https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/cold-case-killers--7189776
You’ll hear tight, evidence-forward storytelling that focuses on the science and the search: how genetic genealogy, cold-case DNA analysis and crime-scene forensics reshaped leads, identified persons of interest, and prompted new legal steps. This is not rumor or speculation — it’s methodical, document-backed narrative built for listeners who care about facts and breakthroughs in cold-cases-ADN.

New episodes drop every day: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday at 4:00 AM. Expect focused 30–50 minute episodes that blend case history, forensic explanation and the investigative turning points that revived each inquiry.

This podcast is for true crime listeners, armchair investigators, legal professionals and anyone fascinated by genetic genealogy and forensic science who wants clear explanations and accountable reporting on unsolved murders.

Subscribe now to follow the forensic leads, track the evidence, and hear how cold-case DNA can change outcomes and bring answers where there were none.

cold-cases-ADN genetic genealogy cold-case DNA forensic genealogy crime-scene forensics]]>enTrue CrimeCopyright OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENThttps://d3wo5wojvuv7l.cloudfront.net/t_rss_itunes_square_1400/images.spreaker.com/original/b9935224b0de39e88acd554643c0e93f.jpghttps://www.spreaker.com/podcast/cold-case-killers--7189776Wed, 22 Jul 2026 07:47:28 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTOBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTcreators@obomedia.comCold Case Killers peels back decades of silence to follow the forensic threads that reopen unsolved murders. Each episode reconstructs investigations where DNA evidence, genealogical leads and fresh forensic techniques change the story and push cases...
You’ll hear tight, evidence-forward storytelling that focuses on the science and the search: how genetic genealogy, cold-case DNA analysis and crime-scene forensics reshaped leads, identified persons of interest, and prompted new legal steps. This is not rumor or speculation — it’s methodical, document-backed narrative built for listeners who care about facts and breakthroughs in cold-cases-ADN.

New episodes drop every day: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday at 4:00 AM. Expect focused 30–50 minute episodes that blend case history, forensic explanation and the investigative turning points that revived each inquiry.

This podcast is for true crime listeners, armchair investigators, legal professionals and anyone fascinated by genetic genealogy and forensic science who wants clear explanations and accountable reporting on unsolved murders.

Subscribe now to follow the forensic leads, track the evidence, and hear how cold-case DNA can change outcomes and bring answers where there were none.

cold-cases-ADN genetic genealogy cold-case DNA forensic genealogy crime-scene forensics]]>falseepisodichttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-watch-on-the-concrete-how-a-31-year-secret-unraveled--73045610
A woman’s watch found on a hidden concrete pad returned a thirty-one-year-old disappearance to daylight: the crystal unbroken, the clasp latched, the second hand stopped at 43 seconds - but no one had reported a permit or structure there. What left a parking lot with Monica Wagner and came back without her, and why did a county surveyor find the pad only in 2023?

In this episode, we lay out the sequence of facts from Monica’s last confirmed call at 5:15 p.m. in October 1992 to the surveyor’s discovery in late March 2023, tracing the physical evidence, witness records, and the anomalies that never fit a tidy theory. How did concrete chips, a mismatched seat position, and a stopped watch become the pulse of a stalled case?

Person: Monica Wagner
Date: October 1992 (disappearance)
Location: Caldwell-Fitch parking lot, Harlowe
Discovery Date: Late March 2023 (concrete pad and watch)
Investigator: Detective Frank Sorrell

- Monica was 28 years old at the time she disappeared and had been born around 1964.
- Last confirmed contact was a phone call at approximately 5:15 p.m, with Kevin Delaney, her boyfriend of three months.
- Monica’s tan sedan was found the following Monday with her purse on the passenger floor and the driver’s seat positioned eight inches further back than she habitually set it.
- Detective Sorrell photographed a partial size 11-12 work-boot print in oil-softened asphalt at the drainage gutter and collected white-painted concrete chips not matching the property.
- On the concrete pad found in 2023, the wristwatch’s second hand had stopped at 43 seconds and the clasp remained latched - the watch had been a 25th birthday gift from Monica’s mother.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73045610Wed, 22 Jul 2026 08:00:03 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTThe Watch on the Concrete: How a 31-Year Secret Unraveled A woman’s watch found on a hidden concrete pad returned a thirty-one-year-old disappearance to daylight: the crystal unbroken, the clasp latched, the second hand stopped at 43 seconds - but...
A woman’s watch found on a hidden concrete pad returned a thirty-one-year-old disappearance to daylight: the crystal unbroken, the clasp latched, the second hand stopped at 43 seconds - but no one had reported a permit or structure there. What left a parking lot with Monica Wagner and came back without her, and why did a county surveyor find the pad only in 2023?

In this episode, we lay out the sequence of facts from Monica’s last confirmed call at 5:15 p.m. in October 1992 to the surveyor’s discovery in late March 2023, tracing the physical evidence, witness records, and the anomalies that never fit a tidy theory. How did concrete chips, a mismatched seat position, and a stopped watch become the pulse of a stalled case?

Person: Monica Wagner
Date: October 1992 (disappearance)
Location: Caldwell-Fitch parking lot, Harlowe
Discovery Date: Late March 2023 (concrete pad and watch)
Investigator: Detective Frank Sorrell

- Monica was 28 years old at the time she disappeared and had been born around 1964.
- Last confirmed contact was a phone call at approximately 5:15 p.m, with Kevin Delaney, her boyfriend of three months.
- Monica’s tan sedan was found the following Monday with her purse on the passenger floor and the driver’s seat positioned eight inches further back than she habitually set it.
- Detective Sorrell photographed a partial size 11-12 work-boot print in oil-softened asphalt at the drainage gutter and collected white-painted concrete chips not matching the property.
- On the concrete pad found in 2023, the wristwatch’s second hand had stopped at 43 seconds and the clasp remained latched - the watch had been a 25th birthday gift from Monica’s mother.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1043falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-freezer-that-kept-a-killer-s-secret-for-37-years--73045567
The first smell led Judith Roberts to a cream-colored Kenmore chest freezer in a detached garage on September 11, 2019, where partial skeletal remains lay wrapped in black polyethylene and secured with gray duct tape; tucked between the sheeting and the freezer wall was a brown leather wallet containing $43, a readable Hoosier Lottery scratch ticket, a Decker County library card, and an Indiana driver's license for Michael Brooks. Who kept that freezer running for thirty-seven years, and why did they finally stop?

In this episode, we take you through the timeline from Michael Brooks’s last known night out on September 6, 1979, to the discovery in 2019 and the cold-case file that resurfaced, following the single strange canvass note about a “contractor type” who returned twice asking to be let into the garage - a detail that was filed away and forgotten until it reemerged decades later. Could that overlooked notation be the thread that unravels what happened to Brooks?

Person: Michael Brooks
Date: Last seen September 6, 1979
Location: 1979 Holt Road, Calverton, Indiana
Status: Remains discovered September 11, 2019
Investigator: Detective Herb Malone

- The freezer was unplugged and found in the corner of a detached garage on September 11, 2019.
- The wallet inside contained exactly $43 in cash and a readable Hoosier Lottery scratch ticket.
- Michael Brooks’s Indiana driver’s license in the wallet was issued in 1978 and listed his age as 55.
- Michael Brooks was last seen at Patton’s Tap around 9:00 PM on Friday, September 6, 1979.
- A neighbor told investigators in 1979 about a “contractor type” who returned twice asking to be let into the garage, a note that remained unpursued for forty years.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73045567Tue, 21 Jul 2026 08:00:03 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTThe Freezer That Kept a Killer's Secret for 37 Years The first smell led Judith Roberts to a cream-colored Kenmore chest freezer in a detached garage on September 11, 2019, where partial skeletal remains lay wrapped in black polyethylene and...
The first smell led Judith Roberts to a cream-colored Kenmore chest freezer in a detached garage on September 11, 2019, where partial skeletal remains lay wrapped in black polyethylene and secured with gray duct tape; tucked between the sheeting and the freezer wall was a brown leather wallet containing $43, a readable Hoosier Lottery scratch ticket, a Decker County library card, and an Indiana driver's license for Michael Brooks. Who kept that freezer running for thirty-seven years, and why did they finally stop?

In this episode, we take you through the timeline from Michael Brooks’s last known night out on September 6, 1979, to the discovery in 2019 and the cold-case file that resurfaced, following the single strange canvass note about a “contractor type” who returned twice asking to be let into the garage - a detail that was filed away and forgotten until it reemerged decades later. Could that overlooked notation be the thread that unravels what happened to Brooks?

Person: Michael Brooks
Date: Last seen September 6, 1979
Location: 1979 Holt Road, Calverton, Indiana
Status: Remains discovered September 11, 2019
Investigator: Detective Herb Malone

- The freezer was unplugged and found in the corner of a detached garage on September 11, 2019.
- The wallet inside contained exactly $43 in cash and a readable Hoosier Lottery scratch ticket.
- Michael Brooks’s Indiana driver’s license in the wallet was issued in 1978 and listed his age as 55.
- Michael Brooks was last seen at Patton’s Tap around 9:00 PM on Friday, September 6, 1979.
- A neighbor told investigators in 1979 about a “contractor type” who returned twice asking to be let into the garage, a note that remained unpursued for forty years.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1182falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-ridgeline-cup-the-paper-cup-that-broke-a-thirty-year-alibi--73045566
A single paper cup sat in an evidence locker for twenty-nine years - sixteen ounces, a cardboard sleeve, a translucent plastic lid stamped Ridgeline Fuel & Go, Store number seven - yet it pointed investigators forty-two miles the wrong way until new science made it meaningful. How did a disposable cup become the only thread that could unravel a three-decade-old disappearance and murder?

In this episode, we follow the sequence of evidence and memories tied to Laura Farrell: where she was last seen, what was found at the scene, and how one overlooked item ultimately reshaped the case. What exactly did the cup reveal that all those years of interviews and suspicion could not?

Person: Laura Farrell
Date: August 8, 1992
Location: Dellwood Nature Preserve, eastern trail corridor
Cause: Manual strangulation
Item: 16-ounce paper cup, Ridgeline Fuel & Go, Store number seven

- Laura Farrell was 22 years old and lived on Cutter Road when she disappeared on the evening of August 8, 1992.
- Laura was last seen at a gas station on Rutter Avenue around 7:00 PM wearing jeans and a white T-shirt.
- Laura’s Honda Civic was found parked at a rest area on Millhaven Road the night she vanished.
- The paper cup was logged on August 9, 1992 as "possible debris, retain" and found about 30 feet from Laura’s body.
- Ridgeline Fuel & Go Store number seven, printed on the cup, was located on Depot Road in Calverton, 42 miles northeast of Dellwood.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73045566Mon, 20 Jul 2026 08:00:02 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTThe Ridgeline Cup: The Paper Cup That Broke A Thirty-Year Alibi A single paper cup sat in an evidence locker for twenty-nine years - sixteen ounces, a cardboard sleeve, a translucent plastic lid stamped Ridgeline Fuel & Go, Store number seven - yet...
A single paper cup sat in an evidence locker for twenty-nine years - sixteen ounces, a cardboard sleeve, a translucent plastic lid stamped Ridgeline Fuel & Go, Store number seven - yet it pointed investigators forty-two miles the wrong way until new science made it meaningful. How did a disposable cup become the only thread that could unravel a three-decade-old disappearance and murder?

In this episode, we follow the sequence of evidence and memories tied to Laura Farrell: where she was last seen, what was found at the scene, and how one overlooked item ultimately reshaped the case. What exactly did the cup reveal that all those years of interviews and suspicion could not?

Person: Laura Farrell
Date: August 8, 1992
Location: Dellwood Nature Preserve, eastern trail corridor
Cause: Manual strangulation
Item: 16-ounce paper cup, Ridgeline Fuel & Go, Store number seven

- Laura Farrell was 22 years old and lived on Cutter Road when she disappeared on the evening of August 8, 1992.
- Laura was last seen at a gas station on Rutter Avenue around 7:00 PM wearing jeans and a white T-shirt.
- Laura’s Honda Civic was found parked at a rest area on Millhaven Road the night she vanished.
- The paper cup was logged on August 9, 1992 as "possible debris, retain" and found about 30 feet from Laura’s body.
- Ridgeline Fuel & Go Store number seven, printed on the cup, was located on Depot Road in Calverton, 42 miles northeast of Dellwood.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1083falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-freezer-on-birchwood-lane-the-name-that-took-32-years--73045565
A quiet July morning turned into a cold, mechanical discovery: a running chest freezer on a front lawn, an open lid, and a bare left foot that would mark the start of a 32-year unanswered question - who was "Paul," the single penciled name on Gloria Lawson's kitchen calendar? What did a half-pound-of-precision pet routine, an emptied 20-cubic-foot freezer, and a collar-sized scrap of fabric preserved in evidence since 1991 ultimately reveal about her death?

In this episode, we lay out the sequence of facts found at 4418 Birchwood Lane and the persistent gaps that outlasted the lead detective's career. We follow the scene details, the timed phone records, and the small notations that became the case's center: is "Paul" a clue, a red herring, or the last missing piece?

Person: Gloria Lawson
Date: July 14, 1991 (discovery); estimated death between July 11 evening and early July 12
Location: 4418 Birchwood Lane
Status: Case unresolved for 32 years; name "Paul" noted in pencil on kitchen calendar
Investigator: Lead detective Ed Kaminski, age 41 in summer 1991

- A 15-year-old paper carrier, Melissa Evans, discovered the running compressor and called 9-1-1 at 6:20 a.m.
- The Kenmore chest freezer held approximately 20 cubic feet and had been emptied before Gloria's body was placed inside.
- Gloria weighed cat food to a quarter pound each and fed two cats daily at 5:45 a.m.; their bowls held dried food from at least two days earlier.
- The calendar entry read "Paul - seven p.m." in pencil, circled by Detective Kaminski and left without any matching phone record or last name.
- Drag marks from the kitchen threshold to the front door showed a single point of contact at the shoulders, indicating one person moved the body.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73045565Sun, 19 Jul 2026 08:00:03 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTThe Freezer on Birchwood Lane: The Name That Took 32 Years A quiet July morning turned into a cold, mechanical discovery: a running chest freezer on a front lawn, an open lid, and a bare left foot that would mark the start of a 32-year unanswered...
A quiet July morning turned into a cold, mechanical discovery: a running chest freezer on a front lawn, an open lid, and a bare left foot that would mark the start of a 32-year unanswered question - who was "Paul," the single penciled name on Gloria Lawson's kitchen calendar? What did a half-pound-of-precision pet routine, an emptied 20-cubic-foot freezer, and a collar-sized scrap of fabric preserved in evidence since 1991 ultimately reveal about her death?

In this episode, we lay out the sequence of facts found at 4418 Birchwood Lane and the persistent gaps that outlasted the lead detective's career. We follow the scene details, the timed phone records, and the small notations that became the case's center: is "Paul" a clue, a red herring, or the last missing piece?

Person: Gloria Lawson
Date: July 14, 1991 (discovery); estimated death between July 11 evening and early July 12
Location: 4418 Birchwood Lane
Status: Case unresolved for 32 years; name "Paul" noted in pencil on kitchen calendar
Investigator: Lead detective Ed Kaminski, age 41 in summer 1991

- A 15-year-old paper carrier, Melissa Evans, discovered the running compressor and called 9-1-1 at 6:20 a.m.
- The Kenmore chest freezer held approximately 20 cubic feet and had been emptied before Gloria's body was placed inside.
- Gloria weighed cat food to a quarter pound each and fed two cats daily at 5:45 a.m.; their bowls held dried food from at least two days earlier.
- The calendar entry read "Paul - seven p.m." in pencil, circled by Detective Kaminski and left without any matching phone record or last name.
- Drag marks from the kitchen threshold to the front door showed a single point of contact at the shoulders, indicating one person moved the body.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>975falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/wallet-inside-the-shoe-the-murder-of-todd-allen-meyer--73045564
A shoe with a dry wallet inside, forty-three dollars and a driver's license for a man missing nine days earlier - a baffling clue that refused to make sense for twenty-nine years. Who would place a clean wallet in a lone left Florsheim oxford and why was there no second shoe, no blood, and no sign of struggle?

In this episode, we follow the discovery and early investigation into Todd Allen Meyer's disappearance, detailing the scene at Kettrick Grain and the lead that focused suspicion on a coworker; what does a sole, a wallet, and an empty pickup tell us about what really happened that June morning?

Person: Todd Allen Meyer
Age: 62
Date missing: June 5, 1991
Location: Service road behind the Kettrick Grain elevator, near Farwell, Indiana
Suspect: Dennis Kearney

- A single left Florsheim oxford size 10.5 was found upright in a ditch on June 13, 1991.
- The wallet inside the shoe contained $43 in cash, a Farwell Public Library card, and Todd Meyer’s driver’s license.
- Todd Meyer was last heard from when his daughter called at 5:45 AM on Wednesday, June 5, 1991, and he did not answer.
- Todd’s 1986 dark maroon Ford pickup was found locked with his glasses on the dashboard and his lunch box on the passenger seat on June 6, 1991.
- Dennis Kearney had been fired from Kettrick Grain two weeks before Meyer disappeared and had publicly blamed Meyer over inventory reports.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73045564Sat, 18 Jul 2026 16:44:30 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTWallet Inside the Shoe: The Murder of Todd Allen Meyer A shoe with a dry wallet inside, forty-three dollars and a driver's license for a man missing nine days earlier - a baffling clue that refused to make sense for twenty-nine years. Who would...
A shoe with a dry wallet inside, forty-three dollars and a driver's license for a man missing nine days earlier - a baffling clue that refused to make sense for twenty-nine years. Who would place a clean wallet in a lone left Florsheim oxford and why was there no second shoe, no blood, and no sign of struggle?

In this episode, we follow the discovery and early investigation into Todd Allen Meyer's disappearance, detailing the scene at Kettrick Grain and the lead that focused suspicion on a coworker; what does a sole, a wallet, and an empty pickup tell us about what really happened that June morning?

