each year thousands of crimes that were committed go unsolved and in some cases they take years to solve some have left investigators baffled for decades but it's crime fighting technology advances ever more of these cases are finally brought to a close and 2024 was no different number 10 in 1981 51-year-old John balock was a father of three and employed as a steel worker in Griffith Indiana on the morning of November 3rd block didn't show up for his shift and his co-workers became concerned two of his co-workers traveled to his apartment to check on him but they were not prepared for what they found when they arrived upon entering the apartment they found him deceased in his bedroom and undressed from the waist down the police were called and they started processing the crime scene and quickly determined that an altercation had taken place and that block had been hit with an alarm clock and a piece of pottery both of these items were found shattered on the ground close to block along with his watch that had been damaged during the struggle and stopped at 2:15 a. m. 2 days earlier the rest of the apartment also contained some Clues biological material was found in several areas including a china cabinet in the hallway a different cabinet in the living room a jacket that was left draped over a chair the sink in the bathroom a towel and in several areas is in Block's bedroom where his body was discovered a homicide investigation was started and investigators decided to speak to Block's Sons to hear if they knew of anyone that may want to harm him they explained that he used to spend time at a bar called Jon's place a Barman at the bar stated that he last saw balock on the 1st of November the day that his watch stopped and that he was in the company of a man who hadn't been to the bar before at least not to his knowledge he was able to give a description of the man stating that he was of a medium build stood about 5'8 in tall and that he had dirty blonde hair with what he described as dark eyes the case was handed to detective John mauy Senior but no further Clues were found and since DNA technology wasn't an option back then the case went cold but in 2018 the case drew the attention of Ma's son John Jr and he decided to take another look at the details after scouring through the crime scene photos that were taken that day he concluded that block could not have been present in the areas where biological material was found since he would have been too badly injured that meant that his attacker had likely also sustained an injury during the altercation and that at least some of the biological material belonged to that person swabs that had been taken in the bathroom at the time were sent for DNA analysis but no one was identified since the attacker's DNA wasn't in the database but when the samples were sent to parabon nanolabs it was determined determined that the DNA belonged to one of three people from the same family one of the three was tracked down and a hair sample was collected but that person was ruled out since it didn't match the sample the second family member was tracked down and approached during a traffic stop officers collected a cigarette butt from the car and sent that to be tested which resulted in that person also being rolled out this left one more person to be tested who by process of elimination had to be the one that attacked block that person was 64-year-old Gregory thiren who's living in Eugene Oregon thiren already had a history with the law since he had warrants out for battery but when he was located back then Indiana didn't even get him because they felt it was too far away on the 24th of October 2024 though Eugene police officers tracked him down once more and he was taken into custody he was surprised to learn of the new developments in Block's case and is currently awaiting trial in Lake County after being charged with murder number nine these days hitchhiking is seen as a very risky way to get around but in the 1960s and '70s it was common place to see people of all ages standing by the side of the road thumbing for a ride one such person was 25-year-old Mary Kathleen schay who healed from Minneapolis the case started on the 15th of February 1974 when Mary was found deceased by the side of the road in Springbrook Wisconsin she'd been a attacked with a sharpened blade and it was then revealed that she'd been hitchhiking to an art show in Chicago when she was last seen alive only one clue was found at the scene a discarded stocking cap this allowed investigators to build a partial profile of Mary's attacker but with no further Clues to go by the case inevitably went cold for decades in 2023 investigative genetic genealogy investigators David gurny and Karen binder decided to reexamine the case and DNA that was collected from the stocking cap that had been left behind at the scene of the crime they also started looking for possible relatives of the owner of the DNA using the ancestry sites GED match Pro and family tree DNA they started making some inroads into the investigation and interviewed people in Wyoming Michigan and Minnesota where they tracked down a man named John K Miller who was now 84 years old it had taken over 12 months to get to this point but considering the case was already several decades old the effort was well worth it investigators would later reveal that the process took much longer than usual since Miller was adopted as a child as soon as Miller was confronted with the evidence against him he confessed that he was the one who ended Mary's life that day in fact as soon as he opened his door and saw officer standing there he knew that his time on the Run had finally come to an end Kevin big from the Dunn County Sheriff's Office stated that this was the first time that they had solved the case using genetic genealogy and that they saw this as a massive victory for the agency he added that the case had been reviewed many times over the decades that had passed since Mary was found and some leads had been received but they never leted anywhere and no suspects were ever identified Mary's family was informed that Miller had been identified as Mary's killer and that he had been taken into custody to which they expressed their gratitude and relief that they were finally able to get some answers and closure the sheriff stated that he believes Miller was relieved to have finally