True Crime

From Agatha Christie to Clue, everybody loves a good &quot;whodunit&quot; mystery&nbsp;with a surprise&nbsp;ending. But sometimes, <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/little-known-mysteries-with-answers/jason-f-collins" target="_blank">truth is even stranger than fiction</a>. Many of these true crime stories seemed like open-and-shut cases. Too often, though,&nbsp;the public can jump to conclusions, ignoring all other possibilities. When investigators do the same, they set themselves up for major plot twists and sometimes even wrongful convictions.&nbsp;

True crime junkies may have heard of some of these <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/unexplained-mysteries-that-were-solved/setareh-janda" target="_blank">mind-boggling&nbsp;mysteries</a> in the many rabbit holes of the internet, but others have flown completely under the radar. From the disturbing cases, to the ones with happy endings, to the&nbsp;multiple cases&nbsp;involving bubble gum, all of these unbelievable true crime plot twists will leave your head spinning.&nbsp;

12 True Crime Cases With Unexpected Plot Twists

General

True Crime Cases With Unexpected Plot Twists

Chrissy Rose

Mysteries

California has the infamous escape from Alcatraz&nbsp;and the unidentified Zodiac Killer of&nbsp;the late &#39;60s. Ted Bundy terrorized women in the Pacific Northwest in the &#39;70s.&nbsp;Florida even boasts a tale of spontaneous human combustion in the &#39;50s. Just like all of the other states in the US, Oklahoma, too, has its own unsavory secrets.&nbsp;

The Sooner State is known for many things - its football teams, its famous residents like Carrie Underwood and Blake Shelton,&nbsp;tornadoes, and the Great Plains. What many people don&#39;t realize is just how many disturbing <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/cases-solved-by-unsolved-mysteries/patrick-thornton?ref=profile_pub" target="_blank">unsolved crimes</a>&nbsp;have taken place&nbsp;in Oklahoma. If you&#39;re in the mood to be mildly disturbed, tuck into this list and vote up the most mysterious stories.

Haunting Unsolved Crimes From Oklahoma

For the true crime community, 2021 was full of twists, surprises, and tragedy. The Gabby Petito case rocked the US in the fall, and even years-old cases, such as those of Kristin Smart, Elisa Lam, and D.B. Cooper, were revived through limited series&nbsp;and fresh evidence.

Here are the true crime cases that we couldn&#39;t stop thinking about in 2021.

13 True Crime Cases We Couldn't Stop Thinking About In 2021

Sarah Blumert

Pop Culture

There are few things more terrifying than having a loved one or friend go missing. Sometimes there is closure months later when a body is found;&nbsp;other times, people seem to vanish without a trace. On Reddit, people are sharing their difficult stories about friends and loved ones who went missing.

People Share Stories Of Friends Who Went Missing

Amanda Ashley

It would be the first case where &quot;The Bugs Bunny Defense&quot; was used in a courtroom. Around 2:50 pm&nbsp;on April 26, 2007, the LA&nbsp;County Police Department received a shocking 911 call. A Whittier-area woman named Linda Duffey&nbsp;Gwozdz&nbsp;told the dispatcher she had accidentally shot her husband. When police arrived at the home, they found 50-year-old Pat Duffey dead on the couch, a large pool of blood beside him with blood spatter on the wall. Pat&#39;s left hand was in his pants pocket, and his right knee was supported by a pillow due to circulation issues. It looked like he had been sleeping. However, Linda claimed that the two had been joking around and speaking in dueling Elmer Fudd voices when she accidentally fired&nbsp;what she thought was an empty gun. Linda was adamant&nbsp;the whole thing was a horrible accident, and police believed her... at first.

The combination&nbsp;of Linda Duffey Gwozdz&#39;s charm and lack of motive, as well as&nbsp;a heavy caseload for detectives, resulted in a five-year gap between the shooting and Linda&#39;s&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wdam.com/story/18593792/hattiesburg-woman-arrested-charged-with-husbands-murder/" target="_blank">eventual arrest</a>. Despite being connected to Bugs Bunny, the case&nbsp;becomes increasingly ominous as details unfold.

