Trace Evidence

Twenty-seven year old Brian Shaffer was a handsome, hard working man with a dream of living on a tropical island and being in a band. In the meantime, he was in his second year of med school, working hard toward a career that he didn't quite envision himself doing. He had a loving girlfriend, and a tight knit family that supported him. Sadly, his mother, Renee, passed away due to a rare form of cancer and while Brian was struggling to deal with the aftermath. He was drawn closer to his father, Randy and his brother, Derek, and as a family they supported one another through that difficult time. As spring break 2006 approached, Brian made plans with his girlfriend to take a vacation to Miami, had dinner with his father and asked his brother to come out bar hopping along with his best friend, Clint Florence. Derek wasn't able to make is, so Brian and Clint went to downtown Columbus and started their evening at the Ugly Tuna Saloona. Brian called his girlfriend at 10pm and told her that he loved her and couldn't

Nineteen year old Faith Hedgepeth was a junior at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in September of 2012. Born in Warren County North Carolina, she was a member of the Haliwa-Saponi Native American Tribe and dreamed of becoming a doctor and one day returning home to contribute to her community. On September 6th, she had a busy day of classes followed by rushing for a sorority and going to the library with her best friend and roommate, Karena Rosario. After working on a project, she and Rosario went back to their apartment to change and then went out to a local bar, called the Thrill. In the early morning hours of September 7th, Faith and Rosario left the bar and went back to their apartment. A strange series of texts and phone calls began, and around 4am, Karena left in the company of another Chapel Hill student, leaving Faith home, allegedly asleep, with the apartment door unlocked. When Karena returned the next morning, she found a grisly scene. Faith had been brutally beaten to death, the roo

George Reeves exploded into the American mainstream when he donned the red cape and blue tights playing Superman on the 1950's television series The Adventures of Superman. Almost instantly he became synonymous with the superhero as well as his alter ego, mild mannered Clark Kent. Off the screen, Reeve's life was much more complicated and hardly mild mannered. George had been engaged in a nearly ten year romance with Toni Mannix, wife of MGM executive Eddie Mannix known all around Hollywood was the kind of man whose bad side you didn't want to be on. By all accounts, it was an open secret, with Eddie being well aware and even approving of his wife's extra curricular activities. All of that changed in 1958, when Reeves left his older lover for the younger Leonore Lemmon, a New York socialite known for her fiery temper and enchanting looks. Their relationship was a tumultuous one, with Lemmon described as a heavy drinker with a mean temper and a controlling personality. She was known for seducing rich and power

Fifteen year old Pearl Pinson was a sweet, funny girl who loved skateboarding with her brother. On the morning of May 25th, 2016, she packed her black and turquoise backpack and headed off for her routine walk to school. Shortly after she left her home, around 7am, Police received multiple 911 calls reporting an incident involving an armed man and a young woman taking place on the pedestrian overpass at Interstate 780. Witnesses reported seeing a latino man in a black hoodie and brandishing a firearm. The woman had dyed green hair, was bleeding from her mouth and was seen being shoved into the trunk of a gold, four door 1997 Saturn. When police arrived on the scene they found blood on the concrete and a cell phone which they were able to match to Pearl Pinson. Due to conflicts in eyewitness statements, an Amber Alert couldn’t be issued for nearly 32 hours, by which time Pearl had completely vanished into thin air. When authorities caught up to her abductor, nineteen year old Fernando Castro, there was no trac

Six year old Isabel Celis was tucked into bed shortly after her mother, Becky, braided her hair for her little league game the next day. By 11pm, the light was out and Becky made her way to bed. Isabel's father, Sergio, fell asleep on the couch watching a baseball game, just a few feet from his daughter's bedroom door. When he went to wake her at 8am the next morning, she was nowhere to be found. After a frantic search of the home, Isabel's brother found that her bedroom window was open and the screen was laying in the backyard. Sergio placed a call to 911 to report his daughter missing, though this call, and Sergio himself, would become targets of great speculation later on. Becky raced home from work to meet the police and a massive search was launched. Forensic examination of the house discovered strange clues, including blood stains. Searches of the neighborhood and surrounding areas came up empty. Police immediately determined it to be a case of child abduction, though they wouldn't specify if they belie

