Cold Cases of the 1980s
127 documented cases in which the crime or disappearance took place between 1980 and 1989. 62 are recorded as unsolved.
- Unsolved 62 (49%)
- Partly resolved 10 (8%)
- Charges or trial pending 1 (1%)
- Solved or convicted 47 (37%)
- Closed without conviction 7 (6%)
By type
All 127 cases
Aileen Wuornos Victims
Aileen Wuornos killed seven men along Florida highways, claiming self-defense. She was convicted of six murders and executed in 2002.
Amy Mihaljevic
Ten-year-old Amy Mihaljevic was lured from a Bay Village, Ohio, shopping center on October 27, 1989, and abducted; her body was found in a rural field months later. The killer has never been identified.
Aundria Bowman
Aundria Bowman, 14, disappeared in 1989 from her adoptive family's home near Hamilton, Michigan, after alleging her adoptive father molested her, and was long treated as a runaway.
Carol Stuart
Carol Stuart, 30 and pregnant, was shot in a car in Boston's Mission Hill on October 23, 1989 and died the next morning; her son, delivered by caesarean, lived 17 days. Her husband Charles blamed a Black gunman.
Dan & Linda Broderick
Attorney Daniel T. Broderick III, 44, and his wife Linda Kolkena Broderick, 28, were shot in their bed at their San Diego home on November 5, 1989, by his former wife, Betty Broderick.
Grissom Family Murders (Danny Rolling Confession)
William "Tom" Grissom, 55, his daughter Julie, 24, and his grandson Sean, 8, were killed in their Shreveport home on November 4, 1989. Danny Rolling was long suspected but never charged in Louisiana.
Ilene Beth Misheloff
Thirteen-year-old Ilene Misheloff vanished on January 30, 1989, while walking home from Wells Middle School in Dublin, California. She was last seen at about 3 p.m.
Ivan Milat (Backpacker Murders)
Seven backpackers aged 19 to 22, from Australia, Germany and Britain, disappeared while hitchhiking from Sydney between December 1989 and April 1992; their bodies were found in the Belanglo State Forest in 1992 and 1993.
Jacob Wetterling
Eleven-year-old Jacob Wetterling was abducted at gunpoint near his home in St. Joseph, Minnesota, on October 22, 1989. His disappearance led to the 1994 Jacob Wetterling Crimes Against Children and Sexually Violent Offender…
José & Kitty Menéndez
José and Kitty Menéndez were shot dead in their Beverly Hills home on August 20, 1989, by their sons Lyle and Erik, who were convicted of first-degree murder in 1996 and sentenced to life without parole.
Junko Furuta
Junko Furuta, a 17-year-old high school student from Misato, Saitama, was abducted on November 25, 1988, and held for about 40 days in a house in Adachi, Tokyo, where she died on January 4, 1989.
Lisa Bianco
Lisa Bianco was beaten to death outside her Mishawaka, Indiana, home on March 4, 1989, by her former husband, Alan Matheney, who was on an eight-hour prison furlough. She had not been notified of his release.
Mark Kilroy
University of Texas student Mark Kilroy was kidnapped during spring break in Matamoros, Mexico and ritually murdered by a drug-trafficking cult. His remains were found at a ranch with other victims.
Melissa Brannen
Five-year-old Melissa Brannen vanished from a community Christmas party at her Lorton, Virginia apartment complex in December 1989. Handyman Caleb Hughes was convicted of abducting her, but her body has never been found.
Patricia Bernadette Meehan
Patricia Meehan, 37, walked away on foot into the Montana prairie after causing a head-on car crash near Circle on April 20, 1989, and was never seen again.
Robert Ben Rhoades Victims
Long-haul trucker Robert Ben Rhoades is serving life sentences for three murders. He pleaded guilty in Illinois in 1992 to killing 14-year-old Regina Walters of Pasadena, Texas, and in Texas in 2012 to the capital murders of…
Tiffany Sessions
Tiffany Sessions, a 20-year-old University of Florida student, disappeared on February 9, 1989, after leaving for an afternoon walk near her Gainesville apartment.
