Gone Cold - Texas True Crime

Between 1980 and 1983, the slayings of five young women baffled Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office Investigators. Similarities between a few would have police theorizing a connection. The most striking and grisly commonality shared among three of the victims was the fact that when they were found, the victims were ablaze. Another unfortunate and investigation-stifling commonality between four of t...

In the summer of 1969, Caroline Louise Harte joined her friend May’s family at their summer home near the beaches of Port Aransas. Caroline and May enjoyed themselves the five days they spent together doing all the things that 14-year-olds do on a beach vacation. In the early morning hours of July 25th, however, the day Caroline was to return home to her family, an unthinkable and gruesome thing o...

For family members of the victims of unsolved homicide cases, day to day reality is different. They spend considerable amount of time trying to make sense of exactly what happened and why. It sometimes consumes them, continually lurking in the mind of these victims’ loved ones. The lack of justice is nagging; pondering whether the perpetrator is alive or dead and the possibly free life they lived...

No one except Stephanie and Gary Gillette’s murderer, or murderers, knows what transpired at the Gillette home in the early morning hours of Saturday, December 14th, 1985. What is clear, however, is that the last known individual to see the couple alive, a Nueces County Deputy Constable, was also the individual who alerted Corpus Christi Police to the couple’s home the following Sunday. Guest on t...

The Corpus Christi Police spent ample time and manpower investigating the scene of Stephanie and Gary Gillette’s murders. The finding of two items in particular was huge. Some details of the crime scene seemed specific and peculiar enough to narrow down theories as to what took place in the early morning hours of Saturday, December 14th, 1985. Investigators tried to connect the dots. Guests on thi...

Gary’s children were supposed to arrive at the home of their Father and Step-Mother, Stephanie, the evening before the couple were brutally slain in the early morning hours of Saturday, December 14th, 1985. The three sisters, ages 8, 11, & 14, wouldn’t discover their Dad and Step-Mom’s fate until that Sunday, but they all knew something wasn’t right. The home phone gave nothing but a busy signal a...

On November 1st, 1980, the unclothed body of a young woman was found on the side of Interstate 45 near Huntsville in Walker County, Texas. She remains unidentified to this day, almost 39 years later, and her identity, and who brutally slayed and sexually assaulted her, have been the focus of speculation since the day she was found. Did the brother of an inmate at the prison the young woman told wi...

“It was just a convenient place to dump the bodies. There is just a hell of a lot of sin that goes up and down that highway” - Williamson County Sheriff Jim Boutwell, referring to Interstate 35 in 1981. From Oklahoma City to San Marcos, Texas, there is a 400 mile stretch of I-35 where multiple homicides occurred, or bodies were discarded, from the years 1976 to 1981. Twenty-one homicide victims. F...

David Emerson, Jr. was last seen on New Year’s Eve of 2014 but family, as well as police, are no closer to knowing what happened to the then 35-year-old man now than they were then. Sonia Gonzalez, a friend of David’s, has worked tirelessly for answers and has solidified and debunked many preconceived notions about his disappearance. This episode, Sonia provides us with virtually every known detai...

El Paso County Sheriff’s Office Investigators didn’t necessarily uncover any tangible evidence in the 1957 disappearances of Margaret and William Patterson but circumstantial evidence, and scenarios that this evidence allows, seems endless. They found some things about William’s personal life that they couldn’t ignore…things that began painting a different picture of the couple than what associate...

When the investigation of the 1957 disappearances of Margaret and William Patterson finally began months after the couple was last seen, it was obvious from the get-go that the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office had lost access to evidence and information that would have proved invaluable. Instead, investigators were faced with trying to fit pieces together that didn’t necessarily belong to the same...

Many legends and mysteries exist around the West Texas City of El Paso but, perhaps, no one story from the city is more mysterious than the 1957 disappearances of William and Margaret Patterson. The case is complicated and convoluted and theories about what happened to the successful couple range from the absurd to the sinister. For the first several weeks after they vanished, the Patterson’s were...

