A cold case is a crime, or a suspected crime, that has not yet been fully resolved and is not the subject of a current criminal investigation, but for which new information could emerge from new witness testimony, re-examined archives, new or retained material evidence, or fresh activities of a suspect. New technological methods developed after the crime was committed can be used on the surviving evidence for analysis often with conclusive results.
Kristin Denise Smart was a 19-year-old American woman murdered by Paul Flores at the end of her first year on the campus of California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo.
Jennifer Joyce Kesse is an American woman from Orlando, Florida, who has been missing since January 23, 2006. Shortly after she vanished, Kesse's car was discovered parked around a mile from her home. Security footage recorded a "person of interest" parking Kesse's car and walking away, but the individual could not be identified due to poor camera quality, a fence blocking the view, and the absence of any visible distinguishing physical features. The case received local and national press attention.
Rilya Shenise Wilson was an American child who was placed in the foster care system of the Florida Department of Children and Families (DCF), and was the centerpoint of an investigation into neglect and mismanagement in the organization. She was approximately four years old when she disappeared on January 18, 2001. DCF did not discover her disappearance until two years later, when she was not found living at the home of her caretaker and alleged godmother or grandmother, Geralyn Graham.
Ann Gotlib was a Soviet Jewish immigrant who disappeared at the age of 12 from the premises of a Louisville, Kentucky mall. The case to find her abductor was covered heavily by the Louisville news media and stretched for the next twenty-five years until a person of interest was eventually identified.
The disappearance of Angelo "Andy" Puglisi is an unsolved case of a 10-year-old American boy who went missing on August 22, 1976, from the Higgins Memorial pool across the street from his apartment in the Stadium Housing Projects, Lawrence, Massachusetts.
Evelyn Grace Hartley was an American teenager who mysteriously disappeared on October 24, 1953, from La Crosse County, Wisconsin. Her disappearance sparked a search involving 2,000 people. In the first year following her disappearance, investigators questioned more than 3,500 people.
Melanie Jo Melanson is a missing teenager from Woburn, Middlesex County, Massachusetts. She vanished while at a party on October 27, 1989; at first, investigators believed she fled to Florida. However, subsequent investigations by both authorities and a private investigator have turned up no leads.
Annie Bridget McCarrick is an American woman from Long Island, New York who went missing under suspicious circumstances on March 26, 1993, while she was residing in Ireland.
Scott William Cox is a suspected American serial killer, convicted on two separate counts of homicide in 1993 in Portland, Oregon, and suspected of many more. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison but was granted parole in 2013, five years early. He currently is serving a post-prison supervision term of life. He is also the prime suspect in 20 unsolved murder cases throughout the United States and Canada, although charges were never brought against him.
Susan Renee Smalley and Stacie Elisabeth Madison were two young women from Carrollton, Texas, United States who disappeared on the morning of March 20, 1988.
Julie Ann Weflen is a missing woman who was last seen on September 16, 1987. She disappeared from her workplace in Spokane County, Washington. Her case is considered a presumed homicide although her body has never been found and there are still no suspects. In 2004, true crime author Ann Rule dedicated an entire chapter about Weflen's abduction in her book Kiss Me, Kill Me.
Kelly Dae Wilson was an American teenager who went missing on January 5, 1992, from Gilmer, Texas.
Amy Joy Wroe Bechtel was an American woman who disappeared while jogging in the Wind River Range approximately 15 miles southwest of Lander, Wyoming. Bechtel was a record-breaking distance runner at the University of Wyoming and aspired to qualify for the 2000 Summer Olympics. Her disappearance garnered extensive media coverage and investigative work, but her case remains unsolved. In 2004, Bechtel was declared legally deceased by her husband, famed rock climber Steve Bechtel.
The disappearance of Dannette Latonia Millbrook and Jeannette Latrice Millbrook is an unsolved missing persons case in which fraternal twins from Augusta, Georgia, disappeared on March 18, 1990 when they were 15 years old. Their surname is often misspelled as "Millbrooks" and Jeannette's middle name is often given as "Latressa" due to errors on police reports.
Michael William Negrete was an eighteen-year-old American man and student at the University of California, Los Angeles, who vanished without a trace in Los Angeles in December 1999. Police consider his disappearance to be suspicious and have categorized his disappearance as a homicide case.
LeeAnna Warner was a young American girl who disappeared from the city of Chisholm, Minnesota, on June 14, 2003, in a suspected abduction and murder. On the day of her disappearance, LeeAnna was last seen walking home from a friend's house between 5:00 and 5:15 p.m. She was last spotted walking on southwest Second or Third Street. At the time of her disappearance, LeeAnna was 5 years old.
Tammy Lynn Belanger is an American child who disappeared while walking to school in Exeter, New Hampshire, in November 1984. Police believe she was abducted.
