May 28, 1981. Milwaukee, Wisconsin. 30-year old Christine Schultz, the ex-wife of police officer Fred Schultz, is shot to death inside her home and Fred’s current spouse, Laurie “Bambi” Bembenek, is soon charged with the crime. Even though Laurie insists that she was framed by the police and the evidence against her was planted and fabricated, she is convicted of first-degree murder and receives a sentence of life imprisonment. In 1990, Laurie manages to escape from prison with the assistance of...
Apr 02, 2025•56 min•Ep. 544
February 15, 1994. Indianapolis, Indiana. While waiting for her school bus, eleven-year old LaShonna Bates walks into a nearby convenience store, but she soon vanishes without a trace. A month-and-a-half later, LaShonna’s remains are found in a wooded area located eight miles away and it is determined that she has a skull fracture and died of blunt force trauma. In 2000, Charles Daughtery, the man who found LaShonna’s remains, is charged with her murder after he confesses to the crime. However, ...
Mar 26, 2025•40 min•Ep. 543
March 15, 2000. Jacksonville, Florida. After completing her shift at a hospital pharmacy, 27-year old Tina McQuaig drives out of the parking garage, but she never returns home. Four days later, Tina’s abandoned car is discovered in a Wal-Mart parking lot. In December 2002, Tina’s remains are discovered in a wooded area on the property of a decommissioned naval base and it is determined that she was the victim of a homicide. Suspicion eventually falls upon a former neighbour of Tina’s, as she had...
Mar 19, 2025•46 min•Ep. 542
October 21, 1985. Brooklyn, New York. Three days after she is born, Marlene Santana is carried out of Brookdale Hospital by her mother, Francesca Santana, before they are confronted by a woman who had been seen hanging around the hospital nursery earlier that night. The woman points a gun at Marlene and orders Francesca to walk six blocks before she abducts the baby and escapes in a car being driven by an accomplice. There is speculation that the woman may have kidnapped Marlene in order to rais...
Mar 12, 2025•50 min•Ep. 541
November 27, 1985. St. Augustine, Florida. While attending a neighbourhood social gathering, 12-year old Martha Jean Lambert tells her mother that she needs to take a brief trip back to their mobile home, but she never returns and is eventually reported missing. Suspicion falls on Martha’s 14-year old brother, David, after he gives conflicting stories about the last time he saw his sister. 24 years later, David confesses to killing Martha and disposing of her body and police find his story to be...
Mar 09, 2025•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 540
July 4, 1954. Bay Village, Ohio. 31-year old Marilyn Reese Sheppard is bludgeoned to death inside her bedroom and her 30-year old husband, Sam Sheppard, is injured after claiming he was attacked by an intruder. Since Sam was known for conducting extramarital affairs, police believe that he fabricated the story and was responsible for killing his wife, so he is charged with Marilyn’s murder. After being convicted at what is described as “The Trial of the Century”, Sam receives a sentence of life ...
Mar 05, 2025•1 hr 17 min•Ep. 539
July 4, 1954. Bay Village, Ohio. 31-year old Marilyn Reese Sheppard is bludgeoned to death inside her bedroom and her 30-year old husband, Sam Sheppard, is injured after claiming he was attacked by an intruder. Since Sam was known for conducting extramarital affairs, police believe that he fabricated the story and was responsible for killing his wife, so he is charged with Marilyn’s murder. After being convicted at what is described as “The Trial of the Century”, Sam receives a sentence of life ...
Feb 26, 2025•1 hr 23 min•Ep. 538
July 4, 1954. Bay Village, Ohio. 31-year old Marilyn Reese Sheppard is bludgeoned to death inside her bedroom and her 30-year old husband, Sam Sheppard, is injured after claiming he was attacked by an intruder. Since Sam was known for conducting extramarital affairs, police believe that he fabricated the story and was responsible for killing his wife, so he is charged with Marilyn’s murder. After being convicted at what is described as “The Trial of the Century”, Sam receives a sentence of life ...
Feb 19, 2025•1 hr 16 min•Ep. 537
December 7, 2003. Montgomery, Alabama. 19-year old LaQuanta Riley stops off at her mother’s residence to borrow a jacket from her brother. He sees LaQuanta leave in a dark green car being driven by an unidentified man, but she subsequently goes missing. A few weeks later, LaQuanta’s mother receives a garbled message on her answering machine from a panicked woman whom she believes is her daughter and a male voice can be heard in the background. Even though a number of leads are explored, includin...
Feb 12, 2025•48 min•Ep. 536
November 28, 2004. Nairn, Scotland. An unidentified man arrives at the front door of 30-year old Alistair Wilson and hands him an empty envelope with the name “Paul” written on it. The man shoots Alistair three times and takes the envelope back before fleeing the scene and the murder weapon is found in a nearby drain ten days later. Investigators explore a number of different theories and eventually conclude that the crime might be connected to a dispute over a decking area at a hotel pub locate...
