The Trail Went Cold

May 20, 1982. Kendall, Florida. A fire breaks out at the home of 30-year old Ezzat Aboul-Hosn and a badly burned body is found pinned underneath a car inside his garage. The body is tentatively identified as Ezzat and after it is determined that a leaky fuel line caused the fire, his death is ruled to be accidental. However, after Ezzat’s sister collects on a substantial life insurance policy, investigators become suspicious and eventually discover that the victim’s teeth do not match Ezzat’s dental records. Evidence suggests that Ezzat faked his death and fled to his home county of Lebanon, but he is never actually found. Did Ezzat Aboul-Hosn successfully get away with murder? If so, then who was the unidentified man killed in the fire? We shall attempt to answer these questions, as we explore one of the most bizarre stories we’ve ever covered on this week’s episode of “The Trail Went Cold”.
This episode of The Trail Went Cold is brought to you by Best Fiends, a unique and exciting puzzle experience unlike other puzzle games out there. Download it FREE on the Apple App Store or Google Play.
Additional Reading:
The Argus-Press (Feb. 19, 1983)
The Lewiston Daily Sun (Feb. 21, 1983)
The Lakeland Ledger (March 4, 1983)
Detroit Free Press (March 4, 1983)
The Dispatch (March 5, 1983)
https://old.reddit.com/r/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/4akuak/oc_the_death_of_ezzat_aboulhosn/
“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 produced and edited by Magill Foote.
All music is composed by Vince Nitro.

February 8, 2002. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. After closing up the bar she manages and drinking at various clubs in the downtown area, 33-year old Jamie Stickle drives back home to her apartment. Shortly thereafter, Jamie’s Jeep Wrangler is found engulfed in flames near her front door and her badly burned body is in the driver’s seat. Since some of Jamie’s personal items are scattered on the ground and there is a blood trail at the scene, this seems to indicate a violent attack, but investigators are unable to determine how exactly the fire started. As a result, there is not enough concrete evidence to classify Jamie’s death as a homicide and her cause of death is officially ruled to be “undetermined”. Was Jamie the victim of foul play or was she actually killed in a freak accident? If it was murder, who was responsible and what could their motive have been? This week’s episode of “The Trail Went Cold” explores a truly perplexing cold case which has stumped investigators for the past two decades. In addition, we will also briefly discuss the brutal unsolved murder of Catherine Corkery, which took place in Pittsburgh on July 22, 1989.
Additional Reading:
https://www.pghcitypaper.com/pittsburgh/unsolved-murder-has-many-keys/Content?oid=1337516
http://www.pghcitypaper.com/pittsburgh/north-side-death-still-mourned-and-mysterious/Content?oid=1334804
https://archive.triblive.com/news/4-years-and-no-leads-in-north-side-death/
https://www.post-gazette.com/local/city/2012/02/06/For-family-of-Jamie-Stickle-search-for-clues-to-her-death-never-ends/stories/201202060215
https://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2019/04/29/kdka-mysteries-jamie-stickle-burning-jeep/
“Who Killed… Pittsburgh, Pa?” by Jack Swint
https://patch.com/pennsylvania/dormont-brookline/unsolved-cases-catherine-corkery-afd942dd
“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 produced and edited by Magill Foote.
All music is composed by Vince Nitro.

May 16, 1987. Denver, Colorado. After a collision with another vehicle, the unidentified driver of a pick-up truck runs away from the accident scene. Police discover that the man was registered at a local motel under the name “Larry Monroe” and the truck is registered to a 55-year old California resident named Don Smith. Five days earlier, Don had left on a road trip to visit relatives and his murdered body is eventually discovered in a remote area of Idaho. Before his death, several witnesses saw Don in the company of a man matching the description of the mysterious “Larry Monroe”, but the suspect is never found.
June 18, 1988. 40 Mile Flats, British Columbia. After leaving his home in Anchorage, Alaska on a lengthy road trip to Washington state, 23-year old Philip Fraser stops at a remote café and agrees to give a ride to a hitchhiker. The following evening, Philip’s abandoned, burned-out vehicle is discovered at a car wash in Prince George and his murdered body is found in a remote gravel pit one month later. On the same day Philip went missing, a couple had come across the hitchhiker with Philip’s car and allowed him to spend the night in their home. Evidence suggested that this man was attempting to assume Phillip’s identity, but investigators are unable to track him down.
On this week’s episode of “The Trail Went Cold”, we cover two unsolved cold cases in which the victims were murdered after picking up an unidentified hitchhiker.
This episode of The Trail Went Cold is brought to you by Best Fiends, a unique and exciting puzzle experience unlike other puzzle games out there. Download it FREE on the Apple App Store or Google Play.
Additional Reading:
https://unsolved.com/gallery/don-smith/
https://unsolvedmysteries.fandom.com/wiki/Donald_Smith
https://unsolved.com/gallery/philip-innes-fraser/
https://unsolvedmysteries.fandom.com/wiki/Philip_Innes_Fraser
“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 produced and edited by Magill Foote.
All music is composed by Vince Nitro.

