The Trail Went Cold

October 13, 1997. Gillette, Wyoming. 14-year old Amanda Gallion leaves her home for school, but never arrives and is reported missing. Suspicion turns towards Amanda’s 20-year old boyfriend, Patrick Ghering, who denies any knowledge of her disappearance. Six days later, Patrick goes missing himself after his abandoned vehicle is discovered by the side of the road. Over the next several years, Amanda would be looked at as a potential victim of notorious child predator, Nathaniel Bar-Jonah, and spark controversy when a jailhouse snitch attempts to pin her disappearance on another convicted murder. However, the leads never pan out, and no trace of Amanda or Patrick is ever found. Are their disappearances connected, or did they both go missing under entirely different circumstances? We explore all the different angles of this baffling story on this week’s edition of “The Trail Went Cold”.
Additional Reading:
http://charleyproject.org/case/amanda-dawn-gallion
http://charleyproject.org/case/patrick-lee-ghering
http://www.ktiv.com/story/12184850/strahl-pleads-guilty-to-lesser-charge-in-1998-beating-death
“Eat the Evidence: A Journey Through the Dark Boroughs of a Pedophilic Cannibal’s Mind” by John C. Espy
“The Trail Went Cold” is now on Patreon! Visit www.patreon.com/thetrailwentcold to become a patron and gain access to our exclusive bonus content.
“The Trail Went Cold” will be appearing alongside other true crime podcasts at a “A Canadian Crime Podcast Event” on July 22 at The Hideout in Toronto. For more information on the event and to purchase tickets for only $10, please visit here.
“The Trail Went Cold” will be in attendance at PodernLove, a podcasting convention being held at the Intercontinental Hotel in New Orleans from August 10-12. In order to receive a 10 % discount on tickets to the event, please visit their website and use our personalized promo code, “Robert Stack”.
The Trail Went Cold is produced and edited by Magill Foote.
All music is composed by Vince Nitro.

January 4, 1991. Lake Havasu City, Arizona. 42-year old audio designer John Iverson disappears from his home after a meeting with a machinist named Jack Weber. According to Iverson’s spouse, Kathy Munro, Weber had robbed her at gunpoint before kidnapping Iverson. After being a wanted fugitive for three months, Weber turns himself in, but there is no sign of Iverson. Weber claims Munro’s story isn’t true and that Iverson left with him voluntarily before staging his own disappearance and framing him for kidnapping. Since there is no evidence of foul play, the charges against Weber are dropped, but Iverson is never found. Did Jack Weber kidnap and murder John Iverson? Or was his disappearance actually an elaborate set-up? We explore both scenarios on this week’s episode of “The Trail Went Cold”, which chronicles what might be the oddest missing persons case we’ve ever covered.
Additional Reading:
http://charleyproject.org/case/john-gordon-iverson
“The Strange Life and the Bizarre Disappearance of John Iverson” (The Absolute Sound – The High End Journal, June-July 1994)
“The Trail Went Cold” is now on Patreon! Visit www.patreon.com/thetrailwentcold to become a patron and gain access to our exclusive bonus content.
“The Trail Went Cold” will be appearing alongside other true crime podcasts at a “A Canadian Crime Podcast Event” on July 22 at The Hideout in Toronto. For more information on the event and to purchase tickets for only $10, please visit here.
“The Trail Went Cold” will be in attendance at PodernLove, a podcasting convention being held at the Intercontinental Hotel in New Orleans from August 10-12. In order to receive a 10 % discount on tickets to the event, please visit their website and use our personalized promo code, “Robert Stack”.
The Trail Went Cold is produced and edited by Magill Foote.
All music is composed by Vince Nitro.

