Inexplicable Disappearances In History: These People Were Never Found
When someone mysteriously disappears off the face of the earth and is left unfound for years, even decades, it can take a horrible toll on their friends and family. Their loved ones have to live without any closure.
There are an unfortunate amount of unsolved mysteries that feel like they're straight from a fictional novel. This article explores some of the most bizarre and creepy cases that have caused an insane amount of confusion for the families and law enforcement involved.
Jim Sullivan
Malibu, California musician Jim Sullivan released his album U.F.O. in 1969, but he never truly got mainstream fame.
He decided to pack up from Cali and drive to Nashville, but he never made it. His truck was found near New Mexico abandoned. Weirdly enough, his album U.F.O. was all about driving to a desert and leaving his family while getting abducted by aliens.
The Case Of J.C.P. Williams
J.C.P. Williams was a practicing physician working in New Zealand. He was the man responsible for discovering Williams Syndrome. Williams Syndrome is a genetic growth disorder that causes disproportionate body parts. J.C.P. Williams' discovery was so significant that he was offered a job at the world-renowned Mayo Clinic.
Williams failed to show up and he was never seen from again. The last time he was seen was in London, England. His discovery is still helping people today, though.
The Case Of The Springfield Three
After a late night of partying, Suzanne Streeter and Stacy McCall went home to Streeter's house. Suzanne's mother, Sherrill Levitt, was waiting there for them to get home.
All three of them vanished. Their purses were unchecked at the top of the stairs in the house. There was no sign of struggle. For nearly three decades they've been missing.
Jodi Huisentruit
Jodi Huisentruit was an Iowa news anchor that was full of life and energy. She disappeared in 1995 from her parking lot at four in the morning when she was heading to work.
There were no signs of a struggle and some of her belongings were found beside her car. Her fate remains unknown.
Charles Kingsford Smith
Charles Kingsford Smith was a popular and charismatic aviator. He was a pilot that was able to cross off a lot of "firsts", like crossing mainland Australia entirely and flying from Sydney to London.
However, in 1935, on his way back from London to Australia, he crashed near Myanmar. They discovered the undercarriage, but no other wreckage of the plane or pilot was found.
The Case Of Cheryl Grimmer
Three year old Cheryl Grimmer went missing in 1970. She and her family were visiting a beach in Australia when her parents allowed her to wander off by herself for all of 30 seconds. Cheryl's parents last saw her by the beach showers.
Witnesses claim a man grabbed her and ran off, but she was never seen again. Police and detectives tried their hardest to track down the man, but sadly, little Cheryl never made it home.
Sigizmund Levanevsky
In 1937, Moscow held an event to celebrate their new bomber plane. The leader of the Soviet Union, Joesph Stalin, invited Western media to come and cover the event.
Russian pilot Sigizmund Levanevsky got into the cockpit and took off. He flew toward Alaska and was never seen again. The wreckage was never found.
The Case Of John Ruffo
A well-known businessman, John Ruffo, conned US banks out of $350 million. He was convicted and sentenced to 220 months in prison, but he disappeared.
This picture of him at this ATM is the last known picture of him. He has been at-large since 1998. He's believed to be overseas with a new identity.
The Case Of Boston Corbett
Boston Corbett was famously known as "Lincoln's Avenger." After Lincoln was assassinated, Corbett spent his time hunting down Lincoln's assassin, John Wilkes Booth.
Corbett actually did manage to find and kill Booth, but a short while after that, he went insane and he was put into an asylum. That asylum couldn't contain Lincoln's Avenger, though. Corbett broke out and he was never heard from again. We can only speculate about what may have happened to this man.
The Case Of Lionel Crabb
During World War II, Lionel Crabb served in the Navy. In 1956, he was recruited by MI6 to help do reconnaissance on a Russian cruiser.
Crabb accepted his mission. He put on his scuba gear and dived into the water. He attempted to locate the cruiser, but it wasn't long before he was unresponsice. A short time later, a body with no hands or head washed up on shore. His compatriots couldn't be sure if the body was his.
The Case Of Teresa Butler
The husband of Teresa Butler returned home after a work shift to discover his wife was missing in 2006. Her Jeep was still at the house but there were no signs of Teresa.
A lot of valuables were stolen and her cell phone was missing. Two calls were made from her phone after she went missing, but neither of the people she called had ever heard of her before. There are still no answers as to where she went.
The Case Of Henry Hudson
Henry Hudson is perhaps one of the bravest explorers known for mapping North America. He was hired to find a northern passage to Asia.
He and his crew hit a very cold Canadian winter and they wanted to turn back. Hudson didn't. But, that was the last straw for the other guys onboard as he was never seen again.
The Case Of Paula Jean Welden
Paula Jean Welden was a sophomore at Bennington College in 1946 when she vanished without a trace. She told her roommate that she was going for a quick walk and never returned.
Over the next 10 years, a local Bennington man bragged that he knew where her body was buried, but couldn't lead police to the gravesite.
