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-Sulkowski. And I'm your co-host, Eli Sulkowski. 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. We are on episode 90 today. I was just telling one of my coworkers the other day that we're approaching a hundred episodes and it took me a few times saying it out loud to them that the reality of that.
And just before we started recording now we were figuring out how long we've been doing this and that in August it'll be three years and it's just, it's incredible to be on this journey with you and to be at 90 and close to a hundred is, it feels amazing to see some of these cases unfold in real time as we speak about them and to learn as much new information that you bring with every episode. Speaking of updates, there is an update on the Betty Rolf case.
This is one of the first cases we covered. It happened in Wisconsin and recently somebody was arrested a few years ago and the trial was just held and there was a conviction. So he was found guilty of the murder and sexual assault of Betty Rolf. So that is one that is now close that we've covered. I'm not taking any credit for this.
It was all investigators work, but it is empowering to see that a cold case, especially Betty's, which had happened in the eighties, if I'm not mistaken, that we can still get justice all these years later. And it's, it's really, it's really invigorating to see that as well. With that being said though, I think we should just go ahead and move on to our case for this week. We have a missing person case. All right. Let's get into it.
Today we are talking about the missing person case of Lynn Schulze. And this takes place in December of 1971 in Middlebury, Vermont. But first a little bit about Lynn. In 1971, Lynn is a 18 year old freshman at Middlebury College, finishing up her first semester. She grew up in Vermont with her four other siblings and both of her parents. She loved the outdoors, skiing, rock climbing, bike riding. She did it all.
Her younger sister, Anne, described Lynn as quote, Lynn was a very outgoing, fun loving, adventurous person who was also fearless, which may have been her unfortunate demise. She liked meeting new people and getting into deep philosophical discussions about politics, art, music, and life in general. End quote. By all accounts, Lynn was adjusting well to her life on campus. She had quickly made friends and seemed engaged in all of her classes.
While Lynn was a stellar student in high school, at college the classes were proving more difficult for her. But she was by no means failing. She was still doing well academically. She loved to write and was known to keep journals and wrote weekly letters home to her family. And now a timeline of events. On Wednesday, December 8th, 1971, Lynn makes a call to her parents' home. Her mother, Virginia, says quote, she was in good spirits and asked how family was and what everyone was doing.
End quote. She was entering finals before the holiday break from college, but overall Lynn seemed to be in a good mood. Just a few days later on Friday, December 10th, 1971, Lynn was spending the late morning and early afternoon hours with friends studying for their upcoming English drama final. Her roommate had already left for the Christmas break. According to friends, Lynn had studied hard for this exam because she wanted to bring her overall grade up in the class.
Lynn had been very attentive in the class, taking notes and she usually sat towards the front. According to her professor, she never missed a class. Before the final, Lynn swings by a health food store in town called All Good Things. She's seen outside the store at around 1230 in the afternoon, eating prunes that she had purchased inside. Lynn heads back to the dorm and gathers her things to head to the final, which was slated to start at 1 p.m.
Lynn was walking to class with fellow students who were all headed to the same place. Lynn is wearing blue jeans, a hand-knit navy blue pullover sweater, and a brown ski parka. She had a small backpack that was thought to have about $30 cash and a checkbook in it. During the middle of their walk to the classroom, Lynn suddenly announces to the group that she left something back in her dorm room.
She had either forgotten her favorite pen to write with or her pencil that went with the pen they were set. Her sister Ann says, quote, Lynn liked to use a cross pen because it had a comfortable size width. She also had a matching pencil. I remember it was green. End quote. She turned to head back to her dorm in Battelle Hall. The rest of the group headed to their final. As the minutes ticked by and the test started, Lynn did not make an appearance. She never made it to the final.
Back in Lynn's room, nothing was missing. All of her clothes were found, her hiking backpack was there, and her wallet and ID were also in the room. While she was thought to have $30 cash and her checkbook, she had $185 in the bank that was never touched, so no checks were cashed or used. In her dorm room was an additional $7 and a $25 check from her father that had not been cashed. Lynn's friends try to raise the alarm that she is missing.
