Note: This thread surrounds crimes and disappearances and such, not lost relative cases.

Sorry if this has been posted before (my searches yielded nothing), but seeing the "new" UM made me wonder what the point was in airing episodes from the 1970s and 1980s. Subsequently, I began wondering if the show ever solved any cases that were quite old. I remember a mystery about a French-Canadian boy who vanished with a friend and may have been abducted by his father and some other cases from the 1940s, but I don't remember anything aside from lost love episodes being solved. Whats the oldest mystery that UM blew the lid off of? And, also, are there any cases from the show that were solved many years after its cancellation?

The boy you are talking about is Clifford Sherwood. He and his friend George Gumbley disappeared in 1954 and neither has been found. His mother never moved from the house he grew up in and never changed her phone number. She died 3 years ago.

The oldest case that they have solved to my knowledge is that of Wanda Jean Mays. Her case aired on May 25th, 1987 (the show itself began on January 20th of that year). She vanished from her aunt and uncle's house in 1986 and they found a bloody shirt of hers by the lake and blood of hers in a boat. They fear she may have been murdered, but in 2003, they found her remains at the bottom of a cliff near the home. She wasn't identified until 2008 and her death was ruled an accident as they feel she had a panic attack, her second one in her lifetime, and fell off the cliff in the dark.

I could name off several cases that have been solved after Robert Stack died in 2003 but that'd take me awhile. :p

John Burns, who murdered his mistress in 1970 is one that went pretty far back and was solved with his capture.

If I recall correctly, older cases with fugitives missing for long periods of time such as Joe Maloney were never solved.

Patricia Ann Teer (Carlton) was missing for 33 years after amnesia caused by an aneurysm. She disappeared in 1971 and was located in 2004 living in San Francisco with good chunks of her memory missing. (I don't consider this a lost love because of the intervening medical issues, she was in fact, a missing person)
http://unsolvedmysteries.wikia.com/wiki/Patricia_Carlton

oh, I thought he meant oldest case by airdate, not the years they happened :confused:

Anastasia Romanov/Franziska Schanzkowska (1918). Although it wasn't officially solved, Clyde Ralstin's involvement in George Coniff's murder in 1935 would be up there too.

One of the cases solved after UM's cancellation was Mahfuz Huq's arrest for the murder of Todd Kelly.

Wasn't the Laura Burbank murder case from 1970 still unsolved when UM aired it or did they already know that David Harry Fisher did it and were just trying to share the case information in hopes that he would be caught (which he was)?

Wasn't the Laura Burbank murder case from 1970 still unsolved when UM aired it or did they already know that David Harry Fisher did it and were just trying to share the case information in hopes that he would be caught (which he was)?

They knew it was him. The reason it was a UM story to begin with was because Fisher escaped from prison in 1974 while serving time for Laura Burbank's murder. I'm almost certain the Laura Burbank segment aired like in the first or second season--around 1989--and Fisher was caught within either days or weeks of the broadcast, after all that time on the run. He was living in Canada with a wife and children, IIRC.

And, also, are there any cases from the show that were solved many years after its cancellation?

solientgreen mentioned the 1989 murder of Todd Kelly, which was resolved in February 2011 with the arrest of Mahfuz Huq.

There was also the 1989 familial abduction of Bobby and Christine Baskin by their grandparents. They were found alive and well in 2009 living in San Jose.

The 1986 disappearance of Wanda Jean Mays (which was profiled as part of a series of specials that aired before Unsolved Mysteries became a regular series) was solved in 2008 when her remains (found in 2003) were conclusively identified.

The 1987 abduction of infant Carlina White from a Harlem hospital was solved in 2011 when Carlina White (known by another name) herself had suspicions about her past. She suspected she was the kidnapped White and DNA testing confirmed it.

Robert Arcieri faked his own death in 1987 to avoid going to prison. His segment was aired in 1995. He was located alive in 2011.

Bonnie Craig's 1994 murder in Anchorage, AK was another one. In 2006, DNA from the scene was matched to a Kenneth Dion who serving time for armed robbery in New Hampshire. He had been stationed at Ft Richardson with the Army at the time of the murder. He was tried and convicted last year.

Some other solved cases:

Kimberly Pandelios - She went missing and was murdered in 1992. Her segment aired in 1995. Her killer was convicted in 2004.

Martha Moxley - She was murdered in 1975. Her segment aired in 1996. In 2002, her neighbor was convicted.

Alie Berrelez - She was murdered in 1993. Her segment aired in 1995. The case was solved in 2011 when DNA matched one of her neighbors, who had died in 2001. He'd been a suspect early on, but they were unable to get sufficient evidence until the 2011 DNA match.

Jessica Keen - She was murdered in 1991. Her segment aired in 1999. Her killer was convicted in 2009 after a 2008 DNA match proved his guilt.

