Unsolved mysteries, which premiered in January 1987, captivated viewers with tales of peculiar cold cases, missing persons, and paranormal activity. Actor Robert Stack introduced reenacted segments—often while clad in a trench coat—and invited the audience to contribute tips and information to help law enforcement resolve their most baffling investigations. Thanks to their assistance, the series (later hosted by Dennis Farina) helped recapture numerous wanted fugitives, unite fractured families, and even exonerate a few wrongfully-convicted inmates. However, many of the 1000, plus cases featured in the series are still awaiting resolution. We asked Unsolved co-creators John Cosgrove and Terry Dunn Merrier to share their picks for stories that have stuck with them over the years. In no particular order, here are 10 mysteries that still keep Cosgrove and Merrier up at night.
*1.SALEM SECRETS (1989)*
The Oregon state prison system didn’t have a great reputation in the 1980s. Allegations of employees smuggling drugs behind bars and stealing state property were rampant. To combat the perception of impropriety, then-Oregon governor Neil Goldschmidt invited Michael Franck to come in and clamp down on the activity, as well as cure an overcrowding problem in facilities. Franck, who had previously worked within the New Mexico prison system, had a reputation for doing things by the book. He spent two years slowly building his case, but before he was able to point the finger at anyone publicly, he was found dead "outside" of his office in Salem on January 17, 1989—a victim of a knife-wielding assailant who had pierced his heart. Police pieced together Franck’s final moments and believed he was robbed and stabbed by a drug dealer named Franck Gable. Gable has thus far been unsuccessful in getting his appeals heard, despite several witnesses coming forward to cite police coercion during interviews and recanting their statements that he was at the crime scene. In 2016, a magistrate judge heard arguments for a new trial, including statements that deceased criminal John Crows made to relatives in which he confessed to killing Franck in a car burglary gone wrong. Crows revealed several key details of the crime, including the fact that he punched Franck in the face during the confrontation. Franck had a bruise on his face consistent with Crows’s description. Though Gable is still considered the perpetrator, both Franck's family and the team at Unsolved Mysteries consider Franck's untimely death an open case.
*2. A.W.O.L (1993)*
Soldiers who flee military enlistment without permission are known as being A.W.O.L.: Absent Without Official Leave. Private Justin Burgwinkel didn’t seem like a plausible candidate for stepping out on his responsibilities. He had worked hard and aspired to become an Army Ranger, which required specialized and intensive training at Ford ORD in Salinas, California; he seemed committed to a career in the military. And then he began acting oddly around his girlfriend, Yolanda An tune. While visiting her, he would abruptly tell her he had to leave in order to meet unnamed parties. When she pressed for details, he told her it was a secret, hinting only that it might involve arms smuggling. She noticed he carried a briefcase full of shredded paper. Once, she answered the phone and was told to deliver Burgwinkel a message: “The mission” was being called off.
*3.DIAL H FOR ABDUCTION (1991)*
Angela Hammond and her boyfriend Rob Shaffer lived in Clinton, Missouri, and likely didn’t concern themselves much with the possibility of being victimized by the same types of crime that plagued larger cities. But on April 4, 1991, the worst-case scenario came true. While phoning Rob from a pay phone, 20-year-old Hammond remarked that a green Ford pick-up had been circling the block. Hammond said that a “filthy, bearded” man had exited and was using the phone next to hers. They talked for another few minutes—until Hammond screamed. Shaffer raced to his car and drove to the phones, which were just blocks away. He told police he passed the pick-up driving away, with Hammond screaming his name. He tried to give chase, but his transmission failed, and he watched helplessly as the truck—which had a giant fish decal on the back window—disappeared into the night. Shaffer was initially considered a suspect, but was quickly cleared. Despite the telltale window sticker, police were unable to locate the vehicle or Hammond. They believed her disappearance might have been connected to two other women who were abducted and murdered within 100 miles of Clinton, but no one has ever been charged with the crimes.
*4. DREAMY DISAPPEARANCE (1981)*
Cynthia Anderson worked as a legal secretary in Toledo, Ohio, sometimes passing the time in her office by reading suspense or romance novels. In 1980, the 20-year-old told her mother that she had been having a recurring dream about allowing someone into her house who meant her harm. At work, she received harassing phone calls to the point her employers—lawyers Jim Rabbit and Jay Feinstein—had an emergency buzzer installed at her desk. When Rabbit arrived at their office the morning of August 4, 1981, they expected to find Anderson behind her desk. Instead, the front door was locked, and Anderson was nowhere to be found. The novel she had been reading was open to a passage describing a violent abduction. Her car was still in the lot. A month later, a mysterious phone call came into police headquarters. A woman insisted Anderson was being held in a basement but wouldn’t give any specifics. She called a second time to tell police the house was occupied, but never contacted them again. Some theorize Anderson may have heard incriminating conversations involving a drug dealer who became concerned that she knew too much. To date, no one has been charged in connection with her disappearance.
*5. FRIENDS TO THE END (1987)*
In the1980s, Arkansas, a popular (albeit illegal) activity among youth was “spotlighting,” a practice in which a hunter would freeze animals in their tracks by shining a flashlight in their eyes while their partner fired a weapon. That’s what teenage friends Don Henry (16) and Kevin Ives (17) set out to do the evening of August 22, 1987, in the small town of Bryant, Arkansas, near the train tracks that ran behind Henry’s house. Hours later, a conductor named Stephen Shroyer was navigating his train through the area when he noticed the teens laying motionless on the tracks; they were covered by a green tarp. Shocked, Shroyer tried to come to an emergency stop, but it was too late. The train ran directly over their bodies. A coroner would later conclude that the boys were asleep on the tracks as a result of smoking 20 or more marijuana cigarettes, a finding that both sets of parents rejected. Owing to public pressure, the bodies were exhumed so another autopsy could be conducted. The findings revealed that the boys had had one to three marijuana joints, and that one of them was dead and one unconscious before the train ran over them. That, coupled with the fact that Henry appeared to be stabbed and Ives struck with the butt of his own gun, led a grand jury to conclude the case was a double homicide. In 2018, the Ives family was still pursuing answers with the help of a private investigator. In a bizarre twist, former professional wrestler Billy Jack Haynes claimed he was a witness in the case. He came forward to assert that, at the time, he was involved in drug trafficking in the area, and had been called to the area to make sure a scheduled air drop happened without incident. (In 1988, a confidential informant told police the area the boys were in was used to drop drugs from passing aircraft.) According to KATZ, Haynes claimed he was present when an air-drop of cocaine took place and that the boys had witnessed the drop. Haynes also said he helped lay the boys on the track. Police have not yet commented on his claims.
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