Episode 93: Amelia Zelko, Part 2 with guest reader Taylor Meskimen
After newspaper owner and journalist Amelia Zelko vanished in 1957, the search for answers stretched from the streets of Joliet, Illinois, all the way to Washington, D.C. In this second part of our series, we uncover how Robert F. Kennedy and J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI secretly joined the investigation, chasing leads that pointed to organized crime. We also revisit a chilling claim: a woman who beli...
27m Jun 17, 2025
27m
Episode 92: Amelia Zelko, Part 1 with guest reader Taylor Meskimen
Just before midnight on September 27, 1957, a quiet neighborhood in Joliet, Illinois, was jolted awake by the sound of a woman’s scream, a car door slamming, and tires screeching into the night. By morning, 47-year-old journalist and co-owner of The Joliet Spectator, Amelia Zelko, was gone. Known for her fearless reporting on organized crime and political corruption, Amelia had powerful enemies...
36m Jun 10, 2025
36m
Episode 91: Nicole Russo with guest reader Elisa Donovan
Sixteen-year-old Nicole Russo loved poetry, dreamed of becoming an auto mechanic, and had just started preparing for her GED. In March 1995, she left her Brick, New Jersey home to visit her new boyfriend’s mother on Long Island. She never came home.What followed was a deeply troubling investigation that would uncover bloodstains, a chilling confession, and a desperate attempt to cover up the tr...
45m Jun 03, 2025
45m
Episode 90: Arrilla Webb-Vaul with guest reader Cassandra Naud
When 23-year-old Arrilla Webb-Vaul vanished from Bossier, Louisiana in 1979, all she left behind was a slashed tire and a silent car on a quiet road. Authorities said she walked away. Her family never believed it.In this episode, we investigate the unsolved disappearance of Arrilla Webb-Vaul, exploring the overlooked evidence, the eerily similar case of another missing woman, and the patterns o...
38m May 27, 2025
38m
Episode 89: Laurie Partridge with guest reader Liz Vassey
On December 4, 1974, 17-year-old Laurie Partridge left school early, saying she wasn’t feeling well. She never made it home. Missing with her were the pair of Beach Boys concert tickets her dad had purchased for her for a show scheduled a week later. The night of the concert, police watched for her, but in the sea of 4000 people, Laurie was nowhere to be found. And though Laurie never showed, h...
32m May 20, 2025
32m
Episode 87: Case Update: Tanya Jackson (Peaches) and Tatiana Dykes (Baby Doe) with guest readers Raven Goodwin and Coco Jones
For years, they were known only by nicknames—Peaches and Baby Doe. A woman and her toddler, found miles apart in Long Island, unidentified and unnamed. But investigators never gave up hope. They believed that science would one day provide the answers they needed. And now, it has.This episode shares the story of Tanya Jackson and Tatiana Dykes—their lives, their loss, and the long fight to retur...
26m May 06, 2025
26m
Episode 86: Yeda “Dede” Rosenthal with guest reader Laura Ault
When 32-year-old Yeda "Dede" Rosenthal vanished without a trace, it shocked everyone who knew her. A dedicated professional at New Jersey’s Elywn Institute, Dede was known for her unwavering commitment to her work with autistic clients. But when she failed to show up for work one day, her coworkers grew immediately concerned. A visit to her apartment revealed unsettling clues—an unlocked door, ...
52m Apr 29, 2025
52m
Episode 85: Barbara Ann Bockwith with guest reader Julia Reilly
Barbara Ann Bockwith was just 20 years old when she vanished from her college campus in Pensacola, Florida.The University of West Florida student arrived early for her final exam, exhausted after an all-night study session. Realizing she’d left her notes in the car, she rushed out to retrieve them—just ten minutes before class. She never returned.In this episode, we trace Barbara’s final known ...
46m Apr 22, 2025
46m
What Happened to Masumi Watanabe? A Case That Shook Oahu with guest reader Erika Prevost
At 21 years old, Masumi Watanabe traveled from Japan to Hawaii to gain independence and confidence while staying with family friends. By all accounts, she was thriving. Just one week before she was scheduled to return home, Masumi disappeared.
