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Disappearance of Michele Anne Harris
On the night of September 11, 2001, Michele Anne Harris (born September 29, 1965) of Spencer, New York, United States, left the restaurant where she worked as a waitress in nearby Waverly after finishing her shift, and shared drinks with two coworkers (one of whom she had been romantically involved with) in the parking lot. She then went to see a boyfriend in Smithboro and left shortly after 11 p.m. This was the…
1938UnsolvedKing D. Gray
King D. Gray (1886–1938) was an American cinematographer active in Hollywood from the 1910s through the 1930s. He was shot and killed in front of a post office in Hollywood in 1938 at the age of 52; his killer has never been identified.
1997 · FloridaMissingDisappearance of Don Lewis
Jack Donald Lewis (born April 30, 1938) is an American missing person who disappeared on the morning of August 18, 1997, after leaving his home in Tampa, Florida. The investigation into his disappearance has stretched from Lewis's Wildlife on Easy Street sanctuary in Tampa, co-owned with his second wife Carole Baskin, to land owned by Lewis in Costa Rica. No evidence has surfaced that Lewis was the victim of a…
Year unknown · KentuckyUnsolvedAlberta Odell Jones
Alberta Odell Jones (November 12, 1930 – August 5, 1965) was an African-American attorney and civil rights icon. She was one of the first African-American women to pass the Kentucky bar and the first woman appointed city attorney in Jefferson County. She was murdered by an unknown person.
1940 · TennesseeUnsolvedElbert Williams
Elbert Williams (October 15, 1908 – June 20, 1940) was an African-American civil rights leader from Brownsville, Tennessee who was killed by unknown persons. He was one of the five charter members of the NAACP branch in Brownsville. Killed in 1940, Williams is the first known NAACP member to be lynched for his civil rights activities.
1944Missing
Gertrude Tompkins Silver
Gertrude "Tommy" Tompkins Silver (October 16, 1911 – disappeared October 26, 1944) was the only Women Airforce Service Pilots member to go missing during World War II.
Year unknownOverturned
Laura Fair
Laura D. Fair (née Laura Ann Hunt; 1837–1919) was an American murderer, whose death sentence was overturned. Her court case is notable due to her gender and the legal case framed around her gender; it received much attention in the press, and support of Fair by the suffragettes.
2003 · PennsylvaniaOverturned
Nick Yarris
Nicholas James Yarris (born May 18, 1961) is an American writer and storyteller who spent 22 years on death row in Pennsylvania after being wrongfully convicted of rape and murder. Yarris was exonerated by DNA testing in 2003. He was released from prison in 2004 after a separate 30-year sentence he received in Florida for lesser crimes committed after he escaped from custody in 1985 was reduced to time served.
2017UnsolvedMurder of Wharlest Jackson
Wharlest Jackson (December 7, 1929 – February 27, 1967) was an American civil rights activist who was murdered by a car bomb, with evidence of involvement by the Silver Dollar Group, a white supremacy organization affiliated with the Ku Klux Klan. The case was officially closed by the United States Department of Justice in 2017. Although it names a number of suspects from the original interviews in the 1960s, as of…
Year unknownOverturned
Anthony Charles Graves
Anthony Charles Graves (born August 29, 1965) is the 138th exonerated death row inmate in America. With no record of violence, he was arrested at 26 years old, wrongfully convicted, and incarcerated for 18 years before finally being exonerated and released. He was awarded $1.4 million for the time he spent imprisoned, and the prosecutor who put him in prison, Charles Sebesta, was ultimately disbarred for concealing…
1975 · New MexicoMissingJim Sullivan
James Anthony Sullivan (August 13, 1939 – disappeared March 6, 1975) was an American singer-songwriter and guitarist who released two albums before he disappeared without a trace in New Mexico.
1995UnsolvedKilling of Michael Nigg
Michael Nigg (April 28, 1969 – September 8, 1995) was an American man who worked as a waiter at a Beverly Hills restaurant. He was shot and killed during an apparent robbery attempt in Hollywood. The Los Angeles Police Department later arrested three suspects but soon released them for lack of evidence.
