The views and opinions expressed in Cold and Missing are exclusively those of the hosts. All parties mentioned are considered innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Cold and Missing also contains adult themes and languages. Listener discretion is advised. I'm your host, Ali McLaughlin -Solkowski. And I'm your co -host, Eli Solkowski. And this is Cold and Missing, where we cover cold cases and missing person cases. Hello, everyone, and welcome back to Cold and Missing. I'm your
host, Ali. And I'm your co -host, Eli. Welcome back, everyone. I know we had to take the week off. You know, it was just so hard around here with the 4th of July. There were bangs, booms, parties. It was very hard to get clean audio, so we decided to take the week off. I think we took the week off the year before, too, on the 4th of July, so maybe that will just be something going forward until we can get into a proper studio. As long as we're home recording, the
bangs and the booms were too much for me. But we are back this week and we are on episode 135. If you are new here, I encourage you to go back and take a listen to our backlog. We have tons of episodes that are always worth having a new listen to. So please go back and listen to what's in our backlog. But I think we should just go ahead and get into this week's episode. I believe we are covering a cold case this week, right?
That's right. All right, let's get into it. Today, we are covering the cold case of Keysone Khounpanya , and this takes place in January of 2000 in Hurst, Texas. But first, a little bit about Keysone. Keysone Khounpanya was 49 years old in 2000. She was divorced with three grown children and a few grandchildren she adored. Kaysone was originally from Laos, but she had come to the United States in 1976 with a dream. A dream to pursue music
and build a better life. She lived in Massachusetts for years, working hard to build her future. And in 1996, she became a U .S. citizen. In 1997, she moved to Texas, settling into the Oak Tree Village Apartments in Hearst. She lived alone in a modest second -floor apartment and worked at a product identification company called Willet America in nearby Holtham City. She was a dedicated employee for nearly two years until she was laid
off in late 1990. The company still thought highly of her, and she seemed to think highly of the company. She even attended the company holiday party just weeks after she was laid off. Kaysone’s true love, though, was music. Friends and family say she loved to sing. She even recorded her own demo tape and performed 1950s Americana music at nightclubs, weddings, and sometimes even at local country clubs. An ex -boyfriend said that she was, quote, a sweet woman, and others remember
her as a caring and hardworking person. The kind of person who never raised her voice, and several people in her life commented at what a good cook she was. But 1999 had been hard for Kaysone. She'd had surgery for health issues, including a hysterectomy and even an amputation of a middle finger due to an old snake bite that didn't heal correctly. She was also worried about her finances since
she was losing her steady job. Right before a timeline picks up, Kaysone had recently asked her boyfriend, Khumphou, to move out of her apartment. He said, quote, I didn't have a problem with that, so I moved. I still kept helping her. And now, a timeline of events. Tuesday, January 11, 2000. Kason's ex -boyfriend, Kung Fu, started to get concerned. He hadn't heard from her in about a week, and he had taken her car to get
it repaired. He said, quote, I had her car trying to get it repaired, and I was trying to reach her to give it back. I couldn't find her. So the morning of Tuesday, he calls 911 and asks for a welfare check. Around 9 .30 that morning, the apartment manager led police to her second -floor unit. The door was unlocked. Police entered the apartment and find a living room full of blood. They start searching the apartment and
quickly locate Keysone in her bedroom. She was lying on her bedroom floor, dressed in a sweatshirt and pants. Her hands were tied behind her back. Investigators believe the attack began in the living room. They found bloodstains there and a kitchen knife, which police say was used in the initial attack of her. Police theorize that Keysone was stabbed in the neck and cut during
a struggle. Despite her injuries, she may have fought to free herself from the binds for some time before the killer placed a pillow against the back of her head. pressed a gun to it, and fired a single fatal shot. Police did not recover a gun at the scene. The scene was violent but strange. Nothing obvious seemed stolen, but boxes in her bedroom closet were scattered and an empty jewelry box sat on the kitchen toaster oven. Her jewelry was missing, but nothing expensive.
