0:00

Hello everyone, before we begin this episode, I

0:02

just wanted to mention that during the month

0:04

of February, The Trail Went Cold

0:06

is partnering with Season of Justice,

0:08

a non-profit organization dedicated to helping

0:11

families shed new light on their

0:13

cold cases and helping investigative agencies

0:15

bridge the funding gap preventing them

0:17

from accessing cutting-edge forensic technology. So

0:21

we would like to invite you, the listeners, to

0:23

join us in a special campaign in support of

0:25

Season of Justice, who works directly

0:27

with families to fund comprehensive awareness

0:29

campaigns in hopes of bringing a

0:32

resolution to unsolved cases. Season

0:34

of Justice provides grants to investigative agencies

0:36

that fund DNA testing and forensic genetic

0:39

genealogy research to solve cold cases, and

0:41

since 2020, they have raised more than

0:43

$1 million in grants for more than

0:45

140 cold cases in

0:50

North America. In fact, six

0:52

of them have wound up being solved. But

0:55

since Season of Justice can't do this alone,

0:57

we're asking you to consider donating this month.

1:00

If you are able to make a meaningful

1:02

donation to them, you can be helping victims'

1:05

families find answers. To

1:07

donate to Season of Justice,

1:09

please visit the website givebutter.com/

1:12

SOJ underscore The Trail

1:15

or text TRAIL24 to 53555. You'll

1:21

also find links and information about this in our

1:23

show notes and on our social media pages. Our

1:26

campaign with Season of Justice will be lasting

1:28

the entire month of February and there will

1:30

be more reminders on our upcoming episodes. So

1:33

thank you very much for your support and enjoy

1:35

today's episode. February

1:40

11th, 2004. Lake

1:42

Township, Pennsylvania. After

1:45

returning home from work, 22-year-old

1:47

Felicia Thomas goes missing and

1:50

her boyfriend's best friend, Stephen Allen Martin,

1:52

soon becomes a person of interest. Two

1:55

and a half years earlier, an 18-year-old

1:57

friend of Felicia's named Jennifer Barzaloski

2:00

had also disappeared, and since

2:02

Steve was the last known person to see

2:04

Jennifer alive, there is speculation that the cases

2:06

are connected. Over the

2:08

years, rumors circulate that Felicia may have been

2:11

murdered at a party, but while

2:13

Jennifer's skull is found in a wooded area in 2010,

2:16

there are no conclusive answers about how

2:18

she died, and Felicia remains a missing

2:20

person. After that, the

2:23

trail went cold. The

2:31

trail was

2:36

a a

2:40

a a

2:44

a a

2:48

a a

2:52

a a a

2:58

a a

3:02

a a

3:06

a a a

3:12

a a a

3:18

a a

3:22

a a a

3:28

a a a

3:34

a a

3:38

a a a

3:44

a a a

3:50

a a

3:54

a a a

4:00

between them was a man named Stephen Alan

4:02

Martin, who was the boyfriend of

4:04

Jennifer's older sister, and the

4:06

best friend of Felicia's boyfriend. Since

4:08

he commonly went by Steve, yes,

4:10

that technically means that his name was

4:12

Steve Martin, and I promise not

4:15

to make any only murders in the building

4:17

jokes during the episode. While

4:19

investigators considered Steve to be a person

4:21

of interest in both cases, there was

4:23

no real evidence against him, though

4:25

a prevalent rumor is that Felicia attended a

4:27

party with Steve on the night of her

4:30

disappearance, and multiple people were responsible

4:32

for killing her and disposing of her

4:34

remains. There would be

4:36

a bit of a resolution in Jennifer's case

4:38

when her skull was found in a wooded

4:40

area in 2010, but the rest

4:42

of her remains have not been recovered, and her

4:44

cause of death is still unknown. This

4:47

is a very strange and frustrating

4:49

story which seems to be filled with

4:51

unconfirmed rumors and innuendo, but

4:53

the fact of the matter is that there's still

4:56

no conclusive answers about what happened to both of

4:58

these victims, which is why we're going to explore

5:00

these cases on this episode. Anyway,

5:03

before we get started, just a quick

5:05

reminder that The Trail Went Cold is

5:07

a weekly podcast which is currently available

5:09

for download on several platforms, including Apple

5:11

Podcasts and Spotify. So, if

5:14

you like this podcast, be sure to subscribe to

5:16

it, and please leave us a rating or review

5:18

on any of those sites to help spread the

5:20

word. The Trail Went Cold is on

5:22

Patreon, so if you would like to learn how to support

5:25

the show, please visit our

5:27

page at patreon.com/the trail went

5:29

cold. For as little

5:31

as one dollar a month, you

5:33

can garner access to exclusive rewards,

5:35

including stickers and thank you cards,

5:37

early access to episodes, and bonus

5:39

content, as our Patreon page

5:42

currently has over 60 exclusive bonus

5:44

episodes in our archives which are

5:46

not available on a regular feed.

5:49

So, with all that out of the

5:51

way, let us now explore the cases

5:53

of Felicia Thomas and Jennifer Barzoloski. Our

6:39

story begins in 2004 in Lake Township,

6:41

Pennsylvania which is located in Luzerne County

6:43

as part of their Back Mountain region

6:45

and had a population of just over

6:47

2,000 people at that time.

6:50

Our first victim is 22-year-old Felicia Thomas

6:53

who is the fourth of seven children

6:55

born to her mother, Pauline Bailey. Felicia

6:59

spent much of her childhood living with her

7:01

family in Dorrance Township and while she is

7:03

dropped out of high school, she currently works

7:05

as a clerk at a pump and pantry

7:07

convenience store located on State Route 29. For

7:11

nearly three years, Felicia has been involved in

7:13

a relationship with her 27-year-old live-in boyfriend

7:16

Ed Rudosky. The

7:18

couple tried living with Felicia's mother for a

7:20

while but since Ed was also a high

7:23

school dropout who would not get a job

7:25

and help pay the bills, Pauline made the

7:27

move out. At

7:29

this particular point, Felicia and Ed are

7:31

now living with Ed's mother, Catherine Rudosky,

7:34

at her residence on State Route 118. At

7:37

around 11pm on the evening of February 11,

7:40

Felicia finished her shift at the pump and pantry

7:42

and was given a ride home by a male

7:44

friend of one of her co-workers. This

7:47

person would later confirm that he dropped Felicia

7:49

off and saw her enter the Rudosky residence

7:52

but what supposedly happened next is Ed

7:54

Rudosky's version of events. According

7:57

to Ed, he had fallen asleep on the

7:59

couch but sometime between 11.30 pm

8:01

and midnight Felicia woke him up by

8:03

giving him a hug and kiss. Ed

8:06

said that he chatted for a brief period

8:09

and discussed their upcoming plans for Valentine's

8:11

Day as they were hoping to

8:13

go on a horse-drawn sleigh ride to celebrate

8:15

their three-year anniversary as a couple. Felicia

8:18

wanted to have some beers with Ed but he said

8:20

he was too tired and told

8:23

her that since his mother did not

8:25

allow alcohol in the house he was

8:27

keeping some beer in his ATV outside.

8:29

Ed then said that he fell back asleep

8:31

and recalled hearing Felicia walk outside and

8:33

he woke up over an hour later

8:35

sometime between 1 o'clock and 1.30 am

8:37

on the morning of February the 12th.

