Trace Evidence

Best friends since middle school, Diana Shawcroft and Jennifer Lueth moved from Colorado down to the warmth of Arizona. The two imagined fun nights making friends, exciting new jobs and the opportunity to build a future. Unfortunately, they would meet a killer instead. After hanging out at a convenience store, both women mysteriously vanished after catching a ride in a blue truck. While searches e...

Forty year old mother of three Bethanie Dougherty had to be up early the morning of April 2nd, 2008. She was training to be a manager at work and her shift began promptly at 5am. The night before, she kissed her eldest son goodnight and made her way to bed, planning to wake at 3am. Sometime between 3 and 3:30am, multiple neighbors called police to report the sound of a woman screaming. While New Y...

Twenty-eight year old Julie Weflen worked for the Bonneville Power Administration in Washington state. While out on a routine task to repair a transformer, Julie mysterious vanished from the isolated substation. Investigators found a scene which seemed to depict a struggle and abduction and immediately launched a search. While the evidence was thin, police did manage to develop several theories in...

Twenty-six year old Deborah Poe was set to work the graveyard shift at a local convenience store. After arriving at work all seemed to be going well, but just hours later, the store was found empty and abandoned and Debbie was gone. Investigators faced a challenging case with few, if any clues. Adding to the confusion was the account of a witness who had been in the store that night, but instead o...

In the spring of 1995, an unknown woman walked into the Oslo Plaza hotel and checked into a room. Three days later she was dead of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, but that is where the mystery truly began. All of the information she provided was false, a fake name, address and business. Her true identity was unknown and her possessions offered few suggestions. The tags were cut from her...

In late October of 1978 Gary and Joan Deal put their three year old son Jason to bed. Within hours all three were murdered in grisly fashion by an unknown assailant. The murders weren't discovered for several days, by which time the killer had already made his escape. For more than forty years the victims' families and police have been haunted by this horrifying and tragic crime. Evidence was extr...

On August 12th, 1984, thirteen year old Eugene Martin walked from his home in Des Moines to the location where he would pick up papers for delivery. After waiting on the corner, Eugene loaded his carrier bag and mysteriously vanished. Just two years earlier, Johnny Gosch, also a newspaper delivery boy, disappeared from the very same streets. Their abductions bore uncanny resemblances leading many...

In late October of 1997, in New South Wales, Fifteen year old Jessica Small and her best friend Vanessa took a ride with a man they didn't know. Shortly before arriving at the destination, the man attacked and while Vanessa managed to escape, Jessica disappeared. Rather than believing her story, Bathurst police accused her of lying to cover for Jessica running away. It would take ten years before...

Four year old Jeremy Grice was last seen standing by his mailbox on the morning of November 22nd, 1985. According to the witness, the child was standing beside his dog, in the cold rain, without shoes or socks on. Within an hour, Jeremy would vanish. For thirty-five years investigators and Jeremy's family have tried to discover what became of him. Did he fall victim to a notorious killer, was he a...

Thirteen year old Russell Evans was heading home from a friends house. An hour later a passerby found him lying in the street, badly injured and crying out for help. Eight hours later he died from what was ultimately ruled to be a hit and run accident. However, the more his parents dug into the case the more inconsistencies they found. The crime scene told a very different story and injuries to hi...

Early in the morning on August 9th, 1976, a truck driver passing through Sumter County, South Carolina, stopped to rest. To his shock and horror he discovered the remains of two murder victims shot and left along the edge of an isolated, dirt road. When investigators arrived they presumed they would have their biggest challenge tracking down the killer. They never imagined that the identity of the...

Nineteen year old Kimberly McAndrew was excited for the night. After a shift at work she'd be going to a local festival with her sister, her sister's boyfriend and her own boyfriend to celebrate his birthday. Much to her excitement, her boss let her off work forty minutes early but moments after exiting the store Kim vanished. For thirty years her family and investigators have tried to determine w...

In July of 1979 a group of brazen and sophisticated thieves orchestrated one of New York’s largest, unsolved heists by hitting the most secure room in the state: The New York Transit Authority’s Money Room. The room contained millions of dollars in cash exchanged for subway tokens, picked up by special money trains throughout the city. All told, the thieves walked away with $600,000 utilizing a fl...

