Hell and Gone

Hell and Gone Murder Line: Brittany Phillips Part 2 Oct 23, 2025

On Monday September 30, 2004, 18-year-old college student Brittany Phillips was found dead in her apartment in Tulsa, Oklahoma. She was a student at Tulsa Community College, went to her evening chemistry class with her friend Lydia.

She was found lying next to her bed. Clothing was found scattered all around her in a haphazard way, and the balcony doors to her second floor apartment were open. Investigators believed she had been dead for at least a couple of days.

News reports said that she had been raped, and strangled, but he medical examiner’s report stated that there was no definitive evidence of sexual assault.

What happened to Brittany Phillips? And could her killer already be behind bars, or is he still out roaming the streets?

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.

Hell and Gone Murder Line: Brittany Phillips Part 1 Oct 16, 2025

On Monday September 27, 2004, 18-year-old Brittany Phillips, a student at Tulsa Community College, drove home from campus with her friend Lydia. They just took a chemistry test, and Brittany was looking forward to hanging out and celebrating her nineteenth birthday, which was coming up on October 4.

But then as the week rolled on, Lydia didn't hear from Brittany. And then, she noticed that Brittany didn’t show up for their next class on Wednesday. Lydia was unsure if she was overreacting, but her gut told her that something was wrong.

She called in a welfare check, and when first responders and police arrived, they found Brittany’s body in the bedroom of her apartment. News reports said that she had been raped, and strangled.

In the two decades since, ex-boyfriends and strangers have been questioned, sex offenders have been investigated, DNA swabs have been taken, but there are still no suspects. And the information that we found made me question if a lot of the “facts” that have been reported about this case are true at all.

We’re going to be going back to the beginning and ask some fundamental questions. Could the timeline of Brittany’s murder be off by up to 48 hours? Was Brittany definitely raped? Was this the work of someone who knew her and staged the crime scene, or could it have been a serial killer? And could that person still be out there?

And finally, could police have been on the wrong trail all this time?

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.

Hell and Gone Murder Line: Jennifer Wix Part 2 Oct 09, 2025

This week, we continue with the disappearance of Jennifer Wix and her daughter Adrianna.

Could Jennifer have left voluntarily and started a new life? Could she have left with someone in that white car and then that person harmed her or Adrianna?

Or, could, as the Wix family suspects, the answers lie closer to where Jennifer was last seen on or around the 100 acres owned by the Bentons?

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.

Hell and Gone Murder Line: Jennifer Wix Part 1 Oct 02, 2025

On March 25, 2004, 21-year-old Jennifer Wix was in crisis.

Jennifer lived in Robertson County, Tennessee and was a single mother to her two-year-old daughter, Adrianna, who she adored.

She and Adrianna had moved in with her boyfriend, William Joseph “Joey” Benton, and his parents, Cynthia and Franklin Joseph Benton, a few months before in December.

But the situation at home was volatile - Before moving in with Joey’s family, Jennifer lived with her mother, Kathy Nale, and her younger half-sister, Casey Wix.

Casey told us that Jennifer had been calling home and complaining that she wasn’t getting along with certain members of Joey’s family. So even though they were only hearing Jennifer’s side of the story, Casey and Jennifer’s mom were forming an impression of Joey, based on what Jennifer told them, that wasn’t great.

Over the months, Casey says that the situation at the Benton home had become increasingly strained.

Then on March 25, something happened.

At some point during the day, Joey got a call at work and left suddenly, saying that he was going to deal with a situation at home.

He told police that he picked up Jennifer and Adriana at home and that they went for a drive. During that drive, Joey claimed that he and Jennifer decided to end their relationship. After that, Joey told police that he stopped at a grocery store so that Jennifer could use the phone, and then he drove her and Adriana to a nearby gas station in Cross Plains.

Joey said at that gas station, which he said was in Cross Plains, a town a few minutes away, Jennifer and Adrianna got into a vehicle, which he described as a white four door sedan.

The two were never seen again.

But from the beginning Jennifer’s family was suspicious of this story. They say that they don’t believe that a young mom with a toddler would leave without any of her things and without ever calling her family. Also, they pointed out that Jennifer could have stayed with multiple family members who lived in the area. Why drive off with someone else?

