Episodi

  • The Pearl That Shouldn't Have Stayed: The January Garden Secret

    The Pearl That Shouldn't Have Stayed: The January Garden Secret
    Sep 9 2026
    The Pearl That Shouldn't Have Stayed: The January Garden Secret

    Cold and meticulous detail: a pearl-drop earring still clipped to a dead woman's ear in a frozen drainage ditch in January, a receipt for a table for two paid in cash, and an unidentified second diner - how did Sarah Becker end up face-down in a cornfield if her shoes and clothing show no contact with the field? Who sat across from her on January 7, 2003?

    In this episode, we lay out the facts of the case as recorded in the files and follow the trail from the restaurant receipt to the late-breaking cold-case review that reopened it, asking how a single overlooked record sat in a box for eighteen years and what finally made someone go back to Harlow's Grille.

    Person: Sarah Becker
    Age: 44
    Date: January 7-11, 2003
    Location: Aldus Creek drainage ditch, Tillman Road cornfield
    Status: Case cold for 18 years until 2021 review

    - Sarah wore pearl-drop earrings to Harlow's Grille on January 7, 2003 and a single earring remained clipped to her ear when her body was found four days later.
    - The restaurant receipt in Sarah's coat pocket shows a table for two, two entrées, a shared appetizer, a bottle of wine, and a cash payment at 9:47 PM.
    - Autopsy determined manual strangulation and found no soil transfer on Sarah's work clogs, indicating her body was moved into the ditch after death.
    - Greg Becker, estranged husband with a restraining order since November 2002, had a hotel keycard entry at 9:40 PM and was placed at the hotel bar by three coworkers, clearing him as the killer.
    - In spring 2021, Detective Tammy Fleming reopened the case during a state-grant cold-case review and retrieved Harlow's 2003 transaction records held for a 2008 civil matter.

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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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    19 min
  • The Boot on the Step: The Map That Finally Named His Killer

    The Boot on the Step: The Map That Finally Named His Killer
    Sep 8 2026
    The Boot on the Step: The Map That Finally Named His Killer

    A single left work boot, lace tied in a perfect knot, sat on a porch step for forty years while a man named Russell Stewart vanished without trace - and the boot did not belong to him. A hand-drawn map and forty-one pages of classified documents surfaced decades later to link a name across two deaths and two counties; who left the boot, and why did the original note that warned investigators go unread for forty years?

    In this episode, we present the facts of Russell Stewart’s disappearance, the original investigation's decisions, and the long-hidden records that later changed the case - could a retired detective’s brief, underlined note and a map found in a dead man's effects finally answer what happened to Russell?

    Person: Russell Stewart
    Date: December 9, 1983
    Location: Saguaro Flats Road, Calexico, Imperial County
    Age: 28
    Evidence: single left work boot on top step, lace tied

    - A 14-year-old paper carrier first discovered the porch light on, the front door open, and one left work boot on the top step before 5:00 a.m.
    - Detective Howard Mack wrote a handwritten, twice-underlined note on January 1984: "You don't tie your boot and then leave it on the step when you're running."
    - Investigators found Russell's pair of everyday boots inside the house, while the porch held a separate third left boot of the same brand and approximate size.
    - Russell made his last recorded phone call to his girlfriend on Sunday, December 4, 1983, talking about coming home for Christmas.
    - Forty-one pages of classified documents and a hand-drawn map found decades later connected a name across two deaths and two counties that had not surfaced in the original file.

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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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    19 min
  • The Torch in the Snow: How a Closed Fire Became Murder

    The Torch in the Snow: How a Closed Fire Became Murder
    Sep 7 2026
    The Torch in the Snow: How a Closed Fire Became Murder

    A single clean, upright propane torch found in fresh snow six hours after investigators left a burned house turned a closed accidental fire into a question that haunted a town for nineteen years. Why was an unscorched torch placed at the base of the porch of a house that had burned to the second floor, and who finally decided the truth could no longer be carried alone?

    In this episode, we tell the story of the night Lisa Green died, the evidence catalogued and left untouched, and the single item that reopened a case everyone assumed was finished - the propane torch that did not belong. What did that torch mean, and how did it unravel the accepted version of events?

    Person: Lisa Green
    Date: November 7, 2003
    Location: Coppermill Avenue house, Harwick
    Status: Case declared accidental; evidence bagged and stored
    Witness: Dawn Dempsey, road-grader operator

    - Torch was found upright, handle-down, clean and unscorched in fresh snow at 4:40 a.m, on November 9, 2003.
    - Lisa Green, age 54, died of smoke inhalation between 10:50 p.m. and midnight on November 7, 2003.
    - The fire had been declared accidental on the evening of November 8, 2003, attributed to an unattended candle and newspapers.
    - The torch was bagged and labeled as "item found near scene post-fire" and placed in evidence storage without being fingerprinted or traced for 16 years.
    - Fire Marshal Ray Alderton based the accidental determination on subfloor burn patterns, Green's candle habit, and absence of accelerant readings from the field kit used that night.

