# 1+ Hours of Cold Cases That Are Too Disturbing For Netflix | 247

An episode of [Lazy Chill True Crime](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1815534472), 3 Jun 2026, 1 h 11 min.

Audio: https://traffic.megaphone.fm/APO9860308569.mp3

Join me for 1+ hours of disturbing true crime cases that are too disturbing etflix. Episode 247 of the true crime podcast btw. 👇 Youtube links: Lazy Chill History Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@LazyChillHistory Lazy Chill Zone Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@LazyChillZone 👇 Support My Work: ❤️ 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, cold cases, true crime, true crime solved, 5 true crime cases

## Transcript

[0:00] It's a warm July night in 1986 at a busy Ohio truck stop. 23
[0:06] year old Shirley Taylor tells a friend she's going to meet a
[0:08] client known only as Doctor No. Days later, her strangled body
[0:13] is found dumped off the Interstate, missing her shoes
[0:16] and underwear. This wasn't an isolated
[0:20] incident, but part of a pattern that haunted Ohio for years.
[0:25] This elusive predator became synonymous with a series of
[0:28] brutal slayings targeting women along Ohio's highways.
[0:34] Throughout the 1980s, a string of women, many truck stop
[0:38] escorts, were found slain along Ohio interstates.
[0:42] The pattern emerged as multiple victims turned up with similar
[0:46] details. They were beaten or strangled,
[0:50] killed elsewhere and dumped near highways.
[0:53] They were often missing personal belongings, and investigators
[0:56] suspected the sick puppy behind these attacks kept these items
[1:00] as trophies. Truck stops had a thriving
[1:04] underground trade. Escorts often advertised to
[1:07] truckers over CB radio and met clients in their parked rigs.
[1:12] This anonymous system gave a predator plenty of cover to hunt
[1:15] without drawing attention. By 1991, authorities had linked
[1:20] at least 10 unsolved slayings across Ohio and neighboring
[1:24] states to a single truck stop predator.
[1:29] As investigators compared notes, an ominous nickname surfaced
[1:33] from the truck stop community. Witnesses recounted that a
[1:37] trucker had been using CB handles like Doctor No and
[1:41] sometimes Stargazer or Dragon to lure women.
[1:47] The nickname, which the Predator had given to himself in an
[1:50] apparent nod to a Bond villain, added to the case's notoriety.
[1:55] In 1991, Ohio authorities finally formed a multi county
[2:00] task force to coordinate the investigation.
[2:04] They recognized that various counties had pieces of the
[2:07] puzzle and that no single agency had been tracking all the cases.
[2:12] The task force faced A daunting job.
[2:14] Potential victims, witnesses and suspects moved constantly.
[2:19] The women drifted from place to place, seeking greener pastures.
[2:23] And a trucker predator could easily cross state lines before
[2:26] anyone connected the crimes. Federal agents had reviewed a
[2:31] few of the slayings but found no definitive forensic links at the
[2:34] time. In fact, the FBI was unclear
[2:37] whether there was any connection or whether these were completely
[2:41] unconnected incidents that Ohio detectives had convinced
[2:44] themselves we're all related. With a growing body count and
[2:49] mounting pressure, law enforcement went on the
[2:52] offensive. They interviewed hundreds of
[2:54] truck stop employees and drivers, plastering more than
[2:58] 4000 Flyers at truck stops with photos of victims and a
[3:03] composite sketch of the suspect. Also, if you're one of those
[3:07] people who just listens, I've got the sketch of the suspect up
[3:11] on the screen now. Over the years, numerous truck
[3:15] drivers fell under suspicion but were cleared.
[3:18] In 1991, One Ohio trucker with hair samples matching evidence
[3:23] found on one victim was investigated, but genetic tests
[3:27] conducted years later were inconclusive.
[3:31] Further, given the business model of the women working the
[3:33] lot, his hair being found there wasn't necessarily conclusive of
[3:37] any significant crime. A variety of incarcerated serial
[3:42] predators were interviewed, but they all denied being linked to
[3:45] the attacks. All these men were serving life
[3:50] sentences, so some have argued that they had no reason not to
[3:53] confess to another crime if they did it.
[3:56] I reject that idea, though. Since these individuals are
[3:58] usually caught up in decades of appeals, admitting to further
[4:02] attacks would mean that a successful appeal could
[4:05] ultimately result in no change whatsoever to their status.
[4:10] Regardless, each suspect brought a flicker of hope and then a big
[4:14] feeling of disappointment. By the late 1990's, the trail
[4:19] had gone fully cold. Part of the problem was
[4:23] forensic. Biological evidence was
[4:26] recovered, but the killer's material was hard to isolate
[4:30] among the genetic traces left by victims other clients.
[4:34] This toxic soup of genetic material was too much for
[4:37] forensic scientists to handle at the time, but subsequent testing
[4:41] indicated no common material found amongst the victims. 1
[4:46] credible hypothesis is that there was no single doctor, no
[4:50] serial killer at all. And as you'll probably be able
[4:53] to tell, I subscribe to this view.
[4:57] Instead, the deaths likely reflect several different
[4:59] offenders operating independently within the same
[5:03] vulnerable environment. Ohio's truck stops created a
[5:07] convergence point where transient clients, anonymity,
[5:11] and constant movement overlapped.
[5:14] Violence against escorts in that setting is common nationwide,
[5:19] and similar disposal sites or methods don't automatically
[5:22] indicate a single hand. While some cases may share
[5:26] elements such as strangulation, dumping near highways, or
[5:31] missing clothing, those traits are incredibly common.
[5:35] Investigators sometimes group crimes together to find
[5:38] patterns, but pattern seeking can also create connections that
[5:42] aren't truly there. When forensic science improved,
[5:46] later testing failed to reveal a shared biological signature
[5:50] linking all victims. In my view, that absence
[5:55] matters. Importantly, the FBI has long
[6:00] expressed skepticism that the attacks represent one roaming
[6:03] predator. Federal analysts reviewing the
[6:06] files reportedly concluded that the similarities were too broad
[6:11] and the differences too significant to confidently
[6:14] declare a serial offender. This interpretation reframes the
[6:19] mystery. Instead of 1 elusive predator
[6:22] evading capture, the reality may be more unsettling.
[6:27] There were multiple men exploiting the same dangerous
[6:30] system, each leaving behind a body, then vanishing into the
[6:34] flow of Interstate travel. If that's true, the failure
[6:38] wasn't in catching one killer, but in protecting people trapped
[6:42] in a high risk world where predators are never in short
[6:46] supply. A late summer night turned into
[6:51] a nightmare for the Lombardi family.
[6:54] In the early hours of August 30th, 1990, a quiet Ohio suburb
[7:00] was rocked by a chilling discovery.
[7:03] Cheryl Lombardi returned to her Westerville home around
[7:05] midnight, expecting her 22 year old son Tony to be home soon.
[7:10] Instead, at approximately 12:45 AM, she found Tony's lifeless
[7:15] body in his bedroom, a fatal gunshot wound to his head.
[7:20] Police arrived to a puzzling scene, a young man dead in bed,
[7:25] a pistol on the floor, and his car missing from the garage.
[7:30] Investigators initially treated the case like a killing, but the
[7:34] investigation swiftly shifted direction, and detectives
[7:38] determined that he did it to himself.
[7:41] What unfolded was a clash between the official findings
[7:44] and a family's unwavering belief that Tony was slain that night.
[7:50] Tony Lombardi was part of a typical middle class family in
[7:53] the Columbus suburb of Westerville.
[7:56] He had been a cheerful, outgoing young man who worked at a food
[7:59] processing factory and was very close with his parents.
[8:04] On the night of August 29th, 1990, Tony was supposed to be at
[8:09] work for his late shift at a Columbus factory, but he never
[8:13] showed up. Cheryl, his mother, arrived home
[8:17] around midnight and assumed Tony would be back soon, perhaps from
[8:22] work or a night out. Shortly after, she heard the
[8:26] sound of a door closing in, footsteps, prompting her to
[8:29] check on her son. What she found was every
[8:33] parent's nightmare. Tony was sprawled on his bed,
[8:37] unresponsive and bleeding. Panicked, Cheryl called 911 and
[8:42] police officers reached the house.
