# 2.5 Hours Of Unsolved Cold Cases | True Crime Compilation | 221

An episode of [Lazy Chill True Crime](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1815534472), 3 May 2026, 2 h 21 min.

Audio: https://traffic.megaphone.fm/APO3772127850.mp3

Join me for 2.5 hours of the strangest cold cases nobody can solve. Episode 221 of the true crime podcast btw, and a compilation of 5 videos from early to mid 2025 from my YT channel. 👇 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, heists, art theft

## Transcript

[0:00] For over half a century, Buford Pusser's story stood as a
[0:03] classic American tale of one man's war on crime and a
[0:08] family's tragic sacrifice. The rural Tennessee Rd. where
[0:12] his wife was slain in an alleged ambush became a symbol of both
[0:17] heroism and heartbreak. Hollywood turned his tale into
[0:22] the iconic movie Walking Tall not once but twice, cementing
[0:27] Buford's legacy as a tough, no nonsense sheriff who wouldn't
[0:30] back down. But in a shocking turn of events
[0:34] nearly six decades later, investigators now say this folk
[0:39] hero lawman was likely the one who pulled the trigger the night
[0:43] his wife perished. Buford Pusser wasn't a typical
[0:48] small town sheriff. Standing 6 feet 6 inches tall
[0:52] and built like the wrestler he once was, he cut an imposing
[0:56] figure from the moment he took office in Mcnairy County,
[0:59] Tennessee, in 1964. At just 27 years old, the
[1:05] youngest sheriff in Tennessee's history, he wasted no time
[1:08] cleaning up his county. He quickly earned A reputation
[1:11] for cracking down on moonshine, gambling parlors and other vices
[1:16] along the Mississippi Tennessee State line.
[1:19] According to the official narrative, he waged what locals
[1:23] called A1 Man War on vice. By 1 count, he shut down 87
[1:30] illegal whiskey stills in a single year, directly striking
[1:34] at the profits of local crime syndicates.
[1:37] Groups like the Stateline Mob and the Dixie Mafia soon learned
[1:41] that the towering young sheriff would not go easy on them.
[1:44] In the span of a few years, Buford survived over a dozen
[1:48] attempts on his life. Nothing it seemed, could sway
[1:52] this determined lawman from walking tall in the face of
[1:55] danger. In the pre dawn hours of August
[1:59] 12th, 1967, tragedy struck Buford's family and transformed
[2:04] his legend. According to the account Buford
[2:07] gave at the time, he received a call about a disturbance on a
[2:11] rural Rd. Despite the early hour, his wife
[2:14] Pauline insisted on accompanying him on the response.
[2:19] As their car passed a church, a second vehicle suddenly roared
[2:22] up alongside them and opened fire into the law man's car.
[2:27] A storm of lead sprayed through the windshield and windows.
[2:31] Pauline was hit in the head and perished, while big Buford
[2:34] himself was struck in the face, shattering his jaw.
[2:38] Bleeding and in shock, the sheriff managed to drive away
[2:41] from the attackers before crashing.
[2:44] When help arrived, Pauline was beyond saving and Buford was
[2:49] barely clinging to life. He spent 18 days in the hospital
[2:54] and underwent multiple surgeries to reconstruct his damaged face.
[2:59] The community was horrified by the brazen attack and by the
[3:03] official telling. It was a very direct attempt on
[3:06] the life of the sheriff by the very criminals he'd been
[3:09] tirelessly fighting. Buford's version of the ambush
[3:15] quickly became the official story.
[3:17] Even as he recuperated from his wounds, the grieving sheriff
[3:21] vowed to hunt down the people responsible for Pauline's
[3:24] slaying and bring them to justice.
[3:28] He told investigators that he recognized at least some of the
[3:31] assailants. In particular, Buford named a
[3:35] notorious Dixie Mafia figure, Kirksey Nix, as the likely
[3:40] mastermind behind the attack. Though no arrests were ever
[3:44] made, the narrative was clear Buford's relentless war on
[3:48] organized crime had provoked vicious enemies to strike back
[3:52] at him in the most personal way. The case was effectively closed
[3:57] in 1967, built largely on Buford Pusser's own statement of events
[4:02] and his reputation as an incorruptible officer in the
[4:06] public eye. Big Bad Buford emerged not only
[4:09] as a fearless crime fighter, but now also as a tragic hero who
[4:13] had paid a terrible price for his bravery.
[4:18] After Pauline's funeral, Buford returned to duty, scarred but
[4:22] undeterred with a new personal mission to avenge his wife's
[4:26] passing, even if it meant using extrajudicial means.
[4:31] In the years that followed, he reportedly pursued the matter on
[4:34] his own terms. Officially, the investigation
[4:38] into the ambush went cold for lack of evidence, but stories
[4:42] swirled that might have taken justice into his own hands.
[4:47] One by one, several of the men he accused of involvement in the
[4:51] ambush met violent ends. In 1969, an accused Dixie mob
[4:59] hitman named Carl White was brutally eliminated, and rumors
[5:02] quickly swirled that Buford had secretly arranged the event.
[5:06] Within a year, two more suspects, George Mcgahn and Gary
[5:10] McDaniel, were also found deceased under mysterious
[5:14] circumstances in Texas. Though never proven, many locals
[5:19] believed that these deaths were no coincidence and that Sheriff
[5:22] Pusser had orchestrated A fierce private vendetta to eliminate
[5:27] anyone involved in the event. Buford himself never admitted
[5:31] any such vigilantism, but he notably never dispelled the
[5:35] rumors either. In the absence of official
[5:38] convictions, the legend took hold that Buford had delivered
[5:42] his own form of justice from the shadows.
[5:46] Whether or not Buford directly ordered any reprisals, the
[5:50] effect was the same. His already formidable
[5:53] reputation grew to near mythic proportions.
[5:57] Here was a lawman who not only survived, but might have
[6:00] personally seen to it that those responsible paid the ultimate
[6:03] price. On the national stage, Buford's
[6:06] heroism was sealed by Hollywood. The 1973 film Walking Tall,
[6:12] loosely based on his life, turned Buford into a household
[6:16] name. And that film is, of course, why
[6:19] many of you knew who I was talking about immediately.
[6:23] Actor Joe Don Baker portrayed a character modeled on Buford, a
[6:27] towering club wielding sheriff determined to uproot organized
[6:31] crime in his town. Walking Tall became a hit and an
[6:36] enduring cult classic, spawning 2 sequels in the 1970s and a
[6:40] remake decades later featuring the Rock of all people as a
[6:45] version of Buford. Notably, Buford had just signed
[6:49] a deal to play himself in a Walking Tall sequel when, in
[6:54] 1974, he passed away in a fiery single car accident at age 36.
[7:00] His sudden death fueled yet another layer of mystique, with
[7:04] some of his loved ones suspecting that his old enemies
[7:07] had sabotaged his Corvette in revenge.
[7:11] By the mid 1970's, the legend of Buford Pusser seemed complete.
[7:17] He was remembered as the valiant sheriff who walked tall, cleaned
[7:21] up his town, and sacrificed more than most men ever would or
[7:25] could. He was a Wyatt Earp for the mid
[7:28] 20th century, a lawman who wasn't afraid to get his hands
[7:32] dirty to pursue his own form of justice.
[7:38] For decades, nobody seriously questioned the story of
[7:41] Pauline's passing, and this event achieved folkloric status
[7:45] in Tennessee. But as time passed, whispers and
[7:49] doubts endured beneath the surface.
[7:52] In 2022, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation quietly decided to
[7:56] take a fresh look at the case as part of a routine cold case
[8:00] review. In January 2024, the TBI even
[8:05] publicized that Pauline's investigation was still active
[8:09] and asked the public for any new information or tips.
[8:13] One crucial discovery was that no autopsy had ever been
[8:16] performed on Pauline back in 1967, a startling oversight that
[8:21] investigators promptly set out to correct.
[8:26] With her family's consent, Pauline's body was exhumed in
[8:30] February 2024 so that a modern forensic examination could
[8:35] finally be conducted. Agents also received a tip about
[8:39] a potential weapon that had been overlooked, providing a fresh
[8:43] lead that investigators pursued as they re examined the physical
[8:47] evidence. What they discovered would upend
[8:51] the traditional narrative, at least according to the District
[8:54] Attorney. In August 2025, Tennessee
[8:59] authorities announced that new evidence implicated none other
[9:02] than Buford himself in the slaying of his wife.
[9:06] After the three-year investigation, the local
[9:09] District Attorney declared that if Buford were alive today,
[9:13] there was enough proof to present an indictment against
[9:15] him. This bombshell findings
[9:18] suggested that the infamous ambush was an elaborate cover up
[9:21] staged by Buford to conceal his own act of violence.
[9:27] The reopened case uncovered several major inconsistencies in
[9:31] Buford's 1967 account. Modern forensic analysis, aided
[9:36] by the exhumation of Pauline's body, painted a very different
[9:40] picture of the crime scene from the one Buford had described.
[9:44] Notably, Pauline was most likely shot outside of the car, not
[9:48] inside it, as the sheriff had long claimed.
[9:51] Her body, investigators believe, was then placed in the car
[9:55] afterward to stage the appearance of a drive by ambush.
[10:00] Photographs from 1967 showed blood spatter on the car's hood
[10:05] and on the ground that didn't line up with the story of an
[10:07] unknown attacker firing into the vehicle.
[10:11] Even more damning, the wound that Buford sustained to his
[10:14] face appeared to likely be a close contact shot.
[10:20] In short, the forensic evidence pointed to the conclusion that
[10:24] Buford shot his wife at close range and then took drastic
[10:27] steps to make the ambush story more believable.
[10:32] Digging into the couple's history also revealed disturbing
[10:35] context that had been glossed over in the hero narrative.
[10:39] Investigators found signs that Pauline had been a victim of
[10:42] violence before her slaying. Indeed, the new autopsy revealed
[10:47] that she had sustained a broken nose sometime prior to the
[10:50] attack, an injury that had healed by the time of her
[10:54] passing. This finding potentially
[10:57] corroborated long standing whispers that Pauline's marriage
[11:01] had been troubled. Though the exact cause of the
[11:04] break couldn't be confirmed, law enforcement officials in 2025
[11:10] were mindful of how shocking this revelation would be to
[11:13] those who grew up idolizing Buford Pusser.
[11:16] At a press conference announcing the findings, the District
[11:20] Attorney even acknowledged that many officers had chosen careers
[11:23] in policing because of The Walking tall legend.
[11:27] However, he emphasized that the priority was giving dignity to
[11:32] Pauline's family and ensuring that the truth was not buried by
[11:36] time. The TBI, for its part, has
[11:40] pledged transparency and claims they will release the entire
[11:43] cold case file to the public to prove their point.
[11:49] Personally, this is one of those cases where I'm not sure this
[11:52] sort of action would have been taken if Buford was alive.
[11:56] The problem is that if they did get it right, they did so with
[12:00] the evidence in the cold case file, and that means that the
[12:03] initial investigation was so badly botched as to be
[12:07] unreliable. If none of the basic forensic
[12:10] evidence lines up with Buford's contemporary story, then it
[12:14] makes me question whether there was something much bigger going
[12:18] on here. Further proving guilt beyond a
[12:21] reasonable doubt would be incredibly difficult given those
[12:25] initial screw ups. Personally, I think on a balance
[12:30] of probabilities, the civil standard of proof Buford would
[12:34] potentially be judged responsible for his wife's
[12:37] passing. The exhumation of Pauline's body
[12:40] revealed forensic inconsistencies with his 1967
[12:44] ambush account. Blood patterns, bullet
[12:47] trajectories, and the apparent staging of her body all suggest
[12:51] she was shot outside the vehicle rather than inside during a
[12:55] drive by. His own facial wound, once
[12:59] thought to be a graze from an attacker, aligns more with a
[13:02] close contact shot inflicted at short range.
[13:06] At least if the forensics are accepted.
[13:09] Notably, since Buford isn't alive to defend himself, he
[13:13] can't go and hire a countervailing expert to
[13:16] potentially give an entirely different take.
[13:21] When weighed collectively, these findings, if accepted, is true.
[13:26] Tip the scale toward a conclusion that Buford
[13:29] orchestrated the scene. In civil proceedings where
[13:33] jurors or a judge need only be convinced that something is more
[13:36] likely than not, such physical evidence and his history of
[13:40] violence would probably secure liability.
[13:45] However, proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, the criminal
[13:49] standard would be far more difficult.
[13:53] Nearly 6 decades have passed and many witnesses are deceased.
[13:58] No weapon was conclusively tied to him, and no eyewitness exists
[14:03] to directly contradict his original story.
[14:06] Reasonable doubt could be raised by the possibility of flawed or
[14:09] degraded forensic evidence and the alternative suspects named
[14:13] at the time. While persuasive, the case
[14:17] remains circumstantial, making a criminal conviction much less
[14:22] than certain. Therefore, if he was alive, he
[14:28] may have ended up in a situation like OJ Simpson, who was
[14:31] acquitted criminally but found liable in civil court.
[14:37] Also Full disclosure, I saw Walking Tall when I was a kid
[14:41] and up until this time had fully bought into the mythos of Buford
[14:45] as a bad ass American lawman. A three-year old girl stood
[14:51] crying on the stairs, locked out of her home while unimaginable
[14:56] violence unfolded below. It was the afternoon of February
[15:00] 19th, 1982 in a quiet wound socket Rhode Island apartment
[15:05] house when a neighbor opened the basement door to a nightmare.
[15:10] Blood was spattered across the laundry room walls. 22 year old
[15:14] Doreen Picard lay slumped between a washer and dryer,
[15:17] bludgeoned beyond recognition and strangled with her own
[15:21] sweater. Nearby, 27 year old Susan Lafert
[15:26] was barely alive in a pool of blood.
[15:29] Susan miraculously survived after hours of surgery, but she
[15:33] emerged from her coma with total amnesia about the attack.
[15:38] With Susan unable to remember the attack and a toddler the
[15:42] only other witness, detectives had little to go on in 1982.
[15:47] The perpetrator had left behind a bloodied 28 inch pipe in the
[15:50] basement, but no fingerprints could be lifted from it.
[15:54] Investigators could not discern a clear motive.
[15:58] Susan was a housewife and Doreen a young student, neither with
[16:03] any known enemies or dark secrets that might invite such
[16:06] violence. Detectives were struck by the
[16:09] ferocity of the crime, and early theories ranged widely.
[16:13] The attacker could have been a stranger responding to a
[16:16] classified ad, since La Ferte had advertised puppies for sale.
[16:21] Doreen's distraught family began their own inquiries and pressed
[16:25] authorities not to give up. Doreen's father even received an
[16:29] anonymous phone call warning him to stop pursuing the case, a
[16:33] chilling sign that someone was nervous about the family's
[16:36] search for the truth. But despite their persistence,
[16:40] months turned into years with no arrest.
[16:45] The case slowly went cold and the community remained on edge
[16:49] knowing a predator was still at large.
[16:53] The long dormant case gained new momentum after a 1988 feature on
[16:58] Unsolved Mysteries, which brought in fresh tips.
[17:02] I feel like this show needs no introduction, but if you're not
[17:05] familiar with it, it showcased unsolved crimes and other
[17:09] mysteries. In 1990, a crucial lead finally
[17:15] emerged. A local man, 36 year old Daniel
[17:19] Shaw, came forward and implicated his friend Beaver
[17:23] Tempest in the crime. Tempest, a 37 year old truck
[17:27] driver, was a friend of the Laffert family and had visited
[17:31] the house that day to pick up a pit bull puppy they offered him.
[17:35] Tempest had been on police radar since 1982, but there was never
[17:40] enough evidence to charge him until these new witnesses
[17:43] emerged. There were even rumors that
[17:46] Tempest had been having an affair with Susan, a situation
[17:49] that could have led to a heated confrontation in the basement.
[17:54] In June 1991, Tempest was finally indicted for Doreen
[17:58] Picard's slaying nearly a decade after the crime, and the case
[18:03] went to trial the following year.
[18:07] At trial, Rhode Island prosecutors laid out a dramatic
[18:11] narrative of jealousy and rage. They argued that Tempest got
[18:15] into a violent argument with Susan in the basement and then
[18:19] fatally attacked Doreen when she unwittingly walked in on the
[18:22] scene. According to this theory, he
[18:25] strangled Doreen with her own sweater and bludgeoned both
[18:28] women with a metal pipe before fleeing.
