The Trail Went Cold

February 19, 1971. Sumter County, Florida. The body of a young woman is found floating beneath a bridge in Lake Panasoffkee. She has been strangled to death with a belt, but in spite of some intriguing clues, the victim cannot be identified and is named “Little Miss Panasoffkee”. Four decades later, investigators explore the possibly that she may have originally hailed from Greece and was murdered after travelling to the United States, but Little Miss Panasoffkee’s true identity cannot be conclusively established.
August 9, 1976. Sumter County, South Carolina. A young man and woman are found shot to death by the side of a secluded dirt road, but they carry no identification. Investigators are able to uncover some promising leads, including a witness who claims he befriended the two victims and heard they were from Canada, and the discovery of the actual murder weapon in a suspect’s possession. However, the authorities lack that one crucial piece of evidence to solve the murder and conclusively identify the two victims, so they become known as “The Sumter County Does”.
On this week’s episode of “The Trail Went Cold”, we explore two of the most heavily discussed cases involving murdered decedents who have somehow managed to remain unidentified for over four decades.
Additional Reading:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Miss_Lake_Panasoffkee
https://unsolved.com/gallery/little-miss-aeoepae%C2%9D/
http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/470uffl.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sumter_County_Does
http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/198umsc.html
http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/189ufsc.html
http://www.sumtermysterycouple.com
“The Trail Went Cold” will also be appearing at True Crime Podcast Festival 2019 on July 13th at the Marriott Downtown in Chicago. Please visit their website for more details.
The Trail Went Cold will be appearing at the event, “True Crime Podcasts: Live in Toronto”, being held at the Royal Cinema in Toronto on Sunday, August 18. For more information and to purchase tickets to the event, please visit this website.
“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.

November 21, 1985. Littleton, Colorado. A masked gunman enters the home of 51-year old businessman Roger Dean and forces him to tie up and blindfold his wife, D.J.. After an apparent dispute over money, the gunman fatally shoots Roger and flees the scene, but investigators find evidence to suggest that Roger may have hired the intruder himself in a failed attempt at a kidnapping-robbery scheme. Nearly five years later, D.J. receives an anonymous letter from a man claiming to be Roger’s killer, who threatens to murder her daughter unless she pays him $100,000. Even after he instructs D.J. to drop off the money at a specified location, he does not show up and breaks off all contact. Were the extortionist and Roger Dean’s killer actually the same person? If so, what was his motive for the crime? Did Roger have some dark secrets in his background which led to his death? On this week’s episode of “The Trail Went Cold”, we examine a very bizarre and complex case of murder and extortion.
Additional Reading:
https://unsolved.com/gallery/roger-dean/
https://coloradocommunitymedia.com/stories/cold-case-files-who-killed-roger-dean,75259
http://blogs.denverpost.com/coldcases/2010/12/05/family-of-murdered-businessman-extorted-years-later/1830/
“The Trail Went Cold” will also be appearing at True Crime Podcast Festival 2019 on July 13th at the Marriott Downtown in Chicago. Please visit their website for more details.
The Trail Went Cold will be appearing at the event, “True Crime Podcasts: Live in Toronto”, being held at the Royal Cinema in Toronto on Sunday, August 18. For more information and to purchase tickets to the event, please visit this website.
“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 2, 1995. New Orleans, Louisiana. After leaving a restaurant with his date in the French Quarter, 25-year old Michael Gerardi is fatally gunned down by a trio of robbers. Weeks later, 16-year old Shareef Cousin is implicated in the crime and charged with first-degree murder. Even though Shareef seems to have an airtight alibi, Michael’s date identifies him as the shooter at trial. Shareef is found guilty and becomes one of the youngest people to ever be sentenced to death, but the verdict is surrounded with controversy. It turns out the Orleans Parish District Attorney’s Office committed egregious acts of prosecutorial misconduct, which included withholding exculpatory evidence, doctoring a tape-recorded interview, and illegally detaining defence witnesses. After nearly three years on death row, Shareef’s conviction is overturned, but Michael Gerardi’s real killers are never found. On this week’s episode of “The Trail Went Cold”, we chronicle a senseless murder which led to one of the most outrageous miscarriages of justice you’ll ever find.
Additional Reading:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shareef_Cousin
https://www.law.umich.edu/special/exoneration/Pages/casedetail.aspx?caseid=3126
http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,138469,00.html
This episode of “The Trail Went Cold” has been sponsored by GreenChef. To enjoy your own wholesome and high-quality meals from GreenChef, please visit GreenChef.us/cold75 in order to receive a total of $75 off.
“The Trail Went Cold” will be appearing on podcast row at CrimeCon 2019 from June 7th-9th at the Hilton Riverside hotel in New Orleans. Listeners can receive a 10% discount on the purchase of a standard badge by using the promo code “COLD19”.
“The Trail Went Cold” will also be appearing at True Crime Podcast Festival 2019 on July 13th at the Marriott Downtown in Chicago. Please visit their website for more details.
The Trail Went Cold will be appearing at the event, “True Crime Podcasts: Live in Toronto”, being held at the Royal Cinema in Toronto on Sunday, August 18. For more information and to purchase tickets to the event, please visit this website.
“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.

