Synopsis
Trace Evidence is a weekly true crime podcast that focuses on unsolved cases, from chilling murders to missing persons. Join host Steven Pacheco as he examines each case, diving deep into the evidence and exploring the theories which revolve around them. For each unsolved case, there are the victims and their families, who want answers and the abductors and murders who hide the truth.Visit www.trace-evidence.com for more information.
Episodes
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176 - The Disappearance of Darla Harper - Part 2
06/10/2021 Duration: 01h09min***Sponsored by: Better Help! Visit BetterHelp.com/Trace for 10% off your first month today! | SimpliSafe! Visit SimpliSafe.com/Trace to save 20% on your entire new system and your first month of monitoring service FREE!***Twenty-five year old single mother Darla Harper mysteriously vanished from her apartment one winter night. After months of searching and years of investigation, police were no closer to locating the missing woman.Then, during a court hearing regarding custody of the couple's daughter, accusations about Darla having been killed by her estranged husband were raised. Confronted about claims that Darla was buried on his property, Barry Harper challenged investigators to look for themselves.Police were now faced with the possibility that Darla's disappearance might not have been a random crime executed by a trio of unknown suspects, but perhaps, a plot executed by her ex-husband, a man with over a hundred thousand reasons to want her gone.FB: https://www.facebook.com/TraceEvidencePod/IG: ht
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175 -The Disappearance of Darla Harper - Part 1
25/09/2021 Duration: 01h14min***Sponsored by: Upstart! Visit Upstart.com/Trace to begin eliminating your debt today!***One month before her divorce was set to be finalized, twenty-five year old Darla Harper mysteriously vanished. After leaving her husband, Darla had moved into a nearby apartment with the couples' two year old daughter. On a quiet, Tuesday night, Darla said goodbye to a friend and was never seen again.The next morning police found a smear of blood on her apartment door and inside was her daughter, having been left alone for hours. A neighbor reported hearing strange noises the night before but no one had seen what happened to the twenty-five year old.Investigators launched a massive search trying to locate the missing woman. When they located her car they discovered the vehicle was caked with mud and there was blood inside and out. The question quickly became: had Darla been the victim of a stranger abduction or had someone specifically targeted her, believing they had something to gain from her absence?FB: https:
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174 - The Murder of Coe Paisley
17/09/2021 Duration: 01h13min***Sponsored by: BetterHelp! Visit BetterHelp.com/Trace to save 10% off your first month! | Acorn TV! To get your first thirty days free, visit Acorn.tv and use promo code trace ! | Zoc Doc! Visit ZocDoc.com/TRACE to sign up for free!***Coe Paisley had been putting things together. After opening her own law practice she'd finally purchased a home; her first home all for herself. Over the course of several weeks the twenty-nine year old had construction crews in and out making repairs to the seventy year old structure. Now, all that was left, was painting.Coe took the challenge upon herself, spending free time between work and family, tucked into her new house dragging the brush along the walls. Then, one quiet Wednesday afternoon, she pulled into her driveway, walked inside and found herself face to face with a killer.Coe's sister discovered her beaten body, she was barely clinging to life. Air lifting her to a nearby hospital, doctors word hard to save the woman's life but it was to no avail. Just
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173 - The Vanishing of Charles and Catherine Romer
