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The FBI Cases That Were Never Solved: When Professionals Left Zero Evidence Behind
Nov 6, 2025
Cleveland, September 1978. A businessman never makes it to his car. FBI agents arrive knowing they'll find nothing—because this is case number seven in eighteen months. Same pattern. Zero evidence. Zero arrests.
🔍 Between 1960 and 2000, approximately 2,000-3,000 cases showed identical characteristics: professional execution, complete silence, no forensic evidence. This is the story of the investigators who spent entire careers chasing people they couldn't identify, couldn't track, and couldn't catch.
📁 This deep-dive documentary explores the most frustrating mystery in American law enforcement: how certain criminals operated for decades without leaving a single traceable piece of evidence—and then simply vanished.
🎯 Inside This Investigation:
• The labor wars that created the first professional enforcers
• How Prohibition industrialized the contract killing business
• Why the FBI's Behavioral Science Unit couldn't crack these cases
• The "cooling-off period" technique that made detection impossible
• Richard "The Fixer" Morrow: the ghost who may not have existed
• The construction supervisor with two lives
• How geographic mobility defeated investigation
• The 2003 deathbed confession that couldn't be verified
• Why 30-40% of these cases remain unsolved today
• The 2019 DNA breakthrough that came 36 years too late
❓ The Disturbing Questions:
• Can disciplined criminals really disappear into ordinary life?
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0:00
September 1978.
0:02
A businessman walks out of a Cleveland
0:04
restaurant at 9:47 p.m. The street is
0:07
quiet, light rain. He reaches for his
0:11
car keys, but he never makes it to his
0:13
car. A single gunshot. No witnesses step
0:17
forward. No weapon found. No suspects
0:20
identified. The hit was clean,
0:23
professional, untraceable. FBI agents
0:26
arrived within the hour, already knowing
0:28
what they'd find. Nothing. Because this
0:32
wasn't the first. Over the next 18
0:34
months, six similar executions occurred
0:37
across three states. Same precision,
0:40
same silence,
0:41
same result, zero arrests. How does
0:45
someone kill for money, leave behind no
0:47
evidence, and vanish into ordinary life?
0:50
How does the FBI's most wanted list
0:53
include victims but not killers? Because
0:55
they don't even know who to look for.
0:58
The mythology of the professional hitman
1:00
has existed for decades. But the reality
1:03
is far stranger. According to FBI data
1:06
analyzed between 1960 and 2000,
1:09
approximately 2,000 to 3,000 unsolved
1:13
homicides showed hallmarks of contract
1:16
killings. That's not crimes of passion
1:18
or gang violence. That's business.
1:22
The estimated cost for a contract
1:24
killing in the United States during the
1:26
1970s ranged from 5,000 to $50,000
1:30
equivalent to 30,000 to 300,000 today.
1:35
Someone paid. Someone killed. Someone
1:39
walked away. This isn't about the
1:41
mythology. This is about the cases that
1:44
went cold. the investigators who spent
1:46
careers chasing shadows and the
1:48
disturbing question at the center of it
1:51
all. If you rean, can you really get
1:54
away with murder? So, get ready to dive
1:56
into the world of professional contract
1:58
killers who were never caught into the
2:00
hunters who never stopped searching. Act
2:03
one, origins. The birth of the contract.
2:07
The truth is contract killing in America
2:10
didn't start with organized crime. It
2:12
started with labor wars. Turn of the
2:14
century industrial America was a
2:16
battlefield. Coal mines, steel mills,
2:20
factory floors. Workers organized,
2:23
owners resisted,
2:25
strikes turned violent. Both sides
2:28
needed muscle. But they needed something
2:31
more than muscle. They needed
2:32
deniability. Enter the first generation
2:35
of professional enforcers. Men hired not
2:38
by crime syndicates, but by corporations
2:40
and unions to eliminate problems. A
2:42
union organizer in Pennsylvania 1902
2:46
found dead in an alley. A factory
2:48
foreman in Detroit, Mil Nobentos Diaz,
2:51
never made it home. No connections to
2:53
the killers,
2:55
no trials, just silence. The term
2:58
contract emerged from this era literal
3:01
agreement, often unwritten, to perform a
3:03
service for payment, clean,
3:06
business-like, detached. But it was
3:10
prohibition that industrialized the
3:11
practice. When the Volstit Act banned
3:13
alcohol in 1920, organized crime
3:16
exploded overnight. Bootlegging empires
3:19
needed protection, expansion, and
3:22
elimination of rivals. Killing became a
3:24
specialized trade. The most efficient
3:27
organizations didn't use hotheaded
3:29
gangsters. They used professionalsmen
3:31
who didn't drink in the bars they
3:33
protected, didn't know the victims
3:34
personally, and could disappear back
3:37
into normal life within hours. Yet, even
3:39
in this era, most killers got caught.