Person: Todd Allen Meyer
Age: 62
Date missing: June 5, 1991
Location: Service road behind the Kettrick Grain elevator, near Farwell, Indiana
Suspect: Dennis Kearney

- A single left Florsheim oxford size 10.5 was found upright in a ditch on June 13, 1991.
- The wallet inside the shoe contained $43 in cash, a Farwell Public Library card, and Todd Meyer’s driver’s license.
- Todd Meyer was last heard from when his daughter called at 5:45 AM on Wednesday, June 5, 1991, and he did not answer.
- Todd’s 1986 dark maroon Ford pickup was found locked with his glasses on the dashboard and his lunch box on the passenger seat on June 6, 1991.
- Dennis Kearney had been fired from Kettrick Grain two weeks before Meyer disappeared and had publicly blamed Meyer over inventory reports.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1168falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/killer-returns-at-dawn-the-darlene-o-brien-case--73045563
A sealed paper bag with a hardware receipt time-stamped 6:47 a.m. sat on the kitchen counter above a woman who had been dead at least eighteen hours - screws, a hinge plate, and waterproof caulk left like a clue or a confession. Thirty years later, that single receipt and the ordinary objects in Darlene O'Brien’s life would overturn years of assumptions and revive a question no one could answer at the time: who walked into a cottage with an unlocked door and never left a clear trace?

In this episode, we follow the timeline from Darlene’s last phone call to her mother through the early scene notes, the suspect who carried the case for decades, and the tiny items that sat in storage until science and persistence changed everything. How did a handyman with a key become the prime shadow of this case, and what finally made the evidence speak?

Person: Darlene Patricia O'Brien
Age: 26
Date: May 14 (found), estimated death 18-24 hours earlier
Location: Rental cottage on Stokes Mill Road, Pender County, North Carolina
Cause: Manual strangulation

- A hardware receipt found in a sealed paper bag on the kitchen counter was time-stamped 6:47 a.m.
- Darlene was fully clothed in jeans, a green canvas jacket, and laced work boots when found on the kitchen linoleum.
- The lineman Ralph Hunter discovered her before seven a.m. while restoring power to eleven properties; he restored ten and entered the eleventh.
- Investigators noted fresh tool marks on the crawl-space access panel and a partial shoe impression consistent with size 10-11 work boots.
- Dennis Albright, a handyman with a key and a prior assault conviction from eleven years earlier, was interviewed four times and never charged.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73045563Sat, 18 Jul 2026 16:44:27 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTKiller Returns at Dawn: The Darlene O'Brien Case A sealed paper bag with a hardware receipt time-stamped 6:47 a.m. sat on the kitchen counter above a woman who had been dead at least eighteen hours - screws, a hinge plate, and waterproof caulk left...
A sealed paper bag with a hardware receipt time-stamped 6:47 a.m. sat on the kitchen counter above a woman who had been dead at least eighteen hours - screws, a hinge plate, and waterproof caulk left like a clue or a confession. Thirty years later, that single receipt and the ordinary objects in Darlene O'Brien’s life would overturn years of assumptions and revive a question no one could answer at the time: who walked into a cottage with an unlocked door and never left a clear trace?

In this episode, we follow the timeline from Darlene’s last phone call to her mother through the early scene notes, the suspect who carried the case for decades, and the tiny items that sat in storage until science and persistence changed everything. How did a handyman with a key become the prime shadow of this case, and what finally made the evidence speak?

Person: Darlene Patricia O'Brien
Age: 26
Date: May 14 (found), estimated death 18-24 hours earlier
Location: Rental cottage on Stokes Mill Road, Pender County, North Carolina
Cause: Manual strangulation

- A hardware receipt found in a sealed paper bag on the kitchen counter was time-stamped 6:47 a.m.
- Darlene was fully clothed in jeans, a green canvas jacket, and laced work boots when found on the kitchen linoleum.
- The lineman Ralph Hunter discovered her before seven a.m. while restoring power to eleven properties; he restored ten and entered the eleventh.
- Investigators noted fresh tool marks on the crawl-space access panel and a partial shoe impression consistent with size 10-11 work boots.
- Dennis Albright, a handyman with a key and a prior assault conviction from eleven years earlier, was interviewed four times and never charged.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1227falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/a-shoe-standing-upright-in-the-rain-the-shannon-holmes-case--73045562
The image that started everything: a tan women's size eight leather flat standing upright on the concrete lip of Kettrick Reservoir's boat-launch ramp at 6:15 a.m. on April 9, 2003, its interior bone dry despite rain hours earlier - so who left it there, and why was Shannon Holmes gone? What did a sealed envelope in a county medical examiner's cold storage and 23 years of overlooked records finally reveal?

In this episode, we follow the timeline of Shannon Holmes's disappearance and the evidence that confounded Portsmith County investigators for decades, from neighborhood logs and cell-tower pings to a DNA profile and missing service records, asking how a town’s certainty kept the true suspect hidden.

Person: Shannon Holmes
Date: April 9, 2003
Location: Kettrick Reservoir boat-launch ramp; Archer Street, Reedham; Clement Street, Sunrise Children's Health
Age: 48
Detective: Warren Pruitt

- The shoe was found at 6:15 a.m. on April 9, 2003 and was a tan leather women's size eight worth $47.
- It had rained between midnight and 2:00 a.m., temperature dropped to 41 degrees, but the shoe's interior was bone dry when checked four hours later.
- Shannon Holmes had been missing for six days when the shoe was found and had not missed her weekly Thursday visits for six months prior.
- Douglas Carver, age 44 in 2003, had a cell phone tower ping in his neighborhood at 12:08 a.m. on April 3, and neighbor Edna Kopp logged motion-activated porch-light activations at 11:47 p.m. and 12:19 a.m.
- A DNA profile from the case sat unmatched in a state database and a sealed envelope remained in the county medical examiner's cold storage for 23 years.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73045562Sat, 18 Jul 2026 16:44:24 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTA Shoe Standing Upright in the Rain: The Shannon Holmes Case The image that started everything: a tan women's size eight leather flat standing upright on the concrete lip of Kettrick Reservoir's boat-launch ramp at 6:15 a.m. on April 9, 2003, its...
The image that started everything: a tan women's size eight leather flat standing upright on the concrete lip of Kettrick Reservoir's boat-launch ramp at 6:15 a.m. on April 9, 2003, its interior bone dry despite rain hours earlier - so who left it there, and why was Shannon Holmes gone? What did a sealed envelope in a county medical examiner's cold storage and 23 years of overlooked records finally reveal?

In this episode, we follow the timeline of Shannon Holmes's disappearance and the evidence that confounded Portsmith County investigators for decades, from neighborhood logs and cell-tower pings to a DNA profile and missing service records, asking how a town’s certainty kept the true suspect hidden.

Person: Shannon Holmes
Date: April 9, 2003
Location: Kettrick Reservoir boat-launch ramp; Archer Street, Reedham; Clement Street, Sunrise Children's Health
Age: 48
Detective: Warren Pruitt

- The shoe was found at 6:15 a.m. on April 9, 2003 and was a tan leather women's size eight worth $47.
- It had rained between midnight and 2:00 a.m., temperature dropped to 41 degrees, but the shoe's interior was bone dry when checked four hours later.
- Shannon Holmes had been missing for six days when the shoe was found and had not missed her weekly Thursday visits for six months prior.
- Douglas Carver, age 44 in 2003, had a cell phone tower ping in his neighborhood at 12:08 a.m. on April 3, and neighbor Edna Kopp logged motion-activated porch-light activations at 11:47 p.m. and 12:19 a.m.
- A DNA profile from the case sat unmatched in a state database and a sealed envelope remained in the county medical examiner's cold storage for 23 years.

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© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1217falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-meter-reader-s-glasses-how-a-fogged-clue-ended-a-30-year-secret--73045561
Fogged lenses found on a basement window ledge in March 2023 reopened a murder that had been silent since 1993 - the glasses had sat through three decades of heat and ice, and the man who left them had been living two counties away, "waiting." How did a utility worker’s routine meter read undo thirty years of secrecy and lead back to a single house on Fenwick Street?

In this episode, we lay out the sequence from the discovery at 8:47 AM to the cold case evidence that sat frozen for nearly thirty years, and we follow the trail of investigators who never fully let the file go. How did a partially defeated sliding door, two sealed evidence tubes, and a faded relationship shape the unanswered question at the center of Sharon Callahan’s death?

Person: Sharon Callahan
Date: Night of March 9-10, 1993
Location: 44 Fenwick Street, Dellbrook, Pennsylvania
Person: Dennis Albright
Event: Glasses found by utility worker Nicole Nelson on March 7, 2023 at 8:47 AM

- The glasses were found sitting upright on the concrete ledge of a basement window well with lenses fogged from the inside out.
- The temperature had been above freezing for two days before the glasses were found, making internal fogging unexpected.
- Sharon Callahan was 31 years old at the time of her death and had lived at 44 Fenwick Street since summer 1992.
- Investigators recovered a partial palm print on the sliding glass door frame and biological material beneath Sharon's fingernails, stored in two sealed evidence tubes.
- The district attorney declined to prosecute in 1994 despite a witness placing Dennis Albright at a bar on the night of March 9, and the case went cold by late 1994.

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© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73045561Sat, 18 Jul 2026 16:44:21 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTThe Meter Reader's Glasses: How a Fogged Clue Ended a 30-Year Secret Fogged lenses found on a basement window ledge in March 2023 reopened a murder that had been silent since 1993 - the glasses had sat through three decades of heat and ice, and the...
Fogged lenses found on a basement window ledge in March 2023 reopened a murder that had been silent since 1993 - the glasses had sat through three decades of heat and ice, and the man who left them had been living two counties away, "waiting." How did a utility worker’s routine meter read undo thirty years of secrecy and lead back to a single house on Fenwick Street?

In this episode, we lay out the sequence from the discovery at 8:47 AM to the cold case evidence that sat frozen for nearly thirty years, and we follow the trail of investigators who never fully let the file go. How did a partially defeated sliding door, two sealed evidence tubes, and a faded relationship shape the unanswered question at the center of Sharon Callahan’s death?

Person: Sharon Callahan
Date: Night of March 9-10, 1993
Location: 44 Fenwick Street, Dellbrook, Pennsylvania
Person: Dennis Albright
Event: Glasses found by utility worker Nicole Nelson on March 7, 2023 at 8:47 AM

- The glasses were found sitting upright on the concrete ledge of a basement window well with lenses fogged from the inside out.
- The temperature had been above freezing for two days before the glasses were found, making internal fogging unexpected.
- Sharon Callahan was 31 years old at the time of her death and had lived at 44 Fenwick Street since summer 1992.
- Investigators recovered a partial palm print on the sliding glass door frame and biological material beneath Sharon's fingernails, stored in two sealed evidence tubes.
- The district attorney declined to prosecute in 1994 despite a witness placing Dennis Albright at a bar on the night of March 9, and the case went cold by late 1994.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1004falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/a-hand-past-the-threshold-the-lloyd-cook-cold-case--73045560
The jaw of a restroom door propped open with a rock, a light still on, and Lloyd Cook’s left hand extended past the threshold - palm up - when a traveler found him on the morning of February 11, 1993. His truck was missing, his wallet untouched, and a bite-mark on his forearm yielded a saliva swab that matched no one for decades; how did a man who called his girlfriend calm about a failing gauge end up dead on the roadside?

In this episode, we lay out the sequence of events from the February 9 phone call to the discovery on February 11, including the initial investigation, the preserved DNA swab, and the decades-long wait for new forensic methods to reopen the file. What did the temperature gauge and a single cold swab ultimately reveal?

Person: Lloyd Cook
Date: February 11, 1993 (body found); February 9, 1993 (last call)
Location: Route Seven rest area; truck later found on Welliver Street, Graystone neighborhood, Kellerton
Investigator: Detective Leonard Ash; later Detective Steve Okafor
Evidence: Saliva swab from bite mark stored at Bureau of Criminal Investigation

- Lloyd Cook was 52 years old and had been parts supervisor at Brandt Supply for 19 years.
- Last known call: girlfriend Sharon Birch at about 5:15 PM on February 9, 1993; Lloyd reported the truck was running rough and was watching the temperature gauge.
- Estimated time of death: approximately 40 hours before discovery, placing it in the early evening of February 9, 1993.
- A single saliva swab from a bite mark was collected in 1993, tested in 1994, showed non-matching DNA, then was sealed and stored for 10,582 days.
- In February 2021 the cold-case unit submitted the 28-year-old swab to Strand Analytical, which uploaded the profile to GEDmatch and FamilyTreeDNA and returned third- and fourth-cousin matches.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73045560Sat, 18 Jul 2026 16:44:18 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTA Hand Past the Threshold: The Lloyd Cook Cold Case The jaw of a restroom door propped open with a rock, a light still on, and Lloyd Cook’s left hand extended past the threshold - palm up - when a traveler found him on the morning of February 11,...
The jaw of a restroom door propped open with a rock, a light still on, and Lloyd Cook’s left hand extended past the threshold - palm up - when a traveler found him on the morning of February 11, 1993. His truck was missing, his wallet untouched, and a bite-mark on his forearm yielded a saliva swab that matched no one for decades; how did a man who called his girlfriend calm about a failing gauge end up dead on the roadside?

In this episode, we lay out the sequence of events from the February 9 phone call to the discovery on February 11, including the initial investigation, the preserved DNA swab, and the decades-long wait for new forensic methods to reopen the file. What did the temperature gauge and a single cold swab ultimately reveal?

Person: Lloyd Cook
Date: February 11, 1993 (body found); February 9, 1993 (last call)
Location: Route Seven rest area; truck later found on Welliver Street, Graystone neighborhood, Kellerton
Investigator: Detective Leonard Ash; later Detective Steve Okafor
Evidence: Saliva swab from bite mark stored at Bureau of Criminal Investigation

- Lloyd Cook was 52 years old and had been parts supervisor at Brandt Supply for 19 years.
- Last known call: girlfriend Sharon Birch at about 5:15 PM on February 9, 1993; Lloyd reported the truck was running rough and was watching the temperature gauge.
- Estimated time of death: approximately 40 hours before discovery, placing it in the early evening of February 9, 1993.
- A single saliva swab from a bite mark was collected in 1993, tested in 1994, showed non-matching DNA, then was sealed and stored for 10,582 days.
- In February 2021 the cold-case unit submitted the 28-year-old swab to Strand Analytical, which uploaded the profile to GEDmatch and FamilyTreeDNA and returned third- and fourth-cousin matches.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1154falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/locked-gates-wrong-side-why-rachel-s-handbag-was-placed-there--73045559
The sight of Rachel Larsen’s brown leather handbag clasped and intact in a drainage culvert east of Ashfield Industrial Park contradicted every known fact: her car was locked on the west side and the park gates shut at 6 PM. Sixty-three dollars remained in her wallet, a grocery receipt dated January 11 confirmed she had the bag that afternoon - so how did it end up in a spot she could not have reached? What single action or person moved that bag after the gates closed?

In this episode, we follow the timeline from Rachel’s last confirmed afternoon to the discovery of her body and the decades-long cold case that followed. You’ll hear how an invoice irregularity, a disgraced driver, preserved forensic evidence, and one detective’s notes intersected to keep one question open: who placed the handbag and why?

Person: Rachel Larsen
Date: January 11, 1987
Location: Ashfield Industrial Park drainage culvert (east side)
Status: Body found six days after bag recovery; cause of death manual strangulation
Evidence: Partial bite-mark swab from Rachel’s right forearm preserved in vacuum evidence bag

- Handbag recovered by Kimberly Kowalski within three days of Rachel’s disappearance with clasp fastened.
- Wallet contained sixty-three dollars and Rachel Larsen’s library card at time of recovery.
- Rachel’s tan 1984 Dodge Aries was found locked in a parking structure on the west side of the complex the morning after she disappeared.
- Industrial park gates were locked nightly at 6 PM, and no pedestrian path connected the culvert to Rachel’s workplace three miles west.
- A preserved bite-mark swab was sealed by forensic technician Brenda Selk in January 1987 and later yielded DNA for testing decades later.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73045559Sat, 18 Jul 2026 16:44:16 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTLocked Gates, Wrong Side: Why Rachel's Handbag Was Placed There The sight of Rachel Larsen’s brown leather handbag clasped and intact in a drainage culvert east of Ashfield Industrial Park contradicted every known fact: her car was locked on the...
The sight of Rachel Larsen’s brown leather handbag clasped and intact in a drainage culvert east of Ashfield Industrial Park contradicted every known fact: her car was locked on the west side and the park gates shut at 6 PM. Sixty-three dollars remained in her wallet, a grocery receipt dated January 11 confirmed she had the bag that afternoon - so how did it end up in a spot she could not have reached? What single action or person moved that bag after the gates closed?

In this episode, we follow the timeline from Rachel’s last confirmed afternoon to the discovery of her body and the decades-long cold case that followed. You’ll hear how an invoice irregularity, a disgraced driver, preserved forensic evidence, and one detective’s notes intersected to keep one question open: who placed the handbag and why?

Person: Rachel Larsen
Date: January 11, 1987
Location: Ashfield Industrial Park drainage culvert (east side)
Status: Body found six days after bag recovery; cause of death manual strangulation
Evidence: Partial bite-mark swab from Rachel’s right forearm preserved in vacuum evidence bag

- Handbag recovered by Kimberly Kowalski within three days of Rachel’s disappearance with clasp fastened.
- Wallet contained sixty-three dollars and Rachel Larsen’s library card at time of recovery.
- Rachel’s tan 1984 Dodge Aries was found locked in a parking structure on the west side of the complex the morning after she disappeared.
- Industrial park gates were locked nightly at 6 PM, and no pedestrian path connected the culvert to Rachel’s workplace three miles west.
- A preserved bite-mark swab was sealed by forensic technician Brenda Selk in January 1987 and later yielded DNA for testing decades later.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1210falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-hand-in-the-silt-how-a-worn-latch-betrayed-a-killer--73045558
A woman's left hand, still wearing a silver ring with a small oval turquoise stone, rose from silt at Calloway Reservoir after the water was drawn down four feet-its owner unidentified for thirty-one years. A worn utility-room door latch, a $40 contractor receipt dated November 18, 1991, and an unknown male DNA profile would become the fragile threads that might explain how Paula Gray disappeared; who pushed that unlocked latch and why?

In this episode, we follow the timeline from Paula Gray's last confirmed sighting at approximately 9:15 PM on December 4, 1991, through the discovery of her remains and the forensic dead ends that followed, asking how a simple, unrepaired latch and a bulk-purchase invoice held the clues that eluded investigators for decades.

