Persons Unknown

At 10.20 pm, Glenis Carruthers left her friend's 21st birthday party for reasons that have never been fully explained. It was Saturday, January 19th 1974, and the 20-year-old P.E. student had travelled from Bedford to Clifton, a leafy area in Bristol, the previous day.  Forty minutes after leaving the party, Glenis's body was found just yards from the entrance of Bristol Zoo. She had bee...

Lottie Snead was much loved and well respected in her small town of Chincoteague, on Virginia’s Eastern Shore. In 1964, the 54-year-old mother of three was found murdered in her own home. There were no signs of a break-in, and the motive for the crime was unclear. Local investigators made two swift arrests, hoping to solve the case in record time, but the optimism was short-lived. The killer or ki...

Jerzy Strzadala was a quiet and reserved man who first came to the UK as a prisoner of war.  Originally from Poland, Jerzy trained as a miner and found employment at the Tir Herbert colliery near Aberdare, South Wales. Around lunchtime on Tuesday, April 20th 1948, his dead and bloodied body was discovered by three schoolboys playing in a local park. Jerzy, who was known as "George" by hi...

John Dobson was a bright young man studying for an MA at Lancaster University. Late one morning in December 1986, John met his course director to discuss an upcoming seminar he was preparing to lead. John left the office and vanished, seemingly without a clue or hint as to where he went or what had happened.  Sources for the episode can be found here Support the show Follow  Persons Unknown:  Inst...

Peggy Goodman was 81-years-old when she vanished without trace from the Welsh-speaking town of Corwen, North Wales. The widow was last seen at a local shop shortly before Christmas 1982. Despite extensive searches in the local area and inquiries that stretched across the UK and abroad, Peggy has never been found.  Almost exactly two years later, another woman from Corwen disappeared. 49-year-old M...

Back in August 2024, I released an episode covering the unsolved murder of Mabel Harper. Mabel was murdered in my hometown, Cardiff, in August 1943. The 53-year-old widow was attacked late at night after missing her bus home. She was found naked, bound and gagged with strips of cloth ripped from her own clothing. In that episode, I mentioned another murder, that of 30-year-old Alice Daisy Pittman....

Lori Pinkus was a troubled young woman struggling with addiction issues and working as a sex worker in Ottawa, Canada. In August 1990, Lori suffered chest wounds in an alleged stabbing incident at her apartment. Two men were charged with attempted murder, but Lori failed to appear in court and fled to Toronto to start a new life. Months later, in September 1991, Lori was murdered the day before he...

At age 13, Velma Murray began to struggle at school, and her mother, Clarissa, decided to send the teen to lodge with a family friend in Coventry. Velma settled in and over the next two years got on well in her new school. Then in April 1973, just as the now 15-year-old Velma was about to sit CSE exams, her life was tragically taken in the most horrific and cowardly manner. At one point, 150 polic...

14-year-old Kirsa Jensen was passionate about animals, especially horses. Living in Napier on New Zealand's North Island, there were many beautiful places to go riding. On September 1st 1983, Kirsa set off on her horse, 'Commodore', for Awatoto beach, a journey of around thirty minutes.  Kirsa always came home by 5 pm, but on this day she failed to return. A massive search was soon...

On Thursday January 10th 1985, kindergarteners Michael and Pamela Mayfield vanished without a trace on their way home from school. At 2.45 pm, the bell rang, and the siblings left Betsy Ross Elementary in northeast Houston with the rest of their classmates. It was the first time they had been allowed to walk home alone. One witness said they saw Michael and Pamela getting into a green, two-door ca...

It was Friday, 5th October 1979. A little after 1:00 pm, 58-year-old taxi driver Jack Armstrong was dispatched to pick up "Mr Williams" from outside the Fairwater Hotel pub in the west of Cardiff. 45 minutes later, the cab company radioed Jack but received no reply. At 6:00 that evening, Jack's taxi was found abandoned almost thirty miles away in a county lane on the outskirts of Br...

Late at night on Thursday, 18th November 1943, an unconscious woman was found lying on her back in a lane in the Brynmill area of Swansea. Rather than seeking medical help, a police officer took her to a hotel to recuperate, but, within a matter of minutes, she had died.  At first, the identity of the woman was a mystery, but the post-mortem determined her death had been the result of foul play. K...

