Episodi

  • The Library Book Buried with David Hansen - Sealed for Years

    The Library Book Buried with David Hansen - Sealed for Years
    Oct 13 2026
    The Library Book Buried with David Hansen - Sealed for Years

    A library book survived three Wisconsin winters sealed inside two Ziploc bags and returned from four feet underground almost perfect - a finding that tied directly to a man missing for 910 days. Why would a 22-year-old with no recorded interest in freshwater fish check out a field guide the last afternoon anyone saw him alive, and how did that same book end up buried where his remains were later found?

    In this episode, we follow the timeline from the afternoon David Hansen checked out a field guide at the Maple Street library through the first days of the missing person investigation and the details that later linked the buried book to his death. What neighborhood details, surveillance gaps, and witness memories eventually pointed detectives toward answers?

    Person: David Hansen
    Date: August 14, 2016 (book checkout)
    Location: Halverson Township, Wisconsin
    Status: Missing reported August 19, 2016; remains later found
    Detective: Christine Harris

    - David Hansen was 22 years old when he checked out a field guide to Upper Midwest freshwater species on August 14, 2016.
    - The book was sealed inside two Ziploc bags and buried four feet underground, later recovered on February 9, 2019.
    - David’s phone was left charging by his bed and his wallet was on the kitchen counter when he disappeared.
    - His car was recovered six blocks from where he was last seen, in the rear parking lot of Pennbrook Foods, with no camera footage or witness explanation.
    - A retired mail carrier remembered a white van with its engine running parked outside 408 Wicker Lane the morning of August 15, 2016, recalled 18 months later.

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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
  • The Lunchbox at the Pole: How Vicki Vanished in Fifteen Seconds

    The Lunchbox at the Pole: How Vicki Vanished in Fifteen Seconds
    Oct 12 2026
    The Lunchbox at the Pole: How Vicki Vanished in Fifteen Seconds

    A calm Friday afternoon turned into a fifteen-second disappearance: Vicki Walker walked out of a pharmacy at 4:52 p.m. on July 8, 2011, and vanished without wallet, keys, or phone while her car stayed in the lot - and a sealed prescription bottle later found inside a metal lunchbox at the base of a fenced utility pole would become the single piece that cracked the case. How did a lunchbox left inside a locked fence, a receipt time-stamped 4:52, and an unopened thirty-tablet prescription change everything investigators thought happened that day?

    In this episode, we recount the timeline from Vicki’s last confirmed call to her sister on the Thursday before, to her fifteen seconds at the glass door, to the discovery three days later of a lunchbox containing keys and a sealed bottle labeled with her name. We trace the ordinary details that became evidence and ask: who returned to the scene late that night, and why?

    Person: Vicki Walker
    Date: July 8, 2011
    Location: Vesper Road Pharmacy parking lot, Harwick County
    Item found: Metal lunchbox at base of utility pole inside chain-link fence
    Item inside: Sealed prescription bottle labeled Vicki Walker with 30 tablets

    - Vicki paused at the pharmacy glass door at 4:52 p.m., stood there fifteen seconds, then walked through the door and disappeared.
    - Her car was found in the parking lot the next day with no keys, no wallet, and no phone inside.
    - A small cloth bag on the passenger seat contained one receipt time-stamped 4:52 and unopened bandages.
    - Sharon Simmons found a metal lunchbox on July 12 at the base of a fenced utility pole containing a car key, a house key, and a sealed prescription bottle.
    - The prescription bottle held thirty tablets of an anxiety medication filled four minutes before Vicki reached the counter and had never been opened.

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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
  • The Bronze Shoe on the Rock: Why Gail's Routine Broke Forever

    The Bronze Shoe on the Rock: Why Gail's Routine Broke Forever
    Oct 11 2026
    The Bronze Shoe on the Rock: Why Gail's Routine Broke Forever

    A single bronze leather shoe, laced and smoothed as if prepared to be worn, sat on a flat rock six feet below a bridge while Gail Sharp’s house remained orderly and locked; inside that shoe was a laminated card in her handwriting: "Call Tuesday, seven AM." What happened between a Wednesday morning phone call she never missed and that shoe placed beneath the Harwick Road bridge - and who arranged this staged message?

    In this episode, we reconstruct the timeline from the morning Kenneth Barrett found the shoe to the search of Gail’s home and the clues left behind, following the unanswered question: was the shoe a plea, a lure, or proof of a disappearance staged to look voluntary?