Brianna Maitland was a smart, independent seventeen year old woman working two jobs and sharing an apartment with a childhood friend. She had dreams of moving out of rural Vermont and experiencing the exciting life of a big city while pursuing a beautiful future. She had some struggles, but had gotten her life together, acquired her GED and was ready for whatever the world had to throw her way. Five weeks after the infamous disappearance of Maura Murray, on March 19th, 2004, Brianna would leave her night shift at the Black Lantern Inn and drive off into oblivion, never to be seen nor heard from again. Over the night, several witnesses spot her abandoned car, its headlights shining into the road while its rear bumper was smashed into a vacant farmhouse. There was no sign of Brianna and no one would know she was missing for days. During the investigation, more questions were raised than answered and even the police themselves come under fire for mistakes made early on in the case. Despite hundreds of volunteers

Twelve year old Garrett Phillips walked the five blocks home from school during the early evening hours of October 24th, 2011. Shortly after arriving at the second floor apartment where he lived with his mother and half-brother, an unknown assailant attacked and strangled him. Though Garrett survived the initial attack, he would pass away two hours later at Canton-Potsdam Hospital. Almost immediately, police zeroed in on a single suspect: Oral “Nick” Hillary, Garrett’s mother, Tandy Cyrus’ ex-boyfriend. Despite the possibility of other suspects, and no physical evidence tying Hillary to the crime, he would remain the prime suspect for several years until a new, upstart candidate won the position of St. Lawrence County District Attorney and indicted him on charges of second degree murder. The town became split, with many believing Hillary was guilty, and others standing by his side and arguing that one of Tandy’s other ex-boyfriends may have been responsible: Sheriff’s Deputy John Jones. Fingerprints and DNA e

On August 8th, 2013, twenty-six year old Brandon Lawson got into an argument with his longtime girlfriend, Ladessa Lofton. Frustrated and wanting some time to cool off, he placed a call to his father over three hours away in Crowley, Texas and asked to spend the night. His father tried to talk him out of it, but at 11:54pm, Brandon began his drive. Forty miles later, he ran out of gas and called his brother Kyle for help. What transpired in the next thirty minutes is unknown, but when his brother arrived, Brandon was nowhere to be found. After searching for hours, there were no traces of Brandon. The family would later learn that shortly after calling his brother, Brandon made a call to 911. In the call, Brandon is clearly frantic and talking fast. The interpretation of what he said would become hotly debated amongst the family, police and online investigators. The Coke County Sheriff’s Department was hesitant to treat it as a missing person’s case, and instead approached it from the perspective that Brandon

Candace Hiltz was a seventeen year old single mother, a junior at Brigham Young University and a newly accepted student to be at Stanford Law School. She dreamed of becoming a Supreme Court Justice. She had a brilliant level of intelligence, a ferociously protective personality and a great affinity for the law. All of that was destroyed when she was brutally murdered. Her family sought answers, but ultimately discovered that the men charged with solving her murder may have in fact been involved in it. On August 10th, 2006, a Deputy from the Fremont County Sheriff’s Department in Colorado arrived at the Hiltz family home. He questioned Dolores Hiltz in regard to the whereabouts of her son, James. Sometime during the questioning, Dolores’ daughter Candace became angry by his demeanor and told him to leave. The Deputy threatened to arrest Candace, who then threatened to expose him for taking bribes from local drug dealers. Three days later, the Hiltz family dog went missing. It was later found tied to a tree and

Twenty year old Andrew Sadek mysteriously vanished six months after becoming a confidential informant for the Richland County Sheriff's Department, in North Dakota. He was last seen on surveillance cameras leaving his dorm room at 2am on May 1st, 2014. While his family approached it as a case of possible abduction and foul play, authorities treated it more as a man fleeing from legal ramifications. A bitter debate would erupt between Andrew's family and the Sheriff's Department coming to a head when nearly two months later, on June 27th, Andrew's body was recovered from the Red River just across the state line in Minnesota. He had been killed by a small caliber gunshot wound to the head and while Andrew's family believed he was murdered, others have suggested that Andrew may have committed suicide. Strangely, Andrew was not wearing the same clothing he was last seen in and his backpack was filled with rocks and tied to his body. Was this an attempt by a killer to weigh him down, or did Andrew not want his bod