[18:31] It was a compelling story, but it lacked any physical evidence,
[18:35] and nothing at the scene tied Tempest to the crime.
[18:39] Instead, the prosecution's case hinged on a handful of
[18:43] acquaintances who claimed that in the years following the
[18:46] attack, Tempest had privately confessed to them.
[18:52] These witnesses had checkered histories involving significant
[18:55] criminal activities, calling their credibility into question.
[19:00] One witness even claimed Tempest bragged that he would get away
[19:03] with it because he had family members in law enforcement.
[19:06] Still, taken together, the testimony of these individuals
[19:10] painted Tempest as a man who had boasted about committing the
[19:13] crime. In April 1992, the jury found
[19:17] Beaver Tempest guilty in Doreen Picard's demise.
[19:22] He was sentenced to 85 years in prison, but Tempest continued to
[19:26] insist he was innocent even as he was led away in handcuffs.
[19:31] For many locals, the conviction brought relief that someone was
[19:34] held accountable, but others were uneasy with how it was
[19:37] obtained. The Tempest family's deep ties
[19:42] to law enforcement fueled debate.
[19:45] Raymond's late father had been a highly placed wound socket
[19:48] police official and his brother, Gordon Tempest was a Sergeant in
[19:53] the department who took part in the early investigation.
[19:56] Some thought the family's connections had helped Raymond
[19:59] evade suspicion, while others believed internal police
[20:03] rivalries had made him a target. In a startling twist after the
[20:07] trial, Gordon Tempest was convicted in 1993 of perjury for
[20:12] lying underoath about aspects of another case, the sight of a
[20:17] police officer, the defendant's own brother.
[20:20] Being punished for lying about evidence added to the doubt
[20:24] surrounding the investigation. This fact seemed to seal the
[20:28] idea that Beaver had done it and his corrupt family had covered
[20:32] for him. This, of course, matched the
[20:34] narrative that Tempest himself allegedly had spun up.
[20:40] For the next two decades, Beaver Tempest pursued every legal Ave.
[20:45] to prove he had been wrongfully convicted.
[20:48] Eventually, the New England Innocence Project took up
[20:51] Tempest's case. They re examined the old
[20:53] evidence and uncovered stunning new information.
[20:57] For example, one key witness had initially given a statement that
[21:01] contradicted her trial testimony, inconsistencies the
[21:05] state never revealed to the defense.
[21:08] They also discovered that the detective's original informant
[21:12] was a man with a personal grudge against The Tempest family, and
[21:16] that fact was never shared with the defense either.
[21:20] Investigators had even coached the witnesses on what to say,
[21:24] gently reminding them repeatedly that Beaver Tempest had
[21:28] confessed to the crime. Piece by piece, Tempest's team
[21:32] built the case that his 1992 conviction was founded on
[21:35] unreliable, manipulated evidence.
[21:41] In 2015, Tempest's lawyers filed for post conviction relief.
[21:46] A Rhode Island Superior Court judge agreed that the original
[21:49] trial was flawed to the point that Beaver Tempest was denied
[21:53] his constitutional right to a fair trial.
[21:56] In July 2015, he vacated Tempest's conviction, ruling
[22:01] that prosecutors had withheld exculpatory evidence.
[22:05] After spending 23 years in prison, Tempest was released on
[22:09] bail that fall, awaiting a new trial.
[22:13] The next year, 2016, the Rhode Island Supreme Court upheld the
[22:18] decision, affirming that Tempest's conviction couldn't
[22:21] stand given the misconduct and new evidence.
[22:25] For the first time in over 2 decades, Tempest was out from
[22:29] behind bars, at least for the time being.
[22:35] Even after the courts overturned the conviction, state
[22:37] prosecutors were reluctant to let the case go.
[22:41] They initially announced plans to retry Tempest for the slaying
[22:44] of Doreen Picard. By then, the evidence against
[22:47] him had been severely undermined and memories had faded.
[22:52] Rather than risk a second trial and a possible life sentence,
[22:56] Tempest made a consequential choice.
[22:59] In December 2017, he entered an Alford Plea, a legal mechanism
[23:04] whereby a defendant doesn't admit guilt but acknowledges
[23:08] that the prosecution has enough evidence to convict.
[23:13] In exchange, he received a sentence of time served.
[23:17] This meant that with the decades he had already spent behind
[23:20] bars, Tempest would serve no further prison time.
[23:24] He walked out of court a free man, still proclaiming his
[23:27] innocence, even if he had to legally say there was evidence
[23:31] to convict him. And just to put this in
[23:35] perspective, he faced 2 choices, to either take the Alford plea
[23:39] and get released immediately, or to roll the dice with the rest
[23:43] of his life after decades in prison.
[23:46] If he is indeed innocent despite the Alford plea, then that must
[23:50] have been a hell of a difficult decision to make.
[23:55] Ultimately, it remains unclear what really happened to Doreen
[23:59] and Susan that day in February. The case is officially closed,
[24:04] and Beaver Tempest has officially been convicted of the
[24:07] crime. Unfortunately, this is a case
[24:10] where a botched investigation has prevented true justice from
[24:14] being served. In any event, if Beaver did it,
[24:17] he's now out free when he should still be behind bars for the
[24:20] attacks. If he's innocent, Beaver now has
[24:24] this millstone around his neck for the rest of his life, and
[24:27] the guy who actually did it could still be walking free,
[24:31] knowing he got away with it completely.
[24:36] Imagine waking up in the dead of night to a strange sensation,
[24:40] not of pain or theft, but the eerie realization that someone
[24:44] had been in your bedroom and cut off a lock of your hair.
[24:47] It sounds like a campfire Horror Story.
[24:50] Yet in 1942, the people of Pascagoula, Ms. lived this
[24:55] nightmare. An unknown prowler, dubbed the
[24:59] Phantom Barber crept into homes at night and sheared off
[25:02] people's hair as they slept, disappearing into the darkness
[25:06] without a trace. Interestingly, there's credible
[25:10] evidence to suggest this weird occurrence was actually a
[25:13] psychological operation carried out by the Axis powers in the
[25:20] early 1940s. Pascagoula was a town on edge
[25:24] even before the Phantom Barber arrived.
[25:27] The population had tripled almost overnight due to the boom
[25:30] at the local shipyard due to the global conflict that had
[25:33] engulfed the world. Although this boom brought
[25:36] economic growth, it also strained Pascagoula's small
[25:40] police force and LED to more petty crimes in town.
[25:44] Even before the phantom attack started, blackout rules kept the
[25:48] city dim at night to prevent enemy attacks, cloaking
[25:52] neighborhoods in near total darkness each night.
[25:55] War paranoia ran high with German U boats reportedly
[26:00] lurking in the Gulf of Mexico. People suspected that any
[26:04] neighbor or newcomer could be an enemy spy in this tense
[26:08] atmosphere. The sudden string of hair
[26:10] snipping break insurance sent Pascagoula into full blown
[26:14] panic. The first reported incident came
[26:18] around midnight on June 5th, 1942 at the Our Lady of
[26:23] Victories Convent. 2 girls, 11 year old Mary Evelyn Briggs and
[26:28] 12 year old Edna Marie Heidel, awoke to see a shadowy man.
[26:34] One girl later described him as a short, stocky figure in a
[26:37] light colored sweatshirt and the girl's screams rang out, but the
[26:42] intruder had already vanished. Each girl found a chunk of her
[26:46] hair had been neatly clipped off, and the two youngsters were
[26:49] both shaken and stirred, but otherwise unharmed.
[26:54] Just a few days later, the phantom Barber struck again.
[26:58] This time the target was 6 year old Carol Petty, who was asleep
[27:01] in her bedroom across town on a Monday night.
[27:04] The intruder cut open the window screen and crept in while Carol
[27:07] and her twin brother slept. By morning, Carol's lovely
[27:12] blonde curls had been cruelly shorn.
[27:15] Her brother beside her didn't appear to have any of his hair
[27:19] taken. The bold prowler once again
[27:24] vanished without seriously harming anyone, taking only
[27:27] stolen locks of hair at the petty home.
[27:30] Investigators did find one clue, a sandy footprint on a chair
[27:35] beneath the window, suggesting the culprit had stood there to
[27:39] enter and exit. The community was alarmed and
[27:42] baffled, and law enforcement was stumped.
[27:45] The police chief admitted he couldn't imagine what would
[27:48] drive a person to commit such bizarre break insurance.
[27:52] Aside from the cut window screens and an occasional
[27:54] footprint, the Phantom left little trace.
[27:59] All the targets so far were young and female, which led
[28:03] parents to dread that their own daughters might be next.
[28:07] Many residents began sealing their windows shut despite the
[28:10] summer heat. Then the pattern shifted
[28:15] dramatically. In mid June, the intruder
[28:18] invaded the bedroom of the Heidelbergs, a local couple, and
[28:21] attacked them with an iron bar. Both survived, but the violent
[28:26] assault marked a dangerous escalation from the earlier hair
[28:29] thefts. Some in town questioned if this
[28:32] was even the same perpetrator since nothing was stolen, not
[28:36] even hair, and the brutality was unprecedented.
[28:40] Nevertheless, police believe the phantom Barber had turned
[28:43] violent. The very next week, a final
[28:47] incident seemed to confirm the barber's evolving tactics.
[28:51] A woman named Miss Taylor woke feeling a nauseating smell and
[28:55] later discovered a portion of her hair had been cut off while
[28:58] she was unconscious. Investigators suspected the
[29:02] intruder used an anesthetic to keep her asleep while he took
[29:05] her hair. It was another brazen break in
[29:08] an assault, though fortunately Miss Taylor was not otherwise
[29:12] harmed. For several weeks that summer,
[29:16] Pascagoula felt under siege by an invisible menace, with a
[29:20] prowler literally cutting hair off people's heads.
[29:23] Everyday life took a surreal turn.
[29:26] Men refused to leave home for night shifts at the shipyard,
[29:30] insisting on guarding their families, causing significant
[29:33] delays in building ships for the fight against the Axis.
[29:37] Nearly every able bodied man armed himself and joined in
[29:41] local neighborhood watch groups, again leading to diminished
[29:44] output at the local factories. The authorities publicly
[29:48] promised that they would have the case fully wrapped up by
[29:51] July 1942 and deployed all their resources to catching the
[29:55] Phantom. In a rare move, the Army relaxed
[30:00] the town's nighttime blackout restrictions to shed a bit of
[30:04] light on the streets, hoping to make it harder for the prowler
[30:07] to hide. Despite these efforts, July 1942
[30:12] arrived with no arrests and no new leads.
[30:15] The Phantom Barber seemed impossible to catch.
[30:19] To make matters stranger, a rash of other nighttime intrusions
[30:23] was reported nearby. In those incidents, the prowler
[30:27] did not cut hair at all, but would slice open window screens
[30:31] and scatter clothing and dishes around the homes.
[30:34] Whether this was the phantom Barber indulging in further
[30:37] mischief or a copycat playing pranks, nobody could say.
[30:43] Finally, in August 1942, the case took a turn which suggested
[30:48] that this whole string of incidents may have been
[30:51] something even more sinister. Police arrested 57 year old
[30:55] William A Dolan, a chemist who had studied in Germany, and
[30:59] accused him of being the phantom Barber.
[31:02] He was initially brought in due to his feud with the
[31:05] Heidelbergs, the couple who had been viciously attacked, and the
[31:09] authorities wasted no time pinning the scare on Dolan.
[31:14] The police chief speculated that Dolan's goal in the hair cutting
[31:17] spree was to impair the morale of workers, effectively accusing
[31:21] him of being a saboteur on behalf of the Germans.
[31:27] Notably, neighbors whispered that Dolan had very strong pro
[31:30] German sympathies. The narrative quickly formed
[31:34] that this disgruntled German educated chemist had terrorized
[31:38] Pascagoula as the phantom Barber.
[31:41] Dolan was formally charged not with the hair snippings, but
[31:45] with the attack on the Heidelbergs.
[31:48] That was the most serious offense, and the one charge
[31:51] authorities felt confident would stick.
[31:54] And his trial was swift, Fuelled by the community's palpable
[31:58] relief and anger. The jury took only a few hours
[32:01] to convict Dolan of the assault, and the judge handed down a 10
[32:05] year prison sentence. At last, Pascagoula could sleep
[32:10] peacefully again, convinced that the nightmare was over.
[32:14] For the first time in months, residents let their guard down,
[32:18] believing the phantom was safely behind bars.
[32:23] Years later, doubts began to surface about whether Dolan was
[32:27] really the phantom Barber. He always insisted he was
[32:30] innocent, and in 1948 he even passed a lie detector test
[32:34] arranged by the state governor. Though of course, those aren't
[32:38] exactly a science. Citing the ambiguous evidence
[32:42] and public hysteria surrounding the case, the governor granted
[32:45] Dolan an early release, and he was eventually pardoned
[32:48] entirely. The case of the Phantom Barber
[32:52] thus remains technically unsolved, and there are some
[32:55] serious questions floating about the attacks in general.
[33:01] While the question of whether Dolan was responsible for any or
[33:04] all of the attacks remains unsolved, the most interesting
[33:08] question is whether a saboteur was at play.
[33:14] The prevailing wartime theory was that a German agent or
[33:17] sympathizer carried out the attacks to undermine local
[33:20] industrial production through fear.
[33:23] The phantom barber's timing and effect causing skilled workers
[33:26] to stay home did hurt the shipyard output, lending some
[33:30] credence to this idea. Although no direct proof of spy
[33:35] activity was found, this idea made sense to many frightened
[33:39] residents in 1942. Some have speculated that if it
[33:43] was discovered that German agents were at play, this
[33:47] information wouldn't have been released to the public.
[33:50] Americans were already worried about foreign agents disrupting
[33:53] factory production, and confirmation that this really
[33:57] happened would have caused even more disruption.
[34:01] However, after relations with Germany and the United States
[34:04] normalized, there was no indication that sabotage took
[34:08] place in Pascagoula. That said, it's always possible
[34:12] that the records related to any such psychological operation
[34:15] were destroyed, or that the people responsible either
[34:18] weren't alive or weren't talking.
[34:23] Interestingly, some have speculated that aside from the
[34:26] attack on the Heidelbergs that the entirety of the incident
[34:29] could be chalked up to mass hysteria.
[34:32] Under this theory, the Phantom Barber never actually existed
[34:36] and was simply a manifestation of the fear and anxiety felt on
[34:40] the home front during the conflict.
[34:44] Ultimately, whether a German agent or sympathizer carried out
[34:47] the attacks to disrupt industrial output will continue
[34:50] to remain an unsolved mystery. In September 19, 8750, year old
[35:01] Dale Kerstetter vanished from his job during an overnight
[35:04] shift at the Corning Glass Works plant in Bradford, PA.
[35:09] On that very same night, more than a quarter $1,000,000 worth
[35:12] of platinum disappeared from the facility.
[35:15] And yes, if you're a long time viewer, you know that I have a
[35:18] keen interest in both heists and missing persons cases, so I
[35:23] couldn't pass this one up. Kerstetter was a veteran
[35:26] maintenance man and security guard with 27 years experience
[35:30] at the Corning plant. He was scheduled to work his
[35:33] usual night shift on Saturday, September 12th, 1987.
[35:38] By the next morning, he was gone without a trace, leaving behind
[35:42] personal belongings and a mystery that endures to this
[35:45] day. Investigators and family alike
[35:49] have grappled with the question, was Dale Kerstetter an
[35:52] unsuspecting victim of a robbery or a willing participant in an
[35:57] elaborate theft? Dale was a trusted employee,
[36:01] described as an ordinary well liked man devoted to his large
[36:06] family. Sometime during the night,
[36:09] approximately $250,000 worth of platinum pipe used in the glass
[36:14] manufacturing process went missing from the plants furnace
[36:18] area, along with Kerstetter himself.
[36:21] When the next security guard, John Lindquist, showed up at
[36:24] 7:00 AM on Sunday to relieve Dale, he immediately sensed
[36:28] something was wrong. Kerstetter was nowhere to be
[36:32] found. At his post in the plant's
[36:35] cafeteria, Lindquist discovered Dale's lunch pail sitting on a
[36:39] table alongside his newspaper in Keys.
[36:43] This was an alarming sign, as it appeared Dale had left in the
[36:46] middle of his shift without even consuming the dinner he brought.
