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Kimberly Norwood Part 2: Sightings, Letters, & Psychics

Kimberly Norwood Part 2: Sightings, Letters, & Psychics

Released Monday, 1st April 2024
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Kimberly Norwood Part 2: Sightings, Letters, & Psychics

Kimberly Norwood Part 2: Sightings, Letters, & Psychics

Kimberly Norwood Part 2: Sightings, Letters, & Psychics

Kimberly Norwood Part 2: Sightings, Letters, & Psychics

Monday, 1st April 2024
Good episode? Give it some love!
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for details. Before

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we get started, I'd like to

1:05

direct you all to Ed

1:07

Denzel's interview with Kimberly Norwood's mother

1:09

Janice on his podcast, Unfound. You

1:13

won't find a more comprehensive talk

1:15

with Janice anywhere else on the

1:17

internet or your preferred podcast player.

1:20

In fact, I used Unfound as a

1:23

source for this episode. So

1:25

I recommend you give Unfound episode

1:27

110 a listen. It's

1:30

titled Kimberly Norwood, A Country

1:32

Mile. We'll provide a link

1:35

to the YouTube in the show notes. While

1:37

you're at it, subscribe and listen

1:40

to Unfound's entire catalog. There

1:42

are hundreds of episodes. The

1:45

Gone Cold podcast may contain violent

1:47

or graphic subject matter. Listener discretion

1:49

is advised. After

1:53

12-year-old Kimberly Norwood vanished on Saturday,

1:55

May 20, 1989 from Hallsville, Texas.

2:00

Tensions were high between the missing

2:02

girls family and the Harrison County

2:04

Sheriff's Office. Particularly the sure

2:07

of himself Bill Oldham. Authorities

2:10

had only conducted to officials searches

2:12

in the span of a month,

2:14

leaving the Nor Woods solely responsible

2:17

for looking for Kimberly and pleading

2:19

for the public's help through the

2:21

press or majority of that time.

2:24

It. Didn't go without notice. Marshall,

2:27

the county seat of Harrison

2:29

County, is just over a

2:31

dozen miles northeast of House

2:33

For and both the areas

2:36

newspaper The Marshall News Messenger

2:38

and the residence became vocal

2:40

proponents of the Norwood family.

2:42

In. Fact, In mid July, Nineteen

2:45

Eighty Nine, around twenty Harrison

2:47

County residents or radicals as

2:49

share of Oldham called them

2:51

gathered outside the courthouse to

2:53

protest the Good Sheriff's refusal

2:56

to allow outside help to

2:58

come to town. He'd

3:00

said no to plenty. No.

3:02

Outside search and recovery

3:05

organizations No Texas Rangers.

3:07

Know. F B I. The. County

3:10

was his share of Bill Old I'm

3:12

told the Nor Woods at a meeting

3:14

they recorded. Letters.

3:16

To the editor of The Marshall

3:19

News Messenger Reflected area residents frustration

3:21

with law enforcement and offered scathing

3:23

indictment of share of hold on

3:25

my. They. Considered Kimberly

3:28

Norwood a runaway and

3:30

they were conducting their

3:32

investigation accordingly. To

3:34

the Nor Woods, it seemed that

3:36

theory that she was a runaway

3:38

kept the department from realizing the

3:41

gravity of the situation. After

3:43

all runaways to are

3:45

all in potential grave

3:47

danger. Say. what

3:50

they may about share oldham

3:52

and chief deputy tom finley

3:54

there was a deputy going

3:56

above and beyond who was

3:58

pouring his heart and soul

4:00

into the case, and who

4:02

was readily willing to work

4:04

with outsiders like International Association

4:06

for Stolen Children's Greg Mingel.

