Episodi

  • The Frozen Poker Chip That Cracked a 29-Year Murder Mystery

    The Frozen Poker Chip That Cracked a 29-Year Murder Mystery
    Aug 4 2026
    The Frozen Poker Chip That Cracked a 29-Year Murder Mystery

    Cold fear: a red casino-weight poker chip sat on a four-inch window ledge above a utility sink while a man lay face-down twenty-nine feet away with forty-three dollars still in his pocket. No fingerprints, no casino name, and a single strand of biological material under the victim's fingernails that would sit in an evidence freezer for twenty-nine years - who left the chip and why was he in that restroom that night?

    In this episode, we follow the documented trail from the morning Ralph Moore was found on November 9, 1991 to the decades-long investigation that never stopped collecting details and waiting for new science. What finally connected a frozen chip and a long-buried DNA profile to a family tree no one had considered?

    Person: Ralph Moore
    Date: November 9, 1991
    Location: Crestline County Park men's restroom, Crestline County, Ohio
    Status: Homicide; blunt force trauma to the back of the skull; time of death between 9:00 and 11:00 p.m. November 8, 1991
    Investigator: Detective Frank Sorrel

    - A red casino-weight poker chip stamped with a crown was found on a four-inch window ledge above a utility sink with no fingerprints and no casino name.
    - Ralph Moore, age 32, was found face-down with his wallet holding $43 and keys still clipped to his belt loop; nothing had been taken.
    - Maintenance worker Carl Pruett discovered the body around 7:15 a.m. during a winterization check and found the restroom door propped open with a cinder block that had been placed from the inside.
    - A witness, Susan Pratt, saw an unmarked white van with its side door open and a toolbox visible at approximately 9:15 p.m., which was gone about twenty-five minutes later; she did not see a license plate.
    - Investigator Frank Sorrel documented a partial size 11 contractor-style boot print near the utility sink while Ralph wore size 9, and trace biological material under Ralph's fingernails produced a DNA profile that initially matched no one.

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    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    20 min
  • Fisherman Pulls a Shoe from the River: The Judith Gallagher Case

    Fisherman Pulls a Shoe from the River: The Judith Gallagher Case
    Aug 3 2026
    Fisherman Pulls a Shoe from the River: The Judith Gallagher Case

    A shoe pulled from the Sable Fork tributary contained a pharmacy receipt dated October 9, 1993 - still legible after three years in the water - and that single paper became the hinge of a thirty-year inquiry into a murder by manual strangulation. Who put a receipt inside a woman's shoe and why did the name of that man not surface in the investigation until 2023?

    In this episode, we chronicle the timeline from Judith Gallagher’s last confirmed movements through the discovery of her body and the evidence that endured decades of silence, asking how seventy-two unaccounted hours and preserved forensic traces could leave investigators with so many unanswered questions.

    Person: Judith Gallagher
    Date: October 9-14, 1993
    Location: Sable Fork tributary of the Crestwick River; Millrace Street, Grover's Mill, Wisconsin
    Status: Cause of death manual strangulation; body in water fewer than 48 hours
    Investigator: Walt Draper

    - A fisherman named Roy Mason found a woman's shoe in Sable Fork in June 1996 containing a folded pharmacy receipt dated October 9, 1993.
    - The receipt was printed at Bauer's Pharmacy at 8:51 PM on October 9, 1993, while a party Judith attended was still underway.
    - Judith was last seen leaving Bob Fenwick’s gathering at approximately 9:40 PM after being walked to the door by witness Patrice Sully.
    - Judith’s Buick was found October 10 parked against a four-foot recessed alcove in the rear lot of Crestwick Lumber, noted as oddly placed by dock worker Gary Houck around 8 PM on October 9.
    - DNA from skin cells beneath Judith’s fingernails was entered into law enforcement databases in 2001 with no match; the man noted as “unknown male, possible last contact, not located” remained unidentified until summer 2023.

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    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    20 min
  • Surveyor Finds a Lone Shoe on a Sealed Well: The David Riley Case

    Surveyor Finds a Lone Shoe on a Sealed Well: The David Riley Case
    Aug 2 2026
    Surveyor Finds a Lone Shoe on a Sealed Well: The David Riley Case

    A single leather dress shoe, upright and deliberately placed on a concrete well cap, stopped a county surveyor cold - and eighteen feet below that cap lay a skeleton that had been missing since 1979. The body wore a corroded wristwatch and a canvas wallet; beside it, the shoe’s match. Who wrote the one penciled line that, for decades, hid the clue to where David Riley was buried?

    In this episode, we follow the discovery that reopened a cold case and trace the decades-long path of a missing man, the detective who kept returning to the file, and the overlooked note that might answer what happened to him.