Person: Paula Gray
Date: December 4-9, 1991
Location: 411 Birchmont Avenue; Calloway Reservoir eastern cove
Status: Remains recovered; cause of death strangulation; sexual assault kit yielded unknown male DNA
Investigator: Detective Frank Solis

- Paula Gray was 28 years old and the second of three daughters.
- She left a euchre game at Pryor Mills Community Church at approximately 9:15 PM on December 4, 1991.
- Divers recovered Paula's remains from Calloway Reservoir over three days after the water was drawn down four feet.
- The body had been weighted with rebar and a 22-inch corrugated concrete drainage pipe before being placed in the water.
- A contractor, Tom Hadley, was paid $40 on November 18, 1991, with a receipt noting "utility room door, labor," yet the latch still opened from outside with a firm sideways push.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73045558Sat, 18 Jul 2026 16:44:13 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTThe Hand in the Silt: How a Worn Latch Betrayed a Killer A woman's left hand, still wearing a silver ring with a small oval turquoise stone, rose from silt at Calloway Reservoir after the water was drawn down four feet-its owner unidentified for...
A woman's left hand, still wearing a silver ring with a small oval turquoise stone, rose from silt at Calloway Reservoir after the water was drawn down four feet-its owner unidentified for thirty-one years. A worn utility-room door latch, a $40 contractor receipt dated November 18, 1991, and an unknown male DNA profile would become the fragile threads that might explain how Paula Gray disappeared; who pushed that unlocked latch and why?

In this episode, we follow the timeline from Paula Gray's last confirmed sighting at approximately 9:15 PM on December 4, 1991, through the discovery of her remains and the forensic dead ends that followed, asking how a simple, unrepaired latch and a bulk-purchase invoice held the clues that eluded investigators for decades.

Person: Paula Gray
Date: December 4-9, 1991
Location: 411 Birchmont Avenue; Calloway Reservoir eastern cove
Status: Remains recovered; cause of death strangulation; sexual assault kit yielded unknown male DNA
Investigator: Detective Frank Solis

- Paula Gray was 28 years old and the second of three daughters.
- She left a euchre game at Pryor Mills Community Church at approximately 9:15 PM on December 4, 1991.
- Divers recovered Paula's remains from Calloway Reservoir over three days after the water was drawn down four feet.
- The body had been weighted with rebar and a 22-inch corrugated concrete drainage pipe before being placed in the water.
- A contractor, Tom Hadley, was paid $40 on November 18, 1991, with a receipt noting "utility room door, labor," yet the latch still opened from outside with a firm sideways push.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1135falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-freezer-shoe-how-a-lavender-sneaker-closed-two-murders--73045556
A lavender running shoe, size 7½, found with laces tied and foam midsole intact after spending 31 years in a freezer - and that shoe helped close two murders and overturn a three-decade false lead. How could a single preserved sneaker and a hand-scrawled receipt notation finally answer a detective’s lifelong question?

In this episode, we follow the discovery of that shoe and the trail of evidence from a November 13, 1991 gas receipt to a sealed nail-sample left in an evidence freezer for 31 years, asking how those details connected to the deaths that haunted a small township and one detective's certainty.

Person: Darlene Morris
Date: November 13-23, 1991
Location: Millburn Pike, Calvert Township
Case: Homicide by strangulation
Evidence: Biological sample sealed in evidence freezer for 31 years

- A lavender running shoe, size 7½, laces tied in a double knot, was pushed from soft earth on November 9, 2022.
- Darlene Morris was 54 years old and last recorded via a Tillman's Fuel receipt dated November 13, 1991 at 4:47 p.m. for $2.60.
- Darlene's body was found on November 23, 1991 in a drainage ditch about a quarter mile north of the Millburn Pike pull-off; cause of death: strangulation.
- Investigators collected a partial boot impression, jacket fibers, and a biological sample from beneath Darlene's fingernails; the nail sample was stored frozen for 31 years.
- The Tillman's Fuel receipt bore a handwritten notation “R-B +” and a partial numeral that Detective Bernard Coyle recorded but never resolved.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73045556Sat, 18 Jul 2026 16:44:10 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTThe Freezer Shoe: How a Lavender Sneaker Closed Two Murders A lavender running shoe, size 7½, found with laces tied and foam midsole intact after spending 31 years in a freezer - and that shoe helped close two murders and overturn a three-decade...
A lavender running shoe, size 7½, found with laces tied and foam midsole intact after spending 31 years in a freezer - and that shoe helped close two murders and overturn a three-decade false lead. How could a single preserved sneaker and a hand-scrawled receipt notation finally answer a detective’s lifelong question?

In this episode, we follow the discovery of that shoe and the trail of evidence from a November 13, 1991 gas receipt to a sealed nail-sample left in an evidence freezer for 31 years, asking how those details connected to the deaths that haunted a small township and one detective's certainty.

Person: Darlene Morris
Date: November 13-23, 1991
Location: Millburn Pike, Calvert Township
Case: Homicide by strangulation
Evidence: Biological sample sealed in evidence freezer for 31 years

- A lavender running shoe, size 7½, laces tied in a double knot, was pushed from soft earth on November 9, 2022.
- Darlene Morris was 54 years old and last recorded via a Tillman's Fuel receipt dated November 13, 1991 at 4:47 p.m. for $2.60.
- Darlene's body was found on November 23, 1991 in a drainage ditch about a quarter mile north of the Millburn Pike pull-off; cause of death: strangulation.
- Investigators collected a partial boot impression, jacket fibers, and a biological sample from beneath Darlene's fingernails; the nail sample was stored frozen for 31 years.
- The Tillman's Fuel receipt bore a handwritten notation “R-B +” and a partial numeral that Detective Bernard Coyle recorded but never resolved.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1255falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/contractor-finds-hidden-bag-that-solves-a-31-year-murder-the-michael-fleming-case--73045555
A routine septic service in March 2022 revealed a dark-green nylon drawstring bag sealed in calcium deposits consistent with the early 1990s - and inside: a discontinued Seiko watch, a blue ballpoint note card reading "Thank you for everything - M.," and a brass key stamped 14. Three decades after a 22-year-old was found strangled near Marsh Fork Lane, one unexpected discovery reopened the question everyone thought answered: who touched that bag, and why was it hidden in a vault for roughly 30 years?

In this episode, we follow how a contractor’s find, a consumer DNA kit given as a Christmas gift, and genetic genealogy combined to push a cold case back into motion. Listen to how investigators connected a partial touch DNA profile from the bag to a distant relative and then traced that lead toward the person who had never been in the file.

Person: Michael Fleming
Date: October 9, 1991 (last seen), October 17, 1991 (body found)
Location: Marsh Fork Lane drainage channel, Tollen County, Indiana
Status: Cold case reopened in 2022
Detective: Carl Prentiss

- The bag was discovered by septic contractor Nancy Hughes in March 2022 inside a dual-chamber vault behind a vacant rental property.
- Inside the bag were three items: a Seiko wristwatch (model discontinued in the early 1990s), a flower-shop note card written in blue ballpoint, and a brass key stamped with the number 14.
- The bag’s seam carried calcium deposits consistent with formation in the early 1990s, suggesting it had been in the vault for approximately 30 years.
- Michael Fleming, age 22, called a friend at 11:15 p.m. on the night he disappeared and was found strangled eight days later on October 17, 1991, two miles from Angela Gallagher’s Garfield Pike property.
- A consumer DNA kit taken by Beverly Cooke in December 2021 matched a partial touch DNA profile from the bag, leading genetic genealogist Kathleen Chambers to develop familial leads in spring 2022.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73045555Sat, 18 Jul 2026 16:44:08 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTContractor Finds Hidden Bag That Solves a 31-Year Murder: The Michael Fleming Case A routine septic service in March 2022 revealed a dark-green nylon drawstring bag sealed in calcium deposits consistent with the early 1990s - and inside: a...
A routine septic service in March 2022 revealed a dark-green nylon drawstring bag sealed in calcium deposits consistent with the early 1990s - and inside: a discontinued Seiko watch, a blue ballpoint note card reading "Thank you for everything - M.," and a brass key stamped 14. Three decades after a 22-year-old was found strangled near Marsh Fork Lane, one unexpected discovery reopened the question everyone thought answered: who touched that bag, and why was it hidden in a vault for roughly 30 years?

In this episode, we follow how a contractor’s find, a consumer DNA kit given as a Christmas gift, and genetic genealogy combined to push a cold case back into motion. Listen to how investigators connected a partial touch DNA profile from the bag to a distant relative and then traced that lead toward the person who had never been in the file.

Person: Michael Fleming
Date: October 9, 1991 (last seen), October 17, 1991 (body found)
Location: Marsh Fork Lane drainage channel, Tollen County, Indiana
Status: Cold case reopened in 2022
Detective: Carl Prentiss

- The bag was discovered by septic contractor Nancy Hughes in March 2022 inside a dual-chamber vault behind a vacant rental property.
- Inside the bag were three items: a Seiko wristwatch (model discontinued in the early 1990s), a flower-shop note card written in blue ballpoint, and a brass key stamped with the number 14.
- The bag’s seam carried calcium deposits consistent with formation in the early 1990s, suggesting it had been in the vault for approximately 30 years.
- Michael Fleming, age 22, called a friend at 11:15 p.m. on the night he disappeared and was found strangled eight days later on October 17, 1991, two miles from Angela Gallagher’s Garfield Pike property.
- A consumer DNA kit taken by Beverly Cooke in December 2021 matched a partial touch DNA profile from the bag, leading genetic genealogist Kathleen Chambers to develop familial leads in spring 2022.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1154falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/scientist-finds-a-misfiled-name-that-solves-a-43-year-murder-the-amanda-casey-case--73045554
A dry pale-blue canvas shoe found in wet silt and a bite-mark swab preserved for 42 years point toward a truth Pryor Mills missed for decades - how did a single misfiled name slip past investigators and let a killer go unnamed? What did a genetic genealogist and a scientist discover in evidence that had sat in a county freezer since 1979?

In this episode, we follow the chronological thread from September 14, 1979 through the case’s cold years into 2021, detailing the physical evidence kept, the early investigative leads, and the arrival of genetic genealogy that reopened the file. How did a vial labeled CASEY A. / WRIST WOUND / 9-14-79 and a misconnected delivery-driver name change everything?

Date: September 14, 1979
Person: Amanda Casey
Cause: Manual strangulation
Evidence: Swab labeled "CASEY A. / WRIST WOUND / 9-14-79" stored in county evidence freezer
Investigator: Deputy Frank Sobieski

- Amanda Casey was 38 years old when her body was found on September 14, 1979.
- The shoe found near the body was pale blue canvas with a small cloth daisy stitched above the toe and was dry despite 72 hours of rain.
- Dr. Phil Morrow photographed and cast a bite mark on the inside of Amanda's left wrist and swabbed the wound margin the same day.
- Deputy Frank Sobieski, age 34, handled the original investigation and kept a personal file until his retirement in 2001.
- The wound swab remained in the county evidence freezer for 42 years and was requested by genetic genealogist Crystal Fitzgerald in 2021.

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© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73045554Sat, 18 Jul 2026 16:44:05 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTScientist Finds a Misfiled Name That Solves a 43-Year Murder: The Amanda Casey Case A dry pale-blue canvas shoe found in wet silt and a bite-mark swab preserved for 42 years point toward a truth Pryor Mills missed for decades - how did a single...
A dry pale-blue canvas shoe found in wet silt and a bite-mark swab preserved for 42 years point toward a truth Pryor Mills missed for decades - how did a single misfiled name slip past investigators and let a killer go unnamed? What did a genetic genealogist and a scientist discover in evidence that had sat in a county freezer since 1979?

In this episode, we follow the chronological thread from September 14, 1979 through the case’s cold years into 2021, detailing the physical evidence kept, the early investigative leads, and the arrival of genetic genealogy that reopened the file. How did a vial labeled CASEY A. / WRIST WOUND / 9-14-79 and a misconnected delivery-driver name change everything?

Date: September 14, 1979
Person: Amanda Casey
Cause: Manual strangulation
Evidence: Swab labeled "CASEY A. / WRIST WOUND / 9-14-79" stored in county evidence freezer
Investigator: Deputy Frank Sobieski

- Amanda Casey was 38 years old when her body was found on September 14, 1979.
- The shoe found near the body was pale blue canvas with a small cloth daisy stitched above the toe and was dry despite 72 hours of rain.
- Dr. Phil Morrow photographed and cast a bite mark on the inside of Amanda's left wrist and swabbed the wound margin the same day.
- Deputy Frank Sobieski, age 34, handled the original investigation and kept a personal file until his retirement in 2001.
- The wound swab remained in the county evidence freezer for 42 years and was requested by genetic genealogist Crystal Fitzgerald in 2021.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1175falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-key-in-the-coffee-can-the-crystal-padgett-case--73045553
Two unread newspapers on a front porch and a kitchen light left on: small deviations that exposed a sixty-one-year-old postmaster found dead on August 6, 1991. A sealed package of coffee filters that Crystal never bought, a degraded DNA sample kept for twenty-eight years, and a coffee can in a garage would eventually tie a Monday evening to a 2022 courtroom - but how did a single cellophane wrapper become the thread that closed the case?

In this episode, you’ll hear the sequence of events from the morning Jason Thorpe discovered Crystal’s unread papers to the decades-long preservation of evidence and the late extraction of a male DNA profile that had no CODIS match. The episode follows how a degraded sample and public genealogy searches set investigators on a path to identify the man connected to the fingernail DNA.

Person: Crystal Padgett
Date: August 5-6, 1991
Location: 14 Pembrook Lane, Millhaven, Oregon
Investigator: Roy Blaine
Evidence: degraded male DNA from beneath fingernails; sealed coffee filter package; coffee can in garage

- Two newspapers stacked on Crystal’s front porch alerted 13-year-old Jason Thorpe that something was wrong on the morning of August 6, 1991.
- Crystal Padgett was 61 years old and had been Millhaven’s postmaster for 11 years, living in the town for 34 years.
- Officers entered through an unlocked back door and found the coffee maker scorched and the carafe dry when they discovered Crystal’s body.
- The sealed package of coffee filters on the counter was a brand Crystal never purchased and was left sitting where it had no reason to be.
- In 2019 (28 years after collection), the cold case unit extracted a degraded male DNA profile from the sample stored since 1991 that returned no CODIS match, prompting family-tree genealogy work.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73045553Sat, 18 Jul 2026 16:44:02 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTThe Key in the Coffee Can: The Crystal Padgett Case Two unread newspapers on a front porch and a kitchen light left on: small deviations that exposed a sixty-one-year-old postmaster found dead on August 6, 1991. A sealed package of coffee filters...
Two unread newspapers on a front porch and a kitchen light left on: small deviations that exposed a sixty-one-year-old postmaster found dead on August 6, 1991. A sealed package of coffee filters that Crystal never bought, a degraded DNA sample kept for twenty-eight years, and a coffee can in a garage would eventually tie a Monday evening to a 2022 courtroom - but how did a single cellophane wrapper become the thread that closed the case?

In this episode, you’ll hear the sequence of events from the morning Jason Thorpe discovered Crystal’s unread papers to the decades-long preservation of evidence and the late extraction of a male DNA profile that had no CODIS match. The episode follows how a degraded sample and public genealogy searches set investigators on a path to identify the man connected to the fingernail DNA.

Person: Crystal Padgett
Date: August 5-6, 1991
Location: 14 Pembrook Lane, Millhaven, Oregon
Investigator: Roy Blaine
Evidence: degraded male DNA from beneath fingernails; sealed coffee filter package; coffee can in garage

- Two newspapers stacked on Crystal’s front porch alerted 13-year-old Jason Thorpe that something was wrong on the morning of August 6, 1991.
- Crystal Padgett was 61 years old and had been Millhaven’s postmaster for 11 years, living in the town for 34 years.
- Officers entered through an unlocked back door and found the coffee maker scorched and the carafe dry when they discovered Crystal’s body.
- The sealed package of coffee filters on the counter was a brand Crystal never purchased and was left sitting where it had no reason to be.
- In 2019 (28 years after collection), the cold case unit extracted a degraded male DNA profile from the sample stored since 1991 that returned no CODIS match, prompting family-tree genealogy work.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1032falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/a-hand-rises-from-the-gravel-the-tracy-stewart-case--73045551
A single left hand, palm up and wearing a silver ring with an oval turquoise stone, was lifted by a road grader blade on July 3, 1991 - and Tracy Stewart would not be seen alive again. Thirty-one years of cold evidence, a folded six-by-three-foot brown plastic sheet with two short dark hairs, and a courtroom that declined to indict leave one central question: who put that hand in the gravel and why?

In this episode, we tell the sequence of events from Tracy’s regular three-mile morning walk and last-known routines to the original investigation, the preserved evidence, and the reopening of the file in 2019; what new forensic leads emerged from the sexual assault kit and the two hairs, and can modern testing finally answer what happened on June 26, 1991?

Person: Tracy Stewart
Age: 24
Date: June 26, 1991 (disappearance) and July 3, 1991 (hand found)
Location: Fenner Road / Kellerton
Investigator: Craig Weaver (cold-case investigator, 2019)

- The left hand was found by road grader operator Roger Norris on July 3, 1991, at the gravel shoulder of Fenner Road.
- The brown polyethylene sheeting measured approximately 6 feet by 3 feet and was photographed by Detective Alma Kreider on the morning it was found.
- Two short dark hairs were caught in the interior surface near the upper corner of the plastic sheeting as noted in the 1991 evidence photographs.
- Witnesses reported a white panel van parked behind Harwick Drug in the days before June 26, 1991, and it was gone by the time investigators searched.
- The grand jury declined to indict in 1993; Paul Brauer, a person of interest with no alibi for June 25, 1991, died in 2004.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73045551Sat, 18 Jul 2026 16:43:59 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTA Hand Rises from the Gravel: The Tracy Stewart Case A single left hand, palm up and wearing a silver ring with an oval turquoise stone, was lifted by a road grader blade on July 3, 1991 - and Tracy Stewart would not be seen alive again. Thirty-one...
A single left hand, palm up and wearing a silver ring with an oval turquoise stone, was lifted by a road grader blade on July 3, 1991 - and Tracy Stewart would not be seen alive again. Thirty-one years of cold evidence, a folded six-by-three-foot brown plastic sheet with two short dark hairs, and a courtroom that declined to indict leave one central question: who put that hand in the gravel and why?

In this episode, we tell the sequence of events from Tracy’s regular three-mile morning walk and last-known routines to the original investigation, the preserved evidence, and the reopening of the file in 2019; what new forensic leads emerged from the sexual assault kit and the two hairs, and can modern testing finally answer what happened on June 26, 1991?