Nine year old Jane Beaumont was tasked with looking after her siblings, seven year old Arnna and four year old Grant on a day trip to the beach. The children were in the middle of their summer break, and on January 26th, 1966, while much of the country was celebrating Australia Day, Jim Beaumont had a business meeting so his wife Nancy allowed the children to take the five minute bus ride down to Glenegl beach. They had gone many times before, and had even visited the previous day. On this day, though, while the rest of the country was enjoying the holiday, it would become a nightmare for the Beaumont family. The children failed to return home on the 12pm bus as their mother had told them, and when they weren’t on the 2pm or 3pm buses, Nancy Beaumont was frantic. When Jim arrived home from work, the two began searching, but when they failed to find any trace of their children, they contacted the police who would launch the largest search effort in Australian history to that time. Witnesses would come forward

Twenty-Four year old Kyle Fleischmann took his mother, sister and best friend to a Dane Cook comedy show in Charlotte, NC. In the early morning hours of November 9th, 2007, he vanished into the darkness of the city. Several witnesses see Kyle that night, and Kyle himself places several short phone calls to his father, sister, best friend and roommate but leaves no messages. A surveillance camera captures him walking down the street, away from the Buckhead Saloon where he had spent the past few hours. An hour later, a cab driver claims to see Kyle wandering down North Davidson Street, toward Cordelia Park, in a bad part of Charlotte known to be inhabited by drug dealers and members of the violent MS-13 gang. The next morning, Kyle is reported missing and over the past ten years, no answers nor signs of Kyle have been found. Tracking dogs follow his scent to a then undeveloped construction site, leading many to believe that Kyle was murdered and buried where apartment complexes now stand. Did Kyle simply choose

On August 2nd, 2006, thirty-two year old Robert Wone kissed his wife goodbye for the last time, and went to work for the day. He would spent his evening at a Continuing Law Education course, and then wanted to meet his overnight staff at Radio Free Asia where he’d recently begun working.Rather than taking the train home that night with his wife, as was his normal routine, he had made arrangements to stay with his friend, Joseph Price, in his Townhouse in Washington DC. Shortly after his arrival at Price’s home, everything becomes a puzzling tale of confusion and contradictions. Robert Wone is stabbed to death sometime between his 10:32 arrival and the 11:49 call to 911. Emergency Medical Technicians are disturbed by the scene they find, and the behavior of Joseph Price, his domestic partner Victor Zeborsky and their sometimes lover and roommate Dylan Ward. The bloody knife found in the room doesn’t match the stab wounds, drafted emails on Wone’s blackberry don’t make sense and the story of a home invader isn’

On the morning of February 14th, 2000, Asha Degree's parents awoke to find their nine year old daughter missing. Extensive investigation showed that Asha had packed her backpack, and left the home between the hours of 2:30am and 4:00am.Several passing motorists spotted Asha on the side of rural Highway 18, just a mile from her house, shortly after 4am. In the days of searching following her disappearance, Police discovered several personal items and candy wrappers, but no sign of Asha. Eighteen months later, Asha's backpack was found buried and double wrapped in garbage bags some 26 miles north of the last place she was seen. For seventeen years, the mystery of Asha Degree has haunted her family, and the suburb of Shelby, North Carolina. Did Asha choose to run away, never to return? Did she fall victim to foul play during her travels? Was she lured out of her home by a friend who later betrayed her? Did a passing driver hit Asha and choose to dispose of her body? Join host Steven Pacheco as he explores this b

Nineteen year old newlywed Arlis Perry got into a spat with her husband while on a walk. She decided to go on alone to Stanford Memorial Church to calm down and pray. She would never come back. At 5:45am a security guard would find her body inside the church, murdered with an ice pick and posed in a lewd and sacrilegious position. Her murder would become the subject of theories about the occult and satanism. Some would link her death to the Son of Sam, the Zodiac Killer and a satanic organization known as the Process Church of the Final Judgment. Despite these theories, the true identity of the man who murdered Arlis was unknown. Witnesses would come forward to describe a man with sandy hair seen entering the church that night, a man whose description matches that of a man seen arguing with Arlis at her job the day before she was murdered. Join host Steven Pacheco as he explores this case, and studies the unanswerable question: Who murdered and posed Arlis Perry?UPDATE:As of June 26th, 2018, the Murder of Arl

