The Trail Went Cold

The Trail Went Cold - Episode 164 - Jean Spangler

October 7, 1949. Los Angeles, California. 26-year old actress Jean Spangler leaves her home and asks her sister-in-law to watch over her daughter. Jean says she is planning to meet with her ex-husband and spend the night working on a film shoot, but she soon vanishes without a trace. Two days later, Jean’s purse is discovered in Griffith Park, containing a cryptic note addressed to someone named “Kirk”. Since Jean had recently worked on a film starring actor Kirk Douglas, there is speculation that the note might be addressed to him, but he denies any knowledge of what happened. There are numerous theories surrounding Jean’s disappearance, including speculation about a botched abortion, rumours about her becoming involved with organized crime figures, and even a potential connection to the “Black Dahlia” murder. On this week’s episode of “The Trail Went Cold”, we shall cover an unsolved missing persons case which has remained one of Hollywood’s most baffling mysteries.
Additional Reading:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Spangler
http://charleyproject.org/case/jean-elizabeth-spangler
https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2002-oct-20-me-then20-story.html
https://www.palmspringslife.com/the-mysterious-disappearance-of-jean-spangler/
https://welkerlots.wordpress.com/2014/10/08/the-jean-spangler-premonition/
“Hard Boiled Hollywood: Crime and Punishment in Postwar Los Angeles” by Jon Lewis
“Black Dahlia Avenger: The True Story” by Steve Hodel
“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 produced and edited by Magill Foote.
All music is composed by Vince Nitro.

The Trail Went Cold - Episode 163 - Su-Ya Kim & Quin-Rong Wu

June 29, 1991. New York City. Su-Ya Kim leaves her children with their grandmother to go shopping, but never returns. Ten hours later, Su-Ya’s nude body is discovered in a dumpster after she has been stabbed nine times. A security guard reports interacting with an unidentified white male who drove away from the dumpster before the body’s discovery, but even though his vehicle’s licence number is checked, the lead goes nowhere and Su-Ya’s killer is never found.
May 13, 1997. New York City. 11-year old Quin-Rong Wu is walked partway to school by her mother, but after they go their separate ways, Quin-Rong disappears. Two weeks later, Quin-Rong’s body is discovered in the East River and it turns out she has been strangled to death. While a witness reports seeing Quin-Rong on the subway with a middle-aged white male on the day she went missing, police start directing suspicion towards her parents. Was Quin-Rong abducted and murdered by a predator? Or could her own family have been involved in what happened?
On this week’s episode of “The Trail Went Cold”, we cover two separate unsolved cold cases involving female victims who emigrated from Asia to New York before they were brutally murdered.
Additional Reading:
https://unsolved.com/gallery/su-ya-kim/
https://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/25/nyregion/on-henry-st-a-cold-trail-for-a-girl-lost.html
http://www.nydailynews.com/archives/news/tears-chinatown-girl-cops-hunt-suspect-grim-tragedy-article-1.758198
https://www.upi.com/Archives/1997/05/29/Missing-Chinese-girl-11-found-slain/5424864878400/
“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 produced and edited by Magill Foote.
All music is composed by Vince Nitro.

The Trail Went Cold - Episode 162 - The Oklahoma Girl Scout Murders

June 13, 1977. Mayes County, Oklahoma. While attending a summer camp for Girl Scouts, 10-year Denise Milner, 9-year Michelle Guse, and 8-year old Lori Farmer spend the night together in a tent. When morning hits, the murdered bodies of the three girls are discovered 150 yards away in the woods. Michelle and Lori have been bludgeoned to death while Denise’s cause of death is strangulation. Evidence seems to point to Gene Leroy Hart, a wanted fugitive who has been on the run for nearly four years, and after a lengthy manhunt, he is captured and charged with the murders. Hart eventually goes on trial for the crime, but is acquitted by the jury and dies of a heart attack two months later. Over the next four decades, attempts are made to use forensic testing to link Hart to the murders, but the results are always inconclusive. Did Gene Leroy Hart actually commit this crime or did the real killer get away with it? For our special four-year anniversary show of “The Trail Went Cold”, we will be chronicling the Oklahoma Girl Scout Murders, a very infamous and controversial case which was voted on by our listeners. Special thanks to listener Aislinn O’Brien for narrating the opening of this episode.
This episode of The Trail Went Cold is brought to you by Best Fiends, a unique and exciting puzzle experience unlike other puzzle games out there. Download it FREE on the Apple App Store or Google Play.
Additional Reading:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oklahoma_Girl_Scout_murders
http://www.girlscoutmurders.com
https://www.tulsaworld.com/news/specialreports-databases/the-camp-scott-girl-scout-murders/article_a7d3d9c1-fe96-5c7b-8b3e-bcbc9b5c7df9.html
https://oklahoman.com/article/5552738/girl-scout-murders-in-oklahoma-remain-unsolved-40-years-after-tragedy
https://oklahoman.com/article/3261879/was-a-female-involved-in-1977-girl-scout-slayings
“Unsolved Child Murders: Eighteen American Cases, 1956-1998” by Emily G. Thompson
“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 produced and edited by Magill Foote.
All music is composed by Vince Nitro.

