Trace Evidence

Twenty-three year old Nancy Argentino had left her life in Brooklyn behind to hit the road with her new boyfriend, wrestler Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka. It was a whirlwind romance that would ultimately end in violence.After a violent incident involving police in January of 1983, Nancy's family begged her to stay home and avoid Snuka. Unfortunately, Nancy did not heed their advice and went back with Snuka. Just four months later in May of 1983, Nancy was rushed to a hospital in Allentown, Pennsylvania where she later died as the result of head trauma.Snuka alleged that Nancy had fallen and hit her head, though this was contradicted by the official autopsy report and the fact that Snuka gave more than six different stories of what happened that night. Snuka walked and was not charged, though why no one could ever explain.Over the course of the next thirty years, rumors and speculation ran rampant about what may have happened. Finally, after thirty two years, Snuka was charged with murder but would never stand t

On September 14th, 2007, fourteen year old Andrew Gosden pretended to go to school, waited for his parents to leave and then snuck back in. He packed a few items, changed his clothes, pulled all the money he could from an ATM and hopped on a train to London. By the time his family knew he was gone he’d been missing for hours. When it was discovered that Andrew had gone to London, no one could imagine why. The brilliant math student with perfect attendance had suddenly broken away from his normal life and disappeared into the busy streets. For twelve years now his family and investigators have had two questions: Why did Andrew leave and where did he end up?In a case that has captured the attention of millions, and a teenager whose face has been seen coast to coast across the UK and the world at large, so many questions remain and so few answers have been found.What happened to Andrew Gosden, why did he leave and is it possible he's still out there somewhere?For more information please visit: https://www.t

On December 20th, 1976, a fourteen year old boy made a horrifying discovery along the banks of the Lehigh River in Pennsylvania. The body of an unidentified woman was found, severely mutilated and stuffed into three separate suit cases which had been thrown from the i80 interstate, some three hundred feet above.For the past forty-three years, the victim, known only as Carbon County Beth Doe, has remained unidentified and her killer has never been located. Making it even more horrifying was the discovery that, at the time of her death, Beth Doe was nine months pregnant. The crime was committed in an atrocious manner, and for many, the case will forever haunt them. Who killed and mutilated Beth, and for what reason? Was it a chance encounter, someone she knew or perhaps even a member of her own family?For more information please visit: https://www.trace-evidence.comhttps://www.patreon.com/traceevidence Social Media:https://twitter.com/TraceEvPodhttps://www.instagram.com/traceevidencepod/https://www.faceboo

Four year old Nyleen Kay Marshall was excited to attend a multi-family picnic with her family in the Helena National Forest on Saturday, June 25th, 1983. She had no way of knowing she wouldn’t be coming home.Sometime that afternoon, Nyleen was separated from the children she was playing with and witnessed speaking to an unidentified male. She then vanished without a trace.For the next forty years, investigators and family worked the case trying to discover what became of the child. In the mid 1980s a man alleged to have taken Nyleen and to be raising her as his own child, but his identity was never discovered.What happened to Nyleen Marshall and is it possible she is still out there somewhere unaware of her true identity?Visit this week's sponsor: www.ohmygut.info/PODCASTUse promo code TRACE19 for 10% off a standard pass to CrimeCon! Visit CrimeCon.com to register now.For more information please visit: https://www.trace-evidence.comhttps://www.patreon.com/traceevidence Social Media:https://twitter.com/Tr

Fourteen year old Laureen Rahn had the apartment all to herself. Her mother, Judith, was out with her boyfriend and with spring break kicking off, Laureen decided to invite a few friends over.When Judith arrived home, sometime after midnight, something was wrong. All of the lights in the apartment building hallways were off and she found her front door unlocked. Checking over the apartment, the back door was both unlocked and open. She looked into Laureen's room and saw a figure sleeping in her bed. Unfortunately, this turned out to be Laureen's friend and she had no idea where Laureen could have gone.Over the course of the next forty years speculation has run rampant while evidence has been in short supply. What became of Laureen Rahn, was she abducted by a stranger and trafficked or perhaps lured out by someone she knew and trusted?Use promo code TRACE19 for 10% off a standard pass to CrimeCon! Visit CrimeCon.com to register now.For more information please visit: https://www.trace-evidence.comhttps:

