Episodes

  • 6 Major Case Updates

    6 Major Case Updates
    Dec 20 2024
    In this special Update episode, we look back on six cases previously featured on Trace Evidence which have had major updates. We begin with the case of Charles and Catherine Romer who disappeared more than forty years ago during a drive from Florida to New York.

    In addition to new discoveries in that case, we'll look into new searches and developments in the disappearance of Asha Degree, the Murder of Justin Turner, the abduction and murder of Jessica Gutierrez, the disappearance of Branson Perry and the murder of Faith Hedgepeth.

    If you would like to submit a question for the year end, 2024 Wrap-Up Q&A, you can submit them here through the 2024 Q&A Form

    The full length episodes of each of these updates is available for listening as well:

    173 - The Vanishing of Charles & Catherine Romer
    011 - The Vanishing of Asha Degree
    170 - The Murder of Justin Turner Part 1
    171 - The Murder of Justin Turner Part 2
    097 - The Abduction of Jessica Gutierrez
    089 - The Vanishing of Branson Perry
    023 - The Murder of Faith Hedgepeth


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    1 hr and 15 mins
  • 245 - The Disappearance of Martha Leanne Green

    245 - The Disappearance of Martha Leanne Green
    Dec 3 2024
    On a cold, rainy spring night in April of 1987, seventeen year old Martha Leanne Green mysteriously vanished. After the car she and her brother were driving ran out of gas, Leanne remained behind in the car while her brother went to get help. Returning less than fifteen minutes later, the car was empty and Leanne has never been seen again.

    Investigators determined the seventeen year old had been abducted and several suspects were identified. One, in particular, was thought to have taken Leanne and committed similar crimes throughout the area. Law enforcement never collected enough evidence to charge the man and he took his secrets to his grave.

    What happened to Leanne Green? Was she abducted by a stranger or perhaps taken by someone she knew and believed she could trust? Or did the seventeen year old encounter a ruthless and brutal killer all alone on a dark, deserted highway?

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    #truecrime #truecrimepodcast #realcrimes #disappearance #disappeared #missing #unsolved #unsolvedmysteries #evidence #investigation #missingperson #traceevidence #homicide #detective #coldcase #creepy #truecrimestory #truecrimestories #tennesseecrime #marthagreen #leannegreen #robertrichards #dicksoncounty #dickson #tbi #abduction

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    2 hrs and 2 mins
  • 244 - The Vanishing of Loy Evitts

    244 - The Vanishing of Loy Evitts
    Sep 6 2024
    When twenty-nine year old Loy Evitts failed to return to her Kansas City, MO office job after taking a late lunch, her co-workers were concerned. When they found her car, parked in its assigned spot, but could find no trace of the woman, that concern transformed into worry. They quickly called her home and spoke to her husband, Don, who immediately knew something had to be wrong.

    The next day, Kansas City Police kicked off a massive search for Loy. They interviewed co-workers and friends, they went around town and established a timeline which showed everywhere and everything the woman had done. But they couldn't fill in a small window of time, five to ten minutes, and it's believed that is when she vanished.

    When an anonymous caller claimed responsibility for the crime, police quickly located and questioned him but they could never confirm whether he had knowledge of the crime or was just a sick prank caller. Forty-seven years later, Loy has never been found and her abductor has never been identified. To date, her disappearance is the longest unsolved missing persons investigation in the history of Kansas City.

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    #truecrime #truecrimepodcast #realcrimes #disappearance #disappeared #missing #unsolved #unsolvedmysteries #evidence #investigation #missingperson #traceevidence #homicide #detective #coldcase #creepy #truecrimestory #truecrimestories #kansascrime #missouricrime #loyevitts #evitts #abduction

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    1 hr and 38 mins
  • 243- The Murder of Shirley McAvoy

    243- The Murder of Shirley McAvoy
    Aug 10 2024
    When thirty-two year old Shirley McAvoy didn't show up for her youngest daughter's birthday everyone knew something was wrong. After being unable to reach her, Shirley's estranged husband, Brian, reported her missing to the Pittsfield Police Department in Maine.

    Initially, investigators found nothing to indicate a crime had been committed and did little other than issue a statewide bolo for Shirley and her car. Thirty-four days later, a massive puddle of blood was discovered in Shirley's home.

    Friends and neighbors told a strange tale about a man who called himself "Jerry." Jerry moved into Shirley's home just days before her disappearance and gave many different, contrasting stories about his background. He was missing, too.

