# Cold Cases So Disturbing… They Still Baffle Detectives | 232

An episode of [Lazy Chill True Crime](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1815534472), 15 May 2026, 53 min.

Audio: https://traffic.megaphone.fm/APO4955570688.mp3

Join me for some of the most disturbing cold cases imaginable. Episode 232 of the true crime podcast btw. 👇 Youtube links: Lazy Chill History Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@LazyChillHistory Lazy Chill Zone Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@LazyChillZone 👇 Support My Work: 🛍️ Merch: https://lazy-chill-zone-shop.fourthwall.com ❤️ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/lazychillzone 👇Social Media Links: https://www.instagram.com/lazychillzone/ 👇 Podcast links: ⚡History Video Podcast on Spotify⚡: https://open.spotify.com/show/7km5pLWpYWEj1mrPpEfRUr?si=0FHYnZf-Qs2FY1GyLevfig ⚡True Crime Podcast on Spotify⚡: https://open.spotify.com/show/0klIz08pAr7wR4we0Ia4sk?si=68qZxCeAQkysXzMZrHE0Iw 🍏 True Crime Podcast on Apple 🍎: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/lazy-chill-true-crime/id1815534472 unsolved mysteries, true crime, cold cases, unsolved mysteries, missing persons, murder investigation, forensic evidence, serial killers, crime scene analysis, dark history, criminal psychology, real life horror, police investigations, DNA breakthroughs, forensic genealogy, crime documentaries, criminal profiling, mysterious disappearances, solved cases, justice system, law enforcement stories, cold case files, creepy mysteries, true crime storytelling, crime reconstruction, chilling cases, investigative reporting, modern forensics, victim advocacy, unidentified remains, crime scene forensics, disturbing cases, true crime analysis, hidden clues, infamous crimes, real crime stories, forensic evidence, serial killers, John Wayne Gacy, killer clown, clown crimes

## Transcript

[0:00] In the bitter Chicago winter of December 1978, the air around
[0:05] 8213 W Somerdale Ave. was thick with more than just frost.
[0:10] For years, neighbors had complained about a foul smell
[0:13] they couldn't place. Now they knew why.
[0:17] Inside the quiet suburban home, investigators were engaged in a
[0:21] methodical, grim excavation, trying to find remains.
[0:25] One by one, they emerged from the cramped crawl space, the
[0:29] forgotten sons, brothers and friends who had vanished into
[0:34] the orbit of John Wayne Gacy. As the count climbed to a
[0:38] staggering 33, a second, more enduring tragedy came into
[0:42] focus. While some victims were quickly
[0:46] identified by wallets left in their pockets or by dental
[0:49] records, many were just skeletons, their identities
[0:53] seemingly erased forever. They were assigned numbers, cold
[0:57] designations for an unspeakable horror.
[1:01] This is the story of one of them, the young man known only
[1:05] as victim #28 a boy who disappeared in the earliest days
[1:10] of Gacy's reign of terror. John Wayne Gacy was a master of
[1:15] the double life. In public, he was a pillar of
[1:18] his Norwood Park Community. He was a successful contractor
[1:22] running his own business, an active Democratic precinct
[1:26] captain, and a friendly neighbor known for hosting lively
[1:29] parties. He was perhaps most famous for
[1:32] his alter ego, Pogo the Clown, performing at children's parties
[1:37] and charity events. This respectable facade was the
[1:41] perfect cover for the monster beneath.
[1:44] Between 1972 and 1978, Gacy lured at least 33 boys and young
[1:51] men ranging in age from 14 to 21 to his home.
[1:56] His method was a horrifyingly consistent pattern of predation.
[2:00] He targeted vulnerable youths, hitchhikers, runaways, boys and
[2:06] young men he met at bus stations or those simply looking for a
[2:10] job at his construction company. Once they were at his house,
[2:14] he'd often use alcohol or drugs to lower their inhibitions
[2:18] before introducing his quote UN quote magic trick.
[2:23] This was a ruse that involved convincing them to put on
[2:26] handcuffs. Little did his victims know that
[2:29] once the cuffs were on, Gacy's true evil nature emerged.
[2:34] From there, he would commit unspeakable acts before slaying
[2:38] them, usually by strangulation. He buried 29 of his victims on
[2:43] his property, most of them crammed into the crawl space,
[2:48] and dumped the last four in a nearby river.
[2:51] For six years his spree went unchecked, aided by a system
[2:56] that often dismissed the concerns of frantic parents.
[3:00] It wasn't until the disappearance of 15 year old
[3:02] Robert, Peased in December 1978, that a determined police
[3:07] investigation finally led to Gacy's door.
[3:11] With this, the authorities would unearth the very literal
[3:14] graveyard he had built beneath his very own home.
[3:19] Pulled from the earth, Victim 28 was little more than a
[3:23] collection of bones and unanswered questions.
[3:27] Forensic analysis provided A sparse but crucial profile.
[3:31] He was a white male, between 14 and 18 years old at the time of
[3:35] his death, and stood somewhere between 5 feet 6 and 5 foot 11.
[3:41] But the most significant clue was the time frame investigators
[3:44] assigned to his disappearance sometime between January 3rd,
[3:49] 1972 and July 31st, 1975. This place is this slaying
[3:57] squarely in the nascent phase of Gacy's career as a predator.
[4:01] Gacy's first known slaying, that of 16 year old Timothy McCoy,
[4:06] occurred on January 3rd, 1972. By the end of 1975, he had slain
[4:13] only two other known victims. The vast majority of his
[4:17] offenses, at least thirty of them, were committed after his
[4:20] second divorce in March 1976, when he was living alone and
[4:25] completely unconstrained. This early time frame is
[4:29] profoundly important because it means Victim 28 was slain while
[4:33] Gacy was still married to and living with his second wife,
[4:37] Carol Hoff. She was aware of the terrible
[4:40] smell coming from the crawl space, a stench Gacy explained
[4:44] away as moisture from a sewer pipe, which he attempted to mask
[4:48] with layers of lime and concrete.
[4:51] This context suggests that the attack on Victim 28 had to be
[4:55] carried out with a greater degree of stealth than Gacy's
[4:59] later, more frenzied slaughter. The victim was likely someone
[5:03] Gacy could plausibly bring home without raising suspicion.
