The Trail Went Cold

October 31, 1975. Greenwich, Connecticut. After she fails to return home the previous night, the body of 15-year old Martha Moxley is discovered in her backyard. She has been stabbed in the neck and bludgeoned with a golf club and pieces of the shattered club are traced to the residence of the Skakels, a prominent family from the neighborhood. Decades later, one of the family’s children, Michael Skakel, who was 15 at the time of the crime, is charged and convicted of Martha’s murder. However, Michael’s conviction winds up being vacated on two separate occasions due to ineffective counsel at his trial, so he is released from prison. In 2020, the state announces that they have no plans to retry Michael, meaning there are no conclusive answers about what happened. Did Michael Skakel actually kill Martha Moxley or was someone else was responsible? This week, “The Trail Went Cold” will be releasing the first part of a special two-part episode about one of the most controversial murder cases of the past half-century. Special thanks to listener Jeremy Indick-Connelly for narrating the opening of this episode.
Additional Reading:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Martha_Moxley
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/who-killed-martha-moxley/
https://unsolved.com/gallery/martha-moxley/
https://unsolvedmysteries.fandom.com/wiki/Martha_Moxley
http://thesuttonreport.com/The%20Sutton%20Report/campysuttontoc.html
https://web.archive.org/web/20130315150324/http://www.marthamoxley.com/news/050502gt.htm
http://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/hc-skakel0522.artmay22-story.html
https://www.theatlantic.com/past/docs/issues/2003/01/kennedy.htm
https://caselaw.findlaw.com/ct-supreme-court/1455643.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/24/nyregion/skakel-gets-new-trial-in-75-killing-of-teenager-in-connecticut.html?ref=nyregion
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/12/30/nyregion/michael-skakel-martha-moxley-timeline.html
http://nypost.com/2017/09/17/i-tutored-a-kennedy-relative-and-wound-up-accused-of-murder/
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/04/nyregion/michael-skakel-conviction-reversed.html
https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/30/us/skakel-no-retrial-moxley-murder/index.html
https://www.nytimes.com/article/skakel-moxley-murder-case.html
“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 produced and edited by Magill Foote.
All music is composed by Vince Nitro.

October 31, 1981. New York City. The bodies of 39-year old Ronald Sisman and 20-year old Elizabeth Platzman are discovered inside Ron’s apartment in the Chelsea neighbourhood of Manhattan. Both victims have been shot to death, execution-style, and since the apartment was ransacked, there is speculation that the crime might be drug-delated. However, notorious serial killer David Berkowitz, who is serving time in prison for the “Son of Sam” murders, eventually shares information that Ron and Liz were killed by associates of his that were members of a Satanic cult and looking to retrieve a snuff film. Was there any truth to Berkowitz’s claims or were the two victims murdered for entirely different reasons? On this week’s episode of “The Trail Went Cold”, we profile an unsolved double murder which took place on Halloween and has often been surrounded by wild conspiracy theories.
Additional Reading:
https://www.nytimes.com/1981/11/02/nyregion/police-seek-motive-in-deaths-of-student-and-a-photographer.html
https://www.newspapers.com/image/713488638/
https://www.newspapers.com/image/486177887/
https://www.newspapers.com/image/437021867/
https://www.newspapers.com/image/833884606/
https://www.newspapers.com/image/713490892/
https://www.newspapers.com/image/720692506/
https://thecinemaholic.com/how-and-why-was-ron-sisman-killed/
“The Ultimate Evil: The Search for the Sons of Sam” by Maury Terry
“The Encyclopedia of Unsolved Crimes” by Michael Newton
“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 produced and edited by Magill Foote.
All music is composed by Vince Nitro.