Police began going door to door to talk to neighbors. Several neighbors reported seeing her in the complex the weekend before. One neighbor told police they saw and heard her as recently as Sunday afternoon, January 9th. They said they heard her playing her demo tape and singing just after the Dallas Cowboys' playoff game had started. In the following days, police and detectives interview neighbors and members of the local
Laotian community. They learned more about Keysone’s weekend performances and her presence in the Laotian American music scene. Detectives were told that the community was open to helping them, and the news of Keysone’s murder spread quickly, but no tips ever came in to police. Weeks passed by. By February, six weeks after Keysone’s murder, police are still searching for leads. including trying to identify the new boyfriend that she
had told her ex about. Investigators believe it's likely that Kaysone let her killer into the apartment herself, since there was no sign of forced entry. Her ex -boyfriend told reporters at the time, quote, But after this update, after six weeks, The case goes cold. Police don't ever update and the case falls out of the media. So that is truly all we know about Keysone’s murder. So if you have any information about the murder of Keysone Khounpanya , please contact the Hurst
Police Department at 817 -788 -7180. So that is the cold case of Keysone Khounpanya. Just to immediately jump into Kayson's character, and I mean just her character qualities, her personality, I think it speaks volumes about a person who is willing to attend their company Christmas party, even post being laid off. I think it says that she not only really loved where she worked, but loved
the community of people. That she was working with, because I think that's really where most jobs keep their people is that they're working in a good environment amongst good people. And it seems like that's exactly what she was like to work with as well. Yeah. And, you know, that detail to me kind of spoke to like how hopeful she could be to like, oh, you know, maybe if I show up to the party and, you know. People remember how great I am. Like, I'll get hired
back quickly. Like, I think it was also, like, a smart move just, like, career -wise. Like, you know, almost like a networking event. Like, she was working hard and hustling, and I just really admire that. Yeah, and what she was going through at the time prior to her murder, I remember... My mom was actually around the same age when she had her hysterectomy. And again, it was in
the 90s. And I know from what I remember of that time period, it's a very difficult recovery and can be a huge hormone imbalance and very hard on the body, like any surgery. So just the place that she was in and knowing how hard she was working, she just sounded like one hell of a person. For sure. And, you know, her music career was really where her passion lied. And it seems like every weekend she was out singing at a club, at a nightclub, at a wedding. Like she loved
to sing. Her ex -boyfriend, who we talked about in the timeline, would play keyboards like she had a whole band behind her. Just really incredible. I wish I could have found like. you know, a sample of her singing or like a video of it. But I don't know that there's one on the internet, quite frankly. Yeah. And that was another thing I wanted to dive into about her, her commitment to her artistry. It was beautifully relentless. And
that's how I navigate my own art career. In all of my artistry, I create because I must, because I have to. I will create regardless of if anyone sees my art or not. That's paintings, acting, singing, performing. And I think she was very much in the same vein. So to know a person like that was taken so violently is deeply unfair. And I'm really interested to dive into this timeline and what happened here and hopefully her name. is spoken more now that we've covered this case.
Yeah, when I found this case, I couldn't really find a lot of information on it. I had, you know, some news articles to go off of. And in those, you know, there was like a wealth of information about her. But as far as details about the investigation, I do have some, obviously. But yeah, there was very little updates on this throughout the years.
