List of Unsolved Deaths - Unsolved Deaths

Unsolved Deaths

1–1100

• Dagobert II, 679, one of the last kings of the Merovingian line, murdered by persons unknown in the Ardennes Forest on December 23, 679.

1100–1899

• King William II of England, 1100, killed by an arrow while hunting.
• Agnès Sorel, 1450, mistress of King Charles VII of France. While the cause of death was originally thought to be dysentery, scientists have now concluded that Agnès died from being poisoned by mercury. The culprit remains unknown.
• Regiomontanus (aka Johannes Müller), 1476, German mathematician and astronomer died mysteriously in Rome. Some say of plague, others (most likely) by assassination.
• Moctezuma II, 1520, Aztec emperor. According to Spanish accounts he was killed by his own people; according to Aztec accounts he was murdered by the Spanish.
• Sir Edmund Berry Godfrey 1678 found impaled on his own sword and strangled at Primrose Hill London. Three men were hanged but later the witness statement was found to be perjured.
• King Charles XII of Sweden, 1718, killed by bullet in siege trench while observing enemy. Bullet entered side of head leading to speculation he was shot by one of his own men.

1900–1924

• Émile Zola, 1902, French author, died in Paris in 1902 of carbon monoxide poisoning caused by a stopped chimney. His enemies were blamed, but nothing was proved.
• Death of Rudolf Diesel, 1913, the place is unknown and many theories are given about Diesel's death. He disappeared in the English Channel and was found dead at sea ten days later.
• Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers, 1918, well-known magician and occultist, died of an unknown cause; it is known that he had many enemies. The manner of death is unknown; his death certificate lists no cause of death. Violet Firth (Dion Fortune) claimed his death was the result of the Spanish influenza of 1918. As few facts are known about Mathers' private life, verification of such claims are very difficult.
• Michael Collins, 1922, Commander-in-chief of the Irish Army. Was shot by an unknown assailant at Béal na Bláth, County Cork, Ireland.
• B. H. DeLay, 1923, Aviator/actor who died while performing on 4 July in Venice Beach (Los Angeles) California area, died when the wings of his plane were sabotaged causing him to die instantly in the subsequent crash.

1925–1949

• Ottavio Bottecchia, 1927, Italian Cyclist, was found by the side of a road, covered with bruises and with a serious skull fracture. His bicycle was undamaged, propped against a nearby tree. He was brought to a hospital but died soon afterwards. An official inquiry concluded accidental death but many suspected that he had run afoul of the powerful and growing fascist movement in Italy at the time.
• Death of Ivar Kreuger, 1932, in a Paris hotel room. Probable suicide.
• Ghazi of Iraq, 1939, King of Iraq, died in a mysterious accident involving a sports car he was driving. Some believe he was killed on the orders of Nuri as-Said.
• King Ananda Mahidol of Thailand, 1946. Died of gunshot wounds; suicide, accident or assassination.
• Jan Masaryk, 1948, son of Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk; Czech diplomat, politician and Foreign Minister of Czechoslovakia, was found dead in the courtyard of the Foreign Ministry below his bathroom window. The initial investigation concluded that he committed suicide by jumping out of the window, although many are convinced that he was pushed.
• The Taman Shud Case, 1948, Adelaide, Australia, in which a man was found dead on the beach. His dental records did not match those of any known person. He carried no identification. The labels on his business suit and clothing were all missing. In one trouser pocket there was a piece of paper with the words 'Taman Shud' on it. This is a phrase on the last page of collection of poems called The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyám and it means 'the end.'