Since “The Trail Went Cold” originally launched in February 2016, we have featured over 200 unsolved cold cases on the podcast, but a decent number of these cases have either wound up being solved or had some significant developments take place. Examples include the disappearance of Pamela Butler, the murder of Jodine Serrin, the disappearance of 12-year old Jonelle Matthews, and the murder of an unidentified Jane Doe known only as “Orange Socks”. In this special “update” episode of “The Trail Went Cold”, we will kick off 2020 by chronicling all the major developments which have occurred in these stories over the past four years. Special thanks to actress Kaniehtiio Horn for providing the opening narration on this episode. Please check out her podcast, “A Coffee With My Ma” (https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/coffee-with-my-ma/id1372866076). This episode also contains a promo for the true crime podcast, “Already Gone” (http://www.alreadygonepodcast.com).
This episode of “The Trail Went Cold” is brought to you by HelloFresh. Go to HelloFresh.com/COLD10 and use code “COLD10” during HelloFresh’s New Year’s sale for 10 free meals including free shipping.
Additional Reading:
http://charleyproject.org/case/pamela-j-butler
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/eight-years-after-pamela-butler-disappeared-from-her-dc-home-her-killer-admits-guilt/2017/10/06/5c8134e2-aa9f-11e7-92d1-58c702d2d975_story.html
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/imprisoned-for-killing-one-woman-dc-area-man-is-charged-with-murder-in-another-womans-death/2019/10/18/d1700a2a-f1ca-11e9-89eb-ec56cd414732_story.html
https://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/jodine-serrin-carlsbad-cold-case-murder-suspect-david-mabrito/168412/
https://www.statesman.com/news/20190807/40-years-after-her-death-debra-jackson-of-abilene-identified-as-orange-socks
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/el-dorado-jane-doe_n_5c48cc72e4b025aa26bf852d
https://www.candgnews.com/news/judge-overwhelming-evidence-in-galloway-case-114983
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-49661128
https://coloradosun.com/2019/10/01/jonelle-matthews-greeley-police-murder-cold-case-pankey/
https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-andrea-kuiper-identification-20170512-htmlstory.html
https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona-best-reads/2018/12/23/hatbox-baby-great-arizona-mystery-new-clues-solve-sharon-elliott/2301185002/
https://www.pennlive.com/news/2019/08/tracy-kroh-timeline-years-of-searching-recently-an-arrest-but-will-the-mystery-finally-end.html
https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/new-witness-backs-up-gardas-theory-that-trevor-deely-killed-in-row-with-gang-38755889.html
https://www.providencejournal.com/news/20171218/tempest-convicted-second-time-in-1982-murder
https://www.tampabay.com/news/florida/2019/10/19/state-attorney-rejects-death-row-inmates-dna-appeal/
https://www.star-telegram.com/news/local/crime/article235188057.html
https://lostnfoundblogs.com/f/dale-kerstetter-gone-platinum
https://lostnfoundblogs.com/f/dale-kerstetter-gone-platinum-2-the-mystery-deepens
https://the-record-newspaper.tumblr.com/archive
https://www.cleveland.com/crime/2019/12/newburgh-heights-police-tiffin-university-students-partner-up-to-investigate-1981-cold-case-death-of-kurt-sova.html
https://www.cbs46.com/news/exclusive-a-possible-crack-in-the-cold-cases-of-mary/article_38603214-f6c1-11e9-b397-97fdb9832a0f.html
https://www.oxygen.com/the-disappearance-of-the-millbrook-twins/crime-news/disappearance-of-the-millbrook-twins-richmond
“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 produced and edited by Magill Foote.
All music is composed by Vince Nitro.

December 19, 1959. Osprey, Florida. After spending the day running errands and visiting a family friend, 25-year old Cliff Walker, his 24-year old wife Christine, and their two children, three-year old Jimmie and 23-month old Debbie, head back to their rural home in separate vehicles. The following morning, the family’s bodies are discovered inside their house. They were each shot in the head before Debbie was drowned in the bathtub and Christine has also been sexually assaulted. Over the next several decades, investigators would look at a number of different suspects, but two of the most promising turn out to be Perry Smith and Richard Hickock, who were responsible for the murder of the Clutter family in Kansas one month earlier, a crime which became the subject of the iconic book, “In Cold Blood”. However, DNA testing on the deceased killers turns out to be inconclusive and there is no evidence to conclusively implicate anyone. This week’s episode of “The Trail Went Cold” covers the harrowing murders of an entire family which have remained unsolved for 60 years. Special thanks to listener Alanna LaForce for providing the opening narration for this episode.
Additional Reading:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walker_family_murders
“In Colder Blood” by J.T. Hunter
http://www.heraldtribune.com/news/20051218/unsolved
http://www.heraldtribune.com/news/20051219/the-suspects-a-litany-of-names-and-clues
http://www.heraldtribune.com/news/20051220/a-last-hope-dna-could-crack-the-case
http://www.heraldtribune.com/news/20121209/what-if-in-cold-blood-got-it-wrong-about-walker-murders
http://www.heraldtribune.com/news/20121209/what-in-cold-blood-said
http://www.heraldtribune.com/news/20130813/no-dna-link-between-walker-murders-in-cold-blood-killers
“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 produced and edited by Magill Foote.
All music is composed by Vince Nitro.

