Eventually, the law is going to catch up with ‘on the run’ criminals. But some criminals vanish and disappear without a trace. These criminals are clearly cleverer than the rest because they just vanish into thin air, leading to the emergence of conspiracy theories about what happened in the years of their mighty escape.
“Society is now less convinced of the absolute accuracy of the criminal justice system.”— Tom Price
Rocco Perri
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He entered the criminal life as a young man and did different “jobs” over the years. Perri found his calling when the Ontario Temperance Act of 1916 cut off the legal sale of alcohol beverages and began bootlegging along with his wife, Besha Starkman. Bootlegging is the illegal business in smuggling alcohol beverages.
During the month of April 1944, Rocco Perri disappeared in Hamilton, Ontario, and was never seen again. There was no body found indicative of his death, but some believe that his body was thrown into Hamilton Bay. It was never confirmed.
Frank Morris, John, and Clarence Anglin
These names should ring a bell because they are all escapees from the famed Alcatraz maximum security. The three plotted their escape for years and made it happen on the 11th of June 1962. Authorities found out that they crawled through the air vents then shimmied on large smokestack to reach the shoreline. The mystery comes after reaching the shore because no bodies were found (living or dead) after an excessive manhunt. Clint Eastwood did the movie “Escape from Alcatraz” and played the character of Frank Morris alongside Fred Ward as John Anglin and Jack Thibeau as Clarence Anglin.
Heinrich Müller
This is the seniormost Nazi regime member that has not been found or captured. Heinrich Müller was a German Gestapo official.
There are a lot of theories about his disappearance a day after Adolf Hitler committed suicide in May of 1945. Some say that he was able to flee into another country. While Central Intelligence Agency continues to search for him, no traces of the man have been found. For decades, many people believed that the Soviets were harboring Müller. However, no solid evidence was found to prove this theory.
Szilveszter Matuska
Matuska is a Hungarian mechanical engineer who tried to derail trains in Austria in the early 1930s multiple times using explosives. His reasons were unknown. Some people initially speculated that his acts were motivated by politics. However, investigations suggested that he may be a psychopath who wanted to kill people just for pleasure.
His August of 1931 attempt to derail Berlin-Basil express near Berlin, Germany succeeded. In the process, numerous people were injured, but no one was injured, luckily. Another attempt to derail Vienna Express led to the death of 22 people. Matuska was captured but released as he was assumed to be one of the passengers. He confessed when he was arrested in October.
He was clever to escape prison in 1944 being jailed for life. Since then, he has NEVER seen again.
Abbie Hoffman
Hoffman was an activist that disappeared in 1974 for four years. He hid his identity by changing his name to Barry Freed. He also underwent and had cosmetic surgery to change his physical features. He never stopped being an activist and even wrote a column for “Crawdaddy!” Magazine. Barbara Walters was given an exclusive interview when Hoffman decided to turn himself to the authorities. He was sentenced to one year but was released after four months.
He was an activist through and through but committed suicide in April of 1989.
‘Lucky’ Lord Lucan
Lucan was a British noble who mysteriously disappeared after the murder of his children’s nanny, Sandra Rivett in November 1974. His wife named him as the killer.
In 1999, he was officially declared dead, but police continued to investigate sightings of him for years.
Some believe that he committed suicide, while others say he fled to another country. In 2007, Scotland Yard pursued investigation whether he had assumed the name Roger Woodgate in New Zealand.
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D. B. Cooper
The mystery of his disappearance remains as he vanished after hijacking a Northwest Airlines plane in November 1971. He identified himself as Dan Cooper, demanded two parachutes and $200,000 from the U. S. Government and got it. He strapped his parachute and jumped from Boeing 727 as the plane was flying Pacific Northwest in a cold night over the mountains. Thousands of leads were reported to the FBI, but they never made an arrest. Some say he survived his escape with the help of an accomplice while others doubt his survival. Whatever the case, his escape is a James Bond act made into a reality.
