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- Disappearances and mountain mysteries that refused to stay buried
- Family betrayals and gruesome homicides that shocked communities
- Deaths tied to negligence, pressure, or professional error
- Terrifying intrusions and hidden occupants in everyday homes
- Cases of delayed discovery, identification, and cold-case breakthroughs
- Injuries and survivals that defy belief
- Grim truths about death, cremation, and what we call “ashes”
- Systemic abuses and historical medical wrongdoing
- Disturbing patterns in public safety and bizarre historical detentions
True crime fans know that ordinary places can hide the darkest stories. From abandoned chimneys to luxury jets, these 20 cases span disappearances, shocking violence, medical failures, and government abuses. Each one leaves questions, grief, and lessons about how fragile safety can be.
Disappearances and mountain mysteries that refused to stay buried
- Dylan Redwine, 13 — In 2012 Dylan vanished while visiting his father in Colorado for Thanksgiving. Months later, his scattered remains were found in nearby hills. Investigators found his blood in the house and truck, and his skull showed blunt and sharp-force trauma. Prosecutors later argued a motive tied to humiliating photos, and in 2021 Dylan’s father was convicted of second-degree murder and given a 48-year sentence.
- Duncan MacPherson, 20 — A Canadian snowboarder who disappeared in 1989 at an Austrian resort. His body surfaced 14 years later under glacial ice. Official accounts said he fell into a crevasse, but some evidence hinted his remains were recovered on a slope, not off it, leaving doubts.
- Joshua Maddux, 18 — Found in 2015 wedged inside a Woodland Park cabin chimney, Joshua had been missing since 2008. His body was curled in a fetal position and wearing minimal clothing. Early theories suggested an accidental entrapment, and a coroner later listed the death as undetermined.
- A hiker on Nama Peak, Sichuan — A climbing party filmed a friend unclip his safety line for a photo, then slip and plummet more than 650 feet down an icy slope. The footage and the restricted location raised sharp questions about safety and judgment.
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Family betrayals and gruesome homicides that shocked communities
- Mark Twitchell — An aspiring filmmaker in Edmonton who used fake dating profiles to lure victims to a rented garage. Police found blood, belongings, and a manuscript detailing murders disguised as fiction. He was convicted of first-degree murder and given life with no parole for 25 years.
- Abby Choi, 28 — A Hong Kong model and influencer disappeared in 2023. Days later, investigators discovered her body, dismembered. Her ex-husband and family members faced murder and obstruction charges amid disputes over property and money.
- Charles Albanese — In Illinois he poisoned relatives with arsenic between 1980 and 1981 to seize their wealth. Exhumations confirmed arsenic poisoning, and Albanese was convicted and later executed.
- Reet Jurvetson, 19 — Found stabbed and unidentified in Los Angeles in 1969, her identity remained a mystery for decades. She was finally identified in 2015 after a sister recognized a photo in a cold-case file. The murder remains unsolved.
Deaths tied to negligence, pressure, or professional error
- Gulfstream Aspen crash, 2001 — A wealthy passenger allegedly forced pilots to attempt a night landing despite rules and weather. The plane descended below safe altitude and hit a hillside, killing all 18 aboard.
- Terril Johnson, 72 — A hotel lawsuit alleges he was scalded to death in a San Jose-area shower when water reached roughly 134–136°F. The coroner cited severe scalding over more than a third of his body. Family claims the hotel failed to maintain safe temperatures and seeks damages.
- Bob East, photographer — Entered hospital for routine eye surgery in 1985 and never regained consciousness after a nurse mistakenly injected glutaraldehyde into his spinal canal. He died soon after, prompting a multimillion-dollar malpractice settlement.
Terrifying intrusions and hidden occupants in everyday homes
- An Oregon homeowner kept hearing noises under the floorboards and discovered a man living in the crawl space. He had wired lights and a TV to the house power and set up a bed. Police arrested him on burglary and drug charges.
- A Garden Grove hotel incident — Teen athletes woke to someone trying to force open their locked door with a wire. One girl recorded the rattling handle and spoke to the person outside. The hotel later claimed an employee was conducting a room check, but the episode exposed frightening vulnerabilities.
- A chilling handwritten note left on a front door by an elderly man unnerved its finder. Small, personal intrusions like this can provoke outsized fear in a community.
Cases of delayed discovery, identification, and cold-case breakthroughs
- Madison “Maddy” Scott — Vanished after a 2011 party at Hogsback Lake, B.C. Her tent and truck were left behind. Years of searches followed. In May 2023 her remains were finally found on rural land east of Vanderhoof. The RCMP continues to call the death suspicious.
- Long-unsolved files sometimes close by chance, like the many years it took to identify Jane Doe victims or to match DNA with relatives who recognized a photo in a cold-case database.
Injuries and survivals that defy belief
- Emily Eccles, 15 — Thrown from a bolting horse in 2019, she smashed her face into a post and suffered horrific trauma. Surgeons rebuilt her jaw with titanium plates and hundreds of stitches. She returned to school a month later and now advocates for the surgeon who saved her.
- A teenager in the U.K. survived a near-fatal facial injury that medical teams treated as one of the most severe civilian facial traumas seen outside conflict zones.
Grim truths about death, cremation, and what we call “ashes”
- When a body is cremated, the powder families receive does not come directly from ash. After incineration, bone fragments remain. Those fragments are processed in a machine called a cremulator to create the fine material typically returned to relatives.
Systemic abuses and historical medical wrongdoing
- Forced sterilizations of Native American women — In the late 1960s and 1970s, records show the Indian Health Service sterilized thousands of Native women, often without proper consent. A 1976 GAO report confirmed widespread violations, estimating at least 3,400 sterilizations in a narrow span, with later research suggesting higher totals.
- These policies left lasting trauma and prompted calls for accountability and redress decades later.
Disturbing patterns in public safety and bizarre historical detentions
- Historical asylum records reveal odd and sometimes cruel reasons people were institutionalized. Reviewing those lists shows how social norms and medical practice once combined to harm vulnerable people.
