Zebb Quinn was an 18-year-old American male who went missing on January 2, 2000, in Asheville, North Carolina. On July 25, 2022, Quinn's friend, Robert Jason Owens, entered a plea bargain and confessed from prison that his abusive uncle, Walter "Gene" Owens, had killed Quinn after making Owens lure Quinn to the forest. Owens and his uncle dismembered and burned Quinn's body in Bent Creek Experimental Forest. The defense claimed that the boyfriend of a girl Quinn liked hired Gene to kill Quinn.[1][2][3]
Bakoles went missing in March 2000, and her skeletal remains were found in October of that same year; the identity of Bakoles was only confirmed in 2012. The cause of her death was unknown.[4]
Lucie Blackman was a British woman working in Japan as a hostess who went missing after going on a paid date with a client on July 1, 2000. Her mutilated body was found buried in a shallow grave in Miura, Kanagawa, on February 9, 2001. Several months later, Joji Obara was arrested for her rape and murder.[5][6][7]
Sarah Payne was an eight-year-old schoolgirl abducted and murdered in West Sussex, England, by known child sex offender Roy Whiting on July 1, 2000. Her body was discovered in the village of Pulborough on July 17.[8]
DeJesus was a five-year-old American child who was kidnapped, raped and murdered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, by a Honduran national named Alexis Flores in July 2000. Her body was discovered on August 3 in the basement of a deserted apartment building where Flores is known to have resided. Later linked to the murder via DNA profiling, Flores was added to the FBI's Top Ten Most Wanted Fugitives.[9]
Molly Bish was an American teenage girl who disappeared from Warren, Massachusetts on 27 June 2000 and was found dead on 9 June 2003 after being killed.[10][11]
Ivan Stambolić was a high ranking Serbian politician who was once both the president and prime minister of Serbia. Stambolić was abducted in Fruška Gora, Serbia, Yugoslavia on 25 August 2000. It was later discovered that he had been killed.[12][13]
Tiernan was a 16-year-old Leeds schoolgirl abducted on 16 November 2000. Her body was discovered in Lindley Woods, North Yorkshire, in August 2001.[2] Tiernan's murderer, John Taylor, pleaded guilty to her murder the following year.[14]
Mike Williams was an American man who disappeared on December 16, 2000, during a hunting trip to Lake Seminole. He remained missing until October 2017, when law enforcement received information on the whereabouts of his body, close to Tallahassee.[15] Florida officials confirmed that Williams was a victim of homicide.[16][17] Williams' best friend, Brian Winchester, fully confessed to shooting Williams on the hunting trip and gave up the location of the body.[18] The motive was Winchester's ongoing affair with Williams' wife, Denise, who was sentenced to life in prison for the murder in January 2019 (later reduced to 30 years for conspiracy to commit first-degree murder).[19][18][20][21]
On the night of January 15, 2001, 18-year-old Bridget Townsend was abducted from her drug dealer boyfriend's house by a customer of her boyfriend. The abductor, 18-year-old Ramiro Felix Gonzales, forcibly took her to his grandfather's ranch and raped her before he used a rifle to fatally shoot her. Gonzales, who was later caught and sentenced to life in prison for another case of rape and kidnapping, confessed to the murder and led the police to a field where he disposed of Townsend's body in October 2002. Gonzales was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death, and later executed on June 26, 2024.[22]
Wife of the then-Governor of Colombia's Huila Department, Jaime Lozada Perdomo, who was kidnapped along with her sons by FARC guerillas in 2001. She was kept as a political hostage, possibly due to the fact that her husband owed FARC money, but was later released as part of a prisoner exchange.[23]
Lucas Terra was a Brazilian teenage boy who disappeared from Salvador on March 21, 2001[24] and was found dead two days later after being killed and raped. Silvio Galiza, a pastor of the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God, was convicted and is currently in prison for the crime.
Williams was an English schoolgirl who vanished while going window shopping in Deptford on April 21, 2001. She was presumed to be a runaway until her body was found on March 15, 2002. Irish sex offender Robert Howard, who is suspected of other murders, was convicted of her murder and sentenced to life imprisonment.[25]
Three-year-old Erica Green was a murder victim whose decapitated body was discovered on April 28, 2001, in Kansas City, Missouri, 12 to 48 hours after death. Her head was found in a trash bag nearby on May 1, 2001.[26] The victim remained unidentified until May 5, 2005. Her mother and stepfather were convicted of her murder in 2008 and sentenced to 25 years and life in prison, respectively.
A 63-year-old father who disappeared from his Harrow home in May 2001. Although his body has never been found, Banfield's wife and daughter were found guilty of his murder in 2012,[28] though their convictions were overturned on appeal in 2013.[29]
13-year-old Mananya Thumpong failed to return home from her local library in Sedan on May 5, 2001. On March 1, 2002, her skeletal remains were found in a forest in Paliseul. In 2004, Michel Fourniret confessed to kidnapping and killing her.[30]
Two Jewish teenagers murdered on the outskirts of the Israeli settlement of Tekoa in the West Bank. The teenagers' bodies were discovered in a cave the following morning. Both had been bound, stabbed and bludgeoned to death with rocks. The identity of the perpetrators has never been determined, though Israel and a number of sources believe unidentified Palestinian terrorists were responsible.[31][32]
On May 11, 2001, serial rapist-kidnapper John Jamelske offered a ride home to a 26-year-old white woman walking in downtown Syracuse while under the influence of LSD, which the woman accepted due to the poor weather. Jamelske took her back to his bunker, where he raped her daily. When she resisted, Jamelske inflicted cigar burns on her, from which she developed an abscess on her lower back. Jamelske also manipulated her with claims that he was actually part of an underground slavery syndicate, of which the police were a part. Jamelske held the woman captive for about two months before releasing her. He later pleaded guilty to five counts of first-degree kidnapping and was sentenced to 18 years to life in prison.[33]
Last seen at a bus stop near her home in East Tilbury, Essex, Jones' uncle Stuart Campbell was found guilty of her murder in December 2002 (despite her body not being found) after he was found to have used her phone in the period after her disappearance.[34]
A British tourist from Hepworth, West Yorkshire, who disappeared in the Australian outback in July 2001 while traveling with girlfriend Joanne Lees. Bradley Murdoch was convicted of Falconio's murder and sentenced to life in prison.[35]
Managing director of a shoe store who was kidnapped from a rural road in Tiljala, India, on July 25, 2001, but was released a little over a week later after the ransom was paid. Some of the ransom was allegedly used to fund the September 11 attacks and the 2001 Indian Parliament attack.[36]
Martin-Smith was murdered and his body dismembered by four acquaintances (who were involved in the drug trade) because they believed him to be a police informant. His case went unsolved until 2015, when two of his original killers, Mark Searle and Steve McNicol, were charged, convicted and imprisoned. The remaining two, Jimmy Millen and Frank Torpey, were unable to be charged, as Millen had been killed by the others and Torpey died before he could be arrested.[37]
American freelance journalist who was struck by falling debris while shooting photos of the collapsing towers of the September 11 attacks. His body and camera were recovered four days later.[38]
Colombian politician, writer and self-taught journalist best known for creating the Vallenato Legend Festival. On September 24, 2001, she was kidnapped and later killed by FARC guerillas, in an effort to prevent her rescue by the Colombian Army.[39]
A six-year-old girl and her mother disappeared from her home in Grand Junction, Colorado on November 13, 2001.[40] Her mother Jennifer Loman Blagg was discovered on June 4, 2002 having been murdered by her father, Michael Francis Blagg. Abigail was never found.[41]
Scottish musician best known as the frontman for the rock group Big Country. Adamson disappeared on November 26, 2001, and was found dead in a hotel room on December 16, 2001. His cause of death was determined to be suicide.[45]
Abducted from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on January 1, 2002, by 38-year-old Scott Tyree; the two had met online, and Kozakiewicz believed they were the same age. She was rescued four days later.[46] Afterwards, she went on to become a television personality and an advocate for internet safety and missing persons, as well as founding the Alicia Project.[47]
English schoolboy who disappeared from the Hampshire harbour town of Hamble-le-Rice after a fishing expedition on January 1, 2002. Sections of Nolan's body were discovered inside two socks in Swanage, Dorset, on May 15, 2003.[48]
A seven-year-old child from Sabre Springs, San Diego, California, who was abducted from her bedroom during the night of February 1–2, 2002. Her body was found on February 27 in a remote area. Her murderer, David Alan Westerfield, was arrested on February 22—five days before van Dam's body was discovered. He was later convicted of the child's kidnap and first-degree murder.[49]
An American journalist who was kidnapped and murdered[50][51] on February 1, 2002, in Karachi, Sindh, and was found dead on May 16, 2002. Pearl's murder remains unsolved.
