Cold Cases of the 1990s
116 documented cases in which the crime or disappearance took place between 1990 and 1999. 51 are recorded as unsolved.
- Unsolved 51 (44%)
- Partly resolved 9 (8%)
- Charges or trial pending 3 (3%)
- Solved or convicted 48 (41%)
- Closed without conviction 5 (4%)
By type
All 116 cases
Charlie Brewer
Charlie Brewer disappeared after attending a party in Raleigh, North Carolina. His car was found days later parked at the Raleigh-Durham Airport. Despite extensive investigation, he was never found.
Girly Chew Hossencofft
Girly Chew Hossencofft disappeared from Albuquerque in 1999 during a divorce from her husband Diazien, who claimed to be a government scientist with alien DNA.
Hae Min Lee
High school student Hae Min Lee was strangled and her body found in Leakin Park, Baltimore, in 1999. Her ex-boyfriend Adnan Syed was convicted of first-degree murder in 2000, and his case became the subject of the podcast Serial.
Jessica Dishon
Jessica Dishon, 17, vanished from her family's driveway in Bullitt County, Kentucky, on the morning of September 10, 1999, and was found beaten and strangled 17 days later.
Jill Dando
BBC presenter Jill Dando, 37, was shot once in the head outside her home in Fulham, London, on April 26, 1999. Barry George was convicted of her murder in 2001, but the Court of Appeal quashed the conviction in 2007 and a jury…
Lauria Bible and Ashley Freeman
Best friends Lauria Bible and Ashley Freeman, both 16, disappeared from the Freeman family home near Welch, Oklahoma, on the night Ashley's parents were shot dead and the house was set on fire.
Mikelle Biggs
Eleven-year-old Mikelle Biggs disappeared on January 2, 1999, while riding a bicycle near her home in Mesa, Arizona, as she waited for an ice cream truck.
Peggy Lynn Johnson (Racine County Jane Doe)
The battered body of a young woman was found in a cornfield in Raymond, Racine County, Wisconsin, in July 1999, and she was known only as "Racine County Jane Doe" for two decades.
Teekah Lewis
Two-year-old Teekah Lewis vanished from the arcade of a Tacoma, Washington, bowling alley while her family bowled nearby in January 1999.
Yosemite Sightseer Murders
Carole Sund, 42, her daughter Juli, 15, and family friend Silvina Pelosso, 16, were killed in February 1999 while staying at Cedar Lodge outside Yosemite National Park.
Amy Lynn Bradley
Amy Lynn Bradley, a 23-year-old from Virginia, disappeared from a Royal Caribbean cruise ship in the Caribbean in 1998, with later reported sightings but no confirmed trace.
Diane Augat
Diane Augat, 40, walked away from a home in Pasco County, Florida, on April 10, 1998 and has not been found. Days later the severed tip of one of her fingers was discovered beside U.S.
James Byrd Jr.
James Byrd Jr., a 49-year-old Black man, was chained by the ankles to a pickup truck and dragged about three miles to his death near Jasper, Texas, on June 7, 1998.
Maddie Clifton
Eight-year-old Maddie Clifton disappeared in Jacksonville, Florida, on November 3, 1998. A week later her body was found hidden in the waterbed frame of her 14-year-old neighbor, Joshua Phillips, by his mother.
Natascha Kampusch
Ten-year-old Natascha Kampusch was kidnapped on her way to school in Vienna and held captive by Wolfgang Priklopil for over eight years in a basement dungeon. She escaped in 2006.
Rui Pedro
Eleven-year-old Rui Pedro Teixeira Mendonça disappeared from Lousada, Portugal on March 4, 1998. Afonso Dias, acquitted at a first trial in 2012, was later convicted of kidnapping and sentenced to three years in prison; he was…
Suzanne Jovin
Suzanne Jovin, a 21-year-old Yale University senior, was stabbed to death in a New Haven neighborhood in December 1998. Her thesis adviser was wrongly cast as a suspect and later cleared; the killing remains unsolved.
Suzanne Lyall
Suzanne Lyall, a 19-year-old University at Albany computer science student, disappeared on the evening of March 2, 1998, after leaving her mall job and taking a bus back toward campus.
