While most of our previously mentioned cold cases involve the deaths of John Doe’s and names unknown to most, even the most notorious and well-known names and figures cannot escape become another unsolved case. Once investigators have thrown in the towel due to lack of evidence, or too much time being past, once a case has been deemed “cold”, it is in a sense “frozen”, never to be thawed. The hopelessness aspect can scare away new investigators and theorists, but for some, the added challenge provides increased motivation for bringing justice to the families.

Our next victim’s name is one that is unforgettable. Hailed for her contributions to the feminist movement and her achievements in aviation, the disappearance and death of Amelia Earhart has puzzled government officials and fans for nearly a decade.

Amelia Earhart. “Amelia Earhart Biography,” by Biography.com Editors. Biography, A&E Television Networks, 6 Sept. 2019.

1937: Earhart’s attempt to become the first person to circumnavigate the globe would be her final flight. Known already for becoming the first female pilot to fly across the Atlantic Ocean, Earhart was poised to become a national icon, further cementing her name in the record books.

Along with a top-rated crew of three men, (Captain Harry Manning, Fred Noonan, and Paul Mantz) Earhart began to plan for their voyage. The plan was to take off from Oakland, California, and fly west to Hawaii. From there, the group would fly across the Pacific Ocean to Australia. Then they would cross India, on to Africa, then to Florida, and back to California. After landing in Pearl Harbor for some repairs, they began another takeoff, but something went wrong. Earhart lost control and looped the plane on the runway. Several witnesses, including an Associated Press journalist, said they saw a tire blow, while other sources, including Paul Mantz, indicated it was pilot error. Though no one was seriously hurt, the plane was severely damaged and had to be shipped back to California for extensive repairs, and the original flight was cancelled.

By the time the plane was repaired, weather patterns and global wind changes required alterations to the flight plan. Due to previous commitments and contract disputes, Captain Harry Manning and Paul Mantz would not join the team on the second attempt.

After flying from Oakland to Miami, Florida, Earhart and Noonan took off on June 1st from Miami with much fanfare and publicity. The plane flew toward Central and South America, turning east for Africa. From there, the plane crossed the Indian Ocean and finally touched down in Lae, New Guinea, on June 29, 1937. About 22,000 miles of the journey had been completed. The remaining 7,000 miles would take place over the Pacific.

Bad luck continued to plague the second voyage.

Though the flyers seemed to have a well thought-out plan, several early decisions led to grave consequences later on. Radio equipment with shorter wavelength frequencies were left behind, presumably to allow more room for fuel canisters. This equipment could broadcast radio signals farther distances. Due to inadequate quantities of high-octane fuel, the Electra carried about 1,000 gallons — 50 gallons short of full capacity. Witnesses to the takeoff reported that a radio antenna may have been damaged, and according to experts, evidence shows that the charts used by Noonan and Earhart placed Howland Island (one of their destinations) nearly six miles off its actual position.

Amelia Earhart. 1937. “Amelia Earhart: AMERICAN AVIATOR,” by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. Encyclopedia Britannica. Accessed 30 Oct. 2019.

At 7:42 AM, radio control picked up this message from Earhart: “We must be on you, but we cannot see you. Fuel is running low. Been unable to reach you by radio. We are flying at 1,000 feet.” This would be the final message received from Earhart.

Despite the efforts of 66 aircraft and nine ships and an estimated $4 million rescue authorized by President Franklin D. Roosevelt,  the fate of the two flyers remained a mystery. Theorists believe that Earhart and Noonan might have flown without radio transmission for some time after their last radio signal, landing at uninhabited Nikumaroro reef, a tiny island in the Pacific Ocean 350 miles southeast of Howland Island. Based on several on-site investigations that have turned up artifacts such as improvised tools, including bits of clothing, an aluminum panel, and a piece of Plexiglas the exact width and curvature of an Electra window, many believe they crashed on to the island, either dying in the crash or dying several days later.

