The Trail Went Cold

December 7, 1958. Portland, Oregon. 54-year old Kenneth Martin, his 48-year old wife Barbara and their three daughters – 14-year old Barbie, 12-year old Virginia and 10-year old Susan – leave their home in their station wagon to take a trip to the Columbia River Gorge. When the family fails to return, they are reported […]

February 14, 1986. Sugar Land, Texas. 43-year old insurance agent Stephen Geri phones the mother of his 33-year old wife, Marilu Geri, and asks her to visit Marilu at their house to help her prepare for a party. When Marilu’s mother arrives, she discovers that her daughter has been shot four times. Since there were […]

December 1, 1987. Chicago, Illinois. While speaking with his mother on the phone, 39-year old Charles Southern shares his plans about taking a trip to India. After not hearing from him for weeks, Charles’ parents check his house and discover he is missing, but they find what appears to be a Last Will and Testament […]

May 20, 1982. Kendall, Florida. A fire breaks out at the home of 30-year old Ezzat Aboul-Hosn and a badly burned body is found pinned underneath a car inside his garage. The body is tentatively identified as Ezzat and after it is determined that a leaky fuel line caused the fire, his death is ruled […]

February 8, 2002. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. After closing up the bar she manages and drinking at various clubs in the downtown area, 33-year old Jamie Stickle drives back home to her apartment. Shortly thereafter, Jamie’s Jeep Wrangler is found engulfed in flames near her front door and her badly burned body is in the driver’s seat. […]

May 16, 1987. Denver, Colorado. After a collision with another vehicle, the unidentified driver of a pick-up truck runs away from the accident scene. Police discover that the man was registered at a local motel under the name “Larry Monroe” and the truck is registered to a 55-year old California resident named Don Smith. Five […]

Since “The Trail Went Cold” originally launched in February 2016, we have featured over 200 unsolved cold cases on the podcast, but a decent number of these cases have either wound up being solved or had some significant developments take place. Examples include the disappearance of Pamela Butler, the murder of Jodine Serrin, the disappearance […]

December 19, 1959. Osprey, Florida. After spending the day running errands and visiting a family friend, 25-year old Cliff Walker, his 24-year old wife Christine, and their two children, three-year old Jimmie and 23-month old Debbie, head back to their rural home in separate vehicles. The following morning, the family’s bodies are discovered inside their […]

December 17, 2006. Sydney, Australia. After spending the day with her family, 25-year old Katrina Ploy drives away from her parents’ house. Hours later, Katrina’s abandoned car and some of her possessions are found next to an oceanside cliff known as “The Gap”, but Katrina herself is missing. Katrina’s body is found floating in Sydney […]

December 27, 1928. Orrville, Ohio. Four-year old Melvin Horst leaves his home to play in the neighbourhood with friends, but never returns and a search of the area fails to turn up any trace of him. Over the course of the next two years, a number of different suspects would be arrested after allegations surface […]

February 10, 1990. Las Cruces, New Mexico. A pair of armed gunmen enter a bowling alley called the Las Cruces Bowl and bring everyone inside into the manager’s office. After stealing money from the safe, the assailants fire several bullets into seven people before fleeing the scene. Three of the victims – 33-year old Ida […]

March 5, 1974. Coconut Grove, Florida. 17-year old Amy Billig phones her father from her home and arranges to meet him at his workplace in order to borrow money to have lunch with friends. Amy is last seen hitchhiking next to a highway, but she never shows up to meet her father or her friends […]

July 28, 2013. Newtown, Connecticut. 50-year old Robert “Hoagy” Hoagland is last seen mowing the lawn outside his house. The following day, his wife, Lori, returns from a trip to Turkey, but Hoagy fails to pick her up at the airport as scheduled. When Lori returns home, she discovers that her husband is missing and […]

April 9, 1947. Woodward, Oklahoma. Four-year old Joan Gay Croft is taken to the local hospital after an F5 tornado devastates her hometown and takes the lives of over 100 people, including her mother. While Joan Gay and her half-sister are recovering from injuries in the basement, two men show up and take her away. […]

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 […]