Tristan Brübach
Thirteen-year-old Tristan Brübach was brutally murdered in an underground pedestrian passage in Frankfurt, Germany. The case remains one of Germany's most notorious unsolved child murders.
Amy Wroe Bechtel
Amy Wroe Bechtel, a 24-year-old competitive runner, disappeared on July 24, 1997, in the mountains above Lander, Wyoming, where she is believed to have gone to check a race course.
Anthony Martinez
Ten-year-old Anthony Martinez was abducted while playing outside his Beaumont, California, home in 1997 and found murdered in the desert about two weeks later.
Don Lewis
Millionaire exotic animal owner Don Lewis vanished in Tampa, Florida on August 18, 1997 and was declared legally dead in 2002. The Netflix series 'Tiger King' revived interest in the case and aired accusations against his wife…
Ennis Cosby
Ennis Cosby, 27, the son of entertainer Bill Cosby, was shot dead on January 16, 1997, while changing a flat tire beside Interstate 405 in Los Angeles.
Gianni Versace
Fashion designer Gianni Versace was shot on the steps of his Miami Beach mansion by spree killer Andrew Cunanan. Cunanan had already killed four others across the country before targeting Versace.
Judy Smith
Judy Smith, a 50-year-old nurse from Newton, Massachusetts, vanished from a Philadelphia hotel in April 1997. Five months later her stabbed remains were found more than 600 miles away in the North Carolina mountains, and how she…
Karen Mitchell
Sixteen-year-old Karen Mitchell vanished on November 25, 1997 after leaving the Bayshore Mall in Eureka, California on foot. Authorities believe she was abducted; she has never been found and no one has been charged.
Kristen Modafferi
Kristen Modafferi, an 18-year-old North Carolina State University student spending the summer in the Bay Area, vanished on June 23, 1997, after finishing her shift at a coffee shop in San Francisco's Crocker Galleria.
Levi Frady
Levi Frady, an 11-year-old boy, disappeared while riding his bike home in Forsyth County, Georgia, in 1997 and was found shot to death the next day in Dawson Forest.
Marion Barter
Australian schoolteacher Marion Barter secretly changed her name before vanishing during an overseas trip. She legally became 'Florabella Natalia Marion Remakel' before disappearing.
Michelle Moore-Bosko
Michelle Moore-Bosko, 18, was raped and killed in her Norfolk, Virginia, apartment in July 1997. Omar Ballard, the only person whose DNA matched the scene, pleaded guilty in 2000.
Peter Boy Kema
Peter Kema Jr., known as Peter Boy, was 6 when he was last seen alive on Hawaii Island in mid-1997; his parents did not report him missing until months later.
Richard Glossip (case)
Motel owner Barry Van Treese was beaten to death at the Best Budget Inn in Oklahoma City in January 1997 by Justin Sneed, who testified that Richard Glossip put him up to it. Glossip was twice convicted and sentenced to death.
Sabrina Aisenberg
Five-month-old Sabrina Aisenberg vanished from her crib in Valrico, Florida, on November 24, 1997. Her parents were later indicted on charges that were dismissed, and the infant has never been found.
Tanya Jackson ("Peaches")
A dismembered torso found at Hempstead Lake State Park in Lakeview, New York on June 28, 1997 was identified in April 2025 as Army veteran Tanya Jackson, 26, long known as "Peaches." Andrew Dykes, the father of her daughter…
The Notorious B.I.G. (Christopher Wallace)
Rapper Christopher Wallace, known as The Notorious B.I.G., was killed in a drive-by shooting in Los Angeles shortly after leaving a Vibe magazine after-party at the Petersen Automotive Museum, held the night after the Soul Train…
Amber Hagerman
Nine-year-old Amber Hagerman was abducted while riding her bicycle in the parking lot of an abandoned grocery store in Arlington, Texas. A witness saw a man pull her into a black pickup truck.
Angie Dodge
Angie Dodge, 18, was raped and killed in her Idaho Falls apartment on June 13, 1996. Christopher Tapp was convicted in 1998 on the basis of a confession he later said was coerced; he served about 20 years and was exonerated in…
Anne Marie Fahey
Delaware Governor's scheduling secretary Anne Marie Fahey was murdered by her lover Thomas Capano, a prominent attorney. He disposed of her body at sea. Capano was sentenced to death.