Person: Tracy Stewart
Age: 24
Date: June 26, 1991 (disappearance) and July 3, 1991 (hand found)
Location: Fenner Road / Kellerton
Investigator: Craig Weaver (cold-case investigator, 2019)

- The left hand was found by road grader operator Roger Norris on July 3, 1991, at the gravel shoulder of Fenner Road.
- The brown polyethylene sheeting measured approximately 6 feet by 3 feet and was photographed by Detective Alma Kreider on the morning it was found.
- Two short dark hairs were caught in the interior surface near the upper corner of the plastic sheeting as noted in the 1991 evidence photographs.
- Witnesses reported a white panel van parked behind Harwick Drug in the days before June 26, 1991, and it was gone by the time investigators searched.
- The grand jury declined to indict in 1993; Paul Brauer, a person of interest with no alibi for June 25, 1991, died in 2004.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1088falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-freezer-the-twine-the-teacher-missing-for-29-years--73045550
Cold and patient, a full-size white Kenmore freezer sat upright in an unmarked easement on Cutter Road for nearly three decades before a utility worker opened its lid and found a woman placed inside-one brown boot, one bare foot, a crescent moon pendant at her throat. How did a sixth-grade art teacher who vanished from a dead-end street in 1993 end up discovered in that freezer in 2022, and what clue finally unlocked the case?

In this episode, we tell the sequence of events from Erin Bauer’s disappearance on June 19, 1993, through the decades of investigation, to the June 11, 2022 discovery and the forensic leads that followed; what connected a partial serial number, orange raffia twine, and a stranger’s DNA to the answer?

Person: Erin Bauer
Date: Disappearance June 19, 1993; Discovery June 11, 2022
Location: Cutter Road, Marvell Township; Sycamore Trace, west side of Kellam
Occupation: Sixth-grade art teacher at Kellam Middle School
Status: Identified by dental records within forty-eight hours after discovery

- The freezer was found upright in overgrown grass with no tire tracks or drag marks on the morning of June 11, 2022.
- Deputy Marcus Toll arrived at the scene at 9:47 a.m. and photographed the exterior before opening the lid.
- Erin was found on her left side with knees drawn up, wearing a gray fleece jacket and dark jeans, one brown boot on her left foot and her right foot bare.
- The freezer’s cord was coiled on top and tied with a loop of orange raffia twine that became key evidence.
- Technicians recovered partial serial digits linking the freezer to a purchase at a Kellam appliance store in spring 1991, recalled by former employee Ted Kasprowicz as paid in cash with arranged delivery.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73045550Sat, 18 Jul 2026 16:43:57 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTThe Freezer, The Twine, The Teacher Missing for 29 Years Cold and patient, a full-size white Kenmore freezer sat upright in an unmarked easement on Cutter Road for nearly three decades before a utility worker opened its lid and found a woman placed...
Cold and patient, a full-size white Kenmore freezer sat upright in an unmarked easement on Cutter Road for nearly three decades before a utility worker opened its lid and found a woman placed inside-one brown boot, one bare foot, a crescent moon pendant at her throat. How did a sixth-grade art teacher who vanished from a dead-end street in 1993 end up discovered in that freezer in 2022, and what clue finally unlocked the case?

In this episode, we tell the sequence of events from Erin Bauer’s disappearance on June 19, 1993, through the decades of investigation, to the June 11, 2022 discovery and the forensic leads that followed; what connected a partial serial number, orange raffia twine, and a stranger’s DNA to the answer?

Person: Erin Bauer
Date: Disappearance June 19, 1993; Discovery June 11, 2022
Location: Cutter Road, Marvell Township; Sycamore Trace, west side of Kellam
Occupation: Sixth-grade art teacher at Kellam Middle School
Status: Identified by dental records within forty-eight hours after discovery

- The freezer was found upright in overgrown grass with no tire tracks or drag marks on the morning of June 11, 2022.
- Deputy Marcus Toll arrived at the scene at 9:47 a.m. and photographed the exterior before opening the lid.
- Erin was found on her left side with knees drawn up, wearing a gray fleece jacket and dark jeans, one brown boot on her left foot and her right foot bare.
- The freezer’s cord was coiled on top and tied with a loop of orange raffia twine that became key evidence.
- Technicians recovered partial serial digits linking the freezer to a purchase at a Kellam appliance store in spring 1991, recalled by former employee Ted Kasprowicz as paid in cash with arranged delivery.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1144falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/stranger-coloco-el-zapato-the-murder-of-melissa-burns--73045549
A single white canvas shoe stood upright on Cutter Creek Park's service road on the morning of May 9, 1983 - heel down, toe pointing toward the trees - eleven feet from Melissa Burns's Dodge Dart, passenger door pushed out and no keys or purse inside. Her body was found thirteen days later with strangulation and a single blunt-force head injury; three documented details in the case were never connected for forty years. What unlinked evidence finally solved what happened to Melissa?

In this episode, we detail the timeline from Melissa's last night shift at Harwick General to the discovery of her body and the refrigerated evidence locker that sat unopened for twenty-six years, and we follow the moment a contracted analyst revisits the file and notices the three overlooked details that changed everything. How did a stain on a uniform and a strangely placed shoe lead to answers four decades later?

Person: Melissa Burns
Date: May 9, 1983
Location: Cutter Creek Park service road
Case: Harwick County homicide, body recovered May 22, 1983
Cause of death: Strangulation and single blunt-force blow to the head

- Melissa Burns was 32 years old and had worked the night shift (11 p.m.-7 a.m.) on the post-surgical ward for six years.
- Her Dodge Dart was found with the passenger door open, no keys, no purse, full tank of gas, and a functioning battery.
- A white size-seven canvas shoe was found standing upright in grass, heel planted and toe aimed toward the tree line, eleven feet from the car.
- Melissa's body was recovered from a drainage ditch along County Road Seven, approximately eleven miles south of Harwick, on May 22, 1983.
- Biological samples from the collar of Melissa's uniform blouse were logged into evidence locker 44 and remained unopened for 14,459 days until 2009.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73045549Sat, 18 Jul 2026 16:43:54 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTStranger Colocó el Zapato: The Murder of Melissa Burns A single white canvas shoe stood upright on Cutter Creek Park's service road on the morning of May 9, 1983 - heel down, toe pointing toward the trees - eleven feet from Melissa Burns's Dodge...
A single white canvas shoe stood upright on Cutter Creek Park's service road on the morning of May 9, 1983 - heel down, toe pointing toward the trees - eleven feet from Melissa Burns's Dodge Dart, passenger door pushed out and no keys or purse inside. Her body was found thirteen days later with strangulation and a single blunt-force head injury; three documented details in the case were never connected for forty years. What unlinked evidence finally solved what happened to Melissa?

In this episode, we detail the timeline from Melissa's last night shift at Harwick General to the discovery of her body and the refrigerated evidence locker that sat unopened for twenty-six years, and we follow the moment a contracted analyst revisits the file and notices the three overlooked details that changed everything. How did a stain on a uniform and a strangely placed shoe lead to answers four decades later?

Person: Melissa Burns
Date: May 9, 1983
Location: Cutter Creek Park service road
Case: Harwick County homicide, body recovered May 22, 1983
Cause of death: Strangulation and single blunt-force blow to the head

- Melissa Burns was 32 years old and had worked the night shift (11 p.m.-7 a.m.) on the post-surgical ward for six years.
- Her Dodge Dart was found with the passenger door open, no keys, no purse, full tank of gas, and a functioning battery.
- A white size-seven canvas shoe was found standing upright in grass, heel planted and toe aimed toward the tree line, eleven feet from the car.
- Melissa's body was recovered from a drainage ditch along County Road Seven, approximately eleven miles south of Harwick, on May 22, 1983.
- Biological samples from the collar of Melissa's uniform blouse were logged into evidence locker 44 and remained unopened for 14,459 days until 2009.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1154falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/scientist-finds-three-hairs-that-solve-a-17-year-murder-the-julie-sheridan-case--73045548
A dry pink canvas sneaker sat upright on a concrete pad after two days of rain, and inside Julie Sheridan’s clenched right fist were three dark brown hairs, 3-4 cm long-coarse and not hers-sealed into evidence but never tested for seventeen years. Who did those hairs belong to, and why did no one follow that single, stubborn clue for nearly two decades?

In this episode, we tell the sequence of events from the discovery of the sneaker on April 9, 2023, through the details of Julie Sheridan’s life and death on April 14, 2006, and the early investigative choices that left critical evidence untested. How did a paper envelope hold the answer to a murder for seventeen years, and what changed to bring those three hairs back into the case?

Person: Julie Sheridan
Date: April 14, 2006
Location: Decatur Street, Morrow Falls
Investigator: Sergeant Mitch Sorrells, age 41
Evidence: three dark brown hairs, 3-4 cm long, sealed in a brown paper envelope

- The pink canvas sneaker was photographed by meter reader Darlene Hensley on April 9, 2023, with the lace tied and a small cartoon rabbit on the toe.
- Julie Sheridan was 52 years old, had worked at Lakeview Claims for 19 years, and maintained a precise weekly routine including Tuesday card club and Saturday morning dog walks.
- Julie was found dead on April 14, 2006, on the laundry room floor; the laundry room window was unlatched and the screen removed and set against the exterior wall.
- Investigators found a partial shoe impression in spilled detergent near the washer and a closed right fist containing three short dark brown hairs inconsistent with Julie’s gray-blond fine hair.
- Sergeant Mitch Sorrells logged and sealed the three hairs in a brown paper evidence envelope in 2006, but no DNA test was ordered at that time.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73045548Sat, 18 Jul 2026 16:43:50 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTScientist Finds Three Hairs That Solve a 17-Year Murder: The Julie Sheridan Case A dry pink canvas sneaker sat upright on a concrete pad after two days of rain, and inside Julie Sheridan’s clenched right fist were three dark brown hairs, 3-4 cm...
A dry pink canvas sneaker sat upright on a concrete pad after two days of rain, and inside Julie Sheridan’s clenched right fist were three dark brown hairs, 3-4 cm long-coarse and not hers-sealed into evidence but never tested for seventeen years. Who did those hairs belong to, and why did no one follow that single, stubborn clue for nearly two decades?

In this episode, we tell the sequence of events from the discovery of the sneaker on April 9, 2023, through the details of Julie Sheridan’s life and death on April 14, 2006, and the early investigative choices that left critical evidence untested. How did a paper envelope hold the answer to a murder for seventeen years, and what changed to bring those three hairs back into the case?

Person: Julie Sheridan
Date: April 14, 2006
Location: Decatur Street, Morrow Falls
Investigator: Sergeant Mitch Sorrells, age 41
Evidence: three dark brown hairs, 3-4 cm long, sealed in a brown paper envelope

- The pink canvas sneaker was photographed by meter reader Darlene Hensley on April 9, 2023, with the lace tied and a small cartoon rabbit on the toe.
- Julie Sheridan was 52 years old, had worked at Lakeview Claims for 19 years, and maintained a precise weekly routine including Tuesday card club and Saturday morning dog walks.
- Julie was found dead on April 14, 2006, on the laundry room floor; the laundry room window was unlatched and the screen removed and set against the exterior wall.
- Investigators found a partial shoe impression in spilled detergent near the washer and a closed right fist containing three short dark brown hairs inconsistent with Julie’s gray-blond fine hair.
- Sergeant Mitch Sorrells logged and sealed the three hairs in a brown paper evidence envelope in 2006, but no DNA test was ordered at that time.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1209falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/volunteer-opens-a-freezer-and-finds-a-man-the-wayne-o-brien-case--73045547
A man in a work shirt, one boot, hands folded with a laminated video store card pressed between them: Wayne O'Brien lay in a church shed freezer under two bags of rock salt, and it would take twenty-eight years for that card to be one clue in a case finally moved by DNA. Who made those deliberate choices and why did the truth wait for a cheek swab in 2018 to begin to answer them?

In this episode, you will hear the timeline of events from the morning Gordon Sheridan opened the shed on March 14, 1991, through the inactive file and preserved evidence that kept the case alive, and the moment a woman’s decision to swab her cheek reopened questions about identity and responsibility. How did a partial fingernail fragment and a Westgate Video card connect a freezer, a closed store, and a life ended without explanation?

Person: Wayne O'Brien
Date: March 14, 1991
Location: Calvary Lutheran Church shed on Decker Avenue
Status: Case inactive in 1994; evidence preserved
Person: Gordon Sheridan

- Wayne O'Brien was 44 years old when his body was found in a chest freezer under two bags of rock salt.
- The laminated Westgate Video membership card pressed between his folded hands named Wayne O'Brien and the store had been closed for 14 months.
- The medical examiner estimated Wayne had been dead approximately ten days when the freezer was opened.
- Wayne’s 1986 Chevy pickup was found with keys under the seat in a closed laundromat parking lot four blocks east of the church.
- A partial fingernail fragment recovered from beneath Wayne’s collar in 1991 was preserved in the Millhaven Police evidence freezer for 27 years.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73045547Sat, 18 Jul 2026 16:43:48 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTVolunteer Opens a Freezer and Finds a Man: The Wayne O'Brien Case A man in a work shirt, one boot, hands folded with a laminated video store card pressed between them: Wayne O'Brien lay in a church shed freezer under two bags of rock salt, and it...
A man in a work shirt, one boot, hands folded with a laminated video store card pressed between them: Wayne O'Brien lay in a church shed freezer under two bags of rock salt, and it would take twenty-eight years for that card to be one clue in a case finally moved by DNA. Who made those deliberate choices and why did the truth wait for a cheek swab in 2018 to begin to answer them?

In this episode, you will hear the timeline of events from the morning Gordon Sheridan opened the shed on March 14, 1991, through the inactive file and preserved evidence that kept the case alive, and the moment a woman’s decision to swab her cheek reopened questions about identity and responsibility. How did a partial fingernail fragment and a Westgate Video card connect a freezer, a closed store, and a life ended without explanation?

Person: Wayne O'Brien
Date: March 14, 1991
Location: Calvary Lutheran Church shed on Decker Avenue
Status: Case inactive in 1994; evidence preserved
Person: Gordon Sheridan

- Wayne O'Brien was 44 years old when his body was found in a chest freezer under two bags of rock salt.
- The laminated Westgate Video membership card pressed between his folded hands named Wayne O'Brien and the store had been closed for 14 months.
- The medical examiner estimated Wayne had been dead approximately ten days when the freezer was opened.
- Wayne’s 1986 Chevy pickup was found with keys under the seat in a closed laundromat parking lot four blocks east of the church.
- A partial fingernail fragment recovered from beneath Wayne’s collar in 1991 was preserved in the Millhaven Police evidence freezer for 27 years.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1107falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-blue-thermos-how-a-marked-mug-cracked-a-31-year-murder-mystery--73045546
Cold certainty turns to dread when a blue steel thermos is found standing upright twelve feet from a man’s body in a frozen ditch - its initials and contents would haunt investigators for three decades. What did the marked thermos, a gas receipt dated January 29, and a Teamsters card placed inside tell authorities that a locked cab and a missing wallet could not?

In this episode, we follow the day-by-day facts from Ryan Crawford’s last known movements to the discovery behind the Calhoun Pines rest area, and how a single object kept one question open: who did the initials E.R. belong to, and why was that thermos left deliberately at the scene?

Person: Ryan Crawford
Date: January 28-31, 1987 (last seen) and February 11, 1987 (body found)
Location: Calhoun Pines rest area off Interstate 40, Caldwell County
Cause of death: Blunt force trauma to the back of the skull
Evidence: Blue steel thermos with initials "E.R." containing a Teamsters union card, a gas receipt dated January 29, and about $47 cash

- Ryan Crawford was 28 years old in January 1987 and worked for Piedmont Freight driving Memphis-Knoxville routes.
- His logbook shows a fuel and meal stop at a Pilot station in Dyersburg on January 29, the last entry before he disappeared.
- Ryan’s locked truck was found in the Calhoun Pines rest area parking lot on February 2, 1987; his wallet was missing and never recovered.
- Cheryl Osborne discovered Crawford’s body in a drainage ditch on February 11, 1987; the medical examiner estimated he had been there about ten days.
- The thermos stood upright twelve feet from the body and contained Ryan’s laminated Teamsters card, a folded Pilot gas receipt dated January 29, and approximately $47 in cash.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73045546Sat, 18 Jul 2026 16:43:45 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTThe Blue Thermos: How a Marked Mug Cracked a 31-Year Murder Mystery Cold certainty turns to dread when a blue steel thermos is found standing upright twelve feet from a man’s body in a frozen ditch - its initials and contents would haunt...
Cold certainty turns to dread when a blue steel thermos is found standing upright twelve feet from a man’s body in a frozen ditch - its initials and contents would haunt investigators for three decades. What did the marked thermos, a gas receipt dated January 29, and a Teamsters card placed inside tell authorities that a locked cab and a missing wallet could not?

In this episode, we follow the day-by-day facts from Ryan Crawford’s last known movements to the discovery behind the Calhoun Pines rest area, and how a single object kept one question open: who did the initials E.R. belong to, and why was that thermos left deliberately at the scene?

Person: Ryan Crawford
Date: January 28-31, 1987 (last seen) and February 11, 1987 (body found)
Location: Calhoun Pines rest area off Interstate 40, Caldwell County
Cause of death: Blunt force trauma to the back of the skull
Evidence: Blue steel thermos with initials "E.R." containing a Teamsters union card, a gas receipt dated January 29, and about $47 cash

- Ryan Crawford was 28 years old in January 1987 and worked for Piedmont Freight driving Memphis-Knoxville routes.
- His logbook shows a fuel and meal stop at a Pilot station in Dyersburg on January 29, the last entry before he disappeared.
- Ryan’s locked truck was found in the Calhoun Pines rest area parking lot on February 2, 1987; his wallet was missing and never recovered.
- Cheryl Osborne discovered Crawford’s body in a drainage ditch on February 11, 1987; the medical examiner estimated he had been there about ten days.
- The thermos stood upright twelve feet from the body and contained Ryan’s laminated Teamsters card, a folded Pilot gas receipt dated January 29, and approximately $47 in cash.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1263falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/himself-at-3-a-m-setting-it-to-the-current-time-before-doing-so--73045545
A watch wound and set to 12:03 a.m. was placed on a fisherman’s hook at 12:12 a.m., leading a tropline owner to pull a body from the river - a corpse that remained unidentified for 31 years. Who kept the watch in a garage for three decades and why did someone choose that cold January morning to leave it where it would be found?