[36:51] Later that morning, security staff located Kerstetter's
[36:55] pickup truck still in the plant parking lot, yielding more
[37:00] puzzling clues. The truck's keys were still in
[37:04] the ignition, and inside the vehicle investigators found a
[37:08] full carton of cigarettes, Dale's food, and an empty
[37:12] holster for his weapon, which itself was missing.
[37:17] There were no indications of forced entry at the plant or
[37:20] signs of a struggle at the scene.
[37:23] These early clues suggested that whatever happened, it occurred
[37:27] suddenly and likely not at Kerstetter's own initiative.
[37:31] For example, Dale was a heavy smoker, so leaving behind an
[37:36] entire carton of cigarettes was highly unusual if he had
[37:40] intended to leave voluntarily. Plant Procedures also called for
[37:44] the lone night guard to check in by phone with the company's
[37:47] headquarters every hour. However, it was later discovered
[37:51] that Dale never made any hourly check in calls after starting
[37:55] his shift. Unfortunately, a new employee in
[37:59] the remote monitoring office wasn't familiar with this
[38:01] protocol, so Kerstetter's missed check insurance went unnoticed
[38:05] in real time. Once Kerstetter's disappearance
[38:09] was recognized, plant officials and authorities quickly launched
[38:13] a search of the sprawling facility and surrounding area.
[38:17] And when I say sprawling here, I'm not exaggerating.
[38:20] The facility itself is over 100,000 square feet and the
[38:25] property it's on is even larger. Fearing that the missing guard
[38:29] might have been injured or fallen I'll on the job, AK 9
[38:34] unit was brought in to track his scent through the building.
[38:38] The Bloodhounds traced Dale's trail along his normal patrol
[38:41] route at first, then LED officers to the second floor
[38:45] area housing the plants glass furnace where the valuable
[38:49] platinum was kept. This location wasn't part of
[38:52] Kerstetter's usual rounds, raising a red flag that
[38:56] something drew him there during the night.
[38:59] Upon inspecting the furnace, managers discovered that several
[39:03] pieces of platinum lining had been cut out and removed,
[39:07] confirming that a major theft had occurred.
[39:10] Despite an extensive search of the building, no sign of
[39:13] Kerstetter was found inside, and a sweep of the surrounding woods
[39:18] and a nearby Creek also turned up nothing.
[39:22] By later that day, the McKean County Sheriff's Office and
[39:25] Pennsylvania State Police were treating the incident as both a
[39:28] missing person case and a high value burglary.
[39:31] A breakthrough in the early investigation came when
[39:34] officials reviewed the plant security camera footage about
[39:38] four days after the incident. Corning Personnel Manager
[39:42] Patrick Foley scrutinized recordings from three
[39:45] surveillance cameras that monitored the facility.
[39:49] Also, keep Foley's name in mind for later because he's going to
[39:52] come up again in a bit and depending on how you see this
[39:56] case, you'll either love or hate him.
[39:59] What Foley saw was startling and completely changed the nature of
[40:02] the case and the investigation. At approximately 10:40 PM, only
[40:08] minutes after Kierstetter started his shift, the footage
[40:12] showed a masked intruder walking through the back area of the
[40:15] plant. At around 10:45 PM, the cameras
[40:20] captured A brief encounter between Dale and this masked
[40:23] person in a corridor. Kerstetter could be seen walking
[40:26] up to the intruder and apparently engaging in a short
[40:29] conversation. The two then move together out
[40:33] of frame. Moments later, the intruder is
[40:36] seen walking through the plant alone, without Kerstetter.
[40:40] The next significant footage comes around midnight, when the
[40:43] intruder appears on camera in the furnace area on the 2nd
[40:47] floor, precisely where the platinum was stored.
[40:51] The video shows the intruder in that area and later shows him
[40:55] Wheeling out a large, heavy bag through the building.
[40:59] Investigators speculated that the bag likely contained the
[41:02] stolen platinum, or possibly even cursed at her himself,
[41:06] notably during the brief corridor encounter on the tape,
[41:10] as cursed at her and the masked man, We're leaving the 2nd floor
[41:13] area together. Dale glances up directly into
[41:17] one of the security cameras. This peculiar moment would
[41:21] become a focal point of debate. Was Dale subtly looking into the
[41:25] camera to signal for help, or was he acknowledging the camera
[41:29] Jim from the Office style because he knew what was about
[41:33] to happen? Authorities at the time couldn't
[41:36] determine if Kirstedter's behavior indicated duress or
[41:39] complicity. The surveillance evidence made
[41:42] one thing clear. The unidentified intruder was
[41:46] able to navigate the plant with confidence.
[41:49] The individual knew exactly where to find the platinum, how
[41:52] to access the furnace even in the dark, and where equipment
[41:56] like carts or bags were located. This strongly suggested that
[42:01] someone familiar with the facility, perhaps a current or
[42:05] former employee, was involved in the heist.
[42:09] Notably, while the authorities have been uncertain about
[42:11] whether Dale was involved, the company he worked for for 27
[42:16] years of his life literally immediately threw him under the
[42:19] bus. Patrick Foley, the plant manager
[42:23] I mentioned previously, went on the record saying that Dale was
[42:26] a common thief taking their platinum.
[42:29] Also, as a complete aside, I hope Mr. Foley's words inspire
[42:34] someone to take this as a sign to follow their own dreams.
[42:38] By way of reminder, Dale gave 27 years of service to Corning
[42:42] Glass Works, yet this was the thanks he got at the end of the
[42:46] day, where there was a significant likelihood that he
[42:49] was slain in the line of duty. Dale's family vehemently
[42:53] rejected the notion that Dale was a platinum thief.
[42:55] From the beginning, family members described Kirstetter as
[43:00] a devoted father of six who would never willingly abandoned
[43:03] his children and grandchildren without any word.
[43:07] In the months and years following the disappearance, the
[43:10] case remained A stubborn mystery.
[43:13] Law enforcement conducted numerous interviews and
[43:15] background checks. It came to light that Kerstetter
[43:19] had been under financial strain. He'd recently taken a pay cut of
[43:23] several $1000 and was reportedly $40,000 behind on various loan
[43:29] and bill payments. This information gave weight to
[43:32] a possible motive if he had engineered the theft.
[43:36] Investigators also noted that no trace of the missing Platinum or
[43:39] Dale himself surfaced in the aftermath.
[43:43] The platinum, a highly valuable commodity, could have been
[43:46] melted down or sold on a black market, making it hard to trace.
[43:51] Meanwhile, despite occasional tips, police never identified
[43:55] the masked culprit seen on the tape.
[43:57] The uncertainty of Kerstetter's fate created legal and personal
[44:01] dilemmas for his family. In 1993, years after he
[44:05] vanished, Dale's daughter Wendy petitioned the court to have her
[44:09] father declared legally dead. She was hoping to bring some
[44:13] closure and possibly claim life insurance and his pension
[44:17] benefits. Corning Glass Works fought this
[44:20] petition, contending that Dale could still be alive and may
[44:24] have been a participant in the crime.
[44:27] During the hearing, the company's lawyer argued there
[44:29] was no conclusive evidence that Kerstetter had met with foul
[44:33] play. The Pennsylvania Superior Court
[44:36] agreed that the evidence of Dale's demise was too vague and
[44:40] denied the petition in December 1990.
[44:43] As a result, Kerstetter remained legally a missing person, and
[44:47] Corning withheld his pension and insurance payouts from his
[44:50] family. Over the years, several theories
[44:54] have emerged to explain what might have happened to Dale
[44:57] Kerstetter. The core question is whether
[45:00] Kerstetter was an unwilling victim of foul play or whether
[45:04] he was a willing participant in the theft who disappeared by
[45:07] choice. Within these broad possibilities
[45:11] are variations, including the idea that he could have been
[45:15] involved in the crime but ultimately double crossed and
[45:18] harmed by accomplices. Each theory has its own evidence
[45:23] and arguments, with strengths and weaknesses supported by the
[45:26] known facts. One prominent theory is that
[45:30] Dale Kerstetter was the victim of foul play, meaning he
[45:34] encountered intruders during a robbery and was forcibly taken
[45:38] and slain. In this scenario, criminals,
[45:43] possibly one or more people, broke into the plant to steal
[45:47] the platinum and neutralize the security guard as an obstacle.
[45:52] Supporting evidence for this theory centers on indications
[45:55] that Kerstetter didn't leave on his own terms.
[45:58] The scene left behind at the plant strongly suggests an
[46:02] abrupt interruption. Investigators found no signs of
[46:06] a struggle at the guard station, but it's possible that the
[46:09] confrontation was quick, explaining the lack of obvious
[46:13] violence on the premises. After all, the thieves would
[46:18] have had strong motivation to be as silent as possible.
[46:21] The fact that his weapon was missing from its holster implies
[46:25] he might have armed himself when facing a threat or that the
[46:29] intruder took his weapon from him on the security tape.
[46:34] Kerstetter's behavior could be interpreted as that of a man
[46:37] under duress. The other main line of
[46:40] speculation is that Kerstetter was involved in the crime.
[46:44] In this view, the incident was an inside job and the masked
[46:48] intruder could have been an accomplice or Co conspirator
[46:52] rather than an unknown assailant.
[46:55] Proponents of this theory emphasized Kerstetter's possible
[46:58] motive and the inside knowledge required to carry out the theft.
[47:03] Investigators uncovered that Dale was under significant
[47:06] financial pressure, including 10s of thousands of dollars in
[47:10] debt and a recent pay cut at work.
[47:13] Some have suggested that this pay cut after 27 years alongside
[47:18] his mounting debt could have forced a good loyal worker to
[47:21] turn bad. While the inside job theory is
[47:25] plausible, there are significant challenges and counter arguments
[47:29] that cast doubt on Kerstetter's willing complicity.
[47:34] The most major point is Dale's abrupt and total disappearance.
[47:38] Even if he initially escaped, can we believe that for decades
[47:42] he never contacted any of his loved ones or resurfaced?
[47:46] However, supporters of the theory that he was in on it
[47:50] speculate that Dale was double crossed by his Co conspirator.
[47:54] In assessing the competing theories, it's important to note
[47:57] that none of them have been proven.
[48:00] Simply put, this is a case with an abundance of strange evidence
[48:03] but little definitive proof. Personally, I have significant
[48:08] difficulty believing that a family man who worked for a
[48:10] company for 27 years would throw it all away for a platinum
[48:14] heist. I wasn't able to find the value
[48:18] of his pension in my research. That said, I suspect that the
[48:21] value of his pension after 27 years work was likely worth more
[48:26] than the platinum he allegedly stole.
[48:29] However, to put things in perspective, the company fought
[48:32] tooth and nail to deny his heirs any rights to the pension, and
[48:37] last I checked, lawyers aren't free.
[48:40] This is doubly true considering he would have at least had to
[48:43] split it 5050 with his accomplice, assuming there was
[48:46] only one. Further yet, I suspect Dale
[48:50] Kerstetter may not have had ready access to a fence.
[48:54] Given that he clearly wasn't living a life of crime, he would
[48:59] have had to have taken a massive hit on the exchange of the
[49:01] illicit platinum. In my view, the numbers just
[49:05] don't really add up, and I'd like to propose a theory I
[49:08] haven't run into so far. Dale was known to be the only
[49:12] person who worked security at the plant where the platinum was
[49:15] kept. It would have been extremely
[49:17] easy for a perpetrator to follow him back to his house, snap a
[49:21] few pictures and then confront him at a different location.
[49:26] At this point he would have been given an offer he couldn't
[49:29] refuse, and we know from his family that he was a loving
[49:33] family man with six kids plus grandkids.
[49:38] I think he could have been forced to do the whole thing and
[49:41] that last look at the security camera was a knowing goodbye.
[49:45] I admit this is purely speculation, but in my view it
[49:50] fits better with the evidence than him willingly throwing away
[49:53] significant pension based wealth for this heist.
[49:57] Anyway, I've gone on way too long about Dale Kerstetter's
[49:59] case, but I find his case endlessly fascinating.
[50:04] Let me know what theory you prefer in the comments or
[50:06] propose your own. Hey everyone, it's Jimmy here
[50:11] with a reminder to hit that notification bell and share this
[50:15] video with two people you know. Sharing my videos helps my
[50:19] channel grow in a big way. And the best part is, it's
[50:22] totally free and only takes a second.
[50:27] In November 19, 8026, year old Valerie McDonald, an aspiring
[50:32] actress and part time model, vanished from San Francisco
[50:35] under mysterious circumstances. She was last seen on November
[50:40] 9th, 1980, leaving her North Beach apartment with a young man
[50:44] who had promised her a bit part in a movie.
[50:48] On the day she disappeared, Valerie was in the process of
[50:51] moving out of her apartment and had been wary of the new
[50:54] building managers who were ex convicts.
[50:58] That afternoon, one of them, Michael John Hennessy, convinced
[51:02] her to accompany him by offering $200 for a small role in a
[51:08] supposed Dustin Hoffman film being shot that night.
[51:12] Friends grew concerned when Valerie didn't return and
[51:15] contacted police the next day. However, they were initially
[51:19] told they had to wait 72 hours to file a missing persons
[51:23] report. Valerie's friend spent days
[51:27] searching for her and eventually reached out to Valerie's
[51:30] parents. The parents flew to San
[51:33] Francisco, only to be brushed off by authorities who
[51:36] speculated that their daughter might have gone to Las Vegas.
[51:41] It wasn't until roughly a week after Valerie's disappearance
[51:44] that police truly began investigating, and by then,
[51:48] critical time had been lost. Once the San Francisco police
[51:52] delved into the case, suspicion quickly focused on the men
[51:56] running Valerie's building. These were Michael Hennessy and
[52:00] his two associates, John Abbott and Phillip Thompson.
[52:04] Investigators learned these three had taken over management
[52:08] of the apartment that fall and all were recently out of prison.
[52:13] On November 19th, 1980, about 10 days after Valerie went missing,
[52:18] authorities went to question the trio only to discover they had
[52:22] abruptly vanished. A break in the case came a week
[52:26] later in Canada. On November 26th, 1980, Abbott
[52:31] and Hennessy resurfaced in British Columbia where they were
[52:35] confronted by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
[52:39] During this encounter, Hennessy was eliminated by the police
[52:43] while Abbott was captured after attempting to shoot 2 Mounties.
[52:47] In Abbott's vehicle and belongings, officers found
[52:50] multiple weapons and personal items of Valerie's, including
[52:54] her ID cards and the leather jacket she had been wearing.
[52:57] On November 9th, these chilling discoveries confirmed that
[53:01] Valerie had been in the men's company and strongly suggested
[53:05] foul play. Authorities also learned that
[53:08] Phillip Thompson had been with Abbott and Hennessy in Canada,
[53:13] but had flown back to California shortly before the shootout.
[53:17] Despite the evidence linking the suspects to Valerie's
[53:20] disappearance, there was still no trace of Valerie herself.
[53:25] Without a body, a weapon, or any direct evidence of foul play,
[53:30] San Francisco police felt they lacked enough proof to charge
[53:33] Abbott or Thompson at the time. Abbott was instead prosecuted in
[53:38] Canada for the attempted shooting of the officers and
[53:41] sentenced to prison there. Thompson was later arrested in
[53:45] California in 1983 on unrelated kidnapping and robbery charges.
[53:52] Despite tantalizing circumstantial evidence,
[53:55] Valerie's case unfortunately went cold.
[53:58] Phillip Thompson and John Abbott denied any involvement in
[54:01] Valerie's disappearance, and with one suspect dead and the
[54:05] others behind bars on other matters, Leeds grew cold.
[54:10] A major break finally came over a decade later.
[54:13] In October 1991, hunters in a remote area of Ferry County,
[54:18] Washington, not far from the Canada US border, stumbled upon
[54:22] partial skeletal remains near the Kettle River.
[54:26] The remains were initially recorded as an unidentified Jane
[54:29] Doe. At the time, forensic examiners
[54:33] could only determine that they belong to a woman in her mid 20s
[54:36] to 30s. Finally, in late 2000A review of
[54:41] dental records in California's missing persons database yielded
[54:46] a hit. In November 2001, authorities
[54:50] announced that the remains were identified as Valerie McDonald.
[54:54] The authorities officially determined that she had been
[54:57] rendered deceased non consensually, confirming what
[55:00] her family and investigators had long suspected.
[55:04] The location of the grim find along a river in Washington
[55:08] state strongly tied her death to the suspects flight path toward
[55:12] Canada. This discovery, 2 decades after
[55:17] Valerie vanished, provided some closure to her family, even as
[55:22] the question of who was responsible remained unanswered.
