Gone Cold - Texas True Crime

When a new Wood County Sheriff’s Office Administration took charge in 2021, the new top lawman Sheriff Kelly Cole made good on his promise to conduct an intense investigation into the murder of 19-year-old Brittany McGlone. With Captain Mike Chilson as lead investigator, the renewed investigation began – new interviews, evidence inspection, and scrutiny of suspects got underway. Though none of the...

In Wood County, Texas on May 4th, 2007, Brittany McGlone was murdered, seemingly as she slept, in her boyfriend’s home while everyone who lived in the house was away. Nothing else in the home was disturbed and there were no signs of forced entry. Alibis for everyone who lived in the house were checked out and verified, apparently, but whoever violently bludgeoned Brittany to death most likely had...

On Wednesday, January 9th, 1980, in the North Loop neighborhood of Austin, a man witnessed a young woman’s abduction. The following day, the body of that woman, 25-year-old University of Texas student Susan Leigh Wolfe, was found slain in an alley more than 4 miles away. Because the witness to the abduction was in the auto business, he was able to give Austin Police Detectives what might have been...

On Thursday, November 27th, 1986, 28-year-old Connie Jane Bibb returned home after a holiday dinner at a friend’s house. It was her senior year at the University of Texas Austin as a special education major, and the religious woman looked forward to a life of teaching and missionary work. But senselessly, her life was cut short. All nine of Connie’s roommates were either attending the Longhorns V....

Nearly a year after the murder of Father Patrick Ryan of Saint William Catholic Church in Denver City, Texas, a confession call came into Albuquerque, New Mexico 911. The confessor had already been interviewed by Odessa Police Detectives and eliminated as a suspect, but frustrated detectives and politically motivated prosecutors were chomping at the bit to close the case. Though the only evidence...

As Odessa Police Detectives investigated the December 21st, 1981 murder of Father Patrick Ryan, violence against other men of the cloth continued in the south and southwest United States, among other places. When a fairly similar attack or slaying of a priest occurred, the cops were on it, but they failed to make a connection every time. Was the violence related or were the holy men simply easy ta...

When Father Patrick Ryan disappeared from Denver City, Texas on December 21st, 1981, his congregants thought he’d gone to help someone or was called away to Plains, the other Yoakum County town where he was priest. By Christmas Day, however, after missing three Masses, they were worried and reported Father Ryan missing. Meanwhile, 85 miles to the southeast, police detectives in Odessa were investi...

Almost immediately upon the San Antonio Police taking to social media to try and get the word out about missing child Lina Sardar Khil, things got ugly. Completely fabricated details about what happened that supported bigoted theories, victim blaming, and unhinged conspiracy theories that had everyone from the founder of Eagles Flight Advocacy & Outreach to the assistant to United States Senat...

The Sardar Khils came to San Antonio, Texas from the Khost Province of Afghanistan in 2019, after being granted a special visa by the United States. Thanks to a supportive and uplifting Afghan refugee community there, the family landed on their feet and their lives seemed to be heading in the right direction, a good direction. On December 20th, 2021, however, Riaz and Zarmeena Sardar Khil were met...

The investigation into Mary Lou Morris’s October 12th, 2000 murder was going nowhere for Harris County Texas Sheriff’s Office detectives. All the physical evidence had literally gone up in flames, which was perhaps the biggest clue – that her killer either planned the terrible crime carefully or had plenty of time after to cover their tracks. Finding a motive was damn near as impossible. Mary Lou’...

While the investigation into the murder of 48-year-old Mary Lou Morris was just beginning, another woman – 39-year-old Mary Teresa Morris – was killed brutally. Though there was far more evidence to be had in Mary Teresa’s case, Harris County Sheriff’s Office Detectives came up empty handed. As they investigated the usual suspect – Mary Teresa’s husband – another seemingly good suspect emerged, on...

On October 12th, 2000, 48-year-old Mary Morris left her Baytown, Texas home headed for work. Later that afternoon, when her husband discovered she’d never made it, he reported her missing and went searching alongside his stepdaughter. At 5 PM that day, Mary’s car was found smoldering after having been set afire. The day of Mary Lou Morris’s funeral, October 16th, 2000, another woman was discovered...

Fort Worth, Texas in the 1970s was a stomping ground for killers. In February of that year, 25-year-old June Ward was brutally murdered and thrown on the side of West Fuller. While June’s case hardly got the press and investigative effort she deserved, a slaying that occurred in the summer got much less. On June 4th, 1977, workers cleaning up at Sycamore Park south of downtown found the body of 31...

