The Trail Went Cold

November 13, 1981. Stinson Beach, California. 44-year old John Paul Russell and 34-year old Bob Dozier emerge from the Pacific Ocean, claiming that their yacht, the Freedom II, sank after a large freighter crashed into them. John’s 30-year old wife, Suzanne Russell, and their 20-year old friend, Kristen Tomlin, were also on the boat and presumed drowned. However, when no trace of the Freedom II ca...

November 16, 1969. Los Angeles, California. The murdered body of a young white female is discovered on a ravine overlooking Mulholland Canyon. She has been stabbed 157 times, but since she cannot be identified, the victim simply becomes known as “Jane Doe 59”. 46 years later, DNA testing officially identifies her as 19-year old Reet Jurvetson, a Swedish-born Canadian citizen who had travelled to C...

March 29, 1989. Brooklyn, New York. A 22-year old African-American woman named Monique Rivera and her six-week old son, Andre Bryant, leave on a shopping trip with two unidentified women, but never return. The following day, Monique’s murdered body is discovered in a wooded area, but Andre is nowhere to be found. Within the next four-and-a-half months, two more African-American infants from the Ne...

June 12, 1985. Concord, California. Dottie Caylor, a 41-year old woman with a history of struggles with agoraphobia, is allegedly dropped off at a train station by her husband, Jule Caylor, before she leaves on a trip. The following day, Jule finds Dottie’s car in another train station’s parking lot with her purse inside, but Dottie does not return from her trip and is never heard from again. Over...

December 8, 2000. Dublin, Ireland. After spending a rainy evening at a staff Christmas party, 22-year old Trevor Deely walks from a nightclub to his place of employment, the Bank of Ireland Asset Management headquarters. Trevor chats with a co-worker and grabs an umbrella, but after leaving the building to walk home and passing by an ATM camera over ten minutes later, he vanishes without a trace....

August 19, 1977. Circleville, Ohio. After receiving a phone call, an angry Ron Gillispie frantically drives away from his home and dies after crashing into a tree. For the past several months, Ron’s wife, Mary Gillispie, had been receiving anonymous threatening letters expressing anger about her alleged affair with another man. In total, over a thousand anonymous letters would be sent to residents...

February 14, 2006. Pahrump, Nevada. While working her shift at a bank, 41-year old Maureen Fields expresses concern that something is going to happen to her. The following day, Maureen fails to show up for work and her husband, Paul Fields, claims he last saw her when she left the house that morning. Maureen’s abandoned car is discovered in the desert, but she is nowhere to be found and her husban...

September 8, 1981. Mount Vernon, South Dakota. 30-year old John Mathis contacts police to inform them that he has been shot in the arm after a struggle with a masked attacker on his farm. When police arrive, they discover that John’s wife, LaDonna Mathis, and their two children, four-year old Brian and two-year old Patrick, have been shot to death. While John claims the masked attacker was respons...

May 5, 1996. Tijuana, Mexico. A young man is struck by a motorcycle while running across the highway and dies in hospital six days later. Three weeks pass before he is identified as Patrick Sean Kelly, a 22-year old Canadian film student who had gone missing from the University of Southern California. There are a number of suspicious discrepancies to suggest there is more to Patrick’s death than a...

July 5, 1965. Lexington, Kentucky. After a night of heavy drinking with her husband and another couple, 39-year old Mary Marrs Cawein returns home. When morning hits, Mary is found dead in her bedroom chair and an autopsy would reveal she was murdered after ingesting carbolic acid. Suspicion immediately falls upon Mary’s husband, Dr. Madison Cawein, who had conducted affairs with two other women d...

January 12, 1984. Atlantic City, New Jersey. Seven-year old Gary Grant Jr., the son of a local police detective, leaves his home after telling his mother he is meeting someone for an appointment. Two days later, Gary’s body is discovered in a vacant lot after he has been bludgeoned to death with a pipe. A 12-year old friend of Gary’s named Carl “Boo” Mason soon confesses to the murder and is charg...

January 5, 1992. Gilmer, Texas. After finishing the night shift at a local video store, 17-year old Kelly Dae Wilson vanishes without explanation and her car is found in the parking lot with one of its tires slashed. Two years later, eight suspects, one of them a police officer investigating the case, are indicted for Kelly’s abduction and murder and accused of being members of a Satanic cult. How...

