The Trail Went Cold

September 12, 1982. Lewiston, Idaho. 21-year old Kristina Nelson and her 18-year old stepsister, Jacqueline “Brandy” Miller, leave Kristina’s apartment, but never return. That very same night, 35-year old Steven Pearsall vanishes after being dropped off at his workplace, the Lewiston Civic Theatre, where Kristina had previously held Steven’s job as a janitor. The disappearances […]

March 18, 1950. Columbia, Missouri. 13-year old Janett Christman shows up at a married couple’s residence to spend the evening babysitting their child. When the couple returns home, they discover that Janett has been raped and strangled to death by an intruder, and the local sheriff’s department would report having received a phone call from […]

October 31, 1988. Hidalgo County, New Mexico. 29-year old David Stone, a stock market analyst from California, is seen wandering through the desert and exhibiting strange behaviour. Two days later, David’s abandoned car is discovered next to the highway, but David himself is nowhere to be found. Search efforts uncover a number of cryptic clues […]

October 27, 2016. Las Vegas, Nevada. 21-year old Sydney Land and her 20-year old boyfriend, Nehemiah “Neo” Kaufmann, are found shot to death inside Sydney’s apartment. The prime suspect is an alleged pimp named Shane Valentine, who had threatened the couple and fired a bullet into the home of Neo’s mother weeks earlier. Allegations eventually […]

January 24, 1987. Burbank, California. 35-year old Charlie Anderson, a deputy with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, returns to his suburban home with his wife and two children. He is shot to death after entering the house in what appears to be a burglary gone wrong. Over one year later, 43-year old Carol Montecalvo […]

March 26, 1993. Dublin, Ireland. 26-year old Annie McCarrick, an American-born citizen living in Ireland, leaves her apartment to travel to the Wicklow Mountains, but never returns. Even though Annie is allegedly seen in a pub that night with an unidentified man, no trace of her is ever found. Over the course of the next […]

June 19, 1984. Fernald, Ohio. 39-year old Dave Bocks shows up to work the graveyard shift at the Fernald Feed Materials Production Center, a plant which processes uranium for nuclear weapons. Dave vanishes before his shift ends and evidence soon emerges that he fell into some molten liquid inside one of the plant’s furnaces. The […]

September 11, 2001. Tioga County, New York. 35-year old Michele Harris finishes her evening shift at her workplace, but never returns home. The following morning, Michele’s abandoned minivan is discovered on a road next to the driveway of her family’s rural property. Suspicion turns towards Michele’s estranged husband, Cal Harris, as the couple are in […]

“The Trail Went Cold” is taking a break this week after a busy summer of live shows and conventions! In place of a brand new episode, please enjoy this Patreon-exclusive bonus episode from last year covering the case of Kent Heitholt. Robin covered this same case at the Ottawa Podcast Festival in August 2019. November […]

August 15, 2002. Bassett, Virginia. 50-year old Michael Short and his 36-year old wife, Mary, are found shot to death inside their home, but the couple’s nine-year old daughter, Jennifer, is missing. Over one month later, Jennifer’s remains are discovered over 30 miles away in a rural area of North Carolina and it turns out […]

April 19, 1988. Suncrest, Washington. 36-year old Doyle Wheeler, a former police officer from the San Diego Police Department, is attacked inside his home by a group of armed intruders. They force Wheeler to write a suicide note at gunpoint, hog-tie him, and fire a shot which grazes the side of his head, but he […]

October 21, 1954. Verdun, Quebec. Nine-year old Clifford Sherwood leaves for school and meets up with his 12-year old friend, George Gumbly. The two boys never arrive at school or return home and are subsequently reported missing. Clifford’s mother, Frances Sherwood, believes that her abusive ex-husband, Nephi “Tex” Sherwood, abducted Clifford and took him across […]

March 29, 1995. Somerville, Massachusetts. 17-year old Deanna Cremin spends the evening with her boyfriend, Tommy LeBlanc, but fails to return home. The following morning, Deanna’s body is found behind a senior housing complex and she has been sexually assaulted and strangled to death. According to Tommy, he had walked Deanna halfway to her house […]

July 10, 1958. Monterey County, California. 26-year old First Lieutenant Paul Whipkey leaves Fort Ord, the Army base where he is stationed. When he fails to return, he is declared AWOL before being declared a “deserter” 30 days later. Five weeks after he went missing, Whipkey’s abandoned car is discovered nearly 500 miles away in […]

April 26, 1980. St. Kilda, Australia. 43-year old Louise Faulkner and her two-year old daughter, Charmian Faulkner, are seen climbing into a car driven by an older man. Louise had told a neighbour she was planning to visit her boyfriend at his farm, but she does not return and both Louise and her daughter are […]

April 30, 1991. Santa Clara County, California. After spending the night in downtown San Jose with his friend, Jean, 36-year old Dick Hansen notices that he is being watched by a man in a car. When Dick and Jean leave the city in their respective vehicles, they are followed by this man for over ten […]

January 19, 1944. Chicago, Illinois. 54-year old Adele Born Williams returns to her eighth-floor suite at the Drake Hotel alongside her daughter, Patricia Goodbody. A woman dressed in black suddenly emerges from the bathroom and fires a shot into Adele’s head before fleeing the scene and Adele dies the following day. To everyone’s surprise, one […]

August 23, 2009. Gladwyne, Pennsylvania. 29-year old Toni Lee Sharpless attends a party with her friend, Crystal Johns, but when Toni becomes intoxicated and starts displaying erratic behaviour, both she and Crystal are asked to leave. While driving away, the two friends get into an argument which leads to Crystal being kicked out of the […]

August 4, 1992. Houston, Texas. While working her shift as a waitress at a strip club, 23-year old Tara Breckenridge volunteers to go home early. Tara leaves at around 12:30 AM, but when she fails to return to her apartment by morning, Tara’s boyfriend, Wayne Hecker, goes searching for her. Wayne soon discovers Tara’s abandoned […]

February 19, 1971. Sumter County, Florida. The body of a young woman is found floating beneath a bridge in Lake Panasoffkee. She has been strangled to death with a belt, but in spite of some intriguing clues, the victim cannot be identified and is named “Little Miss Panasoffkee”. Four decades later, investigators explore the possibly […]