Arthur Lopez Jr. - Committed a gang/drug related murder in Wisconsin in the 1990s. His segment aired in 2001. He was captured in Mexico in 2010.

Bike Path Rapist/Killer - Committed his crimes between 1986 and 2006. Segment aired in 1996. The perpetrator was convicted in 2008 and was connected to two crimes for which an innocent man had served 21 years in prison.

Mike Riemer (Diana Robertson) - Diana was found murdered in 1985. Mike was a suspect. In 2011, his partial remains were discovered not too far from the original murder scene.

Jon and Linda Sohus - Went missing in 1985. Their segment aired in 1995, after the discovery of remains believed to be Jon in his own back yard in 1994. Linda has never been found. Christopher Chichester aka Clark Rockefeller real name: Christian Gerhartsrieter was the prime suspect and was apprehended on unrelated charges in 2008. He was charged with Jon's murder in 2011.

Here is some that have been solved after Stack's death:

Jasper Watkins - John Doe found in a steamer trunk in West Virginia in 1996. Identified through fingerprints in November 2003.

Randolph Dial - Escaped convict from Oklahoma who took the prison warden's wife (Bobbi Parker) with him. Both were found living on a farm in Texas in 2005. Dial died 2 years later and Bobbi was charged with ading and abetting.

Dana Satterfield - Beauty salon owner murdered in 1995. Her killer Jonathan Vick was turned in by a friend of his in 2005 and Vick was sentenced to life in prison.

John Addis - former cop who killed his girlfriend Joanne Albanese in 1996. He fled to Guatemala and started a family there. He ended up killing his wife, kids and then himself in 2006. He was identified through fingerprints.

Dorothy Donovan - elderly woman stabbed to death in her home shortly after her son was almost carjacked. Her killer, Gilbert Cannon, was arrested in 2006 and sentenced to life in prison.

Frederick Russell - college student who caused a multi-car pileup that resulted in the deaths of everyone in the other vehicles. He fled after receiving death threats and was later captured in Ireland in 2005.

Malaika Griffin - black woman who killed her white male neighbor out of racism in 1999. She was captured in 2004 and sentenced to life in prison.

Desiree Dawn Lingo-Perkins - prostitute who kidnapped and killed the son of a plastics factory owner in 2000. She was arrested in 2004 in Mexico and given a life sentence.

Jill Behrman - college student who disappeared after a bike ride. Her remains were found in 2003 and her killer in 2006.

Joyce Chiang and Chandra Levy - 2 federal attorneys killed in 1999 and 2001. Chandra's killer was arrested in 2008 and in 2011 they identified 2 men as being those who abducted and murdered Joyce.

Alan Golder - Nicknamed "the Dinnertime Bandit". He was arrested in Belgium in 2006.

John Feiga - black man who stabbed his girlfriend Erica to death in 1997. He ended up dead the year after but his remains weren't identified until 2008.

Kathy Bonderson - woman who was found dead in her burning car in 1986. They questioned her husband in 2006 after re-opening her case and he later committed suicide.

Mike Emert - realtor found stabbed to death in 2001 in a house he was selling. His killer, Gary Krueger, was named as Mike's killer in 2011.

Jesse James Hollywood - punk drug dealer who had his friend's half-brother killed. He was arrested in Brazil in 2005 and sentenced to life in prison.

Jason McVean - a terrorist who attacked cops in Colorado back in 1998 along with 2 friends who later killed themselves. McVean's remains were found in 2007 and determined he also committed suicide.

Tracy Wofford-Bunn - woman found dead in her car after arguing with her boyfriend. Her killer was identified in 2007 but he had died years earlier.

Veronica Jefferson, Rachael Raver and Warren Fulton III - 3 Virginia people killed within 7 months of each other in 1988. Their murders were linked by DNA in 2000 and their killer Alfredo Prieto was identified in 2004. He was sentenced to death in the Raver/Fulton murders.

Mahfuz Huq - guy who stabbed his ex-girlfriend's boyfriend to death in a fit of jealous rage in 1989. He was arrested in India in 2011.

Michael Alfonso - black man who shot his girlfriend Genoveva Velasquez at the restaurant she worked at in 2001. He also was a suspect in the 1992 disappearance of his former girlfriend Sumanear Yang. He was captured in 2004 and was given 2 life sentences.

Sneha Philip - Indian nurse who disappeared before or during the 9/11 attacks. She was named a victim of the tower collapses in 2008.

James "Whitey" Bulger - Mafia boss wanted on several criminal charges, including murder. He and his girlfriend Catherine Greig were arrested in 2011.

http://health.usnews.com/health-news/managing-your-healthcare/research/articles/2009/03/11/dna-testing-lays-romanov-murder-mystery-to-rest"Anastasia Romanov/Franziska Schanzkowska (1918). " Her case was proven by DNA in the last few years. The woman was NOT Anastasia Romanov.

http://www.angelfire.com/pa/ImperialRussian/news/02news.html