Seventeen year old Rachel Trlica of Fort Worth, Texas, wanted to do some last minute Christmas shopping. Her best friend, fourteen year old Renee Wilson went with her, and nine year old Julie Ann Moseley, a friend of Renee's, tagged along. On December 23rd, 1974, the three girls made their trip to the mall and never returned, disappearing into thin air. The girls would famously become known as The Fort Worth Three. The next day, a letter would arrive allegedly written by Rachel, claiming that the girls has taken a week long trip to Houston. Strangely, the letter doesn't match Rachel's handwriting, and no one believes she is the one who wrote it. Over the next forty years, multiple theories and suspects would be considering, including Rachel's own sister, Debra. Rachel's brother, Rusty, would devote his life to finding his sister and through a series of twists and turns, would turn against Debra. Several serial killers and rapists were in Texas at the time, and many believe one of them was responsible. Rumors

From 1968 to 1969 in Glasgow, Scotland, a brutal rapist and murderer committed a series of attacks from February of 68 to October of 69. Then, just as quickly as he would strike, the killer vanished. When all was said and done, the mysterious killer took the lives of three women: Patricia Docker, Jemima McDonald and Helen Puttock. All three women were beaten, raped and strangled with their own stockings and the similarities do not end there. Eyewitnesses gave their accounts of the killer, including Helen Puttock's sister Jean, who shared a taxi ride with the killer and her sister the night she was murdered. The press dubbed the killer "Bible John" since he was said to have quoted the Bible. Over the years, many suspects would be questioned, and theories would rise to prominence. Nearly fifty years later, and the true identity of Bible John cannot be known for sure. Was it a rogue police officer? A former military man? A notorious rapist and murderer arrested 37 years later? Or, is it possible, that Bible John

On the morning of November 6th, 2011, Julia Biryukova placed her daughter, Maile, and her sick son Sky Metalwala into her car, taking Sky to the hospital. Along the way, Julia runs out of gas, and leaves her two year old son in the vehicle while she goes for help. When she returns, one hour later, Sky has disappeared and as police investigate, Julia's story begins falling apart. Was Sky kidnapped, or did Julia play a role in the disappearance of her son? The answer may be found in an episode of a popular television show, which aired the night before, and followed a plot line extremely similar to Julia's story. Julia almost immediately fails to cooperate with police, and pleads the 5th during her questioning. Is this a case of a stranger abduction, or a psychologically troubled mother performing a sick and twisted act of malice? Join host Steven Pacheco as he explores the details of the case and asks the haunting question: Where is Sky Metalwala and what does his mother know? For more information please visit:

32 year old Dorothy Scott was a single mother, working in Stanton California in 1980. A mysterious caller began harassing Dorothy, stalking and threatening her. During a trip to the hospital to help a sick friend, Dorothy went to retrieve her car from the parking lot and never returned. For four years the phone calls continued, to her parents, until her skeletal remains were discovered. Who was the caller, and why did he target Dorothy? Then Jesse Ross was a college sophomore and budding radio personality. During a college trip to Chicago for a Mock United Nations Conference, Jesse exited the meeting at 2:30am for a break. Hotel security cameras captured Jesse walking toward the Hotel entrance, but this is the last time Jesse Ross was ever seen. What happened to Jesse Ross, and why has his mysterious disappearance received so little coverage in the media? Join host Steven Pacheco as he explores these cases and examines the details. For more information please visit: https://www.trace-evidence.comhttps://www.p

21 year old Suzanne Jovin was attending prestigious Yale University when she was murdered on the night of December 4th, 1998. An investigation full of mistakes resulted in an innocent man being accused, and the unknown killer escaping into the night.Theories would arise about Police involvement in the crime, an international terrorist organization seeking to silence a critic and a former Yale student with an obsession. Join host Steven Pacheco as he examines the details of the case, and considers each theory all while asking; Who murdered Suzanne Jovin? For more information please visit: https://www.trace-evidence.comhttps://www.patreon.com/traceevidence Social Media:https://twitter.com/TraceEvPodhttps://www.instagram.com/traceevidencepod/https://www.facebook.com/groups/traceevidencepodMusic Courtesy of: "Lost Time" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/Sources: https://www.trace-evidence.com/suzanne-jovin