[5:08] Some investigators believe he was a runaway that was offered a
[5:12] job with Gacy's contracting company, a profile that fits
[5:16] many of his victims. In the immediate aftermath of
[5:21] the discovery, identifying the victims was a monumental task,
[5:25] limited by the technology of the era.
[5:28] Given the state of the remains, investigators relied heavily on
[5:32] dental records and matching X-ray records to old, healed
[5:36] fractures on the bones. They also relied on personal
[5:40] effects found in Gacy's house that also led to names.
[5:44] But these methods were only as good as the records available,
[5:47] and for many families, such records were lost or non
[5:51] existent. For decades, 8 of Gacy's victims
[5:55] remained nameless. Then in 2011, the Cook County
[6:00] Sheriff reopened the cold case, determined to use modern science
[6:04] to finish the job his predecessors couldn't.
[6:07] Investigators exhumed the remains of the 8 unidentified
[6:11] victims to extract DNA. The effort yielded immediate,
[6:15] incredible results, and a number of the unknown victims were
[6:19] quickly identified. Unfortunately, victim 28 wasn't
[6:23] identified through this method, and his genetic information
[6:27] didn't match any known missing person reported.
[6:31] Synthesizing the evidence as we know it, there's a few things we
[6:35] can say about who this missing person was.
[6:39] Critically, it's almost certain he was never reported missing,
[6:43] or if he was, the report was lost to time or jurisdictional
[6:48] gaps. 2 primary theories have emerged from this.
[6:53] He could have been a local youth, estranged from his family
[6:56] due to the kind of dysfunction that might prevent a missing
[6:59] person report from being filed promptly, if at all.
[7:03] Or, like Gacy's first victim, Timothy McCoy, he could have
[7:08] been a traveller, A hitchhiker, or a runaway just passing
[7:12] through Chicago from another state.
[7:15] In a pre digital world, connecting a boy who vanished in
[7:18] Illinois to a family searching for him in Ohio or California
[7:22] was a near impossible task. This young man's anonymity was
[7:27] his greatest vulnerability. While later victims had families
[7:31] who grew suspicious of Gacy and hounded the police, victim, 28,
[7:36] disappeared without a ripple, making him the perfect prey from
[7:40] Gacy's perspective. In essence, his complete
[7:43] disconnect from any social safety net is the very reason
[7:47] his case remains one of the hardest to solve.
[7:51] The most recent breakthrough in the case came from a
[7:53] revolutionary new field, forensic genetic Genealogy,
[7:58] which I believe I've mentioned on my channel once or twice.
[8:02] In 2021, this method was used to identify Victim 5 as Francis
[8:06] Wayne Alexander, a young man from North Carolina who had
[8:10] recently moved to Chicago. The search for the identity of
[8:15] Victim 28 and the four other nameless boys remains extremely
[8:19] important, despite Gacy having been eliminated Old Yeller style
[8:23] in 1994. Identifying this victim as well
[8:28] as the other 4 is a refusal to let one of history's worst
[8:32] serial predators have the final word.
[8:36] Hey friends, it's Jimmy here with that usual reminder to
[8:39] click, like and subscribe in the notification bell before we
[8:42] begin. And don't forget to drop a
[8:44] comment saying where you're watching from or what you're up
[8:47] to while you listen. On a cold November morning in
[8:52] 1982, a Wyoming Highway Patrolman came upon an eerie
[8:56] scene. A Chevrolet Blazer idling on a
[8:59] remote off ramp in the middle of the Prairie, its doors wide open
[9:03] and personal belongings scattered across the asphalt.
[9:07] The driver, 35 year old Don Kemp, was nowhere to be found.
[9:12] A single set of footprints trailed away from the vehicle
[9:15] into the snow, as if Kemp had calmly walked off into the
[9:19] wilderness. It would take nearly three years
[9:22] before Kemp's remains were finally discovered, just a few
[9:25] miles from where his SUV was abandoned.
[9:28] By then, a series of baffling clues, including reported
[9:32] sightings and phone calls from after his disappearance, had
[9:36] turned his fate into one of Wyoming's strangest unsolved
[9:39] mysteries. Don Kemp wasn't an obvious
[9:44] candidate for vanishing into thin air.
[9:47] At least not until everything changed.
[9:49] In the late 1970s, he was a successful Madison Ave.
[9:54] advertising executive in New York City, intelligent,
[9:58] charismatic, and by all accounts, living the good life.
[10:03] However, a serious car accident in 1976 left him badly injured
[10:09] and needing several years to recover.
[10:12] As he recovered, Kemp became increasingly disillusioned with
[10:16] his high-powered lifestyle and began pursuing spiritual and
[10:20] historical interests. He developed an intense
[10:23] fascination with Abraham Lincoln, even claiming that
[10:27] through meditation he had contacted one of the
[10:30] conspirators from 1865. By 1982, Kemp had grown deeply
[10:36] reflective and envisioned himself as some kind of prophet
[10:40] or messenger with a great truth to share.
[10:43] He often spoke of grand plans, at one point suggesting he would
[10:47] start a spiritual movement related to Lincoln's legacy in
[10:51] the mountains of Wyoming. Personally, I don't see the
[10:55] connection between Lincoln and Wyoming, but hey, maybe that's
[10:58] just me. Determined to reinvent his life,
[11:03] Don Kemp sold most of his belongings, ended his
[11:06] engagement, and set out in September 1982 on a road trip W
[11:10] to Wyoming. His destination was Jackson
[11:13] Hole, where he hoped the quiet beauty of the mountains would
[11:17] inspire him to write a book about Lincoln's death and his
[11:20] unconventional theories. Along the way, Kemp kept in
[11:24] touch with family via phone calls and postcards, but as he
[11:29] travelled, some friends and relatives noticed changes in his
[11:32] demeanor. In early N1, Friend received a
[11:37] distressing call from Don, who was sobbing and almost
[11:40] hysterical for reasons that remain unclear.
[11:44] Others observed that he had become unusually withdrawn and
[11:47] fixated on esoteric topics, even watching movies about people
[11:52] vanishing when he stopped at motels.
