"We had no crime scene, just a body. What are you going to do?" In July of 1979 - more than four years after the hitchhiker murders from Sonoma County had come to an end - a couple of grisly discoveries were made in the surrounding area. One came from the outskirts of Santa Rosa, Rincon Valley, while the other was made approximately 80 miles northwest, just outside of Willits. Both discoveries would raise more questions than answers, and end up expanding not only the the chronology of the case, ...
Jan 17, 2021•41 min
"The only way to connect this is if we have some kind of freak who travels the whole city." In 1975, a confidential FBI report - which was published the same year that a psychological profile was created for an unknown killer from Sonoma County - purported that the murders of hitchhikers from Santa Rosa were linked to at least eight others from the surrounding area. These eight additional murders, which spanned as far north as Yuba County and as far south as Monterey County, all unfolded at the ...
Jan 10, 2021•33 min
"There are plenty of places to hide a body and I've no doubt there are some around we haven't found." Throughout 1973, detectives from California's Sonoma County would continue to investigate a bizarre string of deaths that had started the year prior. All of the victims were young women that were last seen hitchhiking in the area around Santa Rosa, Sonoma's largest city. That year, the discovery of four additional bodies would be reported, all of whom appeared to have been targeted by the same k...
Dec 27, 2020•39 min
In the final days of 1972, a spotlight would begin to shine upon California's Sonoma County. That year, a handful of young women had gone missing or been murdered in the area around Sonoma's most populated city, Santa Rosa. All had reportedly been hitchhiking at the time of their disappearance or death, and a few were last seen getting into the cars of strangers. Decades later, police believe that there might have been a killer stalking these young victims throughout the area, whose identity rem...
Dec 20, 2020•45 min
In July of 1984, a story originating from Long Island, New York began to make headlines throughout the world. The body of 17-year-old Gary Lauwers was found in a shallow grave in the Aztakea Woods, just outside of the sleepy harbor village of Northport. Police would quickly narrow in on the person they believed to be responsible for this violent crime: 17-year-old Ricky Kasso, who they alleged had participated in a cult ritual during the commission of this vile act. While the story would fade fr...
Dec 13, 2020•45 min
"Did someone cut her up, piece by piece? That's what I think about." On April 10th, 1998, 40-year-old Diane Augat walked away from her sister's home in Hudson, FL. She would be spotted in the surrounding area over the next few days, but a couple of shocking discoveries would lead investigators to believe Diane had met foul play. First came a mysterious voicemail received by Diane's parents, which indicated the mentally ill woman was being held against her will. Then came the discovery of her sev...
Dec 06, 2020•28 min
There has been an update in the Hollywood Con Queen story (episode #137 of Unresolved). Hargobind Tahilramani was taken into British custody on November 26th of this year (2020), and authorities are just now releasing information about his arrest... To learn more about this story, read or listen to "The Con Queen of Hollywood" at the following link: https://unresolved.me/the-con-queen-of-hollywood Researched, written, hosted, and produced by Micheal Whelan Music composed by Micheal Whelan throug...
Dec 03, 2020•6 min
There has been an update in the Volga Maniac case (episode #139 of the podcast). Russian authorities have taken 38-year-old Radik Tagirov into custody, and he has reportedly confessed to more than two dozen murders... To learn more about this story, read or listen to "The Volga Maniac" at the following link: https://unresolved.me/the-volga-maniac Researched, written, hosted, and produced by Micheal Whelan Music composed by Micheal Whelan through Amper Music If you would like to support this podc...
Dec 01, 2020•5 min
This is a brief preview for the thirteenth episode of my new Patreon-exclusive show, Resolved, which is available now for all $5+ supporters. To learn more about this series - and how you can listen - consider heading to https://www.patreon.com/unresolvedpod This episode can be found at the following link: https://www.patreon.com/posts/44443420 Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/unresolved--3266604/support ....
Nov 30, 2020•7 min
"Whoever this person or persons are that killed these girls, you know, they've had to have told somebody..." Known primarily as the seat of Bremer County, as well as the location of Wartburg College - a private Lutheran liberal arts school - Waverly is surrounded by dozens of miles of rural terrain. Between 1971 and 1976, a trio of shocking murders would rock this small town in northeastern Iowa. Now, nearly fifty years later, very few remember the victims that have since become known as the 'Wa...
