Cold Cases in Alabama
ColdCaseIndex documents 13 cold cases in Alabama, spanning 1944–2023. 3 of these cases remain fully unsolved. Each case page includes documented details, status, and information on how to submit a tip.
By Type
By Status
All Alabama Cases
Carlee Russell Hoax
Carlee Russell faked her own kidnapping in Hoover, Alabama, sparking a massive search. She returned home two days later. She had researched Amber Alerts and kidnapping beforehand.
Natalee Holloway (confession)
Joran van der Sloot was extradited from Peru and pleaded guilty to extorting Natalee Holloway's family. He admitted for the first time that he killed Natalee in Aruba in 2005.
Casey White (murder conviction)
Casey White was convicted of the 2015 capital murder of Connie Ridgeway in Lauderdale County, Alabama. He had confessed in 2020 while in jail and later escaped with corrections officer Vicky White.
Vicky White & Casey White Escape
Corrections officer Vicky White helped murder suspect Casey White escape from an Alabama jail. They were fugitives for 11 days before being caught in Indiana. Vicky died from a self-inflicted gunshot.
Aniah Blanchard
Nineteen-year-old Aniah Blanchard, stepdaughter of UFC fighter Walt Harris, disappeared from Auburn, Alabama. Her remains were found a month later. Ibraheem Yazeed was convicted and sentenced to life without parole. Her
Amore Wiggins ("Opelika Jane Doe")
The skeletal remains of a young girl found in a trailer park in Opelika, Alabama, in 2012 went unidentified for nearly 11 years as "Opelika Jane Doe" or "Baby Jane Doe." In 2023 she was identified through genetic genealo
Brittney Wood
Nineteen-year-old Brittney Wood vanished while on her way to meet her uncle in Mobile, Alabama. The investigation uncovered a massive family sexual abuse ring. Brittney has never been found.
Natalee Holloway
Alabama teenager Natalee Holloway disappeared while on a graduation trip to Aruba. She was last seen leaving a bar with Joran van der Sloot, who was investigated repeatedly but not charged in her disappearance. In 2023,
Frank Hilley
Frank Hilley died in Anniston, Alabama in 1975 of what was initially diagnosed as infectious hepatitis. After his body was exhumed, his death was attributed to arsenic poisoning, and his wife Audrey Marie Hilley was conv
Jimmie Lee Jackson
Jimmie Lee Jackson was a Black civil rights marcher shot by Alabama State Trooper James Bonard Fowler during a night march in Marion. His death inspired the Selma-to-Montgomery marches and the Voting Rights Act. Fowler w
16th Street Baptist Church Bombing Victims
A KKK bomb killed four young Black girls — Addie Mae Collins, Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson, and Carol Denise McNair — at the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. Robert Chambliss was convicted in 1977.
Daniel Barter
Four-year-old Daniel Barter disappeared from his family home near Perdido Bay, Alabama on June 18, 1959. Despite searches, he was never found. The FBI listed his case as one needing fresh leads. After more than 60 years,
Recy Taylor
Recy Taylor, a young Black woman, was gang-raped by six white men while walking home from church in Abbeville, Alabama. Two grand juries refused to indict the perpetrators. Rosa Parks investigated the case for the NAACP.