convictions were overturned on constitutional grounds.
01:05Thanks to an updated DNA analysis done in 2025,
01:09the real culprit was identified as Robert Eugene Brashers, a serial killer.
01:14Further investigations revealed that a .380 shell casing found at the crime scene
01:18matched the gun he used during a standoff with the police that led to his death.
01:23A city memo states Austin police will hold a news conference on Monday to explain to the public about this
01:29breakthrough.
01:29Diana Kuhn's Murder
01:31In 1978, 20-year-old Diana Kuhn was murdered in West Linn, Oregon, and the case went cold for decades.
01:39At the time, David Lawrence Atkison was interviewed by police, but he denied knowing Kuhn.
01:45A witness even reported seeing him in his car near the crime scene around the time of the murder.
01:49Still, investigators couldn't tie him to the crime.
01:53Forensic technology at the time just wasn't advanced enough to give the case the closure it needed.
01:58Decades later, investigators revisited preserved evidence and used modern DNA analysis
02:04that identified Atkison as the man who assaulted and killed Kuhn.
02:08A recent cold case review uncovered untested evidence which was sent to the state crime lab for DNA testing.
02:14Unfortunately, Atkison had died in 1989, well before justice could be served.
02:20Prosecutors say if he were alive today, he would have been indicted and likely convicted for Kuhn's sexual assault and
02:26murder.
02:27South Carolina cold case.
02:29Randy Barnhill was an ongoing predator linked to multiple crimes.
02:34Yet for many years, he evaded identification.
02:37Evidence indicates that there may have been additional incidents involving Barnhill.
02:42From 2000 to 2006, he created widespread fear for women in the Myrtle Beach community due to the pattern of
02:49his attacks.
02:50His undoing finally came in 2025, when DNA testing identified him as the predator of a 2006 sexual assault case.
02:58Police say technology advances pointed them to Barnhill.
03:01Barnhill had attacked a woman working late at a local business in the Myrtle Beach area of South Carolina.
03:07For years, investigators couldn't identify the mysterious man, and the case went cold.
03:13Until forensics company Othram's new technology provided a breakthrough.
03:18Barnhill later pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 18 years in prison.
03:23We know Barnhill will not be eligible for parole.
03:25The murder of Donna Ogleve.
03:28On March 8, 1998, Donna Ogleve was found strangled in a parking lot in Toronto.
03:33She was 24 years old in Toronto for just a few weeks from British Columbia.
03:38Efforts to solve the case proved fruitless, as investigators couldn't find a match to the DNA at the scene.
03:44We'd had the accused DNA at the crime scene, but he was unknown to us.
03:52But that wasn't the last time investigators looked at the case.
03:55Over the years, they revisited evidence,
03:58even appealing to the public through YouTube and a police podcast to generate new leads.
04:03In 2022, they turned to DNA tracking that eventually led them to the killer's family and the killer himself.
04:10The man was identified as Ronald Gordon Ackerman,
04:13who had been working as a truck driver during the time of the murder.
04:17In February 2025, he was arrested and later charged with first-degree murder.
04:22It's nice to make sure, especially when these people are still alive,
04:26that they have to come and face justice, no matter how long it's going to be.
04:29Louisa Dunn's murder.
04:31This is thought to be Britain's oldest solved cold case.
04:35The killer was Ryland Headley, a man previously convicted of sexually assaulting elderly women.
04:41Interestingly, he had been sentenced to life in 1977, but the term was reduced and he served only two years.
04:48They also say that Headley is unlikely to offend again.
04:52Decades earlier, in 1967, he had broken into Louisa Dunn's home in Bristol and murdered her.
04:59The case went cold because investigators couldn't identify him as the culprit.
05:03In 2024, DNA evidence and a matching palm print finally connected Headley to Dunn's murder.
05:09They were also able to match the palm mark on the frame of the window to Mr. Headley as well.
05:14The next year, he was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison at age 92.
05:20I don't think anybody could do that unless they had a very distorted view of what is right and what
05:31is wrong.
05:32The middle child of Bear Brook State Park, a minor murdered, left in a barrel in the woods and spending
05:39decades unidentified.
05:41It's hard to imagine anything sadder.
05:44In the middle of New Hampshire, there's this state park.
05:47Bear Brook State Park.
05:49That's exactly the heartbreaking case of Rhea Rasmussen, long known as Jane Doe in the Bear Brook murders.