November 19, 1985. Dawson County, Montana. After leaving his son’s farm in Oregon the previous day to take a lengthy road trip back to his home in Wisconsin, 67-year old Dexter Stefonek disappears and his burning car is discovered at an isolated rest area. Only a half hour earlier, a witness had seen an unidentified man driving Dexter’s car into the rest area and he appeared to be carrying two containers of gasoline. Three-and-a-half months later, Dexter’s body is discovered at a remote dumpsite and it turns out he has been beaten and shot twice in the head. On this week’s episode of “The Trail Went Cold”, we examine the baffling, senseless unsolved murder of Dexter Stefonek, whose killer remains unidentified.
Additional Reading:
https://unsolved.com/gallery/dexter-stefonek/
http://billingsgazette.com/news/crime/long-ago-bad-route-rest-stop-murder-still-puzzles-dawson/article_a8136b42-7109-5695-be17-0181840a0e53.html
http://billingsgazette.com/dexter-stefonek/article_39f130e6-2d24-58bb-9ccb-26980c2b64f2.html
“The Trail Went Cold” is now on Patreon! Visit www.patreon.com/thetrailwentcold to become a patron and gain access to our exclusive bonus content.
“The Trail Went Cold” will be appearing alongside other true crime podcasts at a “A Canadian Crime Podcast Event” on July 22 at The Hideout in Toronto. For more information on the event and to purchase tickets for only $10, please visit here.
“The Trail Went Cold” will be in attendance at PodernLove, a podcasting convention being held at the Intercontinental Hotel in New Orleans from August 10-12. In order to receive a 10 % discount on tickets to the event, please visit their website and use our personalized promo code, “Robert Stack”.
The Trail Went Cold is produced and edited by Magill Foote.
All music is composed by Vince Nitro.

July 11, 1996. Knoxville, Tennessee. The body of 31-year old Blair Adams is discovered in a parking lot. He is nude from the waist down with $4,000 worth of American, Canadian and German currency scattered around his body, and the cause of death is determined to be a violent blow which ruptured his stomach. Blair hails from Surrey, British Columbia and had suddenly quit his job three days earlier before embarking on a 4,000-mile cross-country trip. He had been exhibiting paranoid behaviour and seemed convinced someone was trying to kill him, but shortly after arriving in Knoxville, he inexplicably wound up dead under bizarre circumstances. This week’s episode of “The Trail Went Cold” covers a highly requested mystery, which ranks as one of the all-time most baffling unsolved deaths. Special thanks to listener Christy Tarver for providing the opening narration for this episode.
Additional Reading:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Blair_Adams
http://unsolved.com/gallery/blair-adams/
https://www.knoxnews.com/story/news/crime/2017/09/11/unsolved-canadian-blair-adams-raced-knox-county-slain-half-nude-his-gold-untouched/610262001/
“The Trail Went Cold” is now on Patreon! Visit www.patreon.com/thetrailwentcold to become a patron and gain access to our exclusive bonus content.
“The Trail Went Cold” will be appearing alongside other true crime podcasts at a “A Canadian Crime Podcast Event” on July 22 at The Hideout in Toronto. For more information on the event and to purchase tickets for only $10, please visit here.
The Trail Went Cold is produced and edited by Magill Foote.
All music is composed by Vince Nitro.

October 18, 1987. Rochester, New Hampshire. 34-year old Alene “Lulu” Courchesne is found strangled to death next to a turnpike outside of town. Even though Lulu is engaged to someone else, she had gone out on a date the previous night with a man named Rick McCue. Rick is eventually charged with Lulu’s murder and found guilty at trial, even though compelling evidence seems to point to the brother of Lulu’s fiancée. After allegations of jury misconduct cause his conviction to be overturned, Rick receives a new trial and is acquitted in 1993, but no one else is ever charged with Lulu Courchesne’s murder. Did Rick McCue actually commit this crime, or did the real perpetrator get away with it? This week’s episode of “The Trail Went Cold” examines a controversial murder case which has yet to find a complete resolution after 30 years.
Additional Reading:
http://unsolvedmysteries.wikia.com/wiki/Rick_McCue
http://www.nhd.uscourts.gov/sites/default/files/opinions/96/96SM067.pdf
https://www.leagle.com/decision/1991228134nh941215
“The Trail Went Cold” is now on Patreon! Visit www.patreon.com/thetrailwentcold to become a patron and gain access to our exclusive bonus content.
“The Trail Went Cold” will be appearing alongside other true crime podcasts at a “A Canadian Crime Podcast Event” on July 22 at The Hideout in Toronto. For more information on the event and to purchase tickets for only $10, please visit here.
The Trail Went Cold is produced and edited by Magill Foote.
All music is composed by Vince Nitro.

