True Crime

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

General

Chrissy Rose

Trending on Ranker

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

True Crime Cases With Unexpected Plot Twists

Stars: They're just like us! They do things that aren't quite legal, and sometimes, they even get caught. 

Celebrity (In)Justice

Celebrity Facts

Several famous musicians, actors, and athletes have been charged with sex crimes. Some of these celebrities were the victims of false allegations, while others were found guilty of rape and molestation. Which famous people have been accused of sex crimes? Whether indecent exposure as part of a prank, or much more serious crimes that left a lasting effect on their victims, like sexual assault, these celebrities have all been accused of some kind of sex crime.

Who is the most famous person who was charged with a sex crime? Bill Cosby was one of the celebrities exposed. Dozens of women have accused the performer of drugging and assaulting them over the years.There are other celebs accused of sexual assault and reported to be predators, like Danny Masterson and Roman Polansky.&nbsp;

The Doors singer Jim Morrison, M&ouml;tley Cr&uuml;e drummer Tommy Lee, and many other musicians have all been charged with indecent exposure, as well as a few famous actors. In short, there&#39;s a surprising amount of celebrities accused of sexual assault and other similar crimes &mdash; just take a look below.

50 Famous People Charged With Sex Crimes

Person

Famous People Charged With Sex Crimes

Celebrity Lists

Horrifying facts and disturbing details about real cases that shocked.

In Cold Blood

The&nbsp;assault and&nbsp;homicide of 21-year-old Brandon Teena in 1993 is&nbsp;one of the most shocking hate crimes in living memory. Hilary Swank won her first <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/best-actresses-to-win-oscar-for-best-actress/ranker-film" target="_blank">Best Actress Oscar</a> in 2000 for portraying the transgender young adult&nbsp;whose life was tragically cut short, but the true story behind&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/full-cast-of-boys-don_t-cry-actors-and-actresses/reference" target="_blank">Boys Don&#39;t Cry</a>&nbsp;is more complicated and detailed than the Hollywood version audiences saw.

Brandon Teena&nbsp;was designated female at birth, born&nbsp;to an extremely impoverished&nbsp;single teen&nbsp;mother in&nbsp;Lincoln, NE, in 1972.&nbsp;As a high schooler, he began identifying as male, dressing in traditionally male clothing, binding his chest, dating women, and assuming a provider&nbsp;status in his relationships.

When Teena&nbsp;dropped out of&nbsp;high school,&nbsp;his love life eventually drew him into a social sphere&nbsp;that included the two offenders who eventually ended his life,&nbsp;his girlfriend, and another mutual friend because of Teena&#39;s identity. Though the men had attacked&nbsp;Teena&nbsp;previously, the sheriff refused to arrest them. This neglect eventually proved lethal. Because of the lack of legal protection and understanding surrounding trans people at the time, the law did very little to advocate justice on behalf of Teena. His&nbsp;story continued to be misunderstood and simplified&nbsp;long after his slaying - even by the most well-meaning parties, including the journalist who wrote the original story on which Boys Don&#39;t Cry was based.

Although dialogues and education about <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/transgender-people-in-history/devon-ashby" target="_blank">trans&nbsp;people</a> and the disproportionate struggles they face&nbsp;are slowly&nbsp;being elevated, there is still a long way to go in creating legal protections and de-stigmatizing&nbsp;conversation around those who identify as trans or simply don&#39;t identify on the traditional gender binary. Brandon Teena&#39;s story is a tragic, but important&nbsp;cornerstone to starting that conversation.&nbsp;

The Tragic Story Of Brandon Teena, Whose Case Inspired 'Boys Don't Cry'

The Tragic Murder Of Brandon Teena, Whose Case Inspired 'Boys Don't Cry'

Jodi Smith

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

Lists about what's going on on Capitol Hill and in your own backyard.

US Government & Politics

Laws named after victims remain a source of debate. While plenty of <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/crimes-by-rich-white-women/elle-tharp" target="_blank">brutal crimes</a> occur within any given year, only a very small percentage&nbsp;lead to changes to our legal system. When it comes to US laws created because of crimes, public outrage is key. Particularly <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/crimes-by-rich-white-women/elle-tharp" target="_blank">horrifying kidnappings</a>, murders, and suicides receive&nbsp;an unusual amount of press coverage, often resulting in&nbsp;the widespread backlash needed to pressure politicians into reforming the legal system.&nbsp;The crimes that resulted in new laws&nbsp;were already illegal when they were committed. The resulting legislation is usually seen&nbsp;as closing a loophole or addressing a unique aspect of the crime. However, there is much public debate on whether such laws are ethical or effective. People who have laws named after them are honored and memorialized, on the one hand, but critics argue such laws are often too reactionary to be truly effective.&nbsp;If you're unsure where you stand on the issue, browse this list. It will help you develop a more detailed understanding of how and why some crimes lead to new laws.&nbsp;

Every US Law Named After A Victim And What It Does

Wrestling

Chris Benoit was one of the biggest stars in professional <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/best-wwe-superstars-of-all-time/ranker-wrestling" target="_blank">wrestling</a> in the 2000s. A two-time world champion, he never depended on gimmicks for his fame and success. But what the public didn&#39;t know was that&nbsp;his life had been crumbling around him ever since the death of his friend Eddie Guerrero in late 2005. Then, over the&nbsp;three-day period of June 22-24, 2007, the 40-year-old Chris killed his wife and 7-year-old son before taking his own life.