Feb 05, 2025•53 min•Ep. 535
November 19, 2006. Littleton, Colorado. First Lieutenant Nonnie Dotson, a 33-year old nurse with the United States Air Force, has travelled from San Antonio, Texas to Colorado with her infant daughter and is saying with her brother, Tony Dotson. Nonnie leaves Tony’s residence in order to presumably travel to a nearby shopping center, but she never returns. Even though police track Nonnie’s cell phone signal and her scent to a nearby field, no trace of her can be found. Investigators explore a nu...
Jan 29, 2025•43 min•Ep. 534
July 12, 1988. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Four-year old Barbara Jean Horn disappears from the front yard of her home before her nude body is discovered inside a cardboard box resting on a curb in the same neighbourhood. Nearly four years later, a suspect named Walter Ogrod, who had lived across the street from Barbara Jean’s residence, is arrested after he confesses to her murder and after two trials, he is convicted and sentenced to death. However, Walter claims his confession was coerced by c...
Jan 22, 2025•55 min•Ep. 533
July 12, 1988. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Four-year old Barbara Jean Horn disappears from the front yard of her home before her nude body is discovered inside a cardboard box resting on a curb in the same neighbourhood. Nearly four years later, a suspect named Walter Ogrod, who had lived across the street from Barbara Jean’s residence, is arrested after he confesses to her murder and after two trials. he is convicted and sentenced to death. However, Walter claims his confession was coerced by c...
Jan 15, 2025•57 min•Ep. 532
If you like highly detailed and thoroughly researched podcasts, you will love “DNA: ID”. The show has over 100 episodes available to binge on right now. This is a sneak preview of Episode 122 (https://www.abjackentertainment.com/dna-id/9xglar65zhwgblh), which covers the case of Patricia Stichler. New Years’ Day 1985 should have rung in an exciting new year for Patti Stichler and her three young daughters. Instead, in the middle of the night on January 1-2, someone slashed and stabbed Patti to de...
Jan 12, 2025•6 min•Ep. 531
March 2, 1996. Culpepper County, Virginia. After leaving her home in Baltimore, Maryland in order to drive to Charlottesville, 25-year old Alicia Showalter Reynolds goes missing and her abandoned car is found alongside U.S. Route 29. Eyewitnesses report having seen Alicia speaking with an unidentified man in a pick-up truck and it becomes apparent that he may have tricked Alicia into pulling over before abducting her. Two months later, Alicia’s body is discovered in a remote field and while it i...
Jan 08, 2025•54 min•Ep. 530
Since “The Trail Went Cold” originally launched in February 2016, we have featured nearly 500 cold cases on the podcast, a number of which have wound up being solved or have experienced major developments. As a result, we have now released a total of six special “update” episodes and this is our second episode about updates which took place in 2024. This time around, we’ll share major developments in such cases as the 1996 murders of Julie Williams and Lollie Winans, the 2000 disappearance of As...
Jan 01, 2025•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 529
On this special holiday bonus episode titled “True Crime Convos”, “The Trail Went Cold” has been teamed up with two other fellow true crime podcasters to converse about our various experiences in the medium. Join me as I chat with Melissa of the “Navigating Advocacy Podcast” and Robert Parmer of “The Broken System Podcast” about such topics as researching cold cases, working with victims’ families, and even some of the more bizarre things we’ve experienced as podcasters. “The Trail Went Cold” wi...
Dec 29, 2024•56 min•Ep. 528
Over the past six years, “The Trail Went Cold” has released three special Q&A episodes in which Robin Warder answered a number of questions that were sent in by our audience. We have decided to put together another episode like this and received some interesting new questions from listeners. Which cases from the podcast do you believe will eventually be solved? Do you intend to cover every unsolved case that was featured on “Unsolved Mysteries”? Are there any cases that you will never cover?...
Dec 25, 2024•2 hr 41 min•Ep. 527
December 18, 1979. Moline, Illinois. 30-year old Cody James and 30-year old Gary Harker leave Gary’s woodcarving shop in Cody’s pick-up truck in order to make a delivery and collect some money, but they never return and the truck is later found abandoned across the state line in Davenport, Iowa. Four months after the disappearances, the pick-up is sold off at a police auction, but the new owners are shocked to discover Cody and Gary’s bodies concealed beneath some debris in the truck bed and it ...
Dec 18, 2024•44 min•Ep. 526
December 23, 1988. Orange County, North Carolina. A quartet of friends – 19-year old Kenneth Dungee, 17-year old Kenneth Newkirk, 17-year old Levern Allen and 17-year old Darius Bannerman – leave their homes in Greensboro in order to drive to Raleigh to go Christmas shopping. While travelling down Interstate 40, their car is violently run off the road by a blue Monte Carlo containing a white man and a white woman. Kenneth Dungee is killed in the crash and while his three friends survive, Levern ...
