July 9, 1970. Lansing, Michigan. 16-year old Laurie Murninghan, the daughter of the city’s former mayor, is abducted from her workplace by a black male during a robbery gone wrong. Eleven days later, Laurie’s decomposed body is discovered in a remote swampy pond and her cause of death is determined to be manual strangulation. Since Laurie’s employer witnessed the abduction, she picks out a promising suspect from a photo line-up who has an extensive criminal record. However, the authorities do no...
Apr 20, 2022•40 min•Ep. 375
August 12, 1989. Halifax, Nova Scotia. After her shift ends 40 minutes earlier than scheduled, 19-year old Kimberly McAndrew clocks out and leaves her workplace before she vanishes without a trace. Over the years, investigators check out a number of different leads and even consult with a so-called “psychic detective”, but fail to find any conclusive answers about what happened to Kim. Even though a sex offender named Andrew Paul Johnson is looked at as a potential suspect in Kim’s disappearance...
Apr 13, 2022•45 min•Ep. 374
February 27, 1995. Springfield, Missouri. The bodies of 35-year old Cheryl Feeney and her two children – six-year old Tyler and 19-month old Jennifer – are all discovered inside their separate bedrooms at their residence. Cheryl and Tyler have been bludgeoned to death while Jennifer was strangled and the house is completely ransacked. Even though the family’s 35-year old patriarch, Jon Feeney, was attending a conference at a resort 90 miles away, investigators suspect that he drove back home in ...
Apr 06, 2022•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 373
August 22, 1992. Brandon, Mississippi. While driving his girlfriend home, 18-year old Andre Jones is stopped at a police sobriety checkpoint and is arrested on a number of charges after his pick-up truck is determined to be stolen. Andre is transferred to the Simpson County Jail, but over 19 hours after his arrival, he is found hanging by one of his own shoelaces in a holding cell’s shower stall and the authorities rule his death to be a suicide. However, since Andre’s mother and stepfather were...
Mar 30, 2022•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 372
May 21, 1983. Yukon, Canada. The remains of a male homicide victim are discovered in a shallow grave in a remote area and since he cannot be identified, he becomes known as the “Dawson City John Doe”. Thirty-eight years later, DNA testing identifies the victim as 46-year old Theodore Kampf, who had left his home in New Jersey in 1981 to make a cross-country road trip to Canada before he disappeared. It turns out that an unknown individual cashed Theodore’s traveller’s cheques and stole his pick-...
Mar 23, 2022•44 min•Ep. 371
April 15, 2005. Bellefonte, Pennsylvania. After taking the day off work and leaving on a road trip, 59-year old Centre County District Attorney Ray Gricar fails to return home and is reported missing. The following day, Ray’s abandoned car is discovered 60 miles away in the town of Lewisburg, parked across the street from an antiques mall. Over the course of the next several months, Ray’s county-issued work laptop and its hard drive are discovered in the nearby Susquehanna River, but the hard dr...
Mar 16, 2022•1 hr 14 min•Ep. 370
February 1, 1999. DeSoto County, Mississippi. While living in a farmhouse with her two children and her boyfriend, 27-year old Katherine Lowery vanishes without explanation. Months later, Katherine’s boyfriend takes the children and abruptly moves to Wyoming, but he winds up being arrested when Katherine’s daughter accuses him of sexual abuse. It turns out the boyfriend has been living under an alias and his real name is Steven DeLoge. Investigators soon learn that Steven’s 23-year old half-sist...
Mar 09, 2022•40 min•Ep. 369
June 11, 1955. Salt Lake City, Utah. 22-year old Jocelyn Hickenlooper, who suffers from developmental disabilities and scoliosis, vanishes without explanation from her home. Over two weeks later, Jocelyn’s decomposed body is discovered in a shallow grave located near Parley’s Canyon. After a two-year investigation, a suspect named Bernt Murphy, who also has developmental disabilities, confesses to killing Jocelyn. Even after Bernt recants his confession and the murder charge against him is dropp...
Mar 02, 2022•54 min•Ep. 368
June 11, 1962. San Francisco, California. 35-year old Frank Morris, 32-year old John Anglin and his 31-year old brother, Clarence Anglin, attempt an elaborate escape from the Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary on Alcatraz Island. After sneaking out of their cells during the night, the three convicts enter the water in order to cross San Francisco Bay on a homemade inflatable raft, but an extensive manhunt fails to find them. While the authorities are inclined to believe the escapees drowned, certain ...
Feb 23, 2022•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 367
June 11, 1962. San Francisco, California. 35-year old Frank Morris, 32-year old John Anglin and his 31-year old brother, Clarence Anglin, attempt an elaborate escape from the Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary on Alcatraz Island. After sneaking out of their cells during the night, the three convicts enter the water in order to cross San Francisco Bay on a homemade inflatable raft, but an extensive manhunt fails to find them. While the authorities are inclined to believe the escapees drowned, certain ...
