When a person goes missing, we all pray they're found as soon as possible. However, sometimes, their disappearance remains unsolved for many, many years. According to the U.S. National Missing and Unidentified Persons System, there are still 22,740 people in the United States who are presumed missing.
Some cases are creepier and more unsettling than others. Like the disappearance of the five Sodder children, who possibly survived a house fire but were never found. Or the case of the 27-year-old medical student Brian Shaffer, who walked into a bar at around 2 a.m. but was never seen again.
There have been many Reddit threads where people have shared such stories over the years. So, we've collected the most popular and intriguing ones and present them to you here. Here's a fair warning though: some of them might seriously creep you out!
#1
My sister. (Ending is positive)
She went missing during high school. She started hanging with the wrong crowd, got into d***s and just.. disappeared one day. Two years went by. Not a word.
Then on day, my mom spotted the truck of the guy she was seeing when she went missing. It was parked at a hotel. We have a few police in our family, so they went to check it out. Sure enough it was her with this scummy guy.
Guy was wanted, went to jail. Sister went to rehab. She is now a college grad, clean for over 10-15 years. Has two beautiful kids and a genuinely great husband. She is a living success story.
Image credits: TheReelDimension
#2
The Jack family disappearance.
In 1989, a whole family in Prince George, BC disappeared after a man at the pub promised a logging camp job to the father/husband, and that he could bring his wife and children along. Nobody has seen any of them since.
Image credits: Anvilsmash_01
#3
Terrance Willaims disappeared in 2004 after being taken into custody by a sheriff's deputy near Naples, Florida. It turned out another man named Felipe Santos had also disappeared after being taken into custody by the same deputy several years earlier.
Edit: As some people have correctly pointed out below, Santos disappeared in custody in October 2003, only 3-4 months before Williams. Sorry, got that wrong.
Image credits: AlanMercer
#4
In about 1971 a lady in Boca Raton reported her daughter missing. Her boyfriend was also missing along with his van. At some point over the years she hired private detectives to look for the two. At one point she was told they were living in San Francisco. She was once told her daughter had a child. She never could understand why her daughter broke off contact and continued to look for her daughter.
Along the streets in South Florida there are usually drainage canals that drain the everglades to the ocean. Some are quite deep. In about 2000 they dredged a canal not far from her house and found the van. Daughter and boyfriend were both inside. All those years they were just down the street. At least she had closure.
Image credits: Guy_In_Florida
#5
Brandon Lawson.
He ran out of gas on the highway in the middle of the night and called his brother to come help him. Shortly after he called 911 and reported that someone had chased him into the woods and that he needed police.
Eventually his brother and one police officer arrive at the scene and find his truck abandoned but no sign of Brandon. Brandon calls his brother and says he's bleeding and is 10 minutes away from his truck. That was the last anyone ever heard from him and searches of the area turned up empty.
Image credits: InThisIllusion
#6
Brian Shaffer. Went missing from the Ugly Tuna Saloona at Ohio State seemingly out of thin air. Cameras picked him up reentering the bar after talking to two women outside around 1:55am and he was never seen again.
Image credits: saaaaaaammmmmmm
#7
The **43 MISSING STUDENTS** from México. I mean, singles get lost all the time, but f*****g 43 people are hard to lose you might think.
Image credits: aballofunicorns
#8
Serenity Dennard is the one that sticks with me and bothers me.
She was known to run away, which was supposedly part of why she was in the residential facility - where she should have been safe. However, a 9 year old runs out of a supervised gym in the middle of the morning and is literally never seen again? They waited almost 2 hours to call the police despite it being 5 degrees out and her not having a coat. She couldn't have gotten far, and yet she's never been found.
Image credits: Faiths_got_fangs
#9
The daughter of a friend of my mother went missing a few years ago. While they were looking for her, news crews interviewed a friend of hers from class, who was distraught. During the interview, he said he hoped she could be found, and they informed him that they had just found a piece of her body. At this, he went pale and had to walk away and sit down on the sidewalk.
Some time later, it was discovered that he was the one who did it.
#10
Malaysia Airlines flight 370, I can’t wrap my head around how at the same time practically anything you do is monitored, recorded and stored but we somehow still manage to lose a whole f*****g passenger aircraft.
Image credits: xxSpeedyThrowaway69
#11
**The Jamison family**
-The Jamison family (2 adults, 1 young daughter) was interested in purchasing a plot of land in Oklahoma
-They drive out in their pickup truck to check it out
-Truck is later found abandoned
-$32,000 cash found in truck, along with the Jamisons' IDs, wallets, mobile phones, and a GPS.
-The family dog was also left in the truck, and was extremely malnourished.
-A camera is discovered, the final picture was of their daughter, 6-year old Madyson, who looks somewhat distressed.
-Security footage is uncovered, with the family appearing "trance-like" and not speaking to one-another.