April 29, 2003. Nashville, Tennessee. 13-year old Tabitha Tuders leaves her house for school and is last seen walking through her neighbourhood towards her bus stop. Tabitha never boards the bus or arrives at school and when she fails to return home that evening, she is reported missing. Less than four months later, another young girl goes missing when 11-year old Heaven LaShae Ross also disappears after leaving her home to catch the school bus in Northport, Alabama. Shae’s remains are discovered underneath an abandoned house three years later, but her death remains unsolved and Tabitha Tuders is never found. On this week’s episode of “The Trail Went Cold”, we examine two unsolved cold cases involving girls who vanished under very similar circumstances and the possibility that they might be connected.
Thanks to HelloFresh for supporting our podcast. Get $30 off your first week of deliveries by going to HelloFresh.com/cold30 and using the offer code “cold30”.
Additional Reading:
http://charleyproject.org/case/tabitha-danielle-tuders
http://tabithatuders.net/index.html
https://www.nashvillescene.com/news/article/13016007/tabitha-tuders
https://www.nashvillescene.com/news/article/13011446/neverending-grief
https://www.al.com/tuscaloosa/2013/08/case_of_missing_ala_girl_heave.html
http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/news/20031001/volunteers-part-ways-with-missing-girls-mom
https://www.tuscaloosanews.com/news/20061221/shaes-family-copes-after-body-found
“The Trail Went Cold” is now on Patreon! Visit www.patreon.com/thetrailwentcold to become a patron and gain access to our exclusive bonus content.
“The Trail Went Cold” will be appearing alongside other true crime podcasts at a “A Canadian Crime Podcast Event” on July 22 at The Hideout in Toronto. For more information on the event and to purchase tickets for only $10, please visit here.
The Trail Went Cold is produced and edited by Magill Foote.
All music is composed by Vince Nitro.