[8:44] By 1:15 that morning. The initial examination of the
[8:49] scene raised alarms Tony's car was gone, which led officers to
[8:54] suspect an intruder might have killed him and then fled using
[8:57] the missing vehicle. In Tony's bedroom, officers
[9:01] found a semi automatic on the floor near his body and a single
[9:04] spent shell casing on the bed. It appeared Tony had been shot
[9:08] at close range and the presence of the weapon initially
[9:12] suggested a staged scene. Within hours, the direction of
[9:18] the investigation took a dramatic turn.
[9:21] While searching Tony's room, officers found a crumpled drunk
[9:24] driving citation in the pocket of his pants.
[9:27] This discovery soon clarified the mystery of the missing car.
[9:31] Two days earlier, Tony had been arrested for driving under the
[9:35] influence, and the Columbus police had impounded his car.
[9:39] Tony was now facing legal trouble, possible fines, and a
[9:44] suspension of his driver's license, which could have been
[9:47] weighing heavily on him. To the Westerville police, this
[9:52] painted a picture of a young man in despair.
[9:55] By piercing together the timeline, they theorized that
[9:59] Tony, overwhelmed by his recent arrest and its consequences,
[10:04] might have decided to take his own life rather than face the
[10:07] fallout. The presence of a single wound
[10:11] and Tony's own weapon at the scene fit a self-inflicted
[10:15] scenario in their view. With his car an impound and not
[10:20] actually stolen by an assailant, the early theory of a fleeing
[10:23] perpetrator quickly lost traction.
[10:26] The official stance, supported by the coroner and other
[10:30] authorities, became that Tony's death was brought on by panic
[10:33] over his drunk driving arrest. The case might have ended there
[10:37] if not for a series of puzzling details that Tony's family
[10:40] couldn't accept. These details would cast serious
[10:44] doubt on the official narrative. Tony's parents immediately
[10:49] noticed signs that did not fit the police theory.
[10:52] His jaw was broken, an inch and a half gash cut across his left
[10:56] eyebrow, and deep bruises covered parts of his body.
[11:01] Some bruises on his chest, right beneath his clenched fists, made
[11:05] his family suspect someone had pinned him down during a fight.
[11:10] Tony's wristwatch was found shattered on the floor, as if it
[11:13] had been broken in a scuffle. Most oddly, Tony wasn't wearing
[11:18] any clothing whatsoever, A humiliating fact that his
[11:22] parents thought didn't make sense knowing he would be found
[11:25] by them. The physical evidence in the
[11:27] room also raised questions. Tony's body was found with his
[11:31] upper torso propped on pillows, yet the bullet hole in the
[11:35] wooden headboard was at a strangely low height for a shot
[11:39] fired by someone in his position.
[11:42] Tony's father argued this only made sense if an assailant had
[11:46] been pressing Tony down when the shot went off.
[11:49] Additionally, Cheryl recalled that when she first arrived
[11:53] home, Tony's room was dark, but about 45 minutes later, she
[11:58] heard a door and noticed the bedroom light was on.
[12:03] She believes the killer was hiding in the house and slipped
[12:05] out at that moment, turning on the light while fleeing.
[12:10] Notably, an autopsy later determined Tony had already been
[12:14] dead for several hours by the time Cheryl got home.
[12:18] This is a timeline consistent with the idea that an intruder
[12:21] could have killed him earlier that evening.
[12:24] So far, though, this could simply be a case of a grieving
[12:27] family trying to grasp at straws to find any reason to suggest
[12:31] someone else was responsible for Tony's death.
[12:36] Tony's family knew that he had angered at least two individuals
[12:39] in the week before his death, giving credence to an
[12:42] alternative motive. One incident was a case of road
[12:46] rage. A neighbor saw Tony in a heated
[12:49] confrontation with a man driving a white pickup truck after Tony
[12:53] allegedly cut him off in traffic.
[12:55] The irate driver demanded to know where Tony lived, and Tony,
[13:00] perhaps naively, gave him the address.
[13:03] I truly don't get why anyone would do that, but it is what it
[13:07] is. That said, I don't think this
[13:10] guy had anything to do with it. There's a much better candidate.
[13:16] The other threat was even more direct.
[13:18] Tony had been seeing a young woman who had a jealous
[13:21] ex-boyfriend just days before the tragedy.
[13:25] That man left a message on the Lombardi's answering machine,
[13:29] vowing to come over and shoot Tony if he didn't stay away from
[13:32] the woman. Tony's best friend tried to calm
[13:35] the situation, but the caller was unmoved.
[13:39] He insisted the issue was between him and Tony alone and
[13:43] warned that Tony would get what was coming to him.
[13:47] These incidents alarmed the Lombardi family and pointed to
[13:50] clear motives for foul play. Police, however, found no solid
[13:54] evidence tying either angry individual to Tony's death and
[13:58] treated the threats as unsubstantiated.
[14:01] To the family, it felt like too much of A coincidence that Tony
[14:05] had received such violent warnings just days before he
[14:08] died. All official agencies remained
[14:12] firm that Tony did it himself, and when the county coroner came
[14:16] back with his findings, this essentially closed the
[14:19] investigation. After this designation, a full
[14:23] investigation was never pursued and in 1994 the Lombardi's took
[14:29] their story to the legendary show Unsolved Mysteries.
[14:34] They hoped that this would lead to a breakthrough or that this
[14:36] national attention would pressure the cops back in Ohio
[14:40] to reopen the case. Unfortunately for the
[14:43] Lombardi's, this national exposure did little to move the
[14:47] case forward and the case remains officially closed.
[14:53] From my perspective, the ex-boyfriend should have been
[14:56] investigated far more thoroughly than he ever was.
[14:59] I want to be clear from the outset that what follows is
[15:02] purely speculative, not an accusation.
[15:05] But there are elements here that feel unresolved and deserving of
[15:09] deeper scrutiny. The most troubling detail to me
[15:13] is Tony's unclothed state. That fact alone sets this case
[15:18] apart from a straightforward self-inflicted scenario.
[15:22] Being found like this doesn't align easily with this,
[15:26] especially in a home where his parents were present and likely
[15:29] to discover him. It suggests vulnerability and
[15:33] interruption conditions that point toward another person
[15:37] being involved. Then there's the ex boyfriend's
[15:41] prior behavior, a confirmed threat to come over and shoot
[15:44] Tony as expressed intent. I've wondered whether that man
[15:49] may have encountered Tony and his girlfriend together that
[15:51] night or shortly before. It's not hard to imagine a
[15:55] scenario where the girlfriend was intimidated into silence,
[15:59] either by fear or perceived guilt.
[16:02] Given the threats, the odd physical details, and the lack
[16:06] of a full follow up, I think dismissing the ex-boyfriend so
[16:10] early left too many critical questions unanswered.
[16:18] In late October 1981, three young boys in Newburgh Heights,
[16:22] OH made a horrifying discovery. The lifeless body of 17 year old
[16:28] Kurt Sova lying in a ravine. Apart from a few scratches and
[16:33] bruises, there were no obvious injuries on Kurt's body.
[16:37] Kurt had been missing for five days by then, raising the
[16:41] chilling question of where he was during that time and what
[16:44] led to his untimely death. This marked the start of one of
[16:49] Ohio's most perplexing unsolved mysteries, a case riddled with
[16:53] eerie clues and unanswered questions that continue to haunt
[16:56] the community decades later. On Friday, October 23rd, 1981,
[17:04] Kurt Sova left his home to attend a house party in Newburgh
[17:07] Heights with a friend. He was a responsible teenager,
[17:11] and it was unlike him not to come home on time.
[17:14] So when he failed to return that night, his parents grew alarmed.
