June 12, 1993. Santa Clara, California. 21-year old U.S. Army Private Justin Burgwinkel leaves his girlfriend’s apartment and never returns. One week earlier, Justin had gone AWOL from Fort Lewis, the post where he was stationed in Washington state, and kept hinting to his girlfriend that he was working on some sort of secret mission. Three months later, Justin’s abandoned car is found at a motel in Monterey with his military dog tags and most of his personal items inside. While the Army denies that Justin was ever involved in any secret operations, no trace of him is ever found. Did Justin Burgwinkel go missing because he became involved in something sinister? Or did he suffer some sort of mental breakdown and lose his grip on reality? On this week’s episode of “The Trail Went Cold”, we explore the unsolved disappearance of a soldier who has not been seen in three decades.

If you have any information about this case, please contact the Clinton Police Department at (978) 365-4111.

Additional Reading:

https://unsolved.com/gallery/justin-burgwinkel/

https://unsolvedmysteries.fandom.com/wiki/Justin_Burgwinkel

http://charleyproject.org/case/justin-burgwinkel

https://www.newspapers.com/image/626359358/

“The Trail Went Cold” is on Patreon! Visit www.patreon.com/thetrailwentcold to become a patron and gain access to our exclusive bonus content.

“The Trail Went Cold” will be appearing at the True Crime Podcast Festival, taking place at the Westin Park Central Hotel in Dallas, Texas on August 27-28, 2022. To purchase tickets, please visit https://truecrimepodcastfestival.com/

“The Trail Went Cold” is now doing a weekly livestream show on GetVokl every Thursday from 7:00-8:00 PM ET as part of their “True Crime Thursday” line-up. For more information, please visit their website.

The Trail Went Cold is produced and edited by Magill Foote.

All music is composed by Vince Nitro.

The Trail Went Cold - Episode 289 - Justin Burgwinkel