# 4 Shocking Crimes: Chicago Tylenol Murders, Steven Vincent Mylan, Michael Haire, Lisa Borden

An episode of [Lazy Chill True Crime](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1815534472), 14 Aug 2025, 33 min.

Audio: https://traffic.megaphone.fm/APO7342729731.mp3

Join me as we discuss 4 shocking true crime cases. Chapters: 0:00 Chicago Tylenol Murders 13:42 Steven Vincent Mylan 23:23 Michael Haire 29:27 Lisa Borden 👇 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

## Transcript

[0:00] In late September 1982, a shocking crime spree in the
[0:04] Chicago area left seven people dead after they unwittingly
[0:08] consumed Tylenol, painkillers laced with deadly potassium
[0:12] cyanide. The victims ranged in age from
[0:15] 12 year old Mary Kellerman to 35 year old Paula Prince, all who
[0:20] collapsed suddenly after taking what they thought was ordinary
[0:24] extra strength Tylenol. The mysterious poisoning deaths
[0:29] triggered nationwide fear, a massive product recall, and one
[0:33] of the largest investigations in American history.
[0:37] On the morning of September 29th, 1982, news began to spread
[0:43] that several people in the Chicago area had mysteriously
[0:47] died after taking Tylenol. Mary Kellerman, age 12, had been
[0:52] rushed to the hospital the day before with a sudden illness and
[0:55] died after taking Tylenol for a cold.
[0:59] That same day, Adam Janus, 27, also passed away again after
[1:04] taking the medication. Tragically, Adam's brother
[1:09] Stanley Janus, 25, and sister-in-law Teresa Janus, 20,
[1:14] died soon after, all having taken pills from the same
[1:17] Tylenol bottle at Adam's home. Within a short span, Mary
[1:22] Reiner, 27, Mary McFarland, 31, and Paula Prince, 35, also fell
[1:30] victim to cyanide laced Tylenol capsules.
[1:34] In total, at least seven people lost their lives in the Chicago
[1:38] area before authorities recognize the common link.
[1:42] Local officials and medical professionals acted swiftly once
[1:46] the connection to Tylenol was suspected.
[1:49] A nurse named Helen Jensen played a key early role.
[1:53] She visited the Janus family home, noted their Tylenol bottle
[1:57] had been recently purchased and had 6 pills missing, and alerted
[2:01] investigators that the painkillers might be the cause.
[2:05] A Cook County Medical examiner hearing this information had a
[2:09] hunch the culprit was cyanide and told the investigators it
[2:13] emits an almond odor. Investigators opened a
[2:17] suspicious Tylenol capsule and detected the almond like smell,
[2:21] and lab tests soon confirmed that several Tylenol capsules
[2:25] contained potassium cyanide, a fast acting poison.
[2:30] This rapid forensic discovery, essentially basic toxicology and
[2:35] keen observation, was crucial in preventing many more deaths.
[2:40] Authorities immediately held a press conference to warn the
[2:43] public not to consume any Tylenol products.
[2:45] For the time being, The response from both government and the
[2:49] manufacturer was sweeping. Within days, Johnson and Johnson
[2:54] issued an urgent product recall. The recall was initially focused
[2:59] on the suspected lot of Tylenol capsules and then rapidly
[3:02] expanded to all Tylenol Extra Strength capsules in the Chicago
[3:06] area. As more tainted bottles were
[3:09] found across different stores and even different Tylenol lot
[3:13] numbers, the recall widened to eventually include 31 million
[3:17] bottles of Tylenol nationwide. The company halted all Tylenol
[3:22] production and advertising, and it instructed consumers
[3:25] nationwide to avoid Tylenol capsules until the scope of the
[3:29] tampering could be determined. This quick action and clear
[3:33] warnings are often credited with preventing further loss of life.
[3:38] By early October, Tylenol had been completely pulled off store
[3:42] shelves and law enforcement agencies at every level were
[3:46] mobilized to hunt for the person or persons responsible.
[3:52] The investigation into the Tylenol case became a massive
[3:55] multi agency effort involving local police departments, the
[4:00] Illinois State Police, the FBI, and the FDA.
[4:05] Early forensic evidence pointed to how the crime was committed.