October 31, 1981. Wahneta, Florida. The mother of 13-year old Tina Marie Janose wakes up to discover that she is missing from their mobile home. That same morning, Tina Marie’s body is found twelve miles away on Interstate 4 and it turns out she was abducted, sexually assaulted and murdered before the killer tossed her off a highway overpass. Over the years, James Norman Ulmer and Frank Potts, a pair of sex offenders who each wind up going to prison for other crimes, pop up on the radar as potential suspects in Tina Marie’s murder. While there is compelling case to be made for Ulmer or Potts being the perpetrator, there is not enough evidence to conclusively implicate either of them and the crime is never solved. On this week’s episode of “The Trail Went Cold”, we explore the murder of Tina Marie Janose, a horrifying cold case which took place on Halloween 42 years ago.
If you have any information about this case, please contact the Polk County Sheriff’s Office at (863) 298-6200.
Additional Reading:
https://www.tampabay.com/archive/1994/03/25/more-speculation-than-evidence-keeps-potts-name-in-the-news/
https://www.heraldtribune.com/story/news/2003/11/03/detective-believes-dead-inmate-was-girls-killer-in-81/28773081007/
https://www.newspapers.com/image/336011012/
https://www.newspapers.com/image/336020685/
https://www.newspapers.com/image/339767660/
https://www.newspapers.com/image/339766628/
https://www.newspapers.com/image/335967349/
https://www.newspapers.com/image/339972778/
https://www.newspapers.com/image/339771291/
https://www.newspapers.com/image/340516913/
“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 produced and edited by Magill Foote.
All music is composed by Vince Nitro.

December 10, 1999. Los Angeles, California. After attending a party at the Dykstra Hall dormitory at UCLA, 18-year old freshman Michael Negrete returns to his room and spends a few hours playing an online video game on his computer with a friend. Mike is last seen at around 4:00 AM and when his roommate wakes up later that morning, he discovers that Mike has vanished and left behind his wallet and keys. There are some intriguing leads, such as a bloodhound tracking Mike’s scent to a bus stop and an eyewitness sighting of an unidentified man in the dorm around the time Mike went missing, but they fail to turn up any trace of Mike or any answers about what happened to him. On this week’s episode of “The Trail Went Cold”, we explore one of the most baffling unsolved missing persons cases of the modern era.
If you have any information about this case, please contact the UCLA Police Department at (310) 825-1491 or the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Office at (323) 890-5500.
Additional Reading:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disappearance_of_Michael_Negrete
http://charleyproject.org/case/michael-william-negrete
http://articles.latimes.com/2001/apr/16/local/me-51723
http://dailybruin.com/2000/12/06/anniversary-of-negretes-disapp/
https://dailybruin.com/2003/04/03/mary-negrete-continues-search
https://www.newspapers.com/image/577693909/
https://www.newspapers.com/image/577203084/
https://www.newspapers.com/image/577240694/
https://www.newspapers.com/image/577474887/
https://www.newspapers.com/image/577478121/
https://www.newspapers.com/image/577504866/
https://archive.today/20150601010448/http://stevethesoundguy.tumblr.com/post/52852449360/hey-steve-apologies-if-this-is-a-tad-personal
“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 produced and edited by Magill Foote.
All music is composed by Vince Nitro.

Since we are currently on vacation, “The Trail Went Cold” will not be releasing a new episode this week. Instead, please enjoy one of our exclusive bonus Patreon episodes from our archives. Thanks for your patience.
During its 15-year run on television, “Unsolved Mysteries” profiled a lot of memorable murders and missing persons cases, but the show was just as well-known for its paranormal-themed stories involving ghosts, UFOs and other supernatural occurrences. Consequently, they wound up producing their fair share of segments which turned out to be silly and ridiculous, but sometimes, the sillier they were, the more entertainment value they had. On this bonus Patreon episode, I shall discuss some of these goofy-but-entertaining segments, as I count down my top 10 “Unsolved Mysteries” guilty pleasures.
The Trail Went Cold is produced and edited by Magill Foote.
All music is composed by Vince Nitro.