It seems like there is a slow start to the friends realizing that Lynn is truly missing because as I mentioned earlier, Lynn's roommate had already left. So it took some time for folks to notice that she was truly missing and hadn't just ditched her final. It appears that when her friends did notice, they notified somebody within the school first. The school made the choice, it appears, to not call police immediately. Campus security searched the buildings.
The school thought that it was normal for students to take off on the weekends to go visit family or friends and that perhaps that is what had happened here. And as students were leaving campus for holiday break, this exacerbated that feeling. Finally, after five days, on Wednesday, December 15th, Lynn's parents are notified for the first time that their daughter is missing. Her mother Virginia said, quote, We received a call from the assistant dean of women.
I called her back the next day and asked her to notify the police in Middlebury, end quote. So police are not officially called into her disappearance until December 16th, six days since she was last seen. Despite the fact that at this point, she's been gone for days. Police say that she is 18 years old and can do what she wants, even though she left all of her clothes, most of her money and ID in her dorm room. Finally, once police start investigating, they are able to find a few leads.
They piece together that Lynn was seen walking or possibly hitchhiking on US Highway seven. She was seen as we mentioned in front of all good things health store eating the dried prunes that she had purchased. That sighting happened around 1230 in the afternoon. Later that day, according to reports, Lynn was last seen standing near Keillor's golf station, which was a gas station at the time, which was across from the all good things health food store.
And there was also a bus station right in there. She was seen there at 2 15pm. A student that knew Lynn saw her around this time and tried to talk to her. Her roommate told reporters that the other student said, quote, she was obviously upset and didn't feel like talking. That was the last anyone saw her, end quote. So the last time that Lynn is officially seen is around 2 15 in the afternoon.
As police continue their investigation, Lynn's family ask that they not publicize her disappearance right away. They don't want to frighten her and they hope that she'll come back by Christmas. The first time the police publicly announced that Lynn is missing and asked for help is January 21 1972. Lynn has been missing for a full month at that point. Police also asked for the help from the FBI. But the FBI declined to get involved unless they can prove that there was interstate movement.
With the public finally aware of Lynn's disappearance, police are also able at this time to get an all points bulletin out to 18 different states so that way other police officers can be on the lookout for Lynn. Her parents are racking their brains on why she would leave. Her mother says, quote, we don't really know why she just vanished, but we are guessing that was her worry over the philosophy course, end quote.
As time ticks on her father Otto becomes exceedingly worried that Lynn was met with foul play. On January 22 Lynn has been missing for six weeks at this time. He says, quote, she was always quite good about telling us what her activities were. At college she did some traveling on weekends without telling us, but we consider that normal for college students, end quote. A friend of Lynn's revealed another side of her.
This friend said, quote, she and I used to talk about leaving Middlebury at the end of the semester or at the end of the year. She was not really happy and she didn't like the school. She thought it would be better to read things on your own. She felt you would learn more that way, end quote. Calls of reported sightings start to come in from all over the country. A Bristol man said he had picked up a hitchhiker meeting her description and had given her a ride to the interstate.
She said she had planned on hitchhiking to Washington, D.C. While police try to run this lead down and find the mysterious hitchhiker, they also get calls of reported sightings in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. In the end, none of the leads turn up any sign of Lynn. The dean of students, Erica Wanekot, doesn't believe that Lynn would just disappear without telling her family. But the dean does note that Lynn appeared, quote, preoccupied and very sad, end quote, the morning that she vanished.
In May of 1972, approaching five months since Lynn has vanished, police think that they're close to solving the case. They've gotten a tip that there's a young woman living on a commune in Greensboro Bend. Two local officers to Greensboro had ID'd the girl from her missing person poster as Lynn. Police were so confident that this was her that they almost canceled the interstate beyond the lookout, which at this point had spread to all 50 states.
However, when the investigator from Middlebury arrived, he knew instantly that the girl was not Lynn and police were back at square one. After this, it appears that the case does go cold for some time. The next update we get is in 1992, when police say that they're reopening the case to use DNA technology, which had become more advanced by then.