4:09

Harrison County Sheriff's Deputy Clay

4:11

Madrano was invested in the case

4:14

and even performed some of

4:16

his investigation while off the

4:18

clock. His

4:20

reports were meticulously detailed unlike

4:22

the initial report filed by

4:24

Chief Deputy Finley, who didn't

4:27

even bother to document Kimberly's

4:29

description or witness details such

4:31

as addresses, phone numbers, and

4:33

even names. While

4:36

visiting Kimberly's school, Halsville Intermediate,

4:38

Deputy Madrano came upon letters

4:41

in Kimberly's locker that suggested

4:43

she was struggling with her

4:45

home life. But

4:47

the notes were written months before

4:49

she disappeared and according to Kimberly's

4:52

school counselor the problems the letters

4:54

detailed had been worked out between

4:56

the 12-year-old and her mother, Janice.

5:00

The letters fueled the Sheriff's Office

5:02

opinion that Kimberly Norwood was a

5:04

runaway. In an

5:06

act that can be easily interpreted

5:09

as passive aggression on the part

5:11

of the Harrison County Sheriff's Office,

5:13

newspaper the Shreveport Times got their

5:16

hands on copies of Kimberly's locker

5:18

letters and printed portions

5:20

of the evidence verbatim. I've

5:32

been having some family problems. An October

5:34

1988 letter obtained

5:36

by a deputy from Kimberly

5:39

Norwood's locker read, When

5:41

the letters were printed for the

5:44

first time in a mid-July Shreveport

5:46

Times newspaper article it was also

5:48

the first time Janice and Bobby

5:51

Norwood, her parents, had heard anything

5:53

about letters. My mom

5:55

hates me and I hate her. Promise

5:58

not to tell. over

6:00

1988 letter continued. Others

6:03

were quoted as saying, this

6:06

week has been the worst ever. I

6:08

feel like crud. My mom told

6:10

me she was going to send me to

6:12

a stupid penitentiary. She treats me like crud

6:15

and another, I feel like

6:18

killing myself or either running away. P

6:21

S don't tell anyone. These

6:23

letters were signed K Kim

6:26

or Kimberly, deputy

6:28

claim. Adrano's report indicates that one

6:31

of Kimberly's classmates said that another

6:33

classmate who didn't like Kimberly wrote

6:35

the notes and put them in

6:38

her locker to

6:40

more children also reported this

6:42

adding that the letters were

6:44

purposefully written in Kimberly's handwriting.

6:47

However, others confirmed that the handwriting

6:49

was Kimberly's rather

6:53

than considering them relatively normal writings

6:55

of a 12 year old going

6:57

through the physical and emotional changes

6:59

that come with her age. The

7:01

sheriff's department appeared to have taken

7:03

the letters as hard evidence that

7:06

Kimberly ran away a theory

7:08

they'd been working since the get go.

7:11

The last three friends who'd seen her had

7:13

mentioned that Kimberly didn't want to go home

7:15

that day because she didn't want to get

7:17

in trouble for not cleaning her room. And

7:20

that was the seed for the theory.

7:23

But as far as her daughter

7:25

running away from home was concerned,

7:27

Janice Norwood begged to differ. Her

7:31

daughter's home life was normal as

7:33

many attested to and Kimberly was

7:35

looking forward to some upcoming horse

7:37

shows and a road trip to

7:40

Missouri. The Norwoods had planned the

7:43

days and weeks continued with no

7:45

sign of the missing girl. The

7:50

disappearance of Kimberly Norwood caught

7:52

the attention of a major

7:54

television host, Oprah Winfrey, on

7:57

Monday, August 14th, 1989. Kimberly's

8:00

story and the plight of her

8:03

parents gained national attention when they

8:05

were interviewed on Winfrey's daytime talk

8:07

show. The

8:09

episode was special about missing children

8:12

and on it Janice made a

8:14

plea. We miss her.

8:16

We need her. We love her. Please

8:19

take care of her. Please let us know.