In the late summer of 1979 Houston was struck by a series of horrifying murders. Within a two month span, five people were killed in brutal fashion. The city was terrorized by an unknown killer, or possibly, more than one. For forty-one years the mystery of the Houston Decapitator has haunted Houston police, and those who remember that summer of horror. For Alys Rankin, Mary Calcutta, Doris Thread...

On a warm Friday morning in 2008, an unknown gunman walked into the Sun Drop bottling company in Concord, NC. Minutes later he opened fire and fled the building leaving behind two victims. Donna Barnhardt had worked at Sun Drop for nearly nineteen years. She was a mother, grandmother and sister. Darrell Noles had walked in moments earlier to drop off an application, his wife was in the parking lot...

Twenty year old Kelly Bergh Dove switched shifts with her sister, working overnight at the Imperial Gas Station in Harrisonburg, Virginia. Hours later Kelly called police to report a man harassing her. Shortly after, she called again. She was panicked during a third call. Then the line went dead. Police arrived just minutes later and found the gas station vacant. Kelly’s purse, cigarettes and a ma...

Merrian Carver needed a break from life, so she flew across the country and hopped on an Alaskan Cruise. This wasn’t the first time Merrian went on a trip without telling anyone, but this time, she never made it home. Merrian was last seen in her cabin on the second night of the cruise. Despite her absence being noted multiple times, cruise staff failed to report her missing. A month passed before...

In this special update episode we look at ten cases which have had updates in the past year. These ten cases include: Kurt Sova -- Andrew Sadek -- Candace Hiltz -- Teresa Butler -- Heather Elvis -- Danielle Stislicki -- Irina Yarmolenko -- Christian Ferguson -- Diamond & Tionda Bradley -- Rachel Cooke Trace Evidence Facebook Instagram Twitter Official Website Official Merch Music Courtesy of:...

Four year old Tristen Myers walked out of his home and disappeared into thin air. Despite massive searches and appeals on television shows and nationwide media, there has never been a trace of the child found. Days after he vanished, the two dogs he had taken with him returned inexplicably, but Tristen was gone. What became of the four year old, did he fall victim to something in the wilderness, w...

Thirty year old Paige Renkoski had plans to drop her mother at the airport, visit a friend and then return home, but she never made it back. After her visit, everything normal about her day disappeared and her case became truly bizarre. For reasons unknown she parked her car along i96 where she was later seen talking to an unknown man and possibly two others. Hours later her car was found idling i...

In lieu of taking a week off due to complications surrounding the Coronavirus I've decided to release this special bonus episode, originally a Patreon only episode. This episode digs into and examines the horrible incident known as the Tylenol Poisonings. Trace Evidence Facebook Instagram Twitter Official Website Official Merch Music Courtesy of: "Lost Time" Kevin MacLeod ( incompetech.com ) Licen...

Forty-Seven year old Australian Paul Stevenson took his prized motorcycle out for an early morning ride. He’d done this countless times before but this time he didn’t return. After extensive searching, police were able to locate his motorcycle and helmet, but no signs of Paul. The bike was found at the bottom of an embankment, minor damage but nothing to suggest an accident. No skid marks, no bloo...

Twenty-two year old Carla Vicentini dreamed of going to America. Living in a small town in Brazil, the young woman wanted to experience the culture and life of the states. In January of 2006, she obtained a work visa and soon found herself in Newark, NJ. After her living arrangements didn’t work out, she and a friend moved into an apartment owned by a friend of her father’s. Just three days later,...

Sixteen year old Lashaya Stine snuck out of her families home during the early morning hours of Friday, July 15th, 2016. She never returned. Over the years her family and police have received multiple tips about Lashaya possibly having been forced into sex trafficking. While witnesses claim to have seen Lashaya, and others claim to know her assailant, Lashaya has yet to be found and her captor has...

Sixteen year old Hannah Truelove had her whole life ahead of her, but it was all taken in a night of madness. On August 23rd, 2012, Hannah was reported missing when she failed to return home. Police initiated a search but a heavy rainstorm delayed their efforts. Less than twenty-four hours later, Hannah’s body was found a quarter mile from her home, in the woods surrounding the apartment complex....