November 27, 1970. Ventura County, California. While representing Leslie Van Houten during the Manson Family’s murder trial, 35-year old attorney Ronald Hughes leaves to go on a camping trip. He never returns and his decomposed body is found wedged between two boulders in a gorge four months later. While the actual cause of death cannot be determined, rumours circulate about foul play, as Charles...

April 20, 1989. Circle, Montana. While driving on the wrong side of a rural highway, 37-year old Patricia Meehan gets into a collision with another car. After staring blankly at the vehicle’s driver, Patricia walks out onto the prairie and disappears. During the next few months, there would be numerous sightings of a disoriented-woman resembling Patricia. This leads to speculation that the trauma...

Christmas Eve 1931. Superior, Arizona. While driving through the desert, a couple named Ed and Julia Stewart experience a flat tire and pull over to a remote spot. They soon discover an abandoned newborn baby girl inside a hatbox and turn her over to the authorities. While the story of the “Hatbox Baby” becomes a media sensation, the child’s family cannot be located, so she is adopted out to a cou...

Christmas Eve, 1973. New London, Connecticut. While changing a tire, 20-year old Kevin Showalter is struck by a passing vehicle and killed in a hit-and-run. When the local police botch the investigation and make no effort to solve the case, Kevin’s mother is forced to fight for answers on her own. Years later, a grand jury investigation is launched and the town’s former mayor is named as the proba...

December 22, 1967. Chicago, Illinois. After leaving work and picking up his son from school, Dr. John Branion, a prominent African-American physician who treated Martin Luther King Jr., returns home to discover that his wife, Donna Branion, has been shot to death. Police become suspicious of Dr. Branion’s behaviour and eventually charge him with the murder after discovering that the likely murder...

February 24, 1978. Chico, California. After embarking on a road trip to attend a basketball game, five mentally disabled young men – 24-year old Jackie Huett, 29-year old Bill Sterling, 30-year old Jack Madruga, 32-year old Ted Weiher, and 25-year old Gary Mathias – begin the 50-mile drive back to their homes in Yuba County, but never arrive. Four days later, their abandoned car is found in some s...

November 30, 1963. West Hollywood, California. After not being heard from for over two days, the nude body of 22-year actress Karyn Kupcinet is discovered on the couch inside her apartment. Her death is initially suspected of being a drug overdose, but when the coroner discovers a broken hyoid bone in Karyn’s throat, he rules that she was a victim of strangulation. Years later, Karyn’s death is un...

May 19, 2004. New York City. After leaving her apartment, 21-year old Julliard student Sarah Fox does not return and is found strangled to death in a wooded area at Inwood Hill Park six days later. Her nude body is posed in a ritualistic fashion and surrounded by two dozen tulip petals. A suspect named Dimitry Sheinman eventually pops up on the radar and claims that he had visions of the murder. A...

December 1, 1991. Herndon, Virginia. The parents of 21-year old Tommy Burkett return home to find him dead in his bedroom, the apparent victim of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. When the authorities arrive, Tommy’s parents are immediately taken aback by their suspicious behaviour and notice strange discrepancies to make them believe their son did not commit suicide. Upon further investigation, the...

June 15, 1998. Bloomington, Illinois. Three-year old Christina McNeil is discovered dead inside her bedroom and small cuts can be found in her window screen. The investigation soon focuses on Christina’s father, Barton McNeil, who is eventually convicted of his daughter’s murder and receives a life sentence. However, Barton continually maintains his innocence and points the finger at another suspe...

September 7, 2015. Fridley, Minnesota. After spending the evening at a nightclub, 32-year old Henry McCabe is dropped off at a gas station by an acquaintance sometime after 2:00 AM. Shortly thereafter, Henry’s wife receives a phone call in which he sounds like he’s moaning in pain and claiming he’s been shot, and she winds up recording an odd voicemail containing unexplained growling noises. Henry...

Happy Halloween, everyone! As a special piece of bonus content this month, “The Trail Went Cold” has participated in a joint collaboration with over a dozen podcasters in which each of us share our own scary Halloween-themed story. Hosted by Tyler from The Minds of Madness , the end result is the spookiest Halloween podcast episode you’ve ever heard. Contributing Podcasts: Creepy Fairy Tales for U...

October 21, 1978. Cape Otway, Australia. After leaving on a seemingly routine training flight in a Cessna 182 aircraft, 20-year old pilot Frederick Valentich vanishes without explanation over Bass Strait. During a radio transmission, Valentich describes seeing an unidentified flying object and his final words are: “It’s hovering and it’s not an aircraft”. When eyewitnesses report seeing strange th...