Amber Swartz
Seven-year-old Amber Swartz-Garcia vanished on June 3, 1988, while jumping rope in the front yard of her home in Pinole, California.
April Tinsley
April Tinsley, an 8-year-old girl, was abducted, raped, and murdered in Fort Wayne, Indiana, in 1988, in a case made more chilling by taunting notes the killer left for years.
Julie Doe (Pamela Leigh Walton)
On September 25, 1988, the remains of an unidentified woman were found in the Green Swamp off County Road 474 near Clermont, Florida.
Mickey & Trudy Thompson
Racing legend Mickey Thompson and his wife Trudy were ambushed and shot in their driveway by two hooded gunmen. Former business partner Michael Goodwin was convicted in 2007 after 19 years.
New Bedford Highway Killer Victims
Between March 1988 and April 1989, eleven women with ties to New Bedford, Massachusetts, vanished; the bodies of nine were found dumped along Route 140, Interstate 195, and nearby roads, while two women were never found.
Randy Leach
Randy Wayne Leach, a 17-year-old high school senior from Linwood, Kansas, disappeared in the early morning hours of April 16, 1988, after attending a pre-graduation party in rural Leavenworth County.
Scott Johnson
American mathematician Scott Johnson was found dead at the base of cliffs in Manly, Sydney. Initially ruled a suicide, his death was reclassified as a gay hate crime. Scott White pleaded guilty to manslaughter in 2023.
Tara Leigh Calico
Nineteen-year-old Tara Calico went for a bike ride along Highway 47 and never returned. Her bicycle was never found. A year later, a polaroid photo of a bound young woman and boy was found at a Florida convenience store…
Tsutomu Miyazaki Victims
Tsutomu Miyazaki, the 'Otaku Killer,' murdered four young girls in the Tokyo/Saitama area. He kept body parts as trophies and sent taunting letters to families. He was executed in 2008.
Barbara Blatnik
Barbara Blatnik, 17, of Garfield Heights, Ohio, was found strangled beside O'Neil Road in Cuyahoga Falls on December 20, 1987. In May 2020, after DNA and genetic genealogy work funded by the Porchlight Project, police arrested…
Daniel Morgan
Private investigator Daniel Morgan, 37, was killed with an axe in the car park of the Golden Lion pub in Sydenham, south London, on March 10, 1987.
Dardeen Family
Keith Dardeen, his pregnant wife Elaine, and their young son were murdered in and near their mobile home outside Ina, Illinois, in one of southern Illinois's most notorious unsolved crimes.
Kevin Ives & Don Henry (Boys on the Tracks)
In the early morning of August 23, 1987, 17-year-old Kevin Ives and 16-year-old Don Henry were run over by a Union Pacific freight train near Alexander in Saline County, Arkansas, their bodies lying motionless and partly covered…
Lisa Steinberg
Six-year-old Lisa Steinberg was fatally beaten on November 1, 1987, in the Greenwich Village apartment of Joel Steinberg, a lawyer who had raised her without ever legally adopting her.
Lita McClinton Sullivan
Lita McClinton Sullivan, an Atlanta socialite, was shot dead at her Buckhead townhouse in January 1987 by a hit man disguised as a flower delivery man, on the day of a divorce hearing.
Mr. Cruel Victims
An unidentified offender known as 'Mr Cruel' attacked three girls in Melbourne between 1987 and 1990, abducting two of them from their homes and later releasing them.
Peggy Hettrick
Peggy Hettrick, 37, was found stabbed and mutilated in a field in Fort Collins, Colorado, on February 11, 1987. Tim Masters, 15 at the time, was convicted in 1999, but the conviction was vacated in January 2008 after DNA testing…
Anthonette Christine Cayedito
Nine-year-old Anthonette Cayedito vanished from her family's apartment in Gallup, New Mexico, in the early hours of April 6, 1986, after going to answer a knock at the door.