[17:19] By the next day, they were frantically calling friends and
[17:22] searching the neighborhood, unable to find any trace of
[17:26] Kurt. His family filed a missing
[17:29] person report with the police on Sunday and plastered the area
[17:33] with Flyers. That weekend, Dorothy Sova,
[17:38] Kurt's mother, learned from one of Kurt's buddies that he had
[17:42] been at a party on Friday night at a duplex nearby.
[17:46] The party host was a young woman named Susan.
[17:49] When Dorothy contacted Susan, the woman initially claimed
[17:53] there had been no party and that she hadn't seen Kurt.
[17:58] However, a pizza delivery driver contradicted this, confirming
[18:03] there was indeed a party at that address that night.
[18:06] Confronted with this information, Susan admitted that
[18:10] there was indeed a wild party and Kurt was there.
[18:14] She said a bunch of people, almost all of them strangers to
[18:17] Kurt, had come and gone during the evening.
[18:21] Susan claimed Kurt had been drinking heavily, which
[18:24] surprised his family since he wasn't known to be a drinker.
[18:28] According to what Susan and others told Dorothy, Kurt
[18:32] eventually became sick from drinking Everclear and stepped
[18:35] outside for some air. A friend took him out to the
[18:38] front porch and then went back inside briefly to retrieve
[18:42] Kurt's jacket because it was a chilly night.
[18:46] When the friend returned a few minutes later, Kurt was gone.
[18:51] They looked around the area, but Kurt had vanished.
[18:55] He had left without his jacket, and his friends assumed the
[18:58] intoxicated teen had decided to walk home on his own.
[19:02] That would be the last time anyone reported seeing Kurt
[19:05] alive at the party. Over the next several days, the
[19:10] Sova family and police scoured the neighborhood and surrounding
[19:14] areas for any sign of Kurt. Finally, on Wednesday, October
[19:19] 28th, their worst fear was realized.
[19:23] That afternoon, a group of kids exploring a ravine about 500
[19:27] yards from Susan's duplex stumbled upon a body.
[19:31] It was Kurt. He was found lying in the
[19:34] ravine, fully clothed, and appeared to have been there for
[19:38] some time. There were only minor scrapes on
[19:41] him, and notably, one of his shoes was missing.
[19:45] The discovery site raised immediate suspicions.
[19:49] Kurt's father, Ken, insisted that he had searched that very
[19:53] ravine the day before and found nothing.
[19:57] Ken was certain that if his son's body had been there
[19:59] earlier, he would have noticed the bright yellow shirt Kurt was
[20:03] wearing. This suggests that someone may
[20:06] have placed Kurt's body in the ravine after the initial
[20:09] searches, essentially that he was dumped there intentionally.
[20:15] Police at the time also considered this possibility.
[20:18] Noting that it looked like the body had been left in a spot
[20:21] where it was bound to be discovered sooner or later, the
[20:25] ravine's proximity to the party house around the corner from
[20:29] Susan's place only added to the confusion of the situation.
[20:35] The coroner's examination of Kurt's body only deepened the
[20:39] mystery. It was determined that Kurt had
[20:41] died roughly 24 to 36 hours before he was found.
[20:46] That meant he might have been alive for about 3 days after he
[20:49] went missing. Despite this, the autopsy
[20:53] couldn't find a clear cause of death.
[20:56] There were no lethal injuries and no signs of violence.
[21:00] Kurt's blood alcohol content was enough that he would have been
[21:03] just slightly over the legal limit.
[21:06] Toxicology tests found no other substances or poisons in his
[21:10] system. In short, nothing obvious
[21:12] explained why Kurt died. Faced with a lack of evidence,
[21:17] the medical examiner labeled Kurt's cause of death as an
[21:20] instantaneous physiological death.
[21:23] His death was classified as a probable accident.
[21:26] But then things got even more unusual.
[21:31] As the investigation unfolded, a series of strange clues and
[21:35] witness accounts emerged, making the case even more unsettling.
[21:40] One of Kurt's friends, David Trusnik, came forward with a
[21:44] startling story. He claimed to have seen Kurt
[21:48] alive on Monday, October 26th, 3 days after the party.
[21:54] David said he was driving that afternoon when he spotted Kurt
[21:57] walking with another teen along a road.
[21:59] Not realizing Kurt was missing, David pulled over.
[22:04] At that moment, a van drove up to the 2 youths.
[22:08] Kurt apparently recognized the vehicle or someone inside it,
[22:11] and David heard Kurt yell the name Franco.
[22:15] He then climbed into the van with the other teen and the van
[22:18] then speed away. His account strongly suggests
[22:22] that Kurt was indeed alive for a couple of days after
[22:25] disappearing, raising urgent questions about where he was and
[22:29] who he was with during that period.
[22:34] Around that same time, another bizarre incident occurred which
[22:37] has been subject to significant speculation till this day.
[22:41] On Monday the 26th, a strange man was seen hanging around the
[22:45] neighborhood and entered a record shop where one of Kurt's
[22:49] missing posters was displayed. The man told the store manager
[22:53] that she should take down Kurt's flyer because he would be found
[22:57] dead in 2 days. This unnerving proclamation
[23:01] understandably alarmed the manager.
[23:04] The next morning, before the shop opened, the same man left
[23:08] flowers and a handwritten note at the store.
[23:11] The note read quote. Roses are red, the sky is blue.
[23:16] They found him dead, and they'll find you too.
[23:20] Terrified, the store manager called the police.
[23:24] Authorities did locate and question this mysterious
[23:27] individual. He turned out to be a transient
[23:30] with mental health issues who had been drifting around the
[23:33] area. Despite his creepy behavior and
[23:36] seemingly uncanny prediction, police could find no evidence
[23:40] linking this man to Kurt's disappearance or death.
[23:44] They eventually released him, and he promptly left town.
[23:48] By the time Kurt's body was discovered, just as the stranger
[23:52] had predicted, the man had vanished permanently.
[23:58] The case grew stranger still on the very day Kurt's body was
[24:01] found, in the early hours of October 28th, sometime around
[24:07] 330, Dorothy Silva received a phone call out of the blue from
[24:11] Susan, the party host. Susan said that someone was
[24:15] sleeping in her basement and suggested it might be Kurt.
[24:19] Unsure what to believe, Ken Silva drove over to check.
[24:24] In the basement he found a cot that looked recently slept in,
[24:28] but Kurt was nowhere to be found.
[24:30] The odd tip yielded no new information, but it further
[24:34] fueled the Sova's suspicions. Dorothy believed that Kurt had
[24:38] indeed been hidden in that basement, perhaps unconscious or
[24:42] already dead. When Susan realized the
[24:46] authorities were closing in, she or others moved Kurt and left
[24:49] him in the ravine. It was another piece in a puzzle
[24:53] that pointed toward a cover up. Kurt Sova's death remains
[24:58] unsolved to this day. In the years immediately
[25:01] following 1981, the case went cold due to a lack of solid
[25:05] evidence or witnesses willing to talk.
[25:08] Kurt's parents grew frustrated with what they felt was a
[25:11] sluggish investigation. In fact, reviews by outside
[25:16] agencies later suggested that the initial police work was not
[25:19] as thorough as it should have been.
[25:21] For instance, no formal search of the party house was
[25:25] conducted, and not all potential witnesses were interviewed.
[25:30] These missteps may have allowed crucial evidence or testimony to
[25:33] slip away. As of now, the Newburgh Heights
[25:37] Police consider Kurt's case open but dormant.
[25:43] Hey friends, it's Jimmy, with my usual reminder to hit the like
[25:47] and subscribe buttons and to drop a quick comment below
[25:50] saying where you're listening from.
[25:52] Also, it wouldn't be an introduction if I didn't beg you
[25:55] to Ding the notification bell and turn on all those sweet
[25:58] notifications. Peter Winston was a mind so
[26:04] uniquely structured, so adept at visualizing complexity, that he
[26:08] seemed almost inhumanly capable of charting the future.
[26:12] A clinical psychologist testing him at just five years old
[26:16] didn't hesitate to label him a true genius.
[26:20] His brilliance wasn't limited to academic testing.