    Person: Gail Sharp
    Date: June 11, 2019
    Location: Harwick Road bridge / 4 Culver Terrace
    Status: Missing
    Case: Shoe found with laminate card reading "Call Tuesday, seven AM"

    - Kenneth Barrett, a runner who uses the Sutter Creek Greenway three times a week for four years, found the shoe at approximately 6:37 AM on Tuesday, June 11, 2019.
    - The bronze leather shoe was placed on a flat rock six feet below the road surface, laces tied in a double knot, tongue smoothed flat, above the waterline.
    - Tucked under the shoe’s insole was a laminated card in Gail Sharp’s handwriting with four words and a phone number: "Call Tuesday, seven AM."
    - At Gail’s home, a packed travel bag contained $400 in cash, two changes of clothing, toiletries, a phone charger, and a novel bookmarked at page 40 with the spine unbroken.
    - Gail had spoken to her daughter Amy every Wednesday at 7 AM, without exception, for three years; the laminated card listed Amy’s number and that scheduled call was missed on the morning she was reported missing.

    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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    18 min
  • The Jacket on Portman Street: How a Dry Lining Broke the Case

    The Jacket on Portman Street: How a Dry Lining Broke the Case
    Oct 10 2026
    The Jacket on Portman Street: How a Dry Lining Broke the Case

    A rain-soaked denim jacket with a completely dry lining was found folded on a gas meter at 7:42 AM on May 9, 2017 - a detail that contradicted the weather and suggested someone had placed it there before the storm. That dry lining became the thread Detective Christine Russo followed as she pieced together twenty-two text messages, a frozen compass needle, and a northeast garden where the story ended; who folded the jacket and left it on Portman Street?

    In this episode, we walk through the timeline from May 3 to May 9, 2017, the people connected to Gail Nelson, and the clues that led investigators toward Portman Street and Steven Simpson - starting with a single jacket and the question that followed: who would set it down and intend to return?

    Person: Gail Nelson
    Date: May 3-9, 2017
    Location: Portman Street
    Person: Detective Christine Russo
    Person: Steven Simpson

    - A meter reader, Edward Price, found the folded denim jacket on a gas meter at 7:42 AM on May 9, 2017.
    - The jacket’s outer shell was soaked from overnight rain while the lining was completely dry, indicating it had been placed there before the rain.
    - Gail Nelson had been missing for six days and was twenty-four years old, a fifth-year environmental science student at Calloway State University.
    - Twenty-two text messages were exchanged between Gail’s phone and the number registered to thirty-one-year-old Steven Simpson between May 3 and May 5.
    - Detective Christine Russo, age forty-one with six years in the detective division, was assigned the missing persons case on the morning of May 8, 2017.

    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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    17 min
  • The Shoe That Stood Up: How a Shift Vanished Rachel Tucker

    The Shoe That Stood Up: How a Shift Vanished Rachel Tucker
    Oct 9 2026
    The Shoe That Stood Up: How a Shift Vanished Rachel Tucker

    A single white nursing clog was found standing heel-down in five centimeters of muddy water outside Garrison Packing at 7:44 a.m. on April 2, 2011 - a shoe with a blood-stained heel and no person attached. What placed it there, and why did the plant clock show Rachel Tucker leaving at 6:02 a.m. when she never returned home?

    In this episode, we follow the timeline from Rachel’s eleven-year night-shift routine through the morning her time card was swiped and a drag mark led away from the employee entrance before stopping at a sealed seam. We trace the discoveries under the plant floor and in a rented storage unit that stretched this case across seven years of court proceedings and nearly a decade in memory - what really happened to Rachel?

    Person: Rachel Tucker
    Date: April 2, 2011
    Location: Garrison Packing; Ferris Mill Road; Crestwood Gardens
    Age: 48
    Event: Time card swiped at 6:02 a.m.; shoe found at 7:44 a.m.

    - The shoe was a left nursing clog, white, size seven, standing upright heel-down in five centimeters of water.
    - A sixty-three-year-old retired county clerk called 911 at 7:44 a.m. to report the shoe in a drainage ditch outside the plant.
    - Rachel had worked at Garrison Packing for eleven years and drove fourteen minutes from her rented duplex on Ferris Mill Road.
    - Her time card was recorded as swiped at the plant exit terminal at 6:02 a.m. the same morning she did not return home.
    - Investigators documented a roughly 3.5-meter drag disturbance across the gravel from the employee entrance that stopped at a sealed concrete seam.

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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 That Never Left Her Morning Route

    The Boot That Never Left Her Morning Route
    Oct 8 2026
    The Boot That Never Left Her Morning Route

    The boot was found upright in a locked car at a trailhead fourteen miles from home, but its sole carried gray-black alluvial silt that matched the drainage channels behind the grain elevator on Gail Moore’s everyday three-mile circuit - so how did it travel north while its wearer never left her usual route? One single right hiking boot, lace tied neat, is the first clue in a trail of odd details that won't add up until you hear what investigators discovered next.