The Trail Went Cold - Episode 161 - The Martin Family

December 7, 1958. Portland, Oregon. 54-year old Kenneth Martin, his 48-year old wife Barbara and their three daughters – 14-year old Barbie, 12-year old Virginia and 10-year old Susan – leave their home in their station wagon to take a trip to the Columbia River Gorge. When the family fails to return, they are reported missing the following evening. Just under five months later, the bodies of Susan and Virginia are discovered in the Columbia River and while the rest of the family cannot be found, evidence suggests that their vehicle went off a cliff into the water. While some people believe the whole thing was tragic accident, there are other pieces of evidence that point to foul play, including the discovery of a blood-stained gun which is traced back to the Martins’ surviving son. Were the Martins the victim of an elaborate murder plot? If so, who was responsible and what could their motive have been? This week’s episode of “The Trail Went Cold” explores the bizarre disappearance of a family in which three of the five victims are still missing.
Additional Reading:
“Echo of Distant Water: The 1958 Disappearance of Portland’s Martin Family” by J.B. Fisher
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_family_disappearance
http://charleyproject.org/case/kenneth-r-martin
http://charleyproject.org/case/barbara-jean-martin
http://charleyproject.org/case/barbara-martin
https://www.koin.com/news/martin-familys-1958-disappearance-remains-a-mystery/
“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 produced and edited by Magill Foote.
All music is composed by Vince Nitro.

The Trail Went Cold - Episode 160 - Marilu Geri

February 14, 1986. Sugar Land, Texas. 43-year old insurance agent Stephen Geri phones the mother of his 33-year old wife, Marilu Geri, and asks her to visit Marilu at their house to help her prepare for a party. When Marilu’s mother arrives, she discovers that her daughter has been shot four times. Since there were troubles with the marriage and Stephen stands to collect on a substantial life insurance policy, he is viewed as a person of interest in Marilu’s death, but he also seems to have an alibi during the time period she was killed. However, there is suspicion that Stephen’s alibi might be fabricated, but since there is no direct evidence to implicate him, the crime remains unsolved. Did Stephen Geri orchestrate the murder of his wife? If not, who else could have killed Marilu? We explore both sides of this controversial case on this week’s episode of “The Trail Went Cold”.
Additional Reading:
https://unsolved.com/gallery/marilu-geri/
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Mystery-still-surrounds-Valentine-s-Day-slaying-12611859.php
https://www.chron.com/neighborhood/sugarland/news/article/Valentines-Day-murder-1986-victims-family-Marilu-12613932.php
http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/Texas-Rangers-unit-would-probe-unsolved-murders-2001754.php
“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 produced and edited by Magill Foote.
All music is composed by Vince Nitro.

The Trail Went Cold - Episode 159 - Charles Southern

December 1, 1987. Chicago, Illinois. While speaking with his mother on the phone, 39-year old Charles Southern shares his plans about taking a trip to India. After not hearing from him for weeks, Charles’ parents check his house and discover he is missing, but they find what appears to be a Last Will and Testament naming a woman named Terri Hoffman as executor of Charles’ estate. Hoffman is the founder of a new religious movement Charles had joined called “Conscious Development of Body, Mind and Soul”, but they are accused of functioning like a cult and over the course of several years, a number of people associated with them would die under suspicious circumstances. Was Conscious Development responsible for Charles Southern’s disappearance? This week’s episode of “The Trail Went Cold” not only covers an unsolved missing persons case, but also explores the story of a bizarre cult and their potential culpability in several deaths. Special thanks to listener Carolina Young for providing the opening narration on this episode.
Additional Reading:
https://unsolved.com/gallery/charles-southern/
http://charleyproject.org/case/charles-southern-jr
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terri_Hoffman
“Texas Monthly” Vol. 18, No. 5 (May 1990)
http://www.dmagazine.com/publications/d-magazine/1990/march/the-aura-of-murder/
http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=19900304&slug=1059149
“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 produced and edited by Magill Foote.
All music is composed by Vince Nitro.