[4:09] The poison Tylenol capsules came from different production
[4:12] plants. This meant it was highly
[4:14] unlikely the tampering occurred during manufacturing, a fact
[4:18] which greatly limited the geographic scope of the
[4:21] investigation. Instead, police hypothesized
[4:25] that the perpetrator purchased several bottles of Tylenol from
[4:29] various stores around Chicago. The perpetrator is then thought
[4:33] to have added cyanide to some of the capsules and then returned
[4:37] the resealed bottles to store shelves for unsuspecting
[4:40] customers to buy. This theory fit the scattered
[4:44] geography of the incidents, as tainted bottles were found at
[4:47] multiple pharmacies and grocery stores in the Chicago area.
[4:51] It also explained why only certain bottles were deadly
[4:54] rather than entire production lots.
[4:57] It also meant the perpetrator had to physically visit those
[5:00] stores in the days or weeks prior to the deaths, which gave
[5:04] investigators a rough timeline and locations to scrutinize.
[5:09] With no immediate suspect, investigators turned to both old
[5:12] fashioned police work as well as some new innovative tactics.
[5:17] Chicago police and the FBI conducted countless interviews
[5:20] and followed up on leads about anyone buying or possessing
[5:23] cyanide at the FB is suggestion. An unusual sting operation was
[5:28] attempted. In early 1983, columnist Bob
[5:32] Green of the Chicago Tribune published a story with the home
[5:36] address and graveyard location of Mary Kellerman, the youngest
[5:40] victim. The idea was to provoke the
[5:43] perpetrator into visiting either the family's home or the
[5:46] gravesite, perhaps out of guilt or twisted curiosity.
[5:51] Both locations were placed under 24 hour video surveillance for
[5:55] months, but the suspect never showed up.
[5:59] Investigators also released to the media a surveillance photo
[6:03] from a drug store security camera that showed victim Paula
[6:07] Prince buying her Tylenol. In the background of the photo,
[6:12] a mysterious bearded man is seen watching her.
[6:15] Police publicly labeled that unknown bearded man as a
[6:18] possible suspect, hoping someone might identify him.
[6:23] Others have observed that Paula Prince was a conventionally
[6:26] attractive young woman who likely attracted unwanted stares
[6:30] and gazes fairly routinely. Despite these efforts, the man
[6:35] was never identified. A major early break in the
[6:38] investigation was the emergence of a prime suspect through an
[6:42] unexpected source, an extortion letter.
[6:46] On October 1st, 1982, Johnson and Johnson received a letter
[6:51] from someone claiming responsibility for the
[6:53] poisonings and demanding $1 million to stop the carnage.
[6:58] Law enforcement treated the letter seriously and traced it
[7:02] to a man named James William Lewis, a 36 year old who had
[7:06] once lived in the Chicago area. Lewis quickly became the focus
[7:11] of the investigation. A nationwide manhunt ensued, and
[7:15] Lewis, along with his wife Leanne, was eventually arrested
[7:19] in New York City in December 1982.
[7:22] With Lewis in custody, investigators hoped they had
[7:25] their man. Lewis didn't emerge from
[7:28] nowhere, and he had a checkered past that drew law enforcement
[7:32] attention even before the Tylenol case.
[7:36] Born in Missouri, Lewis worked as an accountant in the 1970s.
[7:41] In 1978, he was charged in Kansas City with the slaying of
[7:45] a 72 year old client. Raymond W Lewis was suspected of
[7:50] the crime after fingerprints later identified as his were
[7:54] found on some evidence. However, the charges were later
[7:58] dismissed as some evidence had been obtained illegally
[8:02] undermining the case. This meant Lewis walked free,
[8:06] but the incident established his history of serious run insurance
[8:09] with the law. By the early 1980s, James and
[8:13] his wife Leanne had spent time in Chicago and Lewis had also
[8:17] been accused of fraud, for which the couple reportedly fled the
[8:21] area prior to the Tylenol incidents.
[8:25] But let's get back to the extortion letter itself for a
[8:27] moment. The author of the letter claimed
[8:30] responsibility for the seven deaths and instructed that the
[8:33] money be deposited in a particular bank account.
[8:37] Investigators trace the bank account to a Chicago bank and
[8:41] discovered it belonged to a former employer of James Lewis's
[8:44] wife. Lewis later admitted he wrote
[8:47] the letter saying he never intended to collect any money
[8:50] himself. Rather, he wanted to direct
[8:53] suspicion toward his wife's former boss by having the money
[8:57] sent to that person's account. In other words, Lewis claimed
[9:01] the extortion attempt was a hoax, a way to frame someone
[9:05] else out of vindictiveness, rather than an admission that he
[9:09] was actually the Tylenol poisoner.