[55:27] Despite the strong circumstantial case against the
[55:29] trio, no one has ever been charged or prosecuted in this
[55:33] case. By the time Valerie's remains
[55:36] were identified IN200011, suspect Hennessy was long dead
[55:42] and another, Thompson was incarcerated for life on a
[55:46] different slaying. The third, John Abbott, was
[55:50] living overseas and out of reach.
[55:52] After he was released from Canadian prison for his role in
[55:55] the shootout, he was deported to the United Kingdom, his home
[55:59] country. From there, he's lived in Japan,
[56:02] New Zealand and South Africa. He's never faced any charges
[56:06] whatsoever in relation to Valerie's case, and some
[56:10] theories online suggest that his dad is a politically powerful
[56:13] individual and pulled some strings.
[56:16] That said, I was only able to find this information in forum
[56:19] gossip, so I'd take that all with a grain of salt for the
[56:22] time being. In December 1993, Waterloo, IA
[56:28] was rocked by two brutal slayings that continue to
[56:30] confound investigators and haunt the local community. 2 elderly
[56:35] residents, 83 year old Gladys Held and 87 year old Jacob
[56:40] Barretts, were found dead in their own apartments on
[56:43] consecutive nights. These cases, marked by striking
[56:48] similarities in method and timing, have led many to suspect
[56:52] a single elusive criminal may be responsible.
[56:57] Despite extensive investigations and modern forensic advances,
[57:01] the truth behind these acts remains a mystery.
[57:05] On the night of December 8th, 1993, Gladys Held, a retired
[57:11] secretary, was attacked in her apartment at the Walnut Court
[57:15] Retirement Community at 315 Walnut St. the following
[57:20] morning. When a concerned resident
[57:22] discovered that Gladys had missed her daily in house
[57:24] service, alarm bells were raised.
[57:27] Initially, staff suspected that she may have had a medical
[57:31] emergency. In the night, responding
[57:34] officers found her lying in bed in disarray with belongings
[57:38] scattered around the room. Evidence indicated that Gladys
[57:42] had been struck with her telephone and then strangled to
[57:45] death. Investigators later noted that
[57:49] Gladys's door was left unlocked and that a broken glass panel on
[57:53] an exterior door hinted at forced entry.
[57:57] A neighbor had even reported an unknown man entering an
[58:00] apartment the previous night and demanding money before
[58:03] retreating when refused. Although nothing of significant
[58:07] value appeared to have been stolen, the signs pointed to a
[58:10] burglary that escalated into a horrific act.
[58:15] The shocking nature of the crime left residents of Walnut Court
[58:19] fearful for their own safety, prompting the building's
[58:22] management to hire private security and urge tenants to
[58:26] remain vigilant. Less than 24 hours after the
[58:29] slaying of Gladys Held, another tragedy struck only a few blocks
[58:33] away. Jacob Beretz, affectionately
[58:37] known as Old Jake by locals, was found dead in his apartment at
[58:42] 311 Lafayette St. on the morning of December 10th, 1993.
[58:48] Buretz, a retired auto mechanic who lived a quiet and solitary
[58:52] life, had already experienced a violent incident two weeks
[58:56] earlier during Thanksgiving weekend.
[58:59] In that previous home invasion, his apartment door was kicked in
[59:03] and an assailant, described as a man dressed entirely in black,
[59:08] pepper sprayed and brutally beat him before stealing cash.
[59:13] Adding to the eerie connection between this act and the later
[59:16] slayings, part of this brutal assault included an attempt to
[59:20] strangle Jake. Jake advised the authorities
[59:23] that he had recently gotten into a dispute with a cab driver over
[59:27] what he believed to be unfair charges on a trip back to his
[59:30] apartment from a bar. Although Jake survived that
[59:34] attack, the scars of the assault were a painful reminder of the
[59:37] dangers he faced. On the night of December 9th, a
[59:42] neighbor noticed unusual activity near Barrett's
[59:45] apartment, reportedly observing a man wandering the complex and
[59:49] hearing a disturbance later that evening.
[59:53] When this neighbor and the landlady checked on Jake the
[59:55] next morning, they found him on his couch with his arms neatly
[59:59] crossed over his chest. The autopsy later determined
[1:00:03] that he had died from asphyxia caused by suffocation, likely
[1:00:07] the result of being smothered with a pillow.
[1:00:11] Unlike the extremely violent struggle in Held's apartment,
[1:00:14] Barrett's scene appeared controlled, almost as though the
[1:00:18] perpetrator had taken time to stage the scene.
[1:00:22] Given that Jake had already been targeted in a robbery, many
[1:00:25] began to wonder if the same criminal had returned to finish
[1:00:28] the job. The close timing and
[1:00:31] geographical proximity of these two slayings immediately raised
[1:00:35] suspicions that they might be the work of a single
[1:00:37] perpetrator. The two apartment buildings are
[1:00:41] situated only a few blocks apart, and both crimes occurred
[1:00:45] during the night. Although the exact details of
[1:00:48] each crime differ slightly, the overall pattern indicates that
[1:00:52] the perp might have been targeting vulnerable elderly
[1:00:55] residents, possibly with the intent to commit robbery.
[1:01:00] Police eventually began to treat the crimes as connected, and by
[1:01:04] 2005, officials were openly stating their belief that one
[1:01:08] man was behind both crimes. From the outset, the
[1:01:13] investigations into these slayings face significant
[1:01:16] obstacles. Both cases yielded very few
[1:01:19] leads, and despite an intensive police effort, no eyewitnesses
[1:01:24] came forward with any definitive information.
[1:01:28] Forensic teams collected blood samples, hair fibers, and trace
[1:01:32] evidence from both scenes, yet no usable fingerprints were
[1:01:37] found, suggesting that the PERP may have taken precautions such
[1:01:41] as wearing gloves. Although DNA profiling was still
[1:01:45] emerging as an investigative tool at the time, the samples
[1:01:49] collected from both crime scenes have yet to match any known
[1:01:52] offender in the state database. And one question I had, and I'm
[1:01:57] sure you do too, is whether these two DNA samples match with
[1:02:01] one another. Well, I hate to break it to you,
[1:02:04] but the answer isn't readily available.
[1:02:07] That said, reading between the lines, you'll recall that in
[1:02:11] 2005, the cops said they think it was the same guy.
[1:02:15] I think that's confirmation that the DNA from the scenes matches.
[1:02:20] All that said, the lack of ADNA match to a database continues to
[1:02:24] be one of the major stumbling blocks in solving these cases.
[1:02:29] The limited physical evidence was compounded by the absence of
[1:02:33] clear eyewitness testimony in the case of Gladys Held, Aside
[1:02:38] from a neighbor's report of a suspicious intruder demanding
[1:02:41] money, no one witnessed the crime.
[1:02:44] Similarly, although a neighbor reported hearing disturbances at
[1:02:48] Jacob Barrett's apartment, by the time anyone arrived, the
[1:02:53] assailant had already vanished into the night.
[1:02:56] In January 1994, Gladys Held's son even offered a reward for
[1:03:01] information that could lead to an arrest, but this too failed
[1:03:05] to produce any tangible leads. As a result, police were left
[1:03:09] with only circumstantial evidence to pursue, and despite
[1:03:13] periodic reviews by cold case units in later years, the
[1:03:16] perpetrator has never been identified.
[1:03:20] The scarcity of definitive evidence has given rise to
[1:03:22] numerous speculative theories about who might be behind these
[1:03:26] acts. One of the most popular ideas is
[1:03:30] that a single criminal was targeting elderly residents in
[1:03:33] Waterloo. Proponents of this theory point
[1:03:37] to the vulnerability of the victims and the methodical
[1:03:40] nature of the crimes as evidence that the assailant was
[1:03:42] experienced and calculated in his approach.
[1:03:46] According to this view, the perpetrator deliberately chose
[1:03:50] seniors who lived alone, making them easy targets for a burglary
[1:03:54] that quickly escalated. Another theory that has received
[1:03:58] significant attention centers on the individual implicated in
[1:04:02] Jacob Barrett's earlier robbery. Barrettes had expressed
[1:04:06] suspicion that a particular cab driver was responsible for his
[1:04:09] brutal assault during Thanksgiving weekend.
[1:04:12] Although this taxi driver theory is intriguing, law enforcement
[1:04:16] has never publicly confirmed a strong link between him and
[1:04:20] either crime. Beyond the main theories,
[1:04:23] alternative ideas have circulated among amateur
[1:04:26] sleuths. Some speculate that the acts
[1:04:29] were not solely crimes of opportunity, but part of a
[1:04:33] broader plan to instill fear in the community.
[1:04:36] A few online theorists have suggested that the perpetrator
[1:04:39] might have been emboldened by what he perceived as LAX
[1:04:42] security measures in senior housing.
[1:04:45] These theorists suggest this enabled him to target vulnerable
[1:04:48] residents with minimal risk of detection.
[1:04:52] Although there's little evidence to support a personal vendetta
[1:04:55] or a message driven motive, this possibility adds yet another
[1:04:59] layer of complexity to these cases.
[1:05:03] Personally, I think the best chance for resolution of these
[1:05:06] cases is through genetic genealogy.
[1:05:10] The perpetrator's DNA has been catalogued and these days, even
[1:05:13] if he isn't in a database, so long as one of his relatives
[1:05:17] wants to know what percentage Irish they are, he'll be caught.
[1:05:21] On January 26th, 1966, the three Beaumont siblings, Jane, age 9,
[1:05:27] Arna, 7, and Grant, 4, left their family home in Somerton
[1:05:32] Park, Adelaide for a morning at Glenelg Beach.
[1:05:36] It was a routine outing they had done before without parental
[1:05:39] supervision. The children took a short bus
[1:05:42] ride to the popular beach, planning to be back by midday.
[1:05:47] Their parents assumed they would be safe and sound, having a fun
[1:05:50] day at the beach. Sadly, this couldn't be further
[1:05:54] from the truth at the beach. Multiple witnesses later
[1:05:59] reported seeing the Beaumont children in the company of an
[1:06:02] unknown man. One woman described this man as
[1:06:05] being in his late 30s, around 6 feet tall, with a slim build, a
[1:06:10] thin face, light colored hair and a deep tan.
[1:06:15] He was reportedly wearing swim trunks and playing with the
[1:06:17] children, who appeared relaxed and happy in his presence.
[1:06:22] When the children failed to return home at the expected
[1:06:25] time, their mother, Nancy Beaumont, grew worried.
[1:06:30] By the evening, after their father, Jim Beaumont, returned
[1:06:34] and a search of the neighborhood turned up nothing, the police
[1:06:37] were notified. An intensive search began that
[1:06:41] night and continued into the next day.
[1:06:43] By the morning of January 27th, the three Beaumont children were
[1:06:48] officially declared missing by police and a large scale
[1:06:51] investigation was under way. The public response was
[1:06:55] immediate and overwhelming. The disappearance of three
[1:06:59] children in broad daylight from a busy beach shocked Australia.
[1:07:03] Hundreds of locals volunteered to help search the area and
[1:07:07] media coverage spread nationwide as concern grew.
[1:07:11] Initially, some speculated the children might have simply
[1:07:14] wandered off or had a misadventure, for example
[1:07:18] getting lost or drowning. But there were no clues to
[1:07:22] support those theories. Their belongings were found
[1:07:26] neatly left on the beach and witnesses clearly remembered
[1:07:29] seeing them with an unknown man pointing to an abduction
[1:07:33] scenario rather than an accident.
[1:07:37] The investigation into the Beaumont children's
[1:07:39] disappearance quickly became one of the largest in Australian
[1:07:42] history. Within a few days, authorities
[1:07:46] had dismissed the possibility of an accidental drowning or other
[1:07:49] mishap. There was simply no evidence of
[1:07:52] the children anywhere, leading police to conclude that
[1:07:55] abduction and likely foul play was the cause.
[1:07:59] A notable early effort was the draining of the Padawalonga Boat
[1:08:02] Haven, a nearby holding basin of water, on January 29th, 1966.
[1:08:09] This drastic measure was taken after a woman reported having
[1:08:13] spoken with three children matching the Beaumont siblings
[1:08:16] description near the Haven on the evening they disappeared.
[1:08:21] Unfortunately, the search of the drained basin yielded no clues
[1:08:26] and no trace of the children was found there or in the
[1:08:29] surrounding areas. Leads poured in as the public
[1:08:33] flooded police with reports of potential sightings and
[1:08:36] information. Some witnesses from the beach
[1:08:39] that day recalled the children saying they were going to buy
[1:08:42] food. Indeed, investigators later
[1:08:45] learned that Jane Beaumont had purchased pastries with a $1.00
[1:08:49] note, a bill her parents hadn't given her.
[1:08:52] This clue eerily suggested the unknown man had given them
[1:08:56] money, likely in an effort to earn their trust.
[1:09:00] Despite many tips, no definitive identification of the suspect
[1:09:04] was made in the initial investigation.
[1:09:07] A sketch of the blonde, athletically built man seen with
[1:09:10] them was circulated, but it led to no firm arrests.
[1:09:15] As weeks turned into months, the case went cold, but it never
[1:09:19] left the public consciousness. In 1968, about two years after
[1:09:25] the disappearance, the Beaumont parents received a series of
[1:09:29] letters that briefly raised hopes.
[1:09:33] One letter, purportedly written by 9 year old Jane, claimed that
[1:09:37] the trio was safe and being cared for by a man.
[1:09:42] Another letter, allegedly from the abductor, arranged a meeting
[1:09:46] for the parents to recover their children.
[1:09:49] The Beaumonts, accompanied by an undercover detective, went to
[1:09:54] the appointed meeting place, only for no one to show up.
[1:09:58] It was later revealed that these letters were a cruel hoax.
[1:10:02] Decades later, police traced them to a man who had been a
[1:10:05] teenager in 1966 and had written the letters quote as a joke.
[1:10:13] He was identified as a 41 year old man in 1992 and confessed to
[1:10:18] the hoax, though he was never charged for it.
[1:10:22] Over the years, the Beaumont investigation had periodic
[1:10:25] resurgences with new leads and theories.
[1:10:29] In the late 1970s and 1980s, police re examined files to see
[1:10:34] if the Beaumont case could be connected to other child
[1:10:37] disappearances. Notably, the disappearance of
[1:10:41] Joanne Ratcliffe, aged 11, and Kirsty Gordon, 4, from a soccer
[1:10:47] match at Adelaide Oval in 1973 was scrutinized for links.
[1:10:53] The circumstances children taken in daylight from a public place
[1:10:57] were eerily similar and some investigators believe the same
[1:11:01] perpetrator could be responsible for both crimes.
[1:11:05] Also, when I was researching this case, this was the first I
[1:11:09] had heard of the Adelaide Oval case.
[1:11:11] I actually went off on a tangent and did a write up for that case
[1:11:15] which I'll be featuring in an upcoming episode.
[1:11:18] Despite these theories, concrete evidence remained elusive in
[1:11:23] 2013, on the eve of the 50th anniversary of the case.
[1:11:29] SA police and independent investigators pursued a new tip
[1:11:33] leading to a dig at a factory site not far from the beach.
[1:11:38] This new lead suggested the children might have been buried
[1:11:40] there. The tip came from two men who
[1:11:43] reported that as boys around the time of the Beaumont
[1:11:46] disappearance, they were paid by a local businessman to dig a
[1:11:50] large hole on that factory property.
[1:11:53] This businessman would later emerge as a major person of
[1:11:56] interest, but I'll come back to that shortly.
[1:12:01] However, after searching the area thoroughly over the course
[1:12:04] of a number of years, no evidence turned up.
[1:12:09] The authorities used everything in their power, including
[1:12:11] physical digs, and as the technology has advanced, ground
[1:12:16] penetrating radar has been used extensively to no avail.
[1:12:21] That said, the factory site hasn't been officially ruled out
[1:12:24] and as you'll see shortly, there's significant
[1:12:27] circumstantial evidence to corroborate the two men's story.
[1:12:31] Over the many years of investigation, police have
[1:12:34] explored numerous suspects and persons of interest.
[1:12:39] While no one has ever been charged in the Beaumont case, a
[1:12:42] few individuals have emerged as particularly credible or
[1:12:46] notorious suspects. Bevan Spencer von Einem, born in
[1:12:51] 1946, is a convicted likely serial Slayer from Adelaide.
