The Trail Went Cold

The Trail Went Cold - Episode 116 - The Sarah Joe

February 11, 1979. Hana, Hawaii. Five men – 27-year old Scott Moorman, 31-year old Peter Hanchett, 38-year old Benjamin Kalama, 26-year old Patrick Woesner and 27-year old Ralph Malaiakini – leave the island of Maui on a fishing trip in a boat named the “Sarah Joe”. When a violent storm hits the area, the Sarah Joe and its crew do not return and an extensive search effort fails to find them. Nine-and-a-half years later, the Sarah Joe is discovered over 2,300 miles away on a remote atoll in the Marshall Islands, along with a marked grave containing the skeletal remains of Scott Moorman. However, no trace of the other four missing men is ever found. How did the Sarah Joe wind up so far away? Were any of the crew members still alive when it arrived? If not, who was responsible for burying Scott Moorman? On this week’s episode of “The Trail Went Cold”, we examine one of the most bizarre and unique mysteries involving the disappearance of a boat.
This episode of “The Trail Went Cold” is brought to you by “Murder Book”, a new true crime podcast hosted by bestselling author Michael Connelly, available on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen.
Additional Reading:
https://unsolved.com/gallery/lost-hawaiian-fishermen/
http://www.mauinews.com/news/local-news/2019/02/40-years-later-mystery-still-surrounds-the-sarah-joe-and-its-five-hana-fishermen-who-didnt-return/
http://articles.latimes.com/1988-11-06/local/me-455_1_jack-moorman
“The Trail Went Cold” will be appearing on podcast row at CrimeCon 2019 from June 7th-9th at the Hilton Riverside hotel in New Orleans. Listeners can receive a 10% discount on the purchase of a standard badge by using the promo code “COLD19”.
“The Trail Went Cold” will also be appearing at True Crime Podcast Festival 2019 on July 13th at the Marriott Downtown in Chicago. Please visit their website for more details.
“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 115 - Joey Lynn Offutt

July 12, 2007. Sykesville, Pennsylvania. The fire department shows up at the burning home of 33-year old Joey Lynn Offutt. The body of her six-week old infant son, Alexis Alfred Borden III, is found in the bathtub, but Joey herself is nowhere to be found. Three days later, Joey’s abandoned car is discovered over 60 miles away at an apartment complex in State College where she had previously lived. It turns out that no one can actually confirm having seen Joey or her son in the week prior to the fire. Could Joey have been responsible for her child’s death before she went on the run? Or were they both murdered by an unknown perpetrator who disposed of Joey’s body? We shall explore all the different angles of a truly perplexing missing persons case on this week’s episode of “The Trail Went Cold”.
Additional Reading:
http://charleyproject.org/case/joey-lynn-offutt
https://wjactv.com/news/local/search-for-missing-sykesville-woman-continues-9-years-after-disppearance
http://www.thecourierexpress.com/jeffersonian_democrat/news/local/missing-sykesville-woman-declared-dead/article_d043e190-17db-5982-8c87-45059dade0ca.html
http://www.findjoey.org/
“The Trail Went Cold” will be appearing on podcast row at CrimeCon 2019 from June 7th-9th at the Hilton Riverside hotel in New Orleans. Listeners can receive a 10% discount on the purchase of a standard badge by using the promo code “COLD19”.
“The Trail Went Cold” will also be appearing at True Crime Podcast Festival 2019 on July 13th at the Marriott Downtown in Chicago. Please visit their website for more details.
“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 114 - Henry Baltimore Jr. and Oliver Munson

May 30, 1973. East Lansing, Michigan. The sister of 21-year old university student Henry Baltimore Jr. goes to meet him at his apartment, but discovers he is not there and eventually reports him missing. Nearly three months earlier, a pair of attackers had broken into Henry’s apartment to assault and rob him and police arrested a suspect named Roy Davis. After Henry testified against Davis at his preliminary hearing, Davis allegedly threatened him and Henry would go missing two days before Davis’ arraignment.
February 13, 1984. Catonsville, Maryland. 39-year old teacher Oliver Munson leaves his home to drive to school, but never arrives. Oliver’s abandoned car is soon discovered a few blocks away and two weeks later, a stolen vehicle is found containing evidence which suggests that Oliver was murdered. One year earlier, Oliver had unknowingly purchased a stolen car from a career criminal Dennis Watson. After Watson was arrested, Oliver was called upon to testify as a witness against him and his disappearance took place only three days before Watson’s trial.
This week, we will be presenting a special double feature episode of “The Trail Went Cold” about two unsolved missing persons cases where the victim vanished shortly before they were scheduled to testify in a criminal case. Special thanks to listener Ryan Eichenfeldt for providing the opening narration on today’s episode.
This episode of “The Trail Went Cold” is brought to you by “Murder Book”, a new true crime podcast hosted by bestselling author Michael Connelly, available on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen.
Additional Reading:
http://charleyproject.org/case/henry-louis-baltimore-jr
https://www.mlive.com/living/jackson/2010/05/peek_through_time_more_than_30.html
https://www.mlive.com/news/flint/2014/11/family_pleads_for_answers_in_1.html
https://unsolved.com/gallery/oliver-munson/
http://charleyproject.org/case/oliver-wendell-munson
http://articles.baltimoresun.com/1993-10-07/news/1993280074_1_munson-ellicott-city-middle
“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 113 - The Cowden Family Murders

