The Trail Went Cold

November 27, 1970. Ventura County, California. While representing Leslie Van Houten during the Manson Family’s murder trial, 35-year old attorney Ronald Hughes leaves to go on a camping trip. He never returns and his decomposed body is found wedged between two boulders in a gorge four months later. While the actual cause of death cannot be determined, rumours circulate about foul play, as Charles Manson had grown angry at Hughes and allegedly threatened him. Was Ronald Hughes’ death nothing more than a tragic accident, or was he an unconfirmed murder victim of the Manson Family? The first “Trail Went Cold” episode of 2018 chronicles the unexplained death of an aspiring attorney whose first and last case turned out to be one of the most famous murder trials of all time. Special thanks to listener Andrew Dodge for providing the opening narration for today’s episode.
This episode is brought to you by Aaptiv. Aaptiv produces audio-based workouts created by certified personal trainers available through a mobile app. New members get 50% off an annual membership, so please visit aaptiv.com/COLD.
Additional Reading:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_Hughes
http://articles.latimes.com/2012/jun/01/local/la-me-manson-tapes-20120601/2
http://www.famous-trials.com/manson/250-keyfigures
“Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders” by Vincent Bugliosi & Curt Gentry
The Trail Went Cold is produced and edited by Magill Foote.
All music is composed by Vince Nitro.

April 20, 1989. Circle, Montana. While driving on the wrong side of a rural highway, 37-year old Patricia Meehan gets into a collision with another car. After staring blankly at the vehicle’s driver, Patricia walks out onto the prairie and disappears. During the next few months, there would be numerous sightings of a disoriented-woman resembling Patricia. This leads to speculation that the trauma of the car crash caused Patricia to develop amnesia and forget who she was, but she is ultimately never found.
April 5, 1985. Great Falls, Montana. After an order is placed to a pizza parlour from a residential house, 23-year old driver Morris Davis delivers the pizza to that address. Morris is fatally shot eight times and his delivery wallet is stolen. It would turn out the house was vacant and that the killer had broken inside to wait for Morris to arrive. The case would feature some odd twists and turns, including an unlikely series of events involving the potential murder weapon, but the identity of Morris’ killer remains unknown.
For this year’s final episode of “The Trail Went Cold”, we will be doing a special double feature and chronicling two cold cases from Montana which were featured on “Unsolved Mysteries”.
This episode of The Trail Went Cold is brought to you by Zola. Zola is reinventing the wedding registry and planning process to make the happiest moment in couples’ lives even happier. To sign up with Zola and receive a $50 credit towards your registry, visit zola.com/cold and use the promo code “cold” at checkout.
This episode is also brought to you by Aaptiv. Aaptiv produces audio-based workouts created by certified personal trainers available through a mobile app. New members get 50% off an annual membership, so please visit aaptiv.com/COLD.
Additional Reading:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disappearance_of_Patricia_Meehan
http://charleyproject.org/case/patricia-bernadette-meehan
https://unsolved.com/gallery/patricia-meehan/
http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=19900902&slug=1091004
https://unsolvedmysteries.fandom.com/wiki/Morris_Davis
https://www.greatfallstribune.com/story/news/local/2016/05/06/sister-slain-teen-forgave-killer-death-prison/84047018/
https://billingsgazette.com/morris-davis-jr/article_1ec72c7b-3708-57ad-b29a-6b8c00d91af7.html
The Trail Went Cold is produced and edited by Magill Foote.
All music is composed by Vince Nitro.

Christmas Eve 1931. Superior, Arizona. While driving through the desert, a couple named Ed and Julia Stewart experience a flat tire and pull over to a remote spot. They soon discover an abandoned newborn baby girl inside a hatbox and turn her over to the authorities. While the story of the “Hatbox Baby” becomes a media sensation, the child’s family cannot be located, so she is adopted out to a couple, whose identities are kept secret from the public. Over 50 years later, a woman named Sharon Elliott is shocked to learn that she was the mysterious Hatbox Baby. Even though Sharon attempts to uncover the truth about her past and finds some promising leads, she does not receive any conclusive answers about the identity of her family or how she wound up in the desert. Was the discovery of the Hatbox Baby a genuine Christmas miracle, or an elaborate set-up orchestrated to protect someone? For our final Christmas-themed of “The Trail Went Cold”, we will be shying away from violent crime and chronicling a much more unique mystery than usual. Special thanks to listener Jonathan Burroughs for providing the opening narration for today’s episode.
Also, a big thanks to Esther Gamez for providing us with another terrific piece of cover art for this episode. Be sure to check out Esther’s Facebook and Tumblr pages to see more of her artwork.
We would like to thank Sock Club for sponsoring the Trail Went Cold. To earn 15 % off your next order of socks, visit sockclub.com/cold and use the discount code “cold”.
Additional Reading:
https://unsolvedmysteries.fandom.com/wiki/The_Hatbox_Baby
http://www.azcentral.com/community/mesa/articles/2011/12/19/20111219hatbox-baby-mystery-still-lingers.html
Spokane Chronicle (Dec. 26, 1988)
The Trail Went Cold is produced and edited by Magill Foote.
All music is composed by Vince Nitro.

