The Mary Celeste: the greatest mystery of the sea. Discovered adrift in the middle of the ocean. No captain at her helm. No crew on deck. On board no signs of a fight, a valuable cargo intact. She flew no distress signal. Rudderless she wandered the Atlantic. Her tattered sails the only sign of disorder. What had happened to turn the Mary Celeste into a ghost ship? Mystery of the Mary Celeste
The captain, his wife and two-year-old daughter had simply vanished. So had a seven-man crew. ibid.
The ship’s lifeboat was never found. Did [Benjamin] Briggs take the ultimate decision and abandon ship? ibid.
The Mary Celeste’s last known position contains a vital clue. She was found in one of the world’s most seismically active areas. ibid.
It was James Winchester, the ship’s principle owner, who first raised the idea that the solution to the mystery lay with cargo ... He believed that an explosion of alcohol vapour in the hull may have forced Captain Briggs to abandon ... The Mary Celeste was carrying 1,701 barrels of industrial alcohol. Almost certainly methanol. ibid.
This story that you get just doesn’t make sense. You have a sea-worthy vessel. You have a cargo that’s intact. You have a captain that is a part owner of the ship. He’s got his wife and his small daughter on board the ship. It doesn’t make sense that they would leave the ship when the ship is fine. Ted Henke, Atlantic Mutual Insurance Company, Claims Division
In November 1872 the Atlantic experienced the worst weather since records began. 450 vessels were lost or abandoned at sea. But only one would become a legend – the Mary Celeste. She was found drifting 400 east of the Azores, seaworthy, her cargo well stowed, and with food and supplies for six months on board. But ten people – the captain, his family and crew – had vanished without trace. The True Story of the Mary Celeste, Yesterday 2017
The men found working charts; missing were the ship’s papers, navigational instruments and maps. Personal effects did not seem to be disturbed; topside, the crew found both masts secure; the sails set were torn, rigging in disarray, and missing, the peak halyard, the longer rope on the ships. ibid.
But if the missing alcohol, some 450 gallons, remained in the hold, Oliver Deveau would have smelt fumes when he first boarded the ship and he did not. ibid.
In January 1885 the Mary Celeste under new owners was scuttled in an insurance fraud. ibid.
Memory is such a fickle thing. Storyville: Out of Thin Air: Murder in Iceland, opening scene, BBC 2017
Police are looking for a 19-year-old man who has been missing since Saturday night … Rescue teams are searching the lava fields … Now police are searching for a 34-year-old man. His car was found abandoned in Keflavik … ibid. news
Every Icelander knows about this case. It’s the biggest criminal case of the last century. ibid. woman
I realised I am high on LSD … He tells me, someone must have put LSD in my drink. ibid. woman with bloke at party
Saevar, Kristjan, Tryggvi and Albert are held in custody for Gugmundur’s murder. ibid. caption
Four more suspects known as the Club Men are arrested; now there are eight in custody. ibid.
There was so much pressure on authorities to convict all of us. ibid. woman
All six had now confessed to their involvement in the two murders. After an investigation which had lasted more than a year, there was however no physical evidence, and the suspects’ memories were hazy. Yet they had all told police and signed statements that, yes, they had either killed Geirfinnur and Gudmundur or helped dispose of their bodies.
... Several of the suspects now began trying to retract their confessions saying they had been pressured into signing statements they knew weren’t true. Investigators dismissed these claims, as did the court; sometimes because the attempted retractions had come too late or, as in Saevar’s case, because the head investigator told the court ‘I know better.’
… Then there was the mental torture – being deprived of everything, kept awake all night, not allowed to sleep.
Forty years on, this still haunts Hlynur who is ashamed of what went on inside the prison walls. ‘I think most people here believe we live in a civilised country, that we are a civilised nation. We want to trust justice but that failed.’ BBC online article Simon Cox 15th May 2014, ‘The Reykjavik Confessions: The mystery of why six people admitted roles in two murders – when they couldn’t remember anything about the crimes'
A 43-year-old German man who travelled around Portugal in a camper van is now the focus of Scotland Yard’s investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann 13 years ago.
Police believe the man, now in jail for a sex crime, was in the area where the girl, then aged three, was last seen.
Madeleine’s parents Gerry and Kate McCann thanked the police, adding: ‘All we have ever wanted is to find her.’
