May 11, 1999. Barry County, Missouri. 34-year old Gary McCullough vanishes from his farm and his abandoned pick-up truck is found on a rural road five days later. Suspicion is directed towards Gary’s wife, Sandy, who was having an affair with another man named Kristopher Klemp and the couple immediately move in together before they get married. In 2006, Sandy’s 20-year old daughter, Lena Chapin, disappears and is not officially reported missing for years. Since Lena had previously made a tape-recorded confession that Sandy killed Gary and she helped her mother dispose of his body and cover up the crime, investigators believe that Sandy may have also gotten rid of Lena, but since no trace of Lena or Gary can be found, no charges are ever filed. On this week’s episode of “The Trail Went Cold”, we cover the shocking story of two unsolved missing persons cases which took place nearly seven years apart from each other and are likely connected.
If you have any information about the disappearance of Gary McCullough, please contact the Barry County Sheriff’s Office at (417) 847-3121. If you have any information on the disappearance of Lena Chapin, please contact the Dent County Sheriff’s Office at (573) 729-3241.
Additional Reading:
https://unsolvedmysteries.fandom.com/wiki/Lena_Chapin
https://unsolved.com/gallery/missing-witness/
http://charleyproject.org/case/liehnia-may-chapin
https://charleyproject.org/case/gary-g-mccullough
https://www.newspapers.com/image/662732108/
https://www.newspapers.com/image/662732205/
https://www.thesalemnewsonline.com/news/local_news/article_0a03aaf2-d453-11e5-8f33-331b77b7d700.html
https://www.thesalemnewsonline.com/news/article_5c50244a-da37-11e5-9200-33fc9d2ba192.html
https://web.archive.org/web/20211021151348/https://www.cassville-democrat.com/story/2329323.html
https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/documentaries/true-crime/unsolved-mysteries-lena-chapin-what-happened/
“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 doing a weekly livestream show on Vokl every Thursday from 7:00-8:00 PM ET as part of their “True Crime Thursday” line-up. For more information, please visit their website.
“The Trail Went Cold” is going to be appearing on podcast row at “Crimecon” at the World Center Marriott in Orlando, Florida on September 22-24, 2023. To get a 10 % discount on the purchase of tickets to the event, please use our specialized promo code, “COLD23”, by visiting https://www.crimecon.com.
The Trail Went Cold is produced and edited by Magill Foote.
All music is composed by Vince Nitro.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download