Amber Hagerman
Amber Rene Hagerman was
just nine years old when she was abducted and murdered. Amber was riding her
bike close to her grandparent’s home in Arlington, Texas on January 13, 1996
when she was snatched. Amber and her brother Ricky were riding around the block
when they went a little further to an abandoned grocery store parking lot to
ride on a ramp there that children often enjoyed riding on. Amber’s brother
became worried that they were riding further than their mother had said to go
so he told Amber he was returning home. Ricky started back home and Amber
stayed for one more ride on the ramp. When Ricky got home the family asked
about Amber and when he said that she had stayed a little longer the family
sent him back to bring her home. Ricky returned, however, he could not find his
sister. Jimmie Whitson, grandfather to Amber and Ricky jumped in to his truck
and went to find her himself. At the parking lot Jimmie found a police car and
pulled up next to it where the officer told him that a man close by had heard
screaming and looked to see another man carrying a young girl in to his pickup
truck. The man who lived close by had called 911 summoning the police officer
but when the officer arrived at the scene all he found was a bicycle that Amber
had been riding.
The Black Dahlia
The
Black Dahlia is a nickname used to refer to Elizabeth Short, born in 1924 and
murdered in 1947. The body of Short was discovered in Leimert Park in Los
Angeles on January 15, 1947. The case of the Black Dahlia has been publicized
in book and film form, most significantly for the sheer gruesome nature of the
crime. The body of Short was discovered mutilated with a cut across her waist
that was so deep that it sliced her in half. Short had been completely drained
of blood, she was nude and the corners of her mouth had been slashed up to her
ears. The nude body appeared to have been posed with her hands above her head
and her elbows bent at right angles. The cause of death is stated to have been
blood loss from the cuts to her face combined with shock that resulted from a
concussion she received before her death.
There have been a handful of suspects in the case of the Black
Dahlia; however, no one has yet to be convicted of the crime and as time passes
it is increasingly unlikely that anyone will pay for the crime. The killer of
Short is suspected to have contacted the newspapers on numerous occasions when
he felt that the coverage of the murder was tapering off and once even mailed
an envelope containing personal possessions of Short to prove his involvement
in the case. The envelope also contained a small address book with the name
“Mark Hansen” on the cover, the last individual known to have seen Elizabeth
Short alive. Due to the sheer sensationalism of the case, over the years many
people came forward claiming to have plaid a role in the death of Short;
however, no one has ever been convicted of the crime.
Arushi Talwar
The investigation of
14-year-old Aarushi Talwar's murder, who was found with her throat slit,
presented years of twists and turns. While the domestic help, Hemraj was
initially accused, the body of their Nepalese domestic help was also found
within days. A long drawn out investigation saw confusion over evidence,
accusations of her parents Rajesh and Nupur Talwar misleading investigators,
and a dramatic trial by media (and now a Bollywood movie featuring Irrfan
Khan), the court eventually ruled the parents guilty.
Hinterkaifeck
On the night of March 31,
1922, the six residents of Hinterkaifeck, a small farmstead in Germany, were
murdered with a mattock (a tool similar to a pickaxe). The victims were Andreas
and Cäzilia Gruber, their widowed daughter Viktoria, her children Cäzilia and
Joseph, the maid, Maria Baumgartner. It was rumored that Andreas and Viktoria
had an incestuous relationship, and that Joseph was their son. The Gruber’s
earlier maid left the family six months earlier, having claimed the home was
haunted. And days before the murder, Andreas told neighbors he’d discovered a
strange set of footprints in the snow leading from the forest to the home, but
not back. He’d also heard footsteps in the attic, and a set of keys went missing.
Based on the crime scene found days after the murders, investigators believed
the family was led one by one into the barn to be killed, before the murderer
killed the maid and young Joseph in the house. More than 100 suspects were
ultimately questioned, but none were ever convicted of the crimes.
Mad Butcher of Kingsbury Run
Also known as the
Cleveland Torso Murderer, the Mad Butcher of Kingsbury Run was a serial killer
active in Cleveland in the 1930s. The official victim count is 12, but
investigators believe the true number is likely higher. The Mad Butcher was so
named for beheading and dismembering his victims (beware the Google image
search for this one; the above picture is a plaster cast of one victim’s head,
but much more gruesome pictures exist), and sometimes castrating his male
victims. Many of the victims were not found for many months (or even upwards of
a year) after their murders; some were never identified as their heads were
never found. Some suspected there was more than one “Mad Butcher,” but the case
remains unsolved.
