Cold Cases in Missouri
ColdCaseIndex documents 20 cold cases in Missouri, spanning 1950–2024. 11 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 Missouri Cases
Gypsy Rose Blanchard (release)
Gypsy Rose Blanchard was released from prison in December 2023 after serving 8 years for conspiring to murder her mother Dee Dee, who had subjected her to Munchausen syndrome by proxy abuse for decades.
Dee Dee Blanchard
Dee Dee Blanchard was murdered by her daughter Gypsy Rose's boyfriend after years of medical child abuse (Munchausen syndrome by proxy). Gypsy had been forced to feign illness and disability her entire life. The case exp
Michael Brown
Eighteen-year-old Michael Brown was shot and killed by Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson. A grand jury declined to indict Wilson. The DOJ found no evidence of an intentional shooting but documented systemic racism in
Lisa Irwin
Ten-month-old Lisa Irwin disappeared from her crib in Kansas City, Missouri. Her parents reported her missing in the early morning hours. The case drew national attention, but despite extensive investigation and suspicio
Phoenix Coldon
Twenty-three-year-old Phoenix Coldon left her parents' home in Spanish Lake, Missouri and vanished. Her car was found abandoned with the engine running near East St. Louis, Illinois.
Kara Kopetsky
Seventeen-year-old Kara Kopetsky vanished from Belton, Missouri after leaving her high school. Her remains were found in 2017 alongside those of Jessica Runions. Kylr Yust was convicted of both murders in 2021.
Lena Chapin
Seventeen-year-old Lena Chapin vanished from rural Missouri. Her mother Sandy Klemp is suspected of involvement. Lena allegedly witnessed her mother kill her stepfather years earlier.
Bobbie Jo Stinnett
Bobbie Jo Stinnett, a 23-year-old woman eight months pregnant, was strangled in Skidmore, Missouri in December 2004 and her unborn baby cut from her womb. Lisa Montgomery was convicted and executed in 2021; the baby surv
Shawn Hornbeck
Eleven-year-old Shawn Hornbeck was abducted while riding his bike in Richwoods, Missouri. He was held captive for four and a half years by Michael Devlin in a nearby town. Police found him while searching for another mis
Branson Perry
Twenty-year-old Branson Perry vanished from Skidmore, Missouri—the same small town where Ken McElroy was murdered in 1981—after telling a friend he was going to put jumper cables away. He was never seen again.
Kent Heitholt
Columbia Tribune sports editor Kent Heitholt was beaten and strangled in the Tribune parking lot. Two men were convicted — Ryan Ferguson and Charles Erickson — but Ferguson's conviction was vacated in 2013 after key witn
Lamar Johnson (Exoneration)
Marcus Boyd was murdered in St. Louis in 1994. Lamar Johnson was wrongfully convicted and spent 28 years in prison before being exonerated in 2023 after the St. Louis Circuit Attorney's office found evidence of a corrupt
Angie Housman
Nine-year-old Angie Housman was abducted from her bus stop in St. Ann, Missouri. Her body was found nine days later. In 2019, Ron Epperson was identified through DNA and convicted.
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
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. Despite a chase and a detailed suspect-vehicle des
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. She h
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. Despite the crowd, no one identified the shooters,
James Kinne
James Kinne, a 25-year-old electronics engineer, was fatally shot in the back of the head at his Independence, Missouri home on March 19, 1960; his death was initially ruled accidental after his wife Sharon said their to
Bobby Greenlease
Six-year-old Bobby Greenlease was kidnapped from his school and killed by Carl Austin Hall and Bonnie Brown Heady in Kansas City. A ransom of $600,000 was paid — the largest at that time. Hall and Heady were arrested, tr
Janet Christman
Thirteen-year-old Janet Christman was babysitting when she was raped and strangled in Columbia, Missouri. Her body was found by the parents when they returned home. Despite the fact that a partial fingerprint was recover