December 17, 2006. Sydney, Australia. After spending the day with her family, 25-year old Katrina Ploy drives away from her parents’ house. Hours later, Katrina’s abandoned car and some of her possessions are found next to an oceanside cliff known as “The Gap”, but Katrina herself is missing. Katrina’s body is found floating in Sydney Harbour on Christmas Day, but since she has no noticeable injuries, the evidence suggests she did not fall off the cliff and entered the water at another location. An investigation reveals lot of complications in Katrina’s personal life, including a secret relationship with a former biker, sexual harassment at her workplace, and rumours about her being linked to powerful figures from organized crime. In the end, a coronial inquest fails to turn up any conclusive answers about what caused Katrina’s death or who might have been responsible. Join us as we travel down under to explore a baffling Australian mystery on this week’s holiday-themed episode of “The Trail Went Cold”.
This episode of The Trail Went Cold is brought to you by Best Fiends, a unique and exciting puzzle experience unlike other puzzle games out there. Download it FREE on the Apple App Store or Google Play.
This episode of The Trail Went Cold is also sponsored by Away Luggage. To learn more, go to awaytravel.com/cold. Plus, order by the end of the day on December 15 to get free ground shipping with guaranteed free delivery by December 20. Only Applicable if you live in the U.S., EU, UK, Canada or Australia.
Additional Reading:
https://www.police.nsw.gov.au/can_you_help_us/rewards/100000_reward/murder_of_katrina_ploy
https://amp.news.com.au/lifestyle/real-life/mystery-meeting-may-hold-clue-to-murder-of-katrina-ploy/news-story/e90bb0e4114a10bb5bef75f7055c9e89
https://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2010-08-06/cliff-suicide-coroner-delivers-open-finding/935070
https://www.smh.com.au/national/death-at-the-gap-she-was-harassed-20070125-gdpbnc.html
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/ex-bikie-wont-talk-to-cops-about-death/news-story/a9cf556d51f431ebb77686314f4e4385
https://www.smh.com.au/national/gap-death-woman-had-wanted-to-die-20100803-1149y.html
https://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2010-08-03/cliff-death-coroner-issues-warrant-for-ex-boyfriend/930586
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/hitman-linked-to-sydney-suicide-probe/news-story/42de32ce5ddf73d43644fc8ad69ea1e0
https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/five-key-suspects-in-bizarre-gap-murder-case/news-story/28c6f3e522726be191c69e6ec9392643?sv=32c6650a304da0466b92a82196e07f5c
“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 produced and edited by Magill Foote.
All music is composed by Vince Nitro.

December 27, 1928. Orrville, Ohio. Four-year old Melvin Horst leaves his home to play in the neighbourhood with friends, but never returns and a search of the area fails to turn up any trace of him. Over the course of the next two years, a number of different suspects would be arrested after allegations surface that Melvin’s disappearance was a revenge scheme orchestrated by local bootleggers because his uncle was the town marshal and rigidly enforced Prohibition. Two suspects are convicted of Melvin’s presumed abduction before their sentences are overturned while two other men make questionable confessions which cannot be backed up by evidence. Was Melvin Horst actually abducted by criminals who were involving in bootlegging? If so, could he have been passed around and raised under a new identity somewhere? On this week’s episode of the “The Trail Went Cold”, we cover the oldest unsolved missing children’s case in the history of Ohio, a crazy story which captured the entire nation’s attention when it happened.
This episode of “The Trail Went Cold” is sponsored by Native. For 20% off your first purchase, please visit nativedeodorant.com and enter the promo code “cold” during checkout.
Additional Reading:
http://charleyproject.org/case/melvin-charles-horst
https://www.cleveland.com/news/2019/07/a-missing-child-can-never-be-forgotten-police-surviving-sister-seek-answers-in-1928-disappearance-of-orrville-boy.html
http://strangec.blogspot.com/2019/06/the-lost-boy-mystery-of-melvin-horst.html
“Unsolved Murders & Disappearances in Northeast Ohio” by Jane Ann Turzillo
“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 produced and edited by Magill Foote.
All music is composed by Vince Nitro.

