What crime stories have you been obsessed by?

[WomenHour]

I was griped by the James Bulger murder 25 years ago

What really happened to Nóra Quoirin.

Didn't the police question someone already in prison over Suzi Lampugh? I remember something vaguely , but she has never been found. (I Could be wrong. )
I'm amazed at just how many people like Suzi and Claudia just disappear without any trace at all. If they have been killed then there is a body to conceal or if they are alive surely they would have contacted someone by now? How do they cope without any money ? Bank records are easy for the police to check out for recently missing people but that far back maybe they can't? Or they know they want to disappear and arrange for new cards in a different name?
Claudia Lawerence didn't even take her bag with her when she left home or money or her passport. Keeping someone concealed or hidden away for so long is just a terrifying thought : no wonder the police do give up on missing people as the leads become weaker and there isn't any evidence or a body. It must be heartbreaking for the loved ones.

I feel these days it must be harder to commit these kinds of crimes. Everyone has a cellphone, CCTV everywhere, cars being watched. Even stuff you Google can be checked by the police.

Grand duchess Anastasia Romanova. When I was 10.

Quite a niche taste, I admit.

Claudia disappeared in 2010 and there were lots of cctv about then ( it was the start of them being everywhere) and they must have tracked her bank account too.
Maybe there are more cameras around now but I can't imagine it would have made much difference to her disappearance.
Plus sometimes they are wiped before the police get to them or too fuzzy to see anything or it's too dark or some reason it's not the huge help they are meant to be. Once someone is taken in a car or van it must be impossible to track anyone successfully without the number plate or car make and colour etc.
I've no idea but if I watch these reconstructions it always just seems to draw a blank even with all these cameras about.

I am always trying to read more on The Villisca Axe Murders and the Hinterkaifec murders. So scary that the entire families were murdered.

I’m always wondering what happened to little Kyron Holman and Molly Bish.

Oh and the Keddie muders as again multiple family members were murdered in the night.

I'm continually fascinated by the Dyatlov Pass incident that happened in Russia, link here if you fancy a good read.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyatlov_Pass_incident

I just can't fathom what would have caused them to run into the freezing dark without adequate clothing, and wind up dying from either hypothermia, major chest injuries or being found with both eyes missing. If it was a bear surely they would have been eaten/evidence of bear attack. If they were on drugs and hallucinating there would have been evidence in their bloodstreams.

I would love to know what happened up in the Ural mountains, it's the only true crime mystery that I ponder over for days.

Claudia Lawrence - I am fairly local to that - my son's house was one of those searched just after she disappeared. He had loads of swords in his cupboard (he's a Cosplayer) and thought 'oh shit' but they just opened the cupboard door, looked in and then closed it again.

The local belief is that the police have a pretty good idea what happened but, without proof, there's nothing they can do. I strongly suspect that this is the case in a lot of unsolved cases actually.

I wouldn’t say I’m obsessed with any particular crime, but I would be interested to know what actually happened with MM, simply because it’s such a high profile case that’s had huge amounts of public money thrown at it, yet there is no definitive evidence about what happened.

The other more recently event (not a crime as far as we know but Very mysterious) is Nora Quoirin‘s death. It may well have been a tragic accident with no foul play involved but i do wonder what happened in the 10 days she was missing

Oscar pistorious. I watched all of the trial and was fascinating. Still would like to know why he killed her, poor woman

Did they ever find out about little Ben Needem in Greece? I thought someone said he had been run over by a tractor but I don't think a body had been found. I should look it up as something was mentioned on tv last year I think ?

Madeline Mccann will always be a mystery I think. I can't believe she can still be alive as her distinctive cast she had in her eye can't be changed and someone would have noticed that by now , I would have thought?
( I know any threads on mumsnet are always taken down about her disappearance. It is a strange and sad case.)
It can blow your mind at how many people are never seen again. I looked up about Sheila Fox mentioned on here. It is the stuff of nightmares having a child go missing.
(I lost my son aged eight in a shopping mall once for a few minutes ; it was awful but a shop assistant found him wandering around the shoes department!)