Colombian presidential candidate and her campaign manager who were kidnapped by FARC guerillas on February 23, 2002. Both of them were freed during separate actions of Operation Emmanuel.[52]
Ramírez—also known as Regina 11—is a renowned mentalist, psychic, mystic and faith healer. She was kidnapped on February 23, 2002, and held hostage for five months in the mountains of Colombia before being released.[53]
Algerian boxer who mysteriously disappeared after meeting a man with whom he wanted to export two cars from Marseille, France. His fate remained unclear until DNA tests conducted two years later confirmed that a body found in the country was his. The man was later arrested, convicted and sentenced to eight years' imprisonment for the crime.[54]
13-year-old Milly Dowler disappeared in Walton-on-Thames while on her way home from school on March 21, 2002. In September of that year, mushroom pickers found her remains in a Hampshire forest. British serial killer Levi Bellfield was later convicted of her abduction and murder.[55]
John Darwin was a former British teacher and prison officer who faked his own death in March 2002 so that his wife could collect a £250,000 life insurance sum. For five years, Darwin lived secretly in the family home and a home immediately adjacent, living under an alias. He was arrested in London on December 1, 2007.[56] His wife, Anne, was also arrested and charged with helping Darwin to collect this policy sum and concealing the truth about his disappearance.[57]
Colombian politician who helped create the Quindío Department, of which he later became the first governor. On April 11, 2002, he was kidnapped by members of the National Liberation Army, and is said to have died from kidney failure while in detention.[58]
Colombian businessmen and Liberal Party politicians who were kidnapped by FARC guerillas on April 22, 2002. They were held in captivity in the country's mountainous regions until they and eight other hostages were killed by their kidnappers in a botched rescue operation.[59]
Eunsoon Jun was a chemist who went missing from Richmond, California. Her murdered body was found 5 months later buried in cat litter in the home that she shared with her boyfriend, who went by the alias "Larry Vanner." "Larry", whose real name was Terry Peder Rasmussen, was found guilty for her murder and died while in prison.[60][61][62]
Smart was kidnapped from her bedroom on June 5, 2002, and was found to be alive when police officers rescued her nine months later on March 12, 2003, in Sandy, Utah, about 18 miles from her home.[63]
Tucker was a 6-year-old American boy[64] who disappeared on June 23, 2002, and became the victim of a murder where no body was found.[65] His mother, Katherine Rutan, was convicted of first-degree murder in September 2007, and the jury recommended a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.[66] Rutan was formally sentenced to life without parole in October 2007.[67]
Hinz was a 37-year-old trainee rabbi who was last seen in the early hours of July 3 leaving The Black Cap gay bar in Camden, London, after being seen chatting to another man. A few days later, dismembered body parts were found in bin bags near St Pancras Way, and on July 12 the remains were identified as belonging to Hinz. He had been murdered by Thomas McDowell.[68]
British woman Tina Baker was last seen on July 8, 2002, after saying she was going to feed the animals on her and her husband's farm in Chobham. Her pet dog was later found abandoned nearby. Police soon became suspicious of her husband and he was convicted of her murder in 2006. His first wife testified at his trial that he had previously threatened to kill her and feed her to the pigs when they were getting divorced, and evidence put him close to the farm on the day. The motive for the murder appeared to be that he feared he was going to lose the £100,000, 14-acre farm.[69]
Last seen during the evening hours riding her bicycle near her church in Algoa, Texas, on July 12, 2002. Her body was discovered in a Texas City reservoir on July 28.[70]
On August 4, 2002, two 10-year-old girls, Jessica Chapman and Holly Wells, disappeared after they left Wells' home to buy sweets. Both of the girls' bodies were found in a ditch by RAF Lakenheath airbase on August 17.[71] Local man Ian Huntley was found to have lured the girls into his house and murdered the girls—likely via asphyxiation—and was sentenced to a minimum of 40 years' imprisonment on December 17, 2003, while his girlfriend Maxine Carr was given a three-and-a-half-year prison sentence for perverting the course of justice (she had provided Huntley a false alibi).[71][72] The 13-day search for the two girls has been described as one of the most intense and extensive in British criminal history.[73][74]
A member of a motorcycle gang with known links to underworld figures. Collins was last seen alive leaving his Tabulam farm address on August 25, 2002. Notorious Australian criminal Mark "Chopper" Read confessed to Collins' murder shortly before his death in 2013.[77]
Mexican telenovela actress who was kidnapped along with her sister in September 2002, allegedly to elicit a large ransom from her half-sister's husband, multi-millionaire Tommy Mottola. Both were eventually released without incident.[78]
The final victim of serial rapist and kidnapperJohn Jamelske, and the individual whose abduction led to his downfall. Jamelske abducted this 16-year-old runaway in October 2002; she escaped from captivity by discreetly phoning her sister from a bar on April 8, 2003. The sister in turn returned the call and persuaded the employee who answered the call to notify authorities.[79]
An international student in Vancouver, British Columbia, who disappeared on October 9, 2002. Zhao's body was found in a suitcase by hikers near Stave Lake on October 20, 2002.[80]
Laci Peterson disappeared from California while eight months pregnant with her first child on December 24, 2002. On April 13, 2003, a couple walking their dog discovered her body. Peterson's husband was found guilty of murdering her.
Twenty-year-old Becky Godden-Edwards was last seen alive on January 1, 2003, getting into a taxi outside a nightclub in Swindon, England, after a night out with friends.[81] She was only formally reported missing in 2007.[82] Her body was discovered in March 2011 after a suspect who was arrested for the murder of Sian O'Callaghan in Swindon led police to both O'Callaghan's and Godden-Edwards's bodies.[83] Although the suspect, local taxi driver Christopher Haliwell, confessed to the murder, he was not charged and convicted for it until 2016.[83]
Estelle Mouzin was a nine-year-old girl who disappeared from the city of Guermantes in France on January 9, 2003. Serial killer and pedophile Michel Fourniret confessed to her murder in 2020, although her body has never been found.[84]
Jeff Wright was stabbed to death on January 13, 2003, by his wife Susan Wright, who buried his body in their Houston backyard before reporting him for domestic abuse. Susan eventually surrendered on January 18 and charged with killing her husband. She was sentenced to 20 years in prison and was eventually paroled in 2020.[85]
On January 30, 2003, 24-year-old Leann Emry disappeared from Moab, Utah. Her remains were discovered in March 2009 in a remote part of the Colorado and Utah border. In October 2009, Scott Lee Kimball, a serial killer, pleaded guilty to murdering Emry.[86][87]
American employees of Northrop Grumman who were abducted by FARC guerillas in the Colombian jungles on February 13, 2003. They and one other man were kept in detention until their release on July 2, 2008.[88]
Autistic teenager who was killed by two friends in a park in Ephrata, Washington, on February 15, 2003. He was initially reported missing, but the two boys later revealed the body location, were convicted of his death and given long sentences.[89]
Egyptian Islamic cleric who was kidnapped in Italy by CIA agents, then brought back to Egypt, where he was kept in detention and tortured for four years. His abduction caused the spark of the Abu Omar case.[91]
Siddiqui was kidnapped along with his two younger siblings by their mother, Aafia Siddiqui, in March 2003, when they were on vacation in Karachi, Pakistan. Since Ahmed was an American citizen, his case was investigated by the FBI, which had also suspected his mother of being related to extremist groups like al-Qaeda. In the summer of 2008, both Aafia and Ahmed were detained by police in Afghanistan, with Ahmed later returned safely to New York, but the whereabouts of his other siblings remain unknown.[92]
Foster disappeared while walking home from a night out in Southampton on March 14, 2003.[93] Two days later her body was found in Allington Lane in the city.[93] Foster had made a 999 call but could not be heard on the call.[93] She had been abducted and murdered by Maninder Pal Singh Kohli, who was arrested after 16 months on the run in India and finally extradited and convicted in 2008.[93]
David Hotyat shot and killed his landlord and the landlord's wife and three children at their ski chalet in Le Grand-Bornand. The family remained missing for months.[94] He burned their bodies in the forest and was arrested in September after DNA analysis linked him to the bodies.[95]
Berry disappeared on April 21, 2003, the day before her 17th birthday.[96] She was walking home from her job at Burger King. During captivity, Berry gave birth to a daughter. Just over 10 years later, on May 6, 2013, Berry escaped along with Michelle Knight, Gina DeJesus and Berry's daughter.[97] They were in reasonable health and within 3 miles of the site of their disappearances. They were kidnapped, and held in captivity by Ariel Castro, who was convicted to life imprisonment, and committed suicide in prison.
