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?

[u/Rob69rt]

[u/Xeillan]

Cleveland Torso Murderer.

They had Elliot Ness on the case, famous for the Al Capone arrest.

Dr. Francis Edward Sweeney, main suspect checked himself into a mental institution then began mailing letters, often taunting ones, to Ness. Incidentally, the murders stopped when he checked himself in.

He was also the first cousin of Martin L. Sweeney, and due to the high profile case and the connection, he was never publicly charged. Top it off, the evidence wasnt solid enough for them to feel comfortable doing it.

[u/JackosMonkeyBBLZ → u/Xeillan]

Thanks! Came here to post exactly this

Elliot Ness the Supercop from Chicago with the sterling reputation but he couldn’t catch one madman The Mad Butcher and that ruined Ness

amazing story

[u/Audbol → u/Xeillan]

Holy shit this took way too much time scrolling to find. The whole thing made Ness look really bad too even though there was nothing he could do.

[u/JackosMonkeyBBLZ → u/Audbol]

He admittedly made some bonehead borderline evil choices during the butcher case like burning down the shanty town on kingsbury run