Violence. Retaliation. Disappearances. The Navajo Nation is 27,000 square miles of remote terrain with just over 200 tribal police officers. This season on Stolen, Connie Walker’s investigation into the cases of two missing women leads her on a search for justice in a place where people say you can get away with murder. To listen to the entire season, search for “Stolen” on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices...
Apr 26, 2024•30 min
Sarah takes a look at three cases that changed the landscape of missing person investigations. Charley Ross disappeared from Germantown, Pennsylvania in June 1874. Amber Hagerman was abducted from a parking lot in Arlington, Texas in 1996. Adam Walsh went missing from a Sears department store in July 1981. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Oct 19, 2023•46 min
20-year-old pilot Fred Valentich disappears during a flight over Australia’s Bass Strait in 1978 — in the midst of a radio transmission. Effectively narrating the moment of his disappearance, Fred says he sees something flying over him at great speeds…something he believes is no ordinary aircraft. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Oct 12, 2023•35 min
In 1996, a doting mother and budding journalist named Susan Walsh left her home and never returned. Her career ambitions had taken her into some underground worlds filled with rich characters. Was any of it connected to her disappearance? Or did investigators draw connections that were never there? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Oct 05, 2023•32 min
When Kristen Modafferi disappeared in California just weeks after turning 18, her case exposed a gap in the system that her family’s been working to close ever since. If you have any information regarding Kristen’s case, please contact your local FBI field office or the Oakland Police Department at (510) 238-3775. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Sep 28, 2023•33 min
Today, I want to introduce you to a man sometimes known as “Black Caesar” and who may very well be America’s first Black kingpin. His name is Frank Matthews, and after building one of the largest drug empires the world has ever seen, he fled the law in 1973 — and has been a wanted fugitive ever since. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Sep 21, 2023•36 min
Hi listeners! This week we’re sharing an episode from Sarah’s podcast Voices for Justice. We’ll be back next week with a new episode of Disappearances. At around 1:00 am on December 25, 1945, Jennie Sodder woke up to smoke pouring into her bedroom. She woke up her husband, George, and they started evacuating the house of their nine children. By the time the fire took over the Sodder residence, only Jennie, George, and four of their children made it outside safely. George and two of his sons fran...
Sep 14, 2023•33 min
Hi listeners! This week we’re sharing an episode from Sarah’s podcast Voices for Justice. We’ll be back in two weeks with a new episode of Disappearances. On June 9, 1995, Colleen Nick was invited to attend a little league baseball game with a few friends in Alma, Arkansas. She took her 6-year-old daughter Morgan Nick with her. Near the end of the game, Morgan went to play with other children. She was only out of her mother’s sight for a few minutes… Morgan has been missing ever since. Possibly ...
Sep 07, 2023•37 min
In 1974, Patty Hearst is a college sophomore and heir to a media fortune. But by February, she's a kidnapping victim—abducted by a militant political group called the Symbionese Liberation Army. She'll remain with them for over a year. By the end of it all, America will wonder whether she was an unwilling hostage...or a loyal recruit. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Aug 31, 2023•40 min
When a housewife disappeared from her suburban home in 1961, she left behind a mystery that's unresolved to this day. The bloody scene in her kitchen suggested murder — until investigators started digging into her history. Could Joan Risch have faked her own death? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Aug 24, 2023•32 min
Nada Fronk was a 24-year-old Indigenous woman who first ran away from home when she was 12. In a cruel twist of fate, it was only when she stopped running that her life was cut short. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Aug 10, 2023•30 min
Something interesting happens when you start digging into Roanoke. Yes, you find fantastical conspiracy theories on the ultimate fate of the colonists who vanished 400 years ago. But you also learn that — at the time — virtually no one was bothered. It took centuries for Roanoke to hold the mysterious, semi-supernatural sway it has today. So what changed? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Aug 03, 2023•38 min
Break’s over, and we’re back with new episodes. Enjoy! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Aug 03, 2023•10 sec
In 1980, 21-year-old Cherita Thomas disappears after the car she’s driving breaks down. Police suspect she becomes the victim of a racially motivated hate crime, but with no physical evidence, her case runs cold. Twenty years later, a cadaver dog finds bone fragments on a suspect’s property. Only, they don’t belong to Cherita. What happens next affects not only Cherita’s case, but dozens of cases across the country. This episode originally aired in August 2022. Learn more about your ad choices. ...
Jul 27, 2023•42 min
Indigenous women are murdered at a rate ten times higher than any other demographic, but the crimes against them are often ignored. Here are two heartbreaking cold cases that shed some insight into a crisis that’s lasted generations, and help explain why justice has been so (maddeningly) elusive. This episode originally aired December 2021. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Jul 20, 2023•42 min
It was a case that defied expectation at every turn: In 1981, a 13-year-old girl vanished from her home in Seaside, California, after her step-father physically assaulted her. Her mother claimed for decades afterward that Mary ran away that night. Her siblings believed she was murdered. Uncovering the truth would mean putting the whole family — including Mary herself — under the microscope. This episode originally aired in November 2022. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com...