February 18, 1976. Orlando, Florida. 15-year old Linda Kerr leaves her home in order to walk to her boyfriend’s residence, but she never arrives and is subsequently reported missing. Investigators look into the possibility that Linda may have left the area with a biker gang and become an exotic dancer in another city, but this is never officially confirmed. Seven years later, one of Linda’s brothers, Keith Kerr, is charged with murdering his sister-in-law, Carol Kerr, but while there is suspicion that Keith could have also harmed Linda, no evidence is found to implicate him. On this week’s episode of “The Trail Went Cold”, we cover a puzzling missing persons case which has gone unsolved for over 47 years. In addition, we will be profiling three other cold cases involving teenage girls which took place in Orlando in 1976: the disappearance of 14-year old Mabel Andrews, the death of 14-year old Nancy Grace Daniel, and the death of an unidentified decedent known only as the “Orlando Jane Doe”.
If you have any information about the disappearance of Linda Kerr, please contact the Orange County Sheriff’s Office at (407) 254-7200. If you have any information about the disappearances of Nancy Grace Daniel or the death of the Orlando Jane Doe, please contact the Orange County Sheriff’s Office at (407) 254-7200. If you have any information about the disappearance of Mabel Andrews, please contact the Orlando Police Department at (407) 246-3950.
Additional Reading:
https://charleyproject.org/case/linda-louise-kerr
https://www.newspapers.com/image/300879561/
https://www.newspapers.com/image/227599830/
https://www.newspapers.com/image/227599096/
https://www.newspapers.com/image/227734640/
https://www.newspapers.com/image/227734727/
https://www.newspapers.com/image/225223739/
https://www.newspapers.com/image/222761852/
https://www.newspapers.com/image/230250486/
http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/727uffl.html
https://www.newspapers.com/image/269283530/
https://www.newspapers.com/image/269283508/
https://charleyproject.org/case/mabel-louise-andrews
https://robbydelaware1979.medium.com/getting-things-wrong-the-zodiac-and-dna-obsessions-10154a8a1291
“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.

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.

July 20, 1986. Saint Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands. 66-year old Jim Rice phones his daughter to let her know that he will be traveling to California to undergo shoulder surgery the following week, but he never arrives and no one ever hears from him again. Jim’s common-law wife, Astarte Davis-Rice, initially claims that he took off to Australia with another woman, but evidence soon emerges that Astarte has committed fraud to seize control of Jim’s estate. Astarte eventually winds up serving prison time for these offenses, but while the authorities suspect that she killed Jim and disposed of his body, there is not enough evidence to file murder charges and no trace of him is ever found.
April 7, 1984. Golden, Colorado. The body of 29-year old Mark Groezinger is found inside his parked car on Lookout Mountain and he has been shot several times with a .38-caliber weapon. Mark’s wife, Judy Groezinger, comes under suspicion once investigators discover that she purchased a .38 in the days prior to the murder and stands to benefit from a substantial life insurance policy on her husband. Even though there are a number of discrepancies in Judy’s story and circumstantial evidence pointing to the involvement of multiple conspirators in a murder-for-hire plot, no one is ever charged with killing Mark.
On this week’s episode of “The Trail Went Cold”, we explore two cold cases featured on “Unsolved Mysteries” in which a male victim was suspected of being murdered by his spouse.
Additional Reading:
https://unsolvedmysteries.fandom.com/wiki/Jim_Rice
https://www.newspapers.com/image/271995772/
https://www.newspapers.com/image/268114772/
https://www.newspapers.com/image/895925589/
https://www.newspapers.com/image/736959308/
https://www.newspapers.com/image/738811599/
https://www.newspapers.com/image/311363305/
https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F3/43/41/552777/
https://www.newspapers.com/image/457368620/
https://www.newspapers.com/image/575843469/
https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2002-oct-05-me-woman5-story.html
https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCOURTS-canb-4_06-ap-04113/pdf/USCOURTS-canb-4_06-ap-04113-0.pdf
https://unsolvedmysteries.fandom.com/wiki/Mark_Groezinger
https://unsolved.com/gallery/mark-groezinger/
“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.

