The Trail Went Cold

May 2, 1981. Hope, British Columbia. After spending the night at a friend’s house, 16-year old Verna Bjerky leaves on a trip to visit her boyfriend, but even though she plans on hitchhiking to her destination, she never arrives. Five months later, some of Verna’s personal belongings are discovered in a remote area, but there is no trace of her body. During this time period, a serial killer named C...

July 8, 1997. Carson City, Nevada. While visiting her father on a trip from California, 16-year old Natasha Jennings is found dead inside a bedroom at his apartment. An electric fan is lying over Natasha’s body, her hair is damp, and even though traces of cocaine and methamphetamine are inside Natasha’s nostrils, no drugs can be found in her system. There are a few theories involving foul play, in...

November 15, 1971. Galveston, Texas. 15-year old Debbie Ackerman and 15-year old Maria Johnson are seen climbing into a white van outside an ice cream shop, but they never return home. Days later, the girls’ bodies are found in a bayou and they are bound, nude from the waist down and have been shot to death. After several decades, a convicted murderer named Edward Harold Bell sends out letters in...

August 4, 1971. Galveston, Texas. After spending the day at the beach, 14-year old Rhonda Renee Johnson and 13-year old Sharon Shaw fail to return home and their skeletal remains are found in a bayou months later. A suspect named Michael Lloyd Self is eventually taken into custody and confesses to the murders, but even though he maintains his confession was coerced and that he is innocent, Self is...

December 15, 1995. Bristolville, Ohio. The children of 36-year old John Markley and his 32-year old wife, Shelly Markley, return home from school and discover that their parents are gone, though there is evidence to suggest that an intruder was in the house. The couple’s pick-up truck is also missing and it is soon found abandoned in a nearby town. It turns out that on the same morning they disapp...

…12 dates … …14 love gone wrong stories… …Will YOU be my Valentine? This Valentine’s Day, prepare for a unique podcast experience! Shane Waters will introduce 14 true crime podcast hosts, including Robin Warder of “The Trail Went Cold”. Each host brings a new “love gone wrong” true story to the mix. It’s an extra-special Valentine event which runs over two hours long. Podcasts are listed here in o...

October 13, 1982. Morro Bay, California. The decomposed body of 43-year old Dian Harlin is discovered in a stand of trees next to a beach and she has been strangled to death with a leash belonging to one of her dogs. It turns out that Dian’s eccentric 47-year old husband, Hugh Harlin, had failed to report her missing for eleven days and since the couple was known for having a turbulent relationshi...

February 2, 2008. Saanich, British Columbia. 24-year old real estate agent Lindsay Buziak arrives for an appointment to show an expensive suburban house to an unidentified man and woman. When Lindsay’s boyfriend goes inside the residence to check on her, he discovers that she has been stabbed over 40 times and the mysterious couple have fled the scene. Over the years, there are a number of unconfi...

February 28, 1983. St. Louis, Missouri. The body of an African-American girl is found in the basement of an abandoned apartment building. She is believed to be between eight-to-eleven years old and has her hands tied behind her back and it turns out she was sexually assaulted and strangled to death before she was beheaded. Since the victim’s head is never recovered and she cannot be identified, sh...

February 6, 1997. Bristol, Rhode Island. Bryan Nisenfeld, an 18-year old freshman at Roger Williams University, vanishes after leaving an afternoon class and most of his possessions are found in his dorm room. Nearly seven months later, a severed foot and a shinbone are found washed up on a beach located a few miles from campus and while they are positively identified as belonging to Bryan, the re...

October 6, 1983. British Columbia, Canada. 27-year old Bernd Goericke and his 22-year old fiancée, Andrea Scherpf, are found shot to death next to a remote road. The couple hailed from West Germany and had been hitchhiking through Canada and an unidentified man driving a pick-up truck is seen using Andrea’s travellers’ cheques in the days following her death. Nearly six years later, a suspect name...

Since “The Trail Went Cold” originally launched in February 2016, we have featured nearly 400 cold cases and unsolved mysteries on the podcast. Since a number of these cases have wound up being solved or experiencing major developments, we have been able to release three special “update” episodes over the past three years. On this particular episode, we’ll be discussing a number of recent trials,...

Over the past four years, “The Trail Went Cold” has released two special Q&A episodes in which Robin Warder answered a number of questions from listeners. We have decided to put together another episode like this and a received number of interesting new questions from listeners. How has producing a successful true crime podcast changed your life? Do you have any pet peeves in podcasting? Have...