[26:23] It was proven on the unforgiving battlefield of the chess board
[26:27] where, still a teenager, he accomplished the unthinkable.
[26:33] At 14, he defeated the reigning US chess champion Walter Brown
[26:38] in just 37 moves. Winston was destined for the top
[26:42] echelon of global chess, a path seemingly laid out by years of
[26:47] flawless calculation and competitive success.
[26:51] But this master, this boy who could project dozens of possible
[26:55] futures on the board, made one final, irreversible and
[27:00] perfectly calculated move that stunned the world more than any
[27:04] victory. He walked away from his life on
[27:07] January 26th, 1978 at just 19 years old and his fate remains
[27:14] unknown till this day. Peter Winston was born on March
[27:19] 18th, 1958 in New York City. His early environment was deeply
[27:25] conducive to exceptional intellectual development.
[27:28] His father held a teaching position in chemistry at
[27:31] Columbia University, and the family made their home in a
[27:34] three bedroom apartment situated on Riverside Drive in Manhattan.
[27:39] This academic setting fostered the early recognition of his
[27:43] prodigious capabilities. The trajectory of his life was
[27:47] set early on, confirming that his intellectual path was
[27:51] divergent from the mainstream. When he was only 5, Winston was
[27:56] enrolled at Sands Point Elementary, a specialized
[28:00] institution dedicated to gifted children located on Long Island.
[28:05] By 1964, when he was just six years old, his remarkable gifts
[28:09] had garnered national attention. Winston's ascent in the
[28:13] competitive chess world was nothing short of meteoric. the
[28:17] US Chess Federation officially awarded him the highly coveted
[28:21] National Master title in 1972. To achieve this distinction at
[28:26] such a young age placed him among the most talented juniors
[28:29] in the country. It also suggested a Grandmaster
[28:33] title was well within reach and establishing a professional
[28:36] standard that would become crushingly difficult to sustain.
[28:42] His definitive career peak arrived in 1974 when he competed
[28:46] in the US Junior Chess Championship in Philadelphia.
[28:50] Not only did he perform exceptionally well, but he
[28:54] shared the 1st place prize with future Grandmaster Larry
[28:58] Christensen. This triumph solidified his
[29:01] place in the American chess landscape, leading the US Chess
[29:05] Federation to send him to the prestigious World Junior Chess
[29:09] Championship in Manila. Although this trip marked his
[29:13] first major international competition and he finished
[29:16] eighth, it served as a crucial trial, exposing him to the
[29:20] relentless pressure of global competition.
[29:24] Winston's peak chess rating was officially recorded in January
[29:28] 1975 at 2285. This objective measure of
[29:33] ability represented the height of his powers, and for a
[29:37] teenager, reaching this level was extraordinary.
[29:41] The intensity of his early massive success meant that his
[29:44] identity became wholly intertwined with his ability to
[29:48] maintain this towering standard. The period immediately following
[29:54] 1975 saw a profound and tragic shift in Peter Winston's life.
[29:59] Despite his external success and his internal processing power,
[30:04] the genius began struggling significantly with developing
[30:07] mental health problems as he entered his late teens.
[30:11] For someone whose reputation and self worth were so intensely
[30:14] tied to the flawless operation of his mind, this psychological
[30:18] fracturing had disastrous consequences on his career.
[30:23] The decline was seen in his chess rating score, which
[30:26] dropped 65 points between 1975 to 1978, a period in which it
[30:32] had been projected to continue to rise substantially.
[30:36] Contemporaries and other chess players who knew him closely
[30:39] during this period corroborated the disturbing trajectory they
[30:44] reported, observing that his deteriorating mental state
[30:47] corresponded directly and tragically with a parallel
[30:51] erosion in his game performance. All that said, Winston's mental
[30:56] state was much worse at that time than anyone in the
[30:59] community could have imagined. While it wasn't known to his
[31:04] fellow chess players or the public at the time, in 1976 he
[31:09] had a mental breakdown and was hospitalized for a short period
[31:12] of time. He was ultimately diagnosed with
[31:15] bipolar disorder, a condition that can be managed with
[31:19] medication. Unfortunately for Winston, he
[31:23] believed that the lithium he had been prescribed had caused him a
[31:27] form of brain fog, which diminished his intellectual
[31:30] capacity. He believed that the medication
[31:34] he had been prescribed would ultimately make him unable to
[31:37] fulfill his dreams, and evidence suggests he wasn't compliant
[31:41] after he left the hospital. A telling incident, though not
[31:47] his final disappearance, occurred in 1977.
[31:51] According to one account circulated among the chess
[31:54] community, Winston competed in a tournament so disastrous that he
[31:58] lost every single game. For a player of his caliber,
[32:02] this was unthinkable, and immediately afterward, he
[32:05] abandoned the chess arena and didn't go home.
[32:09] Also, as I was editing this video, I noticed I used the term
[32:13] chess arena to describe where the pro chess tournaments
[32:17] happen, and honestly, I'm just going to leave that in.
[32:22] Interestingly, the chess officials who were umpiring the
[32:24] match deemed the result of the tournament to be mathematically
[32:27] impossible. They decided to throw out all
[32:30] the results as they believed that the only way the result
[32:33] could have been reached is if Peter Winston threw the games
[32:36] intentionally. While he did eventually return,
[32:40] this desperate retreat was a clear and devastating precursor
[32:44] to his ultimate complete withdrawal from life.
[32:48] It revealed a deep seated inability to cope with the
[32:51] reality of failure, particularly when his identity was synonymous
[32:55] with success. He was searching for an escape
[32:59] from the unbearable expectations placed upon him by the world and
[33:03] perhaps by himself. The life Peter Winston knew
[33:09] concluded abruptly on January 26th, 1978.
[33:14] He was just 19 years old when he left his Manhattan home,
[33:18] vanishing completely without providing any explanation or
[33:22] leaving a trace. The date of his disappearance
[33:25] was mere hours before New York City was struck by the massive
[33:28] weather event that became known as the Great New York Blizzard
[33:31] of 1978. As one of the most severe
[33:35] snowstorms to hit the East Coast, the Blizzard brought
[33:38] widespread disruption, heavy snowfall, and whiteout
[33:42] conditions. Given Winston's extraordinary
[33:46] intellectual capacity, it's highly improbable that the
[33:49] timing was coincidental. A mind trained to calculate
[33:53] complex scenarios many steps ahead would surely understand
[33:57] the implications of using such a catastrophe as a screen.
[34:01] He deliberately chose a moment of maximum environmental
[34:04] disruption, guaranteeing 2 critical outcomes.
[34:08] First, that any initial search efforts would be paralyzed and
[34:12] minimized by the weather, and 2nd, that the elements
[34:16] themselves would collaborate to eradicate any evidence.
[34:20] This calculated use of uncontrollable obliterating
[34:23] natural forces highlights the depth of his desire for absolute
[34:28] perfect concealment. Winston essentially utilized the
[34:32] Blizzard as the ultimate opening gambit in his final irreversible
[34:35] game. Today, more than 47 years after
[34:41] that winter night, Peter Winston's status remains
[34:43] officially classified as missing.
[34:46] His parents, Leonard and Florence, continued to reside in
[34:50] their home on Riverside Drive, left with the agonizing and
[34:55] perpetual uncertainty of his fate.
[34:58] No substantial leads or verifiable evidence have ever
[35:01] been found to explain his calculated disappearance among
[35:06] the community of chess players who knew and competed against
[35:09] him. A somber consensus began to form
[35:12] early in the investigation. Given the clear evidence of his
[35:16] profound mental turmoil, the most commonly accepted theory
[35:20] among his peers was that Winston had tragically ended himself.
[35:25] However, others still clung to the hope that he simply used the
[35:28] massive snowstorm as a smokescreen to escape and start
[35:32] a new life far from New York City.
[35:35] Over the preceding decades, numerous sightings of Winston
[35:38] have been reported, but in the end, none have been verified.