Did A Woman Accidentally Kill Her Husband Because Of A Bugs Bunny Cartoon, Or Was It Murder?

The Strange Murder Case Of Patrick And Linda Duffey

Patrick Thornton

On June 7, 1992, three women in Springfield, MO, went missing under mysterious circumstances. Recent high school graduates Suzanne &quot;Suzie&quot; Streeter and Stacy McCall were staying at the home of Sherrill Levitt, Streeter&rsquo;s mother, after a night of post-graduation festivities. The two grads&nbsp;had plans to go to a waterpark with friends the next day. When their friends arrived to pick up Streeter and McCall, the three women&nbsp;were nowhere to be found.&nbsp;

With no leads, no evidence, and thousands of tips going nowhere, the Springfield police and the FBI have never been able to locate the women, figure out who (if anyone) abducted them, or determine if they&#39;re still alive. Various theories and possibilities have been floated over the years, but with no concrete evidence, this strange disappearance remains an&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/unsolved-mysteries-of-missing-or-murdered-families/mike-bedard" target="_blank">unsolved mystery</a>&nbsp;unlikely to ever&nbsp;be cleared up.

Investigators Still Haven't Solved The Disappearance Of The Springfield Three

What Happened To The Springfield Three?

Jacob Shelton

Supernatural & Paranormal

Thanks to&nbsp;The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It, horror buffs know that in 1981,&nbsp;<a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/conjuring-3-real-story/orrin-grey?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">Arne Cheyenne Johnson</a> entered a plea of not guilty by <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/demonic-possession-science/lea-rose-emery" target="_blank">reason of possession</a> to a court in Connecticut where he stood trial for murder. Although Johnson&#39;s defense tactics didn&#39;t work, there was one court case where paranormal testimony not only came into play but also succeeded in swaying a court. In 1897, Greenbrier County, WV, saw the death of newlywed Zona Heaster by mysterious circumstances.

Initially, Heaster&#39;s death was attributed to&nbsp;&quot;everlasting faint&quot; and later childbirth by the coroner, even though&nbsp;Heaster and her husband,&nbsp;Edward &ldquo;Trout&rdquo; Shue, hadn&#39;t been together long enough to produce a pregnancy to term. However, Heaster&#39;s mother, Mary Jane, soon began having dreams and visions of her departed daughter in which&nbsp;the true cause of her death was revealed. After bringing this information to the coroner and police, Mary Jane was able to relay Heaster&#39;s testimony during the trial. This led to the conviction of Shue and a stunning revelation about his true identity.

The Greenbrier Ghost "Came Back From The Dead" Just To Snitch On Her Murderer

The Greenbrier Ghost Came Back From The Dead Just To Snitch On Her Murderer

Jodi Smith

People Trivia

There is no doubt that Al Capone was one of the 20th century&#39;s most infamous cultural figures. But what makes this gangster so notorious a century after his downfall? Capone&#39;s story remains alluring because it contains multitudes - an entrepreneur with the famous rags to riches story, an immigrant son&#39;s rise to power, and a real-life Robin Hood persona. Capone was an American gangster who captivated the public before he was even 30 years old, and he&#39;s&nbsp;portrayed in media and film as a crime boss and a criminal mastermind. Below is a round-up of things we learned about Chicago&#39;s first-ever Public Enemy No, 1 that might surprise you.&nbsp;

14 Things We Learned About Al Capone That Made Us Say 'Whoa'

Sami C

Local history is often weird history, and it&#39;s almost inevitable that if you dig deep enough, you&#39;ll learn about a creepy, disturbing, or just downright bizarre story that happened near you. Whether it&#39;s the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/facts-about-the-haunted-winchester-mystery-house/natalie-hazen" target="_blank">eccentric, superstitious heiress</a> who kept building onto her house for decades to appease spirits, or&nbsp;the European tourists who disappeared into thin air, history is full of mystery. More chilling is the fact that humans have continued to display what <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/worst-experiments/will-morgan-1" target="_blank">evil they&#39;re capable of</a> throughout the centuries.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Not only are some of these&nbsp;mysteries upsetting,&nbsp;they all have a curious element as well. And just because these mysteries were solved doesn&#39;t mean they won&#39;t still creep you out. Just a tip: You probably don&#39;t want to read this before bedtime.

