Every crime — even the most seemingly senseless ones — has a story behind it.
This year the ABC brought you the stories of cold cases from decades ago, unspeakable tragedies on our doorstep and an enduring UFO mystery.
Here are some of them.
The engagement photo ofJohn Bingham, 7th Earl of Lucan and Veronica Duncan. (Getty: Terry Fincher/Daily Express/Hulton Archive)
Wealthy aristocrat Lord Lucan was accused of killing his nanny and attacking his wife inside his London home.
But after half a century of speculation about his whereabouts, his female victims have been forgotten.
George Pedley with the saucer nest in 1966. (Supplied: Albert Pennisi’s archive collection via Bill Chalker)
In 1966 a salt-of-the-earth banana farmer saw something he couldn’t explain that left behind a circular mark in some reeds which he called a “saucer nest”.
That moment became the inspiration for an international alien hoax and exposed him to the chaotic debate about UFOs.
The Amityville Horror is based on this 1974 case. (Getty Images )
What happened inside the house in the early hours of November 13 may never be entirely clear.
But decades on, interest in the DeFeo family case has surged again as a new generation has learned of it through podcasts and YouTube videos.
The battered body of Janelle Patton was found at a grassy reserve on Norfolk island in March 2002. (ABC TV)
In 2002, the first murder on Norfolk Island in more than 150 years confused police, shocked the small island community and made global headlines. The killer is approaching the end of his sentence.
Investigators have never solved the strange disappearance of the Yuba County Five. (ABC News: Emma Machan )
It was a cold February night in 1978 when a car carrying five men made its way up into the snow-covered mountains of California. After months of searching, four bodies would be found; one of the men would never be seen again.
Almost half a century later investigators, relatives and armchair detectives remain searching for answers about the “Yuba County Five”.
Bill Day and the Wanaka search and rescue group last looked for the Dragonfly in November. (Supplied: Mike Wilkinson)
It was supposed to be an adventurous day-trip deep into New Zealand’s rugged Southern Alps, but on February 12, 1962, the tourists on board the Dragonfly never came home.
As a child, Nathaniel Train loved tennis. (Supplied)
The story had captured international attention. Two police and a neighbour had been murdered on a remote property at Wieambilla, three hours west of Brisbane. Their three killers died in a shootout with police.
The news headline told of cold-blooded murder, but the face staring back at me was that of my childhood friend.
In a hotel suite on the fifteenth floor, the boss demanded the truth. (ABC News: Emma Machan)
On a secret recording, Mr Big promises to make problems with the law go away. But first, he wants the truth about a murder.
Eric Stanley Jacobi was found guilty of murder but avoided execution. (Public Records Office of Victoria)
Eric Stanley Jacobi, by his own admission, robbed and killed a man in a brutal attack, knocking him unconscious with an iron bar before leaving him to drown in a river.
He was sentenced to death for murder, but he escaped the hangman thanks to a secret medical report that was hidden from the public for 75 years.
