Unforgotten Casebook — One case. Every angle. One place.One case. Every angle. One place.
Explore books, movies, podcasts, news coverage, and court records—organized by true crime case and real-life story, together in one place.
THE CASE LIBRARY
U.S. cases, plus the Bernardo–Homolka case in Canada.
2003
Lana Clarkson died from a gunshot at music producer Phil Spector’s home in 2003. After an initial trial ended without a verdict, Spector was convicted of second-degree murder in 2009. Reporting and films examine the evidence and the power imbalance surrounding the case.
2003
Sandra Rozzo was shot in July 2003. Investigators focused on Ashley Humphrey and her husband as they examined the planning behind the bartender's murder.
2003
Jeff Wright's disappearance led police to his body buried behind the family home. Susan Wright admitted killing him but claimed self-defense; prosecutors disputed that account at her trial.
2002
Alan Bates and his wife, Terra, were killed in February 2002 during a custody dispute involving Alan’s daughters. The killings took place at the Hoover home of his former wife, Jessica McCord, and her husband, Jeff; the victims’ remains were later found in Georgia. Jessica was convicted in 2003 and received life without parole. Jeff also received life sentences. Snapped examines the case, while reporting traces the investigation and its impact on the victims’ families.
2002–2013
Ariel Castro abducted Michelle Knight, Amanda Berry, and Gina DeJesus in Cleveland and held them for years inside his house. Berry’s escape in 2013 led to the rescue of the other women and her daughter. Their accounts describe both captivity and life after rescue.
2002–2009
Pathologist Bennet Omalu examined the brain of former professional football player Mike Webster and helped bring attention to chronic traumatic encephalopathy in football. His findings and the resistance surrounding them became the subject of reporting and the film Concussion. The story explores sports, medical evidence and institutional responsibility.
2002–2012
High-school football player Brian Banks lost years of his life after a wrongful conviction. New evidence and assistance from the California Innocence Project led to his exoneration. His memoir and the film follow the struggle to clear his name and rebuild a future.
2002
Unsolved homicideCarrie Ann Williams, 26, was found shot to death in the Richmond area in 2002 after finishing work at Hooters. Her boyfriend Raleigh Campbell was charged, but a jury acquitted him. The case appears in The Hooters Murders: Deadly Shift. The 2026 coverage describes the killing as unresolved; the acquittal must remain clear when reading older accounts of the investigation.
2002
Dixie Shanahan shot her husband and concealed his body in a bedroom for more than a year. The eventual discovery led to a prosecution and public discussion of prolonged domestic abuse.
2002–2003
Elizabeth Smart was abducted from her Utah bedroom at age 14 in 2002. Brian David Mitchell and Wanda Barzee held her captive for nine months before she was found. Her own books and interviews describe surviving the abuse and rebuilding her life.
2002
A vacationing couple was killed in Ocean City in May 2002. The investigation led to charges against Erika and Benjamin Sifrit and examined evidence recovered after an unrelated police encounter.
2002
Laci Peterson disappeared from Modesto in December 2002 while pregnant with her son, Conner. Their remains were recovered in 2003, and Scott Peterson was convicted in 2004. According to the district attorney’s May 2026 statement, his third habeas petition was denied on April 27. A July 2026 documentary examines disputed defense claims without changing the conviction.
2002
Businessman Rick Chance was shot in a hotel room in Tempe. The investigation used hotel surveillance to identify the people connected to his final hours.
2002–2007
Shawn Hornbeck was abducted in Missouri in 2002. Four years later, the investigation into Ben Ownby’s abduction led police to Michael Devlin’s apartment, where both boys were found in January 2007. The rescue connected two missing-child cases that had initially seemed unrelated.
2002
Prosecutor Steve Tauzer was killed in his garage. Investigators examined his relationship with former colleague Chris Hillis, who later pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter.
2002
Survivors and journalists exposed sexual abuse by Catholic clergy and failures by church leaders to protect children. The Boston Globe’s investigation brought documents and survivor accounts to a wider audience. Betrayal collects the reporting, while Spotlight dramatizes how the newsroom pursued the evidence.
2002
Ten people were killed and three others critically wounded in the Washington-area sniper attacks of October 2002. A multiagency investigation led to the arrest of John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo and subsequent prosecutions. The book 23 Days of Terror and the documentary I, Sniper explore the victims’ experiences, the investigation and the relationship between the perpetrators.
2001
Alex Algeri was shot outside a gym in January 2001. Investigators concluded that he had been mistaken for his business partner in a murder plot involving Lee Ann Reidel and Ralph Salierno.
2001
Washington intern Chandra Levy disappeared in 2001, and her remains were found in a park the next year. Public attention initially centered on her relationship with a congressman. Another man’s murder conviction was later overturned and the charges dropped, leaving the killing unresolved.
2001–2002
Enron’s collapse exposed misleading accounting and business practices while employees and investors faced serious losses. Reporters and investigators examined the company’s culture, leadership and financial claims. The Smartest Guys in the Room follows the rise and failure of a business once celebrated as an innovator.
2001
Jeff Zack was killed at an Akron gas station in June 2001. John Zaffino was convicted of the murder, and his conviction survived appeal. Investigators also pursued Cynthia George, who had been romantically involved with both men. Her conviction for complicity was reversed in 2007 because the appellate court found insufficient evidence that she solicited or procured the killing. This case guide keeps those different outcomes explicit and pairs the Killer Couples episode with the reversal and subsequent reporting.
2001
Kathleen Peterson was found dead at the bottom of a staircase in 2001. Her husband Michael’s murder conviction was followed by a new-trial order and, in 2017, an Alford plea to manslaughter. He maintained his innocence while accepting the plea’s legal consequences.
2001
Sports editor Kent Heitholt was killed outside the Columbia Daily Tribune in Missouri in 2001. Ryan Ferguson was convicted after his friend Charles Erickson implicated him, but witnesses later withdrew key testimony. An appeals court overturned Ferguson’s conviction in 2013 because prosecutors had withheld evidence, and the charges were dropped. Erickson, who had pleaded guilty and later challenged his confession, was released on parole in 2023. Their different legal outcomes are central to understanding the case.
2001
Attorney Larry McNabney's body was found at a Sacramento-area winery. Investigators examined the circumstances of his disappearance and the role of his wife, who used the name Elisa.
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