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 Ali. And I am Eli.
This is episode 82. I know we were just talking the other night while you were doing research, but closing in on it being, you know, a hundred episodes is kind of wild to think about. I remember the early days of you talking very nervously about this being an idea. And to what it is now, I'm just marvel at you, honey. Thanks, baby. So to move into it, this week is a cold case. Do you want to just get into it? Yeah, let's do it. So today we are going to be talking about a cold case.
And today we are going to be talking about the cold case of Najah Farrell. And this takes place in Avon, Indiana in March of 2019. But first, a little bit about Najah. Najah's family describe her as the anchor of the family. She had been with her partner for several years and the two of them had even been engaged for a time. But Najah called the engagement off about three months before her murder. She was a dedicated and devoted mother to her two children.
Her nieces and nephews also got to enjoy her to the point that if you saw Najah, you would probably see a gaggle of kids around her too. She never went anywhere without some in tow. No one was surprised at all when Najah decided to become a foster parent and took in an additional three children in her home and life. She told family and friends that she wanted to quote, give back, end quote, and be there for kids who didn't have anyone else.
Najah had been a stay at home mom all while her children were young. But now that they were older and in school, she wanted to pick up a part time job. She looked for something that could fit with her kids schedule so she could still be there for them when they got home from school and in the evening. After searching, she quickly got hired at a Panera Bread in Indianapolis. And now a timeline of events. So on Thursday, March 14th, 2019, Najah talks to her mother before bed.
Everything seems normal. Najah says good night to her mother and says that she's going to get the kids ready for bed and then get herself ready for bed since she had to be at work at 5am the next morning. On Friday, March 15th, that next day, Najah was due for her third day of orientation at Panera Bread. Her alarm is set for 3am to get ready for work.
Like I mentioned, her start time was at 5am and her home in Avon, Indiana was about, at most and in the worst traffic conditions, would be a half hour away. Najah never arrives that morning for her shift at Panera. But no one raises any flags at her job. She hadn't worked there long enough for them to know if this was typical of her character or not. But to those who knew Najah, they knew that she wouldn't just blow off work.
When Najah failed to pick up her three foster kids from school that evening, that's when everyone noticed her missing and immediately started to panic about her. The new routine, since she had started working, was that after work and after school, Najah's children would take the bus home and let themselves inside, which would give Najah enough time to drive to the school where her foster children attended to pick them up. Najah would never be late or miss picking up any of her children.
Her mother Paula says, quote, I knew something was wrong because it was not Najah, end quote. Najah had always been dependable and reliable. The school reaches out to Najah's mother, Paula, who immediately starts trying to contact her daughter. In fact, all of Najah's family tried to get a hold of her. Her sister thinks she called her phone at least 100 times trying to get her to pick up, but Najah never answers or calls back.
That's when the family get in contact with Panera Bread and discover that Najah never arrived at work that morning. Everyone is panicked. The family decides to call the Indianapolis police to report her missing. The Indy police begin investigating immediately and almost as quickly, they stop. The Indy police are able to determine that the last place that Najah was seen was at her home in Avon during the early morning hours.
Since Avon was in a different county, the Indy police transfer the case to the Avon police department. Since Avon had a smaller police department, the case wasn't assigned a detective until Monday morning as the case came in late Friday night. Over the weekend, Najah's family and friends waste no time looking for the missing mother. When family look through the home, they notice some strange items were left behind that Najah would have likely taken with her to work.
Her usual work shoes were left at the home, and the coat that she wore around this time of year was also left behind. On Monday, March 18th, a detective is finally assigned to the case and an official search is started. It's been two days since Najah vanished. Police put alerts on all of her bank cards so if they're used, they'll know within minutes. However, they'll never get any alerts as her bank cards are never used once she disappears.
Police begin canvassing the neighborhood where Najah lived. Earlier that week on March 21st, it's been about five days now that Najah's been missing, police are able to obtain video surveillance footage from the apartment complex where Najah lived. Najah's car is seen leaving the complex at 3 15 a.m., the Friday that she went missing. The car isn't driving erratically or fast, but the timing of it is strange.
Her shift doesn't start until 5 a.m. and the Panera Bread is, as I mentioned, at worse, only a half hour away. But at this hour in the morning, it would have likely taken only 15 to 20 minutes to get there. Police are very interested to talk to Najah's longtime partner and recent ex-fiance. They do believe that he was the last person to see her alive. Police interview him multiple times over the course of the next few weeks again and again and they eventually rule him out.
