Buzz
For over three decades, the U.S. has averaged more than 600,000 missing persons reports annually. Considering the U.S. is just one of 195 countries, and many disappearances go unreported, the global number of missing persons each year is likely in the millions. It's unsettling to think of just how vast this issue may truly be.
Fortunately, most of the missing are located quickly— in the U.S., most cases are resolved within days. Some individuals choose to disappear and start anew. However, given the large number of reported cases, numerous disappearances remain unresolved. In several unsolved cases, the available evidence is as enigmatic as it is insightful, supporting multiple theories, making it difficult to reach a definitive conclusion.
This has left us, the amateur detectives, with countless dead ends and captivating mysteries to unravel in hopes of bringing closure to those lost. Below are ten of the missing person cases that continue to perplex us.
10. Frederick Valentich
On October 21, 1978, pilot Frederich Valentich took off on a solo flight from Moorabbin, Victoria, Australia, bound for nearby King Island, just an hour away. Despite the perfect weather—clear skies, sunshine, and light winds—he never arrived at his destination. His body was never recovered, nor was any part of his aircraft ever found.
During his flight, Valentich contacted Melbourne air traffic control, reporting an unidentified aircraft trailing him. The response was that no other planes were in the area. He described the other craft as playing games with him, hovering above his plane and matching his speed. Later, Valentich radioed again, claiming the aircraft was directly above him and was 'not an aircraft.' His transmission then went silent for 17 seconds, followed by strange, metallic scraping noises. UFO enthusiasts believe he was abducted by aliens along with his plane. Some point to Valentich’s own interest in UFOs, suggesting he staged the crash, while others mention his shaky flying record and speculate that he simply crashed into the ocean. In any case, it's odd that no trace of him or his plane was ever discovered.
9. The Jamison Family
On October 8, 2009, all three members of the Jamison family vanished under mysterious circumstances in Red Oak, Oklahoma. Four years later, their remains were discovered in the woods, around three miles from their abandoned truck. Unfortunately, the bodies were too decomposed to determine the cause of death.
The Jamisons had been exploring a piece of land for a potential new home when they disappeared. The first sign of their absence came when someone found their abandoned pickup truck on the roadside. Inside, their wallets, cellphones, IDs, and approximately $32,000 in cash were discovered, along with their dog, Maisie, who was thankfully still alive. Surveillance footage from their house revealed them packing their car on the day they left, with behavior described as 'trance-like.' Theories regarding their disappearance and death include Satanic cults, ritual suicide, and a drug deal gone wrong.
8. Kris Kremers and Lisanne Froon
Similar to the Jamisons, Kris Kremers and Lisanne Froon vanished, and like them, their skeletal remains were found much later. The two Dutch students were volunteering in Panama when they went missing. On April 1, 2014, they set out to hike the El Pianista trail and were never seen alive again.
Lisanne’s backpack was discovered by a local ten weeks after the disappearance. Inside, among many of the girls' belongings, were both of their phones. The phone records reveal a disturbing series of events. Within hours of beginning their hike, both girls attempted to call emergency services (112 internationally and 911 locally), but their signal was too weak for the calls to connect. There were several attempts over the course of ten days, but Kris seemingly stopped calling after only three attempts, which many believe suggests she may have died first. Lisanne’s camera also revealed puzzling clues, including more than 90 photos taken in near-complete darkness, some showing rocks, a possible makeshift trail marker, and one disturbing image of the back of Kris's head, which many believe shows signs of injury. Whether the girls got lost in the jungle or were victims of foul play remains an unsolved mystery.
7. Brian Shaffer
Brian Shaffer was recorded entering a bar on the night of March 31, 2006, in Columbus, Ohio, but was never seen leaving on camera and disappeared without a trace. Strangely, there was no other obvious entrance or exit to the bar except the one visible to the security camera. How and when he left, and where he went, remains an unexplained mystery.
Shaffer was seen on camera talking to two women outside the bar around 2 am, reentering, and never leaving again. The footage shows that every other person who entered the bar that night also left, except for Shaffer. Strangely, Brian’s friend William Florence, who was with him the night he vanished, refused to take a police lie detector test about the events that night. Most curiously, for months after Shaffer's disappearance, his girlfriend called his phone every night before going to bed. Every night it went straight to voicemail… except for one night in September, when it rang three times before abruptly cutting off.
6. Daylenn “Moke” Pua
Daylenn Pua, known as Moke, was a native of the Big Island in Hawaii. He was visiting his grandmother in Oahu when he went missing. The young man, against his grandmother’s wishes, decided to hike Oahu’s famous ‘Stairway to Heaven’ trail, which was in poor condition at the time and illegal to hike.