[1:12:57] He was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1984 for the
[1:13:00] slaying of a 15 year old boy, Richard Kelvin.
[1:13:05] In the 1980s an informant known only as Mr. B told police an
[1:13:09] astonishing story. He claimed that von Einem had
[1:13:13] boasted about having taken three children from a beach years
[1:13:16] earlier. Personally, I had to tap out of
[1:13:19] reading this informants account of what happened, and I would
[1:13:22] strongly suggest you don't go further down that rabbit hole.
[1:13:27] However, there's significant skepticism about von Einem's
[1:13:29] involvement, given that he was only 20 years old at the time
[1:13:33] the Beaumont children disappeared.
[1:13:36] Further, the victims didn't fit his target profile and he denied
[1:13:40] any involvement in the crimes, though there's absolutely no
[1:13:44] reason to take the word of someone like this at face value.
[1:13:48] Another suspect is Arthur Stanley Brown, who became a
[1:13:52] target in the Beaumont case more than 30 years after the children
[1:13:55] vanished. Brown committed an extremely
[1:13:58] horrific act against two sisters, Judith and Susan McKay,
[1:14:03] in Queensland in August 1970. This crime occurred four years
[1:14:09] after the Beaumont disappearance and in a different state, but
[1:14:12] Brown's alleged crimes and profile drew comparisons.
[1:14:16] Investigators noted that Brown bore A resemblance to the
[1:14:19] composite sketch of the Beaumont suspect.
[1:14:23] However, despite these similarities, nothing further
[1:14:25] has come from this investigative hypothesis.
[1:14:29] The authorities have released significant information on who
[1:14:32] they consider to be the most likely perpetrator in the case.
[1:14:36] Harry Phipps was a wealthy businessman from Adelaide who
[1:14:39] has come under scrutiny as a potentially key suspect in the
[1:14:42] Beaumont case. Phipps, who died in 2004, was
[1:14:47] never officially charged in connection with the
[1:14:49] disappearance, but several pieces of information that
[1:14:52] emerged years later have cast him in a suspicious light.
[1:14:58] Phipps lived near Glenelg Beach in 1966 and was known to be in
[1:15:02] the area at the time. Notably, his eldest son Hayden
[1:15:07] came forward with disturbing allegations.
[1:15:10] Hayden claimed that his father was a violent cheddar pile and
[1:15:14] strongly suggested that Harry Phipps could have been involved
[1:15:17] in the abduction of the Beaumont children.
[1:15:20] Hayden recounted that he saw the Beaumont children at his
[1:15:23] father's house that day, a claim that, while unverified, brought
[1:15:28] intense attention to Phipps as a suspect.
[1:15:32] Further, as discussed earlier, two boys were hired by Harry
[1:15:36] Phipps to dig a large hole shortly after the Beaumont
[1:15:39] children vanished. All these factors put together
[1:15:43] have led investigators to believe that he is likely the
[1:15:46] prime suspect in their disappearance.
[1:15:49] I do have to question why the two, who were hired by Phipps as
[1:15:53] well as his son Hayden, took over 50 years to bring forward
[1:15:56] their evidence. That said, there's potentially
[1:16:00] an explanation for this. Notably, they only came forward
[1:16:03] after Phipps was deceased, indicating that the three may
[1:16:07] have been terrified of the man well into their adulthood.
[1:16:11] Despite the array of suspects and theories, authorities have
[1:16:14] never been able to bring formal charges against anyone for the
[1:16:17] abduction of the Beaumont children.
[1:16:20] The case remains officially unsolved, with each suspect
[1:16:24] ultimately providing more questions than answers.
[1:16:29] The Eastbound Strangler refers to an unidentified serial
[1:16:32] offender believed to have slain 4 women near Atlantic City, NJ
[1:16:36] in late 2006. The case gets its name from the
[1:16:40] fact that each victim was found with her head facing east
[1:16:43] towards Atlantic City. On November 20th, 2006, two
[1:16:49] women walking near a desolate stretch outside Atlantic City
[1:16:53] made a grim discovery. They stumbled upon the body of
[1:16:57] 35 year old Kim Raffo lying face down in a drainage ditch behind
[1:17:03] the Golden Key Motel in West Atlantic City.
[1:17:07] The area around this shallow runoff ditch was a known hangout
[1:17:11] in a seedy area on the outskirts of the city.
[1:17:14] When police arrived at the scene, they quickly found three
[1:17:18] more bodies in the same ditch, all within about 50 yards of
[1:17:22] Raffo's remains. The four victims were found
[1:17:25] fully clothed except for their shoes and socks, and lying face
[1:17:30] down in a row, all with their heads oddly turned toward the
[1:17:34] east. The victims were eventually
[1:17:37] identified as four women who had been involved in paid
[1:17:40] companionship work in the Atlantic City area.
[1:17:43] Each had fallen on hard times before their deaths, and all
[1:17:47] were mothers struggling with personal issues.
[1:17:50] Barbara Braidor, 42, was last seen in October 2006.
[1:17:56] She was known to have battled multiple substance addictions.
[1:17:59] By the time her body was found, it was badly decomposed and
[1:18:03] investigators could not determine an exact cause of
[1:18:06] death. Molly Jean Dilts was 20 years
[1:18:09] old and originally from Pennsylvania.
[1:18:13] Dilts was fairly new to Atlantic City.
[1:18:16] She was the only victim without a known record of Southwest,
[1:18:19] though police believe she had recently entered that life.
[1:18:23] She is thought to have been the first slain, and her remains
[1:18:26] were so decomposed that her cause of death could not be
[1:18:30] determined. Kim Rafo, 35, was a former
[1:18:34] waitress from Brooklyn, NY Rafo had moved to Atlantic City in
[1:18:39] 2003 and struggled with substance addiction.
[1:18:44] She was seen alive just one day before the bodies were
[1:18:47] discovered. Rafo is strongly believed to
[1:18:50] have been the last of the four victims to die, and unlike the
[1:18:54] others, her cause of death was clear.
[1:18:57] She had been strangled with a rope or cord.
[1:19:01] Tracy Ann Roberts, 23, was a former dancer from Delaware who
[1:19:05] had only moved to Atlantic City within the past year.
[1:19:09] In the weeks before her death, she survived an assault by a man
[1:19:13] who tried to get her to work for him in an illicit capacity.
[1:19:18] It's unclear whether there's any connection between this event
[1:19:20] and her subsequent slaying, though the authorities generally
[1:19:24] don't believe so. Her body showed signs of
[1:19:28] asphyxiation, indicating she was likely strangled by the
[1:19:31] perpetrator. All four women were found
[1:19:35] barefoot with their feet pointing up against the Bank of
[1:19:38] the ditch. Investigators believe the man
[1:19:42] removed their shoes and used the position of their feet to anchor
[1:19:46] the bodies in place so they wouldn't wash away in the water.
[1:19:50] The eerie arrangement of the victims immediately signaled to
[1:19:53] police that this was a serial crime scene rather than a
[1:19:57] dumping ground used by multiple perps.
[1:20:01] The discovery of four slain women just outside a major
[1:20:04] tourist destination sent shock waves through the community.
[1:20:09] In the immediate aftermath, the case commanded intense
[1:20:12] attention. Over 100 detectives, local and
[1:20:16] state, were assigned to work on the investigation, and national
[1:20:20] media descended on Atlantic City.
[1:20:22] Authorities quickly confirmed that the four acts almost
[1:20:25] certainly met the FB is definition of a serial offender
[1:20:29] case. Several persons of interest did
[1:20:32] emerge in the investigation, though none have been charged
[1:20:36] nor have any been definitively linked to the case.
[1:20:39] One of the first was Terry Olsen, a 41 year old handyman
[1:20:43] from southern New Jersey. Olsen was living at the rundown
[1:20:47] Golden Key Motel, near where the bodies were found at the time of
[1:20:52] the slayings. He was staying in a room free of
[1:20:55] charge in exchange for doing odd jobs and maintenance work around
[1:21:00] the property. Shortly after news broke,
[1:21:04] Olsen's girlfriend, with whom he was having a bad breakup, called
[1:21:08] police and pointed to him as a possible perpetrator.
[1:21:12] Detectives brought Olsen in for hours of intense questioning.
[1:21:16] A search of his living space turned up tapes that contained
[1:21:20] disturbing hidden footage of his girlfriend's teenage daughter,
[1:21:23] for which he was ultimately charged.
[1:21:27] This discovery made Olsen look more suspicious, but crucially,
[1:21:31] when he provided DNA samples, none of his DNA matched any
[1:21:35] evidence from the victims. Investigators never found
[1:21:39] anything directly tying him to the slayings, and Olson was
[1:21:42] eventually released and is no longer considered a suspect.
[1:21:46] Another name that surfaced was Eldred Raymond Burchill, A
[1:21:50] transient man who had nicknamed himself the River Man in
[1:21:54] reference to the infamous Gary Ridgway.
[1:21:58] A local worker, Denise Hill, told police that Burchill spent
[1:22:02] time with her around 2006 and allegedly confessed to having
[1:22:06] slain women. Burchill was indeed in Atlantic
[1:22:10] City during the period the acts took place, but when police
[1:22:14] attempted to locate him for questioning, he had vanished.
[1:22:18] His whereabouts remain unknown and authorities found no hard
[1:22:22] evidence linking him to the four victims aside from the second
[1:22:25] hand claim. Like Olson, Burchill has never
[1:22:29] been formally charged in connection with the case and has
[1:22:32] never officially been named a suspect.
[1:22:35] Investigators also interviewed at least two other local men who
[1:22:39] knew one or more of the victims, but they too were released
[1:22:43] without charge. To date, no current suspect has
[1:22:46] been publicly named and no arrests have ever been made in
[1:22:50] the eastbound strangler case. Over time, several theories have
[1:22:54] emerged about the identity and motive of the Eastbound
[1:22:57] Strangler. One of the most widely discussed
[1:23:00] ideas was a possible connection to the notorious Long Island
[1:23:04] serial Slayer case. The case involved a series of
[1:23:08] slayings of workers whose remains were found on Gilgo
[1:23:11] Beach and Long Island from 2010 onwards.
[1:23:15] Theorists noted the similarities multiple female victims, all
[1:23:20] involved in the same type of work, with their bodies dumped
[1:23:24] in a coastal area. In late 2010, New Jersey and New
[1:23:29] York authorities did investigate a possible link between the two
[1:23:32] cases. However, they found no evidence
[1:23:35] to tie the crimes together and ultimately ruled out any
[1:23:39] connection at that time. The theory resurfaced in 2023
[1:23:44] when a suspect was arrested in the Long Island case.
[1:23:48] Once again, officials compared details and affirmed that there
[1:23:52] was no link between the two cases.
[1:23:55] Given that DNA evidence is available in both cases, I have
[1:23:59] to assume that the DNA evidence simply didn't add up.
[1:24:03] Another persistent question is why the ACT stopped after that
[1:24:06] cluster of four in fall 2006. Serial perps typically continue
[1:24:11] until caught, so the sudden halt in known victims has led to a
[1:24:15] number of theories. Some believe the perpetrator may
[1:24:18] have left the area, been incarcerated for another crime,
[1:24:23] or even died, which could explain the absence of further
[1:24:26] incidents. Others have speculated if the
[1:24:29] eastward positioning of the bodies was symbolic.
[1:24:33] Certain types of serial slayers believe they are on some sort of
[1:24:36] mission, generally to rid the world of what they view as quote
[1:24:40] UN quote corruption. The pointing of the victims
[1:24:45] toward the neon glow of the casinos has been suggested to
[1:24:49] cast blame on Atlantic City's vice based industries.
[1:24:53] Others have speculated that it had some sort of ritual or
[1:24:56] occult significance since they were all pointed towards the
[1:25:00] sunrise in what could be argued to be a ritualistic manner.
[1:25:04] These ideas, of course, remain entirely conjecture without hard
[1:25:08] proof or even circumstantial evidence.
[1:25:12] Wendy Abrams Nishikai was a 21 year old University of
[1:25:16] California, Berkeley student when she vanished on Halloween
[1:25:19] night in 1989. For months, authorities searched
[1:25:23] for Wendy, but no trace of her was found.
[1:25:26] In the immediate aftermath of her disappearance in February
[1:25:30] 1990, a grim discovery finally provided a clue. 2 local hunters
[1:25:36] exploring a remote area in Colfax, a small town in Placer
[1:25:40] County, California, noticed clothing and shoes at the bottom
[1:25:44] of a steep embankment. This LED authorities to human
[1:25:48] remains later confirmed to be a young woman.
[1:25:51] The location was over 100 miles from Wendy's home in Berkeley,
[1:25:55] deep in the Sierra Nevada foothills, indicating that she
[1:25:59] had somehow ended up far from where she was last seen.
[1:26:03] Investigators at the time could not identify the body, as
[1:26:07] forensic technology was limited. They classified the unknown
[1:26:11] woman as Jane Doe. Despite extensive efforts, such
[1:26:14] as examining dental records. With no leads on the victim's
[1:26:18] identity or the circumstances of her death, the case grew cold as
[1:26:23] the years passed. In 2023, Placer County
[1:26:28] authorities formed a Cold Case Investigations Unit and reopened
[1:26:32] the Jane Doe case, applying new genetic genealogy techniques to
[1:26:37] identify the long unidentified victim.
[1:26:40] In January 2025, DNA comparisons with family members confirm that
[1:26:46] the remains belong to Wendy, officially solving the 35 year
[1:26:50] old mystery of the Jane Doe's identity.
[1:26:53] With Wendy's identity confirmed, the case has shifted fully into
[1:26:58] a slaying investigation. The exact circumstances of her
[1:27:02] death remain unclear, and authorities have not publicly
[1:27:06] disclosed details about how she died or who might be a suspect.
[1:27:11] However, officials have made one thing clear.
[1:27:14] They believe Wendy was the victim of foul play.
[1:27:18] Now that Wendy has had her identity restored, I'm hopeful
[1:27:21] that the authorities will be able to make a breakthrough in
[1:27:24] the investigation. I'm hoping that I'll have an
[1:27:27] update on this case in the coming months and years.
[1:27:31] In late September 1982, a shocking crime spree in the
[1:27:35] Chicago area left seven people dead after they unwittingly
[1:27:39] consumed Tylenol, painkillers laced with deadly potassium
[1:27:43] cyanide. The victims ranged in age from
[1:27:46] 12 year old Mary Kellerman to 35 year old Paula Prince, all who
[1:27:52] collapsed suddenly after taking what they thought was ordinary
[1:27:56] extra strength Tylenol. The mysterious poisoning deaths
[1:28:00] triggered nationwide fear, a massive product recall, and one
[1:28:05] of the largest investigations in American history.
[1:28:09] On the morning of September 29th, 1982, news began to spread
[1:28:14] that several people in the Chicago area had mysteriously
[1:28:18] died after taking Tylenol. Mary Kellerman, age 12, had been
[1:28:23] rushed to the hospital the day before with a sudden illness and
[1:28:27] died after taking Tylenol for a cold.
[1:28:30] That same day, Adam Janus, 27, also passed away again after
[1:28:36] taking the medication. Tragically, Adam's brother
[1:28:40] Stanley Janus, 25, and sister-in-law Teresa Janus, 20,
[1:28:45] died soon after, all having taken pills from the same
[1:28:49] Tylenol bottle at Adam's home. Within a short span, Mary
[1:28:54] Reiner, 27, Mary McFarland, 31, and Paula Prince, 35, also fell
[1:29:01] victim to cyanide laced Tylenol capsules.
[1:29:05] In total, at least seven people lost their lives in the Chicago
[1:29:09] area before authorities recognize the common link.
[1:29:14] Local officials and medical professionals acted swiftly once
[1:29:17] the connection to Tylenol was suspected.
[1:29:20] A nurse named Helen Jensen played a key early role.
[1:29:24] She visited the Janus family home, noted their Tylenol bottle
[1:29:28] had been recently purchased and had 6 pills missing, and alerted
[1:29:32] investigators that the painkillers might be the cause.
[1:29:36] A Cook County Medical examiner hearing this information had a
[1:29:40] hunch the culprit was cyanide and told the investigators it
[1:29:44] emits an almond odor. Investigators opened a
[1:29:48] suspicious Tylenol capsule and detected the almond like smell
[1:29:53] and lab tests soon confirmed that several Tylenol capsules
[1:29:56] contained potassium cyanide, a fast acting poison.