[11:55] These signs, subtle at first, hinted that Kemp's mental state
[12:00] might have been deteriorating as he ventured farther from his
[12:03] familiar life. On November 15th, 1982, the day
[12:09] before he disappeared, Don Kemp visited a small western History
[12:13] Museum in Cheyenne, WY. Fittingly, it featured exhibits
[12:17] on Abraham Lincoln. He spent two hours wandering the
[12:21] galleries alone and spoke to no one.
[12:24] When he left, he accidentally left behind a briefcase
[12:28] containing some very important items.
[12:31] These included his traveler's checks, personal Diaries,
[12:35] address book and even the glasses he needed for driving.
[12:40] Museum staff later confirmed that Kemp phoned about the
[12:43] forgotten items and said he would return for it immediately.
[12:47] But he never showed up. That afternoon, he was seen at a
[12:51] gas station in Laramie and later near the Lincoln Memorial
[12:55] Monument along Interstate 80. This was the last confirmed
[12:59] sighting of Don Kemp while alive.
[13:02] By the next morning, his journey took a dramatic and mysterious
[13:05] turn. On November 16th, 1982, at
[13:10] approximately 10:00 that morning, a cop found Don Kemp's
[13:14] 1981 Chevy Blazer abandoned near the remote Wagon Hound rest area
[13:19] off I-80. The vehicle appeared oddly
[13:23] deserted, yet not broken down. The engine was still running,
[13:28] the radio played music into the empty expanse, and all the doors
[13:32] were open. Kemp's personal items were
[13:35] strewn about on the ground as if dumped or hastily pulled out of
[13:39] the car. 40 miles of empty land separated this spot from the
[13:43] nearest town, making the scene all the more perplexing.
[13:49] Aside from the scattered possessions, the only clue to
[13:52] Don's fate was a single set of footprints in the fresh snow
[13:57] leading away from the roadway and out into the open Prairie.
[14:02] There were no tracks suggesting a second person, and the packed
[14:05] contents of the blazer left little room for any passenger
[14:09] but Kemp himself. It appeared as though he had
[14:12] walked off on his own into the freezing wilderness, a behavior
[14:17] that struck investigators as irrational and dangerous given
[14:20] the winter conditions. A search began immediately, and
[14:25] the cops treated it as a missing person case with no initial
[14:28] suspicion of foul play. Deputies and volunteers scoured
[14:32] the area on foot and by air, following Don Kemp's footprints
[14:36] into the open Prairie about a mile from the highway.
[14:40] Searchers found a duffel bag in the sagebrush containing Don's
[14:44] belongings. The tracks continued for miles,
[14:47] leading to an old barn roughly 6 miles from the abandoned car.
[14:52] Inside was a crude campsite, sticks arranged as if for a
[14:56] fire, and three of Don's socks. Strangely, no footprints LED
[15:02] away from the barn, and investigators believed someone
[15:05] had backtracked to hide their trail.
[15:07] This suggested to them that Don may have been deliberately
[15:10] avoiding searchers. On the third day, a severe
[15:14] Blizzard forced authorities to suspend the search with brutal
[15:18] cold and heavy snow. Investigators assumed Don had
[15:22] perished from exposure. For the next few years, the
[15:27] mystery only deepened, and no further trace of dawn turned up
[15:30] until October 1985. A group of hunters stumbled upon
[15:35] human remains in a patch of sagebrush approximately 4 miles
[15:39] from the spot where the Blazer had been found.
[15:42] The skeleton was identified as Don Kemp.
[15:45] His wallet, driver's license and other identification were still
[15:50] with the remains. An autopsy couldn't determine an
[15:53] exact cause of death, but found no obvious signs of trauma or
[15:58] foul play. The authorities determined Don
[16:01] had indeed died of exposure to the elements, probably within
[16:05] days of his disappearance, and his body simply went
[16:09] undiscovered. This explanation would seem to
[16:12] neatly close the case, but as it turned out, the evidence didn't
[16:17] add up. The case of Don Kemp feared from
[16:22] tragic to truly bizarre in the months following his
[16:24] disappearance. In the spring of 1983, some five
[16:29] months after Kemp presumably died in the Wyoming Blizzard,
[16:33] witnesses began reporting that they had seen Don alive in the
[16:36] town of Casper, WY. This is about 150 miles from the
[16:41] spot where his vehicle was abandoned.
[16:44] One person swore they spotted him browsing a traveling exhibit
[16:47] of Abraham Lincoln memorabilia in Casper, which is uncanny
[16:52] given Don's passionate interest in Lincoln's history.
[16:56] Around the same time, a bartender at a Casper Tavern
[16:59] told Mary Kemp, his mother, that he distinctly remembered serving
[17:03] Don a drink. The man was certain it was Don
[17:07] because he recalled the customer's Maryland accent and
[17:10] friendly demeanor. These sightings suggested the
[17:14] tantalizing possibility that Don had somehow survived and
[17:18] secretly made his way to Casper. Even more startling was the
[17:22] evidence that came from Don Kemp's longtime friend and
[17:25] former colleague, Judy Aiello. In late February 1983, Judy
[17:32] returned to her New York City apartment after an extended trip
[17:35] overseas, unaware that Don was missing.
[17:39] When she checked her home answering machine, she
[17:42] discovered a series of voice messages left during her
[17:45] absence. The voice on the machine was
[17:48] undeniably Don's, speaking in an urgent tone and leaving a phone
[17:53] number where he could supposedly be reached.
[17:56] Judy was astonished, not only because the voice sounded like
[18:00] her friend, but also because her telephone number was unlisted
[18:05] and known to very few people. In total, she found multiple
[18:10] missed calls and at least 2 recorded messages from the
[18:13] period of late February to April 1983, all seemingly from Don
[18:18] Kemp. Notably, according to the
[18:21] official explanation, this was a time at which Don should have
[18:24] been long deceased. Alarmed and confused, Judy
[18:30] dialed the callback number that Don had provided.
[18:34] What happened next only compounded the mystery.
[18:37] A man answered the phone. Judy asked if Don Kemp was
[18:41] there, to which the person on the other end oddly replied yes.