About a week after she went missing on March 26th, 2019, Najah's black Nissan Altima was found abandoned by police in the parking lot of a movie theater and grill in Indianapolis. The parking lot where the car was found was only about two and a half miles from the Panera Bread where she was working. The family is hopeful that her car will yield some clues as to her whereabouts, but a forensic review of the car will later reveal that there was nothing out of the ordinary.
Police are able to obtain grainy footage from the parking lot surveillance cameras. They see Najah's car being driven in around 5.05 a.m. on the day she disappeared, just five minutes after her shift should have started two and a half miles away. The driver exits the vehicle, he appears to be male, and is picked up by another car and driven out of the parking lot.
However, the footage is too grainy to make out details of the two people or the license plate of the vehicle that picked up the driver. Later that day on March 26th or around this time, a road construction crew found some of Najah's personal items discarded on the side of the road. Police will never officially say what these items are, but they will say that her purse and cell phone are still missing. On March 28th, Najah has been missing for almost two weeks.
The Avon Police hold a press conference that's broadcast on Facebook Live. The police say in the conference, quote, as a department, our investigators have been working around the clock since this has taken place. To date, we've served more than 30 search warrants, end quote. The search warrants included details from Najah's phone and bank. Police say also at this point that they have conducted a total of 40 interviews looking for the missing mother.
Police are trying to use every available resource, including the Indiana aviation team and sent dogs to try to track her scent. On April 8th, just shy of a month that Najah has been missing, in Crown Point, Indiana, which is about two hours away from Avon, two fishermen are casting lines in a retention pond near I-65. In their fishing lines, a human severed foot was found. The two men call police who begin trying to ID who this person is. They do have one big clue, however.
On the foot is a tattoo of the name Najah. After looking through missing persons report for the state of Indiana, police in Crown Point contact the Avon police to let them know that they think they have a match. Tentatively, police do ID the foot as belonging to Najah, but DNA tests will have to be run in order to confirm this. Over the next several days, police will search the pond and surrounding area for any other remains and clues left behind. But nothing outside of Najah's foot is found.
Police sent divers into the pond and ponds nearby, and sent drones overhead to do aerial searches. The coroner remained on the scene over the next few days in case any more remains were found. Upon the discovery, Avon's Deputy Chief of Investigation, Bryant Nugent, says, quote, the family does have ties to the northwest Indiana area, so this area wouldn't be new to our investigations. We weren't expecting anything to turn up where it did.
End quote. On Wednesday, April 10, after two days of searching the area where Najah's foot was found, police come up empty and recovering the rest of her body. DNA tests will ultimately confirm that the foot did belong to Najah, and further testing will tell police that the foot was severed from the body after death.
Avon police announced that their investigation has switched from a missing person case to a death case, but stopped short of calling it a homicide since they don't know how Najah died. But police do believe that foul play is involved. Police still have no idea why or how Najah's foot ended up in the area. Police investigate the ties that she has to this part of Indiana, but police say, quote, we don't have a target, if you will, a location or a house or an individual.
Historically, there's ties there to the family, but nothing specific that we're willing to talk about. End quote. Avon police at this point don't believe that Najah was abducted, nor do police think that anyone else is at risk in the community. Quote, we don't know 100%, but in the absence of having that information, I think it'd be irresponsible to cast that perspective. End quote.
When asked if police think that further dismemberment is possible, they say, quote, at this point, we don't have any information to suggest that or to deny that. When you only find what we found, certainly that becomes a theory. But in the absence of other information to lead you one way or another, that has to remain an unknown, just as the cause and manner of death remains undetermined. End quote.
Since police do believe that Najah was targeted by someone that she knew, they begin to focus on who she had contact with in the last days and weeks leading up to her disappearance and murder. The Avon police department pleads with the public to come forward with information. Quote, somebody knows something about this case. We are simply trying to appeal to what we know is the majority of the state, which is good hearted people who want to do the right thing. End quote.
The Avon police do say that they're working with other agencies, including the FBI, Brownsburg police, state conservation officers, and the Indiana State Police, as well as the Crown Point police. The Crown Point police will continue to search ponds and wooded areas, hoping that additional clues would turn up surrounding Najah, but nothing does.
