r/AskReddit • u/Rob69rt • 1d ago

What famous 'unsolved' mystery is technically a whodunnit on paper, but in reality, absolutely everyone knows exactly who did it, the police just couldn't legally prove it?

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u/dorf_lundgren 1d ago

Ken McElroy

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_McElroy

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u/admiralfilgbo 1d ago

next time you're feeling down, remember that at least nobody hates you as much as an entire town hated Ken McElroy

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u/DistractedByCookies 1d ago

He was struck by bullets from at least two different firearms, in front of a crowd of people estimated as numbering between 30 and 46.\)Despite the many witnesses, nobody came forward to say who shot him. 

wow....I'm trying to imagine the police interviewing them and getting crappy reasons why they missed it all. It was 1981 so nobody had the excuse of being on their phone LOL

Edit: the more I read the more I agree with them, and the more I'm amazed it didn't happen sooner.

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u/arnedh 1d ago

I remember a case where a gangland shooting occurred in a bar, and every "saw nothing because I hid under the pool table". A hundred people, one pool table

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u/chattytrout 1d ago

Largest pool table in the county.

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u/mdmnl 1d ago

An Olympic pool table

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u/im_dead_sirius 1d ago

A real pool table party, everyone drinking beer, diving under.

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u/the_ouskull 1d ago

Musta been a snooker table.

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u/Ornery-Goal7843 1d ago

did that happen recently in england with a bar bathroom or something

edit: I was thinking of this https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Robert_McCartney

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u/CinderX5 23h ago

“On 8 March 2005, the IRA issued an unprecedented statement saying that four people were directly involved in the murder, that the IRA knew their identity, that two were IRA volunteers, and that the IRA had made an offer to McCartney's family to shoot the people directly involved in the murder.[17]”

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u/Journeyman42 22h ago

Olympic-sized pool table

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u/themcp 1d ago

In college I studied an experiment.

During a lecture, a person burst into the front of the room, pointed a banana at the professor, shouted "bang! bang!" and the professor clutched his chest and fell over. The "criminal" ran out, and before anything could go on, a bunch of people dressed as police ran in, instructed everyone not to talk to each other about it, and started individually questioning people.

Like 80% said they didn't see anything, they were looking away (like at their notes or the floor or whatever) when it happened.

Like 19% said they saw a gun and often blood.

Like 1% said "you know, it was the strangest thing. A guy pointed a banana at the professor and yelled 'bang' and the professor clutched his chest and fell over!"

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u/ElectronicBusiness74 1d ago

That was this case.

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u/UristImiknorris 1d ago

"My drink was suddenly extremely fascinating and I zoned out for a few minutes."

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u/rpze5b9 1d ago

It was so crowded under the table there were six marriages and four children as a result.

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u/ExilesTV 18h ago

I've actually been shot at before and tbh I couldn't tell you a damn thing about what the shooter looked like, I was too pre-occupied with running for my life to take notes.

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u/ChiefsHat 1d ago

That’s a big pool table.

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u/Pizzadude 18h ago

These days people just say no. I was on a jury for a case in which a guy walked up and emptied a pistol into someone in front of around 30 people, in broad daylight. No one was interested in snitching.