    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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    23 min
  • The Dry Shoe Beneath the Door: Who Pushed Judith's Sneaker?

    The Dry Shoe Beneath the Door: Who Pushed Judith's Sneaker?
    Sep 6 2026
    The Dry Shoe Beneath the Door: Who Pushed Judith's Sneaker?

    A solitary white canvas sneaker, size seven and double-knotted, was found perfectly dry beneath a padlocked pump house door with frozen gravel and no second shoe nearby - how did it get there? Thirty-two years later investigators pieced together a trail of a gas station receipt note, a volunteer log, and a cellmate's account to ask the question nobody asked in 1989: who pushed Judith’s shoe?

    In this episode, we recount the sequence of evidence and overlooked leads surrounding Judith Wilson's death, from her last confirmed log entry at 9:15 p.m. to the dry sneaker found near the Marren River, and consider how small records and a later DNA database changed the case. Could the shoe’s placement and the unnoticed witnesses have held the key all along?

    Person: Judith Wilson
    Date: Late March 1989 (sneaker discovered); six days later body recovered
    Location: Marren River / pump house near Crestfield industrial waterfront
    Case: Homicide ruled by medical examiner (drowning)
    Investigator: Detective Arthur Prine

    - The sneaker was a white canvas size seven, laces tied in a double knot, found dry beneath a padlocked pump house door.
    - Judith signed the Kellerman House volunteer log at 9:15 p.m. and had volunteered there for 37 consecutive months without missing a shift.
    - Judith’s 1983 Honda Civic was found in the hospital employee lot with her purse on the passenger seat and missing keys; no signs of struggle.
    - A gas station receipt from Route Nine dated about two weeks before her disappearance had three words on the back in Judith’s handwriting: "R.T. - Harmon - check."
    - A Harmon Surgical night receptionist reported seeing a heavyset man in a dark jacket standing near the Brace Street service entrance twice between about 11:00 p.m. and midnight; that lead was never pursued.

    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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    27 min
  • Sneaker at the Slab: The Bookkeeper Buried for 33 Years

    Sneaker at the Slab: The Bookkeeper Buried for 33 Years
    Sep 5 2026
    Sneaker at the Slab: The Bookkeeper Buried for 33 Years

    A single child's sneaker lay upright beneath a concrete slab for thirty-three years, its toe pointed like an accusation toward a sealed loading bay; a missing mother, a misfiled case, and a building superintendent who knew the plant’s hidden corners-what happened the day Jean Christensen vanished? The discovery on September 14, 2019, turned a thirty-three-year-old disappearance into a reopened mystery that refuses the official story that she simply walked away.

    In this episode, we follow how one jogger’s morning route exposed a long-buried sequence of events, and how a misfiled record and a forensic gap in a concrete pour connect a sneaker to a vanished bookkeeper and her nine-year-old daughter. How did a lightweight shoe fall into the exact void later filled by concrete, and why was Jean Christensen’s case archived under the wrong category for decades?

    Person: Jean Christensen
    Date: September 8, 1986
    Location: Hartwell Fabrication, northeast loading bay, Marsden, Indiana
    Discovery Date: September 14, 2019
    Investigator: Detective Bruce Stevens

    - The sneaker was white canvas with a faded blue stripe and stood upright beneath broken concrete.
    - Jean Christensen was 38 years old and a mother to a nine-year-old daughter, Lisa, in 1986.
    - A secondary concrete slab was poured in the spring of 1986, sealing a narrow void under the slab.
    - The sneaker fell through a gap at the slab’s edge before the concrete hardened and remained undisturbed for 33 years.
    - Jean’s missing person file was mislabeled as a juvenile case and sat in the wrong archive for 32 years.

    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
  • Glasses Placed on Purpose: The Clue That Broke a 15-Year Secret

    Glasses Placed on Purpose: The Clue That Broke a 15-Year Secret
    Sep 4 2026
    Glasses Placed on Purpose: The Clue That Broke a 15-Year Secret

    A pair of reading glasses, lens-side up and clean, was found in a window box on an abandoned farm more than forty miles from where a 62-year-old woman vanished - placed, not dropped. That single deliberate detail took fifteen years to fully explain and eventually revealed this was not merely a disappearance but the edge of something far larger; how did one pair of glasses change everything?