Jul 13, 2023•33 min
Officially, 23-year-old Michael Rockefeller drowned off the coast of New Guinea in 1961 after his catamaran capsized. But when a Dutch missionary living with a local tribe starts hearing disturbing rumors, Michael’s disappearance gets a lot more unsettling. This episode originally aired in September 2021. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Jul 06, 2023•46 min
Hi listeners, this month we’re taking a break and revisiting episodes from our archive. We’ll be back in August with new episodes. Thanks for listening! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Jul 06, 2023•22 sec
Dorothy Arnold was a young socialite and aspiring writer when she vanished off the streets of Manhattan in 1910. Hoping to avoid a scandal, her family handled her disappearance with discretion—but that didn’t stop their name from making headlines. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Jun 29, 2023•33 min
An Australian cold case has stretched on since 1975, when a 12-year-old boy went missing along a stretch of highway. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Jun 22, 2023•28 min
In December 2016, a man called 911 after spotting an abandoned car on a bridge. 19-year-old Sarah Stern usually drove the vehicle—but now, she was missing. Did she leave voluntarily? Or was she the victim of a terrible crime? If you’d like to learn more about the cases covered in this episode, head to www.spotify.com/disappearances . Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices...
Jun 15, 2023•36 min
In September 1999, 36-year-old Girly Chew Hossencofft was supposed to report to work at a local Bank of America branch in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Due to recent threats made by her husband, Girly’s co-workers were worried. When a colleague went to her house to check on her, she was gone. And she was never seen again. If you’d like to learn more about the cases covered in this episode, head to www.spotify.com/disappearances . Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices...
Jun 08, 2023•39 min
It was May of 1996 when college freshman Kristin Smart went to a party and never returned to her dorm. More than 20 years later, a stranger started a podcast that ignited interest in the case and brought a killer to justice. If you’d like to learn more about the cases covered in this episode, head to www.spotify.com/disappearances . Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices...
Jun 01, 2023•35 min
It was 1957 when the body of an unidentified, malnourished boy was found in a bassinet box In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. For decades, police and community members worked to find his identity and killer. In 2021, they finally got an answer to one of these questions. If you’d like to learn more about the cases covered in this episode, or learn more about Missing and Unidentified Persons Awareness Month, head to www.spotify.com/disappearances . Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoice...
May 25, 2023•44 min
Around 40% of missing persons in the US are people of color, the vast majority of them Black. In this special episode, Sarah welcomes sisters-in-law Natalie Wilson and Derrica Wilson of the Black and Missing Foundation to discuss why this percentage is likely even higher. They talk about several current cases, unpacking the many policies and procedures that their organization advocates to change. Plus, the numerous ways that people can help. If you’d like to learn more about the cases covered in...
May 18, 2023•53 min
Maternity homes were advertised as safe havens for unwed expectant mothers. But the truth was very different. Many young women were sent to these homes involuntarily and were forced into giving up their babies for adoption. If you’d like to learn more about the cases covered in this episode, or learn more about Missing and Unidentified Persons Awareness Month, head to www.spotify.com/disappearances . Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices...
May 11, 2023•33 min
Over the past 50 years, 18 women and girls — primarily Indigenous — have gone missing along the Highway of Tears. Some believe the actual number is more than double that. Today we focus on Delphine Nikal, Cecilia Nikal, and Ramona Wilson — three Indigenous women who disappeared near the same stretch of highway just a few years apart. If you’d like to learn more about the cases covered in this episode, or learn more about Missing and Unidentified Persons Awareness Month, head to www.spotify.com/d...
May 04, 2023•35 min
In August 2017, she was asked to house-sit for her parents in Atlanta and to take care of their ailing cat. She did for a few days. But then suddenly, Jenna Van Gelderen was gone. After searching her apartment, her parents believed she was the victim of something sinister. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Apr 27, 2023•31 min
In June of 1969, six-year-old Dennis Martin got lost in the Great Smoky Mountains while playing with his brother and cousins. At the time, there was no official protocol in place for how to search for lost hikers, especially kids. Even though it turned into a massive search and rescue mission, one park ranger is racked with regret over a hunch they didn’t follow. If you’d like to take action on the climate or learn more about the topics covered in “Dark Green: Earth Crimes and Conspiracies,” vis...
Apr 20, 2023•35 min
On a June evening in 2011, Indiana University student Lauren Spierer went out for a night of drinking with friends. When the bar closed, Lauren needed help walking home. But even though she was surrounded by people she knew, nobody escorted her home safely. She was never seen again. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Apr 13, 2023•28 min