8:41

When Ed got up and walked into his bedroom he

8:43

was surprised to discover that Felicia was not

8:46

there and he could not find her anywhere

8:48

inside or outside the house. Since

8:51

Felicia's cigarettes were missing Ed

8:53

initially assumed that she went somewhere but

8:55

curiously her purse and winter coat had

8:57

been left behind even though it was

8:59

a cold February night. Ed

9:02

went outside and noticed that the beer on

9:04

his ATV had not been touched so he

9:06

decided to use the ATV to ride over

9:08

to a friend's house about a mile away

9:10

to check if Felicia might be there. When

9:13

he discovered that no one was at the house Ed

9:16

rode back home to wait for her. Now

9:19

here's where things get sketchy. Even

9:22

though Felicia never resurfaced she was not

9:24

actually reported missing to the Pennsylvania State

9:26

Police until 5.30 pm on

9:28

February the 13th which was

9:30

over 40 hours after she was last seen.

9:34

It was Felicia's mother Pauline Bailey who

9:36

filed the missing persons report and

9:38

Pauline and Ed seemed to have differing accounts

9:41

of what transpired. During

9:43

the earliest media coverage of this case Ed

9:46

told the Wilkesbury Times leader newspaper that

9:48

he wasn't initially concerned because there were

9:51

no signs of forced entry at his

9:53

residence and he hadn't heard or seen

9:55

anything suspicious. At one point

9:57

Ed went on her hypnosis to see if he

10:00

he could remember any more details about his

10:02

last encounter with Felicia, and he said he

10:04

recalled hearing what sounded like the front door

10:06

closing, and then a car door closing outside

10:08

as he was falling asleep on the couch.

10:12

Ed said that he believed Felicia had left to

10:14

go visit her mother in Doran's township, but

10:17

since he didn't have any minutes left on

10:19

his long distance calling card, Ed

10:21

was unable to phone Pauline to check if

10:23

Felicia was there. It

10:25

was not until Ed called the pump and

10:27

pantry one day later, and learned that Felicia

10:29

had not shown up for her next scheduled

10:31

shift when he started to become worried. After

10:35

speaking to numerous people and learning that

10:37

no one had seen or heard from

10:39

Felicia in two days, he finally got

10:41

in touch with Pauline and she subsequently

10:44

contacted the Pennsylvania State Police to report

10:46

Felicia missing. Well, over

10:48

the years, Pauline has shared a different

10:50

version of how these events unfolded. She

10:53

claimed that she first learned that her daughter was

10:56

missing when the pump and pantry called her

10:58

on February the 13th to inform

11:00

her that Felicia had not shown up to

11:02

collect her most recent paycheck. When

11:05

Pauline called the Radaski residence to check what

11:07

was going on, she said that

11:09

Ed's mother Catherine answered the phone and

11:11

told her that Felicia had just stepped out in

11:13

order to go pick up her check, which

11:16

turned out not to be true. It

11:18

was after this when Pauline decided to file

11:21

a missing persons report for Felicia. What

11:24

makes things even more complicated is

11:26

that a neighbor of the Radaskis

11:28

later contacted Pauline and told her

11:30

that during the early morning hours of February the

11:32

12th, they had seen four people

11:35

leaving the Radaski residence on ATVs but

11:37

only three of them came back. These

11:41

three people then apparently spent the next

11:43

few hours leaving and coming back on

11:45

their ATVs multiple times. While

11:48

this was going on, a black truck was

11:50

parked in front of the Radaski residence before

11:52

someone drove it away at 4.30am. However

11:56

it's been reported that the police have never

11:58

taken the neighbors' accounts all that seriously,

12:01

as the neighbor apparently had some sort

12:03

of personal issue with Ed, and investigators

12:06

felt they may have been fabricating stories in

12:08

an attempt to get Ed into trouble. In

12:12

spite of these odd discrepancies between Ed

12:14

and Pauline's version of events, the police

12:16

have stated that Ed was nothing but

12:18

cooperative with the investigation, and they have

12:20

never considered him to be a suspect.

12:23

It's been reported that Ed took a polygraph test,

12:25

and while he claimed that he passed it, the

12:28

police have never confirmed or denied this. They

12:31

also do not believe that the man who drove

12:33

Felicia home on the night she disappeared was a

12:35

suspect either. In the

12:38

days following Felicia's disappearance, investigators

12:40

would uncover some mysterious notes alleging

12:42

that Felicia's body could be found

12:44

behind the mountain fresh supermarket located

12:46

on State Route 118, only about

12:48

a tenth of a mile away

12:51

from the Radosky residence. This

12:53

supermarket would become the unofficial command center

12:55

for the search effort, but even

12:58

though members of law enforcement and numerous volunteers

13:01

would extensively check the area behind the

13:03

market and the surrounding woods, nothing could

13:05

be found. While on

13:07

February the 20th, the Pennsylvania

13:09

State Police obtained a warrant to search

13:12

a residence on Golf Course Road in

13:14

nearby Ross Township. The residence

13:16

belonged to 30-year-old Steven Allen Martin,

13:19

who happened to be Ed Radosky's best friend.

13:22

An ATV was confiscated from Steve's

13:25

house, along with several guns, ammunition,

13:27

ashtrays with cigarette butts, and garbage

13:29

bags filled with empty beer cans,

13:32

but at the time, police would not publicly

13:34

comment on what, if any, evidence might have

13:36

been found. It

13:39

turned out that sometime between 11.30 p.m. and

13:41

midnight on February the 11th, Steven

13:44

called the Radosky residence to speak with

13:46

Ed, as he claimed they had made plans

13:48

to see each other that night. But

13:50

Felicia wound up answering the phone and told

13:52

Steve that Ed was sleeping before he hung

13:55

up. If this story

13:57

was true, this technically made Steve the last known person

13:59

to be a person to communicate with

14:01

Felicia before she vanished, so

14:03

he was considered to be a person of interest in

14:05

the case. For his

14:07

part, Steve denied any involvement in her

14:10

disappearance, claiming that he went to bed

14:12

shortly after he spoke with Felicia. Steve

14:15

also claimed that at around 4 am,

14:17

he was awakened by a phone call

14:20

from his girlfriend, Leanne Barzolowski, who told

14:22

him that she had received five prank

14:24

calls from someone breathing heavily into the

14:26

receiver and she was quite perturbed about

14:28

it. This prompted

14:30

Steve to travel to Leanne's house in order

14:32

to comfort her before he returned home later

14:35

that morning. Well

14:37

believe it or not, it would turn out

14:39

that Steve had another connection to an unsolved

14:41

missing persons case from the area. The

14:44

victim in question was 18-year-old Jennifer

14:47

Barzolowski, who happened to be the

14:49

younger sister of Steve's girlfriend, Leanne.

14:52

Jennifer also lived in Lake Township and went missing on

14:54

the evening of June 23, 2001. It

14:59

turned out that Steve was the last known person

15:01

to see her alive, as he claimed that

15:03

he gave Jennifer a ride to the C

15:05

Major Sports Bar located on Main Street in

15:08

the borough of Edwardsville and dropped her off

15:10

before driving away. Her

15:12

case was originally investigated by the

15:14

Lake Township Police Department, who wound

15:17

up disbanding a few months later, so

15:19

it was taken over by the Pennsylvania State

15:21

Police. Jennifer's

15:23

disappearance initially got very little coverage in

15:25

the media, as an article published in

15:27

the July 3, 2001

15:30

edition of the Wilkesbury Times-Leader said

15:32

that she was a known heroin user. At

15:35

the time, it was believed that Jennifer

15:37

had traveled to the Badlands neighborhood in

15:39

Philadelphia to score drugs, and

15:41

Steve seemed to concur with this theory. However,

15:44

Jennifer's case would be given renewed attention when

15:46

Felicia went missing two and a half years

15:48

later, As it turned

15:50

out, there were no independent eyewitnesses who

15:53

recalled seeing Jennifer at the C Major

15:55

Sports Bar on the night she vanished

15:57

and could corroborate Steve's story. For

16:00

his part. Steve. Claimed that he

16:02

drove to Leon's residents right after dropping

16:04

off Jennifer. And. Told the press that

16:06

Leann had attached to his whereabouts that night.