been caught since he'd been looking over his shoulder for the last 50 years waiting for the law to close in on him he added that Miller was calm under interrogation and willingly admitted to the crime number eight 69-year-old ELR runan known to his friends and family as Bud served in the Vietnam War and was one of the lucky soldiers who returned home safely once back in the US he bought himself a 1966 Ford Mustang and it quickly became his enjoy but somewhere along the line bud and the car parted ways but he always hoped to find another and in January of 2015 he posted an ad on Craigslist while living in Atlanta Georgia asking if anyone had one for sale he didn't have to wait long before he got a reply a man responded stating that he'd seen one for sale in south Georgia and that bud could come and view it in the town of McCrae he was elated at the news and together he and his 66-year-old wife June traveled to McCrae in their GMC Envoy a trip that would see them travel 180 Mi to see the car but Bud in June never returned from the trip and they were reported as missing a land and water search was conducted and investigators asked residents of the area if they'd seen the couple or anyone suspicious but they received no leads a few days later someone stumbled upon their bodies in a wooded area in tare County their GMC Envoy was found in a lake in the same area and it quickly became a apparent that they'd been lured there by someone with nefarious intentions their autopsies revealed that they'd been attacked with a firearm and that their lives had been ended quickly upon hearing that the couple had traveled to the area to look at a vehicle investigators Tracked Down the man who had responded to Bud's Craigslist at the man Ronnie Adrien towns was taken into custody after his father convinced him to hand himself over he was removed from the woods where he was hiding out and charged with two counts of murder he pleaded not guilt but the case saw several delays on one occasion because too few jury members had shown up to court and almost a decade later he' not stood trial yet he remained adamant that he had nothing to do with the crime repeatedly telling his father that he was innocent on the 14th of April 2024 a man whose name has not been made public was magnet fishing in Horse Creek and came across a few surprising objects his magnet latched onto a 22 caliber firearm and he immediately informed the police the same man went back to horse creek again 2 days later and this time he found a bag containing a cell phone credit cards and driver's licenses all of which belonged to Bud in June with this new evidence being found they secured a search warrant for towns' house and there they gathered even more evidence though investigators declined to mention what evidence they had found confronted with these new pieces of evidence towns knew that his long stint of running from the law had come to an end and he decided to change his plea to guilty the prosecution sought the death penalty but towns was eventually sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole number seven the murder of 75-year-old Louisa Dunn took place in Bristol England in 1967 and her case remained unsolved for 57 years making it the oldest case in Avon and Somerset police's history dun was born in either 1891 or 92 and was married twice but both of her husbands passed away at one point she was married to Teddy Parker who was a city councelor and she was slated to become the mayor of Bristol but that opportunity fell away when Teddy passed away when her second husband John dun who worked as a night Watchman passed away it had a profound effect on her and by all accounts she retreated into Solitude becoming somewhat of a recluse then on the 28th of June 1967 Louisa's neighbor arrived at her house and stumbled on a horrific scene they found Louisa deceased on her living room floor and it was determined that someone had ended her life via strangulation the resulting investigation didn't uncover any additional Clues and no Witnesses came forward leaving Louis's attacker identity a mystery she was well known and liked by the eastn community where she lived and no one knew of anyone who would want to harm her it was assumed that she lost her life after someone broke into her home during a robbery and that she surprised the robber who then attacked her to avoid being identified and arrested resulting in her life being ended for the next 57 years there'd be no progress in Louisa's case and it seemed as though her attacker would get away with their heinous crime some forensic evidence had been collected from the scene at the time but it was of no help since the technology to analyze it didn't exist yet but in 2023 investigators decided to take another look at the case and that same evidence was sent to a crime lab to be tested when the results came back investigators were relieved to learn that there was a positive match and that they finally had a suspect a man who at the time was in his 30s and was now 92 years old was linked to the scene and he was questioned this resulted in his arrest and a police spokesman stated that the investigation is still ongoing but the case would be brought to a close soon the man's name was not immediately made public but it was thought that he was well known in Bristol since investigators stated that his arrest would come as quite a shock to the surrounding Community he was later identified as Ryland Hedley who was living in ipswitch when he was arrested Hedley had been charged with ending Louis's life and appeared virtually before the Bristol magistrates Court his trial will however take place at the Bristol Crown Court and he'll learn his fate for the crime that he committed almost six decades ago number six when someone goes missing and is never seen again there's usually some speculation that they were a victim a foul play and that their life had been ended in some cases they're found many years later and investigators are able to make some progress but that isn't always the case sometimes the missing person is found much later when they're linked to a John or Jane Doe case or someone was found deceased but never identified but this was what happened in the case of a woman whose remains were found long ago and whose case was featured on the popular show America's Most Wanted the case started in 1986 when a man was doing