-The Jamisons' skeletal remains are found years later, dumped less than 3 miles from where the pickup truck was originally discovered.
-Remains show no signs of struggle.
#12
This isn’t the creepiest, it’s the first one I thought of. There was a guy who suddenly bolted out of a public facility (forgot exactly what) across the road out of camera view. I think his face was shown pretty clearly in the surveillance footage too. But he was gone
Another one was of a little kid who disappeared while on a morning paper run decades ago. His parents never gave up, until he became a grown man and returned to visit his elderly mother. He was accompanied by two men who looked like either his handlers or similar. He said he worked hard to be rewarded with a few hours of visitation, but he couldn’t talk about what happened to him and what he was doing all these years. He had to leave, and he never returned. Makes me wonder what insane underground organization he was forced to join, and what horrors he had to endure to be “rewarded.”.
Image credits: JustAnotherParticle
#13
Daniel Morcombe's disappearance from the Sunshine Coast Queensland was the one that haunted me, I was not that much older and also caught the school bus.
Took them 7 years i think to find him so sad for his family .
Image credits: Rainy_K
#14
Four-year-old D’Wan Sims in Livonia, MI, 1990s. His mother reported him missing at Wonderland Mall, but when investigators pulled surveillance video, they found the mother, but no child. She kept pointing to other women with young children and claiming that was her with the child. Never solved. No one was ever charged. The mother moved away from the area, if memory serves, and she died in 2020.
Image credits: Chemical_Science_454
#15
I'm sure there are stranger cases but this one always creeped me out because I knew the guy, he and I were never friends but ran in the same circles and had a lot of mutual friends.
One night he was hanging out at my buddies place playing video games and left around 9:30 or 10 pm to head back to his apartment. His place was only 3 blocks away but his keycard was swiped at the wrong building (identical towers next to each other) and he tried to make a phone call to a friend that only lasted 2 seconds but ended before our friend picked up, that was the last sign of where he was.
When he didn't show up for classes the next day our friends started putting out flyers, a few days later his family reported him missing resulting in a massive search for him with helicopters, dogs, people walking all the fields near campus, the works. Not a trace was found, although it didn't help that it was snowing. Of course the police treated our mutual friend as a suspect as he was the last person to see him (he's the nicest guy, no one who knew him suspected him for a moment) and also said maybe he was drunk and fell in the river or something but they weren't drinking that much by a long shot so that didn't make sense.
Months later his body is found in an old abandoned barn owned by the school about a mile off campus, apparently he was curled up behind some equipment in the basement with his shoes at the top of the stairs.
The cops story is that he was out taking photos, got lost, fell down the stairs and died of hypothermia, they attributed the shoes to paradoxical undressing or him literally falling out of his shoes. Except that doesn't make any sense.
According to my buddy he was hanging out with he didn't have his camera on him, there's no mention of it in the police reports, and no sign that he ever made it back to his apartment to get his camera (would have shown up on keycard records). I
n addition to that you could see his apartment tower from the building he was found in so being lost doesn't make much sense, and his body was already desiccated and partially decomposed when they found it so I'm not sure how they knew hypothermia was the cause of death. He was also found to have cuts on his hands and the room he was found in had been locked, the police claim that when he fell down the stairs he hit the door hard enough to unlock and open it, and cut his hands on the doors. Somehow. Personally I think he was m******d.
Edit: This is Jon Lacina from Iowa State I'm talking about in case you want to look it up.
#16
The disappearance of Bobby Dunbar. In 1912 his parents took him fishing on a lake in Louisiana and he went missing. Police searched for him for 8 months, and finally found a man named William Cantwell Walters who was traveling with a boy that resembled Bobby Dunbar. Walter's claimed the boy was the son of a friend who had given him custody, and that the child's name was Bruce Anderson not Bobby Dunbar. Investigators and positive ID from the parents determined this was actually the Dunbar's child and gave custody over to them. The town had a parade for Bobby Dunbar's return.
During the trial with the Dunbar's and Walters a woman named Julia Anderson came to defend Walters, asserting this was her son Bruce and she had given Walters custody - the courts dismissed her because she had three children out of wedlock (it was 1912) and two were already deceased. The trial being in Mississippi, and her being a very poor woman from North Carolina, she gave up on fighting the case.
Then, 9 years ago in 2008 one of "Bobby Dunbar's" granddaughters had a DNA test done. She compared her grandfathers DNA to his owns brothers. They were not related.
#17
The Brandon Lawson case
Around 2am he was in a field in Texas and called 911. In the call its hard to hear what he says but he sounds distressed and panicked. He cuts off and that was the last he was heard of. His brother said he called him after but he has yet to be found
It sounds like said he ran into something and mentions he was chased in the woods. Somewhere else someone edited the audio and it sounds like gunshots in the background of the call
Allegedly at 1:03 you can barely hear a faint "help me"
The 911 Call
EDIT: I was informed by some Redditors that he had a felony warrant out for his arrest so he was more scared of whatever he encountered than he was of going to jail because he specifically requested the cops regardless.
