The disappearances that gripped the world
People who vanished without explanation — and the searches, theories, and vigils a global audience followed for years.
A disappearance leaves a particular kind of wound: no answer, no ending, a question that stays open for years and sometimes forever. The files here are the ones that did not stay local — cases a whole country, or the whole world, followed and never quite stopped wondering about.
A three-year-old gone from a holiday apartment in Portugal. A flight with 239 people aboard that stopped transmitting over the Indian Ocean. A six-year-old who set out for his school bus in Manhattan one morning in 1979 and was never seen again — his face on milk cartons became a symbol of every missing child. Some of these were answered years later; most were not.
Several of these files sit in other collections too — a disappearance can end in a name, a courtroom, or nothing at all. What gathers them here is the scale of the watching: the sense that somewhere, someone still knows.
9 stops, in order
Gabby Petito — Credit: Instagram/@gabspetito, widely distributed in press coverageEditorial useSourceSOLVED AudioKilling of Gabby PetitoBridger–Teton National Forest, Wyoming · 2021 · 28 to watch & hearThe 22-year-old's disappearance on a cross-country van trip drew a vast online search before her remains were found in Wyoming.
MAS plane — Credit: The original uploader was Ohconfucius at English Wikipedia.CC BY-SA 2.0SourceUNSOLVED AudioMalaysia Airlines Flight 370 disappearance theoriesKuala Lumpur, Malaysia · 2014 · 3 to watch & hearThe flight vanished with 239 people aboard en route to Beijing; debris was later recovered, but the aircraft was never found.
Praia da Luz Portugal February 2015 07 (cropped) — Credit: Bengt NymanCC BY-SA 4.0SourceUNSOLVED AudioDisappearance of Madeleine McCannPraia da Luz, Lagos, Portugal · 2007 · 32 to watch & hearThe three-year-old vanished from a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal, in one of the most-covered missing-child cases on record.
BRIAN RANDALL SHAFFER - COLUMBUS, OHIO — Credit: FBIPublic domainSource
UNSOLVED AudioDisappearance of Brian ShafferSouth Campus Gateway complex, High Street, Columbus, Ohio · 2006 · 5 to watch & hearThe Ohio medical student walked into a Columbus bar in 2006 and was never recorded leaving it.
MBHSfront — Credit: AuburnPilot at English WikipediaPublic domainSourceThe Alabama graduate vanished on a class trip to Aruba and has never been found.
MAURA MURRAY - HAVERHILL, NEW HAMPSHIRE — Credit: FBIPublic domainSource
UNSOLVED AudioDisappearance of Maura MurrayRoute 112 near Woodsville, Haverhill, New Hampshire · 2000s · 4 to watch & hearThe nursing student vanished after a single-car crash in rural New Hampshire — a foundational case of the true-crime podcast era.
THE SPRINGFIELD THREE - SPRINGFIELD, MISSOURI — Credit: FBIPublic domainSourceUNSOLVED AudioSpringfield Three1717 East Delmar Street, Springfield, Missouri · 1992 · 6 to watch & hearThree women vanished overnight from a Missouri home in 1992, leaving their cars, purses, and belongings behind.
Etan Patz, the missing/murdered boyCC BY 3.0SourceSOLVED AudioDisappearance of Etan PatzSoHo, Lower Manhattan (near Prince Street and West Broadway) · 1979 · 3 to watch & hearThe six-year-old vanished walking to his school-bus stop in 1979; his face on milk cartons became a national symbol.
Glenelg south aust — Credit: Adam.J.W.C.CC BY-SA 2.5SourceUNSOLVED AudioDisappearance of the Beaumont childrenGlenelg Beach, Adelaide, South Australia · 1960s · 2 to watch & hearThree siblings vanished from an Adelaide beach on Australia Day 1966, in one of the country's most enduring mysteries.