In this episode, you’ll hear how two separate files - a Brenton missing person report and an Aldine John Doe case - sat apart for 31 years before genetic genealogy reunited them, and how a single watch and preserved jacket swabs reopened the question of who killed Gary Myers.

Person: Gary Myers
Date (body recovery): January 9 (coldest January in a decade)
Age at birth: born fifty-six years before body surfaced
Location (river): Tillman River at the Elbow
Investigator who identified him: Vernon Harrison

- The watch was kept in a garage box for thirty-two years before being placed on a hook at 12:12 a.m.
- The body was recovered by Stanley Bauer after he found a ticking watch reading 12:03 a.m. looped over a trotline hook.
- Medical examiner estimated the body had been in the water between 48 and 72 hours and noted blunt-force trauma to the back of the skull.
- Gary Myers disappeared on a Thursday; his unlocked car was found four days later in the Hollow Cup diner parking lot with wallet and keys on the passenger seat.
- Dental records confirmed the identification eight days after genetic genealogy traced a first-cousin-once-removed match from a femur DNA profile uploaded to a public genealogy database.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73045545Sat, 18 Jul 2026 16:43:42 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENThimself at 3 a.m., setting it to the current time before doing so A watch wound and set to 12:03 a.m. was placed on a fisherman’s hook at 12:12 a.m., leading a tropline owner to pull a body from the river - a corpse that remained unidentified for...
A watch wound and set to 12:03 a.m. was placed on a fisherman’s hook at 12:12 a.m., leading a tropline owner to pull a body from the river - a corpse that remained unidentified for 31 years. Who kept the watch in a garage for three decades and why did someone choose that cold January morning to leave it where it would be found?

In this episode, you’ll hear how two separate files - a Brenton missing person report and an Aldine John Doe case - sat apart for 31 years before genetic genealogy reunited them, and how a single watch and preserved jacket swabs reopened the question of who killed Gary Myers.

Person: Gary Myers
Date (body recovery): January 9 (coldest January in a decade)
Age at birth: born fifty-six years before body surfaced
Location (river): Tillman River at the Elbow
Investigator who identified him: Vernon Harrison

- The watch was kept in a garage box for thirty-two years before being placed on a hook at 12:12 a.m.
- The body was recovered by Stanley Bauer after he found a ticking watch reading 12:03 a.m. looped over a trotline hook.
- Medical examiner estimated the body had been in the water between 48 and 72 hours and noted blunt-force trauma to the back of the skull.
- Gary Myers disappeared on a Thursday; his unlocked car was found four days later in the Hollow Cup diner parking lot with wallet and keys on the passenger seat.
- Dental records confirmed the identification eight days after genetic genealogy traced a first-cousin-once-removed match from a femur DNA profile uploaded to a public genealogy database.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1091falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-blood-on-his-cuff-how-a-donor-solved-harvey-harris--73045543
Cold soil, a Styrofoam cooler labeled "O-positive," and a bloodstain on a young man's cuff linked a 1991 murder to a donor drive three weeks later - but why did a vial end up half-buried 430 feet from the highway? What single piece of DNA, preserved for thirty-one years in frozen ground, finally closed the gap between a church and a ditch?

In this episode, we tell how the case of Harvey Harris unfolded from the night he left Chester Poe's farmhouse to the discovery of a sealed cooler at the base of the Kellerman grain elevator, and how a frozen blood vial, ancestry tests, and routine records pushed the investigation toward an answer. Could a routine act of donation and a discarded cup hold the clue everyone missed?

Person: Harvey Harris
Date: December 13, 1991
Location: Gravel pull-off two miles south of Chester Poe's farmhouse
Event: Forty-seven people gave blood at Kellerman Lutheran Church three weeks after the death
Temperature at discovery: Eleven degrees Fahrenheit

- Harvey was 23 years old when he left Chester Poe's farmhouse on the evening of December 12, 1991.
- Harvey's body was found December 13, 1991 with blunt-force trauma to the back of the skull and no weapon recovered.
- A bloodstain on Harvey's left sleeve cuff tested O-positive, a different blood type than Harvey's.
- A Styrofoam medical cooler labeled "O-positive" was found half-buried at the base of the Kellerman grain elevator on December 4, 2022.
- Forty-seven people donated blood at a memorial drive at Kellerman Lutheran Church three weeks after Harvey died; the killer was among them.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73045543Sat, 18 Jul 2026 16:43:39 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTThe Blood on His Cuff: How a Donor Solved Harvey Harris Cold soil, a Styrofoam cooler labeled "O-positive," and a bloodstain on a young man's cuff linked a 1991 murder to a donor drive three weeks later - but why did a vial end up half-buried 430...
Cold soil, a Styrofoam cooler labeled "O-positive," and a bloodstain on a young man's cuff linked a 1991 murder to a donor drive three weeks later - but why did a vial end up half-buried 430 feet from the highway? What single piece of DNA, preserved for thirty-one years in frozen ground, finally closed the gap between a church and a ditch?

In this episode, we tell how the case of Harvey Harris unfolded from the night he left Chester Poe's farmhouse to the discovery of a sealed cooler at the base of the Kellerman grain elevator, and how a frozen blood vial, ancestry tests, and routine records pushed the investigation toward an answer. Could a routine act of donation and a discarded cup hold the clue everyone missed?

Person: Harvey Harris
Date: December 13, 1991
Location: Gravel pull-off two miles south of Chester Poe's farmhouse
Event: Forty-seven people gave blood at Kellerman Lutheran Church three weeks after the death
Temperature at discovery: Eleven degrees Fahrenheit

- Harvey was 23 years old when he left Chester Poe's farmhouse on the evening of December 12, 1991.
- Harvey's body was found December 13, 1991 with blunt-force trauma to the back of the skull and no weapon recovered.
- A bloodstain on Harvey's left sleeve cuff tested O-positive, a different blood type than Harvey's.
- A Styrofoam medical cooler labeled "O-positive" was found half-buried at the base of the Kellerman grain elevator on December 4, 2022.
- Forty-seven people donated blood at a memorial drive at Kellerman Lutheran Church three weeks after Harvey died; the killer was among them.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1206falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/locked-in-ice-the-freezer-the-notebook-and-a-hidden-clue--73045542
A humming chest freezer in a vacant rental hid a 38-year-old billing coordinator locked inside for eight to twelve days, and a pale rectangle sat unnoticed in evidence for 28 years - what did that tiny piece conceal that could finally point to her killer? The first clue was a small notebook Susan carried every morning; the second was a fragment catalogued in 1991 as “adhesive material, possible stamp or label fragment.” What did those two ordinary things reveal?

In this episode, we follow the discovery at a Dunmore Road house where a submersible pump call led to a padlocked chest freezer and the death of Susan Meyer, and we trace how dormant evidence and advances in forensic science reopened the file - could a fragment in a county locker solve a decades-old murder?

Person: Susan Meyer
Date: November 1991
Location: Dunmore Road, Dellard County
Cause of death: Manual strangulation
Evidence: partial male DNA from beneath fingernails

- Susan Meyer, age 38, had been dead in the freezer for an estimated eight to twelve days when found.
- The house on Dunmore Road had been vacant for six weeks before the freezer was discovered running.
- The freezer had a new bracket and bright screws; someone had modified and padlocked it from the outside.
- Photograph 14 was catalogued in 1991 as “adhesive material, source unknown, possible stamp or label fragment.”
- Roger Weber began working the Meyer file in 2019 after it had been shelved since the early 2000s.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73045542Sat, 18 Jul 2026 16:43:37 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTLocked in Ice: The Freezer, The Notebook, and a Hidden Clue A humming chest freezer in a vacant rental hid a 38-year-old billing coordinator locked inside for eight to twelve days, and a pale rectangle sat unnoticed in evidence for 28 years - what...
A humming chest freezer in a vacant rental hid a 38-year-old billing coordinator locked inside for eight to twelve days, and a pale rectangle sat unnoticed in evidence for 28 years - what did that tiny piece conceal that could finally point to her killer? The first clue was a small notebook Susan carried every morning; the second was a fragment catalogued in 1991 as “adhesive material, possible stamp or label fragment.” What did those two ordinary things reveal?

In this episode, we follow the discovery at a Dunmore Road house where a submersible pump call led to a padlocked chest freezer and the death of Susan Meyer, and we trace how dormant evidence and advances in forensic science reopened the file - could a fragment in a county locker solve a decades-old murder?

Person: Susan Meyer
Date: November 1991
Location: Dunmore Road, Dellard County
Cause of death: Manual strangulation
Evidence: partial male DNA from beneath fingernails

- Susan Meyer, age 38, had been dead in the freezer for an estimated eight to twelve days when found.
- The house on Dunmore Road had been vacant for six weeks before the freezer was discovered running.
- The freezer had a new bracket and bright screws; someone had modified and padlocked it from the outside.
- Photograph 14 was catalogued in 1991 as “adhesive material, source unknown, possible stamp or label fragment.”
- Roger Weber began working the Meyer file in 2019 after it had been shelved since the early 2000s.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1202falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-jar-at-teller-s-pond-watch-dna-and-a-29-year-lie--73045541
A decades-old murder hung on a single Timex and a jar that vanished from an evidence freezer - until a birdwatcher found that very jar half-submerged in cattails in 2023. The jar held a running watch and a hardware receipt dated October 9, 1993, and beneath the victim’s fingernails a partial male DNA profile sat untouched for 29 years; who moved the evidence and why does this retrace the timeline to a name that only surfaced after the original detective’s death?

In this episode, we tell the sequence of events from Rhonda Fisher’s last evening to the discovery at Teller’s Pond and the cold trail that kept a case alive for decades. Listen to how misplaced evidence, a preserved watch, and a deed record converge to reopen a 1993 murder and pose the question that haunts every step: who finally connected the dots and when?

Person: Rhonda Fisher
Date: October 13, 1993
Location: Pelham County Cooperative service corridor
Status: Partial male DNA profile recovered; evidence logged as Case 93-417
Event: Jar with watch recovered at Teller’s Pond on March 4, 2023

- Rhonda Fisher was 63 years old at the time of her death.
- The watch was taken for a battery replacement in September 1993 and worn the evening of October 13, 1993.
- The jar containing the watch and a Crestwood hardware receipt was found by Detective Harlan Pruett two days after the murder.
- The Crestwood receipt inside the jar is dated October 9, 1993 and shows cash purchase of lag screws and silicone sealant.
- Detective Pruett wrote “Wrong man. Start over.” in the case log in February 1994 and continued reviewing the file until his death on January 19, 2022.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73045541Sat, 18 Jul 2026 16:43:34 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTThe Jar at Teller's Pond: Watch, DNA, And A 29-Year Lie A decades-old murder hung on a single Timex and a jar that vanished from an evidence freezer - until a birdwatcher found that very jar half-submerged in cattails in 2023. The jar held a...
A decades-old murder hung on a single Timex and a jar that vanished from an evidence freezer - until a birdwatcher found that very jar half-submerged in cattails in 2023. The jar held a running watch and a hardware receipt dated October 9, 1993, and beneath the victim’s fingernails a partial male DNA profile sat untouched for 29 years; who moved the evidence and why does this retrace the timeline to a name that only surfaced after the original detective’s death?

In this episode, we tell the sequence of events from Rhonda Fisher’s last evening to the discovery at Teller’s Pond and the cold trail that kept a case alive for decades. Listen to how misplaced evidence, a preserved watch, and a deed record converge to reopen a 1993 murder and pose the question that haunts every step: who finally connected the dots and when?

Person: Rhonda Fisher
Date: October 13, 1993
Location: Pelham County Cooperative service corridor
Status: Partial male DNA profile recovered; evidence logged as Case 93-417
Event: Jar with watch recovered at Teller’s Pond on March 4, 2023

- Rhonda Fisher was 63 years old at the time of her death.
- The watch was taken for a battery replacement in September 1993 and worn the evening of October 13, 1993.
- The jar containing the watch and a Crestwood hardware receipt was found by Detective Harlan Pruett two days after the murder.
- The Crestwood receipt inside the jar is dated October 9, 1993 and shows cash purchase of lag screws and silicone sealant.
- Detective Pruett wrote “Wrong man. Start over.” in the case log in February 1994 and continued reviewing the file until his death on January 19, 2022.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1068falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/boy-finds-a-running-freezer-the-angela-barnes-case--73045540
A humming chest freezer in a sixty-one-degree September morning was the first wrong thing a fourteen-year-old paperboy noticed - and inside lay a twenty-six-year-old mother dead for an estimated thirty-six to forty-eight hours. Forty years later the case still hinges on one unresolved question: who left Angela Barnes sealed in that freezer?

In this episode, we tell the sequence of events from the discovery in an alley to the early investigation and the leads that followed, laying out the timeline, the people involved, and the evidence that failed to secure a prosecution. How did an apparently straightforward suspect become the focus for decades despite the forensic gaps?

Date: September 9, 1983
Person: Angela Barnes
Location: Alley behind Prentiss Street; apartment 414 Prentiss Street, Welling
Age: 26
Status: Declared dead; estimated death 36-48 hours before discovery

- The freezer was sealed with two loops of electrical tape and frosted despite an overnight low of 61°F.
- Brian Vogel, age 14, found the orange extension cord about 40 feet long running under a wooden gate to the freezer.
- Angela had a nine-month-old daughter and a folded list of apartments in Columbus inside her checkbook.
- The last phone call from Angela to her mother Dottie was on Tuesday, September 6, 1983; Dottie called Welling PD on September 10, 1983.
- Detective Mitch Crowder identified Dennis Farrow as a suspect within 72 hours; the district attorney declined to prosecute for lack of sufficient evidence.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73045540Sat, 18 Jul 2026 16:43:32 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTBoy Finds a Running Freezer: The Angela Barnes Case A humming chest freezer in a sixty-one-degree September morning was the first wrong thing a fourteen-year-old paperboy noticed - and inside lay a twenty-six-year-old mother dead for an estimated...
A humming chest freezer in a sixty-one-degree September morning was the first wrong thing a fourteen-year-old paperboy noticed - and inside lay a twenty-six-year-old mother dead for an estimated thirty-six to forty-eight hours. Forty years later the case still hinges on one unresolved question: who left Angela Barnes sealed in that freezer?

In this episode, we tell the sequence of events from the discovery in an alley to the early investigation and the leads that followed, laying out the timeline, the people involved, and the evidence that failed to secure a prosecution. How did an apparently straightforward suspect become the focus for decades despite the forensic gaps?

Date: September 9, 1983
Person: Angela Barnes
Location: Alley behind Prentiss Street; apartment 414 Prentiss Street, Welling
Age: 26
Status: Declared dead; estimated death 36-48 hours before discovery

- The freezer was sealed with two loops of electrical tape and frosted despite an overnight low of 61°F.
- Brian Vogel, age 14, found the orange extension cord about 40 feet long running under a wooden gate to the freezer.
- Angela had a nine-month-old daughter and a folded list of apartments in Columbus inside her checkbook.
- The last phone call from Angela to her mother Dottie was on Tuesday, September 6, 1983; Dottie called Welling PD on September 10, 1983.
- Detective Mitch Crowder identified Dennis Farrow as a suspect within 72 hours; the district attorney declined to prosecute for lack of sufficient evidence.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1231falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-coffee-cup-that-waited-how-a-frozen-lid-solved-a-30-year-disappearance--73045539
A single coffee cup, upright in frozen gravel with a 1995 diner logo and Diane Smith’s driver’s license tucked inside, sat undisturbed for 31 years until a road-grader blade found it at 6:40 a.m. What did that cup, photographed at the original 1992 scene and later tested, finally prove about the night Diane vanished?

In this episode, we walk through the sequence from Diane’s last confirmed sighting at 5:15 p.m. leaving Harwick General Hospital to the discovery of her car on Route 9 with a deliberately loosened valve stem - and the evidence that sat in place for decades. How did a small detail in a detective’s supplemental note point to a calculated act on a familiar route?

Person: Diane Smith
Date: August 18, 1992
Location: Route 9
Status: Identified remains; cause of death manual strangulation
Detective: Paul Irwin

- A road-grader blade struck the coffee cup at 6:40 a.m.
- The diner logo on the cup had stopped being printed in 1995.
- Diane Smith was 47 years old in summer 1992 and had worked 14 years at Harwick General Hospital.
- Diane’s last confirmed sighting was at 5:15 p.m, by colleague Debra Holt in the hospital lot.
- The rear tire valve stem on Diane’s 1989 green Chevrolet Cavalier had been partially loosened, causing a slow deflation.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73045539Sat, 18 Jul 2026 16:43:29 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTThe Coffee Cup That Waited: How a Frozen Lid Solved a 30-Year Disappearance A single coffee cup, upright in frozen gravel with a 1995 diner logo and Diane Smith’s driver’s license tucked inside, sat undisturbed for 31 years until a road-grader...
A single coffee cup, upright in frozen gravel with a 1995 diner logo and Diane Smith’s driver’s license tucked inside, sat undisturbed for 31 years until a road-grader blade found it at 6:40 a.m. What did that cup, photographed at the original 1992 scene and later tested, finally prove about the night Diane vanished?

In this episode, we walk through the sequence from Diane’s last confirmed sighting at 5:15 p.m. leaving Harwick General Hospital to the discovery of her car on Route 9 with a deliberately loosened valve stem - and the evidence that sat in place for decades. How did a small detail in a detective’s supplemental note point to a calculated act on a familiar route?

Person: Diane Smith
Date: August 18, 1992
Location: Route 9
Status: Identified remains; cause of death manual strangulation
Detective: Paul Irwin

- A road-grader blade struck the coffee cup at 6:40 a.m.
- The diner logo on the cup had stopped being printed in 1995.
- Diane Smith was 47 years old in summer 1992 and had worked 14 years at Harwick General Hospital.
- Diane’s last confirmed sighting was at 5:15 p.m, by colleague Debra Holt in the hospital lot.
- The rear tire valve stem on Diane’s 1989 green Chevrolet Cavalier had been partially loosened, causing a slow deflation.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1081falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-standing-shoe-how-a-single-pump-solved-a-31-year-murder--73045537
A single tan, size seven leather pump was found standing upright fourteen feet above the waterline beside a drainage ditch - its buckle still fastened, ragweed unbroken - a placement a forensic botanist later confirmed could not be accidental. Who placed that shoe, and why did the geometry of Lisa Novak’s car, door, keys and body point toward home but stop short of an explanation?