    In this episode, we follow the timeline from the last known purchase on a credit card to the discovery that rewrote the case, and trace how small, specific anomalies forced investigators to ask a different question: what does the placement of those glasses really mean?

    Person: Sharon Jenkins
    Date: July 12, 2007
    Location: Millhaven, Ohio (car found on Copley Street)
    Event: Glasses found on Schaefer farmhouse window box
    Person: Todd Hoffman

    - Sharon Jenkins swiped her credit card at 2:47 p.m, on July 12, 2007, at Hurst's Fuel Stop for $31.14.
    - Sharon’s car was found parked on Copley Street with the back door unlocked and her purse and reading glasses missing.
    - A loyalty card used at the same pump at 2:43 p.m. belonged to Todd Hoffman, owner of Hoffman Mobile Repair, LLC.
    - Dennis Keller, a meter reader, found Sharon’s prescription reading glasses in a window box on the Schaefer farmhouse 42 days after her disappearance.
    - The Schaefer farmhouse gate had a newer padlock; deputies photographed and bagged the glasses and an NCIC match linked them to Sharon Jenkins within 48 hours.

    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
  • Locked From Outside, Snake in Drain: The Kendrick Feed Murder Unraveled

    Locked From Outside, Snake in Drain: The Kendrick Feed Murder Unraveled
    Sep 3 2026
    Locked From Outside, Snake in Drain: The Kendrick Feed Murder Unraveled

    The heat of July 1994, a sealed glass terrarium carrying a live corn snake washed out of a storm drain, and a twenty-four-year-old employee found beaten to death two miles away - locked inside a warehouse with the breezeway padlocked at both ends. How did the terrarium end up in the culvert and who locked the warehouse from the outside after Douglas Hunt was killed?

    In this episode, we lay out the timeline, the physical evidence recovered at Kendrick Feed and Supply, and key witness statements collected during the original investigation, focusing on the unanswered question that tied the terrarium to the locked warehouse.

    Person: Douglas Hunt
    Date: July 11-12, 1994
    Location: Kendrick Feed and Supply secondary warehouse, Harwick, Pell County
    Item: Glass terrarium containing a live corn snake named Copper
    Evidence: blue nylon webbing fragment, partial boot print cast, single right-handed latex glove

    - The terrarium was found upright and sealed in a drainage culvert by Vicki Taylor on the morning of July 12, 1994.
    - Douglas Hunt was found dead on the secondary warehouse floor on the afternoon of July 12, 1994, having been struck multiple times with a blunt object.
    - Tom Greer’s calendar had the entry “JM - four pm - secondary” for July 11, indicating John Meyer had after-hours access that day.
    - The breezeway linking the secondary warehouse to the main building was secured at both ends by separate padlocks the morning Douglas was found.
    - The original investigation recovered a fragment of blue nylon webbing, a partial boot print cast from the floor, and a single right-handed latex glove with no usable fingerprints.

    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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    19 min
  • The Mason Jar Secret: How a 1983 Letter Unmasked a Killer

    The Mason Jar Secret: How a 1983 Letter Unmasked a Killer
    Sep 2 2026
    The Mason Jar Secret: How a 1983 Letter Unmasked a Killer

    A sealed quart mason jar, hidden in a pine root forty feet from a trailhead, contained a June 3, 1983 letter that named the exact color of a blouse and the three-inch painted cross on a shale stone left in a victim’s open palm - details never released to the public. Who placed that jar near a trail less than a year old, and how did one private letter reopen a case cold for twenty years?

    In this episode, we follow the discovery, the forensic findings, and the connection between two crimes revealed by a single jar and a brittle, decades-old letter. How did trace mineral residue, paper folds, and a topographic map help point to a man who lived half a mile from where one victim was found?

    Person: Christine West
    Date: June 4, 1983 (body found)
    Location: Pinebreak drainage channel, Harlan County, Ohio
    Event: Letter dated June 3, 1983 found in mason jar on June 11, 2003
    Status: Case reopened after jar discovery; jar placed within 8-month window (after autumn 2002 and before June 11, 2003)

    - The mason jar was found forty feet from the trailhead, wedged in the fork of a pine root.
    - The letter inside was dated June 3, 1983 and had deep brittle fold lines consistent with decades.
    - Christine West was found face-down with left arm extended and a roughly four-inch gray Ohio shale stone painted with a small white cross in her open left palm.
    - The Harlan County Sheriff's Office worked the case for eleven months before it went cold by May 1984.
    - The trail where the jar was found had not existed before autumn 2002, creating an eight-month window for when the jar was placed.

    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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    23 min