Twelve year old Jaliek Rainwalker had lived a difficult life. Born to a drug addicted mother, and suffering from developmental issues as a result, the child bounced through multiple foster homes before finally being adopted.Stephen Kerr and Jocelyn McDonald adopted Jaliek, and it seemed like everything was going to turn around for the child. Unfortunately, after an outburst, things went south and the family wanted to reverse the adoption. In hopes of taking some time away, Jaliek was sent to a respite home.When Jaliek's father, Stephen, picked him up no one knew this would be the last time he'd ever be seen. While Kerr and McDonald allege that Jaliek had run away, authorities disagreed and after finding multiple holes in the official story, Kerr became a person of interest.What became of Jaliek Rainwalker, did the child choose to run away or does someone he knew and trusted know exactly where he is?This episode is sponsored by Green Chef. Visit GreenChef.us/Trace to save $50 on your first box today!Use p

Eighty-one year old Bob Harrod was experiencing something that usually only happens in movies. After nearly sixty years apart, he had reunited with his first love, Fontelle, and they had gotten married. While his new wife returned to Missouri to pack her belongings, Bob had a lot he wanted to get done at his home in California before his new bride returned.On July 26th, Bob had a meeting with his three daughters. The point of the gathering was to discuss their inheritance and the family trust. Reportedly, the conversation didn't go well and things got heated, but eventually cooled down. Strangely, just twenty-four hours later, Bob would vanish.Two days before Fontelle was set to return, Bob went missing from his home. In the ten years since, little if any evidence has been uncovered. A feud broke out between Bob's daughters and Fontelle, with the family believing she was a gold digger and Fontelle believing that Bob's own children may have succumbed to their greed and done something terrible. What hap

Seventeen year old Danny Goldman was a senior at Miami Beach High School approaching both graduation and his eighteenth birthday. A smart young man from a well to do family who split his days between repairing electronics and spending time with his girlfriend. The future offered so many possibilities.Sadly, Danny wouldn't see that future. On March 28th, the day before his eighteenth birthday, an unknown gunman entered the family home and demanded $10,000. When they didn't have that cash in the house, the man took Danny with him and said he'd call later to arrange a ransom. The man never called and Danny was never seen again.The initial investigation didn't discover much and soon the case began growing cold and fading from the spotlight. It wouldn't be until 46 years later than a team of volunteer investigators would break open incredible information suggesting that Danny's abduction may had connections to the mafia under Santo Trafficante, a corrupt Sheriff's department and even Danny's own girlfriend's

Christian Ferguson was born with a life threatening disorder and nearly died in his first three days. Once the doctors were able to diagnose him, treatment was assigned and it was believed Christian could live a normal, healthy life.Following his parents divorce, and a bitter dispute in court, Christian's father, Dawan T. Ferguson was granted full custody while his mother, Theda, has visitation. Theda filed multiple claims against Dawan for neglect and child abuse, though these were never proven and the court did not accept them.In 2001, Christian suffered a setback in which his condition worsened and he seized and fell into a coma. He suffered severe brain damage which inhibited his abilities and required full time supervision and care. While multiple nurses noted poor conditions at his home, Christian remained with his father.In June of 2003, Theda won a court case in which she proved Dawan was denying her visitation. Dawan was ordered to give Theda back visitation starting on June 14th, but sadly, Chr

Twenty-seven year old David Cox had served four years in the Marine Corps and was now living with his girlfriend back in his home state of Massachusetts. While the transition had been a struggle, things were beginning to look up.The release of the film "A Few Good Men" impacted David strongly as it was closely based on an incident in which he had been involved during his time as a Marine stationed at Guantanamo Bay. David was angry, feeling that he and his fellow Marines had been mis-represented and depicted as murderers.On the morning of January 5th, David was eagerly awaiting a call about a job. When his girlfriend called home at noon, there was no answer. She called again an hour later, but again there was no answer. Upon arriving home she found David gone, his keys in the ignition of his truck and no sign or indication of where he could have went.For three months David was missing until a man canoeing down the Charles River discovered his remains. He had been shot four times and left in the wilderne