Moore was a Guyanese immigrant who was kidnapped from her apartment in Brooklyn on April 24, 2003. Her abductors, Troy Hendrix and Kayson Pearson, later tortured, raped and murdered her at an abandoned house, with her body found only two months later. Both men were arrested and convicted on all charges in 2006, both receiving life imprisonment without parole for the crime.[98]
A transgender woman strangled to death by 29-year-old Jatin Patel in North Vancouver, British Columbia, on May 27, 2003. Patel murdered Tom upon discovering that Tom was transgender during a sexual encounter. Her body was discovered behind a dry cleaning establishment four days later.[99]
A Malaysian and IT analyst who was married and employed in the United States. She returned to Malaysia on June 1, 2003, due to worry over her ailing father's cancer. After he slowly recovered, Ong was set to return to the USA on June 14, 2003. However, the night before the date of her flight, at the shopping centre, she went missing and was abducted by 27-year-old MAS airplane cleaner Ahmad Najib bin Aris. Ahmad Najib later raped and murdered Ong, whose body was found four days after her reported disappearance. The killer was eventually caught on June 20, 2003, and he was found guilty of murder and rape in a highly reported trial in February 2005. Ahmad Najib was sentenced to death for murder, and was also sentenced to 20 years in jail and 10 strokes of the cane for rape.[100] More than 11 years after his trial, and after the loss of his appeals and after the Sultan of Selangor's rejection of his plea for pardon, 40-year-old Ahmad Najib bin Aris was hanged at Kajang Prison on the morning of September 23, 2016.
On August 23, 2003, 19-year-old Kaysi McLeod disappeared on her way to work. Scott Lee Kimball, a serial killer who was dating McLeod's mother at the time, was meant to drive her that day but claimed that he went hunting instead. McLeod's remains were found by a hunter in Jackson County in 2007. In 2009, Kimball pleaded guilty to murdering Kaysi.[101][102]
British schoolgirl Shafilea Ahmed disappeared from her house in Warrington, Cheshire, on September 11, 2003, and a week later one of her teachers contacted the police.[104] After several police appeals, her body was found in the River Kent in Cumbria in February 2004.[104] She had been suffocated with a plastic bag by her parents in a suspected "honour killing", due to their belief that she had become too Westernised, and they were convicted of her murder in 2012.[104]
Canadian schoolgirl who was kidnapped for ransom by Chinese international student Min Chen in Toronto on October 20, 2003. She accidentally died during her detention, and her body was discovered on March 27, 2004. He was later sentenced to life imprisonment.[105]
Morcombe disappeared from the roadside near his Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia, home on December 7, 2003. His remains were found in 2011 as forensic testing confirmed that the bones were Morcombe's.[107]Brett Peter Cowan was convicted of murder in the case.
British woman who was last heard from around late 2003. She had cut off contact with most people who she knew. Her corpse was discovered on January 25, 2006, in her flat, Her date of death given to be around December 2003. The cause of which is unknown, but believed to have been a medical condition. Various things (such as partial rent and energy bills being paid or forgiven by social programs, and the foul odour being attributed to outside waste bins) led to her body being left undiscovered for over two years.[108]
Sometime in 2004, 60-year-old Terry Kimball disappeared from Westminster, Colorado. He was living with his nephew, Scott Lee Kimball, at the time, who was later found to be a serial killer. In July 2009, Scott revealed to the authorities where he had mummified Terry's body in a remote mountain pass near Vail, Colorado. He was told that in exchange for the information he would not face charges for Terry's death. Scott was already serving time for other murders.[109]
Armitage was a Thai-born Englishwoman who vanished without a trace sometime in 2004, only for her body to be discovered on the Pen-y-ghent mountain on September 20 of that year. She was initially unidentified until 2019, when DNA testing confirmed her identity. A man has been arrested in connection with her death.[110]
Gray, an American actor, writer and monologist, was declared missing on January 11, 2004. On March 7, 2004, the Office of Chief Medical Examiner of the City of New York reported that Gray's body had been discovered by two men and pulled from the East River.[111] He is said to have committed suicide by drowning himself.
See was abducted by Kher Tian Hock, after she was last seen boarding his car and wanting to go out for tea with Kher. Kher raped and killed See before he buried her body in cement at the front yard of his friend's house. Kher was arrested a month after the crime, but he escaped from the police station and went into hiding for seven years before he was arrested again in October 2011. Kher was sentenced to death in 2015, and remains on death row since 2024 after losing his final appeal.[112][113]
A Frenchman who disappeared on March 5, 2004, on an expedition to reach the North Pole. Chamard-Boudet was rescued on March 9 after transmitting a distress call.[114]
American professional wrestler who was involved in an April 2004 altercation with two men when he came to the aid of a woman who they were in the process of raping. He fought the men and was shot with a .25-caliber handgun in the back of the neck and in the right shoulder, to which he originally thought he had received a punch, as a result of the scuffle.[115] After being shot, Saturn became addicted to methamphetamine and was homeless for two and a half years.[116][117] Saturn disappeared from public view and was not seen for several years, with his family and friends unaware of his whereabouts.[118] He reemerged in 2010, having resolved his addiction.[117]
Berg was an American freelance radiotower repairman who owned a company based in Mosul, Iraq. In April 2004, during one of his frequent visits to Baghdad, he disappeared mysteriously. About a month later, his decapitated body was found by an overpass, and three days after a discovery, a video surfaced showing an Islamist jihadist group, Muntada al-Ansar, had kidnapped Berg. After forcing him to read a lengthy statement, one of his captors proceeded to decapitate him with a knife.[119]
Farrell was a British-Irish journalist who was kidnapped by Sunni extremists in April 2004, while on a work assignment for The Times in Fallujah, Iraq. He was later released without incident.[120]
French schoolboy who was abducted from a school summer camp in Saint-Brevin-les-Pins on April 6, 2004. His naked body, which was bound to a cinderblock, was found in a pond in Guérande on May 19. German serial killer and prolific child rapist Martin Ney has been charged in his murder.[121]
Onyemaechi was the daughter of a Malawian judge who had sought asylum in Ireland with her first husband. Her decapitated remains were discovered in Piltown, County Kilkenny, Ireland, on 23 July 2004. She had been reported missing on 10 July.[122]
Dekendra Thapa was a Nepali journalist who disappeared on August 11, 2004, from Dailekh District of western Nepal. His deceased body was found four years later buried inside a local forest after he was murdered.[123]
Kim Sun-il was a South Korean Christian missionary and interpreter working for a company contracted by the American government to work in Iraq. On May 30, 2004, he was kidnapped near Fallujah by the Islamist militant group Jama'at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad and held as a hostage. About a month after his abduction, the group sent a tape to Al Jazeera, which depicted Sun-il being decapitated by one of his captors.[125]
Chinese University of Canberra communications student said to have disappeared in June 2004, she was found murdered in her flat in Belconnen in January 2005.[126]
Johnson, an American helicopter engineer stationed at a Lockheed Martin factory in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, was kidnapped by members of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula on June 12, 2004, at a fake checkpoint near Riyadh. Despite calls from both the Saudi and American governments for his release, his kidnappers beheaded him in a recorded video, with his head later recovered from a refrigerator in a villa near Riyadh.[127]
Frances Rasuge, a 27-year-old South African Police Servicesconstable, disappeared in Temba, South Africa, on 27 August 2004. She was last seen in the company of her boyfriend, William Nkuna, at a hairdressing salon. Nkuna was subsequently convicted of murdering Rasuge and was sentenced to life in prison in November 2005. On 20 March 2012, construction workers discovered Rasuge's remains in Nkuna's backyard.[128][129]
Discovered naked and beaten and with severe amnesia on August 31, 2004, at a Burger King in Richmond Hill, Georgia;[130] after efforts from genetic genealogists, his true identity was finally discovered on September 16, 2015.[131] Powell had forgotten his identity and had been living under the name "Benjaman Kyle".
