Buzz
Before the advent of surveillance cameras, crimes often occurred without any visual documentation. However, the introduction of this technology has transformed the landscape. While surveillance footage can provide crucial insights, it sometimes deepens the mystery rather than solving it. In many instances, it captures haunting glimpses of a person’s final moments before they become entangled in an enigmatic, unresolved case.
10. The Vanishing of Steven Koecher
In April 2009, Steven Koecher resigned from his position in Salt Lake City and relocated to St. George, Utah. After months of unsuccessful job hunting, he unexpectedly departed St. George on December 12, 2009. The next day, he called two friends, informing them he was in Las Vegas. Although Steven never clarified the purpose of his trip, his family suspects he may have been seeking employment opportunities.
These calls marked the final communication from Steven before he inexplicably disappeared. His car was later found abandoned in a Henderson, Nevada, neighborhood, with Christmas gifts intended for his family still inside the vehicle.
Investigators later discovered surveillance footage of Steven from December 14, 2009, captured by a camera in the Henderson neighborhood. The video depicted Steven parking his car, crossing the street, strolling along the sidewalk, and then vanishing from view. This remains the last verified sighting of him.
The reason Steven left his car in this affluent neighborhood, an improbable setting for a violent crime, remains a mystery. His cell phone signal was detected by a tower miles away, but it ceased after two days. Given his financial struggles and job issues, some speculate Steven may have orchestrated his disappearance to begin anew. Yet, no evidence of his whereabouts has surfaced in nearly six years.
9. The Enigmatic Death of Alan Jeal
On February 25, 2014, a naked male body was discovered on a beach in Perranporth, England. The man wore only socks and one shoe, but police made an unusual find. “A pair of headphones were lodged in his mouth, along with a rolled-up sock,” a police spokesperson stated in May 2014. “The white Apple iPhone or iPod-style headphones, featuring volume control, were wrapped around the sock and extended from his mouth.”
Several items were found nearby, including a jacket, a wallet, and a photo of a young child. The victim was identified as 64-year-old Alan Jeal from Wadebridge, and the child in the photo was Alan at age two. Although Alan had family, he lived a solitary life, leading authorities to consider suicide. He had recently bought a weighted training vest and ankle weights, hinting at a possible plan to drown himself. However, these weights were never recovered, and unexplained injuries to his chest and head left the possibility of foul play unresolved.
The day prior to the discovery of his body, Alan had journeyed from Wadebridge to Truro, and his movements were captured on CCTV. The most puzzling footage showed him conversing with unidentified individuals at a Truro bus station. Alan then traveled to Newquay before boarding a bus to Perranporth. His final recorded image was taken in Perranporth at 10:27 PM on February 24, 2014.
One of the most baffling aspects of the CCTV footage was Alan wearing a jacket that differed entirely from the one discovered on the beach. The jacket seen in the video was never found. Additionally, his other clothing items, along with his bank and credit cards, remain missing. The purpose of Alan’s visit to Perranporth that night and how he ended up in the water remain unsolved mysteries.
8. The Vanishing of Pamela Butler
On February 12, 2009, 47-year-old Pamela Butler phoned her mother from her Washington, DC, home, mentioning that her boyfriend, Jose Rodriguez-Cruz, intended to take her out for Valentine’s Day dinner. However, within the following days, Pamela inexplicably disappeared.
When Pamela’s family inspected her home, she was nowhere to be found. Although both of her cars remained at the house, her keys, purse, and credit cards were missing. Oddly, some bedsheets were also absent from the residence. Pamela, who was highly conscious of her safety, had installed a sophisticated security system with cameras covering nearly every exit. Yet, reviewing the surveillance footage only deepened the mystery.
The final surveillance clip of Pamela captured her stepping outside her home to collect her mail on February 12, but there is no record of her leaving afterward. The next day, Jose Rodriguez-Cruz appeared at Pamela’s residence, stating that she abruptly ended their relationship without explanation and asked him to leave.
Over the next three days, the footage depicted Jose repeatedly entering and exiting the house. He insisted he was retrieving his personal items and that Pamela was absent during this period. However, no video evidence shows Pamela leaving the property.
The only exit not monitored by surveillance cameras was a set of first-floor windows, one of which was discovered unlocked. Despite suspicions surrounding Jose’s account, no evidence of foul play or criminal activity was found in the home. Pamela Butler’s disappearance remains an unsolved enigma.