05:56While other victims were identified, her name remained a mystery.
06:00It wasn't until DNA testing linked her to the chameleon killer Terry Peter Rasmussen that the pieces began to fall
06:07into place.
06:08She was the killer's biological daughter and may have been his victim, too.
06:13In 2025, investigators officially identified her as Rhea.
06:17We knew she had a mother and a family, but now, of course, we know that she has a name.
06:23She was born in 1976 to Pepper Reed, who disappeared in the late 70s and is believed to have died
06:29at Rasmussen's hand.
06:31Rasmussen died in prison in 2010, never charged for these killings.
06:36They were last seen alive in California back in 1978.
06:40Palm Beach Jane Doe Identification
06:43In 1978, construction workers discovered skeletal remains in Boca Raton, Florida.
06:49While anthropologists were able to determine the remains were that of a young woman, attempts to identify her were futile.
06:56For decades, she was known as the Palm Beach Jane Doe.
06:59That is, until 2024, when investigators collaborated with Othram.
07:04In 2025, she was finally identified as Patricia Ann Ritchie, last seen entering the truck of an unknown person.
07:12Investigators are yet to identify who this unknown person was and what might have happened to Ritchie.
07:18Her death has been ruled a homicide, and the case remains open.
07:22In general, if the DNA profile can be built, the case can be solved.
07:28Scattered Man John Doe Identified
07:31Beginning in 1995, the skeletal remains of the Scattered Man John Doe started washing up on different local beaches in
07:39New Jersey.
07:39Each find hinted the bones belonged to one person, yet no one knew who.
07:45It took the involvement of a team of college students and instructors to finally reach a breakthrough in the case.
07:50The students started looking into records of shipwrecks.
07:54Conducting their own research, these students uncovered newspaper articles from December 1844
08:00about a small cargo ship that sank during a storm.
08:03Their findings pointed to Henry Goodsell, the ship's captain, who had drowned alongside his crew.
08:09They ultimately tracked down that profile and gave us an investigative lead.
08:12In 2025, DNA testing using a sample collected from a living descendant confirmed the match.
08:19After just over 180 years, the man once known as the Scattered Man finally had a name.
08:26A mystery solved through collaboration and connection.
08:29John Curtis Patterson's Murder
08:31In 1975, John Curtis Patterson was found dead in a bathroom in a gas station in Boulder.
08:38Evidence suggested the attack had happened during a robbery.
08:41Investigators began a massive hunt for suspects and soon zeroed in on one man, Louis Jess Lociero.
08:48Deputies say they found plenty of evidence tying him to the crime.
08:51The same caliber firearm found at the crime scene was found in his nearby motel room.
08:56A knife matching Patterson's fatal wounds was also found, along with other incriminating evidence.
09:02Yet, for unclear reasons, he was released before any formal charges could be filed, and the case went cold.
09:09In 2025, authorities re-examined the evidence using new ballistics technology, which ultimately confirmed Lociero indeed killed Patterson.
09:18Sadly, he died in 2024, before he could answer for his crime.
09:23Authorities say he would be charged with first-degree murder under 1975 law, if he were still alive.
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09:46Katerina Reitz-Browse Murder
09:48In 1980, a violent crime shook the town of Ayer, Massachusetts.
09:5248-year-old Katerina Reitz-Browse was found brutally murdered in her home, her purse and a large sum missing.
10:00She was a hard-working wife, mother and sister, who died violently in her own home.
10:06Shortly after the murder, Kenneth Waters, a man who lived nearby, was arrested and convicted.
10:11He would spend 18 years in prison for a crime he did not commit.
10:15Determined to prove his innocence, his sister Betty Ann fought tirelessly to clear his name.
10:20Although Waters was eventually exonerated, Browse's true killer remained unknown for years.
10:27Investigators reopened the case in the 2020s with modern tools.
10:31In 2025, they finally identified Joseph Leo Boudreau as the true killer using forensic investigative DNA technology.
10:39A man with a criminal past who lived in Natick at the time.
10:42Boudreau had died in 2004, having never faced justice for his horrific acts.
10:49For both of these families, the Browse family and the Waters family,
10:52they say this new evidence brings a measure of peace and even justice if it arrived decades too late.
10:58Which of these cold cases is the saddest?
11:01Let us know in the comments section.
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