Blair Adams
Canadian construction worker Blair Adams was found murdered in a Knoxville, Tennessee parking lot after a bizarre cross-country flight from his home in Surrey, British Columbia.
Cayce Lynn McDaniel
Fourteen-year-old Cayce Lynn McDaniel vanished from her home in Milan, Tennessee, on August 16, 1996, after a church back-to-school party.
Claremont Serial Murders
Three women vanished from the upscale suburb of Claremont in Perth, Australia between 1996-1997. Telstra technician Bradley Edwards was convicted of two murders in 2020.
Damon and Devon Routier
Brothers Devon Routier, 6, and Damon Routier, 5, were fatally stabbed in their home in Rowlett, Texas, on June 6, 1996. Their mother, Darlie Routier, who said an intruder attacked them, was convicted of capital murder in Damon's…
JonBenét Ramsey
Six-year-old JonBenét Ramsey was found dead in the basement of her family's Boulder home on December 26, 1996, hours after her mother reported finding a ransom note demanding $118,000.
Julianne Williams & Lollie Winans
Julianne "Julie" Williams, 24, and Laura "Lollie" Winans, 26, were found dead at their campsite near Skyland Resort in Shenandoah National Park on June 1, 1996.
Karina Holmer
Karina Holmer was a 20-year-old Swedish au pair whose dismembered body was found in a Boston dumpster in June 1996, roughly a day after she was last seen leaving a nightclub. The grisly killing has never been solved.
Kristin Smart
Cal Poly freshman Kristin Smart disappeared after a party near campus. Fellow student Paul Flores was the last person seen with her.
Marc Dutroux Victims
Six girls aged 8 to 19 were abducted in Belgium in 1995 and 1996; four died and two were rescued alive from a hidden cellar on August 15, 1996, two days after Marc Dutroux was arrested.
Sofia Silva, Kristin Lisk & Kati Lisk
Sofia Silva, 16, vanished from the front steps of her Spotsylvania County, Virginia home on September 9, 1996, and sisters Kristin, 15, and Kati Lisk, 12, were taken from their front yard on May 1, 1997. All three were found dead.
Susan Walsh
Freelance journalist Susan Walsh disappeared from her Nutley, New Jersey apartment while investigating the Russian mafia's involvement in strip clubs. She had expressed fear for her life. She was never found.
Trudy Appleby
Eleven-year-old Trudy Appleby vanished from Moline, Illinois on August 21, 1996; her body has never been found. In August 2025 a Henry County grand jury indicted Jamison Fisher, a long-named person of interest, on first-degree…
Tupac Shakur
Rapper Tupac Shakur was shot multiple times in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas on September 7, 1996, after attending a boxing match, and died six days later at University Medical Center.
Deanna Cremin
Seventeen-year-old Deanna Cremin was found strangled behind a senior housing complex on Jaques Street in Somerville, Massachusetts, on the morning of March 30, 1995, a short distance from her home.
Donnah Winger
Mark Winger murdered his wife Donnah and a shuttle driver he lured to their home, staging it to look like a break-in. He was a hero until a friend went to police years later.
Erin Marie Gilbert
Erin Marie Gilbert, a 24-year-old Anchorage nanny, vanished from the Girdwood Forest Fair in Girdwood, Alaska, on July 1, 1995, while on a first date.
Heather Danyelle Teague
Heather Danyelle Teague, 23, was abducted at gunpoint from Newburgh Beach on the Ohio River in Henderson County, Kentucky, on August 26, 1995, an act witnessed through a telescope from across the river.
Jason Callahan ("Grateful Doe")
A young man killed in a 1995 car crash near Emporia, Virginia, went unidentified for two decades and became known as "Grateful Doe" for the Grateful Dead concert tickets found with him.
Jodi Huisentruit
Television news anchor Jodi Huisentruit disappeared on her way to work at KIMT-TV in Mason City, Iowa. Her car was found with signs of a struggle.