50m Apr 15, 2025
50m
Sonoma County Jane Doe & Jeannette Kamahele: The Santa Rosa Hitchhiker Murders
In 1972, Jeannette Kamahele left her home near Santa Rosa Junior College and was last seen hitchhiking near a freeway onramp. She never made it to class. By 1979, hikers discovered the remains of the Sonoma County Jane Doe in rural California.Were these women connected? Both cases unfolded during a decade of violence in Sonoma County, when multiple young women—often hitchhikers—were murdered an...
54m Apr 08, 2025
54m
Episode 82: Regina Brown with guest reader Gwendolyn Osbourne
A Flight Attendant’s Fears, a Controlling Husband, and a Disappearance IgnoredIn 1987, Regina Brown—a devoted mother and flight attendant—was doing everything she could to escape. She had already sent two of her children to Texas for safety, and on March 26th, she put the last of her three on a plane. That was the last time anyone saw her.Before she vanished, Regina had confided in a friend: If...
56m Apr 01, 2025
56m
Episode 81: Joanna Otto with guest reader Elizabeth Saunders
A Mother’s Grief, a Missing Daughter, and a Legacy of RemembranceWhen 19-year-old Joanna Otto vanished after a party in Pensacola, Florida, the world barely noticed. Police dismissed her case, assuming she left on her own. But her loved ones knew better. Joanna had last been seen getting a ride from a man later convicted of kidnapping and assaulting another young woman. And yet—decades later—th...
51m Mar 25, 2025
51m
Episode 80: The Martin Family
The 1958 Christmas holiday was quickly approaching, and the Martin family of five set out on a quiet Sunday drive to collect greenery for their holiday decorations. They waved goodbye to their neighbors, never to return. Months later, the bodies of two of the children, Susan and her older sister Virginia, were found in Oregon’s Columbia River, but the rest of the family was never found. Their s...
1hr 5m Mar 18, 2025
1hr 5m
Episode 79: Virginia Pictou-Noyes with guest read Althea Sam
On April 24th, 1994, police respond to a call at a bar in Bangor, Maine. Outside they find Virginia Pictou-Noyes who claims her husband and brother-in-law had just beat her outside the bar. With her husband under arrest and her brother-in-law charged in the assault, Virginia is taken to an area hospital for her injuries. There, around 1am, she quietly slips out of the hospital. The last she is ...
36m Mar 11, 2025
36m
Episode 78: Maria Bozo with guest reader Ann Pirvu
In the summer of 1999, 46-year-old Maria Bozi, a Romanian immigrant living in the United Kingdom, met and married a man after a whirlwind romance. Within months, she would move to the United States to live with him. And soon after, she would disappear.  This week we’re joined by guest reader Ann Pirvu. Ann  is a Romanian-Canadian actress and producer from Toronto, Ontario. She is best known...
45m Mar 04, 2025
45m
Episode 77: Heather Elvis
On the night of December 17, 2013, 20-year-old Heather Elvis goes on a first date with a former high school classmate. The two eat dinner, look at Christmas decorations together, and he tries to teach her to drive a stick shift. And then, after he says goodnight to her, Heather gets a call. It’s her ex. He says he’s leaving his wife and he wants her back. Within hours, Heather goes missing. ...
44m Feb 25, 2025
44m
26: Episode 76: Audrey Moate with guest reader Janet Kidder
In 1956, the brutal murder of family man Thomas Hotard at a Louisiana lover’s lane leaves a trail of unanswered questions. Investigators quickly discover a mysterious connection to Audrey Moate, a woman whose sudden disappearance raises even more chilling suspicions. Was Audrey a victim, or does her vanishing hide a darker secret? As the investigation unfolds, shocking revelations about Audrey’...
40m Feb 18, 2025
40m
75: Episode 75: Paula Weldon
SummaryIn 1946, Paula Welden, a college student at Bennington College, mysteriously disappears, leaving behind a chilling unsolved case that has haunted the region for decades. As her disappearance unfolds, it sparks a dark fascination that even inspired famous writers like Donna Tartt and Shirley Jackson as well as spurred the creation of the Vermont State Police. But who was Paula Welden, and...