16:10

Since. Leann Steve are still together and

16:12

now had two small children. It did

16:14

not appear that Leah had suspected him

16:16

of anything. Exactly.

16:18

And had even need for instance

16:20

daughter Jennifer after her sister. In

16:23

another interesting turn of events, it turned

16:25

out that Jennifer and Felicia were friends

16:27

and new a number of the same

16:29

people. Even. Though Steve

16:31

would become a person of interest in both

16:34

cases, there was no evidence that he had

16:36

done anything wrong. But. His life would

16:38

soon go into a downward spiral. Sees.

16:41

Legal problems began on March seventeenth,

16:44

only one month after Felicia went

16:46

missing. When. He was arrested on

16:48

the first degree misdemeanor charge of possessing

16:50

a prohibited offensive weapon. When.

16:53

A pair of state troopers visited Sees

16:55

residents in order to interview him about

16:57

police case. They. Noticed a sawed off

16:59

shotgun lying on a wouldn't stand next to

17:01

a staircase. And it would be

17:03

confiscated during the police's search of the house

17:06

five days later. While. The

17:08

charge was later dismissed see started

17:10

facing more serious issues two months

17:12

later. When. He was accused of

17:14

supplying drugs and alcohol to appear teenage

17:16

girls. He. Allegedly learn

17:18

these two girls to his house by offering

17:20

to pay them to clean it. Though.

17:23

He never actually gave them any money. Steve.

17:25

Was charged with to town siege

17:27

of delivering marijuana, endangering the welfare

17:30

of children, corruption of minors and

17:32

provide alcohol to minors along with

17:34

a single count of tobacco to

17:36

a minor. While.

17:38

He was released on Bond. Things got even

17:41

worse for speed in July of that year.

17:43

When. He was rearrested and charged

17:45

with endangering the welfare of children

17:47

Corruption: a miner's giving alcohol to

17:50

minors and possessing your controlled substance.

17:53

Over. one two year period steve

17:55

had supposedly supplied alcohol and drugs

17:57

to a pair of completely different

17:59

tt girls and was also accused of

18:01

fondling one of them. Once

18:04

again, Steve was allowed to remain

18:06

free on bond, but these new

18:08

allegations were only increasing suspicion about

18:10

his potential involvement in the disappearances

18:13

of Felicia and Jennifer. When

18:16

Steve appeared at the Luzerne County courthouse

18:18

for a hearing about these charges, a

18:20

bunch of protesters showed up side,

18:23

including Pauline Bailey. They

18:25

held up signs which read, quote, number

18:28

one, Jen, number two, Felicia,

18:30

number three, your daughter. And

18:33

Pauline flat out yelled at Steve, quote,

18:35

you took my daughter, how does it feel

18:37

to rip someone's heart out? End quote. Well,

18:40

believe it or not, Steve would

18:43

be re-arrested and hit with even

18:45

more charges in November, including burglary,

18:47

indecent assault, and corruption of minors.

18:50

These charges stem from an incident in January

18:52

of 2003, when

18:54

Steve illegally entered a friend's home and

18:57

crawled into bed with two teenage girls,

18:59

where he attempted to undo one of

19:01

their bras. The

19:03

adult woman who resided in the home said

19:05

that she remained silent because Steve had threatened

19:07

to burn her house down, but she now

19:09

wanted to come forward due to all the

19:12

newfound publicity surrounding him and his additional charges.

19:15

Even though this marked the fourth time Steve was arrested in

19:17

2004, he was once again released on

19:21

bond, but shortly thereafter, Leanne filed

19:23

a protection from abuse order against

19:25

him, which led to their two

19:27

children being removed from Steve's custody.

19:31

While Leanne would withdraw the order five

19:33

days later, it wasn't long before Steve

19:35

found himself involved in an accident which

19:37

took someone's life. On

19:40

December the 9th, Steve drove his pickup

19:43

truck to the Luzerne County Children and

19:45

Youth Services Office in Wilkes-Barre in

19:47

order to attend a supervised visit with his

19:49

children, but the Pennsylvania State

19:52

Police received information that Steve was

19:54

driving with his suspended license due

19:56

to a previous DUI conviction. Steve

20:00

Troopers waited outside the office and attempted

20:02

to pull Steve over after he left,

20:05

but he decided to speed up and leave the

20:07

police on a brief chase until he ran a

20:09

red light and crashed into

20:11

a car containing 61-year-old Raymond Simon

20:13

and his 55-year-old sister Vera Simon.

20:17

Steve attempted to flee the accident scene on

20:20

foot before he was captured at a Taco

20:22

Bell restaurant several blocks away. He

20:24

was charged with two counts of reckless

20:27

endangerment along with one count each of

20:29

accidents involving death or injury, fleeing police

20:31

and driving without a license. Raymond

20:35

and Vera Simon were taken to a hospital

20:37

and placed in the intensive care unit, but

20:40

while Raymond made a full recovery, Vera

20:42

passed away on December 20th. Steve

20:45

was then hit with the additional

20:47

charges of vehicular homicide and involuntary

20:49

manslaughter and this time he

20:52

was held at the Luzerne County Correctional

20:54

Facility without bail. Rather

20:56

than go on trial, Steve agreed to a plea

20:58

deal and on March 29th, 2005, he pled guilty

21:03

to all charges in relation to Vera's

21:05

death and received a sentence of 51-126

21:07

months in

21:10

prison. In June of

21:12

that year, Steve pled guilty to all

21:14

of the other charges he had faced

21:16

involving the numerous teenage girls such as

21:18

corruption of minors and indecent assault. Interestingly

21:22

enough, one of the girls

21:24

he had victimized claimed that Steve once

21:26

told her he was the last person

21:28

to see Jennifer Barziloski alive. She

21:30

stated, quote, he said everyone tried to

21:33

blame him. He said everyone thinks he

21:35

did it, but he didn't say what he meant

21:37

by did it, end quote. Later

21:39

that month, a wrongful death lawsuit

21:41

that Vera Simon's family had filed against

21:43

Steve was settled out of court. Steve

21:47

was scheduled to be sentenced for his

21:49

charges with the teenage girls sometime in

21:51

mid-August and was held in custody at

21:53

the State Correctional Institution in Camp Hill.

21:56

However, on the morning of August 12th,

21:59

Steve was found. Hanging by his

22:01

neck inside itself. He.

22:03

Was immediately rushed to a medical center and

22:05

died the following day at the age of

22:07

thirty two. His death

22:09

was ruled to be a suicide as a

22:11

few days earlier. Steve. It sent a

22:13

letter to Louis and Zandt in which he rode

22:15

quote. Hopefully. Soon I will be

22:18

dead and I will not have to deal with

22:20

this. Pay no more and quote. Shortly.

22:22

Before Steve died, we're headed informed him

22:25

that he was now dating someone else.

22:27

As he soon made this statement to the

22:29

press quote. I'm. Stuck between a rock

22:31

and a hard place as far as this is

22:34

concerned. He. Killed my sister and I

22:36

love him and point. We.

22:38

And said that she never wanted to

22:40

believe that see was responsible for Jennifer's

22:42

disappearance. Bought. Following Steve's

22:44

incarceration. The. Lead detective and

22:46

Jennifer's case spoke to Leann and finally

22:49

convinced her that see was the guilty

22:51

party. says. Jennifer and

22:53

Felicia's remains had still not been found.