The WWE&nbsp;quickly distanced itself from the champion wrestler and his surviving family, while the federal government used Chris&#39;s death as a catalyst to open a probe into the use of steroids and other drugs in pro wrestling.

The tragedy&nbsp;remains one of the biggest scandals in all of pro wrestling, with no clear consensus as to&nbsp;what exactly led Benoit to kill himself, his wife, and his son - or what role the WWE&nbsp;may have played in the wrestler&#39;s actions.

Chris Benoit's Passing Is A Pro-Wrestling Tragedy That Will Never Be Forgotten

TGWrites

Unspeakable Times

In 1994, <a href="https://medium.com/@brenmar71/justice-for-nicholas-barclay-19ea332bd309" target="_blank">Nicholas Barclay</a> vanished from his neighborhood in&nbsp;San Antonio. Three years later, he was found in Spain, having allegedly escaped from a military child sex ring. When he returned home to Texas, he appeared physically different and spoke with a French accent. The family excused all of this and accepted him into their family.&nbsp;But of course, this very different person&nbsp;wasn&#39;t Nicholas Barclay at all.&nbsp;After several months of passing himself off as Nicholas,&nbsp;29-year-old French con artist Fr&eacute;d&eacute;ric Bourdin&nbsp;admitted he had stolen&nbsp;the identity of Nicholas, the family&#39;s long-lost son. But how could the family be so blind?

Bart Layton&#39;s unnerving <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1966604/?ref_=nm_knf_i2" target="_blank">documentary</a>&nbsp;explores the motives of a family who kept up the charade of knowing someone whom they really didn&#39;t. This is a strange and bizarre true story&nbsp;about the disappearance of Nicholas Barclay and the expos&eacute;&nbsp;of French&nbsp;con man Fr&eacute;d&eacute;ric Bourdin, AKA &quot;The Chameleon.&quot;

While many tragic&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/true-crime-documentaries/lisa-waugh" target="_blank">true crime stories</a>&nbsp;exist about <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/people-who-disappeared-mysteriously/alby-thompson" target="_blank">people who vanish mysteriously</a>, the intrigue of Nicholas Barclay&#39;s story is enhanced&nbsp;by the inclusion&nbsp;of a&nbsp;famed con artist&nbsp;and the Barclay family&#39;s acceptance of him.

The Strange Case Of French Con Man Frédéric Bourdin And Nicholas Barclay

The Bizarre Story of Con Man Nicholas Barclay

Matthew Lavelle

Fascinating facts and interesting stories about organized crime: gangs, gangsters, mobsters, the mafia, and other criminals & crime syndicates all over the world.

Feels Good to Be a Gangster

Life in the American Mafia typically ends in one of two ways: death or prison. In a perpetual struggle over illegal power and money, murder is practically an occupational hazard. From the very first days of organized crime, mafia hits, brutal assassins, and crime&#39;s most horrifying killers underlined the fundamentally violent lifestyle of this uniquely American entity. In a world where violence is practically second nature, these are some of the most brutal killers and gruesome murders associated with the Mafia.

Some of the people on this list are classic gangsters like <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/al-capone-trivia-facts/jeffrichard" target="_blank">Al Capone</a>. Others weren&#39;t even in the mob, but pissed off <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/funny-wrong-number-texts/ariel-kana?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword" target="_blank">the wrong</a> people. In either case, the lesson is clear: Stay clear of the mob and definitely don&#39;t make a gangster mad. Keep reading below to see some of the most violent murders ever committed by the Mafia.

The Most Gruesome And Terrifying Murders Committed By The Mafia

The Most Gruesome and Terrifying Murders Committed by the Mafia

Phil Gibbons

Real tales of terror from real people doing normal things, like playing the Powerball and using tampons.

Crazy True! Horror Stories

Mysteries

<a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/list-of-all-detective-movies/reference">TV shows and movies</a> teach&nbsp;us that relentless detectives always solve the case. Sadly, however, this is not always true. Many cases remain not only unresolved, but shrouded in mystery, rife with eerie, unsettling details that continue to raise questions. Several real-life detectives, police officers, and dispatchers took to Reddit&nbsp;to share some of their most bizarre and hair-raising stories concerning cases that were never officially solved, and incidents where &quot;justice was served,&quot; despite a host of loose ends. Here is a collection of the most startling unsolved cases.&nbsp;

<a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/1h5k7f/law_enforcement_and_detectives_of_reddit_have_you/" target="_blank">Source</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/19uxzk/copsdetectives_of_reddit_have_you_ever_obsessed/?" target="_blank">Source</a>, <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/5a9fou/seriousdetectivespolice_officers_of_reddit_what/" target="_blank">Source</a>&nbsp;

Real Police Officers Describe Their Creepiest Unsolved Cases

Real Detectives Describe Their Creepiest Unsolved Mysteries

Christopher Shultz

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

Keeping <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/terrifying-drunk-confessions-from-friends/erin-maxwell" target="_blank">secrets</a> isn&#39;t easy, but these Redditors have been holding in some particularly dark ones for quite a while. When asked, people around the internet started revealing the darkest secrets they knew about other people that those people don&#39;t know they know.

