A murder conviction without a body is an instance of a person being convicted of murder despite the absence of the victim's body. Circumstantial and forensic evidence are prominent in such convictions. Hundreds of such convictions have occurred in the past, some of which have been overturned. In all cases, unless otherwise noted, the remains of the victims were never recovered.
Conviction overturned due to the supposed victim being found alive after the conviction Conviction overturned for other reasons Partial remains recovered, or body was located after a conviction
Louis Carron became the final victim in the Murchison murders, in which John Rowles used a body disposal method that had been suggested by author Arthur Upfield. However, Rowles had forgotten to complete one of the steps after Carron's murder. He was convicted of wilful murder for killing Carron and executed on June 13, 1932.
An infant who is now believed to have been killed by a dingo while on a camping trip with her parents. Her mother was convicted of the murder in 1982 and her father was convicted as an accessory to the crime. However, following the discovery of the baby's clothing in an area frequented by the animals, the charges were overturned in September 1988.[1]Evil Angels, journalist John Bryson's book about the case, was the basis for the eponymous film known as A Cry in the Dark internationally.
10-year-old Louise Bell was abducted from her home in Hackham West in January 1983. Raymond Geesing, a man serving time in prison for an unrelated crime, was convicted of her murder after supposedly confessing to jailhouse informers, but his conviction was quashed 17 months later after the witnesses were deemed to be unreliable.[2] Years later, child killer Dieter Pfennig was convicted of the murder.[3]
A nine-year-old girl abducted from her home. Guider, a pedophile who drugged his victims with Temazepam before molesting them, pleaded guilty to her manslaughter when he was already behind bars for other crimes. According to Guider, Knight never recovered after being drugged, and he later buried, dug up and re-buried her body in two different Sydney locations to evade suspicion. It is believed that the body was ultimately removed or destroyed during the construction of a carpark.
Gottgens disappeared while planning to leave Byers, who had forged documents to fraudulently take possession of his assets after his disappearance. Police did not become suspicious until Byers attempted to murder another partner in 1993. Byers maintained her innocence for years, but eventually confessed to murdering Gottgens in 2016.[4]
After the mother attempted to adopt out a child in 1999, DOCS workers uncovered evidence of two previous children one of whom could not be located and notified police. After years of investigation and a coroner's inquest charges were laid in 2009, ultimately leading to a conviction on a majority verdict.
Wark, a convicted rapist, abducted 17-year-old Hayley Dodd while she was walking near a property he owned in Badgingarra. A cold case review in 2015 led to evidence linking him to Dodd being found in Wark's car and he was convicted of killing her in 2018. He was given a second trial in 2021, but was convicted again.[5]
Falconio was murdered by a truck driver while holidaying with his girlfriend, Joanne Lees. Lees survived the ordeal and was able to escape and identify Murdoch as the killer. However, Murdoch had disposed of Falconio's body by the time authorities went to arrest him.[7]
Rory Christie was convicted of killing his missing wife Susan in a dispute over the custody of their son. The only physical evidence against him was a tie belonging to him with a small amount of Susan's blood on it. In 2005, Christie was granted a new trial after evidence came to light supporting his contention that the blood came from where he had helped Susan with a nosebleed earlier in the day.[8] The following month, the trial judge threw out the case against him for lack of evidence and Christie was released from prison after four years.[9]
Templeton disappeared on the anniversary of his father's death and was reported missing by his girlfriend Robyn Lindholm. Lindholm later confessed that Templeton had been murdered at her direction by Wayne Amey, who was himself later murdered by Lindholm, and his body was thrown into Port Phillip Bay.[10]
Susan Blyth Neill-Fraser was given a 23-year prison sentence for murdering her partner, Bob Chappell, whilst aboard their yacht, which was moored off Sandy Bay on Australia Day in 2009. Mr. Chappell's body has never been found, nor has the murder weapon.
November 28, 2016 (Dubois), May 26, 2017 (O'Dempsey)
Barbara McCulkin and her two daughters disappeared from their home in Brisbane in 1974, in what became one of Australia's oldest cold cases. Criminals Vincent O'Dempsey and Garry Dubois were charged with their murders in 1980 but avoided conviction. Years later, both men were charged again and convicted after information that they had boasted of murdering the victims and burying their bodies in bushland came to light. They were suspected to have targeted Barbara McCulkin to prevent her from talking about their role in the 1973 Whiskey Au Go Go fire.[11]
Chris Dawson was convicted of murdering his wife, Lyn Dawson, in a judge-only trial. The prosecution's circumstantial case alleged Dawson murdered her to pursue a relationship with their babysitter, and the judge was satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that Lynette Dawson died "as a result of a conscious and voluntary act" by Chris Dawson.[12] On 2 December 2022, Dawson was sentenced to 24 years in jail, with a non-parole period of 18 years.[13]
Belgium
Victim(s)
Convicted
Location
Disappeared
Conviction date
Description
Edit Fintor, Ilona Sőrés; Andrea, Dániel, Zoltán and Tünde Pándy
The two wives, two sons, and two of the step-daughters of András Pándy. The conviction relied heavily on the forgery of documents by Pándy aiming to prove that the disappeared had left the country, and the testimony of his eldest step-daughter Ágnes, who confessed to have helped Pándy murder the victims, dismember and partially dissolve the bodies in drain cleaner, and throw any remains in an Anderlechtslaughterhouse's dumpsite. Following Pándy's arrest, the skeletons of seven women and one man were discovered buried in concrete under one of his properties, but they did not belong to his family.
The convict's former mistress and mother of his illegitimate child, she disappeared after suing him for child support. The child also vanished, but was found in the care of Souza's wife. Souza's cousin and accomplice testified that Souza had dismembered Samudio after abducting and killing her, feeding some parts to his rottweilers and burying the rest in concrete.
The convict's girlfriend, Bain disappeared after telling her mother that she was going to check the tennis schedule on Scarborough campus. On June 22, Bain's car was found with a large bloodstain on the backseat. In his trial, Baltovich claimed his innocence and accused the at the time unidentified Scarborough Rapist of being the real murderer. After new evidence surfaced, Baltovich was granted a retrial and found not guilty on April 22, 2008.
Sinclair, an antiques collector, was murdered by his acquaintance Timothy Culham so that Culham could sell his collection. Sinclair's blood was found in Culham's kitchen and in the back of a "foul-smelling" car that Culham had driven from Sinclair's house the day he disappeared.[14]
Three sex workers among the victims of serial killer Robert Pickton, who murdered women and fed their remains to pigs. Jaw bones belonging to Frey and Wolfe and hand bones belonging to Papin were found on Pickton's pig farm, alongside the heads, hands and feet of three other women.
An elderly couple who disappeared during a road trip; only the charred remains of their motorhome were found. Vader was convicted of second-degree murder after being arrested a second time, having spent four years in jail before the charges were dropped following his first arrest. Testimony at his second trial established that his blood was found mixed with that of the victims in the vehicle; prosecutors theorize that Vader, a meth addict, killed the McCanns in the course of a botched robbery attempt.[15] Conviction was later downgraded to manslaughter as there was no evidence Vader had acted with intent to kill.[16]
Klaus and Frank admitted to undercover police officers that they had conspired to murder Klaus's parents and sister and destroy the bodies in a house fire. The body of one of the victims, Sandra Klaus, was never recovered and is believed to have been destroyed in the fire.[17]
Garland was convicted of abducting, torturing, killing, dismembering and burning the Liknes family, including their grandson Nathan O'Brien, over a long-running patent dispute with Alvin Liknes. The victim's DNA was found in and around an incinerator on Garland's property and he had researched dismembering and disposing of dead bodies shortly before the family disappeared.[18]
Rais and several members of his household were convicted by an ecclesiastical court of the sodomy and murder of over 140 children in the Nantes region who were alleged to have disappeared after being taken away by servants of Rais. Rais admitted before the court to having sexually abused, killed and dismembered hundreds of victims in an attempt to invoke a demon to replenish his wealth. Rais and two other defendants were condemned to death.
Pel was convicted of poisoning his mistress Élise Boehmer and then dismembering her body and destroying her remains in his furnace before her death could be discovered. He was also accused of murdering his first wife, Eugénie Buffereau, but was acquitted.
Ten World War I widows and one child who fell prey to the notorious lonely hearts killer. All evidence tying Landru to the victims was documentary. It is believed that he burned the bodies in a kitchen stove.
Victims of serial killer Émile Louis, who lured, raped and murdered them. A gendarme investigation linked Louis to all seven victims, but crucial evidence was lost and Louis would not be prosecuted until he confessed to the murders in 2000 while imprisoned for rape. Louis later recanted, but was convicted of the murders in 2004. Two of the victim's bodies were recovered.[19]
Victims of serial killer "The Marseilles Ripper" who kidnapped and raped women and murdered those who resisted. He was also convicted of raping a fifth woman, Soumia El Kandadi, who had seen the body of one of the victims at his house.
Japanese student who disappeared while studying in France. Her Chilean ex-boyfriend was convicted after it was found that he had left traces of her blood on the door while exiting her room, recorded a video talking about his intent to punish Narumi for disobeying him, lied to friends about his movements on the night and asked about how to kill people through suffocation.
Nine-year-old girl kidnapped and murdered by pedophilic serial killer Michel Fourniret. Fourniret confessed to the crime but died before he could be prosecuted. As such, his ex-wife Monique Olivier (who also claimed involvement) was tried for complicity in the murder and sentenced to life imprisonment.[20]
Part of at least 24 teenage boys lured to Haarmann's apartment, where they were raped, murdered and dismembered. Their remains were mostly thrown in the Leine river, although suspicion exists that Haarmann sold the flesh of his victims as pork in the black market. Although very few of the human remains recovered from the river could be identified or connected to Haarmann, several belongings of the victims were found in possession of Haarmann, Grans, or other people who had purchased or received them as gifts from Haarmann. Both accused were sentenced to death, but Grans's sentence was reduced to 12 years in prison on retrial, in 1926.
The first victims of serial killer Arwed Imiela, who would go on to kill two more women, all for financial reasons. A Lübeck court convicted him of all four murders on circumstantial evidence.
