Columbus area is home to thousands of unsolved mysteries. Here are a few notable cases

There are more than 1,000 homicides in Columbus, dating back to the 1950s that remain unsolved, according to Columbus police, and thousands of other crimes that do not yet have answers for their victims.

In killings where no suspect has been identified, detectives often review the cases. For larger departments, such as Columbus police, a specialized unit of detectives looks at cold cases with the hope that new investigation techniques, science or technology can give a family closure.

Columbus police have a list of all unsolved homicides on their website with information about each case and how to provide tips to detectives. The Ohio Attorney General's office has a similar website for homicides.

But in other types of cases, such as disappearances, those types of online archives aren't available. True crime podcasts or television programs are how their loved ones' cases are kept in the public eye.

Here are some of the biggest unsolved mysteries in central Ohio. Anyone with information should call Central Ohio Crime Stoppers at 614-461-TIPS or the investigating agency.

Lester Eubanks escapes from prison in 1973 while out on temporary furlough to go Christmas shopping

One of the biggest mysteries in central Ohio is the disappearance of Lester Eubanks, a prisoner in the Ohio Penitentiary who walked away from a 1973 Christmas shopping trip and hasn't been seen since.

Eubanks was convicted in Richland County of murder and sentenced to death for the 1965 murder and attempted rape of 14-year-old Mary Ellen Deener. In 1972, Eubanks' sentence was commuted to life in prison without parole when Ohio abolished the death penalty. The state reinstated the death penalty a few years later; however, those whose sentences had been commuted in 1972 were not resentenced to death.

While in prison in Columbus, Eubanks was given a temporary honor furlough to go Christmas shopping unsupervised. Eubanks walked away and is believed to have lived in the Los Angeles area for at least a few years.

His escape, which remains unresolved, has been featured on the podcast "Have You Seen This Man" and in an episode of "Unsolved Mysteries" on Netflix.

Anyone with information on Eubanks' location is asked to call the U.S. Marshals Service tip line at 866-4-WANTED. A $50,000 reward is being offered for information.

Tyler Davis, 29, of Wilmington, disappears during wife's birthday trip to Easton in 2019

Around 3 a.m. Feb. 24, 2019, Tyler Davis, 29, and his wife, Brittany, got back to the Easton Hilton hotel after a night out to celebrate Brittany's birthday. The couple, who lived in Wilmington, were staying at the hotel with a friend.

Davis told Brittany he was going to walk for a bit before going up to the couple's room. He had fallen asleep in a rideshare that brought the couple back to the hotel and had been under the influence still when he went walking, Columbus police said.

In October 2019, police said a nearly minute-by-minute accounting of where Davis walked was available until 3:53 a.m. that day, when he was near Abbott Labs near Stelzer Road and Morse Crossing.

An audio clip police obtained from Davis' phone showed him using voice-activation technology to ask for directions back to the hotel.

Around 4 a.m., Brittany told police she got a call from her husband, who told her he was walking in a wooded area but he could see the hotel and would be back in a few minutes.

He never made it back.

A call Davis made immediately after the couple hung up was silence, and every time Brittany tried to call her husband after those silent two minutes, the phone went to voicemail, police said. Brittany reported him missing around 9:30 a.m. that same day, and it has led to a fury of online speculation about Davis' disappearance and Brittany's possible involvement.

More than four years later, there are no more answers about what happened to Davis. He was declared legally dead in 2021.

Joanne Hebert, 14, of Dublin, disappears from Tag Market; found dead by hunter 2 months later in 1981

On July 22, 1981, Delaware County resident Joanne Hebert, 14, a soon-to-be freshman at what was then Dublin High School, got on her bike and went to a nearby market.

The Tag Market was a few blocks from Hebert's home on Dublin Road. The teen, who was known to be soft-spoken, was seen around 5 p.m. that day talking on the market's payphone. Her bike was still out in front of the store when it closed at 8 p.m. but disappeared shortly afterwards.

There was no sign of Joanne for more than two months.

On Sept. 29, 1981, a squirrel hunter about a mile south of Mitchell DeWitt Road, in the area where Franklin, Delaware and Union counties converge, found a partially decomposed body. The investigation determined the body was that of Joanne and was found only about 3 miles from where she lived.

Investigators said Joanne was found partially clothed and she was likely sexually assaulted before being beaten to death.

At the time her body was found, Joanne's family said she was not likely to go with a stranger, leading investigators to believe she may have known her assailant.

More than 40 years later, her homicide remains unsolved. The Union County Sheriff's office and the Ohio Attorney General's cold case unit are continuing to investigate.

Brutal 1989 killing of Newark mother of five and ordained minister Helen Stuart, 70, remains a mystery

Helen Stuart was a fighter. The 70-year-old mother of five and ordained minister survived being widowed and a heart attack.

Around 8 p.m. April 20, 1989, she was at her home on Russell Avenue in Newark. It was the last time anyone knew for certain she was alive.

Her naked body was found the next morning in the backseat of her car, parked along the berm of Ohio 16 near State Route 668 in Licking County. A crew from the Ohio Department of Transportation that was working in the area found her after noticing the car hadn't moved all morning.

Stuart had been raped, beaten and strangled to death.

Newark detectives said Stuart suffered injuries that indicated she put up a fight against her attacker and some things were disturbed in her home, suggesting a possible struggle.

But robbery wasn't an apparent motive. Thousands of dollars in cash and jewelry were found undisturbed at her house.

At the time, Newark detectives had a possible suspect: a man who was staying near Stuart's home at the time. That man was later convicted in an unrelated rape and kidnapping case and spent time in prison. He never fully cooperated with investigators.

In 2010, The Dispatch revisited Stuart's case. At that time, detectives were looking at evidence in the case to determine if there were any options for DNA testing. A $20,000 reward was also offered through Licking County Crime Stoppers.

The case was last reviewed in 1993. Now, Newark police detective Steve Vanoy is picking apart the file to see what DNA evidence exists. He hopes a new $20,000 reward offered by Stuart's son Murray and his brothers through Licking County Crime Stoppers will shake loose information.

Anyone with information on any unsolved case should contact Central Ohio Crime Stoppers at 614-461-TIPS or at www.stopcrime.org. All tips to Crime Stoppers are anonymous.

bbruner@dispatch.com

@bethany_bruner

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus area has thousands of unsolved mysteries. Here are 4 of them