44m Feb 11, 2025
44m
74: Episode 74: Barbara Newhall Follett (Ep 2) with guest reader Kerry O'Malley
Barbara Newhall Follett had published her first novel at 12, traveled the world by 14, and regularly corresponded with scientists, artists, and sailors. So at age 15, when she ran away for the first time, it was because she couldn’t understand why she would be forced into a life not created wholly on her own. It won’t be the first time, Barbara disappears because in 1939, at the age of 25, she ...
1hr 4m Feb 04, 2025
1hr 4m
73: Episode 73: Barbara Newhall Follett (Ep 1) with guest reader Kerry O'Malley
By age 9, Barbara Newhall Follett had written her first novel draft. By age 12, she’d published it with a major publishing house, selling out of the initial print run before it even made it to stores. By age 14 she left her Connecticut home to travel to Barbados, Tahiti, and Samoa chasing new story ideas and escaping the turmoil of her parents’s divorce. And by age 15, she’d disappear. Barbara ...
54m Jan 28, 2025
54m
72: Episode 72: Etta Riel with guest reader Marsha Mason
In November 1934, new mother Etta Riel mysteriously disappears just hours before she’s set to attend a crucial paternity hearing. Her family believes she was preparing to reconcile with the man she claimed was the father of her baby, and that they were planning to elope to New York for a fresh start. But the man in question insists they were never intimate and that he was ready to expose her su...
53m Jan 25, 2025
53m
15: Episode 71: Olga Schultz Mauger with guest reader Susan Ruttan
September 1934, a 21-year-old newlywed, Olga Schultz Mauger, heads to Togwotee Pass in Wyoming to hunt elk on her honeymoon with her new husband. He says he last saw her sitting on a boulder in the mountains when they stopped to rest. Then, she simply vanished. Now, 90 years later, Olga is considered Wyoming’s oldest known missing persons case. This week we’re joined by Susan Ruttan. Known ...
50m Jan 14, 2025
50m
70: Episode 70: Stepha Henry
Memorial Day weekend in 2007 was supposed to be a weekend of celebration for the Henry sisters. They traveled from New York City to Miami to see friends, family and celebrate the younger sister’s birthday. But by the weekend’s end, only one of them would return home. The other, 22-year-old Stepha Henry, an aspiring lawyer, would be missing. Join us on Patreon! Your support helps us continue...
45m Jan 07, 2025
45m
Episode 69: Special Episode, Behind the poem - Battle Lines from episode 13
Special Episode, Behind the poem - Battle Lines from episode 13. Aimee and Vanessa talk about the inspiration and process of writing the poem Battle Lines, about the unidentified person known as Bitter Creek Betty.
15m Jan 01, 2025
15m
68: Episode 68: God of the woods, Book Talk
Special episode, Vanessa and Aimée discuss God of the woods, by Liz Moore.
34m Dec 25, 2024
34m
67: Judy Martins: The Kent State University Disappearance
In 1978, Kent State University student Judy Martins disappeared while walking less than 300 yards across campus after leaving a dorm party. More than forty years later, her disappearance remains unsolved.
1hr 1m Dec 17, 2024
1hr 1m
66: Episode 66: Ventura County Jane Doe
In 1980, a worker at Westfield High School in Thousand Oaks, California, is annoyed when he sees a mannequin on a slope near one of the school’s parking lots. The school had been experiencing vandalism in the recent months and this was yet another example of things being left at the school. But as he drew closer, he realized that what he was seeing was a pregnant woman. She’d been brutally stab...
52m Dec 11, 2024
52m
65: Episode 65: Texas Killing Fields: Michelle Doherty
Michelle Doherty should have had a lifetime to come into herself. Instead, the 17-year-old mother was pressured into becoming a narcotics informant to help police bust a drug ring. That one decision likely got her killed. Michelle Doherty is one of the missing women of the Texas Killing Fields, but her story is often overlooked.  This week we’re joined by Award-winning actress Christine Sol...
40m Dec 03, 2024
40m
64: Episode 64: Iris Brown with guest readers Marilyn Oliva and Tom Gilroy
In 1976, Iris Brown returns to her apartment and learns that her boyfriend is about to be released from Federal Prison the next day. The man who tells her this had been in prison with her boyfriend and he’s received a telegram informing him of this news. He suggests the two of them leave immediately and drive the nearly 300 miles there so they can welcome Iris’s boyfriend as he’s released. But ...
