The Trail Went Cold

August 27, 1992. Tupelo, Mississippi. While Hurricane Andrew moves over the area, 13-year old Leigh Occhi is left home alone for the day by her mother, Vickie Felton. When Vickie fails to reach her daughter from work, she rushes home to discover that Leigh is missing and the presence of blood in the house suggests foul play. Weeks later, Vickie is mailed an envelope containing Leigh’s glasses. Was Leigh abducted and murdered by an unknown intruder… or could her own mother have been responsible for her disappearance and fabricated an elaborate cover story? In this week’s minisode of “The Trail Went Cold”, we analyze a very disturbing and bizarre missing persons case.
Additional Reading:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disappearance_of_Leigh_Occhi
http://charleyproject.org/case/leigh-marine-occhi
https://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/11/13/grace.coldcase.occhi/index.html
http://web.archive.org/web/20090803091158/http://blogs.discovery.com/criminal_report/2009/07/leigh-marine-occhi.html#more
http://web.archive.org/web/20090803103803/http://blogs.discovery.com:80/criminal_report/2009/07/leigh-marine-occhi-2.html
http://web.archive.org/web/20090803103803/http://blogs.discovery.com/criminal_report/2009/07/leigh-marine-occhi-3.html
http://web.archive.org/web/20090803091153/http://blogs.discovery.com:80/criminal_report/2009/07/leigh-marine-occhi-4.html
Listeners attending CrimeCon 2017 from June 9th-11th at the JW Marriott in Indianapolis can receive a 20% discount on their ticket purchase by using the code “TTWC20”
The Trail Went Cold is produced and edited by Magill Foote.
All music is composed by Vince Nitro.

December 17, 1967. The skeletal remains of an unidentified male are found in Balsam Lake Provincial Park near Coboconk, Ontario, Canada. Five months later, the decomposing body of another unidentified male is discovered in a field near the village of Schomberg, and the similarities between the two scenes suggest that both victims were murdered by the same killer. The victims go unidentified for 40 years until clay busts of their heads are constructed and shown on television. They are both eventually recognized and identified by their families as Richard “Dickie” Hovey and Eric Jones. However, the exact circumstances of their murders are still unknown. This week, “The Trail Went Cold” will be venturing back to its native country for an episode about two young men who may have been victims of Canada’s first known serial killer.
Additional Reading:
“Unsolved: True Canadian Cold Cases” by Robert J. Hoshowsky
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/body-found-in-68-identified-as-new-brunswick-youth-1.615309
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/a-shattering-conclusion-to-42-year-old-mystery/article17940176/
Listeners attending CrimeCon 2017 from June 9th-11th at the JW Marriott in Indianapolis can receive a 20% discount on their ticket purchase by using the code “TTWC20”
The Trail Went Cold is produced and edited by Magill Foote.
All music is composed by Vince Nitro.

Back in January, we released a minisode about the disappearance of 47-year old Pamela Butler, who vanished from her Washington, D.C. home in February 2009. Even though Pam’s house was covered by security cameras, none of the surveillance footage showed her leaving, but her boyfriend, Jose Rodriguez-Cruz, was seen entering and exiting the home on multiple occasions in the days following her disappearance. On April 8, 2017, Jose was finally arrested and charged with Pam’s murder. Incredibly, it has now been revealed that Jose is also the prime suspect in the unsolved 1989 disappearance of his estranged wife! For the first time, “The Trail Went Cold” is presenting a bonus update minisode about one of the cases featured on our podcast, as we reveal what finally led to Jose Rodriguez-Cruz being charged with Pamela Butler’s murder and some shocking secrets which have emerged about his past.
The Trail Went Cold is produced and edited by Magill Foote.
All music is composed by Vince Nitro.

