Three Truly Chilling Disappearances
There are many cases from all across the globe which still remain unsolved to this day. In todays read I am going to tell you about three cases which I find to be particularly interesting.
Cases which have been solved still manage to send shivers down our spine, but what could be more chilling than knowing a criminal was never found to be held accountable for their crimes.
Let’s dive right in…
The Disappearance of Angela Hammond
This first case takes us back to the year of 1991,
Angela Hammond was born February 9th 1971 to parents Marsha and Chris Hammond. For the first four years of her life, Angie, as she was known by her close friends, was raised in Kansas City, but soon after was relocated to the city of Clifton, where Marsha’s parents Lloyd and Elizabeth Young were living.
The city of Clinton was laid out in 1836. It was named for the New York governor Dewitt Clinton, a key promoter of the Erie Canal. Always a small city — even now the population remains below 10,000.
Angela’s life was on the rise around the time of her disappearance. She was recently engaged to a popular athlete and was, at the time, four month pregnant with her first child.
At around 10PM on April 4th 1991, Angela dropped off her fiancé, Rob Schafer, at his home following a barbecue the pair had attended. Rob was babysitting his brother that night, but he and Angela had plans to meet again once his mother returned from work.
Angela spent some time in town with a friend but at 11:15PM she decided to call it a night. After separating from her friend, she called Rob to suggest a quiet night at home as her interest in staying out later had dwindled. Angela called rob from a pay phone just seven blocks from where he was babysitting.
While talking to him she noticed a suspicious looking man circle the block several times in a green ford pickup truck. This wouldn’t have been unusual in the city as pickups were often seen around late at night. There was nothing particularly out of the ordinary…
This was until the man in the truck pulled up beside her and used the phone before getting back into his vehicle. He then proceeded to use a flashlight to check the area as if he was looking for something. Naturally, Angela asked if he needed to use the phone but he said that she should carry on and he would try it again soon.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, there was a harrowing scream from Angela. Rob rushed to his car in a bid to save her. As he drove towards the pay phone Angela had used, the abductors pickup drove past at great speed in the opposite direction. Rob claims to have heard a yell from the truck and we presume this to be the voice of Angela.
Rob thrusted the car into reverse but in doing so he damaged the transmission. He was able to follow the truck for two miles before the transmission failed completely. Tragically the truck got away and was never seen again.
An extensive search began in hopes of finding Angela, the kidnapper and his truck.
Rob was initially considered a suspect in Angela’s disappearance as a result of very few leads in the case. At first, no witnesses came forward to validate his account, however, a polygraph examination indicated that he was telling the truth.
Later two witnesses came forward both claiming to have seen the pickup and suspicious driver around the pay phone between 11:30 and 11:45 — the time Angela was abducted. Within a week, Rob’s name was cleared.
Angelas disappearance could have links to two other nearby abductions earlier that same year in Missouri.
The first involving 42 year old convenience store worker, Trudy Darby, who was robbed and kidnapped on jan 19th1991. Two days later her body was discovered. She had been raped and shot twice in the head.
The second involved another convenience store worker named Cheryl Kenney. She was kidnapped on February 27thand the 32 year old was never seen again.
According to eye witnesses, the abductor was described as an old, white bearded man with glasses who drove an older late 60’s to early 70’s model two-tone ford pickup with the mural of a fish jumping out of water on the back window.
Neither Angela nor the perpetrator have been found.
The Atlas Vampire
This next case is a rather disturbing one.
Some of history’s most depraved murderers have had a vampire-like fascination with blood. Some even believed themselves to be an immortal bloodsucker.
The blood lust displayed by these killers is known as clinical vampirism or renfields syndrome.
It was on May 4th 1931 that Minnie Jansson became concerned for the wellbeing of her friend Lilly Lindestrom. Both women were prostitutes in the Atlas are of Stockholm and Jansson hadn’t heard from her friend Lilly for three days, despite attempts to telephone her and frantic knocks on her door.