[9:12] Now, let me just take a moment here to discuss my own theory.
[9:16] If he was the one responsible, he may have planned on doing
[9:19] some form of violence to his former wife's boss to get access
[9:23] to that money. After all, if this former
[9:27] employer was to disappear after withdrawing the cash,
[9:31] investigators would have had to investigate the possibility that
[9:35] he left the country with the money.
[9:38] Notably, this also provided plausible deniability to a much
[9:41] lesser crime should he be caught.
[9:44] In essence, I think it may have been a scheme to strike it rich
[9:48] with a built in insurance policy that potentially allowed him to
[9:51] escape responsibility for the truly horrific poisoning crimes.
[9:57] Upon arrest, Lewis didn't confess to the poisonings.
[10:00] However, he did do something rather intriguing.
[10:04] He gave investigators A detailed account of how, theoretically,
[10:07] the perp might have carried out the poisonings.
[10:10] Anyway, for reasons that should be obvious to everyone watching,
[10:14] I'm not going to go into the details he provided to the
[10:17] authorities That said, in essence, he gave them a tutorial
[10:22] on how to tamper with the bottles without anyone noticing.
[10:26] Of course, this was all conjecture According to him, and
[10:29] not in any way tied to reality. Authorities later found that he
[10:34] also owned a book which contained instructions for
[10:36] manufacturing poisons, which I'm sure he claimed was just
[10:40] reference material. Adding to suspicion, his
[10:44] fingerprints were very lightly found throughout the book except
[10:47] in one area, the cyanide part. Despite all this, investigators
[10:53] never found enough evidence to actually bring charges directly
[10:57] in relation to the Tylenol tamperings.
[11:00] They were, however, able to prosecute him for the crime
[11:03] related to the letter itself. In 1983, Lewis was put on trial
[11:09] in federal court for attempting to extort $1 million from
[11:12] Johnson and Johnson by threatening further violence.
[11:16] During the trial, his defense team repeated Lewis's claim that
[11:21] he only wrote the letter to draw attention to someone else, his
[11:25] wife's ex employer, and never intended to harm anyone.
[11:30] This claim didn't exonerate him in the eyes of the court for the
[11:33] act of sending the threat, which seems rather unsurprising to me.
[11:37] He was convicted of extortion and received a sentence of 10
[11:41] years in federal prison. It's worth noting that
[11:45] throughout his imprisonment, and indeed for the rest of his life,
[11:49] James Lewis steadfastly maintained that he was not the
[11:53] Tylenol tamperer. He remains the only person to
[11:57] have ever been convicted in relation to the case.
[12:00] Another suspect investigated in relation to the case was Roger
[12:04] Arnold, a local dockworker. Arnold had allegedly bragged
[12:09] about having cyanide and made suspicious comments about his
[12:13] involvement while drinking at a bar.
[12:16] Police learned that Arnold worked with the father of one of
[12:19] the victims, Mary Reiner, which tied him to the case.
[12:25] Investigators detained Arnold for questioning multiple times,
[12:29] but they never found enough evidence to charge him in
[12:31] relation to the poisonings in the 20 tens.
[12:36] After both Lewis and Arnold had passed, their DNA was tested
[12:40] against potential DNA of the perpetrator found on one or some
[12:44] of the bottles. Unfortunately, since this is an
[12:47] active and ongoing investigation, the authorities
[12:50] haven't released whether the same person's DNA was found on
[12:53] all the bottles. Indeed, if the same DNA was
[12:56] found on two or more bottles, it appears to me to be extremely
[13:00] likely that that DNA is definitely that of the
[13:02] perpetrator. While the perpetrator still
[13:05] hasn't been caught, I'm somewhat confident that genetic genealogy
[13:10] may one day crack the case, depending on the nature of the
[13:13] DNA evidence on the bottles. Also, as a side note, the seals
[13:18] we crack on a new medication bottle are a direct result of
[13:21] this tragedy. Hey everyone, it's Jimmy here
[13:27] with a reminder to hit that notification bell and share this
[13:30] video with two people. You know, sharing my videos with
[13:34] your friends and family and on your socials is the best way you
[13:37] can help my channel grow. And the best part is, it's
[13:40] entirely free. In February 1998, a 20 year old
[13:46] Canadian college student named Steven Vincent Mylan vanished
[13:50] under puzzling circumstances. What began as a late night drive
[13:54] from his home in Mississauga, ON turned into a cross-border
[13:59] mystery when his car was discovered over 2000 miles away
[14:03] in Arizona. Steven Mylan was a business
[14:06] student at Humber College's North Campus in Toronto and
[14:10] lived with his family in Mississauga.