11/09/2021 Duration: 01h16min***Sponsored by: BetterHelp! Visit BetterHelp.com/Trace to save 10% off your first month! | SimpliSafe! Get 20% off your entire new system and your first month of monitoring free at SimpliSafe.com/Trace ***Charles and Catherine Romer had spent their winter in Florida, but were preparing to head home to New York. For the next few days they planned to cover 1,400 miles in four days. It was a trip they'd made dozens of times before but this time would be different. Just one day in and they would mysteriously vanish.After checking into a hotel room in Brunswick, Georgia, the couple seemingly disappeared along with their car, a customized 1979 Lincoln Continental. By the time anyone realized something was wrong no one had seen or heard from the Romers for four days. Investigators were starting with a major disadvantage, and it was going to get worse.Despite launching the largest search in the history of southern Georgia not a single trace of the couple could be found. They had vanished along with their ca
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172 - The Aqueduct - Wells Fargo Robbery
03/09/2021 Duration: 01h03min***Sponsored by: SimpliSafe! Visit SimpliSafe.com/Trace to save 20% on your SimpliSafe Security System and get your first month FREE! | Best Fiends! Download this fun match 3 mobile puzzle game FREE on the App Store or Google Play!***On a chilly, fall afternoon in 1969 a red armored car moved quickly through the busy streets of Brooklyn. Pulling over for an impromptu lunch break, three guards began their rotation. One after the next they'd go to a nearby deli, grab a sandwich and head back to the truck. Then, as the last guard approached, three armed men appeared and forced him inside.Cuffing the guards together and disarming them, the thieves drove the truck a few blocks over to where they had a getaway car waiting. In less than five minutes the three assailants drove off with more than one million dollars making it the second largest cash heist in American history, to that point.. By the time police arrived on the scene the robbers were long gone.Investigators struggled with a series of unanswered q
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171 - The Murder of Justin Turner - Part 2
27/08/2021 Duration: 01h06min***Sponsored by: Upstart! Visit Upstart.com/Trace to begin eliminating your debt today! | BetterHelp! Visit BetterHelp.com/Trace to save 10% off your first month!***Five year old Justin Turner vanished on a Friday morning in March of 1989. Two days of searches organized and led by the Berkeley County Sheriff’s Department turned up no trace of the missing child. Investigators began to theorize that the boy had been abducted while making his way to the bus stop until, early on the third day, his body was discovered in a location that was supposed to have already been searched.While the focus of the investigation turned to Justin's stepmother, disputes between investigators and the coroner's office as well as the solicitor's office were sighted as hindering the case. Laws protecting spouses from testifying against one another were changed and a very public battle about the circumstantial nature of the evidence drew criticism from all sides.Now, thirty-two years later, the case is in the hands of cold case
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170 - The Murder of Justin Turner - Part 1
21/08/2021 Duration: 59min***Sponsored by Canva Pro! Visit Canva.me/Trace to get a FREE 45 day extended trial! | Zoc Doc! Visit ZocDoc.com/TRACE to sign up for free!***Five year old Justin Turner said goodbye to his stepmother and headed off for the bus stop. It wouldn't be until hours later that she discovered the little boy never made it to the bus that day. As investigators arrived to begin searching for the child, it seemed like he'd been abducted sometime after leaving the house.However, on the third day of searching, a grisly discovery was made. Justin's body was found not in a far away location, not in the woods or in a field, but in a trailer camper in his own backyard. What really confused police was; how did Justin end up in a location that had already been searched?As the investigation progressed, focus began closing in around Justin's family. Had the little boy been the victim of a random, violent attacker, or was it more likely that someone in his own house knew more than they were telling?FB: https://www.facebook.