8:22

Let her come home. They

8:24

hoped someone out there watching would

8:26

see Kimberly's photograph and call in,

8:28

reporting they'd seen her. Twenty-six

8:31

new leads were obtained by the

8:33

Harrison County Sheriff's Office as a

8:35

direct result of the show, though

8:38

the department kept the details to

8:40

themselves. By

8:42

September 1989, the cops were

8:44

continuing to adhere to the

8:46

runaway theory. There

8:49

had been plenty of unconfirmed sightings

8:51

of Kimberly Norwood reported to authorities

8:54

by this time, but on the

8:56

second week of September, someone who

8:58

knew the twelve-year-old came forward. The

9:02

missing girl's ex-sister-in-law, Amy, had

9:04

told Harrison County Chief Deputy

9:06

Clay Medrano that should he

9:08

find Kimberly to keep her

9:11

from going back home. She

9:14

later walked back that statement when

9:16

Anne McAdams of the Marshall News

9:18

Messenger interviewed her, saying what she

9:21

meant was the girl and her

9:23

parents needed to undergo counseling first.

9:27

Then on Sunday, September 10,

9:30

1989, Amy came forward and told

9:32

police that at one-thirty that afternoon

9:34

she'd seen Kimberly at a convenience

9:36

store called JR's Food Mart in

9:39

White Oak, Texas, a

9:41

small town in Gregg County and

9:43

not twenty miles west of the

9:45

missing girl's home in Hallsville. There

9:48

had been an unspecified number of

9:51

other supposed sightings in Gregg County

9:53

by folks who didn't know her,

9:56

according to Gregg Mingel, an investigator

9:58

for the International Association. for

10:00

stolen children. Amy

10:03

said her ex-sister-in-law had cut her hair

10:05

and gained a little weight. She

10:08

was sitting in the passenger seat of

10:10

a gray primer-colored sports car, perhaps a

10:13

Trans Am or Camaro, and when Amy

10:15

called out to this girl, who was

10:17

about fifteen feet away from her, she

10:19

said, a twenty-six to

10:21

thirty-year-old white male jumped in the

10:24

driver's seat, started the engine and

10:26

sped off in a hurry heading

10:28

west down Highway 80. Amy

10:32

told police she attempted to tail

10:34

the primer gray sports car, but

10:36

couldn't keep up as it continued

10:38

to accelerate. The

10:40

man, Amy told police, was about

10:42

six feet tall with long, dirty

10:44

hair and had a tattoo on

10:46

his big arms. When

10:49

Harrison County Sheriff's Deputy Vicki

10:51

Stanfield questioned the clerks working at

10:54

JR's Food Mart, they told

10:56

the lawwoman they'd not seen the

10:58

gray primer-ed sports car nor

11:00

anyone fitting the description of

11:02

the two people within. Also,

11:06

in September of 1989,

11:08

a self-proclaimed psychic from the

11:11

Dallas-Fort Worth area offered her

11:13

clairvoyant services to the Norwood

11:15

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12:29

Gonkold rarely details the often

12:32

predatory dealings the families of

12:34

missing persons and unsolved murders

12:36

have with psychics. In

12:38

the case of Kimberly Norwood, it

12:41

is something virtually impossible to omit,

12:43

for reasons that, hopefully, will become

12:45

clear. As

12:47

Kimberly's classmates and friends headed into

12:49

their first days of junior high, the

12:53

Norwood family enlisted the help of

12:55

so-called psychic Sharon Capehart from the

12:57

Dallas-Fort Worth area, when

13:00

their desperation dictated they try

13:02

something different. Anything different.