[18:47] Then he immediately backtracked, said Don was out, and tried to
[18:51] get Judy off the phone as soon as possible.
[18:54] Sensing that this individual knew something, Judy implored
[18:58] him to have Don return her call, but she never heard back.
[19:03] When Judy alerted Mary Kemp and the authorities about these
[19:06] messages, an investigation traced the mysterious phone
[19:09] number to a trailer on the outskirts of Casper.
[19:13] The trailer was being rented at the time by a young man named
[19:16] Mark Dennis, who quickly became a person of interest in Don's
[19:20] case. Mark Dennis was questioned
[19:23] multiple times by Natrona County investigators.
[19:26] He flatly denied having any knowledge of Don Kemp and
[19:30] claimed he never placed any calls to Judy's number.
[19:34] Dennis suggested that perhaps someone else had snuck into his
[19:37] trailer to use the phone line or that the phone company had made
[19:40] some error. Indeed, it was hard to imagine
[19:44] how a stranger could have obtained Judy Aiello's private
[19:47] number unless Don himself provided it.
[19:51] Police showed Dennis a photograph of Don, but Dennis
[19:55] maintained he had never seen or met him.
[19:58] He even volunteered to take a polygraph test, which reportedly
[20:02] did not uncover any deception. Over the years, Don Kemp's
[20:08] strange death has prompted a range of theories, from the
[20:12] straightforward to the highly speculative.
[20:15] The simplest and officially accepted explanation is that Don
[20:19] experienced a mental breakdown or disorientation and wandered
[20:23] off into the wilderness voluntarily.
[20:26] Proponents of this theory point to Don's fragile psychological
[20:29] state as well as a head injury suffered in the accident.
[20:34] The single set of footprints, lack of evidence of other people
[20:38] at the scene, and the fact his remains were ultimately found
[20:42] not far from where he disappeared bolster this view.
[20:47] In this scenario, the later phone calls would have to be
[20:50] either an elaborate hoax or a bizarre coincidence, which I
[20:54] find to be an unsatisfying explanation.
[20:58] Don's family firmly believed that he was a victim of foul
[21:01] play. Under this theory, Don
[21:04] encountered a sick puppy, or perhaps a pack of sick puppies,
[21:08] somewhere along that lonely Wyoming highway in November
[21:11] 1982. Under this theory, he was able
[21:15] to briefly place a call to Judy, though for some reason didn't
[21:19] call the police or his family. Officially, the case of Don Kemp
[21:24] is considered solved, though even investigators have admitted
[21:28] that the facts of the official narrative don't fully add up.
[21:32] While I can't square all the evidence, it seems like Don
[21:35] Kemp's mysterious behavior stems from the serious head injury he
[21:38] suffered in his 1976 car accident.
[21:43] Traumatic brain injuries, particularly those affecting the
[21:46] frontal lobe, can lead to profound personality changes,
[21:51] emotional instability, obsessive thinking, and impaired judgment.
[21:57] Don's shift from a focused advertising executive to a man
[22:00] deeply engrossed in bizarre historical ideas may reflect
[22:04] such neurological trauma. It's also possible that Kemp
[22:09] initially wandered into the wilderness, then returned or was
[22:12] taken to Casper, as suggested by credible sightings and strange
[22:17] phone calls. If his mental state fluctuated,
[22:21] he may have become overwhelmed or disoriented again, prompting
[22:25] a second departure into the wild, where he ultimately
[22:28] perished. In October 19, 7919, year old
[22:34] Lisa Jane Borden phoned her family from California to say
[22:37] she'd be coming home soon. Her loved ones even arranged a
[22:41] plane ticket for her return, but Lisa never showed up to claim
[22:45] it. She had made it all the way from
[22:47] Texas to California on her own, but something or someone
[22:52] prevented her from making it back.
[22:55] That brief call was the last time anyone heard from the young
[22:58] Texas woman. Over 4 decades later, her
[23:02] disappearance remains an unsettling cold case, a road
[23:06] trip turned mystery, leaving her family with decades of
[23:10] unanswered questions and heartache.
[23:14] Lisa was from Big Spring, a small West TX city.
[23:19] In early October 1979, she hitchhiked W to California for
[23:24] that journey. She likely depended on the
[23:26] kindness of strangers for rides along the highways and
[23:30] inherently risky way to travel. By October 10th, Lisa had
[23:36] reached the city of Lodi in California's San Joaquin Valley
[23:40] and placed a phone call to her family back in Texas.
[23:44] During that call, she reassured them she was safe and planned to
[23:49] return home soon. Her loved ones, including her
[23:53] worried boyfriend, responded by sending her a plane ticket home
[23:57] to be picked up at the airport. Mysteriously, Lisa never
[24:02] retrieved that ticket or boarded any flight.
[24:05] After her conversation from Lodi, she simply vanished
[24:08] without a trace. When Lisa failed to return or
[24:12] contact anyone again, her family grew alarmed.
[24:16] It wasn't like her to cut off communication, especially after
[24:19] travel plans had been made. Sensing something was wrong,
[24:23] Lisa's sister reported her missing to local authorities in
[24:26] Texas. With the case now officially
[24:29] opened, investigators had to retrace Lisa's steps across 2
[24:33] states. Despite an Interstate
[24:37] investigation, the authorities found no physical evidence to
[24:41] reveal Lisa's fate after her October phone call.
[24:45] There were no confirmed sightings and no belongings or
[24:48] clues left behind to indicate what happened.
[24:53] Detectives confirmed that Lisa had made it to California, but
[24:56] beyond her one phone call, solid clues were scarce.
[25:02] A friend later told the family that Lisa had been spotted back
[25:05] in Texas after her California trip, allegedly living in
[25:09] Amarillo and working as a waitress.
[25:13] This claim briefly raised hopes that Lisa was alive, but the
[25:17] friend provided no details or proof.
