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This episode contains content related to domestic violence, child neglect, and homicide. Listener discretion is advised.
If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic abuse, help is available around the clock through the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 or by texting START to 88788. You are not alone.
On the night of January 6th, 1981, Lonene Rogers finished her work shift, picked up her two young children from the babysitter, and came home to an argument with her estranged husband. By morning, she was gone. No footprints in the snow. No activity on her Social Security number. Her hearing aids, glasses, purse, and car were all still there.
Lonene was a profoundly deaf woman from northwestern Pennsylvania who refused to let her disability define her. She was strong-willed and warm, a devoted mother, and by early 1981 she was finally ready to leave a troubled marriage and build a new life. Instead, she vanished in the middle of a blizzard and was never seen again.
For 44 years, her disappearance went unsolved. Her parents died without answers. Her children grew up without her. And her husband, Clinton "Bud" Rogers, maintained the same story: he woke up and she was simply gone.
In this episode, we trace Lonene's life from her childhood in Youngstown, Ohio, through the marriage that her own family saw warning signs in from the start to the night she disappeared and the search that turned up nothing. We also follow her daughter Alison, who spent decades trying to distance herself from the tragedy before deciding, in 2021, to dedicate herself to finding the truth. Alison's fight took her through court battles, advocacy for a proposed new law called Lonnie's Law, and years of pressure on investigators and the public alike.
In November 2025, that fight finally produced a result. After more than four decades of silence, Bud Rogers confessed.
This is Lonene's story, and it is also the story of a daughter who refused to let her mother be forgotten.
Content warning: This episode contains descriptions of domestic violence, child neglect, and a murder confession.
If you are in the northwestern Pennsylvania area, Lonene's family invites you to join a peaceful gathering outside the Crawford County Courthouse at 903 Diamond Park Square in Meadville, PA on Monday, March 30, 2026, from 9 to 11 am. A hearing in her case will be taking place inside the courthouse that morning, and the community is gathering outside in her memory and in solidarity with victims of domestic violence and the missing and murdered.
She will never stand alone again. 💜
National Domestic Violence Hotline: 1-800-799-7233
Text START to 88788.
You are not alone.
Justice for Lonene Rogers Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/285829136570490/
Sign the petition for Lonnie’s Law: https://c.org/mMwHNqtRGC
Alison's book, "A Daughter's Journey and Story of Resilience," is available on Amazon: https://a.co/d/0gWrklLE
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