7. The Vanishing of Dale Kerstetter
In 1987, 50-year-old Dale Kerstetter worked as a security guard at the Corning Glassworks facility in Bradford, Pennsylvania. On the night of September 12, Dale arrived for his graveyard shift. The next morning, when his replacement arrived, Dale had mysteriously vanished.
Dale’s truck remained in the parking lot, and his keys and personal belongings were left untouched. Shortly after, it was revealed that $250,000 worth of platinum piping had been stolen from the plant. The mystery deepened when authorities reviewed the facility’s surveillance recordings.
The footage revealed an unidentified masked individual entering the plant during the night. At one point, Dale was seen guiding the man through the building and looking directly into the camera. While it initially appeared the intruder was coercing Dale to lead him to the platinum storage area, the video provided no clear evidence of whether Dale was acting under threat or collaborating with the thief.
At the time, Dale was facing financial difficulties, leading to speculation that he might have participated in the theft and fled with his share. Plant management interpreted his direct gaze at the camera as a taunt. However, Dale’s family firmly believed he was innocent and theorized that he may have been murdered.
The surveillance footage also captured the masked intruder pushing a large bag out of the plant, which might have concealed Dale’s body. Regardless of the circumstances, Dale Kerstetter has remained missing for nearly three decades.
6. The Tragic Murder of Nurin Jazlin Jazimin
One of Malaysia’s most harrowing unsolved cases involves the murder of eight-year-old Nurin Jazlin Jazimin. Nurin resided in Kuala Lumpur’s Wangsa Maju township. On the evening of August 20, 2007, she left her house to visit a nearby market but never came back. Witnesses reported seeing an unidentified man forcing her into a white van.
On September 17, a sports bag was discovered in front of a shop in Petaling Utama. Inside was the naked body of a young girl, later identified as Nurin Jazlin Jazimin, with a cucumber and eggplant inserted into her genitals. Evidence suggested Nurin had been strangled, as bruises were found on her neck. It appeared she had been held captive for nearly a month, enduring abuse and torture before her death.
Investigators reviewed CCTV footage from the area, which showed a motorcyclist leaving the bag containing Nurin’s body in front of the closed shop. The man was seen talking on his cell phone during the act, but the blurry image made it impossible to identify his face or the motorcycle’s license plate.
An hour later, the CCTV footage captured a woman lingering in the same vicinity before being approached by three men in a van. They conversed with her for several minutes before driving off. Unfortunately, the video quality was too poor to extract any meaningful details.
Notably, none of the individuals in the footage appeared to notice the bag on the ground, hinting at their possible involvement in Nurin’s death. This heinous crime remains unresolved to this day.
5. The Vanishing of Jesse Ross
In 2006, 19-year-old Jesse Ross was a second-year communications student at the University of Missouri–Kansas City. On November 18, Jesse and several classmates were invited to Chicago for an event called the “American Model United Nations.” As the program concluded three days later, the students attended a dance at the Four Points Sheraton Hotel, scheduled from 10:00 PM to 3:00 AM.
At 2:00 AM, the group was called for a simulated “emergency” United Nations Security Council meeting. Thirty minutes later, Jesse exited the room, informing everyone he was taking a 30-minute break. He was never seen again.
The last verified sighting of Jesse came from surveillance footage, which showed him in a hotel elevator before he exited through the lobby toward the main doors around 2:30 AM. Initially, it was believed Jesse might have tried to return to the Sheraton Chicago Hotel & Towers, where his group was staying.
The walk to the hotel, less than a block away, would have taken about 10 minutes. Despite the late hour, the path was well-lit and not considered unsafe. However, the area was also monitored by numerous security cameras, none of which recorded any trace of Jesse.
One hypothesis suggested Jesse may have wandered off and fallen into the nearby Chicago River. While there are conflicting reports about whether he had been drinking that night, witnesses stated he didn’t appear intoxicated. Additionally, no evidence of his body was found in the river. It’s as if Jesse Ross disappeared without a trace.
4. The Vanishing of Trevor Deely
In 2000, 22-year-old Trevor Deely (pictured above in an age-progressed photo) worked at Bank of Ireland Asset Management (BIAM) in Dublin. On the night of December 7, he and his colleagues attended the bank’s Christmas party and later visited several venues before winding up at a nightclub.
Around 3:30 AM, Trevor left the club and headed to BIAM headquarters, where he shared coffee with a coworker working late. Shortly after, CCTV footage showed Trevor leaving BIAM. Due to a taxi strike, he took an umbrella from his office as heavy rain poured that night. The final sighting of Trevor was on camera passing a Bank of Ireland ATM at 4:14 AM. After that, he disappeared without a trace.