It’s been almost 20 years, and those years have been filled with rumors, several searches of a property, shifting stories about what really happened that day, a wrongful death lawsuit, and most recently, a severed body part connected to a family member were found in a creek.

And yet no one has found any trace of Jennifer Wix or her daughter Adrianna.

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.

Hell and Gone Murder Line: Etan Patz Sep 25, 2025

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.

Hell and Gone Murder Line: Hannah Truelove Sep 18, 2025

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.

Hell and Gone Murder Line: Fred New Jr. Sep 11, 2025

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.

Hell and Gone Murder Line: Amanda Tusing (Archive Episode) Sep 04, 2025

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.

Hell and Gone Murder Line: Caroline Glachan Aug 28, 2025

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.

Hell and Gone Murder Line: Rex Terrell Aug 21, 2025

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.

Hell and Gone Murder Line: Carol Morgan Aug 14, 2025

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.

Hell and Gone Murder Line: Lauren Johansen Aug 07, 2025

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.

Hell and Gone Murder Line: Molly Bish Jul 31, 2025

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.

Hell and Gone Murder Line: Dannarriah Finley Jul 24, 2025

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.

Hell and Gone Murder Line: Barbara Bryan (Archive Episode) Jul 17, 2025

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.

Hell and Gone Murder Line: Dardeen Family Murders Jul 10, 2025

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.

Hell and Gone Murder Line: Heather Elvis Jul 03, 2025

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.

Hell and Gone Murder Line: Connie Townsend Part 2 Jun 26, 2025

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.

Hell and Gone Murder Line: Connie Townsend Part 1 Jun 19, 2025

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.

Hell and Gone Murder Line: Theresa Bier Jun 12, 2025

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.

Hell and Gone Murder Line: Justin Gaines (Archive Episode) Jun 05, 2025

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.

Hell and Gone Murder Line: Audrii Cunningham (Archive Episode) May 29, 2025

On February 15, 2024, 11-year-old Audrii Cunningham, a fifth grade student at Creekside Elementary in Livingstone, Texas, never made it to the bus stop. And when she didn’t come home after school, her family knew that something was very wrong.

Audrii lived with her dad, and on that property, there was someone else living there: a 42-year-old friend of the family’s who lived in a camper. And even though he had a very disturbing criminal record, this man was allowed to babysit for Audrii.

Once Audrii went missing, people started taking a look at what was really going on behind the closed doors of this house in rural Texas. We talk about stranger danger, but with this case, sometimes the most terrifying people can be living inside our home.

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.

Hell and Gone Murder Line: Nina Ingram Part 4 May 22, 2025

In 2012, six years after 21-year-old college student Nina Ingram was strangled at her apartment in Fayetteville, there was an arrest and a man named Rico Cohn was charged with Nina’s murder. But after a key witness died suddenly, the criminal case against Rico was dismissed.

His legal team filed a CIVIL LAWSUIT against the Fayetteville Police Department, suing several officers who worked on his case as well employees as the Arkansas State Crime Lab.

They alleged that the case against Rico Cohn was weak, basically nonexistent - that there was no physical evidence against Rico Cohn and that the witness, Randee Applewhite, told them that she was NOT at all sure that Rico had committed the crime.

Eventually, the lawsuit was voluntarily dismissed. And the ENTIRE case against Rico Cohn was sealed by a judge. Now as we said last week the lawsuit is obviously only one side of the story. But there are a lot of details in the civil lawsuit about investigations that were done by Rico’s attorneys for both the civil and criminal lawsuits - and about leads that the Fayetteville Police Department allegedly failed to follow up on.

One of them was a person described as Person of Interest B - who, from reading through the events of the case file, appeared to match the description of Jarvis Allan Harper, a man who worked with Nina Ingram at the Sixth Street Walmart at the time she was murdered.

So we went back and tried to figure out how did Jarvis's name first come to the attention of the Fayetteville Police Department and if there were other leads that should have been investigated.

What else did the police miss?