People Confess The Darkest Secrets They Know About Someone Else

People Confess Dark Secrets They Know About Someone Else

Damon Davis

Considering the <a href="https://www.amazon.com/English-Riddles-Tradition-Archer-Taylor/dp/1888215704/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8" target="_blank">universality of word puzzles</a>, humans have likely been challenging, confounding, and entertaining each other with riddles since the earliest days of human speech. Today, riddles have become ubiquitous, popping up in everything from <a href="https://www.nurseryrhymes.com/riddle-songs-nursery-rhymes/" target="_blank">children&#39;s nursery rhymes</a>&nbsp;to <a href="http://www.dccomics.com/characters/riddler" target="_blank">Batman comics</a>. Many of literature&#39;s greatest fictional detectives have encountered their fair share of riddles, as well, and mystery fans are spending a great deal of money&nbsp;to play detective at home&nbsp;with subscription <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/best-mystery-subscription-boxes/ranker-shopping" target="_blank">mystery boxes and bundles</a>.

But&nbsp;you don&#39;t have to pay an arm and a leg to get your mystery fix -&nbsp;just dive into our list of murder mystery riddles and become a puzzle master in the comfort of your own home. Here are some mysteries and detective riddles to stretch your mind.

21 Murder Mystery Riddles Most People Can’t Solve

21 Detective Mystery Riddles Most People Can’t Solve

Brent Sprecher

Gabby Petito&#39;s <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/unsolved-mysteries-families/mike-bedard" target="_blank">disappearance</a> garnered almost-instant media attention when the 22-year-old Long Island native was reported missing by her family on September 11, 2021. Petito was on <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/09/16/us/gabby-petito-timeline-missing-case/index.html" target="_blank">a summer road trip</a> with her fiance, 23-year-old Brian Laundrie, and the couple was documenting their travels via YouTube and Instagram. Petito&#39;s family told authorities that she had stayed in close contact with them throughout the summer, but communication stopped in late August. A little over a week into the search for Petito, investigators discovered her remains&nbsp;in Wyoming&#39;s Grand Teton National Park.

The last known person to see Gabby Petito alive was Brian Laundrie, whose remains were found in Florida&#39;s Carlton Reserve on October 20 following a month-long manhunt.&nbsp;Prior to this discovery, there were multiple unconfirmed&nbsp;<a href="https://abc7ny.com/gabby-petito-brian-laundrie-joseph-instagram-updates/11088520/" target="_blank">sightings of Laundrie</a> in North Carolina, and neighbors claimed they saw him <a href="https://radaronline.com/p/brian-laundrie-seen-running-backyard-parents-neighbors/" target="_blank">running from his home</a> days after his parents said he initially left.

The internet and the general public wait with bated breath for answers&nbsp;in the case. Here are all the facts we know so far about what happened to Gabby Petito and Brian Laundrie.

Everything We Know About The Tragic Gabby Petito Case

What Happened To Gabby Petito? Here's Everything We Know

Patrick Thornton

Saddam Hussein was the infamous President of Iraq from 1979 to 2003 until US military apprehended him. In 2006, he faced trial for crimes against humanity and was sentenced to death. Hussein&rsquo;s eldest son, Uday Hussein, reportedly had a falling out with his father, despite Uday&rsquo;s position as successor to the <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/list-of-famous-dictators/reference" target="_blank">Hussein regime</a>. The eldest son was internationally known for his unstable personality and numerous criminal allegations - which included assaults against women, the use of archaic forms of punishment, and fatal attacks on family members and enemies alike. Uday and his brother Qusay died in 2003 when special operations Task Force 20, in conjunction with the US Army, besieged a hideout in Mosul, Iraq.

The 2011 drama The Devil&rsquo;s Double presents <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/best-movies-based-on-true-stories/ranker-film" target="_blank">an adaptation</a> of Latif Yahia&rsquo;s 1994 true crime novel of the same name. Yahia, a former classmate of Uday, describes how he was enlisted to function as Uday&rsquo;s body double - a dangerous position that required he make public appearances as Uday. Although some journalists reject the former soldier&rsquo;s claim, Yahia went on to publish several more texts about his experiences in Hussein-ruled Iraq. Uday is portrayed as a blood-thirsty tyrant with no regard for human life - and as a man and ruler whom the people of Iraq greatly feared. The accounts also detail how Uday was <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/bizarre-obsessions-of-dangerous-dictators/mike-rothschild" target="_blank">fixated on his appearance</a>, a behavior which caused the public to view him as both dangerous and eccentric.&nbsp; 
&nbsp;

The Most Horrifically Cruel and Insane Things Uday Hussein Ever Did

The Most Horrifically Insane and Cruel Things Uday Hussein Ever Did

Lyra Radford

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

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