    In this episode, we follow the sequence of events from Gail Moore's last confirmed sighting on March 13, 2019 to the discovery of her car at Fenner Ridge on March 18, 2019, detailing the forensic mismatch in the boot's mud and the missing hydration pack that deepen the mystery. What does a full bladder in a rarely-used pack and a boot that never touched the ridge tell us about where Gail actually went?

    Person: Gail Moore
    Date: March 13, 2019 (last confirmed sighting); March 18, 2019 (car found)
    Location: Paulett (home) and Fenner Ridge trailhead (car)
    Case: Missing person report filed March 13, 2019
    Investigator: Detective Richard Stevens

    - Gail was seen on camera at 6:47 AM wearing a gray fleece, running shoes, and a hydration pack with the bladder visibly full.
    - Gail's car sat in the Fenner Ridge lot for four days (March 14-17) before anyone looked inside.
    - The single right hiking boot was upright on the passenger floor with the lace tied neat and matched Gail's size and brand.
    - Forensics found gray-black alluvial silt on the boot sole-soil type from drainage channels near the Torrance Road grain elevator, not from Fenner Ridge.
    - Eighty-one volunteers and helicopter passes searched Fenner Ridge for four consecutive days and found no sign of Gail.

    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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    15 min
  • Locked in the Flood: The Glasses That Didn't Belong to Water

    Locked in the Flood: The Glasses That Didn't Belong to Water
    Oct 7 2026
    Locked in the Flood: The Glasses That Didn't Belong to Water

    A pair of dry burgundy cat-eye reading glasses hung eighteen inches above the Catawba River on February 9, 2014 - coiled around a trotline where no current could have carried them. Karen Padgett left a birthday dinner at 8:15 PM to fetch a card from her car and vanished in less than two minutes; what the glasses and river reveal about where she actually went - and who met her there - is the question that will keep you listening.

    In this episode, we follow the timeline from a family gathering on Draper Mill Road to a low-resolution surveillance image that contradicts everything searchers initially believed, and we ask how eight days of assumptions cost precious time in finding Karen. Where did a careful, reliable woman go between 8:17 and 8:29 PM, and who was waiting for her?

    Person: Karen Padgett
    Age: 52
    Date: February 7, 2014 (disappearance) and February 9, 2014 (glasses found)
    Location: Draper Mill Road / Crossing Mart / Catawba River
    Status: Missing

    - Karen left a birthday dinner at approximately 8:15 PM to retrieve a greeting card and never returned.
    - Her phone last contacted a cell tower at 8:17 PM, consistent with Lynette Marsh’s driveway.
    - Surveillance at the Crossing Mart recorded Karen at 8:29 PM arriving from the south, wearing a dark green fleece and seen with an unknown man.
    - A pair of dry burgundy cat-eye reading glasses was found suspended 18 inches above the Catawba River on February 9, 2014, coiled at the left hinge.
    - Karen had worked every Wednesday at a Gaston County food pantry for six years and had missed only two Wednesdays in that period.

    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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    18 min
  • The Mug at the Red Oak: Why Valerie's Nail Was Left There

    The Mug at the Red Oak: Why Valerie's Nail Was Left There
    Oct 6 2026
    The Mug at the Red Oak: Why Valerie's Nail Was Left There

    A turquoise diner mug sat upright at the base of a red oak, two hundred and forty yards from the nearest road, containing a single clipped fingernail with coral-pink polish that matched a missing woman’s DNA - who walked into the trees to leave it, and why was a personal item carried there three years after she vanished? This discovery tied an ordinary coffee mug to a three-year disappearance and opened a new, chilling question the investigation could not ignore.

    In this episode, we tell what the mug, the fingernail, and the last known movements of Valerie Reed reveal about her disappearance and the unanswered window of twenty-eight minutes on the night she went missing - could a routine object point to where she went and who walked that deliberate path into the woodlot?

    Person: Valerie Reed
    Date: January 2011 (last confirmed image) and January 2014 (mug found)
    Location: woodlot four miles northeast of downtown Pelham
    Status: missing
    Investigator: Sergeant Sharon Long

    - Valerie Reed, age 44 in January 2011, worked nine years as an accounts payable coordinator at Brentwood Office Solutions.
    - A camera at Brentwood captured Valerie walking toward the parking lot at 6:47 PM on a Tuesday in January 2011; her car remained in the lot with engine cold the next morning.
    - A coworker reported Valerie's car still in the lot at 7:15 PM, creating a 28-minute unexplained window after the last confirmed image.
    - A turquoise Norbert's diner mug with the logo was found upright at the base of a red oak in January 2014, 240 yards from the nearest road and within undisturbed leaves.
    - Forensics found a single clipped fingernail inside the mug with coral-pink polish; the partial DNA profile matched Valerie via a reference sample from her sister Lynne Castellano.

    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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    16 min