In this episode, we follow the timeline and evidence from the night Lisa Novak disappeared on July 13, 1991, through the decades-long investigation and the preserved item that held the case’s unanswered question: could a single shoe, refrigerated as evidence for thirty-one years, finally reveal what happened that night?

Person: Lisa Novak
Date: July 13, 1991
Location: Maple Crest Drive, Dunbar, Harwick County, Indiana
Investigator: Detective Arnie Busch
Suspect name: Roy Fetters

- The shoe was a left flat leather pump, tan, size seven, with the buckle still fastened.
- The shoe was standing upright fourteen feet above the waterline on dry ground with surrounding ragweed stalks untouched.
- Lisa Novak was 32 years old and her keys were found inside her purse in the drainage ditch, six inches from where her body lay.
- Lisa’s Honda Civic was parked in front of her house with the doors locked; the front door was unlocked from the outside.
- The shoe and related evidence were stored in the Harwick County evidence room for thirty-one years before reexamination.

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© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73045537Sat, 18 Jul 2026 16:43:26 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTThe Standing Shoe: How a Single Pump Solved a 31-Year Murder A single tan, size seven leather pump was found standing upright fourteen feet above the waterline beside a drainage ditch - its buckle still fastened, ragweed unbroken - a placement a...
A single tan, size seven leather pump was found standing upright fourteen feet above the waterline beside a drainage ditch - its buckle still fastened, ragweed unbroken - a placement a forensic botanist later confirmed could not be accidental. Who placed that shoe, and why did the geometry of Lisa Novak’s car, door, keys and body point toward home but stop short of an explanation?

In this episode, we follow the timeline and evidence from the night Lisa Novak disappeared on July 13, 1991, through the decades-long investigation and the preserved item that held the case’s unanswered question: could a single shoe, refrigerated as evidence for thirty-one years, finally reveal what happened that night?

Person: Lisa Novak
Date: July 13, 1991
Location: Maple Crest Drive, Dunbar, Harwick County, Indiana
Investigator: Detective Arnie Busch
Suspect name: Roy Fetters

- The shoe was a left flat leather pump, tan, size seven, with the buckle still fastened.
- The shoe was standing upright fourteen feet above the waterline on dry ground with surrounding ragweed stalks untouched.
- Lisa Novak was 32 years old and her keys were found inside her purse in the drainage ditch, six inches from where her body lay.
- Lisa’s Honda Civic was parked in front of her house with the doors locked; the front door was unlocked from the outside.
- The shoe and related evidence were stored in the Harwick County evidence room for thirty-one years before reexamination.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1059falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-shoe-in-the-willow-how-dna-undid-a-detective-s-conviction--73045536
A single white canvas sneaker, size seven, sat deliberately sole-down in a willow root hollow forty yards from Karen Bell’s body - its sock folded neatly at the ankle and a swab that would wait twenty-seven years for new technology. How did a shoe become the pivot between a detective’s decade-long certainty and a genetic profile without a name?

In this episode, you’ll hear the sequence of events from the morning Beverly Baker found Karen Bell on June 9, 1992, to the 2019 STR profile that cleared one suspect and left investigators with a nameless DNA lead. What did the evidence that contradicted Detective Phil Soren’s case finally reveal about who placed the shoe and why?

Person: Karen Bell
Date: June 9, 1992
Location: Harwick Reservoir path
Investigator: Detective Phil Soren
Evidence: male epithelial cells from inside tongue of sneaker

- Karen Bell was fifty-one years old and lived on Caldwell Avenue in Drayfield for sixteen years.
- Beverly Baker found Karen at approximately 6:00 AM on June 9, 1992, about forty yards south of the placed shoe.
- The sneaker was a single white canvas shoe, size seven, with the sock folded neatly at the ankle.
- Detective Phil Soren compiled eleven binders over three years and pursued Douglas Harp as a suspect for more than a decade.
- In 2019 updated extraction produced a complete STR profile from the shoe swab that entered CODIS but returned no match.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73045536Sat, 18 Jul 2026 16:43:23 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTThe Shoe in the Willow: How DNA Undid a Detective's Conviction A single white canvas sneaker, size seven, sat deliberately sole-down in a willow root hollow forty yards from Karen Bell’s body - its sock folded neatly at the ankle and a swab that...
A single white canvas sneaker, size seven, sat deliberately sole-down in a willow root hollow forty yards from Karen Bell’s body - its sock folded neatly at the ankle and a swab that would wait twenty-seven years for new technology. How did a shoe become the pivot between a detective’s decade-long certainty and a genetic profile without a name?

In this episode, you’ll hear the sequence of events from the morning Beverly Baker found Karen Bell on June 9, 1992, to the 2019 STR profile that cleared one suspect and left investigators with a nameless DNA lead. What did the evidence that contradicted Detective Phil Soren’s case finally reveal about who placed the shoe and why?

Person: Karen Bell
Date: June 9, 1992
Location: Harwick Reservoir path
Investigator: Detective Phil Soren
Evidence: male epithelial cells from inside tongue of sneaker

- Karen Bell was fifty-one years old and lived on Caldwell Avenue in Drayfield for sixteen years.
- Beverly Baker found Karen at approximately 6:00 AM on June 9, 1992, about forty yards south of the placed shoe.
- The sneaker was a single white canvas shoe, size seven, with the sock folded neatly at the ankle.
- Detective Phil Soren compiled eleven binders over three years and pursued Douglas Harp as a suspect for more than a decade.
- In 2019 updated extraction produced a complete STR profile from the shoe swab that entered CODIS but returned no match.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1203falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-standing-shoe-how-a-single-sneaker-solved-two-cold-killings--73045535
A single size 7½ canvas sneaker stood upright beside a rosebush on May 14, 2003 - dry after nine days without rain, yellow lace re-threaded the wrong way - and two feet away a woman was buried beneath the trellis she had been building. How did a standing shoe and one overlooked subordinate clause in a neighbor's statement become the thread that tied two separate deaths together?

In this episode, we follow the details left in the record: where April Fleming lived and worked, who saw her last, the exact condition of the sneaker, and the long gaps in time that stalled the case - all leading to the question that finally forced investigators to ask what no one had asked for sixteen years.

Person: April Fleming
Date: May 6, 2003 (last seen); May 14, 2003 (found)
Location: 4418 Crestfall Drive, Kellner Heights, Dunmore, Ohio
Occupation: Billing coordinator, Dunmore Regional Medical Center
Height: 5 feet 4 inches

- The sneaker was a canvas shoe, size 7½, standing upright beside a rosebush and dry after nine days without rain.
- April Fleming was found buried two feet away from the shoe beneath the trellis she had been building for climbing hydrangeas.
- April was last seen by neighbor Roy Espinoza at approximately 6:15 PM on May 6, 2003, carrying seedling trays from her car toward the back gate and waving.
- Eight days passed between April being last seen and her body being discovered on May 14, 2003.
- A subordinate clause in a neighbor's statement sat unread in the case file for sixteen years before a genealogist in 2020 began linking the case to another woman's report from five years earlier.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73045535Sat, 18 Jul 2026 16:43:20 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTThe Standing Shoe: How a Single Sneaker Solved Two Cold Killings A single size 7½ canvas sneaker stood upright beside a rosebush on May 14, 2003 - dry after nine days without rain, yellow lace re-threaded the wrong way - and two feet away a woman...
A single size 7½ canvas sneaker stood upright beside a rosebush on May 14, 2003 - dry after nine days without rain, yellow lace re-threaded the wrong way - and two feet away a woman was buried beneath the trellis she had been building. How did a standing shoe and one overlooked subordinate clause in a neighbor's statement become the thread that tied two separate deaths together?

In this episode, we follow the details left in the record: where April Fleming lived and worked, who saw her last, the exact condition of the sneaker, and the long gaps in time that stalled the case - all leading to the question that finally forced investigators to ask what no one had asked for sixteen years.

Person: April Fleming
Date: May 6, 2003 (last seen); May 14, 2003 (found)
Location: 4418 Crestfall Drive, Kellner Heights, Dunmore, Ohio
Occupation: Billing coordinator, Dunmore Regional Medical Center
Height: 5 feet 4 inches

- The sneaker was a canvas shoe, size 7½, standing upright beside a rosebush and dry after nine days without rain.
- April Fleming was found buried two feet away from the shoe beneath the trellis she had been building for climbing hydrangeas.
- April was last seen by neighbor Roy Espinoza at approximately 6:15 PM on May 6, 2003, carrying seedling trays from her car toward the back gate and waving.
- Eight days passed between April being last seen and her body being discovered on May 14, 2003.
- A subordinate clause in a neighbor's statement sat unread in the case file for sixteen years before a genealogist in 2020 began linking the case to another woman's report from five years earlier.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1310falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-freezer-shoe-that-hid-a-killer-for-thirty-one-years--73045534
A single size seven burgundy leather flat was found upright inside a church chest freezer on April 14, 1991, with decades-old casseroles beneath it and no sign of frost on the shoe - and the woman who wore it would not be found until eight days later. Why did one left shoe, donated with the freezer by a private citizen, sit alone in a church storage shed for thirty-one years before anyone connected it to a missing woman?

In this episode, we lay out the timeline from Beverly Mueller’s last confirmed sighting on April 3, 1991, to the discovery of the shoe eleven days later, and the overlooked documents that linked Ralph Albert Schmidt to both the freezer and Beverly’s life. What do the church donation ledger, a shed lock request, and a potluck sign-up sheet tell us about a name that never made it into the original investigation?

Person: Beverly Mueller
Date: April 3, 1991 (last confirmed sighting)
Location: Grace Lutheran Church storage shed, Callander, Ohio
Person: Ralph Albert Schmidt
Status: Shoe found April 14, 1991; Schmidt interviewed May 2022

- The shoe was a single burgundy leather flat, size seven, left foot only, standing upright inside a chest freezer.
- The freezer was donated to Grace Lutheran by Ralph A. Schmidt in fall 1988 and he retained the combination.
- The freezer was opened by deacon Wade Edwards on April 14, 1991, who found the shoe and old oxidized casseroles beneath it.
- Beverly Mueller was 29 years old, worked as a billing coordinator at Saddler Regional Medical Center, and was last seen leaving work at 5:45 PM on April 3, 1991.
- Ralph A. Schmidt, age 73 when detectives knocked on his door in May 2022, had lived at 14 Holloway Drive and was listed on a Saddler Regional potluck sign-up as host at that address in March 1991.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73045534Sat, 18 Jul 2026 16:43:17 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTThe Freezer Shoe That Hid a Killer for Thirty-One Years A single size seven burgundy leather flat was found upright inside a church chest freezer on April 14, 1991, with decades-old casseroles beneath it and no sign of frost on the shoe - and the...
A single size seven burgundy leather flat was found upright inside a church chest freezer on April 14, 1991, with decades-old casseroles beneath it and no sign of frost on the shoe - and the woman who wore it would not be found until eight days later. Why did one left shoe, donated with the freezer by a private citizen, sit alone in a church storage shed for thirty-one years before anyone connected it to a missing woman?

In this episode, we lay out the timeline from Beverly Mueller’s last confirmed sighting on April 3, 1991, to the discovery of the shoe eleven days later, and the overlooked documents that linked Ralph Albert Schmidt to both the freezer and Beverly’s life. What do the church donation ledger, a shed lock request, and a potluck sign-up sheet tell us about a name that never made it into the original investigation?

Person: Beverly Mueller
Date: April 3, 1991 (last confirmed sighting)
Location: Grace Lutheran Church storage shed, Callander, Ohio
Person: Ralph Albert Schmidt
Status: Shoe found April 14, 1991; Schmidt interviewed May 2022

- The shoe was a single burgundy leather flat, size seven, left foot only, standing upright inside a chest freezer.
- The freezer was donated to Grace Lutheran by Ralph A. Schmidt in fall 1988 and he retained the combination.
- The freezer was opened by deacon Wade Edwards on April 14, 1991, who found the shoe and old oxidized casseroles beneath it.
- Beverly Mueller was 29 years old, worked as a billing coordinator at Saddler Regional Medical Center, and was last seen leaving work at 5:45 PM on April 3, 1991.
- Ralph A. Schmidt, age 73 when detectives knocked on his door in May 2022, had lived at 14 Holloway Drive and was listed on a Saddler Regional potluck sign-up as host at that address in March 1991.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1121falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-folded-sock-how-a-left-shoe-locked-a-killer-for-30-years--73045532
A single left running shoe, laced and double-knotted with a sock folded neatly at the cuff, sat twenty-two feet from a body and went unnoticed for thirty years - until a dog pulled a walker two hundred yards into a clearing in March 2019. Who placed that shoe upslope, across a wire fence, and why did a brief canvass entry on page 47 languish for decades without follow-up?

In this episode, we walk through the timeline from the morning Rachel Watson left her house at 6:47 a.m. on March 7, 1989, to the discovery that reopened the file in 2019, and we trace the missed leads and the overlooked canvass note that might have held the answer. Could a maintenance worker’s single line in a binder and one left shoe finally explain what happened to Rachel?

Person: Rachel Watson
Date: March 7, 1989 (disappearance); March 2019 (remains recovered)
Location: Kellerton, Ohio; Kellerton Greenway (old rail access road)
Case: Cold case reopened after remains identified by dental records nine days after discovery
Other Person: Stanley Romano (maintenance worker named on page 47 of canvass binder)

- Rachel Watson left her house on Glenmore Avenue at 6:47 a.m. and ran a fixed three-mile route, returning by 7:22 a.m.
- A maintenance worker recorded seeing a woman matching Rachel’s description and named Stanley Romano on page 47 of the canvass binder in 1989.
- The missing persons report was filed and sat in Kellerton Township’s system for four years before Detective Mitch Farrow shelved it in 1993.
- A white women’s size eight left running shoe with coral-pink trim and a folded sock was found March 2019, twenty-two feet from the body and upslope across a wire fence.
- Dental records confirmed the remains as Rachel Watson nine days after the shoe led investigators to the depression forty feet off the old access road.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73045532Sat, 18 Jul 2026 16:43:15 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTThe Folded Sock: How a Left Shoe Locked a Killer for 30 Years A single left running shoe, laced and double-knotted with a sock folded neatly at the cuff, sat twenty-two feet from a body and went unnoticed for thirty years - until a dog pulled a...
A single left running shoe, laced and double-knotted with a sock folded neatly at the cuff, sat twenty-two feet from a body and went unnoticed for thirty years - until a dog pulled a walker two hundred yards into a clearing in March 2019. Who placed that shoe upslope, across a wire fence, and why did a brief canvass entry on page 47 languish for decades without follow-up?

In this episode, we walk through the timeline from the morning Rachel Watson left her house at 6:47 a.m. on March 7, 1989, to the discovery that reopened the file in 2019, and we trace the missed leads and the overlooked canvass note that might have held the answer. Could a maintenance worker’s single line in a binder and one left shoe finally explain what happened to Rachel?

Person: Rachel Watson
Date: March 7, 1989 (disappearance); March 2019 (remains recovered)
Location: Kellerton, Ohio; Kellerton Greenway (old rail access road)
Case: Cold case reopened after remains identified by dental records nine days after discovery
Other Person: Stanley Romano (maintenance worker named on page 47 of canvass binder)

- Rachel Watson left her house on Glenmore Avenue at 6:47 a.m. and ran a fixed three-mile route, returning by 7:22 a.m.
- A maintenance worker recorded seeing a woman matching Rachel’s description and named Stanley Romano on page 47 of the canvass binder in 1989.
- The missing persons report was filed and sat in Kellerton Township’s system for four years before Detective Mitch Farrow shelved it in 1993.
- A white women’s size eight left running shoe with coral-pink trim and a folded sock was found March 2019, twenty-two feet from the body and upslope across a wire fence.
- Dental records confirmed the remains as Rachel Watson nine days after the shoe led investigators to the depression forty feet off the old access road.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1217falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/investigator-finds-a-dry-badge-inside-a-submerged-hand-the-tammy-tillman-case--73045531
A laminated volunteer badge was found perfectly dry, tucked into the curled fingers of a woman's right hand lying half-submerged in river silt - a single contradiction that froze a forensic examiner on February 9, 1993. What did that deliberate placement mean, and who placed it there?

In this episode, we tell the story of Tammy Tillman from Parlin, Missouri, following the weeks before her disappearance, the discovery on the Sutter River bank, and the decades-long evidence trail that led investigators to reopen a sealed swab. How did a preserved DNA swab and later genealogical science finally move the case forward?

Person: Tammy Tillman
Date: February 9, 1993 (forensic examiner reaction) / disappearance early February 1993
Location: Sutter River eastern bank, Decker County; Parlin, Missouri
Status: Evidence swab sealed in 1993 and stored until modern testing
Investigator: Hank Siebert

- Tammy Tillman was 23 years old and worked part-time at Sunridge Learning Center while studying early childhood education.
- She volunteered every Wednesday for 14 consecutive months at the Parlin Community Food Pantry and missed her shift on Wednesday, February 3, 1993.
- On Thursday, February 4, 1993, Tammy's apartment door was unlocked, kitchen light on, coat and purse missing, and her car untouched in the parking lot.
- On February 9, 1993, a forensic examiner noted the laminated volunteer badge found in Tammy's curled right hand was dry despite the hand showing signs of extended aquatic exposure.
- Hank Siebert initialed and sealed the sexual assault evidence swab in February 1993, noting in his personal case file: "The badge was placed. This was not random."

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73045531Sat, 18 Jul 2026 16:43:12 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTInvestigator Finds a Dry Badge Inside a Submerged Hand: The Tammy Tillman Case A laminated volunteer badge was found perfectly dry, tucked into the curled fingers of a woman's right hand lying half-submerged in river silt - a single contradiction...
A laminated volunteer badge was found perfectly dry, tucked into the curled fingers of a woman's right hand lying half-submerged in river silt - a single contradiction that froze a forensic examiner on February 9, 1993. What did that deliberate placement mean, and who placed it there?

In this episode, we tell the story of Tammy Tillman from Parlin, Missouri, following the weeks before her disappearance, the discovery on the Sutter River bank, and the decades-long evidence trail that led investigators to reopen a sealed swab. How did a preserved DNA swab and later genealogical science finally move the case forward?

