# 2 Mysterious Disappearances: Star Palumbo and Oscar Zeta Acosta

An episode of [Lazy Chill True Crime](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1815534472), 17 Jul 2025, 19 min.

Audio: https://traffic.megaphone.fm/APO6881131786.mp3

In this gripping true crime episode, we explore the baffling disappearances of two very different individual: Star Palumbo, a young woman last seen near a Reno airport in 2000, and Oscar Zeta Acosta, the larger-than-life attorney, activist, and author who vanished without a trace in Mexico in 1974. Despite their vastly different backgrounds, both cases share a haunting thread: sudden disappearances, lingering questions, and theories ranging from drug-fueled tragedy to targeted foul play. Was Star Palumbo a victim of human trafficking, mental illness, or a cover-up involving dangerous people? And what really happened to Oscar Acosta, the real-life inspiration for Hunter S. Thompson's Dr. Gonzo, who disappeared at the height of his fame? Did he die in a drug-related accident, or was he silenced by powerful enemies? Join us as we unravel two of America's most mysterious disappearances, piecing together clues, suspicious sightings, cryptic evidence, and the powerful forces that may have wanted them gone. This is a must-listen episode for fans of unsolved mysteries, conspiracy theories, and high-profile vanishings. 👇 Support My Work: 🛍️ Merch: https://lazy-chill-zone-shop.fourthwall.com ❤️ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/lazychillzone 👇 Youtube links: Lazy Chill True Crime Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8dVJtzeHcJgd_Z0bHrJTHQ Lazy Chill History Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@LazyChillHistory Lazy Chill Zone Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@LazyChillZone 👇Social Media Links: https://www.instagram.com/lazychillzone/ 👇 Podcast links: ⚡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 Keywords: true crime podcast, mysterious disappearances, Star Palumbo, Oscar Zeta Acosta, Dr. Gonzo, Reno mystery, unsolved cases, missing persons, conspiracy, 2000 cold case, 1974 disappearance, Hunter S. Thompson, mental health, cartel theories, human trafficking, podcast on missing people, drug psychosis true crime

## Transcript

[0:00] In the early morning darkness of April 26th, 2000, a frightened
[0:04] young woman was found wandering on the tarmac of Reno Tahoe
[0:08] International Airport. When airport security confronted
[0:11] her, she claimed she was searching for her younger sister
[0:15] who had run loose on the runway, a sister that in reality she
[0:20] didn't have. That woman was 25 year old *
[0:24] palumbo and within hours she would vanish without a trace.
[0:29] The next day, Star's car was discovered abandoned at the
[0:32] airport, loaded with her belongings, but with no sign of
[0:36] Star herself. Her abandoned vehicle held clues
[0:40] as eerie as they were baffling cryptic letters and an ominous
[0:43] sketch that hinted at her growing paranoia, yet nothing
[0:47] that gave a clear answer to her fate.
[0:50] The bizarre circumstances, from Star's incoherent airport
[0:54] encounter to the unsettling contents of her car, have made
[0:58] her disappearance one of Nevada's most haunting unsolved
[1:01] mysteries. Star Palumbo was a 25 year old
[1:07] from Tucson, AZ. In 1999, she moved to Reno, NV
[1:11] to live with her grandmother. By all accounts, Star had a
[1:15] happy upbringing and was known to be friendly and trusting.
[1:19] Friends and family would later say she might have trusted
[1:22] people too much, a trait that could put her at risk.
[1:26] In Reno, she worked at a pawn shop, but she also fell into
[1:30] using meth, and soon her drug habits spun out of control.
[1:35] Investigators believe she may have turned to escorting as a
[1:37] way to fund her addiction. Despite these troubles, Star
[1:42] stayed in touch with her family, and she spoke to her mother
[1:45] regularly on the phone. But on April 25th, 2000, the day
[1:51] before she vanished, Star sounded unusually anxious and
[1:54] paranoid. She told her mother that she
[1:57] thought someone was following her and that her phone was
[2:00] tapped. She even talked about coming
[2:03] home to Tucson to start over. It was the last time her family
[2:07] ever heard from her. Just hours after that
[2:12] distressing phone call, Starr's strange behavior came to a head.
[2:16] Shortly after midnight on April 26th, an airport police officer
[2:21] found Starr trespassing in a restricted area of the Reno
[2:24] airport. She was disoriented, cowering
[2:27] behind a truck on the tarmac. When questioned, Star claimed
[2:31] she was looking for a younger sister who had run onto the
[2:34] runway. Even though Star didn't have a
[2:37] sister in real life, recognizing that she was not well but had
[2:42] committed no serious crime, the officer decided not to arrest
[2:46] her. Instead, he gave Star a ride to
[2:50] the nearby Reno Hilton Hotel so she could safely spend the rest
[2:54] of the night. Unfortunately, this act of
[2:58] leniency by the cop would be the worst thing that could have
[3:01] happened to *. The Reno Hilton Hotel was the
[3:07] last place Star was seen. The officer dropped her off
[3:10] there around 1:30 that morning, and a valet reportedly saw her
[3:14] near the entrance shortly afterward.