Kiplyn Davis
Kiplyn Davis, 15, vanished from her Spanish Fork, Utah high school in 1995. Several classmates were later convicted of perjury for lying about her disappearance, and one, Timmy Olsen, was convicted of manslaughter in 2011, but…
Morgan Nick
Six-year-old Morgan Nick was abducted on June 9, 1995, from the parking lot of a Little League baseball game in Alma, Arkansas, while catching fireflies with other children.
Oklahoma City Bombing Victims
The bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building killed 168 people and injured hundreds more. Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols were convicted; McVeigh was executed in 2001 and Nichols is serving life without parole.
Paul Bernardo & Karla Homolka Victims
Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka, the 'Ken and Barbie Killers,' raped and murdered teenagers Leslie Mahaffy and Kristen French in Ontario. Homolka received a controversial plea deal.
Richey Edwards
Manic Street Preachers guitarist and lyricist Richey Edwards disappeared on the day he was due to fly to the US for a promotional tour. His car was found abandoned near the Severn Bridge. He was declared presumed dead in 2008.
Crystal Ann Tymich
Six-year-old Crystal Ann Tymich disappeared on June 30, 1994, while playing outside near her home on Brynhurst Avenue in South Los Angeles.
Dr. John Bayard Britton
Dr. John Britton, 69, and his volunteer escort James Barrett, 74, were shot dead outside the Ladies Center clinic in Pensacola, Florida, on July 29, 1994; Barrett's wife June was wounded.
Fred & Rose West Victims
In February and March 1994, police found the remains of nine young women and girls at 25 Cromwell Street, Gloucester, the home of Fred and Rose West; three more victims were found elsewhere.
Heidi Allen
Eighteen-year-old Heidi Allen disappeared from the D&W Convenience Store in New Haven, New York, where she was working alone on Easter Sunday, April 3, 1994.
Jenny Lin
Fourteen-year-old Jenny Lin was stabbed to death in her family's home in Castro Valley, California, on May 27, 1994; her father found her in a bathroom when he returned from work.
Lamar Johnson (Exoneration)
Markus Boyd was shot dead by two masked men on his St. Louis porch on October 30, 1994. Lamar Johnson was convicted in 1995 and served about 28 years before Judge David Mason vacated the conviction on February 14, 2023, finding…
Megan Kanka
Seven-year-old Megan Kanka was sexually assaulted and murdered on July 29, 1994, by Jesse Timmendequas, a neighbor in Hamilton Township, New Jersey, who had two prior convictions for sex offenses against children.
Melissa Witt
Nineteen-year-old Melissa Witt was abducted from the parking lot of the Bowling World bowling alley in Fort Smith, Arkansas, on December 1, 1994.
Michael & Alex Smith
Michael Smith, 3, and his brother Alex, 14 months, drowned on October 25, 1994 when their mother, Susan Smith, let her car roll into John D. Long Lake near Union, South Carolina, with the boys strapped inside.
Nicole Brown Simpson & Ron Goldman
Nicole Brown Simpson, 35, and Ron Goldman, 25, were stabbed to death outside her condominium on South Bundy Drive in Brentwood, Los Angeles, on June 12, 1994. Her former husband O.J.
Shannon Melendi
Shannon Melendi, a 19-year-old Emory University student, was abducted from a DeKalb County softball complex in 1994 and never seen again.
Victor Dwight Shoemaker Jr. ("J.R.")
Five-year-old Victor Dwight Shoemaker Jr., known as "J.R.," vanished on May 1, 1994, while visiting his grandfather's home near Kirby in Hardy County, West Virginia.
Waneta Hoyt Children
Waneta Hoyt murdered her five children between 1965 and 1971, presenting each death as SIDS. Her case was cited in medical literature supporting SIDS research before the truth emerged.
Angie Housman
Nine-year-old Angie Housman was abducted after leaving her school bus in St. Ann, Missouri, on November 18, 1993. A hunter found her body nine days later in the Busch Wildlife Area in St. Charles County.
Holly Piirainen
Ten-year-old Holly Piirainen disappeared on August 5, 1993, after leaving her grandparents' home in Sturbridge, Massachusetts, to see a neighbor's puppies. Hunters found her remains in Brimfield on October 23, 1993.