[25:20] Authorities were unable to verify the Amarillo story,
[25:24] making it a frustrating dead end and leaving doubt whether the
[25:28] sighting was even real. The Texas Department of Public
[25:33] Safety has classified Lisa's disappearance as an involuntary
[25:37] missing person case. In fact, authorities have stated
[25:41] they believe Lisa may have been taken against her will decades
[25:46] after she vanished. Investigators updated the case
[25:49] by collecting ADNA sample from her family in 2007 to aid in
[25:54] identification efforts. Her information remains active
[25:58] in national databases, and she's been compared to numerous Jane
[26:02] Doe cases with no success. Over the years, several theories
[26:08] have emerged about what might have happened to Lisa.
[26:11] The leading theory is that she fell victim to foul play during
[26:15] her journey. As a young woman hitchhiking
[26:18] alone in the late 1970s, Lisa was at risk of encountering
[26:22] someone dangerous on the road. In fact, the late 1970s saw a
[26:28] surge of serial violence on the roads.
[26:31] This was an era when serial predators often targeted hitch
[26:35] hikers, and authorities suspect Lisa may have accepted a ride
[26:38] from the wrong person. If she was abducted while
[26:41] traveling, it would explain why she never made it home despite
[26:45] having a ticket waiting. Another consideration is that
[26:49] Lisa could have chosen to disappear and start a new life,
[26:52] though her family finds this unlikely.
[26:56] The Amarillo waitress story was one such lead, though that
[27:00] ultimately went nowhere. However, those who believe that
[27:03] she lived have speculated that she may have fled Amarillo after
[27:07] seeing her old friend where she was working.
[27:11] More than 45 years have passed since Lisa Jane Borden
[27:15] disappeared, and her fate remains unknown.
[27:19] Her family has endured decades of not knowing, holding out hope
[27:23] that one day they might learn what became of her.
[27:30] It's one of the most jarring pivots in modern sports history,
[27:33] a moment where unparalleled jubilation turned into indelible
[27:37] tragedy in less than 48 hours. On Tuesday, June 17th, 1986, the
[27:43] Boston Celtics, fresh off another NBA championship,
[27:47] selected the University of Maryland's Len Bias with the
[27:51] second overall pick in the NBA Draft.
[27:54] The team's leadership was convinced the young man was the
[27:57] key to extending the Celtics dynasty well into the next
[28:01] generation. Photographers captured Bias
[28:04] beaming while holding up the famed Celtics jersey number 30,
[28:09] the image of a young man on the cusp of athletic immortality.
[28:13] Yet by Thursday morning, June 19th, the narrative had
[28:18] shattered completely. The news reports weren't
[28:21] celebrating a future Hall of Famer, they were announcing the
[28:25] death of a 22 year old from a coke overdose.
[28:30] Bias was born in Landover, MD, and excelled as a forward at
[28:34] Northwestern High School in Hyattsville before committing to
[28:37] the University of Maryland. Over his four years playing for
[28:41] the Terrapins from 1982 to 1986, Bias developed into an athletic
[28:47] phenomenon who utterly dominated the Atlantic Coast Conference.
[28:52] The anticipation surrounding his move to the professional level
[28:55] was immense, going far beyond typical draft buzz.
[29:00] Many analysts believed his potential was virtually
[29:03] limitless and that he could potentially be one of the
[29:06] greatest players of all time if he played his cards right.
[29:10] Experts were even describing him in the same sentence of the
[29:13] already legendary Michael Jordan.
[29:17] The tragic events unfolded swiftly in the early morning
[29:20] hours of June 19th, 1986. After returning to his dorm
[29:25] room, Bias joined a small gathering of friends and
[29:28] teammates. Testimony later revealed that
[29:31] sometime between 2:30 AM and 3:00 AM, Bias, alongside his
[29:37] friends and teammates, began huffing Colombian confetti.
[29:42] The substance was reportedly piled on a mirror in the center
[29:45] of the dorm suite. For the next three to four
[29:48] hours, the group talked and snorted the polar bear powder.
[29:52] And then it happened. Out of the blue, Bias suffered a
[29:56] seizure and collapsed. A911 call was placed at 6:32
[30:01] that morning, reporting that the celebrated athlete was
[30:04] unconscious and not breathing. Despite desperate attempts by
[30:08] emergency medical teams and further efforts at Leland
[30:12] Memorial Hospital in Riverdale, MD, Bias was pronounced dead at
[30:16] 855. The medical examiner concluded
[30:21] that the cause of death was cardiac arrhythmia brought on by
[30:24] an overdose. Importantly, toxicology reports
[30:28] confirmed that there were no other substances in his system.
[30:33] While the immediate shock focused on the suddenness of his
[30:36] death, the initial public narrative was quickly
[30:39] established by authorities and the media.
[30:42] Bias was an innocent victim, perhaps trying coke only this
[30:46] one time, or possibly even being duped into ingesting it.
[30:52] However, this simple account soon collapsed under the weight
[30:55] of an investigation, and I really question how anyone could
[30:58] have been so naive as to believe that story.
[31:02] Grand jury testimony from Bias's teammates contradicted the
[31:05] prevailing story, indicating that Bias had reportedly used
[31:09] the substance almost 10 times prior.
[31:14] The revelation of Bias's drug use and the ensuing police
[31:17] investigation immediately hurled the University of Maryland and
[31:22] its athletic department into deep turmoil.
[31:26] The focus quickly shifted from the personal tragedy of the
[31:28] athlete to the integrity of the institution responsible for
[31:33] managing him. Allegations of a major cover up
[31:36] within the athletic program soon emerged.
[31:40] State Attorney Arthur Marshall publicly alleged that in the
[31:43] hours after biases collapse, Maryland's head basketball coach
[31:47] had instructed players to destroy any substances they had.
[31:52] Importantly, this allegation was never proven in a court of law.
[31:56] But that didn't matter. This claim of obstruction,
[32:00] combined with the wider questions about the special
[32:02] treatment afforded to top college athletes, signaled a
[32:06] systemic failure at the highest levels of the university.
[32:10] The administration launched full investigations into the athletic
[32:13] programs, academic standards and drug use policies.
[32:18] The ensuing controversy was so devastating that it forced high
[32:22] level resignations, including those of the basketball head
[32:25] coach and the athletic director, amongst others.
[32:30] The grand jury investigation led to criminal charges against
[32:33] those present during Bias's death.