[3:17] However, Star never checked into the Hilton or any other hotel
[3:20] that night and after that brief sighting by the valet, she
[3:25] vanished without a trace. In the pre dawn darkness, Star
[3:30] Palumbo effectively stepped off the face of the Earth.
[3:35] On April 27th, Star's vehicle was found illegally parked and
[3:40] abandoned at the airport. The car registered in her name
[3:44] was packed with her personal possessions, including her purse
[3:48] with $600.00 cash inside and her cell phone.
[3:52] These are items she almost certainly would have taken with
[3:55] her if she were leaving intentionally.
[3:58] Even more disturbing were the other things police discovered
[4:01] in the car. There were printed copies of
[4:04] three emails Star had sent to the White House claiming the
[4:07] federal government was after her.
[4:10] There was also a hand drawn sketch of a woman resembling
[4:13] Star in a compromising position, and two books about how to
[4:17] change one's identity to investigators.
[4:21] The contents of Star's car read like something out of a
[4:24] thriller, an unnerving mix of paranoia and possible plans for
[4:29] a getaway. Star never returned to claim her
[4:34] car or any of the items inside it.
[4:37] These clues painted a picture of a young woman in an extremely
[4:41] fearful state of mind and possibly preparing to flee from
[4:45] a danger which she perceived to be real.
[4:48] Investigators were left to wonder whether Star had suffered
[4:51] a breakdown and become lost, or if someone she feared had caught
[4:55] up with her. Either way, the items left
[4:58] behind only deepen the mystery. Instead of solving it.
[5:02] They showed that Star was deeply afraid of something or someone,
[5:06] whether it was a genuine danger or a figment of her imagination.
[5:13] After Star disappeared, her parents put up Flyers and
[5:16] alerted the media around Reno in hopes of finding her.
[5:20] For months, there were no leads, and then, eight months later, a
[5:24] startling tip emerged. In December 2000, the owner of
[5:30] the Silver Dollar Casino in Elko, NV, reported that a
[5:33] frightened young woman matching Star's description had come into
[5:37] her bar one night. This distressed woman said her
[5:42] name was * and claimed she was trying to escape from a pimp.
[5:46] At one point, she noticed a man peering through the window as if
[5:50] looking for her, which caused her to panic and flee the casino
[5:53] with another woman before police could arrive.
[5:56] Authorities investigated this report but couldn't confirm if
[6:00] the woman in Elko was really Star Palumbo.
[6:04] If it was her, it suggests Star was on the run from dangerous
[6:07] people after she went missing. If not, then her trail truly
[6:12] went cold in Reno. Aside from that one unconfirmed
[6:17] incident, no other trace of Star has ever surfaced.
[6:24] Over the years, several theories have emerged to explain her
[6:27] fate. Investigators generally focus on
[6:30] 2 broad possibilities that she had a drug fueled mental
[6:34] breakdown or that she met with foul play.
[6:40] One theory is that Star experienced a severe psychotic
[6:43] break due to her substance use and mounting paranoia which may
[6:47] have been overlaid upon pre-existing mental health
[6:49] issues. In this scenario she might have
[6:52] wandered off in a confused state and succumbed to the elements or
[6:56] an accident with her remains never found.
[7:00] The bizarre behavior she exhibited at the airport
[7:03] hallucinating about a non existent sister supports the
[7:07] idea that she was not in her right mind that night.
[7:11] It's possible she could have ended up far from Reno,
[7:14] unidentified and living transiently due to her impaired
[7:18] mental state. However, after so many years
[7:21] with no confirmed sightings or contact, this outcome is
[7:24] considered less likely. The other leading theory is that
[7:30] someone harmed Starr. Given her involvement with St.
[7:34] Pharmaceuticals and given the fact she was likely working in a
[7:37] dangerous position, she was living a high risk lifestyle
[7:41] that could have led to violence. No official suspects have ever
[7:45] been named in her case, but perhaps she crossed the wrong
[7:48] person. Maybe a drug dealer she owed
[7:51] money or a pimp she tried to leave.
[7:55] One rumor even suggested that Starr overdosed and
[7:58] acquaintances hid her body in the desert to avoid trouble,
[8:02] though no evidence backs up that story.
[8:06] The potential Elko sighting adds weight to the foul play angle.