December 6, 1991. Austin, Texas. After responding to a fire at a local yogurt shop, the authorities discover the burned nude bodies of four victims who have all been shot in the head: 17-year old employees Eliza Thomas and Jennifer Harbison; Jennifer’s 15-year old sister, Sarah Harbison; and Sarah’s 13-year old friend, Amy Ayers. Nearly eight years later, investigators arrest four suspects for the murders and while the charges against two of them are eventually dropped, the other two – Robert Springsteen and Michael Scott – had confessed to the crime, so they wind up being convicted at their respective trials. However, both men’s convictions are overturned due to civil rights violations and forensic testing reveals the presence of DNA on the victims which does not match any of the alleged perpetrators. In 2009, the charges against the two defendants are dismissed and they are released from prison, but there are no conclusive answers about who actually committed the crime. Last week, in Part One of our series on the Austin Yogurt Shop Murders, we shared the basic facts about the case. This week, in Part Two, we will attempt to analyze and break down this crime by sharing all the different theories about what happened.
If have any information about this case, please contact the Austin Police Department at (512) 472-TIPS (8477).
Additional Reading:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1991_Austin_yogurt_shop_killings
“Who Killed These Girls? The Unsolved Murders That Rocked a Texas Town” by Beverly Lowry
“Murdered Innocents” by Corey Mitchell
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/innocence-lost-the-yogurt-shop-murders-09-01-2010/
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/yogurt-shop-murders-are-two-never-identified-customers-key-to-solving-austin-texas-case/
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-yogurt-shop-murders-austin-texas-families-investigators-haunted-by-unsolved-case/
https://www.statesman.com/picture-gallery/news/2021/11/30/yogurt-shop-murders-austin-cold-case-photos/8798254002/
https://www.law.umich.edu/special/exoneration/Pages/casedetail.aspx?caseid=3622
https://www.law.umich.edu/special/exoneration/Pages/casedetail.aspx?caseid=3658
“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.

December 6, 1991. Austin, Texas. After responding to a fire at a local yogurt shop, the authorities discover the burned nude bodies of four victims who have all been shot in the head: 17-year old employees Eliza Thomas and Jennifer Harbison; Jennifer’s 15-year old sister, Sarah Harbison; and Sarah’s 13-year old friend, Amy Ayers. Nearly eight years later, investigators arrest four suspects for the murders and while the charges against two of them are eventually dropped, the other two – Robert Springsteen and Michael Scott – had confessed to the crime, so they wind up being convicted at their respective trials. However, both men’s convictions are overturned due to civil rights violations and forensic testing reveals the presence of DNA on the victims which does not match any of the alleged perpetrators. In 2009, the charges against the two defendants are dismissed and they are released from prison, but there are no conclusive answers about who actually committed the crime. This week, “The Trail Went Cold” will be releasing the first part of a special two-part episode about one of our most highly requested cases: the Austin Yogurt Shop Murders. Special thanks to listener Melissa Lovell for narrating the opening of this episode.
If have any information about this case, please contact the Austin Police Department at (512) 472-TIPS (8477).
Additional Reading:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1991_Austin_yogurt_shop_killings
“Who Killed These Girls? The Unsolved Murders That Rocked a Texas Town” by Beverly Lowry
“Murdered Innocents” by Corey Mitchell
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/innocence-lost-the-yogurt-shop-murders-09-01-2010/
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/yogurt-shop-murders-are-two-never-identified-customers-key-to-solving-austin-texas-case/
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-yogurt-shop-murders-austin-texas-families-investigators-haunted-by-unsolved-case/
https://www.statesman.com/picture-gallery/news/2021/11/30/yogurt-shop-murders-austin-cold-case-photos/8798254002/
https://www.law.umich.edu/special/exoneration/Pages/casedetail.aspx?caseid=3622
https://www.law.umich.edu/special/exoneration/Pages/casedetail.aspx?caseid=3658
This episode of “The Trail Went Cold” is brought to you by HelloFresh. Go to HelloFresh.com/50wentcold and use code “50wentcold” for 50% off plus free shipping.
“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” will be appearing at the True Crime Podcast Festival, taking place at the Doubletree by Hilton Hotel in Austin, Texas on August 25-27, 2023. To get a 15 % discount on the purchase of tickets, please our specialized promo code, “TRAIL”, by visiting https://truecrimepodcastfestival.com.
The Trail Went Cold is produced and edited by Magill Foote.
All music is composed by Vince Nitro.