The Trail Went Cold

December 18, 1979. Moline, Illinois. 30-year old Cody James and 30-year old Gary Harker leave Gary’s woodcarving shop in Cody’s pick-up truck in order to make a delivery and collect some money, but they never return and the truck is later found abandoned across the state line in Davenport, Iowa. Four months after the disappearances, the pick-up is sold off at a police auction, but the new owners a...

December 23, 1988. Orange County, North Carolina. A quartet of friends – 19-year old Kenneth Dungee, 17-year old Kenneth Newkirk, 17-year old Levern Allen and 17-year old Darius Bannerman – leave their homes in Greensboro in order to drive to Raleigh to go Christmas shopping. While travelling down Interstate 40, their car is violently run off the road by a blue Monte Carlo containing a white man a...

May 18, 2024. Redding, California. 39-year old Nikki Cheng Saelee-McCain texts her sister from a hospital and says she is planning to drive to her mother-in-law’s house, but she soon cuts off all contact with her family and disappears. One week later, Nikki’s abandoned truck is discovered 50 miles away in a remote section of Tehama County, but searches of the area fail to find her. Prior to her di...

August 22, 1965. South Bend, Indiana. 49-year old Edward Banish is murdered inside his home after being stabbed seven times. Over two months earlier, Edward’s 18-year old son, Scott Banish, had gone missing after an apparent drowning accident in Lake Michigan, but eight days after his father’s murder, Scott is discovered to be alive and admits to having faked his own death. Even though Scott seems...

Listen to Murder, She Told: an award-winning true-crime podcast created by victim’s advocate, Kristen Seavey that mostly covers lesser-known unsolved cases.  This is a preview of the episode about Ludger Belanger on “Murder, She Told”, which was originally published on November 19, 2024.  Ludger Belanger went missing while hunting in rural Washington, Maine in 1975. Though on the surface, it seeme...

January 12, 1994. Albuquerque, New Mexico. After dropping off a friend at a restaurant, 16-year old Jonathan Francia is carjacked and abducted from the parking lot in his mother’s Chevrolet Camaro. Five days later, the burned-out vehicle is discovered in the Arizona desert nearly 300 miles away and Jonathan’s charred remains are inside the trunk. A suspect named Paul Richardson is soon arrested an...

August 30, 2013. Castaic, California. An overturned abandoned SUV belonging to 19-year old Bryce Laspisa is discovered at the bottom of a steep embankment near Castaic Lake, but even though most of his personal possessions have been left behind, Bryce himself is nowhere to be found. While beginning his sophomore year at Sierra College in Rocklin, Bryce had been displaying erratic behaviour and see...

August 30, 1990. Westerville, Ohio. The mother of 22-year old Tony Lombardi returns home, assuming her son is at work. Forty-five minutes later, she claims that she hears the sound of a door closing followed by footsteps and she soon discovers Tony’s body on his bed. He has been shot through the head and a gun is lying on the floor next to him, but police rule Tony’s death to be a suicide. However...

On December 23rd, 1974, three girls from Fort Worth, Texas vanished: Rachel Trlica, Renee Wilson, and Julie Mosely. After almost 50 years, the case has become steeped in misinformation and sensationalized mythos. In their series on the Fort Worth Missing Trio, Gone Cold attempts to cut through the misconceptions and confusion surrounding Julie, Renee, and Rachel’s disappearances. This is a preview...

November 29, 1980. Duncan, British Columbia. 32-year old Granger Taylor drives away from his family’s farm in his pick-up truck, but never returns. Granger had developed an obsession with UFOs and claimed he started communicating with them and he leaves behind a note in which he states that he is going away on a 42-month interstellar voyage on an alien spacecraft. Five-and-half years later, human...

December 12, 2014. Beaver County, Pennsylvania. A severed head belonging to an elderly woman is discovered in a rural wooded area about thirty feet from the nearest road, but the rest of her remains cannot be found. The head has rubber balls inside its eye sockets and since it has been embalmed, investigators are unable to extract any DNA to make an identification, so the victim becomes known as “...

November 1, 1974. North Adams, Massachusetts. After leaving a dance at a local lodge, 18-year old Kim Benoit goes missing. Two weeks later, Kim’s body is discovered at the bottom of an embankment in a remote area twelve miles away and it is determined that she was the victim of strangulation. In October 1976, 17-year old Cynthia “Rocky” Krizack goes missing after leaving her home in the nearby tow...