13:06

Capehart, who described Kimberly's

13:08

disappearance as her toughest case

13:11

ever, determined, or whatever you

13:13

call it, that Kimberly had

13:15

been approached by two males

13:18

driving a dark-colored, perhaps blue,

13:20

late-model car with out-of-state license

13:23

plates. At that time, Capehart

13:25

said, she was abducted. One

13:28

of these people the twelve-year-old knew,

13:31

Capehart asserted, through their association or

13:33

friendship with her brother. There

13:36

were two locations in the area where

13:38

she found Kimberly and the strangers had

13:41

been, Capehart said. One

13:43

of those locations was on Lake of the

13:46

Pines, at a camp off Farm to Market

13:48

Road 450. In

13:51

fact, Capehart said, she believed Kimberly

13:53

to be in that area at

13:55

the present time. She

13:58

did not believe the girl was there. was

14:00

a runaway like police did, she

14:02

went on, and instead believes Kimberly

14:05

cannot return of her own free

14:07

will. What

14:09

Capehart called a lot of people

14:12

were involved in the disappearance, the

14:14

abduction, which involved drugs,

14:17

and Satanism. It

14:20

just so happens a

14:22

cult-awareness seminar was touring

14:24

Texas psychiatric hospitals, churches,

14:27

and hotel conference halls

14:29

at the time. At

14:32

the height of the Satanic Panic

14:34

Era, anyway, you would have had

14:36

outstanding odds placing a bet that

14:38

the psychic working a missing person's

14:40

case was going to get around

14:42

to mentioning devil worship at some

14:44

point. But

14:46

it's hardly the only laughable

14:49

claim Capehart made. The

14:52

blue vehicle with out-of-town plates she

14:54

supposedly saw in a vision, well,

14:57

that was information published in the

14:59

newspapers in the days following the

15:01

disappearance. A

15:03

deputy, presumably Chief Deputy Tom

15:05

Finley, told the Marshall News

15:07

Messenger within days that he

15:09

saw a blue vehicle with

15:11

Colorado plates leaving the area

15:13

around the time Kimberly was

15:15

last seen. Interestingly,

15:18

self-proclaimed psychic Sharon Capehart

15:20

commented about how much

15:22

cooperation she was getting

15:24

from Harrison County authorities.

15:28

This was hardly the last time a

15:30

psychic entered the case. On

15:34

Friday, October 6, 1989,

15:37

the short-lived television show Missing

15:39

Reward, hosted by Stacey Keach,

15:41

aired a segment about Kimberly's

15:43

case, which they'd come to

15:45

Caney Creek and filmed in

15:47

August. And a

15:50

couple days later, there was more activity.

15:53

The country music singer perhaps best

15:55

known for his song The Gambler

15:57

was related to Janice Norwood. The

16:01

month after Sharon Capehart was retained

16:03

to help the Norwoods, Janice and

16:05

her son Ricky drove to Nashville,

16:07

Tennessee, hoping to meet with her

16:10

distant cousin Kenny Rogers to see

16:12

if he could help somehow. They

16:15

arrived in Music City on October the

16:17

8th, but because he was preparing

16:20

to emcee the country music awards,

16:22

Janice and Ricky were unable to

16:24

meet with Kenny himself. It

16:27

was unfortunate timing, the CMAs were

16:30

the next day. But

16:32

they did speak with the singer's

16:34

brother, Leland. He

16:37

told them he would personally come

16:39

to Marshall, twelve miles from Halsville,

16:41

after the awards were over. Leland

16:44

didn't know how he could help, but

16:47

he was willing to try, and would

16:49

go on to discuss his findings with

16:51

his brother after he learned all he

16:53

could about Kimberly's case. After

16:56

becoming up to date, Leland

16:58

Rogers talked to Kenny, who

17:00

sent out Carol Kennedy. Carol

17:04

Kennedy was a radio talk show

17:06

host and lecturer, her most notable

17:08

lecturer the psychic detective, all about

17:10

how law enforcement works with psychics

17:12

all the time behind the scenes

17:14

and out of the earshot of

17:17

the public. When

17:19

Kennedy arrived in Halsville, she

17:21

met Leland and Harrison County

17:23

Sheriff's Office Deputy Vicki Stanfield

17:25

at the Caney Creek addition.

