2017-12

April 20, 1989. Circle, Montana. While driving on the wrong side of a rural highway, 37-year old Patricia Meehan gets into a collision with another car. After staring blankly at the vehicle’s driver, Patricia walks out onto the prairie and disappears. During the next few months, there would be numerous sightings of a disoriented-woman resembling Patricia. This leads to speculation that the trauma of the car crash caused Patricia to develop amnesia and forget who she was, but she is ultimately never found.
April 5, 1985. Great Falls, Montana. After an order is placed to a pizza parlour from a residential house, 23-year old driver Morris Davis delivers the pizza to that address. Morris is fatally shot eight times and his delivery wallet is stolen. It would turn out the house was vacant and that the killer had broken inside to wait for Morris to arrive. The case would feature some odd twists and turns, including an unlikely series of events involving the potential murder weapon, but the identity of Morris’ killer remains unknown.
For this year’s final episode of “The Trail Went Cold”, we will be doing a special double feature and chronicling two cold cases from Montana which were featured on “Unsolved Mysteries”.
This episode of The Trail Went Cold is brought to you by Zola. Zola is reinventing the wedding registry and planning process to make the happiest moment in couples’ lives even happier. To sign up with Zola and receive a $50 credit towards your registry, visit zola.com/cold and use the promo code “cold” at checkout.
This episode is also brought to you by Aaptiv. Aaptiv produces audio-based workouts created by certified personal trainers available through a mobile app. New members get 50% off an annual membership, so please visit aaptiv.com/COLD.
Additional Reading:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disappearance_of_Patricia_Meehan
http://charleyproject.org/case/patricia-bernadette-meehan
https://unsolved.com/gallery/patricia-meehan/
http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=19900902&slug=1091004
https://unsolvedmysteries.fandom.com/wiki/Morris_Davis
https://www.greatfallstribune.com/story/news/local/2016/05/06/sister-slain-teen-forgave-killer-death-prison/84047018/
https://billingsgazette.com/morris-davis-jr/article_1ec72c7b-3708-57ad-b29a-6b8c00d91af7.html
The Trail Went Cold is produced and edited by Magill Foote.
All music is composed by Vince Nitro.

Christmas Eve 1931. Superior, Arizona. While driving through the desert, a couple named Ed and Julia Stewart experience a flat tire and pull over to a remote spot. They soon discover an abandoned newborn baby girl inside a hatbox and turn her over to the authorities. While the story of the “Hatbox Baby” becomes a media sensation, the child’s family cannot be located, so she is adopted out to a couple, whose identities are kept secret from the public. Over 50 years later, a woman named Sharon Elliott is shocked to learn that she was the mysterious Hatbox Baby. Even though Sharon attempts to uncover the truth about her past and finds some promising leads, she does not receive any conclusive answers about the identity of her family or how she wound up in the desert. Was the discovery of the Hatbox Baby a genuine Christmas miracle, or an elaborate set-up orchestrated to protect someone? For our final Christmas-themed of “The Trail Went Cold”, we will be shying away from violent crime and chronicling a much more unique mystery than usual. Special thanks to listener Jonathan Burroughs for providing the opening narration for today’s episode.
Also, a big thanks to Esther Gamez for providing us with another terrific piece of cover art for this episode. Be sure to check out Esther’s Facebook and Tumblr pages to see more of her artwork.
We would like to thank Sock Club for sponsoring the Trail Went Cold. To earn 15 % off your next order of socks, visit sockclub.com/cold and use the discount code “cold”.
Additional Reading:
https://unsolvedmysteries.fandom.com/wiki/The_Hatbox_Baby
http://www.azcentral.com/community/mesa/articles/2011/12/19/20111219hatbox-baby-mystery-still-lingers.html
Spokane Chronicle (Dec. 26, 1988)
The Trail Went Cold is produced and edited by Magill Foote.
All music is composed by Vince Nitro.

Christmas Eve, 1973. New London, Connecticut. While changing a tire, 20-year old Kevin Showalter is struck by a passing vehicle and killed in a hit-and-run. When the local police botch the investigation and make no effort to solve the case, Kevin’s mother is forced to fight for answers on her own. Years later, a grand jury investigation is launched and the town’s former mayor is named as the probable driver of the vehicle. However, further complications ensue when another man comes forward and confesses to the crime, creating debate about who was actually responsible for Kevin’s death. This week’s episode of “The Trail Went Cold” will be examining what is perhaps the most extensive and controversial hit-and-run case in the history of the United States, which has still not found a conclusive resolution after four decades.
We would like to thank Sock Club for sponsoring the Trail Went Cold. To earn 15 % off your next order of socks, visit sockclub.com/cold and use the discount code “cold”.
Additional Reading:
http://people.com/archive/a-mothers-anguish-kept-alive-a-sons-memory-and-her-lonely-search-for-his-hit-and-run-killer-vol-10-no-3/
http://articles.courant.com/2005-12-12/news/0512120514_1_grand-jury-mr-hansen-case
http://cooljustice.blogspot.ca/2013/02/this-is-what-grand-jury-report-looks.html
http://cooljustice.blogspot.ca/2016/09/hit-and-run-chronology-grand-jury.html
The Day (Dec. 25, 1983)
The Trail Went Cold is produced and edited by Magill Foote.
All music is composed by Vince Nitro.

December 22, 1967. Chicago, Illinois. After leaving work and picking up his son from school, Dr. John Branion, a prominent African-American physician who treated Martin Luther King Jr., returns home to discover that his wife, Donna Branion, has been shot to death. Police become suspicious of Dr. Branion’s behaviour and eventually charge him with the murder after discovering that the likely murder weapon, a Walther PPK, and four shells are missing from his home. Even though Branion appears to have a solid alibi and his defense team argues there was not enough time for him to commit the crime, he is found guilty at trial. While free on bond to appeal the verdict, Branion flees the country, but is recaptured years later and dies in 1990. However, questions remain about the validity of the original conviction. Was Donna Branion actually murdered by her husband? Was an innocent man wrongfully convicted? Or is the real answer a lot more complex? This week’s episode of “The Trail Went Cold” examines a very controversial murder case which is still debated 50 years later.
We would like to thank Sock Club for sponsoring the Trail Went Cold. To earn 15 % off your next order of socks, visit sockclub.com/cold and use the discount code “cold”.
Additional Reading:
http://unsolvedmysteries.wikia.com/wiki/John_Branion
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1991-08-25/features/9103030674_1_prominent-chicago-police-cmdr-apartment
http://law.jrank.org/pages/3172/John-Marshall-Branion-Trial-1968.html
https://law.justia.com/cases/illinois/supreme-court/1970/41622-6.html
https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F2/855/1256/372355/
“The Doctor, The Murder, The Mystery” by Barbara D’Amato
The Trail Went Cold is produced and edited by Magill Foote.
All music is composed by Vince Nitro.