Lilly Larsson was born on August 29th 1900, in Malmo, Sweden. Her parents were Tilda and Frans Larsson and Lilly was the oldest of all ten children. Her life seemed stable and some might even say prosperous, considering the times she lived in. She was always a happy and peaceful person. She married a merchant called Lindestrom but the marriage didn’t work out. Her circumstances allowed a certain amount of time for leisure and both Lilly and Minnie had discussed their evening plans to attend celebrations at Djurgarden. This island forms part of the Royal National Park.
Their conversation was interrupted when Lilly received a strange phone call asking for a liaison. Minnie described the voice as sounding well behaved and a nice sober gentleman. The man asked if she was home for a visit and when Lilly responded with a firm yes he announced he’d be straight over. Lilly didn’t need explain to Minnie who left her friend to her business.
At around 9:45PM Minnie made her way back to Lilly’s apartment ready for the evening’s events. She was running late for the radio broadcast but she didn’t really mind too much about that. When Minnie knocked on Lilly’s door there was no answer and so she assumed Lilly had left for the festival without her.
When Minnie arrived at the bonfire she soon realised that her friend was not actually there after not being able to find her. After returning home, Minnie checked Lilly’s apartment again and again nobody was there to answer the door. The next day there was still no sign of Lilly and most of her neighbours assumed she had taken off with the client. This had happened before in the past, however, she would usually mention if she had planned something like this.
A couple of days passed and there was still no answer from Lilly. After numerous unanswered calls from both Minnie and a male friend they decided to go to the landlords of the building, Ruth Jonson and her husband.
Ruth said that they had been to Lilly’s apartment days before to no avail. Together, Ruth, Minnie and the friend decided it was time to inform police of her disappearance.
Ruth went to the nearest police station and reported their concerns. An hour later a constable showed up to her apartment. The officer knocked on the door but like the Lilly’s friends was left unanswered. When he checked through the mailbox he could see that the bathroom light was on but nobody answered when he called out.
Firefighters were called to aid in breaking down the door. On entry to Lilly’s apartment they found her body laying face down on the daybed in her lounge. Lilly’s head was covered in dried blood. Three cushions were stacked on top of her back and the bed beneath her was made.
A medical examiner was called to the scene where it was determined Lilly had been dead for a couple of days, the Saturday before, on Walpurgis night. There were no signs of struggle anywhere in the apartment and the place seemed spotless. There was only one thing out of place: a blood stained tea towel in the kitchenette.
Her body was naked but wore socks and long black boots, her clothes neatly folded on a chair next to her bed. She lay on her side with her head resting on her left arm. The right side of her head had been crushed from the temple down to her neck. It was evident Lilly had been attacked from behind and the blows to her head would have killed her instantly. Her body was also found with a used condom between her legs.
Nothing was taken from Lilly’s apartment therefore she had not been killed with something she owned. Police on the scene concluded that the killer brought the murder weapon with him and then later took it when they left.
Officers processed the scene until later that same night and Lilly’s body was taken to the morgue for an autopsy. Said autopsy revealed that Lilly had been dead for two to three days which suggest that Minnie was the last person to see her alive before she was killed. The three blows to her head were caused by a blunt object, supposedly a crowbar or a pipe. Lilly’s body had mostly been drained of blood and saliva was found on her neck and body.
It was first suggested that this murder could have been linked to a robbery which took place in the same apartment building just prior to this event. However, because this man had the intentions to steal and nothing was taken from Lilly’s apartment, any links were ruled out.
A witness came forward to suggest that her husband had something to do with the murder. Her husband was a pimp and a hustler and when he returned home the night of Lilly’s murder he had blood on his clothes. A shady business partner of his offered a weak alibi and without enough evidence to convict the witnesses husband, he was released from custody ten days later.
Six weeks after the murder took place a blood stained ladle was found discarded on the street outside of Lilly’s apartment building. Rumours began to spread that the ladle had been used by the killer to drink Lilly’s blood, however, there is no solid evidence to prove such a claim.
Lilly Lindestrom was immortalised by the name on her police file ‘skanska Lilly’. Her murder is now forever known as the atlas vampire murder.
The unsolved disappearance of Dorothy Jane Scott
Dorothy Jane Scott was born April 23rd, 1948, to Jacob and Vera Scott in Anaheim California. In 1966 young women across the United States were breaking social norms, fighting for equal rights and becoming increasingly liberated. This new lifestyle of revolution did not suit Dorothy who was an introvert before all else.