22:56

Steve. Suicide was a bittersweet feeling

22:58

for their families. But. Over the

23:00

next several years. Pauline. Bailey would

23:02

publicly express or believe. That

23:04

multiple people were involved in police's

23:07

disappearance and see did not act

23:09

alone. While.

23:11

On April the second, two thousand

23:13

and ten two teenagers riding their

23:15

A T V through Harmless Township

23:17

discovered a human skull near the

23:19

bottom of an embankment in a

23:21

secluded wooded area alongside Roaring Procreate.

23:24

The. Authorities were soon notified about the

23:26

discovery and ten days later. It

23:29

was announced that dental records have

23:31

positively identified the skull as belonging

23:33

to Jennifer Bars Laski. Unfortunately,

23:36

And extensive search of the area failed to

23:38

turn up the rest of Jennifer's remains. Based.

23:41

On a available evidence, Jennifer's exact

23:43

cause of death cannot be determined.

23:46

But. When the loser and county coroner's office

23:48

examined her skull, They. Did not

23:50

find any perforated marks to suggest that a

23:52

cutting tool have been used to detach from

23:55

her spine. Since. this

23:57

particular wooded area was apparently searched on

23:59

prior occasions without finding anything, it was

24:01

theorized that the skull may have been

24:04

brought to the spot it was found

24:06

via animal activity or possibly

24:08

even flooding or heavy rain. Indeed,

24:11

there have always been rumors that Felicia's remains

24:14

and the rest of Jennifer's remains were

24:16

dumped into one of the large ponds in the area

24:18

which discharged into Roaring Brook Creek,

24:21

explaining how Jennifer's skull flowed to this

24:23

spot. While the authorities

24:26

have never officially stated that Jennifer was

24:28

the victim of homicide, it seems very

24:30

likely she was the victim of foul

24:32

play. And interestingly

24:34

enough, her skull was only found

24:36

about a mile away from the residence where

24:39

Steve Martin had lived before his arrest. Well,

24:42

as the years went on, Pauline would

24:44

publicly express her belief that Felicia was

24:46

murdered because she knew incriminating

24:48

information about what happened to Jennifer.

24:51

In January of 2012, a letter

24:53

from Pauline was published in the

24:55

letters to the editor section of

24:58

another Wilkes-Barre newspaper, The Citizen's Voice,

25:00

where she wrote, "...some very

25:03

bad people hurt her and killed her as

25:05

they did Jen Barzolowski. She told

25:07

me someone killed her friend and buried her and

25:09

wanted me to help find her. I

25:11

did not believe it. I told her in this

25:13

day and age, you can't kill people and get

25:15

away with it. God, why didn't I

25:18

listen to her?" It

25:20

has since come out that Felicia specifically

25:23

told her mother that she believed Steve

25:25

Martin had killed Jennifer and

25:27

Pauline theorized that this was Steve's

25:29

motive for making Felicia disappear. Well,

25:33

in April of 2016, the story

25:35

would be featured on an episode of

25:38

the true crime show, Crime Watch Daily,

25:40

which pushed forward a specific scenario for

25:42

how Felicia was allegedly murdered. Pauline

25:45

was interviewed on the show along with

25:47

a close family friend named Judy Fisher,

25:49

who had become a major advocate in

25:51

Felicia's case. Pauline

25:54

and Judy both claimed that they were told

25:56

by numerous people that on the night Felicia

25:58

disappeared, she had attempted to kill attended a

26:00

party at a mobile home located in

26:02

Hunlock Township on Timber Lane off Golf

26:05

Course Road. The home

26:07

was owned by a man named John Anthony

26:09

Neary who was friends with Steve Martin and

26:11

Steve's residence was only about a half mile

26:13

away. There were supposedly

26:15

at least 17 people at the party

26:18

and the story goes that Steve and

26:20

at least three other men convinced Felicia

26:22

to join her inside a bedroom in

26:24

order to smoke some marijuana. They

26:27

then proceeded to sexually assault Felicia and

26:29

she apparently let out some disturbing screams

26:31

for help which prompted a couple

26:33

of people to leave. In

26:35

fact it's been reported that Steve drove

26:37

both Felicia and Ed Radosky to the

26:40

party. After they

26:42

arrived, Ed went inside the bedroom with

26:44

Felicia but the other guys told

26:46

him to quote unquote take a walk

26:48

so Ed left while Felicia's assault took

26:50

place. One of

26:53

these guys was also supposedly seen carrying a

26:55

video camera into the bedroom implying that the

26:57

assault may have been filmed. Afterward,

27:01

multiple witnesses apparently went into the

27:03

bedroom and saw Felicia's dead body

27:05

wrapped in a blanket. One

27:08

of the most prevalent rumors is that

27:10

the responsible parties took Felicia into a

27:12

barn located on the same property and

27:14

proceeded to dismember her body on top

27:16

of a large tarp. They

27:19

then burned her remains in a debris pile

27:21

and buried them in a vegetable garden in

27:23

a field on top of a nearby hill.

27:26

But here's where the whole thing gets confusing.

27:29

The Crimewatch Daily episode features an

27:31

interview with Officer Tom Kelly who

27:33

was the lead investigator with the

27:35

Pennsylvania State Police at that time

27:38

and he does confirm that Felicia was seen

27:40

attending this party at the mobile home. But

27:43

he also said that she was last seen

27:45

leaving the party with Steve Martin and another

27:48

on identified mail. This

27:50

other guy was subsequently dropped off at

27:52

his own place leaving Felicia and Steve

27:55

alone and Felicia was never seen alive

27:57

again. But when asked

27:59

if the second male was Edwardosky, Kelly

28:01

just said he could not confirm or deny it.

28:05

So the big issue here is that

28:07

we have two separate stories about this

28:09

party which completely contradict each other because

28:12

if Felicia was seen leaving the party with

28:14

Steve, then she obviously couldn't have

28:16

been killed inside the bedroom. For

28:19

his part, Kelly said that he

28:21

has never found any evidence or

28:23

information to confirm the rumors that

28:25

a so-called quote-unquote snuff film had

28:28

been shot of Felicia's alleged assault

28:30

and murder. It's

28:33

also worth noting that Jennifer Skull was

28:35

found about three-quarters to one mile downstream

28:37

from the barn where Felicia's dismemberment supposedly

28:39

took place and the barn was right

28:42

next to a feeder creek to Roaring

28:44

Brook Creek. Shortly before

28:46

the Crimewatch Daily episode came out, the

28:48

previous owners of this property had moved

28:50

away, so Pauline and Judy got

28:52

permission from the new owners to perform a

28:55

search of the property with cadaver dogs in

28:57

August of 2016. They claimed that

29:00

these dogs got hits on a deteriorating tarp

29:03

found in a wooded area 100 yards behind

29:06

the barn as well as the stone floor in

29:08

the corner of the barn. There

29:10

was also apparently a noticeable dip in

29:12

this floor to indicate that some sort

29:15

of excavation might have occurred. By

29:17

this point, the mobile home where this

29:20

party supposedly took place had been demolished

29:22

and the debris burn pile on the

29:25

property had been removed, raided and seated.