Person: Tammy Tillman
Date: February 9, 1993 (forensic examiner reaction) / disappearance early February 1993
Location: Sutter River eastern bank, Decker County; Parlin, Missouri
Status: Evidence swab sealed in 1993 and stored until modern testing
Investigator: Hank Siebert

- Tammy Tillman was 23 years old and worked part-time at Sunridge Learning Center while studying early childhood education.
- She volunteered every Wednesday for 14 consecutive months at the Parlin Community Food Pantry and missed her shift on Wednesday, February 3, 1993.
- On Thursday, February 4, 1993, Tammy's apartment door was unlocked, kitchen light on, coat and purse missing, and her car untouched in the parking lot.
- On February 9, 1993, a forensic examiner noted the laminated volunteer badge found in Tammy's curled right hand was dry despite the hand showing signs of extended aquatic exposure.
- Hank Siebert initialed and sealed the sexual assault evidence swab in February 1993, noting in his personal case file: "The badge was placed. This was not random."

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1208falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-watch-under-the-fence-how-a-freezer-solved-valerie-s-murder--73045530
Cold, ordinary details - a blue Buick left unlocked, a purse with $43, a three-day-overdue library book - hid a disappearance that turned deadly and stayed unsolved for decades; a sexual assault kit sat sealed in a freezer through six presidential administrations, and a gold-tone Seiko wristwatch buried 280 yards from an abandoned warehouse reopened everything. How did one cracked watch and an evidence envelope in a lab freezer change a 31-year-old cold case?

In this episode, we tell the sequence of events from Valerie Stevens's routine Tuesday mornings to the discovery that finally altered the investigation. We follow the timeline of the car found at the library lot, the forensic evidence preserved in a lab freezer, and the wristwatch found in frozen soil - and ask how those items connect to the question investigators never stopped asking.

Person: Valerie Stevens
Date: March 15, 1987
Location: Osten Public Library parking lot
Status: Case cold by summer 1988, evidence in freezer until decades later
Event: Wristwatch found March 3, 2018

- Valerie was 39 years old and worked as a property records specialist who visited the library and Mabel's Counter on Tuesdays.
- The blue Buick Skylark was found with the driver’s-side door unlocked, purse on the passenger seat containing $43, and the emergency brake set.
- Valerie’s body was found under pulled-down chain-link fencing about 280 yards south of an abandoned warehouse platform, cause of death manual strangulation with defensive forearm injuries.
- A sexual assault kit collected on March 28, 1987 was logged into the Weller County Sheriff's evidence and placed in a laboratory freezer.
- On March 3, 2018, county surveyor Heather Morris found a ladies' Seiko wristwatch with a cracked crystal and broken clasp in frozen soil near the old warehouse platform.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73045530Sat, 18 Jul 2026 16:43:09 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTThe Watch Under the Fence: How a Freezer Solved Valerie's Murder Cold, ordinary details - a blue Buick left unlocked, a purse with $43, a three-day-overdue library book - hid a disappearance that turned deadly and stayed unsolved for decades; a...
Cold, ordinary details - a blue Buick left unlocked, a purse with $43, a three-day-overdue library book - hid a disappearance that turned deadly and stayed unsolved for decades; a sexual assault kit sat sealed in a freezer through six presidential administrations, and a gold-tone Seiko wristwatch buried 280 yards from an abandoned warehouse reopened everything. How did one cracked watch and an evidence envelope in a lab freezer change a 31-year-old cold case?

In this episode, we tell the sequence of events from Valerie Stevens's routine Tuesday mornings to the discovery that finally altered the investigation. We follow the timeline of the car found at the library lot, the forensic evidence preserved in a lab freezer, and the wristwatch found in frozen soil - and ask how those items connect to the question investigators never stopped asking.

Person: Valerie Stevens
Date: March 15, 1987
Location: Osten Public Library parking lot
Status: Case cold by summer 1988, evidence in freezer until decades later
Event: Wristwatch found March 3, 2018

- Valerie was 39 years old and worked as a property records specialist who visited the library and Mabel's Counter on Tuesdays.
- The blue Buick Skylark was found with the driver’s-side door unlocked, purse on the passenger seat containing $43, and the emergency brake set.
- Valerie’s body was found under pulled-down chain-link fencing about 280 yards south of an abandoned warehouse platform, cause of death manual strangulation with defensive forearm injuries.
- A sexual assault kit collected on March 28, 1987 was logged into the Weller County Sheriff's evidence and placed in a laboratory freezer.
- On March 3, 2018, county surveyor Heather Morris found a ladies' Seiko wristwatch with a cracked crystal and broken clasp in frozen soil near the old warehouse platform.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1319falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/a-watch-left-behind-the-crystal-thompson-case--73045528
A cracked leather watch with initials C.A.T., its hands stopped at 11:47, sat on the concrete lip of a septic tank and pulled a thirty-one-year-old disappearance back into motion - how did a single timepiece become the hinge between a cold file and a courtroom? Could the watch, DNA under fingernails, and a retired detective finally answer what happened to a woman who vanished in December 1991?

In this episode, we follow the timeline from Crystal Thompson’s last night after ceramics class to the discovery of the watch on December 9, 2022, and the subsequent legal developments in fall 2023; we trace preserved evidence, the extraction of a DNA profile in 2006, and the roles a genealogist and a retired detective played in reopening the case. What new connections emerged from a septic tank lip, preserved skin cells, and a name called in 2022?

Person: Crystal Ann Beaumont Thompson
Date: Disappearance December 1991; watch found December 9, 2022; courtroom fall 2023
Location: Morrow Lane, Weston Hills, Virginia; body recovered four miles away at a decommissioned grain storage drainage swale
Status: Body recovered; cause of death blunt force trauma; legal action in fall 2023
Evidence: Watch with initials C.A.T., hands stopped at 11:47; DNA from fingernails profiled in 2006

- The watch was found on the concrete lip of the septic tank's inlet baffle on December 9, 2022, with clasp fastened and hands stopped at 11:47.
- Crystal attended ceramics class on Tuesday, December 3, 1991, glazed three bowls she intended as Christmas gifts, and was never seen alive again.
- Crystal was reported missing on December 11, 1991; her body was recovered in late February 1992 approximately four miles from Morrow Lane.
- A DNA profile from skin cells under two of Crystal’s fingernails was extracted in 2006 and entered into the CODIS database with no match at that time.
- A genealogist named Vicki Harris contacted Weston Hills Sheriff’s Office with a name three days before the watch was found, and a retired detective who kept the file worked the case into a 2023 courtroom outcome.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73045528Sat, 18 Jul 2026 16:43:06 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTA Watch Left Behind: The Crystal Thompson Case A cracked leather watch with initials C.A.T., its hands stopped at 11:47, sat on the concrete lip of a septic tank and pulled a thirty-one-year-old disappearance back into motion - how did a single...
A cracked leather watch with initials C.A.T., its hands stopped at 11:47, sat on the concrete lip of a septic tank and pulled a thirty-one-year-old disappearance back into motion - how did a single timepiece become the hinge between a cold file and a courtroom? Could the watch, DNA under fingernails, and a retired detective finally answer what happened to a woman who vanished in December 1991?

In this episode, we follow the timeline from Crystal Thompson’s last night after ceramics class to the discovery of the watch on December 9, 2022, and the subsequent legal developments in fall 2023; we trace preserved evidence, the extraction of a DNA profile in 2006, and the roles a genealogist and a retired detective played in reopening the case. What new connections emerged from a septic tank lip, preserved skin cells, and a name called in 2022?

Person: Crystal Ann Beaumont Thompson
Date: Disappearance December 1991; watch found December 9, 2022; courtroom fall 2023
Location: Morrow Lane, Weston Hills, Virginia; body recovered four miles away at a decommissioned grain storage drainage swale
Status: Body recovered; cause of death blunt force trauma; legal action in fall 2023
Evidence: Watch with initials C.A.T., hands stopped at 11:47; DNA from fingernails profiled in 2006

- The watch was found on the concrete lip of the septic tank's inlet baffle on December 9, 2022, with clasp fastened and hands stopped at 11:47.
- Crystal attended ceramics class on Tuesday, December 3, 1991, glazed three bowls she intended as Christmas gifts, and was never seen alive again.
- Crystal was reported missing on December 11, 1991; her body was recovered in late February 1992 approximately four miles from Morrow Lane.
- A DNA profile from skin cells under two of Crystal’s fingernails was extracted in 2006 and entered into the CODIS database with no match at that time.
- A genealogist named Vicki Harris contacted Weston Hills Sheriff’s Office with a name three days before the watch was found, and a retired detective who kept the file worked the case into a 2023 courtroom outcome.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1265falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/photographer-finds-a-hand-in-the-marsh-the-eric-griffin-case--73045527
Cold water, a frozen wrist, and a hand half-submerged six feet from shore - Susan Dempsey found a human hand at 6:41 a.m. on November 14, 1991, and Eric Griffin had been in the marsh for about eighteen hours with his wallet still in his back pocket. Thirty years later a volunteer genealogist typing four numbers into a consumer DNA database would begin a chain that traced back to a single refrigerated blood smear; who left that wrong blood type on the inside collar and why did Detective Alan Fosse preserve it for decades?

In this episode, we follow the sequence of discovery, the original scene work, and the detail that kept the case alive across three decades: a mismatched blood smear logged and sealed by Detective Fosse. How did a staged breakdown, a size ten-to-eleven boot impression, and a blood type that didn’t match Eric lead from Pelham Flats to a refrigerated evidence drawer and a late-night DNA breakthrough?

Person: Eric Griffin
Date: November 14, 1991 (body found); died night of November 13, 1991
Location: Pelham Flats marsh, eastern finger; four miles outside Crestfield
Status: Unsolved for thirty years until genealogical lead in January 2022
Evidence: Blood smear on inside back of jacket collar stored refrigerated

- Body found half-submerged six feet from the gravel bar in twenty-nine-degree water at 6:41 a.m.
- Estimated time in water: approximately eighteen hours before discovery.
- Victim age: twenty-six; occupation: line cook at Mercer's Grill; lived alone on Belford Street.
- Vehicle found: 1988 green Honda Civic on Tillman Spur with hood propped and battery cables disconnected.
- Work-boot impression at scene: men's size ten to eleven recorded by Detective Alan Fosse.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73045527Sat, 18 Jul 2026 16:43:03 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTPhotographer Finds a Hand in the Marsh: The Eric Griffin Case Cold water, a frozen wrist, and a hand half-submerged six feet from shore - Susan Dempsey found a human hand at 6:41 a.m. on November 14, 1991, and Eric Griffin had been in the marsh for...
Cold water, a frozen wrist, and a hand half-submerged six feet from shore - Susan Dempsey found a human hand at 6:41 a.m. on November 14, 1991, and Eric Griffin had been in the marsh for about eighteen hours with his wallet still in his back pocket. Thirty years later a volunteer genealogist typing four numbers into a consumer DNA database would begin a chain that traced back to a single refrigerated blood smear; who left that wrong blood type on the inside collar and why did Detective Alan Fosse preserve it for decades?

In this episode, we follow the sequence of discovery, the original scene work, and the detail that kept the case alive across three decades: a mismatched blood smear logged and sealed by Detective Fosse. How did a staged breakdown, a size ten-to-eleven boot impression, and a blood type that didn’t match Eric lead from Pelham Flats to a refrigerated evidence drawer and a late-night DNA breakthrough?

Person: Eric Griffin
Date: November 14, 1991 (body found); died night of November 13, 1991
Location: Pelham Flats marsh, eastern finger; four miles outside Crestfield
Status: Unsolved for thirty years until genealogical lead in January 2022
Evidence: Blood smear on inside back of jacket collar stored refrigerated

- Body found half-submerged six feet from the gravel bar in twenty-nine-degree water at 6:41 a.m.
- Estimated time in water: approximately eighteen hours before discovery.
- Victim age: twenty-six; occupation: line cook at Mercer's Grill; lived alone on Belford Street.
- Vehicle found: 1988 green Honda Civic on Tillman Spur with hood propped and battery cables disconnected.
- Work-boot impression at scene: men's size ten to eleven recorded by Detective Alan Fosse.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1189falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/a-coffee-cup-cracks-it-the-valerie-crawford-cold-case--73045526
A quiet parking lot, a white cotton glove with three seed pearls, and a body found two and a half miles from home - small, precise details that kept a case frozen for thirty years. One partial male DNA profile would later clear the prime suspect and reveal that a crucial evidence glove had been filed under the wrong year; who moved it, and why did it stay hidden for decades?

In this episode, we lay out the sequence of events from the October 13, 1989 disappearance to the evidence-room error and the 2001 DNA turn that upended the investigation, asking how a misfiled glove and a partial profile changed everything.

Person: Valerie Crawford
Date: October 13, 1989
Location: Oster Mill Lane, Kellerton, Ohio
Status: Case unsolved; one suspect cleared
Case: Partial male DNA profile recovered in 2001

- Valerie Crawford was 49 years old and worked 11 years as a billing coordinator at Kellerton Industrial Supply.
- Three coworkers saw her enter a dark pickup in the Dillard Park lot at around 9:15 PM on Friday, October 13, 1989.
- Her body was found the following morning in a drainage depression two and a half miles from her duplex; cause of death: strangulation.
- Detective Len Maguire conducted 47 interviews; the company payroll listed 49 names, leaving two people not interviewed.
- A right-hand white cotton dress glove with three seed pearls was misfiled into a 1988 property-dispute box and remained unrecognized for 30 years.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73045526Sat, 18 Jul 2026 16:43:00 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTA Coffee Cup Cracks It: The Valerie Crawford Cold Case A quiet parking lot, a white cotton glove with three seed pearls, and a body found two and a half miles from home - small, precise details that kept a case frozen for thirty years. One partial...
A quiet parking lot, a white cotton glove with three seed pearls, and a body found two and a half miles from home - small, precise details that kept a case frozen for thirty years. One partial male DNA profile would later clear the prime suspect and reveal that a crucial evidence glove had been filed under the wrong year; who moved it, and why did it stay hidden for decades?

In this episode, we lay out the sequence of events from the October 13, 1989 disappearance to the evidence-room error and the 2001 DNA turn that upended the investigation, asking how a misfiled glove and a partial profile changed everything.

Person: Valerie Crawford
Date: October 13, 1989
Location: Oster Mill Lane, Kellerton, Ohio
Status: Case unsolved; one suspect cleared
Case: Partial male DNA profile recovered in 2001

- Valerie Crawford was 49 years old and worked 11 years as a billing coordinator at Kellerton Industrial Supply.
- Three coworkers saw her enter a dark pickup in the Dillard Park lot at around 9:15 PM on Friday, October 13, 1989.
- Her body was found the following morning in a drainage depression two and a half miles from her duplex; cause of death: strangulation.
- Detective Len Maguire conducted 47 interviews; the company payroll listed 49 names, leaving two people not interviewed.
- A right-hand white cotton dress glove with three seed pearls was misfiled into a 1988 property-dispute box and remained unrecognized for 30 years.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1220falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/volunteer-finds-buried-file-that-solves-a-35-year-murder-the-curtis-dalton-case--73045525
A volunteer dusts off a cardboard box that had sat untouched for 31 years and finds a dental cast that links a rotated upper left incisor to a man who vanished from the original investigation - how did a single bite mark stay hidden long enough to let a suspect walk free for decades? The file was labeled "Dalton / Sept. 79 / Hold for Prosecution" and the case went cold in early 1981; what happened between that box and the trial?

In this episode, we follow the timeline from Curtis Dalton's death on September 14, 1979, through the initial investigation, the overlooked evidence stored in the Veller Township evidence annex, and the eventual opening of that sealed box decades later that raised the central question: could the dental cast finally point to the person who rented the shed behind Dalton's garden?

Person: Curtis Dalton
Date: September 14, 1979
Location: Fenwick Mill Lane near the Larkin orchard
Case: Unopened evidence box labeled "Dalton / Sept. 79 / Hold for Prosecution"
Event: Body discovered with blunt-force trauma and a perimortem human bite on left forearm

- Curtis Dalton was 32 years old and lived on Dunmore Street in Veller Township.
- Body was found by road-grader operator Roger Parker on the morning of September 14, 1979.
- Time of death was estimated between 11:00 PM and 2:00 AM the night before discovery.
- Forensic odontologist Dr. Inez Cope made a dental stone cast showing a rotated upper left lateral incisor.
- A man named Donald T. Allen rented the parcel behind Dalton's garden from March to October 1979 and vacated it on October 3, 1979.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73045525Sat, 18 Jul 2026 16:42:58 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTVolunteer Finds Buried File That Solves a 35-Year Murder: The Curtis Dalton Case A volunteer dusts off a cardboard box that had sat untouched for 31 years and finds a dental cast that links a rotated upper left incisor to a man who vanished from...
A volunteer dusts off a cardboard box that had sat untouched for 31 years and finds a dental cast that links a rotated upper left incisor to a man who vanished from the original investigation - how did a single bite mark stay hidden long enough to let a suspect walk free for decades? The file was labeled "Dalton / Sept. 79 / Hold for Prosecution" and the case went cold in early 1981; what happened between that box and the trial?

In this episode, we follow the timeline from Curtis Dalton's death on September 14, 1979, through the initial investigation, the overlooked evidence stored in the Veller Township evidence annex, and the eventual opening of that sealed box decades later that raised the central question: could the dental cast finally point to the person who rented the shed behind Dalton's garden?

Person: Curtis Dalton
Date: September 14, 1979
Location: Fenwick Mill Lane near the Larkin orchard
Case: Unopened evidence box labeled "Dalton / Sept. 79 / Hold for Prosecution"
Event: Body discovered with blunt-force trauma and a perimortem human bite on left forearm

- Curtis Dalton was 32 years old and lived on Dunmore Street in Veller Township.
- Body was found by road-grader operator Roger Parker on the morning of September 14, 1979.
- Time of death was estimated between 11:00 PM and 2:00 AM the night before discovery.
- Forensic odontologist Dr. Inez Cope made a dental stone cast showing a rotated upper left lateral incisor.
- A man named Donald T. Allen rented the parcel behind Dalton's garden from March to October 1979 and vacated it on October 3, 1979.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1079falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-freezer-glove-that-rewrote-a-31-year-murder-mystery--73045524
A leather work glove sat in a freezer for thirty-one years with a name on the cuff no one read - it was found twelve feet from Troy Whitfield’s body beside a drainage ditch on Creek Road, Harlan County, Kentucky. How did a glove in a freezer become the hinge that would change everything about a case that began with a single blunt-force blow on August 13, 1991?

In this episode, we walk through the facts of Troy Whitfield’s death, the small-town routines that made him predictable, the early leads that failed to connect, and the one overlooked piece of evidence that reopened the file - could a marked glove finally answer what brought him to Creek Road that Tuesday night?