September 12, 1983. Wyoming, Ohio. 59-year old Dorothea Irwin is found stabbed to death inside her residence. Since she was in the midst of selling the house and said she was meeting an interested buyer, it is theorized that this person murdered her as part of an elaborate set-up. Suspicion turns towards Dorothea’s son, John “Jay” Irwin, who had previously spent time in prison for fraud and encour...

March 10, 2005. Foley, Missouri. 13-year old Bianca Piper is reported missing by her mother, Shannon Tanner, who claims that she dropped Bianca off on a rural road about a mile from their residence. Bianca struggled with numerous mental health issues, included attention deficit hyperactive disorder and bipolar disorder, and had just gotten into a dispute with her mother. According to Shannon, she...

August 10, 1994. Vancouver, British Columbia. 55-year old Nick Masee and his 39-year old wife, Lisa Masee, tell people they are planning to meet a potential investor about a $10 million business deal, but after Nick makes a reservation at a local restaurant, no one shows up. The following morning, Lisa makes a pair of phone calls to say that she and Nick are leaving town for a few days, but the co...

August 23, 2010. London, England. After he is not heard from for a week, the nude decomposed body of 31-year old Gareth Williams, a junior analyst who had been working with MI6, is found inside a padlocked holdall bag in the bathtub of his flat. While his cause of death cannot be determined, there are differing opinions about whether Gareth could have locked himself in the bag on his own and suffo...

November 6, 2021. Orlando, Florida. 22-year old Bryan “Vladek” Hasel shows up at a coffee shop he often frequents, but after police are called and Vladek is issued a trespass warning for a prior incident with a pocket knife, he walks off and vanishes without a trace. Nine days later, Vladek’s father returns from a family trip and discovers that his son is missing and has left most of his personal...

April 26, 2000. Reno, Nevada. 25-year old Star Palumbo is found wandering around through a restricted area at Reno-Tahoe International Airport and tells security that she is looking for her sister, even though she does not have one. An officer drives Star to the nearby Hilton Hotel and Casino and drops her off, but she soon vanishes without trace and her abandoned car is discovered at the airport...

October 26, 2015. Calgary, Alberta. Lee Antoni, the husband of 31-year old Amanda Antoni, returns home, from a weekend trip and discovers Amanda’s body lying in a pool of blood inside their basement. Two days earlier, a phone call between Amanda and Lee had abruptly cut off and since her broken cell phone is found on the floor, police initially believe that Amanda was attacked and her death was a...

July 14, 1994. Rochester, Pennsylvania. After leaving her home, 14-year old Sarah Boehm goes missing and a cryptic letter is soon found inside her bedroom. Even though Sarah supposedly wrote about being in a relationship with an abusive man and expressed a desire to run away, the authorities question the legitimacy of the letter and wonder if it may have been intended to mislead the investigation....

September 25, 1966. Bridgetown, Ohio. After he is seen taking out the garbage, 28-year old Jerry Bricca returns to his residence, where he lives with his 23-year old wife, Linda, and their four-year old daughter, Debbie. Two days later, the entire family is found murdered, as they have each been stabbed to death inside their respective bedrooms. Police begin to suspect Fred Leininger, a local vete...

January 7, 1990. Daviess County, Kentucky. The nude body of a white male who appears to be in his thirties is found in a remote wooded area. The victim has been shot and severely beaten and his hands and feet were removed, but since he cannot be identified, he becomes known as the “Daviess County John Doe”. Seventeen years later, investigators announce that the victim has been identified as Scott...

Welcome to “Hot Pursuit”, a summer true-crime collaboration, where we dive deep into the world of true crime. We’ve gathered many incredible true-crime podcasters to bring you an episode that’s all about the heat of the chase. We'll explore cases where justice was relentlessly pursued, delve into crimes that occurred during the scorching summer months, and highlight cold cases that desperately nee...

June 15, 2009. Toronto, Ontario. 32-year old Turkish immigrant Hatice Corbacioglu leaves on a road trip to New York in order to meet her 28-year old Turkish boyfriend, Riza Cosa, with whom she has been carrying on a long-distance relationship for six months. Hatice never returns and breaks off all contact with her family, but Riza claims that she left on a flight to Turkey. However, it eventually...

July 10, 1999. Pierrefonds, Quebec. 42-year old Janet Kuchinsky leaves her residence in order to go out for a walk, but never returns. The following morning, Janet’s body is found in a wooded area next to a bicycle path located one kilometre from her home and she has been bludgeoned to death by a blunt instrument. Months later, a serial killer named William Patrick Fyfe is charged with the murders...