North Korean defector who was abducted in Jilin, China while filming a documentary about the regime's involvement in the drug trade. She was deported back to North Korea, where she was tortured and later killed at the Chongjin concentration camp.[132]
Daughter of former Paraguayan president Raúl Cubas Grau who was kidnapped by armed gunmen from her home in Asunción on September 21, 2004. Her naked body was later found in an underground chamber, having been buried alive by her captors, who were trained by Colombian terrorist group FARC.[133]
Kenneth Bigley was a British civil engineer, who together with his American colleagues Jack Hensley and Eugene Armstrong, was kidnapped by Islamist militants from Jama'at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad in Baghdad, Iraq. Two days after his kidnapping, a video surfaced showcasing the masked militants threatening to execute their captives unless their demands for Iraqi women prisoners were not met. Despite intervention from the British government and the Muslim Council of Britain, Bigley was killed two weeks later, with his decapitation being recorded and posted on the internet. His body was not recovered.[134]
On October 10, 2004, 8-year-old Huang Na, who came from China to Singapore to study as an international student, went missing from Pasir Panjang. There was a three-week-long search for the girl, which extended from Singapore to Malaysia, with many news reports covering the search and flyers distributed. There were also some monetary rewards offered for any information on the girl's whereabouts. On October 30, 2004, 23-year-old Malaysian Chinese Took Leng How confessed that he killed Huang Na in a storeroom during a game of hide-and-seek. The body was found stuffed in an abandoned box at Telok Blangah the next day, and Took, who was a close acquaintance of Huang Na and her family, was charged with murder. An autopsy result showed that there was possibly some form of sexual assault on the girl, but it was not conclusively proven due to the corpse's high state of decomposition. There were some suggestions that Took was mentally ill, and that the girl could have died of other causes instead of murder, but nevertheless, Took was found guilty and sentenced to death. Took's appeal was later dismissed by the three-judge Court of Appeal on a rare split decision of 2 to 1 (two judges upheld the murder conviction and one disagreed with the verdict). Took's clemency appeal was also turned down, and, subsequently, he was executed on November 3, 2006, by hanging in Changi Prison.[135]
Hassan was an Irish-Iraqi aid worker associated with Care International, providing many locals with medicine and food. On October 19, 2004, she was kidnapped by an unidentified Islamist militant group in Baghdad, who recorded her execution in a hostage video two weeks after her kidnapping. Her remains have never been recovered, and her killer, architect Ali Lutfi Jassar al-Rawi, escaped from prison in 2010, with his whereabouts still unknown.[136]
American contractor who, together with several other men, was kidnapped by 20 masked gunmen from his home in Baghdad, Iraq on November 1, 2004. He and an Iraqi captive were liberated by Delta Force on September 7, 2005.[137]
An evolutionary biologist who had ceased contact with her family in 2002 and had last been seen in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 2005. In May 2012 she was told by a friend about her "disappearance" and contacted her family. She had been living in an isolated location, suffering from a physical ailment that caused her severe pain, and had not realized she was considered "missing".[138][139]
The eldest daughter of serial killer Simmi Kahlon who disappeared shortly after her birth in 2005, and she was found four years later, murdered by her mother.[140]
Italian journalist who was kidnapped by insurgents while working in Baghdad, Iraq on February 4, 2005. She was later safely released, but the subsequent incident involving her caused turmoil between the American and Italian governments.[141]
Lunsford was an American girl who was abducted from her home in Homosassa, Florida, in the early morning of February 24, 2005, by John Couey; her body was found three weeks later, buried at the home of Couey's half-sister, who lived within sight of the Lunsford home.[142]
Girollet was a 20-year-old medical student who disappeared following a dance party in Mâcon on March 19. Her body was found in the Saône River in Mâcon on April 2. She had been sexually assaulted, stabbed in the chest, and strangled.[143]
Australian construction engineer who was held hostage while working for an American company in Baghdad, Iraq in May 2005. He was eventually rescued on June 20 by Iraqi security forces.[144]
Nicholl disappeared from North Yorkshire at the end of June 2005. David Hodgson, a 45-year-old married father of two, who had been having an affair with her for five years, was convicted of her murder. She was also seeing Hodgson's older brother, which police say, was the reason for her murder as David Hodgson became obsessively jealous about her relationship with his brother. He was convicted in February 2008 and sentenced to life with a minimum of 18 years, yet Nicholl's body has never been found.[145]
Phoenix Sinclair was a Canadian female child who disappeared on 11 June 2005 from Fisher River Cree Nation, Manitoba and remains were found on March 18, 2006, found in a landfill[146] at Fisher River after she had been murdered by her mother and stepdad.
A 21-year-old woman murdered in Battle Creek, Michigan by serial killer Harold Haulman on June 12, 2005. Haulman confessed to Parlier's murder in 2021. Although he claimed to have discarded Parlier's body in woodland in Newton Township, her remains were never found.[147]
Egyptian ambassador to Iraq who was abducted by Islamist militants on July 3, 2005, while he was buying a newspaper in Baghdad. Four days later, a video was posted on the internet in which el-Sherif's captors claimed that he had been killed for having ties with Israel, and his death was later confirmed by the Egyptian government.[149]
Argentinian–Mexican football player who was kidnapped and held hostage near Xochimilco on July 19, 2005. He was rescued on September 21, 2005, by federal agents, and his kidnapper Omar Sandoval Orihuela was sentenced to 26 years' imprisonment.[150]
On August 1, 2005, the married couple was reported missing from their home in Brescia, Italy.[151] Their dismembered bodies were discovered later the same month and their heads were found in 2006.[152] Their nephew Guglielmo Gatti was found guilty of the crime.[153]
Canadian woman who mysteriously disappeared from her home in Markham, Ontario, on August 17, 2005. Her body was found on September 21 in a wooded area near Cresswell. Her neighbor, Daniel Sylvester, was later convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment for her murder.[155]
Peter Tobin, a man who had previously been jailed in 1994 for a sex attack on two girls in Portsmouth, was declared to have breached the terms of his licensed release in November 2005 when police found they could not trace his location.[156] A warrant was issued for his arrest, and he was on the run for almost a year.[156] He was not discovered until he murdered Angelika Kluk in Glasgow in September 2006.[156]
VCU student who disappeared on September 5, 2006, while going on a meet-up with a man she had previously dated. That same man, Benjamin Fawley, would later be convicted of her murder and sentenced to 30 years' imprisonment, after her body was found dumped in a ravine a month after she disappeared.[157]
Grinstead, a beauty queen and high-school history teacher, vanished after attending a beauty pageant the night before. Suspicion fell on 27-year-old Andrew Haley due to videos he posted, but police revealed them to be elaborate hoaxes. A latex glove found outside Grinstead's home revealed DNA, matching Ryan Duke's DNA. In 2017, Bo Dukes and Ryan Duke (no relation) were arrested and charged in the case with (among other things) murder. Dukes told investigators in 2017 he helped Duke burn the body of a woman Duke had allegedly killed by accident on a pecan orchard. However, he recanted the confession. In 2019, Bo Dukes was convicted of concealing the death of another, hindering apprehension of a criminal, tampering with evidence, and two counts of making false statements. He was found guilty on all counts and sentenced to 25 years in prison. In 2022, Ryan Duke was found Not Guilty of malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault and burglary. He was found guilty for concealing her death and was sentenced to 10 years in prison.[158]
Teenager who disappeared while returning home from a late-night shift at her workplace in Barrhaven, Canada on September 8, 2005. Her body was found ten days later, and a pizza worker named Kevin Davis was later convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment for her murder.[159]
