And Then They Were Gone

Seven-year-old Brittany Williams was last seen at a doctor’s appointment in Richmond, Virginia on August 18, 2000. The woman who had legal guardianship over her, Kim Parker, ran a foster home for children with special needs or were otherwise medically fragile. When asked where Brittany was, she said that she had given Brittany away to two women who were former volunteers at her home and now lived...

A little girl in Richmond, Virginia is placed into foster care. Everything seems to be going okay for a while, but eventually she stops showing up for school. Then it’s missed doctor’s appointments, followed by a missed paternity test. Then, it’s over two years since anyone has seen her. There have been several similar cases in the news lately: Oakley Carlson, whom we’ve covered here, as well as H...

Having a family member go missing without a trace has to be one of the most heartbreaking experiences that a family can go through. When Alicia “Mandy” Stokes never returned from running errands on November 25, 2007, her loved ones were plunged into a nightmare. They didn’t know if she was safe; if she had harmed herself, or if someone had done something to her. As the days and weeks went on, thei...

On November 4, 1991, 23-year-old Lisa Jameson had a secret. Even though it was a good secret, she was still nervous about it. Lisa had just found out that she was pregnant with her second child. She was thrilled with the idea of expanding her family, but she wasn’t as sure that her husband, Alan, would share her excitement. But we don’t know if Lisa ever had the chance to find out. On that morning...

When a 31-year-old man who had just broken up with his girlfriend asked a neighbor to watch his dog for a few days, no one immediately worried. But Billy Smolinski never gave his neighbor the keys to his home so he could check on his beloved dog, Harley. Billy’s family immediately knew that all of this behavior was out of character for the quiet homebody. When they turned to the police for help, t...

This week, we have our friend Autumn bringing us the story of Crystal Rogers. Crystal is a mother of five who vanished on a Kentucky highway in 2015, leaving her car and belongings behind. Did she just pick up and leave, or did something more sinister happen to her? If you have any information on Crystal Rogers disappearance, please contact the Nelson County Sheriff's Office at 502-348-1840. S...

In November of 2019, Oakley Carlson was just a month shy of her third birthday. But instead of celebrating it with the family who had been taking care of her since she was seven months old, she was instead being returned to her biological parents. Oakley’s foster parents, who had wanted to adopt the little girl whom they thought of as their daughter, begged the Washington State Department of Child...

“I ran away. I will be back. I swear. I’m sorry.” Jessica Nuñez awoke on the morning of September 15, 2019 and found that note in her daughter Alicia’s room. Alicia Navarro’s 15th birthday was only five days away, but she was gone. Alicia wasn’t the type of kid to run away. She had social anxiety and liked to keep her inner circle closed. So who could have convinced her to leave her Glendale, Ariz...

A 17-year-old boy leaves his home in Church Ground, Nevis on Saturday, April 28, 2012. He tells his family he’s going out for a walk. Nothing unusual there: Nevis is a small, yet gorgeous Caribbean Island, and this Saturday afternoon seemed like any other on the surface. But when Dylon didn’t return home, his family immediately knew something was wrong. They called Nevis Police Saturday evening an...

On September 28, 1996, Jesús De La Cruz was playing with a friend in his Lynn, Massachusetts neighborhood when he was approached by a man with a dog who offered him a new bicycle. According to the friend, Jesús went off with him and was never seen again. This man, Robert Levesque, was quickly arrested, but on charges completely unrelated to the abduction. As the investigation went on, Lynn Police...

It’s the classic stranger danger tale; every parent’s worst nightmare. On September 28, 1996, Jesus De La Cruz was outside playing with a friend when he was approached by a man who offered him a new bicycle. Jesus, who was only six at the time, went with him. He was never seen again. Despite the fact that police in Jesus’s town of Lynn, Massachusetts was able to quickly identify the man with whom...

4-year-old Orrin and 3-year-old Orson West were reported missing on December 21, 2020 by their adoptive parents, Trezell and Jacqueline West. Trezell told police that the boys wandered out of their California City, California backyard while he was gathering firewood. Multiple searches were performed, but no trace of the boys were found. As authorities dug deeper, questions began to arise as to whe...