    Detectives soon learned that Jerry had been involved in an accident in Shirley's car in Boston the day after she was last seen alive. One month later, the mother of two was found dead in a rural area of Virginia. For detectives, solving the disturbing case appears to hinge entirely on identifying this so-called Jerry.

    Composite Image of suspect "Jerry"

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    1 hr and 15 mins
  • 242 - The Murder of Randy Church

    242 - The Murder of Randy Church
    Jul 19 2024
    Twenty-three year old Randy Church was a bright, talented and driven student attending Montana State University. Majoring in electrical engineering, Randy was excited for what opportunities the future would afford. Living off campus in Bozeman at the time, Randy picked up a part time job at a local Pizza Hut. He quickly was promoted to the position of shift supervisor.

    On the evening of Saturday, February 9th, 1985, Randy was scheduled on a closing shift. Locking up just after midnight, he stayed behind with one other employee to clean and prep for the next day's business. At approximately 3 AM, Randy's co-worker left and sometime shortly thereafter, an armed individual gained entry to the restaurant.

    The next morning, co-workers discovered Randy's body. The college student had been shot two times during what appeared to have been a robbery gone wrong. No one has ever been charged, no suspect officially named, no motive confirmed. Was he the victim of a random crime, perhaps committed by two escaped prisoners on the run? Was he targeted by a local violent criminal or was he murdered by someone close, perhaps a friend or co-worker?

    More than forty years later, Randy's murder remains the sole unsolved homicide on the books in the city of Bozeman.

    Justice for Randy Church Facebook Page

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    1 hr and 14 mins
  • 241 - The Disappearance of Amber Barker

    241 - The Disappearance of Amber Barker
    Jun 16 2024
    Ten year old Amber Barker was riding her bike home from a friend's house. It wasn't a long distance, just over half a mile through neighborhood roads she was highly familiar with. Unfortunately, she never arrived.

    Within hours, the Oklahoma City Police Department descended upon the neighborhood and began searching. The next day they were joined by more than 30 FBI agents. It was clear that something sinister had occurred.

    While investigators maintained optimism in the beginning, the discovery of a disturbing trail of clues suggested the child was in grave danger. Closing in on a person of interest, detectives were devastated when the man died, taking everything he knew with him to the grave.

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    1 hr and 11 mins
  • 240 - Latricia White and Lee & Chance Wackerhagen

    240 - Latricia White and Lee & Chance Wackerhagen
    May 5 2024
    Two days after Christmas of 1993, thirty-eight year old nurse and mother of two, Latricia White failed to show up for work. Hours later, her father went to her home and was devastated to find her lifeless body lying in bed. It would later be determined she had been shot multiple times in the head as she slept.

    Investigators soon learned of Lee Wackerhagen, Latricia's live in boyfriend, who was nowhere to be found. Not only was Lee missing, but so was his nine year old son, Chance. Days later, Lee's abandoned truck was found in east Austin, the bed smeared with blood. It didn't take long for detectives to determine Wackerhagen had killed Latricia and fled, abducting his son in the process.

    For twenty long years that is exactly as the case remained until a cold case investigator with the Texas Rangers found several problems with the original investigation. In 2016, the Texas Department of Public Safety officially announced they now believed that Lee and Chance were both victims of foul play, likely at the hand of Latricia's killer.

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    1 hr and 23 mins
  • 239 - The Murder of John Harden

    239 - The Murder of John Harden
    Apr 8 2024
    On a warm spring night in March of 1975, thirty-two year old John Harden completed an emergency call for a client and returned home. Less than an hour later, he'd be shot dead in his driveway.

    After finishing his shower, John glanced out the window and saw his work truck engulfed in flames. Running outside to try and snuff out the blaze, his killer got his opening and fired a single blast from his gun. John fell to the pavement and died from his wounds less than twenty minutes later.
    Investigators would later determine that the fire had been purposefully set to lure the father of five outside and into the kill zone. They recovered the murder weapon, though they could never identify it or the owner. As years wore on, the case grew increasingly cold.

    In October of 1991 an episode of Unsolved Mysteries revitalized interest in the yet solved homicide. Not by focusing on the murder and investigating the case, but by chasing alleged ghosts around the house in which John had been killed.

    Was John Harden the victim of a random act of violence, had he been targeted by someone he knew and trusted or was his murder arranged by local union members who grew furious watching John take contracts they felt belonged to them.

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    1 hr and 19 mins