November 18, 1995. Vicksburg, Mississippi. 62-year old Jacqueline Levitz, the wealthy widowed heiress to a furniture empire, vanishes from her home. Two days later, blood stains and evidence of a violent struggle are discovered inside her bedroom, creating the impression that Jacqueline met with foul play. Over the years, numerous suspects would be investigated, including members of Jacqueline’s family, her recently deceased husband’s family, workmen from a construction crew remodelling her home, and a mother-and-son con artist duo who would be convicted of the murder of another wealthy missing woman years later. However, no has ever been linked to Jacqueline Levitz’s unsolved disappearance, so this week’s episode of “The Trail Went Cold” will explore all the different theories of what might have happened.
Additional Reading:
http://charleyproject.org/case/mary-jacqueline-levitz
http://edition.cnn.com/2002/LAW/11/11/ctv.levitz/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1995/12/10/an-armchair-mystery/650e8d04-b468-4605-837a-b07be2a18d59/?utm_term=.93bb29a2b1e2
http://articles.latimes.com/1995-12-02/news/mn-9493_1_levitz-furniture
“The Trail Went Cold” will be appearing on podcast row at CrimeCon 2018 from May 4th-6th at the Gaylord Opryland hotel in Nashville. Listeners can receive a 10% discount on their ticket purchase by using the code “TTWC”.
“The Trail Went Cold” is now 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 2, 1919. Toronto, Ontario. Ambrose Small, a wealthy 56-year old theater tycoon, has just completed a deal to sell off all his holdings for $1.7 million. After having a meeting with his lawyer at his office at the Grand Opera House, Small vanishes without a trace. Over the years, suspicion would be directed at numerous suspects, including Small’s wife and his personal secretary, who fled the country after stealing some of Small’s bonds. However, there was never enough evidence to implicate anyone and the case would even veer into supernatural territory after there were reported sightings of Small’s ghost haunting one of his former theatres. After 68 full-length episodes and 32 minisodes, “The Trail Went Cold” has officially released its 100th episode and to commemorate the occasion, we have travelled back nearly 100 years to cover one of Canada’s most famous unsolved mysteries. Special thanks to listeners Heather Jones, Laura Fulks, Andrea Canfield, Abbey Martin and Casey Brandt for narrating sections of today’s episode.
Additional Reading:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambrose_Small
http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/1891dmon.html
http://www.prairieghosts.com/ambrose.html
https://www.blogto.com/city/2012/02/ambrose_small_torontos_most_sensational_mystery/
http://torontothenandnow.blogspot.ca/2010/12/14-ambrose-small-and-torontos-crime-of.html
“The Trail Went Cold” will be appearing on podcast row at CrimeCon 2018 from May 4th-6th at the Gaylord Opryland hotel in Nashville. Listeners can receive a 10% discount on their ticket purchase by using the code “TTWC”.
“The Trail Went Cold” is now 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 7, 1988. Mountainair, New Mexico. Steve Sandlin, a 21-year old rookie with the local police department, is found dead inside the station. He has been shot in the head and since the police chief pushes forward the theory that Steve’s death was either suicide or an accident, it is officially classified as “undetermined”. However, Steve’s family becomes suspicious when they discover several bags of marijuana planted inside his house and learn that Steve had recently arrested a local resident who was involved in drug dealing. Information is uncovered to suggest that Steve may have been the victim of a conspiracy involving other police officers and it would be several years before his death is reclassified as a homicide. This week’s episode of “The Trail Went Cold” covers our first unsolved cold case involving the death of a police officer. “The Trail Went Cold” will be appearing on podcast row at CrimeCon 2018 from May 4th-6th at the Gaylord Opryland hotel in Nashville. Listeners can receive a 10% discount on their ticket purchase by using the code “TTWC”. "The Trail Went Cold" is now on Patreon! Visit www.patreon.com/thetrailwentcold to become a patron and gain access to our exclusive bonus content. We would like to thank our sponsor, Winc, for supporting this week’s episode. To receive a $20 credit and free shipping on 4 bottles of wine on your first order, go to trywinc.com/cold. Click here to subscribe to the podcast on iTunes. Click here to listen to the podcast on Stitcher. Click here to subscribe to the podcast on Google Play Music. The Trail Went Cold is produced and edited by Magill Foote. All music is composed by Vince Nitro.

May 7, 1988. Mountainair, New Mexico. Steve Sandlin, a 21-year old rookie with the local police department, is found dead inside the station. He has been shot in the head and since the police chief pushes forward the theory that Steve’s death was either suicide or an accident, it is officially classified as “undetermined”. However, Steve’s family becomes suspicious when they discover several bags of marijuana planted inside his house and learn that Steve had recently arrested a local resident who was involved in drug dealing. Information is uncovered to suggest that Steve may have been the victim of a conspiracy involving other police officers and it would be several years before his death is reclassified as a homicide. This week’s episode of “The Trail Went Cold” covers our first unsolved cold case involving the death of a police officer.
Additional Reading:
https://unsolved.com/gallery/steve-sandlin/
http://unsolvedmysteries.wikia.com/wiki/Steve_Sandlin
https://www.abqjournal.com/201338/officers-death-still-a-mystery-after-25-years-2.html
“The Trail Went Cold” will be appearing on podcast row at CrimeCon 2018 from May 4th-6th at the Gaylord Opryland hotel in Nashville. Listeners can receive a 10% discount on their ticket purchase by using the code “TTWC”.
“The Trail Went Cold” is now on Patreon! Visit www.patreon.com/thetrailwentcold to become a patron and gain access to our exclusive bonus content.
We would like to thank our sponsor, Winc, for supporting this week’s episode. To receive a $20 credit and free shipping on 4 bottles of wine on your first order, go to trywinc.com/cold.
The Trail Went Cold is produced and edited by Magill Foote.
All music is composed by Vince Nitro.