Mia Zapata
Mia Zapata, the 27-year-old lead singer of Seattle punk band The Gits, was raped and strangled in 1993 in a killing that shook the city's music scene.
Polly Klaas
Twelve-year-old Polly Klaas was kidnapped at knifepoint from a slumber party at her Petaluma home and murdered. Richard Allen Davis was convicted and sentenced to death.
Sara Anne Wood
Twelve-year-old Sara Anne Wood was abducted while riding her bicycle home from church in Herkimer County, New York, in August 1993. Serial killer Lewis Lent Jr.
Sophie Sergie
Sophie Sergie, 20, of Pitkas Point, Alaska, was found sexually assaulted, stabbed and shot in a dormitory bathroom at the University of Alaska Fairbanks on April 26, 1993.
Stephanie Crane
Stephanie Lyn Crane, 9, vanished on October 11, 1993, after leaving a bowling alley in the small town of Challis, Idaho. Despite a massive search and decades of investigation involving the FBI, her disappearance remains unsolved…
Steve Branch, Michael Moore & Christopher Byers
Three eight-year-old boys were murdered in West Memphis, Arkansas, in May 1993. Three teenagers — Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin, and Jessie Misskelley Jr.
Susan Lund ("Ina Jane Doe")
In 1993, the severed head of a woman was found in a state park near Ina, Illinois, and she remained unidentified for nearly 30 years as "Ina Jane Doe." In 2022 forensic genetic genealogy identified her as Susan Lund, a mother of…
Andrei Chikatilo Victims
Andrei Chikatilo, a former schoolteacher, was found guilty by a court in Rostov-on-Don in October 1992 of murdering 52 women and children between 1978 and 1990 and was sentenced to death.
Dail Dinwiddie
Dail Dinwiddie, a 23-year-old art history graduate, vanished in Columbia, South Carolina, in the early hours of September 24, 1992, after attending a U2 concert and visiting a Five Points nightclub.
I-70 Killer Victims
Six store workers were shot dead at five small businesses near Interstate 70 in Indiana, Kansas and Missouri between April 8 and May 7, 1992.
Jeremy Guillory
Six-year-old Jeremy Guillory was strangled on February 7, 1992, in a house near Iowa, Louisiana, where Ricky Langley rented a room.
Leigh Marine Occhi
Thirteen-year-old Leigh Occhi vanished from her Tupelo, Mississippi home on the morning of August 27, 1992, as remnants of Hurricane Andrew moved through the area.
Lisa Ziegert
Lisa Ziegert, 24, who worked at a middle school, was abducted from her evening job at a card shop in Agawam, Massachusetts, on April 15, 1992, and found dead four days later.
Springfield Three
Sherrill Levitt, her daughter Suzanne Streeter, and Suzanne's friend Stacy McCall all vanished from the Levitt home overnight. Their cars were still in the driveway, their purses inside. The porch light's glass globe was broken.
Tammy Zywicki
College student Tammy Zywicki was last seen with her disabled car on Interstate 80 in LaSalle County, Illinois. Her body was found nine days later in Missouri.
Angela Hammond
Angela 'Angie' Hammond, a 20-year-old pregnant woman, was abducted from a pay phone in Clinton, Missouri in April 1991 while talking to her fiancé, who heard her scream.
Anjelica Castillo ("Baby Hope")
The body of a malnourished young girl was found in a cooler beside the Henry Hudson Parkway in Manhattan in July 1991, and detectives who nicknamed her "Baby Hope" could not identify her for 22 years.
Austin Yogurt Shop Victims
Four girls aged 13 to 17 were shot and an I Can't Believe It's Yogurt! shop was set on fire in Austin, Texas, on December 6, 1991. Two men convicted in 2001 and 2002 had their convictions overturned and charges dismissed in 2009.
Ben Needham
21-month-old British toddler Ben Needham vanished while playing near his grandparents' farmhouse on the Greek island of Kos. Despite decades of searching, he has never been found.
Dana Ireland
Dana Ireland, 23, was abducted, raped and fatally beaten on the Big Island of Hawaii on Christmas Eve 1991. Three men were wrongfully convicted and later exonerated; in 2024 DNA identified a new suspect who died before arrest.