Thirty-five year old Deanne Hastings was finally putting her life back together. After a long battle with bi-polar, a divorce and time spent in an in-patient treatment facility she was back on the rise. She was in love, enrolled in school, looking forward to the future and excited to establish stronger relationships with her children.Living with her fiance, Mike Tibbets, in Spokane, Washington, life just seemed to be back on the right track. However, on the night of November 3rd, 2015, Mike returned home to an empty house. He found a note from Deanne explaining that she'd be running to the store and she'd be back soon. She didn't return and as hours passed, Mike began trying to track her down.Deanne's car was found in a parking lot, locked up. He purse and cell phone were inside, though her license and credit cards were not. Over the course of the next thirty-six hours, Mike will stake out the car, print up fliers, try to track his fiancee down and run into multiple people who believe they'd seen her.

Fifty-nine year old Ray Gricar had worked as the Centre County District Attorney for nearly twenty years. Having given most of his life to law, he decided that this would be his last term and in January of 2006 he was set to retire... but Ray would go missing nine months before his last day in office.On April 15th, 2005 Ray decided to skip work and to go for a drive down to Lewisburg, a quiet little town some fifty miles away. He had been there often, and enjoyed visiting the local antique stores. On this particular day, though, Ray never came back.After being out of contact for twelve hours, Ray's girlfriend, Patty, contacted police who immediately began searching for Ray. Nothing would be found until the next day when his vehicle was discovered in a parking lot in Lewisburg. The car smelled of smoke, and there were cigarette butts outside, but Ray was not a smoker.The deeper law enforcement probed into the case, the more questions they had. When they discovered that Ray's county issued laptop was miss

Twenty-six year old Paula Sladewski was making plans. After several attempts at a modeling career, leading to some success, she wanted to get back in the game and see what could happen. She hoped to start moving on her plan after she returned from her New Years Eve trip, but unfortunately, Paula would never make it back.Along with her boyfriend, Kevin, Paula flew to Miami, Florida to see a New Year's Eve concert, after which the couple planned to spend a few days on south beach before heading home. They'd had their problems in the past, but somehow, the couple had always found their way through it. The concert went well, and things were moving smoothly until the morning of January 3rd, 2010.Paula and Kevin attended Club Space, a nightlife hotspot in North Miami. After a few hours of drinking and dancing, Kevin tried to get Paula to leave but she wanted to stay. Kevin was ultimately thrown out of the club and took a cab back to their hotel room. Paula exited shortly after, was engaged in conversation by

Twenty-eight Niqui McCown was a loving mother and sister. She was eagerly anticipating her upcoming wedding in August of 2001. However, just three weeks before she was to be married, on July 22nd, Niqui went to a local laundromat and was never seen again.In the weeks following her disappearance, Niqui's fiance became a person of interest, and then the father of her daughter and, finally a former co-worker with a violent streak. Despite theories and suspicions, no evidence could be found to pin the crime on any particular person.Three months later, Niqui's vehicle was discovered abandoned in a parking lot and through investigation, law enforcement was able to make connections between her disappearance and one of the person's of interest, who would later become the subject of an unrelated homicide investigation. However, before police can move in, a shocking twist brings the entire investigation to a halt.What happened to Niqui McCown and will we ever know the truth?Join host Steven Pacheco as he examines t

