In August 1989, 26-year-old Ronald Jack and his wife Doreen, along with their two young sons Russell (9) and Ryan (4), vanished after Ronald met a man in a local pub in Prince George. The man claimed he could get Ronald and a friend well-paid logging and camp-kitchen jobs “up north,” and said the family could stay at the camp. Later that night, Ronald phoned a relative saying they would be away for about 10 days — that was the last verified contact. The family left their home with only a few belongings and were never seen again. Their car was left behind, there were no bank withdrawals, and no confirmed sightings. Despite massive searches, interviews, and years of tips, no remains have ever been found and no one has been charged. The case remains open and is often linked in discussion to northern B.C. highway disappearances, though investigators have never proven a connection.

Daniel Morcombe was a 13-year-old boy from Queensland who disappeared on 7 December 2003 while waiting for a bus on the Sunshine Coast. His disappearance triggered one of Australia’s largest missing-person investigations, involving years of public appeals, searches, and national attention. In 2011, police arrested Brett Peter Cowan after an undercover sting operation in which he effectively confessed. Cowan later led investigators to bushland where Daniel’s remains and personal items were found. In 2014, Cowan was found guilty of murder, indecent treatment of a child, and interfering with a corpse, and he was sentenced to life in prison with a long non-parole period. Daniel’s parents went on to create the Daniel Morcombe Foundation, focused on child safety education and prevention across Australia.

In March 2020 in Victoria’s High Country (remote bushland east of Melbourne), retired couple Russell Hill (74) and Carol Clay (73) disappeared while on a camping trip in the Wonnangatta Valley. After a long investigation, former Jetstar pilot Greg Lynn — who had also been camping nearby — was arrested and charged with their deaths; at a 2024 trial he was convicted of murdering Carol Clay and acquitted of killing Hill, with the jury hearing evidence the bodies had been hidden and their campsite burned. Lynn was sentenced to 32 years in prison, but in **December 2025 the Victorian Court of Appeal overturned his conviction on the Clay murder due to serious irregularities in the original trial and ordered a retrial set for early 2026, meaning the final legal outcome is still pending.

In August 2023, 23-year-old DPD delivery driver Aurman Singh was murdered while working his delivery route in Shrewsbury, England. He was deliberately lured to a location and then ambushed by a group of men armed with weapons including an axe, shovel and hockey stick. The attack was planned using inside information about his delivery schedule, and Aurman died at the scene from multiple severe injuries. Police later uncovered the conspiracy, arresting suspects both in the UK and overseas. Several men were eventually convicted at Stafford Crown Court: the main attackers received life sentences with long minimum terms, and another man was jailed for manslaughter for providing information that helped set up the ambush. The case shocked the public because of its level of planning, brutality, and the fact that it targeted someone simply doing his job.

In January 2020 in the Seven Kings area of Ilford, east London, three young men were fatally stabbed on a residential street in a violent altercation, with police confirming all victims were known to each other and believed to be from the local community; two suspects were arrested on suspicion of murder as investigators worked to understand what had sparked the deadly clash that shocked neighbours and highlighted concerns about knife crime in the capital.

In March 2024 in Barrhaven, a suburb of Ottawa, Canada, a Sri Lankan immigrant family was the victim of a shocking mass stabbing when 19-year-old Febrio De-Zoysa, a student living with them, attacked the household with a large knife. Police found six people dead inside the home — a 35-year-old mother and her four young children, aged seven, four, three, and two months, as well as a 40-year-old family friend — while the father survived with serious injuries. Investigators said the victims and De-Zoysa knew each other, but the motive remained unclear at the time. It was described as one of the most brutal and rare mass killings in Ottawa’s history. In November 2025, De-Zoysa pleaded guilty to multiple murder charges and was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole for 25 years.

Toyah Cordingley was a 24-year-old woman from Far North Queensland who disappeared in October 2018 after going to Wangetti Beach, near Cairns, to walk her dog. She was found dead the next day, and the case triggered a major investigation that lasted years and drew national attention. Police eventually identified Rajwinder Singh — an Australian resident who had left for India shortly after the killing — as their prime suspect. After lengthy legal processes and cooperation between Australian and Indian authorities, he was extradited back to Australia to stand trial. A jury later found him guilty of Toyah’s murder, and he was sentenced to life imprisonment, marking the end of a long fight for justice by Toyah’s family and community.

Sharanjit Kaur, living in New Zealand, became enraged after seeing a family photo of her partner with his wife and children, and in June 2024 she followed and chased the wife’s car at dangerously high speeds. During the pursuit, she repeatedly tried to intimidate her, drove on the wrong side of the road, and reached speeds estimated at more than 120 km/h. The chase ended in a head-on collision with an unrelated motorist, 49-year-old Jonathan “Jono” Baker, who died instantly, while Kaur received only minor injuries. She later pleaded guilty to reckless driving causing death and was sentenced in the Hamilton District Court to four years in prison and banned from driving for five years, despite her defence arguing for home detention on mental-health and remorse grounds, which the judge rejected given the extreme danger of her actions.

Gurjit (Gurjeet) Singh was a 27-year-old man living in Dunedin, New Zealand, who was stabbed to death outside his Liberton home in January 2024. Police found him with multiple stab wounds and quickly launched a homicide investigation. A 35-year-old man named Rajinder was arrested and charged after investigators gathered CCTV, DNA, and other evidence linking him to the attack. In court, prosecutors said the killing may have been motivated by personal jealousy connected to a rejected marriage proposal involving Gurjit’s wife. After a jury trial in the High Court, Rajinder was found guilty of murder and now faces a lengthy prison sentence.

Cleo Smith was a 4-year-old girl from Western Australia who disappeared from a tent while camping with her family at the Blowholes campsite near Carnarvon in October 2021. Her disappearance triggered a massive search effort across land, air, and sea, and police quickly treated the case as an abduction. After 18 days, officers found Cleo alive and unharmed inside a locked house in Carnarvon, just minutes from the local police station. A 36-year-old man was arrested and later sentenced to a long prison term for kidnapping her. Cleo’s rescue was described as a miracle and became one of Australia’s most widely followed missing-child investigations.