Reddit’s community of investigators are solving cold cases

December 2018

On Reddit, he is “DearBurt.” He lives in Northwest Arkansas.

“By day, I’m in marketing. By night, I am a loving boyfriend and dad to a hilarious senior dog I rescued a couple of years ago,” he said over email.

In the late ’80s, DearBurt obsessively watched “Unsolved Mysteries” with his family.

Created by John Cosgrove and Terry Dunn Meurer, host Robert Stack told true crime cold cases in the U.S. Interviews with family members about victims of unsolved murders or missing persons were popular stories.

For 14 seasons, fans of the crime television show like DearBurt remembered watching powerful actor portrayal reenactments and even interviews from guilty murderers facing jail time for life.

DearBurt was only 10 years old at the time.

For him, it was this show, with its cold cases and running theories, that led to his binge-watching obsession.

Before Stack became host of the show, Raymond Burr and Karl Malden were extensively following additional complicated love triangles and even UFO sightings.

Though DearBurt has never met Stack in person (he died in 2003), he thinks that “his life story – skeet-shooting champion, speed-boat racer, friends with JFK, dating Hollywood starlets, blacklisted by the Nazis, iconic roles, father and loving husband – is legendary.”

The Beginning

When Reddit was born, it became the most sought out website for its vibrant content and endless discussion threads. Anyone can sign up for free and all it takes is email verification. Even if someone doesn’t have a Reddit account, one can always view content of any subject.

That’s when DearBurt was born. He tailored his interests to subscriptions of topics he wanted to learn more about including r/AmericanHistory, r/flyfishing and r/technology.

But upon a Reddit search for his television show, he decided that he needed to bring awareness to the globe.

“I remember one day wondering if there was one for Unsolved Mysteries both the show and in general and being kind of shocked that it didn't exist. So, I made it!” he said.

“r/UnsolvedMysteries” is one of the millions of “subreddits” - online forums dedicated to specific topics where redditors can start discussions and invite readers.

Redditors or users can upload links and pictures, and comment on any of the discussion posts as long as it is within the subreddit’s guideline. On a post, users can also click arrows to ‘upvote’ or ‘downvote’ which reflects their agreement or disagreement, and collect ‘Karma’ points.

To DearBurt, it was very important to fulfill Robert Stack’s legacy from television to a new medium: the internet.

The Community

“Join me. Perhaps you may be able to help solve a mystery.” —Robert Stack.

It’s been 10 years since DearBurt created his subreddit. The community of 121,820 redditors aim to solve crimes, not alone but with a camaraderie of crime-obsessed internet users around the world.

The television show was the first to “introduce an audience interactive call-to-action,” according to its website. "Out of more than 1,000 cases profiled in 260 episodes, over half the cases featuring wanted fugitives have been solved, most as a result of viewer tips. More than one hundred families have been reunited with lost loved ones and several cases involving missing heirs, murder, fraud and amnesia have also been solved.”

Just like “Unsolved Mysteries,” in DearBurt’s mission for the subreddit, he encourages redditors who - are in possession of evidence to contact the authorities - if they think it might solve crimes.

On the sidebar of r/UnsolvedMysteries, DearBurt’s full mission reads:

“Although our fearless leader, Robert Stack, has since passed away, around the world there still remains unsolved crimes and missing persons as well as unexplained history and paranormal phenomena. For every mystery, there is someone, somewhere, who knows the truth. Perhaps that someone is reading reddit. Perhaps … it's you.”

But instilled among the redditors, it is clear there is an immediate tendency to do gumshoe investigations and find missing clues to the bloodiest and goriest murders.

And his undivided desire is clear: the family of internet users who naturally want to help other people if they can.

Some redditors even live close to places where murders have been committed and retreat to the subreddit with their own theories.  

Although DearBurt authored the subreddit, he gives credit to the internet for accepting the platform.

But being a virtual moderator for a subreddit is a full-time job. He often looks at his traffic statistics.

Some redditors can really fall into a rabbit hole in long-term discussions with at least 1,000 views and over 200 comments per thread.

Redditors can share possible hypothesis or leads backed with supportive evidence relayed from other websites such as The Charley Project, The Doe Network and Websleuths.

“I think it's a true testament to the connectivity of our world, and how unsolved mysteries will keep being solved faster (hopefully) compared to years past,” DearBurt said.

The Difficulties

There are, however, major challenges when managing a subreddit like r/UnsolvedMysteries.

While any person with a username can post anything on the internet, DearBurt says being the moderator, “does take some critical thinking and patience.”

“Negative comments are one thing. After all, everyone has an opinion, and sometimes others view it negatively since it runs contrary to theirs,” DearBurt said. “But, blatant harassment or being vulgar or rude simply isn't tolerated – and that's where I step in!”

DearBurt says that for the most post, r/UnsolvedMysteries is “a pretty positive place” with not "a lot of drama.”

DearBurt says he “checks in the sub about three to four times per day” for reported posts.

“I'll usually reply to a comment saying that we don't tolerate such things, so cool it or be banned. Most times, everyone apologizes and that's that. Most of the banning I do is for spam posts,” DearBurt said. “I’d say I ban someone maybe once a week.”

But at the end of the day, DearBurt still won’t be able to oversee all users from stirring up drama and chaos.

“Honestly, I've tried to be as laissez-faire as possible as a moderator, letting the upvotes and downvotes do the dirty work for the most part,” he said.

Looking Ahead

For ongoing unsolved mysteries, the subreddit is a “beehive for topical discussions.”

It has continued to spark conversation and human interest, and deliver an end to some long, tough cases.

Just this year, extensive developments in the Golden State Killer case was the most popular murder crime discussed on r/UnsolvedMysteries. The thread collected over 600 upvotes.

Coined as the East Area Rapist or Original Night Stalker, 72-year-old U.S. Navy veteran and former police officer Joseph James DeAngelo was finally captured and convicted after committing over 13 murders, 50 rapes and 120 burglaries in Sacramento and Contra Costa County over 12 years.

These developments were even mentioned on his favorite true crime podcast “My Favorite Murder,” hosted by comedy writers Karen Kilgarrif and Georgia Hardstark.

“The subreddit blew up. Traffic stats spiked and posts related to the developing, breaking news kept popping up,” DearBurt said.

As r/UnsolvedMysteries continues to draw more viewers every day, the following of redditors will continue to read detailed write-ups and search for missing clues to unravel the mystery with pairs of fresh eyes and investigative hunches.

“Despite our differences and ever growing isolation due to technology and things like hyper-partisanship,” DearBurt said, “deep down we all know we're in this together.”