The Case Of Ray Gricar
This one is truly bizarre. Ray Gricar was a homicide prosecutor for Centre County, Pennsylvania. He told his girlfriend in 2005 that he was going to skip work for the day to do some shopping.
The next day his car was found by a state trooper with no sign of him. His laptop was found six months later under a bridge with no hard drive. He has not been seen since.
Felix Moncla
In November 1953, Felix Moncla was sent to check on an unidentified aircraft while working for the US Air Force.
When he flew out, the radar showed Moncla and the unidentified aircraft overlapping each other. Soon after, only one remained and the UFO flew north. There was no trace of Moncla or his aircraft.
The Case Of Brian Shaffer
This was the last picture of Brian Shaffer before he went missing. The 27-year-old medical student was seen entering an Ohio bar with his friends, but he never left.
Some think that he slipped out of the bar alone as he was grieving the recent death of his mother and then something terrible happened to him.
The Case Of Lauren Spierer
On June 30th, 2011 Lauren Spierer disappeared after a night of partying with her friends. The Indiana University student is still missing and there are no leads on her whereabouts.
Her parents haven't given up the fight and have maintained a social media presence to help get their daughter back.
The Case Of Tara Calico
19-year-old Tara Calico left her home to go for a bike ride and was never seen again. Her case went cold until someone found this polaroid in a parking lot.
Two other pictures surfaced of a girl looking like Tara. They can't be confirmed though. Police think that she was accidentally hit while on her bike and buried that same day.
The Case Of Asha Degree
The parents of nine-year-old Asha Degree went to wake her up one morning in 2000, and she wasn't there. Asha shared a room with her brother, but he had no idea what happened.
She was reportedly seen walking on the highway at four in the morning. A few days later, her books and pencils were found near a neighbors house. She's still missing and no one knows where she went.
The Case Of Barbara Newhall Follett
She was some kind of literary genius at a young age. By the time she was eight years old, she had already written a novel. By 18, she had written four.
Follett fell into a depression and on the evening of December 7th, 1939, she walked out of her house after an argument with her husband and was never heard from or seen again.
Forrest Schab
After recently signing with CP Records, Canadian rapper DY went to Mexico to celebrate. But, he wouldn't make it back to Canada after he vanished without a trace.
There are a lot of rumors that surround this story, but many people believe that it could be drug-related. Very bizarre.
The Case Of Patty Blough, Renee Bruhl, And Ann Miller
Three young women went missing without a trace after boarding a small boat on Lake Michigan. Many people believe that they were going to visit a floating abortion clinic (this took place in 1966 which was seven years before Roe v Wade).
They think that one of the girls died, and the other two were killed because they were witnesses.
The Case Of Keith Reinhard
When Tom Young went to take his dog for a walk one day in 1987, he never returned. Young had been renting a retail space in town, which was then rented to Keith Reinhard.
Reinhard ended up writing about Young's story. A week after Young's body was found, Reinhard went for a hike and never returned. Coincidence? No one knows.
The Case Of Barbara Bolick
Barbara Bolick went for a hike with a family friend in the Bitterroot Mountains of Montana. According to the friend, Jim Ramaker, he and Barbara headed to an overlook where they stopped for a snack.
Barb walked back down the trail as Jim took one last look at the view. She then vanished without a trace. More than a decade later, she's still missing.
The Case Of The Sarah Joe
Five friends departed the coast of Maui for a fun day of fishing on a small boat called the Sarah Joe. They ended up motoring into Hawaii's worst storm on record.
They failed to return and a massive search was underway but failed. A decade later, the Sarah Joe was found wrecked on the coast of one of the Marshall Islands. It was next to the grave of one of the five men in the boat. How did he get there? Who buried him?
The Case Of Elisa Lam
Elisa Lam was found dead inside of a hotel's rooftop water tank in 2013. She was seen on surveillance video the night she disappeared walking into an elevator and hiding as if someone was following her.
She is last seen walking out of the elevator and no one else ended up making an appearance. She was found weeks later.
The Case Of Ken McElroy
Ken was hated in the town of Skidmore, Missouri. He was accused of theft, violence, pedophilia, and all sorts of other scumbaggery.
The people who lived in the town had enough of law enforcement not doing anything about him, so they took matters into their own hands. Two unknown shooters killed him in the middle of the street. There were 45 witnesses, all of which were "hiding from gunfire". The killers didn't get caught.
The Case Of Garnell Moore
Garnell has been missing since 2002. His mother is in prison and his dad is nomadic, to say the least. He was staying with his aunt the last time he was seen.
When Garnell's relatives realized he was missing, his aunt gave some elusive answers. She first said he was on a field trip, then said he was dropped outside of school. She couldn't give the address of the school though. He has been missing since.
The Case Of Amy Lynn Bradley
In 1998, Virginia native Amy Lynn Bradley mysteriously disappeared while on a Caribbean cruise with her family.
Many people suspect she fell overboard or left the ship voluntarily. But there have been several sighting of what looks like Bradley which suggests she was kidnapped and possibly forced into sex trade.