3:43
Why? Ego,
3:45
connections.
3:47
witnesses. The ones who didn't get
3:49
caught, shared three traits, according
3:52
to later FBI behavioral analysis,
3:54
emotional detachment, geographic
3:56
mobility, and zero personal connection
3:59
to the victim. By the 1950s, the model
4:02
was refined. The mafia's murder, Inc.
4:06
operated as a literal corporation of
4:08
Killers for Hire across New York, New
4:10
Jersey, and beyond. Authorities
4:13
eventually dismantled it, but only after
4:15
someone talked. However, investigators
4:18
began noticing something troubling even
4:20
after major busts, certain contract
4:22
killings remained unsolved.
4:25
Hits that didn't he fit the pattern. No
4:28
mob connections, no gang affiliations,
4:31
just execution and silence. One
4:34
detective in New York described it in a
4:36
1965 interview. It asked like chasing a
4:39
ghost who only exists for 30 seconds.
4:41
Who were these people? Where did they
4:44
come from? The files suggest some were
4:46
military veterans men trained in combat,
4:49
comfortable with violence, capable of
4:51
compartmentalizing. Others were simply
4:53
sociopaths who discovered a profitable
4:56
skill. A few were ordinary people who
4:58
committed one contract killing, took the
5:00
money, and never did it again. But the
5:02
ones who became legends, the ones who
5:04
were never caught were different. They
5:06
understood something fundamental. The
5:09
perfect crime isn't about brilliance.
5:11
It's about discipline. Act two. the rise
5:15
ghosts in the machine. In 1974, the FBI
5:18
created the behavioral science unit at
5:20
Quantico. Their mission profiled
5:22
criminals, predict patterns, solve the
5:26
unsolvable contract killings became a
5:29
priority. Not because they were a
5:31
frequency they represented less than 1%
5:33
of homicides, but because they were
5:36
solvable in theory, someone hired a
5:38
killer. Money changed hands. Two people
5:42
knew. Therefore, investigators believe
5:45
they could crack these cases, but they
5:47
kept hitting walls. Take the case of
5:49
Richard the Fixer. Maro, a name that
5:52
appeared in multiple underworld
5:54
informant reports between 1968 and 1981,
5:58
allegedly responsible for at least nine
6:00
contract killings across the Midwest.
6:03
Described as methodical, cold, and
6:06
untraceable, the FBI opened a file in
6:09
1975. agents interviewed associates,
6:12
tracked financial records, run survey.
6:14
They came close in 1979 when an
6:17
informant claimed Marorrow would be at a
6:19
Detroit bar on a specific night. Aen
6:23
Marorrow never showed. The informant was
6:27
found dead 2 weeks later. Apparent
6:29
suicide.
6:30
The case went cold. No arrests, no
6:34
confirmation moral even existed. To this
6:37
day, investigators debate whether he was
6:39
one man or a composite of several
6:42
killers operating under the same alias.
6:44
Yet, the pattern kept appearing.
6:47
Professional hits, no evidence, no
6:50
witnesses willing to talk. One technique
6:53
separated the professionals from
6:54
amateurs. The cooloff period. According
6:57
to case analysis, professional contract
6:59
killers often waited months between
7:02
jobs. They lived normal lives, working
7:04
regular jobs, paying taxes, blending in.
7:08
Some had families. Some would describe
7:11
by neighbors as quiet, polite,
7:14
unremarkable. Then a call would come, a
7:17
meeting arranged, payment half upfront,
7:20
half on completion. The job executed
7:23
with clinical precision.
7:26
Then back to normal life. The
7:28
geographical spread was critical. A
7:30
killer based in Ohio might take a
7:32
contract in Arizona, fly in, complete
7:35
the job within 48 hours, and fly out. No
7:39
local connections, no motive
7:41
investigators could trace. Think you
7:43
know what happens next? Keep watching.
7:46
In the early 1980s, the FBI got a break.
7:50
A low-level criminal arrested in Florida
7:52
offered information in exchange for
7:54
leniency. A claim ad hired a contract
7:57
killer in 1978 to eliminate a business
8:00
partner. He provided a name, a
8:02
description, and a meeting location.
