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Paul Fronczak -

In 1964, a one-day old baby named Paul Fronczak was kidnapped from the hospital where he was born. The FBI believed they found him two years later abandoned in a shopping mall, and they returned him to his parents.

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DNA testing -

In 2012, however, DNA testing revealed that the boy they had found was not Paul Fronczak after all, but Jack Rosenthal, who was born six months earlier. Paul’s whereabouts remain unknown.

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The Rosenthal twins -

In a further twist, when Jack Rosenthal contacted his biological family, it turned out he was one of four children, all of whom had been neglected by their parents.

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The Rosenthal twins -

It even transpired that Jack had a twin, Jill, whose whereabouts are still unknown. To this day she has not shown up in any DNA databases.

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The Nembhard twins -

In 2011, witnesses claimed that they saw Orlando Nembhard shoot and kill a man outside a nightclub in Chandler, Arizona. The only problem was that Orlando’s identical twin was also present at the time.

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The Nembhard twins -

Investigators tried to use forensic evidence to prove which brother was responsible, but it was to no avail and they actually had to drop the case.

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The Hennessy twins -

In a similar case in the UK in 2016, Patrick Hennessy managed to escape a reckless driving conviction because he was a twin.

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The Hennessy twins -

Prosecutors were unable to distinguish between Patrick’s DNA and that of his identical twin, James, whom he claimed was actually driving the car at the time.

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The Logue sisters -

In 1974, sisters Angelina and Deborah Logue (aged seven and four, respectively) lapsed into comas and died, while spending the afternoon at their aunt’s pool.

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The Logue sisters -

Investigators used a sophisticated tissue analysis to determine whether their death was caused by a harmful toxin or organism. Unfortunately their analysis yielded no results. 

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Airport killing -

In February 2017, the half brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un was murdered in an airport. A woman hurried up to him, rubbed something in his face, and ran off.

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Airport killing -

The victim, Kim Jong-nam, quickly collapsed and died on the way to the hospital. Experts are still not sure exactly what was used to kill him; tests were inconclusive.

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The murder of Louise Talley -

A man named Anthony Wright served 20 years of jail time for the r a p e and murder of 77-year-old Louise Talley, the court to reexamined the forensic evidence.

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The murder of Louise Talley -

When they did reexamine the DNA evidence, it was found to match that of another man, Ronnie Byrd. Wright was exonerated, but Byrd was already dead, so the case never went back to trial.

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The death of a lottery winner -

In 2012, Urooj Khan won a million dollars with a lottery ticket he had purchased at a 7-Eleven. Before he had a chance to cash in, however, he died.

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The death of a lottery winner - Initially it was thought he died of natural causes, but it turned out he had been poisoned with cyanide. To this day there is still no suspect in the case.

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The Zodiac killer -

The infamous Zodiac killer murdered a number of people in the San Francisco Bay area in the 1960s and 1970s. To this day the killer’s identity is unknown.

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The Zodiac killer -

And it is not for lack of forensic evidence either: the killer left fingerprints and handprints at both the scenes and in letters sent to law enforcement. There has just never been a match.

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The murder of Kathy Mabry -

In 1997, Kathy Mabry (not pictured) was found murdered in a house in Mississippi. Law enforcement used the bite mark on her body to charge James Earl Gates with the crime.

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The murder of Kathy Mabry -

Bite mark identification is a controversial forensic technique, and there was no other evidence linking Gates to the crime, so the jury acquitted. The case remains unsolved.

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James Holmes - Forensics is not all about fingerprints and DNA— there are some psychological aspects, too. When James Holmes murdered 12 people at a theater in 2012, forensic psychologists were desperate to establish his motive.

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James Holmes -

Despite more than 24 hours of interviews, however, Dr. William H. Reid, who was called in to consult on his trial, never managed to work out the reason for Holmes’ actions.

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The Black Dahlia -

After actress Elizabeth Short was brutally murdered in Los Angeles in 1947, LAPD launched a lengthy, high-profile investigation.

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The Black Dahlia - Due to a lack of forensic evidence, however, they were unable to solve the case and it remains one of oldest cold case files in Los Angeles.

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Doggie DNA -

In 1978, 17-year old Santae Tribble was convicted of murder. FBI forensics experts had matched a hair found at the scene with one of his, without the use of DNA testing.

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Doggie DNA -

It later transpired that the hair had not even come from a human, let alone from Santae Tribble. When it was discovered the hair came from a dog, Tribble was exonerated. The case, however, remains unsolved.

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The Somerton Man -

In 1948, a body was washed up on a beach in Australia. Despite a wealth of forensics, no one ever came forward to identify the man.

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The Somerton Man -

He therefore became known as the Somerton Man, and the case eventually went cold. It is hoped that advances in forensic science will at some point reveal the identity of the Somerton Man.

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JonBenét Ramsey -

In December 1996, six-year-old JonBenét Ramsey was found dead in the basement of her home after being strangled. Despite the forensic evidence, the case has never been solved.

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JonBenét Ramsey -

According to the authorities, this is because the house and the crime scene were improperly handled.

Sources: (Reader's Digest)

See also: The dumbest ways criminals got themselves caught

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