Nov 29, 2020•37 min
"I turned my head for less than a minute and she was gone. Someone had to pick her up and run out the door." On the evening of January 23rd, 1999, two-year-old Teekah Lewis was abducted from the New Frontier Lanes bowling alley in Tacoma, WA. Teekah's family had been watching the child walk back-and-forth from the arcade just feet away from them, and in the 10-15 seconds that the child was unsupervised that night, she would disappear. Almost immediately, police suspected foul play. Within days, ...
Nov 22, 2020•43 min
William Willard Langston was declared dead on Iwo Jima. His wife and son moved on without him... then a man claiming to be him appeared in his hometown. The people who knew William his entire life were certain it was him. But as soon as he had arrived, he vanished. On this new podcast from Unresolved Productions, New York Times bestselling author Chris DeRose attempts to decipher this bizarre and perplexing mystery. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/unresolved-...
Nov 15, 2020•32 min
This is a brief preview for the twelfth episode of my new Patreon-exclusive show, Resolved, which is available now for all $5+ supporters. To learn more about this series - and how you can listen - consider heading to https://www.patreon.com/unresolvedpod This episode can be found at the following link: https://www.patreon.com/posts/43878404 Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/unresolved--3266604/support ....
Nov 14, 2020•4 min
On the afternoon of November 19th, 2006, Nonnie Dotson would disappear into thin air. The 33-year-old single mother of one, who was a First Lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force, was visiting friends and family in Littleton, Colorado. Having gone out the night before, Nonnie was hoping to meet up with some friends one last time before flying home the next day. After leaving her brother's home that Sunday afternoon, Nonnie would never be seen alive again. Despite investigators looking into several sus...
Nov 08, 2020•45 min
On June 18th, 1984, a prominent talk-show host was gunned down in front of his Colorado home. Alan Harrison Berg was a 50-year-old radio host from Chicago, who had gained prominence in the Denver area for his outspoken, abrasive behavior. A Jewish man, Alan was proud of his heritage but was very vocal about his atheistic, liberal beliefs - and that upset a great many people. Among the people that were offended by the things Alan said on his program were members of a white supremacist group that ...
Nov 01, 2020•1 hr 9 min
In 2013, a website featuring amateur pornography began making headlines across the United States - and later, the world. Founded by New Zealander Michael Pratt in 2006, GirlsDoPorn was billed early on as "a reality website that features 18-21 year old females making their very first adult videos." For the next decade, Pratt would attempt to build an empire, recruiting his childhood friend Matthew Wolfe in 2011 and aspiring actor Ruben "Andre" Garcia later that same year to help him achieve his g...
Oct 25, 2020•1 hr 19 min
This episode contains two separate, unrelated stories that haven't been reported on much in the past. In October of 2009, 46-year-old Tony Harrelson was shot and killed in Camp Hill, Alabama. A truck driver for the U.S. Postal Service, Tony is believed to have fallen prey to a gunman who had been robbing postal workers throughout eastern Alabama between 2008 and 2009. In July of 1990, 15-year-old Robert Pillsen-Rahier would disappear while spending time at the Cheyenne Mesa Adolescent Treatment ...
Oct 18, 2020•30 min
In the early morning hours of June 9th, 2009, a violent home invasion would take place in Mooresville, North Carolina. Just after midnight, Matt and Angel Stewart were sleeping when an unknown individual opened fire on them from their bedroom doorway. Angel grabbed the couple's young son, who was also asleep in the room, and began running to a neighbor's house; while 31-year-old Matt - who had already been shot - jumped out of bed and heroically attacked the gunman. Hours later, Matt's body woul...
Oct 11, 2020•1 hr 10 min
Some listeners told me that they had trouble with some of the volume levels in this episode, so I have uploaded a different audio file which - hopefully - won't have the same issues. Sorry for the inconvenience! On the evening of December 20th, 2004, two Northern Bank executives carried out the largest heist in British history. Just before 6:00 PM, Assistant Branch Manager Kevin McMullan told all but one of the staff members to go home early. Once they’d left, Kevin McMullan and the other staff ...
Oct 04, 2020•52 min
On September 10th, 1984 - two years after Alaska's largest unsolved murder - authorities announced that they had a suspect in custody. John Kenneth Peel was a 24-year-old living in Bellingham, Washington - who seemed to be the perfect match for the killer. In addition to matching the suspect profile, Peel had a complicated prior relationship with the victims, and had both the means and motive to commit the crime. However, the case presented by state officials over the next several years would re...