[8:10] If that truly was * claiming a pimp was after her, it implies
[8:14] she might have been captured or trafficked by dangerous
[8:17] individuals. She could have been forced into
[8:20] working in this CD industry and then slain when she attempted to
[8:24] escape. Unfortunately, without concrete
[8:28] evidence, all of this remains speculation.
[8:33] Some have also wondered if Star deliberately disappeared to
[8:36] start a new life under a different identity.
[8:39] The fact that she owned books on changing identities suggests she
[8:42] considered the idea of going into hiding.
[8:46] It's conceivable she felt so threatened that she staged her
[8:49] own disappearance. However, this theory is
[8:52] difficult to square with the evidence.
[8:55] Star left behind a significant amount of cash in her phone,
[8:59] things one would expect her to take if she were planning to run
[9:01] away. That said, if she was so into
[9:04] the idea of making a clean break, leaving behind 600 bucks
[9:09] and her phone may have just been the cost of doing business, so
[9:12] to speak. She also never reached out to
[9:15] her family again, which would be uncharacteristic if she had the
[9:19] freedom to do so. Most investigators view this as
[9:23] the least likely scenario, though it remains a popular idea
[9:27] among some online sleuths. Starr's disappearance received
[9:33] some attention in the media and was even featured on an episode
[9:37] of Unsolved Mysteries in 2001, yet no answers were uncovered.
[9:42] Supporters later set up a Facebook page to keep her case
[9:45] in the public eye, and local news outlets have periodically
[9:49] revisited the story to remind people that Star is still
[9:52] missing. Today, Star Palumbo is still
[9:56] officially listed as an endangered missing person.
[9:59] The Reno Police Department remains open to any new tips,
[10:03] emphasizing that even a small piece of information could break
[10:07] the case. After all these years, on a warm
[10:13] night in the spring of 1974, a notorious attorney climbed
[10:17] aboard a boat in the Mexican port of Mazatlán and vanished
[10:21] into thin air. The man was Oscar Zeta Acosta, a
[10:25] radical lawyer, writer and to some, a folk hero who lived as
[10:31] large as the legends he inspired.
[10:34] His disappearance would go down as one of the era's great
[10:37] unsolved mysteries. This isn't a plot from a Hunter
[10:41] S Thompson novel, but the real fate of Thompson's close friend,
[10:45] the very man who inspired the infamous Doctor Gonzo character.
[10:50] When Acosta disappeared that may, it left a mystery as
[10:54] outlandish as the man himself. He was a man of many
[10:58] contradictions, A crusading lawyer who partied with outlaws,
[11:03] A revolutionary who reveled in chaos, which makes his fate all
[11:07] the more perplexing. Decades later, people are still
[11:11] captivated by the question, what really happened to Oscar Acosta?
[11:19] Born in El Paso, TX in 1935, Acosta grew up in a Mexican
[11:24] American family and served a stint in the US Air Force as a
[11:28] young man. He then put himself through
[11:31] college and law school, becoming the first in his family to earn
[11:35] a degree before embarking on what could only be described as
[11:38] an unconventional legal career. In the late 1960s and early
[11:43] 1970s, he fought tirelessly for Mexican American rights.
[11:48] As a young lawyer in East Los Angeles, he quickly gained
[11:52] notoriety for defending the voiceless and clashing with
[11:55] authorities in the streets and in court.
[11:58] He became known for unorthodox courtroom tactics.
[12:01] At one point, he even subpoenaed an entire county grand jury to
[12:05] prove bias against Mexican Americans.
[12:10] Acosta's disregard for legal decorum was legendary.
[12:14] He once strode into court barefoot, insisting his casual
[12:17] attire was appropriate for the courtroom.
[12:20] His booming personality both inspired his community and
[12:24] unnerved the establishment. By all accounts, he seemed to
[12:28] have little fear of consequences.
[12:31] Thompson even noted that Acosta carried A conviction that he
[12:34] would die young, which only fueled his audacity.
[12:38] In 1970, Acosta ran for Los Angeles County Sheriff on a
[12:42] radical platform. He lost that race, but not
[12:46] before earning over 100,000 protest votes.
[12:52] Acosta also achieved a form of pop culture immortality through
[12:56] his friendship with Gonzo journalist Hunter S Thompson.
[13:00] The 2 shared outrageous escapades, most famously a drug
[13:04] fueled trip to Las Vegas that Thompson later immortalized in
[13:07] Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. In that book, Acosta appears
[13:12] thinly disguised as the character Doctor Gonzo, a
[13:16] chaotic 300 LB Samoan attorney. Acosta resented being
[13:21] fictionalized this way and initially threatened to sue
[13:24] Thompson over the portrayal. He settled, agreeing not to sue
[13:29] if Random House put a photo of him and Thompson on the book's
[13:32] back cover and gave Acosta A2 book deal of his own.
