Episode description

December 15, 1996. Willingboro Township, New Jersey. After saying goodnight to her family, 12-year old Celina Mays heads for her bedroom, but is discovered to be missing the following morning. At the time, Celina was living with her father and a number of other relatives, who were all members of Gospel of Christ Ministries Inc., a church run by her paternal aunt which has been accused of operating like a cult. It also turns out that Celina was nine months pregnant at the time she went missing and her family maintains that she never revealed the identity of the child’s father. Did Celina run away voluntarily to escape her troubled home life? Or was her family and church concealing a dark secret about what happened to her? On this week’s episode of “The Trail Went Cold”, we explore the unsolved disappearance of a pregnant 12-year old girl, one of the most harrowing and controversial missing children’s cases we’ve ever covered.

If you have any information about this case, please contact the Willingboro Police Department at (609) 877-2253.

Additional Reading:

https://charleyproject.org/case/celina-janette-mays

https://apnews.com/article/e25075c842c9eaed7347ceffc8676ad1

https://www.newspapers.com/image/178600931/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/187356569/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/187358815/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/222616133/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/174134505/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/183779225/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/183779252/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/180530370/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/178050575/

https://6abc.com/new-appeal-in-search-for-nj-girl-who-vanished-in-1996/2421342/

“Tabloid from Hell: The Rise & Fall of a Beloved Newspaper” by Michael A. Rafaelle

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“The Trail Went Cold” is going to be appearing on podcast row at “Crimecon 2021: Austin” at the Fairmont Hotel in Austin, Texas on June 2-4, 2021, as well as “Crimecon UK” at the Leonardo Royal Hotel & Spa in London on June 12-13, 2021. To get a 10 % discount on the purchase of tickets to either event, please use our specialized promo code, “COLD21”, by visiting https://www.crimecon.com/CC21 or https://www.crimecon.co.uk.

“The Trail Went Cold” is now doing a weekly livestream show on GetVokl every Thursday from 7:00-8:00 PM ET as part of their “True Crime Thursday” line-up. For more information, please visit their website.

The Trail Went Cold is produced and edited by Magill Foote.

All music is composed by Vince Nitro.