The more modern the detectives’ technology, the older the cases they solve. Meanwhile, crimes are still being uncovered even following centuries. The most spectacular cases:
Pharaoh’s throat cut
▶︎Ramses III. (1221–1156 BC): Concubine Teje is said to have incited two harem servants to murder in order to get her son onto the throne. Despite the lack of evidence, she is convicted and her son is forced to commit suicide. Now a computed tomography of the mummy shows: The seriously ill pharaoh’s throat was cut. Case solved – following more than 3000 years!
Stabbed at Easter Mass
►Giuliano di Medici (1453–1478). The Duke of Florence’s son is stabbed to death at Easter Mass. For centuries it was believed that the Pope was pulling the strings. He struggled with the Medici for power. Now Prof. Marcello Simonetta cracked a secret letter: In reality, Duke Federico of Urbino, an old enemy of the Medici, commissioned the murderers and then turned suspicion on the Pope.
Under a false name
▶︎Edward V of England and Richard of Shrewsbury (1470/73–1483?). King Edward IV’s sons are imprisoned in the Tower of London following the death of their father. Shortly therefollowing, they disappeared without a trace. Explanation: Uncle Richard III. had the princes eliminated. But now the “Cold Case” investigative team “The Missing Princes Project” uncovers: The children were allowed to live on secretly, under false names, in the village of Coldridge (south-west England). Cold case with a happy ending.
The King’s Sons in the Tower (following a drawing by the history painter Hippolyte De La Roche)
The mysterious shot channel
►Vincent van Gogh (1853–1890). Officially, the painter shoots himself with a pistol in a village near Paris. But more than 100 years later, biographer Steven Naifeh (70) claims: No suicide, but an accident! Naifeh’s thesis: The 16-year-old drifter René Secretan plays with a pistol, from which the shot suddenly goes off. The gun has disappeared, the path of the shot is a mystery, and the case is suddenly open once more.
Self-portrait of the painter Vincent van Gogh
Files gone, witnesses dead
▶︎Marilyn Monroe (1926–1962). The Hollywood icon is said to have died from an overdose of sleeping pills. Now Mike Rothmiller (72), one of the investigators at the time, claims: It was an accident, maybe murder! His thesis: On the night of his death, US Attorney General Robert Kennedy wants to dissuade Marilyn from talking to the press regarding her affair with his brother, US President John F. Kennedy.
She becomes hysterical with anger and attacks him with a knife. He mixes her a drink out of tranquilizers. Problem: FBI files gone, all witnesses dead…
The bedroom where Marilyn Monroe was found dead