Farmer last seen driving from another home, where he had been drinking. Rupp's family and the boyfriend of one of his daughters were found guilty of his murder despite the absence of any evidence and numerous contradictions in the testimonies of the accused; the lack of a body was explained as the accused dismembering and feeding it to the victim's dogs. However, Rupp's car was fished out of the Danube in February 2009, with his body still in the driving seat and no sign of foul play. Another man, Ludwig H., had been charged with stealing Rupp's vehicle.
Two unrelated men who disappeared in different circumstances, ten months apart. Despite the lack of connection between the cases, six people were kept in solitary, drugged and subjected to water torture and sleep deprivation until they signed confessions to both murders. A new investigation was ordered in 2011. After 5 years of investigation, it was concluded by prosecutor Davið Þór, that 5 of 6 convicted were wrongfully convicted when the case was originally heard in court in 1980. the case brought back to court, on September 13 and 14. Two weeks later, On September 27, 2018, it was ruled that the original conviction was an error brought forward with questionable methods and thus ruled that the five men previously convicted were not guilty of murder a Sævar Ciesielski, Kristjan Vídar Vídarsson, Tryggvi Rúnar Leifsson, Albert Klahn Skaftason, Guðjón Skarphéðinsson.[21] Erla Bolladottir's conviction was not reopened since she was not originally convicted for murder rather for lying about who was guilty of the murders, Einar Bollason, Magnús Leópoldsson, Sigurbjörn Eiríksson or Valdimar Olsen. They were not convicted in the original court ruling.[22]
Progressive Islamic cleric abducted by two men in a car, outside his home. Nine other people were also charged but acquitted. Hamsa was acquitted on appeal in 2018 due to lack of evidence.[23]
Sikh human rights activist who disappeared after exposing widespread abuses by Punjabi police. Six Punjabi police officers were convicted of his abduction and murder in 2005.
A 13-year-old boy kidnapped by mafiosi wanted to silence Di Matteo's father, Santino, the first collaborator (pentito) of the Sicilian Mafia with Italian justice. After almost two years of captivity, Di Matteo was strangled on January 11, 1996, and his body dissolved in acid. The mafiosi that carried out the killing were arrested in February 1996 and got reduced sentences in return for also becoming pentiti.
Jamaica
Victim(s)
Convicted
Locations
Disappeared
Conviction date
Description
Clive "Lizard" Williams
Vybz Kartel, Shawn Storm Campbell, Kahira Jones, Andre St. John
Dancehall music artist Vybz Kartel and three co-defendants were convicted of killing associate Clive Williams and dismembering his corpse. Witness Lenard Chow testified that Williams had argued with Kartel at his house over a pair of missing guns, after which Kartel ordered Kahira Jones and Andre St. John to kill him. Texts between Kartel and one of his co-defendants in which they discussed cutting up Williams's body were presented at trial, as was an audio recording in which Kartel and Shawn Campbell discussed killing Williams.[24] Their convictions were overturned in 2024 after an attempt to bribe the jurors at the original trial came to light.[25]
Matsunaga and his girlfriend Junko held Junko's family captive and tortured and killed them, alongside a blackmail victim named Kumio Toraya. The victims were dismembered, boiled, pulverised and thrown in the sea.
Second murder conviction without a body in Malaysia. A cosmetics millionaire and her driver, banker and lawyer, went missing at the same time. The victims' blood and wristwatches were found at a farm in nearby Tanjung Sepat, at the property of local lawyer N. Pathmanabhan. It was determined that two farmhands (Thilaiyalagan and Kathavarayan) had murdered the victims, incinerated them, and thrown the ashes on a river under orders of Pathmanabhan. All three were sentenced to death.[26]
Woodgate was executed in January 1877 for the murder of his niece's newborn child. The case turned on the testimony of the niece and her sister, and whether the alleged infant had been separated from the mother's body according to the definition of infanticide at the time.
No body was found, so Horry was not arrested until 1951, when the circumstantial evidence was deemed sufficient. He was released from prison in 1967; the death penalty had been restored in New Zealand in 1950, but it was not in force in 1942 (see Capital punishment in New Zealand).
Swedish couple Heidi Paakkonen, 21, and her fiancé Sven Hoglin, 23, went missing while tramping in a Coromandel forest. Tamihere (b. 1953) was convicted of their murder in 1990 and sentenced to life imprisonment. Hoglin's body was found in 1991, providing evidence that contradicted some aspects of the Crown's case. Paakkonen's body has never been found.
Auckland tyre-fitter Fuller-Sandys (aged 21) disappeared on August 21, 1989, en route to a fishing expedition. Ten years later (in 1999) Stone and Maney were found guilty of his drug-related murder. In 2024, the Court of Appeal quashed Maney's conviction and ordered a new trial for Stone, declaring their convictions to be a miscarriage of justice.[27]
Smart and Hope were a young couple last seen accepting an invitation to sleep in a private vessel by a man, later identified as Watson, who was convicted of murdering them. He is believed to have disposed of the bodies in the ocean at an unknown location. Their remains have never been recovered.[28]
David Lyttle was convicted of murdering Brett Hall following a Mr. Big operation in which an undercover police officer pretending to be an organized crime boss persuaded him to confess to the murder. Lyttle's conviction was quashed in 2021 after it was revealed that CCTV, witness statements, and mobile data all disproved his confession, some aspects of which were said to be completely implausible, and that the police had hidden evidence that Hall was killed by a crime gang.[29]
McGrath disappeared after being invited to Benbow's property. Crown prosecutors alleged that Benbow killed McGrath because McGrath had recently started a relationship with Benbow's ex-partner, Joanna Green.[30]
Daughters of an alleged cartel member who was due to testify against his boss when they were abducted and never seen again. Authorities maintain that Larrañaga (who was in Quezon City at the time of the crime according to documentary evidence and the testimony of over thirty people) and six others abducted, raped and murdered the sisters, based solely on the word of a burglar who testified in return for immunity, did not know the accused, and was found to have lied about his own criminal record. This witness also claimed that one of the bodies was abandoned in a ditch, but the body found there did not belong to either of the sisters. All seven were sentenced to death, but the sentences were changed to life in prison when the Philippines abolished the death penalty in 2006. Larrañaga, as a dual Spanish-Filipino citizen, was allowed to serve his sentence in Spain from 2009, where he continues to claim his innocence.
An eight-year-old girl last seen walking back to her house after running an errand at a local store. Her mother and uncle, whom she allegedly witnessed having sex, were the first defendants convicted of murder in Portugal without a body, based on their apparent confessions to the crime. Both have protested their innocence and alleged police misconduct; similarities to the disappearance of Madeleine McCann a short distance away in 2007 have been noted.
Cioacă, a former cop, was sentenced to 22 years in jail for having murdered his wife, Elodia, after the DNA samples gathered from the couple's home were proved to belong to the missing wife. Elodia's body was never found and Cioacă never accepted the accusations.[31]
On 27 August 1963, both part-time law student Sunny Ang and his bar waitress girlfriend Jenny Cheok went on a scuba diving trip near Sisters' Islands, Singapore (the waters around the area were known to be dangerous). Cheok disappeared at sea after making two dives that day. It was later investigated that Ang had allegedly killed her for her insurance, for which the coverage totalled up to $450,000. Sixteen months after Cheok's disappearance, Ang was arrested as a suspect and charged with murder. Ang was found guilty of murder and sentenced to death by a unanimous decision in one of Singapore's last jury trials before the local government abolished the jury system in 1970. Ang was executed on 6 February 1967. Cheok's body remains missing as of today.[32][33][34]
On 12 July 2016, 48-year-old Leslie Khoo allegedly killed his 31-year-old girlfriend Cui Yajie, a Tianjin-born Chinese engineer, in his car during a heated argument nearby Gardens by the Bay. Khoo took the body to a remote forest in Lim Chu Kang where he burnt the body for three days before he was arrested. By the time Khoo took the police to where he burnt the body, there were only ashes and a few clumps of hair, along with a bra hook and pieces of burnt fabric (from Cui's dress). Khoo was found guilty of murder on 18 July 2019, and a month later, on 19 August 2019, 51-year-old Khoo was sentenced to life imprisonment.[35][36]
South Africa
Victim(s)
Convicted
Location
Disappeared
Conviction date
Description
Irene Helen Jones, Denise Jones and Philippine Ndlovu
Irene and Denise Jones disappeared in December 1973, while Ndlovu vanished in 1976. Both of the adult women were mistresses of Barber who often had violent arguments with him. Despite the fact that their bodies were never found, Barber was convicted of killing the Joneses and another woman named Cecilia Majola (he was acquitted of killing Ndlovu), and was hanged in 1980.
Rasuge disappeared in Temba on August 27, 2004, having been last seen in the company of her boyfriend William Nkuna. Blood belonging to Rasuge, which Nkuna maintained was menstrual blood, was found in Nkuna's car,[38] and Nkuna had withdrawn money from Rasuge's bank account and used her supposedly missing phone after she disappeared.[39] Following Nkuna's conviction, Rasuge's skeleton was recovered from his home.[40]
Nandi Mbizane was last seen alive when her ex-lover Zwelibanzi Zungu caught her in bed with Oliver Matlala and assaulted her. Forensic evidence was presented to show that Mbizane was dead, and Zungu perjured himself repeatedly while asserting his innocence.[38]
Three-year-old abducted and murdered while his mother was at work. Mentoor's blood was found at the home of his mother's boyfriend Onke Mashinini, who was found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment.
Six conversos and two Jews were arrested by the Spanish Inquisition and confessed under torture to having murdered a Christian child in La Guardia as part of a magic ritual; at least five were burned at an auto-da-fé in 1491. Because of constant contradictions and legal irregularities, the fact that the child was never named, no body was found, no child disappearance or murder was reported in La Guardia around that time, and obvious similarities with other European blood libels and antisemitic legends, modern historians believe that neither crime nor child actually existed. It is believed that the process was a sham to incite the expulsion of all Jews from Spain, which was decreed four months later.
