Cases Where the Body Was Never Found
Disappearances and presumed homicides in which no remains have ever been recovered, including several that ended in a conviction without a body. ColdCaseIndex lists 18 cases on this theme, of which 3 are recorded as unsolved.
- Unsolved 3 (17%)
- Partly resolved 3 (17%)
- Charges or trial pending 2 (11%)
- Solved or convicted 10 (56%)
By type
By state or country
All 18 cases
Michael Joseph Vaughan
Michael Joseph 'Monkey' Vaughan, age 5, disappeared from near his home in Fruitland, Idaho, on the evening of July 27, 2021, and despite years of extensive searches his body has never been found.
Suzanne Morphew
Suzanne Morphew, 49, disappeared on Mother's Day, May 10, 2020, in Chaffee County, Colorado. Her husband, Barry Morphew, was charged with her murder in 2021, but the case was dismissed without prejudice in April 2022 after the…
Jennifer Dulos
Jennifer Dulos, 50, disappeared from New Canaan, Connecticut, on May 24, 2019, amid a contentious divorce. Her estranged husband, Fotis Dulos, was charged with her murder but died by suicide in January 2020 before trial and was…
Jermain Charlo
Jermain Charlo, a 23-year-old mother of two and enrolled member of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, was last seen around midnight on June 15-16, 2018, on surveillance video in an alley behind the Badlander bar in…
Keeshae Jacobs
Keeshae Jacobs, 21, vanished after being dropped off at a Church Hill home in Richmond in September 2016. In 2024 police confirmed she was dead, and a jailed murderer admitted disposing of her body, though no one has been…
Crystal Rogers
Crystal Rogers, a 35-year-old mother of five, vanished from Bardstown, Kentucky, in July 2015; her abandoned car was found days later with a flat tire.
Alexis Murphy
Seventeen-year-old Alexis Murphy disappeared on August 3, 2013, after stopping at a gas station in Lovingston, Nelson County, Virginia.
Kelsie Schelling
Kelsie Schelling, a 21-year-old woman who was eight weeks pregnant, vanished in 2013 after driving from Denver to Pueblo, Colorado, to meet her boyfriend, Donthe Lucas.
Cari Farver
Cari Farver, a 37-year-old programmer, disappeared from the Omaha area in November 2012. Her body was never found, but Shanna 'Liz' Golyar was convicted in 2017 after impersonating Farver online for years in an elaborate…
Stacy Peterson
Stacy Peterson, 23, disappeared from her home in Bolingbrook, Illinois, on October 28, 2007. Her husband Drew Peterson, a former police sergeant, has been publicly named a suspect by investigators but has never been charged in…
Danielle Imbo and Richard Petrone Jr.
Danielle Imbo, 34, and Richard Petrone Jr., 35, a dating couple, vanished after leaving a bar on South Street in Philadelphia on the night of February 19, 2005. Neither they nor Petrone's pickup truck have ever been found.
Rilya Wilson
Rilya Wilson, a 4-year-old Miami foster child, disappeared while in the care of Geralyn Graham but was not reported missing by Florida's child-welfare system for roughly 15 months.
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…
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.
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.
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.
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.
Nancy Leichner & Pamela Nater
Nancy Leichner, 21, and Pamela Nater, 20, vanished on October 2, 1966, during a skin-diving club picnic at Alexander Springs in Florida's Ocala National Forest, leaving their belongings on a picnic table.