August 16, 1996. Clayton County, Georgia. 34-year old Sherri Holland leaves her vacation home in Flagler Beach, Florida in order to drive back to her residence in Atlanta, but never arrives. Eight days later, Sherri’s abandoned BMW is discovered on the northbound shoulder of Interstate 75 with a nail in one of the tires and her two dogs are soon found in a field a few miles away. An investigation into Sherri’s background uncovers a lot of surprising secrets, as it turns out she operated an escort service and was accused by her business partner of blackmailing her clients, and she was also carrying on a years-long affair with a married man. But did anything related to Sherri’s personal life play a role in her disappearance? We shall explore many different theories in this perplexing missing persons case on this week’s episode of “The Trail Went Cold”.
Additional Reading:
http://charleyproject.org/case/sherri-vanessa-holland
https://www.ajc.com/news/crime–law/new-tip-could-lead-remains-woman-missing-more-than-years/xAl2wkif5COXYn1d5KsgFO/
https://www.news-journalonline.com/news/20180607/search-comes-up-empty-following-tip-of-missing-flagler-beach-woman
“The Trail Went Cold” will be appearing on podcast row at CrimeCon 2019 from June 7th-9th at the Hilton Riverside hotel in New Orleans. Listeners can receive a 10% discount on the purchase of a standard badge by using the promo code “COLD19”.
“The Trail Went Cold” will also be appearing at True Crime Podcast Festival 2019 on July 13th at the Marriott Downtown in Chicago. Please visit their website for more details.
The Trail Went Cold will be appearing at the event, “True Crime Podcasts: Live in Toronto”, being held at the Royal Cinema in Toronto on Sunday, August 18. For more information and to purchase tickets to the event, please visit this website.
“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.

August 28, 1991. Houma, Louisiana. 50-year old A.J. Breaux leaves an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting at the local Easy Does It Club, but never returns home. Two days later, A.J.’s abandoned car is found in a park across the street from the club and many of his possessions are still inside. That very same day, multiple eyewitnesses reporting seeing A.J. with three unidentified men in a red compact car, and the case would feature more strange developments, including an anonymous note stating that A.J. committed suicide after falling off the wagon. Did A.J. Breaux become a victim of foul play? If so, who could have been responsible? We explore these questions as we cover a baffling missing persons case on this week’s episode of “The Trail Went Cold”.
Additional Reading:
https://unsolved.com/gallery/aj-breaux/
http://charleyproject.org/case/adam-john-breaux
https://www.dailycomet.com/news/20170827/daughters-seek-answers-26-years-after-fathers-disappearance
http://www.houmatoday.com/article/DA/20040829/news/608098402/HC/
http://www.houmatoday.com/article/DA/20080113/News/608099994/HC/
http://www.houmatoday.com/article/DA/20140201/News/608074403/HC/
“The Trail Went Cold” will be appearing on podcast row at CrimeCon 2019 from June 7th-9th at the Hilton Riverside hotel in New Orleans. Listeners can receive a 10% discount on the purchase of a standard badge by using the promo code “COLD19”.
“The Trail Went Cold” will also be appearing at True Crime Podcast Festival 2019 on July 13th at the Marriott Downtown in Chicago. Please visit their website for more details.
The Trail Went Cold will be appearing at the event, “True Crime Podcasts: Live in Toronto”, being held at the Royal Cinema in Toronto on Sunday, August 18. For more information and to purchase tickets to the event, please visit this website.
“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.