A shepherd from nearby Tresjuncos who disappeared after an animal sale. His family accused local farm wardens Valero and Sánchez, who had a history of bullying Grimaldos, of murdering him to steal the money. The case was at first dismissed due to lack of evidence, but it was reopened in 1913 by a newly appointed examining magistrate, Emilio Isasa Echenique. Under Isasa's watch, Valero and Sánchez were arrested and extrajudicially tortured to make them confess. No body was found and the accused ended up claiming that they had fed it to pigs, then burned and ground all remains left. Each was sentenced to 18 years in prison. After Grimaldos was found alive in Mira in 1926, the Supreme Court overturned the sentence and started proceedings against those responsible for the 1913 investigation. Isasa could not be judged because of his sudden death, officially attributed to a heart attack but suspected of being a suicide.
A 17-year-old girl who disappeared after leaving home to talk with her ex-boyfriend, the convict. He was arrested on February 13 and confessed to the murder the next day. However, he soon recanted and produced several different versions of the murder and the fate of the body, which was never found. Carcaño was found guilty due to witness statements, blood and DNA evidence.
First murder conviction in Spain with no body, no organic remains, and no confession. Lamas was Laso's second wife (he was previously imprisoned for the murder of his first wife in 1988), and Font was the husband of Lamas's sister, who was also Laso's lover. Laso was the last person to see them alive and claimed that they had run away together to never come back. Although no trace of either was ever found, Laso was arrested and convicted for the murders after he was caught faking evidence intended to make people believe that the victims were alive. It is suspected that the bodies were buried in a land plot owned by Laso at the time, which was later expropriated to build a road.[41][42][43]
A wealthy 70-year-old man last seen walking to Charingworth. After his hat, coat and neckband were found on the side of the road with a sharp cut and sprinkled in blood, his servant John Perry claimed that Perry's own brother and mother had murdered Harrison to rob him, and subsequently dumped the body in a pond. The pond was drained but no body was found. The Perrys then alternated between pleading guilt and innocence, until they were all found guilty and hanged. However, Harrison reappeared in 1662, claiming to have been abducted by Barbary pirates. It has been said that this case was the source of a mistaken view that without a body there could be no trial for murder in England.[44]
The eight-year-old son of the convict, who confessed to drowning him and burning his body on a rubbish tip. Davidson later changed his mind and claimed that he had merely found his body in the canal, and maintained this until his death.[45]
Four SOE agents murdered and cremated at Natzweiler-Struthof concentration camp during the Second World War. Three accused were acquitted at trial while the others were variously sentenced to death or imprisonment.
An actress who was on an ocean liner, the MV Durban Castle, when her dead body was pushed through the porthole of her cabin. According to James Camb, the man convicted of killing her, she died during consensual sex and in a panic he pushed her body through the porthole. He always denied killing her.
William, Donald and Amy McSwann; Archibald and Rosalie Henderson; Olive Durand-Deacon
Victims of con artist and serial killer John George Haigh, who dissolved the bodies in acid under the belief that he couldn't be prosecuted for murder without a corpse; the resulting liquified remains were disposed of in a manhole. There was ample documentary evidence tying him to his victims, however, and a search found remains of human fat, three gallstones and a couple of dentures in the vat he had used to dissolve the body of his last victim.
Partner of the convict in the management of a farm rehabilitated by the Polish Resettlement Corps after World War II. Onufrejczyk, who had been previously denounced by Sykut for violence and was about to lose the farm as a result of legal action, offered wildly varying stories to explain his partner's sudden disappearance. He was convicted largely because of the finding of over 2000 blood stains in the passage leading from the farm's kitchen to the backyard, which Onufrejczyk claimed to be from rabbits he had skinned, but which were confirmed by tests to be human blood. Police believed that Onufrejczyk dismembered Sykut's body in the kitchen and fed the parts to the pigs. The ruling was cited as a precedent in later murder without a body cases in England and Wales.[47]
The estranged wife of the convict. When the bog body later known as the Lindow Woman was found in a bog behind his home in 1983, police questioned Reyn-Bardt, whose wife had been missing for over two decades. Reyn-Bardt, also believing that the partial body was that of his wife, admitted to have murdered her when she blackmailed him under threat of revealing his homosexuality. Afterward, he dismembered the body and buried the pieces in a trench leading to the bog. Carbon 14 dating later showed that the body was nearly 1,800 years old. While Malika's own body was not found, the detailed confession was enough to pronounce her husband guilty.[48]
Thorburn was convicted of the killing of 52-year-old John Smith after pleading guilty and stating that he had killed him for having an affair with his wife. Thorburn claimed he threw the body into the River Taff but it was never found.[49]
Gangster working for the infamous Kray twins, Ronnie and Reggie. After failing to murder the Krays' business manager Leslie Payne, McVitie was stabbed to death by Reggie Kray. His body was disposed of in the English Channel. Eyewitness testimony from some of those present during the murder led to the convictions of Reggie Kray and several accomplices.
The wife of Alick McKay, deputy of Rupert Murdoch, who was abducted from her home in Wimbledon. It is believed that the Hoseins intended to abduct Murdoch's wife Anna Murdoch (now dePeyster) and hold her for ransom, but that they mistook McKay for her after she used Murdoch's car to buy groceries. After several failed attempts to ransom her to McKay's family, the Hoseins were arrested and convicted to life in prison for her murder despite no trace of her being ever found.[50]
Marley was convicted of killing 15-year-old stowaway Michelle Kirkwood on the ship SS Rotherham Castle, which was travelling between Cape Town and Southampton. Marley killed her and then threw her overboard. Kirkwood had been drunk and had broken a model ship of Marley's, and another stowaway then witnessed him tie a cord around her neck and kill her. The witness reported what she had seen to a motorist when the ship docked in Southampton and Marley was jailed despite Kirkwood's body being missing.[52]
The victims were all members of the same family and the perpetrator was the father, who eradicated all records of their existence after they vanished in May 1975. The father had previously been convicted of bigamy and faking his own death, and never reported his family missing. His wife's VW car was later found in a car park in Salcombe with dingy oars protruding from the windows.[53]
57-year-old family man Coughlan left home in 1975 and never returned. On 8 September 1980, a man was convicted of his murder after pleading guilty and admitting murdering him with a hammer and lead weight. He said that he killed Coughlan after he had caught him stealing paint from a building site they both worked at. Coughlan's body has never been found.[54]
Terence Eve, Robert Brown, George and Terry Brett, Frederick Sherwood and Ronald Andrews
The six claimed victims of confessed hitman John Childs, who said he carried the killings on behalf of the other convicted, and that he dismembered and burned the bodies in his apartment's fireplace. No evidence ever existed besides Childs's testimony. Pinfold and MacKenney's convictions were overturned in 2003 after Childs was ruled to be a "pathological liar".
Renee MacRae and her son disappeared on 12 November 1976. That night her car was found on fire in a lay-by south of Inverness but both Renee and Andrew were missing and never found. From the start the chief suspect was William MacDowell, a man who it was discovered was having an affair with MacRae. He was finally trialled and convicted in 2022 at the age of 80 and sentenced to a minimum of 30 years' imprisonment, but died only months later.[55][56]
British ArmyCaptain murdered by the IRA during the course of an undercover operation. It is believed that Nairac's body was buried in farmland in Ireland.
Arthur David Rundle was convicted of the murder of his wife. He said he killed her during a violent row at their home. Her remains were never discovered.[57]
Peter Taylor was convicted of murdering his wife Monica over a divorce settlement on the evidence of a man he had previously attempted to hire to kill his wife. He was also convicted of attempting to solicit an undercover police officer to murder his son-in-law.[58]
A seven-year-old boy who disappeared while visiting a funfair in Wokingham, Berkshire. He was lured away from the fair and his bicycle was found chained to railings nearby.[59] In 1990 it emerged that Mark had been abducted, drugged, tortured, raped and murdered by a London-based paedophile gang on the night he disappeared.[59][60]
December 18, 1996; overturned in 2003; reconvicted upon retrial in 2004
Carole Packman went missing shortly after initiating a divorce with her husband (whose name was Russell Packman at the time; he changed his name to that of his mistress after Carole's disappearance). Initially, police investigated the possibility that Causley murdered his wife, but closed the investigation when sufficient evidence was not forthcoming. Years later, when Causley was discovered to have faked his own death in an attempted life insurance scheme, police reopened the investigation, which led to Causley's first conviction.[61] Packman's disappearance became the subject of the 2016 television series The Investigator: A British Crime Story.[62]
A 22-year-old woman last seen walking towards the pub owned by the convict, who had previously made rejected advances on her, and had also banned her from the pub after she had an argument with another patron. Forensic evidence included McCourt's blood found in Simms's car; a plastic binfold left by a river, that contained McCourts's clothes, hair and a flex with toothmarks that were matched to one of Simms' dogs; and a set of clothes and two towels, property of Simms and sprinkled with McCourt's blood, that were found abandoned near the Manchester Ship Canal.