Cara Knott
Cara Knott, a 20-year-old San Diego State University student, was strangled and thrown into a ravine in December 1986 after being pulled over on an isolated Interstate 15 offramp.
Christopher Enoch Abeyta
Seven-month-old Christopher Abeyta was taken from his crib in his family's Colorado Springs home overnight in July 1986. Investigators found the family's garage-door opener missing and a basement window open.
Colonial Parkway Murders
Eight young people were killed or disappeared in four incidents along or near Virginia's Colonial Parkway between 1986 and 1989.
Debra Jan Baker
Debra Jan Baker was found stabbed to death in her Cheyenne, Wyoming apartment. Her six-month-old daughter was found unharmed in a crib nearby. Despite DNA evidence from the scene, her killer has never been identified.
Diane Elsroth
Diane Elsroth died after taking a cyanide-laced Tylenol capsule in Yonkers, New York—a copycat of the 1982 Chicago Tylenol murders.
Gary Heidnik Victims
Gary Heidnik abducted six women between November 1986 and March 1987 and held them captive in the basement of his North Philadelphia home, where Sandra Lindsay and Deborah Dudley died.
Helle Crafts
Helle Crafts, a 39-year-old Pan Am flight attendant, was murdered by her husband Richard Crafts at their Newtown, Connecticut home in November 1986.
Jennifer Levin
Jennifer Levin, 18, was found strangled in Central Park behind the Metropolitan Museum of Art on August 26, 1986, hours after leaving an Upper East Side bar with Robert Chambers.
Kimberly Ann Moreau
Seventeen-year-old Kimberly Moreau vanished after a night out with acquaintances in the Jay and Livermore Falls area of Maine in May 1986.
Marc Allen
Thirteen-year-old Marc James-Warren Allen II vanished on March 29, 1986, after telling his mother he was walking to a friend's house near his home on Emma Avenue on Des Moines' south side.
Michella Welch
Michella Welch, a 12-year-old girl, was abducted, sexually assaulted, and killed after disappearing from a park in Tacoma, Washington, in 1986.
Olof Palme
Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme was shot dead on February 28, 1986 while walking home from a cinema in Stockholm without bodyguards. Christer Pettersson was convicted in 1989 but acquitted on appeal the same year.
Sherri Rasmussen
Hospital nursing supervisor Sherri Rasmussen was beaten and shot in her home. The case went cold for 23 years until DNA from a bite wound matched LAPD detective Stephanie Lazarus, who had been Sherri's husband's ex-girlfriend.
Suzy Lamplugh
Estate agent Suzy Lamplugh, 25, vanished on July 28, 1986 after leaving her Fulham office to show a property on Shorrolds Road to a client recorded as 'Mr Kipper'. She has never been found and was declared dead in 1993.
Wayne Nance Victims
Wayne Nance, a Missoula furniture mover, is suspected by investigators of at least six killings in western Montana between 1974 and 1985.
Bear Brook Murders (Allenstown Four)
In 1985 and 2000, the remains of a woman and three young girls were found in barrels near Bear Brook State Park in Allenstown, New Hampshire; all four had died of blunt force trauma.
Cherrie Mahan
Cherrie Mahan, an 8-year-old girl, vanished on February 22, 1985, after getting off her school bus about 50 feet from her home in rural Winfield Township (near Cabot), Butler County, Pennsylvania.
Diane Suzuki
Diane Suzuki, a 19-year-old University of Hawaii student, disappeared on July 6, 1985 from the Rosalie Woodson Dance Academy in Aiea, where she taught part-time. Her purse, keys and car were left behind.