The Trail Went Cold - Episode 158 - Ezzat Aboul-Hosn

May 20, 1982. Kendall, Florida. A fire breaks out at the home of 30-year old Ezzat Aboul-Hosn and a badly burned body is found pinned underneath a car inside his garage. The body is tentatively identified as Ezzat and after it is determined that a leaky fuel line caused the fire, his death is ruled to be accidental. However, after Ezzat’s sister collects on a substantial life insurance policy, investigators become suspicious and eventually discover that the victim’s teeth do not match Ezzat’s dental records. Evidence suggests that Ezzat faked his death and fled to his home county of Lebanon, but he is never actually found. Did Ezzat Aboul-Hosn successfully get away with murder? If so, then who was the unidentified man killed in the fire? We shall attempt to answer these questions, as we explore one of the most bizarre stories we’ve ever covered on this week’s episode of “The Trail Went Cold”.
This episode of The Trail Went Cold is brought to you by Best Fiends, a unique and exciting puzzle experience unlike other puzzle games out there. Download it FREE on the Apple App Store or Google Play.
Additional Reading:
The Argus-Press (Feb. 19, 1983)
The Lewiston Daily Sun (Feb. 21, 1983)
The Lakeland Ledger (March 4, 1983)
Detroit Free Press (March 4, 1983)
The Dispatch (March 5, 1983)
https://old.reddit.com/r/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/4akuak/oc_the_death_of_ezzat_aboulhosn/
“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 produced and edited by Magill Foote.
All music is composed by Vince Nitro.

The Trail Went Cold - Episode 157 - Jamie Stickle

February 8, 2002. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. After closing up the bar she manages and drinking at various clubs in the downtown area, 33-year old Jamie Stickle drives back home to her apartment. Shortly thereafter, Jamie’s Jeep Wrangler is found engulfed in flames near her front door and her badly burned body is in the driver’s seat. Since some of Jamie’s personal items are scattered on the ground and there is a blood trail at the scene, this seems to indicate a violent attack, but investigators are unable to determine how exactly the fire started. As a result, there is not enough concrete evidence to classify Jamie’s death as a homicide and her cause of death is officially ruled to be “undetermined”. Was Jamie the victim of foul play or was she actually killed in a freak accident? If it was murder, who was responsible and what could their motive have been? This week’s episode of “The Trail Went Cold” explores a truly perplexing cold case which has stumped investigators for the past two decades. In addition, we will also briefly discuss the brutal unsolved murder of Catherine Corkery, which took place in Pittsburgh on July 22, 1989.
Additional Reading:
https://www.pghcitypaper.com/pittsburgh/unsolved-murder-has-many-keys/Content?oid=1337516
http://www.pghcitypaper.com/pittsburgh/north-side-death-still-mourned-and-mysterious/Content?oid=1334804
https://archive.triblive.com/news/4-years-and-no-leads-in-north-side-death/
https://www.post-gazette.com/local/city/2012/02/06/For-family-of-Jamie-Stickle-search-for-clues-to-her-death-never-ends/stories/201202060215
https://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2019/04/29/kdka-mysteries-jamie-stickle-burning-jeep/
“Who Killed… Pittsburgh, Pa?” by Jack Swint
https://patch.com/pennsylvania/dormont-brookline/unsolved-cases-catherine-corkery-afd942dd
“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 produced and edited by Magill Foote.
All music is composed by Vince Nitro.

The Trail Went Cold - Episode 156 - Don Smith & Philip Fraser

May 16, 1987. Denver, Colorado. After a collision with another vehicle, the unidentified driver of a pick-up truck runs away from the accident scene. Police discover that the man was registered at a local motel under the name “Larry Monroe” and the truck is registered to a 55-year old California resident named Don Smith. Five days earlier, Don had left on a road trip to visit relatives and his murdered body is eventually discovered in a remote area of Idaho. Before his death, several witnesses saw Don in the company of a man matching the description of the mysterious “Larry Monroe”, but the suspect is never found.
June 18, 1988. 40 Mile Flats, British Columbia. After leaving his home in Anchorage, Alaska on a lengthy road trip to Washington state, 23-year old Philip Fraser stops at a remote café and agrees to give a ride to a hitchhiker. The following evening, Philip’s abandoned, burned-out vehicle is discovered at a car wash in Prince George and his murdered body is found in a remote gravel pit one month later. On the same day Philip went missing, a couple had come across the hitchhiker with Philip’s car and allowed him to spend the night in their home. Evidence suggested that this man was attempting to assume Phillip’s identity, but investigators are unable to track him down.
On this week’s episode of “The Trail Went Cold”, we cover two unsolved cold cases in which the victims were murdered after picking up an unidentified hitchhiker.
This episode of The Trail Went Cold is brought to you by Best Fiends, a unique and exciting puzzle experience unlike other puzzle games out there. Download it FREE on the Apple App Store or Google Play.
Additional Reading:
https://unsolved.com/gallery/don-smith/
https://unsolvedmysteries.fandom.com/wiki/Donald_Smith
https://unsolved.com/gallery/philip-innes-fraser/
https://unsolvedmysteries.fandom.com/wiki/Philip_Innes_Fraser
“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 produced and edited by Magill Foote.
All music is composed by Vince Nitro.