June 6, 1991. Greenford, England. While leaving her family’s home, 43-year old Penny Bell tells a group of builders that she is running late for an appointment. Later that morning, Penny is discovered dead inside her vehicle after being brutally stabbed 50 times. Three days before her death, Penny had withdrawn £8,500 from her bank account without telling anybody, but the money is never recovered and no one uncovers the reason for the mysterious appointment which led to Penny’s death. “The Trail Went Cold” will be travelling back to the United Kingdom for this week’s minisode, as we chronicle one of the country’s most baffling unsolved murders.
Additional Reading:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Penny_Bell
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/4233444.stm
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-3199425/My-precious-Penny-baby-s-helped-reclaim-mother-murder-Daughter-woman-stabbed-50-times-horrific-unsolved-killing-parent-herself.html
https://www.thefreelibrary.com/WHAT+DROVE+PENNY+TO+MAKE+A+DATE+WITH+DEATH%3F%3B+Wealthy+career+woman…-a061177067
Listeners attending CrimeCon 2017 from June 9th-11th at the JW Marriott in Indianapolis can receive a 20% discount on their ticket purchase by using the code “TTWC20”
The Trail Went Cold is produced and edited by Magill Foote.
All music is composed by Vince Nitro.

January 6, 1982. Breckenridge, Colorado. After finishing her shift at work, 29-year old Bobbie Oberholtzer phones her husband to say she is going out for drinks with friends. Bobbie never returns home and is found shot to death the following day. Strangely, an orange sock which does not belong to Bobbie is found at the murder scene. Six months later, the body of a 21-year old missing woman named Annette Schnee is found and she is wearing the matching orange sock. This piece of evidence suggests that both victims were murdered on the same night by the same perpetrator at different locations. But who could have been responsible for such a brazen crime, and was there more than one person involved? On this week’s episode of “The Trail Went Cold”, we examine the infamous unsolved case known as the “Orange Sock Murders”.
Special thanks to Casper for supporting our podcast. In order to save $50 on a mattress, please visit http://www.casper.com/cold and enter the promo code “cold”.
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.
Additional Reading:
http://unsolved.com/archives/bobbie-jo-oberholzer-annette-kay-schnee
http://blogs.denverpost.com/coldcases/2014/12/06/breckenridge/9583/
http://www.rockymountaincoldcase.com/
“Monster” by Steve Jackson
Listeners attending CrimeCon 2017 from June 9th-11th at the JW Marriott in Indianapolis can receive a 20% discount on their ticket purchase by using the code “TTWC20”
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The Trail Went Cold is produced and edited by Magill Foote.
All music is composed by Vince Nitro.

May 9, 1994. Pine Bluff, Arkansas. 18-year old Cleashindra Hall phones her mother from her workplace to say she will be working late and might be calling again once her shift ends. Cleashindra never phones back and does not return home. Cleashindra’s boss, Dr. Larry Amos, tells police that an unknown individual picked her up that night, but troubling holes open up in his story and he displays some suspicious behavior. Even after a search is conducted of his home 18 years later, no hard evidence is found to incriminate Amos and the case remains at a standstill. In this week’s minisode of “The Trail Went Cold”, we examine the frustrating unsolved disappearance of Cleashindra Hall, a case which might only need that one crucial piece of evidence to blow it wide open. For more information about this case and the Cleashindra Hall Foundation, please visit this website…http://findcleashindra.blogspot.ca/
Thanks to HelloFresh for supporting our podcast. Go to www.HelloFresh.com and use the code cold30 to get $30 off your first week of deliveries.
Additional Reading:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disappearance_of_Cleashindra_Hall
http://charleyproject.org/case/cleashindra-denise-hall
http://www.pbcommercial.com/sections/news/local/police-take-new-look-cleashindra-hall-disappearance.html
Listeners attending CrimeCon 2017 from June 9th-11th at the JW Marriott in Indianapolis can receive a 20% discount on their ticket purchase by using the code “TTWC20”
The Trail Went Cold is produced and edited by Magill Foote.
All music is composed by Vince Nitro.