[14:13] On the night of February 13th, 1998, just after midnight, he
[14:19] left home driving his black 1991 Chevrolet Beretta.
[14:25] He had recently told relatives that he wanted to travel to the
[14:28] United States to obtain a medication for hair loss.
[14:32] At the time, a new prescription hair loss drug had just come on
[14:35] the market in the US, which may explain his interest in a
[14:39] cross-border trip. Whatever his true intentions,
[14:43] Steven drove off alone that night and was never seen or
[14:47] heard from again. The first clue in Stevens
[14:49] disappearance came at the US Canada border.
[14:53] American customs records showed that his vehicle crossed into
[14:56] the United States at the Rainbow Bridge border crossing at
[14:59] Niagara Falls on February 14th, 1998.
[15:04] Notably, this was the day after he left home and the drive from
[15:08] Mississauga to Niagara Falls only takes about an hour.
[15:12] Importantly, it hasn't been confirmed that Steven himself
[15:15] was in the car at that time. No witnesses recalled seeing
[15:19] him, and the border logs simply noted the car's license plate,
[15:23] not the occupants of the vehicle.
[15:26] When he failed to return or contact his family, they
[15:29] reported him missing to the Peel Regional Police in Ontario.
[15:34] Investigators now had an international missing person
[15:37] case on their hands, with the last trace of Steven being his
[15:40] car's entry into the States. From the outset, law enforcement
[15:45] treated Stevens disappearance as unusual.
[15:49] Peel Regional Police began a missing person investigation and
[15:53] reached out to US authorities once the border crossing was
[15:56] discovered. For a time, there were no
[16:00] further leads on Stevens whereabouts.
[16:03] Then, in a startling development, his car was found
[16:06] abandoned in Arizona only days after he went missing.
[16:10] According to reports, a local spotted Stevens black Chevy
[16:14] parked at an overlook at the Grand Canyon sometime in mid
[16:17] February. The car's keys were still in the
[16:21] ignition and there was no sign of the driver.
[16:24] Rather than immediately notify police, the man who found the
[16:28] empty car decided to take it for himself and use it.
[16:34] He drove Stevens vehicle around Northern Arizona for a few
[16:37] months. Eventually, the car broke down
[16:40] and he left it parked off State Route 64 near Flagstaff.
[16:45] On June 8th, 1998, nearly four months after Stevens
[16:50] disappearance, authorities finally recovered the car.
[16:54] It was found stripped of parts and abandoned off the highway in
[16:57] Flagstaff, roughly an hour's drive from where it had
[17:00] originally been spotted at the Grand Canyon Overlook.
[17:04] When police traced the vehicle identification and plate, they
[17:08] realized it belonged to the missing Canadian student.
[17:12] American law enforcement interviewed the individual who
[17:15] had taken the car. He readily admitted he stumbled
[17:18] upon the empty vehicle at the Grand Canyon Overlook and kept
[17:21] it, but claimed to know nothing about Stevens fate.
[17:25] This person's actions were both illegal and highly unusual.
[17:30] As many Internet sleuths have noted, finding a car with the
[17:33] keys in it and simply deciding to steal it is a bizarre twist
[17:38] in an already strange case. That said, there was no evidence
[17:43] linking the car thief to Steven aside from the vehicle itself.
[17:48] With the location of Stevens car pinpointed, A coordinated search
[17:52] effort was launched in the area. The spot where the car had
[17:56] initially been found, the remote Little Colorado Gorge overlook
[18:00] located on Navajo land, was searched extensively on foot and
[18:05] by helicopter. Searchers scoured the Canyon rim
[18:08] and the rugged terrain below for any trace of the missing
[18:11] student. Despite these extensive ground
[18:15] and aerial searches, no sign of Steven was found.