#18
Paddy moriarty and his dog Kellie. Went missing in a outback town in australia with a population of 12 people. Last seen leaving the pub riding his quad bike the 1km distance to his house. He or his dog have never been found and no one has been charged in relation to his disappearance.
Image credits: Bigred0752
#19
I remember reading about the disappearance of Susan Powell in a similar one of these threads a few months back.
It’s a wild story - husband and wife (with 2 young sons) have a bad marriage (he’s a*****e & controlling + at one point they had to move because the husband’s father was in love with the wife).
Things get so bad she starts fearing for her life - then one night the whole family disappears, only to have the husband come back a few days later saying that he and the boys went camping and he had no idea where the wife was.
As the investigation into what happened to the wife goes on, the husband acts more and more suspiciously, eventually moving with the kids to live with his father that they moved away from in the first place, but then lost custody of the kids because the father got caught with a bunch of child p**n (and hundreds of creeper shots of Susan).
Finally, during a supervised visit, the husband grabs his sons from the social worker, holes himself up inside his house and then blows it up, killing himself and both the boys. And all the while, they never solved the mystery of what happened to Susan Powell and she is still listed as missing (although presumed m******d and dumped somewhere by the husband) - it’s a sad, crazy tale.
#20
Rico Harris. He was a massive 6'9" former Harlem Globetrotter basketball player who had d**g issues earlier in his life, but had made a full recovery and was getting his life back on track. He was driving along California's Interstate I-5, from his home in Southern California to Seattle, to live with his girlfriend. He was somewhere just north of Sacramento, exhausted, and told his girlfriend over the phone that he wanted to check out the mountains. All calls stopped since then.
His car was found a couple days later by a patrolman near a rest stop in the mountains. A massive search was launched. No signs of him. The strangest part? A driver later reported seeing a massive 6'9" individual wandering down the highway, just a mile from where the car was found - *a week later*. A search was re-launched, massive size 17 footprints were found in the ground that were not there before, they were getting very close, and then... Nothing. No trace, no body, nothing.
Where did Rico go the first time he disappeared? Where was he for *an entire week*? And where did he disappear to again? The fact that someone could disappear twice, is what makes this so d**n mystifying to me.
#21
Amy Bradley
She was on a cruise with her family. She was last seen asleep on the balcony of the cabin and was seen earlier in the night with the band on the cruise. She was reported missing shortly after the cruise docked. There was no signs of her on the ship or in the ocean.
"There were possible sightings of Bradley in Curaçao in 1998 and 1999. Two Canadian tourists reported seeing a woman resembling Amy on a beach in Curaçao in August 1998. The woman's tattoos were reportedly identical to Bradley's. Bradley's tattoos included a Tasmanian Devil spinning a basketball located on her shoulder, the sun placed on her lower back, a Chinese symbol located on her right ankle, and a gecko lizard on her navel. She also had a navel ring. A member of the Navy stated that he saw Bradley in a brothel in 1999. He claimed she told him that 'her name was Amy Bradley and [she] begged him for help,' explaining that she was not allowed to leave."
I find it freaky just because of how terrifying human trafficking is.
#22
General: The Highway of Tears murders/disappearances. The fact that MULTIPLE serial k**lers may have been operating along the same desolate stretch of highway... brrrrr.
Specific: Dorothy Jane Scott. She received anonymous threatening calls for months before someone abducted her in a hospital parking lot. Her car was last seen by her friends, speeding away with the headlights on bright so that it was impossible to tell who was driving. Her family continued to receive taunting calls from her stalker for years afterward, yet the man never stayed on the line long enough to be traced or identified.
#23
Ok so this was a friend of mine. Yes an actual friend of mine.
He was the father of a very good friend. He went for a rather short hike with his wife, her children and a friend of hers somewhere in Bavaria. The children were dropped off at a climbing area while the three of them went on for about 10-15 minutes until they found a nice spot to sit down. At least the two ladies sat down. This was at a (sort of) crossroads behind two large rocks, so they couldn't see the path they would continue to hike. My friend decided to advance a bit so that he could take some pictures. At this point they were a 30/45 minutes walk away from the car. The ladies talked for about 10 minutes at most, then it slowly began to rain and they decided to leave. So the wife called her husbands name but he didn't respond. She was holding his cellphone. They went past the rocks and there was no one to be seen. It was a rather large area, you would have needed to walk 10 minutes straight to get out of sight here. I was there the next day and looked around. There were a lot of nice places to take pictures so it's weird that he would've spend the 10 minutes walking straight away.