[32:36] Brian Tribble, Bias's friend, was indicted on multiple serious
[32:41] counts, including possession of coke and possession with intent
[32:45] to distribute. Teammates Terry Long and David
[32:49] Gregg also faced charges of possession and obstruction of
[32:53] justice. They were suspended from the
[32:56] basketball team shortly thereafter.
[32:59] Despite the overwhelming public pressure and the severity of the
[33:02] charges, the state justice system ultimately failed to
[33:06] secure any convictions related directly to Bias's death.
[33:11] In June 1987, a jury acquitted Brian Tribble of all charges
[33:16] concerning distribution and possession in the Bias case.
[33:20] Prosecutors later dismissed the misdemeanor charges against Long
[33:23] and Greg as well. Len Bias's death occurred at a
[33:28] specific moment when politicians were eager to be seen as tough
[33:31] on drugs and the media was heavily focused on the dangers
[33:34] of crack. This is, of course, despite the
[33:37] fact that Len Bias and his friends hadn't been smoking Timu
[33:41] nose candy at all. The political machinery moved
[33:45] with astonishing speed. Committees in the House began
[33:48] writing anti drug legislation within weeks of Bias's passing.
[33:53] The legislative process bypassed normal deliberation and
[33:56] research, driven by political expediency and public panic.
[34:02] The resulting legislation, the Anti Drug Abuse Act of 1986, was
[34:08] signed into law by President Ronald Reagan on October 27th,
[34:12] 1986. This was brought in just four
[34:16] months after Bias's death, and to many observers, the
[34:19] connection between the law and the actual facts of his case
[34:23] weren't readily apparent. This new federal statute, often
[34:28] dubbed the Len Bias Law, dramatically escalated penalties
[34:32] for substance related crimes. The key provision established
[34:36] harsh mandatory minimum sentences, specifically
[34:40] targeting cases where drug distribution led to the death or
[34:44] serious bodily injury of the user.
[34:47] For such offenses, the law mandated a minimum prison term
[34:51] of 20 years and a maximum life sentence, even for a first time
[34:55] offender. Crucially, the law made no
[34:59] distinction between a major international trafficker and an
[35:03] individual who gave a friend a dose for free.
[35:06] If death resulted, both could be charged and face life
[35:10] imprisonment. This elimination of judicial
[35:15] discretion, enacted in a political fever pitch,
[35:18] fundamentally reshaped the American criminal justice
[35:21] system. The Len Bias law is frequently
[35:25] cited as a primary catalyst for the explosion of mass
[35:29] incarceration in the decades that followed.
[35:33] Some have of course speculated that the law was already pre
[35:36] planned and that politicians were simply waiting for the
[35:39] right national tragedy to capitalize upon.
[35:46] On the night of March 20th, 1995, seventeen year old Julie
[35:51] Ferguson left work at the Linens and Things store in Greenbelt,
[35:54] MD and prepared to go out with friends.
[35:58] She was a junior at Eleanor Roosevelt High School, a bright,
[36:01] vivacious teen known for her love of music and close bonds
[36:05] with her friends. Around 9:30 PM, after closing up
[36:10] the store, Julie waited outside in the Greenway Shopping Center
[36:14] for two friends who had promised to give her a ride that evening.
[36:18] Moments before, she had reassured her mother by phone
[36:22] that her friends were on their way to pick her up.
[36:25] The area was well lit by a nearby liquor store, and Julie
[36:29] sat on a brick planter box with a soda and a shopping bag by her
[36:32] side. Sometime before 10:00 PM,
[36:36] witnesses saw Julie casually chatting with the occupants of a
[36:39] red 4 door car that had pulled up near where she waited.
[36:44] There were three people in the vehicle, reportedly two young
[36:47] men and a young woman, and by all accounts, Julie seemed
[36:51] comfortable speaking with them. Observers noted no signs of
[36:55] distress or struggle at that time.
[36:58] However, by the time her friends arrived just after 10:00 PM,
[37:02] Julie had vanished without a trace.
[37:05] All that remained were her belongings on the curb,
[37:08] including a bag of clothes and her soda bottle.
[37:13] Alarmed, her friends contacted Julie's mother and questioned
[37:16] the liquor store manager, quickly realizing something was
[37:19] terribly wrong. Within hours, Greenbelt police,
[37:24] aided by police helicopters, began searching the area for the
[37:27] missing teen. Tragically, the search ended
[37:30] early the next morning. At around 5:20 AM on March 21st,
[37:36] a pair of workers on their way to their jobs spotted Julie's
[37:39] body near a wooded stretch of Daisy Lane in Glendale, about 5
[37:43] miles from the shopping center. She was found fully clothed on
[37:47] the remote roadside, and the manner of her death was brutal.
[37:51] An autopsy later revealed that Julie had been strangled and her
[37:55] throat had been slashed. There were no signs of essay
[37:59] robbery or any obvious motive for the attack.
[38:02] Simply put, there was absolutely nothing to explain why someone
[38:06] would target a normal girl who was just going about her
[38:09] evening. Julie's slaying sent shock waves
[38:14] through the Greenbelt community, which was unaccustomed to such
[38:17] violent crime. In the days that followed,
[38:21] police worked around the clock interviewing dozens of people,
[38:25] but they struggled to develop solid leads.
[38:28] No immediate suspect emerged, and detectives could not
[38:31] determine a clear motive for the crime.
[38:34] Julie had no apparent enemies, and nothing obvious had been
[38:38] taken from her. Investigators quickly concluded
[38:41] that she had been abducted from the shopping center, but by whom
[38:45] and for what purpose remained a complete mystery.
[38:49] The only early clues were the witness accounts of the red car
[38:53] and the disturbing fact that some of Julie's personal items
[38:56] had been discarded along a roadway.
[38:59] Her ID, for instance, was later found tossed in the median of
[39:03] Greenbelt Rd. about halfway between the mall and the
[39:06] location where her body was found.
[39:09] It appeared those responsible had scattered a few of her
[39:12] belongings while fleeing the area.
[39:15] The impact on Julie's peers was profound.
[39:19] Two days after the slaying, well over 1000 people gathered for a
[39:23] candlelight vigil at the Eleanor Roosevelt High School football
[39:27] field to mourn Julie and seek solace together.
