2016-10

January 4, 1935. The nude body of a young man named Roland T. Owen is discovered inside Room 1046 of the Hotel President in Kansas City, Missouri. He has been tied up, beaten and stabbed and dies after being taken to the hospital. It turns out that “Roland T. Owen” is not the victim’s real name and after a mysterious anonymous benefactor sends money for his funeral, he is buried without anyone uncovering his true identity or the story behind his murder. Nearly two years later, a woman in Alabama recognizes the victim as her missing son, Artemus Ogletree, but then reveals that she was receiving letters from him months after he was murdered! In this week’s episode of “The Trail Went Cold”, I shall examine the “Mysa
January 4, 1935. The nude body of a young man named Roland T. Owen is discovered inside Room 1046 of the Hotel President in Kansas City, Missouri. He has been tied up, beaten and stabbed and dies after being taken to the hospital. It turns out that “Roland T. Owen” is not the victim’s real name and after a mysterious anonymous benefactor sends money for his funeral, he is buried without anyone uncovering his true identity or the story behind his murder. Nearly two years later, a woman in Alabama recognizes the victim as her missing son, Artemus Ogletree, but then reveals that she was receiving letters from him months after he was murdered! In this week’s episode of “The Trail Went Cold”, I shall examine the “Mystery of Room 1046”, one of the most bizarre stories we’ve ever featured on this podcast.
Additional Reading:
https://kchistory.org/blog/mystery-room-1046-pt-1-roland-t-owen
https://kchistory.org/blog/mystery-room-1046-pt-2-love-forever-louise
https://www.historicmysteries.com/roland-t-owen-murder-room-1046/
http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/133934437
The Trail Went Cold is produced and edited by Magill Foote.
All music is composed by Vince Nitro.
tery of Room 1046”, one of the most bizarre stories we’ve ever featured on this podcast. Click here to subscribe to the podcast on iTunes. Click here to listen to the podcast on Stitcher. Click here to subscribe to the podcast on Google Play Music. The Trail Went Cold is produced and edited by Magill Foote. All music is composed by Vince Nitro.

September 6, 1970. South Lake Tahoe, California. 25-year old nurse Donna Lass is nearing the end of her shift at the Sahara Tahoe Hotel-Casino when she vanishes without explanation. Her landlord and boss soon receive phone calls from an unidentified man, who claims that Donna will be absent for awhile because of a family emergency. However, this claim turns out to be false and Donna is never seen again. Months later, the San Francisco Chronicle receives a cryptic postcard which is allegedly sent by the infamous Zodiac killer, who implies that Donna Lass was one of his victims. Was the Zodiac responsible for Donna’s disappearance or was the postcard nothing more than a giant red herring? We attempt to answer that question in this week’s minisode of “The Trail Went Cold”.
Additional Reading:
http://charleyproject.org/case/donna-ann-lass
https://lasvegassun.com/news/2000/nov/15/was-tahoe-disappearance-linked-to-zodiac-killer/
http://www.zodiacciphers.com/lake-tahoe-disappearance.html
http://www.zodiacciphers.com/zodiac-news/category/donna-lass
“Zodiac Unmasked: The Identity of America’s Most Elusive Serial Killer Revealed” by Robert Graysmith
The Trail Went Cold is produced and edited by Magill Foote.
All music is composed by Vince Nitro.

June 8, 1989. Richmond, British Columbia. Two weeks after she disappeared, the body of 44-year old Cindy James is found in the yard of an abandoned house. Her hands and feet have been tied behind her back and her cause of death is determined to be an overdose. Cindy’s death brings an end to six-and-a-half-years of terror, where she reported nearly one hundred incidents of being stalked, tormented and attacked by an unknown assailant. However, police believe that Cindy was a mentally ill woman who staged all the attacks against herself before committing suicide. Did Cindy concoct an elaborate hoax before taking her own life or was she murdered by her mysterious tormentor? In this week’s episode of “The Trail Went Cold”, I analyze one of Canada’s most baffling and hotly debated unsolved mysteries.
Additional Reading:
http://unsolved.com/archives/cindy-james
http://www.melaniehack.com/
“The Deaths of Cindy James” by Neal Hall
“Who Killed Cindy James?” by Ian Mulgrew
The Trail Went Cold is produced and edited by Magill Foote.
All music is composed by Vince Nitro.

May 5, 1968. After not hearing from him for three days, the fiancee of 62-year old character actor Albert Dekker (star of such films as “Dr. Cyclops”, “Kiss Me Deadly” and “The Wild Bunch”) enters his Hollywood apartment. She is horrified to discover him hanging dead inside the bathroom. The bizarre manner in which Dekker is found suggests that he was involved in some sort of sadomasochistic sexual activity when he died. The initial ruling is suicide before it is changed to accidental death via autoerotic asphyxiation, but since a large amount of money and valuables seem to be missing from the apartment, suspicion mounts that Dekker was a victim of foul play. On this week’s minisode of “The Trail Went Cold”, we examine one of the strangest unexplained deaths in Hollywood history.
Additional Reading:
“Tales of Hollywood: The Bizarre” by John Austin
“The Mammoth Book of Hollywood Scandals” by Michelle Morgan
http://www.lauriejacobson.com/hollywood_heartbreak_ex.php
The Trail Went Cold is produced and edited by Magill Foote.
All music is composed by Vince Nitro.