The Trail Went Cold

February 19, 1971. Sumter County, Florida. The body of a young woman is found floating beneath a bridge in Lake Panasoffkee. She has been strangled to death with a belt, but in spite of some intriguing clues, the victim cannot be identified and is named “Little Miss Panasoffkee”. Four decades later, investigators explore the possibly that she may have originally hailed from Greece and was murdered...

November 21, 1985. Littleton, Colorado. A masked gunman enters the home of 51-year old businessman Roger Dean and forces him to tie up and blindfold his wife, D.J.. After an apparent dispute over money, the gunman fatally shoots Roger and flees the scene, but investigators find evidence to suggest that Roger may have hired the intruder himself in a failed attempt at a kidnapping-robbery scheme. Ne...

March 2, 1995. New Orleans, Louisiana. After leaving a restaurant with his date in the French Quarter, 25-year old Michael Gerardi is fatally gunned down by a trio of robbers. Weeks later, 16-year old Shareef Cousin is implicated in the crime and charged with first-degree murder. Even though Shareef seems to have an airtight alibi, Michael’s date identifies him as the shooter at trial. Shareef is...

August 16, 1996. Clayton County, Georgia. 34-year old Sherri Holland leaves her vacation home in Flagler Beach, Florida in order to drive back to her residence in Atlanta, but never arrives. Eight days later, Sherri’s abandoned BMW is discovered on the northbound shoulder of Interstate 75 with a nail in one of the tires and her two dogs are soon found in a field a few miles away. An investigation...

August 28, 1991. Houma, Louisiana. 50-year old A.J. Breaux leaves an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting at the local Easy Does It Club, but never returns home. Two days later, A.J.’s abandoned car is found in a park across the street from the club and many of his possessions are still inside. That very same day, multiple eyewitnesses reporting seeing A.J. with three unidentified men in a red compact car...

September 4, 1993. Plano, Texas. While attending a soccer game at Carpenter Park with her family, seven-year old Ashley Estell goes missing after an apparent abduction. The following day, Ashley is found strangled to death next to an isolated dirt road six miles away. The investigation soon leads to a paroled sex offender named Michael Blair, who is subsequently convicted of Ashley’s murder and se...

November 21, 1979. Craig, Colorado. After spending the evening at a dance, 15-year old Marie Blee heads to a party at a mobile home park, but never returns home. Two days later, Marie’s parents receive an anonymous phone call demanding a $5,000 ransom for her return. The caller is soon revealed to be 18-year old Monty Doolin, who drove Marie to the party, but he denies any involvement in her disap...

April 22, 1985. Vinita Park, Missouri. 27-year old wife and mother Linda Sherman does not show up for shift at work and her abandoned car is soon discovered in an airport parking garage. Since Linda had recently filed for divorce from her controlling husband, Don Sherman, he is suspected of being responsible for her disappearance. Five years later, a skull is discovered outside Don’s favourite res...

November 15, 1928. Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona. 29-year old Glen Hyde and his 22- year old wife, Bessie, decide to spend their honeymoon taking a rafting trip through the Grand Canyon down the rapids of the Colorado River and hope to attain a new speed record. Shortly after stopping at the home of a photographer named Emery Kolb, the Hydes vanish without a trace. Their empty boat is eventu...

August 18, 2010. Leduc County, Alberta. While staying with her infant son and a friend at a motel, 20-year old Amber Tuccaro decides to hitchhike to Edmonton. She never returns and is subsequently reported missing. Two years later, police release audio of a recording from Amber’s cell phone in which she can be heard conversing with a male driver on the night of her disappearance. Amber expresses f...

June 26, 2009. McCleary, Washington. After stopping by a friend’s house, 10-year old Lindsey Baum leaves walk home. Even though her trip should have only taken ten minutes, Lindsey never arrives and is soon reported missing, but a massive search effort fails to turn up any trace of her. Eight years later, skeletal remains are discovered in a remote area 150 miles away and DNA testing eventually ma...

September 13, 1991. Burbank, California. 37-year old Tom Roche makes plans to meet his spouse, Barbara Rondeau, for lunch, but never shows up. When Barbara returns to their apartment, she discovers that the front door is unlocked and Tom is missing. Six days later, Barbara receives an envelope containing some of Tom’s personal items, along with an anonymous confession letter to his murder. While t...

January 10, 1999. Manitowoc County, Wisconsin. While walking home from a friend’s house during the early morning hours, 17-year old Ricky Hochstetler is fatally struck by a vehicle on the shoulder of a county highway in a hit-and-run. The Manitowoc County Sheriff’s Department soon announce that parts from a Chevrolet truck or van were found at the scene, but an extensive investigation fails to tur...