[18:20] The Peel Regional Police completed their standard
[18:22] investigation steps and continued to monitor the case,
[18:26] but by the end of 1998, there were no solid clues pointing to
[18:30] what happened. One theory is that Stephen
[18:33] traveled all the way to Northern Arizona and met with an accident
[18:37] near the Canyon. The fact that his keys were left
[18:40] in the ignition suggests he may have stopped briefly and
[18:43] intended to return. It's possible he ventured near
[18:47] the canyon's edge and suffered a fall.
[18:50] However, an intensive search of the area below the overlook
[18:54] turned up no indication of his whereabouts.
[18:57] If he did fall into the Canyon, one would expect some evidence
[19:00] to be discovered, but nothing was found.
[19:04] Another variant of this theory suggests that he may have gone
[19:07] down the gorge willingly, but again, this runs into the same
[19:11] evidentiary issues. To this day, there is no proof
[19:16] that Stevens remains are in the Grand Canyon, leaving this
[19:20] theory unconfirmed. Another possibility is that
[19:24] Steven encountered foul play after arriving at the Grand
[19:27] Canyon. The remote location where his
[19:30] car was abandoned could have made him vulnerable to a robbery
[19:34] or attack. Perhaps he crossed paths with
[19:37] the wrong person and met with violence, after which the
[19:41] perpetrator left his car with the keys inside to cover their
[19:45] tracks. No signs of a struggle were
[19:48] reported in the vehicle, but without proper forensic
[19:52] evidence, I don't see how the authorities could possibly rule
[19:54] this out. And I think it's important to
[19:57] remember here that the vehicle was used for months and we
[20:02] really have no idea what happened with it during that
[20:05] time. If there were signs of a
[20:08] struggle, it's always possible that the car thief, even if he
[20:12] wasn't actually involved in any more serious criminal act, had
[20:16] the car cleaned up. After all, he clearly intended
[20:20] to treat it as his vehicle, at least for a little while.
[20:23] If there was evidence of a crime in a stolen vehicle he was
[20:26] driving around, I imagine this could have been slightly
[20:30] problematic for him if he was pulled over with his Canadian
[20:33] plates on. Another theory turns on
[20:36] questioning whether the hair loss medicine was just a cover
[20:39] story for a different purpose. It struck many as unlikely that
[20:44] a college student would drive deep into the United States just
[20:48] to buy a hair loss product. Arizona's a very long way from
[20:52] the Canadian border, and he could have been in Buffalo in
[20:55] upstate New York in about an hour's drive from Mississauga.
[21:00] And just to give some perspective on this, this isn't
[21:03] just a long drive, but a road trip of a lifetime, which would
[21:08] take approximately 32 hours if you were traveling in the most
[21:12] efficient way. And to be clear, the most
[21:16] efficient way to Arizona from Mississauga isn't through New
[21:19] York State, but rather through the border crossing at Detroit,
[21:24] adding another layer of strangeness.
[21:26] These factors have led to speculation that Stephen might
[21:29] have had an ulterior motive for his journey.
[21:32] It's conceivable he had arranged to meet someone, perhaps someone
[21:37] he met online in a chat room, given the late 1990s timing, and
[21:42] didn't want to tell his family the real reason for his trip.
[21:46] At this point, people were meeting online through chat
[21:48] rooms, though this was still a highly stigmatized way to meet
[21:52] people. At that point, if Steven was
[21:55] secretly headed to meet a person, some speculate that he
[21:58] may have been set up. Notably, his vehicle was seen
[22:02] crossing the border into the United States on Valentine's
[22:05] Day, which adds a layer of circumstantial credibility to
[22:09] this theory. This theory, however, is purely
[22:12] speculative, and given that it was 1998, it looks as though the
[22:17] police never even investigated what was on his computer.
[22:22] Another theory, which Stevens family has promoted throughout
[22:24] the years, is that he may not have left Canada at all.
[22:29] That said, there's been no evidence whatsoever to suggest
[22:32] that he met his end anywhere in Canada either.
[22:35] Further, if there was foul play in Canada, I question why the
[22:38] criminal would take the risk of moving the car into the States.
[22:42] Border security was very loose before 2001, but that doesn't
[22:47] mean it wasn't there at all, and a border crossing is a massive
[22:51] added risk for a criminal. This is a case where all
[22:55] theories have good evidence in their favor, but where no theory
[22:58] fits all the facts neatly and crucial pieces of evidence
[23:02] remain missing. That said, I do think this case
[23:06] has a good chance of being solved one day.
