Introduction
This summarizes the number of unsolved active and cold cases, how long investigations normally last, methods used to keep them active and what DNA technology has accomplished. An outline of the chapter contents is also given.
1. Murder
The largest chapter deals with homicides. Highly reported unsolved murders include those of Hollywood actor Bob Crane ('Hogan's Heroes') in 1978, US child beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey in 1996 and the black London teenager Stephen Lawrence in 2006. Serial killers are also uncaught, like the "Zodiak killer" in California in the late 1960s, a case the San Francisco Police Department labelled inactive in 2004 and reopened in 2007.
Boxes:
Jack the Ripper
The Black Dahlia
2. Political Assassinations
Most assassinations occur in the open and result in rapid arrests, but several public attacks remain unsolved. Among those victims are Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme in 1986, two communist defectors living in London -- Georgi Markov in 1978 and Alexander Litvinenko in 2006 - and Pakistani leader Benazir Bhutto in 2007. Boxes:
Assassination methods
The US Secret Service
3. Kidnapping
Abduction for ransom is a 20th century idea. Famous examples of survivors include the Minneapolis socialite Virginia Piper found chained to a tree in 1972. When ransoms are not demanded, most victims are assumed to be murdered, such as Moroccan independence leader Mehdi Ben Barka in 1965 in Paris, London estate agent Susie Lamplugh in 1986 and the British child Madeleine McCann in 2007. Boxes:
The search for Jimmy Hoffa
Shergar, the kidnapped Irish racehorse
4. Robbery
Amazingly, some of the world's greatest robberies remain unsolved and the money unrecovered. Among these are the GBP22 million robbery of a British Bank in Beirut in 1976, a $6.6 million Securicor ambush in Manchester in 1995 and the $146 million robbery in a Baghdad bank in 2007. Spectacular robbers include D. B. Cooper, who hijacked a Boeing 727 and parachuted with a $200,000 ransom into oblivion in the state of Washington.
Boxes:
D. B. Cooper
The Irish 'Crown Jewels'
5. Fraud
This widespread category embraces counterfeiting, forgery, fake products, identity theft, embezzlement, cyber crime, fraud and many other business-related crimes. The EU alone records the loss of billions of Euros a year due to unsolved fraud cases that include the avoidance of tax, VAT and excise duties.
Boxes:
How identities are stolen
Tracing Chinese fakes
Glossary
Index
