Unsolved Mysteries

Perfect crimes are unlikely but possible

Remember Jill Dando? She was a British television presenter murdered in April 1999. She was returning home at around 11:30am after visiting her fiancé when she was shot point blank. The killer’s weapon was home made. The murder led to a high profile hunt but was the killer ever found?

In just six months the police had interviewed 2500 people and taken hundreds of statements. After a year Operation Oxborough looked to have been a failure. But then investigators turned back to a previous suspect that had been overlooked. After a period of surveillance, Barry George was arrested and charged for the murder of Jill Dando.

The surveillance demonstrated that George was in the habit of following women in the street. He had also been caught in the grounds of Kensignton Palace (Princess Diana’s home). He had a rope with him and a balaclava. A small quantity of forensic evidence formed the basis of the case against George. When his flat was searched it was discovered that he had developed a compulsion towards celebrities, and appeared to have developed a fascination with hand guns.

Firearms residue was discovered in a coat that belonged to George, but the coat could have been tainted by residues whilst in custody of the Metropolitan Police – a fact that is freely admitted. Thus the linking of George to the Dando murder is at best tenuous, without any scientific basis. George is currently serving a life sentence while his lawyers prepare another appeal. Did Barry George kill Jill Dando? It is certainly possible, but it is impossible to say for certain.

If I Did It

In 1994 Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman were murdered. Brown Simpson’s ex-husband OJ Simpson was implicated in what was hailed ‘The Trail of the Century’. While Simpson was not found guilty for their murders, bizarrely, he was found to be liable for their deaths (is there a difference) in a civil court. A judgement in excess of $30 million was declared. Simpson has paid a fraction of this to date. Perhaps Simpson’s book If I Did It was conceived in a bid to recoup some financial muscle. The book is a first-person apparently fictional account describing in detail the murder (had it taken place). The book, thanks to howls of protest, has subsequently been withdrawn by the publisher.

Osama Bin Laden

Perhaps the greatest foil in living history is Saudi born militant Osama Bin Laden’s successful suicide plot on the Trade Centre towers in New York, on September 11, 2001. That this tall, thin man has been able to strike into the heart of America, and remain on the run for 6 years now, is in itself a mystery. Who would think it possible, that having incurred the wrath and vengeance of an eager-to-war generation of Americans, and with the best technology on and off the planet, Bin Laden has managed to evade capture?

But did Bin Laden mastermind the attack? In suicide bombings perpetrators are meted a form of instant justice. Bin Laden released the following message as part of a statement broadcast by Al Jazeera on September 16:

I stress that I have not carried out this act, which appears to have been carried out by individuals with their own motivation.

But three years later, not long after the 2004 presidential elections in the US Bin Laden said:

I will explain to you the reasons behind these events, and I will tell you the truth about the moments when this decision was taken, so that you can reflect on it…the plan of striking the towers had not occurred to us, but the idea came to me when things went just too far with the American-Israeli alliance's oppression…

In 2006, Osama Bin Laden said:

I am the one in charge… I was responsible for entrusting the 19 brothers … with the raids.

The three examples provided here involve a suspicious character who has been judged guilty without apparently, sufficiently evidence. Bin Laden presents a surfeit of evidence including a confession as well as overwhelming resources directed towards his capture. And Simpson presents a case that appears to present a motive, but no incriminating evidence.

If a perfect crime is getting away with murder, without anyone finding out the perpetrators identify, none of the above examples would qualify. So it is even more unbelievable when crimes that occur so brazenly – as is the case in all three examples – and those responsible somehow remain at large, outwitting and evading all efforts to prosecute the law. These scenarios describe in part the level of intelligence of policing authorities; and that they have their limits.