September 4, 1993. Plano, Texas. While attending a soccer game at Carpenter Park with her family, seven-year old Ashley Estell goes missing after an apparent abduction. The following day, Ashley is found strangled to death next to an isolated dirt road six miles away. The investigation soon leads to a paroled sex offender named Michael Blair, who is subsequently convicted of Ashley’s murder and sentenced to death. However, as the years go by, the case against Blair begins to fall apart and DNA testing eventually exonerates him of the crime. So who was actually responsible for the murder of Ashley Estell? This week’s episode of “The Trail Went Cold” explores a controversial case which led to the passing of some new laws, but failed to bring the right perpetrator to justice.
Additional Reading:
https://www.dmagazine.com/publications/d-magazine/2001/june/did-this-creep-really-kill-ashley-estell/
https://www.innocenceproject.org/cases/michael-blair/
https://www.law.umich.edu/special/exoneration/Pages/casedetail.aspx?caseid=3030
https://starlocalmedia.com/planocourier/news/plano-who-is-ashley-estell-s-killer/article_8e1b99a3-3e0f-5db7-ba5f-56db0ae7ea7b.html
“The Trail Went Cold” will be appearing on podcast row at CrimeCon 2019 from June 7th-9th at the Hilton Riverside hotel in New Orleans. Listeners can receive a 10% discount on the purchase of a standard badge by using the promo code “COLD19”.
“The Trail Went Cold” will also be appearing at True Crime Podcast Festival 2019 on July 13th at the Marriott Downtown in Chicago. Please visit their website for more details.
The Trail Went Cold will be appearing at the event, “True Crime Podcasts: Live in Toronto”, being held at the Royal Cinema in Toronto on Sunday, August 18. For more information and to purchase tickets to the event, please visit this website.
“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.

November 21, 1979. Craig, Colorado. After spending the evening at a dance, 15-year old Marie Blee heads to a party at a mobile home park, but never returns home. Two days later, Marie’s parents receive an anonymous phone call demanding a $5,000 ransom for her return. The caller is soon revealed to be 18-year old Monty Doolin, who drove Marie to the party, but he denies any involvement in her disappearance. Over the next few decades, investigators would receive contradictory accounts from several eyewitnesses about what might have happened to Marie on the night she went missing. They eventually name three persons of interest, but Marie is never found. This week’s episode of “The Trail Went Cold” chronicles a very frustrating cold case about a missing teenage girl in which the full truth has yet to be uncovered.
Additional Reading:
http://charleyproject.org/case/marie-ann-blee
http://blogs.denverpost.com/coldcases/2009/11/15/high-school-blee-vanishes-from-party-craig/943/
http://extras.denverpost.com/news/news0601b.htm
https://www.steamboatpilot.com/news/suspect-in-marie-blee-cold-case-arrested-on-suspicion-of-kidnapping-a-different-routt-county-teenager-more-than-30-years-ago/
https://www.steamboatpilot.com/news/crime-courts/judge-dismisses-class-1-felony-kidnapping-case/ 
“The Trail Went Cold” will be appearing on podcast row at CrimeCon 2019 from June 7th-9th at the Hilton Riverside hotel in New Orleans. Listeners can receive a 10% discount on the purchase of a standard badge by using the promo code “COLD19”.
“The Trail Went Cold” will also be appearing at True Crime Podcast Festival 2019 on July 13th at the Marriott Downtown in Chicago. Please visit their website for more details.
The Trail Went Cold will be appearing at the event, “True Crime Podcasts: Live in Toronto”, being held at the Royal Cinema in Toronto on Sunday, August 18. For more information and to purchase tickets to the event, please visit this website.
“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.

April 22, 1985. Vinita Park, Missouri. 27-year old wife and mother Linda Sherman does not show up for shift at work and her abandoned car is soon discovered in an airport parking garage. Since Linda had recently filed for divorce from her controlling husband, Don Sherman, he is suspected of being responsible for her disappearance. Five years later, a skull is discovered outside Don’s favourite restaurant and after it is kept in an evidence room for 14 months, police receive an anonymous note confirming that the skull belongs to Linda. In spite of this, Don maintains his innocence and the rest of Linda’s remains are never found. Did Don Sherman murder his wife, dig up her skull and plant it outside the restaurant? If he wasn’t responsible, who did kill Linda and what was their motive? We shall explore both sides of this truly bizarre unsolved murder case on this week’s episode of “The Trail Went Cold”.
Additional Reading:
http://unsolved.com/gallery/linda-sherman
https://www.riverfronttimes.com/stlouis/body-of-evidence/Content?oid=2475396
http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/michael-webb-vinita-park-police-chief-pursued-murder-case-for/article_af4d26e9-195a-5206-ba1c-4bad8557c3c9.html
“The Trail Went Cold” will be appearing on podcast row at CrimeCon 2019 from June 7th-9th at the Hilton Riverside hotel in New Orleans. Listeners can receive a 10% discount on the purchase of a standard badge by using the promo code “COLD19”.
“The Trail Went Cold” will also be appearing at True Crime Podcast Festival 2019 on July 13th at the Marriott Downtown in Chicago. Please visit their website for more details.
The Trail Went Cold will be appearing at the event, “True Crime Podcasts: Live in Toronto”, being held at the Royal Cinema in Toronto on Sunday, August 18. For more information and to purchase tickets to the event, please visit this website.
“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.