17:29

Together they walked the roads and explored

17:31

the pines. It's

17:33

unclear what was discussed or if

17:35

anything came of the psychic's visit,

17:38

but it isn't difficult to guess. In

17:42

the last publicized lead of 1989, investigators

17:46

were looking over a tip that

17:48

came all the way from Lee

17:50

County, Florida. In

17:52

December, an anonymous call came in

17:55

to the National Center for Missing

17:57

and Exploited Children. After a

17:59

two-minute TV B segment broadcasted on

18:01

Monday, December 11. The

18:04

caller said they'd seen a kid

18:06

matching Kimberly Norwood's description at a

18:08

grade school there. Upon

18:11

hearing the news, Harrison County

18:13

Sheriff's Office Deputy Claire Howell

18:16

wasted no time sending information

18:18

about the missing person's case

18:20

and photographs of Kimberly to

18:22

authorities there. Nothing

18:25

came of it. By

18:27

December, the Norwoods had a toll-free tip

18:29

line up and running. Listed

18:32

in directories as the Kimberly Norwood

18:34

tip line, several leads came through,

18:36

but not a one panned

18:38

out. On

18:42

May 2, 1990, the Marshall

18:44

News Messenger reported that the

18:46

Sheriff's Department was releasing the

18:48

files in the Kimberly Norwood

18:50

investigation. When

18:52

Frank Garrett said the files, which

18:54

would be released in two weeks,

18:56

did not indicate Kimberly was abducted.

19:00

Janice Norwood said that the files

19:02

had been withheld from the family

19:04

and accused the Sheriff's Office of

19:06

portraying them as child molesters. If

19:10

you lived in Halsville, or Marshall,

19:12

or perhaps anywhere in Harrison County

19:14

and had your ear to the

19:16

ground, that last line from the

19:18

newspaper article would have come as

19:20

no surprise. Rumors

19:22

about the case were rampant. On

19:25

the other hand, if you'd been hanging

19:27

out under a rock or were not

19:30

from the area, the article was shocking.