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169 - The Murder of Iva Tice
13/08/2021 Duration: 57min***Sponsored by: AcornTV! Visit Acorn.TV and use promo code trace to get your first 30 days for free! | Better Help! Visit BetterHelp.com/Trace to get 10% off your first month!***Seventy-nine year old Iva Tice was worried about her husband after he suffered a stroke. Staying alone in their Allentown home, Iva made sure to visit the hospital every afternoon to be with him. Then, one afternoon, she never showed up. When no one could reach Iva, the Allentown police performed a welfare check and made a grisly discovery.Iva had been killed in the bedroom of her home sometime during the night. The killer had used both an iron fireplace poker and a large carving knife to commit the horrifying crime. At the time investigators theorized that Iva had come upon an intruder in the process of a robbery but as additional evidence was collected it soon became a question of whether the crime was random or if Iva had been targeted by a killer, perhaps even someone she may have known.FB: https://www.facebook.com/Trac
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168 - Kelly Moriarty and Doris Carter
07/08/2021 Duration: 01h30min***Sponsored by: Freshly! Visit Freshly.com/Trace to save $40 off your first two orders | Best Fiends! Download and play today from the App Store or Google Play | Upstart! Visit Upstart.com/Trace to begin eliminating your debt today | SimpliSafe! Visit SimpliSafe.com/Trace for a free security camera and a 60 day free trial | BetterHelp! Visit BetterHelp.com/Trace to save 10% off your first month!***Two days after Christmas a family, vacationing in St. Petersburg, FL, made the grisly discovery of a human leg washed up on the shore. Investigators conducted searches of the bay as well as the coastline but never located any other remains or evidence. For more than three months, that leg would remain unidentified until investigators began making ties across county lines.Thirty-eight year old Kelly Moriarty and her girlfriend, sixty-one year old Doris "Pat" Carter hadn't been seen in more than a month by the time they were reported. Quickly investigators from St. Petersburg, Manatee County, Hillsborough Co
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167 - The Murder of Stephen Sandlin
24/07/2021 Duration: 02h03min***Sponsored by: Hooked on Phonics! Visit HookedOnPhonics.com/Trace to get your first month for just one dollar! | Canva Pro! Visit Canva.me/Trace to get a FREE 45 day extended trial! | Zoc Doc! Visit ZocDoc.com/TRACE to sign up for free!***All of his life Stephen Sandlin wanted to be a police officer. Growing up the son of a cop, Stephen looked up to his father and wanted to follow in his footsteps. At the age of twenty-one one Stephen realized his dream, but less than two months later, he would be violent killed in the line of duty.On the evening of Saturday, May 7th, 1988, Officer Sandlin was found lying in a pool of blood on the floor of the Mountainair, NM police department, the victim of a single gunshot wound to the head. Initially investigators believed the wound might have been self-inflicted, but multiple investigations would raise a series of disturbing questions.Was Stephen Sandlin's murder related to a recent drug bust? Was it connected to an investigation into accusations made against th
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166 - The Vanishing of Regina Brown - Part 2
15/07/2021 Duration: 01h30min***Sponsored by: Better Help! Visit BetterHelp.com/Trace to save 10% off your first month! | Acorn TV! Visit Acorn.tv and use code trace to get your first 30 days for FREE! | SimpliSafe! Visit SimpliSafe.com/Trace to receive a FREE camera and a 60 day risk free trial!***Thirty-five year old Regina Brown put her youngest child on a plan to Texas, to stay with her family. She was setting a plan in motion, one which would allow her follow her child, to escape the constant fear and worry she suffered under. Moments later, Regina stepped out of the airport and vanished.Over the next thirty-four years the investigation would stop and start as phone calls initiated a massive search, court testimony indicated a world of pain and horror for the young mother of three and the discovery of new evidence reinvigorated the search for justice.Regina Brown has been missing for nearly as many years as she was known to be alive and her children are now older than she was when she vanished in 1987. Many questions remain,
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165 - The Vanishing of Regina Brown