In 1976, Dorothy gave birth to her son Shawn. The two lived about 20 minutes from Anaheim in Stanton with Dorothy’s aunt. Though she was close with her family she was heavily self reliant. She worked back room secretary jobs at two jointly owned stores in swingers psych shop and custom john’s head shop. Her parents lived close to both workplaces meaning Dorothy could leave Shawn with them while she worked.
At work, Dorothy was known as dependable and organised. Her friends and family described her as a great mum, a caring friend and deeply committed to her Christina faith. She did not do drugs or go our drinking as she preferred to stay at home, spending time with her son and going to church.
The day was may 28th 1980 and Dorothy had dropped of her son Shawn at her parents home and went to work as usual. There was nothing particularly special about the day but swinger’s had a staff meeting that wouldn’t finish until 9PM so Dorothy told her parents shed be late picking up Shawn.
At the meeting, one of Dorothy coworkers, Conrad Bostron, seemed off. There was a swelling on his arm that appeared to need medical attention. Dorothy and another colleague left the meeting early to take Conrad to the hospital. Dorothy decided to stop by her parents home briefly to explain what was happening and that she didn’t know for sure when shed be back to pick up Shawn. While in the home she changed her scarf from a red one to a grey one. The three then drove to Irvine medical centre.
Dorothy and Pam waited in the waiting room while Conrad was treated for what turned out to be a spider bite. Conrad was treated and given a prescription which he and Pam went to have filled. The time was around 11PM. Dorothy went to use the bathroom and told the pair that she was go for the car and pull up in front of the hospital so that they wouldn’t have to walk as far.
This was the last time anyone sae Dorothy alive.
Having collected the medication, Pam and Conrad went to wait outside of the hospital where Dorothy said shed pick them up. They waited 20 minutes before seeing Dorothy’s car, a white Toyota station wagon. The headlights were blinding and it did not look as though the car was going to stop for them. It ended up speeding past so quickly that they didn’t even get a glimpse at who was driving the car.
Pam and Conrad immediately informed the police to report Dorothy missing, however, they did not seem overly concerned. At 4:30AM on may 29th Dorothy’s car was discovered in Santa Ana. Whoever had kidnapped Dorothy had driven the car into an alleyway, set fire to it and left the scene.
Several months before her disappearance Dorothy had began receiving menacing call from an unknown man. She claimed to have recognised the voice but not enough to o name the man in question. The contents of these calla would differ. On occasions he would confess his love and on others he would tell her he wanted to kill her.
Most chilling was that his obsession then went beyond the calls. He would give details about what she was wearing and her daily routine meaning that he had likely been following her on occasion.
These phone calls from Dorothy’s killer did not stop after she had disappeared. The first call was made to her parents home about a week after her disappearance. Vera was home alone at the time of the call.
The perpetrator asked if she was related to Dorothy Scott and after Vera confirmed he said I’ve got her and suddenly hung up the phone. The police urged her parents not to go to the media as it could have a negative impact on the investigation, however, after another week passed Jacob gave up waiting and went to the Orange County register about his daughters disappearance.
The paper ran a story on Dorothy’s disappearance. Clearly watching for news article, the unknown called got on the phone with the editor of the newspaper Pat Riley and said the following:
“I killed her. I killed Dorothy Scott. She was my love. I caught her cheating with another man. She denied having someone else. I killed her”
The caller also detailed things about the disappearance such as the red scarf mentioned above.
These phone calls baffled Dorothy’s family and friends. They told authorities that they had no knowledge off Dorothy having a boyfriend, let alone have time for one, with her two jobs and her son to look after. Dorothy’s abductor was evidently living in a fantasy world.
Months passed and months eventually turned into years. During this time the unknown man never tired of taunting Vera. Nearly every Wednesday afternoon when he knew Vera was alone he’d call the home saying that he had Dorothy and that he had killed her. Police tried to trace the calls but her never stayed on the line for long enough.
The case went cold. Nobody was ever officially named a suspect in the case and there have never been any arrests. Dorothy’s body has never been recovered.
