The Trail Went Cold

July 16, 1996. Nutley, New Jersey. 36-year old Susan Walsh leaves her son in the care of her estranged husband and says she needs to step out to make some phone calls, but she never returns to her apartment and is not heard from again. At the time, Susan had been working as a freelance journalist and an exotic dancer, but was also struggling with substance abuse and mental health issues. The investigation into Susan’s disappearance explores a number of different angles – including Russian mobsters, underground vampire clubs, and an obsessive stalker – and even looks into the possibility that she ran away voluntarily, but there are no conclusive answers. On this week’s episode of “The Trail Went Cold”, we cover a perplexing missing persons case which has remained unsolved for the past 25 years. If you have any information about this case, please contact the Nutley Police Department at (973) 284-4940. Join us on Saturday, October 23 at 8:00pm ET for an online streaming marathon where we will be watching classic Halloween-themed segments from “Unsolved Mysteries”. You can enter our screening room by clicking on this link. Thanks to Manly Bands. Get 21% off your Manly Band for a limited time and get a free silicone ring at manlybands.com/cold. Thanks AcornTV. Get your first 30 days free by going to acorn.tv with promo code “cold” in all lowercase letters only. Additional Reading: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susan_Walsh_(missing_person) http://unsolved.com/gallery/susan-walsh https://charleyproject.org/case/susan-walsh http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/12/07/grace.coldcase.walsh/index.html https://nypost.com/2006/07/16/96-stripper-vanish-clue/ http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/missing-presumed-undead-1361187.html https://www.thisamericanlife.org/55/transcript https://www.newspapers.com/image/499180925/ https://www.newspapers.com/image/504730820/ https://www.newspapers.com/image/504730887/ https://www.newspapers.com/image/697534130/ https://www.newspapers.com/image/697534106 “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” 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.

February 14, 1945. Lower Quinton, England. 74-year old farm labourer Charles Walton leaves his home in order to spending the day slashing hedges on the slopes of Meon Hill. Later that evening, Charles’ body is discovered next to the hedgerow and he has been beaten with his walking stick, had his throat slashed with a billhook, and been stabbed with a pitchfork. While the original investigation turns up a potential suspect, there is not enough evidence to implicate him, but as the years go on, Charles’ death becomes surrounded with stories involving witchcraft and the occult. Was Charles Walton’s murder some sort of ritualistic killing? If not, what could the actual motive have been? On this month’s first Halloween-themed episode of “The Trail Went Cold”, we explore an infamous unsolved cold case from the United Kingdom which has been clouded by sensationalistic urban legends. Thanks to ReadySlim. For a limited time, save 25% on your first 28 Day Detox Tea Kit order plus a free collapsible water bottle, at readyslim.com/COLD Follow “Over My Dead Body” on Apple Podcasts or wherever you’re listening right now to hear “Season 3: Fox Lake”. Or you can listen early and ad-free by subscribing to Wondery Plus in the Wondery App. Additional Reading: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Walton_(murder_victim) “The Case That Foiled Fabian: Murder and Witchcraft in Rural England” by Simon Read http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8662635.stm https://www.bbc.co.uk/coventry/features/weird-warwickshire/1945-witchcraft-murder.shtml https://www.bbc.co.uk/coventry/content/articles/2006/06/26/weird_witchcraft_murder_feature.shtml https://www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/local-news/gory-valentines-day-murder-remains-12600398 http://www.whitedragon.org.uk/articles/charles.htm “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” 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.

January 15, 2008. Chicago, Illinois. 15-year old Yasmin Acree is seen going to bed in the basement of her residence, but she is discovered to be missing the following day and there are signs of a break-in on the exterior basement door. Over one year later, Jimmie Terrell Smith, who had previously lived in the upstairs apartment at Yasmin’s residence, is charged with a series of sex crimes and mentions of Smith’s name are found in Yasmin’s diary. Even though Smith claims to have knowledge of what happened to Yasmin, this information is never substantiated and no conclusive evidence links him to the disappearance. On this week’s episode of “The Trail Went Cold”, we chronicle the sad story of a teenage girl who endured an abusive childhood before she vanished without explanation. If you have any information about this case, please contact the Chicago Police Department at (312) 746-8365. Thanks, Shudder. To try Shudder free for 30 days, go to shudder.com and use code the promo code “COLD“. Additional Reading: https://charleyproject.org/case/yasmin-rayon-acree https://abc7chicago.com/yasmin-acree-missing-disapperance-teen/5853809/ https://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/oak-park/ct-xpm-2014-02-25-ct-yasmin-acree-mother-death-met-0227-20140226-story.html https://www.newspapers.com/image/234539188/ https://www.newspapers.com/image/232575738/ https://www.newspapers.com/image/232589349/ https://www.newspapers.com/image/233010367/ https://www.newspapers.com/image/233010579 https://www.newspapers.com/image/233010509 https://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20160316/englewood/man-pleads-guilty-violently-raping-young-girls-after-years-of-delays/ https://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20170926/englewood/jimmie-smith-serial-rapist-sentencing-kidnapping-abduction-2009 https://chicago.suntimes.com/news/2019/10/24/20931275/convicted-rapist-jimmie-smith-guilty-murder-hire-plot-linn-papa-judge-prosecutor “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” 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.  