10/07/2021 Duration: 01h16min***Sponsored by: Candid! Visit CandidCO.com/Trace and use code TRACE to save $75 on your starter kit! | Best FIENDS - Download it for FREE from the App Store or Google Play | SimpliSafe! Visit SimpliSafe.com/Trace to receive a FREE camera and a 60 day risk free trial!***In the Winter of 1986 the world was captivated by the disappearance of Danish flight attendant Helle Crafts. Police would eventually arrest and charge her husband, pilot Richard Crafts for her grisly murder in what became known as the "Wood Chipper Murder." However, while all eyes were fixed on the Crafts, an eerily similar case was developing just down the road.Thirty-five year old Regina Brown mysteriously vanished after being seen at New York's LaGuardia airport. Much like Helle Crafts, she too was a flight attendant and mother of three married to a pilot. She lived less than three miles from the Crafts, in Newtown, Connecticut, and vanished just four months after Helle.Yet there were no major headlines for Regina, without the headli
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164 - The Murder of Russell Bean
03/07/2021 Duration: 01h23min***Sponsored by: Poshmark! Download the Poshmark App today and use invite code TRACEEVIDENCE to save $10 on your first order! | BetterHelp! Visit BetterHelp.com/Trace for 10% off your first month | Hooked on Phonics! Visit HookedOnPhonics.com/Trace to get your first month for just one dollar!***In the Fall of 1978, twenty-five year old Russell Bean mysteriously vanished from a small New Hampshire town. He left behind a wife, children, siblings and a mother. For a long, dark decade, Russell's fate remained a mystery until a dramatic confession changed everything.In early March of 1988, a woman went to the police and relayed a story told by her father less than a week before his death. Her story suggested the location of a body and when police arrived they were shocked to discover Russell Bean had never left New Hampshire, but had been buried right beneath their noses.The land belonged to Robert Chambers, a long-time resident, part-time police chief, Russell's former best friend and the man his wife next
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163 - Bill and Kay Wood
26/06/2021 Duration: 01h02min***Sponsored by Unidragon Puzzles! Visit Unidragon.com and use promo code TRACE to save 10% today! | Candid! Visit CandidCO.com/Trace and use code TRACE to save $75 on your starter kit! | Canva Pro! Visit Canva.me/Trace to get a FREE 45 day extended trial!***James William "Bill" Wood Kaidena Lozelle "Kay" Wood had just celebrated their third wedding anniversary. Each had lived long, good lives building their own families and only united them when Bill was 77 and Kay was 60. For three long years they were in love and spent time with their families and enjoying their hobbies of antiquing and country music.Just two weeks later a massive fire broke out at the home they shared together. When firefighters were able to sift through the rubble they discovered Bill's body, but his cause of death was not what they had expected. Bill had been shot prior to the fire, which is believed to have been arson. What became of Kay, no one knew for sure as she mysteriously vanished.Over the course of the next ten years in
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The Mysterious Death of Edgar Allan Poe [Laryngitis Bonus]
18/06/2021 Duration: 01h13min***Sponsored by: Better Help! Visit BetterHelp.com/Trace for 10% off your first month! | Unidragon Puzzles! Visit Unidragon.com and use promo code TRACE to save 10% today! | Poshmark! Download the app today and save 10% using invite code: TraceEvidence***Due to laryngitis, this is a previously recorded Patreon exclusive episode. Famed author Edgar Allan Poe was a master of mystery and fear. He wrote suspense stories, beautiful poems and created the modern detective story along the way. His mysteries were compelling and captivating, but perhaps none so much as the circumstances surrounding his death.In today's episode we examine Poe's life, love, loss and death trying to get to the heart of what led to one of the world's greatest writers dying in such a bizarre and confusing fashion.FB: https://www.facebook.com/TraceEvidencePod/IG: https://www.instagram.com/traceevidencepod/TW: https://twitter.com/TraceEvPodVisit https://www.trace-evidence.com for more information, case photos, contact information and
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162 - The Disappearance of Mary Opitz - Part 2
11/06/2021 Duration: 56min***Sponsored by: BEST FIENDS. Download today in the Apple App store or Google Play! | Unidragon Puzzles! Visit Unidragon.com and use promo code TRACE to save 10% today!***In this week's conclusion we pick up with investigators turning their attention towards known killers who were active in Florida during the time that Mary Opitz vanished. After a brutal and violent spree ending with his death, Christopher Wilder becomes a prime focus for police and the possibility of his involvement is weighed.Forty years later, questions remain without answers. Are the disappearance of Mary Opitz and the murder of Mary Hare directly linked, or could there have been two separate but similar crimes committed from out of the same parking lot. In Part 2 we delve into all of the theories surrounding these cases and how one may tie into the other.FB: https://www.facebook.com/TraceEvidencePod/IG: https://www.instagram.com/traceevidencepod/TW: https://twitter.com/TraceEvPodVisit https://www.trace-evidence.com for more inform