Grim Sleeper Victims
Lonnie Franklin Jr., known as the Grim Sleeper, was convicted of killing 10 women in Los Angeles between 1985 and 2007. He appeared to stop killing for years (hence 'Grim Sleeper') and was identified through familial DNA from…
Jacqueline Martarella
Jacqueline "Jackie" Martarella, 19, disappeared on March 26, 1985, while walking from a friend's home in Oceanside, New York, to her job at a Burger King.
Janet Lee Lucas (formerly "Christy Crystal Creek")
Skeletal remains of a woman with two gunshot wounds to the skull were found by a bear hunter in the Crystal Creek drainage near Missoula, Montana, in September 1985.
Lily Janelle (Frenchville Baby Jane Doe)
On December 7, 1985, a dog carried the frozen body of a newborn girl from a gravel pit in Frenchville, Maine, to a nearby home. The infant, known for decades as Baby Jane Doe, was identified through genetic genealogy in 2022…
Nicole Morin
Eight-year-old Nicole Morin disappeared from the hallway of her Toronto apartment building while on her way to the swimming pool. She has never been found.
Sarah Pryor
Nine-year-old Sarah Pryor vanished during an afternoon walk near her Wayland, Massachusetts home in October 1985. A few of her bones were found miles away in 1998.
Shari Smith
Seventeen-year-old Shari Faye Smith was abducted at gunpoint from the end of her family's driveway in Lexington County, South Carolina, on May 31, 1985, and her body was found days later in Saluda County.
Sheree Warren
Sheree Warren, a 25-year-old credit union employee and mother from Roy, Utah, vanished on October 2, 1985, after leaving her workplace in Salt Lake City, telling a coworker she planned to meet her estranged husband at a nearby…
Steve Christensen & Kathy Sheets
Steven Christensen and Kathleen Sheets were killed by package pipe bombs in the Salt Lake City area on October 15, 1985. Document dealer Mark Hofmann, injured the next day when a third bomb exploded in his car, pleaded guilty in…
The Frankford Slasher
The 'Frankford Slasher' is the name given to an unidentified serial killer who stabbed to death at least eight or nine women in and around the Frankford neighborhood of Philadelphia between 1985 and 1990.
The Honolulu Strangler
An unidentified serial killer sexually assaulted and strangled five women in Honolulu between 1985 and 1986, binding their hands behind their backs and dumping their bodies in remote areas.
Angela Samota
Angela Samota, a 20-year-old Southern Methodist University student, was raped and stabbed to death in her Dallas home in the early hours of October 13, 1984.
Christopher Wilder Victims
Investigators attribute the abduction of at least twelve young women and girls, eight of whom died, to Christopher Wilder during a cross-country series of crimes between February 26 and April 13, 1984.
Darlene Hulse
Darlene Hulse, 28, was attacked by a stranger who came to the door of her rural home near Argos, Indiana, on the morning of August 17, 1984, while her three young daughters were inside.
Donna Hall & Michael Margaret
Donna Hall, 18, and Michael Margaret, 21, a young couple from Henrico County's West End, left for a camping trip on August 17, 1984, and were found stabbed to death four days later in a wooded area off Castile Road near the…
Eugene Wade Martin
Eugene Wade Martin, a 13-year-old Des Moines Register carrier, vanished in the early morning of August 12, 1984, while delivering Sunday papers on Des Moines' south side; only his bag of rolled newspapers was found at his pickup…
Jonelle Matthews
Jonelle Matthews, a 12-year-old girl, vanished from her Greeley, Colorado home in December 1984 after a Christmas choir concert.
Laura Bradbury
Three-year-old Laura Bradbury of Huntington Beach vanished from her family's campsite at Indian Cove Campground in Joshua Tree National Monument on October 18, 1984.
Mary Badaracco
Mary Badaracco, a 38-year-old woman planning to divorce her husband, vanished from her Sherman, Connecticut home in August 1984.
Night Stalker Victims
Richard Ramirez, the Night Stalker, terrorized Southern California and the San Francisco Bay Area in 1984-1985 with a series of home-invasion murders, rapes, and burglaries.
