7 Disturbing Unsolved Mysteries In Nebraska That Will Leave You Baffled

Christi Jo Nichols was a 22-year-old mother of two who disappeared from her home in Gothenburg a few weeks before Christmas in 1987. She and her husband had not been getting along for some time, and there were signs that he had been physically abusive. Not long before her disappearance, Christi had been seen by a doctor for injuries that were likely caused by domestic violence.

Her husband moved out of the house the day after Christi disappeared. He claimed that the night she went missing, they both went to bed at 2:00 a.m. He said that he noticed she was gone when he woke up the next morning, but claimed to know nothing else of her location or condition. Just a few weeks after her disappearance, her husband packed up all of her clothes and sold both of their cars.

All that has ever been found of Christi is her suitcase. It was found approximately 30 miles outside of town about three months after her disappearance. No one has ever been charged with her murder, and her husband remains the primary suspect.

Fire and rescue crews in Kearney responded to reports of a fire in a trailer park on June 17, 2008. After they extinguished the fire, they found the body of 21-year-old Kelcey Fike in the hallway. Police determined that she had been murdered and then the fire was set to cover up evidence.

No murder weapon, fingerprints, or other pieces of evidence have been found to help police identify the killer. Although no leads have come up and there are no serious suspects, police are confident that Kelcey's murderer will eventually be brought to justice.

On March 10, 1997, Leah Rowlands was robbed and murdered at the Amoco gas station in Cozad where she worked. She had just been promoted to manager the day before. The man who killed her was clearly visible on the store's security cameras. He entered the store, grabbed a soda, and then waited for other customers to leave. He walked up to the register, demanded money, and then shot Leah Rowlands three times. Although his car was also caught on camera, there was no front license plate. The rear plate could not be read in the video footage. Despite the photos of the killer and his car being widely distributed, there are still no suspects in the case.

Teenager Sarah Neal was found shot to death in her family's Omaha home on June 21, 2005. She was just 16 years old and an honors student who loved poetry. Sarah's mother said that the girl had been involved in trouble. Sadly, she had recently made poor choices that had gotten her involved with some unsavory people. Several names have come up as suspects in the case, but no arrests have been made.

Steven Haataja was a math professor at Chadron State College. His colleagues say that he was a positive person who was cheerful and had plans for the future. When he disappeared on December 4, 2006, police did not immediately begin to search for him. The area was so vast that they didn't know where to start.

Haataja's body was found 95 days after he disappeared. His corpse was tied to a tree and almost entirely burned. Police at first speculated that the professor was gay and he had been murdered in a hate crime. That theory was later ruled out.

The case remains open, but many people still believe that Haataja had committed suicide, despite the position and condition in which the body was found. Needless to say, this is a highly-unusual cold case in Nebraska. The story was profiled in Chadron author Poe Ballantine's book "Love and Terror on the Howling Plain of Nowhere."

In the midst of all the sad and tragic disappearances and unsolved murders in Nebraska, it's nice to know that there are also some good things that escape explanation. We'll finish up this list with a pleasant unsolved mystery in Nebraska. On March 1, 1950, 15 choir members were supposed to meet for practice at the West Side Baptist Church in Beatrice. The choir was always extremely prompt and arrived for practice by 7:25 p.m. On that night, however, every single one of the choir members ran late for various reasons. Some had car troubles or overslept, one was listening to a radio show, one just didn't want to go out in the extreme cold. The circumstances were wide and varied. Just one or two of these usually-timely choir members being late would be amazing, but all 15 missing practice was a miracle. Because they were all waylaid somehow, no one was at the church when a natural gas leak caused it to explode at 7:27 p.m. The image above is not of the West Side Baptist Church, as it was completely destroyed in the explosion.