July 19, 1996. Westwego, Louisiana. After leaving her apartment to walk to a supermarket, 14-year old Crystal Champagne fails to return and is found strangled to death in a wooded area the following evening. When Crystal’s 22-year old step-cousin, Damon Thibodeaux, is interrogated by police, he confesses to her murder and is subsequently convicted and sentenced to death. However, Damon maintains that his confession was coerced and none of the physical evidence from the crime matches him, so after 16 years of incarceration, Damon’s conviction is vacated and he is released from death row. But who was actually responsible for the death of Crystal Champagne? On this week’s episode of “The Trail Went Cold”, we explore the tragic story of an horrific murder which led to a wrongful conviction. Special thanks to listener Anne King for narrating the opening of this episode. Additional Reading: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/damon-thibodeaux-last-chance/ https://innocenceproject.org/cases/damon-thibodeaux/ https://caselaw.findlaw.com/la-supreme-court/1325303.html https://www.law.umich.edu/special/exoneration/Pages/casedetail.aspx?caseid=4004 https://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/dec/07/dna-testing-frees-man-death-row https://www.startribune.com/life-after-death-row-damon-thibodeaux-s-resurrection/318969021/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/louisiana-death-row-inmate-damon-thibodeaux-is-exonerated-with-dna-evidence/2012/09/28/26e30012-0997-11e2-afff-d6c7f20a83bf_story.html https://www.startribune.com/damon-thibodeaux-escaped-death-row-for-a-crime-he-didn-t-commit-but-died-of-covid-19/600096179/ Download Best Fiends FREE today on the Apple App Store or Google Play. “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” 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.

March 27, 2004. London, England. 50-year old Richard Lancelyn Green, considered to be the world’s foremost scholar on Sherlock Holmes, is discovered dead on top of his bed inside his flat. His cause of death is determined to be asphyxiation, as he was garrotted with a shoelace which was tightened around his neck with a wooden spoon. Prior to his death, Lancelyn Green told people his life was in danger over a dispute involving a collection of rare documents from author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, but since there is no definitive evidence pointing towards homicide or suicide, the coroner returns an open verdict on his death. Was Richard Lancelyn Green the victim of foul play or did he intentionally stage a very unusual and elaborate suicide? On this week’s episode of “The Trail Went Cold”, we explore the unexplained death of a Sherlock Holmes expert which resembles a scene from a fictional murder mystery. Additional Reading: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Lancelyn_Green https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2004/12/13/mysterious-circumstances https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2004/may/23/books.booksnews https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1478814/Case-of-the-Sherlock-Holmes-fanatic-who-killed-himself-but-made-it-look-like-murder.html http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/3653645.stm https://www.smh.com.au/world/hint-of-murder-in-suicide-of-expert-on-conan-doyle-20041213-gdkays.html https://www.thefreelibrary.com/%60Perfect+mystery%27+of+writer%27s+death+plot%3B+Claim+on+Sherlock+Holmes…-a0126061909 Be sure to check out our promo for the serialized true crime podcast, “Tapes from the Darkside”. Each season, they take one case and investigate in-depth using primary audio from 911 calls, police interrogations and interviews, court proceedings, and any other relevant source they can find. “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” 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.