The murder of Travis Alexander, watching the trail live streamed was interesting and without doubt Jodi Arias knew exactly what she was doing and finally admitted as much with her remarks about remembering after denying any memory in her first trial and both sentencing hearings

The West’s, just awful and unbelievable, I was 7 when it came to light and can remember information on the news about it

Tia Sharp, that was when I found Websluthes, happened during the London olympics and was such a contrast to the mood in the country at the time, shocking from the police not to find her when they searched the house the first two time’s

The Beaumont children..so sad that both parents died not knowing what happened to their children.. to lose one child and not know must be hard but to lose all 3..horrible

My mistake..the mum died but dad is still alive.. 90 years old..you'd hope there would be answers but after 54 years..unlikely

Jon Bennett Ramsey, doesn’t make any sense to me as there was thick snow outside and no footprints going in or out, so it has to have been caused by someone in the house. The ransom note was in the mums handwriting.

Madeleine McCann, doesn’t add up but I know we can’t discuss that on MN.

More a conspiracy than a crime as it’s unproven, but the queen taking 10 children out for a picnic and they never returned them to the children’s home, very suspicious if true.

Dyatalov pass, agree this one doesn’t add up either. My theory is that there were military tests going on nearby. There was high radiation detected on their bodies and suspicious photos of light/orbs on their camera. Possibly an explosion that terrified them and caused them to run until the cold got them or they were injured by the testing.

John Canaan has always been suspected of Suzy Lamplugh. Robert Black was linked to Genette Tate’s disappearance and I think was close to being charged when he died.

The 'Cold' podcast about Susan Powell's disappearance and the deaths of her children Charlie and Braden at the hands of their father Josh Powell - this really got to me, absolutely devastating.

The Watts family murders (US)
The murder of Ronald Platt (UK)
The Beaumont children (Aus)
Andrew Cunanan (US)
Snowtown (Aus)
Milly Dowler, Marsha McDonnell and Amelie Delagrange (UK)
Julie Hogg (UK)

Also Columbine.

@Strokethefurrywall Have you read Dead Mountain? Very plausible explanations for most of the mystery. Also there are findings coming out of Russia which also point to a perfect storm of problems causing the deaths.

Have you seen the Fortean Forum thread on the subject?
forums.forteana.org/index.php?threads/dyatlov-pass-incident.32252/

Forgot to add: Damien Nettles - the boy who disappeared.
I watched the BBC3 investigation with the Irish journalists and read the book written by Damien's mother. The investigation into his disappearance was criminal in its ineptitude. So very, very sad.

I don’t think we’ll ever know for sure what happened to MM. There was a flurry of excitement on here recently when that German guy was mentioned in connection, but I posted at the time that it was clear there was no real evidence linking him and that I doubted he’d ever be charged in connection with her disappearance. (typically, a couple of posters said I was a terrible person because obviously I didn’t want a solution to the mystery!!)
From a purely objective standpoint, I am interested to know, because it’s the most High profile missing person case ever and has gone on so many years but honestly, I don’t think there will be any definitive answers. It sounds as though there were so many criminals in the area at the time that although there’s a public desire to pin the crime on someone, there will probably never be certainty.

I’m not obsessed by it, but the murder of fifteen year old Enrico Sidoli at a busy London Lido in 1976 is one that haunts me.

A group of youths hit Enrico, pushed him into the pool and then three of them held him under the water until he stopped struggling. He died in hospital eleven days later from massive brain damage.

There were a thousand people in the pool and the surrounding area that day and not one person tried to help him. The subsequent investigation was met with a wall of silence and no one has ever been identified or charged.

I can’t get my head around how a child could be murdered in broad daylight in a busy park and in view of hundreds of people and no one does anything.

The case was reopened a few years ago along with a reward, but as far as I know nothing came of it. Those involved would be about sixty now. I don’t know how they live with what they did.

I do think Nora Quoirin,s death was just a tragic accident I think she probably wandered off and got confused and disoriented ,people kept making a big thing about the fact she was naked,but I have a child with similar disabilities to Nora ,and he would just strip off if he got wet and uncomfortable ,very ,very sad .

@x2boys I really hope so. It feels weird typing that because it was so awful that it happened at all, but a tragic accident is the best outcome.
The only thing that makes me wonder is that her parents seem adamant that she wouldn’t have wandered off and that other people must have been involved at least some of the time before she died. I really hope there are clear answers for this one and that no crime is found to have been committed.

But @x2boys, Nora Quoirin's parents are very clear that she simply did not have the mental or physical capacity to just wander off in the middle of the night by herself -- she needed help to walk, apart from anything else, and had the mental age of a five or six year old.

Poor Enrico. Awful that nobody has ever been convicted yet it was full that day at the lido. ( 1976 was a very hot summer in the UK)
Such awful cases mentioned on this thread , many I've never heard of before.