This list features the most famous murders that have occurred in the state of California, but have never been solved. Some serial killers (supposedly) murdered in many different California towns, while other unsolved California murders simply had no evidence or leads at all. What are the most famous unsolved murders in California? Read through the list below to find out.
In some of these cases a suspect was named, or was even imprisoned for the crime only to be released later for a lack of evidence. In many other of these cases a suspect was never named and the murder weapon was never recovered. The controversies surrounding these unsolved murders have forever remained a mystery and have left police detectives in California still on the hunt for the killer. Some of the cases have remained open as cold cases, while others have been officially closed after years of pursuing the killer have been unsuccessful.
This list names the most famous unsolved murders in California. Some of these unsolved murders involved celebrities, while others were of scientist or normal people.
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Bob Crane
Known for his role as Colonel Robert H. Hogan on "Hogan’s Heroes,"Crane's body was discovered in his apartment in 1979 after an electrical cord was tied around his neck and he had been bludgeoned to death. The murder weapon was never found, but police suspected it was a camera tripod. A friend of Crane’s was named a suspect after blood was found in his car that matched Crane’s blood type. However, DNA testing was not available at the time so no charges were ever made. The case was reopened in 1990 but testing was inconclusive. Crane’s death remains unsolved.
George Reeves
After the "Superman" series, Reeves had trouble finding work and was in dire financial straits due to his extravagant Hollywood lifestyle. According to the police report, between approximately 1:30 and 2 a.m. on June 16, 1959, Reeves reportedly shot himself in the head in the upstairs bedroom of his Los Angeles home, while his fiancée, playwright Leonore Lemmon, and friends William Bliss, writer Robert Condon, and Carol Van Ronkel were partying downstairs. The houseguests allegedly heard a single gunshot and Bliss ran into the room to find Reeves' lifeless body. Police reports at the time said that Reeves was depressed because he wasn't earning roles. Other theories place the blame on Reeves' relationship with married ex-showgirl, Toni Mannix, the wife of MGM general manager Eddie Mannix.
Marilyn Monroe
Born Norma Jeane Mortenson, Monroe died in her Brentwood home on August 4, 1962, at 36-years-old. Her housekeeper and psychiatrist discovered Monroe naked in bed with an empty bottle of sleeping pills nearby. Before her death, Monroe had been hospitalized for psychiatric problems and was receiving long-term psychiatric care. Her death was ruled a probable suicide, but many believe Monroe was murdered, possibly to make sure she wouldn't talk about her liaisons with both John F. Kennedy and his brother Robert. Although rumors and speculation continue, there is no definitive answer about Monroe's death.
Natalie Wood
Born Natalia Nikolaevna Zakharenko, Wood was known for her roles in West Side Story and Rebel Without a Cause, as well as high-profile relationships with many men, from Elvis Presley to Dennis Hopper. On the evening of November 28, 1981, she was in Catalina Island taking a break from filming the sci-fi film Brainstorm with her co-star, Christopher Walken, and her husband, Robert Wagner, when she allegedly slipped and fell into the water while trying to secure a dinghy. Wood's autopsy revealed she drank "seven or eight" glasses of wine. A passenger on a boat nearby claimed she heard someone yelling cries of help that evening. In the wake of Wood's death, her lawyer said, "It was not a homicide… not a suicide. It was an accident."
Peter Ivers
Musician and host of the New Wave Theater, Ivers was killed in his bed in Los Angeles in 1983, having been beaten to death. Upon his death, hundreds of friends had gone to Iver's apartment to mourn his death and in doing so they compromised much of the evidence. A number of theories abound about the cause for his murder. Some say he was killed as the result of a robbery while others speculate that he was killed by a New Wave Theater patron. Unfortunately though, none of these theories came to fruition and the murder remains unsolved.
Thelma Todd
Todd was a successful film actress who worked during the 1920s and '30s. She appeared in Marx Brothers hits like Horse Feathers and Monkey Business. Todd lived in an apartment above the café she ran on the Roosevelt Highway. She was found dead inside a garage, left behind the steering wheel of her car. At the time, some believed she had committed suicide or accidentally killed herself while warming up her car. However, signs of foul play came later cam to light. Despite this, the death of was ultimately ruled a suicide after evidence that Todd was depressed and occasionally spoke of suicide came to light. No one will ever know what really happened.
Virginia Rappe
A 1920s actress,Rappe was at a party at the St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco on Labor Day weekend 1920, when Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle, one of the earliest "movie stars" ruptured Rappe's bladder when he allegedly forced sex on her with a bottle. Arbuckle was never convicted, despite going through three trials and the case remains unsolved.
William Desmond Taylor
Taylor was a successful silent film director, who debuted with The Awakening in 1914 and worked in Hollywood until his 1922 murder. He was found shot in the back in his home on February 2, 1922. The case involved a Hollywood-worthy cast of characters. Some suspected comedian Mabel Normand's cocaine dealers since Taylor was allegedly protective of Normand and trying to separate her from her pushers. Normand's lover, director Mack Sennett, was also believed to have possibly murdered Taylor out of jealousy over the comedian's possible infatuation with the director. Another suspect was Taylor's former valet, a shady character from Ohio who faked an English accent, embezzled money, and enlisted in and deserted the Army three times under three different names. Young actress Mary Miles Minter was another possible guilty party due to her unrequited love for Taylor. Despite the plethora of colorful suspects and a confession from one of Taylor's actresses three decades later, no arrests were ever made.
Ronni Chasen
A Hollywood publicist, Chasen was a veritable institution in the movie industry, representing everyone from filmmakers to producers and composers. She orchestrated the Oscar campaign for Driving Miss Daisy, and worked with actor Michael Douglas. In the early hours of November 16, 2010, while driving home from the Hollywood premiere of the film Burlesque, Chasen's Mercedes was shot at five times and her body was found slumped over in her car. The murder had many in Hollywood scratching their heads and sparked a massive police hunt, with some sources claiming it was a planned hit. Adding to the mystery, the lead suspect in the murder reportedly committed suicide.
The Black Dahlia
Elizabeth Short was a 22-year-old who worked as a waitress while hoping to make it in Hollywood. She disappeared on January 9, 1947. On January 14, a passerby discovered Short's mutilated body in a residential section of L.A. Short's corpse was cut in half, and her face had deep gashes. Marks on her wrists indicated she'd been tied up and possibly tortured. A lack of blood at the scene meant she had been killed elsewhere and dumped in the vacant lot where she was discovered. The press started calling Short the Black Dahlia (possibly a reference to Short's dark hair and the recent release of a film called The Blue Dahlia).
The police had a huge suspect pool that included all the men Short had dated and medical students at L.A. area colleges (who had the surgical knowledge needed to sever Short's body). The case has stayed in popular culture through the years, most notably with James Ellroy's novel The Black Dahlia, but no one has ever been arrested for the crime.