Thirty-two year old Brandy Hanna had recently gotten out of a six year long relationship. Having lived with her fiancé, Ray McAdams, she couldn't help but develop feelings for a friend, Zeke Lankford. The situation became complicated and ultimately Brandy moved out, choosing to find an apartment to rent with Zeke.Just weeks after leaving Ray, Zeke told Brandy that he was leaving her. The young woman was now living alone, in an apartment in a bad part of town that her mother, Donna, didn't want her staying in. Brandy decided to use this alone time to put her head straight and figure out what she wanted to do.On Friday, May 20th, 2005, Brandy worked the morning shift at Alex's restaurant. When her mother arrived that afternoon, she headed home and planned to go out to the beach for the weekend. Brandy would never make it to the beach and instead would vanish under bizarre circumstances.The investigation would find a witness who described the man and vehicle who had arrived to pick up Brandy the night she

Thirty-six year old Susan Walsh wanted, more than anything, to be a journalist. She'd put herself through college by dancing in bars and adult clubs. It had been a rough road, and Susan struggled with addiction but when she got married and had her son, everything changed.Working alongside an acclaimed journalist, Susan was finally getting into the world she wished to explore. Assisting in the writing of an expose, and later a book, about sex workers, Susan operated as a spy, using her connections and infiltrating clubs. Unfortunately, this closeness to the scene slowly drew her back in and soon, she was off the wagon and dancing.In July of 1996, Susan asked her now estranged husband, Mark, to watch their son David while she walked down the street to use a payphone. Susan was never seen again, and her disappearance launched an investigation that scoured Northern New Jersey and Manhattan. The list of possible suspects was endless from obsessed clients, stalking ex-boyfriends, Russian mafia associates and

Twenty-four year old Amy Wroe Bechtel was putting the future together. Along with her husband, Steve, they had moved to the picturesque town of Lander, Wyoming and in the Summer of 1997, they had just closed on the purchase of their first house.On July 24th, both had the day off from work and while Steve planned to go rock climbing, Amy was going to run errands and then go running, her favorite activity. This day though, it was partially work as she was mapping out the path of a 10k she was organizing. Amy drove up into the Shoshone National Park and never returned.Steve returned home and after waiting for hours, grew worried and called the Sheriff's Department. Amy's car was discovered parked on the side of the road but there was no sign of the young woman. Amy's disappearance kicked off a massive search and rescue effort but after days of searching and yielding no results, investigators began looking at her husband.Over the next twenty-two years many theories would develop, Steve's connection to invest

Twenty-four year old Mitrice Richardson wasn't making sense. She was sending cryptic text messages and indecipherable social media posts. Her mother was concerned, and on September 16th, 2009, she received a call explaining that Mitrice had been arrested in Malibu.After speaking with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, Mitrice's mother was told her daughter wouldn't be released until the morning. With plans of picking her up the next day, her mother went to sleep. When she awoke, she was startled to discover Mitrice had been released and now, no one knew where she was.Over the course of the next year the anger between the family and Sheriff's department continued to grow as lies were uncovered and Mitrice's family felt the Sheriff's department was conducting a coverup. On August 9th, 2010, eleven months after she disappeared, Mitrice's body was recovered down a remote Canyon some six miles from the Sheriff's station. The discovery sadly confirmed that Mitrice had died, but the question of how w

Celebrating the holiday season by answering listener questions.For more information please visit: https://www.trace-evidence.comhttps://www.patreon.com/traceevidence Social Media:https://twitter.com/TraceEvPodhttps://www.instagram.com/traceevidencepod/https://www.facebook.com/groups/traceevidencepodMusic Courtesy of: "Lost Time" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Nineteen year old Brandon Swanson had just completed his first year of college. Planning to spend his evening celebrating with friends, Brandon drove from his home in Marshall, MN to two separate gatherings. After leaving the second, near midnight, Brandon made the choice to take back roads rather than the faster and easier route of Highway 68.While driving on gravel back roads, Brandon got his car stuck in a ditch. Calling his parents for help, Brandon gave them directions to come and pick him up but when they arrived, neither Brandon nor his car were anywhere to be found. It wouldn't be until later that Brandon's parents would learn their son was actually twenty-five miles away from where he had thought.During a 47 minute phone call with his father, Brandon explained that he saw lights and was going to walk toward them. At some point, during the call, Brandon screamed out an expletive and the phone went dead. Neither Brandon, his phone or any shred of evidence has ever been found to explain what may h