    Person: David Riley
    Date: September 10, 1979 (last confirmed movements); September 3, 2022 (discovery)
    Location: Talvert Township well; truck found behind Sable County grain elevator
    Status: Remains discovered after 43 years
    Detective: Carl Wentz

    - A county surveyor, Kent Turner, found a single leather dress shoe sitting upright on a concrete well cap on the morning of September 3, 2022.
    - At eighteen feet below the surface under that cap, a skeleton lay with a corroded wristwatch, a canvas wallet, and a cloth belt with a brass buckle; a second matching shoe was beside the skeleton.
    - David Riley was 44 years old in autumn 1979, drove a white Ford pickup with a cracked passenger mirror, and bowled every Tuesday at 6:45 p.m, for three years without missing.
    - Riley’s last confirmed location was the Ingram farm on the Greer-Sable county line on the afternoon of September 10, 1979; his truck was found eleven days later unlocked behind the Sable County grain elevator with his bowling bag on the passenger seat.
    - A penciled entry in Belden Roofing’s job schedule in Riley’s handwriting read “Talvert - well property - Gardner,” a line that remained unpursued for forty-two years.

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    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    21 min
  • The Rag on the Wiper: How a Sealed Bag Broke a 31-Year Silence

    The Rag on the Wiper: How a Sealed Bag Broke a 31-Year Silence
    Aug 1 2026
    The Rag on the Wiper: How a Sealed Bag Broke a 31-Year Silence

    A rag on the wiper, a coolant puddle that shouldn't exist, and a sealed polyethylene bag that held a tiny scanning stylus for 31 years - could a single forgotten tool finally break an old silence? The detail that Cheryl Powell’s coolant system had been flushed nine days before she disappeared changed everything and left one central question: who emptied that system and why?

    In this episode, we walk through the timeline and the small physical clues that defined the case, from Cheryl’s last routine Friday to the sealed evidence that waited in a forensic freezer. What happens when new technology meets a decades-old file and a family still waiting for answers?

    Person: Cheryl Powell
    Date: August 6, 1993
    Location: Route nine, Kellerton Falls turnout
    Case: Disappearance and homicide (manual strangulation)
    Item: Postal tracking stylus (Employee ID 47-209) sealed in polyethylene evidence bag

    - Cheryl Powell was 28 years old and worked the morning sort at the Kellerton Falls Post Office for four years.
    - She clocked out at 12:05 PM on Friday, August 6, 1993, carrying an insulated bag for her grandmother Ida’s lunch.
    - Nine days before her disappearance she had a full coolant flush at Bauer Automotive, with the receipt in the case file.
    - The pale green Dodge Omni was found with the hood open, a rag on the driver's wiper, and a fresh coolant stain on the gravel turnout the same evening.
    - A postal tracking stylus with Employee ID 47-209 was found pressed into Cheryl’s left hand on August 14 and sealed in a polyethylene bag in the Dellard County evidence freezer.

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    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    17 min
  • The Wallet by the Pond: How One Skin Cell Exposed a Killer

    The Wallet by the Pond: How One Skin Cell Exposed a Killer
    Jul 31 2026
    The Wallet by the Pond: How One Skin Cell Exposed a Killer

    A dry leather wallet sitting face-up in soaked mud, a body found in a hidden drainage trench, and a single degraded skin cell that lay untouched for thirty-one years - could one tiny piece of DNA finally name the man who walked away that night? How did a service log entry for a rooftop technician with the initials N. Hoffman disappear from every interview, and why did a wallet with R.A.J. stamped inside wash ashore before the body was recovered?

    In this episode, we follow the timeline from Ross Jensen's morning walk on July 5, 1991 through the discovery of his wallet on July 9 and his body on July 11, and we trace the threads investigators missed - the rooftop service, the unanswered complaint, and the later genetic lead - asking whether the name that never appeared in the original notes holds the key to justice.

    Person: Ross Jensen
    Date: July 5, 1991 (time of death late evening)
    Location: drainage channel behind Morrow Consolidated loading dock
    Finder: Richard Burns (found wallet July 9, 1991)
    Medical Examiner: Agnes Doll (documented blunt force trauma)

    - Ross Jensen was 56 years old and missing for four days before his wallet was found.
    - Wallet contents included $43, a driver's license, a bank card, and a hardware store punch-card with four holes.
    - Time of death was determined as late evening on July 5, 1991 based on stomach contents and insect activity.
    - A service log entry dated June 28, 1991 listed a Tri-State Mechanical technician named N. Hoffman at the rooftop above the drainage channel.
    - Tri-State Mechanical's employee records from the early 1990s were partially destroyed in a 2008 storage fire.

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    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    21 min
  • A Shoe Standing Alone: The Murder of Steven Campbell

    A Shoe Standing Alone: The Murder of Steven Campbell
    Jul 30 2026
    A Shoe Standing Alone: The Murder of Steven Campbell

    A single size-eleven New Balance sneaker, laced and standing upright in the middle of a road, was found bone-dry after eleven days without rain - and one hundred and sixty yards east, in a culvert, lay twenty-two-year-old Steven Campbell, strangled and with his left shoe missing from his feet. How did a deliberately placed shoe, a truck parked three-quarters of a mile away, and tiny insole indentations recorded in a manila file all point toward an answer that took thirty-two years to approach?