Dec 11, 2024•53 min•Ep. 525
May 18, 2024. Redding, California. 39-year old Nikki Cheng Saelee-McCain texts her sister from a hospital and says she is planning to drive to her mother-in-law’s house, but she soon cuts off all contact with her family and disappears. One week later, Nikki’s abandoned truck is discovered 50 miles away in a remote section of Tehama County, but searches of the area fail to find her. Prior to her disappearance, Nikki had filed domestic violence charges against her estranged husband, Tyler McCain, ...
Dec 04, 2024•53 min•Ep. 524
August 22, 1965. South Bend, Indiana. 49-year old Edward Banish is murdered inside his home after being stabbed seven times. Over two months earlier, Edward’s 18-year old son, Scott Banish, had gone missing after an apparent drowning accident in Lake Michigan, but eight days after his father’s murder, Scott is discovered to be alive and admits to having faked his own death. Even though Scott seems to have a solid alibi placing him over 2,500 miles away on the night of the crime, he eventually ad...
Nov 27, 2024•49 min•Ep. 523
Listen to Murder, She Told: an award-winning true-crime podcast created by victim’s advocate, Kristen Seavey that mostly covers lesser-known unsolved cases. This is a preview of the episode about Ludger Belanger on “Murder, She Told”, which was originally published on November 19, 2024. Ludger Belanger went missing while hunting in rural Washington, Maine in 1975. Though on the surface, it seemed like he vanished without a trace, tracks in the snow led detectives to a crucial piece of evidence a...
Nov 25, 2024•9 min•Ep. 522
January 12, 1994. Albuquerque, New Mexico. After dropping off a friend at a restaurant, 16-year old Jonathan Francia is carjacked and abducted from the parking lot in his mother’s Chevrolet Camaro. Five days later, the burned-out vehicle is discovered in the Arizona desert nearly 300 miles away and Jonathan’s charred remains are inside the trunk. A suspect named Paul Richardson is soon arrested and confesses that he committed the crime alongside an unidentified drifter known only as “Jason”. Pau...
Nov 20, 2024•44 min•Ep. 521
August 30, 2013. Castaic, California. An overturned abandoned SUV belonging to 19-year old Bryce Laspisa is discovered at the bottom of a steep embankment near Castaic Lake, but even though most of his personal possessions have been left behind, Bryce himself is nowhere to be found. While beginning his sophomore year at Sierra College in Rocklin, Bryce had been displaying erratic behaviour and seemed to be experiencing issues with drugs and alcohol before he made the inexplicable decision to dri...
Nov 13, 2024•49 min•Ep. 520
August 30, 1990. Westerville, Ohio. The mother of 22-year old Tony Lombardi returns home, assuming her son is at work. Forty-five minutes later, she claims that she hears the sound of a door closing followed by footsteps and she soon discovers Tony’s body on his bed. He has been shot through the head and a gun is lying on the floor next to him, but police rule Tony’s death to be a suicide. However, Tony’s family discovers injuries on his body to make them believe he was the victim of foul play a...
Nov 06, 2024•51 min•Ep. 519
On December 23rd, 1974, three girls from Fort Worth, Texas vanished: Rachel Trlica, Renee Wilson, and Julie Mosely. After almost 50 years, the case has become steeped in misinformation and sensationalized mythos. In their series on the Fort Worth Missing Trio, Gone Cold attempts to cut through the misconceptions and confusion surrounding Julie, Renee, and Rachel’s disappearances. This is a preview of Gone Cold’s coverage of the case, and you can find the rest of the story by subscribing to Gone ...
Nov 03, 2024•8 min•Ep. 518
November 29, 1980. Duncan, British Columbia. 32-year old Granger Taylor drives away from his family’s farm in his pick-up truck, but never returns. Granger had developed an obsession with UFOs and claimed he started communicating with them and he leaves behind a note in which he states that he is going away on a 42-month interstellar voyage on an alien spacecraft. Five-and-half years later, human bones which are believed to belong to Granger and wreckage from his truck are found inside a crater ...
Oct 30, 2024•54 min•Ep. 517
December 12, 2014. Beaver County, Pennsylvania. A severed head belonging to an elderly woman is discovered in a rural wooded area about thirty feet from the nearest road, but the rest of her remains cannot be found. The head has rubber balls inside its eye sockets and since it has been embalmed, investigators are unable to extract any DNA to make an identification, so the victim becomes known as “The Beaver County Jane Doe”. While the authorities do not believe that foul play took place, a local...
Oct 23, 2024•48 min•Ep. 516
November 1, 1974. North Adams, Massachusetts. After leaving a dance at a local lodge, 18-year old Kim Benoit goes missing. Two weeks later, Kim’s body is discovered at the bottom of an embankment in a remote area twelve miles away and it is determined that she was the victim of strangulation. In October 1976, 17-year old Cynthia “Rocky” Krizack goes missing after leaving her home in the nearby town of Williamstown and her body is also eventually found at the bottom of a remote embankment. Since ...
Oct 16, 2024•45 min•Ep. 515