The Trail Went Cold - Episode 155 - Update!

Since “The Trail Went Cold” originally launched in February 2016, we have featured over 200 unsolved cold cases on the podcast, but a decent number of these cases have either wound up being solved or had some significant developments take place. Examples include the disappearance of Pamela Butler, the murder of Jodine Serrin, the disappearance of 12-year old Jonelle Matthews, and the murder of an unidentified Jane Doe known only as “Orange Socks”. In this special “update” episode of “The Trail Went Cold”, we will kick off 2020 by chronicling all the major developments which have occurred in these stories over the past four years. Special thanks to actress Kaniehtiio Horn for providing the opening narration on this episode. Please check out her podcast, “A Coffee With My Ma” (https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/coffee-with-my-ma/id1372866076). This episode also contains a promo for the true crime podcast, “Already Gone” (http://www.alreadygonepodcast.com).
This episode of “The Trail Went Cold” is brought to you by HelloFresh. Go to HelloFresh.com/COLD10 and use code “COLD10” during HelloFresh’s New Year’s sale for 10 free meals including free shipping.
Additional Reading:
http://charleyproject.org/case/pamela-j-butler
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/eight-years-after-pamela-butler-disappeared-from-her-dc-home-her-killer-admits-guilt/2017/10/06/5c8134e2-aa9f-11e7-92d1-58c702d2d975_story.html
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/imprisoned-for-killing-one-woman-dc-area-man-is-charged-with-murder-in-another-womans-death/2019/10/18/d1700a2a-f1ca-11e9-89eb-ec56cd414732_story.html
https://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/jodine-serrin-carlsbad-cold-case-murder-suspect-david-mabrito/168412/
https://www.statesman.com/news/20190807/40-years-after-her-death-debra-jackson-of-abilene-identified-as-orange-socks
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/el-dorado-jane-doe_n_5c48cc72e4b025aa26bf852d
https://www.candgnews.com/news/judge-overwhelming-evidence-in-galloway-case-114983
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-49661128
https://coloradosun.com/2019/10/01/jonelle-matthews-greeley-police-murder-cold-case-pankey/
https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-andrea-kuiper-identification-20170512-htmlstory.html
https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona-best-reads/2018/12/23/hatbox-baby-great-arizona-mystery-new-clues-solve-sharon-elliott/2301185002/
https://www.pennlive.com/news/2019/08/tracy-kroh-timeline-years-of-searching-recently-an-arrest-but-will-the-mystery-finally-end.html
https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/new-witness-backs-up-gardas-theory-that-trevor-deely-killed-in-row-with-gang-38755889.html
https://www.providencejournal.com/news/20171218/tempest-convicted-second-time-in-1982-murder
https://www.tampabay.com/news/florida/2019/10/19/state-attorney-rejects-death-row-inmates-dna-appeal/
https://www.star-telegram.com/news/local/crime/article235188057.html
https://lostnfoundblogs.com/f/dale-kerstetter-gone-platinum
https://lostnfoundblogs.com/f/dale-kerstetter-gone-platinum-2-the-mystery-deepens
https://the-record-newspaper.tumblr.com/archive
https://www.cleveland.com/crime/2019/12/newburgh-heights-police-tiffin-university-students-partner-up-to-investigate-1981-cold-case-death-of-kurt-sova.html
https://www.cbs46.com/news/exclusive-a-possible-crack-in-the-cold-cases-of-mary/article_38603214-f6c1-11e9-b397-97fdb9832a0f.html
https://www.oxygen.com/the-disappearance-of-the-millbrook-twins/crime-news/disappearance-of-the-millbrook-twins-richmond
“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 produced and edited by Magill Foote.
All music is composed by Vince Nitro.