February 11, 1979. Hana, Hawaii. Five men – 27-year old Scott Moorman, 31-year old Peter Hanchett, 38-year old Benjamin Kalama, 26-year old Patrick Woesner and 27-year old Ralph Malaiakini – leave the island of Maui on a fishing trip in a boat named the “Sarah Joe”. When a violent storm hits the area, the Sarah Joe and its crew do not return and an extensive search effort fails to find them. Nine-...

July 12, 2007. Sykesville, Pennsylvania. The fire department shows up at the burning home of 33-year old Joey Lynn Offutt. The body of her six-week old infant son, Alexis Alfred Borden III, is found in the bathtub, but Joey herself is nowhere to be found. Three days later, Joey’s abandoned car is discovered over 60 miles away at an apartment complex in State College where she had previously lived....

May 30, 1973. East Lansing, Michigan. The sister of 21-year old university student Henry Baltimore Jr. goes to meet him at his apartment, but discovers he is not there and eventually reports him missing. Nearly three months earlier, a pair of attackers had broken into Henry’s apartment to assault and rob him and police arrested a suspect named Roy Davis. After Henry testified against Davis at his...

September 1, 1974. Jackson County, Oregon. 28-year old Richard Cowden, his 22-year old wife Belinda Cowden, and their two children, five-year old David and five-month old Melissa, are in the midst of a camping trip when they inexplicably vanish from their campsite near Carberry Creek, leaving all their possessions behind. Seven months later, the entire family’s remains are found at a remote locati...

June 7, 1992. Springfield, Missouri. After an evening of partying following their high school graduation, 19-year old Suzie Streeter and her 18-year old friend, Stacy McCall, decide to spend the night at Suzie’s house alongside Suzie’s 47-year old mother, Sherrill Levitt. They are last seen shortly after 2:00 AM, but later that day, Suzie, Stacy, and Sherrill, a.k.a. “The Springfield Three”, are a...

March 15, 1989. Frederick, Maryland. 17-year old Tracey Kirkpatrick spends the evening working alone at a shopping center clothing store. Nearly two hours after the store was supposed to have been closed, a security guard discovers Tracey’s body in the rear storage room and she has been stabbed seven times. Three months later, a man calling himself “Don” phones a national confession hotline and cl...

October 12, 2000. Houston, Texas. After leaving her home, 48-year old Mary Henderson Morris does not show up for work and her body is discovered inside her burned-out car on a remote road later that afternoon. Four days later, another Houston woman, 39-year old Mary McGinnis Morris, is discovered shot to death inside her car under eerily similar circumstances, but other than their name, there does...

July 16, 1952. Salisbury, Connecticut. While spending the summer at Camp Sloane, ten-year old Connie Smith skips breakfast and leaves the campground. Numerous witnesses see Connie walking down the road and attempting to hitchhike, but before she reaches the nearest town, she vanishes without a trace. Since Connie’s grandfather is the former Governor of Wyoming, there is a massive search effort and...

July 11, 1988. Walnut Creek, California. Lester Garnier, a 30-year old vice officer with the San Francisco Police Department, is found shot to death inside his car in a shopping center parking lot. Eyewitnesses recall seeing at least two unidentified blonde women in the parking lot the previous night and speculation mounts that Lester’s murder might be connected to his involvement in the recent hi...

May 4, 1996. Sitka, Alaska. While walking home from her sister’s place after celebrating her 17th birthday, Jessica Baggen is attacked on a bicycle path. Her body is soon found in a wooded area, where she has been sexually assaulted and asphyxiated to death. Eleven days later, a suspect named Richard Bingham turns himself in to the police and after making a videotaped confession, he is charged wit...

April 12, 1994. Carlisle, Pennsylvania. 23-year old Karen Denise Wells has left on a cross-county road trip from her hometown in Oklahoma in order to visit her friend, Melissa Shepard, in New Jersey. After checking into a motel, Denise phones Melissa and asks her to come meet her there, but when Melissa arrives, Denise has vanished. Later that morning, Denise’s abandoned rental car is discovered 3...

September 14, 1965. Coral Gables, Florida. After leaving work, 22-year old Judith Hyams vanishes without a trace and her rental car is found abandoned in Atlanta. It turns out that Judith had become pregnant and was seeking an illegal abortion from a shady doctor, but after he is arrested, he jumps bail and disappears. 24 years later, the case is suddenly re-opened after a police captain receives...