[1:30:01] This rapid forensic discovery, essentially basic toxicology and
[1:30:06] keen observation, was crucial in preventing many more deaths.
[1:30:11] Authorities immediately held a press conference to warn the
[1:30:14] public not to consume any Tylenol products.
[1:30:17] For the time being. The response from both
[1:30:20] government and the manufacturer was sweeping.
[1:30:23] Within days, Johnson and Johnson issued an urgent product recall.
[1:30:29] The recall was initially focused on the suspected lot of Tylenol
[1:30:32] capsules and then rapidly expanded to all Tylenol Extra
[1:30:36] Strength capsules in the Chicago area.
[1:30:39] As more tainted bottles were found across different stores
[1:30:42] and even different Tylenol lot numbers, the recall widened to
[1:30:47] eventually include 31 million bottles of Tylenol nationwide.
[1:30:52] The company halted all Tylenol production and advertising, and
[1:30:56] it instructed consumers nationwide to avoid Tylenol
[1:30:59] capsules until the scope of the tampering could be determined.
[1:31:03] This quick action and clear warnings are often credited with
[1:31:06] preventing further loss of life. By early October, Tylenol had
[1:31:12] been completely pulled off store shelves and law enforcement
[1:31:16] agencies at every level were mobilized to hunt for the person
[1:31:19] or persons responsible. The investigation into the
[1:31:24] Tylenol case became a massive multi agency effort involving
[1:31:29] local police departments, the Illinois State Police, the FBI,
[1:31:34] and the FDA. Early forensic evidence pointed
[1:31:38] to how the crime was committed. The poison Tylenol capsules came
[1:31:42] from different production plants.
[1:31:45] This meant it was highly unlikely the tampering occurred
[1:31:47] during manufacturing, a fact which greatly limited the
[1:31:51] geographic scope of the investigation.
[1:31:54] Instead, police hypothesized that the perpetrator purchased
[1:31:58] several bottles of Tylenol from various stores around Chicago.
[1:32:03] The perpetrator is then thought to have added cyanide to some of
[1:32:06] the capsules and then returned the resealed bottles to store
[1:32:10] shelves for unsuspecting customers to buy.
[1:32:14] This theory fit the scattered geography of the incidents, as
[1:32:17] tainted bottles were found at multiple pharmacies and grocery
[1:32:20] stores in the Chicago area. It also explained why only
[1:32:24] certain bottles were deadly rather than entire production
[1:32:27] lots. It also meant the perpetrator
[1:32:30] had to physically visit those stores in the days or weeks
[1:32:33] prior to the deaths, which gave investigators a rough timeline
[1:32:37] and locations to scrutinize. With no immediate suspect,
[1:32:42] investigators turned to both old fashioned police work as well as
[1:32:46] some new innovative tactics. Chicago police and the FBI
[1:32:50] conducted countless interviews and followed up on leads about
[1:32:53] anyone buying or possessing cyanide at the FB is suggestion.
[1:32:58] An unusual sting operation was attempted in early 1983.
[1:33:02] Columnist Bob Green of the Chicago Tribune published a
[1:33:06] story with the home address and graveyard location of Mary
[1:33:09] Kellerman, the youngest victim. The idea was to provoke the
[1:33:14] perpetrator into visiting either the family's home or the grave
[1:33:18] site, perhaps out of guilt or twisted curiosity.
[1:33:23] Both locations were placed under 24 hour video surveillance for
[1:33:26] months, but the suspect never showed up.
[1:33:30] Investigators also released to the media a surveillance photo
[1:33:34] from a drugstore security camera that showed victim Paula Prince
[1:33:39] buying her Tylenol. In the background of the photo,
[1:33:43] a mysterious bearded man is seen watching her.
[1:33:46] Police publicly labeled that unknown bearded man as a
[1:33:49] possible suspect, hoping someone might identify him.
[1:33:54] Others have observed that Paula Prince was a conventionally
[1:33:57] attractive young woman who likely attracted unwanted stares
[1:34:02] and gazes fairly routinely. Despite these efforts, the man
[1:34:06] was never identified. A major early break in the
[1:34:10] investigation was the emergence of a prime suspect through an
[1:34:13] unexpected source, an extortion letter.
[1:34:17] On October 1st, 1982, Johnson and Johnson received a letter
[1:34:22] from someone claiming responsibility for the
[1:34:24] poisonings and demanding $1 million to stop the carnage.
[1:34:30] Law enforcement treated the letter seriously and traced it
[1:34:33] to a man named James William Lewis, a 36 year old who had
[1:34:37] once lived in the Chicago area. Lewis quickly became the focus
[1:34:42] of the investigation. A nationwide manhunt ensued and
[1:34:47] Lewis, along with his wife Leanne, was eventually arrested
[1:34:50] in New York City in December 1982.
[1:34:53] With Lewis in custody, investigators hoped they had
[1:34:57] their man. Lewis didn't emerge from
[1:34:59] nowhere, and he had a checkered past that drew law enforcement
[1:35:03] attention even before the Tylenol case.
[1:35:07] Born in Missouri, Lewis worked as an accountant in the 1970s.
[1:35:12] In 1978, he was charged in Kansas City with the slaying of
[1:35:16] a 72 year old client. Raymond W Lewis was suspected of
[1:35:21] the crime after fingerprints later identified as his were
[1:35:25] found on some evidence. However, the charges were later
[1:35:29] dismissed as some evidence had been obtained illegally
[1:35:33] undermining the case. This meant Lewis walked free,
[1:35:37] but the incident established his history of serious run insurance
[1:35:41] with the law. By the early 1980s, James and
[1:35:45] his wife Leanne had spent time in Chicago and Lewis had also
[1:35:49] been accused of fraud, for which the couple reportedly fled the
[1:35:52] area prior to the Tylenol incidents.
[1:35:56] But let's get back to the extortion letter itself for a
[1:35:58] moment. The author of the letter claimed
[1:36:01] responsibility for the seven deaths and instructed that the
[1:36:04] money be deposited in a particular bank account.
[1:36:08] Investigators traced the bank account to a Chicago bank and
[1:36:12] discovered it belonged to a former employer of James,
[1:36:15] Lewis's wife. Lewis later admitted he wrote
[1:36:18] the letter saying he never intended to collect any money
[1:36:21] himself. Rather, he wanted to direct
[1:36:25] suspicion toward his wife's former boss by having the money
[1:36:28] sent to that person's account. In other words, Lewis claimed
[1:36:33] the extortion attempt was a hoax, a way to frame someone
[1:36:37] else out of vindictiveness, rather than an admission that he
[1:36:40] was actually the Tylenol poisoner.
[1:36:44] Now let me just take a moment here to discuss my own theory.
[1:36:48] If he was the one responsible, he may have planned on doing
[1:36:51] some form of violence to his former wife's boss to get access
[1:36:54] to that money. After all, if this former
[1:36:59] employer was to disappear after withdrawing the cash,
[1:37:03] investigators would have had to investigate the possibility that
[1:37:06] he left the country with the money.
[1:37:09] Notably, this also provided plausible deniability to a much
[1:37:13] lesser crime should he be caught.
[1:37:15] In essence, I think it may have been a scheme to strike it rich
[1:37:19] with a built in insurance policy that potentially allowed him to
[1:37:22] escape responsibility for the truly horrific poisoning crimes.
[1:37:28] Upon arrest, Lewis didn't confess to the poisonings.
[1:37:32] However, he did do something rather intriguing.
[1:37:35] He gave investigators A detailed account of how theoretically the
[1:37:38] perp might have carried out the poisonings.
[1:37:41] Anyway, for reasons that should be obvious to everyone watching,
[1:37:45] I'm not going to go into the details he provided to the
[1:37:48] authorities that said in essence he gave them a tutorial on how
[1:37:53] to tamper with the bottles without anyone noticing.
[1:37:57] Of course, this was all conjecture According to him, and
[1:38:00] not in any way tied to reality. Authorities later found that he
[1:38:05] also owned a book which contained instructions for
[1:38:08] manufacturing poisons, which I'm sure he claimed was just
[1:38:11] reference material. Adding to suspicion, his
[1:38:15] fingerprints were very lightly found throughout the book,
[1:38:18] except in one area, the cyanide part.
[1:38:22] Despite all this, investigators never found enough evidence to
[1:38:26] actually bring charges directly in relation to the Tylenol
[1:38:29] tamperings. They were, however, able to
[1:38:33] prosecute him for the crime related to the letter itself.
[1:38:37] In 1983, Lewis was put on trial in federal court for attempting
[1:38:42] to extort $1 million from Johnson and Johnson by
[1:38:45] threatening further violence. During the trial, his defense
[1:38:50] team repeated Lewis's claim that he only wrote the letter to draw
[1:38:53] attention to someone else, his wife's ex employer, and never
[1:38:58] intended to harm anyone. This claim didn't exonerate him
[1:39:03] in the eyes of the court for the act of sending the threat, which
[1:39:06] seems rather unsurprising to me. He was convicted of extortion
[1:39:11] and received a sentence of 10 years in federal prison.
[1:39:15] It's worth noting that throughout his imprisonment, and
[1:39:18] indeed for the rest of his life, James Lewis steadfastly
[1:39:22] maintained that he was not the Tylenol tamperer.
[1:39:26] He remains the only person to have ever been convicted in
[1:39:30] relation to the case. Another suspect investigated in
[1:39:34] relation to the case was Roger Arnold, a local dockworker.
[1:39:38] Arnold had allegedly bragged about having cyanide and made
[1:39:42] suspicious comments about his involvement while drinking at a
[1:39:46] bar. Police learned that Arnold
[1:39:49] worked with the father of one of the victims, Mary Reiner, which
[1:39:54] tied him to the case. Investigators detained Arnold
[1:39:58] for questioning multiple times, but they never found enough
[1:40:01] evidence to charge him in relation to the poisonings in
[1:40:06] the 20 tens. After both Lewis and Arnold had
[1:40:09] passed, their DNA was tested against potential DNA of the
[1:40:13] perpetrator found on one or some of the bottles.
[1:40:17] Unfortunately, since this is an active and ongoing
[1:40:20] investigation, the authorities haven't released whether the
[1:40:22] same person's DNA was found on all the bottles.
[1:40:26] Indeed, if the same DNA was found on two or more bottles, it
[1:40:29] appears to me to be extremely likely that that DNA is
[1:40:32] definitely that of the perpetrator.
[1:40:35] While the perpetrator still hasn't been caught, I'm somewhat
[1:40:39] confident that genetic genealogy may one day crack the case,
[1:40:43] depending on the nature of the DNA evidence on the bottles.
[1:40:48] Also as a side note, the seals we crack on a new medication
[1:40:51] bottle are a direct result of this tragedy.
[1:40:57] In February 1998, a 20 year old Canadian college student named
[1:41:01] Steven Vincent Mylan vanished under puzzling circumstances.
[1:41:06] What began as a late night drive from his home in Mississauga, ON
[1:41:11] turned into a cross-border mystery when his car was
[1:41:14] discovered over 2000 miles away in Arizona.
[1:41:19] Steven Mylan was a business student at Humber College's
[1:41:21] North Campus in Toronto and lived with his family in
[1:41:25] Mississauga. On the night of February 13th,
[1:41:29] 1998, just after midnight, he left home driving his black 1991
[1:41:36] Chevrolet Beretta. He had recently told relatives
[1:41:40] that he wanted to travel to the United States to obtain a
[1:41:43] medication for hair loss. At the time, a new prescription
[1:41:47] hair loss drug had just come on the market in the US, which may
[1:41:51] explain his interest in a cross-border trip.
[1:41:55] Whatever his true intentions, Steven drove off alone that
[1:41:58] night and was never seen or heard from again.
[1:42:02] The first clue in Stevens disappearance came at the US
[1:42:05] Canada border. American customs records showed
[1:42:08] that his vehicle crossed into the United States at the Rainbow
[1:42:11] Bridge border crossing at Niagara Falls on February 14th,
[1:42:16] 1998. Notably, this was the day after
[1:42:20] he left home, and the drive from Mississauga to Niagara Falls
[1:42:24] only takes about an hour. Importantly, it hasn't been
[1:42:27] confirmed that Steven himself was in the car at that time.
[1:42:31] No witnesses recalled seeing him, and the border log simply
[1:42:35] noted the car's license plate, not the occupants of the
[1:42:38] vehicle. When he failed to return or
[1:42:41] contact his family, they reported him missing to the Peel
[1:42:44] Regional Police in Ontario. Investigators now had an
[1:42:49] international missing person case on their hands, with the
[1:42:52] last trace of Steven being his car's entry into the states.
[1:42:57] From the outset, law enforcement treated Stevens disappearance as
[1:43:00] unusual. Peel Regional Police began a
[1:43:04] missing person investigation and reached out to US authorities
[1:43:08] once the border crossing was discovered.
[1:43:12] For a time, there were no further leads on Stevens
[1:43:15] whereabouts. Then, in a startling
[1:43:17] development, his car was found abandoned in Arizona only days
[1:43:22] after he went missing. According to reports, a local
[1:43:26] spotted Stevens black Chevy parked at an overlook at the
[1:43:29] Grand Canyon sometime in mid February.
[1:43:33] The car's keys were still in the ignition and there was no sign
[1:43:36] of the driver. Rather than immediately notify
[1:43:40] police, the man who found the empty car decided to take it for
[1:43:44] himself and use it. He drove Stevens vehicle around
[1:43:49] Northern Arizona for a few months.
[1:43:52] Eventually, the car broke down and he left it parked off State
[1:43:56] Route 64 near Flagstaff. On June 8th, 1998, nearly four
[1:44:02] months after Stevens disappearance, authorities
[1:44:05] finally recovered the car. It was found stripped of parts
[1:44:09] and abandoned off the highway in Flagstaff, roughly an hour's
[1:44:13] drive from where it had originally been spotted at the
[1:44:16] Grand Canyon Overlook. When police traced the vehicle
[1:44:20] identification and plate, they realized it belonged to the
[1:44:23] missing Canadian student. American law enforcement
[1:44:27] interviewed the individual who had taken the car.
[1:44:30] He readily admitted he stumbled upon the empty vehicle at the
[1:44:33] Grand Canyon Overlook and kept it, but claimed to know nothing
[1:44:37] about Stevens fate. This person's actions were both
[1:44:41] illegal and highly unusual. As many Internet sleuths have
[1:44:45] noted, finding a car with the keys in it and simply deciding
[1:44:49] to steal it is a bizarre twist in an already strange case.
[1:44:54] That said, there was no evidence linking the car thief to Steven
[1:44:59] aside from the vehicle itself. With the location of Stevens car
[1:45:03] pinpointed, A coordinated search effort was launched in the area.
[1:45:08] The spot where the car had initially been found, the remote
[1:45:12] Little Colorado Gorge overlook located on Navajo land, was
[1:45:16] searched extensively on foot and by helicopter.
[1:45:20] Searchers scoured the Canyon rim and the rugged terrain below for
[1:45:24] any trace of the missing student.
[1:45:27] Despite these extensive ground and aerial searches, no sign of
[1:45:31] Steven was found. The Peel Regional Police
[1:45:35] completed their standard investigation steps and
[1:45:38] continued to monitor the case, but by the end of 1998, there
[1:45:42] were no solid clues pointing to what happened. 1 theory is that
[1:45:47] Stephen traveled all the way to Northern Arizona and met with an
[1:45:50] accident near the Canyon. The fact that his keys were left
[1:45:54] in the ignition suggests he may have stopped briefly and
[1:45:57] intended to return. It's possible he ventured near
[1:46:01] the canyon's edge and suffered a fall.
[1:46:04] However, an intensive search of the area below the overlook
[1:46:07] turned up no indication of his whereabouts.
[1:46:11] If he did fall into the Canyon, one would expect some evidence
[1:46:14] to be discovered, but nothing was found.
[1:46:18] Another variant of this theory suggests that he may have gone
[1:46:21] down the gorge willingly, but again, this runs into the same
[1:46:25] evidentiary issues. To this day, there is no proof
[1:46:30] that Stevens remains are in the Grand Canyon, leaving this
[1:46:33] theory unconfirmed. Another possibility is that
[1:46:37] Steven encountered foul play after arriving at the Grand
[1:46:41] Canyon. The remote location where his
[1:46:44] car was abandoned could have made him vulnerable to a robbery
[1:46:47] or attack. Perhaps he crossed paths with
[1:46:51] the wrong person and met with violence, after which the
[1:46:55] perpetrator left his car with the keys inside to cover their
[1:46:58] tracks. No signs of a struggle were
[1:47:02] reported in the vehicle, but without proper forensic
[1:47:05] evidence, I don't see how the authorities could possibly rule
[1:47:08] this out. And I think it's important to
[1:47:11] remember here that the vehicle was used for months, and we
[1:47:16] really have no idea what happened with it during that
[1:47:19] time. If there were signs of a
[1:47:21] struggle, it's always possible that the car thief, even if he
[1:47:26] wasn't actually involved in any more serious criminal act, had
[1:47:30] the car cleaned up. After all, he clearly intended
[1:47:34] to treat it as his vehicle, at least for a little while.