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Hell and Gone Murder Line: Nina Ingram Part 3 May 15, 2025

Sometime after ten pm on April 21, 2006, 21-year-old college student Nina Ingram was brutally murdered inside her apartment in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

The cause of death was ligature strangulation, and The Arkansas State Crime lab ruled the death a homicide. Despite the fact that detectives interviewed dozens of Nina’s friends, coworkers and her significant other, they had no viable suspects for years.

The Fayetteville Police Department considered this a cold case, their only unsolved one at the time since the 1970s. But then in 2012 they arrested and charged 26-year-old Rico Tavarous Cohn with Nina’s murder.

But the case against Rico Cohn was not as solid as it appeared to be on the surface. He spent over three years behind bars, and then, the case against him was dismissed.

Three years later in 2018, Rico filed a civil lawsuit against the Fayetteville Police Department detectives and employees at the Arkansas State Crime Lab who he alleged violated his civil rights.

This lawsuit claimed that there were several people of interest who police interviewed who were potential suspects...suspects that the lawsuit alleges were overlooked.

The person who murdered Nina has never been found. This person is still out there. Could the answers to finding Nina’s killer be there and is this person still out there?

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Hell and Gone Murder Line: Nina Ingram Part 2 May 08, 2025

Sometime after 10 p.m. on April 21, 2006, 21-year-old college student Nina Ingram was brutally murdered inside her apartment in Fayetteville, Arkansas. It became big news, at the time it was one of only two unsolved murder cases in Fayetteville since the 1970s.

Police interviewed Nina’s neighbors, her boyfriend, her friends and family but failed to identify a single suspect.

Her case went cold. Until six years later in 2012 when a 26-year-old man named Rico Tavarous Cohn was arrested and charged with Nina’s murder.

If you have a case you’d like the Hell and Gone team to look into, you can reach out to us at our Hell and Gone Murder Line at 678-744-6145.

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Hell and Gone Murder Line: Nina Ingram Part 1 May 01, 2025

It was April 21, 2006, and 21-year-old college student Nina Ingram was coming home after a long day.

Nina had a very busy life. She was two years into her business degree at Northwest Arkansas Community college in Bentonville, Arkansas and also worked full time at Walmart, part of the loss prevention team, basically a security officer.

That night, Nina had worked her shift, ate dinner at her boyfriend's apartment, and then drove back to her apartment complex a little after 10 pm.

Nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary. But the next day, no one heard from Nina.

At around 2 pm her other brother, Noah, and his partner, Chad, drove over to Nina’s apartment to check on her.

They knocked on the door, but Nina didn’t answer. So her brother climbed through an open window into the kitchen.

Chad waited outside while Noah unlocked the door and the deadbolt, which were both locked. Seconds later, he heard Noah scream.

Chad went in through the now unlocked front door and raced into Nina’s bedroom in the back of the apartment; he and Noah saw her lying face up on the bed with what Chad described as very visible red scratches and bruises around her neck. Chad told police that he knew immediately that she was dead.

Was Nina Ingram murdered by a serial killer, was this a random attack, or was it someone she knew?

If you have a case you’d like the Hell and Gone team to look into, you can reach out to us at our Hell and Gone Murder Line at 678-744-6145.

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Hell and Gone Murder Line: Lori Murchison Apr 24, 2025

On Sept. 1, 1995, a police officer in Fort Smith, Arkansas pulled over a vehicle. A man named Jerry Cogan was driving and his girlfriend, 24-year-old Lori Murchison, was the passenger.

Lori worked at a local nursing home. She had a four year old daughter, Britney, and adored her little girl. But Lori had been battling an addiction to drugs, according to what her friends told police, mainly to methamphetamines and also alcohol.

Because of that, Lori had been living with her mother, Nancy, in between staying at different local motels, and Nancy had been taking care of Lori’s daughter on and off.

Lori and Jerry had been at a bar that night. When the officer pulled them over, he believed that both of them had been drinking. So, he placed Jerry under arrest for DUI, and Lori for suspicion of public intoxication.

Lori was taken to the Sebastian County jail. And she was released sometime after 5 AM on September 2nd. She told detectives that she planned to get money and come back to bail Jerry out.