8:05
Federal agents moved fast, but when they
8:08
arrived, the man matching the
8:10
description had no criminal record, no
8:12
connections to organized crime, and an
8:15
airtight alibi for the night of the
8:17
murder. He was a construction
8:19
supervisor,
8:20
married, two kids, coached little
8:24
league. The informant recanted, claimed
8:27
he made it up. Gase closed. Yet the
8:30
supervising agent noted in his report,
8:33
subject showed no nervousness during
8:35
interview. Extremely calm, almost
8:38
detached, nothing provable, nothing
8:41
actionable. However, this case revealed
8:44
something investigators had done. T
8:47
fully appreciated. The best professional
8:49
killers were in tea master criminals.
8:51
They were ordinary people who'd learned
8:53
to separate two lives completely.
8:55
Psychological profiling suggested these
8:58
individuals likely exhibited antisocial
9:00
personality traits. Lack of empathy.
9:02
Comfort with deception, ability to
9:04
rationalize violence as simply work.
9:07
Nevertheless, without evidence, profiles
9:10
meant nothing. The 1980s brought new
9:13
challenges as forensic science, advanced
9:16
DNA testing, fingerprint databases,
9:18
ballistics matching professional
9:20
killers, adapted reports from this era
9:23
describe increasing sophistication.
9:25
Stolen weapons disposed of immediately,
9:28
gloves always worn, vehicles rented
9:30
under false names, meticulous. One
9:33
unsolved case from 1987 involved a
9:36
lawyer shot in his car outside a Miami
9:39
courthouse. Witnesses saw the shooter.
9:42
Average height, average build, wearing a
9:45
maintenance uniform. He walked away
9:47
calmly, entered a white van, and
9:49
disappeared. The van was found 3 hours
9:52
later wiped clean. The uniform purchased
9:56
from a thrift store was found in a
9:58
dumpster. No fingerprints, no DNA, no
10:02
leads. The investigation uncovered that
10:05
the victim was involved in a complex
10:06
financial dispute involving millions of
10:09
dollars. Someone had motive. Someone had
10:12
paid. But who? Three people of interest
10:16
were identified. All had lobbies. All
10:19
past polygraphs. All denied involvement.
10:22
The case remains open. Unsolved. What
10:26
separated these cases from typical
10:28
murders was the void. In most homicides,
10:31
there's noisy emotional evidence,
10:33
digital footprints, witness statements,
10:36
forensic traces. These cases had
10:38
silence. One retired FBI agent described
10:41
it as like trying to investigate someone
10:44
who doesn't exist. You know, someone
10:47
pulled the trigger, but it's like the
10:49
gun fired itself. By the 1990s, the
10:52
FBI's violent criminal apprehension
10:54
program, Vicabe, began tracking patterns
10:57
across unsolved homicides. Computers
11:00
analyzed data points: method, location,
11:04
victim profile, timing. Certain clusters
11:08
emerged, patterns that suggested the
11:10
same individual or individuals operating
11:12
across years, sometimes decades. Still,
11:16
no arrests. Why? Because the fundamental
11:20
problem remained without witnesses,
11:22
physical evidence or confessions, even
11:25
patterns prove nothing in court. One
11:27
case haunted investigators for years.
11:30
Between 1991 and 1998, four businessmen
11:34
in different states were killed in
11:36
nearly identical ways. Single gunshot,
11:39
evening, public locations, no witnesses,
11:44
no suspects. All four victims were later
11:46
discovered to be involved in financial
11:48
fraud. All had enemies. All were under
11:51
investigation.
11:53
Was it coincidence or was someone
11:56
systematically eliminating targets for
11:58
hire? Investigators from multiple
12:00
jurisdictions coordinated. They built
12:02
timelines, analyzed travel records,
12:05
interviewed hundreds of associates. They
12:07
found nothing. But the truth is even
12:09
stranger. In 2003, a deathbed confession
12:13
from a man dying of cancer claimed he'd
12:15
de been responsible for Oberosin
12:17
contract killings between 1985 and 2001.
12:22
He provided details, some matched
12:24
unsolved cases, some didn't. He refused
12:28
to name who hired him. He died 6 days
12:31
later. Investigators couldn't
12:33
corroborate most of his claims. Some
12:35
details were accurate, others were
12:38
impossible to verify. Was he telling the
12:40
truth, confessing out of guilt, or was
12:43
he a dying man seeking infamy? The cases
12:46
remain unsolved. Act three, the fall or
12:50
the vanishing here is the uncomfortable
12:52
reality. Most professional contract
12:55
killers who were never caught were in
12:56
tea caught because they stopped.
12:58
According to criminological research,
13:01
many individuals who commit contract
13:03
killings do so once or twice, then never
13:07
again. The money solves a problem. Debt
13:10
desperation and they return to normal
13:12
life, carrying the secret forever. These
13:15
aren't career criminals. They're
13:17
opportunists who discovered they could
13:19
kill without remorse, took payment, and
13:22
walked away. They're never caught
13:23
because they never fit the profile
13:25
investigators are searching for.