Feb 16, 2022•1 hr•Ep. 366
February 14, 1985. Colorado Springs, Colorado. The bodies of 37-year old Cassandra Rundle and her two children, 12-year old Detrick Sturm and 10-year old Melanie Sturm, are discovered inside their respective bedrooms at their residence. The two females were sexually assaulted and beaten and all three victims have been strangled to death. Since Cassandra had placed some personal ads in a local newspaper and received responses from a number of men, there is speculation that this might be connected...
Feb 09, 2022•45 min•Ep. 365
December 31, 2010. Wilmington, Delaware. The body of 66-year old Jack Wheeler is discovered in a trash heap at the Cherry Island Landfill and his cause of death is determined to be blunt force trauma. Days earlier, Jack had left his residence in New York City to travel to Delaware and numerous eyewitnesses would report seeing Jack at numerous locations, displaying erratic behaviour which may have been caused by his struggles with bipolar disorder. It is believed that Jack’s body was transported ...
Feb 02, 2022•54 min•Ep. 364
December 26, 1983. Austin, Texas. After leaving her workplace, 39-year old Gracie Nash vanishes without a trace and her abandoned car is soon discovered with a large amount of blood inside. Just over one month later, Gracie’s brother, 43-year old John Davis Jr., is fatally shot outside his residence. Suspicion falls upon a woman named Naomi Easley, who had launched a campaign of harassment and violence against the victims’ brother, Melvin Davis, after a tumultuous break-up. Even though Naomi eve...
Jan 26, 2022•38 min•Ep. 363
June 23, 1997. San Francisco, California. After completing her shift at a coffee shop at the Crocker Galleria, 18-year old Kristen Modafferi vanishes without a trace. Even though co-workers report seeing Kristen with a blonde woman at the mall, this woman is never identified, and a police bloodhound tracks Kristen’s scent to the edge of the Pacific Ocean at Lands End over six miles away. Weeks later, a man named Jon Onuma phones in a fake tip in which he falsely accuses two women of murdering Kr...
Jan 19, 2022•51 min•Ep. 362
August 19, 1992. Menasha, Wisconsin. After leaving her workplace, 20-year old Laurie Depies drives to her boyfriend’s apartment complex and parks her car before she vanishes without a trace. Even though witnesses heard her vehicle pull into the lot, they do not report hearing or seeing anything unusual and the only evidence is a cup of soda left on top of the car’s roof. Eighteen years later, a convicted kidnapper named Larry DeWayne Hall confesses to abducting and murdering Laurie, but a search...
Jan 12, 2022•44 min•Ep. 361
July 4, 1988. San Angelo, Texas. 16-year old Shane Stewart and his 18-year old girlfriend, Sally McNelly, go out to watch a fireworks show together, but never return home and Shane’s abandoned car is found in a park the following morning. Four months later, the couple’s skeletal remains are discovered in a remote pasture and they have both been murdered by shotgun blasts to the head. For years, rumours circulate that Shane and Sally were members of a Satanic cult and were killed for attempting t...
Jan 05, 2022•38 min•Ep. 360
Since “The Trail Went Cold” originally launched in February 2016, we have featured over 300 cold cases and unsolved mysteries on the podcast and a decent amount of them have either wound up being solved or had significant developments take place. Two years ago, we released a special “update” episode which detailed a lot of these developments, but there have since been many more new updates to share. Examples include the identification of the Sumter County Does; an arrest in the murders of Bobbie...
Dec 29, 2021•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 359
Christmas Eve 1924. Babbs Switch, Oklahoma. A fire breaks out at a Christmas party taking place at a schoolhouse and claims the lives of 36 people. The remains of one of the presumed victims, three-year old Mary Elizabeth Edens, cannot be found and since Mary’s aunt recalls handing the child to an unknown person, her family believes Mary might have been abducted. Over 32 years later, evidence is found to suggest that a California woman named Grace Reynolds might be Mary and she winds up having a...
Dec 22, 2021•46 min•Ep. 358
December 15, 2000. Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The former boss of 53-year old Colleen Wood calls her on her cell phone to invite her to an upcoming Christmas party, but even though Colleen says she will attend, she never shows up and is not heard from again. At the time, Colleen and her boyfriend, John Paul, were planning to leave on a five-year sailing trip around the world on John’s boat, but when John is tracked down and questioned about this months later, he claims that Colleen broke up with h...
Dec 15, 2021•49 min•Ep. 357
December 5, 1998. Klamath County, Oregon. Eight-year old Derrick Engebretson travels to Winema National Forest with his father and grandfather in order to get a Christmas tree, but winds up becoming separated from them. An extensive search effort fails to find Derrick, though an eyewitness reports having seen a boy matching Derrick’s description struggling with an unidentified man near the road. Years later, a convicted child predator named Frank Milligan confesses to Derrick’s murder, but he fa...