29:28

Now, the Pennsylvania State Police said that

29:30

they later performed their own search of

29:32

the property but the same cadaver dogs

29:35

but did not get any hits at

29:37

the spots where the dogs had allegedly

29:39

reacted during Pauline's previous search and

29:42

they also did not find anything of

29:44

evidentiary value. However,

29:46

Pauline and Judy have claimed that

29:48

they since performed additional private searches

29:50

of the property with cadaver dogs

29:53

and continued to get hits from them but

29:55

never found anything. The

29:57

Wilkes-Barre Times leader ran a couple of

29:59

articles of about this story in early 2018 and

30:02

while they attempted to get comment

30:04

from the property's previous owner, John

30:06

Anthony Niere, they were unable to

30:08

track him down. However,

30:10

on the 14-year anniversary of

30:12

Felicia's disappearance, the Times

30:15

leader revealed that they had been

30:17

contacted by several anonymous individuals who

30:19

claimed they had been inside Niere's mobile

30:21

home during the spring of 2004 and

30:24

noticed that floorboards were conspicuously missing

30:27

in the bedroom and kitchen. As

30:30

of right now, all further search

30:32

efforts to recover Felicia and the

30:34

rest of Jennifer's remains have been

30:36

unsuccessful. So after 20

30:38

years, there's still no conclusive answers about

30:40

what happened to either of these victims.

30:43

So I guess you could say the

30:45

trail went cold. So

31:01

this is not the first time I've done

31:03

an episode featuring two separate cold cases and

31:05

more often than not, I find

31:08

out that one of the featured cases got

31:10

considerably more media coverage than the other. As

31:13

an example of this, look at the

31:15

episode I released two weeks ago about

31:17

the murders of Heidi Seaman and Erika

31:19

Betteo, which both took place in San

31:21

Antonio in August of 1990. I

31:24

think the only reason that Erika's case got

31:26

any media coverage at all is because she

31:28

happened to go missing only 19 days

31:31

after Heidi did, so the

31:33

city was in a major frenzy about

31:35

abducted children and rumors about the two

31:37

cases possibly being connected. Here,

31:40

we have one young woman, Jennifer

31:42

Barzoloski, whose disappearance received very little

31:44

media coverage at all for two and a

31:47

half years until Felicia Thomas went

31:49

missing and people started noticing the

31:51

links between them, particularly involving

31:53

Steve and Alan Martin. I

31:57

previously mentioned that the earliest reporting

31:59

about Jennifer's case. case, mention her

32:01

having issues with heroin and possibly

32:03

running off to Philadelphia to score

32:05

drugs, so I'm guessing that the

32:07

police pretty much wrote her off as

32:09

a runaway and did not aggressively pursue

32:11

an investigation. Of

32:13

course the main narrative which has been

32:15

pushed forward by Felicia's mother, Pauline Bailey,

32:18

is that her daughter went missing because she

32:20

had taken the initiative to try

32:22

and solve Jennifer's case herself, and

32:25

since Felicia believed that Steve was responsible

32:27

for what happened to Jennifer, he may

32:29

have decided to get rid of her too. Well

32:32

if that is actually what happened, then

32:34

the ironic thing is that Steve's strategy

32:36

backfired in a huge way, since

32:39

Felicia's disappearance brought a bunch of

32:41

attention to this entire story and

32:43

even though Steve was never officially charged with

32:46

either of these crimes, he still

32:48

wound up experiencing a major downfall.

32:52

Pauline has stated in interviews that prior

32:54

to her disappearance, Felicia told

32:56

her that she believed Steve had buried

32:58

Jennifer in his basement, but we

33:00

know that part is likely not true, since

33:03

Jennifer's skull was found in a wooded area.

33:06

However, this spot was in very

33:08

close proximity to Steve's residence and

33:10

the mobile home where Felicia was

33:12

allegedly killed at a party, so

33:14

there has always been speculation that Felicia's

33:17

remains and the rest of Jennifer's remains

33:19

are in that same general region of

33:21

Honlock Township. But

33:24

before I talk any more about Felicia's case,

33:26

I'm going to start off by analyzing Jennifer's

33:29

death, since there obviously isn't all

33:31

that much evidence to discuss. Since

33:34

all that was found was Jennifer's skull, I

33:36

guess it's technically never been conclusively proven that

33:38

she was the victim of a homicide. I

33:41

mean theoretically, I guess you can't

33:43

completely discount the possibility that Jennifer could

33:46

have wandered out into the woods and

33:48

died of exposure or something, but

33:50

that's extremely unlikely. The

33:53

only confirmed facts we have is that the

33:55

last known person to see Jennifer alive was

33:57

Steve Martin, who claimed he dropped her

33:59

off outside the C Major Sports

34:01

Bar in Edwardsville. Since

34:04

Jennifer's sister Leanne was Steve's girlfriend and she

34:06

continued to remain with them for the next

34:08

two and a half years, I'm guessing

34:10

she did not question Steve's story

34:12

or believe he was responsible for

34:14

Jennifer's disappearance, but the issue

34:16

is that investigators could not find any

34:19

witnesses to confirm that Jennifer was anywhere

34:21

near that bar on the night she

34:23

disappeared. At the time,

34:25

it might not have seemed implausible that

34:27

Jennifer hitched a ride there with an

34:29

unknown party and traveled to Philadelphia or

34:31

something, but it just seems like

34:34

too much of a coincidence that her

34:36

skull would turn up only about a mile

34:38

away from Steve's former residence. While

34:40

I have no idea what motive Steve

34:42

would have had to kill Jennifer, the

34:45

fact that he would eventually be charged

34:47

with multiple acts of predatory behavior towards

34:49

teenage girls definitely shows a

34:51

pattern with Steve, so perhaps he

34:54

tried the same thing with Jennifer and

34:56

thinks escalated into violence. Of

34:58

course, that's all just speculation as there

35:01

is no real evidence that Steve did

35:03

anything, and just because no

35:05

witness is recalled seeing Jennifer in the bar that

35:07

night does not necessarily mean his

35:09

story about dropping her off is not true,

35:12

but when you consider the later issues

35:15

involving Steve, the idea of him

35:17

harming Jennifer is certainly not implausible.

35:20

It really is crazy to see how much

35:22

of a downward spiral Steve went through after

35:25

he was named as a person of interest

35:27

in these cases because in the

35:29

span of one calendar year, he was

35:31

arrested on no less than three

35:33

occasions for separate incidents involving different

35:35

teenage girls and then wound

35:38

up being charged with vehicular homicide for

35:40

taking the life of Vera Simon. Steve's

35:43

defense attorney would argue that Vera's

35:45

death was the result of him

35:47

cracking under the extreme pressure of

35:50

being falsely accused of Felicia and

35:52

Jennifer's disappearances, and that he

35:54

only tried to outrun the police because he

35:56

had become paranoid they were attempting to railroad

35:58

him. Of course, that's all. That's a

36:00

pretty lame excuse for his actions, and I

36:02

know that when Steve read a tearful apology

36:05

to Vera Simon's family at a sentencing hearing,

36:07

a lot of people thought it came across

36:10

as very insincere, considering that Steve

36:12

couldn't even get the family's last name

36:14

right and kept referring to them as

36:16

Simpson instead of Simon. And

36:19

while I'm sure Steve didn't intend on killing Vera,

36:22

that doesn't change the fact that many

36:24

of the inappropriate incidents with the

36:26

teenage girls took place before Felicia

36:28

even went missing, and since

36:30

he ultimately pled guilty to all these charges,

36:33

he can't argue that he was falsely accused.