We've gone back and forth. about this on the podcast about how important it is to cover not only the cases but the people themselves and who they were and what they were doing and you know that's the same that's the same thing here I think it's worth talking about people's personalities and characteristics and what they looked like because it may drum up some information and because there is so little here I'm hoping that talking about her very specific personality and her name
will drum up that same thing. For sure. And, you know, K -Zone and everyone we cover here on Cold and Missing, they deserve to be talked about and spoken about fondly and remembered fondly for who they were, not just how their life ended. So, yeah. You know, with all that said, though, do you have any questions about the timeline? Just what time it was, the time of day and how much time had passed between her ex -boyfriend worrying and when law enforcement
entered the apartment. Yeah, so from my understanding. Khumphou, Keysone’s ex -boyfriend who she had lived with for most of 1999, but just a few weeks before the timeline picks up, she asks him to move out. He had taken her car because it had broken down. And I believe he had it for like a week trying to get it fixed for her. And then he was trying to get in contact with her to return the car and she wasn't picking up her phone. I don't know. Did he try to go over there? Did
he knock on the door? I don't know any of those details, but I do know that he tried to contact her several times, and when he wasn't getting an answer, he called police. Yeah, I think that, to me, I'm interested in what that, if it's days or hours, what that timeline looks like, because this is a time of... I mean, yes, there were cell phones, but not a lot of people had them, and I don't think that they were involved in
this case. I think it really does matter when she was last seen down to when she was found. And I know that that information might not be there, but I think it's a key placeholder in this case. So here's a few more specifics. I went back into the notes I take whenever I'm researching. So Khumphou said that it had been at least since January 4th since he had spoken to her. And our timeline picks up on Tuesday, January 11th. So, yeah, about a week there. And
then we know neighbors are sure that. There are several neighbors, in fact, that say they saw her in the complex that weekend. I believe someone saw her in the parking lot. And then a neighbor to her building says that he heard her singing just after the kickoff of the football game on Sunday. So he heard her singing in her apartment. He also mentioned that her demo CD was playing, like people heard that as well. So I am curious, like. Did they hear her singing or did they just
hear her demo tape? Because that's a question I have about that Sunday. But people say they heard her. Yeah, that was my next big question. Was that music playing or was it actually her? Because if it had been playing, you know, if it had been playing 24 -7 for a day or two, I don't... The beginning of that timeline to me, I just, I really wish we had more information on because I think it would, I mean, this is obvious, it would fill in the timeline. And I'm
just racking my brain. I would give anything to go to that moment and zero in to know what happened. Yeah. And like I said, I'd love to know to what extent her ex -boyfriend had gone through to try to contact her. Like, had he gone over there and knocked on the door and didn't hear anything? When did he go over there? Did he try to open the door and, you know, it was locked? We know when police arrive, the door is unlocked. So, you know, like details like
that, I think I hope police have them. But I think, you know, those are things that I would want to know. Some specifics that I wanted to get into and ask you about was about what law enforcement found when they went into Keysone’s apartment. More specifically, I guess I wanted to know what you thought about the pillow on her head. My first question is, was it intended
to muffle? That's my thought when I read about that, is that whoever the murderer was was using the pillow as kind of a silencer and was trying to dampen the noise of the gun. I know we've covered cases like Kayson's before, and to me this reads as she was either being watched or she did know the perpetrator. And I guess I wanted to know what you thought about that. Yeah, so police believe that she knew the murderer because
there was no sign of forced entry. But I know we've talked about this before, and it's like there's a lot of ways to get someone to open their door and kind of force your way inside without necessarily kicking in a door, breaking a window, those obvious signs of forced entry. So that's something I've started to not jump to so quickly. You know, we hear it a lot in true crime, but, you know, stabbing someone is
very personal. And that's how this attack started was it seemed to be, according to police, that, you know, she was attacked first with a knife. So that leads me to think that, yeah, maybe it was somebody who had, you know, a grievance against her, was mad at her for some reason. And also the way that nothing of real value was stolen. But the place was kind of ransacked. Sometimes, you know, we've seen this in other cases where someone's just trying to stage like a robbery.
So I do think that's what happened here, that someone was trying to stage a robbery at least, since nothing of true value was stolen. We know her jewelry was taken, but nothing that was expensive. So I don't know if there was expensive jewelry left at the apartment or if maybe she just didn't own any really fine jewelry. And I guess with that, there's always the possibility that whoever was committing the crime thought that there was
something more in the apartment. Maybe she said something in passing and that person heard of it and thought it was something more than it actually was. But moving on from that, what's with the new boyfriend that we don't really hear anything about? I guess I want to know your take on him and, you know, if any of her love interests had been questioned in this case. Yeah, great question. And it's one that I have as well. I would assume that police investigated her ex
-boyfriend. We know that he called the police to, you know, do the initial welfare check on her. So I would assume police checked out his alibi, were able to rule him out. He's never been named as a suspect. But the timing of it all is very suspicious for me. So, you know, if I was able to sit down and read everything in the police file, I think the first place I would actually go is an interview with her ex
-boyfriend. And just to really understand how this person has been ruled out, because everything else is kind of suspicious. Like there's this. She's asked him to move out. You know, he says he's fine with it. He doesn't have any hard feelings. She found a new man. That's fine. He continues to help her. He had her car. And, you know, he was getting it fixed. But it's just all like
the timing of it just seems suspicious. And then police, to the best of my knowledge, were never able to find the identity of the new boyfriend, the new lover. I would be curious to see. If any witnesses had seen somebody new coming around the apartment, you know, we have witnesses seeing her in the complex. Did they see a man with her coming and going, somebody they didn't recognize
even? So those are all questions I have. It just, it seems like Keysone was very... in her community you know she was singing she was in the Laotian community and it was a pretty tight -knit group so it just seems strange to me that nobody would know who the new boyfriend is at all but that is somebody who I also suspect you know if that is a real person he would be on my suspect list yeah I'm also curious to know if it was reported or if there was any sort of Yeah, and I think
this is a crime scene where, you know, there really could have been some evidence. You know, it seemed like there was a fight, a struggle. Her hands were bound behind her back. I mean, we see duct tape being a place. where evidence can live for years. You know, they did find the knife that they believe was used in the attack. A lot of times, you know, an attacker will slip and cut themselves. So is their DNA there? You know, did they swab, collect swabs at the time?
