Trace Evidence

On December 20th, 1976, a fourteen year old boy made a horrifying discovery along the banks of the Lehigh River in Pennsylvania. The body of an unidentified woman was found, severely mutilated and stuffed into three separate suit cases which had been thrown from the i80 interstate, some three hundred feet above. For the past forty-three years, the victim, known only as Carbon County Beth Doe, has...

Four year old Nyleen Kay Marshall was excited to attend a multi-family picnic with her family in the Helena National Forest on Saturday, June 25th, 1983. She had no way of knowing she wouldn’t be coming home. Sometime that afternoon, Nyleen was separated from the children she was playing with and witnessed speaking to an unidentified male. She then vanished without a trace. For the next forty year...

Fourteen year old Laureen Rahn had the apartment all to herself. Her mother, Judith, was out with her boyfriend and with spring break kicking off, Laureen decided to invite a few friends over. When Judith arrived home, sometime after midnight, something was wrong. All of the lights in the apartment building hallways were off and she found her front door unlocked. Checking over the apartment, the b...

Twelve year old Jaliek Rainwalker had lived a difficult life. Born to a drug addicted mother, and suffering from developmental issues as a result, the child bounced through multiple foster homes before finally being adopted. Stephen Kerr and Jocelyn McDonald adopted Jaliek, and it seemed like everything was going to turn around for the child. Unfortunately, after an outburst, things went south and...

Eighty-one year old Bob Harrod was experiencing something that usually only happens in movies. After nearly sixty years apart, he had reunited with his first love, Fontelle, and they had gotten married. While his new wife returned to Missouri to pack her belongings, Bob had a lot he wanted to get done at his home in California before his new bride returned. On July 26th, Bob had a meeting with his...

Seventeen year old Danny Goldman was a senior at Miami Beach High School approaching both graduation and his eighteenth birthday. A smart young man from a well to do family who split his days between repairing electronics and spending time with his girlfriend. The future offered so many possibilities. Sadly, Danny wouldn't see that future. On March 28th, the day before his eighteenth birthday, an...

Christian Ferguson was born with a life threatening disorder and nearly died in his first three days. Once the doctors were able to diagnose him, treatment was assigned and it was believed Christian could live a normal, healthy life. Following his parents divorce, and a bitter dispute in court, Christian's father, Dawan T. Ferguson was granted full custody while his mother, Theda, has visitation....

Twenty-seven year old David Cox had served four years in the Marine Corps and was now living with his girlfriend back in his home state of Massachusetts. While the transition had been a struggle, things were beginning to look up. The release of the film "A Few Good Men" impacted David strongly as it was closely based on an incident in which he had been involved during his time as a Marine statione...

Thirty-five year old Deanne Hastings was finally putting her life back together. After a long battle with bi-polar, a divorce and time spent in an in-patient treatment facility she was back on the rise. She was in love, enrolled in school, looking forward to the future and excited to establish stronger relationships with her children. Living with her fiance, Mike Tibbets, in Spokane, Washington, l...

Fifty-nine year old Ray Gricar had worked as the Centre County District Attorney for nearly twenty years. Having given most of his life to law, he decided that this would be his last term and in January of 2006 he was set to retire... but Ray would go missing nine months before his last day in office. On April 15th, 2005 Ray decided to skip work and to go for a drive down to Lewisburg, a quiet lit...

Twenty-six year old Paula Sladewski was making plans. After several attempts at a modeling career, leading to some success, she wanted to get back in the game and see what could happen. She hoped to start moving on her plan after she returned from her New Years Eve trip, but unfortunately, Paula would never make it back. Along with her boyfriend, Kevin, Paula flew to Miami, Florida to see a New Ye...

Twenty-eight Niqui McCown was a loving mother and sister. She was eagerly anticipating her upcoming wedding in August of 2001. However, just three weeks before she was to be married, on July 22nd, Niqui went to a local laundromat and was never seen again. In the weeks following her disappearance, Niqui's fiance became a person of interest, and then the father of her daughter and, finally a former...