36:36

So the motive for Steve's suicide is still up

36:39

for debate, as even though I'm

36:41

sure that serving 51 to 126 months

36:43

in prison for Vera's death would not be

36:46

a picnic, he would be released

36:48

eventually and still have the opportunity to

36:50

continue on with his life. But

36:53

I will add the disclaimer that Steve had

36:55

not yet been sentenced for the charges with

36:57

the teenage girls, so it

36:59

was possible that he was going to have a

37:02

lot more years added on and serve a much

37:04

lengthier sentence. It's

37:06

been theorized that the breaking point which led

37:08

to Steve's suicide was when Leanne

37:10

told him she had started dating someone else,

37:13

and he also found it difficult to be away

37:15

from his children, but it's also been

37:17

speculated that the guilt and paranoia associated

37:19

with his potential involvement in what happened

37:22

to Felicia and Jennifer drove him to

37:24

take his own life. Of

37:27

course the families of the two victims

37:29

were left disappointed by Steve's suicide because

37:31

their remains had not yet been found, and they

37:34

felt that Steve may have taken the secrets about

37:36

what happened to them to his grave. However

37:39

in Felicia's case at least, there

37:41

has been speculation that Steve was not the

37:43

only person involved, and there might be others

37:45

out there who know the full truth. I

37:49

will say that Felicia's mother, Pauline Bailey,

37:51

as well as her friend Judy Fisher,

37:54

have been amazing advocates for Felicia

37:57

as they have never stopped spreading awareness about

37:59

her disappearance as well as Jennifer's death.

38:02

Looking through the news archives, it seems

38:04

like without fail, Pauline has made sure

38:06

to hold a vigil for Felicia every

38:08

year on the anniversary of her disappearance,

38:11

and I have no doubt that she will

38:13

do the same thing for the 20-year anniversary

38:15

which is taking place a few days after

38:17

this episode's release. Pauline

38:20

is not hesitated to express her belief

38:22

that Felicia was murdered and that Steve

38:24

Martin was involved, but over the years,

38:26

it seems like a number of people

38:28

have shared information with both her and

38:30

Judy to make them believe

38:33

there was an act of conspiracy to cover

38:35

up Felicia's death. For years,

38:37

the narrative seemed to be that Felicia

38:39

inexplicably vanished from her residence in the

38:41

middle of the night, and

38:43

during my research, the first source I

38:45

found which started reporting on the story

38:47

about Felicia being killed at a party

38:50

was the Crime Watch Daily episode which aired in

38:52

2016. The

38:55

show's betrayal of this story

38:57

was heavily sensationalized and

38:59

also brought up an angle involving

39:01

convicted serial killer Hugo Selensky who

39:04

had lived on a property in the same

39:06

region of Luzerne County. So

39:08

I actually talked about Hugo Selensky back

39:10

on episode number 98 of

39:12

this podcast as he was looked

39:15

at as a potential suspect in the disappearance

39:17

of Cindy Song, a 21-year-old Penn

39:20

State student who vanished from State

39:22

College, Pennsylvania during the early morning hours

39:24

of November 1, 2001. Selensky

39:29

is currently serving a life sentence in prison

39:31

for murder, but the authorities have

39:33

been unable to determine how many

39:35

people he actually killed, as

39:37

bone fragments which may have belonged to as

39:40

many as 12 different people were found in

39:42

a burn pit on Selensky's property. Now

39:45

since Selensky was arrested in 2003,

39:47

he would have been behind

39:49

bars by the time Felicia went missing, so

39:52

he obviously played no role in her

39:54

disappearance. But since Jennifer

39:56

went missing in 2001, the authorities did appear to

39:58

have been arrested make an

40:00

attempt to search for her remains on

40:02

Selensky's property, but none of the bone

40:05

fragments have been linked to her. The

40:07

Crimewatch Daily episode alleged that prior

40:09

to his arrest, Selensky

40:12

had been equated with Steve Martin

40:14

and Felicia's boyfriend, Ed Radosky. In

40:17

fact, it was even implied that Felicia

40:19

herself may have met Selensky, as

40:22

Ed apparently took her to at least

40:24

one party where Selensky was in attendance.

40:27

Like I just said, Selensky was

40:29

already incarcerated by the time Felicia

40:31

disappeared, so I don't know

40:33

why Crimewatch Daily felt the need to

40:35

put so much focus on him, but it

40:38

seemed to imply that being acquainted with

40:40

Selensky may have given Steve or

40:42

other people from the community ideas

40:44

about how to commit murder and dispose

40:46

of a victim's body. After

40:49

all, a heavily shared rumor is that

40:51

after Felicia was murdered, her body

40:53

was dismembered and her remains burned

40:55

and scattered, much like what

40:57

Selensky did with his victims. Obviously,

41:01

my main issue with the Crimewatch Daily

41:03

episode is that it pushes forward the

41:05

rumor that Felicia was killed after attending

41:08

a party, but it also

41:10

presents two different scenarios which seem to

41:12

contradict each other. But before

41:14

we talk any more about this angle,

41:16

let's first discuss the known facts about

41:19

Felicia's disappearance. We know

41:21

that she left her job at the Pump

41:23

and Pantry convenience store and arrived home sometime

41:25

between 11.30 pm and midnight,

41:28

but the man who gave Felicia a ride is not

41:30

considered to be a suspect and law

41:32

enforcement seemed to believe his account that he

41:34

saw her walk inside a residence after he

41:36

dropped her off. All we

41:38

know about what happened next is Ed

41:40

Radosky's version of events and even

41:43

though he was also not considered to be a suspect,

41:45

it's obvious that some people,

41:47

including Pauline Bailey, do not

41:50

believe his story. It's worth

41:52

noting that when lead investigator Tom

41:54

Kelly was interviewed on Crimewatch Daily,

41:56

he put over Ed as being cooperative with

41:58

the investigation and but would not say

42:01

he was ruled out as a suspect because at

42:03

that point no one could be completely

42:05

ruled out. As you

42:07

recall, Ed claimed that he was sleeping on

42:09

the couch until Felicia woke him up, and

42:12

after she said she was going outside to

42:14

get some beer from his ATV, Ed

42:16

fell back asleep and when he woke up

42:18

about an hour later Felicia was gone. On

42:22

the surface, Steve would seem to corroborate

42:24

Ed's story since he claimed that he

42:26

called the residents during this time period,

42:28

but Felicia answered the phone and told

42:30

him Ed was sleeping. However,

42:32

since Ed and Steve were best

42:34

friends, and there's been speculation that

42:37

they were both complicit in Felicia's

42:39

disappearance, they could have potentially been

42:41

covering for each other. Until

42:43

I learned about this whole party angle, I

42:46

initially had a hard time figuring out how

42:48

Felicia could have gone missing that night. The

42:51

thing I can't wrap my head around

42:53

is that even though Ed claimed that

42:55

Felicia's cigarettes were missing, which gave him the

42:57

impression that she went out somewhere, her

42:59

purse and winter coat were left behind even

43:01

though it was a cold winter night. To

43:05

be quite honest, the detail about the coat

43:07

is the one thing which has always left

43:09

me a bit skeptical that Felicia ever attended

43:11

this party, because why would she

43:14

have left without her coat? Ed

43:16

told police that he didn't hear or see

43:18

anything unusual, and that there were no signs

43:20

of forced entry at the residence, so

43:23

I considered the possibility that someone could

43:25

have abducted Felicia while she was grabbing

43:27

beer from the ATV, particularly

43:29

since Ed claimed that the beer did not

43:31

appear to have been touched. But

43:34

once again, wouldn't Felicia put on her

43:36

coat if she stepped outside? So

43:39

Ed claims that he did go out on his

43:41

ATV to check if Felicia had gone to a

43:43

nearby friend's house, and then returned

43:45

home when it turned out she wasn't there, but

43:48

we have this odd account from one of

43:50

Ed's neighbors who claimed they saw

43:52

multiple people going back and forth on

43:54

ATV throughout the course of the night,

43:57

as well as a black truck which was parked in front of the

43:59

residence. until around 4.30 a.m. It

44:03

sounds like investigators did not take this neighbor's

44:05

account all that seriously because they supposedly had

44:08

a personal grudge against Ed and the police

44:10

thought they were trying to get him into

44:12

trouble, which is a pretty odd take to

44:14

have than an unsolved missing persons case. But

44:17

to be fair, if Felicia was killed at

44:19

a party which was taking place at another location,

44:22

then I'm not sure why there would be

44:24

so much activity like this outside the Radaski

44:27

residence. I do know that Steve

44:29

was driving a 1997 Ford

44:31

pickup truck during this time period, since

44:33

this detail was reported during the news

44:36

accounts about the vehicular homicide of Vera

44:38

Simon, but none of the sources

44:40

I could find mention if it was black. Regardless

44:43

of whether or not the neighbor's account is true,

44:46

it's still pretty strange to me that after

44:48

taking the initiative to go out on his

44:50

ATD and search for Felicia in the middle

44:53

of the night, and never bothered

44:55

to call the police to report her missing, or

44:57

do much of anything at all for the next day and a

45:00

half. He said

45:02

that he just figured Felicia had gone to

45:04

stay with her mother in Doran's township, but

45:06

couldn't actually phone her because he had no

45:08

minutes left on his long-distance calling card, which

45:11

seems like a pretty lame excuse to me.