When someone’s life is taken, what is left behind is trauma, anguish, confusion, and just about any other type of emotion one can imagine that feeds the cyclical state of grief which, no matter how universally accepted one definition is, is dealt with in a multitude of way whether negative or positive. While it often takes a life time to leave something behind that influences an entire society or...

Though we had originally intended to close Suzie's case with the story of her legacy this episode, fate had other plans in mind. We were contacted by an individual, a close friend of Suzie's, and what she had to say was something we felt needed to be shared before we closed the Suzie Mages story. The episode is brief but it helps shine light on a question that has gone unanswered for decades. You...

Two individuals particularly stuck out to police and Del and Mary in Suzie’s disappearance and murder. One became a person of interest early on and the other, much to Mary and Del’s dismay, seemed to have not been taken incredibly seriously by law enforcement. A well-known drifter also enters the case several years after. You can support gone cold podcast – texas true crime by visiting https//:www...

There are many strange circumstances surrounding Suzie Mages’ disappearance and murder. From a similar unsolved homicide to a homicide that seemed to use that unsolved case and  Suzie’s as an attempt to throw off police, Dallas and Denton Police were chasing leads and connections that seemed to be smoke screens. The Mages family, of course, were also continuously following their own leads in hopes...

In 1977, a crime took place in Denton, Texas that shook the community to its core; though you’d hardly call Denton “uneventful,” it was a place where residents and college students felt safe and free. Suzanne Marie Mages was a twelve-year-old girl who was adored by all who met her and due to the proximity of her mother’s restaurant to lively Fry Street, many were touched by the continuously happy...

Ali Lowitzer stepped off her school bus yards from her home in 2010 never to be seen again. Theories as to what happened to her range from homicide to sex trafficking, the latter seemingly a distinct possibility considering the proximity of where she vanished from to Houston. Houston is one of the country’s largest sex trafficking hubs and is by far the largest in Texas. This is part 2 of Ali’s st...

No matter how watchful an eye we keep on our children, it is difficult to completely shield them from the bad in the world; this is especially true when a malevolent individual, or individuals, target them for harm. Even in quiet, seemingly safe suburban areas, we take this for granted. Everyone does because we feel like these things don’t happen to us…but they can. Ali Lowitzer stepped off her sc...

After discussing nearly every detail of the evidence of, and investigation into, the abduction and murder of Carla Walker, we offer our closing thoughts into why we believe the perpetrator has, thus far, eluded the police’s radar, as well as some startling crime statistics around the time. We also hear from Carla’s closest friend, Konnie, who gives some chilling memories from Carla’s last days and...

Are there other individuals besides the persons of interest that triggered the Fort Worth Police Department’s attention during the investigation into Carla Walker’s homicide? We found a few that may have flown beneath their radar, not only from our own research but also from friends of the Walker family as well as classmates of Carla’s. This episode explores two stories that can be at least partia...

Few individuals outside of the Walker family dedicated their lives to finding Carla Walker’s murderer; to be certain, no police officer worked as diligently and relentlessly as Fort Worth Police Department Burglary Detective, John Terrell. His work on Carla’s case largely drove the narrative that the local public came to know and trust. But was his motive rooted in seeking Justice for Carla or was...

A few persons of interest emerged during the investigation into Carla Walker’s homicide. Unfortunately, none panned out, even a few that seemed particularly capable of the crime. Tommy Ray Kneeland and Jimmy Dean Sasser, however interesting they seemed at the time, turned out to be discounted by police.  Please listen to the end of the episode for a promo from our friend’s podcast, True Crime Stor...

Medical Examiner and Forensic Pathologist, Grace Dukes, Criminal Investigator and Host of Coroner Talk Podcast, Darren Dake, and Dr. Doyce Cartrett join us this episode to discuss the findings of Carla Walker’s autopsy report. Please listen to the end of the episode for a promo from our friend’s podcast, All Crime No Cattle. You can support gone cold podcast – texas true crime by visiting https//:...

In this episode we discuss the timeline of events that occurred on the night of Carla’s abduction, the evidence found there, what was and wasn’t found on the scene where her body was discovered, and the investigation both prior to her known death and after. We also speak to individuals whose accounts of the evening that Carla was taken were minimally, if at all, checked out by police. Please liste...