Christmas Eve, 1973. New London, Connecticut. While changing a tire, 20-year old Kevin Showalter is struck by a passing vehicle and killed in a hit-and-run. When the local police botch the investigation and make no effort to solve the case, Kevin’s mother is forced to fight for answers on her own. Years later, a grand jury investigation is launched and the town’s former mayor is named as the probable driver of the vehicle. However, further complications ensue when another man comes forward and confesses to the crime, creating debate about who was actually responsible for Kevin’s death. This week’s episode of “The Trail Went Cold” will be examining what is perhaps the most extensive and controversial hit-and-run case in the history of the United States, which has still not found a conclusive resolution after four decades.
We would like to thank Sock Club for sponsoring the Trail Went Cold. To earn 15 % off your next order of socks, visit sockclub.com/cold and use the discount code “cold”.
Additional Reading:
http://people.com/archive/a-mothers-anguish-kept-alive-a-sons-memory-and-her-lonely-search-for-his-hit-and-run-killer-vol-10-no-3/
http://articles.courant.com/2005-12-12/news/0512120514_1_grand-jury-mr-hansen-case
http://cooljustice.blogspot.ca/2013/02/this-is-what-grand-jury-report-looks.html
http://cooljustice.blogspot.ca/2016/09/hit-and-run-chronology-grand-jury.html
The Day (Dec. 25, 1983)
The Trail Went Cold is produced and edited by Magill Foote.
All music is composed by Vince Nitro.

December 22, 1967. Chicago, Illinois. After leaving work and picking up his son from school, Dr. John Branion, a prominent African-American physician who treated Martin Luther King Jr., returns home to discover that his wife, Donna Branion, has been shot to death. Police become suspicious of Dr. Branion’s behaviour and eventually charge him with the murder after discovering that the likely murder weapon, a Walther PPK, and four shells are missing from his home. Even though Branion appears to have a solid alibi and his defense team argues there was not enough time for him to commit the crime, he is found guilty at trial. While free on bond to appeal the verdict, Branion flees the country, but is recaptured years later and dies in 1990. However, questions remain about the validity of the original conviction. Was Donna Branion actually murdered by her husband? Was an innocent man wrongfully convicted? Or is the real answer a lot more complex? This week’s episode of “The Trail Went Cold” examines a very controversial murder case which is still debated 50 years later.
We would like to thank Sock Club for sponsoring the Trail Went Cold. To earn 15 % off your next order of socks, visit sockclub.com/cold and use the discount code “cold”.
Additional Reading:
http://unsolvedmysteries.wikia.com/wiki/John_Branion
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1991-08-25/features/9103030674_1_prominent-chicago-police-cmdr-apartment
http://law.jrank.org/pages/3172/John-Marshall-Branion-Trial-1968.html
https://law.justia.com/cases/illinois/supreme-court/1970/41622-6.html
https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F2/855/1256/372355/
“The Doctor, The Murder, The Mystery” by Barbara D’Amato
The Trail Went Cold is produced and edited by Magill Foote.
All music is composed by Vince Nitro.

February 24, 1978. Chico, California. After embarking on a road trip to attend a basketball game, five mentally disabled young men – 24-year old Jackie Huett, 29-year old Bill Sterling, 30-year old Jack Madruga, 32-year old Ted Weiher, and 25-year old Gary Mathias – begin the 50-mile drive back to their homes in Yuba County, but never arrive. Four days later, their abandoned car is found in some snow on an isolated mountain road, but the five men, a.k.a. “The Yuba County Five”, have gone missing. After the spring thaw hits, the remains of four of the victims are discovered at different locations throughout the area, but Gary Mathias is never found. While the cause of death is determined to be exposure, there are many unanswered questions. Why did they drive over 35 miles off the highway to such an isolated location? What prompted them to abandon their vehicle? Did an eyewitness see other people with the five men on the road that night? This week’s episode about the Yuba County Five is one of the most bizarre mysteries we’ve ever covered, and is considered by some to be an American version of the infamous Dyatlov Pass incident. Special thanks to the Unresolved Mysteries subrebbit for bringing this story out into the open.
We would like to thank Sock Club for sponsoring the Trail Went Cold. To earn 15 % off your next order of socks, visit sockclub.com/cold and use the discount code “cold”.
Additional Reading:
http://charleyproject.org/case/gary-dale-mathias
https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1978/07/06/5-boys-who-never-come-back/f8b30b11-baeb-4351-89f3-26456a76a4fb
The Trail Went Cold is produced and edited by Magill Foote.
All music is composed by Vince Nitro.