But she never returned to jail. The last time she was seen alive was at the Continental Motel, when she was picking up a key to a room.

Her family had no way of knowing where she was - or that the hunt for this missing mother would eventually involve charges of corruption at the highest levels of government.

If you have a case you’d like the Hell and Gone team to look into, you can reach out to us at our Hell and Gone Murder Line at 678-744-6145.

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Hell and Gone Murder Line: Pauline Storment (Archive Episode) Apr 17, 2025

On April 12, 1971, a 27-year-old woman named Pauline Storment was walking down South Duncan Avenue in Fayetteville, Arkansas. She didn't know someone was following her in the darkness.

And then, while she was walking and just a few blocks from her apartment, someone attacked her, stabbing her eight times in a frenzy that lasted several minutes.

When Pauline started screaming, a lot of people in the area heard her, and there were several witnesses. But her killer escaped into the night, and despite the police questioning tons of people, lots of theories being explored over the years an arrest, Pauline’s killer has never been found.

If you have a case you’d like the Hell and Gone team to look into, you can reach out to us at our Hell and Gone Murder Line at 678-744-6145.

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Hell and Gone Murder Line: Aaron Hodge Apr 10, 2025

In October of 1995, something strange was going on inside the Flick home at 302 McNabb Street in Rector, Arkansas.

This family was made up of 36-year-old David Flick, his wife 34-year-old Barbara, their daughter 11-year-old Andria Flick, and Barbara’s son 17-year-old Aaron Michael Hodge, who she had from a previous relationship.

Barbara was a nurse, and her husband David had a transmission shop that specialized in fixing transmissions. Friends and family said that they were a happy couple.

Andria played basketball and did beauty pageants. Aaron was well liked by his friends as well, and both Andria and Aaron were popular at school.

Andria, Barbara and David were planning on going to Florida to visit relatives, leaving Aaron at home. And like many teens at home alone, he threw a party.

This seems perfectly normal… except that David, Barbara and Andria never arrived in Florida. And several days laters, the police discovered their bodies, all shot to death in their house.

On the surface, this appeared to be a perfect family, but detectives quickly discovered that things behind closed doors were far from what they seemed.

What happened to turn the seemingly perfect family into a house of horrors?

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.

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Hell and Gone Murder Line: Tripp Brazeale Apr 03, 2025

On Saturday, November 2, 2024 15-year-old Tripp Brazeale headed out of his house in Forrest City, Arkansas on a four-wheeler.

After dark and into the early morning hours of Sunday November 3, Tripp, two family members, and a friend were hanging out in a part of the woods called Crow Creek, riding ATVs.

Now it’s mostly illegal to ride four-wheelers on paved roads in Arkansas and in many other places, but out there in the country, it’s a common mode of transportation for teens.

There were police officers nearby that night. Deputy Trey Bynum and Sgt. David Kinney from the St. Francis County Sheriff’s Office were responding to a call regarding with a missing girl and boy from Cross County.

Deputy Bynum wrote in his report that while they were checking out a residence in the woods, they heard ATVs driving around erratically. When they finished up and got back into their vehicles, Sgt. Kinney went to go find them. He was the first one to make contact; he was talking to the people on one of the four-wheelers, basically telling everyone to slow down.

As Deputy Bynum approached, he saw one of the four-wheelers slow down like he was about to stop but then, he said, take off and pass him at “a high rate of speed.”

The driver of that ATV was Tripp Brazeale.

At that point Deputy Bynum started his pursuit, trying to pull Tripp over.

The high speed chase went on up a hill and back down a hill, and that’s when something happened...something that caused Tripp to abruptly stop and jump off his four wheeler at 12:42 AM and run into the woods.

He didn't come back after Deputy Bynum called after him. He fled into the woods and kept running. And then, he disappeared.

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.

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Hell and Gone Murder Line: KK's Corner Part 4 Mar 27, 2025

After Kevin Abel died, and his death was ruled a suicide, Stacie Reeves was scared. Kevin’s friend Jordan said that Stacie told her that Kevin was in serious trouble - that he owed a lot of drug money to people - and that she was planning on talking to police officers about what she knew. One of the officers she spoke with was Jerome LaStraps, an officer Jordan didn't trust.

