Hell and Gone

The morning of Friday May 25, 1979, started out like just another day for Julie Patz; her husband Stan, a photographer; and their children, eight-year-old Shira, six-year-old Etan and two-year-old Ari. It was a busy morning. Julie ran a daycare out of her Soho loft at 113 Prince Street in New York City, and she was getting her own kids ready for the day and at the same time, preparing for the influx of kids who would be arriving soon. Shira didn’t want to roll out of bed, but Etan, who his family described as a sweet, loving and friendly boy, was excited to start the school day. Six-year-old Etan asked his mom if he could walk the two short blocks to the school bus stop alone - for the very first time. Since it was the last few weeks of the school year, his mom said that would be okay. Etan had a plan. He had a dollar in his pocket, which a neighborhood handyman had given him the day before when Etan helped him in his workshop. Etan was going to stop at the corner bodega at Prince and West Broadway, and buy a soda before getting on the bus. Julie walked Etan downstairs, and as she watched him walk down the street before going back upstairs, she told herself that it was only two blocks. That was the last time that Julie ever saw her son. This case became a huge story not just in New York but in the entire country. Etan Patz became the literal poster child for missing children, and Julie and her husband Stan were the living embodiment of every parent’s worst nightmare. What if your child disappeared one day, and you never found out what really happened to them? Forty-six years later, this case is still active. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On August 24, 2012, a Vietnam veteran who had been staying at the Lake Lanier Club Apartments off Dawsonville Highway in Gainesville, Georgia with his daughter and grandchildren, was taking a walk through the woods behind the complex. The man liked taking nature walks, and he was also following up on a report that he had made to the apartment management about a missing manhole cover. He later told police that he wanted to see if it had been replaced yet. It was around 7:30 pm in the evening, and still almost full daylight, and when the man paused near a stream bed, he saw something disturbing...something that he at first thought was a mannequin. Upon closer inspection, he realized that he was looking at a dead body. He called 911 and told them that a young lady, about 18 or 19 years old, was dead and looked like she had been dead for two or three days. The young woman was 16-year-old Hannah Truelove, a student at Gainesville High School. She had been missing since the night before. And even though her exact cause of death has not been revealed, police said she died a “violent death." She had been stabbed multiple times and left in the stream bed a quarter mile away from home; her flip flop was found a few yards away, tangled in some branches. Who killed Hannah Truelove? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

At 1:40 AM on Saturday, September 28, 1974, police got a call about a traffic accident on State Highway 77 in Crittenden County Arkansas, three miles north of the Lake David Overpass. When they got there they found a 1964 Chevrolet which was stopped in the southbound lane of the highway. Near the abandoned car in a ditch, they found the body of 35-year-old Fred New Jr., a married father of three who worked the night shift at a local trucking company. Fred had been shot, three times, at very close range, with a shotgun. He had been shot in the neck, the side and the elbow. His shoes and socks had been removed and he had no identification. His pockets were turned out and the money he had on him which according to his wife was around $200, had been stolen. There was blood in the front of the car. Fred was lying in a pool of blood near the back of the vehicle - so either his killer or killers threw him out of the car, or he stumbled out after being shot and his killer fired the final shot or shots outside the car. Police got the call about Fred’s car after another driver ran into it, as it was stalled on the highway. But that driver fled the scene. And then, near where Fred’s body was found, police learned that a local gas station had been robbed. So they had a robbery, a hit-and-run, and a brutal execution style murder - all in the same night in the same small town. If you have a case you’d like Catherine Townsend to look into, you can reach out to the Hell and Gone Murder Line at 678-744-6145. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hi, Hell and Gone listeners! We're excited to share with you a sneak peek at iHeartPodcasts' latest release, Wisecrack! Wisecrack: Edd Hedges, the once chubby kid without many friends, is now a young, handsome, stand-up comedian, packing theaters from London to Sydney. After making a name for himself on the road as “The Millennial Mike Birbiglia,” Edd returns to his hometown village, Stansted Mountfitchet, UK, to headline a charity event after a four-year absence, giving him a few days to reconnect with his working-class family. What Edd didn’t know was that his schoolmate – a boy that had bullied him, making his adolescence years a living nightmare – had begun to unravel during the years Edd was building his career. The former star athlete was on a downward spiral, in and out of jail. The most popular kid in town was now the town milkman, and on that night, he would become the town murderer… with Edd still on his mind. This genre-bending event will weave in Edd's stand up set, recounting the scariest night of his life, and the deadliest night in his small village. “Wisecrack,” the world's first mash-up of true crime narrative and stand-up comedy, is one tough act to follow. Listen to Wisecrack on the iHeartRadio App or wherever you get your podcasts! