Gone Cold - Texas True Crime

When high school senior Teresa Branch’s car broke down about a half a mile from her home in Arlington, Texas, she began jogging to the house to get her father’s help. But Teresa never made it home. A while later, the friend she left to watch over the car phoned Teresa’s parents. They all began trying to find the 18-year-old but were having no luck. That’s when a Branch Family friend alerted them t...

In late 1993, after Roney Dean Harper’s confession to the murder of Lou Goettsch, discoveries of human bones seemed to be commonplace in the Big County, an area of Texas of which Abilene is the heart. With every set of remains unearthed, detectives with the Abilene Police Department, an agency that had no jurisdiction over any of the discoveries, sat tight and waited for the identification of one...

On March 31st, 1981, twenty-one-year-old Lou Allen Goettsch had it made. A couple days earlier, he received a decent sized settlement check for a work injury he’d sustained earlier in the year, opened up a checking account, and put a deposit and first month’s rent on a new apartment. Then, he vanished into thin air. Since the disappearance wasn’t reported for two months, Abilene, Texas Police had...

Part 2 of 2. In late September 1983, 17-year-old Bambi Dick and friends attended a heavy metal concert at Davenport, Iowa’s Col Ballroom. Stories about what happened after, perhaps, are conflicting, but whatever the case, Bambi vanished. For more than a quarter century, her family looked for her. At some point, her parents expected her to come waltzing through the front door with a couple kids and...

Wyoming’s favorite cryptid, the jackalope is admittedly a hard sell as far as the supernatural goes—but as with most things, its origin story is quite the rabbit hole. Hosted and Written by Laurah Norton Research by Laurah Norton and Anna Luria Produced by Maura Currie Engineered by Brandon Schexnayder Subscribe to our Substack: https://substack.com/@onestrangething https://www.onestrangethingpodc...

Part 1 of 2. In early October 1983, a motorcyclist discovered the partially clothed body of a woman in a culvert off US Highway 287, about 17 miles north of Amarillo, Texas. The local Special Crimes Unit immediately began their investigation, fully aware that time was of the essence. Between the body and her clothing, the victim had many identifying features but still, authorities fell short. They...

In the span of three months in 1976, three young East Austin women vanished. With seemingly no clues left behind, the Austin Police were baffled, however, it’s unclear if they were investigating the first two cases from the get-go, those of Brenda Jean Moore and Jennifer Joyce Barton. They certainly were not utilizing the media – a vital tool in any missing persons case; it took a year for Jennife...

In November of 2017, patrol officers from the small city of Corinth came across a vehicle parked in a vacant lot with the lights on. They approached the suspicious car and discovered the body of a woman, riddled with gunshot wounds. She was soon identified as Amanda Clairmont, a 21-year-old well-liked University of North Texas student. A motive for the young woman’s murder eluded investigators and...

Constable Johnnie Raymond “Bill” Garsee was shot dead in front of his Moscow, Texas barn in April of 1984. Originally from San Augustine, Bill, his wife, and three children had settled down in the small town three decades before. Being a huge name on the rodeo circuit in a rodeo town like Moscow, locals warmly welcomed Bill and his family. As the years went on, he became Precinct 3 Constable and g...

Although he’d promised one of his daughters to do better, 49-year-old Jose Fernando Corona couldn’t help but suspect his wife, 44-year-old Maria Santos Corona, of having an affair, though no evidence of such existed. He saw a curandera and attempted to use herbs and prayer to rectify the situation he’d most likely imagined. However, Jose could not let it go. Nothing was working in his mind. So, in...

In 1977, Yale student Bonnie Garland was murdered in her parents' home. Join us as we discuss the remarkable journey her parents went on to change the legal landscape, and how their relentless advocacy led to groundbreaking reforms, enabling families of victims to seek justice and compensation through civil court. Listen now to the story of The Murder of Bonnie Garland, on the Moms and Mysteries P...

Edgar Ray Zachary – the cab driver who drove Virginia Carpenter from the train station to the campus of Texas State College for Women in Denton – remained the prime suspect in her disappearance for nearly the entirety of the past several decades. His name popped up at detectives’ every turn, and his propensity for domestic violence suggested he was capable of heinous crimes, since he’d committed t...

The Denton Police had lost four days by the time they found out 21-year-old Virginia Carpenter was missing. But when they did, searches were organized quickly, and information was dispatched to law enforcement nationwide. When Texas Ranger Lewis C. Rigler entered the case, one of his immediate concerns was interviewing a handful of folks, including Virginia’s suitor, Kenny. Although his one eyebro...