1950–1974

• The Dyatlov Pass incident was the death of nine hikers on the Kholat Syakhl mountain in the northern Ural Mountains range on 2 February 1959. Two victims had fractured skulls, two had broken ribs, and one was missing her tongue. After testing, the clothing of the victims was found to be highly radioactive. There were no witnesses or survivors to provide any testimony, and the cause of death was listed as a "compelling unknown force" by Soviet investigators.
• Barthélemy Boganda, 1959, Prime Minister of the Central African Republic, in a plane crash.
• Death of Dag Hammarskjöld, 1961, in Ndola, Northern Rhodesia, aeroplane crash.
• Dorothy Kilgallen, 1965, New York City, death certificate reads "acute ethanol and barbiturate intoxication / circumstances undetermined." People who have said publicly that she could have been murdered (perhaps by needle injection after drinking an unknown amount of alcohol) include Larry King, Dominick Dunne, Bob Bach (who booked the mystery guests on Kilgallen's TV show What's My Line?), and writer Mary Brannum Bringle (a colleague of Patricia Bosworth).
• Death of George Washington Vanderbilt III, (1961), in San Francisco, California.
• Lead Masks Case in Niterói, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 1966.
• Harold Holt, 1967, Australian Prime Minister, vanished while swimming in heavy surf, presumably drowned.
• Edward Mutesa, 1969, died, possibly from alcohol poisoning, in his London flat.
• Hale Boggs and Nick Begich, 1972, Democratic U.S. House members whose plane disappeared in the Alaska wilderness. Remnants of plane and bodies never recovered.
• Aman Mikael Andom, 1974, Ethiopian military figure, sources say that he committed suicide, while others say that he was killed by political rivals among the coup leadership, possibly including Mengistu Haile Mariam.
• Jimmy Hoffa, 1975, International Brotherhood of Teamsters leader who disappeared from the parking lot of a Michigan restaurant. Body never recovered; declared legally dead by the state of Michigan in 1982.
• Haile Selassie, 1975, Emperor of Ethiopia until his deposition in 1974. His death was officially said to be from natural causes, but a persistent allegation is that he was smothered with a pillow.

1975–1999

• Omar Torrijos, 1981, brigadier general and president of Panama, died in a plane crash.
• Roberto Calvi, 1982, CEO of Banco Ambrosiano, found hanged under Blackfriars Bridge in London.
• Eduardo Frei Montalva, 1982, president of Chile from 1964 to 1970. As of 2005, his death is being investigated because of allegations that he was poisoned.
• Samora Machel, 1986, president of Mozambique, killed in air crash on the border of South Africa, hillside in the Lebombo Mountains. He was leading anti-Apartheid spokesman.
• Uwe Barschel, 1987, minister-president of Schleswig-Holstein.
• Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, 1988, military ruler of Pakistan, died in a plane crash in 1988.
• Zviad Gamsakhurdia, 1993, former president of Georgia, died in circumstances that were (and still are) very unclear. It is known that he died in the village of Khibula in the Samegrelo region of western Georgia.
• Juvénal Habyarimana, 1994, president of Rwanda, killed in a mysterious plane crash at Kigali airport. The resulting political instability led to the Rwandan Genocide and the outbreak of full-scale war in Burundi.
• Cyprien Ntaryamira, 1994, president of Burundi, killed in a mysterious plane crash at Kigali airport. The resulting political instability led to the Rwandan Genocide and the outbreak of full-scale war in Burundi.
• Kristin Smart, 1996, California Polytechnic State University student last seen returning to her dorm from an off campus party. Body never recovered; declared legally dead by the state of California 2002.

2000–2010

• Giorgi Sanaia, 2001, Georgian journalist known for opposition to government, shot in apartment in Tbilisi.
• Joyce Carol Vincent, 2003, a 38 year old woman whose remains were found undiscovered in her London flat for three years, by which time the body had decomposed so much as to make identifying a cause of death to be impossible; her story was profiled in the 2011 documentary Dreams of a Life.
• Enrique Salinas, 2004, brother of former Mexican president Carlos Salinas. Found with a plastic bag over his head in a parked car. The vehicle was abandoned in the upmarket municipality of Huixquilucan, Estado de México outskirts of Mexico City.
• John Garang, 2005, Sudanese politician and former rebel leader (suspicious helicopter crash), Southern Sudan. One theory was poor visibility. Second one was arranged by Sudanese Government.