Police are appealing for information about two vehicles owned by the man.
The day after Madeleine vanished, the suspect transferred a Jaguar car to someone else’s name.
Madeleine went missing from an apartment on a Portuguese holiday resort on the evening of 3 May 2007, while her parents were with friends at a nearby tapas bar.
Her disappearance sparked a huge and costly police hunt across much of Europe – the most recent Metropolitan Police investigation, which began in 2011, has cost more than £11m. BBC online article 3rd June 2020
2011: ‘People are in a heightened state of alert after a ten month old girl [Lisa Irwin] was reported missing from her home.’ People Magazine Investigates s1e3: What Happened to Baby Lisa, news, ID 2016
In Kansas City Missouri ten-month-old Lisa Irwin is missing without a trace … ‘Thousands of volunteers showed up.’ ibid.
‘The first time they interrogated me was 12 hours.’ ibid. Lisa’s mother
‘The cadaver dog hit on the floor next to the parents’ bed.’ ibid. Ron Rugen private investigator
‘Three different people told the police that they had seen an unidentified man the night Lisa went missing walking with an infant.’ ibid. Alicia Dennis
Jessica Mitchell and Vernal DeOrr Kunz … son is nowhere to be found … a two year child missing in the Timber Creek area. People Magazine Investigates s2e2: Where is Baby DeOrr?
There’s no blood, no clothing, they don’t believe an animal has taken him. ibid.
Grandpa Bob who is allegedly the last person to see Baby DeOrr alive. ibid.
The couple’s account of their 911 calls contradict each other. ibid.
Vernal and Jessica were given multiple polygraph tests … They failed all of them. ibid.
One of the most heartbreaking mysteries in modern memory. In the blink of an eye a child vanishes and a family’s world turns into a horrifying nightmare. People Magazine Investigates s3e4: Mikelle Biggs
Arizona police are in a round-the-clock search for 11 year old Mikelle Biggs. ibid.
He [Dee Blalock] was a convicted sex offender. He had three previous convictions for sexual assault, kidnapping and child molestation … He lived right across the street. ibid.
This was a total mystery … Kevin Collins becomes a household name … A family friend says that he saw Kevin waiting for the bus … Kevin just disappeared. People Magazine Investigates s4e4: Without a Trace, ID 2020
It’s not inappropriate to categorise that guy as a monster.’ People Magazine Investigates s5e7: Little Girl Gone, rozzer, ID 2021
Chisholm, Minnesota: Her [LeeAnna Warner] friend that she plays with every day. She lived right around the corner. So I allowed her to run over there. ibid. mother
They hold a press conference hoping that someone will provide a tip that will lead them to LeeAnna. ibid.
They have an all-out search … without finding any trace of him. People Magazine Investigates s7e3: Where is Mark Himebaugh? ID 2023
‘Police find the boy’s shoe on the beach by his home.’ ibid. TV news
October 2018: A 16-year-old girl just vanished [Karlie Gusé] … a series of extremely bizarre circumstances in a rural pocket of California. People Magazine Investigates s7e5: The Disappearance of Karlie, ID 2023
On a remote island in the north Atlantic three lighthouse-keepers disappear. The Unexplained Files s2e4: UFO: Curse of Flannan Lighthouse & Aleshenka: Russian Mummy, Science 2014
Volunteers searched the neighbourhood for Ann Marie [Burr] … 8-year-old Ann Marie Burr was taken from her family home in Tacoma Washington [August 1961]. Killer Kids s3e8: Peeping Theodore & The Six, Biography 2014
Theodore Cowell was an evil child but he grew up to become one of the most infamous serial killers of all time: Ted Bundy. ibid.
A passenger jet disappears: now new discoveries may be close to revealing what really happened to Malaysia Airlines MH370. Mysteries of the Missing s1e1: MH370, Discovery 2018
‘One of aviation’s greatest mysteries.’ ibid.
No clues, no evidence. ibid.
‘A consignment in this flight of lithium-iron batteries … they can spontaneously combust.’ ibid. David Learmount, aviation investigator
The aircraft mysteriously changed course. ibid.
‘There were two passengers on the aircraft who were flying on stolen passports.’ ibid.
A piece of wreckage … on an island 3,000 miles away … MH370 was ditched. ibid.