Mapped: Unsolved murders in Birmingham and Black Country - search cases where you live

A new interactive map has revealed the areas of Birmingham and Black Country where victims were tragically killed - but their murders remain unsolved. The map highlights the cold cases where killers continue to evade justice - despite advances in forensic science and technology.

It comes as 1,000 unsolved murders have been recorded across Britain, with around 100 of those having taken place here in the West Midlands. From the horrifying firework murder in Tile Cross, to a fatal stabbing of a teenager in Bartley Green, the map below indicates the location of each unsolved murder.

Every mapped case across the country has been the subject of a major police investigation, with some of them dating back to the pre-war era and others in the last decade. Cases include many seemingly random attacks, usually on women and carried out by strangers.

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Violent robberies, gangland killings, and contract murders are also included in the list, sourced by a Reach Data Unit Freedom of Information request to every police force across the country - and supported by local paper archives. You can see the map below.

BirminghamLive previously revealed more than 100 of those unsolved murders took place in the West Midlands. The full list of unsolved murders stretched back as far as the 1940s and featured tragedies that have, for decades, left puzzled detectives unable to achieve justice for the victims and their loved ones.

In one of the more recent local cases, a man was stabbed to death following a suspected robbery in Digbeth, Detectives are still hunting the so-called 'brothel killer' behind the fatal stabbing of Jinming Zhang, 41, in February 2022.

The gunman behind the tragic fatal shooting of Kasim Mohammed also remains on the run after a separate incident from the same decade. A further 16 victims are still without justice from the 2010s, including a son found dead inside a disused factory in a 'set-up' and a horrifying murder where an industrial-sized firework was pushed through Tony Nicholl's letterbox.

Police at the time hoped to break the community's silence and solve the cold-blooded case, but they have yet to find the thugs. In another tragedy several years before, Ronald Cheese was stabbed to death inside his Handsworth flat; the motive for his murder has remained a mystery ever since.

And since the 1990s, detectives have failed to find the killer behind one of the city's most notorious crimes, the brutal triple murder of the Smith family in Northfield. The bodies of Harold and Mary Smith and their paralysed son, Harold Junior, were found at their home in December 1992. They had been bound and repeatedly stabbed before they were killed.

Sadly, they are just a few of those on a long list of unsolved murders across Birmingham, the Black Country and Coventry over the past nine decades.

A common thread among many of the unsolved cases is that they appear to have been carried out by a stranger or someone with no obvious connection to the victim or a clear motive.

Criminologist Dr David Wilson - who has investigated many cold cases - said: “Nine in 10 murders are solved by police because usually the victim and the perpetrator know one other. Husbands kill wives, parents kill their children, friends kill each other. There is the phenomenon of young men killing other young men, but usually, they know each other.

“There’s usually a relationship between the murderer and victim. Unsolved cases tend to be when there is no prior relationship between the murderer and victim, or the police have no physical evidence to connect the main suspect.

“Victims of unsolved murders are usually people who don’t have well-established roots in the community, so no one will know when they have gone missing, no one will think it’s suspicious.”

Have you been affected by this? We would like to hear from you. You can contact us by emailing stephanie.balloo@reachplc.com