February 10, 1990. Las Cruces, New Mexico. A pair of armed gunmen enter a bowling alley called the Las Cruces Bowl and bring everyone inside into the manager’s office. After stealing money from the safe, the assailants fire several bullets into seven people before fleeing the scene. Three of the victims – 33-year old Ida Holguin, 34-year old Stephanie Senac, and her 12-year old daughter, Melissia Repass – manage to survive the shooting, but the four other victims – 13-year old Amy Houser, 26-year old Steven Teran, his six-year old stepdaughter Paula Holguin, and his two-year old daughter Valerie Teran – wind up dead. While the crime generates a lot of publicity, the two perpetrators are never found or identified, and there is a lot debate about whether robbery was actually the true motive for this crime. This week’s episode of “The Trail Went Cold” explores the “Las Cruces Bowling Alley Massacre”, one of the most horrific and senseless crimes ever featured on the podcast. Special thanks to listener Rob Polanco for providing the opening narration for this episode.
Additional Reading:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Las_Cruces_bowling_alley_massacre
https://www.cnn.com/2015/02/05/us/bowling-alley-massacre-anniversary/index.html
https://www.kob.com/albuquerque-news/30-years-later-bowling-alley-massacre-still-unsolved/5523494/
https://unsolved.com/gallery/bowling-alley-murder/
http://www.lcsun-news.com/story/news/crime/2016/02/09/bowl-alley-massacre-case-remains-unsolved-26-years-later/80089278/
https://www.foxnews.com/us/new-mexico-murders-still-a-mystery-after-21-years#ixzz1wBH3crfh
“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 produced and edited by Magill Foote.
All music is composed by Vince Nitro.

March 5, 1974. Coconut Grove, Florida. 17-year old Amy Billig phones her father from her home and arranges to meet him at his workplace in order to borrow money to have lunch with friends. Amy is last hitchhiking next to a highway, but she never shows up to meet her father or her friends and is subsequently reported missing. After being informed that Amy was abducted by a gang of bikers, her mother, Susan Billig, spends the next several years attempting to track her down and even encounters a biker who claims to have bought and owned Amy for a time. The Billig family also has to endure two decades’ worth of harassing phone calls from another man who claims to have kidnapped Amy, but even after the caller is identified and arrested, no trace of Amy is ever found. Was Amy Billig actually abducted and held captive by bikers? Was the tormenting caller responsible for Amy’s disappearance? Or could an unknown third party have murdered her instead? This week’s episode of “The Trail Went Cold” chronicles one of the most convoluted missing persons cases we’ve ever covered, which has still not found a conclusive resolution after 45 years.
Additional Reading:
“Without a Trace: The Disappearance of Amy Billig” by Greg Aunapu and Susan Billig
https://unsolvedmysteries.fandom.com/wiki/Amy_Billig
http://charleyproject.org/case/amy-billig
http://www.nytimes.com/1995/12/03/us/the-night-caller-21-years-of-unspeakable-grief.html
http://people.com/archive/the-night-caller-vol-45-no-8/
https://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/fl-xpm-1998-02-26-9802250754-story.html
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/crime/article226721904.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 produced and edited by Magill Foote.
All music is composed by Vince Nitro.

July 28, 2013. Newtown, Connecticut. 50-year old Robert “Hoagy” Hoagland is last seen mowing the lawn outside his house. The following day, his wife, Lori, returns from a trip to Turkey, but Hoagy fails to pick her up at the airport as scheduled. When Lori returns home, she discovers that her husband is missing and that his vehicle and all of his personal possessions have been left behind. Investigators explore the possibility that Hoagy’s disappearance might be connected to drug addiction issues involving his son, Max, and a recent confrontation Hoagy had with some of Max’s criminal associates. However, they also cannot rule out the idea that Hoagy disappeared voluntarily, as he had once run away from his family on a previous occasion. This week’s episode of “The Trail Went Cold” explores a truly perplexing missing persons case in which there is no conclusive evidence to suggest what happened.
Additional Reading:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disappearance_of_Robert_Hoagland
https://www.nbcconnecticut.com/news/local/Newtown-Man-Missing-for-Nearly-a-Year-268545472.html
https://www.newstimes.com/policereports/article/Newtown-man-s-disappearance-featured-on-TV-show-7954415.php
https://www.newstimes.com/policereports/article/Man-s-disappearance-still-a-riddle-4757047.php
https://www.newstimes.com/local/article/Six-months-after-Newtown-man-s-disappearance-no-5218083.php#photo-5843666
http://www.newstimes.com/local/article/Newtown-man-s-disappearance-troubles-loved-ones-a-5677519.php
“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 produced and edited by Magill Foote.
All music is composed by Vince Nitro.