It takes about a month, but at the beginning of May of 2019, DNA results come back that confirm what police, friends, and family already knew, that the foot did belong to Najah. Once the searches begin to die down, so does coverage of Najah in the media. However, the community doesn't forget her, and they often write the local paper to ask about updates. Eventually, a Facebook group is created to keep each other updated on any tiny scrap of information.
Police will continue to search ponds in the Indianapolis area as well, and still they fail to find anything. On the one year anniversary of her being missing, and ultimately her death in 2020, police still have not named a person of interest or a suspect in Najah's murder. Najah's family has felt every minute of the past year without her and without answers. Family believe that whoever murdered Najah knew her, since it seems like her schedule was so intimately known.
Her work schedule, her car, her routine. In March of 2024, so it's been five years now since Najah's murder, and there are still no new leads in this case. However, her mother Paula does say now that Najah's ex-fiance had texted her, Paula, saying that Najah had texted him the morning that she vanished. That's about the only new clue that we get in the case though. The foster children Najah was raising are placed back into the system, and Najah's mother takes over raising her two young boys.
Her family continues to fight for answers. For Najah, for themselves, and for her sons. The Avon Police stay committed to solving the case, but leads have dried up. But since at least two people were involved that morning, police know that somebody does know something. So with that, if you know anything about the disappearance and murder of Najah Farrell in March of 2019, please call the Avon Police Department at 317-839-8700.
And the sources for the timeline today come from The Times, The Indianapolis Star, WTHR, and WRTV. So that is the case of Najah Farrell. First of all, I think for the most part people who choose to parent in their lives via foster ring are just angels on earth. I am not adopted myself, but I just come from a long line of adoption within my family and I am not a stranger to the system.
So to be someone who advocates for the children in that system and helps get them out and into loving and caring homes is a really beautiful thing. And I'm sad that her time here on this earth was cut violently short because it's clear that she was someone who moved and navigated the world through love and care and was just like living her life. I completely agree. I feel like the state of Indiana and the entire world lost just such a good person with the murder of Najah. Completely unfair.
And yeah, what just like an incredible human. I had to keep reminding myself as I was listening to you that this was 2019 because I just don't understand. I mean, one, the crime itself, I don't understand, but I just don't understand how if there's surveillance and there's a pretty tight timeline. Granted I have a limited understanding of different jurisdictions with like crimes operating across county lines, state lines, city lines, you know, all of that.
It just seems really unfortunate that there were eyes on this within a couple of hours of it happening. I think there was a police response, but then it, but then there was a stop. And that to me, it just sucks. It just sucks when that happens. Because as we all know, if you engage with true, true crime, the first 48 hours are very vital to finding someone, not just period, but potentially alive. Yeah. The delay in the Avon Police Department getting started on her case is really unfortunate.
And to be fair to the Avon Police, it's something that they acknowledge as well, that they were already 48 hours behind whenever they started on the case. You know, who knows how much was lost in them not immediately jumping on it or what could have been recovered evidence wise or even nausea. So it's really unfortunate that that gap happened at such a critical time in the timeline because otherwise the Avon Police response was pretty substantial, I thought.
Yeah. I mean, I think in layman's terms, they were doing their job. They were doing what you're supposed to do in a case like this. I also just want not the focus on really what was found of her, but this particular type of violence and once again, violence against women is absolutely abhorrent and just horrifying. I just didn't want to pass over the fact that this was a full human being who was, at least to me, very likely fucking dismembered. And that is just particularly awful.
I was just shocked by that fact and I just didn't want to skip over the fact that this person was taken from her life and then taken apart and we don't know who did it. You know, that person is still fucking out there. That terrifies me. I was kind of surprised to hear that law enforcement said, you know, you don't need to be alarmed. But we found a body part of a community member. To me, that's cause to be worried.
To be worried if you're living in a community where a crime like that was just committed. Totally. And thank you for just speaking on the brutality of everything in this case. But I always try to like kind of read in between the lines of what law enforcement is saying. So whenever I heard that, to me, what I kind of took away from it is that they might have some piece of information that they haven't made public, but that would suggest that this was a very targeted attack.
Obviously, having a person like this in the community is always a danger because if they're willing to murder somebody and be this brutal about it, then who knows what else they are capable of. So I completely agree with you there. But I just kind of took it as the police might have some information that this was very targeted and not random, that somebody in Najah's life set out to do that this day.