13:27
However, the ones who continued the true
13:29
professionals faced a different
13:31
calculus. By the 2000s, the world
13:34
changed. Surveillance cameras became
13:37
ubiquitous. Cell phone tracking became
13:39
standard. Financial transactions left
13:42
digital trails. The infrastructure of
13:44
modern society became a web that caught
13:46
mistakes. Therefore, the era of the
13:49
invisible contract killer began to
13:51
close. In 2007, an alleged professional
13:55
hitman was arrested in California after
13:57
a murder for higher plot was intercepted
13:59
through white. He'd successfully evaded
14:01
law enforcement for nearly 20 years.
14:04
allegedly responsible for at least seven
14:06
killings. What finally caught him? A
14:09
single phone call he made from his
14:11
personal cell phone to confirm a
14:13
meeting. One mistake after two decades
14:16
of discipline, one moment of
14:18
carelessness. Yet even this case
14:20
revealed how long someone could operate
14:22
undetected with the right methods.
14:24
During interrogation, he refused to
14:26
speak. Even with evidence, he gave
14:29
nothing. No confessions, no names, no
14:33
details. He was convicted on the single
14:36
charge they could prove. The other cases
14:38
remained unsolved. He's currently
14:40
serving life in prison, silent to this
14:44
day. But the question remains, how many
14:47
others stopped before making that one
14:49
mistake? The FBI estimates that between
14:51
30% and 40% of contract killings remain
14:55
unsolved. That's hundreds of cases
14:57
across decades. Hundreds of killers who
15:00
either stopped, died, or simply never
15:03
slipped up. Some investigators believe
15:05
certain individuals are still active
15:07
older now. Morochus operating in the
15:09
gaps of the surveillance state. Others
15:11
believe the profession has largely died
15:14
out, replaced by different forms of
15:16
violence, entra poison, staged
15:19
accidents, deaths that never trigger
15:22
murder investigations. What happened
15:24
next shocked even seasoned
15:26
investigators. In 2019, a cold case from
15:30
1983 was suddenly reopened when
15:33
genealological DNA, same method used to
15:35
catch the Golden State, killer
15:37
identified a suspect in a contract
15:39
killing. The man had been living quietly
15:41
in Oregon, working as an accountant for
15:44
over 30 years. He was arrested. Evidence
15:48
was circumstantial but compelling.
15:50
However, he died of a heart attack
15:52
before trial. No confession,
15:56
no closure, just an answer that raised
15:58
more questions. If modern technology can
16:01
reach back decades to solve these cases,
16:03
how many more are solvable? And how many
16:06
killers are living ordinary lives
16:08
waiting for that knock on the door? The
16:11
contradiction at the heart of this story
16:12
is this. Professional contract killers
16:15
existed not because they were brilliant,
16:17
but because the system had gaps,
16:19
jurisdictional boundaries, limited
16:22
technology, witnesses too scared to
16:25
talk, clients with resources to insulate
16:28
themselves. As those gaps close, the era
16:31
fades, but it doesn't erase what
16:33
happened. Families still wait for
16:36
answers. Detectives still carry files
16:39
they couldn't solve. And somewhere
16:42
people carry secrets that will die with
16:45
them. One retired FBI profiler put it
16:47
this way. The ones we caught made
16:50
mistakes. The ones we didn't either
16:52
stopped or were luckier than they
16:54
deserve to be. I don't believe in the
16:57
perfect crime. I believe in imperfect
16:59
investigations and people who quit while
17:02
they were ahead. So what do you think?
17:04
Are there still professional contract
17:06
killers operating today using new
17:08
methods to stay invisible? Or was this a
17:11
phenomenon of a specific era now
17:15
extinct? Did the ones who were never
17:17
caught alive with guilt? Or did they
17:19
sleep soundly, viewing murder as just
17:22
another job? The unsolved cases suggest
17:25
someone knows, someone hired them,
17:28
someone paid them, someone is still out
17:31
there living with the knowledge of what
17:33
they set in motion. The FBI files remain
17:36
open. The investigations technically
17:38
never close. And in the digital age, a
17:41
case that's cold today might be solved
17:43
tomorrow with technology that doesn't
17:45
even exist yet. But until then, the
17:47
question remains, if you're good enough,
17:50
disciplined enough, lucky enough, can
17:52
you really get away with murder? History
17:55
suggests the answer disturbingly is
17:58
sometimes yes. Drop your theory in the
18:01
comments. I read every single one. And
18:05
if you want more deep dives into the
18:07
cases law enforcement couldn't solve,
18:09
subscribe because the next investigation
18:11
goes even deeper into the shadows.