45:14

I mean, how did Ed expect Felicia to

45:16

have traveled to her mother's place to begin

45:18

with? Felicia did not drive

45:20

or own a vehicle at that time, and

45:23

Ed's mother Catherine would often drive her to work.

45:26

As you might recall, Catherine owned the

45:28

house where Ed and Felicia were living, but

45:30

I haven't heard any information about her

45:33

whereabouts and the night Felicia disappeared, and

45:35

whether or not she was at the residence at that

45:37

time. Pauline has

45:40

claimed that when she phoned there looking

45:42

for Felicia, Catherine flat-out lied to her

45:44

by saying that Felicia had just stepped

45:46

out to pick up her paycheck from

45:48

a workplace, which of course turned

45:50

out not to be true, and didn't make

45:52

much sense either, since Catherine usually drove her

45:54

there anyway. On

45:57

the Crime Watch Daily episode, the crew showed up

45:59

at Catherine's door and attempted to interview

46:01

her, but she didn't want to talk to them,

46:04

though she denied the allegations that her

46:06

son was involved in Felicia's disappearance, and

46:08

claimed that Paulina has always spread false rumors about

46:11

him. And of course, it

46:13

does not sound like Ed himself has

46:15

done any interviews about the case for

46:17

nearly two decades. Now

46:20

as for Steve's whereabouts during the time

46:22

period Felicia went missing, when he

46:24

was first named as a person of interest, he

46:26

claimed that after he spoke with Felicia on the

46:28

phone, he went to bed until he was woken

46:30

up when Leanne called him at 4am. Since

46:34

she had apparently been receiving a series of disturbing

46:36

prank calls, Steve then headed over to her place

46:38

to spend the rest of the night with her.

46:42

I haven't read anything to indicate that Leanne

46:44

disputed this story, but even if Steve

46:46

did come see her, there's still

46:48

a window of time between midnight and

46:50

4am, in which Steve's only alibi

46:52

is that he was sleeping, so if he

46:55

was guilty, he still would have had ample

46:57

time to do something with Felicia. It's

47:00

interesting how Steve supposedly arrived at Leanne's

47:02

place shortly after 4am, which is

47:05

the same approximate time period when Ed's

47:07

neighbor claimed that all this weird activity

47:09

outside the Radaski residence came to a

47:11

halt. And of course,

47:14

if there were a bunch of witnesses who saw

47:16

Ed at a party during this time period when

47:18

he claimed he was at home sleeping, then that's

47:20

a major red flag. One

47:23

big clue during the early stages of the

47:25

investigation were some anonymous notes

47:27

which stated that Felicia's body was

47:30

buried behind the mountain fresh supermarket,

47:32

but a search of this area never

47:34

went anywhere, and oddly, none of the

47:36

sources I found have revealed where exactly

47:38

these notes came from in the first

47:40

place. For all we know,

47:42

this may have been nothing more than a cruel prank,

47:45

but what if it was someone attempting to

47:47

throw off the investigation by directing the search

47:50

effort towards the and

47:52

away from the location where Felicia

47:54

was actually buried? The

47:57

most prevalent rumor is that Felicia's remains

47:59

are somewhere near the mountain. in Honlock

48:01

Township near Golf Course Road and Timber

48:03

Lane, the location of the mobile

48:05

home where this party was supposedly held. The

48:09

former owner of the mobile home, John

48:11

Anthony Niere, has never gone on the

48:13

record to publicly confirm or deny that

48:15

the party took place, and

48:17

in fact, I have not seen anyone personally

48:20

state during an interview that they were in

48:22

attendance that night. All

48:24

we have are third-hand accounts from people

48:26

like Pauline Bailey, Judy Fisher, and Tom

48:29

Kelly, who claim that witnesses

48:31

have told them they were there when

48:33

Felicia was taken into a bedroom to

48:35

be sexually insulted and murdered by Steve

48:37

Martin and about three other guys. The

48:40

responsible individuals then disposed of Felicia's

48:43

remains, but even though there were

48:45

supposedly at least seventeen people at this party

48:47

when all this took place, their

48:49

accounts were apparently not strong enough evidence

48:51

to lead to anyone's arrest. I

48:54

know it's been implied that all the witnesses

48:56

from the party who were not directly involved

48:58

in Felicia's murder have been too fearful to

49:00

go on the record, but it

49:03

is surprising to me that this many

49:05

people could stay silent for twenty years,

49:07

particularly since Steve, the alleged

49:09

mastermind behind this crime, wound

49:12

up going to prison and died by suicide.

49:16

One of the biggest red flags to

49:18

me is when rumors started circulating that

49:20

someone brought a video camera into the

49:22

bedroom to record a so-called snuff film

49:24

of Felicia's rape and murder. As you

49:27

know, urban legends about snuff films are a

49:29

relic from the 1970s and 80s, and considering

49:31

that Officer

49:33

Kelly stated that he's found no evidence to

49:36

indicate that a snuff film exists in this

49:38

case, I wouldn't be surprised

49:40

if certain stories about what happened to

49:42

Felicia have been exaggerated. Like

49:45

I've reiterated before, my biggest issue

49:47

with this whole party scenario is

49:49

that Kelly claims he has been told

49:51

that Felicia was seen leaving the party

49:53

with Steve and another unidentified male and

49:56

then disappeared a short time later. But

49:59

if Felicia was murdered, at the party and

50:01

then dismembered inside a nearby barn, how

50:04

could she have left with the guy who was suspected of

50:06

killing her? I can

50:08

understand the police staying tight-lipped about

50:10

certain aspects of the investigation, but

50:12

I sure would like to know the credibility

50:15

of the witnesses who claimed they saw Felicia

50:17

leave versus the credibility of

50:19

the witnesses who have told her mother

50:21

that Felicia was raped and murdered inside

50:23

the bedroom. The

50:25

story that Kelly has pushed forward is that

50:27

after Steve dropped off this other male, he

50:30

and Felicia drove off together and this was

50:32

the last time she was confirmed to be

50:34

alive. When Kelly

50:36

was asked if the second male was Ed

50:38

Rudosky, he replied that he could not confirm

50:41

or deny it, a statement

50:43

which can be interpreted in multiple ways. Does

50:46

Kelly just not want to publicly reveal the

50:48

identity of the second guy or

50:50

does he legitimately not know who it is? Since

50:53

Ed and Felicia live together in the same

50:56

residence, it technically wouldn't make much

50:58

sense for Steve to drop Ed off

51:00

and then go elsewhere with Felicia. But

51:03

theoretically, if the second male is not

51:05

Ed and police have interviewed him and

51:07

deemed him to be credible, then

51:09

there's no other conclusion that can

51:11

be reached other than Steve being

51:13

responsible for Felicia's disappearance. It

51:16

would be one thing if Steve had acknowledged

51:18

having seen Felicia that night, but his original

51:21

story is that he was at home sleeping

51:23

and if there are credible witnesses placing

51:25

him at other locations during that time

51:27

period, then that looks pretty damning.