[39:32] Grief counselors were made available to students.
[39:34] Overcome by the shock of losing a classmate in such a horrific
[39:38] way, friends described feeling as if all the safety and all the
[39:42] security of their world had been stripped away overnight.
[39:45] Despite an intensive investigation in 1995, the case
[39:50] gradually went cold as months and then years passed without an
[39:54] arrest. The crime scene yielded little
[39:57] forensic evidence beyond some physical items belonging to
[40:00] Julie, and with no eyewitnesses to the abduction itself,
[40:04] detectives had few leads to pursue about five years after
[40:10] the slaying in March 2000. Prince George's County police
[40:14] announced A renewed push in Julie's case, and with it some
[40:18] intriguing new clues. Cold case investigators had
[40:23] spent months re examining the evidence and re interviewing
[40:26] witnesses. At a press conference on the
[40:29] case's five year anniversary, police revealed that previously
[40:33] overlooked witness accounts pointed to three suspects who
[40:36] might have been involved. Crucially, multiple people had
[40:40] reported seeing a red Volkswagen Jetta in the Greenway Center
[40:44] parking lot the night Julie disappeared.
[40:48] The occupants were described as two men and one woman in their
[40:51] early 20s, and all were noted to be black.
[40:55] One witness saw Julie leaning in the window of this car talking
[41:00] to the occupants shortly before she vanished.
[41:04] Another witness came forward to say they had spotted a similar
[41:07] vehicle in the early morning hours, parked along a remote
[41:10] stretch of Daisy Lane with its headlights on.
[41:14] Notably, this was in the very area where Julie's body was
[41:17] later discovered, giving rise to suspicions that this may have
[41:21] been the occupants of the vehicle dumping her body.
[41:24] By the time that witness passed the spot again, the car was
[41:27] gone. Around the same period, police
[41:31] explored a lead involving a different possible suspect
[41:34] entirely. They identified a person of
[41:37] interest who was a white male who was believed to have been
[41:42] praying on young women near the University of Maryland campus in
[41:47] the mid 1990s. This individual was thought to
[41:51] have attempted abductions in the area, raising suspicions that
[41:55] Julie could have been a victim of a serial predator.
[41:58] However, after extensive efforts, investigators were
[42:03] unable to track that man down or link him to the crime.
[42:07] The focus remained on the trio in the red car, even as the case
[42:11] once again began to stall for lack of concrete proof.
[42:16] Over the years, several theories have emerged about who was
[42:20] responsible for the slaying of Julie Ferguson, but many have
[42:23] led to dead ends. Aside from the theories already
[42:27] discussed, two young men who knew Julie were also
[42:30] investigated as possible suspects.
[42:33] However, both of them failed to match up to DNA found at the
[42:37] scene, and there was nothing concrete to link either men to
[42:41] the abduction and subsequent events.
[42:44] The primary theory that law enforcement still focuses on
[42:48] centers around the three unknown individuals in the red Car.
[42:52] Investigators have urged any of these three people to come
[42:55] forward for questioning in an effort to potentially clear
[42:59] their names if they weren't involved.
[43:03] In the quiet early hours of June 15th, 2008, a train thundered
[43:08] down the tracks in Brielle, NJ, only to be met with a terrifying
[43:12] sight, a young woman on the rails.
[43:15] The impact was instantly fatal and a tragedy unfolded in this
[43:19] Jersey Shore town. When the sun rose, authorities
[43:24] were left with a haunting question.
[43:26] Who was she? Over 17 years have passed since
[43:30] that night, yet the woman struck by the New Jersey Transit train
[43:34] remains unidentified. Dubbed the Monmouth County Jane
[43:38] Doe, her case has become one of New Jersey's enduring mysteries.
[43:44] Shortly after 1:30 AM on June 15th, 2008, police were alerted
[43:49] that a pedestrian had been hit by a train near the Fisk Ave.
[43:52] crossing in Brielle. The location was just South of
[43:56] the Manasquan Station along a stretch of track bordering a
[43:59] residential area. The victim was pronounced dead
[44:03] at the scene, a white female with no identification on her.
[44:09] Investigators couldn't immediately determine if this
[44:11] was a horrific accident or whether the entire thing was
[44:14] intentional, as there were no witnesses aside from the train
[44:18] crew. What they did know was that the
[44:22] young woman's life had ended on the tracks that rainy night, and
[44:26] no one stepped forward to claim her in the aftermath.
[44:30] Over the following days, an autopsy and forensic examination
[44:34] were conducted. Despite the violent nature of
[44:37] the incident, the woman's face was completely recognizable,
[44:42] which gave hope that someone might identify her quickly.
[44:46] Authorities circulated sketches and descriptions to the public,
[44:50] hoping a friend or family member might recognize the young woman.
[44:54] Despite this, though, absolutely no one came forward.
[44:59] Investigators carefully documented the Jane Doe's
[45:02] physical characteristics and belongings, piercing together
[45:05] clues about her life. She was estimated to be
[45:08] somewhere between her late teens and late 20s.
[45:12] She stood about 5 feet 4 inches tall and weighed roughly 120 lbs
[45:18] and had neck length brown hair and blue Gray eyes.
[45:23] She also had a distinctive scar, indicating that she underwent an
[45:26] appendectomy surgery. However, due to the extreme
[45:30] force of the collision, it wasn't clear whether there were
[45:33] other distinctive marks which were missed.
[45:36] Crucially, what the Jane Doe was wearing and carrying provided A
[45:40] vivid snapshot of her circumstances.
[45:43] She was dressed in multiple layers, possibly for warmth or
[45:47] possibly because she was homeless or living a transient
[45:51] lifestyle, but more on that in a moment.
[45:55] Around her neck she had a blue rosary style bead necklace with
[45:59] a cross pendant, and on her wrist she was wearing a wooden
[46:03] bracelet featuring images of Catholic Saints.