The Case Of Zach Ramsay
In 1996, Zach Ramsay disappeared on his walk to school in Great Falls, Montana. Known child molester Nathaniel Bar-Jonah was suspected of the crime, but there was no evidence.
Bar-Jonah was arrested on other crimes, and police found a list with Zach's name on it. Police also found coded messages like "Little Boy Pot Pie" and "lunch is served on the patio with roasted children". They still haven't found him.
The Case Of Ylenia Carrisi
An Italian TV celebrity, Ylenia Carrisi was the daughter of Italian singers and actors Albano Carrisi and Romina Power. After visiting New Orleans in January 1994, she suddenly had disappeared without a trace.
Although many people had different theories about her disappearance, whether she was abducted or ran away, upon her father’s request, she was presumed dead in January 2014. However, since her disappearance numerous people have claimed to have sighted her alive.
The Case Of Tara Grinstead
Tara Grinstead was a high school history teacher in Ocilla, Georgia. On October 22, 2005, she went missing under mysterious circumstances. Then, in 2009, a video surfaced on the Internet of a a self-proclaimed serial killer who called himself the “Catch Me Killer.”
He went into detail on 16 murders that he had committed over the years, with one of them fitting the description of Tara Grinstead who had disappeared four years earlier. The video was later classified as a hoax and neither the Georgia police or FBI ever found any suspects of Grinstead’s body.
The Case Of Richey Edwards
Richey Edwards is best known for being the rhythm guitarist for the Welsh rock and roll group Manic Street preachers. The group came into popularity during the 1990s, so his disappearances came hard to many of his fans.
Unfortunately, he had a history of alcoholism, self injury, anorexia, nervosa, and depression in the years leading up to his disappearance. However, his car was found abandoned in in a popular suicide location in 1995 although his body was never located
The Case Of Harold Holt
If you were around during the ‘60s then you know that Harold Holt was the Prime Minister during that time. He liked to call himself an outdoorsman and loved to go spearfishing. The water was the last thing he was afraid of and he could tread water better than he could swim.
On December 17, 1967, Holt and some friends were returning to shore on a yacht when he suggested they stop by Cheviot Beach for a swim. Holt swam far out and never returned. After a massive search, he was declared dead in absentia and its widely believed that he drowned. Nobody found and this theory has never been proven.
The Case Of Bison Dele
Before he was Bison Dele, his name was Brian Williams. Williams won an NBA championship with the Chicago Bulls back in 1997 when Michael Jordan. The crazy thing is, Williams, renounced basketball and retired in his prime.
He went on to explore new countries and new hobbies, most notably sailing. In the early 2000’s he planned to voyage from Tahiti to Hawaii. Dele, his girlfriend, older brother, and the ship’s captain set out on Dele’s catamaran on July 6, 2002. Dele, the girlfriend, and captain were never seen again.
The Case Of Glenn Miller
Glenn Miller was a big-band trombonist and bandleader during the swing era of the 1940s. Once WWII began, Miller enlisted in the Air Force to be a good citizen. On December 15, 1944, Miller was ordered to fly to Paris, where he was going to meet his band for a performance.
Miller boarded a single-engine UC-64 Norseman with two other passengers, but they would never touch down in Europe. Miller and the other two passengers were never heard from again, but if they crashed, the wreckage and their bodies were never found.
The Case Of Scott Smith
After disappearing in 2000, many believed Canadian rocker Scott Smith died in a boating accident. Smith was the bassist for Loverboy, whose hits “This Could Be the Night” and “Working for the Weekend” became huge in the ’80s.
In November 2000, he and his friends embarked on a sailing trip that would send them from Mexico to Vancouver. Near San Francisco, a large wave took over the boat and Smith vanished. He probably was swept overboard, but U.S. Coast Guard searches for his body or remains turned up fruitless.
The Case Of Rico Harris
Rico Harris was a former basketball player with the Harlem Globetrotters, whose alcohol problems caused him to lose a promising career in the sport. He became a security guard after leaving the team, but eventually, his drinking caused him to lost that job too.
At that point, he moved to Seattle to live with a girlfriend. In 2014, he visited California to see his mother but he would never make it back to Seattle. Authorities later found his car abandoned outside of Sacramento, but Harris was nowhere to be found.
The Case Of Michael Rockefeller
Michael Rockefeller is obviously from the famed Rockefeller family, but unfortunately, his namesake wasn’t enough to get the resources to find him when he disappeared. Rockefeller went on an expedition to New Guinea to study native tribes with Harvard’s Peabody Museum.
He was last seen on November 17, 1961, when his boat overturned near New Guinea. The Dutch anthropologist he was with survived, but Rockefeller’s body was never found. At this point, it is widely believed that he drowned.
The Case Of Connie Converse
Connie Converse might have been a popular singer-songwriter in her day if she hadn’t disappeared. Throughout the ‘50s, Converse lived in New York City to establish herself in the music scene. The lack of success there caused her to move to Michigan, where she worked as an editor.
But soon, she lost her job and slumped into a deep depression. In 1974, she wrote letters to family and friends expressing her desire to start a new life. She was never seen or heard from again.