Tammy Lynn Belanger
Eight-year-old Tammy Belanger vanished while walking to school in Exeter, New Hampshire, in November 1984. Police long suspected a convicted sex offender of abducting and killing her, but no body or physical evidence was ever…
Vernon County Jane Doe
On May 4, 1984, three teenagers found the body of an unidentified middle-aged woman beside a rural road near Westby, Wisconsin. She had been beaten to death and both of her hands had been removed, apparently to prevent…
Vicki Lynne Hoskinson
Eight-year-old Vicki Lynne Hoskinson vanished on September 17, 1984 while riding her bicycle to mail a birthday card near her Tucson home. Her remains were found in the desert northwest of the city on April 12, 1985.
Wendy Jerome
Fourteen-year-old Wendy Jerome was raped and murdered on Thanksgiving night, November 22, 1984, after leaving her Rochester, New York home to deliver a birthday card to a friend; her body was found in an alcove at School No.
Ann Gotlib
Ann Gotlib, a 12-year-old Soviet Jewish immigrant, disappeared on June 1, 1983, after riding her bicycle to the Bashford Manor Mall in Louisville, Kentucky.
Diane Downs Children
Seven-year-old Cheryl Downs was shot dead and her siblings Christie, 8, and Danny, 3, were badly wounded on a rural road near Springfield, Oregon, on May 19, 1983.
Emanuela Orlandi
Fifteen-year-old Emanuela Orlandi, daughter of a Vatican employee, disappeared in Rome. Her case has been linked to theories involving the Vatican, organized crime, and international espionage.
Jeanine Nicarico
Jeanine Nicarico, 10, was abducted from her Naperville, Illinois home and murdered in February 1983. Two men were wrongly convicted and sent to death row before being exonerated; serial killer Brian Dugan pleaded guilty in 2009.
Kellie Poppleton
Kellie Jean Poppleton, a 14-year-old Fremont student, was found dead beside Kilkare Road in Sunol, California on December 2, 1983. She had been beaten and strangled.
St. Louis Jane Doe (Precious Hope)
On February 28, 1983, the decapitated body of an African-American girl, estimated to be 8 to 11 years old, was found in the basement of an abandoned apartment building at 5635 Clemens Avenue in St. Louis, Missouri.
Tammy Lynn Leppert
Tammy Lynn Leppert, an 18-year-old model and aspiring actress, vanished in Cocoa Beach, Florida, in 1983 after reportedly becoming fearful and agitated, and has never been found.
Wah Mee Club Massacre
Thirteen people were robbed and murdered at the Wah Mee private gambling club in Seattle's Chinatown-International District on February 19, 1983; a fourteenth victim survived.
Alisha Heinrich (Delta Dawn)
On December 5, 1982, the body of an unidentified toddler was recovered from the Escatawpa River near the Interstate 10 bridge in Moss Point, Mississippi.
Carolyn Celeste Eaton ("Valentine Sally")
A teenage girl's body was found beside Interstate 40 near Williams, Arizona, on Valentine's Day 1982, and she was known for nearly 40 years as "Valentine Sally." In February 2021 genetic genealogy identified her as 17-year-old…
Chicago Tylenol Murders Victims
Seven people in Chicago died after taking cyanide-laced Tylenol capsules in 1982. The deaths prompted a nationwide recall and led to tamper-resistant packaging regulations. James W.
Dawn Olanick (Princess Doe)
The body of a teenage girl, beaten beyond recognition, was found beside Cedar Ridge Cemetery in Blairstown Township, New Jersey, on July 15, 1982.
Dorothea Puente Victims
Dorothea Puente was a Sacramento boardinghouse operator who poisoned elderly tenants and continued cashing their Social Security checks. Seven bodies were found buried in her yard in 1988.
Green River Killer Victims
Gary Ridgway, the Green River Killer, murdered at least 49 women in Washington State. He targeted mostly sex workers and runaways. Ridgway was convicted in 2003 after DNA evidence linked him to four victims.