Although the footage placed Trevor near Baggot Street Bridge, a search of the Grand Canal yielded no sign of his body. However, there were intriguing details. When Trevor arrived at his workplace, a man was seen loitering near the back entrance. Yet, this individual was absent from the footage of Trevor leaving the bank.
About 30 seconds after Trevor passed the ATM camera, another man carrying an umbrella appeared on the footage. Investigators suspect the man outside BIAM and the one near the ATM are different individuals, but neither has been identified. Their connection to Trevor’s disappearance, if any, remains unknown. Despite extensive efforts to find him, Trevor Deely has never been located.
3. The Killing of Matt Flores
After serving in the Army, 26-year-old Matt Flores joined Applied Materials, a computer company. On the morning of March 24, 1994, Matt arrived at their Silicon Valley headquarters for training. As he exited his car in the parking lot, he was shot in the back of the head at close range.
Remarkably, the shooting occurred in broad daylight with 20 other people nearby. While many heard the gunshot, no one saw the assailant, who escaped immediately. Matt, a beloved individual with no apparent enemies, left behind a wife and an eight-month-old daughter. The execution-style murder suggested a professional hit, but the motive remains a mystery.
Despite the presence of security cameras in the parking lot, Matt’s murder occurred in a blind spot and was not captured on video. However, the footage did provide one intriguing clue. About 20 minutes before the shooting, a Ford Explorer entered the lot, seemingly tailing a white car that resembled Matt’s vehicle.
Soon after, the Explorer left the lot but returned a minute later, disappearing from the camera’s view. Shortly thereafter, Matt’s car arrived. Two minutes later, the Explorer sped away. It’s highly probable that the Explorer’s driver was the killer, and some speculate Matt may have been a victim of mistaken identity. The truth behind Matt Flores’s murder, a near-perfect crime, remains unsolved.
2. The Vanishing of Mari Ann Fowler
In 2000, Jerry Fowler, Louisiana’s elections commissioner, gained notoriety after receiving a five-year prison sentence in Texas for bribery. Two years later, his 65-year-old wife, Mari Ann Fowler, became the focus of attention for a different reason.
On Christmas Eve 2002, Mari Ann was traveling from Louisiana to Texas to visit her imprisoned husband when she stopped at a Subway sandwich shop in a Port Allen strip mall. Shortly after buying food, Mari Ann vanished. Her car, containing wrapped Christmas gifts, was left behind, while her food, purse, and keys were scattered across the parking lot. False fingernails found on the ground suggested she had struggled with an assailant.
Authorities reviewed footage from a nearby surveillance camera. Initially unclear, the FBI enhanced the video, revealing Mari Ann being forced into a Chevy pickup truck, which then sped away. Unfortunately, the footage was too blurry to identify the attacker.
The prime suspect is Derrick Todd Lee, the infamous Baton Rouge serial killer, now on death row for killing at least seven women. Lee owned a pickup truck matching the one in the footage, and cell phone records placed him in Port Allen that day. However, insufficient evidence has prevented a definitive link to Mari Ann’s disappearance. Her whereabouts remain unknown.
1. The Killing of Jane Rimmer
On June 8, 1996, 23-year-old Jane Rimmer enjoyed a night out with friends in Perth’s Claremont suburb. After drinks at the Continental Hotel, they headed to Club Bayview but decided to skip the club and continue the party at a friend’s house.
Around midnight, the group returned to the Continental Hotel, where Jane chose to head home. Her friends took a taxi, marking the last time they saw her alive. On August 3, her body was found over 40 kilometers (25 mi) away in a secluded area near Wellard.
Jane is believed to have fallen victim to an unidentified serial killer, who also murdered two other young women in Claremont during that period: Sarah Spiers and Ciara Glennon. Although Spiers’ body was never found, she vanished in January 1996 after leaving Club Bayview, linking her case to Jane’s.
The primary lead in Jane’s case is CCTV footage from outside the Continental Hotel, showing an unidentified man approaching her shortly after she parted ways with her friends. The man appeared to converse with Jane before the footage cut to another view of the hotel. Minutes later, both Jane and the man vanished, but the footage didn’t capture their departure. It’s unclear if this man was involved in Jane’s disappearance, as he remains unidentified. The Claremont serial killer’s identity also remains unknown.