[23:09] There are 10s of thousands of John Doe's out there waiting to
[23:12] be identified by the genetic genealogy revolution, and Steven
[23:17] could be identified any day now. The Liar Paradox 3 43 year old
[23:24] Michael Hare vanished under puzzling circumstances from
[23:27] Bonner County, Idaho on June 19th, 1993.
[23:32] Hare had a heated argument with his wife at their home.
[23:36] In the midst of the dispute, he stormed out of the house in
[23:39] anger and never returned. When Hare failed to come back or
[23:44] contact anyone, his family grew concerned and reported him
[23:48] missing. Local law enforcement with the
[23:51] Bonner County Sheriff's Office treated the incident as a
[23:54] missing person case and began investigating, searching for any
[23:59] signs of Hare's whereabouts. Initially, there was little to
[24:03] go on. Hare had simply disappeared
[24:06] without a trace. In the immediate aftermath,
[24:10] deputies and detectives followed standard procedures.
[24:14] They interviewed Hare's wife and relatives, checked the areas he
[24:17] was known to frequent, and looked for any signs of an
[24:20] accident or voluntary departure. As weeks turned into months with
[24:25] no word from Hare, investigators began to suspect that more was
[24:29] at play than an angry husband cooling off.
[24:33] The fact that Hare had never been heard from again signaled
[24:37] that his disappearance was likely not voluntary.
[24:40] About a year after Hare went missing, a significant lead
[24:44] emerged. An informant came forward in
[24:47] 1994 with a startling story. According to this source,
[24:52] Michael Hare had not simply wandered off, but had been shot
[24:57] and then disposed of in a kiln. The reason given by the
[25:01] informant was that Hare allegedly knew about a secret
[25:04] grow op and was slain to keep him silent.
[25:08] They looked for anyone in Hare's circle who might be involved in
[25:11] illegal substance activity and landed upon Jim Monts, Hare's
[25:15] stepson. Investigators learned that Monts
[25:19] had a history with substances, and they suspected he might be
[25:22] running a street cabbage farming operation.
[25:26] In September 1994, acting on the informants tip, Bonner County
[25:31] deputies and Idaho State Police officers executed a search
[25:36] warrant on Monts's rural property.
[25:39] What they uncovered was indeed a sophisticated enterprise.
[25:43] Monts had an underground bunker concealing roughly 80 plants,
[25:47] complete with high end cultivation equipment.
[25:51] The discovery confirmed a major part of the informant's story.
[25:55] During the raid, officers also noticed something else that sent
[25:59] a jolt through the investigative team.
[26:02] A large kiln was discovered on the property, just like the
[26:06] informant said it would be. This was exactly the type of
[26:10] oven the informant had described as being used to cremate Hare's
[26:13] body. The presence of the kiln gave
[26:16] investigators both a possible crime scene and physical
[26:19] evidence to scrutinize. Monts was arrested at the scene
[26:23] on substance manufacturing charges.
[26:26] With Monts in custody, law enforcement turned their
[26:30] attention to gathering physical evidence that could confirm what
[26:33] happened to Michael Hare. The kiln found on Mons's
[26:37] property became the focus of a painstaking forensic search.
[26:41] Investigators sifted through the ashes and debris inside the
[26:45] kiln, looking for any trace of human remains that might have
[26:48] survived high temperature burning.
[26:51] Indeed, they did find some bones amid the ashes, raising hopes of
[26:55] a breakthrough. However, after examination, the
[26:59] sheriff reported that the bones recovered were actually from
[27:02] animals. Undeterred, detectives collected
[27:06] ash samples and other material from the kiln and surrounding
[27:09] area for advanced testing. These samples were sent to
[27:13] laboratories for analysis to detect microscopic traces of
[27:17] human tissue. Once again, no definitive human
[27:21] remains were recovered from the kiln.
[27:24] Monts ultimately pleaded guilty to the substance manufacturing
[27:27] charges, which carried a potential five year prison
[27:30] sentence. Monce's sentencing was scheduled
[27:34] for June 12th, 1995. Given Monce's status as the
[27:38] prime suspect in the hair investigation, prosecutors
[27:42] argued he was a flight risk and even pushed for a $250,000 bail.
