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 to analyse causes, often with conclusive results.
Kristin Denise Smart was an 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 parking Kesse's car and walking away; the person could not be identified due to poor camera quality and the absence of any visible distinguishing physical features. The case received local and national press attention.
The Springfield Three refers to an unsolved missing persons case that began on June 7, 1992, when friends Suzanne "Suzie" Streeter and Stacy McCall, and Streeter's mother, Sherrill Levitt, went missing from Levitt's home in Springfield, Missouri, United States. All of their personal belongings, including cars and purses, were left behind. There were no signs of a struggle except a broken porch light globe; there was also a message on the answering machine that police believe might have provided a clue about the disappearances, but it was inadvertently erased.
John David Smith III is an American murderer convicted in 2001 of killing his first wife in 1974 and also has been indicted on charges for the 1991 murder of his second wife. Skull fragments found in a locker owned by him belong to a third, unidentified, woman, is the basis of an ongoing "Jane Doe" inquiry. The FBI is also attempting to identify two women pictured in photographs found in John's collection at the time of his 2000 arrest.
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 immigrant to the United States who disappeared at the age of 12 from the premises of a Louisville, Kentucky mall on June 1, 1983. 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. As of 2023, no trace of her has ever been found.
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.
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.
Paige Marie Renkoski was a substitute schoolteacher from Okemos, Michigan who disappeared on May 24, 1990. She was last seen talking to two men on the shoulder of Interstate 96 near Fowlerville, Michigan. Her disappearance is one of Michigan's longest running cold cases. Her vehicle was reported abandoned on I-96, and though the responding officer discovered her car was still running and both her purse and shoes were in the vehicle, the police did not process this as suspicious, but merely had the vehicle towed.
Kelly Dae Wilson was an American teenager who went missing on January 5, 1992, from Gilmer, Texas.
Amy Joy Wroe Bechtel is an American woman who disappeared while presumably jogging in the Wind River Mountains approximately 15 miles (24 km) south of Lander, Wyoming. Despite extensive investigative work and media portrayals, her case remains unsolved. She was declared legally dead in 2004 at the behest of her husband, rock climber Steve Bechtel.
Dannette Latonia Millbrook and Jeannette Latrice Millbrook are fraternal twins from Augusta, Georgia, United States who 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. The twins were last known to have been seen by a gas station clerk at the Pump-N-Shop gas station on the corner of 12th Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard around 4:30 pm. Their case was closed in 1991 and was reopened in 2013.
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 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.
