The Trail Went Cold - Episode 493 - Margaret Ellen Fox and Kim Leggett

June 24, 1974. Burlington, New Jersey. 14-year old Margaret Ellen Fox boards a bus to travel to the nearby township of Mount Holly in order to meet a man named John Marshall and never returns home. Days earlier, Margaret had placed an ad in the newspaper offering her services as a babysitter and received a phone call from Marshall, who offered her a job babysitting his son, but it seems apparent this was a set-up. Margaret’s family receives a phone call and a pair of letters demanding a $10,000 ransom for her safe return, but the kidnapper eventually ceases all communication and Margaret is never found.

October 9, 1984. Mercedes, Texas. 21-year old Kim Leggett disappears while working a shift at her workplace, the Ross Gin Company. Witnesses report having last seen Kim speaking with a pair of unidentified men, so there is fear that she was the victim of an abduction. Kim’s family receives a phone call from an anonymous man demanding money for her safe return and they soon receive a ransom letter for $250,000 ransom. However, no instructions are provided for how to pay the money and no further contact is made, so Kim is never heard from again.

On this week’s episode of “The Trail Went Cold”, we explore a pair of unsolved kidnapping cases in which the victim’s family received a ransom demand, but the victims were never found and the perpetrators were never identified.

“The Trail Went Cold” will be appearing at AdvocacyCon, which is taking place at the Albuquerque Convention Center in Albuquerque, New Mexico on September 11-13, 2026. To get a 10 % discount on tickets, please use our specialized promo code, “TRAILCOLD10”, by visiting https://www.advocacycon.com/.

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The Trail Went Cold is produced and edited by Magill Foote.

All music is composed by Vince Nitro.