51:30

Personally, Steve doing something to Felicia while

51:32

they were alone together after he dropped

51:34

this other guy off seems

51:36

more believable to me than her being

51:39

murdered at a party in the presence

51:41

of several witnesses. However,

51:44

even if Steve is the guilty party,

51:46

the big unanswered question is how Ed

51:48

figures into this whole situation because

51:50

even though police have never named him as a

51:53

suspect, there are definitely some troubling things

51:55

about his actions. The

51:57

story which has been pushed forward is that Ed

51:59

was left so intimidated by the people who

52:01

assaulted and killed Felicia that he walked away

52:04

from the party and left her to die.

52:07

So even if he was not directly

52:09

responsible for Felicia's death, Ed

52:11

would still have reason to lie to law enforcement.

52:14

Pauline has claimed that prior to her

52:17

disappearance, Felicia told her that Steve murdered

52:19

Jennifer Barzoloski and that she was going

52:21

to prove it, which is what

52:23

motivated Steve to kill her. Now,

52:26

if Felicia was afraid of Steve, that

52:28

it wouldn't make much sense for her to get into his

52:30

truck and go to a party with him, which

52:33

is why Pauline is certain that Ed was there

52:35

too, as she may have felt that her

52:37

boyfriend would be able to protect her. My

52:40

biggest issue with this whole theory is

52:42

that if Steve was paranoid that Felicia

52:44

was going to expose him for killing

52:46

Jennifer, then it seems

52:48

really counterproductive to enlist multiple

52:50

accomplices to help him murder Felicia and

52:53

then commit the crime at a party

52:55

in front of several witnesses. We

52:58

also have this odd situation where Pauline

53:00

has brought cadaver dogs to search the

53:02

property where this murder took place and

53:05

they've supposedly hit on some spots where

53:07

Felicia may have been dismembered. Yet

53:10

police have claimed that when they've brought

53:12

these same cadaver dogs to search the

53:14

same location, they've turned up nothing. Given

53:17

that Jennifer's skull was found less than

53:19

a mile away from there, I certainly

53:22

don't discount the possibility that one or

53:24

more murders took place in that property

53:26

at some point. I'm

53:28

also intrigued by the idea that Felicia and

53:31

Jennifer's remains may be in one of the

53:33

ponds in that area and Jennifer's skull washed

53:35

up and flowed to the spot where it

53:37

was found because of a heavy rainstorm or

53:40

something. Remember, this

53:42

spot was within a mile of Steve's own

53:44

residence, so even if Felicia was not actually

53:46

killed at this party, she may have been

53:48

murdered in the same general area. Look,

53:51

I certainly have no doubt that Steve

53:53

was responsible for what happened to Jennifer

53:56

and Felicia and there may be others

53:58

who were involved in Felicia's disappearance. or

54:00

at least no more than they're letting on. I'm

54:03

just a bit skeptical that the crime was

54:05

this brazen and took place in full view

54:07

of so many people. But

54:10

as weird as this may sound, I do hope

54:12

that Steve did not act alone because at least

54:14

that would mean the truth about what happened did

54:16

not die with him and there

54:18

are others out there who know something and

54:21

could help lead to the recovery of Felicia's

54:23

remains. Since the

54:25

20th anniversary of Felicia's disappearance is almost

54:27

upon us, I hope there

54:29

will be extra publicity surrounding this case and

54:32

perhaps it will compel someone to come

54:34

forward to the authorities with cold, hard

54:36

facts. So if

54:38

you happen to have any information about

54:41

the disappearance of Felicia Thomas or the

54:43

death of Jennifer Barzoloski, please

54:45

contact the Pennsylvania State Police at

54:47

570-697-2000 That's

54:50

570-697-2000. But if you just have your own thoughts about

54:52

what happened, feel free

54:59

to leave me a comment or

55:02

send me an email to [email protected].

55:05

That's [email protected].

55:08

We also wanted to remind everyone that

55:10

for the month of February, the trail

55:12

when coal will be teeming with a

55:14

non-profit organization called Season of Justice, which

55:16

raises money for the families of cold

55:18

case victims by helping spread awareness and

55:20

doing what they can to fund DNA

55:23

testing. If you would

55:25

like to make a donation to

55:27

Season of Justice, all the information

55:29

about them is listed in our

55:31

show notes and on our social

55:33

media pages, but you can donate

55:35

by visiting the link givebutter.com/soj underscore

55:37

the trail or texting

55:40

trail 24 to 53555. That's

55:42

givebutter.com/soj underscore the trail

55:49

or you can text trail 24

55:51

to 53555. Now

55:54

the reminder that the trail when coal

55:56

is on Patreon, so please visit patreon.com/the

55:58

trail. trail and cold to learn how

56:01

you can support our podcast and become

56:03

eligible for some pretty neat rewards. Over

56:06

the past six years, our Patreon page

56:08

has released nearly 70 exclusive bonus episodes

56:10

which are all currently available in our

56:12

archives for our Patrons in tiers 2

56:14

and 3. This

56:17

past month, I released an episode about

56:19

a very memorable case from Unsolved Mysteries,

56:22

the disappearance of wanted fugitive

56:24

Randall Utterback, who has not been

56:26

seen since he broke out of jail nearly 30

56:28

years ago. I've also

56:30

dropped an exclusive bonus episode from my

56:32

spinoff podcast, The Path Win Chili, in

56:35

which myself and my two co-host, Jules

56:37

and Ashley, cover another memorable case from

56:39

Unsolved Mysteries, the 1984 murder

56:42

of Morris Davis. And

56:44

for our Patrons in tier 3, I

56:46

recorded another new audio commentary track which

56:48

can be played over a classic episode

56:51

of Unsolved Mysteries, and we now have

56:53

nearly 60 of these commentary tracks in

56:55

our archives. I'd also

56:57

like to give a shout out

56:59

to our most recent listeners who

57:01

have signed up with us on

57:03

Patreon this week, and they are

57:06

Mary, DragonFiery, Dustin P, EBT, Kimberly

57:08

S, Abigail B, Crystal, and

57:10

Jordan M. Thank you all so much

57:12

for your support! I also wanted

57:15

to remind everyone that The Trail Went

57:17

Cold has once again been booked to

57:19

appear on Podcast Row at CrimeCon UK

57:21

this year, which is taking place at

57:23

133 Houndstitch in London on

57:26

September 21st and 22nd. If

57:29

you would like to purchase tickets to

57:31

this event, please visit their website, crimecon.co.uk,

57:35

and use our specialized promo code, COOL24, to get

57:37

a 10% discount. Once

57:41

again, that's crimecon.co.uk, and the promo

57:44

code is COOL24 for 10% off

57:46

tickets. I

57:50

just wanted to give another shout out to my

57:52

supporters at the Unsolved Mysteries message board at the

57:54

sitcoms online forum and the Unresolved Mysteries subreddit. I

57:57

need to provide a big thanks to Miguel Foote, who edits

57:59

and assembles his podcast together for me and

58:02

Vince Nitro who composed the eerie music he

58:04

hear on every episode. If

58:06

you haven't already you can like us on

58:08

Facebook follow us on Twitter and Instagram or

58:10

leave us a rating or review on Apple

58:13

Podcasts or Spotify. So have

58:15

yourselves a great week and join us

58:17

again next Wednesday for another brand new

58:19

episode of The Trail Went Pulled. you