The wife told the authorities about this, they searched the area with helicopters and dogs, the dogs picked up a scent and some ranger-dude even saw him walking around somewhere, where the dogs also found a scent. The trail went cold at a cliff aside the path that was difficult to search/climb. At the "bottom" there was no trail for the dogs. There was nothing more anyone could do. He was missing for about a year until the body was found by a mushroom picker who went deep into the area (he knew his way around). It was nowhere near where they thought he went and there were no bones smashed as they would have been if he fell from a cliff. They could identify him via DNA analysis but no one knows what exactly happened.
He had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's but it wasn't bad yet, the worst I've seen him was forgetting where he put his keys the day before. Other than that he was a bright and conscious person.
#24
Ohhhhh this girl who was working alone got dragged out of gas station (all seen on camera). The footage was so bad they couldnt figure out who it was so they put out a message in the paper with his coat description. Someone eventually says their janitor always wears that coat. They go to the guys house and search non stop over and over again. They find a single burned tooth in the backyard. It would have been inconclusive but the girl had gone to a dentist conference and got a just on the market filling that only like 2 people in the world had.... soo they caught him ....
edit: holy moly thanks for the upvotes
just to add to the story a girl caught a partial license plate as the guy drove past a park but his car was registered under the wrong color so they couldn't find the car.
oh yes this was a forensic files episode
and the technology back in those days wasn't what is today.
#25
What about baby Azaria Chamberlain whose mother claimed a Dingo took her baby while she was camping 32 years ago. The coroner has finally ruled that a Dingo did take the baby. Also in Portland Oregon little Kyron Horman was dropped off at his grade school by his step mother never to be seen again. Big story in the Portland area and lots of searches and accusations towards the step mother but no charges yet.
#26
The disappearance of Lars Mittank.
Lars Mittank started acting strangely after getting into a fight while on vacation in Bulgaria. During the fight he damaged his ear drum and was taking antibiotics, although there are no known side effects of the antibiotics he was on that would explain his behavioral change.
Due to his damaged ear drum he stayed behind after his friends left so he would have a few days to heal and a doctor could re-examine his ear before getting onto the plane. Once he was alone in Bulgaria his odd behavior was exacerbated. He began texting his family saying he wasn’t safe and they needed to cancel his credit card.
When he arrived at the airport to fly home he went to first see a doctor to get approved to fly with his injury. (apparently there was a doctor’s office in the airport).
While waiting to be seen he bolted out of the airport at full sprint, never to be seen again.
EDIT: footage from when he was last seen
#27
Juan Pedro Martinez
So utterly bizarre. Boy disappears after lorry carrying sulphuric acid crashes in Somosierra, Spain. His parents perished but the boy vanished. Police searched area, there was no way the acid could have dissolved the body as it would have had to be completely submerged. I’m a bit hazy on the details, but I’ve linked the wiki. Worth a read.
Image credits: Objective_Piano7707
#28
Not exactly creepy but one that is personal. A friend of mine from uni walked out of his works Christmas party in 2014 and hasn't been seen since.
It was suggested he was walking home but there is no CCTV of him taking either road out of the village or approaching the Lakeshore. He's last seen leaving the bar and then vanished off the face of the earth.
The lake and surrounding areas were searched and have been periodically searched again since to no avail. Given the remote nature of the area it's unlikely he'll be found any time soon, though his friends and I like to believe he's living on a tropical beach somewhere.
#29
The Stacy Arras disappearance...
It was in the afternoon on July 17, 1981, when a group of six, plus Arras and her father, rode into Sunrise High Sierra Camp on horseback. The camp sits 9,400 feet above sea level and is regarded for its historic significance, being the final stop in Yosemite's "mountain chalet" loop. It was built in 1961 to make backcountry an alluring destination for tourists, offering stunning wilderness vistas but also creature comforts like showers and reasonably comfy beds.
Arras told her father that she wanted to photograph a nearby lake. It wasn't terribly far, just over a bluff. He declined to accompany his daughter, 14 at the time, but an elderly man from their group would tag along. At some point, the 77-year-old man grew tired, and sat down to rest. Arras, seemingly determined to reach the water, trekked onward.
Back at the camp, the group's tour guide remembered noticing her from afar. She was "standing on a rock about 50 yards south of the trail." According to a summary of her official cold case file, that was the last time anyone saw Arras or the last time anyone is known to have seen her. She vanished that day, without a trace, leaving only her camera lens behind.
#30
I remember reading one unsolved mystery and I cannot think of his name, but he was a young American guy maybe between 18-25 age bracket and it was either some kids or adults were in bushland and see the “missing guy” walk past them in the distance and when they looked at him and made eye contact, he put his index finger to his lips and made a quiet sssshhh gesture and then disappeared into the wilderness. Apparently they were the last to see him and he hasn’t been seen or found since. I just found that super unsettling.
Image credits: VioletCrush_
