Unsolved cases
Homicides and other crimes with no one held responsible. Some are a century old. Some are from this year.
Ardenwald axe murders
The Ardenwald axe murders is an unsolved mass murder that occurred in the early morning of June 9, 1911, in Ardenwald, Oregon, United States, then a neighboring community of Portland. The victims were the Hill family: William Hill, his wife Ruth, and Ruth's two children from a previous marriage, Philip and Dorothy. All four victims had been bludgeoned to death with an axe.
1974 · OregonUnsolvedCowden family murders
Richard Cowden (born October 9, 1946), his wife Belinda June Cowden (born May 24, 1952), and their children, David James Phillips (born June 30, 1969) and Melissa Dawn Cowden (born March 19, 1974), disappeared from their campground in the Siskiyou Mountains near Copper, Oregon, United States, on September 1, 1974. Seven months later, in April 1975, their bodies were discovered approximately 7 miles (11 km) from…
1924 · OregonUnsolved
Lava Lake murders
The Lava Lake murders refers to a triple murder that occurred near Little Lava Lake in the Deschutes National Forest in Deschutes County, Oregon, United States, in January 1924. The victims were Edward Nickols (50), Roy Wilson (35), and Dewey Morris (25), all of whom were working as fur trappers in the Deschutes National Forest in the winter of 1923–1924. Their bodies were discovered in Little Lava Lake in April…
1963 · OregonUnsolvedDeath of Steven Crawford
Steven Alexander "Stevie" Crawford (October 2, 1960 – c. July 11, 1963) was a formerly unidentified toddler whose body was found in a reservoir in Ashland, Oregon, on July 11, 1963. He was identified in 2021 using GEDmatch.
1946 · OregonUnsolvedOak Grove Jane Doe
Oak Grove Jane Doe is an unidentified murder victim found dismembered in the Willamette River south of Portland, Oregon near Oak Grove over a period of several months in 1946. The first discovery consisted of a woman's torso which was found wrapped in burlap, floating near the Wisdom Light moorage on April 12, 1946; this led the media to dub the case the Wisdom Light Murder. The arms and one thigh of the victim were…