54m Nov 26, 2024
54m
63: Episode 63: Mimi Boomhower with guest reader Amber Dawn Fox
In August 1949, friends of Mimi Boomhower arrive at Mimi’s home to find that despite the lights on inside and outside her Bel Air mansion and her car in her garage, the wealthy widow is nowhere to be found. Seven days later her purse is found inside a grocery store telephone booth with a cryptic message written in pen on its side sending police into a flurry as they work to find her. This w...
59m Nov 19, 2024
59m
Morgan County Jane Doe (1950): Unidentified Woman Found Murdered in West Virginia
A woman found murdered in rural West Virginia in 1950 was repeatedly misidentified—but over 75 years later, Morgan County Jane Doe still has no name.
44m Nov 12, 2024
44m
Episode 61 : Helen Brach
Summary“If it’s a kidnapping, I’d have a ransom note by now,” says private investigator Ernest Rizzo about the 1977 disappearance of candy heiress Helen Voorhees Brach. But despite his confidence that Helen Brach is still alive, no one has seen her. And as the days turn into months turn into years, it becomes more and more clear just how wrong Ernest Rizzo is about what happened to Helen. J...
54m Nov 05, 2024
54m
60: episode 60: Lilawattie Buerettan
In 1994, the Palm Beach Sheriff’s Office enters a property in Loxahatchee, Florida and finds a chilling sight. Hundreds of exotic birds including parrots and macaws are dead or dying inside their enclosures. While they work frantically to save the remaining birds, their focus shifts to how they got in this state. Where is their caretaker, 36 year old Lilawattie Buerettan and her 31 year old nep...
50m Oct 29, 2024
50m
59: Episode 59: Suzanne Richerson with guest reader Sonja Ball
In 1998, Suzanne Renee Richerson, a Texas A&M student at their Galveston campus, headed to work as a night clerk at a hotel and condo complex. She expects to study overnight and leave at 7am. At 6am, the security guard checks on her before he leaves, but by 6:15am, as a couple goes to check out, Suzanne is no longer at her desk. This week we’re joined by born performer and one of Canada’s voice...
45m Oct 22, 2024
45m
58: Episode 58: Gloria Kidder Korzon with guest reader Patrisha McLean
“Did you find the body?” a killer asks law enforcement 38 years after his wife went missing. When Gloria Kidder met her future husband at work, little did she know she was also meeting the man who would force her to experience an escalating pattern of violence ending only in her death. This week we’re joined by Patrisha McLean who started on her journey of activism for women’s rights upon t...
53m Oct 17, 2024
53m
57: The Disappearance of Ruth Baumgardner: Vanished from Her Dorm in 1937 with guest reader Mallory Kennedy
A college student disappears after saying good night in 1937—what happened to Ruth Baumgardner inside her own dorm?
59m Oct 09, 2024
59m
56: Episode 56: Lourdes Gruart
In 2000, model Lourdes Gruart disappears. Her brother says that she told him she was leaving for Europe for a modeling job and left their shared apartment. But Lourdes doesn’t have an active passport, nor has she told anyone else of her travel plans. In the 24 years since, Lourdes’s disappearance has remained a mystery. Join us on Patreon! Your support helps us continue to shine light on Am...
54m Oct 01, 2024
54m
55: Episode 55: Bessie Haley Hyde with guest reader Musetta Vander
In 1928, Bessie and Glen Hyde take a scow down the Colorado River in their attempt to have Bessie become the first woman documented to have gone down the river through the canyon. Their plan is to leverage their experience into a career on the lecture and vaudeville circuit. They are last seen heading down the river in mid November.This week we are joined by Musetta Vander. A native South Afric...
1hr 8m Sep 24, 2024
1hr 8m
54: Episode 54: Jean Spangler Part 2 with guest reader Sara Tomko
Known to the courts as a glamor girl, 26 year old Jean Spangler was trying to make her way in Hollywood as an actress and dancer while raising her young daughter as a single mom. And then the unthinkable happens, on the night of October 7, 1949, Jean Spangler left her home telling her family she would be doing a bit part at one of the studios. She was never seen again. This week our guest r...