19:33

Janice told the News Messenger that she

19:35

heard that letters and drawings were turned

19:37

over to the Sheriff's Office by a

19:39

girlfriend of Kimberly, who said the missing

19:42

girl had penned and drew them, and

19:44

that they depicted sexual abuse. Sheriff's

19:48

Lt. Garrett commented that psychiatrists

19:51

analyzed drawings from Kim's room

19:53

submitted by different friends. Sheriff

19:57

Bill Oldham said in a press conference

19:59

that those professionals had determined

20:01

there was a possibility the missing

20:03

twelve-year-old was abused, and

20:05

that the letters and drawings were proven

20:07

to have been created at the hands

20:09

of Kimberly Norwood. The

20:12

truth will come out, but they

20:14

are planting doubt in people's minds

20:16

and accusing us of sexual abuse,

20:18

Janice said of both Sheriff's

20:21

deputies and the rumors going

20:23

around. An

20:25

investigator Tim Mullis, who the

20:27

Norwoods hired out of Houston,

20:29

wouldn't comment on any allegations

20:31

of sexual abuse, but

20:34

he did have one thing to say about the

20:36

subject. If I find

20:38

out anything indicating this is true, I

20:40

will do everything to see that the

20:43

responsible party goes to jail. Meanwhile,

20:45

Mullis had been following a lead

20:47

that led to trouble. A

20:50

seventeen-year-old boy, apparently, had been going

20:53

around telling folks that Kimberly was

20:55

pregnant, had run off with a

20:57

boyfriend, and was living with him

20:59

in long view. When

21:02

Mullins was able to locate and

21:04

question the teenager at his place

21:06

of employment, Janice said, deputies showed

21:08

up and threatened to arrest him

21:11

on harassment charges. The

21:13

boy's parents didn't want anyone interviewing

21:15

him. President

21:18

Garrett denied that claim, however, and

21:20

said they simply showed up and

21:22

told the persistent PI to move

21:24

along. Mullis

21:26

claimed a couple weeks later that

21:28

Kim would resurface within a short

21:30

period of time, a

21:32

pretty bold statement that obviously did

21:35

not happen, and while

21:37

the PIs and the Harrison County

21:39

Sheriff's Office continually butted heads, it's

21:41

important to note that Tim Mullis

21:43

and his brother Buck Mullis, with

21:46

whom he shared a private investigation

21:48

firm, said the Sheriff's Office

21:50

got one thing right, Kimberly

21:52

was not happy at home. He

21:55

spoke with all her peers, Mullis said,

21:58

and every one of them reported. plus

22:02

some evidence the P.I.'s collected suggested

22:04

that Kimberly was upset the day

22:06

she disappeared and was afraid to

22:08

do something she had planned. Nothing,

22:12

of course, can be discounted, but

22:15

it's also important to remember that the 12-year-old had

22:17

taken none of her possessions and none of her

22:19

money. Kimberly

22:23

had asked if one of her friends could spend

22:25

the night. While

22:27

her mother said no, the three friends

22:29

she was walking with that day said

22:32

they were planning to walk with Kimberly

22:34

all the way home and hang out

22:36

for a bit, all of

22:38

which seems at odds with her having plans

22:40

to go through with something like running away

22:42

on the way there. The

22:45

friends, it's reported, only turned around because

22:47

they got hot and decided they didn't

22:49

want to walk another mile. At

22:53

this point, tipsters from across

22:55

the Lone Star State and

22:57

in California, Utah, Florida, and

22:59

South Carolina, to name a

23:02

few, had reported seeing Kimberly

23:04

Norwood, but it appears

23:06

none actually had. As

23:10

the one-year anniversary of Kimberly

23:12

Norwood's disappearance came and went,

23:14

tensions between the Norwood family

23:16

and the Harrison County Sheriff's

23:18

Office were at a fever

23:20

pitch. While

23:33

according to some, Harrison County

23:35

Sheriff Bill Oldham referred to

23:37

the Norwoods as suspects who

23:39

were guilty of possibly destroying

23:41

evidence and not reporting leads

23:43

which could lead to the

23:45

discovery or whereabouts of Kimberly

23:48

Norwood, they saw

23:50

him as unreasonable, stubborn,

23:52

and unempathetic. Again,

23:56

the Sheriff's Office considered Kimberly

23:58

a runaway, possibly. Kimberly because

24:00

she suffered abuse at home,

24:02

and the Norwoods considered her

24:04

disappearance an abduction. Greg

24:08

Mingell of the International Association for

24:10

Stolen Children seemed to be somewhere

24:12

in the middle. He

24:15

believed Kimberly was offered a ride

24:17

from someone she knew and accepted.