Dec 08, 2021•50 min•Ep. 356
May 14, 1991. Vidor, Texas. 34-year old Kathy Page is found dead inside her car after an apparent crash into a drainage ditch just over 100 yards from her residence. While the scene resembles an accident, the evidence shows that Kathy was actually strangled to death before the crash was staged. Since Kathy’s marriage to her estranged husband, Steve Page, was falling apart and there were a number of suspicious actions on his part, Kathy’s family believe that Steve was responsible for her death. O...
Dec 01, 2021•56 min•Ep. 355
September 30, 1987. Northumberland County, Virginia. The body of 45-year old Kay Hall is discovered on a back road underneath her pick-up truck. She has been run over and her husband, Bob Hall, immediately becomes the prime suspect. Even though Bob stood to collect on an inheritance Kay had just received and there are issues with his alibi, there is some question about whether he would have been able to track down Kay and commit the crime during a very narrow timeframe. Years later, Bob is charg...
Nov 24, 2021•41 min•Ep. 354
October 8, 2009. Latimer County, Oklahoma. 44-year old Bobby Jamison, his 40-year old wife, Sherilynn Jamison, and their six-year old daughter, Madyson Jamison, leave their home to go look at a plot of land in a remote mountainous area, but never return. Eight days later, their abandoned pick-up truck is discovered on a dirt road located thirty miles from their residence, but even though the family’s dog and many of their personal items are locked inside the truck and a bag containing $32,000 is...
Nov 17, 2021•58 min•Ep. 353
May 25, 2000. Mercer County, Pennsylvania. After last being seen at a convenience store, 46-year old Sandra Kay Baker supposedly phones her fiancée, Billy Crea Jr., to say that she is in danger and cannot return home, but she is never heard from again. Five years later, Billy is named as a suspect in Sandy’s disappearance after a private detective he had once hired named Clifford Aley is charged with lying to law enforcement. Aley reveals that he heard Billy confess to Sandy’s murder, but there ...
Nov 10, 2021•39 min•Ep. 352
June 15, 1994. Loxahatchee, Florida. 31-year old Moses Lall and his 36-year old aunt, Lila Buerattan, are discovered to be missing from their ranch, where they run a business breeding and selling exotic birds. They were last heard from eleven days earlier and one of their employees, Daljeet “Hari” Gobin, had reportedly shared a story about seeing them get abducted at gunpoint by two men. Investigators soon learn that Gobin was picked up by police in Georgia while driving Moses’ van and using his...
Nov 03, 2021•40 min•Ep. 351
June 12, 1987. Flagstaff, Arizona. After finishing her shift at the Flagstaff Medical Center, 40-year old Navajo woman Sarah Saganitso never returns home and her nude body is found in a nearby wooded area the following day. Her exact cause of death is asphyxiation via suffocation and there appear to be bite marks around her left breast. Nearly two months later, a suspect named George Abney is charged with the murder after making a confession, but he maintains that it was coerced. At trial, Abney...
Oct 27, 2021•56 min•Ep. 350
July 16, 1996. Nutley, New Jersey. 36-year old Susan Walsh leaves her son in the care of her estranged husband and says she needs to step out to make some phone calls, but she never returns to her apartment and is not heard from again. At the time, Susan had been working as a freelance journalist and an exotic dancer, but was also struggling with substance abuse and mental health issues. The investigation into Susan’s disappearance explores a number of different angles – including Russian mobste...
Oct 20, 2021•56 min•Ep. 349
February 14, 1945. Lower Quinton, England. 74-year old farm labourer Charles Walton leaves his home in order to spending the day slashing hedges on the slopes of Meon Hill. Later that evening, Charles’ body is discovered next to the hedgerow and he has been beaten with his walking stick, had his throat slashed with a billhook, and been stabbed with a pitchfork. While the original investigation turns up a potential suspect, there is not enough evidence to implicate him, but as the years go on, Ch...
Oct 13, 2021•55 min•Ep. 348
January 15, 2008. Chicago, Illinois. 15-year old Yasmin Acree is seen going to bed in the basement of her residence, but she is discovered to be missing the following day and there are signs of a break-in on the exterior basement door. Over one year later, Jimmie Terrell Smith, who had previously lived in the upstairs apartment at Yasmin’s residence, is charged with a series of sex crimes and mentions of Smith’s name are found in Yasmin’s diary. Even though Smith claims to have knowledge of what...
Oct 06, 2021•40 min•Ep. 347
July 19, 1996. Westwego, Louisiana. After leaving her apartment to walk to a supermarket, 14-year old Crystal Champagne fails to return and is found strangled to death in a wooded area the following evening. When Crystal’s 22-year old step-cousin, Damon Thibodeaux, is interrogated by police, he confesses to her murder and is subsequently convicted and sentenced to death. However, Damon maintains that his confession was coerced and none of the physical evidence from the crime matches him, so afte...
Sep 29, 2021•47 min•Ep. 346