[35:44] Personally, while I would like to believe that he simply
[35:48] wandered away from the pressure of the chess world, I don't
[35:51] think he survived. By January 1978, Winston likely
[35:57] believed that his mental health, his slipping performance, and
[36:01] his sense of intellectual erosion were not temporary
[36:04] obstacles, but permanent realities.
[36:08] For someone whose identity was inseparable from mental
[36:10] precision, this realization, regardless of whether it was
[36:15] accurate or not, may have felt terminal.
[36:19] The timing of his departure, just hours before the Blizzard
[36:22] of 1978, suggests foresight rather than impulse.
[36:26] As one would expect from a chess champ, a storm of that magnitude
[36:31] would naturally halt searches, erase tracks, and quickly
[36:35] transform certainty into ambiguity.
[36:39] In doing so, Winston may have believed he was offering his
[36:42] parents something gentler than the truth.
[36:45] The lack of a body meant no confirmation, and no
[36:49] confirmation meant hope, however painful, could survive.
[36:57] Picture the chilling silence of an Alaskan summer road trip, the
[37:01] promise of a future laid out across thousands of miles of
[37:05] Northern Highway. Now shift that image far South,
[37:09] deep into the British Columbia wilderness, to a mundane
[37:12] commercial setting, a car wash in the city of Prince George.
[37:17] It was here, hundreds of miles from the remote Yukon Cafe where
[37:21] he was last seen alive, that the remnants of 23 year old Philip
[37:25] Ennis Fraser's journey were discovered.
[37:28] His vehicle, a black 1983 Volkswagen Jetta, had been
[37:33] torched in what appeared to be a calculated act of forensic
[37:36] evidence annihilation. The discovery of the car five
[37:41] days into Phillip's planned journey immediately elevated his
[37:44] disappearance from a missing person case into something much
[37:48] more serious. Philip Ennis Fraser was a young
[37:53] man of extraordinary promise. Hailing from Anchorage, AK, at
[37:58] the age of 23, he was embarking on the trip that would begin the
[38:02] next defining chapter of his life.
[38:05] He was headed South to Evergreen State College in Washington to
[38:08] commence pre Med studies. Philip's aspiration to join the
[38:12] medical field wasn't accidental. It was part of a strong family
[38:17] tradition and both his parents were physicians.
[38:21] This was a young man who had every expectation of a long and
[38:25] successful career contributing positively to society.
[38:29] He had packed his life, including his essential
[38:32] belongings, into his Jetta for the thousands of miles of
[38:35] solitary driving ahead. As he began his journey across
[38:41] the border into Canada, he responsibly surrendered his
[38:45] handguns to authorities. This decision to follow the law
[38:49] would ultimately perhaps be his undoing, as it would lead him to
[38:54] be virtually defenseless against predators lurking in the
[38:57] desolate terrain. Philip's plan was simple.
[39:03] Drive the necessary route to Washington, a journey that
[39:06] demanded traversing the immense, sparsely populated landscape of
[39:10] the Yukon Territory. On such highways, travellers
[39:14] often depend on a shared tacit agreement of mutual aid.
[39:18] A person experiencing car trouble might rely on the
[39:21] goodwill of strangers, and similarly, travellers are
[39:25] frequently inclined to offer assistance to others who are
[39:28] stranded. This inadvertently creates a
[39:31] vulnerability that predatory individuals can exploit.
[39:37] The last reliable sightings of Philip Fraser place him hundreds
[39:41] of miles north at the 40 Mile Flats Cafe in the remote expanse
[39:46] of the Yukon. The witnesses there provided the
[39:49] key and most chilling details about the man who would
[39:53] eventually extinguish Philip's promising future.
[39:57] It was here that Philip encountered an unidentified
[40:00] hitchhiker. Witnesses distinctly observed
[40:04] Philip displaying A noticeable reluctance before finally
[40:07] agreeing to give the man a ride. This hesitation suggests that
[40:12] Philip felt an immediate sense of discomfort or recognize
[40:15] something unsettling about the stranger.
[40:18] Yet he proceeded. He was known to be good-natured,
[40:22] and he was perhaps driven by the social compulsion to aid a
[40:25] traveler in such a desolate location.
[40:28] It's this choice, this acceptance of a visibly tense
[40:32] situation, that defines the eerie circumstances of the case.
[40:38] The hitchhiker was described in what initially appeared to be
[40:41] contradictory terms. On one hand, he was noted as
[40:45] being clean cut, suggesting an effort to maintain a respectable
[40:49] appearance, likely an attempt to appear less threatening to
[40:53] potential rides. On the other hand, multiple
[40:57] witnesses characterized him by a series of unsettling nervous
[41:01] habits and distinct physical markers.
[41:05] He was described as constantly smoking and biting his nails in
[41:09] between and exhibiting signs of extreme nervousness.
[41:14] This suggested to some witnesses that he could have been strung
[41:17] out on some sort of substance, though clearly Philip didn't see
[41:21] him quite this way. The most critical and enduring
[41:24] clue remains the description of the man's dental health.
[41:28] Despite being estimated to be only in his early 20's, the
[41:31] hitchhiker had distinctly rotted looking teeth.
[41:35] This unique physical trait coupled with the nervous
[41:38] disposition and chain smoking habit again suggested that he
[41:42] may have been some sort of addict.
[41:45] For whatever reason, perhaps the hitchhikers attempt to look
[41:48] clean cut. Phillip sadly didn't acknowledge
[41:51] the red flags or simply chose to believe the best in people. 8
[41:58] hours later, roughly 200 miles South of the cafe, the
[42:01] hitchhiker flagged down a couple telling them his car had broken
[42:05] down. They noticed he seemed nervous,
[42:08] but assumed he was simply uneasy about being alone in the area.
[42:12] In a disturbing twist, the couple agreed to tow him back to
[42:16] their home and even let him stay overnight in their basement.
[42:21] But then things got even more twisted when the next morning,
[42:25] the hitchhiker with the rotten teeth introduced himself as
[42:28] Philip Fraser. He claimed his parents were
[42:31] doctors in Anchorage and said he was headed to Washington state
[42:35] to study medicine. He also mentioned wanting to
[42:38] sell his car to buy a plane ticket.
[42:41] The couple suggested waiting until Monday, but the hitchhiker
[42:44] refused, insisting he needed to leave immediately to get to his
[42:48] classes. They weren't instantly
[42:51] suspicious, but they noticed that he had two different
[42:54] wallets which struck them as odd.
[42:57] Personally, I think my suspicion would have been triggered by
[43:00] juxtaposing his dental status with the socioeconomic status of
[43:06] the vagrant so-called family. That said, maybe I've just
[43:10] researched and written too many true crime videos now that this
[43:13] is an instant flag for me. Eventually, the Jetta was fixed
[43:18] up and the imposter rapidly vanished.
[43:22] Suspicion grew when he pulled out two wallets and began acting
[43:25] secretive. He went outside to fix the car,
[43:28] which had a broken fan belt, then suddenly drove off and
[43:32] vanished about 12 hours after he left the home.
[43:37] Phillips burned out car was discovered at a car wash in
[43:40] Prince George, BC, roughly 300 miles away.
[43:45] Six weeks later, on July 27th, Phillip's body was found in a
[43:49] gravel turn around about 70 miles from the Olsen's home.
[43:55] Ultimately, the case would grow cold despite a massive degree of
[43:59] attention in both the United States and Canada.
[44:02] While investigators have tried to tie the hitchhiker to a
[44:05] number of high profile Canadian serial predators, nothing has
[44:09] ever come of this line of reasoning.
[44:12] Also, just as a quick aside, this is one of the creepiest
[44:15] segments ever on Unsolved Mysteries and I still can't
[44:19] figure out how he got away with it.
[44:22] Despite there being so many witnesses.
[44:25] It's hard for me to believe that no one ever recognized this
[44:28] predator given the highly distinct nature of his
[44:31] appearance. This crime scene wasn't a
[44:38] shadowy alley or a deserted industrial park.
[44:41] It was a dorm room on East Beach St. in Long Beach, NY.