some fishing in lake Poncha train which is situated close to sidel in Louisiana he stumbled across a woman's body that was floating in the water and he immediately contacted the St tamami Parish police a coroner found that she was a victim of homicide and that her attacker had ended her life through strangulation though she was also attacked with a sharpened Blade no one came forward to claim her body and she didn't fit the description of any missing woman at the time leaving investigators with very few Clues to follow it was determined that she was between 20 and 30 years old and a facial reconstruction was performed and a photo of the result was released to the public but this didn't jog anyone's memory and the case quickly went cold she was given the moniker Lady of the leg investigators revealed that she had auburn hair freckles and well-cared for teeth since she hadn't had any dental work done other than having her wisdom teeth removed some of her teeth were missing but it was believed that they were lost while she was in the water it was also found that she'd suffered a few injuries in the past the most notable being to her hip and it was theorized that she'd been in a car accident at some point she'd also had facial reconstructive surgery done including rhinoplasty she was of a slim build and had several scars on her body including a circular one on her right knee one on her right wrist and one on her abdomen and she was estimated to have stood about 5'3 and 125 lb when the case was included on an episode of America's Most Wanted hopes were high that someone would recognize her and come forward but unfortunately no further leads were received then in 2022 a grant was approved that made it possible for DNA evidence gathered at the scene to be tested and once again there was hope that the woman would finally be identified giving authorities the chance to look into the case further in 2023 these efforts finally paid off possible family members of the unknown woman were identified and they were able to confirm that her name was Pamela Lee hup who had disappeared in 1986 shortly before she was found in the lake since investigators noted that she had a ring mark on one of her fingers it was assumed that she was robbed before her life was ended but this remains mere speculation despite Pamela now finally being identified though her attacker's identity remains unknown but the investigation remains open anyone with information on this case is asked to contact their local police or detective Winston Harbin at 985 2761 1355 number five most people think of Las Vegas as the neon filled Casino based City that we can see in movies and while this is mostly true it also has its dark side as is evidenced by a case that started in 1994 in August of that year two men were hiking next to Lake me Boulevard close to the lakes's recreational area where they made an unexpected and horrific discovery they stumbled across the body of a woman near the water and reported it to the police when investigators arrived they were perturbed to discovered that the woman hadn't lost her life there but had been dragged to the water's edge by someone who likely attacked her and ended her life she was eventually identified as 27-year-old Melanie white and when an autopsy was performed it was revealed that she'd been struck over the head and then strangled before her body was moved her family was informed that she'd been found in more details than came to the four they told the police that Melanie and her boyfriend had moved to Las Vegas in the spring of that year but she suddenly went missing they tried on multiple occasions to make contact with her but were unable to and they filled out a missing person report they also revealed that at the time she was struggling to figure out what to do with her life and that she was at a Crossroads which prompted the move to Las Vegas it was known that she was making regular trips between Las Vegas and Phoenix but few Clues were found at the crime scene and her attacker and their motive remained unknown weeks turned into months and eventually years passed without any progress in the case some friends that Melanie had made in the city told investigators that they saw her the night before she disappeared and that she didn't seem in any way distressed they were shocked to learn that she had not only gone missing but that she'd been murdered her friends and family described her as a very nice person with a very kind nature she had a son who's now 33 years old and who grew up never knowing what happened to his mother but in 2024 all of that changed Melanie's case was reexamined in 2010 and a DNA profile was entered into the codus DNA database but this didn't immediately result in a suspect being identified the case went cold once more until 2021 when detectives contacted a group called Vegas Justice League which AIDS in bringing cold cases like melanies to a close they sent the collected DNA to author from Labs but it wouldn't be until 2024 that anything useful was found a man called Arthur lvery was named as a suspect and when his criminal history was checked it was found that he'd been arrested for battery once in the past Melanie's friends then recalled that they last saw her in an area close to where ly was living at the time which was on 15th in Fremont but they never made the connection that he was her attacker unfortunately ly would never face the consequences of his crime since he contracted Co in 2021 and passed away the motive for the crime remains unknown since it isn't known whether Melanie and lvery knew each other when the attack occurred Melanie's family fed investigators and everyone involved in the investigation for finally providing them with the answers that they've been looking for for decades and they were relieved to finally have a sense of closure number four in May of 2021 49-year-old Leslie prier was living in Chevy Chase Maryland where she worked for an advertising company called Specialties ink but on the morning of the 2nd of may she failed to show up for her shift at 10:00 a.
