Have you ever wanted to be like Sherlock Holmes, solving mysteries and fighting crime? You’re not alone. Entire groups are dedicated to helping the police fight crime – enter the amateur detective.
Amateur detectives spend their free time trying to assist the police in solving notable cases – looking through social media profiles, high school photographs, even trawling through coroners’ photos. These ‘detectives’ aren’t bound by a police station’s deadlines and budgets, so they can spend years giving cold-cases the attention they require.
While the case is still out on whether or not these internet sleuths are helpful to solving crimes, amateur detectives have uncovered vital information about some of the most notable crimes in history. Curious to try your hand? We’ve listed four prominent cases for you to sink your teeth into below.
The Case of the Inexplicable Call
Let’s start relatively simple. This first ‘case’ may not be a mystery, but it beautifully illustrates a common truth – sometimes, the answers are right in front of you.
A recent online poker game saw Jack and Jeffrey battling it out on the card table. Both players were aggressive and competitive, and both were determined to win the game. After a series of flops and calls, everyone watching realized – Jack had a marginally better hand than Jeffrey. Jack decided to go all-in. In an unprecedented move, Jeffrey called his bluff – the two flipped their cards over and chose to split the pot.
Why did Jeffrey decide to call Jack’s bluff, instead of folding his cards? Poker expert Lee Jones explains the situation in a recent article for Global Poker: “Jack [the player with better cards] expected to win the entire pot. As I watched him, his face fell when Jeffrey turned over his hand. Not, mind you, when he saw Jeffrey’s cards. He, like most of us, was quite sure that Jeffrey was bluffing. Jeffrey’s effect was that of a man who did not want to be called. Jack thought if he called, Jeffrey might be so embarrassed he would muck his hand face down, and Jack would, of course, win the pot.”
While this might not be a case to keep an amateur detective up at night, it’s an excellent reminder that pride and arrogance play a much more significant role in crime than we think. Now, onto the real cases:
The Disappearance of Elisa Lam
Elisa Lam was a 21-year-old student traveling through downtown Los Angeles when her body was found in the water tank of the Cecil Hotel 20 days after she was first reported missing. The Cecil Hotel has a long history of nefarious doings – shootings, stabbings, murders – and notorious serial killers Richard Ramirez and Jack Unterweger both called the Cecil Hotel home.
However, Elisa Lam wasn’t staying at the Cecil Hotel – she had booked a stay at Stay on Main, the budget LA hotel housed in the same building as the Cecil Hotel and shared its elevators. The odd part of the story? A recent article from Esquire breaks it down: “In 2013, the last known footage of Elisa Lam came from grainy elevator security camera footage from the Cecil Hotel. The 21-year-old appears frantic and paranoid in the four minutes of footage—pressing multiple buttons, peeking nervously out of doors, and hiding against the wall of the unmoving elevator from what appears to be an unseen person. The footage has since become infamous, going viral that February after the police first released it to the public, asking for tips in the case of Lam’s disappearance. Scores of internet sleuths jumped on the case of the missing young woman, and theories of paranormal activity, a threatening off-camera figure, and video manipulation quickly began to spread online.”
The case has fascinated internet investigators for years. Netflix’s recent ‘Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel’ breaks down the essential facts of the case and why a combination of mental illness, socioeconomic despair, and tragic luck contributed to Lam’s untimely disappearance and death. However, the answers in the documentary aren’t enough for many amateur sleuths – you’ll have to look at the evidence and form your own opinions.
The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Theft
The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum has the unlucky distinction of being the site of the most significant property theft in the world. In the early morning of March 18, 1990, two men in police uniforms pressed the ‘entry’ buzzer, claiming that they were responding to a disturbance. The guard on duty unwittingly let them in and was bound, cuffed and put in the basement. Eighty-one minutes later, the thieves left the museum with over $500 million worth in art, including Rembrandt, Degas, Manet, and Vermeer.
The paintings have never been found.
Conspiracy theories range far and wide, from mafia involvement to police collusion and ineptitude. According to a recent article in Vanity Fair, “former assistant U.S. Attorney General Robert Fisher says… that the robbery couldn’t have happened without inside information. But he also notes that if he could have charged someone, he would have.” Netflix recently released an excellent documentary about the heist – perfect for an amateur detective to investigate.
The Dyatlov Pass Incident
The Dyatlov Pass Incident has puzzled scientists and amateur sleuths for almost sixty years. In 1959, a university student named Mikhail Sharavin made a shocking discovery on the top of the Ural Mountains. He and a group of peers were looking for a party of nine experienced hikers who never returned home – they found the hikers’ abandoned tents, with evidence that the hikers had used a knife to carve their way out. Over the next few months, all of the hikers’ bodies were recovered – two of the men wearing only their underwear. While many of the group died from hypothermia, a few had shocking injuries – detailed in a recent article for Smithsonian.
The incident is one of Russia’s most fascinating mysteries, and conspiracy theories have ranged from a military cover-up, an alien invasion, to even an attack by the abominable snowman. However, recent research suggests the answer is far more straightforward – that the hikers fell victim to an avalanche. Investigators indicated that the hikers with terrible injuries were hurt by snow as hard as concrete. The hikers that died of hypothermia left their tents due to disorientation after the disaster.
It’s a fascinating story and one without a definitive explanation – you’ll have to investigate deeper to figure out what you think.
These cases don’t have a clear answer, and we may never find out what happened. However, the fear of failure has never cowed any amateur detective – so if you’re fascinated, start searching.