[46:07] Unless this was a gift from a friend, this narrows down her
[46:11] identity somewhat. Most intriguingly, the Jane Doe
[46:16] had a brown tote bag with her emblazoned with the words New
[46:20] York. Inside this bag was an
[46:23] assortment of personal belongings, almost like a travel
[46:27] kit or a mobile wardrobe, which offers a poignant glimpse into
[46:31] her life. Personally, I think that based
[46:35] on the evidence as it stands, there's virtually no chance that
[46:38] she wasn't homeless. That said, I suppose she could
[46:42] have also been hitch hiking, but I don't think people really did
[46:46] that in 2008. But feel free to correct me if
[46:50] I'm wrong. She had no form of
[46:52] identification, no phone, no wallet on her, just these
[46:57] personal items. To investigators, this raised
[47:02] the likelihood that she was far from home and estranged from
[47:05] people who would immediately miss her.
[47:09] As of 2025, it's reported that the Monmouth County Jane Doe's
[47:13] case is undergoing forensic genetic genealogy testing.
[47:17] This means that unless she was adopted, the authorities should
[47:20] now be able to resolve her case in the near future and restore
[47:24] her identity. As for whether she did this act
[47:29] herself or whether she was a victim of an accident, this too
[47:33] also remains unsolved. Some have speculated that given
[47:37] that she was likely a practicing Catholic, that this may have
[47:40] been accidental, or at least staged by her to look
[47:44] accidental. On a December morning in 1991, a
[47:50] hiker in Florida's Seminole State Forest followed drag marks
[47:54] off a trail and found what he first thought was a discarded
[47:58] mannequin's leg. When he got a little bit closer,
[48:02] he realized that he had found the victim of a horrific crime.
[48:06] This person, later nicknamed the Lake County Jane Doe by the
[48:10] authorities, had been subject to the worst forms of assault and
[48:15] then eliminated. Disturbingly, while the
[48:18] perpetrator was theoretically brought to justice, to this day
[48:22] no one knows her identity. On December 7th, 1991, the
[48:28] woman's body was found partially buried under tree branches in a
[48:32] wooded area about 75 yards off a road in Sorrento, Lake County,
[48:36] Florida. The perp had attempted to
[48:39] conceal her with brush and the brutality of the attack was
[48:42] evident from her injuries. Indeed, evidence suggested this
[48:47] monster had even stabbed her in the neck with a broken glass
[48:50] bottle in addition to strangling her.
[48:54] The remote location and lack of any identification made the
[48:57] investigation difficult from the start, leaving authorities with
[49:01] a tragic crime but no name for the victim and no immediate
[49:05] suspects. Police determined that the Jane
[49:09] Doe was a white female, likely between about 25 and 40 years
[49:13] old. She stood around 5 feet 4 inches
[49:16] tall and weighed roughly 125 lbs with shoulder length brown hair
[49:22] that bleached blonde at the ends and Hazel eyes.
[49:27] Medical examination showed she had given birth to at least one
[49:30] child in her life. There was also coke found in her
[49:34] system, and investigators noted her legs were particularly
[49:38] muscular. This led to speculation that she
[49:41] might have worked as a dancer in an adult club or that she may
[49:45] have been a former athlete. When discovered, she was wearing
[49:49] a red hooded sweatshirt, a white blouse and a single white sock.
[49:56] A distinctive piece of jewelry was found with her, a gold
[50:00] dangling earring featuring stars and hearts.
[50:03] Also, heads up if you're one of those people who just watches,
[50:08] I've put this earring up on screen.
[50:11] Unfortunately, I could only find a black and white photograph of
[50:14] this earring, but I figured it was worth showing anyway given
[50:18] how unique it looks. Detectives hope that this
[50:21] unusual earring or details like her prior orthodontic dental
[50:25] work might trigger someone's memory, but no matches turned up
[50:30] in any missing person reports. Her fingerprints and later her
[50:34] DNA were entered into national databases, yet nothing led to an
[50:39] identification in those early years.
[50:43] For several years, the case stagnated, with no leads on the
[50:46] victim's name or the perpetrator.
[50:48] The breakthrough came in 1995, thanks to forensic DNA
[50:53] technology that was just beginning to revolutionize cold
[50:56] cases. Biological material recovered
[51:00] from the crime scene had been preserved and analyzed, and in
[51:04] February 1995 it produced a match in Florida's then new DNA
[51:09] database. The profile identified Joseph
[51:12] Algernon Rohl, a 29 year old local man from the Sorrento
[51:16] area. Rohl was a convict with a
[51:19] history of violent attacks that fit the profile of what was done
[51:23] to the Jane Doe, which immediately made him the prime
[51:26] suspect. In fact, he had recently served
[51:30] a short prison term for a 1992 essay and was known for a
[51:34] pattern of choking or threatening his victims.
[51:38] At the time, using ADNA Databank to crack a case was cutting
[51:42] edge, and Florida's database contained only a few thousand
[51:45] profiles. This hit was considered a major
[51:49] stroke of luck and a landmark moment for the investigation.
[51:53] The Lake County Jane Doe became one of the first cases in the
[51:57] state solved by adna match to a convicted offender.
[52:02] After DNA tied roll to the crime, he was arrested and
[52:05] charged with the offense against the unknown woman.
[52:09] In 1996, he faced a jury trial in Lake County.
[52:14] The DNA evidence firmly placed him at the scene and proved what
[52:18] he had done. Prosecutors also attempted to
[52:21] introduce testimony from two other women who said Rohl had
[52:25] committed horrific acts to them in the past, highlighting his
[52:29] violent modus operandi. The jury ultimately found Rohl
[52:33] guilty of the indecent assault, but lacking certainty that he
[52:37] was the one who committed the actual slaying.
[52:40] They acquitted him of that charge.
[52:42] Despite that split verdict, the judge delivered a severe
[52:46] sentence. Citing Rohl's dangerous history,
[52:50] the court gave him life in prison for the conviction.
[52:54] To this day, Role maintains that he didn't know the victim beyond
[52:57] what he claims was a consensual encounter.
[53:00] Thankfully, he remains behind bars for life, ensuring no
[53:04] further harm can be done. With the likely perpetrator
[53:08] locked up, investigators never lost sight of the remaining
[53:11] question of who this Jane Doe is.
[53:14] In 2025, the authorities confirmed that her case was sent
[53:18] out for genetic genealogical testing, which ought to provide
[53:22] some further answers about her identity.

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