[1:47:37] If there was evidence of a crime in a stolen vehicle he was
[1:47:40] driving around, I imagine this could have been slightly
[1:47:43] problematic for him if he was pulled over with his Canadian
[1:47:47] plates on. Another theory turns on
[1:47:50] questioning whether the hair loss medicine was just a cover
[1:47:53] story for a different purpose. It struck many as unlikely that
[1:47:57] a college student would drive deep into the United States just
[1:48:01] to buy a hair loss product. Arizona's a very long way from
[1:48:06] the Canadian border, and he could have been in Buffalo in
[1:48:09] upstate New York in about an hour's drive from Mississauga.
[1:48:14] And just to give some perspective on this, this isn't
[1:48:17] just a long drive, but a road trip of a lifetime, which would
[1:48:21] take approximately 32 hours if you were traveling in the most
[1:48:25] efficient way. And to be clear, the most
[1:48:29] efficient way to Arizona from Mississauga isn't through New
[1:48:33] York State, but rather through the border crossing at Detroit,
[1:48:37] adding another layer of strangeness.
[1:48:40] These factors have led to speculation that Steven might
[1:48:43] have had an ulterior motive for his journey.
[1:48:46] It's conceivable he had arranged to meet someone, perhaps someone
[1:48:50] he met online in a chat room, given the late 1990s timing, and
[1:48:55] didn't want to tell his family the real reason for his trip.
[1:48:59] At this point, people were meeting online through chat
[1:49:02] rooms, though this was still a highly stigmatized way to meet
[1:49:05] people. At that point, if Steven was
[1:49:08] secretly headed to meet a person, some speculate that he
[1:49:12] may have been set up. Notably, his vehicle was seen
[1:49:16] crossing the border into the United States on Valentine's
[1:49:19] Day, which adds a layer of circumstantial credibility to
[1:49:22] this theory. This theory, however, is purely
[1:49:26] speculative, and given that it was 1998, it looks as though the
[1:49:31] police never even investigated what was on his computer.
[1:49:35] Another theory, which Stevens family has promoted throughout
[1:49:38] the years, is that he may not have left Canada at all.
[1:49:42] That said, there's been no evidence whatsoever to suggest
[1:49:45] that he met his end anywhere in Canada either.
[1:49:49] Further, if there was foul play in Canada, I question why the
[1:49:52] criminal would take the risk of moving the car into the States.
[1:49:56] Border security was very loose before 2001, but that doesn't
[1:50:00] mean it wasn't there at all, and a border crossing is a massive
[1:50:05] added risk for a criminal. This is a case where all
[1:50:08] theories have good evidence in their favor, but where no theory
[1:50:12] fits all the facts neatly and crucial pieces of evidence
[1:50:16] remain missing. That said, I do think this case
[1:50:20] has a good chance of being solved one day.
[1:50:23] There are 10s of thousands of John Doe's out there waiting to
[1:50:26] be identified by the genetic genealogy revolution and Steven
[1:50:30] could be identified any day now. In the summer of 1990, three 43
[1:50:36] year old Michael Hare vanished under puzzling circumstances
[1:50:40] from Bonner County, Idaho. On June 19th, 1993, Hare had a
[1:50:46] heated argument with his wife at their home.
[1:50:49] In the midst of the dispute, he stormed out of the house in
[1:50:52] anger and never returned. When Hare failed to come back or
[1:50:57] contact anyone, his family grew concerned and reported him
[1:51:01] missing. Local law enforcement with the
[1:51:04] Bonner County Sheriff's Office treated the incident as a
[1:51:07] missing person case and began investigating, searching for any
[1:51:12] signs of Hare's whereabouts. Initially, there was little to
[1:51:16] go on. Hare had simply disappeared
[1:51:19] without a trace. In the immediate aftermath,
[1:51:23] deputies and detectives followed standard procedures.
[1:51:27] They interviewed Hare's wife and relatives, checked the areas he
[1:51:30] was known to frequent, and looked for any signs of an
[1:51:33] accident or voluntary departure. As weeks turned into months with
[1:51:38] no word from Hare, investigators began to suspect that more was
[1:51:42] at play than an angry husband cooling off.
[1:51:46] The fact that Hare had never been heard from again signaled
[1:51:50] that his disappearance was likely not voluntary.
[1:51:53] About a year after Hare went missing, a significant lead
[1:51:57] emerged. An informant came forward in
[1:52:00] 1994 with a startling story. According to this source,
[1:52:05] Michael Hare had not simply wandered off, but had been shot
[1:52:10] and then disposed of in a kiln. The reason given by the
[1:52:14] informant was that Hare allegedly knew about a secret
[1:52:17] grow op and was slain to keep him silent.
[1:52:21] They looked for anyone in Hare's circle who might be involved in
[1:52:24] illegal substance activity and landed upon Jim Monts, Hare's
[1:52:28] stepson. Investigators learned that Monts
[1:52:32] had a history with substances, and they suspected he might be
[1:52:35] running a street cabbage farming operation.
[1:52:39] In September 1994, acting on the informants tip, Bonner County
[1:52:44] deputies and Idaho State Police officers executed a search
[1:52:49] warrant on Monts's rural property.
[1:52:52] What they uncovered was indeed a sophisticated enterprise.
[1:52:56] Monts had an underground bunker concealing roughly 80 plants,
[1:53:00] complete with high end cultivation equipment.
[1:53:04] The discovery confirmed a major part of the informant's story.
[1:53:08] During the raid, officers also noticed something else that sent
[1:53:12] a jolt through the investigative team.
[1:53:15] A large kiln was discovered on the property, just like the
[1:53:19] informant said it would be. This was exactly the type of
[1:53:23] oven the informant had described as being used to cremate Hare's
[1:53:26] body. The presence of the kiln gave
[1:53:29] investigators both a possible crime scene and physical
[1:53:32] evidence to scrutinize. Monts was arrested at the scene
[1:53:36] on substance manufacturing charges.
[1:53:39] With Monts in custody, law enforcement turned their
[1:53:42] attention to gathering physical evidence that could confirm what
[1:53:46] happened to Michael Hare. The kiln found on Mons's
[1:53:49] property became the focus of a painstaking forensic search.
[1:53:54] Investigators sifted through the ashes and debris inside the
[1:53:58] kiln, looking for any trace of human remains that might have
[1:54:01] survived high temperature burning.
[1:54:04] Indeed, they did find some bones amid the ashes, raising hopes of
[1:54:08] a breakthrough. However, after examination, the
[1:54:12] sheriff reported that the bones recovered were actually from
[1:54:15] animals. Undeterred, detectives collected
[1:54:19] ash samples and other material from the kiln and surrounding
[1:54:22] area for advanced testing. These samples were sent to
[1:54:26] laboratories for analysis to detect microscopic traces of
[1:54:30] human tissue. Once again, no definitive human
[1:54:34] remains were recovered from the kiln.
[1:54:37] Monts ultimately pleaded guilty to the substance manufacturing
[1:54:40] charges, which carried a potential five year prison
[1:54:43] sentence. Monce's sentencing was scheduled
[1:54:47] for June 12th, 1995. Given Monce's status as the
[1:54:51] prime suspect in the hair investigation, prosecutors
[1:54:55] argued he was a flight risk and even pushed for a $250,000 bail.
[1:55:00] However, the court allowed Monce a much lower bail of $20,000 and
[1:55:06] permitted him to remain free until sentencing under certain
[1:55:09] conditions. These were pretty standard.
[1:55:13] He had to surrender his passport, reside in the area,
[1:55:17] and check in with authorities daily.
[1:55:20] These precautions unfortunately proved insufficient and on June
[1:55:24] 12th, 1995, Monts never showed up for his sentencing hearing.
[1:55:30] For nearly 30 years, Jim Monts lived life on the Lam,
[1:55:33] successfully evading capture. That changed in early 2025 when
[1:55:39] cold case detectives finally got the break they needed while
[1:55:44] working the unsolved disappearance.
[1:55:46] Bonner County investigators and the Idaho State Police learned
[1:55:51] that Monts had been living under an assumed name in Georgia.
[1:55:55] Acting on this information, the US Marshals Service, together
[1:56:00] with local authorities in Georgia, moved in and arrested
[1:56:03] Monts at a home in Thomasville. Investigators have questioned
[1:56:08] why he fled from what was ultimately to be a fairly short
[1:56:11] prison sentence unless he suspected he was about to be
[1:56:14] charged with Hare's death. I hope to have an update on the
[1:56:17] disappearance of Michael Hare in a future episode.
[1:56:21] All that said, the authorities haven't yet charged Monts in
[1:56:24] relation to Hare's disappearance yet.
[1:56:27] Further, given that the informant gave his evidence over
[1:56:30] 30 years ago, I question what evidentiary issues the
[1:56:33] authorities will face in bringing charges at this point.
[1:56:38] Lisa Jane Borden was last seen by her family on October 10th,
[1:56:42] 1979 in her hometown of Big Spring, TX.
[1:56:47] Shortly afterward, the 19 year old headed West to California on
[1:56:51] a solo hitchhiking trip. Notably, this wasn't uncommon or
[1:56:56] unusual at the time, and her family wasn't concerned.
[1:57:01] Later that month, Lisa phoned her relatives from Lodi, CA,
[1:57:05] which would be the final contact anyone had with her.
[1:57:09] And just a quick note here, because I know many of you are
[1:57:12] probably thinking the same thing.
[1:57:13] I thought, what was she even doing in California?
[1:57:18] Well, unfortunately, details on this case are quite sparse, and
[1:57:23] it isn't clear from publicly available information exactly
[1:57:26] what she was doing there. She had planned to return to
[1:57:30] Texas. Her boyfriend purchased a plane
[1:57:33] ticket for her trip home to be picked up at the airport, but
[1:57:37] Lisa never arrived to claim it. After that last phone call, all
[1:57:42] communication from her ceased. She was officially reported
[1:57:46] missing by her sister. When Lisa failed to come home
[1:57:49] and could not be located, the Big Spring Police Department in
[1:57:54] Texas took the lead in the case in coordination with California
[1:57:58] authorities. Given that was Lisa's last known
[1:58:01] location, early on, information was scarce.
[1:58:05] One of Lisa's friends claimed that sometime after October
[1:58:09] 1979, Lisa was allegedly spotted in Amarillo, TX working as a
[1:58:15] waitress. This tip gave a glimmer of hope
[1:58:18] that perhaps Lisa was still alive and had chosen to stay
[1:58:21] away on her own. However, the friend provided no
[1:58:25] evidence or details to back up the story, and investigators
[1:58:29] were unable to confirm that Lisa was ever in Amarillo.
[1:58:34] Aside from that unverified account, no credible sightings
[1:58:38] or messages from Lisa ever surfaced after her
[1:58:41] disappearance. Despite the passage of time,
[1:58:45] there have been no breakthroughs in her case, and her case has
[1:58:48] gotten very little in the way of attention.
[1:58:51] What happened to Lisa remains completely unknown at present,
[1:58:54] with all theories being pure conjecture based on the
[1:58:58] extremely limited evidence. That said, given that she was in
[1:59:01] California during the 1970s, much of the online discussion on
[1:59:05] her case has focused on the potential that she fell victim
[1:59:09] to a serial predator. However, it's unclear if the
[1:59:12] authorities have ever seriously pursued this line of
[1:59:15] investigation. Zoe McClellan, an American
[1:59:19] actress known for her roles on Jag and NCIS New Orleans, has
[1:59:23] been at the center of a disturbing disappearance.
[1:59:26] McClellan and her young son, Sebastian, vanished in 2021 amid
[1:59:31] A protracted custody battle with her ex-husband, actor JP
[1:59:35] Gillane. Mcclellan's personal troubles
[1:59:39] began after her 2016 divorce. In 2017, their custody dispute
[1:59:45] escalated when McClellan moved to Toronto for a filming job and
[1:59:50] brought then 4 year old Sebastian with her.
[1:59:54] Gillane accused her of violating their custody agreement by
[1:59:57] taking the child out of state without sufficient notice.
[2:00:00] He even filed child abduction charges against McClellan at the
[2:00:04] time. However, a court ultimately
[2:00:07] ruled in Mcclellan's favor in that dispute.
[2:00:10] A judge determined that Mcclellan's move was work
[2:00:12] related and not an abduction. Noting it was known to both
[2:00:16] parents that her acting career might require travel, in fact,
[2:00:20] McClellan was deemed the primary parent, and she had support from
[2:00:25] NCIS colleagues who provided testimonials on her behalf.
[2:00:29] This early legal victory for McClellan set the stage for an
[2:00:33] increasingly bitter custody saga.
[2:00:36] On April 16th, 2019, Zoe McClellan and her son
[2:00:41] effectively disappeared from public view for the first time.
[2:00:45] According to Gillane, he had not seen or heard from McClellan or
[2:00:49] their child since April 2019, when she allegedly fled with the
[2:00:54] boy. Gillane reported the situation
[2:00:58] to the authorities, characterizing Mcclellan's
[2:01:01] actions as a parental kidnapping.
[2:01:04] Initially, the matter was treated as a custody violation,
[2:01:08] but as time passed with no contact, it became a missing
[2:01:11] persons case for the child. The Los Angeles County District
[2:01:15] Attorney's Office eventually got involved and Sebastian was
[2:01:19] registered with the National Center for Missing and Exploited
[2:01:22] Children as an abducted child. McClellan was named as the
[2:01:26] abductor and official bulletins which noted that mother and son
[2:01:30] went missing from Los Angeles and might have traveled
[2:01:33] elsewhere. At this stage, the priority for
[2:01:37] law enforcement was to locate the child and ensure his safety.
[2:01:42] McClellan eventually resurfaced with Sebastian, but things were
[2:01:46] about to go even further off the rails.
[2:01:49] In a dramatic turn of events, JP Gillane himself became the
[2:01:53] subject of a criminal investigation in late 2019,
[2:01:58] which affected the trajectory of the case.
[2:02:01] McClellan had long claimed that her ex-husband was dangerous to
[2:02:04] their son, and those allegations appeared to gain credibility
[2:02:08] when Gillane was arrested in January 2020.
[2:02:13] However, Gillane's legal ordeal was short lived.
[2:02:16] After spending a few months in jail, Gillane was released in
[2:02:19] mid 2020. When prosecutors dropped the
[2:02:22] charges due to insufficient evidence.
[2:02:25] The resolution of the criminal case against Gillane shifted the
[2:02:28] focus back to Zoe McClellan. In September 2020, a California
[2:02:34] family court awarded sole custody of Sebastian to Gillane
[2:02:38] and ordered McClellan to surrender the child to his
[2:02:41] father. McClellan, however, never
[2:02:44] complied. She had stopped participating in
[2:02:47] court hearings by late 2020, and her attorneys didn't respond to
[2:02:51] court filings. In April 2021, a judge directed
[2:02:57] the LA County District Attorney's Child Abduction Unit
[2:03:00] to use all necessary means to find McClellan and her son.
[2:03:05] Shortly thereafter, on May 14th, 2021, a felony arrest warrant
[2:03:12] was formally issued for Zoe McClellan on charges of
[2:03:15] kidnapping. With a warrant in place, law
[2:03:19] enforcement efforts intensified. Los Angeles authorities
[2:03:23] coordinated with other jurisdictions where McClellan
[2:03:25] had ties, including Louisiana, and alerts were disseminated
[2:03:30] nationwide. McClellan and her son were
[2:03:33] entered into national missing persons databases.
[2:03:37] In July 2021, a California judge scheduled a hearing and ordered
[2:03:43] McClellan to appear on July 15th, 2021, and hand over
[2:03:48] Sebastian to his father. McClellan failed to show up in
[2:03:52] court, as many expected, given that her whereabouts were still
[2:03:56] unknown. By mid 2021, the Los Angeles
[2:04:01] County Sheriff's Department confirmed it had no leads on
[2:04:04] Mcclellan's location. As authorities and private
[2:04:08] investigators pursued the case, theories about Mcclellan's
[2:04:12] whereabouts have emerged. Because she has ties to both
[2:04:16] California and Louisiana, those areas have been focal points.
