I don’t know about you but ever since I can remember I have been obsessed with any true crime story, movie, or TV show. Even though learning about mysterious disappearances and unsolved murders can be entertaining, it is also extremely sad and disheartening to know that these people will never be reunited with their family and friends.

That’s why it’s so important to share these kinds of stories to spread awareness and, hopefully, stop such terrible events from happening. Here are three unsolved mysteries that I have found to be the weirdest and unsettling.

1. Madeleine McCann

In 2007, Madeleine McCann went on holiday with her family and some close friends to their vacation home in Portugal. Born in England in 2003, McCann was only three when she disappeared and has now been missing for eleven years with no progress whatsoever being made in her case.

Each night at the vacation home, her parents would leave Madeleine and her twin siblings in their bedroom, sleeping, as they would go off to socialize with their friends at a tapas restaurant nearby. Every half-hour, one of the adults would leave to go check on their children.

Gerry McCann, Madeleine’s father, went back to the house around 9:00 p.m. and saw everything was normal, except for the kids’ bedroom door being wide open when he knew he left it only slightly ajar. He simply assumed one of the kids had gone out to use the bathroom and returned to the tapas bar.

At 9:30, one of the McCanns’ friends offered to check on the kids. Matthew Oldfield noticed the door was, once again, wide open but did not go into the bedroom far enough to see whether or not Madeleine was there. Finally, at 10:00 p.m. Kate McCann did her own check. She saw that the kids’ bedroom window was now wide open and Madeleine was gone. She quickly ran back to the restaurant to alert everyone, and they all searched the entire area throughout the night with the help of the resort’s staff and fellow guests. Madeleine was nowhere in sight.

One of the McCanns’ friends, Jane Tanner, later recalled that when she went to check on her own children, she saw a tan, dark-haired man carrying a young child in pink pajamas (exactly what Madeleine was wearing) as she walked down the street. She didn’t think anything of it at the time, as it was not uncommon to see parents carrying their children off to bed at the resort.

There are many theories surrounding the case. One accuses Matthew Oldfield of abducting Madeleine when he went to check on her, while another claims that the McCanns sedated their children so they would sleep while they went out with their friends, but gave Madeleine a fatal amount and killed her.

The most probable theory is that Madeleine was unfortunately kidnapped by a complete stranger and either murdered or sold into sex trafficking. Whatever happened to Madeleine, I hope she is alive somewhere and can be reunited with her family one day.

2. Maura Murray

Maura Murray disappeared in 2004 in Woodsville, New Hampshire. Her crashed car was found on the side of the road, yet her whereabouts are unknown. Last seen on February 9 at the University of Massachusetts: Amherst, where she was a student, Murray’s car, was found later that same day by a woman making her way home from work.

The woman called the police about the car accident and when the police arrived, there was no one else at the scene. They traced the car back to Murray and declared her as missing. Maura has now been missing for fourteen years and still, there has been no evidence as to where she is now, or if she’s even alive.

It is believed that Murray made travel arrangements before her disappearance, as she notified her professors that she was taking a week off from her classes because of a death in the family. Mysteriously enough, Murray’s family has said that there weren’t any deaths before Maura disappeared and they have no idea why she was using that as an excuse to get out of class.

It is most probable that Maura left New Hampshire on her own accord, but wherever she is, I hope she is at least safe.

3. Lisanne Froon and Kris Kremers

The deaths of Lisanne Froon and Kris Kremers reminds us all of the potential dangers of studying abroad. These two college students disappeared in 2014 while on a trip to Panama to volunteer and better their Spanish. There are many eerie aspects to their disappearances, one being that only small portions of their bodies have been found.

One day, the girls decided to go on a hike with their host family’s dog. When the dog returned later that day without Lisanne and Kris, the host family became very concerned. The next day, when the girls missed a tour they made with a local guide, it was clear that something bad must have happened. The police were notified and shortly afterward the girls’ parents arrived from the Netherlands to search for them.

Across the Panamanian forest where they hiked, Lisanne’s backpack was found ten weeks after the girls’ disappearance which soon kickstarted the gruesome discovery of what potentially happened to Lisanne and Kris. Once the backpack was discovered, police searched the area more extensively and found a pelvis bone nearby and a hiking boot with a human foot still inside of it. Weirdly of all, the pelvis bone was found bleached. After that, 33 more bones were found scattered in the forest.

Another creepy part of this story is what exactly was found in the backpack. It contained Lisanne’s camera and both of the girls’ cell phones. Upon examining the phones, police saw that the girls attempted to call the police six times beginning shortly after they started their hike. There was no reception in the forest, so none of the calls actually went through.

On April 5, Lisanne’s phone died. No more calls were made on either phone, but Kris did frequently turn on her phone to check reception. On April 6, things got weird. There were multiple false PIN codes entered on Kris’ iPhone and 77 emergency call attempts. There was no more activity on the phone until April 11, when it was turned on and off one final time.

Lisanne’s camera also provided some very scary evidence. On April 8, ninety photos were taken in complete darkness from one to four in the morning. With the flash on, the majority of the photos show nothing unusual so it is assumed that the girls were using this method to try and see what was around them.

The theory that the police gave was that there was no foul play and the girls simply became lost in an unknown forest and died from the elements.

But of course, things get weirder. In between all of these photos of nothing, there is one photo that was deleted from the camera roll. This changes things because what could have possibly been on that deleted picture? Some believe that it was actually the murderer of Lisanne and Kris taking the pictures, and that deleted photo must have contained the dead women.

I do believe that it is more likely that the girls were murdered, just because it doesn’t make sense for their bones to be bleached and scattered throughout the entire forest. Also, the false PIN codes are pretty suspicious to me. Whatever happened to Lisanne and Kris, I hope they are in a better place now than where they were when they died.