Laura May Al-Shatanawi disappeared in June 1993. Her husband did not report her missing for a month, and after he appeared on television supposedly appealing for information a man told police that he had been asked by the husband to burn a garden shed he had just bought for his allotment at the same time Laura went missing. The shed was recovered and her blood and parts of her scalp were found on its floor. The husband was convicted of her murder and it is believed he killed her to hide his affair.[63]
A 36-year-old mother of two who was shot dead with a shotgun by her former lover. Her body was never found but her blood and parts of a human liver were found in the man's car.[64]
A 32-year-old woman who disappeared while shopping for a holiday she was due to take with her partner in two days time. The partner, who claimed she had run off with another man, was soon questioned about the disappearance and was convicted of her killing in 2013 after it was heard that he had made two false phone calls to himself pretending to speak to Harrison after her disappearance.[65]
25-year-old Shephard disappeared after going to meet a man in Sheffield. Her ex-boyfriend was convicted of her murder, since her blood was found in his car and he had a clear motive to kill her, as she was due to give evidence against him in an upcoming assault trial.[66]
McGarrigle disappeared after arguing with two paedophiles and threatening to tell police about their abuse of a child. The two men were convicted of her murder in 2010.[67]
A 40-year-old woman who vanished after visiting her estranged husband Michael Morton's home to discuss their daughter's schooling. They were known to have then argued about the matter. Her case was featured on Crimewatch, and Michael Morton was finally convicted in 2005.[68]
Convict Christopher Thomas admitted hurling a missing convicted paedophile off a 200-foot (61 m) cliff on the Isle of Wight, stating that he had been abused by the man as a child. The man's body was never found and the jury felt they could only convict him of attempted murder.[69]
A woman killed in a so-called "honour killing" on the orders of her own 70-year-old grandmother, who acted in collusion with her husband. Although she was killed in India, the pair were tried and convicted in a British court in 2007 in what was the first conviction in a British court of an honour killing committed outside the UK.[71] Her body has never been found but police found she was killed after her grandmother discovered she was having an affair and wanted a divorce.[72]
A 15-year-old Muslim schoolgirl who was murdered by her father in a so-called "honour killing". He had disapproved of a relationship she had with an older man who was from a different branch of the Islamic religion. He would not be convicted until 2009.[73]
Debbie had not been seen alive since she disappeared from her family home in Deal, Kent, on 5 May 1999. Andrew Griggs was an initial suspect in the Police's investigation into her disappearance; however, the Crown Prosecution Service found in 2003 the evidence submitted to them offered "no realistic prospect of conviction". A new investigation began in 2018 upon which Andrew was later charged and found guilty of her murder following a trial held at Canterbury Crown Court. Mr Griggs was handed a life sentence with a minimum tariff of 20 years.[74]
In 2022, her remains were found buried in a back garden in Dorset, England.[75]
In 2010 businessman Thomas Pryde was convicted of the murder of lorry driver Adam Alexander, after Pryde confessed that he had killed him after a row about a business deal.[76] Pryde had told police where he had buried Alexander after his arrest in 2008, but searches failed to find the remains before the trial.[77] In 2012, Alexander's remains were finally located.[77]
Edward Cairney and Avril Jones became carers for Margaret Fleming following the death of her father in 1995. In 2016 Jones made a new benefits application in Fleming's name which raised concerns. A large-scale police search was unable to locate Fleming and it was discovered the last independent sighting of her was in December 1999 when she was aged 19. Throughout the investigation and trial the couple maintained that Fleming was alive and had left Scotland for London in January 2000.[78]
63-year-old Banfield was last seen leaving his family home in May 2001. His wife and daughter were convicted of his murder in 2012 after it was determined that they financially gained from the sale of his home and lied about seeing him in 2008 in order to fraudulently claim his pension. Their convictions were later quashed on appeal in 2013, even though they had pled guilty to fraud, forgery and perverting the course of justice and the defence saying that the "likelihood" was that "one or other" had murdered him. This was because they had been convicted under joint enterprise and judges ruled there was insufficient evidence to prove that both had acted together to kill him.[79][80]
The convict's 15-year-old niece disappeared while walking to a bus stop. A pair of stockings with blood from both Jones and Campbell, and lip gloss used by Jones were found in Campbell's apartment. In addition, Campbell claimed to have received a text message from Jones after she disappeared, but it didn't match Jones's texting style, and Mobile Switching Center records showed that both Campbell's and Jones's cell phones were in the same place when the message was sent.[81]
28-year-old Martin-Smith disappeared from Hastings at a time when he was receiving threats from other men after informing police that they had been involved in a burglary. Long-time suspects Mark Searle and Steve McNichol were convicted of the abduction and murder of Martin-Smith on the 15-year anniversary of his disappearance, after more witnesses came forward to report that the men had been seen dismembering a body in lock-up the day after he vanished.[82]
42-year-old Stuart Martin was convicted of the killing of his 22-year-old colleague Jonathan Dolton in December 2004. He had fled the country the day after Dalton's disappearance and went on the run, before being extradited to stand trial.[84]
Linda Razzell disappeared on her way to work at Swindon College. Traces of her blood were later discovered in the boot of a car which her estranged husband had borrowed from a friend, although they were initially overlooked by the forensics team. In 2018 a BBC Two documentary Conviction, reviewed the case, and considered a possible link to a convicted serial killer, Christopher Halliwell.[85]
Tina Baker was last seen on 8 July 2002 after saying she was going to feed the animals on her and her husband's farm. Her pet dog was later found abandoned nearby. Police soon became suspicious of her husband and he was convicted of her murder in 2006. His first wife testified at his trial that he had previously threatened to kill her and feed her to the pigs when they were getting divorced, and evidence put him close to the farm on the day. The motive for the murder appeared to be that he feared he was going to lose the £100,000 14-acre farm.[86]
Horncy and Regan were convicted of murdering the entire Chohan family, including the infant children Ravinder and Devinder, whose bodies have never been found. A third defendant, Peter Rees, was convicted of murdering the children's father Amarjit Chohan but acquitted of the other murders.[87]
Pinkney disappeared after leaving a party, and six days later her handbag were found in undergrowth near Ilfracombe. Scaffolder and attendee of the party Nicholas Rose was convicted of her murder after her blood was found in his car and on his shoes. Her boot was also found a minute from his home.[88]
27-year-old sex worker Taylor disappeared in May 2004. Client Stephen Wynne confessed to her murder in 2006 after he was arrested for setting fire to a mosque, revealing he had killed her with a meat cleaver and had dismembered her body. Although he was convicted, her body has not been found.[89]
38-year-old Gunshon disappeared while staying at a pub in Digbeth. An employee at the pub with a history of violence and sex offences, Martin Stafford, soon became a suspect after he was caught on speed cameras driving the victim's car in the aftermath of her disappearance, before it was found abandoned. He fled to his native Ireland afterwards but was extradited and convicted of her murder in 2012.[90]
Brown vanished in June 2005 but it would not be until 2010 that her disappearance was discovered and a fraud investigation was launched, after suspicious activity was found on her bank accounts. After she went missing up to £400,000 was transferred from her account to the account of her lover, Donald Graham, and it was found she had also inexplicably transferred a large amount to him on the day she was last seen alive in 2005. Graham was convicted on her murder in 2014.[91][92]
The 19-year-old mistress of the convict, a 45-year-old married father of two, with whom she had been having an affair for five years. Nicholl also had a relationship with Hodgson's older brother, which Police considered the motive of the murder. Hodgson was sentenced to life with a minimum of 18 years.[93]
Li Hua Cao went missing from the house she shared with her husband. She had become unhappy with her marriage and had spoken to doctors about terminating her pregnancy. The husband, Robert Ekaireb, had previously assaulted his pregnant wife and was convicted of her murder in 2013.[94]
Vulnerable 15-year-old child Paige Chivers was reported missing from Blackpool in August 2007. 60-year-old Robert Ewing was convicted of killing her in 2015 after it was heard he had an "inappropriate sexual interest" in the child and that spots of her blood were found in the flat Ewing lived in at the time. Ewing died in 2022 without revealing where the body is.[95][96]
Katie Prout was murdered by her husband, who was convicted of her murder despite her body not being found and the husband claiming his innocence. This claim would be proven to be a lie in 2011 when he confessed to the murder and led police to where he had buried her.[97]
Sex worker Susan Rushworth disappeared from Bradford in June 2009. In 2010 it was revealed that she had become a victim of serial killer Stephen Griffiths, who killed two other sex workers in the city. Griffiths told police he had murdered her and her blood was later found in his flat. He was convicted of murdering all three women on 21 December 2010, although Rushworth's body was never found.[98]
Jesse Richards
Kevin John Huston, Matthew Robert Taylor, Joseph Doe
Thaxter was convicted of the murder of Thomas Groome six years after his disappearance. His mother had previously been convicted of manslaughter after pleading guilty, having also been found guilty of defrauding Groome. She said there was a man present at the killing but refused to reveal who this was. In 2016 her son Jason was identified as this man and convicted of Groome's murder.[100]
A woman believed to have been murdered by her ex-boyfriend.[102] Evidence cited by the prosecution included scratches on Gilroy's body, that he stopped sending frequent text messages to Pilley the day she disappeared, an unjustified roundabout trip of Gilroy's car to the other extreme of Scotland on the same day and the fact that the car was later cleaned.