Moke had sent his family pictures of the trail as he hiked, showcasing the breathtaking views and lush surroundings. When Moke was reported missing, his family reviewed the photos he had sent. In the background of the very last photo he shared before his disappearance, they noticed something unusual. An adult man, partially crouched behind some foliage, could be seen just off the trail. Naturally, his presence in Moke’s last known photo raised suspicions, but no answers have ever been found regarding Moke’s whereabouts or what happened to him.
5. The Sodder Children
On Christmas Eve in 1945, the Sodder family’s home—inhabited by George, Jennie, and nine of their ten children—was consumed by fire, leaving nothing but ashes and charred wood. George and Jennie managed to escape with four of their children, assuming the other five perished in the flames. However, when firefighters finally arrived and sifted through the house's remains, they found no trace of the missing children—no bones, teeth, or any other remnants.
There were many puzzling discoveries concerning the Sodder home. Their phone line, which was thought to have burned in the fire, was later found to have been cut before the blaze started. Both of their trucks failed to start in the days following the fire, and officials suspected they had been tampered with. A ladder from the house went missing, only to be discovered at the bottom of a nearby embankment. Experts also stated that the fire wasn’t hot enough to have completely incinerated bone. All these clues point to the possibility of premeditated actions, including a potential kidnapping. The Sodder family’s surviving children have always maintained that the five missing kids were abducted and are still out there.
4. Brandon Lawson
On the night of August 8, 2013, Brandon Lawson had an argument with his girlfriend, Ladessa, and left their home in San Angelo, Texas, planning to visit his father in Crowley, Texas, several hours away. Lawson never made it and disappeared without a trace.
However, Lawson was heard from during his journey. In the midst of his trip, he called his brother, Kyle, to say that three people were 'chasing me out of town' and that he had run out of gas. Several more calls followed, including one to 911 in which Lawson said he was 'in the middle of a field' with 'one car here. The guy’s chasing (inaudible) to the woods. Please hurry!' Some claim gunshots can be heard in the background. Disturbingly, both Kyle and a sheriff’s deputy arrived at Lawson's abandoned truck, and shortly afterward, they received a call from him saying, 'I can see you; I’m right here.' However, neither could see Lawson, and he was never seen or heard from again.
3. Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
Undoubtedly one of the most infamous disappearances of this century, Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 vanished somewhere between Kuala Lumpur and Beijing, China. Onboard were 227 passengers and 12 crew members. While some debris was discovered in the Indian Ocean, the majority of the aircraft, including all 239 people aboard, remains lost to this day.
The disappearance of the plane has sparked numerous theories, fueled by conflicting early reports and a lack of solid evidence. Among the speculated causes are hijacking, crew suicide, being shot down and covered up by world governments, and even a meteor strike. Naturally, the UFO abduction theory also lingers. At one point, it was even proposed that the plane had been consumed by a mini black hole.
2. Croatoan Island
The mystery of the lost colony of Roanoke remains one of America’s oldest unsolved puzzles. The colony, made up of 115 settlers, faced severe food shortages in its first year, prompting leader John White to sail back to England for supplies. When he returned to Roanoke three years later, the colony was entirely deserted.
A strange clue found at the scene was the word “Croatoan” carved into a tree. White interpreted this as a sign that the colony had moved to nearby Croatoan Island, but no settlers were ever discovered there. Over the years, several expeditions were launched to find the missing colony, but all met with little success. Various theories have emerged, ranging from massacres by natives, relocation to an undisclosed area, and most commonly, integration with indigenous communities. In the early 1700s, English explorer John Lawson visited Croatoan Island (now known as Hatteras Island) and reported that the native inhabitants claimed to have white ancestors, a statement that was backed up by the fact that many of them had grey eyes, a characteristic rare among native populations but common in Europeans.
1. Jennifer Kesse
On January 24, 2006, Jennifer Kesse disappeared. Her home showed no signs of struggle, and her personal belongings indicated that she had gone through her usual morning routine before leaving. Her car, however, was missing from her driveway and later found abandoned at an apartment complex a mile away. Security footage from the complex captured a man who had likely dropped her car off, offering a potential lead in the case.
Unfortunately for investigators, the video failed to capture a clear image of the man's face. The security camera operated by taking snapshots every three seconds, and the man was walking along the fence of the complex. Each shot managed to obscure his face behind a different fencepost, making it nearly impossible to identify him. The odds of this being purely coincidental were slim, and one journalist even referred to him as “the luckiest person of interest ever.” To this day, Jennifer Kesse remains missing.
