Unsolved Halloween murders: Decades of tragedies that remain open cases

Halloween is about candy and costumes for most, but the holiday also marks the anniversary of several brutal, unresolved murders spanning from 1975 to present day. 

The following cases involve victims who were killed or disappeared around Halloween and whose deaths remain officially unresolved.

Martha Moxley

The backstory:

Martha Moxley, 15, was beaten to death with a golf club on Oct. 30, 1975, in Greenwich, Connecticut. Her body was found the next day beneath a tree on her family’s estate, across the street from the home of the Skakel family, which was connected to the Kennedy family through Ethel Kennedy. The unsolved killing became a national sensation and was later the subject of books, a film and a documentary series.

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Michael Skakel, a Kennedy cousin and longtime suspect, was convicted in 2002 and sentenced to 20 years to life in prison. His conviction was overturned in 2018 after years of legal battles, and prosecutors did not pursue a second trial because key witnesses had died and evidence had weakened. Martha’s mother, Dorthy Moxley, spent decades seeking justice and keeping the case in the public eye. She died at 92 in September 2026.

Nima Louise Carter

The backstory:

On Nov. 1, 1977, 19-month-old Nima Louise Carter was abducted from her crib while her parents, George and Rose Carter, slept. Nearly a month later, she was found dead inside a refrigerator in an abandoned house just four blocks from her home. Neighborhood children discovered the scene, and a Fort Sill soldier alerted authorities.

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No one has been charged in Nima’s abduction or killing. Some have suspected Jacqueline Roubideaux, a teenage babysitter who was convicted in the death of another child found in a refrigerator, but she never admitted responsibility for Nima’s death. Nima’s father questioned whether Roubideaux was involved, and the case remains unsolved.

Ronald Sisman and Elizabeth Platzman

The backstory:

On Oct. 31, 1981, Elizabeth Platzman, a 20-year-old Smith College student, and photographer Ronald Sisman, 39, were found dead inside Sisman’s Chelsea apartment in Manhattan, according to The New York Times. Both had been severely beaten and shot once in the back of the head at close range. The apartment had been ransacked, and police said the victims’ identification had been removed from their bodies.

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Investigators were uncertain whether robbery was the motive and considered whether Sisman knew his killer because there was no sign of forced entry. A .25-caliber pistol registered to Sisman was also missing. 

No clear motive or suspect was identified in the double homicide.

Terrie L. Engel

The backstory:

On Halloween, Oct. 31, 1995, firefighters responding to smoke at the Windsong Village Apartments in West Allis, Wisconsin, found 26-year-old Terrie L. Engel dead inside her partially burned second-floor apartment, according to FOX 6 Milwaukee. Investigators later determined that Engel had suffered wounds to her neck.

More than thirty years later, the West Allis Police Department renewed its appeal for information about Engel’s death. The case remains unsolved.

The Source: The Associated Press contributed to this report. Information in this story came from reporting by The Associated Press on the Martha Moxley case, The Oklahoman on Nima Louise Carter, The New York Times on the Ronald Sisman and Elizabeth Platzman killings, and FOX 6 Milwaukee and West Allis police on Terrie L. Engel’s death. This story was reported from Los Angeles.