Yong Meadows was terrified. She had lost her 3-year-old daughter, Lucy, in a mall parking lot. She ran around calling her name and asking every person she came across if they had seen her daughter. No one had– not even the security cameras. Lucy’s case was treated as a stranger abduction, but with no physical evidence, the police had very little to go on. But as time went on and Yong’s story shift...

In the summer of 1996, parents around Clarksville, Tennessee were terrified. Three young girls had been abducted from the area within a month. While two of their bodies would eventually be found, the third, a 3-year-old named Lucy Meadows was never seen after July 25, 1996. Was Lucy abducted by a stranger as her mother claimed, or was Lucy harmed by someone close to her? It’s been over 25 years, a...

Jennifer Kesse was in love. She and her boyfriend, Rob Allen had been together for over a year, and even though it was long-distance, they were making it work. They had just come back from a weekend getaway in St. Croix, and Jennifer was returning to a home in Orlando, Florida that she had just bought for herself and a job that she loved. But on Tuesday, January 24, 2006, Jennifer didn’t show up f...

Everything was going Kierra Coles’s way. She had a good-paying job with the United States Postal Service, she had just bought a car, and she had gotten her own apartment that she was sharing with her boyfriend. They had even decided to start a family. In October of 2018, Kierra was three months pregnant and loving life. But one day, Kierra disappeared. What followed was an investigation that offer...

We have huge news in the Akia Eggleston case. Akia was a 22-year-old pregnant woman who went missing from Baltimore, Maryland on May 3, 2017. While there was a clear suspect, no arrests were made, and her case went cold. Akia's story started gaining more notoriety toward the end of 2021, and on February 3, 2022, Michael Robertson was arrested for the murders of Akia and her unborn child. In th...

Mary Johnson hadn’t been acting like herself for months. She and her husband were having marital problems, and she was thinking about next steps. The 39-year-old was staying with friends, only returning home to shower and pick up more clothes. On Friday, November 25, 2020, Mary started walking toward a church in Tulalip, Washington. She never arrived. It would be nearly two weeks before she was re...

On a spring day in 1987, a 15-year-old girl has an argument with her father and takes off on foot, never to be seen again. Police in the small Pennsylvania town of Blairsville immediately wrote her off as a runaway, but her mother didn’t believe that explanation for a second. Now, over 34 years after her disappearance, Alicia Markovich’s best friends are leading the charge to find answers in her c...

In 2015, 19-year-old Katelin Akens was getting ready to start a new life. The teenager fell in love, and left her small Virginia town to move across the country to Arizona with her fiancee. She was living her life and making changes, but when her sister gave birth to a son that December, Katelin immediately flew home to meet her new nephew. The trip was a short one, only about four days. She had a...

On December 21, 2020, two little boys were playing on their back patio while their father gathered firewood. When they mysteriously disappear from their backyard, the police and the small community of California City, California immediately start to search for 4-year-old Orrin West and 3-year-old Orson West. But it quickly becomes apparent that things aren’t as they seem, and the investigation tak...

This week, we’re doing a special feed drop of our DarkCast Network friends, Over the Fence. On January 30, 1989 Ilene Misheloff went missing while walking home from middle school in Dublin, CA. It wasn't until her mom arrived to pick her up from ice skating practice later that evening when they figured out she was missing. She was third in a spree of kidnapping cases that, at the time, were th...

On July 27, 2021, 5-year-old Michael Vaughan was sitting in his living room in Fruitland, Idaho, playing video games. His father left him there to go check on Michael’s younger sister and order a pizza. He was gone for maybe 15 or 20 minutes. But when he came back, his little boy was gone. Now, four months later, Michael “Monkey” Vaughan is still missing, and his parents are begging for police and...

On September 5, 1982, Johnny Gosch spoke to a man in a blue car before he began his Sunday paper route. Moments later, he would be gone, with his red wagon full of undelivered newspapers left behind. A lackluster police investigation led to his case going cold rather quickly, but the next several years would be filled with sightings and other signs that Johnny was out there somewhere. All culminat...

An entrepreneurial 12-year-old wanted to earn money to buy a dirt bike, so he started delivering newspapers. On Sunday, September 5, 1982, Johnny Gosch loaded up his red wagon with copies of the Des Moines Register and set off on his early-morning route. Johnny was usually accompanied by his father, but this morning, he only had his dog with him. The people on his route all knew Johnny and his fam...