[2:04:21] Early in the search, sources speculated that McClellan stayed
[2:04:24] in Louisiana, possibly living off the grid to avoid detection.
[2:04:29] In fact, Los Angeles investigators initially got
[2:04:33] hints in 2021 that she might be hiding somewhere near New
[2:04:37] Orleans. McClellan had lived in the
[2:04:40] region during NCIS and still had friends or contacts there, which
[2:04:44] could provide a support network for laying low.
[2:04:48] And it's important to remember that Mcclellan's official story
[2:04:51] is that her ex-husband is a very dangerous person.
[2:04:56] It's possible that the person or people harboring her and her son
[2:05:00] believe they're actually saving Sebastian from a horrific fate.
[2:05:05] On the other hand, there is the possibility that she left the
[2:05:08] United States entirely. Some reports suggested McClellan
[2:05:13] might have fled across the border to Canada, given her
[2:05:16] previous residence in Toronto and the fact that she had worked
[2:05:19] there before. Others have speculated that
[2:05:22] given her drastic and disturbing actions thus far, Zoe and her
[2:05:26] son may no longer be among the living.
[2:05:29] And just as a quick aside, I'm somewhat surprised this case
[2:05:33] hasn't gotten way more attention given the involvement of a
[2:05:36] decently well known celebrity. In July 1990, the headless and
[2:05:44] handless body of 34 year old Beverly Anne McGowan was
[2:05:48] discovered on a remote canal bank in southern Florida.
[2:05:52] Her gruesome fate shocked investigators and the public,
[2:05:55] not only for its brutality, but for the audacious con artist
[2:05:59] behind it. In early July 1990, Beverly
[2:06:03] McGowan placed a classified ad in the Sun Sentinel newspaper
[2:06:08] seeking a female roommate for her two-bedroom condo.
[2:06:12] A well dressed British woman calling herself Alice responded,
[2:06:16] claiming to be an IBM employee transferred to Fort Lauderdale,
[2:06:21] Beverly's friends and family recall how quickly Alice charmed
[2:06:24] her. She spoke with a refined English
[2:06:26] accent and introduced Beverly to the idea of numerology, which in
[2:06:31] this case involved using personal numbers to predict
[2:06:33] one's future. Beverly, eager to bond with her
[2:06:37] new roommate, provided Alice with personal details like her
[2:06:41] Social Security, driver's license and bank account
[2:06:45] numbers, supposedly for a numerology chart.
[2:06:49] And yeah, I can already predict the comments flooding in on this
[2:06:52] aspect of the case, but I digress.
[2:06:54] Just days after Alice moved in, Beverly suddenly vanished around
[2:06:58] July 17th, 1990. This abrupt disappearance
[2:07:03] alarmed her siblings. They visited her condo to find
[2:07:06] the home in disarray. Beverly's car was missing, her
[2:07:11] bed unmade with her nightgown laid out and the phone
[2:07:14] disconnected. Oddly, her two beloved cats were
[2:07:18] gone, and personal documents such as her address book, birth
[2:07:23] certificate, and passport had also disappeared.
[2:07:27] On July 19th, friends and family received handwritten letters
[2:07:32] claiming to be from Beverly, claiming she had sold her condo
[2:07:36] and was starting a new life elsewhere.
[2:07:39] The tone sounded casual and the handwriting initially appeared
[2:07:43] to be hers, which confused investigators because there were
[2:07:47] no obvious signs she had been forced to write the notes.
[2:07:51] That same day, however, a fisherman made a grim discovery
[2:07:55] about 100 miles away, the body of a woman dumped in a canal in
[2:08:00] Saint Lucie County, Florida. The victim's head and hands had
[2:08:04] been cut off, and a tattoo on her abdomen had been removed,
[2:08:09] evidently to impede identification.
[2:08:13] Despite the perpetrators effort to mask the victim's identity,
[2:08:17] they overlooked a small flower tattoo on the woman's ankle.
[2:08:21] Further, the removal of her head had been incomplete to the point
[2:08:24] that some dental evidence could be collected.
[2:08:28] Using the tattoo and dental records, police identified the
[2:08:31] body as Beverly McGowan. Once Beverly's remains were
[2:08:35] identified, the mysterious roommate Alice became the prime
[2:08:39] suspect. Detectives quickly surmised that
[2:08:42] the farewell letters were part of an elaborate deception.
[2:08:45] To delay alarm while the perpetrator fled, investigators
[2:08:50] began retracing Beverly's steps and soon uncovered critical
[2:08:54] evidence that pointed to identity theft and fraud.
[2:08:58] They learned that someone had been using Beverly's credit
[2:09:00] cards in the days following her slaying.
[2:09:04] In fact, a woman matching Alice's description was seen on
[2:09:07] surveillance using one of Mcgowan's cards to purchase
[2:09:10] items and withdraw cash. Police also found Beverly's car
[2:09:15] abandoned at Miami International Airport.
[2:09:18] Inside the car, they discovered strands of hair from a wig,
[2:09:22] suggesting A disguise. This clue proved significant
[2:09:26] when authorities learned that a person impersonating Beverly had
[2:09:30] reserved a rental car at London's Heathrow Airport around
[2:09:34] the same time. According to witnesses, a person
[2:09:39] described as a man in a woman's wig picked up the rental car
[2:09:43] using Beverly's name and identification.
[2:09:46] By now it was clear the perpetrator had stolen Beverly's
[2:09:49] identity and left the country. Detectives checked flight
[2:09:53] manifests out of Miami and discovered that Alice had flown
[2:09:57] to England on a British Airways flight under the name Sylvia Ann
[2:10:02] Hodgkinson. This name was familiar to law
[2:10:05] enforcement and further investigation revealed it likely
[2:10:08] belonged to an English woman Alice had befriended in the
[2:10:11] past. The real Sylvia Hodgkinson has
[2:10:14] never been found, and authorities suspected she might
[2:10:17] have been an earlier victim of the same perpetrator.
[2:10:21] Through this alias, police finally uncovered Alice's
[2:10:25] apparent true identity, Elaine Parent, an apparently American
[2:10:30] con artist with a lengthy history of fraud and assumed
[2:10:34] names. Identifying Elaine Parent was a
[2:10:38] major breakthrough, but catching her proved to be an enormous
[2:10:41] challenge. Parent had already fled
[2:10:44] overseas, and she was a master at vanishing into new personas.
[2:10:50] In May 1991, Interpol agents actually apprehended Parent in
[2:10:54] London for carrying a fake passport, where she was found
[2:10:58] with identification in the names of Hodgkinson and another woman.
[2:11:04] Astonishingly, due to insufficient evidence tying her
[2:11:08] to the Florida case at that time, she was released before
[2:11:11] authorities realized who they truly had in custody.
[2:11:16] By the time Florida investigators linked forensic
[2:11:19] evidence from Beverly's car and handwriting in the condo to
[2:11:22] Parent, their suspect had slipped away again.
[2:11:26] Elaine Parent then spent the next several years hopscotching
[2:11:29] around the globe. Reports of sightings came in
[2:11:32] from all over, ranging from London, Paris, Istanbul to parts
[2:11:37] of Australia and South Africa. But each time she managed to
[2:11:41] stay a step ahead of the law. The case grew cold, but it was
[2:11:46] never closed. In 1998, in a bizarre twist, the
[2:11:51] fugitive herself sent police a taunting message.
[2:11:55] Detectives in Florida received a package containing a photograph
[2:11:59] of an oil painting. A self-portrait of Elaine
[2:12:01] Parent. On the back a note was typed
[2:12:06] Best wishes Your chameleon referencing her chameleon like
[2:12:11] ability to change identities. Also, unfortunately it looks as
[2:12:16] though this oil painting has never been released to the
[2:12:19] public as I was unable to find a copy of it anywhere online.
[2:12:23] The breakthrough finally came in April 2002, nearly 12 years
[2:12:28] after Beverly's slaying. Acting on a fresh tip, police
[2:12:32] tracked Elaine Parent to an apartment in Panama City, FL.
[2:12:37] After evading capture for so long, Parents luck had run out
[2:12:41] and law enforcement surrounded her residence.
[2:12:44] Even in her final moments, the 59 year old con artist remained
[2:12:48] dramatic and unyielding. As officers stood outside her
[2:12:53] bedroom door, giving her a moment to get dressed, Parent
[2:12:56] decided to take out the trash herself.
[2:13:00] Elaine Parent died on April 6th, 2002, taking with her any
[2:13:05] secrets about her motives and possible other crimes.
[2:13:09] So you may be sitting here and asking yourself where the
[2:13:11] mystery is. Well, earlier on I mentioned
[2:13:15] that Elaine Parent was apparently her real name and
[2:13:18] that she was apparently American.
[2:13:21] Investigators believe that the Elaine Parent identity may have
[2:13:24] just been another in this criminal's inception.
[2:13:27] Like layers of identities, no birth certificate or other
[2:13:31] evidence has ever been found to support the existence of Elaine
[2:13:34] Parent as a real person. No family members or friends
[2:13:39] have ever been located who knew this individual her whole life
[2:13:42] to verify her identity. Some investigators believe that
[2:13:46] her claim to be an American was false and that she was actually
[2:13:50] a British or South African woman pretending to be an American
[2:13:54] pretending to be a Brit. In June 1973, a young couple
[2:14:00] from Edmonton, Canada, 27 year old Ron Yakimchuk and his 23
[2:14:05] year old wife Terry Pettit, set off on a cross country road trip
[2:14:09] with high hopes for the future. They packed their belongings
[2:14:12] into a battered 1959 Volkswagen Beetle, so dilapidated it had
[2:14:17] mismatched red and green body panels, and strapped their
[2:14:21] mattress to the roof of the vehicle.
[2:14:24] Ron and Terry plan to attend a friend's wedding in Montreal
[2:14:27] scheduled for June 16th. After this, they planned on
[2:14:31] continuing E to Canada's Maritime provinces, where Ron
[2:14:35] had a lead on a teaching job and Terry, a journalist, hoped to
[2:14:40] find work at a newspaper. It was essentially a delayed
[2:14:44] Honeymoon Rd. adventure as the free spirited couple looked
[2:14:48] forward to starting a new life out east.
[2:14:51] Friends gathered to see them off from Edmonton on a cloudy Sunday
[2:14:55] morning, snapping a photo of the pair in their overloaded Beetle
[2:14:58] as they drove away. No one imagined it would be the
[2:15:02] last time they'd ever be seen. Both Ron and Terry were well
[2:15:07] known among their peers. Terry was a reporter at the
[2:15:10] Edmonton Journal, and Ron had been the editor of The
[2:15:13] Poundmaker, a student newspaper at the University of Alberta.
[2:15:18] They had met during their university days and shared a
[2:15:21] love of adventure and journalism.
[2:15:24] The couple had postponed their departure several times, but by
[2:15:28] early June, they finally hit the road, excited and full of
[2:15:32] optimism. Friends later recalled how eager
[2:15:35] the two were for a change of scenery after years in
[2:15:38] Edmonton's media scene. Ron and Terry's journey
[2:15:41] initially seemed to go as planned.
[2:15:44] They made a brief detour to visit friends near Brandon, MB,
[2:15:48] a stop along their eastward route.
[2:15:51] By June 12th, 1973, the couple had reached Dryden, a town in
[2:15:57] northwestern Ontario. From Dryden, they mailed A
[2:16:00] postcard back to a friend in Edmonton.
[2:16:03] According to some sources, Terry had better friend that the
[2:16:07] rickety Volkswagen would survive the Cross Canada trek, while her
[2:16:11] friend said they'd never make it to Ontario.
[2:16:15] That Dryden postcard would become the last known contact
[2:16:18] from the couple. After Dryden, the trail grew
[2:16:22] cold. Ron and Terry never showed up at
[2:16:25] the Montreal area wedding they were expected to attend on June
[2:16:29] 16th. Concern began to spread among
[2:16:32] their friends and family immediately.
[2:16:35] However, when the couple failed to reach their destination in
[2:16:38] the Maritimes in due course, this concern became fear and
[2:16:43] then outright panic. In the days and weeks following,
[2:16:46] loved ones grew increasingly alarmed.
[2:16:49] The couple, who were known to be responsible and considerate, had
[2:16:53] effectively fallen off the face of the earth during what should
[2:16:57] have been a routine drive across Ontario.
[2:17:00] Early on, police were slow to act, reasoning that a pair of
[2:17:04] young adults on a road trip could be anywhere and might
[2:17:07] simply have decided to take a detour or delay.
[2:17:11] By the time an investigation belatedly kicked off, any clues
[2:17:15] along their route had long since evaporated.
[2:17:19] From the beginning, the evidence suggested that Ron and Terry
[2:17:23] didn't disappear by choice, though it appears some
[2:17:26] investigators figured they had just started a new life.
[2:17:30] Soon, however, investigators found that their bank accounts
[2:17:34] were never touched after June 1973.
[2:17:39] The cash they had in the accounts for the purposes of the
[2:17:42] trip remained unspent. These signs indicated the couple
[2:17:46] hadn't started a new life in secret.
[2:17:49] All their financial activity simply stopped.
[2:17:53] Over the decades, various theories have emerged to explain
[2:17:56] how an entire couple and their car could simply vanish.
[2:18:01] The most straightforward theory is that Ron and Terry suffered a
[2:18:04] crash in a remote area of northern Ontario.
[2:18:09] The Trans Canada Highway in 1973 included long stretches of
[2:18:14] isolated, hilly roads around Lake Superior, with steep
[2:18:17] embankments and countless lakes and dense Bush along the way.
[2:18:22] It's possible the overloaded beetle swerved off the road,
[2:18:26] perhaps to avoid an animal or due to driver fatigue at night,
[2:18:29] and plunged into a thick forest or deep lake hidden from view.
[2:18:34] If the vehicle plunged into a body of water along a desolate
[2:18:37] portion of the Trans Canada Highway, there would be
[2:18:41] virtually no chance they would ever be recovered.
[2:18:45] Another possibility is that the couple fell victim to foul play
[2:18:48] during their journey. The couple may have picked up a
[2:18:51] hitchhiker or stopped to help someone, only to be met with
[2:18:54] violence. If they were attacked by a
[2:18:57] criminal, the perpetrator could have disposed of their bodies
[2:19:01] and hidden or destroyed the car, which might explain why it never
[2:19:05] turned up. This theory, while plausible,
[2:19:09] has no hard evidence behind it, as no known suspects or crime
[2:19:14] scenes have ever been linked to their disappearance.
[2:19:18] Further, given that we have photographic evidence of how
[2:19:20] packed their vehicle was, I'm not convinced they could have
[2:19:23] picked up a hitchhiker even if they wanted to.
[2:19:27] The picture we have is from Edmonton, but this was all the
[2:19:30] stuff they'd packed up to move to eastern Canada, so I can't
[2:19:34] imagine they had any more room in the Beetle at that point.
[2:19:38] Another theory involves a detour they may have taken.
[2:19:41] Given the challenging driving on the northern Trans Canada route,
[2:19:45] Ron and Terry may have decided to take an alternate path.
[2:19:49] There was speculation that they detoured S across the US border
[2:19:53] to find an easier Rd. East.
[2:19:55] There are no records confirming the two cross the border, and
[2:19:59] it's unknown if police ever found evidence of them in the
[2:20:01] States. This idea essentially overlaps
[2:20:05] with both the accident and foul play theories, merely shifting
[2:20:09] the location. Again, without any confirmed
[2:20:12] sightings or documentation from US authorities, the cross-border
[2:20:16] detour remains an unverified guess.
[2:20:20] Personally, I think the idea that their vehicle went off the
[2:20:22] Trans Canada Highway into a body of water is the most likely.
[2:20:26] If they were driving at night and the driver dozed off, they
[2:20:29] could have easily driven off the road and into a lake or Deep
[2:20:32] River, never to be seen again. Another major problem with this
[2:20:36] case, and why it will likely never be solved is that there's
[2:20:40] multiple possible routes between Dryden and Montreal.
[2:20:45] The shortest of these routes along the Trans Canada Highway
[2:20:50] is approximately 1200 miles, and most of this stretch is
[2:20:54] virtually uninhabited.

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