The Trail Went Cold

October 23, 1986. Dublin, Ireland. After going home for lunch, 13-year old Philip Cairns leaves in order to return to school. He never arrives and vanishes without a trace. Six days later, Philip’s school bag appears in a laneway which had previously been searched, leading to speculation that it was planted there by the person who abducted him. In 2016, a witness implicates a former radio host and...

June 25, 2001. Hood River, Oregon. During a date with a friend, 41-year old Eric Tamiyasu hears strange noises outside his home and discovers an unidentified shoeprint. After his friend leaves for the night, Eric is not heard from for five days. His decomposing body is eventually discovered in his bed and it turns out he has been shot three times in the head. The investigation would uncover a numb...

March 11, 1985. Waverly, Georgia. While holding a Bible class at the Rising Daughters Baptist Church, 66-year old deacon Harold Swain is summoned to the vestibule by an unidentified man. Harold is soon shot to death and when his 63-year old wife, Thelma Swain, goes to check on him, she is fatally shot as well. Eighteen years later, a suspect named Dennis Perry is convicted of the murders and recei...

February 3, 1964. Manchester, New Hampshire. The burned body of 54-year old Rena Paquette is discovered inside a pigsty on her family’s farm. Even though there are no containers for flammable substances at the scene, investigators believe that Rena set herself on fire and rule her death to be a suicide. However, many people suspect that Rena’s death was connected to the recent murder of a local te...

March 22, 2010. Huixquilucan, Mexico. Paulette Gebara Farah, a four-year girl with developmental disabilities, vanishes from her bedroom and a massive search campaign fails to turn up any trace of her. Nine days later, Paulette’s decomposing body is discovered wedged between her mattress and the footboard of her bed, and a police inquiry rules that she got stuck there accidentally and died of asph...

June 27, 1994. Tacoma, Washington. 25-year old Michael Johnston and 19-year old Rochelle Robinson leave a get-together at a friend’s house. Later that morning, Michael is found shot to death outside Rochelle’s vehicle with his throat slashed. Rochelle is soon found stabbed to death on a remote road with her own throat slashed. Even though Michael was married, it turned out the two victims had been...

October 13, 1997. Gillette, Wyoming. 14-year old Amanda Gallion leaves her home for school, but never arrives and is reported missing. Suspicion turns towards Amanda’s 20-year old boyfriend, Patrick Ghering, who denies any knowledge of her disappearance. Six days later, Patrick goes missing himself after his abandoned vehicle is discovered by the side of the road. Over the next several years, Aman...

January 4, 1991. Lake Havasu City, Arizona. 42-year old audio designer John Iverson disappears from his home after a meeting with a machinist named Jack Weber. According to Iverson’s spouse, Kathy Munro, Weber had robbed her at gunpoint before kidnapping Iverson. After being a wanted fugitive for three months, Weber turns himself in, but there is no sign of Iverson. Weber claims Munro’s story isn’...

November 19, 1985. Dawson County, Montana. After leaving his son’s farm in Oregon the previous day to take a lengthy road trip back to his home in Wisconsin, 67-year old Dexter Stefonek disappears and his burning car is discovered at an isolated rest area. Only a half hour earlier, a witness had seen an unidentified man driving Dexter’s car into the rest area and he appeared to be carrying two con...

July 11, 1996. Knoxville, Tennessee. The body of 31-year old Blair Adams is discovered in a parking lot. He is nude from the waist down with $4,000 worth of American, Canadian and German currency scattered around his body, and the cause of death is determined to be a violent blow which ruptured his stomach. Blair hails from Surrey, British Columbia and had suddenly quit his job three days earlier...

October 18, 1987. Rochester, New Hampshire. 34-year old Alene “Lulu” Courchesne is found strangled to death next to a turnpike outside of town. Even though Lulu is engaged to someone else, she had gone out on a date the previous night with a man named Rick McCue. Rick is eventually charged with Lulu’s murder and found guilty at trial, even though compelling evidence seems to point to the brother o...

April 29, 2003. Nashville, Tennessee. 13-year old Tabitha Tuders leaves her house for school and is last seen walking through her neighbourhood towards her bus stop. Tabitha never boards the bus or arrives at school and when she fails to return home that evening, she is reported missing. Less than four months later, another young girl goes missing when 11-year old Heaven LaShae Ross also disappear...

November 18, 1995. Vicksburg, Mississippi. 62-year old Jacqueline Levitz, the wealthy widowed heiress to a furniture empire, vanishes from her home. Two days later, blood stains and evidence of a violent struggle are discovered inside her bedroom, creating the impression that Jacqueline met with foul play. Over the years, numerous suspects would be investigated, including members of Jacqueline’s f...

December 2, 1919. Toronto, Ontario. Ambrose Small, a wealthy 56-year old theater tycoon, has just completed a deal to sell off all his holdings for $1.7 million. After having a meeting with his lawyer at his office at the Grand Opera House, Small vanishes without a trace. Over the years, suspicion would be directed at numerous suspects, including Small’s wife and his personal secretary, who fled t...

May 7, 1988. Mountainair, New Mexico. Steve Sandlin, a 21-year old rookie with the local police department, is found dead inside the station. He has been shot in the head and since the police chief pushes forward the theory that Steve’s death was either suicide or an accident, it is officially classified as “undetermined”. However, Steve’s family becomes suspicious when they discover several bags...

May 7, 1988. Mountainair, New Mexico. Steve Sandlin, a 21-year old rookie with the local police department, is found dead inside the station. He has been shot in the head and since the police chief pushes forward the theory that Steve’s death was either suicide or an accident, it is officially classified as “undetermined”. However, Steve’s family becomes suspicious when they discover several bags...

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...