1980OverturnedJoyce Ann Brown
Joyce Ann Brown (February 12, 1947 – June 13, 2015) was wrongfully convicted of robbery and murder in 1980 and spent almost a decade in prison before her conviction was overturned. Her case was notable because it was one of the first convictions that was overturned after extensive media exposure. Her case was featured on the television show 60 Minutes, and investigated by the print news media.
2000OverturnedThe Exonerated
The Exonerated is a 2000 play by Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen that debuted Off-Broadway in October 2000 at 45 Bleecker Theater and ran for over 600 performances. It won numerous awards including the Lucille Lortel Award for Unique Theatrical Experience, the Drama Desk Award for Unique Theatrical Experience, and the Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Off-Broadway Play. It was adapted into a 2005 film by the…
1896MissingFrank H. Howard
Frank H. Howard (before 1840 – disappeared August 6, 1896) was an American attorney who was president of the Los Angeles County Board of Education and a member of the Los Angeles City Library Board and a trustee of the county law library. He represented the city librarian when she sued a Methodist minister for slander over a prayer he had recited. Howard disappeared without a trace in 1896.
2001 · MissouriOverturned
Ryan W. Ferguson
Ryan W. Ferguson (born October 19, 1984) is an American man who spent nearly 10 years in prison after being wrongfully convicted of a 2001 murder in his hometown of Columbia, Missouri. At the time of the murder, Ferguson was a 17-year-old high-school student. Kent Heitholt was found beaten and strangled shortly after 2:00 a.m.
2013MissingSuicide of Sunil Tripathi
Sunil Tripathi (died March 16, 2013) was an American student who went missing on March 16, 2013. His disappearance received widespread media attention after he was wrongfully accused by Reddit users to be a suspect in the Boston Marathon bombing. Tripathi had been missing for a month by the time of the attack, which took place on April 15.
2006 · NevadaMissingDisappearance of Jessie Foster
Jessica Edith Louise Foster (born May 27, 1984), is a Canadian woman who disappeared in the Las Vegas Valley in Nevada, United States, in 2006. Her parents are Glendene Grant and Dwight Foster. Jessie Foster had spent some time living in Calgary, Alberta.
1872 · KansasOverturned
William Jackson Marion
William Jackson "Jack" Marion (May 13, 1849 – March 25, 1887) was an American man who was convicted of the 1872 murder of John Cameron, a Kansas native and a friend. Marion and Cameron were railroad workers who embarked on a trip to Kansas to work on the railroad in 1872. During the trip, Cameron went missing, spurring an investigation into his whereabouts.
1911UnsolvedAtlanta Ripper
The Atlanta Ripper was an unidentified serial killer who is suspected of killing at least fifteen Atlanta women between 1911 and 1912.
1987 · TexasOverturned
Michael Morton
Michael Wayne Morton (born August 12, 1954) is an American who was wrongfully convicted in 1987 in a Williamson County, Texas court of the 1986 murder of his wife Christine Morton. He spent nearly 25 years in prison before he was exonerated by DNA evidence which supported his claim of innocence and pointed to the crime being committed by another individual. Morton was released from prison on October 4, 2011, and…
1983OverturnedDewey Bozella
Dewey Bozella (born 1959) is a former professional boxer who is known for being wrongfully imprisoned. Convicted in 1983 for the murder of an elderly woman, Bozella served 26 years in prison before his conviction was overturned in 2009 after being proved innocent.
2006Missing
Anthony Zizzo
Anthony Zizzo (born August 3, 1935 – disappeared August 31, 2006), also known as "Little Tony" and "Little Toes", was an American mobster who was the underboss of the Chicago Outfit.
Year unknownMissing
Mansell Richard James
Captain Mansell Richard James (18 June 1893 – c. 2 June 1919) was a Canadian-born World War I flying ace credited with 11 confirmed aerial victories. He disappeared after setting a postwar aviation record for prize money, and was the object of repeated searches throughout the years.