Sep 27, 2020•57 min
On the afternoon of September 7th, 1982, it was discovered that a ship - anchored in a lonely harbor about one mile outside of Craig, Alaska - had caught fire. Hours later, after the flames had been extinguished, emergency personnel would discover the bodies of at least four people, which had been burned beyond recognition. It was initially theorized that as many as nine people could have been on board at the time of the fire (whose origins remained clouded in doubt) but it would take months to ...
Sep 20, 2020•42 min
The Colonial Parkway is a historic and scenic road that links together the three points of Virginia's Historic Triangle: Jamestown, Williamsburg, and Yorktown. Located roughly halfway between Richmond and Virginia Beach, the Colonial Parkway spans approximately 22 miles in southeastern Virginia and is an incredibly beautiful drive during daytime hours. At night, however, it can become haunting - surrounded by darkened patches of woods - and without any lights to illuminate the road. This duality...
Aug 30, 2020•1 hr 31 min
As you probably guessed from the episode title, this is not a new episode of Unresolved. I'm taking this weekend off to finish up the Unresolved season 5 finale, but didn't want to leave you all hanging. So, this week, I am uploading an episode of another podcast I appear on: the D.C. Sniper episode of the wonderfully silly podcast "True Crime Movie Club." This is a podcast that I first appeared as a guest on a few months back, but have become a frequent co-host on. This podcast is very differen...
Aug 23, 2020•1 hr 13 min
On 21st September 2001, a man discovered the dismembered remains of a young boy floating in the River Thames. Investigators would begin the lengthy process of identifying the victim, who was missing his head and limbs, and was found wearing only a pair of bright orange shorts. Through cutting edge forensic testing, they would discover how long he had been in the UK and where he likely came from, but very little when it came to specifics. However, over the next several years, police would uncover...
Aug 16, 2020•53 min
This is a brief preview for the eleventh episode in my new series, Resolved, which is available now on Patreon. To learn more about this series - and how you can listen - consider heading to https://www.patreon.com/unresolvedpod This episode can be found at the following link: https://www.patreon.com/posts/40458519 Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/unresolved--3266604/support ....
Aug 14, 2020•7 min
In April of 1976, three men would wander into an abandoned building, which they soon discovered to be a house of horrors. Inside of the home were the dismembered remains of a young woman, whose identity would elude investigators for the better part of two decades. This killer, who seemed to have shown no shame in committing this vile act of butchery, was eventually given a nickname fitting their savagery years later after police tied them to at least two other acts of obscene violence. Because o...
Aug 02, 2020•40 min
This bonus episode is an interview with producer Patrick Lovell, who has been working on his new true crime docu-series "The Con" for the better part of the last decade. "The Con" is centered around the 2007-2008 financial crisis, which happened as a result of widespread fraudulent activity and the collapse of the housing bubble. The story is told through the lens of Addie Polk, a 90-year-old woman from Akron, OH whose house was foreclosed upon, ultimately leading to Addie attempting to take her...
Jul 29, 2020•46 min
In December of 2015, a graduation ceremony was being held at the Colégio Nossa Senhora Maria Auxiliadora in Petrolina. 7-year-old Beatriz Mota attended the event along with her parents, Sandro and Lúcia, who were attending the graduation for two reasons: not only was Sandro a well-liked teacher at the private Catholic school, which was located right in the city center of Petrolina, but their oldest daughter (Beatriz's older sister) was graduating. As the ceremony began to wind down later that ev...
Jul 26, 2020•42 min
This is a brief preview for the tenth episode in my new series, Resolved, which is available now on Patreon. To learn more about this series - and how you can listen - consider heading to https://www.patreon.com/unresolvedpod This episode can be found at the following link: https://www.patreon.com/posts/39430057 Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/unresolved--3266604/support ....
Jul 17, 2020•6 min
In January and March of 1857, President-elect James Buchanan stayed at the National Hotel in Washington D.C. Located along the National Mall, the National - formerly known as "Gadsby's Hotel" - was the most regal lodging choice in the nation's capital at the time. Many banquets and balls were thrown in the hotel's ballroom, and it made a logical choice for Buchanan to stay there in the days leading up to his inauguration. However, what people didn't know is that during his prior stay at the Nati...
Jul 12, 2020•32 min