Nebraska has plenty of charming things to see and do, but it’s also had a few dark moments throughout its history, like these seven unsolved mysteries.
Content warning: This article contains some graphic descriptions of murder and sexual assault.
U.S. News & World Report ranks Nebraska 18th for crime and corrections, placing it in the top half of the safest states. Yet there’s not a single state that’s completely free from violence, missing people, and other mysterious crimes, and Nebraska is no exception.
Here are seven unsolved true crime cases that have kept Nebraskans talking about what really happened, on a continued quest to find the truth.
Regina Bos
Regina Bos is the oldest unsolved missing persons case for the Lincoln Police Department. On Oct. 16, 2000, she played at an open mic night at Duggan’s Pub. At about 1 a.m. the following morning, she told friends she was planning to pick up her boyfriend and then head home to be with her three children. Bos’ guitar and sheet music were discovered in the trunk of her car, which was slightly ajar, but she and her purse were nowhere to be found.
Friends and family say it wasn’t like Bos to go without contact for such a long time and informed the authorities. Her car was found across the street from the pub. For over a quarter-century, investigators have been hoping they can learn what happened to Bos—her family even started the GINA for Missing Persons FOUNDation. In 2024, state legislation designated Oct. 17 as Nebraska Missing Persons Day, with the aim of raising awareness of missing people and helping them be found.
Tina McMenamin
It’s been called Lincoln’s “notorious cold case”: On July 25, 1995, Tina McMenamin, a freshman at the University of Nebraska, was killed in her apartment. She was sexually assaulted and stabbed seven times. When Sarah Bognich, McMenamin’s roommate, returned home, she found the place ransacked and McMenamin lying in a pool of blood.
At first, police believed a mentally ill man named Gregory Gabel was the culprit. They charged him in 1996, when a single blonde hair found in McMenamin’s hand was matched to Gabel’s DNA via a blood sample. However, a follow-up DNA test a decade later did not find a match, and Gabel was released (though, as several Redditors claim, he still cruises around Lincoln and sometimes creates uncomfortable situations). Over 30 years later, McMenamin’s killer has still never been found.
Ryan Larsen
May 17 marked five years since Ryan Larsen was last seen at La Vista West Elementary School. The school informed the family that he was discovered missing between 11:45 and 11:50 a.m., notified his mother at 12:27 p.m., and called the police two minutes later. However, Larsen has never turned up. His mom, Tammi, attempted to sue the Papillion La Vista School District, a lawsuit that was eventually dismissed, but the dismissal was later reversed. Tammi has also petitioned to have Ryan legally declared dead.
Larsen, who’s autistic with epilepsy and Tourette’s, was living with his mother and sister when he went missing. Since then, family and other supporters have worked to find out what happened to him. The family has created a Facebook page to help keep all the facts straight and to disprove any misinformation that comes up.
Ann Marie Kelley
Ann Marie Kelley’s case is especially disturbing because of how quickly things seemed to shift. On the morning of April 15, 2008, Kelley, who also went by Ann Reikenberg and Ann Reikenberg-Kelley, took her children to school and daycare. She ran some errands and stopped at a convenience store before heading to Southeast Community College, where she worked as a cleaner.
At 9:43 a.m., she called her employer to ask if she could leave early to pick up her kids from school. She called the school ten minutes later, which was the last communication that came from her phone. School staff said they didn’t talk to her on that call, and she never arrived to pick up her children. Her car, a dark grey, wood-panel Plymouth minivan, hasn’t been spotted since. Police suspect foul play, though no one has been charged in the case.
Patricia Carol Webb
Patricia Carol Webb was working at Adult Book and Cinema Store on April 18, 1974. She went missing, and 51 bondage-themed adult magazines, a calculator, and $30 disappeared alongside her. Initially, the case was suspected to be a theft. That’s until a farmer discovered Webb’s body on a vacant farm east of Hallam. Webb was naked, save for an extra-large jacket from a feed mill. She had tape over her mouth and multiple bullets in her body. Making the entire case even more complicated? Webb had been working for the Nebraska State Patrol as an undercover drug informant. She was due to testify in court on the day she disappeared.
Webb’s death has perplexed investigators for over 50 years. They believe she was either the victim of a robbery, a sexual psychopath, or an execution. Lincoln Police Sgt. Larry Barksdale, who was added to the case in the 1990s, believes two different killers committed the murder, given the lack of blood and the fact that there were two types of bullets. Despite that belief, Webb’s murderer(s) have continued to walk free.
Jason Jolkowski
Jason Jolkowski was your typical 19-year-old living in a suburban neighborhood. He was shy and introverted, polite and respectful to others. He attended Benson High School and found an interest in radio and communications activities. After graduating, he lived with his parents, dividing his time between a part-time job at a restaurant and taking broadcasting classes at the nearby Northeast Community College.
On June 13, 2001, Jolkowski’s job asked if he could come into work early. His car was in the shop at the time, so the plan was for another coworker to come pick up Jolkowski at the high school. It was an eight-block walk in a sleepy residential neighborhood. A neighbor spotted Jolkowski helping his brother bring in trash cans at 10:45 a.m., yet he never made it to the high school to meet his coworker.
Police thought he left voluntarily, though that soon proved to be a false theory. Jolkowski didn’t bring his phone, wallet, or anything else with him, and there was no activity coming from his bank account. He also never came back to get his car from the shop. He simply vanished sometime during the eight-block walk, in the middle of the day, on a quiet residential stretch. What happened during those few minutes?
Christi Jo Nichols
The town of Gothenburg has about 3,500 residents. That small population means the community is tight-knit, and neighbors aren’t afraid to gossip. And there has been constant chatter swirling around the disappearance of Christi Jo Nichols. Specifically, community members and others who have learned about this case wonder why Mark Nichols has never been punished for his wife’s disappearance on Dec. 11, 1987.
Christi was planning to divorce Mark, but on Dec. 10, they went out to a local bar where Christi worked and appeared to have a good time together. Per Mark, the two did “a lot of laughing and carrying on,” and arrived home between 12:30 p.m. and 1 a.m. He said they went to bed next to each other, but only Mark was in the bed when he woke up.
Unlike the other crimes on this list, there seems to be a mountain of evidence pointing toward one person. Trace amounts of blood were found in Mark’s trunk, and his accounts of the last night he spent with his wife differ from those of the family’s babysitter. A neighbor also recalled seeing Mark out at 2 a.m.; they made eye contact, which appeared to anger the flustered husband.
The day after Christi’s disappearance, Mark moved out of the house and sold both their cars while boxing up her things a few weeks later. Christi’s belongings were found on the side of the road 30 miles from their home, and Mark had properly identified every missing item. However, because Christi has never been found, authorities can only suspect Mark. They’re still looking to find some evidence that definitively links him to a crime.
Bonus: “A Very Fatal Murder”
This is a heavy list—true-crime cases contain a lot of grisly details about real people. When they go unsolved, that only adds complexity and pain to the lives of those who knew them. We understand if you’re feeling a bit down after reading, so we’re ending on a comparatively high note.
“The Onion” has been a source of satirical news for nearly 40 years. As the world gets even more bizarre, you’ve likely heard someone comment how they thought an actual news story was a headline from “The Onion.” The company doesn’t just write, though. It also produces podcasts. And “A Very Fatal Murder” parodies the true crime podcast genre spectacularly. The show finds New York City reporter David Pascall traveling to the fictional Nebraska town of Bluff Springs to investigate a murder. It’s a bit of lightheartedness to help you keep your head up.
