Unsolved cases
Homicides and other crimes with no one held responsible. Some are a century old. Some are from this year.
Main South Woodsman
The Main South Woodsman is an unidentified serial killer who murdered between three and five prostitutes in Worcester, Massachusetts, from 2002 to 2007. His nickname derives from the Main South neighborhood, where he picked up most of his victims. The prime suspect in the murders, Alex Scesny, was identified in 2008, due to the fact he had a history of sexual abuse and was suspected in the murder of a sex worker.
1988 · MassachusettsUnsolvedNew Bedford Highway Killer
The New Bedford Highway Killer is an unidentified serial killer responsible for the deaths of at least nine women and the disappearances of two additional women in New Bedford, Massachusetts, between March 1988 and April 1989. The killer is also suspected to have assaulted numerous other women. All the killer's victims were known prostitutes or had struggles with addiction.
2000 · MassachusettsUnsolvedKilling of Molly Bish
The murder of Molly Anne Bish is an unsolved child murder that occurred in Warren, Massachusetts, after 16-year-old high-school student Molly Anne Bish disappeared while working as a lifeguard on June 27, 2000. Her disappearance led to the most extensive and expensive search for a missing person ever undertaken in the state of Massachusetts. In June 2003, Bish's remains were found in Hampden County, 5 mi (8 km) from…
1978 · MassachusettsUnsolvedBlackfriars Massacre
The 1978 Blackfriars Massacre, also known as the Blackfriars murders, is an unsolved Irish mob and/or Italian-American Mafia massacre that occurred on 18 June 1978, at Blackfriars bar in Downtown Boston, Massachusetts. Five people were killed, including former Channel 7 investigative news anchorman, Jack Kelly, allegedly over a robbery gone wrong.
1994 · MassachusettsUnsolvedDavid Cox
David Vernon Cox (November 27, 1966; died 1994) was a U.S. Marine who was found killed in Medfield, Massachusetts. Aaron Sorkin's 1989 play A Few Good Men and its 1992 film adaptation were based partly on events that Cox was a part of while he was in the Marines.
1988 · MassachusettsUnsolved
Murder of Melissa Ann Tremblay
The murder of Melissa Ann Tremblay is an unsolved child murder which occurred in Lawrence, Massachusetts, on the afternoon of September 11, 1988, in which an eleven-year-old girl from Salem, New Hampshire, was beaten, then murdered by three stab wounds to her torso before her body was intentionally left upon a section of the Boston and Maine Railroad. Her partially severed body was discovered beneath a freight train…
1874 · MassachusettsUnsolved
Louis B. Allyn
Lewis B. Allyn (Louis) (July 3, 1874 – May 7, 1940, in Westfield, Massachusetts) was an American chemistry professor and influential figure in the pure food movement at the time of his murder. He was teaching at Westfield Teachers College and contributing as a pure foods expert for McClure's magazines at the time of his shooting. His is the only unsolved murder in the history of Westfield, Massachusetts.
Year unknown · MassachusettsUnsolvedMurder of Holly Piirainen
Holly Kristen Piirainen (January 19, 1983 – August 5, 1993) was a 10-year-old American murder victim from Grafton, Massachusetts. She and her brother had been visiting their grandparents in Sturbridge, Massachusetts, when Holly was murdered. Her murder remains unsolved.