Spence was killed by the offenders after she failed to pay back money she owed to them. Her blood was found in a flat of an associate, which had also been extensively cleaned, and a friend testified being suspicious of the pair trying to "get rid of something" from a boat. Coats later confessed to a fellow inmate that he put her body in a furnace.[103][104]
Morson was a car dealer who had previously been imprisoned. His former business partners were convicted of his murder, which was motivated by a drugs dispute. One of the men admitted killing him and said he dumped him in the Manchester Ship Canal, although he continues to claim the killing was "self-defence".[105][106]
Three Royal Marines were charged with murder after a video emerged of the summary execution of a wounded Taliban insurgent by Alexander Blackman (referred to in court as Marine A). Two of the defendants, Marine B and Marine C, were acquitted, but Blackman was convicted of murder, later downgraded to manslaughter due to diminished responsibility. The identity of the insurgent and the location of the body are unknown.[107]
Alethea Taylor was ruled to have been murdered by her husband, who was having an affair at the time. The husband falsely claimed she had dementia and wandered off, and also lied about having tried to repeatedly call her after she disappeared. Her blood was also found in their home.[108]
Claire Holland, aged 32, disappeared on June 6, 2012 after leaving the Seamus O'Donnell's pub in Bristol, England. It was later discovered that she had been murdered by her former partner, Darren Osment. Osment was convicted after he had confessed to numerous people that he had murdered Holland, including an undercover police officer. Holland's body has never been found and it is believed that Osment disposed of her body in water.[109]
A five-year-old girl murdered in 2012. The convict stated he had deposited the body in both the Afon Dulas and River Dovey, although authorities presume the remains are near the man's home.[110][111]
Benett was killed by homeless couple Kathleen Salmond and Kevin Flanagan, who then continued to claim her benefits. Flanagan admitted benefit fraud and preventing a burial. The prosecution said that they put Bennett's body in a wheelie bin which was later incinerated at a waste disposal facility.[112]
25-year-old mother Alayed was never seen again after 17 June 2013, the same day that she had gone to her brother-in-law's house at the instigation of her husband. The husband, Ahmed Al-Khatib, was convicted of her murder a year later in what was a suspected "honour killing", carried out as Al-Khatib believed she had become too Westernized. Al-Khatib said at his trial that he had become unhappy when his wife started college and started wearing make-up. He confessed to killing her, although her body was not found.[113]
The convict was a mentally ill Italian woman who was visiting London in January 2015. She admitted to having suffocated her two-month-old daughter but the body was not found.[114]
Qazimaj was convicted of murdering Sylvia and her husband Peter, whose body was found in a nearby marsh, after blood and hair matching their DNA profiles was found in his car.[115]
Henry was a 46-year-old mother who was raped, assaulted and killed in her flat by 67-year-old pensioner George Metcalff. They had lived in the same block of flats since 2008. The pair made 143 calls to each other between 1 November and 13 November 2017, but Metcalff never contacted her again after 13 November and she disappeared. He made several late night trips to the victim's flat following her murder. He was convicted in 2021 despite her body never having been found. He was also convicted of two rapes committed in 1971 and 2004.[116]
Wallace pleaded guilty to killing and dismembering Reilly in February 2019. Only two human femurs believed to have belonged to Reilly were recovered buried near Wallace's home.[117]
A 46-year-old mother of five murdered in 2018. Lacomba was her ex-partner who was convicted after a four-week trial at Woolwich Crown Court and was handed a life sentence with a 27-year minimum tariff to serve. Kent Police report that the search for Sarah's body is the largest search conducted in the force's history.[118]
University student Morgan was last seen at a church celebration in Ilford on 26 December 2018. Two days later on 28 December her name was removed from a "church social media chat group". It was not until 7 February 2019 that concerned flatmates reported her missing. Two days later a man who attended the same church as Morgan was arrested and Morgan's keys were found in his car. It was later found that her phone had been detected in his car on 28 December, most likely as he attempted to dispose of her body. The man, Shohfah-El Israel, was convicted of her murder on 5 August 2019, but he refused to reveal the location of her body. Two months after the conviction her body was found in woodland near Stevenage.[119]
Jones lured O'Leary, a man his wife was having an affair with, to a remote farm in January 2020 and killed him with a shotgun before burning his body. Although his body was not found, O'Leary's blood and part of his intestine was found at the farm. Jones had used O'Leary's phone to text his loved ones pretending he had killed himself, but the messages did not match his texting style. The case featured on the ITV documentary No Body Recovered.[120][121]
Leah Ware was an escort living out of a shipping container on Little Bridge Farm, which was owned by her boyfriend Mark Brown. She was last seen alive on 6 May 2021 when she met a male friend; her phone disappeared from the network the following day. Police became aware of Leah's disappearance while investigating the murder of Brown's second partner, Alexandra Morgan, and found that Brown had bought six litres of petrol on the day she disappeared, and after she disappeared had withdrawn money from her bank account, rehomed one her pet dogs, and drowned the other in a pond.[122][123]
Scott Walker was found guilty of murder and perverting the course of justice and was jailed for life, Bernadette's mother was also imprisoned for six years for perverting the course of justice. Bernadette, from Peterborough, disappeared in July 2020, and is presumed dead as her body has never been found.[124] Scott died in prison on 22 December 2023.[125]
McKeever disappeared while visiting his stepdaughter Surie Suksiri in Highbury in August 2021. The last time he was seen alive was in a 47-second video clip in which he was forced to admit to sexually assaulting Suksiri when she was six, which Suksiri sent to her boyfriend's sister on WhatsApp. Suksiri and her boyfriend Juned Sheikh were convicted of McKeever's murder in November 2023.[126]
Maureen Gitau was reported missing by her family on 10 December 2022 after they had not seen her for five days. She had last been seen leaving her aunt's birthday party to meet caretaker Mark Moodie. CCTV showed that Moodie had taken Gitau to a block of flats where he worked, which she never left alive. Moodie was later seen moving a communal waste bin down to the basement before sending it to a processing plant where the contents were incinerated. Gitau's body is believed to have been concealed in the waste bin. Moodie was convicted of her murder in November 2023.[127]
Farmhand Colvin went missing in 1812. Brothers Jesse and Stephen Boorn had been seen arguing with him before he disappeared and some of his personal effects were found buried in a cellar on the Boorn farm alongside bones claimed to be human but later found to be animal. Both made contradictory confessions to the crime, although Jesse recanted his. The brothers were sentenced to death for the alleged crime, but were pardoned the following year after Colvin was found alive in Dover.[128]
The convict's infant daughter disappeared along with her mother. Rulloff was suspected of murdering both, but he was only tried and sentenced to ten years for the kidnapping of his wife. Upon his release in 1856, he was charged, tried and convicted for the murder of his daughter, but he escaped and was acquitted on appeal in 1859. Rulloff was hanged for an unrelated murder in 1870.
Hicks murdered his three crewmates aboard the A.E. Johnson and threw their bodies in the sea. They were never found, but their deaths were given away by large amounts of blood found on the ship. Multiple witnesses had seen Hicks carrying the ship's bag, in which he had stowed stolen valuables, and the victim's possessions were found in his boarding house.
Druse murdered her husband and burned his body during a domestic dispute, forcing her children and nephew to help under threat of death. Her nephew later confessed his role and was spared prosecution in return for his testimony. Druse was hanged in 1887 while her daughter was sentenced to life imprisonment for her role in the murder.
Watkins disappeared a year after moving to Marion County with his wife, who had an affair with Hudspeth. After their arrest, the wife accused Hudspeth of murdering Watkins so they could marry each other. Hudspeth was found guilty in an 1888 trial that was overturned, but was later found guilty again on retrial in 1892, and hanged. Hudspeth's lawyer claimed to have found Watkins alive in Kansas in 1893.
Wilson was convicted of murdering his wife, Jenny Willson, and their 19-month-old daughter. Bones presented by the prosecution in court were later discovered to be those of at least four or five people and likely of indigenous ethnicity. Wilson received a formal pardon from the Alabama governor after his wife and daughter were discovered to be living in Vincennes, Indiana in 1918.
A sailor who was robbed and killed by Gohl and Klingenberg after having witnessed another murder committed by Gohl. His body was weighted down and thrown into Grays Harbor; a human skeleton was recovered from the Harbor two months after the trial, but it is not known if this was Hoffman.
A presumed victim of the Wineville Chicken Coop murders led by Gordon Stewart Northcott. Northcott's mother and accomplice pleaded guilty to killing Collins, but later recanted. Collins' remains were never located and his mother always refused to believe he was dead.
Butler and Yelder were convicted of murdering and dismembering Yelder's fourteen-year-old niece on the testimony of Butler's daughter and niece, who claimed to have seen them dismembering Warren and disposing of her remains in the river, and a recanted confession by Butler. Within a week Warren was found to be alive and staying with relatives and Butler and Yelder were pardoned and released.[129]
A nine-year-old girl abducted by Fish after he lied to her parents about taking her to another child's birthday party. In a 1934 letter to Budd's mother, Fish claimed that he killed the girl on June 3 and ate her whole body over the course of nine days.
A 14-year-old girl abducted outside her high school. Evidence included a bullet hole and blood stains in the car of the convict, objects belonging to Chamberlain found buried in the convict's workplace, and two pairs of socks belonging to Chamberlain being found on the sea cliff where he confessed to have disposed of the body.
Wallace pursued Turner from Meriwether County into Coweta County, where he pistol-whipped him to death before taking him back into Meriwether County and burning his body. Human bone fragments and brain tissue was recovered from Wallace's ranch.
Circuit court judge Chillingworth had reprimanded municipal court judge Peel for unethical behavior, and Peel feared being disbarred. Peel hired Holzapfel to kill Chillingworth and his wife. Holzapfel and accomplice Bobby Lincoln kidnapped the Chillingworths and dumped their bodies in the ocean with weights tied to their legs.[132]
Robert Weeks was convicted of murdering his wife Patricia and his girlfriend Cynthia Jabour. Neither were ever found, and are believed to be hidden in Nevada mineshafts. Weeks is also suspected in the disappearances of another girlfriend, Carol Riley, and his business partner Jim Shaw.[133]
A 23-year-old woman lured to Brudos's home after her car broke down on Interstate 5. Several photos of Whitney depicting her before and after her death were found in Brudos's garage, along with a mold of resin made out of her breast. The body was found one month after Brudos pled guilty to her murder, downstream from where he said he had thrown it.[134]
A teenage girl believed to have been abducted and murdered by a truck driver. Zarinsky, a suspected serial killer, denied knowing the victim until after his conviction, claiming her death was an accident. He died in 2008, never having disclosed the location of her body. It was the first-ever bodyless-murder conviction in New Jersey.[135][136]
Spahn Ranch foreman murdered by the Manson Family because they believed he had turned them in to the police. Grogan helped locate Shea's remains in 1977.
Two sisters aged 10 and 12 who disappeared during a trip to a shopping mall. In 2013, Welch, a convicted and incarcerated child molester, became a suspect after it was noticed that he strongly resembled a young man seen stalking the girls by one of their friends, and that in 1975 he had gone to police to claim that he had seen an older man abducting the girls. After a cousin of Welch confessed to helping him burn two suspicious duffel bags at his property in Thaxton, Virginia in 1975, police searched the place and found items that had belonged to the girls, but no organic remains. Nevertheless, Welch pled guilty to both counts of abduction and murder.
The 42 years that passed between the crime and the conviction is the longest such interval in an American bodyless murder case.
A six-year-old boy who disappeared on his way to the school stop. He was the first missing child whose photo appeared on a milk carton. In 2010, Hernandez confessed to strangling Patz after he walked into the convenience store where he worked and disposing of the body in the garbage. Various members of Hernandez's family claimed that he had confessed the murder to his church in the 1980s.
Karen and Michael Reinert
Bill Bradfield
Philadelphia
June 22, 1979
1983
Brother and sister who vanished along with their mother, Susan Reinert, after she received a phone call from Bradfield. Susan's body was found three days later in the trunk of her car, which had been abandoned in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, but the children never appeared. Bradfield, who was Susan's lover and the sole beneficiary of her life insurance, was convicted of conspiracy to commit murder and died in prison in 1998. Smith, the principal at the high school where both Bradfield and Susan Reinert were teachers, was found guilty of carrying out the murders and sentenced to death, but the sentence was overturned by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court due to prosecutorial misconduct.[139]
First victims of serial killers Lawrence Bittaker and Roy Norris, who kidnapped, raped, tortured, and murdered a total of five teenage girls in California in 1979. Although the bodies of Schaefer and Hall were never found, Norris confessed that he and Bittaker had murdered them. In 1981, Bittaker was sentenced to death, while Norris was sentenced to life in prison.