DNA was still, you know, kind of at the beginnings of, you know. law enforcement and solving crime, but what evidence was kept in this case that possibly could be retested today? Even the pillow, I'm thinking of contact DNA, holding it. Do we have any evidence of what kind of gun was used from the pillow? There's just, I think there's a lot of evidence there and I would be curious what has been tested since 2000. Yeah, exactly.
Because there is a crime scene here. I'm so curious to know what, if there was anything found, because again, key details would be in that evidence and again, fill in the timeline. Either way, I'm so grateful to know Keysone’s name and case
and that you brought it here today. Yeah, this is a case that, you know, I saw Keysone’s picture first and as I started researching it and finding details about her case and about her, It just felt really important to bring, you know, not only to you, but to all our listeners as well, because I think. This is an important case. And I really feel like this is a case that is solvable. I think all our cases are solvable because someone
knows something. But I think this is something where if police went back and looked at it, if they get pressure, if they get questions, if people start talking about case on, then like maybe they'll bring it out and use some of their resources to retest evidence. Technology has come so far in the last 25 years that I really believe there would be some DNA available. to
have as a profile at least. Yeah, I mean, revisiting the case, revisiting the evidence also brings new eyes to the case, which is a great thing for cold cases like this that have been quiet for what is a long time, but still recent enough that there could be evidence tested, scientific findings there that match DNA to a possible someone. And I think it's recent enough, too, that, you know, some of the players, the suspects even, could still be alive and, you know, people could
still remember things from this time. So I really believe that this is a case that could be solved if enough resources are put towards it. And I think Keysone is so deserving of those resources. So again, if you know anything about the murder of Keysone Campana in January of 2000, please contact the Hearst Police Department at 817 -788 -7180. We will, of course, have a picture of Kaysone on our Instagram, so please follow us
there at Cold and Missing. And I know this has been a summer where we've had to take... a few weeks off here and there but it's summertime that's what summer is for it's for taking a break so if we do need to take a break or skip a week in an episode for x y or z reason we'll always post on there we'll let you know what's going on so please follow us at cold and missing we also post about other missing person cases and updates in the true crime community so it's just
a good resource and something to have in your feed You can also listen to all our old episodes on our website, www .coldandmissing .com. They're in your podcast player too, but if you want to search or look at the official transcripts, if you or someone you love is hard of hearing, you can find those on our website, www .coldandmissing .com. While you queue up your next podcast, figure out what you're listening to. If you could give us a quick five stars, a rating, a review, Spotify,
leave us a comment. All of that really helps boost the algorithm and just get other people listening. So if Kason's case is something that you hadn't heard before, maybe leave us a rating, a review, share it on your stories, share it on your feed. Let's get her. picture out there. Let's get her name out there. And let's put some pressure on the police to just look at this again, spend some time on it, spend some resources,
because Kayson is so deserving of that. Yeah, with our graphics, especially on Instagram, it's so easy to like, share, save. And those are... Besides engaging with the post itself and commenting, those are some excellent things you can do to push these cases around. Again, like Allie said, all of our cases that we cover are worthy of time spent on them. So please, please like, share, and save the graphics. Thank you so much. But that is all I have for you this week. Thank you
so much for listening to Cold and Missing. I'm your host, Allie. And I'm your co -host, Eli. Have a good week and stay safe, y 'all. Stay safe y 'all.