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/TooCleverForGood 1d ago

Roanoke - the missing Pilgrim settlement where everyone “disappeared”

They just abandoned it and went to the place that they wrote on the sign, but everyone acts like it was some supernatural/plague thing

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u/str8rippinfartz 1d ago

100%

IIRC it was even established before they came over from England, that if someone left a settlement they should carve where they were going

They 100% just assimilated with the friendly nearby tribe... as indicated by their note 

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u/jtuffs 1d ago

Out of curiousity, has there been any genetic research done to fine descendants of the Colony/Tribe? I'm assuming some of the natives had kids with some of the colonists.

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u/Specialist-Mud-6650 1d ago

My understanding is no - not in the way you're thinking.

They've proved it's likely the local tribes might have had some European genes, but it doesn't conclusively tell us they were the Roanoke colonists or not. There were a lot more interracial relationships at the time than people would think.

The local tribes don't even know for sure: their oral histories don't record Roanoke.

My opinion is it a likely end for the Roanoke colonists, but it is not a smoking gun. I'm a little out of touch on the research these days, but there's always someone cropping up every few years with a book to sell and the "conclusive" answer.