Flagner admitted to abducting and molesting 8-year-old Papesh, dismembering her and disposing of her remains in multiple different locations. He later recanted his confession and his time card suggested he was at work 40 miles away, but he was nevertheless convicted of her murder. Papesh's remains have never been found.[140]
18-year-old Hall disappeared after leaving to go to a nightclub in Blacksburg. Her car and bloodstained items of clothing were later found abandoned near the New River. Stephen Epperly was convicted of her murder later that year in the first bodyless murder conviction in the state of Virginia.[141] Partial remains of Hall's body were located in the New River Valley in 2020.[142]
Frank Johnson testified that he and Robert Ruff had abducted Gaisior, forced her to withdraw money from her account, and raped and shot her before throwing her body in the Anacostia River.[143]
Two drug dealers who were murdered by William Wickline in a dispute over a drug debt. Wickline then dismembered their bodies and disposed of the remains in an unknown location, according to sworn testimony from his girlfriend Teresa Kemp, who was present during the murders.
Douglas bludgeoned Benedict with a small sledgehammer at his residence. He then drove with her corpse to Rhode Island, where he stopped at the parking lot of a shopping mall and made the impromptu decision to dispose of the body in a dumpster. One day after Benedict's disappearance, the murder weapon, along with some of the victim's and killer's clothes were found in a rest area five miles away from Sharon. A chemical test on a windbreaker owned by Douglas showed possible brain matter (lab work later determined inconclusive). Four months after her disappearance, a Toyota Tercel registered to Robin Benedict was impounded from the parking garage of Grand Central Station, where a foul odor was discovered. Prior to her death, Benedict was a prostitute whom Douglas had frequented, and motivation for the murder was determined to be anger over Benedict's termination of her illegal career and her desire to end sexual contact with Douglas. After an exhaustive search of landfills in Rhode Island, the body of Robin Benedict was never found. In 1984, Douglas was sentenced to 15 years' imprisonment in a state penitentiary for second-degree murder of Robin Benedict, which he began in 1989 following completion of a five-year sentence in federal prison for defalcation of $67,400 of the taxpayers' money, through way of a falsifying expenses from a National Institute of Health grant he had been awarded in 1982 while a biology professor at Tufts University, which he used to finance his patronization of the prostitute and treat her to expensive gifts. Douglas was also subject to a $29.5 million wrongful death lawsuit from Ellen and John Benedict, Robin's parents.[146] Douglas was paroled in 1993, four years into his murder sentence.
Homberg's girlfriend testified that he had admitted murdering his wife Ruth after she threatened to report him for embezzling money from his company.[147]
Seifert lured his brother, who had recently filed criminal charges against him, to a remote location where he shot him in the head once with a rifle, then set his van on fire. His alibi for the time in question turned out to be false and fiber evidence connected him to the crime scene. The conviction, the first obtained in New York for a bodyless murder without a confession from the defendant, was upheld on appeal despite a first-person account in a local magazine suggesting there had been serious jury misconduct.[148][149]
Ward and Fontenot allegedly confessed to raping Haraway, stabbing her to death and burning her body. Both later recanted their confessions, but were convicted and sentenced to death, later commuted to life without parole. Haraway's body was found in 1986 in circumstances which contradicted Ward and Fontenot's confessions, but both men were convicted again at their second trial.[150] Fontenot has since been exonerated and released,[151] but Ward remains imprisoned.[152]
Con artist Levin disappeared after allegedly defrauding Hunt's investment company, the Billionaire Boys Club. Hunt boasted to friends that he and his bodyguard Jim Pittman, who pleaded guilty to acting as an accessory after the fact, had murdered Levin and dumped his body in the Soledad Canyon.[153]
Three women who disappeared after being offered jobs by the convict. The conviction for Stasi's murder was later overturned on a technicality.
Melvin Snyder
Ronald Harshman
Chambersburg, Pennsylvania
May 25, 1985
2000
Harshman shot Snyder with a .25 pistol and a casing found at his property matched one found in Snyder's barn, in addition to inmates that said Harshman confessed to them.[154]
The convict's wife. It is believed that the body was deposited in the ocean off of the coast of New Jersey, where he reportedly had flown a plane.[155]
Olive's abusive non-custodial father, Ulysses H. Roberson, abducted him in 1985. He was charged with murdering Olive in 2001 on the strength of eyewitness and forensic evidence, and eventually convicted of second-degree murder in 2009.[156]
Laura Henderson disappeared during a custody battle with her ex-husband Jack Ibach. Jack and Donald McDonald, who Jack was alleged to have hired to kill Laura, were convicted of the crime.[157]
A six-year-old girl who disappeared from her father's backyard while he was taking a nap. The father confessed to the murder in a psychotic episode, but was later exonerated. The real murderer was serial killer Hadden Clark, who offered to disclose the body's location as part of a plea deal. Although this deal was not made, Clark still showed police where to find Dorr's body, after his conviction.[158]
A Danish-American woman murdered by her husband, in a case popularly known as the "wood-chipper murder". It is believed Helle Crafts had been beaten to death and was then dismembered, frozen and placed in a wood chipper aimed over a bridge. Fragments of a body were found, yet only a tooth crown with a filling as well as hair consistent with the victim's indicated the body was Crafts'. Despite this, the case is often referred to as a conviction without a body, as the remains could not be definitively proven to be that of Crafts, despite the tooth being positively matched to Helle's dental records. It was the first bodyless murder conviction in Connecticut history.[159][160] Initially, a trial in 1987 was mistrialed.[130]
James Doxtator, Richard Guerrero, Edward Smith, David Thomas
Waitress Cathy Ford disappeared while on her way to meet with an unknown person. Paul Ferrell, a sheriff's deputy living in Gormania, West Virginia just across the river from Gorman, was convicted of murdering Ford.[161]
Carla Almeida
Tevfik Sivri
Trumbull, Connecticut
April 18, 1988
1995
Almeida visited Sivri's home as a masseuse. The prosecution used blood analysis to confirm the murder. The amount of blood found in Sivri's house and trunk made it unlikely for Almeida to have survived the attack. Body was located on a wooded property of a Monroe resident in 1992.[162][163]
Vasquez was arrested driving Esteves' car, which had scratch marks in the trunk, after his disappearance and was found to have several of his personal belongings in his possession.[164]
FBI prosecutors were able to successfully convict Robert Russell of murdering his estranged wife, United States Marine Captain Shirley Russell, one day after she picked up the final version of the couple's marriage separation agreement. The prosecutors argued he shot her with a .25 caliber handgun he purchased at a pawn shop, then disposed of her body down one of hundreds of mineshafts. One of the most damning pieces of evidence was Robert's 25-step plan that detailed how he intended to pull off the crime.[165] This case is the subject of the 1997 TV movie entitled "Perfect Crime".
Prosecution used blood analysis to prove that Ruby was dead because of the large amount of blood found in the house. Earl admitted to burning her body but claimed she had committed suicide.[166]
The women went missing in the span of just over a week in Kansas City. Some of their belongings were found in Grissom's car along with blood and hair analyses providing proof that the three had been murdered.[167]
Steven Sherer's wife Jami vanished after she made a call to her mother saying she'd be right over after stopping at Taco Time, a fast food chain in Redmond. That was the last time anyone ever heard from her.[168]
Thomas Gibson disappeared from his front yard in 1991. His father Larry Gibson was convicted of manslaughter in his son's disappearance after his daughter Karen testified that she had witnessed him beating Thomas on the day of his disappearance.[169]
Robin Kerry, her sister Julie, and their cousin Thomas Cummins were attacked on the Chain of Rocks Bridge by a group of four men who gang-raped Robin and Julie before throwing the three of them into the Mississippi River. Cummins survived, but Julie and Robin both drowned; Robin's body was never recovered. One of the attackers, Daniel Winfrey, pleaded guilty to the murders and testified against the other three.[170]
Dawn Sanchez disappeared in 1991 after leaving a motor lodge in Los Altos with Bernardo Bass. 18 years later in 2009, NASA technology was used to uncover where the disassembled, bloodstained remains of Bass's missing car were buried. A cadaver dog had also smelled human remains in Bass's closet.[172]
DeCavalcante crime family mobster murdered for engaging in homosexual activity. His killers later turned informer and testified against the men who ordered his murder.
12-year-old Wood disappeared while cycling near her home in Litchfield in 1983. Lewis Lent Jr. admitted to abducting and murdering her three years later and was sentenced to 25 years to life despite recanting his confession and the body not being found in the location he gave.
Rose Larner
John Ortiz-Kehoe
Albion, Michigan
December 7, 1993
1997
Billy Brown told police that Kehoe killed Rose Larner and that he helped Kehoe cover up the evidence by burning her body and then scattering her ashes on highways.[173]
Shannon Melendi
Colvin "Butch" Hinton
Atlanta, Georgia
March 26, 1994
August 2004
Hinton dismembered her body and burned in a fire pit.[174]
Smith confessed to police that he had murdered Enzler and Bellamy with help from two co-defendants.[175]
Don Hardin
Dale Whitmer
San Diego, CA
March 29, 1994
October 2, 1997
Whitmer was a homeless man that stayed in the Hardin's back yard in an RV, police only found Hardin's hands. About one year later, investigators received an anonymous letter (later revealed to have been written by Dale Whitmer's daughter Andrea) that contained information only the killer (or someone close to the killer) would know; that Whitmer had killed and dismembered Hardin and robbed his house.[176]
Khristine Smith disappeared from her home on September 28, 1994. Four years later, her husband Russell Smith was charged with her murder and arrested. Russell subsequently plead guilty to second-degree murder, admitting to shooting and killing Khristine on September 28 during an argument about custody of their daughter. Russell then placed her body in a steel barrel, borrowed a friend's boat, and dumped the barrel several miles into Lake Erie. Despite several searches of Lake Erie based on Russell's confession, Khristine's remains have never been found.[177][178][179]
15-year-old girl last seen taking lunch at Spanish Fork High School, which she attended. Although Olsen pled guilty to her manslaughter, he claimed another person killed Davis with a rock, and that he only helped conceal the body. However, he refuses to reveal the other person's identity or the body's location.
