346,000 Unsolved Homicides in America.
The national homicide clearance rate has fallen from over 90% in the 1960s to approximately 54% today. Nearly half of all murders in America go unsolved — leaving families without answers and communities without justice.
The State of Unsolved Crime
Key data points from the Murder Accountability Project and FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) data, highlighting the scale of unsolved violent crime in the United States.
Browse Cases
Explore documented cold cases from across the United States. Filter by type, state, decade, or status.
Unsolved Homicides by State
The geographic distribution of unsolved homicides across America. Data from the Murder Accountability Project based on FBI supplementary homicide reports.
| Rank | State | Unsolved Homicides | Proportion |
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About ColdCaseIndex
ColdCaseIndex exists to bring data-driven attention to the crisis of unsolved violent crime in America. With over 346,000 unsolved homicides accumulated since the 1960s and a clearance rate that has fallen below 54%, the scale of this problem is often invisible to the public.
Our mission is to provide a searchable, structured resource that honors victims by keeping their cases visible. We believe that every unsolved case represents a failure of the system — and that accessible data can help journalists, researchers, advocates, and families push for answers.
This database draws from publicly available records including the Murder Accountability Project, FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) data, the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs), and state-level law enforcement reports. Case details are compiled from court records, media reports, and law enforcement press releases.
ColdCaseIndex is a research tool, not a platform for speculation. We present facts as documented in official sources and encourage anyone with information about an unsolved case to contact local law enforcement or the FBI tip line at 1-800-CALL-FBI.