24:20

Whomever this person was then ran off with her. It

24:24

wasn't clear what Mingell meant when

24:26

he said he believed Kimberly is

24:29

concerned and possibly thinks she won't

24:31

be welcome back home because of

24:33

things that have happened to her

24:35

since her abduction. Greg

24:38

Mingell, too, wrote a few letters

24:41

to the Marshall News messenger in

24:43

an attempt to steer the focus

24:45

back on Kimberly and away from

24:47

the drama and perhaps egos that

24:49

fueled a lack of cooperation. The

24:53

Norwoods had many justifiable reasons

24:55

not to trust law enforcement,

24:58

and although nothing has ever been

25:00

publicly released or proven, it's certainly

25:02

possible the sheriff's office had valid

25:05

reasons not to trust them. While

25:09

it's unclear exactly where Sheriff Bill

25:11

Oldham's heart was in the grand

25:13

scheme of the investigation, it is

25:16

abundantly clear that his ego and

25:18

pride got in the way in

25:21

Kimberly's case. In

25:24

1990, Halsville had a population of just

25:26

over 2,000. While

25:28

not totally discounting the number of

25:31

residents in nearby Marshall and Longview,

25:34

around 23,000 and 70,000 residents

25:37

respectively, the sheriff was likely

25:39

exaggerating when he claimed the

25:41

department had interviewed more than

25:43

1,000 witnesses. That's

25:46

a lot. Even

25:49

after publicizing that he would

25:51

release Kimberly's file, Oldham walked

25:54

it back, explaining that investigation

25:56

of possible criminal conduct is

25:58

being pursued. Not

26:01

publicly releasing Kimberly's file was,

26:03

without a doubt, the right

26:06

call, but the back

26:08

and forth and certainly the

26:10

public insinuations seemed like a

26:12

series of orchestrated moves that

26:15

most lawmen would consider unprofessional

26:17

and beneath them. It

26:20

is important to note that no charges

26:22

were ever brought against a member of

26:24

the Norwood family for any kind of

26:27

abuse, and to be

26:29

fair to the Harrison County Sheriff's

26:31

Office of the time, Deputy Clay

26:33

Madrano was working the case diligently,

26:36

going above and beyond what was his

26:38

duty. All

26:41

of Canie Creek, particularly the

26:43

Norwood properties, were extensively searched

26:46

again when the National Center

26:48

for Missing and Exploited Children

26:50

and the International and Texas

26:52

Associations for Stolen Children came

26:54

aboard in the late summer

26:56

of 1989. A

27:00

cadaver dog picked up absolutely no

27:02

sign of human decomposition, as was

27:05

the case with another such canine

27:07

the previous month. Neither

27:10

beast nor man, in fact,

27:12

had found even a clue

27:14

at or around the area

27:16

where Kimberly Norwood disappeared. Sometime

27:20

before, officials with the International

27:22

Association for Stolen Children and

27:24

a man named Greg Monroe,

27:26

who helped to build Canie

27:28

Creek's roads and who knew

27:30

the Norwoods, all expressed concern

27:32

that as the Norwood case

27:34

receives wider publicity, the vultures

27:37

will begin to circle. The

27:39

Norwoods have already received calls from

27:42

experts in finding lost people who,

27:44

for a fee, will be glad

27:46

to look, Monroe told the Marshall

27:48

News Messenger. What they'll

27:50

do is drink beer on the money the

27:53

Norwoods are able to raise. The

27:56

baffling disappearance had drawn in a

27:58

lot of outside attention. as

28:00

the first anniversary approached and the

28:02

sheriff's office could no longer refuse

28:04

the help. Texas

28:07

Ranger Ronnie Griffith had long

28:09

been aware of the case,

28:11

as Harrison County Sheriff's Deputy

28:13

Clay Medrano often sought the

28:15

counsel of other law enforcement

28:17

professionals, including him. Ranger

28:20

Griffith later told Janice Norwood, she

28:23

told Unfound Podcast host Ed Densel,

28:25

that a woman who lives in

28:27

the Caney Creek subdivision saw two

28:30

people leaving the area on a

28:32

motorcycle, and the girl riding on

28:34

the back, she swore, was Kimberly.

28:38

A man who had worked for

28:40

the family and was living in

28:42

a small trailer on the Norwood

28:44

property at the time, 26-year-old Jay

28:46

Bailey, rode a motorcycle, and of

28:48

course, knew Kimberly. On

28:51

the day Kimberly vanished, and just after

28:53

she spoke with her on the phone,

28:55

her mother Janice and sister Pam headed

28:57

into Marshall to do some quick shopping

28:59

and pick up dinner. Earlier,

29:02

Jay had called Janice and asked for

29:05

20 bucks, she often kept

29:07

his money at his request so he

29:09

wouldn't carelessly spend it. Jay

29:12

needed the money, he told Janice, because his

29:14

dad was in town, and they were going

29:16

to a fish fry. Before

29:19

heading out to Marshall, Janice gave her husband

29:22

and Kimberly's father, Bobby, the $20 to give

29:24

to Jay. Later,

29:27

however, the Norwoods discovered Jay

29:29

Bailey's father was not in

29:32

town, and instead he needed

29:34

the money for a party he was

29:36

going to, presumably for booze. Maybe

29:39

it was a strange thing to lie about,

29:42

and maybe not. It definitely

29:44

doesn't have to be taken as nefarious,

29:46

as it's possible he simply didn't want

29:48

them to know he was going out

29:50

to get drunk or high or whatever.

29:54

We could find no details about

29:56

this party or the possibility that

29:58

Kimberly was seen there. But

30:00

it appears Texas Ranger Ronnie Griffith

30:02

was quite interested in this lead,

30:05

as he rightfully should have been.