Analysis of radio distress signals sent by Earhart in the days after her disappearance have revealed that she may have survived the crash and continued to send messages. Various citizens documented the reception of messages from Earhart via radio. On July 4, two days after the crash, a San Francisco resident heard a voice from the radio saying, “Still alive. Better hurry. Tell husband all right.” Three says later, someone in eastern Canada picked up the message, “Can you read me? Can you read me? This is Amelia Earhart … please come in.”

While the ultimate fate of Earhart remains to be unknown, it is certain that her death was an incredible loss, and losing her at such a prime time in her career only adds salt to the wound.

As always, the BuzzFeed Unsolved video delving more in depth with theories (including the theory that she survived the crash and was taken as a prisoner of war) is included for further reading here. Best of luck in your theorizing, until next week.

While our last case took us over seas, our seventh entry brings us back to Pennsylvania, specifically to Philadelphia. In the Ivy Hill Cemetery in Cedarbrook lies a small gravestone reading: “America’s Unknown Child”, homage to a young victim, never to be named, claimed, or forgotten.

The Boy in the Box. 1957. “The Boy In The Box — Inside The Creepy Unsolved Mystery,” by Katie Serena. Allthatsinteresting, 31 Aug. 2019.

1957: A young hunter sets out to check his traps near a park just north of Philadelphia. As he moves through the brush, he finds a tiny cardboard box, lying discarded on the ground. Inside, the naked body of a small boy, wrapped in a plaid blanket within a discarded baby’s bassinet cardboard box. Fearing that the police would confiscate his illegal traps if he alerted them to the box, the young hunter ignores it, and resumes hunting. Days later a college student comes across the hunting ground and decides to unlock several of the traps, in hopes of keeping the nearby animals safe. He finds the box, and alerts the police.

When the investigation first began, police were hopeful. Described as having blue eyes, fair complexion and medium to light brown crudely cut hair, his nails were neatly trimmed. He had deep bruises covering much of his body and face and experts believe that due to the cold weather, the child may have been lying in that box between 2-3 days to 2 to 3 weeks. Such a young boy (determined to be between the ages of 4-6) had to have a family searching for him, and police were prepared for fingerprint data to reveal his identity.

They were wrong.

In fact, his body showed several signs of abuse and mistreatment. With the help of X-rays, several doctors determined the child had probably been under the age of 5, but he weighed just 30 pounds and stood at only 40.5 inches tall. According to a medical examiner, the Boy in the Box had the body of a child who was just over two-years-old. His hands and feet were wrinkled, indicating he was submerged in water for an extended time just before or after he died.

When they were compared to a national database and local hospital records, no results were ever found. Though the entire city of Philadelphia and the country spread his battered face on over 400,000 flyers, on gas station billboards, on telephone poles, and bus stops, 1,000’s of leads led to no further information about the boy’s identity.

Digital Facial Reconstruction of the Boy in the Box . “Disturbing Facts And Theories About ‘The Boy In The Box’ ,” by Cat McAuliffe. Unspeakable Times, Ranker. Accessed 21 Oct. 2019.

Several theories have popped up over the years.

Investigators have explored the idea that the boy was a foster child who had died accidentally, or perhaps that he was a human trafficking victim. Experts agree that if the case had occurred 10-20 years ago, national news coverage and improvements in DNA evidence would have resulted in a closed case. Either way, it’s incredibly tragic that such a young boy had his life stripped away from him, and that no one had to answer for the crime.

As always, the BuzzFeed Unsolved video delving more in-depth with theories and details is provided here for your viewing. Best of luck with your further reading and theorizing, until next time.

Crime in the early 40’s-70’s was much different than crime today. With little to no DNA and forensic tools to investigate, as well as being under staffed and under educated, law enforcement fought against the birth of the “serial killer”, increases of gang violence, and saw the birth of criminal profiling. The lack of understanding of genetic evidence led to the failure of countless cases, and the basis for our exploration into some of the most notorious cold cases. For the first case outside of American borders, one of Australia’s “most profound mysteries” was to be found ashore in early December.