Members of the Christian Peacemaker Teams who were abducted along with two others on November 26, 2005, by the Swords of Righteousness Brigade while in Baghdad, Iraq. While Fox was executed and his body found in a garbage dump on March 10, 2006, Sooden and the two others were rescued in a military operation on March 23.[160]
German archaeologist who was kidnapped, together with her driver, while en route to Baghdad on November 25, 2005. She was eventually freed on December 18, but her kidnappers have never been positively identified.[161]
A woman from Texas, who was reported missing in December 2005, and was found buried underneath the old San Angelo speedway[162] on March 8, 2017.[163] Her ex-husband Robert had faced charges in her death,[164] and both he and his current wife pleaded guilty and were sentenced to 38 years in prison.[165]
Jackson disappeared while walking to her school in Lakewood, Washington, in an area reportedly populated by registered sex offenders. Her skeletonized body was later found in a thicket. While the exact cause of death has not been determined, it was deemed suspicious, and the unsolved killing is currently under investigation by the FBI.[166]
English oil rig worker who was kidnapped by Nigerian kidnappers while working on the Aban Pearl. He and several others were held in the jungle for days, before the Nigerian government managed to negotiate their release for $200,000 ransom.[167]
American journalist for The Wall Street Journal who was kidnapped by Iraqi militants on January 7, 2006. She was held hostage by her captors for two months, but was freed without harm. She later retired from journalism and became a firefighter.[168]
Chee and her sister were last seen jogging together at Sungai Petani, Kedah, Malaysia on the evening of 14 January 2006, and while Chee's younger sister was still far behind, Chee was abducted by an unknown person and one of her shoes was left behind on the scene. Her sister, who realized she was missing and had not returned home, informed her family and a police report was lodged, leading to a massive search conducted by the police and Chee's family and friends. Nine hours after she went missing, Chee was found dead with multiple stab wounds all over her body, and she had been raped and sodomized prior to her death. The case remained unsolved for six years before her killer, Shahril Jaafar, who was the son of a Datuk businessman, was arrested in January 2012 at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport after arriving from Perth, Australia. Shahril was originally acquitted of the crime but following a re-trial, Shahril was found guilty of murdering Chee and sentenced to death by the Alor Setar High Court in August 2015. Shahril's appeals between 2016 and 2024 were all dismissed, and he remains on death row since.[169][170]
Äikiä, a Swedish boy with Fragile X syndrome from Nässjö, Jönköping County, who on January 14, 2006, was tortured and killed by his mother and stepfather.[171] and his body was then hidden by them. In February 2006 Äikiä's body was found and mother and stepfather were charged with the crime.[172]
Mahmod, an Iraqi-Kurdish immigrant living in London, was killed by her family members when she refused to engage with a man in a forced marriage. After being raped and tortured for hours, she was strangled and her body stuffed in a suitcase, which the perpetrators buried in a garden in Handsworth, West Midlands. The killers were arrested a month after her murder, and police used phone and vehicle tracking to locate Mahmod's remains.[173]
Halimi, a French mobile phone salesman working in Paris, was kidnapped by a gang of criminals who believed that all Jewish people were rich. The "Gang of Barbarians", led by Youssouf Fofana, sent threatening messages and ransom letters to the family members, demanding that they be paid in exchange for his release. Halimi, who had been tortured during the process, died as a result of his injuries. His captors would later be arrested and sentenced to varying terms of imprisonment.[174]
Nurasyra binte Mohamed Fauzi, affectionately known by her nickname "Nonoi" went missing in Singapore on March 1, 2006. She was said to be last seen in her step-grandparents' ground floor flat in Circuit Road, Singapore. Over the next three days, there was a highly publicised search for the girl, with all her family members, friends, and strangers (including the police) participated in the search and distributing flyers. Then, on the third day after her disappearance, Nonoi's stepfather Mohammed Ali bin Johari, aged 29, confessed to his wife and mother-in-law that he had accidentally drowned her in water, and led the police to where he disposed the little girl's body. Mohammed Ali was then charged with murder. Autopsy results showed that the girl was sexually assaulted before her death, to which Mohammed Ali repeatedly denied raping the girl. In August 2007, in a widely reported trial, the High Court of Singapore found 31-year-old Mohammed Ali guilty of murder and sentenced him to death. Mohammed Ali later lost his appeal, and he was eventually hanged on December 19, 2008.[175]
Dana Lowrey last contacted her estranged husband in Minden, Louisiana, in May 2006. She had traveled the United States selling magazines and at the time she last spoke to him, she was in Ohio. Lowrey is believed to be the first victim of serial killer Shawn Grate, who confessed to murdering the victim in 2016. Her remains were found in March 2007 but not identified. Lowrey was identified by the DNA Doe Project in June 2019.[176]
David Sharp was an English mountaineer who disappeared on May 15, 2006, while climbing Mount Everest in Tibet and his body was recovered a year later.[177]
Nathalie Mahy and Stacy Lemmens were two Belgian stepsisters who disappeared in the city of Liège on June 10, 2006, and were found murdered on June 28.[179] On June 10, 2008, Abdallah Ait Oud was found guilty by a jury of kidnapping, rape and murder of the children, and sentenced to life imprisonment (which, under the Belgian law, is most of the time not fully served in prison, but later on changed into a suspended sentence).[180][181][182]
Petro-Nixon was an American teenager from Brooklyn, New York, who went missing on June 18, 2006. Her body was discovered on June 22, 2006, in a trash bag in front of 212 Kingston Avenue. It was determined that Petro-Nixon had been strangled.[183]
Liebs was a student nurse who disappeared on June 20, 2006, after last being seen at a pub in Paderborn's city center.[184] Her skeletonized body was found by a hunter on October 4, 2006, in a forested area next to a Landesstraße ("state road") near Lichtenau.[185]
Asheri was an Israeli student who was kidnapped and later killed by PRC militants on June 25, 2006, while on his way to Neveh Tzuf. His body, buried in an open field near a village, was recovered by IDF forces.[186]
Israeli soldiers abducted by Hezbollah militants near the Lebanese border, sparking the 2006 Lebanon War. Their bodies were repatriated to Israel in 2008, as part of a prisoner exchange. The Lebanese government claimed that they were killed by Israeli bombing. Israel claims that they were killed by Hezbollah.[187]
Norton had disappeared on July 16, 2006, from Salt Lake City, Utah. Her body was found on July 24, 2006, less than 100 feet from her home in the basement of her neighbor, Craig Roger Gregerson.[188]
Inadvertently killed by his foster parents on August 4–6, 2006, who had kept him locked in the closet. His incinerated remains were found 24 days later in Brown County, Ohio.[189]
A reporter for Fox News kidnapped alongside colleague Olaf Wiig in the Gaza Strip by Palestinian militants. Their kidnappers demanded that all Muslim prisoners in the United States be freed from custody. Although this demand was not met, both were freed after 13 days of captivity after claiming to have converted to Islam. (Both later stated they had falsely claimed to have converted at gunpoint.)[190]
Uzbekistani investigative journalist who was forcefully interned in a psychiatric hospital on September 12, 2006, for "psychiatric treatment", but the true reason for his detainment is believed to be criticism of the administration of then-President Islam Karimov. He was released in October 2011, but has since been detained again and is currently imprisoned in another psychiatric facility.[191]
Twenty-three-year-old Angelika Kluk, a student from Poland, was last seen alive in the company of a church handyman at St. Patrick's Church in Glasgow.[192] Kluk's body was discovered hidden under the floorboards of the church on September 29.[193] After a nationwide search, the church's handyman, who turned out to be the missing sex offender Peter Tobin, was found and convicted of Kluk's murder.[192] During investigations Tobin was found to have also murdered Vicky Hamilton and Dinah McNicol, two girls who had disappeared in 1991.[192]
Sri Lankan feminist poet and activist abducted by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, a militant rebel group. Six years after her abduction, LTTE sources confirmed that Thiyagarajah and another activist had been executed at one of their camps.