Johnny Gosch
Twelve-year-old Johnny Gosch disappeared while delivering the Sunday Des Moines Register in West Des Moines, Iowa, on September 5, 1982; his wagon of papers was found two blocks from home.
Judy Chartier
Judith "Judy" Chartier, 17, of Chelmsford, Massachusetts, vanished after leaving a party in Billerica around 2 a.m. on June 5, 1982.
Kathleen McCormack Durst
Kathleen McCormack Durst, a 29-year-old medical student, disappeared on January 31, 1982 from South Salem, New York, and has never been found.
Linda Lee Mack
Linda Lee Mack, a 35-year-old hospital nurse, was killed on the night of October 12, 1982, after leaving work and driving home along State Highway 34 south of Elk City in Beckham County, Oklahoma.
Lisa Au
Lisa Au, a 19-year-old Kailua hairdresser, disappeared on Oahu in January 1982; her abandoned car was found the next day and her body ten days later in a ravine off Tantalus Drive.
Lynette Dawson
Lynette Dawson vanished from her Sydney home. Her husband Chris Dawson, a former rugby league player and teacher, was convicted of her murder in 2022 after the podcast 'The Teacher's Pet' revived interest.
Mary Edith Silvani (Sheep's Flat Jane Doe)
On July 17, 1982, hikers found the body of an unidentified woman in the Sheep's Flat area off the Mount Rose Highway above Incline Village, Nevada; she had been sexually assaulted and shot in the back of the head.
Matthew Isaac Doe (Northfield Baby Boy Doe)
On April 1, 1982, schoolchildren waiting for a bus in Northfield, Vermont, found a deceased newborn boy inside a plastic garbage bag after a dog dragged it along the road.
Adam Walsh
Six-year-old Adam Walsh was abducted from a Sears store in Hollywood, Florida, on July 27, 1981. His severed head was found two weeks later.
Barbara Louise Cotton
Fifteen-year-old Barbara Louise Cotton vanished on the evening of April 11, 1981, after leaving a restaurant on Main Street in Williston, North Dakota, and walking toward Recreation Park, blocks from her home.
Dean and Tina Clouse
The remains of Harold Dean Clouse Jr. and his wife, Tina Linn Clouse, were found in woods in the Houston area on January 12, 1981, and were not identified until 2021 through genetic genealogy.
Deanie Peters
Deanie Peters, 14, disappeared from a wrestling meet at Forest Hills Central Middle School near Grand Rapids, Michigan in February 1981 after telling her mother she was going to the restroom.
Joan Webster
Joan Webster, a 25-year-old Harvard graduate student, vanished from the taxi line at Boston's Logan Airport in November 1981. Her skeletal remains were found in Hamilton, Massachusetts in 1990, and although a convicted killer…
Katrice Lee
Katrice Lee, the daughter of a British soldier, disappeared on her second birthday, November 28, 1981, from a NAAFI shopping complex at Schloss Neuhaus near Paderborn, West Germany.
Keddie Cabin Murders
Glenna "Sue" Sharp, her son John, and his friend Dana Wingate were bound, stabbed, and bludgeoned in Cabin 28 at the Keddie Resort on the night of April 11-12, 1981.
Ken McElroy
Kenneth Rex McElroy, the notorious 'town bully' of Skidmore, Missouri, was shot dead in his pickup truck on the main street in front of dozens of witnesses in July 1981.
Louise Virginia Peterson Flesher ("Belle in the Well")
A woman's body was found weighted down in a rural well in Lawrence County, Ohio, in April 1981, and for 38 years she was known only as "Belle in the Well." In 2019 the DNA Doe Project identified her as Louise Virginia Peterson…
Marcia King (Buckskin Girl)
Marcia King, 21, of Arkansas, was found strangled beside Greenlee Road near Troy, Ohio, on April 24, 1981. Unidentified for nearly 37 years, she was known as Buckskin Girl for her fringed jacket.
