There is something about the unsolved that captivates the imagination. The thrill of investigating something that is ‘unknown’ is too good to miss for those who dream of becoming a sleuth. In many ways, popular mysteries are a matter of timing. In most cases, the initial ‘buzz’ wears off and the story is forgotten by all except those directly affected.
Years and even decades can go by and suddenly, a new piece of evidence is uncovered and the mystery once again captivates the public’s imagination. In this article, I look at 6 mysteries involving murder, ghost ships, and strange occurrences. While there are potential explanations for every mystery on the list, nothing is set in stone.
1 – Jonathan Luna’s Strange Suicide – (2003)
Jonathan Luna was a 36-year old prosecutor based in Baltimore and on December 4, 2003, his body was found in a Creek in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Federal authorizes such as the FBI leaned towards suicide as the cause, but the Lancaster County coroner’s office disagreed and believed it was a homicide. The main point of contention is the fact that Luna had 36 stab wounds from his own penknife and ended up in a creek; hardly the typical suicide.
On December 3, he left his office in Baltimore at 11:38 pm and was presumably intent on driving home, which was also in Baltimore. It would be remiss to discount suicide because on the night in question; Luna acted unusually. Instead of going home, he made the long trip to Delaware and withdrew $200 from an ATM. For reasons that have never been explained, he then drove to the state of Pennsylvania. When police found his body, they spotted the $200 scattered inside his car along with a blood-stained ticket; Luna received it when he crossed a toll road.
His blood was all over the back seat which means the stabbing obviously took place there. Whatever the reason for Luna’s weird journey, he was in a hurry because he left his glasses back in his office. Those who believe it was a suicide point to the fact he was $25,000 in debt and was about to take a polygraph test relating to a bank robbery case where $36,000 went missing.
However, the pooling of the blood in the back seat suggests that Luna was stabbed there and someone else was driving. Then there is the small matter of him driving to Delaware to withdraw a small sum of money before going to Pennsylvania where he was stabbed dozens of times. His throat was also slashed, but the cause of death was actually drowning. It is certainly a mystery that will never be solved, but the evidence points to murder. As a prosecutor, Luna would have made enemies, so there is no issue with motive. It is the bizarre nature of his actions on his last night and the sheer lack of suspects that is utterly confounding.