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On June 14, 2000, there was a huge storm brewing in northeast Arkansas. It had been raining heavily all day and according to local weather data, tornados had hit. Over 100 trees were downed, power lines were down and homes were destroyed. Twenty year old Amanda Tusing was hanging out with her fiancé, Matt Ervin, at his apartment in Jonesboro. Amanda lived 40 miles away in Dell, Arkansas, which is in Mississippi County, with her father Ed, her mother Susan and her twin brother, Andy. She also had an older brother who worked out of state. Matt didn’t want her to go home that night. It was about a 45-minute drive on a good day, and the weather was bad, but Amanda wanted to get home. So she left Jonesboro at around 11:30 pm and should have gotten home around 12:30 at the latest. Amanda told Matt that she would call him from her parents landline as soon as she got home. She did have a cell phone but never kept it charged. But Matt never got that call and by 1:30 he was concerned. Matt called Amanda’s mother, Susan Tusing, and woke her up. She went to check to see if Amanda was in bed, and when she went into her bedroom, she saw that the bed had not been slept in and that Amanda was not home. This was totally unlike her, and they knew something happened. So her dad and brother drove toward Dell, and Matt left his house in Jonesboro and started driving down Highway 18 in the opposite direction. Their plan was that they would meet in the middle and hopefully see her or her car along the route. Matt saw her 1992 Pontiac Grand Am parked under a streetlight on the shoulder of AR Highway 18 about a mile west of the small town of Monette. It was on the side of the road and looked like it was parked there intentionally - not like she randomly swerved over. Matt got out of his car, walked over and looked inside. If you have a case you’d like Catherine Townsend to look into, you can reach out to us at our Hell and Gone Murder Line at 678-744-6145. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It was around midnight on Sunday August 25, 1996, and 14-year-old Caroline Glachan was out walking on a path by the River Leven in Bonhill, Scotland. She told a friend she was on her way to a date. Caroline's curfew was 2 am. But she never made it home. In the morning, her mother woke up, alarmed. She started calling Caroline’s friends, but no one had seen her. So she called the police, and they immediately started searching for Caroline. It didn’t take them long to find her. Later that day, August 25, just after 4 pm, her body was found floating in the river. Almost thirty years later, her killers were finally convicted. If you have a case you’d like Catherine Townsend to look into, you can reach out to the Hell and Gone Murder Line at 678-744-6145. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Law & Order: Criminal Justice System is back with Season Two, turning its focus to a threat that hides in plain sight, harder to predict and even harder to stop: terrorism. Hear the real stories from those who lived it, worked it, and risked everything to confront it. Listen here and subscribe to Law & Order: Criminal Justice System S2 on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In the early morning hours of n July 30 1977, Charles Boatwright was hanging out with his cousin Ronnie Lewis at the home of another cousin of theirs Loy Harriman in Wesley, Arkansas. According to police statements, the three cousins stayed up all night, and early in the morning, they decided to go fishing in an area called War Eagle. At around 5 AM they piled into Charles’ truck and started driving. But they needed some food, so en route, they decided to stop at the store to buy some hot dogs to roast during their fishing trip. The Frederick's Grocery and Service Station located at the intersection of Highway 68 and 23 in the northwest portion of Huntsville, Arkansas. In a small town, it’s a popular destination to get early morning gas or late night snacks, and back in 1977, it was open 24 hours a day. As Charles, Loy and Ronnie pulled up to the store, two women pulled up right behind them. All five of them entered the store. At first, they didn't see anyone inside. But then, Loy said “it looks like someone is hurt up there." At that point, Charles said that he walked up to the left side of the register and saw a man’s feet sticking out. The man was 20-year-old University of Arkansas Student Rex Terrell, who worked the overnight shift at Frederick’s. He was lying in a pool of blood and gasping for breath. It looked like he had been shot multiple times. One of the women tried to give him mouth to mouth resuscitation, but it was too late. He died there, on the floor of the gas station, in a pool of his own blood. Nothing from the store had been taken. The whole community wanted to know, who would want to shoot a likable, kind and hard-working young man with seemingly no enemies, and leave him there to die in a pool of his own blood? If you have a case you’d like Catherine Townsend to look into, you can reach out to the Hell and Gone Murder Line at 678-744-6145. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It was around 7 pm on August 13, 1981, and 36-year-old Carol Morgan was working the till at her corner shop in a town called Leighton Buzzard in the county of Bedfordshire, England. This was a close knit community. Carol owned and ran the shop with her husband, Allen Morgan. Everyone in town knew and loved Carol, who was described by friends and family as warm, caring, genuine and friendly. Carol loved the shop, and the other lights of her life were her two children from a previous marriage. On that night, Carol was working at the shop alone, getting ready for closing, which was at 6pm. Her husband was at the movie theater in Luton with his two stepchildren. But at some point, someone surprised Carol. Allen and the children got home at around 10:10 pm. Shortly after arriving at the house, Allen raced to a neighbor’s house and asked him to come to the shop. The neighbor followed Allen into the storeroom and saw Carol in a pool of blood. Forensic testing revealed that Carol had been brutally beaten and stabbed with a weapon, something like an axe or a machete, something heavy but very sharp. She had been hit so hard that pieces of her skull and brain matter were on the floor. The police investigation would last 43 years and would take a lot of strange twists and turns to find out: Who came into that store and hacked Carole to death? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On Monday, December 11, 2023 22-year-old Lauren Johansen and her boyfriend, Bricen Rivers, were on vacation in Nashville and out at a bar. Bricen and Lauren had known each other for years. They had dated on and off since high school and on the surface, seemed happy. But behind the scenes, the relationship was violent. Lauren’s father later told police that Bricen was physically abusive to his daughter, and that he had stalked Lauren for years. On December 11, things took a horrific turn. Lauren and Bricen were hanging out at a bar when Bricen flew into a jealous rage and accused Lauren of having sex with a bartender. The fight continued after they left the bar. Hours later, police came to the scene and found Lauren screaming in a parking lot. She had been hit dozens of times, brutally beaten. The inside of the car was covered in blood. They arrested Bricen and he was charged with aggravated kidnapping, aggravated stalking, and coercion of a witness. He was taken to jail, and a judge set his bail at $250,000. It seemed like Lauren and Bricen’s violent relationship was finally at an end. But tragically, that was not the case. Bricen’s lawyer asked for a reduced bond, and in March, the judge agreed to lower it. So on June 24, 2024 Bricen was released from Davidson County Jail. Eight days later, Lauren Johansen was found dead in the trunk of her car. If you have a case you’d like me and my team to look into, you can reach out to us at our Hell and Gone Murder Line at 678-744-6145. That’s 678-744-6145. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On June 27, 2000, Magi Bish drove her 16-year-old daughter, Molly Bish, to her summer lifeguarding job at Comins Pond in Warren, Massachusetts. Molly, the youngest in a close-knit family with her parents Magi and John, sister Heather, and brother John Jr., had started her new job eight days prior. A bright, athletic, and social teen, Molly had just been to her first prom, was on the honor roll, and played multiple sports. Her parents had relocated to Warren from Detroit, believing it was a safe place to raise a family. The day before Molly vanished, Magi noticed a mustached man in a white sedan staring at Molly in the pond's parking lot. Though he didn’t act overtly threatening, Magi felt uneasy enough to wait until he left. On June 27, she didn’t see him and felt reassured. As Molly got out of the car, she said to he mom, “I love you, Mom.” And that was the last time Magi ever saw her daughter alive. If you have a case you’d like Catherine Townsend to look into, you can reach out to the Hell and Gone Murder Line at 678-744-6145. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In the early morning hours of July 4, 2002, 4-year-old Dannarriah Finley was sleeping in her bedroom in her home in Orange, Texas. Orange is the easternmost city in Texas, and it’s right across the border from Louisiana on the Sabine River. It feels like a small town. The population was only about 19,000. Dannarriah lived with her mother, 26-year-old Jaime Arnold, and her two sisters. For the July 4th celebrations, three of their young cousins were staying over with them. Jaime came home from work that night and put the kids to bed at around 1:30 am. She told police that she checked on the kids at around 3 or 4 am. Everything seemed fine, so she went to sleep. She woke up the next morning at around 10 am. Dannarriah’s sisters and cousins were playing at home, but Dannarriah….was gone. If you have a case you’d like Catherine Townsend to look into, you can reach out to the Hell and Gone Murder Line at 678-744-6145. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What does it mean to be a victim, or a villain? What happens when the line between the two starts to blur? On 7th July 2010, Kelly Harnett says her abusive boyfriend murdered a man right in front of her. So how did she end up in prison for it? Anna Sinfield - the journalist behind the global number 1 podcast, The Girlfriends, returns with her toughest story yet. This series isn’t a whodunnit. It’s not even really about what happened. It’s about how a woman who was a victim of domestic violence became a villain in the eyes of the law. Found guilty of murder and locked up for over a decade; Kelly Harnett taught herself the law. And as she battled to overturn her conviction, she became a beacon of hope, fighting for the freedom of the abused women locked up alongside her. Listen here and subscribe to The Girlfriends: Jailhouse Lawyer on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On Friday, December 12, 1980 at approximately 6:45 in the morning, the Mississippi County Sheriff’s Department got a call about a female body lying on the side of Highway 181, just south of Highway 158. The woman was dressed in a striped red colored dress and velveteen jacket and was five foot five. She weighed around 115 pounds. It wasn’t hard to figure out the cause of death. Barbara had massive holes blown into her body by a shotgun. The shots were so violent that pieces of her hair and skull were found 20 feet away. And...there were suspicions that a police officer may have been involved. If you have a case you’d like Catherine Townsend to look into, you can reach out to the Hell and Gone Murder Line at 678-744-6145. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On November 18, 1987 29-year-old Russell Dardeen, who went by his middle name Keith, did not show up to his 7 a.m. shift at a local water plant. This was very unlike Keith, who lived in a mobile home in the tiny town of Ina, Illinois. The area back then had a population of just 460. He lived with his family: his wife 30-year-old Ruby Elaine, who also went by her middle name, and their 3-year-old son, Peter. Elaine was seven months pregnant. They were excited about the new baby, due January 11, and already had potential names picked out: If the baby was a girl they were going to name her Casey, if it was a boy, he would be Ian. Keith’s shift supervisor went to the mobile home and knocked on the door, but no one answered. So then he called Keith’s parents, Russell and Joanne Dardeen. Neither of them had heard from Keith or anyone else in the family. Both Russell and Joanne spoke with the Jefferson County Sheriff’s office, and they agreed to do a welfare check. An officer knocked on the front door. No answer. So they went around to the back. The door was unlocked. When police entered the trailer, they found three dead bodies in the main bedroom in the same bed. There was blood everywhere.The victims had been beaten to death. It was Elaine and her son Peter, and police later said that during the prolonged attack the killer beat Elaine so severely that she went into labor and gave birth to her daughter, and then the killer, or killers, beat the baby to death. Then they neatly wrapped Elaine, her baby and Peter in the bedding and tucked them into their waterbed. And Keith was nowhere to be found. Even now, 38 years later, people in Ina, Illinois and law enforcement who worked this case describe it as the most horrific murder that anyone has ever seen. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On December 17, 2013, 20-year-old Heather Elvis headed out on a first date in Carolina Forest, South Carolina, west of Myrtle Beach in Horry County. Heather grew up in this area, which is known for its beautiful beaches. Her parents and her younger sister described her as a kind fun-loving young woman who had dreams of working in cosmetology. After graduating from high school in 2011, Heather was making her dreams happen. She was working two jobs. She was a hostess at the Tilted Kilt in Myrtle Beach and at the House of Blues in North Myrtle Beach. She was also studying cosmetology. She had moved into an apartment in Carolina Forest with a friend of hers named Brianna. Even though the population was just over 23,000, their apartment was located in a huge, busy subdivision. But Heather's life had taken a pretty dark turn over the past few months. She had gotten into a relationship with a man much older than her, and it had been dramatic. She was starting to date again, and her friends and family said that she seemed more like herself. It seemed like life was finally getting back to normal. But something happened after Heather got home that night. She got a call, and then, she changed into her favorite outfit, and she went out, driving her green Dodge Intrepid. After that, she vanished. Where did she go that dark that night? And what happened to Heather Elvis? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On January 7, 1995, 43-year-old Connie Townsend’s home burned to the ground in Brockwell, Arkansas in front of over 20 witnesses. Connie was moving out of her house that day. She had separated from her estranged husband, David Townsend years earlier. David had been staying with his parents, Dale and Ramona, and also with his girlfriend of three years, JoAnn Ellis. But according to Connie’s daughters, Stacy and Amber, David was angry that day and had threatened Connie. They also said that David had threatened to burn the house down in the past. Connie’s body was found in a utility room; she was lying face down with a pair of sewing scissors underneath her body. Investigators said that Connie had died of smoke and soot inhalation, and according to the autopsy report there was no tissue left. And it seemed like after investigators went through the charred remains of her trailer, they had a lot more questions. Was Connie’s death due to an accidental fire, or murder and arson? We had heard from Connie’s daughters that Connie’s body was found in a junk room, a bedroom that they kind of used as a utility room. If there was a fire, why would Connie shut herself into a closet in the back of the utility room, a place where there was no escape? Or could someone have put her in that closet? If you have a case you’d like Catherine Townsend to look into, you can reach out to us at our Hell and Gone Murder Line at 678-744-6145. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On January 7, 1995, at around 12:50 pm, two women, Monica Jones and her girlfriend Cheryl Edwards were driving down Highway 56 near Brockwell, Arkansas when Cheryl saw smoke coming from a trailer at the residence of 43-year-old Connie Townsend. The two women pulled over and ran up to the trailer to try to help. At around that same time, another woman, Billy Browning arrived. Monica and Cheryl both desperately tried to get inside the trailer, but the heat was too intense. The trailer was already engulfed in flames. By the time the first officer from the Izard County Sheriff's Office and the Calico Rock fire department arrived on the scene, it was chaos. According to the police report, the officer noted that there were about 20 to 25 people standing in the yard. Connie Townsend burned to death while it seemed like half the town stood outside, and multiple people told police about threats that she had allegedly received, some of them earlier that day. And yet, 30 years later no one has ever been arrested or charged in connection with her death. If you have a case you’d like Catherine Townsend to look into, you can reach out to us at our Hell and Gone Murder Line at 678-744-6145. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On June 1, 1987, Theresa Ann Bier was about to go on an adventure… into the woods to look for Bigfoot. Theresa was sixteen years old, and was wrapping up her freshman year at Fresno High in Fresno, California. She was one year behind a lot of her classmates, which wasn’t surprising because she was living in a very abusive environment with her uncle John Richmond, his two young sons, and his 17-year-old girlfriend. Theresa’s plan was to skip school June 1 and drive into the Sierra Nevada Mountains for the day with a 43-year-old friend of her uncle’s, Russell “Skip” Welch. But Theresa never came home, and soon, the man who took her into the woods was rambling about Theresa being taken by a monster. The case made local news, and on Friday, June 19, 1987, The Fresno Bee published a newspaper article about this case with the headline “Man blames Bigfoot for missing girl.” But this was more than a tabloid story. This case would involve allegations of sex slavery, serial killers, drug use, Bigfoot colonies - and at the heart of this story, a system that completely failed a young woman on every single level - a system that allowed a sixteen year old to vanish without a trace. If you have a case you’d like Catheerine Townsend to look into, you can reach out to us at our Hell and Gone Murder Line at 678-744-6145. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It was Thursday night, November 1, 2007, and 18-year-old Justin Gaines was getting ready for a night out with his friends at Wild Bill’s, a club in Duluth, Georgia. Justin was a freshman in college. He had just started at Gainesville State college, which was about an hour away from where his family was. Justin was 5 '11, 210 pounds, with blue eyes and brown hair in a buzz cut. He was a handsome, clean cut, preppy guy. Justin didn’t take a wallet out with him that night, so he had no credit cards, just cash, a couple fake IDs, and his cell phone. He caught a ride with his friends to the club. But when they arrived, his friends didn’t want to pay the cover charge and left. Justin saw someone in line who he knew and was able to get in for free and went into the club on his own. He said that it was no problem. He would find a ride. This was something he did often. A while later, in the early morning hours of November 2, 2007, Justin walked out into that parking lot in Duluth, and no one ever saw him again. If you have a case you’d like Catherine Townsend to look into, you can reach out to us at our Hell and Gone Murder Line at 678-744-6145. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.