Danny Casolaro
Freelance journalist Joseph Daniel "Danny" Casolaro, 44, was found dead on August 10, 1991, in the bathtub of Room 517 at the Sheraton hotel in Martinsburg, West Virginia, with cuts to his wrists.
Denise Huber
Denise Huber, 23, disappeared from a Southern California freeway in June 1991 after her car got a flat tire. Her frozen body was found in 1994 in a truck at John Famalaro's Arizona home; he was convicted of murder in 1997 and…
Jaycee Dugard
Jaycee Dugard, 11, was abducted on June 10, 1991, while walking to a school bus stop near South Lake Tahoe, California. She was held for 18 years at the Antioch home of Phillip and Nancy Garrido and was found alive in August 2009.
Kelly (El Dorado Jane Doe)
A young woman using several aliases was killed in a room at the Whitehall Motel in El Dorado, Arkansas on July 10, 1991. Her ex-boyfriend James McAlphin was convicted in her death, but her true identity remained unknown for more…
Latasha Harlins
Latasha Harlins, 15, was shot in the back of the head by store owner Soon Ja Du at Empire Liquor Market in South Los Angeles on March 16, 1991, after a dispute over a bottle of orange juice.
Mark Himebaugh
Eleven-year-old Mark Himebaugh disappeared on November 25, 1991, near his home on Sunray Road in Del Haven, Middle Township, New Jersey, after going to watch firefighters tackle a nearby brush fire.
Michael Dunahee
Four-year-old Michael Dunahee disappeared from the playground of Blanshard Elementary School in Victoria, British Columbia, on March 24, 1991, while his family was close by for a flag football game.
New Britain Jane Doe
On October 11, 1991, a survey crew found the badly decomposed body of a woman in garbage bags near railroad tracks off Myrtle Street in New Britain, Connecticut, across from the former Fafnir Bearing plant.
Sarah Yarborough
Sarah Yarborough, 16, was sexually assaulted and strangled at Federal Way High School near Seattle in 1991. The case went cold for nearly three decades until forensic genetic genealogy identified Patrick Nicholas, who was…
Timothy Wiltsey
Five-year-old Timothy Wiltsey vanished from a carnival in Sayreville, New Jersey, in May 1991, and his skeletal remains were found nearly a year later.
Charles Albright Victims
Charles Albright was convicted in December 1991 of murdering Shirley Williams, one of three women found shot in Dallas between December 1990 and March 1991 with their eyes removed.
Christopher Kerze
Christopher Kerze, 17, has been missing since April 20, 1990, when he left his family's home in Eagan, Minnesota, in the family van.
Deborah Poe
Deborah Deann Poe, 26, vanished in the early hours of February 4, 1990, while working alone on the night shift at a Circle K store at Hall Road and Aloma Avenue in east Orange County, near Orlando, Florida.
Gainesville Ripper Victims
Danny Rolling murdered five college students over four days in Gainesville, Florida, in August 1990; four attended the University of Florida and one attended Santa Fe Community College.
Paige Marie Renkoski
Paige Renkoski, a 30-year-old substitute teacher from Okemos, Michigan, vanished on May 24, 1990. The car she was driving was found still running on the shoulder of westbound I-96 near Fowlerville, with her purse and shoes inside.
Pamela Smart (case)
Gregg Smart, 24, was shot dead in his Derry, New Hampshire condominium on May 1, 1990 by teenagers recruited by his wife Pamela's student lover, Billy Flynn.
Susan Negersmith
Susan Negersmith, a 20-year-old from Carmel, New York, was found dead in Wildwood, New Jersey, over Memorial Day weekend 1990. Her death was first ruled accidental and later reclassified as a homicide.
Suzanne Sevakis
Suzanne Sevakis, 20, died in April 1990 five days after an apparent hit-and-run in Oklahoma City, where she was known as Tonya Hughes.
Trevaline Evans
Antiques dealer Trevaline Evans vanished from her shop in Llangollen, Wales, leaving a 'Back in 2 minutes' sign on the door. She was never seen again.