November 15, 1928. Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona. 29-year old Glen Hyde and his 22- year old wife, Bessie, decide to spend their honeymoon taking a rafting trip through the Grand Canyon down the rapids of the Colorado River and hope to attain a new speed record. Shortly after stopping at the home of a photographer named Emery Kolb, the Hydes vanish without a trace. Their empty boat is eventually discovered on the river nearly 150 miles away with all of the couple’s supplies and possessions onboard, but Glen and Bessie are nowhere to be found. Over the next several decades, there would be a number of surprising twists, including a woman who claimed to be Bessie Hyde and the discovery of an unidentified male skeleton in Emery Kolb’s boathouse. Did Glen and Bessie Hyde drown in the Colorado River, or was something a lot more sinister behind their disappearances? This week’s episode of “The Trail Went Cold” chronicles the Grand Canyon’s most famous mystery, which has remained unsolved for nearly a century. Special thanks to listener Colin Zavitz for providing the opening narration on today’s episode.
Additional Reading:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disappearance_of_Glen_and_Bessie_Hyde
http://charleyproject.org/case/glen-rollin-hyde
http://charleyproject.org/case/bessie-louise-haley-hyde
“Sunk Without a Sound: The Tragic Colorado River Honeymoon of Glen and Bessie Hyde” by Brad Dimock
“The Trail Went Cold” will be appearing on podcast row at CrimeCon 2019 from June 7th-9th at the Hilton Riverside hotel in New Orleans. Listeners can receive a 10% discount on the purchase of a standard badge by using the promo code “COLD19”.
“The Trail Went Cold” will also be appearing at True Crime Podcast Festival 2019 on July 13th at the Marriott Downtown in Chicago. Please visit their website for more details.
“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.

August 18, 2010. Leduc County, Alberta. While staying with her infant son and a friend at a motel, 20-year old Amber Tuccaro decides to hitchhike to Edmonton. She never returns and is subsequently reported missing. Two years later, police release audio of a recording from Amber’s cell phone in which she can be heard conversing with a male driver on the night of her disappearance. Amber expresses fear that this man is taking her to a remote area and it seems likely she was murdered shortly after the call ended. Within days, Amber’s skeletal remains are discovered in a farmer’s field, but the voice of the male driver is never positively identified.
October 12, 2011. Parkland County, Alberta. After spending the night playing in a soccer tournament, 36-year old wife and mother Jolene Cote stops to make some purchase at Wal-Mart before heading home. The following morning, Jolene’s husband wakes up and discovers her body on the grass outside their rural home, and it becomes apparent that she was attacked shortly after pulling into the driveway. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police remains very secretive about many aspects of this investigation, but express their belief that Jolene was not a randomly targeted victim.
Listen to "The Secret Room" podcast, hosted by Ben Hamm. Special thanks to Ben for providing the opening narration on today’s episode, which covers two unsolved cold cases from Alberta.
Additional Reading:
https://www.cbc.ca/missingandmurdered/mmiw/profiles/amber-alyssa-tuccaro
https://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/amber-tuccaro-s-unsolved-murder-do-you-recognize-this-voice-1.3102635
http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/ab/community-communaute/historical-homicide-groupe-non-resolues/amber-tuccaro-eng.htm
https://globalnews.ca/tag/jolene-cote/
https://country105.com/news/204299/timeline-the-jolene-cote-murder-investigation/
“The Trail Went Cold” will be appearing on podcast row at CrimeCon 2019 from June 7th-9th at the Hilton Riverside hotel in New Orleans. Listeners can receive a 10% discount on the purchase of a standard badge by using the promo code “COLD19”.
“The Trail Went Cold” will also be appearing at True Crime Podcast Festival 2019 on July 13th at the Marriott Downtown in Chicago. Please visit their website for more details.
“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.