m. her manager Brett Rey contacted Leslie's family and asked them to go to her house to see if she was all right re and Carl prer Leslie's husband traveled to the house and when they arrived they immediately knew something was wrong they found biological material on the Walls by the front door and a puddle of water that had gathered on the floor near the same door a table in the house was lying on its side and a rug that was usually in the House's foyer was now in the living room they noticed that the rug also had biological material on it they searched the house but couldn't find Leslie anywhere they called 911 and at around 11:47 the Montgomery County Police Department was notified to do a welfare check at a house on the 4,800 block of Drmmond Avenue which they then did Rey and Carl were told to wait outside the house until officers could get there and when they arrived they found lesie deceased and the house was secured as a crime scene since it was quickly determined that she'd been attacked she was found in a shower stall in The house's upstairs master bathroom and it was noted that she had injuries to her head the house was dusted for fingerprints and swabbed for any possible DNA that may have been present since some of the biological material may have belonged to the attacker it was also found that whoever committed the crime had tried to clean up before leaving the house which explained the puddle of water by the front door the culprit had ended Lesley's life in the foyer before carrying her upstairs to the bathroom likely to prevent more biological material from spreading investigators searched through dumpsters in the area in hopes of finding empty cleaning containers that may have been used by the Killer and that may have contained their fingerprints but nothing was found a blue litho Crystal process revealed that a lot of biological material had been cleaned up before the attacker fled samples were obtained from Carl for comparison and he was quickly ruled out as a suspect since the samples collected in the house indicated that they belonged to an unknown male DNA was recovered from under Lesley's fingernails it was sent to a lab for processing and it was determined that it belonged to the same man the DNA was submitted to the cotus database but no match was found investigators spoke to the couples's neighbors but no one had seen anyone suspicious in the area that morning or heard anything at the time that the attack took place one neighbor stated that she saw Carl leaving for work that morning and that he had looked back at the house presumably while saying goodbye to Leslie they also interviewed her family and friends asking if they knew of any men who would want to harm Leslie these men were then questioned and asked to provide DNA samples but no matches were found for the next 23 years nothing more was found and Lesley's case stalled but in 2022 the collected DNA was sent to family tree DNA's open data personal genetic database and investigators were provided with the last name Giger it was then discovered that Lesley's daughter once dated a 44-year-old man named Eugene gigger and that he and his mother had moved out of the neighborhood in 2001 his records showed that he'd been in trouble with the law before since he was found to be in possession of unlicensed Firearms had been pulled over for driving while intoxicated and had been arrested for theft gigger was placed under surveillance and in 2024 investigators saw him opening and drinking from a bottle which he then threw in the trash they collected the bottle and swabbed it for DNA resulting in gler being identified as Lesley's attacker it isn't known why gler attacked Lesley since he hadn't spoken to her daughter for years but he's now in custody and is awaiting trial number three Google Maps is a very useful tool that's become common place in our lives in the last few years it also serves as a source of energy entainment in some instances as people can zoom in on any area they wish in the world to get a better look at it there are even YouTube channels dedicated to finding strange and sometimes perturbing views on Google Maps but these usually have a reasonable explanation such as people pretending to murder victims when the Google Maps car is spotted this usually happens every year but some areas are only photographed every 3 years or so since they may be delayed by bad weather traffic or precarious political situations in any particular country or area but in 2023 such an incident had a very bizarre outcome in November of that year a man whose identity has not been made public was reported as missing by one of his family members in Spain since he received a suspicious text that had been sent from his phone the message stated that the man had met someone and decided to move to a different part of the country it also stated he'd be getting rid of his phone but no further explanation was given later on the man who is described as a 33-year-old from Cuba was found deceased in a cemetery and it was determined he was the victim of homicide during the investigation police officers looked at Google map's street view for any clues and quite unbelievably they found something they came across an image of two people loading a large object that was wrapped in cloth into a car in Teno where they were able to identify the make and model of the car this then LED them to the house of the Man's partner where she was found in the company of her ex they also found another image of someone moving a large object with the use of a wheelbarrow and it was believed to be the same victim that was seen in the first photo all of these leads LED investigators to believe that the victim's partner and her ex were responsible for ending his life after which they tried to hide their crime by transporting him to the cemetery where he was found they were both arrested but further details have not been made available since the case is still under investigation it isn't known What charges they'll be facing or what the motive for their crime was but the Google Maps images will almost certainly be used as evidence against them number two the murder of 24-year-old Wayne Pratt which occurred in Winnebago County in 1963 is one that has left investigators without any answers for almost 60 years but in 2024 a breakthrough was finally made at the time Wayne and his wife Marie were living next to the enko gas station where he worked and he was in the habit of staying home at night only only walking over to the gas station when someone pulled up for gas on the night in question Wayne was doing just that he'd been watching TV in his house when someone arrived at the station at around 8:40 p. m.