    In this episode, we tell the sequence of events from the evening Steven disappeared to the first investigators on scene, outline the leads pursued and abandoned by Detective Sergeant Ned Varga, and highlight the physical evidence that sat in a county freezer for decades - the DNA beneath Steven’s fingernails and a note about the shoe insole that would later become pivotal. What connection, if any, ties the shoe, the parked truck, and other cases logged in distant counties?

    Person: Steven Campbell
    Date: June 8-9, 1991
    Location: Calloway Flats, Moorfield County (culvert beneath a farm track; Aldermoor)
    Status: Case remained open for decades; evidence preserved
    Investigator: Detective Sergeant Ned Varga

    - A size-eleven New Balance sneaker was found standing upright in the center of Aldermoor at approximately 6:30 AM on June 9, 1991.
    - Steven Campbell’s body was recovered about 160 yards west in a drainage culvert and he had been strangled; his right shoe remained on his foot and his wallet was in his pocket.
    - Steven had left Aaron Decker’s house on foot at about 9:45 PM on June 8, 1991, but his 1989 Chevy S-10 was found parked at Milner’s Feed and Supply by 11:00 PM that night, three-quarters of a mile from the body.
    - Four witnesses and a bartender placed suspect Chris Albrecht at a bar in Fenner Township until midnight on June 8, providing him an alibi during four interviews over eighteen months.
    - Biological material collected from beneath Steven’s fingernails in June 1991 was stored in a county freezer and remained available decades later.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    21 min
  • The Bracelet That Should Have Been Buried: Tammy Draper's Vanishing

    The Bracelet That Should Have Been Buried: Tammy Draper's Vanishing
    Jul 29 2026
    The Bracelet That Should Have Been Buried: Tammy Draper's Vanishing

    A gold bracelet with the initials T.D. was found impossibly clean on a human hand exposed by a road-grader on May 14, 1984 - almost exactly eleven months after Tammy Draper vanished from a locked-in routine life in rural Indiana. Who left her car unlocked with a novel on the dash and her purse inside, and why did that bracelet look like it had never touched the ground?

    In this episode, we follow the timeline from Tammy's last known evening on May 17, 1983 through the discovery on May 14, 1984, and track the three details a volunteer investigator clung to for decades; what those details revealed, and how a photographed Irish parish birth register eventually reopened the case that had stalled for thirty-five years.

    Person: Tammy Draper
    Date: May 17, 1983 (last seen); May 14, 1984 (remains discovered)
    Location: Caldwell Basin Road turnout, Sutter Creek, Indiana
    Age: 38
    Status: Missing person found deceased; case unsolved for years

    - Tammy Draper was 38 and worked as a billing coordinator at Caldwell Basin Medical Group.
    - Her copper 1979 Buick was found with the driver's door unlocked, purse on the passenger seat, and a paperback crime novel on the dashboard.
    - She had been missing for almost exactly eleven months when a road-grader operator exposed a hand at 6:15 AM on May 14, 1984.
    - The gold bracelet on the recovered left hand bore the initials T.D. on a small rectangular charm and was described as genuinely clean.
    - Douglas Ware, who had briefly dated Tammy in fall 1982, had no alibi that held up and was noted by investigators for making threatening comments.

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    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    21 min
  • She Grabbed His Hair Before She Died: The Linda O'Brien Case

    She Grabbed His Hair Before She Died: The Linda O'Brien Case
    Jul 28 2026
    She Grabbed His Hair Before She Died: The Linda O'Brien Case

    Seven strands of dark brown hair were clenched in a 63-year-old woman's fist when a utility lineman found her body thirty feet into a tree line, three quarters of a mile from her driveway - her car and purse untouched. Who did Linda O'Brien trust enough to let inside her house the night she was killed, and why was her body moved to a remote field?

    In this episode, we lay out the timeline, the small but telling household details, and the evidence that stumped investigators for decades. You will hear how routine habits, a pulled-out chair and a second coffee cup point to a visitor, and why seven hairs became the case's lasting mystery.

    Person: Linda O'Brien
    Date: April 13-14, 1991
    Location: Bexley Farm tree line, Millhaven, Hardin County, Tennessee
    Status: Cold case reopened to Hardin County Cold Case in spring 2020
    Detective: Harlan Pruitt

    - Linda was 63 years old in April 1991 and had lived in Millhaven for 31 years.
    - Time of death estimated between 8:00 PM April 13 and 2:00 AM April 14, 1991.
    - Body found at 7:15 AM on April 14, 1991, thirty feet into the tree line, three quarters of a mile from her front door.
    - Investigators recovered seven strands of dark brown coarse hair in Linda’s right fist; three strands had root bulbs; Linda’s own hair was gray and cropped.
    - Detective Harlan Pruitt removed the hair evidence and kept it at home until his death; his wife turned the envelope over to Hardin County Cold Case in spring 2020.

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    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    18 min