[44:45] For the observant Orthodox Jewish community that maintained
[44:48] the Yeshiva of Long Beach, this building was a place of rigorous
[44:52] study and prayer. Yet in the early hours of
[44:56] Saturday, November 1st, 1986, this inner sanctum was violated
[45:02] by an act of savage, focused violence.
[45:06] The victim was Heim Wiese, a diligent 11th grade rabbinical
[45:10] student at the Torah High School of Long Beach.
[45:13] He lived the kind of life expected in a yeshiva setting
[45:17] devoted to his studies and steeped in tradition.
[45:20] And just for a bit of context, this is a Jewish educational
[45:24] institution that focuses on intensive study of Jewish law
[45:29] and traditional texts, usually with the aim of becoming a
[45:33] rabbi. He was nearing his 16th
[45:36] birthday, just two weeks short of that milestone, when his life
[45:40] was violently cut short. Haim was last observed alive
[45:44] sometime between 12:45 AM and 1:00 AM on Saturday morning,
[45:49] having been seen by a study partner that night.
[45:53] The discovery was made around 7:30 by a dormitory supervisor,
[45:57] who realized Haim had failed to appear for morning prayers.
[46:01] The resulting crime scene was perplexing.
[46:04] Heim had been brutally bludgeoned to death with the
[46:06] back end of a hatchet. The impact was so devastating
[46:11] that it crushed his skull and severed his spinal column.
[46:15] Despite the sheer force required to inflict such an injury, there
[46:19] were no signs of a physical struggle in the room.
[46:23] Furthermore, none of the other students in the crowded
[46:26] dormitory heard any sounds of commotion during the early
[46:29] morning hours. There was no forced entry into
[46:32] the building, no evidence of robbery, and no signs of any
[46:36] other form of assault. The lack of struggle and forced
[46:40] entry demonstrated that the killer possessed an
[46:43] extraordinary level of access and stealth.
[46:47] This reinforced the conclusion that the crime was intensely
[46:50] personal and delivered with focused, premeditated rage.
[46:56] What made the scene truly unique and definitively pointed to an
[47:00] insider was the subsequent staging of the victim's room.
[47:04] Investigators found that Heim's body had been moved from the bed
[47:08] and placed on the floor, and then moved again slightly to a
[47:11] new location perhaps 2 feet away.
[47:15] Furthermore, the window to his room was left wide open.
[47:18] On that chilly November morning. Detectives quickly realized
[47:23] these weren't random acts of disarray, but instead bore a
[47:26] powerful cultural signature. According to Jewish tradition,
[47:31] it's customary to open a door or window to allow the spirit to
[47:36] leave the dwelling and to remove a body from the bed following
[47:40] death. These actions strongly indicated
[47:43] that the perpetrator possessed specific esoteric knowledge of
[47:47] Orthodox Jewish customs concerning death and mourning.
[47:52] The presence of this ritualistic post mortem staging provides a
[47:55] disturbing layer of complexity. This was a person capable of
[48:00] inflicting extreme violence yet was simultaneously, quote UN
[48:04] quote, sensitive enough to adhere to religious protocols.
[48:08] This suggested that the perpetrator must have been a
[48:11] highly devout individual who, even after committing this
[48:14] horrific act, insisted upon strict adherence to religious
[48:18] tradition. Given that a yeshiva is the
[48:22] exact sort of place where you find someone who is highly
[48:25] religious and well aware of Jewish tradition, the
[48:29] investigators immediately focused inwards.
[48:33] The immediate investigative response was Hanford by the day
[48:36] on which the slaying was discovered.
[48:39] Since November 1st, 1986 was the Sabbath, police encountered
[48:44] significant procedural difficulties.
[48:47] Orthodox Jewish laws restrict activity on the Sabbath,
[48:51] including the prohibition against writing or the use of
[48:54] electronic devices. This created an initial delay
[48:59] because many of the students refused to give statements until
[49:02] the next day. This delay would cause
[49:05] significant problems since it essentially stalled out the
[49:08] investigation during those crucial first 48 hours.
[49:14] Despite the challenges, a crucial piece of forensic
[49:17] evidence was secured and preserved a single strand of
[49:20] hair found near Himes body that did not belong to him.
[49:24] In 1986, police departments lacked the sophisticated DNA
[49:29] testing capabilities available today.
[49:32] Fearing that inadequate testing procedures might ruin this
[49:36] irreplaceable sample, investigators made the
[49:39] calculated decision to conserve the hair strand at the time.
[49:43] The FBI conducted a profile of the killer early on, concluding
[49:47] that the perpetrator was someone known to Haim and likely close
[49:51] to his age. While the leading theory remains
[49:54] that the perpetrator was one of his classmates, no suspects have
[49:58] ever been named, and the case eventually went cold.
[50:03] A new potential clue emerged in 1994 when someone defaced Haim's
[50:08] gravesite with a Hebrew word meaning killed.
[50:12] It's unclear who committed this act of vandalism or why, though
[50:15] some believe that this was an effort by the perpetrator to re
[50:18] traumatize his parents. Ultimately, though, there's no
[50:22] evidence to indicate this is actually the case, and police
[50:25] have noted that the Hebrew letters were drawn incorrectly.
[50:29] To me, this seems to suggest that whoever did this likely
[50:32] wasn't someone from the yeshiva, since I assumed they would be
[50:36] able to write these letters without any difficulty.
[50:40] That said, of course, it's always possible that this was
[50:42] the exact reason the perpetrator did it, perhaps to throw the
[50:46] investigators off his scent. In May 2013, 27 years after the
[50:53] slaying, the Nassau County Police Department officially
[50:57] reopened the investigation. Police announced plans to
[51:01] reinterview over 100 former students and faculty members,
[51:05] hoping that the passage of time would loosen tongues.
[51:08] They also committed to testing the hair sample found on the
[51:11] site, though ultimately it's unclear what result came of
[51:15] this, if any. I note that this was in 2013,
[51:21] which was long before the advent of forensic genetic genealogy.
[51:25] If the hair did indeed belong to the perpetrator, this may be the
[51:29] clue to cracking this case wide open once and for all.
[51:33] It's interesting to note that Jewish Americans are amongst the
[51:37] most likely groups to take ancestry tests.
[51:40] This means that if the attacker came from inside the yeshiva,
[51:44] and if that hair was actually the perpetrators, forensic
[51:47] genetic genealogy would be highly effective in this case to
[51:53] feign. Veron is a French woman who
[51:55] vanished while vacationing in Japan in the summer of 2018.
[51:59] Born in 1982, Veron was 36 years old and worked as a school
[52:05] teaching assistant in France. A seasoned traveler and
[52:08] enthusiast of Japanese culture, she had meticulously planned a
[52:12] three-week solo trip to Japan, a destination where she had been
[52:16] before. After arriving in Tokyo on July
[52:20] 27th, 2018 to Fain traveled to the historic city of Nikko,
[52:26] about 100 miles north of Tokyo that's known for its temples and
[52:31] scenic forests and mountains. She checked into the Turtle Inn
[52:35] in Nikko and spent much of her first day sightseeing.
[52:39] Notably, a typhoon had hit the area on July 28th, which slowed
[52:44] her down as many of the local trails were still in bad shape.
[52:49] On the morning of July 29th, To Fane was seen eating breakfast
[52:53] at the inn. She left on foot around mid
[52:56] morning with a small shoulder bag, leaving all her other
[52:59] belongings including her luggage, passport and travel
[53:03] documents in her room. Unfortunately, she never came
[53:08] back, and the inn's owner reported her missing the next
[53:12] day when she failed to return by July 30th.
[53:15] Tiffane's last known movements remain largely speculative due
[53:19] to the lack of clear evidence. Multiple witnesses saw her at
[53:23] breakfast on July 29th before she headed out to sightsee.
[53:28] One tourist photograph from that morning even captured Tiffane
[53:31] during breakfast in the background, which is always
[53:34] helpful given the fragility of memory.