November 30, 1963. West Hollywood, California. After not being heard from for over two days, the nude body of 22-year actress Karyn Kupcinet is discovered on the couch inside her apartment. Her death is initially suspected of being a drug overdose, but when the coroner discovers a broken hyoid bone in Karyn’s throat, he rules that she was a victim of strangulation. Years later, Karyn’s death is unexpectedly linked to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy with allegations that she was murdered because she attempted to make an anonymous phone call and prevent the assassination minutes before it happened. Was Karyn Kupcinet a victim of foul play or was her death simply the result of a tragic accident? In this week’s episode of “The Trail Went Cold”, we explore a case which is one of Hollywood’s most baffling unsolved mysteries and the source of an unlikely conspiracy theory surrounding the Kennedy assassination.
Additional Reading:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karyn_Kupcinet
http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/kupcinet.htm
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-per-flash-karyn-kupcinet-1124-20131124-story.html
“Crime Wave: Reportage and Fiction from the Underside of L.A.” by James Ellroy
The Trail Went Cold is produced and edited by Magill Foote.
All music is composed by Vince Nitro.

May 19, 2004. New York City. After leaving her apartment, 21-year old Julliard student Sarah Fox does not return and is found strangled to death in a wooded area at Inwood Hill Park six days later. Her nude body is posed in a ritualistic fashion and surrounded by two dozen tulip petals. A suspect named Dimitry Sheinman eventually pops up on the radar and claims that he had visions of the murder. As the years pass by, Sheinman starts claiming that Sarah is communicating with him from beyond the grave, but no evidence connects him to the crime. Did Dimitry Sheinman actually murder Sarah Fox, or is he nothing more than an attention-seeking glory hound? We attempt to answer that question on what will be our last official minisode of “The Trail Went Cold”.
Additional Reading:
http://nypost.com/2014/05/11/juilliard-murder-suspect-claims-victim-talks-to-him/
http://www.nj.com/gloucester-county/index.ssf/2014/05/10_years_after_sarah_foxs_murder_gifted_south_jersey_actress_still_inspires.html
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/sarah-fox-case-dna-match-linking-2004-julliard-student-murder-scene-to-occupy-wall-street-protest-a-lab-error-official-says/
Thanks to Winc for supporting our podcast. Get $22 and free shipping on your first order of wine at http://trywinc.com/cold.
The Trail Went Cold is produced and edited by Magill Foote.
All music is composed by Vince Nitro.

December 1, 1991. Herndon, Virginia. The parents of 21-year old Tommy Burkett return home to find him dead in his bedroom, the apparent victim of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. When the authorities arrive, Tommy’s parents are immediately taken aback by their suspicious behaviour and notice strange discrepancies to make them believe their son did not commit suicide. Upon further investigation, they find evidence to suggest Tommy might have been murdered for doing undercover work with the Drug Enforcement Administration on his university campus and that a massive cover-up surrounds his death. Did Tommy Burkett actually take his own life, or did many people conspire to have him killed? On this week’s episode of “The Trail Went Cold”, we tackle one of the most suspicious suicide cases you’ll ever come across. Special thanks to listener Eve Davis for providing the opening narration for today’s episode.
Additional Reading:
https://unsolved.com/gallery/tommy-burkett/
http://unsolvedmysteries.wikia.com/wiki/Thomas_Burkett
http://www.dcdave.com/article4/020704.htm
http://web.archive.org/web/20051105020746/http://thepacc.org:80/
The Trail Went Cold is produced and edited by Magill Foote.
All music is composed by Vince Nitro.

June 15, 1998. Bloomington, Illinois. Three-year old Christina McNeil is discovered dead inside her bedroom and small cuts can be found in her window screen. The investigation soon focuses on Christina’s father, Barton McNeil, who is eventually convicted of his daughter’s murder and receives a life sentence. However, Barton continually maintains his innocence and points the finger at another suspect, who winds up going to prison for another brutal murder years later. This controversial case is the subject of the second season of the true crime podcast, “Suspect Convictions”. The podcast is produced by veteran investigative journalist Scott Reeder, who appeared on “The Trail Went Cold” earlier this year to discuss the first season, and has joined us again to talk to us about this new season of “Suspect Convictions”.
Click here to visit the “Suspect Convictions” website and download the podcast.
The Trail Went Cold is produced and edited by Magill Foote.
All music is composed by Vince Nitro.