And I think that's where a lot of the questions, for me at least, like that's where a lot of them come from, is that day she went missing. Her car is seen leaving around 315, which is way too early to be leaving for work. So you know, was it her actually driving her car? We're unable to see that from the surveillance footage. It's not the car isn't close enough and the camera isn't good enough to capture that kind of image.
I'm curious as to if it was her leaving because as far as I know, there doesn't seem to have been any struggle at her home where her children were. So if there had been some noises, there was a lot of ears that could have heard it potentially. But as far as we know, nothing happened at the home that at least caused the kids to wake up. I thought about that as well, that the kids being there. But I also thought about the the information about, you know, her work shoes being left behind.
And again, as you know, too, and anyone listening, like if you are on your feet all day, you don't leave your house without your work shoes, you know. So I think what I filled in there is yes, even if kids are in the home, if someone you know enters your space, like you let them in, but then they order you out and are threatening you, they can order you out silently with the threat of the children if you aren't quiet. Yeah, the shoes being left there is very interesting.
And her jacket being left behind. March is still pretty cold in Indiana. So you can have like an occasional warm day, but typically it's pretty cold. So leaving without your jacket, especially that early in the morning before the sun is up is kind of strange. But maybe if you're running to a car that is idling, like, I could see that happening where you would leave it behind.
But the shoes is hard to imagine why, you know, being on your feet all day, why you would want to leave your work shoes behind, especially working in a restaurant, you usually have your work shoes because sometimes they get messy and like you need them to be non slip and you know, there's just all these criteria.
So the shoes being left behind and then you know, kind of the threat of the children like if you don't go quietly, like I think that is also very true and could have been used as a tactic. Her car being dropped off about two and a half miles away from where she worked right about at the time that she should have started for work. There's two people involved this we know for sure the person who was driving her car, and then the person who picked that person up in a different car.
So somebody knows something. It's not just one person who can take a secret to the grave. It's got to be at least two people who can do that. So somebody knows something. I would be curious. I know the forensic analysis of the car didn't show any additional or shed any additional light on what happened to nausea. But I just would be curious.
Was the seat moved back from the position she would normally have it was anything adjusted that you know the mirrors, the steering wheel, anything adjusted outside of how she would normally have it that could give a clue to at least some of the physical descriptions of this person, taller, shorter, you know, that kind of thing. I wonder about that. Yeah, I also wonder, especially in this case, just to the depths of my soul, like what was the motive here that I can't, I can't come up with at all.
I just I don't understand. And in relation to the particular violence surrounding this is like what what was happening there. I hope that with law enforcement, like you said, you know, with you reading in between the lines, I hope that holding information close to their chest is because they maybe have a maybe they're slowly building a case and it's a case that they'll be able to, you know, prosecute someone on.
Yeah, I think the hope is always that police have a lot more than what they're letting us know about and that they are building that case behind the scenes. I really hope that Najah's family and her sons get the answers that they're looking for. And from the interviews I was listening to with the family, it seems very important to them that they're able to bring the rest of Najah home.
So I hope that the family is able to get that down the line as well, that they're able to bring her home and put her to rest, because like you said, this case is from 2019. There's like a lot of stuff already here. Surveillance footage, her stuff is found on the side of the road and then these northwest Indiana, her foot being found. Like, there's a lot of stuff happening in this case.
So hopefully there's a lot of stuff happening behind the scenes that is getting Najah's family closer to those answers that they're looking for and wanting. Before we, you know, kind of wrap things up here, I and Ali as well extend our deepest condolences to Najah's family. It is unimaginable to receive that information that a part of your loved one is discovered in that way and I'm so sorry to her children who have to live with that information.
Again, if you know anything about the disappearance and murder of Najah Farrell in March of 2019, please call the Avon Police Department at 317-839-8700. We will of course be posting photos of Najah on our Instagram if you don't follow us there yet at Cold and Missing will pop right up and it's a great way to just keep up with the podcast and any updates we have. If you have a moment, if you could rate and review us in whatever podcast platform you're listening to.
Thank you so much if you did it this past week. I really appreciate it. Really cool to see those reviews grow and really kind to hear all your nice things. So thank you so much. If you or someone you love is hard of hearing, we have transcripts of all our podcast episodes over on our website www.coldandmissing.com where you can find all of our old episodes or they're right there in your podcast player wherever you're listening. Thank you again so much for listening to Cold and Missing.
I'm your host Ali and I'm your co-host Eli. Have a good week and stay safe y'all. Stay safe y'all.