September 1, 1974. Jackson County, Oregon. 28-year old Richard Cowden, his 22-year old wife Belinda Cowden, and their two children, five-year old David and five-month old Melissa, are in the midst of a camping trip when they inexplicably vanish from their campsite near Carberry Creek, leaving all their possessions behind. Seven months later, the entire family’s remains are found at a remote location seven miles away and it turns out they were the victims of foul play. Investigators discover that a recently paroled murderer named Dwain Lee Little was living in the area at that time and even though there is not enough evidence to implicate him, he eventually goes back to prison for another violent crime. Was Dwain Lee Little responsible for the Cowden family murders? We explore that question on this week’s episode of “The Trail Went Cold”, which features one of the most disturbing unsolved crimes we have ever covered.
Additional Reading:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cowden_family_murders
“But I Trusted You: Ann Rule’s Crime Files #14” by Ann Rule
The Bulletin (September 3, 1990)
“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 112 - The Springfield Three

June 7, 1992. Springfield, Missouri. After an evening of partying following their high school graduation, 19-year old Suzie Streeter and her 18-year old friend, Stacy McCall, decide to spend the night at Suzie’s house alongside Suzie’s 47-year old mother, Sherrill Levitt. They are last seen shortly after 2:00 AM, but later that day, Suzie, Stacy, and Sherrill, a.k.a. “The Springfield Three”, are all discovered to be missing from the house. The scene contains some bizarre clues, including a broken globe from the porch light and an odd answering machine message which is inadvertently erased, but no evidence of forced entry or a struggle. Over the years, there would be a number of leads, such as a convicted criminal who claimed to know what happened to the victims and a tip that their bodies were buried underneath the parking garage of a local hospital, but no trace of the Springfield Three is ever found. For our special three-year anniversary show of “The Trail Went Cold”, we will be chronicling one of the famous and puzzling missing persons cases of all time, which was voted on by our listeners. Special thanks to listener Anna Long for narrating the opening of this episode.
Additional Reading:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Springfield_Three
http://charleyproject.org/case/stacy-kathleen-mccall
http://charleyproject.org/case/suzanne-elizabeth-streeter
http://charleyproject.org/case/sherrill-elizabeth-levitt
https://web.archive.org/web/20141031034010/http://archive.news-leader.com/article/20020603/NEWS01/60608049/Three-Missing-Women-Ten-Years-Later-Part-1-5
http://streeterfamilyblogg.blogspot.com
“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 111 - Tracey Kirkpatrick

March 15, 1989. Frederick, Maryland. 17-year old Tracey Kirkpatrick spends the evening working alone at a shopping center clothing store. Nearly two hours after the store was supposed to have been closed, a security guard discovers Tracey’s body in the rear storage room and she has been stabbed seven times. Three months later, a man calling himself “Don” phones a national confession hotline and claims that he is responsible for Tracey’s murder. Police manage to track down a promising suspect, but find no evidence that he was involved in the crime. However, as the years go on, rumours start to circulate about another suspect being the perpetrator. Was the confession to Tracey Kirkpatrick’s murder genuine or nothing more than a hoax? Was a cover-up orchestrated to protect the real killer? On this week’s episode of “The Trail Went Cold” we cover a controversial 30-year old cold case which some people believe should have been solved a long time ago.
We would like to thank Postmates for sponsoring this episode of The Trail Went Cold. For a limited time, Postmates is giving you $100 of free delivery credit for your first 7 days. To start your free deliveries, download the Postmates app, and use the promo code “COLD”.
Additional Reading:
https://unsolved.com/gallery/tracey-kirkpatrick/
https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-2009-03-16-0903150097-story.html
https://www.fredericknewspost.com/news/crime_and_justice/cops_and_crime/who-killed-tracey-kirkpatrick/article_53efa27e-793f-5871-8719-435bd265f58f.html
https://www.fredericknewspost.com/archive/he-lived-it-he-breathed-it/article_3f5be63f-159a-5fc5-a861-77542b082ea1.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 produced and edited by Magill Foote.
All music is composed by Vince Nitro.