Investigators fly to Virginia and Otto Schultz's home in Florida to collect DNA from them to test against unknown Jane Doe's and to have for the future should they need it. In 2002, over 30 years since Lynn has disappeared. With the internet going into more and more homes, police receive more and more tips from websites devoted to missing people. A tip comes through that leads investigators to skeletal remains in Ohio.
Police sent Lynn's DNA and her dental records, but according to Detective Bo, quote, they could not rule her in or rule her out for the skeletal remains, end quote. While this does sound promising, police still doubt that the skeletal remains are connected to Lynn. Other clues seem to make them think this. And later, police will test the skeletal remains and do a DNA composite sketch of the Jane Doe and her hair color and eye color are different than what Lynn's would be.
So that also has led investigators to believe that it is not her. In 2005, still over 30 years have passed since Lynn has vanished and detectives still work the occasional tip. But overall, there's no real progress in the oldest missing person case in Middlebury. Police ponder what could have happened to her. They wonder if she's living off the grid somewhere. The main detective at that time said, quote, she apparently made some comments about dropping out of society.
Some people thought she had more or less succeeded, end quote. At this point, police have checked out communes, cults and off the grid communities and still no sign of Lynn. It's like she just evaporated, according to police. Over the years, her father, Otto, would pursue his daughter's disappearance until his death. Anne, Otto's daughter and Lynn's sister, says, quote, one of his greatest wishes was to find answers to my sister's disappearance.
He kept an in-depth file of every conversation he had with Middlebury college staff and with Middlebury police, every letter he wrote or received on my sister's behalf, end quote. Unfortunately, Lynn's parents will both pass away without finding answers to what happened to their daughter. In 2011, approaching 40 years since Lynn has vanished, her siblings still want answers in her disappearance. Anne says, quote, we hope to locate Lynn's remains or at least get some confirmation about her death.
Our family doesn't believe that Lynn is alive and suspect that she was killed or accidentally died soon after she disappeared, end quote. Lynn's family goes on to say, quote, we speculate that Lynn got to know a group of people who lived in Middlebury or nearby, possibly Rutland or maybe Burlington. We surmise that some of them may know of Lynn's demise, end quote. The last big update in the case comes in 2015. There's renewed interest in Lynn's case.
A documentary called The Jinx appears on HBO, which details the murders of millionaire Robert Durst, and they catch him admitting to murder when he forgets that his mic is still on him. I'm sure if you're listening to this podcast, you have watched at least season one of this series on Robert Durst. So you're familiar with what I'm talking about. It turns out that All Good Things, the store that Lynn was last seen at, was owned and operated at that time by Robert Durst.
Police say that they have been aware of this link for several years, since 2012. They say that they had searched the property of the home where Robert Durst used to live when he was in Vermont. Nothing was found. However, police did not question Robert Durst at the time of Lynn's disappearance. Police stopped short of calling Durst a suspect. They say they are just very interested in talking with him.
But they also hope that all of the press around Robert Durst will help get Lynn's case out to the masses. However, as the press around Robert Durst begins to die down, so does Lynn's case. As of 2024, there have been no additional updates around Robert Durst and Lynn. I don't know if Middlebury police ever got the chance to question him about Lynn's disappearance before he died. But that was the last major update in the case and truly all we know about the disappearance of Lynn Schulze.
If you know anything about the disappearance of Lynn Schulze in 1971, please call the Middlebury police at 802-388-3191. So that is the case of Lynn Schulze. I think that with cases like these, it's always important to be, or better to be, more safe than sorry.
The 18 year old defense is in place, but especially because you can't hear or read what law enforcement is also saying when they say, well, the person is 18 years old, they have every right to yada yada walk away from their life, blah, blah, blah. To me, when I hear that, it just sounds like you don't want to do your job. And I know that that's my own opinion, but it's rough. It's rough to know that multiple days went by, that the response was slow.
That's kind of where I'm sitting right now, but would love to just talk a little bit. Yeah, it's always frustrating when even when everything says differently, police are just like, well, maybe they walked away or even more infuriating with kids when they're like, well, they probably ran away. But it's like, there's so many things pointing to the fact that she didn't. Why wouldn't she take any clothes if she was walking away from her life? Why wouldn't she take all of the money in her room?