Mary Day
Mary Louise Day, 13, vanished from her family's home in Seaside, California, in the summer of 1981 and was not reported missing for more than a decade. Police opened a suspected homicide inquiry in 2002.
Natalie Wood
Actress Natalie Wood drowned off Santa Catalina Island, California, in 1981; the case was reopened decades later and her cause of death amended to include undetermined factors, but it remains unresolved.
Philip Testa
Philip "Chicken Man" Testa, 56, reputed head of the Philadelphia crime family, was fatally injured on March 15, 1981 when a nail-packed bomb exploded on the porch of his South Philadelphia home.
Sebastian Russo
Dr. Sebastian Russo, 56, a Baltimore family physician known for charging patients $5 or less, was shot dead in his Harford Road office on the evening of February 27, 1981.
Tammy Mahoney
Tammy Mahoney, a 19-year-old SUNY Morrisville student, vanished on May 8, 1981 after hitchhiking near Route 46 in Oneida, New York.
Betty Gore
Betty Gore, 30, was killed with an axe at her home in Wylie, Texas, on June 13, 1980, sustaining 41 blows. Her friend Candy Montgomery was charged with murder and testified that she acted in self-defense after Gore confronted her.
Clifford Olson Victims
Clifford Olson murdered 11 children and young people, aged 9 to 18, in the Greater Vancouver area of British Columbia between November 1980 and July 1981.
Dorothy Jane Scott
Dorothy Jane Scott, 32, vanished from the parking lot of UC Irvine Medical Center in Orange County, California, on the night of May 28, 1980, after months of anonymous calls from a man who alternately professed love and…
Eklutna Annie
Eklutna Annie is the name given to an unidentified young woman whose body was found on July 17, 1980, in a shallow grave near Eklutna Lake Road outside Anchorage, Alaska.
Herman Tarnower
Dr. Herman Tarnower, 69, author of the Scarsdale Diet, was shot dead at his home in Purchase, New York, on March 10, 1980, by his longtime companion Jean Harris.
Jeannie Mills Family
Peoples Temple defectors Jeannie Mills, 40, and Al Mills, 51, were shot dead with their daughter Daphene, 15, at their Berkeley home on February 26, 1980. The couple had co-founded the Concerned Relatives group.
John Favara
John Favara, a neighbor of mob boss John Gotti, disappeared in 1980 months after he accidentally struck and killed Gotti's young son with his car, and is widely presumed to have been murdered.
Margaret Mary Kilcoyne
Dr. Margaret 'Peg' Kilcoyne, a 50-year-old Columbia University hypertension researcher, vanished overnight from her vacation home in the Tom Nevers area of Nantucket, Massachusetts, between January 25 and 26, 1980.
Pedro López (Monster of the Andes)
Colombian-born Pedro Alonso López was arrested in Ambato, Ecuador in 1980 and confessed to killing several hundred girls in Colombia, Ecuador and Peru.
Sherri Ann Jarvis (Walker County Jane Doe)
On November 1, 1980, the body of a teenage girl who had been raped and strangled was found beside Interstate 45 north of Huntsville, Texas.
Suzanne Bombardier
Suzanne Bombardier, 14, was abducted in June 1980 while babysitting at her sister's home in Antioch, California; a fisherman found her body in the San Joaquin River days later. She had been raped and stabbed.
Tammy Terrell
The body of a teenage girl found in the desert in Henderson, Nevada, on October 5, 1980, was identified in 2021 as Tammy Terrell, 17, of Roswell, New Mexico.
The Rainbow Murders (Vicki Durian and Nancy Santomero)
Two young women hitchhiking to a Rainbow Gathering were shot to death on Briery Knob in rural Pocahontas County, West Virginia. A local man, Jacob Beard, was convicted in 1993 but acquitted at a 2000 retrial after serial killer…