44m Sep 17, 2024
44m
53: Episode 53: Jean Spangler with guest reader Sara Tomko
SummaryKnown to the courts as a glamor girl, 26 year old Jean Spangler was trying to make her way in Hollywood as an actress and dancer while raising her young daughter as a single mom. And then the unthinkable happens, on the night of October 7, 1949, Jean Spangler left her home telling her family she would be doing a bit part at one of the studios. She was never seen again. This week our ...
33m Sep 10, 2024
33m
Episode 52: Parker County Jane Doe with guest reader Kate Roman
In 1998, an unidentified woman’s remains are found near a highway truck stop in Weatherford, Texas. It is believed that she died by a self-inflicted gunshot wound, but in the past 26 years no one has come forward to claim her. Today, little has been publicized about her case, making her one of the many unidentified women whose stories aren’t told. This week our guest reader is Kate Roman, a...
58m Sep 03, 2024
58m
Evelyn Throsby : Murdered by a Conman Husband in Landmark No-Body Case
Evelyn Throsby vanished after being isolated by her conman husband in a landmark no-body murder case that changed criminal prosecution.
1hr 9m Aug 27, 2024
1hr 9m
Episode 50: Lola Celli
It’s 1946. Twenty-four year old Lola Celli is visiting her parents in Grandview Heights, Ohio when she decides to take a bus into Columbus to buy some nylons. But her neighbors don’t report seeing her on the morning bus nor is there any record of her making a purchase at the store she planned to visit. Is it possible that something happened to Lola in the two blocks between her parents’ home an...
45m Aug 20, 2024
45m
49: The Indiana Dunes Disappearances: Ann Miller, Patricia Blough, & Renee Bruhl
The 1966 Indiana Dunes disappearances: three young women vanish from a Lake Michigan beach in front of 8,600 witnesses. Ann Miller, Patricia Blough, and Renee Bruhl were never found.
55m Aug 13, 2024
55m
48: Episode 48: Rocio Sperry with guest reader Tonya Todd
A serial killer sends investigators a series of notes, detailing his crimes. In them, he mentions a married woman who drove a white grand am. He claims he murdered her and that investigators should be able to use his clues to identify her. There’s one problem though, investigators can’t find any missing person or murder cases that match these clues. This week our guest reader is Tonya Todd....
57m Aug 06, 2024
57m
47: From “Bone Woman” to Donna Nelton: A Jane Doe Identified After Decades with guest reader Devyn Dalton
For over 30 years she was known only as “Bone Woman”—until DNA gave her back her name: Donna Nelton.
47m Jul 31, 2024
47m
46: Episode 46: Joan Butler, Christine Rusch, and Theresa Brown Part 2
It’s June 1989 and Kansas is rocked by a series of attacks on young women. Twenty-four year old Terri Maness was found murdered in her townhouse and eleven days later 24 year old Joan Butler goes missing from her apartment. Just days after that, two roommates, Theresa Brown and Christine Rusch are abducted as well. These abductions spur a manhunt across several states and investigators search f...
52m Jul 16, 2024
52m
45: Episode 45: Joan Butler, Christine Rusch, and Theresa Brown Part 1
SummaryIn June 1989, Terri Maness is found murdered in her townhouse in Wichita Kansas. Over a week later and 200 miles away, Joan Butler doesn’t show up for work worrying her family and co-workers, but when they go to her apartment, she’s nowhere to be found. Initially, there’s nothing to connect these two cases, but within a week, investigators realize that they could be dealing with a serial...
36m Jul 09, 2024
36m
44: Episode 44: Camden County Jane Doe with guest reader Shay Mack
In 1979 the body of a woman was found on or under a porch in North Camden, New Jersey. Years later, her skull is found in another residence. Despite this shocking find, little information is known about her. This week we try to shine light on her story and the factors that have worked against her identification.  This week our guest reader is Shay Mack, an actress, director, and acting coac...
40m Jul 02, 2024
40m
43: Episode 43: Sneha Philip with guest reader Sakina Jaffrey Part 2
Though Dr. Sneha Philip, who lived just blocks from the World Trade Center, is last seen on September 10th, she is added to the list of 9/11 victims. That is until the NYPD starts investigating her personal history and this investigation leads to her removal. Over the years her family fights for her to be recognized as one of the victims and, in 2008, she finally is. Despite this, what one judg...
50m Jun 25, 2024
50m