Gardner-Quinn was an undergraduate at the University of Vermont, who was kidnapped on October 7, 2006. Her body was found along a road in the neighboring town of Richmond on October 13, 2006.[194]
Al-Taie, an Iraqi-born American soldier serving in Baghdad during the Iraq War, was captured by a group of armed militants who held him as a hostage. His fate remained unclear until 2012, when the Iraqi government confirmed that he had been killed in 2008.[195]
19-year-old Tania Nicol, who discreetly worked as a prostitute to fund a drug addiction, disappeared from Ipswich on the night of October 30, 2006.[196] Her body was found in a river on the outskirts of Ipswich on December 8; she had been killed by the serial killer Steve Wright.[196]
Iraqi Chaldean Catholic Church priest who was kidnapped by an Islamist militant group while serving in Baghdad. He was viciously tortured, but eventually released after a ransom of $170,000 was paid to the kidnappers. Since then, Al-Bazi has moved to New Zealand and has become the parish priest of the St. Addai Chaldean Catholic Church in Papatoetoe, doing political activism on behalf of Christians in the Middle East.[197]
25-year-old Gemma Adams, who had turned to prostitution to fund a drug addiction, disappeared from Ipswich on the night of November 15, 2006.[196] Her body was found in a river on the outskirts of Ipswich on December 2, six days before the body of fellow missing Ipswich woman Tania Nichol was found in the same river.[196] Both had been killed by the serial killer Steve Wright.[196]
Three-months-pregnant Anneli Alderton, who worked as a prostitute, disappeared from Ipswich on the evening of December 3, 2006.[196] She was found in woodland on the outskirts of Ipswich on December 10 when a passing motorist reported seeing her body, three days after another motorist mistook it for a manequin and failed to report it.[196] She had been killed by the serial killer Steve Wright.[196]
The American TV personality and his family were travelling back to their home in San Francisco, California, but encountered heavy snow while passing through Oregon, forcing them to change their route. Their vehicle was eventually immobilized, and James later attempted to get help by reaching the nearest town. While his family were later rescued, he died from hypothermia at Big Windy Creek, where his body was found two days later.[198]
29-year-old Annette Nicholls, who worked as a prostitute, disappeared from Ipswich on December 8, 2006.[196] Her body was found alongside fellow missing Ipswich prostitute Paula Clennell in woodland by a road on December 12; both had been killed by the serial killer Steve Wright.[196]
24-year-old Paula Clennell, who discreetly worked as a prostitute, disappeared from Ipswich on the morning of December 10, 2006.[196] Her body was found in woodland by a road on the outskirts of Ipswich on December 12, after a police helicopter spotted her and the body of the missing Ipswich woman Annette Nicholls.[196] Both had been killed by the serial killer Steve Wright.[196]
Bass was an American investor, art collector and documentary filmmaker who was held hostage at her estate by her butler. She was later rescued, and after a five-year-long trial, he was sentenced to 20 years' imprisonment for the crime.[199]
Grant was from Washington Township, Macomb County, Michigan, and was a business consultant, wife, and mother. On February 14, 2007, Grant's husband Stephen had reported that she had been missing for five days after being picked up in their driveway. On March 2, police discovered Tara's dismembered torso stored in plastic bags in the garage. Stephen had fled to Michigan's Wilderness State Park, apparently intent on committing suicide. He was arrested, and confessed to the murder while in custody, citing an argument with Tara that led to him strangling, then dismembering her. He received a sentence of 50–80 years in prison, with no less than 50 years to be served.[200][201]
Erika was an American 15-year-old girl who was murdered in Fitchburg, Wisconsin, in February 2007. Hill's damaged body was found in Gary, Indiana, on February 26, and her identity was not discovered until 2015. Taylin Hill, her adoptive mother, was charged with reckless homicide after Hill's identification, and later pleaded guilty to reduced charges for which she was sentenced to 20 years' imprisonment. Her body was first taken to Chicago and burned, then five days later it was moved to Gary, Indiana.[202] Her identity was not revealed until 2015.[203]
A British journalist for the BBC stationed in Gaza City, Johnston was kidnapped by Army of Islam militants and held in captivity. Despite several false reports of him being executed, he was eventually freed on July 4 and returned to the UK a few days later.[204]
Italian–Swiss journalist and war correspondent for la Repubblica who was kidnapped while working in Afghanistan on March 7, 2007, by Taliban militants led by Dadullah. He was held as a hostage, with his abductors demanding that Italy withdraw its troops, and was eventually released in exchange for five Taliban prisoners.[206]
Schoolboy who was abducted from his home in Brunswick, Georgia, by a group of four kidnappers on March 8, 2007, who then raped and killed him. His body was found on March 15. The main killer, David Edenfield, was sentenced to death.[207]
Barrameda-Jimenez was the sister of Filipino actress and beauty queen Rochelle Barrameda. She disappeared on March 14, 2007, after visiting her children at the house of her estranged husband, Manuel Jimenez III's family in Navotas, Metro Manila. Her body was found more than two years later on June 10, 2009, inside a cemented metal drum on the bottom of Manila Bay near the Navotas Fish Port based on a tip from Manuel Montero, one of the alleged suspects in her murder. Montero confessed that she murdered Barrameda-Jimenez upon the orders of Manuel Jimenez III, his father Manuel Jimenez Jr. and his uncle Lope Jimenez. A driver named Eric Fernandez and a security officer named Lennard Descalso were also named as accomplices. On September 30, 2019, the Malabon Regional Trial Court dismissed the parricide case against Jimenez III and the murder case against his father, his uncle and several other accomplices after Montero recanted his testimony and went missing in 2013.[208][209][210][211]
Hawker, a 22-year-old English teacher working for Nova in Japan, was reported missing on March 26, 2007, after she failed to show up to her classes on that day and the day before. Police went to the apartment of a person of interest in Ichikawa, Chiba, that same day. There, they found Hawker's body buried in a bath of sand. The person of interest, Tatsuya Ichihashi, managed to evade the police for over two years after the police failed to catch him when they went up to his apartment, before being arrested in 2009.[212][213][214]
Oralgaisha Omarshanova was a female Kazakh journalist who disappeared March 30, 2007 in Almaty Province, Kazatkom and her remains were discovered in 2021 after she had been killed.[215]
Smith, an Overland Park, Kansas, teenager, disappeared on June 2, 2007, and was murdered that evening. Smith's body was found in Longview Lake, Missouri, on June 6, 2007.[216] The Kelsey Smith Act was later created in her name.