30:08

Anyway, as Janice and Pam were

30:10

just about to the Marshall City

30:12

limits, they passed Jay Bailey on

30:14

his motorcycle heading back toward Halsville,

30:16

which would have placed him at

30:18

Caney Creek between 5.20 and 5.30

30:21

pm. The

30:25

woman who saw the motorcycle leaving

30:27

the Caney Creek subdivision was hypnotized,

30:29

and while under hypnosis, Ranger Griffith

30:32

apparently told Janice Norwood she came

30:34

up with three or four of

30:36

the characters in the license plate

30:38

number. It's unknown

30:41

if this lead went anywhere, but

30:43

Janice at the time didn't think

30:45

Jay had anything to do with

30:47

Kimberly's disappearance. Jay

30:50

Bailey, to be fair, never inserted

30:52

himself into the case, and he

30:54

continued to work for the Norwoods

30:56

for quite some time after. In

30:59

fact, he was one of their most

31:01

trusted employees, and all

31:03

that Jay's criminal record shows is that

31:05

he doesn't like wearing his seat belt.

31:10

While Jay didn't insert himself

31:12

into the case, others certainly

31:14

did. It

31:16

wasn't only the self-proclaimed psychics

31:18

we spoke of in this

31:20

episode, but also another kind

31:23

of rock star psychic, particularly

31:25

in Texas. While

31:27

he did plenty of further damage

31:29

to Kimberly Norwood's case, a

31:32

case that was already in sort

31:34

of a shambles, it was nothing

31:36

compared to the further damage caused

31:38

by a so-called missing persons advocate.

31:41

That's next time on Gone Cold. Kimberly

31:46

Norwood would be 47 years old

31:48

today. She's a white

31:50

female with brown eyes and brown hair that

31:52

can appear to have a red tent in

31:54

light. She stood approximately

31:57

five feet, five inches tall and

31:59

weighed about 100 pounds. She

32:02

has a 2-inch scar on her abdomen

32:04

from kidney surgery. When

32:06

she was last seen, Kimberly was

32:08

wearing a white t-shirt with either

32:10

a teddy bear or red and

32:13

black cows on the front, dark

32:15

blue jeans, and black keds tennis

32:17

shoes. She was also

32:19

wearing a black bow in her hair,

32:21

a swatch watch, and a gold ring

32:23

with an aquamarine stone. If

32:27

you have any information about the

32:29

disappearance of Kimberly Rochelle Norwood, please

32:31

call the Harrison County Sheriff's Office

32:34

at 903-935-4888. Michelle

32:41

Lee Richardson, whose case we talked

32:43

about at the top of the

32:45

episode, is a white female and

32:47

was 16 years old when she

32:49

went missing from Palestine, Texas. She

32:52

stood 5 feet 6 inches tall, weighed

32:54

about 150 pounds, had

32:57

reddish blonde hair and blue eyes.

33:00

Michelle occasionally wore glasses and has

33:02

a U-shaped scar on her left

33:05

arm. Michelle was

33:07

last seen wearing a pink

33:09

and white pullover sweatshirt, pink

33:11

jogging pants, and black sneakers.

33:14

If you have any information about

33:16

the disappearance of Michelle Lee Richardson,

33:19

please contact the Anderson County Sheriff's

33:21

Department at 903-729-6068. If

33:29

you like Gone Cold's mission

33:31

to renew the public's interest

33:33

in cold cases, you can

33:35

support the show at patreon.com/Gone

33:37

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33:39

low as $2.50, you'll

33:42

get the show ad free. Leaving

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33:46

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33:51

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33:56

appreciate it more than words can express.

34:00

find Gone Cold online at

34:02

gonecold.com or on nearly all

34:04

the social media platforms by

34:06

searching at gone cold podcast.

34:10

You can also find a link in

34:12

bio in the episodes description. Thanks

34:15

for listening y'all.

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