In November 1934, new mother Etta Riel mysteriously disappears just hours before she’s set to attend a crucial paternity hearing. Her family believes she was preparing to reconcile with the man she claimed was the father of her baby, and that they were planning to elope to New York for a fresh start. But the man in que... more
September 1934, a 21-year-old newlywed, Olga Schultz Mauger, heads to Togwotee Pass in Wyoming to hunt elk on her honeymoon with her new husband. He says he last saw her sitting on a boulder in the mountains when they stopped to rest. Then, she simply vanished. Now, 90 years later, Olga is considered Wyoming’s oldest k... more
Memorial Day weekend in 2007 was supposed to be a weekend of celebration for the Henry sisters. They traveled from New York City to Miami to see friends, family and celebrate the younger sister’s birthday. But by the weekend’s end, only one of them would return home. The other, 22-year-old Stepha Henry, an aspiring law... more
Special Episode, Behind the poem - Battle Lines from episode 13. Aimee and Vanessa talk about the inspiration and process of writing the poem Battle Lines, about the unidentified person known as Bitter Creek Betty.
How quickly can someone just…disappear? One minute there, the next gone. How could someone leave a dorm party at a busy college campus and not make it to their own residence, just 300 yards away? In 1978, a 22 year old college sophomore, Judy Martins, stepped out of a dorm building at Kent State University and into dar... more
In 1980, a worker at Westfield High School in Thousand Oaks, California, is annoyed when he sees a mannequin on a slope near one of the school’s parking lots. The school had been experiencing vandalism in the recent months and this was yet another example of things being left at the school. But as he drew closer, he re... more
Michelle Doherty should have had a lifetime to come into herself. Instead, the 17-year-old mother was pressured into becoming a narcotics informant to help police bust a drug ring. That one decision likely got her killed. Michelle Doherty is one of the missing women of the Texas Killing Fields, but her story is often o... more
In 1976, Iris Brown returns to her apartment and learns that her boyfriend is about to be released from Federal Prison the next day. The man who tells her this had been in prison with her boyfriend and he’s received a telegram informing him of this news. He suggests the two of them leave immediately and drive the nearl... more
In 1976, Iris Brown returns to her apartment and learns that her boyfriend is about to be released from Federal Prison the next day. The man who tells her this had been in prison with her boyfriend and he’s received a telegram informing him of this news. He suggests the two of them leave immediately and drive the nearl... more
In August 1949, friends of Mimi Boomhower arrive at Mimi’s home to find that despite the lights on inside and outside her Bel Air mansion and her car in her garage, the wealthy widow is nowhere to be found. Seven days later her purse is found inside a grocery store telephone booth with a cryptic message written in pen ... more
One late afternoon in 1950, a mushroom hunter finds the body of a woman off a little used road in West Virginia. It is clear she was murdered and dumped in this remote location. Despite there being few clues to her identity, investigators get to work trying to identify her and her killer. Within the first year of disco... more
Summary“If it’s a kidnapping, I’d have a ransom note by now,” says private investigator Ernest Rizzo about the 1977 disappearance of candy heiress Helen Voorhees Brach. But despite his confidence that Helen Brach is still alive, no one has seen her. And as the days turn into months turn into years, it becomes more and... more
In 1994, the Palm Beach Sheriff’s Office enters a property in Loxahatchee, Florida and finds a chilling sight. Hundreds of exotic birds including parrots and macaws are dead or dying inside their enclosures. While they work frantically to save the remaining birds, their focus shifts to how they got in this state. Where... more
In 1998, Suzanne Renee Richerson, a Texas A&M student at their Galveston campus, headed to work as a night clerk at a hotel and condo complex. She expects to study overnight and leave at 7am. At 6am, the security guard checks on her before he leaves, but by 6:15am, as a couple goes to check out, Suzanne is no longer at... more
“Did you find the body?” a killer asks law enforcement 38 years after his wife went missing. When Gloria Kidder met her future husband at work, little did she know she was also meeting the man who would force her to experience an escalating pattern of violence ending only in her death.This week we’re joined by Patris... more
In 1937, a young college woman, Ruth Baumgardner, says good night to her friends and heads to her dorm room. That’s the last anyone sees of her. The next day her friend finds Ruth’s car key on the dorm building staircase, but Ruth is nowhere to be found.The week we are joined by guest reader Mallory Kennedy. Original... more
In 2000, model Lourdes Gruart disappears. Her brother says that she told him she was leaving for Europe for a modeling job and left their shared apartment. But Lourdes doesn’t have an active passport, nor has she told anyone else of her travel plans. In the 24 years since, Lourdes’s disappearance has remained a mystery... more
In 1928, Bessie and Glen Hyde take a scow down the Colorado River in their attempt to have Bessie become the first woman documented to have gone down the river through the canyon. Their plan is to leverage their experience into a career on the lecture and vaudeville circuit. They are last seen heading down the river in... more
Known to the courts as a glamor girl, 26 year old Jean Spangler was trying to make her way in Hollywood as an actress and dancer while raising her young daughter as a single mom. And then the unthinkable happens, on the night of October 7, 1949, Jean Spangler left her home telling her family she would be doing a bit pa... more
SummaryKnown to the courts as a glamor girl, 26 year old Jean Spangler was trying to make her way in Hollywood as an actress and dancer while raising her young daughter as a single mom. And then the unthinkable happens, on the night of October 7, 1949, Jean Spangler left her home telling her family she would be doing ... more
In 1998, an unidentified woman’s remains are found near a highway truck stop in Weatherford, Texas. It is believed that she died by a self-inflicted gunshot wound, but in the past 26 years no one has come forward to claim her. Today, little has been publicized about her case, making her one of the many unidentified wom... more
Everyone knew Evelyn Throsby’s fifth husband wasn’t right for her. Everyone except Evelyn that is. But what they didn’t know was that he was a conman. He used his skills to isolate Evelyn from her friends and family, steal her money, and, ultimately, kill her while keeping everyone in the dark for months. Evelyn’s murd... more
It’s 1946. Twenty-four year old Lola Celli is visiting her parents in Grandview Heights, Ohio when she decides to take a bus into Columbus to buy some nylons. But her neighbors don’t report seeing her on the morning bus nor is there any record of her making a purchase at the store she planned to visit. Is it possible t... more
On the Fourth of July weekend in 1966, three young women head to Indiana Dunes State Park to enjoy the beach and swim in Lake Michigan. Despite the over 8000 other beach goers there that day, the women somehow vanish without a trace. They’re disappearances spawn many theories over the years, but none bring investigator... more