December 19, 1949. Juneau County, Wisconsin. A fire breaks out at the residence of four-year old Ricky Jean “Jeannie” Bryant, which burns her family’s farmhouse to the ground. While Jeannie’s remains cannot be found in the rubble, the authorities conclude that she died in the fire. As the years go by and Jeannie’s surviving siblings discuss what happened, they become troubled by a number of suspic...

December 26, 1996. Chelmsley Wood, England. 13-year old David Spencer and 11-year old Patrick Warren tell their families that they are planning to spend the night with Patrick’s brother, but they never arrive and are subsequently reported missing. It turns out that the last confirmed sighting of the boys took place at a petrol station and Patrick’s abandoned bicycle is found there next to some rub...

December 13, 2009. Henderson, Nevada. A security camera captures 30-year old Steven Koecher arriving in a residential neighbourhood, where he parks his car and is seen walking down the sidewalk before he vanishes without a trace. Earlier that day, Steven had made a 135-mile trip to Henderson from his residence in St. George, Utah, but never told anyone why, and in the days prior to his disappearan...

March 13, 1977. Dunedin, Florida. The body of 54-year old Robert Dirscherl is found on the floor of his bedroom with a fatal gunshot wound to the chest. A shotgun is resting on the bed and since investigators believe that Robert used his big toe to pull the trigger and shoot himself, they rule his death to be a suicide. Sixteen years later, one of Robert’s sons receives an anonymous letter from so...

June 23, 1996. Boston, Massachusetts. The dismembered upper body of 20-year old Karina Holmer is found inside a plastic trash bag in a dumpster. She was strangled to death before being sliced directly in half and the lower portion of her body is never recovered. Karina hails from Sweden and has spent the past three months working as an au pair for a married couple and she was last seen partying at...

July 27, 2009. Placentia, California. 81-year old Bob Harrod is discovered to be missing from his home and he has left his car and his eyeglasses behind. One month earlier, Bob had gotten married to Fontelle Heeter, a former spouse whom he had not seen in six decades, and she was scheduled to move in with him two days after he disappeared. Since Bob has a substantial net worth, the division of his...

September 29, 1984. Chicago, Illinois. 23-month old Deborah Sanders is taken from her mother, Norell Sanders, who claims she was violently attacked by the child’s estranged father, Odell Sheppard, before Deborah was abducted. Nearly one year later, Odell is tracked down and arrested, but he no longer has Deborah with him and maintains that he returned her to Norell. After serving a prison sentence...

December 11, 1995. Washington, D.C.. The fire department is summoned to a townhouse and discovers the burning body of 38-year old Lynn Amos on her bed. Lynn is still alive at the time and taken to a hospital with burns on the majority of her body, but she passes away ten days later. While investigators initially believe that Lynn’s death was an accident, traces of accelerants are found on the bed...

…1 campfire… …1 dark forest… …31 bone-chilling stories… …Will YOU survive the night? This Halloween season, enter the woods for a unique and truly epic podcast experience! Around the campfire Shane Waters will introduce 31 crime podcast hosts, including Robin Warder of “The Trail Went Cold”. Each host brings a new, nerve-wracking true story to the circle. It’s an extra special, two part, five-hour...

…1 campfire… …1 dark forest… …31 bone-chilling stories… …Will YOU survive the night? This Halloween season, enter the woods for a unique and truly epic podcast experience! Around the campfire Shane Waters will introduce 31 crime podcast hosts, including Robin Warder of “The Trail Went Cold”. Each host brings a new, nerve-wracking true story to the circle. It’s an extra special, two part, five-hour...

November 12, 1945. Bennington County, Vermont. While on a hunting trip on Glastenbury Mountain, 74-year old Middie Rivers splits off from his son-in-law, but he is never heard from again and an extensive search effort fails to find him. Over the next five years, four other individuals – 18-year old Paula Jean Welden, 68-year old James Tedford, eight-year old Paul Jepson and 53-year old Frieda Lang...

April 18, 1943. Hagley, England. A group of teenage boys discover an unidentified female skeleton inside a hollow wych elm tree near Wychbury Hill. It is determined that the victim was killed at least 18 months before she was found and her likely cause of death was suffocation. Over the next several decades, mysterious graffiti messages pop in numerous locations which are variations of the phrase:...