Thirty-two year old Brandy Hanna had recently gotten out of a six year long relationship. Having lived with her fiancé, Ray McAdams, she couldn't help but develop feelings for a friend, Zeke Lankford. The situation became complicated and ultimately Brandy moved out, choosing to find an apartment to rent with Zeke. Just weeks after leaving Ray, Zeke told Brandy that he was leaving her. The young wo...

Thirty-six year old Susan Walsh wanted, more than anything, to be a journalist. She'd put herself through college by dancing in bars and adult clubs. It had been a rough road, and Susan struggled with addiction but when she got married and had her son, everything changed. Working alongside an acclaimed journalist, Susan was finally getting into the world she wished to explore. Assisting in the wri...

Twenty-four year old Amy Wroe Bechtel was putting the future together. Along with her husband, Steve, they had moved to the picturesque town of Lander, Wyoming and in the Summer of 1997, they had just closed on the purchase of their first house. On July 24th, both had the day off from work and while Steve planned to go rock climbing, Amy was going to run errands and then go running, her favorite a...

Twenty-four year old Mitrice Richardson wasn't making sense. She was sending cryptic text messages and indecipherable social media posts. Her mother was concerned, and on September 16th, 2009, she received a call explaining that Mitrice had been arrested in Malibu. After speaking with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, Mitrice's mother was told her daughter wouldn't be released until the...

Celebrating the holiday season by answering listener questions. For more information please visit: https://www.trace-evidence.com https://www.patreon.com/traceevidence Social Media: https://twitter.com/TraceEvPod https://www.instagram.com/traceevidencepod/ https://www.facebook.com/groups/traceevidencepod Music Courtesy of: "Lost Time" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons...

Nineteen year old Brandon Swanson had just completed his first year of college. Planning to spend his evening celebrating with friends, Brandon drove from his home in Marshall, MN to two separate gatherings. After leaving the second, near midnight, Brandon made the choice to take back roads rather than the faster and easier route of Highway 68. While driving on gravel back roads, Brandon got his c...

Nineteen year old Rachel Cooke had been attending college in San Diego. There, she met and fell in love with a man with whom she hoped to create a brilliant and beautiful future. Rachel was pursuing a career in fashion, and she had completely fallen in love with California, which was entirely different from her small hometown of Georgetown, Texas. In December of 2001, Rachel returned home for the...

Short update episode regarding sentencing of a suspect in the Disappearance of Heather Elvis, examined in episode 33 of Trace Evidence. "Wounded" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License  http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/trace-evidence--3207798/support .

Seventeen year old Norman Ladner loved spending his free time on his family's land. He would walk through the 122 acre plot, exploring the open pastures and dense forestry. Fishing and hunting were two of his favorite activities, but on the night of August 21st, 1989, Norman didn't come home. After searching for over an hour, Norman's father made the terrible discovery of his son's body. Norman ha...

It was a hot summer afternoon in Newark, New Jersey in 1978.  Five close friends, Melvin "Ricky" Pittman (17), Ernest Taylor (17), Alvin Turner (16), Randy Johnson (16) and Michael McDowell (16) had all gotten together to play basketball at West Side Park. As the afternoon turned to evening, the friends went their separate ways, planning to meet up again later.  They were going to help a local bus...

Twenty year old Angela Hammond was living in rural Clinton, Missouri.  Everything in her life seemed to be coming together:  she'd fallen in love, gotten engaged and was pregnant with her first child.  The bright, sweet and beautiful young woman was excited for the days ahead and the future she was building. On April 4th, 1991, she had plans to meet her fiance, Rob, downtown for a night out.  As t...

Twenty year old Karina Holmer wanted to see more of the world beyond her Swedish home town.  In the Spring of 1996, she decided to go to America, working as an Au Pair for a well to do family in the Boston suburb of Dover.  At first, everything was going great, but soon problems began to rear their head. In letters home, the young woman went from positive and excited to negative and eventually, fr...

Six year old Isabel Celis disappeared from her family's home in April of 2012.  Despite extensive searches, nothing could be found.  Rumor quickly built up suggesting that a member of her own family had been involved in the crime.  In March of 2017, Isabel's remains were recovered in rural Pima County.  Now, a year later, an arrest has finally been made which not only connects to Isabel and anothe...