18 True Crime Cases With A Smoking Gun
A smoking gun is the one thing that ties a case together and makes the murderer obvious. Here are some smoking guns from famous murder cases (some of which are still technically unsolved):
The Ransom Note Written On Family Stationary
“The ‘ransom note’ in the JonBenet Ramsey case being written on the family’s own stationary (I also seem to recall it having famous lines from some of the dad’s favorite films in it but it’s been a while since I read up on the case). When you plan to break into a home to kidnap someone you don’t fuck around writing the ransom note in the house during the kidnapping. You want to be in and out of there as quickly as possible.” – tainkirrahe
The Science Fair
“The science fair at Kyron Hormon’s school, for me, is the main reason I don’t think his step-mother is responsible for whatever happened to him. If you’re going to kill your kid you’re not going to do it on the one day where half the town can witness you taking him out of school. Not when you have a pool at home that he could ‘accidentally’ drown in. Or, like, any other option at all.” – LadyMirtazapine
The Rent Money
“The fact that Leah Roberts left her half of the rent money to her roommate. She didn’t intend to run away to start a new life. She intended to come back. Also, the man who made up the guy named “Barry”. He was a mechanic, and Leah Roberts’s car was tinkered with. I think this man is responsible for Leah’s death, or at least knows vital information. And yes, I say death, because there’s no way Leah is alive today.” – CartoonistRight
Calling In Sick
“In the disappearance of Zebb Quinn the fact the last person to see him alive, Jason Owens, also called his work pretending to be him calling in sick just proves he’s knows what really happened.” – CrossFitMessiah
The Voice Message
“Cindy James: The ‘CINDY DEAD MEET SOON’ message. It’s really obviously a woman’s voice and I’m 90% sure it’s actually Cindy.” – OptimalRoom
Late For Work
“The story about Ted Weiher (one of the Yuba County Five) having to once be literally dragged out of his burning bedroom because he was worried he’d be late for work the next day if he didn’t get enough sleep. Those guys straight up did not have the decision making abilities of normal people. Pretty much nothing they did seems the least bit weird once you take that into consideration.” – [deleted]
The Voice Recording
“The man in the Amber Tuccaro recording, sounds exactly like the horse rancher Pat Carson… who is a sex offender and pedophile.” – booty_chicago
The Windows On The World
“Sneha Philip’s online chat with her mother on 9/10/01 where she mentioned she was going to check out Windows on the World. My theory is that Sneha was seeing a women who either worked in the WTC or was attending the Risk Waters conference at WotW on 9/11/01. This is the woman she spent the night of the 10th with, and that’s where she left her shopping bags. Her ‘checking out WotW’ was her visiting this woman at work or the conference. The other woman could have gotten her a visitor pass or something since she didn’t work in the building. They both died on a high floor, thus her remains have never been ID’d. The shopping bags have never been recovered because the other woman’s family never knew about Sneha and just assumed the bags belonged to the other woman.” – foxcat0_0
The Ripper MO
“William Henry Bury is, to my knowledge, the only Ripper suspect who is definitively known to have murdered and mutilated a woman using the Ripper MO (his poor wife, who he killed about two months after the last Ripper killing).” – yojimbo_beta
The White Stockings
“Katrice Lee. I am 100% convinced it was serial child killer Robert Black.
The reason? Katrice vanished from a busy army base supply store on her 2nd birthday in Germany. She was wearing white stockings.
Robert Black was proven to be there in Germany on that day, delivering posters to army base supply stores. He had a fetish for white socks/stockings. Katrice had an eye issue, and a few of Black’s victims had noticeable eye differences.
I researched Katrice Lee’s case for two years. One day I stumbled upon Robert Black in a completely unrelated way. I was reading about his travels across Europe when I saw…Germany. So I looked into that further. His gas receipts show that he was there in Germany that day. Also another little girl disappeared very very close by where Katrice Lee did, a few years prior (I believe, will have to look up dates). If you watch documentaries about Robert Black, he was attracted to happy families with little girls and would watch them sometimes, other times he acted on impulse within seconds.
FORGOT SOMETHING IMPORTANT! He is suspected of killing the girl across the lake, Silke Garben, in 1985. Literally across the lake from Paderborn where Katrice was taken. Katrice is very young, so people dismiss her, but she has a sister who is in his target age range, and her sister stayed home instead of going to the store.” – tarabithia22
School Work In The Car
“Maura Murray’s school work in the car with her. I don’t think she intended to run away (at least not permanently) or commit suicide.” – TrippyTrellis
Lending Their Car
“The day Hae Lin goes missing is the same day Adnan decides it’s cool to lend his car to a small time drug dealer, and not ask for it back by the time school is out, giving him an excuse to ask Hae for a ride. Every other dude in High School would be telling Jay to get the car back by the time the final bell goes off.” – FileInside
Neatly Folded Clothes
“That Jaleayah Davis’ clothes were not neatly folded on the guardrail.
That the ‘Asian bondage porn’ search was made from Rebecca Zahau’s own password protected computer the day before Adam Shaknai arrived at the house.” – Thirsty-Tiger
A Lunch Date
“This isn’t about a particular debated case, but earlier in quarantine, I was watching some old unsolved mysteries and there was a case that really changed my mind about the possibility of suicide in missing person cases. A single mom in Maine told everyone in her life she had a lunch date with a new guy, disappears but her purse, car, and keys are still at the restaurant. Everyone assumed she’d been kidnapped or met with foul play. She actually flew to Alabama, checked into a hotel and killed herself. No one would have ever found out if the pathologist hadn’t caught the episode on TV. Sometimes people really go out of their way to not have their loved ones know that they were in that bad of a place.” – kikisch
Attempting To Flee
“The fact that Robert Dodd attempted to flee and altered digital evidence records after he was found to have discarded evidence from Candace Hiltz’ murder. He either had something to do with it or he was covering for someone who did. The entire police force there was attempting to silence that family.” – DoULiekChickenz
The Water Tank Latch
“Finding out the the latch of the water tank was actually open the whole time in the Elissa Lam case.” – Longjumping_Belt_692
Zanny The Nanny
“Upon hearing Casey referencing Zanny the Nanny, I was convinced. I knew then what happened. There’s no question in my mind that Casey was dosing her daughter to make her own life easier. Never have I faltered in that thought and I go back and forth on my views of many cases. Not this one.” – DepthChargeEthel
The Family Friend’s House
“The morning that everything went down, Patsy and John sent Burke to a family friend’s house while they dealt with everything. If Burke knew ANYTHING, Patsy would’ve kept him under her watch until one of her sisters got there to take him. But instead, she sent him off to a family friend’s house for safety because she knew Burke knew absolutely nothing. I strongly lean towards ‘Ramseys did it’ but my hill to die on is that Burke is innocent.” – LevyMevy