Paige Birgfeld, a 34-year-old woman from Grand Junction, Colorado, went missing on June 28, 2007. It was discovered that Birgfeld was leading a double life as an escort under the name "Carrie". Birgfeld's body was found on March 6, 2012. In 2014, Lester Ralph Jones was charged with Birgfeld's kidnapping and murder.[217][218]
Felicia Teo, a 19-year-old Singaporean and student of LASALLE College of the Arts, went missing on June 30, 2007, after she was last seen leaving her friends' flat. Teo was reported missing four days after she disappeared, and there were highly publicized search efforts and police investigations made to trace her whereabouts. The police investigations lasted for 13 years before finally in July 2020, the police made a breakthrough and re-classified the case as murder. The two tenants of the flat, where Teo last visited, were classified as suspects, but only one of them, 35-year-old Singaporean Ahmad Danial Mohamed Rafa'ee was arrested and charged with murder. The other suspect, 32-year-old Indonesian Ragil Putra Setia Sukmarahjana, went on the run and was never caught. Ahmad Danial's murder charge was later temporarily stood down and he served 26 months in jail for illegally disposing of Teo's corpse and stealing her belongings.[219][220][221]
Provencher was a girl from Trois-Rivières, Quebec, who disappeared on July 31, 2007.[223] The Quebec media believed that she was kidnapped.[224][225] On December 12, 2015, Quebec police announced that her remains had been found in Mauricie, Quebec.[226][227]
A five-year-old girl from Appenzell, Switzerland, abducted and murdered while bicycling home from a local swimming pool on July 31, 2007. Her body was discovered in woodland close to Oberbüren on September 15. Her murderer, Urs Hans von Aesch, committed suicide on the date of her abduction.[228]
Connelly was a 17-month-old British toddler initially known as "Baby P" in the press who died following a culmination of eight months of physical and mental child abuse during which he had been seen by the London Borough of Haringey Children's Services and National Health Service health professionals but his evident trauma had been ignored or overlooked.[229]
Rayney disappeared from Australia about August 7, 2007; her body was found a week later in a clandestine grave in Kings Park, Perth, with no clear cause of death.[230]
Jazlin was a Malaysian girl who disappeared in Wangsa Maju, Kuala Lumpur, on the night of August 20, 2007. She was found brutally tortured in front of a shop on September 17, 2007, her body stuffed inside a gym bag.[231] Her killer(s) was never caught and thus her murder remains unsolved until today.
A print and broadcast journalist for the Nepal FM, Dristi Weekly, and Avenues TV in Bara. Shah was kidnapped October 4 or 5, 2007, by Communist Party of NepalMaoists from Pipara Bazaar, Kalaiya. His body was discovered in a forest on November 8.[232]
Fossett was a famous businessman and record breaking aviator who went missing on September 3, 2007, while flying over the Great Basin Desert. Exactly one year later, in September 2008, a hiker found Fossett's identification cards in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, California, leading shortly after to the discovery of the plane's wreckage. The remains of Fossett were two large bones, that were found half a mile from the crash site, probably scattered by wild animals.[233][234]
Six-year-old Rowan Ford disappeared from her home in Stella, Missouri, and was found deceased six days later in a cave in McDonald County, Missouri, with forensic reports showing that she had been raped and strangled to death. Christopher Leroy Collings (a family friend of Ford) and David Wesley Spears (Ford's stepfather) were arrested and charged with raping and murdering Ford. Collings was found guilty of murder and sentenced to death in 2012, while Spears was sentenced to 11 years in prison for endangering the welfare of a child and covering up the crime.[235][236]
An American basketball player from Seattle, Washington, who played professionally in Europe, Asia, and Brazil. Harris was last seen alive on November 4. His body was discovered 50 miles east of Brasília on November 18. He is believed to have died on or about November 9. One of several conflicting reports into Harris's death indicates his body was discovered hanging from a tree.[237]
Hiker who went missing in Chattahoochee–Oconee National Forest while walking her dog. Her headless body was found days later in Cumming, Georgia, and investigations later determined that she had been killed by Gary Hilton, a serial killer with at least three previous murders. He was sentenced to life imprisonment for Emerson's murder.[238]
Denison was a college student from Santa Barbara, California, who was abducted on January 20, 2008, from a friend's house in Reno, Nevada. Her body was discovered on February 15, 2008, in a field near a Reno business park after being raped and murdered.[239]
A twelve-year-old girl murdered by her mother, Penny, in Bridgewater, Nova Scotia. Her body was found on 9 February. Penny Bourdreau would later claim she had committed the strangulation murder of her daughter in an effort to conserve her relationship with her boyfriend, Vernon Macumber. She was sentenced to a term of life imprisonment with a recommendation she serve a minimum of 20 years' imprisonment in January 2009.[240]
British award-winning make-up artist who was reported missing from her home in Duddleswell, East Sussex on January 24, 2008. A woman walking her dog found her body in Little Horsted, Uckfield, on May 15, 2008. Diane's husband had murdered her after she had found a phone bill that showed calls to a mistress and a gay chatline.[241]
Pakistani ambassador to Turkey and Afghanistan who was abducted by Tehrik-i-Taliban terrorists while en route to Kabul on February 11, 2008. He and another hostage were released a few months later, after the government and the terrorists negotiated a deal.[242]
Matthews is an English girl who was kidnapped in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, on February 19, 2008.[243] She was found alive and well on March 14, 2008, and it turned out that the "kidnapping" had been a scam by her mother and an uncle of the mother's boyfriend to fraudulently claim a reward for her return.[244] A drama was made about the case showing the extent of the community involvement in trying to locate Shannon.
Rozhetskin was a Russian financier and lawyer, who went missing from his village in Jūrmala, Latvia, on March 16, 2008, under suspicious circumstances, and his body was found in 2013.[245]
An Italian performance and feminist artist who disappeared in Gebze, Turkey on March 31, 2008, during an international hitchhiking trip to promote world peace. Her body was discovered in the same city on April 11, 2008.[246]
16-year-old school dropout Wong Ka-mui, who became a sex worker through a compensated dating network, was reported missing on 29 April 2008, and her last sighting was two days before. Nine days after her disappearance, following a tip-off, a 24-year-old transport worker Ting Kai-tai was arrested on suspicion of murdering Wong. Ting confessed during investigations that he had strangled Wong after they had sex inside his rented flat, before he butchered up her body into bits and pieces, flushing most of the flesh down the toilet while disposing of the severed head and organs into the ocean. Although Wong's head was never recovered despite extensive search efforts, Ting was nonetheless found guilty of first-degree murder and preventing the lawful burial of a body, and sentenced to life imprisonment.[247][248][249]
English television presenter who was arrested on suspicion of murder relating to the death of his fiancée, model Natasha Collins. While her death was later determined to be a drug overdose, Speight disappeared on April 7, 2008, and was later found hanged near Paddington station. Two suicide notes indicated that he had killed himself as he couldn't bear living without his fiancée.[250]
Zimbabwean MDC–T activist who was abducted by a group of armed men on May 13, 2008, while campaigning for the 2008 general election. His body was found later that same month, and it has been proposed that he had been killed by a death squad.[251]
Lindhout, a Canadian freelance journalist, and Brennan, an Australian author and photojournalist, were sent to report on events in Mogadishu, Somalia. On August 23, 2008, two days after their arrival, the pair, along with their translator Abdifatah Mohammed Elmi and driver Mahad Isse, were all kidnapped by Islamist militants and held hostage. After 15 months, during which they were repeatedly tortured and Lindhout raped, all captives were released.[253]
A former victim of human trafficking, Yeary disappeared sometime in the summer of 2008, after her mother was unable to drive her back home. On November 23, 2008, Yeary's body was found in Campbellsport, Wisconsin, but went unidentified until 2021. Her killer(s) have not been located thus far.[254]
British journalist and documentary filmmaker. Langan was kidnapped along with his translator while filming in the Afghanistan–Pakistan border region. Both were held captive by the Taliban for 12 weeks before their release on June 21, 2008.[255]
Caylee was reported missing on July 15, 2008, in Orlando, Florida. On December 11, 2008, her skeletal remains were found with a blanket inside a trash bag in a wooded area near the family home.[75][256] Her mother was accused but acquitted of her murder.