January 14, 1983. 62-year old Terri McClure travels from her hometown of Reno, Nevada to attend the wedding of her son, Tim, in Lake Tahoe. After leaving the reception that night, Terri does not return home. Three days later, she is found shot to death inside her vehicle in the parking lot of a Carson City casino. Due to some suspicious behaviour and strange inconsistencies in his story, the investigation soon zeroes in on Tim McClure as the prime suspect. Tim is charged with his mother’s murder in 1992, but the surprising end result only opens up more unanswered questions. Was Terri McClure murdered by her own son or was someone else responsible? This week’s episode of “The Trail Went Cold” analyzes one of the most controversial and heavily discussed cases ever featured on “Unsolved Mysteries”.
Additional Reading:
https://unsolved.com/gallery/terri-mcclure/
https://unsolvedmysteries.fandom.com/wiki/Terri_McClure
https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-09-04-me-6296-story.html
http://articles.latimes.com/1992-11-10/local/me-55_1_court-hears-mother-killing-case
Listeners attending CrimeCon 2017 from June 9th-11th at the JW Marriott in Indianapolis can receive a 20% discount on their ticket purchase by using the code “TTWC20”
The Trail Went Cold is produced and edited by Magill Foote.
All music is composed by Vince Nitro.

April 25, 1988. Copperas Cove, Texas. After an argument with her boyfriend, 20-year old college student Elizabeth Campbell storms out of his house and receives a ride to a convenience store. After phoning her boyfriend and making an unsuccessful attempt to convince him to pick her up, Elizabeth vanishes without a trace. Over the next few weeks, there would be multiple sightings of a woman resembling Elizabeth in the company of a possessive man, leading to speculation that she was being controlled by a pimp. Was Elizabeth abducted and murdered, or was she actually kept alive and forced into prostitution? We explore both possibilities on this week’s minisode of “The Trail Went Cold”.
Additional Reading:
http://unsolved.com/archives/elizabeth-campbell
http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/c/campbell_elizabeth.html
https://unsolvedmysteries.fandom.com/wiki/Elizabeth_Campbell
Listeners attending CrimeCon 2017 from June 9th-11th at the JW Marriott in Indianapolis can receive a 20% discount on their ticket purchase by using the code “TTWC20”
The Trail Went Cold is produced and edited by Magill Foote.
All music is composed by Vince Nitro.

August 17, 1992. Waukegan, Illinois. While babysitting two children, 11-year old Holly Staker is sexually assaulted and brutally murdered inside their apartment. Two months later, a suspect named Juan Rivera is brought in for questioning and confesses to the murder after four straight days of interrogation. He is subsequently convicted and receives a life sentence, but no physical evidence links Rivera to the crime and the veracity of his confession is called into question. After Rivera serves 19 years in prison, DNA evidence eventually links Holly’s death to another murder… but could another innocent person also be serving time in prison for that particular crime? This week, we present one of our most shocking episodes of “The Trail Went Cold”, which examines a truly egregious wrongful conviction and two brutal murders committed by an unknown perpetrator who has yet to be identified.
Additional Reading:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Rivera_(wrongful_conviction)
https://www.law.umich.edu/special/exoneration/Pages/casedetail.aspx?caseid=3850
https://courts.illinois.gov/opinions/AppellateCourt/2011/2ndDistrict/December/2091060.pdf
http://www.law.northwestern.edu/legalclinic/wrongfulconvictions/exonerations/documents/rivera_brief.pdf
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2014-06-10/news/chi-dna-links-murder-and-rape-of-holly-staker-11-to-second-murder-8-years-later-20140610_1_holly-staker-dna-evidence-dna-match
The Trail Went Cold is produced and edited by Magill Foote.
All music is composed by Vince Nitro.

January 6, 1994. Ylenia Carrisi, the 23-year old daughter of the famous Italian singing duo, Al Bano and Romina Power, and a minor celebrity in her native country, has embarked on a solo trip around the world. Shortly after arriving in New Orleans, Ylenia vanishes without explanation. Her disappearance would generate a few leads, including a suspicious street musician who attempted to use Ylenia’s passport and traveler’s checks, and a witness who may have seen her jump into the Mississippi River. Did Ylenia Carrisi drown, disappear to start a new life, or was she was a victim of foul play? We explore each possibility in this week’s minisode of “The Trail Went Cold”.
Additional Reading:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ylenia_Carrisi
http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/c/carrisi_ylenia.html
http://people.com/archive/seeking-ylenia-vol-41-no-12/
http://www.nytimes.com/1994/02/28/us/woman-s-vanishing-engrosses-a-city-redolent-of-mystery.html
The Trail Went Cold is produced and edited by Magill Foote.
All music is composed by Vince Nitro.