Detectives had few leads in the April 11th, 1976, slaying of 38-year-old Joyce Packey Stein. But they did have a weirdo, the victim’s boyfriend Dr. Gary Ferris. Perhaps prematurely satisfied with the alibis of other persons of interest, particularly Joyce’s abusive ex-husband Stanley, the Terrell Hills Police and Bexar County Sheriff’s Office put on their blinders and pursued Dr. Gary with fervor....

38-year-old Joyce Packey Stein was found lying in a pool of blood on April 12th, 1976. As Terrell Hills and San Antonio PDs began investigating the murder scene and collecting interviews alongside the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office, Joyce’s ex-husband Stanley and boyfriend Dr. Ferris become suspicious to police for their odd actions and behaviors. When a so-called “little black book” is found, it c...

In the moonlight hours of April 11th, 1976, gunshots rang out in the small, suburban town of Terrell Hills, Texas. Many heard or were awakened by the terrifying commotion, and while some might have believed there was some trouble at the nearby bar, the shots actually occurred in a home there. The home of 38-year-old Joyce Packey Stein, who was found the following day lying in a pool of blood. Divo...

On Part 2 of 2 of our Fall Texas Case Update episodes, we discuss the recent arrest in the horrific 2019 murder of Polunsky Unit prison guard Rhonda Richardson in Shepard, the arrest of Chad Earl Carl (FINALLY) for the savage 2007 slaying of Brittany McGlone in Wood County, the arrest of the man responsible for the disturbing murders of Frank Santoni Thornhill, Connie Villa, and 3-year-old Dante S...

There have been many suspect arrests, convictions, and renewed investigations in Texas cold cases already in the Fall of 2022. This episode, we’ll go over a few things in the 1996 murder case of Leon Laureles in Brown County, talk about the arrest of Feng Lu - the alleged murderer of the Sun Family in Cypress, discuss the identification of Brazoria County Jane Doe as Alisha Marie Cooks after 36 ye...

The year 1969 is one of the most historically eventful years in the history of the United States. Pop culture, counterculture, culture wars, the fight for equal rights, and a war that seemed to neither have an end nor purpose. But in the Summer of 69, folks in Fort Worth, Texas and the surrounding areas took respite from the stresses of this vital but anxiety inducing year by hunting down a thing....

In 2014, Barry Hinkle moved up to the position of Chief of Police in Blue Mound, Texas. While his responsibilities certainly grew, Hinkle still actively sought to solve the 1976 slayings of Kevin, Brian, Fae, and Wayne Joplin, and family friend Terry Trice. He’d uncovered, or simply investigated, something no investigator in the case ever had – a jailhouse letter written by an inmate to his wife....

After the grand jury wrapped up their investigation into the Joplin and Trice murders, unhappily at that, the media essentially turned their back on the story. More disturbingly, it seems the Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office did the same. While most folks the Dallas / Fort Worth Metroplex over were paying attention to the new high profile murder case in town, residents of Blue Mound were stuck wond...

The first two-thirds of Gregg Wayne Joplin’s testimony at the grand jury investigation into the murders of his entire family and friend Terry Trice were riddled with inconsistencies and, seemingly, impossibilities. The final hour or so was no different. After he was dismissed, Terry Trice’s close friend Valdemar Gomez Junior took the stand. It’s unclear if the teenager was nervous or simply could...

As Gregg Joplin’s testimony about what happened on Monday, February 23rd, 1976 continued, the of murder case of the Joplin Family and Terry Trice seemed to grow even more complicated. The Grand Jury’s investigative efforts were certainly hindered, at the very least, by Gregg’s claimed lack of memory. Oddly, he remembered certain details quite well, but others – important details – not at all. Was...

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram shocked the locals when on March 3rd, 1976, they ran an article in their evening edition announcing that a grand jury investigation into the Joplin Family and Terry Trice murders in Blue Mound. It came out of nowhere. But Tarrant County Sheriff Lon Evans had asked for it the previous week, and subpoenas had gone out since. Because of an unwarranted arrest, a portion of...

After Fort Worth Star-Telegram newspaper reporters uncovered relatively solid evidence that 17-year-old Terry Trice did not kill Wayne, Fae, Brian, and Kevin Joplin, Tarrant County Sheriff Lon Evans became heavily involved in the investigation. In fact, it seemed as though he didn’t want anyone making any decisions or talking to any reports other than himself and his Chief Deputy Earl Brown. Damag...