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161 - The Disappearance of Mary Opitz - Part 1
04/06/2021 Duration: 56min***Sponsored by: Better Help! Visit BetterHelp.com/Trace for 10% off your first month! | SimpliSafe! Visit SimpliSafe.com/Trace for a free camera and 60 day free trial!***Vote for Trace Evidence in the Quite the Podcast Awards: https://quitethethingmedia.com/awards-voting/It was a chilly Friday night, by Florida standards, when seventeen year old Mary Opitz took a trip to the Edison Mall with her mother and brother. Less than an hour later she would mysteriously vanish from the parking lot, leaving no trace behind. Investigators at the time believed she had runaway, and would soon return.One month later, when eighteen year old Mary Hare vanished from the same parking lot, and nearly the same parking space, it became clear that something more sinister was at play. The vital hours lost in the early days of Mary Opitz's disappearance may have been just the space the assailant needed to strike again.FB: https://www.facebook.com/TraceEvidencePod/IG: https://www.instagram.com/traceevidencepod/TW: https://twit
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160 - The Disappearance of Shirley McKeown
28/05/2021 Duration: 01h03min***Sponsored by: Hooked on Phonics! Visit HookedOnPhonics.com/Trace to get your first month for just one dollar! | Headspace! Visit HeadSpace.com/Trace for a FREE one month trial! | Candid! Visit CandidCO.com/Trace to save $75 on Candid's starter kit! | BetterHelp! Visit BetterHelp.com/Trace for 10% off your first month!***Seventy-one year old Shirley McKeown left home early on the morning of Saturday, August 24th, 2002. Her destination was just seven miles across town, her daughter's new house, where painters were working. It should have been a quick trip, but Shirley never arrived.Within twenty-four hours she was reported missing, but she had seemingly vanished without a trace. It wouldn't be until ten days later when her car was found that investigators knew something terrible had happened.The backseat was soaked in blood, enough to show that someone had been mortally wounded. While detectives would be lead towards two persons of interest Shirley's fate, and location, have never been discove
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159 - The I-40 Hit-and-Run Murder
13/05/2021 Duration: 01h15min***Sponsored by: SimpliSafe! Visit SimpliSafe.com/Trace for a free camera and 60 day free trial!BestFiends! Download the amazing matching puzzle game today in the App store or Google Play***Four high school friends decide to a Friday afternoon doing some last minute Christmas shopping. Kenneth Dungee, Levern Allen III, Darius Bannerman and Kenneth Newkirk were excited about the 90 minute trip, never imagining that only three of them would make it home.Driving along I-40, an unknown man emerged in a blue, Monte Carlo. After aggressively tailgating the teens, he began ramming their car. A fun outing quickly became a nightmarish fight for survival until, finally, the assailant succeeded in forcing them off the road where the car flipped down an embankment.Kenneth Dungee was dead and Levern Allen had his leg amputated while Darius Bannerman and Kenneth Newkirk survived with minor injuries. The killer then stopped, surveying the carnage, before speeding off into the unknown.Had this been a random incident o
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158 - The Disappearance of Regina Bos
06/05/2021 Duration: 01h11min***Sponsored by: Better Help! Visit BetterHelp.com/Trace to save 10% off your first month.Headspace! Visit Headspace.com/Trace for a free one month trial!***Regina Marie Bos' life was beginning to come around. After struggling for several years and an exceptionally difficult Summer she'd gotten a promotion, had a house in the works and was dating a new guy. One cool, October night, the talented singer went out to a bar in Lincoln, Nebraska to participate in an open mic night and never made it home.Her car was left exactly where she'd parked, directly across the street from the bar. There were no signs of a struggle, no pieces of evidence, nothing to suggest what might have happened. Perhaps the most disturbing detail for her family was the condition of her beloved guitar, left behind in her car's open trunk. Something Gina never would have done, if she'd had a choice.Bizarrely, the forty year old mother of three vanished from a city street, just yards from the bar where employees were closing up and b