[53:37] A backpacker later claimed he saw a woman matching her
[53:40] description around midday walking alone on a forest path
[53:44] in the area. This sighting, if accurate,
[53:48] placed to feign in the wooded trails of Nikko hours after
[53:51] leaving the hotel. This is a detail that raised
[53:54] eyebrows because heavy rain from the prior days typhoon had made
[53:59] trails slippery and less frequented by tourists.
[54:03] To Fane's family also discovered from her online data that her
[54:07] phone connected to the Internet for the last time around 10:30
[54:10] that morning, after which all signals ceased when Tafane
[54:15] failed to show up or contact anyone.
[54:17] By the following morning, it became clear something had gone
[54:20] wrong. Notably, Tafane suffered from
[54:23] epilepsy and required medication to manage it.
[54:27] Local authorities responded promptly once Tafane was
[54:30] reported missing. The immediate concern was
[54:33] perhaps in the excitement of travel she had forgotten to take
[54:36] a dose of her medication, which led to her falling on the
[54:40] typhoon battered trail. Within days.
[54:44] Dozens of police officers and volunteers were scouring the
[54:47] area but initially found no trace of her movements.
[54:51] Search efforts focused on the rugged terrain around Nikko,
[54:55] which features dense forests, rivers and hiking paths.
[54:59] The region's geography is both scenic and perilous, with steep
[55:03] mountain trails and fast flowing streams where a person could
[55:07] slip and get severely injured or fall into a typhoon swollen
[55:11] river. Early search operations included
[55:14] teams on foot, police dogs, divers checking the river, and
[55:20] drones scanning from above. Helicopters were also deployed
[55:24] to survey the mountainous areas around Nikko, particularly near
[55:28] the Daya River and a scenic gorge called Can Mangafuchi
[55:32] Abyss, where tourists often walk.
[55:35] And despite the name, this abyss is actually extremely scenic.
[55:39] And if you're one of those people who just listen, I'd
[55:42] suggest looking at your screen now if you're at all into
[55:45] nature. Despite these extensive efforts,
[55:49] no definitive clues were found in the initial weeks to Fane's
[55:53] phone, and personal items, aside from those left in her room were
[55:58] never recovered, and there were no confirmed sightings on
[56:01] security cameras or by other hikers in the days following.
[56:06] As days turned into weeks, Tiffane's family took active
[56:10] roles in the search and investigation.
[56:13] The French Embassy in Japan notified her relatives of her
[56:16] disappearance on August 1st, 2018, and to foreshadow a bit,
[56:23] her case has become something of an international incident.
[56:27] Shortly after they were informed, Tiffane's sister and
[56:30] brothers flew to Japan to aid in the search and meet up with
[56:34] local authorities. They initially praised the
[56:38] Japanese police's efforts, but rapidly grew anxious about the
[56:42] pace of the investigation as well as the focus on an accident
[56:46] rather than foul play. 1 Early complication was that Tiffan's
[56:51] hotel room had been cleaned and rebooked by the innkeeper very
[56:54] soon after she vanished. Unfortunately, this occurred
[56:57] before police could thoroughly examine it.
[57:00] This potentially disturbed a primary scene and made it harder
[57:04] to collect forensic evidence. Language barriers also pose
[57:08] challenges. The Veron family needed
[57:11] translators to communicate with Japanese police, which slowed
[57:16] the exchange of information further.
[57:19] Japanese police have consistently maintained there
[57:23] were no clear signs of criminal activity in Tafane's case,
[57:26] treating it as a missing person case, possibly due to an
[57:30] accident. Indeed, from early on, the
[57:34] Tochigi prefectural police leaned toward the hypothesis
[57:38] that Tofane might have fallen into the river behind her hotel
[57:41] and been swept away. This theory is based on the
[57:45] area's dangers. The inn is near a river, and a
[57:50] fall could be fatal. However, the family found it
[57:53] unconvincing given that thorough searches of the river for
[57:56] several miles turned up no body or belongings.
[58:00] Nonetheless, the family remained determined in the face of
[58:04] adversity. They appeared on Japanese
[58:07] television to plead for help, distributed Flyers around Nikko
[58:11] with Tafan's photo, and spoke with anyone who might have been
[58:14] in the area at the time. By mid August 2018, roughly 2
[58:20] weeks into the search, police intensified their efforts around
[58:23] known tourist spots. Despite these thorough searches
[58:27] and even periodic helicopter sweeps of the mountains over the
[58:31] following months, no physical evidence was found.
[58:35] By the end of 2018, authorities indicated they would not conduct
[58:40] new large scale ground searches unless credible new clues
[58:44] emerged, though they continued to keep an eye out during aerial
[58:47] surveys. Over the course of 2019,
[58:52] numerous investigations were undertaken by the family as well
[58:56] as private Japanese citizens looking to help in the case, but
[59:00] again, no signs turned up. Tafane Veron's family has been
[59:05] relentless in pushing for a deeper investigation, both in
[59:09] Japan and through international channels.
[59:12] Within weeks of her disappearance, they reached out
[59:15] to high level officials for support.
[59:18] Defane's mother wrote to French President Emmanuel Macron in
[59:22] August 2018, pleading for more resources and attention on the
[59:26] case. Over the years, the Veyron
[59:30] family has organized multiple trips back to Japan, met with
[59:34] police, and held numerous press conferences to keep the
[59:37] spotlight on the case. They've funded private
[59:41] investigators and experts, and even turned to European
[59:44] institutions for support. Their lobbying has caused French
[59:48] members of the European Parliament to press Japan on its
[59:51] obligations of legal cooperation with the EU in such cases.
[59:55] This international pressure has caused Japanese police to keep
[59:59] investigating the case. From the outset, theories about
[1:00:04] what happened to Tiffane Veyron have centered on 2 main
[1:00:07] possibilities. A fatal accident or foul play.
[1:00:11] As already discussed, the Japanese investigators have
[1:00:14] generally favored the accident hypothesis, having found no
[1:00:18] evidence in support of foul play.
[1:00:21] I'm not going to fully go through it again, but they
[1:00:24] generally focus on the fact that she may have been walking near a
[1:00:27] river on a slippery path and may have had a seizure or sudden
[1:00:31] fainting spell. All the evidence for this is
[1:00:35] circumstantial, and no trace of Tefane has ever been found in
[1:00:39] the area of the river. The other leading explanation is
[1:00:42] foul play, which Tefane's family firmly believes is the more
[1:00:46] likely scenario, and several factors fuel this theory.
[1:00:50] Tefane disappeared in broad daylight from a populated
[1:00:54] tourist town, which is in and of itself highly unusual.
[1:00:59] The fact that her phone abruptly went offline is seen as
[1:01:02] suspicious by some. The family interprets this as a
[1:01:06] sign that something sudden and violent happened, since a simple
[1:01:10] fall wouldn't necessarily destroy a phone or prevent it
[1:01:13] from at least pinging the network.
[1:01:16] Though that said, if she had fallen into the water, this
[1:01:19] provides A rational alternative explanation for why her phone
[1:01:23] may have suddenly went offline. Of course, there's always the
[1:01:26] potential that her phone charge simply ran out, and this entire
[1:01:31] phone battery issue is a red herring.
[1:01:34] More troubling is something that emerged from local reports about
[1:01:37] a sinister individual targeting female tourists traveling alone.
[1:01:43] This man who operated in the Nikko area pretended to be a
[1:01:47] friendly guide to these women, but in reality was known to
[1:01:51] harass them and assault them when they rejected his advances.
[1:01:57] This raised alarm that Tiffane could have encountered someone
[1:02:00] with I'll intentions. Police later tracked this man
[1:02:04] down and interrogated him. They've officially stated that
[1:02:07] this individual was not in the area at the time and was not
[1:02:11] considered a suspect, but the mere existence of such a person
[1:02:15] added to fears of foul play. Further, the family also has
[1:02:20] concerns that the Japanese police investigative files were
[1:02:23] either incomplete or that the investigation itself was of poor
[1:02:27] quality. Others have speculated that
[1:02:30] another criminal might have taken advantage of her trust,
[1:02:34] given the reputation of Japan as one of the safest countries in
[1:02:38] the world. Other less prevalent theories
[1:02:41] have occasionally been floated, though they have essentially no
[1:02:45] supporting evidence. 1 is that Tafane might have chosen to
[1:02:49] disappear intentionally for personal reasons.