Introducing: Navigating Advocacy, available wherever you get your podcasts. Navigating Advocacy is a true crime podcast whose mission is to provide a platform for victims and their families to share their stories and be heard while offering practical guidance on how listeners can make a difference in their communities.  Learn more: https://navigatingadvocacy.com/ Become a supporter of this podcast...

In Texarkana, Texas on June 1st, 1948, 21-year-old Virginia Carpenter hopped aboard the 3 o’clock train to Denton, where she was to attend a couple courses during the summer semester at Texas State College for Women. She arrived at 9:05 that night, but soon after, vanished into thin air. Her mother Hazel didn’t find out for four days, and much to her dismay, no effort had been made by the college...

In May of 1983, 35-year-old Esther Broberg was dropped off by her husband at an after hours drinking joint in East Austin, Texas. There, she hung out with her close friend and some others. Just as the sun threatened to rise, the group parted ways. But Esther never made it home. Instead, just a few hours later, passersby at EH Givens Park, not far from where she’d been, discovered Esther Broberg’s...

The morning of Monday, October 26th, 1998 was like any other for Peggy Lynn Howard and her young daughter. The two got up, performed their normal morning routine, and left their home for school and work. The morning ended tragically, however, and the young mother and daughter wouldn’t even make it in the car. Six-year-old Allyssa was holding her mother’s hand when she was gunned down outside the c...

Managing editor of the Clifton Record, W. Leon Smith, continued working both Judy Whitley and Mickey Bryan’s cases for years. In 1999, when ex-Clifton policeman Dennis Murry Dunlap was officially named Judy’s killer, Leon was almost certain Joe Bryan hadn’t murdered his wife Mickey but couldn’t find the evidence to exonerate him. A few years later, a Waco attorney began looking into Joe’s case and...

In 1991, Don Whitley visited the editor of the local newspaper with a plea: help him get justice for his daughter, slain Clifton, Texas teenager Judy Whitley. He had a suspect in mind who might also be responsible for another crime – the murder of 44-year-old Clifton Elementary School Teacher Mickey Bryan. The newspaperman knew that Mickey’s husband Joe Bryan had been convicted of the crime, and h...

In August of 1984, just five months after 13-year-old Helen Kilgore was found murdered on the side the road, authorities in Bosque County, Texas had another body – that of 19-year-old Hood County woman Shelia Vandygriff. Though Shelia was murdered, the friend with whom she was abducted was set free after being assaulted. She went to Hood County authorities with what had happened, but they struggle...

When it was time for the defense to present their case in the State of Texas V. Joe Dale Bryan, for the murder of Mickey Marlene Bryan, attorney Charles McDonald was confident he’d get his client off. Not only did he truly believe in Joe’s innocence, but also, the prosecution simply had no evidence. Certainly nothing scientific. But, did the fact that the state presented what they had as forensic...

As the State of Texas V. Joe Dale Bryan got underway, the prosecution was pulling no punches. Witnesses from Texas Ranger Joe Wiley to victim Mickey Bryan’s brother Charlie Blue had damning indictments of Joe Bryan. But on cross-examination, defense attorney Charles McDonald, during these two witnesses particularly, didn’t hold back and pointed out at least some of the big holes in the state’s cas...

A few months before Clifton Elementary fourth grade teacher Mickey Bryan was slain, another unimaginable and heinous crime took place less than a mile away. There were rampant whispers going around what the small city’s newspaper referred to as “The Famous Clifton Rumor Mill,” and when Joe Bryan was arrested and charged with his wife’s murder, the chatter grew louder and more intricately weaved. I...

Before the 1985 murder of 4th grade teacher Mickey Bryan in Clifton, there were several other murders, including the April 1984 murder of 13-year-old Helen Kilgore, whose body was found in Bosque County. After she was identified, at least for a while, authorities were theorizing the killing was an occult ritual or sacrifice to Satan because of a tattoo Helen had. It’s unclear how much time and evi...

In October 1985, the seemingly idyllic life of small-town educators Mickey and Joe Bryan came crashing down when she was shot and killed in their home. Joe, who was out of town for a work conference, appeared devastated and though they could find no signs the Bryan home had been forcibly entered, the Clifton, Texas Police first theorized the crime was a burglary gone wrong. But when Mickey’s broth...