The Somerton Man. 1948. “Tamam Shud / Somerton Man,” by Nick Pelling, Jan. 2014. Cipher Mysteries.

1948: On Somerton Beach in Adelaide, South Australia, a man’s body was found. He was lying back with his head resting against the seawall, his legs extended and his feet crossed. Believed to have died while sleeping, an unlit cigarette was on the right collar of his coat, and a search of his pockets revealed an unused second-class train ticket from Adelaide to Henley Beach, a narrow aluminium American comb, a half-empty packet of Juicy Fruit chewing gum, a cigarette packet, and a small box of matches.

He had no ID, and all the labels on his clothing had been removed. He wore a suit, and polished dress shoes, suggesting that he was well-off; a businessman who found himself far from where he was dressed to be. Tucked into a small pocket in the dead man’s pants was a small scrap of printed paper that had been ripped out of a book: it contained the Persian phrase Tamam Shud (i.e. “It Is Ended”, or “The End”). Authorities were able to trace the torn page back to the book from which it originated: a copy of The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam (a Persian book of poetry). In the back of the torn copy of The Rubaiyat lied a series of letters scribbled on the back cover, appearing to be code or a cipher. Military experts were unable to crack the code, and it remains undeciphered to this day.

Tamam Uhud. 1948. “Tamam Shud / Somerton Man,” by Nick Pelling, Jan. 2014. Cipher Mysteries.

The autopsy revealed very little; doctors believe he died of a heart attack, but poison was never ruled out due to the significant amount of internal bleeding and strange circumstances surrounding his death. However, zero traces of a poisonous substance were found, and no other findings were released.

Along with the cipher on the back of The Rubaiyat investigators found a hidden phone number which led them to a young nurse named Jessica ‘Jo’ Thomson. While being questioned, she claimed to have no knowledge of the man or The Rubaiyat, but investigators noted her strange reaction as she was shown photos of the man’s corpse. She was “…completely taken aback, to the point of giving the appearance that she was about to faint”. After further questioning, she admitted to being given a copy of the Rubaiyat by a man called Alfred Boxall, who she had met at the Clifton Gardens Hotel in Sydney in 1944 while she was training to be a nurse at the nearby Royal North Shore Hospital. Yet, the lead swiftly disappeared as Boxall quickly proved to be very much alive and living in Maroubra (thus not the dead man found on the beach). From then, the case went cold.

2007: Derek Abbott, a professor at the University of Adelaide decided to conduct his own investigation on the case, and came up with stunning findings. According to Abbott, Thomson had an illegitimate child with the Somerton Man before he died. When Abbott found an old photograph of Thomson’s son Robin, he noticed that the boy shared some distinguishing features with the Somerton Man: Both had canines positioned right next to their front teeth, and the upper hollows in their ears were larger than the lower hollows. Both of these features are related to heredity and only appear in 1 percent or less of the population, leading him to believe that is much more than a coincidence and that she knew much more than she disclosed. Just to make matters more complicated, Abbott married Rachel Egan, Jo Thomson’s biological granddaughter, after getting to know her during his investigation. If his theories are correct, the three children he now has with Egan are the great-grandchildren of the Somerton Man.

2013: Adding to Abbott’s theory, Thomson’s daughter Kate revealed on Australia’s 60 Minutes that her mother had told her long ago that she indeed did know more about the Somerton Man, but had not revealed anything to police in order to keep her children safe. She also revealed that her mother was able to speak Russian, and suggested that her mother may have been involved in some spy-related activity.

Both Thomson and Abbott’s claims are accompanied by plenty of scrutiny from fellow investigators and researchers. The only thing that remains certain is that the well-dressed man found on Somerton Beach will continue to be a John Doe, one who is surrounded with ciphers and complicated coding, and a story much deeper than the one we know of now.

As always, the BuzzFeed video delving more in depth with details and theories is listed here for further reading. Best of luck, until next time.