[1:02:52] Others have proposed the potential for a wild animal
[1:02:55] encounter gone wrong, but again, no supporting evidence exists as
[1:03:01] of now. Tiffane's family continues to
[1:03:04] strongly advocate for justice for her and won't let her case
[1:03:08] be forgotten. On a warm July morning in 1986,
[1:03:12] a scavenger searching for scrap in a Columbus, OH alley dumpster
[1:03:16] made a nightmarish discovery. Inside a leather strapped
[1:03:20] blanket bundle lay the remains of 19 year old David Hattaway, a
[1:03:25] local teenager with his whole life ahead of him.
[1:03:29] The gruesome condition of David's body and the mystery
[1:03:32] surrounding his final hours would haunt investigators and
[1:03:35] family alike for decades to come.
[1:03:39] July 21st, 1986 began like any other summer day near the Ohio
[1:03:44] State University campus. That was until a woman digging
[1:03:48] for aluminum cans peered into a dumpster between Chittenden and
[1:03:52] 11th Ave. and realized something was very wrong.
[1:03:56] She saw a large object wrapped tightly in a blanket and secured
[1:04:00] with leather straps, almost like a macabre package.
[1:04:04] Fearing the worst, she alerted someone to call the police.
[1:04:08] Officers arriving on the scene soon confirmed her suspicions.
[1:04:12] The bundle concealed a human body.
[1:04:15] This wouldn't be a John Doe case, though.
[1:04:18] A school identification card found with the remains
[1:04:22] identified the victim as David Hattaway, age 19.
[1:04:27] David was a recent Mifflin High School graduate working at a
[1:04:30] Sears warehouse in Columbus, and he still lived at home with his
[1:04:34] parents on the city's north side.
[1:04:37] Shockingly, an autopsy would later determine that the young
[1:04:40] man had died from a stab wound straight to his heart.
[1:04:43] Yet the stab itself wasn't the only horror.
[1:04:47] David's body had been viciously mutilated even after death.
[1:04:52] This was clearly no ordinary slaying, and it immediately set
[1:04:56] detectives on edge about the kind of perpetrator they were
[1:04:59] dealing with. In Piercing Together David's
[1:05:03] final hours, detectives learned that the teen had spent the
[1:05:06] weekend in the campus area enjoying a massive party.
[1:05:10] It was a come one come all bash at an apartment complex located
[1:05:14] at 1535 N High St. just off Ohio State's campus.
[1:05:20] The event lasted all weekend, from July 19th to 20th, 1986,
[1:05:25] with live bands and even a hot tub set up in the courtyard.
[1:05:29] By all accounts, it drew hundreds of people, a mix of
[1:05:33] students, locals, and whoever heard about the open invitation.
[1:05:38] Detectives soon figured out that David had attended with two
[1:05:41] friends for a night of summer fun.
[1:05:44] At some point in the early morning hours of July 20th,
[1:05:48] David's two buddies decided to head home.
[1:05:51] They later told police it was around 3:00 to 3:30 AM when they
[1:05:55] left, but David wasn't ready to leave yet.
[1:05:59] He was still having a good time and assured them he'd find
[1:06:01] another way home. The party was still going
[1:06:05] strong, and it wasn't unusual for people to drift in and out
[1:06:08] at all hours. Assuming their friend would
[1:06:11] catch a ride with someone else, the pair departed without him.
[1:06:15] They couldn't have known it at the time, but this was a fatal
[1:06:19] move. What happened to David after
[1:06:23] that remains the central mystery.
[1:06:25] Dozens of attendees from that party were interviewed in the
[1:06:29] ensuing investigation, but few even remembered seeing David,
[1:06:33] and none could say for sure when he left or with who.
[1:06:37] The sheer number of people coming and going made it
[1:06:39] extremely difficult for police to pin down David's movements.
[1:06:44] This was also compounded by the fact that most attendees were
[1:06:47] likely drunk or under the influence of other substances.
[1:06:51] What's known is that at some point in the pre dawn hours of
[1:06:54] July 20th, he crossed paths with the person or people who would
[1:06:58] end his life. The autopsy results show David
[1:07:02] was intoxicated at the time he was slain, which might have made
[1:07:06] him less cautious or capable of self-defense.
[1:07:09] By the next Monday morning, his body was dumped roughly a mile
[1:07:13] from the party location. Authorities believe he was
[1:07:17] likely killed early Sunday and the perpetrator disposed of his
[1:07:21] body soon after. Strangely, no loud altercations
[1:07:26] or fights involving David were reported at the party.
[1:07:30] There's no indication he left due to an argument, and since he
[1:07:34] wasn't robbed, a random mugging gone wrong seems unlikely.
[1:07:40] Beyond the mystery of who David left the party with,
[1:07:42] investigators faced another frustrating problem.
[1:07:45] They had no actual crime scene. David's corpse had been found in
[1:07:49] a dumpster, but the attack itself clearly occurred
[1:07:53] elsewhere and then the body was moved.
[1:07:56] Detectives scoured the area around the apartment complex and
[1:08:00] other nearby buildings for any signs of a struggle, blood or
[1:08:04] evidence, but found nothing conclusive.
[1:08:08] The profiler who later examined the case felt that the crime
[1:08:11] likely took place indoors, perhaps in one of the apartments
[1:08:15] or another nearby building, but every search came up empty.
[1:08:21] However, one tangible clue was literally wrapped around the
[1:08:24] victim. David's body had been tightly
[1:08:27] swaddled in an unusual orange and white patterned blanket and
[1:08:31] strapped up, likely since someone wanted to conceal it for
[1:08:35] transport. This blanket itself became a
[1:08:38] focal point for investigators since it wasn't clear where it
[1:08:42] came from. Years later, in 2006, a woman
[1:08:47] came forward with a startling bit of information.
[1:08:51] She had seen ATV News segment about the cold case in which a
[1:08:55] photo of the distinctive blanket was shown, and she immediately
[1:08:59] recognized it. She recalled that in the mid
[1:09:02] 1980s, her family had owned an identical blanket that came from
[1:09:06] a Holiday Inn in Columbus. Her uncle worked there and had
[1:09:10] legally liberated some motel blankets for the family over the
[1:09:13] course of his employment. Cops identified that the nearest
[1:09:17] Holiday Inn to the crime area in 1986 was on Lane Ave. not far
[1:09:22] from the party location. Unfortunately, the hotel had
[1:09:26] long since closed and any records from that era were gone
[1:09:31] and this led to a dead end. The blanket itself was also
[1:09:35] subjected to forensic testing, but if anything was found,
[1:09:38] detectives have remained tight lipped.
[1:09:43] Over the years, plenty of theories have floated around.
[1:09:46] Some suspect David might have fallen prey to a stranger who
[1:09:50] slipped into that party hunting for a victim.
[1:09:53] Others wonder if perhaps someone David casually knew or met that
[1:09:57] night harbored a hidden violent streak.
[1:10:01] Still others have speculated that the mutilation of his body
[1:10:05] suggests that he was the victim of a serial killer, though no
[1:10:08] evidence has ever come forward to indicate this.
[1:10:12] Personally, I think he was probably lured to the nearby
[1:10:15] Holiday Inn with the promise of the potential for some hot
[1:10:19] action. When he arrived, he was attacked
[1:10:22] and the motel was turned into a horrific crime scene.
[1:10:26] That said, that's just speculation on my part, but it
[1:10:29] does align with what the profiler said and with the
[1:10:32] blanket. As of today, 4 decades later,
[1:10:36] the killing of David Hattaway remains an unsolved mystery and
[1:10:40] detectives are still investigating it.
[1:10:42] Though the case is considered dormant, no arrests have ever
[1:10:46] been made and no prime suspects have ever been publicly
[1:10:49] identified.

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