Local Mysteries That Still Creep Us Out Even Though They're Solved

Organized Crime

The mob. The Mafia. La Cosa Nostra. We&#39;ve all heard of it, and seen it portrayed in movies such as The Godfather or on&nbsp;TV shows like The Sopranos. But what was the Mafia&nbsp;really like? How did the organized operation that brought us <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/al-capone-trivia-facts/jeffrichard" target="_blank">Al Capone</a>, <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/weird-gangster-stories/kate-gardner" target="_blank">Bugsy Siegel</a>, and&nbsp;Lucky Luciano actually operate?

Some believe the presence of the mob was exaggerated from the start, yet others&nbsp;insist that its presence is as pervasive today as it was 100 years ago.&nbsp;To answer some of the most common <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/til-facts-about-the-mafia/will-morgan-1" target="_blank">questions people have about the Mafia</a>,&nbsp;Reddit&#39;s &quot;Ask Historians&quot; community is a handy place to turn. Just as they have helped shed light on everything from&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/historians-answer-bible-questions/setareh-janda" target="_blank">the Bible</a>&nbsp;to what life was really like in the <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/historians-answer-wild-west-questions/will-morgan-1" target="_blank">American West,</a>&nbsp;these historians will shine a light on a group that thrived on operating in the dark.

Actual Historians Answer Questions About The Mafia

Entertainment

Modern true-crime documentaries tend to have a&nbsp;specific look and feel, but 1992&#39;s&nbsp;Brother&rsquo;s Keeper&nbsp;- a&nbsp;harrowing, empathetic look at the death of a rural cow farmer in Upstate New York and the firestorm of the resulting trial&nbsp;- remains one of the most distinctive entries in the popular genre. Rather than relying on twists or last-minute evidence, Brother&#39;s Keeper simply introduces the audience to its cast and lets the story tell itself.&nbsp;

After the film&#39;s release,&nbsp;the directors continued to make intense <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/true-crime-documentaries/lisa-waugh" target="_blank">documentaries</a> about intense subjects. In 2019, co-director Joe Berlinger used his true-crime roots as a springboard into dramatic filmmaking with&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/ted-bundy-actors-vs-real-people/maggie-clancy" target="_blank">Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile</a>, a&nbsp;film about Ted Bundy told from the point of view of his ex-girlfriend Elizabeth Kendall. But the director&#39;s interest in dark subject matter all began with his first film.

Brother&#39;s Keeper&nbsp;tells the story of the Ward brothers - Delbert, Roscoe, and Lyman - whose modest life together on their family farm erupts into controversy following the death of the fourth brother, William. Delbert, the youngest of the four, is put on trial for William&#39;s murder.

'Brother's Keeper' Is A Haunting Documentary About A Rural Murder Mystery

Sad And Shocking Details From The Documentary 'Brother's Keeper'

Nicknamed &quot;Shelby&#39;s Sweetheart&quot;&nbsp;by her community, Asha Jaquilla Degree was last seen walking down a foggy highway in the early hours of Valentine&#39;s Day&nbsp;2000. She was only 9 years old. Over the past two decades, there have been multiple theories explaining why Asha left her Shelby, NC, home in the middle of the night, and as of 2016,&nbsp;there were&nbsp;350 leads on the case.

Despite these leads, one fact remains clear: No one has seen, heard from, or been able to find Asha Degree in over 20 years. Even after two decades of searching, Asha&#39;s family still believes she is alive; while this may strike some as wishful thinking, there are numerous <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/missing-people-who-were-found-alive/rydavis" target="_blank">missing persons</a> who have been found, sometimes years after they disappeared.

The Asha Degree case is still considered an open investigation; here&#39;s everything we know.

Everything We Know About The Mysterious Disappearance Of Asha Degree

What happened to Alissa Turney? She went missing from her Phoenix, AZ, high school in 2001 at the age of 17, and nobody has seen her since. The Alissa Turney <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/unsolved-mysteries-of-missing-or-murdered-families/mike-bedard" target="_blank">disappearance</a> has remained a mystery since the early 2000s, and&nbsp;law enforcement has failed to crack the case. Investigators&#39; jobs&nbsp;were made exponentially more difficult by the fact that the case wasn&#39;t actively investigated until five years after Turney&#39;s disappearance.

