Historical Crime Files

A shadowy figure known as Billy the Axeman may rank among America's earliest serial killers, with conservative estimates of 24-30 victims in axe...

Lizzie Borden was arrested on August 11, 1892, and charged with the axe murders of her father and stepmother. She was tried and acquitted later that summer in Fall River, Massachusetts.

Duane “Keffe D” Davis faces murder charges in the 1996 Tupac Shakur killing, with prosecutors relying on his own public statements—including his 2019...

Nearly three decades after Tupac Shakur's 1996 killing, prosecutors are building their case against Duane 'Keffe D' Davis almost entirely on his own...

• Early Hollywood's chaotic frontier allowed crowds to disturb the crime scene before police secured it
• Starlet Mary Miles Minter's emotional love...

This article discusses rising podcast interest in literal exorcisms and references the 1981 Arne Cheyenne Johnson murder trial's failed demonic...

A decades-long investigation finally yielded an arrest when cold case funding enabled reexamination of the 1994 murder of 85-year-old Veta Hardebeck....

More than 60 years later, the bound-and-gagged murder of Francis John Rafferty stands as one of Dubuque's enduring cold cases.

• Horrific scene:...

The 1803 Shouzhou triple murder case shattered the image of a prosperous gentry family in Anhui when two laborers and a cousin died suddenly from...

Nathan Leopold's deep ornithological work on Kirtland’s warblers, revealing cowbird parasitism as a key threat, stands in sharp contrast to his role...

The 1993-94 murders of Samo Paull and Tracey Turner exposed major forensic and legal hurdles in linking cases across UK police forces.

• Initial...

• 'Trial by newspaper' saturated coverage with unverified claims about Sam before and during trial.
• Jurors faced intense publicity with names...

A blood-stained gravy ladle discovered in Lilly Lindeström's apartment transformed a 1932 Stockholm murder into the chilling "Atlas Vampire" legend,...

Cold cases from Oregon to Crete show how relentless family advocacy and fresh probes can finally deliver justice.

• Oregon authorities reopened Astrid...

Investigative genetic genealogy is rewriting Toronto cold case outcomes by linking long-dead suspects to notorious crimes.

• Christine Jessop’s 1984...

In the 1921 Father Heslin murder, criminologist Edward Heinrich matched the ransom letter's handwriting to a professional baker's style, traced sand...

The marble sculpture of Florence Campbell, infamous for the unsolved 1876 poisoning of her husband, has been barred from export to France and returns...

• A high school teacher and students spent years charting body dump sites along I-40 and I-81 using geographical mapping and behavioral tracking.
  -...

Riverside police refuse to allow DNA comparison of 1966 evidence from Cheri Jo Bates against suspect Gary Francis Poste, insisting her murder is...

New access to eight hours of Tex Watson tapes has LAPD detectives hunting for Manson family links to unsolved stabbings. Cases under review include...