The Trail Went Cold - Episode 110 - The Mary Morris Murders

October 12, 2000. Houston, Texas. After leaving her home, 48-year old Mary Henderson Morris does not show up for work and her body is discovered inside her burned-out car on a remote road later that afternoon. Four days later, another Houston woman, 39-year old Mary McGinnis Morris, is discovered shot to death inside her car under eerily similar circumstances, but other than their name, there doesn’t appear to be any link between the two victims. However, the investigation uncovers potential suspects in Mary McGinnis Morris’ murder, including her husband and a hostile co-worker, which leads to speculation that Mary Henderson Morris’ murder may have been a botched contract hit in which the wrong person was killed. Was Mary McGinnis Morris the intended target all along? If not, then how are these two crimes connected? On this week’s episode of “The Trail Went Cold”, we chronicle “The Mary Morris Murders”, the bizarre story of two women with the same name from the same city who happened to be murdered within days of each other.
This episode of “The Trail Went Cold” is brought to you by “Murder Book”, a new true crime podcast hosted by bestselling author Michael Connelly, available on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen.
Additional Reading:
https://unsolved.com/gallery/mary-lou-mary-mcginnis-morris/
https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=125738
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/689789/posts
https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/Two-Mary-Morris-slayings-remain-unsolved-1637059.phpgoog
“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 109 - Connie Smith

July 16, 1952. Salisbury, Connecticut. While spending the summer at Camp Sloane, ten-year old Connie Smith skips breakfast and leaves the campground. Numerous witnesses see Connie walking down the road and attempting to hitchhike, but before she reaches the nearest town, she vanishes without a trace. Since Connie’s grandfather is the former Governor of Wyoming, there is a massive search effort and her case receives extensive publicity. Over the years, there are a number of unusual leads, including an anonymous letter stating that Connie might be an unidentified murder victim named “Little Miss X”, whose skeletal remains were found in Arizona in 1958. Did Connie Smith become an unidentified Jane Doe? If not, what actually happened to her? And what compelled her to walk away from Camp Sloane to begin with? We explore one of America’s most baffling unsolved missing children’s cases on this week’s episode of “The Trail Went Cold”.
This episode of “The Trail Went Cold” is brought to you by “Murder Book”, a new true crime podcast hosted by bestselling author Michael Connelly, available on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen.
Additional Reading:
http://charleyproject.org/case/constance-christine-smith
https://www.registercitizen.com/news/article/Missing-girl-s-unsolved-case-draws-theories-13164163.php
https://www.courant.com/hc-cc-smith-051709-story.html
http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/1193ufaz.html
http://charleyproject.org/case/donnis-marie-redman
http://charleyproject.org/case/michael-lawrence-griffin
“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 108 - Lester Garnier

July 11, 1988. Walnut Creek, California. Lester Garnier, a 30-year old vice officer with the San Francisco Police Department, is found shot to death inside his car in a shopping center parking lot. Eyewitnesses recall seeing at least two unidentified blonde women in the parking lot the previous night and speculation mounts that Lester’s murder might be connected to his involvement in the recent high-profile bust of a teenage prostitution ring. Twenty years later, authorities announce that a partial fingerprint from the crime scene has been matched to Catherine Kuntz, a Scottish woman with an extensive criminal history, but there is not enough evidence to file charges. Was Kuntz responsible for Lester Garnier’s murder? If so, what was her motive? Were other people involved in this crime? What was Lester doing in that parking lot to begin with? This week’s episode of “The Trail Went Cold” explores a baffling unsolved murder of a police officer which has a number of unanswered questions.
Additional Reading:
https://unsolved.com/gallery/lester-garnier/
https://www.sfgate.com/magazine/article/SAN-FRANCISCO-S-COLDEST-CASE-A-coverup-is-still-2669756.php
https://www.sfgate.com/crime/article/Fingerprint-may-solve-mystery-of-cop-s-killing-3281170.php
https://www.sfgate.com/crime/article/Suspect-in-S-F-cop-s-1988-slaying-is-deported-3173664.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 107 - Jessica Baggen

May 4, 1996. Sitka, Alaska. While walking home from her sister’s place after celebrating her 17th birthday, Jessica Baggen is attacked on a bicycle path. Her body is soon found in a wooded area, where she has been sexually assaulted and asphyxiated to death. Eleven days later, a suspect named Richard Bingham turns himself in to the police and after making a videotaped confession, he is charged with Jessica’s murder. However, none of the physical evidence matches Bingham and it becomes apparent that his confession was coerced by investigators, so when he goes on trial the following year, Bingham is found “not guilty”. Did the jury make the right decision by acquitting Bingham? And if he didn’t kill Jessica Baggen, then who did? On this week’s episode of “The Trail Went Cold”, we explore a controversial murder case which has been without closure for two decades.
Additional Reading:
http://vots.altervista.org/AK/index.html
http://www.thenorthernlight.org/thawing-out-alaskas-cold-case-murders/
“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.