A young mother who went missing from a motel in Portland, Oregon. Her room was discovered with a blood-soaked mattress, and her personal effects were found in the motel trash. Her 2-year-old son was found the following morning, alive, in her locked car nearby. Panek's common-law husband, Abdur Rashid Al-Wadud, was charged with her murder within one week of her disappearance, and convicted in March 1996.[180]
The ruling board of American Atheists, Inc., who were abducted, robbed and murdered in a conspiracy led by Waters, a former employee who had a personal vendetta against Madalyn. Waters was helped by Karr and a third man, Danny Fry, who was also murdered by Waters and Karr. Five months after their conviction, Waters led the FBI to the shallow grave where they had buried the three victims and the head and hands of Fry.
Killaby's blood was found in Smith's car. He claimed at trial that they had had consensual sex and she had then been attacked and abducted by another man, identifying her husband Dan as that man. After his conviction Smith admitted to the killing and led police in a search for Killaby's body, but it was not found.[182]
The abused eight-year-old daughter of the convict's girlfriend. Her disappearance was not reported nor investigated until more than a year after her death.
A man robbed and murdered by Wynn, who had accompanied him to look at an old car he was considering purchasing. Wynn repeatedly changed his account of the time he spent with Wykel when he was confronted with new information; police later linked him to the crime through a distinctive diamond very similar to one from a ring Wykel wore and an incriminating remark he made to a friend that contradicted what he had earlier told police.[183]
Doris Lentz disappeared while in the process of divorcing her husband Jay, and her blood-spattered vehicle was later found. Jay was convicted of her murder seven years later.[184] The verdict was later reversed, but a second trial in 2006 also found Jay guilty.[185]
A woman murdered by her lover, the former attorney general of Delaware, after she was last seen dining with him outside their native state. It is believed that her body was dumped in the ocean near New Jersey.[188] Capano was having an affair with the victim prior to her murder.[130]
Nancy Riggins
Stephen Paul Riggins
Hanover, Maryland
July 1, 1996
July 20, 2001
Nancy Riggins disappeared after learning about her husbands affair with the couple's 18-year-old babysitter, who was underage when the affair began, and threatening to report it and divorce him. Her husband was charged four years later after it came to light that he had admitted the crime to a fellow inmate while serving time in prison for statutory rape over the affair. After his conviction he agreed to lead police to his wife's body, which was only three miles from their home.[189]
A woman who disappeared after supposedly having an argument with her husband, who moved to Mexico with their children several years later. Perry March was convicted after ten years due to inconsistencies in his story and incriminating statements made to fellow jail inmates. Arthur March, his father, confessed to placing Janet's body in a pile of cleared brush.[190]
Culberson disappeared after leaving her residence to confront Doan, her abusive ex-boyfriend who had been stalking her. Doan admitted that Culberson had come to see him, but he changed his story repeatedly and a neighbour had seen him assaulting Culberson in his front yard on the day she disappeared.[191]
Purkey admitted to abducting Long and driving her across state lines to Lansing, Kansas before raping her, stabbing her to death, dismembering her with a chainsaw, burning her remains and disposing of the ashes in a septic pond.[192]
A man killed after he was falsely thought to have reported his killers for drug-related crimes. Prosecutors were able to get Orange County's first bodyless murder conviction with expert testimony that the large stain left by Pendino's blood in the back of a car came from a wound that could only have been lethal, as well as an informant who recalled how one of the two had forced him to clean up a bloody truck shortly thereafter.[193][194]
A woman abducted from her job at a local convenience store. Bone chips and a tooth found in a fire pit on Blom's property were linked to her, although DNA could not be tested; surveillance video also suggested he was the abductor. It was the first bodyless murder conviction in Minnesota history.[195]
Victoria Bell Banks, awaiting trial in February 1999, claimed to be pregnant and asked to be released from jail to give birth. When police observed in August that there was no baby, Bell was arrested for infanticide. She and her husband Medell Banks, both of whom are mentally disabled, admitted to killing the baby and burying it in the woods, but no body was found; it was later established that Bell had undergone surgery that would have prevented her from getting pregnant. The two later recanted their admissions, with Bell claiming she had invented the pregnancy to get out of jail, but nevertheless pleaded guilty to killing the alleged infant to avoid capital murder charges.[196] Medell Banks' conviction was later vacated, but Bell, who never appealed her conviction, remains imprisoned.[197]
20-month-old Katelyn Rivera-Helton was taken from her home by her non-custodial father Robert. She was last seen in Rivera's car at a gas station in Chadds Ford Township; Rivera returned to the station two hours later without Katelyn. At his trial Rivera maintained that Katelyn was still alive but refused to divulge her whereabouts.[198]
A Malaysian-American woman murdered by her husband and his mistress. Blood matched to the victim was in a large quantity which proved she could not have survived the attack.[199]
Two 16-year-old friends went missing after Freeman's house burned down. Lauria was attending a sleepover at Ashley's residence. The charred remains of Freeman's parents were discovered in the rubble; both were shot in the head. Two convicted killers—Tommy Lynn Sells and Jeremy Jones, confessed to murdering them, but both recanted their admissions.
In April 2018, Ronnie Busick was arrested and charged with four accounts of first-degree homicide for the deaths of Bible and the Freeman family. Two other suspects— Warren Phillip "Phil" Welch II (died 2007) and David Pennington (died 2015)—were also identified. It was reported that "at least a dozen" witnesses claimed all three men bragged about raping and murdering Bible and Freeman and having taken Polaroid photographs of them. An affidavit made by a female witness who had lived with Welch for a brief time asserts that "she heard conversations between the three men where they disclosed that the murder victims had owed them money". According to the affidavit, Welch, Pennington, and Busick had claimed to have raped and tortured the two friends before disposing of their remains "in a pit" or mine shaft in Picher, Oklahoma. In 2020, Busick pleaded guilty to being an accessory to first-degree homicide in the deaths of Ashley's parents, arson of the Freemans' home, and the abduction and presumed slayings of the two teenagers.
Robert Jason Owens, a longtime person of interest in Quinn's disappearance, claimed that his uncle, Walter "Gene" Owens, killed Quinn then dismembered and burned his body, and Robert assisted in the cover-up. Owens was convicted of accessory after-the-fact to first-degree murder of Zebb Quinn.
The investigation into Michele's disappearance was hampered by a shortage of available resources due to many of them being diverted downstate in the wake of the terror attacks. The couple had been going through a bitter divorce where Michele stood to gain a lucrative settlement; her family claimed Cal had threatened to kill her and dispose of her body where it would never be found. Police found some drops of blood in the house's garage and kitchen that could have been Michele's, but never any body or a weapon.
Cal was tried four times after being indicted in 2005. The first ended in a conviction but was set aside when new witnesses emerged who claimed to have seen Michele the morning after she had last been seen; the second also resulted in a conviction that was reversed on appeal. A third trial in a different county ended with a hung jury; Cal was ultimately acquitted after a bench trial in the same jurisdiction.[200]
Scharf was convicted of murdering his missing wife, whose remains were never located. Neighbors testified that the victim had been heard screaming in their house on the night of her disappearance and her jewellery was found buried in the front yard of Scharf's girlfriend, who she had never met. Scharf later committed suicide in prison, without revealing the location of the body.[201]
Last known to have been alive in the company of serial killer Kimball; she was supposedly to accompany him to Seattle to take a job managing a coffee shop in a chain he claimed to own. Her car was found at the Denver airport and towed six weeks later.[203] Kimball, then working as an FBI informant purportedly trying to get evidence that Marcum and her imprisoned boyfriend were conspiring to have a witness against the boyfriend killed, claimed later that she had actually flown to New York to do that; but there was no record she ever boarded any flight and her cell phone activity ends on the date. Later he told the FBI another drug dealer killed her.[204]
Kimball pleaded guilty to killing Marcum, the first of his four known victims, as part of a plea deal that would have resulted in a shorter sentence. It was conditioned on him leading police to all of the bodies, and after several possible locations for Marcum's turned up empty, he claimed he had forgotten, thus voiding the plea deal. After her murder, Kimball had expressed some concern, without admitting to the murder, that her breast implants could be used to identify her body and asked at least one acquaintance if he would go to her body and remove them for him; police believe that he may actually know the location of the body. He is currently serving a 70-year sentence.[204]
The husband of Larissa Schuster, he was rendered unconscious via chloroform and a stun gun before being dumped in a barrel of hydrochloric acid by his wife and James Fagone. The remains of his dissolved body were later found in the barrel.
A sex worker who was reported missing by her sister on July 31, 2003, after she had been gone for seven days. Arizmendi's boyfriend told police that he had last seen Arizmendi getting into a van with William Devin Howell, a drifter who they had allowed to stay in their motel room overnight. Blood found on the seat cushions in Howell's van was identified as being 99% certain to have come from Arizmendi. Howell was sentenced to 15 years in prison after entering an Alford plea to manslaughter, as a legal technicality prevented him from being charged with murder. Just weeks later Arizmendi's body was found in a mass grave in New Britain, alongside the bodies of six other women murdered by Howell.
On Thanksgiving Day 2003, Fye's children heard her arguing with her boyfriend Harold Austin, followed by a gunshot and a thud. Her blood was soaked on a mattress in the house the two shared.[205]
Wilberger was abducted while visiting her sister in Oregon. Joel Courtney pled guilty to murdering her five years later and directed police to where he buried the body.[206]
A couple believed to have been murdered for monetary reasons. Their bodies are believed to have been thrown into the body of water on which their vessel was traveling.[130][207]
One of several victims of the Grim Sleeper, Morris was last seen in the 9000 block of south Western Avenue in Los Angeles, California on September 10, 2005.[208] Her Nevada driver's license and two sexually explicit pictures of her lifeless body were found in Franklin's garage. Her body has never been found.[209] Prosecutors presented this evidence at Franklin's sentencing.[210]
Christie Wilson was last seen leaving a casino with Mario Garcia, who had previous convictions for violence against women. He was convicted of Wilson's murder despite her body still being missing after her blood and hair was found in his car. 15 years later in August 2020, Christie Wilson's skeleton was unearthed on Garcia's property.[211]
DNA belonging to Avery was found in Halbach's abandoned car, and charred bone fragments were found in a fire pit near Avery's home. The case is controversial and was the subject of the Netflix documentary series Making a Murderer.