Mother and daughter whose remains were found in the Belanglo State Forest, Australia five years apart, and were initially treated as unrelated. Daniel Holdom was later charged and convicted for both of their deaths, and sentenced to two life terms.[257]
Xin was a 16-year-old schoolgirl abducted by a group of four youths, who subsequently murdered her by strangulation before burning her body to destroy the evidence and even extorted a ransom from her family. Lai's abductors were arrested four days later and charged with her kidnapping and murder. In 2011, the ringleader and only adult of the four, Teh Kim Hong, was found guilty of kidnapping and murder and was sentenced to death; two of his accomplices were detained indefinitely while a third individual was acquitted of all charges. The ringleader remained on death row for 13 years before Malaysia repealed the mandatory death penalty. His death sentence was reduced to 40 years' imprisonment and 17 strokes of the cane in May 2024.[258][259][260]
Journalist for The New York Times who, together with two associates, was kidnapped by Taliban militants on November 10, 2008, while doing research for a book in Afghanistan. His colleagues urged other newspapers not to write anything on the kidnapping in order to maximize his chances of survival, and months later, Rohde and one of the men managed to successfully escape.[261]
Fowler was a Canadian diplomat and special envoy of the UN who was kidnapped while on a peace mission in Niger. After extensive negotiations, he and several other Western hostages were released.[262]
Bretnacher, a French exchange student, was last seen alive on security camera footage walking through the streets after leaving a Budapest nightclub early on December 2, 2008. Her handbag, with her phone and personal effects, was found on a bridge over the Danube the following day that she is seen crossing in the video footage. Two months later her body was found on Csepel, an island in the river within the city, upstream from the bridge. Despite being unable to identify the cause of death, Hungarian authorities closed the case in 2014.[263] Bretnacher's parents believe she may have been killed, and the French government has opened its own investigation.[264]
An American baby and homicide victim whose body was found off of South Carolina Highway 544, on the outskirts of Conway in Horry County, South Carolina on December 4, 2008. He had been abandoned by his own mother, and died of hypothermia. Woodham remained unidentified for over eleven years, but was identified in March 2020. His mother, Jennifer Sahr, was arrested the same month, and pleaded guilty to manslaughter in 2022; she was later sentenced to four years' imprisonment.[265]
Panagopoulos, a successful Greek shipping magnate who owned multiple companies engaged in the trade, was kidnapped by a group of armed men in Athens in 2009. Orchestrated by crime boss Panagiotis Vlastos, the group demanded €30 million in ransom, and after a week, they released Panagopoulos after the sum was paid. It is reportedly the highest ransom ever paid.[266]
After getting acquainted with James Watt in a children's home, Gilbert was invited to live with him at his parents' house, where all family members, including Watt, abused, extorted and made him work in slavish conditions. Gilbert was eventually killed, his body dismembered and the remains thrown into a lagoon, with the various parts found between May 2009 and February 2010. All six Watt family members were eventually convicted of the killing and received various sentences.[267]
Head of the UNHCR, based in Quetta, Pakistan, who was tasked with aiding Afghan refugees in Balochistan. On February 2, 2009, he was kidnapped by BLUF militants and held for two months, before being released.[268]
Scottish singer-songwriter, who was reported as having been missing for seven months in February 2009, having disappeared from St Thomas' Hospital in London, where he was being treated for liver failure.[269] Later that month, The Guardian reported that Rafferty had been found, and was described as living "in hiding" in the south of England.[270]
A family who disappeared after March 2009 was discovered living a seclusional lifestyle within a farm house in a village in the Dutch province of Drenthe in October 2019.[271]
British businessman Jeffrey Howe was last seen on March 8, 2009, in Southgate, London. Between March and April 2009 various body parts were found scattered around Hertfordshire and Leicestershire by members of the public, which were later identified as belonging to Howe, leading to him being referred to in the press as the "Jigsaw man". Howe had been killed by his friend Stephen Marshall, who intended to steal his identity and steal from him. At trial he claimed to have dismembered four other bodies between 1995 and 1998 in gangland killings.[272]
Cantu was an American girl from Tracy, California, who attracted national attention after she went missing on March 27, 2009. Her body was discovered two weeks later inside a suitcase in a nearby irrigation pond.[273]
Tori Stafford was a Canadian girl from Woodstock, Ontario, who on April 8, 2009, was kidnapped, raped and killed. On July 21, 2009, Stafford's body was found in Mount Forest, Ontario.[274]
Brittanee Drexel was an American girl from Chili, New York, who was kidnapped, raped, and murdered between April 25–26, 2009, in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. On May 11, 2022, remains were located in Georgetown, South Carolina, and were positively identified as Brittanee's on May 15. A registered sex offender seen as a person of interest in the case was arrested and charged with the crime.[275]
Nurminen, a 26-year-old member of the wealthy Herlin family, disappeared from her home in Etu-Töölö, Helsinki, on 27 May 2009. She was reported missing on 30 May and found alive in a forest in Rusko on 13 June. The kidnapper was identified as Juha Turunen, a former SDP city council candidate living in Turku, who is believed to have abducted Nurminen solely for ransom of eight million euro.[276]
French child who was repeatedly abused by her stepfather and mother, Nicolas Willot and Anne-Sophie Faucheur, at their home in Maubeuge. Taton was reported missing on June 18, 2009, by Faucheur, who later confessed that she and Willot killed her and dumped her body in Loverval, Belgium. The body was discovered on December 9, with Willot and Faucheur being convicted and sentenced to 30 years each for the murder.[279]
Bradford sex worker Rushworth was last seen near her flat in the city on June 22, 2009. Her family made repeated public appeals for her return. In 2010, it was discovered that she had become a victim of serial killer Stephen Griffiths, who had gone on to kill two other sex workers in 2010. Griffiths told police he had killed Rushworth and her blood was later found in his flat, but her body was never found. On December 21, 2010, Griffiths was convicted of Rushworth's murder, along with the murders of the two other women.[280][281]
Four members of an Afghan-Canadian family were murdered in Kingston, Ontario on June 30, 2009. Sometime after they were reported missing, the Shafia sisters and their father's first wife Rona Muhammad Omar were found dead inside a car that submerged underwater. Their father Mohammad Shafia, his second wife and son were all arrested on suspicion for causing their death. All three accused in this case were found guilty of first-degree murder and jailed for life.[282]
Hounslea was a 37-year-old British woman who disappeared from her home in West Derby on 22 August 2009. On 5 May 2012, her burnt remains were found on a disused railway line in Liverpool. Her murder remains unsolved.[283]
Richardson was an American woman from Calabasas, California, who disappeared on September 17, 2009, after being released from police custody; her body was found on August 9, 2010.[286]
The Jamison family of Eufaula, Oklahoma were last seen alive on their home surveillance system packing their vehicle and leaving their home on October 8, 2009, appearing to be in a "trancelike" state. Their pickup truck was found abandoned in Latimer County, Oklahoma, a few days later. Their heavily decomposed skeletal remains were discovered by hunters in November 2013, and were confirmed to belong to the Jamisons on July 3, 2014.
The first victim of serial killer Cody Legebokoff. Stuchenko was a 35-year-old mother of six reported missing by her family on October 22, 2009. Her body was found close to Prince George, British Columbia, six days later.[289]
Nine-year-old Elizabeth Olten was murdered by her 15-year-old neighbor Alyssa Bustamante, who lured Olten into the woods before strangling and stabbing her to death. Bustamante subsequently pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and armed criminal action and was sentenced to life in prison plus 30 years.[290]
Disappeared after leaving his family home in Council Bluffs, Iowa on November 28, 2009, while suffering from hallucinations. His body was discovered behind a supermarket freezer unit almost 10 years later on January 24, 2019. His death was ruled an accident.
^Portman, Jennifer (December 22, 2017). "Mike Williams' remains located in Leon County: Mother grappling with proof of son's murder". Tallahassee Democrat. pp. 1A, 2A. Newspapers.com362980786, 362980787. ProQuest1979435666.
^Text of Denise Williams v. State of Florida, Court of Appeal of Florida, First District, decided March 31, 2021 (Docket No. 1D19-498 ; 314 So. 3d 775 ; 2021 Fla. App. LEXIS 4589 ; 46 Fla. L. Weekly D 727 ; 2021 WL 1205913) is available from: FindlawCaseText (archived by Wayback Machine)Nexis UniWestlaw
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^"Professor Don C. Wiley, 1944–2001". Office of news and public affairs. Harvard University. January 15, 2002. Archived from the original on January 20, 2013. Retrieved November 15, 2013.
^Escobar, Pepe (June 28, 2003). "Book Review: Who Killed Daniel Pearl?". Asia Times Online. Asia Times Online Co, Ltd. Archived from the original on June 29, 2003. Retrieved March 24, 2013.
^"Dr. Aafia's son returns home". Geo TV. September 15, 2008. Archived from the original on September 18, 2012. Retrieved February 11, 2011. Muhammad Ahmed was 5 when he was caught with his mother from Karachi in 2003 is now 10 years old. Pakistani and US authorities have been denying such arrest.
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