[13:37] This memorable portrayal made Acosta notorious and
[13:40] counterculture lore, even if it exaggerated and obscured the
[13:43] real man behind the alias. By early 1974, Acosta's life was
[13:51] careening on the edge. He had published his second book
[13:54] by that point, but was increasingly consumed by a
[13:57] cocktail of drugs. Perhaps seeking a new thrill or
[14:01] escape, he headed to Mexico that spring, a trip from which he
[14:05] never returned. In May 1974, at age 39, he
[14:12] traveled to Mazatlán, Mexico, and promptly vanished under
[14:16] really bizarre circumstances. His last known contact was a
[14:21] phone call to his son in which he cryptically said he was about
[14:25] to board a boat full of white snow, likely meaning a vessel
[14:29] loaded with Colombian confetti. What happened after that call
[14:33] remains a mystery. Acosta never returned from the
[14:37] trip, and no trace of him was ever found.
[14:42] His stunned family and friends could do little but notify
[14:45] authorities and hope for news. Mexican police had few leads,
[14:50] and the case quickly went cold. For a man who had thumbed his
[14:54] nose at danger, the idea that he could simply disappear overnight
[14:58] was almost unbelievable. And yet that is exactly what
[15:02] happened. Over the years, rumors swirled
[15:06] and no one was really sure if Oscar was alive or dead.
[15:10] Finally, in December 1986, a California court declared him
[15:15] legally deceased in absentia. This was an act done so that his
[15:19] family could move on with cleaning up his estate and other
[15:22] legal matters and wasn't an acknowledgement that he was
[15:25] factually deceased. In essence, it was a
[15:29] bureaucratic formality that provided no real answers, and
[15:34] the question of his fate remains unanswered to this day.
[15:41] One of the people determined to find answers was Hunter S
[15:44] Thompson. In 1977, Thompson penned an
[15:48] investigative story for Rolling Stone titled The Banshee Screams
[15:53] for Buffalo Meat, a gonzo obituary of his missing friend.
[15:58] Based on his digging and gut instincts, Thompson floated 2
[16:01] chief possibilities. Either Acosta was slain by drug
[16:05] dealers during that Mexican trip, or he was the victim of a
[16:09] politically motivated hit. The first theory is bolstered by
[16:13] Acosta's own ominous last phone call and the risky drug scene he
[16:17] was very apparently mixed up in. Even Acosta's son Marco believed
[16:22] his father probably angered someone dangerous and got
[16:26] himself slain in a fight on that boat full of contraband.
[16:30] Acosta wasn't a guy who was known for his calm and cool
[16:33] demeanor, nor was he one to stand down for virtually
[16:37] anything. Further, he was also known to be
[16:42] someone who stood up for others, often even to the point of his
[16:46] own detriment. It's not difficult to imagine
[16:49] how he could have seen some real bad things going down on that
[16:52] coke fueled boat ride that just flat out pissed him off.
[16:59] The second theory points to Acosta's many political enemies.
[17:03] After all, he had loudly challenged police brutality and
[17:06] corruption in Los Angeles for years, so it's conceivable that
[17:10] someone he angered might have arranged to silence him.
[17:16] In the end, Thompson's remembrance of Acosta was equal
[17:20] parts fond and scathing. He described his friend as a
[17:24] virtually paradoxical person. On the one hand, he was a
[17:27] brilliant genius who wasn't afraid of anything, and on the
[17:31] other hand he was a flat out crazy troublemaker.
[17:36] In fact, Oscar Zeta Acosta is, in essence, A textbook example
[17:40] of a chaotic good sort of person.
[17:43] These sort of people act in accordance to their conscience
[17:46] and values, but reject rules, laws, and institutions they see
[17:51] as oppressive or corrupt. That fits Acosta to AT and he
[17:56] frequently clashed with judges, law enforcement, and even his
[18:00] allies and friends, showing disdain for convention.
[18:04] In essence, he was a disruptive force for justice, and either of
[18:08] the scenarios proposed by Hunter S Thompson are indicative of how
[18:12] his personality may have gotten him eliminated.
[18:17] Other explanations have been proposed as well.
[18:20] Perhaps Acosta fell victim to his own excesses.
[18:24] He could have overdosed and wandered off into the wilderness
[18:27] to die. Or perhaps he Od'd on the boat
[18:30] and was just tossed over, never to be seen again.
[18:34] Some even wonder if he had a total mental collapse and
[18:37] purposely vanished, deciding never to return to society, at
[18:42] least in the United States, with no physical evidence or remains.
[18:49] We may never know for sure what happened to Oscar Zeta Acosta,
[18:52] but if foul play was involved, it was effectively covered up.

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