The Trail Went Cold

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:...

March 22, 1975. Clermont, Florida. After climbing out of the shower, 32-year old John Harden looks out the window and notices that his pick-up truck is on fire. When John runs outside to extinguish the flames, he is ambushed by a fatal shotgun blast to the chest and an extensive investigation fails to turn up any strong suspects or a motive for the crime. Over the next several years, multiple peop...

May 10, 1996. Brown County, Texas. A burning car belonging to 30-year old Leon Laureles is found next to a remote road. Leon’s body is lying near the vehicle and he has been shot though the back of the head, execution-style. One hour earlier, Leon had left his residence to drive to work for his shift at a supermarket, but even though his co-workers recalled seeing his car in the parking lot, Leon...

June 9, 1995. Alma, Arkansas. While attending a Little League baseball game with her mother, six-year old Morgan Nick goes off to play with some other kids before she vanishes without a trace. Morgan’s friends claim that she was spoken to by an unidentified man standing next to a red pick-up truck, so it is suspected that this man might have abducted her. Over two decades later, a deceased sex off...

May 26, 1986. Frobisher Bay, Northwest Territories. After returning home from a trip, the sister of 15-year old Mary Ann Birmingham enters their residence and discovers that Mary Ann has been stabbed to death. Months later, a local resident named Jopey Atsiqtaq pops up on the radar as a potential suspect after he is charged with the similar stabbing deaths of two other victims. Even though Atsiqta...

February 10, 1981. Cedaredge, Colorado. After showing up at Cedaredge High School, 17-year old senior Roger Ellison places his books inside his locker, but he never attends any of his classes that day and vanishes without a trace. Months later, one of Roger’s teachers comes under suspicion when he allegedly makes some bizarre statements to Roger’s mother, but no evidence links him to Roger’s disap...

June 6, 1992. Rosarito, Mexico. While vacationing at a beachfront condo, 29-year old Los Angeles resident Mario Amado is arrested by the local police after an alleged altercation with his girlfriend. Shortly thereafter, Mario is found dead inside his jail cell and the police rule that his death was a suicide after he hanged himself with his own sweater. When Mario’s brother pushes for a new invest...

June 3, 1995. Oslo, Norway. The body of a young woman is found inside Room 2805 of the Oslo Plaza hotel and since a pistol is in her hand, she appears to be the victim of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Three days earlier, she had checked into the hotel under the name, “Jennifer Fairgate”, but the name turns out to be fake and since she has no identification in her possession, the woman remains a...

December 5, 2001. Dallas, Texas. After boarding a flight from Indianapolis to Los Angeles, 70-year old Marjorie “Margie” Dabney and her husband stop for a layover at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. Before they can make their connecting flight, Margie winds up disappearing and since she suffers from Alzheimer’s disease, there is fear that she might have become confused and wandered outside...

November 25, 2012. Sackville, New Brunswick. While attending a house party, 20-year old Mount Allison University student Chris Metallic becomes intoxicated and starts walking back to his residence, but he never arrives. Nearly four hours later, an eyewitness spots Chris walking down a rural road located 15 kilometres away before he disappears into the woods. A search of the area turns up some foot...

June 12, 1993. Santa Clara, California. 21-year old U.S. Army Private Justin Burgwinkel leaves his girlfriend’s apartment and never returns. One week earlier, Justin had gone AWOL from Fort Lewis, the post where he was stationed in Washington state, and kept hinting to his girlfriend that he was working on some sort of secret mission. Three months later, Justin’s abandoned car is found at a motel...

October 18, 1949. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Dorothy Forstein, the 40-year old wife of a local magistrate, is discovered to be missing from her home. Even though there are no signs of forced entry, Dorothy’s nine-year old stepdaughter, Marcy, claims that an unidentified man entered Dorothy’s bedroom and carried her unconscious body out of the residence. There is speculation that Dorothy’s disappe...

August 10, 1991. Martinsburg, West Virginia. The nude body of 44-year old freelance investigative journalist Danny Casolaro is discovered inside the bathtub of his hotel room. Each of his wrists have been slashed multiple times, but since a suicide note is found and there is no evidence of foul play, the authorities conclude that Danny took his own life. In the year prior to his death, Danny claim...