Why wouldn't she take her ID, her wallet, her hiking backpack, like things that even if she was going off the grid, if she didn't need money anymore, didn't need an ID, like there were things still left in the room that she would probably want to take if she went off the grid. So the police's response initially of just being a little slow to treat it like a missing person case is really baffling and frustrating. I was, you know, very shocked to hear Robert Durst's name to come up at all.
And something I started thinking about in relation to her and the store is that someone said that they saw her outside of the store and she was upset. Now to me, just thinking about the time, technology, everything, if someone was, I'm thinking about myself, if I was upset directly outside of an establishment, like a grocery grocery store or shopping center, I would either have been upset about something that had happened in that space, or something I had seen on my phone.
So if you take away that, and also like, you know, now know the fact that Robert Durst was maybe in that store and own that store. Immediately, my mind said that like she was upset about an interaction that had happened in that space, removing the layer of Robert Durst. She still could have just been upset about something that had happened in that store.
I really wish some more investigation would have been around, would have happened around that moment in time, especially because there was a witness that said, I saw her, it was around this time, and she was upset. Yeah, the Robert Durst connection was one that I was not expecting when I started researching this case. And that's something that I knew about beforehand.
I watched the Jinx when it first came out and never really saw this case enter my news feed around that same time either, but there were a lot of reports, you know, as the Jinx came out. But yeah, the the store, all good things that was owned and operated by Robert Durst. So while we don't know, I don't know, maybe police know if Robert Durst was working that day in the store. It sounds likely that he could have been.
For me, it's really frustrating that she was seen outside of the store at 1230. And then she was seen across the street from the store around 215. So knowing that she was really in this area, it seems strange to me in the year 2024 that police wouldn't talk to all of the businesses that were around there. So they know she was eating dried prunes. They have that detail.
Why wouldn't you go into the store and talk to the people who are working that day about the girl who bought the dried prunes that went missing later that day? Like that part doesn't make sense to me. And maybe they did. Maybe they did do that. But we do know that police never talked to Robert Durst. So maybe that means he wasn't working. Maybe they did talk to workers at all good things. But it seems like they police might have brought forth that information. I don't know.
So that would seem strange if they didn't do any questioning of the employees. I mean, they had eyewitness accounts. To me, those are, you know, it's the next best option besides a camera or CCTV footage. And you know, that wasn't around at the time. So those folks who happened to be in there, whether they noticed her or not, again, it makes me think that maybe those questions didn't happen. Because you know, law enforcement was saying she's 18. She can go wherever she wants.
Yeah, I'd love I'd love to rewind time and know and also just to rewind time for this family. Listening to Otto, like look for his daughter for the rest of his life. Like that's no way for a parent to go. Like to leave this world not knowing. My heart really breaks for him and his family. And with every passing day, this case gets older and older. And Robert Durst isn't here anymore. It's very unfortunate. But with that said, you know, the Golden State Killer was found.
So I really believe that all cases can reach a point where new leads pop up even in cases like this where it seems like there's not a lot there. Once you start talking about them again and they gain traction, it oftentimes seems like someone knows something or someone still knows something about that moment in time. I agree that I think that there still can be closure in this case and finding out what happened to Lynn.
And I hope that for the family, it seems like a lot of their energy is in the recovery of Lynn and being able to bring her home. So for me, I hope that the family gets that and that they're able to put Lynn to rest. And then from there, if they still want to pursue the answers as to what happened, why, how, when, then hopefully police can provide those answers. But yeah, just really hoping that we're able to find her someday.
Again, if you know anything about the disappearance of Lynn Schultze, please call the Middlebury Police at 802-388-3191. And we will have pictures of Lynn on our Instagram. You can follow us there at Cold and Missing. Thank you so much to those of you who gave us reviews and Apple this week. The written reviews means so much to us. So thank you, thank you, thank you. If you haven't done that yet, you can do it right now. Today's a new day. Go ahead and do it.
If you or someone you love is hard of hearing, we have transcripts of all our podcast episodes on our website, www.coldandmissing.com. But that is all I have for this week. Thank you so much for listening to Cold and Missing. It's an honor to be a part of your week. 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.