October 28, 1991. Wheeling, Illinois. A 911 dispatcher receives an anonymous call from a payphone by a man asking for medical attention for a woman. When paramedics arrive at the address the caller provides, they discover the unconscious body of 27-year old exotic dancer Jamie Santos on her bedroom floor and it turns out she has been suffocated with a pillow. There is ambiguity about whether the caller was Jamie’s killer or an innocent bystander who found her body, but he cannot be identified and Jamie’s murder is never solved. May 1, 1991. Palm Beach County, Florida. The Miami Police Department receives a 911 call from a Spanish-speaking man calling himself “Antonio”, who claims he had witnessed the brutal murder of an African-American woman in a remote sugar can field one week earlier. When police check out the location Antonio described, they find the decomposed body of 26-year old Rebecca Young, who was fatally attacked with a machete. Even though investigators eventually turn up a promising suspect, they lack the evidence to make an arrest and the mysterious “Antonio” is never tracked down. On this week’s episode of “The Trail Went Cold”, we explore two separate unsolved murders which were reported by anonymous 911 callers. If you have any information about the murder of Jamie Santos, please contact the Wheeling Police Department at (847) 459-2632. If you have any information about the murder of Rebecca Young, please contact the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office at (561) 688-3000. Thanks to Manly Bands. Get 21% off your Manly Band for a limited time and get a free silicone ring at manlybands.com/cold. Thanks to ReadySlim. For a limited time, save 25% on your first 28 Day Detox Tea Kit order plus a free collapsible water bottle, at readyslim.com/COLD. Additional Reading: https://unsolved.com/gallery/jamie-santos/ https://unsolvedmysteries.fandom.com/wiki/Jamie_Santos https://abc7chicago.com/archive/8409252/ https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1991-11-01-9104080336-story.html https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1992-05-15-9202130130-story.html https://unsolved.com/gallery/rebecca-young/ https://unsolvedmysteries.fandom.com/wiki/Rebecca_Young https://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/fl-xpm-1991-05-06-9102250177-story.html https://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/fl-xpm-1992-11-11-9202280959-story.html “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” 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.

November 7, 1997. New York City. 54-year old Michael Sullivan and his 36-year old girlfriend, Camden Sylvia, vanish without explanation from their loft in Manhattan and are reported missing six days later. Suspicion falls upon the couple’s landlord, Robert Rodriguez, who was involved in a dispute with them prior to their disappearances and refuses to cooperate with the investigation. It turns out that Rodriguez is connected to the unsolved disappearance of another man named David King which took place six years earlier and he eventually winds up going to prison on fraud charges. What happened to Michael Sullivan and Camden Sylvia? Was Robert Rodriguez responsible for their disappearances? On this week’s episode of “The Trail Went Cold”, we cover a puzzling case involving a missing couple who seemingly vanished into thin air in downtown Manhattan. If you have any information about this case, please call the New York Police Department at (646) 610-6914. Additional Reading: https://charleyproject.org/case/camden-anne-sylvia https://charleyproject.org/case/michael-sullivan https://charleyproject.org/case/david-king https://www.nytimes.com/1997/11/15/nyregion/a-couple-are-missing-and-friends-are-baffled.html https://www.nytimes.com/1997/11/18/nyregion/2-are-missing-now-landlord-is-also-gone.html https://www.nytimes.com/1997/11/19/nyregion/police-copters-scan-property-of-landlord.html https://www.nytimes.com/1997/11/20/nyregion/search-blocked-in-case-of-3-who-vanished.html https://www.nytimes.com/1997/11/25/nyregion/in-disappearance-case-landlord-s-vehicle-is-found.html https://www.nytimes.com/1997/12/12/nyregion/body-seen-as-potential-clue-to-missing-3.html https://www.nytimes.com/1999/01/06/nyregion/missing-couple-s-landlord-arraigned-in-fraud-case.html https://www.nytimes.com/2002/07/27/nyregion/landlord-of-missing-manhattan-couple-to-be-paroled-in-month.html https://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/29/nyregion/for-camden-sylvia-and-michael-sullivan-who-disappeared-in-1997-still-some-hope.html https://pix11.com/news/local-news/manhattan/mom-still-wants-truth-about-mystery-of-missing-tenants-20-years-later/ https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1997/12/08/housing-department https://www.recordonline.com/article/20010217/news/302179983 https://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/decade-no-answers-camden-sylvia-disappearance-article-1.259577 https://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/archives-missing-manhattan-couple-article-1.259538 https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Anatomy+of+a+building+in+distress.-a020189711 https://www.villagevoice.com/1998/08/04/birthday-wishes/ https://www.newspapers.com/image/709587296/ https://www.newspapers.com/image/709587377/ https://www.newspapers.com/image/709587261/ https://www.newspapers.com/image/408784163/ https://www.newspapers.com/image/408528760/ https://www.newspapers.com/image/485305814/ “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” is going to be appearing on podcast row at “Crimecon UK” at the Leonardo Royal Hotel &  Spa in London on September 25-26, 2021. To get a 10 % discount on the purchase of tickets to the event, please use our specialized promo  code, “COLD21”, by visiting https://www.crimecon.co.uk. “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.

