We recently asked the BuzzFeed Community to tell us about a wild, shocking, or unsolved crime that was committed in their hometowns. There were so many responses and comments to that post we decided to do a part two. Here are more bone-chilling stories people shared:
Warning: Graphic and disturbing content ahead including mentions of rape and murder.
1. "I live just a couple minutes from where Austin Harrouff, aka the 'Frat Boy Killer,' ate a guy's face off."
2. "I lived about 20 minutes away from where Elizabeth Smart was kidnapped. My younger sister, who was probably about 8 at the time, refused to sleep in her room for weeks. Her room was in the front of the house, and she was terrified someone would sneak in through the front window and take her."
3. "I went to school with some boys who were in 'BTK's' boy scout troop. They interviewed one of them on the news after he was arrested."
4. "Aurora, Colorado. Movie theater. You do the math. I lived in an apartment complex within walking distance from that very theater. To this day, every time I drive past it, I get the chills. I can't believe it's still open and they didn't tear that sucker down."
5. "I live in West Yorkshire, England, and where I worked, I used to have to park my car on a road where one of the Yorkshire Ripper's victim's bodies was found. I would have to walk past it on my way back to my car when I finished late, and it was pitch black. It was all just shrubs and bushes; they’ve now made it into a car park. I also used to play sports on the field where the first victim was found, but I didn’t know that until years later."
6. "I live in the same area as the 'Golden State Killer,' Citrus Heights, California. I was shocked at the proximity of our homes and sometimes wonder if I was ever in the same place at the same time as him. Fuck that guy."
7. "I lived about one mile away from Casey Anthony. When they were searching for her daughter, Caylee, I watched the dive team look in the lake by our home. Later, they found her in the woods right by my daughter’s elementary school."
8. "I live in Dubuque, Iowa where 14-year-old Kenny Joe Johnson was strangled, wrapped in an old carpet, and dumped in a park on the edge of the Mississippi in the ‘80s when he should’ve been in school. He made it to his morning classes, but no one knows what happened that afternoon or how. Complete mystery. When I walk in the secluded park, I wonder what fate the boy encountered that day."
9. "Less than 15 minutes from where I live, the gunshot-riddled body of a man named Rickey Herriage was discovered, thrown off a bridge in Athens, Texas, into a creek back in 1987. His sister still routinely posts on social media about it, hoping that even after all these years, SOMEONE will come forward, but still? Nothing. No witnesses, no evidence, no 'last person to see him alive.' It breaks my heart that after 36 years, there is still NO sense of closure at all."
10. "I went to school in a small town called Farmville, Virginia. That school has two true crime stories (that have gone semi-viral; it's got a bunch of other bullshit associated with it, but alas): The first one was the 'Farmville murders,' which happened while I was in school there. A professor (Dr. Debra Kelley), her husband, her daughter, and her daughter's friend were murdered by a guy the daughter met online. The guy almost got away, but he called and admitted to the murders, and cops found him sleeping in the baggage claim of a local airport."
11. "I live less than 10 miles from where one of the victims of the 'Alphabet murders' (aka the 'Double Initial murders') was found around Rochester, New York. My mom remembers these well, as she was in her teens when the murders occurred. In the early '70s, three young girls were horrifically murdered — r*ped, then either ligature or manual strangulation. The body of Carmen Colon, 10, was found in Churchville. Wanda Walkowicz, 11, was found in Webster. Michelle Maenza, also 11, was found in Macedon."
12. "I live not far from Manheim, and the Kreider killing was all we talked about when it happened. I was in high school at the time, and it was wild...until the Roseboro murder happened down the road from my house a year later."
13. "I lived in Madison, Wisconsin, when Christine Rothschild was murdered in 1968. Her body was found behind Sterling Hall (later the site of an infamous bombing). It was a friend of mine, working as a night watchman, who found her body. Her best friend, Linda Tomaszewski, said she knew who the murderer was, but conflicts between the campus and city cops and general bad police investigating allowed him to get away."
14. "The Kyron Horman case out of Portland, Oregon. It’s crazy to me that his stepmom has walked away and started a new life."
15. "Elizabeth Breck, a local high school teacher, went missing in 2019 in Tucson, Arizona after having checked herself into a treatment center for PTSD and mental health issues. She was last seen at that treatment center with all of her belongings left in her room. She’s never been heard from again. It’s crazy because there have literally been no leads, no whispers, nothing."
16. "Marysville, Washington — In 2014, a freshman at Marysville Pilchuck High School (MPHS) texted his friends to meet him in the lunch room. When they all got there, he pulled out a gun and shot five of his friends and then himself. Only one of the victims survived. I was a junior at MPHS at the time."
17. "I used to live where the 'Highway of Tears' is in Canada. Over 120 First Nations women have been murdered in 40 years (the government and cops only count 40+ women). There have been three convicted serial killers (possibly more), cops suspected of raping some women, and the government of 15 years ago caught destroying evidence and documents about the crimes. It's shameful and an atrocity."
18. "My family knew David Ludwig and his family. David killed his girlfriend's parents after they had an argument about their age difference (David was 18, and his girlfriend, Kara Beth Borden, was 14). His family was super nice, so not sure how he turned out the way he did."
19. "I live five minutes from the Tinley Park crime scene. It’s still terrifying that no one has been found in connection with it. Part of the problem is that the store is right off I-80, so that guy fled for his life. They put a different store there, but I refuse to go in it."
20. "A messed up one that happened very close to my hometown, the murder of Shanda Sharer in Madison, Indiana in 1992. Four teenage girls kidnapped Sharer (12) and proceeded to beat and stab her while 'country cruising' with her in the trunk. Then, finding her still alive in the trunk, they took her to a local proving ground and burned her alive. All four women are now released on parole, and my grandma even recognized one at a local McDonald’s with us when we were kids."
21. Finally, "My grandmother is buried right near Carol and Christopher DiMaiti (Stuart). I always go visit them as well when I go there. A lot of the Stuart family lived in my hometown; it was such a huge tragedy around there back then."
Note: Some submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.