January 29, 1976. Auckland, New Zealand. 13-year old Tracey Ann Patient leaves her friend’s house to walk home, but never arrives. The following day, Tracey’s body is discovered in some bushes located sixteen kilometres from where she was last seen. She has been strangled to death with a pair of pantyhose which were tightened around her neck with a stick. Nearly two years later, police receive an...

December 14, 1981. St. John’s, Newfoundland. 14-year old Dana Bradley leaves her friend’s residence to head back home, but she never arrives and eyewitnesses report seeing her hitchhiking and climbing into a vehicle driven by an unidentified man. Four days later, Dana’s body is found in a remote wooded area and she has been killed by multiple blows to the skull with a blunt instrument. Over the ne...

July 7, 1973. Tampa, Florida. The nude body of 34-year old Earlene Barksdale is discovered in the back office of the children’s clothing store she owns and she has been raped and shot in the head in an apparent robbery. Police soon focus on a suspect named Joseph Green Brown, who was involved in a similar robbery at another location on the exact same date. After he is implicated by an accomplice,...

May 26, 1991. Grand Rapids, Michigan. 28-year old Gordon Page Jr. is discovered to be missing from his room at the Cascade Foster Care Home, a residential treatment centre for individuals with autism. Since a man matching Gordon’s description is seen hitchhiking on a nearby interstate, it is theorized that he escaped from the home in order to travel to Florida to see his family. There are addition...

November 25, 1991. Middle Township, New Jersey. 11-year old Mark Himebaugh leaves his residence in order to watch firefighters extinguishing a brush fire, but he never returns home. A search turns up Mark’s left shoe on a nearby beach and while eyewitnesses place Mark in the company of multiple unidentified individuals on the afternoon he went missing, he cannot be found. Over one year later, a wi...

November 12, 1988. Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. After he is not heard from in over 24 hours, the body of 36-year old Byron Carr is discovered inside the bedroom of his residence. He has been strangled with a towel and stabbed with a kitchen knife and the words, “I will kill again”, are scrawled on the bedroom wall. The evidence indicates that Byron had sex with another man before he was mu...

January 18, 1976. Colwyn Bay, Wales. The family of 15-year old Peter Watts returns to their residence and discovers he has left behind a note to say that he went to see a friend. Ten hours later, Peter’s unconscious body is discovered on the Euston Road underpass in London over 250 miles away and he dies after being rushed to the hospital. While Peter’s injuries are consistent with a fall from a g...

April 16, 2003. Kendall County, Texas. 54-year old Colonel Philip Shue, who works as a staff psychiatrist for the United States Air Force, leaves his residence to drive to work. Two-and-a-half hours later, Colonel Shue’s car is seen driving erratically down the interstate before it crashes into some trees and Shue is found dead in the driver’s seat. Even though his death is ruled to be a staged su...

May 3, 2002. Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Seven-year old Alexis Patterson is walked to school by her stepfather, who claims that he last sees her crossing the street and heading in the direction of the school playground. Even though numerous students report seeing Alexis crying on the playground that day, she never attends any of her classes and is eventually reported missing. Over the years, investigato...

January 10, 1999. Moscow, Idaho. While attending a party at an apartment complex, 25-year old University of Idaho theatre student Wil Hendrick vanishes without explanation and his abandoned car is soon discovered downtown. Three-and-a-half years later, Wil’s skull and jawbone are found in a rural wooded area and even though his exact cause of death cannot be determined, he is ruled to be the victi...

December 17, 1993. Merced, California. 27-year old Paul Armstrong, a tow truck operator employed by RTS Towing, vanishes without explanation from his home. Later that day, 34-year old Steven Lombard, another tow truck operator from the same company, goes to the towing yard to pick up his paycheque before he also disappears and his abandoned pick-up truck is found in a K-Mart parking lot the follow...

March 14, 1998. Roger Mills County, Oklahoma. 39-year old Leonard Dirickson prepares breakfast for his son, Jared, before a man driving a pick-up truck shows up at their ranch. After Leonard goes outside and speaks to the driver, he tells Jared that the man is interested in looking at one of his stud horses and he will accompany him to the locations where they are being kept. After Leonard climbs...