The convict's wife.[214] He was given a reduced charge of second degree murder in exchange for disclosing the location of the victim's remains, which were recovered in 2008.[215]
One of Deloge's bones was found in a septic tank alongside his birth certificate and a spent shell casing. LaBarre admitted killing Deloge and another man whose burnt remains were found on her property.
Shamaia Smith
Kenneth Otto Sr
Vernon Rockville, CT
March 14, 2007
Feb 11, 2009
He shot and killed Smith and then burned her body.[216]
Police officer Samuel Parker was convicted of murdering his wife, 911 dispatcher Theresa. Theresa's remains were found in the Chattanooga River the year after the trial.[217]
Decker, five months pregnant and estranged from her husband, a soldier frequently deployed to Afghanistan, was last heard from calling the restaurant she worked at to check her schedule. Only after messages purportedly from her on her Facebook account struck friends as suspicious over the next three weeks did they check on her whereabouts and report her missing. Roldan, who had moved in with her after she left her husband, was known for his controlling and abusive behavior and told a later girlfriend that he knew how to make people disappear during a fight that led to him serving time for assault; upon his release from that sentence he was charged in Decker's murder. In 2022 he pleaded guilty to second-degree murder.[221]
3-year-old Aliayah Lunsford vanished from her home in West Virginia in 2011. In 2018 her mother Lena was convicted of her murder. Two of Lunsford's sisters testified that they had seen their mother beat her to death with a wooden plank and carry her body out of the house in a clothes hamper.[222]
Sierra, a 15-year-old high schooler, disappeared one morning after missing her school bus. Her cellphone was found the day after she disappeared, a few blocks away from her bus stop, and then her clothing and purse were found the day after.[13] The discovery of these items suggested she was not a runaway. DNA from Garcia-Torres was found on Sierra's purse.[13] Garcia-Torres was also linked to attempted kidnappings of women in Safeway parking lots in Morgan Hill beginning in 2009 and was tried for these kidnappings during the trial.[223] Garcia-Torres was convicted of murdering Sierra and sentenced to life without parole in 2017.[224] Her body has never been found.
Michael Anthony Edwards was convicted of second-degree murder in the disappearance of his ex-girlfriend, Leyla Namiranian. His conviction was upheld the following year.[225]
Farver disappeared in November 2012, not long after she had gone on a date with mechanic Dave Kroupa. Soon after, Kroupa, his ex-partner, and Liz Golyar, a woman he had dated shortly after Farver, began receiving threatening messages supposedly from Farver. In addition, Kroupa's apartment was burgled and Golyar's home was set on fire, killing several pets. In 2015, investigators suspected that Farver had been murdered in 2012 and that Golyar had been posing as her ever since. Later that year Golyar was shot in the leg at a park and claimed Kroupa's ex-partner was responsible. Investigators searched her devices and found an image appearing to show Farver's body on an SD card. Golyar was convicted and sentenced to life in prison.[226][227]
American hostages of Islamic State who were abducted in Syria by the cell known as "The Beatles". Foley, Sotloff, and Kassig were all killed in beheading videos; Mueller's precise fate is unclear, but she is known to be dead. IS member Alexanda Kotey pled guilty to four counts of kidnapping resulting in death relating to the four hostages[228] and fellow militant El Shafee Elsheikh was convicted of the same charges the following year.[229]
Kelsie Schelling
Donthe Lucas
Pueblo, Colorado
Feb 4, 2013
March 8, 2021
Prosecution built a circumstantial case off a hair found in the tire well of Schelling's car,[230] a prison inmate that stated Lucas confessed that he killed Schelling,[231] and a series of circumstantial evidence that Lucas stole Schelling's car, cell phone and $400 from her ATM.[232]
59-year-old Victoria Prokopovitz disappeared from her Pittsfield, Wisconsin home on April 25, 2013, leaving her purse, wallet and cigarettes behind. Victoria's husband, James Prokopovitz reported her missing on April 26, stating that he last saw her the night before her disappearance. Prosecutors alleged Mr. Prokopovitz killed Victoria in order to have an affair with an old girlfriend, Kathy Friday. In a secret John Doe hearing relating to the case, both Mr. Prokopovitz and Ms. Friday provided false testimony about the timeline of their relationship, resulting in perjury and conspiracy to commit perjury charges being filed. Mr. Prokopovitz stated that he lied under oath because he was "concerned what people would think if they found out (he) was involved with another woman so soon after (Victoria) went missing." After pleading guilty to the perjury charge, Ms. Friday took her own life in 2020. On February 15, 2021, prosecutors delivered their opening statements in the State of Wisconsin vs. James Prokopovitz, charging Mr. Prokopovitz with first-degree intentional homicide, domestic abuse, obstructing an offer, and perjury before a court. Prosecutors claimed Victoria's body was not found because Mr. Prokopovitz disposed of her body in a sludge pond he had access to through his job at a paper mill. On February 28, 2021, after 24 hours of deliberation, the jury found Mr. Prokopovitz guilty on all counts, including first-degree intentional homicide. On May 26, 2021, Mr. Prokopovitz was sentenced to life in prison without parole. The case received national coverage and was broadcast live on Court TV.[233][234][235][236][237][238]
Willis was serving life in prison since 2017 for the 2014 murder of Rebekah Blestch. Police had suspected Willis of kidnapping and murdering Heeringa as well, ever since the Blestch murder investigation began, but Heeringa's body was never found. Willis was convicted and sentenced to life in prison. His cousin Kevin Bluhm pleaded guilty to being an accessory after the fact by helping him dispose of her body, and received five years' probation.[239][240]
17-year-old Alexis Murphy was last seen at a gas station and surveillance video subsequently identified Randy Taylor as a suspect. A search of his camper revealed multiple pieces of evidence, including a strand of Murphy's hair, a torn fingernail, and a diamond earring stud. Taylor was convicted of Murphy's abduction and murder, and given two life sentences. Murphy's remains were found in December 2020 and identified in February 2021. Taylor is also a suspect in the 2010 disappearance of Samantha Clarke.[241]
Gibbs was convicted of killing his longtime girlfriend three and a half years after her disappearance. The couple had one child together. Gibbs had been convicted of federal child neglect of their son earlier in 2017.[242][243]
19-year-old Sarah Stern disappeared in December 2016 and was declared missing when her car was found abandoned on a bridge in Belmar, New Jersey. She was first believed to have either faked her death or committed suicide, but it was later discovered that she was murdered by her childhood friend Liam McAtasney. McAtasney, who found out that Sarah had recently received over $10,000 from her late mother, strangled Sarah to death and with the help of his friend and roommate at the time, Preston Taylor, disposed of the body by throwing it over the same bridge where her car was found. Her body was never found and is believed to have drifted out to the Atlantic Ocean before it could be recovered. McAtasney was able to be convicted due to Taylor's testimony, evidence gathered by investigators (namely a lockbox hidden by the McAtasney twins that contained Sarah's money, Liam had the key to the lockbox in his possession at the time of his arrest), and his accidental self-incrimination when he confessed to the murder during a conversation with a friend whose car was equipped with an electronic device to tape and audio record the conversation.[244]
Christensen abducted Zhang after she missed her bus. Another woman, Emily Hogan, stated that Christensen posed as a police officer, similar to Ted Bundy, whom Christensen idolized.[245][246] Christensen confessed to his ex-girlfriend that he had cut Zhang up into 3 pieces and dumped her body into garbage cans.[247][248]
Normore's accomplice and cousin Brandon Lee Butler testified that he had shot James Knowles and disposed of his body in an unknown location. He also testified to three other murders where the victim's bodies were recovered.
Ennis was convicted of murdering Slesinski, an acquaintance of his, sixteen years after she disappeared. Allegedly, Ennis kidnapped and murdered Slesinski after she rejected his romantic advances before disposing of her body and burning her car. He was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole.[251]
Richard Gale Pierce was convicted in 2022 of murdering his wife Carol, whose body was never found, during the 1970s. Pierce claimed that his wife, with whom he frequently argued, had run away to start a new life, but was unable to provide any proof. Prosecution evidence included the fact that Pierce did not file a missing person report for 82 days after Carol's disappearance, that Carol had told friends she believed her husband planned to kill her, and that traces of human remains were also found at six locations in Pierce's home in Michigan, where he moved after Carol vanished.[252]
Kristin Smart was last seen on the Cal Poly campus, walking home intoxicated after an off-campus party in the company of Paul Flores. When interviewed by investigators several days later, Flores had a black eye and scratches on his hands and knees, and later admitted to lying about how he got them. In 2019, the podcast Your Own Backyard reignited public interest in the case, and brought forward several new witnesses who spoke to police. A 2020 search of the suspect's home uncovered dozens of homemade videos of Flores sexually assaulting unconscious women. A 2021 search of his father's home located a 6-foot by 4-foot anomaly in the soil under his deck, and serological testing confirmed the presence of human blood. On October 18, 2022, a Monterey County jury found Paul Flores guilty of first-degree murder, while a separate jury acquitted his father, Ruben Flores, of accessory after the fact. Kristin Smart's body has not been recovered.[253][254]
Five-year-old Harmony Montgomery was last seen in 2019 at the time she was living with her father Adam and stepmother Kayla after Adam had sole custody of his daughter, her mother Crystal Sorey filed a missing report for her daughter [255]
Dulos, 50, was last seen on a neighbor's security camera returning home dropping her children off at their private school that morning. After she missed two doctor's appointments that day, she was reported missing; police found a large quantity of her blood spattered in the kitchen, along with some of her husband Fotis's, whom she was in the process of a contentious divorce from. Other evidence later suggested that Fotis and Troconis, his mistress, had disposed of the body and evidence later that day, but her body was never found. After Fotis took his own life following his arrest on evidence-tampering charges in January 2020, prosecutors brought murder charges against Troconis and Fotis's attorney.[256]
^Reference under s.433A of the Criminal Code by the Attorney-General (NT) of convictions of Alice Lynne Chamberlain and Michael Leigh Chamberlain[1988] NTSC 64 (15 September 1988), Supreme Court (NT, Australia).
^DeBiase, Thomas (2014). No-Body Homicide Cases: A Practical Guide to Investigating, Prosecuting, and Winning Cases When the Victim Is Missing. Boca Raton, Florida: CRC Press. pp. 65–66. ISBN978-1-482-26006-9.