What originally appeared to be a runaway teen scenario is now widely considered a case of foul play, with multiple suspects considered over the years. Interviews with those close to Turney reveal a portrait of a complicated young woman who was intelligent and social, but whose personal life was much darker than many would guess. While no charges have been filed, her sister Sarah&#39;s&nbsp;theories point&nbsp;to their allegedly abusive stepfather, Mike Turney, as the likely culprit. Here are all of the details that have been released about Alissa Turney&#39;s confounding missing person&nbsp;case.

Everything About Alissa Turney’s Case That Has Been Released To The Public

All The Alissa Turney Case Details That Have Been Made Public

Eric Luis

It&#39;s quite common now for real-life crimes to spur writers to create their own version of events using some facts and making others up as they go, but Edgar Allan Poe&#39;s&nbsp;The Mystery of Marie Rog&ecirc;t&nbsp;was one of the first. The story of his inspiration, Mary Rogers, begins with the beautiful young woman working in a tobacco shop, where she attracted multiple gentlemen to sample her employer&#39;s wares. The young lady had multiple suitors due to her good looks and the public nature of her job.

Rogers went missing in January 1841 for only a short time, leading some to suspect it was a publicity stunt. However, it was her disappearance and apparent murder in July of that same year that really made headlines. Although multiple witnesses came forward to share their stories concerning Rogers&#39;s final hours, no one was ever charged with her murder, and no one theory holds more sway than any other. While Poe retold her story in fiction, the real mystery of Mary Rogers is just as confounding today as it was on the day it happened.

The Murder Of Mary Rogers Inspired Edgar Allan Poe’s 'The Mystery of Marie Rogêt'

The Murder Of Mary Rogers Inspired Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Mystery of Marie Rogêt”

Strange True Stories

Bryce Laspisa was supposed to be driving to his parents&#39; home in Southern California when he vanished without a trace. The Bryce Laspisa case remains one of the most perplexing <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/people-who-disappeared-mysteriously/alby-thompson" target="_blank">missing person</a> cases in modern true crime, with no viable leads since the teen&#39;s disappearance in 2013.

Laspisa had spent the summer at his parents&#39; home&nbsp;and had only returned to school two weeks before the events of August 28-30. His parents, who have repeatedly stated&nbsp;that nothing seemed wrong when he left to go back to school, have described the 19-year-old college student as&nbsp;an &quot;open book&quot; who could talk to them about anything.

However, somewhere between Laspisa returning to school and police finding his car in a ravine, something seems to have gone horribly wrong. Despite years of theorizing, the question still remains: What happened to Bryce Laspisa?

Bryce Laspisa's Car Was Found Overturned In A California Ravine, But He Had Completely Vanished

The Strange Disappearance Of Bryce Laspisa

For true crime enthusiasts and armchair detectives, few things are&nbsp;more fascinating than a gruesome demise with no trace of the culprit. These&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/people-never-identified/lyra-radford" target="_blank">unsolved cases</a>&nbsp;present&nbsp;endless possibilities, and&nbsp;one such mystery&nbsp;is no closer to being solved now than it was decades ago. In 1943, the skeleton of a woman was found inside the hollow trunk of a wych elm. The case of &quot;Who Put Bella in the Wych Elm?&quot; is a story that starts out as a seemingly straightforward slaying, until it&nbsp;diverges into theories of occult rituals, spy rings, and espionage.

The case remains a mystery, in part because the police files are still sealed - the authorities consider the case open, even after the better part of a century. Why hasn&#39;t Bella undergone DNA testing? Why can&#39;t her&nbsp;remains be examined to bring closure? The answer to these questions and others are every bit as surreal as the initial discovery, which&nbsp;makes solving the case nearly impossible.

Who Put Bella In The Wych Elm? The Story Behind The Mystery That Has Stumped England Since 1943

Who Put Bella In The Wych Elm? A Mystery That Has Stumped England Since 1943

Unspeakable Times lists at Ranker - the ultimate source for lists and rankings in all categories