[27:47] However, the court allowed Monce a much lower bail of $20,000 and
[27:53] permitted him to remain free until sentencing under certain
[27:56] conditions. These were pretty standard.
[28:00] He had to surrender his passport, reside in the area,
[28:04] and check in with authorities daily.
[28:07] These precautions unfortunately proved insufficient and on June
[28:11] 12th, 1995, Monts never showed up for his sentencing hearing.
[28:17] For nearly 30 years, Jim Monts lived life on the Lam,
[28:20] successfully evading capture. That changed in early 2025 when
[28:26] cold case detectives finally got the break they needed while
[28:31] working the unsolved disappearance.
[28:33] Bonner County investigators and the Idaho State Police learned
[28:38] that Monts had been living under an assumed name in Georgia.
[28:42] Acting on this information, the US Marshals Service, together
[28:47] with local authorities in Georgia, moved in and arrested
[28:50] Monts at a home in Thomasville. Investigators have questioned
[28:55] why he fled from what was ultimately to be a fairly short
[28:58] prison sentence unless he suspected he was about to be
[29:01] charged with Hare's death. I hope to have an update on the
[29:04] disappearance of Michael Hare in a future episode.
[29:08] All that said, the authorities haven't yet charged Monts in
[29:11] relation to Hare's disappearance yet.
[29:14] Further, given that the informant gave his evidence over
[29:17] 30 years ago, I question what evidentiary issues the
[29:20] authorities will face in bringing charges at this point.
[29:28] Lisa Jane Borden was last seen by her family on October 10th,
[29:32] 1979 in her hometown of Big Spring, TX.
[29:36] Shortly afterward, the 19 year old headed West to California on
[29:41] a solo hitchhiking trip. Notably, this wasn't uncommon or
[29:45] unusual at the time and her family wasn't concerned.
[29:50] Later that month, Lisa phoned her relatives from Lodi, CA,
[29:54] which would be the final contact anyone had with her.
[29:58] And just a quick note here, because I know many of you are
[30:01] probably thinking the same thing.
[30:02] I thought, what was she even doing in California?
[30:07] Well, unfortunately, details on this case are quite sparse, and
[30:12] it isn't clear from publicly available information exactly
[30:16] what she was doing there. She had planned to return to
[30:19] Texas. Her boyfriend purchased a plane
[30:22] ticket for her trip home to be picked up at the airport, but
[30:26] Lisa never arrived to claim it. After that last phone call, all
[30:31] communication from her ceased. She was officially reported
[30:35] missing by her sister. When Lisa failed to come home
[30:39] and could not be located, the Big Spring Police Department in
[30:43] Texas took the lead in the case in coordination with California
[30:47] authorities. Given that was Lisa's last known
[30:50] location, early on, information was scarce.
[30:55] One of Lisa's friends claimed that sometime after October
[30:58] 1979, Lisa was allegedly spotted in Amarillo, TX working as a
[31:04] waitress. This tip gave a glimmer of hope
[31:07] that perhaps Lisa was still alive and had chosen to stay
[31:10] away on her own. However, the friend provided no
[31:15] evidence or details to back up the story, and investigators
[31:19] were unable to confirm that Lisa was ever in Amarillo.
[31:23] Aside from that unverified account, no credible sightings
[31:27] or messages from Lisa ever surfaced after her
[31:30] disappearance. Despite the passage of time,
[31:34] there have been no breakthroughs in her case, and her case has
[31:37] gotten very little in the way of attention.
[31:40] What happened to Lisa remains completely unknown at present,
[31:44] with all theories being pure conjecture based on the
[31:47] extremely limited evidence. That said, given that she was in
[31:50] California during the 1970s, much of the online discussion on
[31:55] her case has focused on the potential that she fell victim
[31:58] to a serial predator. However, it's unclear if the
[32:01] authorities have ever seriously pursued this line of
[32:04] investigation. Marketing is hard, but I'll tell
[32:08] you a little secret. It doesn't have to be.
[32:10] Let me point something out. You're listening to a podcast
[32:12] right now and it's great. You love the host.
[32:14] You seek it out and download it. You listen to it while driving,
[32:17] working out, cooking, even going to the bathroom.
[32:19] Podcasts are a pretty close companion.
[32:22] And this is a podcast ad. Did I get your attention?
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