Retired couple Warren and Elizabeth Wheeler lived a simple, quiet life in the picturesque village of Boars Hill, Berkshire. In the middle of the day on October 8th 1973, a person or persons unknown gained entry to their ramshackle farm cottage and brutally bludgeoned both elderly pensioners to death. A massive police investigation took place, and a man was arrested and confessed to the double murd...

In March 1988, on the eve of her 18th birthday, Donna Healey left her family home in Bradford for the last time. She was never seen alive by her loved ones again. More than 15 years later, a DNA breakthrough would reveal Donna's fate and raise serious questions about the treatment of missing vulnerable young people. Sources for the episode can be found here  Support the show Follow  Persons U...

Early in the morning of September 16th 1989, the battered body of 25-year-old Trevor Metcalfe was found on playing fields in Dormanstown, near Middlesbrough. This was a location Trevor had no known ties to, and police were puzzled as to what led him there. Following a family tragedy, Trevor had developed a solvent addiction, and he was attacked and killed while he was intoxicated and at his most v...

George Barksdale was just four years old when he disappeared from Baltimore, Maryland in April 1969. The little boy was last seen sitting on the steps of a church opposite his home. One lead suggests he may have been taken by a 70 year old woman. Three years later, on April 1st 1972, three year old Solomon Rose vanished during a trip to a shopping mall in West Baltimore. He has not been seen since...

Through the 1970s and 1980s, Mary Joe Frug was a well-respected and prominent law academic. As a part of the Critical Legal Studies movement, she looked to analyse the legal system from a feminist perspective. On the evening of April 4th 1991, the 49-year-old was walking to a convenience store in an upmarket neighbourhood in Cambridge, Massachusetts, when she was set upon and viciously stabbed to...

Hannah Williams, a 78-year-old widow, lived with her daughter, Elizabeth, in an isolated cottage six miles from Cardiff. On the morning of Saturday November 10th 1900, Elizabeth walked to market to sell produce from their smallholding. Hannah stayed behind, busying herself with some household chores. When Elizabeth returned that afternoon she was met by neighbours on the road who informed her that...

Abdur Rashid was a 46 year old Muslim spiritual teacher who came to the UK from Bangladesh in the late 1970s. Abdur lived and worked in London's East End and was known in the local community as a good man. In April 1988 Abdur was murdered with a sharp instrument and his body dumped in Epping Forest. The killer set the body alight, an act that is forbidden in Islam and one that is considered d...

Christina or Christine Bracken was a 39 year old  nun, originally from Ireland, who in the later part of 1978 moved to Swansea, Wales, to begin a new chapter in her life. After 6 months in Wales Christina, who went by her religious name Sister Jacinta, appeared to have settled in well and seemed happy. Shortly after lunch on Saturday May 19th 1979 Sister Jacinta took a walk into the city centre to...

Kevin Mison was a football mad teenager from an estate in West London. In early August 1980 the body of the 18 year old was found in an empty house close to where he lived. He had been murdered in a sexually motivated and sadistic attack. Witnesses came forward with information which led to a suspect sketch being created by the police and a mass fingerprinting exercise was undertaken on the estate...

Annette Morgan was about to start a new chapter in her young life. The 18 year old had recently left her science course at the University of Sydney for a new role as a trainee radiologist. On Friday October 28th 1977 Annette returned to Sydney from her family home in Warners to visit the friends she had made during her time at university. Early the following morning Annette set off to visit a male...

In the late afternoon of August 26th 1986, Michelle "Jolene" Lakey went to visit her sick mother at Mercy Hospital, Scranton. After giving her mother a teddy bear as a get well present the 11 year old left to make the 20 minute walk home. At around 6.00pm several witnesses saw Jolene getting into a light-yellow coloured vehicle on North Washington Avenue. She has never been seen since. A...

The body of a woman known by neighbours as "Kate England" was discovered on the night of Valentine's Day 1904. "Kate" was found lying on an upstairs bed in her small cottage situated on Saltmead Road, Cardiff, with a noose tied around her neck. While there was no sign of a struggle it appeared someone had been sleeping in the bed next to her. Over the next couple of weeks...

21 year old Donna Doll was a Russian language student at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb. At 9.59pm on October 2nd 1970 she left the campus library where she worked a part-time job and was never seen alive again. Nine days later her fully clothed body was found in a field just outside town. The manner and cause of death was unclear but the case was treated as a murder investigation.  Invest...