June 29, 2001. Marysville, Ohio. After completing her shift at the Honda automotive plant, 29-year old Patti Adkins clocks out in order to leave on what she claims is a vacation to Canada with her boyfriend. When Patti fails to return after a week-and-a-half, she is reported missing, but her boyfriend denies this trip took place or that he was even involved in a relationship with Patti. It turns out this man was married and Patti had been paying him large sums of money during their affair, but even though investigators find him to be suspicious, there is not enough evidence to make an arrest. On this week’s episode of “The Trail Went Cold”, which explore the disappearance of Patti Adkins, which has remained unsolved for the past 20 years. If you have any information about this case, please contact the Union County Sheriff’s Department at (937) 645-4110. Additional Reading: http://charleyproject.org/case/patricia-ann-adkins https://disappearedblog.com/patricia-adkins/ https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/missing-in-america/ohio-mother-patricia-adkins-remains-missing-17-years-after-her-n885956 https://www.dispatch.com/article/20100906/NEWS/309069879 https://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2010/09/07/timeline.html https://abc6onyourside.com/news/local/daughter-speaks-for-first-time-15-years-after-moms-disappearance Download Best Fiends FREE today on the Apple App Store or Google Play. “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” is going to be appearing on podcast row at “Crimecon UK” at the Leonardo Royal Hotel &  Spa in London on September 25-26, 2021. To get a 10 % discount on the purchase of tickets to the event, please use our specialized promo  code, “COLD21”, by visiting https://www.crimecon.co.uk. “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.

March 1, 1976. Bethesda, Maryland. 37-year old Annette Bishop, her 68-year old mother-in-law Lobelia Bishop, and Annette’s three sons – 14-year old Brad, 10-year old Brent and five-year old Geoffrey – are all bludgeoned to death inside their home. The following day, the victims’ burning bodies are discovered in a shallow hole in a remote area of North Carolina, but the family’s patriarch – 39-year old William Bradford Bishop – is missing. Since the evidence shows that Bishop committed the crime, he is indicted on five counts of murder, but even though there are a number of reported sightings of him over the years and he spends some time on the FBI’s “Ten Most Wanted Fugitives” list, Bishop is never found. Did William Bradford Bishop disappear into a remote area to kill himself or did he manage to escape and start a new life somehow? On this week’s episode of “The Trail Went Cold”, we explore the horrific story of the Bishop family murders and a wanted family annihilator who has managed to elude justice for 45 years. Special thanks to listener Matt Smith for narrating the opening of this episode. Thanks to ReadySlim. For a limited time, save 25% on your first 28 Day Detox Tea Kit order plus a free collapsible water bottle, at readyslim.com/COLD. Thanks to Manly Bands. To get 25% off your Manly Band for a limited time, and get a free silicone ring, go to manlybands.com/cold. Additional Reading: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bradford_Bishop http://unsolved.com/gallery/william-bishop https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1997-aug-11-ls-21347-story.html https://www.newspapers.com/image/436633661/ https://www.newspapers.com/image/262985578/ http://www.bethesdamagazine.com/Bethesda-Magazine/May-June-2013/Bradford-Bishop-Murders/ http://www.nbcwashington.com/investigations/series/brad-bishop/The-Hunt-for-William-Bradford-Bishop-254593361.html http://www.wjla.com/articles/2014/10/fbi-body-exhumed-in-ala-is-not-brad-bishop-most-wanted-md-fugitive-108133.html http://www.wbir.com/article/news/crime/appalachian-unsolved-the-diplomat-accused-of-murdering-his-family-part-1/51-512842729 https://www.wbir.com/article/news/investigations/appalachian-unsolved/appalachian-unsolved-the-diplomat-accused-of-killing-his-family-part-2/51-516155553 https://www.wbir.com/article/news/crime/appalachian-unsolved-the-mass-murderers-daughter/51-0cc0d47e-8178-4f10-bae7-28dc69a34402 https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/03/09/bradford-bishop-dna-test-fbi/ “A Killer in the Family” by Peter Ross Range “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” is going to be appearing on podcast row at “Crimecon UK” at the Leonardo Royal Hotel &  Spa in London on September 25-26, 2021. To get a 10 % discount on the purchase of tickets to the event, please use our specialized promo  code, “COLD21”, by visiting https://www.crimecon.co.uk. “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.

In 1974, orthopedic surgeon Ted Loseff was found dead in his garage, initially ruled a suicide. However, his mother uncovered unsettling discrepancies, hinting at a possible murder orchestrated by his wife. The podcast dives into the details of the case, spotlighting the conflicting evidence and the dramatic twists that lead to speculation about a plot to kill Ted. Was it a tragic end or a sinister scheme? The investigation provokes thought on the murky line between truth and deception in such unsolved mysteries.