Person: Troy Whitfield
Date: August 13, 1991
Location: Creek Road, Harlan County, Kentucky
Cause of death: Single blunt-force blow to the back of the head
Finder: Vernon Cox at 7:20 AM on August 14, 1991

- The glove was found twelve feet from Whitfield’s drainage ditch position, partially hidden by pokeweed.
- Troy Whitfield was fifty-two years old and had a consistent Thursday dinner routine of arriving by six and leaving by 8:30.
- Time of death was estimated between 9:00 and 11:00 PM the previous evening.
- Troy’s truck was parked a quarter mile away with the driver’s door ajar, wallet on the seat, and keys in his pocket.
- Detective Phil Novak had a suspect, Dennis Farr, cleared by an alibi of eleven relatives and photographs placing him at a family reunion.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73045524Sat, 18 Jul 2026 16:42:55 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTThe Freezer Glove That Rewrote a 31-Year Murder Mystery A leather work glove sat in a freezer for thirty-one years with a name on the cuff no one read - it was found twelve feet from Troy Whitfield’s body beside a drainage ditch on Creek Road,...
A leather work glove sat in a freezer for thirty-one years with a name on the cuff no one read - it was found twelve feet from Troy Whitfield’s body beside a drainage ditch on Creek Road, Harlan County, Kentucky. How did a glove in a freezer become the hinge that would change everything about a case that began with a single blunt-force blow on August 13, 1991?

In this episode, we walk through the facts of Troy Whitfield’s death, the small-town routines that made him predictable, the early leads that failed to connect, and the one overlooked piece of evidence that reopened the file - could a marked glove finally answer what brought him to Creek Road that Tuesday night?

Person: Troy Whitfield
Date: August 13, 1991
Location: Creek Road, Harlan County, Kentucky
Cause of death: Single blunt-force blow to the back of the head
Finder: Vernon Cox at 7:20 AM on August 14, 1991

- The glove was found twelve feet from Whitfield’s drainage ditch position, partially hidden by pokeweed.
- Troy Whitfield was fifty-two years old and had a consistent Thursday dinner routine of arriving by six and leaving by 8:30.
- Time of death was estimated between 9:00 and 11:00 PM the previous evening.
- Troy’s truck was parked a quarter mile away with the driver’s door ajar, wallet on the seat, and keys in his pocket.
- Detective Phil Novak had a suspect, Dennis Farr, cleared by an alibi of eleven relatives and photographs placing him at a family reunion.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1166falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/she-asked-him-to-leave-the-murder-of-kelly-wallace--73045522
The morning a July heat wave should have erased every trace, a vacuum-sealed bag of lake perch dated July 9th was found partially frozen on the floor mat of a 1988 Pontiac Sunbird - the car had sat behind the Millhaven County fairgrounds for three days with the driver's window cracked two inches. Who left the fish and why did Kelly Wallace never make her habitual four-mile walk that morning?

In this episode, we follow the assembled records, notes and one sealed vial that survived for twenty-seven years, and the civilian analyst who used genetic genealogy to pick up a cold thread where traditional forensics stalled. How did a degraded mitochondrial profile, a thousand pages of paperwork and a detective's saved case box lead to the person connected to Kelly's door handle?

Person: Kelly Wallace
Date: July 9, 1991
Location: Millhaven County fairgrounds
Investigator: Warren Pruitt
Analyst: Crystal Tate

- The car was a 1988 Pontiac Sunbird parked behind the fairgrounds with the driver's-side window cracked two inches.
- The vacuum-sealed bag of lake perch on the car floor mat was dated July 9 and found partially frozen after 72 hours in a July heat wave.
- Kelly Wallace was 44 years old and did not leave for her routine four-mile walk on the morning of July 9, 1991.
- Detective Warren Pruitt logged 412 pages of notes across six years and kept a sealed vial swabbed from Kelly's exterior door handle in July 1991.
- In March 2018, 37 evidence logs, 412 pages of notes and a frozen vial sealed since 1991 were returned to the Millhaven County cold case unit and assigned to 31-year-old civilian analyst Crystal Tate.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73045522Sat, 18 Jul 2026 16:42:52 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTShe Asked Him to Leave: The Murder of Kelly Wallace The morning a July heat wave should have erased every trace, a vacuum-sealed bag of lake perch dated July 9th was found partially frozen on the floor mat of a 1988 Pontiac Sunbird - the car had...
The morning a July heat wave should have erased every trace, a vacuum-sealed bag of lake perch dated July 9th was found partially frozen on the floor mat of a 1988 Pontiac Sunbird - the car had sat behind the Millhaven County fairgrounds for three days with the driver's window cracked two inches. Who left the fish and why did Kelly Wallace never make her habitual four-mile walk that morning?

In this episode, we follow the assembled records, notes and one sealed vial that survived for twenty-seven years, and the civilian analyst who used genetic genealogy to pick up a cold thread where traditional forensics stalled. How did a degraded mitochondrial profile, a thousand pages of paperwork and a detective's saved case box lead to the person connected to Kelly's door handle?

Person: Kelly Wallace
Date: July 9, 1991
Location: Millhaven County fairgrounds
Investigator: Warren Pruitt
Analyst: Crystal Tate

- The car was a 1988 Pontiac Sunbird parked behind the fairgrounds with the driver's-side window cracked two inches.
- The vacuum-sealed bag of lake perch on the car floor mat was dated July 9 and found partially frozen after 72 hours in a July heat wave.
- Kelly Wallace was 44 years old and did not leave for her routine four-mile walk on the morning of July 9, 1991.
- Detective Warren Pruitt logged 412 pages of notes across six years and kept a sealed vial swabbed from Kelly's exterior door handle in July 1991.
- In March 2018, 37 evidence logs, 412 pages of notes and a frozen vial sealed since 1991 were returned to the Millhaven County cold case unit and assigned to 31-year-old civilian analyst Crystal Tate.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1081falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/meter-reader-opens-a-garage-and-ends-a-30-year-secret-the-carl-weber-case--73045521
A smell led a meter reader to a garage where a plugged-in, fifteen-cubic-foot chest freezer sat sealed with a brand-new combination padlock - in a house where every other lock was keyed. Inside were two bags of venison labeled in Carl Weber’s handwriting and a glass jar holding a preserved human ear that did not belong to the man found dead on the driveway; who did the ear belong to, and why was it locked away for thirty years?

In this episode, we walk through the first-day discoveries, the odd details that didn’t fit Carl’s careful habits, and the single notebook entry that haunted investigators for decades; could a penciled work order and a misplaced padlock point to the missing person behind the ear?

Person: Carl Weber
Date: June 11, 1993 (discovery)
Location: 4418 Halpert Road
Item: glass jar with preserved human ear
Notebook entry: "J. Norris, Rt, nine - riding mower tune-up" dated May 29, 1993

- Meter reader Robert Price noticed a smell before reaching the side door and had walked that route every Tuesday for eleven years.
- Detective Sergeant Patricia Hale arrived within twenty minutes and had worked the county for twelve years.
- The chest freezer was roughly fifteen cubic feet, plugged in and running, with a brand-new combination padlock.
- Inside the freezer were two sealed bags of venison labeled in Carl's handwriting and a glass jar sealed with a gasket and clamp containing a human ear preserved in saline.
- The medical examiner confirmed within forty-eight hours that the ear did not belong to Carl Weber and had been removed with non-clinical but practiced precision.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73045521Sat, 18 Jul 2026 16:42:50 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTMeter Reader Opens a Garage and Ends a 30-Year Secret: The Carl Weber Case A smell led a meter reader to a garage where a plugged-in, fifteen-cubic-foot chest freezer sat sealed with a brand-new combination padlock - in a house where every other...
A smell led a meter reader to a garage where a plugged-in, fifteen-cubic-foot chest freezer sat sealed with a brand-new combination padlock - in a house where every other lock was keyed. Inside were two bags of venison labeled in Carl Weber’s handwriting and a glass jar holding a preserved human ear that did not belong to the man found dead on the driveway; who did the ear belong to, and why was it locked away for thirty years?

In this episode, we walk through the first-day discoveries, the odd details that didn’t fit Carl’s careful habits, and the single notebook entry that haunted investigators for decades; could a penciled work order and a misplaced padlock point to the missing person behind the ear?

Person: Carl Weber
Date: June 11, 1993 (discovery)
Location: 4418 Halpert Road
Item: glass jar with preserved human ear
Notebook entry: "J. Norris, Rt, nine - riding mower tune-up" dated May 29, 1993

- Meter reader Robert Price noticed a smell before reaching the side door and had walked that route every Tuesday for eleven years.
- Detective Sergeant Patricia Hale arrived within twenty minutes and had worked the county for twelve years.
- The chest freezer was roughly fifteen cubic feet, plugged in and running, with a brand-new combination padlock.
- Inside the freezer were two sealed bags of venison labeled in Carl's handwriting and a glass jar sealed with a gasket and clamp containing a human ear preserved in saline.
- The medical examiner confirmed within forty-eight hours that the ear did not belong to Carl Weber and had been removed with non-clinical but practiced precision.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1310falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-woman-in-gray-coveralls-how-one-crossed-out-word-solved-two-murders--73045520
You will feel the chill of a small town routine breaking: a diner table reserved for six, a ledger stopped mid-entry, and a deputy's pencil-scratched word that went unread for decades. One crossed-out word - "woman" - and a single lab note pointing to a female DNA contributor quietly sat in evidence for nearly forty years; how did that silence shape two investigations and finally change everything?

In this episode, we walk through the timeline from Connie Holmes's regular Tuesday breakfasts to the day her ledger stopped and the discovery of her body, following the chain of field notes, evidence storage and lab reports that kept the case dormant; what finally pushed investigators to read that crossed-out note the way it should have been read?

Person: Constance Holmes
Date: May 8-9, 1983
Location: Birchmore Avenue, Culpeper, Virginia
Evidence: Fingernail scrapings from Connie's right hand sealed May 19, 1983
Lead Detective: Ray Cobb

- Connie's routine: every Tuesday at 8:00 AM for six years, black coffee, two eggs over medium, wheat toast.
- Time of death estimated between the evening of May 8 and the early morning of May 9, 1983.
- Fingernail scrapings were collected and sealed in a three-inch plastic tube and logged May 19, 1983.
- A deputy's field notes from May 8 recorded the word "woman" in pencil and crossed it out after a teenage witness said a woman in gray coveralls was seen.
- In 2001 the evidence's DNA profile was uploaded to CODIS; in 2012 lab notes noted the profile was consistent with a female contributor on page 112 of 140.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73045520Sat, 18 Jul 2026 16:42:46 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTThe Woman in Gray Coveralls: How One Crossed-Out Word Solved Two Murders You will feel the chill of a small town routine breaking: a diner table reserved for six, a ledger stopped mid-entry, and a deputy's pencil-scratched word that went unread for...
You will feel the chill of a small town routine breaking: a diner table reserved for six, a ledger stopped mid-entry, and a deputy's pencil-scratched word that went unread for decades. One crossed-out word - "woman" - and a single lab note pointing to a female DNA contributor quietly sat in evidence for nearly forty years; how did that silence shape two investigations and finally change everything?

In this episode, we walk through the timeline from Connie Holmes's regular Tuesday breakfasts to the day her ledger stopped and the discovery of her body, following the chain of field notes, evidence storage and lab reports that kept the case dormant; what finally pushed investigators to read that crossed-out note the way it should have been read?

Person: Constance Holmes
Date: May 8-9, 1983
Location: Birchmore Avenue, Culpeper, Virginia
Evidence: Fingernail scrapings from Connie's right hand sealed May 19, 1983
Lead Detective: Ray Cobb

- Connie's routine: every Tuesday at 8:00 AM for six years, black coffee, two eggs over medium, wheat toast.
- Time of death estimated between the evening of May 8 and the early morning of May 9, 1983.
- Fingernail scrapings were collected and sealed in a three-inch plastic tube and logged May 19, 1983.
- A deputy's field notes from May 8 recorded the word "woman" in pencil and crossed it out after a teenage witness said a woman in gray coveralls was seen.
- In 2001 the evidence's DNA profile was uploaded to CODIS; in 2012 lab notes noted the profile was consistent with a female contributor on page 112 of 140.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1308falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/her-fist-held-the-answer-the-murder-of-emily-mueller--73045519
A young woman found face up beside a canal, her right hand clenched so tight it held a single seven-centimeter hair - that small detail was sealed and forgotten for thirty-two years before it reopened a murder that had gone cold. What happened between a 9:47 PM gas-station receipt, a printing shop's unreliable back door, and a parked unmarked van that loitered three times in the weeks before her death?

In this episode, we follow the sequence of discoveries from the morning Emily Mueller was found to the sealed evidence envelope resurfacing decades later, and trace how one preserved hair led investigators back to unanswered questions about who had access to the shop the night she died.

Person: Emily Mueller
Date: April 15, 1991 (body found); April 14, 1991 (receipt timestamp 9:47 PM)
Location: Sutter Run canal near Crestline Road pedestrian bridge; Larimer Street (Aldridge & Sons)
Case: Harwick Police Department case 91-4417
Status: Cold for decades until evidence reexamined

- At 7:20 AM on April 15, 1991, a dog named Cleo led owner Terry Whitaker to Emily Mueller’s body at the canal.
- Sergeant Ronald Keppler recorded a closed fist containing a ~7 centimeter medium brown hair and sealed it in a brown paper envelope labeled “Mueller / April 14 / Hair / DO NOT DISCARD.”
- The hair envelope left the evidence room without any documented transfer or chain-of-custody record and remained undisclosed for decades.
- A gas station receipt found in Emily’s jacket pocket recorded a purchase at 9:47 PM on April 14, 1991, at a station on Morrow Avenue two blocks from Aldridge & Sons.
- Officer Diane Solt’s supplemental notes reported an unmarked van parked behind Aldridge & Sons at least three times in the two weeks before Emily’s death.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73045519Sat, 18 Jul 2026 16:42:44 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTHer Fist Held the Answer: The Murder of Emily Mueller A young woman found face up beside a canal, her right hand clenched so tight it held a single seven-centimeter hair - that small detail was sealed and forgotten for thirty-two years before it...
A young woman found face up beside a canal, her right hand clenched so tight it held a single seven-centimeter hair - that small detail was sealed and forgotten for thirty-two years before it reopened a murder that had gone cold. What happened between a 9:47 PM gas-station receipt, a printing shop's unreliable back door, and a parked unmarked van that loitered three times in the weeks before her death?

In this episode, we follow the sequence of discoveries from the morning Emily Mueller was found to the sealed evidence envelope resurfacing decades later, and trace how one preserved hair led investigators back to unanswered questions about who had access to the shop the night she died.

Person: Emily Mueller
Date: April 15, 1991 (body found); April 14, 1991 (receipt timestamp 9:47 PM)
Location: Sutter Run canal near Crestline Road pedestrian bridge; Larimer Street (Aldridge & Sons)
Case: Harwick Police Department case 91-4417
Status: Cold for decades until evidence reexamined

- At 7:20 AM on April 15, 1991, a dog named Cleo led owner Terry Whitaker to Emily Mueller’s body at the canal.
- Sergeant Ronald Keppler recorded a closed fist containing a ~7 centimeter medium brown hair and sealed it in a brown paper envelope labeled “Mueller / April 14 / Hair / DO NOT DISCARD.”
- The hair envelope left the evidence room without any documented transfer or chain-of-custody record and remained undisclosed for decades.
- A gas station receipt found in Emily’s jacket pocket recorded a purchase at 9:47 PM on April 14, 1991, at a station on Morrow Avenue two blocks from Aldridge & Sons.
- Officer Diane Solt’s supplemental notes reported an unmarked van parked behind Aldridge & Sons at least three times in the two weeks before Emily’s death.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1179falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-orange-rope-the-missing-shoe-and-the-dna-that-waited-27-years--73045518
A bright orange nylon rope, a single white size 7 canvas sneaker, and two frozen vials that sat untouched for nearly thirty years - what finally connected them to Wendy Walker's death? Why did someone bring a brightly colored rope to the Calloway River and leave one shoe behind?

In this episode, we walk through the timeline preserved in police logs and frozen evidence: the last confirmed routines Wendy kept, the state of her body when a fisherman found her, and the decisions investigators made that kept the case solvable decades later. What did the rope, the missing shoe, and the stored DNA ultimately reveal?

Person: Wendy Walker
Age: 38
Date: March 8-9, 1991
Location: Calloway River, Harloe, Missouri
Cause: Manual strangulation

- Found face-down on March 9, 1991 at the fourth trotline from the south end of the Calloway River.
- Left wrist tied to anchor cord made of bright orange nylon with clean-cut ends.
- Right foot wearing one white canvas sneaker, size 7; left foot bare and missing its shoe.
- Time of death estimated between 10:00 p.m. and midnight on March 8, 1991; evidence of a struggle and O-positive blood typing.
- Biological samples stored in two vials at -80°C in the Missouri State Crime Lab for roughly thirty years under case HCS-91-0447.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73045518Sat, 18 Jul 2026 16:42:41 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTThe Orange Rope, the Missing Shoe, and the DNA That Waited 27 Years A bright orange nylon rope, a single white size 7 canvas sneaker, and two frozen vials that sat untouched for nearly thirty years - what finally connected them to Wendy Walker's...
A bright orange nylon rope, a single white size 7 canvas sneaker, and two frozen vials that sat untouched for nearly thirty years - what finally connected them to Wendy Walker's death? Why did someone bring a brightly colored rope to the Calloway River and leave one shoe behind?

In this episode, we walk through the timeline preserved in police logs and frozen evidence: the last confirmed routines Wendy kept, the state of her body when a fisherman found her, and the decisions investigators made that kept the case solvable decades later. What did the rope, the missing shoe, and the stored DNA ultimately reveal?

Person: Wendy Walker
Age: 38
Date: March 8-9, 1991
Location: Calloway River, Harloe, Missouri
Cause: Manual strangulation

- Found face-down on March 9, 1991 at the fourth trotline from the south end of the Calloway River.
- Left wrist tied to anchor cord made of bright orange nylon with clean-cut ends.
- Right foot wearing one white canvas sneaker, size 7; left foot bare and missing its shoe.
- Time of death estimated between 10:00 p.m. and midnight on March 8, 1991; evidence of a struggle and O-positive blood typing.
- Biological samples stored in two vials at -80°C in the Missouri State Crime Lab for roughly thirty years under case HCS-91-0447.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1160falsefull