There’s no evidence that Jerome LaStraps did anything wrong, but police did later call him in for questioning about KK’s Corner, asking what he knew, and when he knew it.

We’re trying to understand all these relationships, because in Calcasieu Parish, they run deep.

Jordan told us about one of her last conversations with Stacie:

"Stacie goes, 'Hey, do you know a Jerome LaStraps?' And I looked at her and I said, 'Yes, I do.' And she said, 'Because I've been talking to him about Kevin's case.' And I said, 'Stacey, you don't need to do that. He's dirty.' She said, 'Well, I know who killed Kevin.' And I said, 'Who?'"

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.

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Hell and Gone Murder Line: KK's Corner Part 3 Mar 20, 2025

On July 6, 1997 in Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana, Marty LeBouef, Stacie Reeves and Nicole Guidry were all shot execution style in the head. Their bodies were left in the cooler at KK’s Corner. Thedr murders were shocking. And soon, people were talking about another death. One that some people in the community thought could be linked to KK’s Corner’s massacre.

On Saturday, May 17, 1997, not even three weeks before the triple homicide at KK’s Corner, Kevin Abel was fatally shot in the head at home.

Police ruled Kevin’s death a suicide, but Stacie Reeves, who had been dating Kevin, believed that he had been murdered and that his murder could be tied to law enforcement, and possibly to alleged drug deals at KK’s Corner.

Stacie Reeves arrived at that crime scene with her young twin daughters only minutes after police showed up there. She told police that she and Kevin were going on a date that night and that she had been planning to pick him up with her girls. And she said that he owed a LOT of money to drug dealers, who had been taking his truck as collateral.

What really happened to Kevin Abel. Did he kill himself? Who were the drug dealers that he owed money to? And did Kevin’s death have anything to do with the KK’s Corner killings?

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.

Hell and Gone Murder Line: KK's Corner Part 2 Mar 13, 2025

Just after midnight on July 6, 1997, 21-year-old Marty LeBouef, 26-year-old Stacie Reeves and 14-year-old Nicole Guidry were fatally shot in a triple homicide at KK’s Corner convenience store near Lake Charles, Louisiana.

The killings shocked the community. For months police struggled to find answers. No one seemed to have seen anything, and there was no real physical evidence.

Eventually, a suspect was arrested: Thomas Cisco.

Police questioned Cisco. He confessed that he had been at KK’s Corner on the night of the murders and said that he was involved. But as we explained last week, Thomas told a lot of conflicting stories, and a lot of the details that he gave to detectives trying to confirm his stories didn’t make sense.

Was it Thomas or something else? Was he even there that night? And if he was there, who was the second man? And could the killers or killers still be out there?

If you have a case you’d Catherine Townsend to look into, you can reach out to us at our Hell and Gone Murder Line at 678-744-6145.

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Hell and Gone Murder Line: KK's Corner Part 1 Mar 06, 2025

It was a few minutes before midnight on Saturday July 5, 1997. 21-year-old Marty LeBouef was working behind the counter as a cashier at KK’s Corner convenience store on Highway 14 in Calcasieu Parish, a few miles from Lake Charles, Louisiana.

Marty and his co-worker, 26-year-old Stacie Reeves, were working together that night. There was someone else there too. Stacie had a friend, 14-year-old Nicole Guidry, there with her.

Nicole sometimes babysat for Stacie’s twin daughters, who were 23 months old, and was keeping Stacie company until the store closed. Then the plan was for her to ride home with Stacie and spend the night with her kids while Stacie went crabbing.

Nicole was turning fifteen later that summer and was about to start the ninth grade.

Marty hadn’t been scheduled to work that night, but one of his coworkers had called in sick, so Marty stepped in.

Closing time was midnight. That time came and went.

And Marty, Stacie and Nicole never made it home.

Around 5 a.m. on July 6, one of Marty and Stacie’s coworkers showed up to open the store, and she immediately noticed that something was very wrong.

The cash register was open. Money was missing from the drawer. The alarm was off. And Marty and Stacy were nowhere to be found.

The employee went to the office to use the phone there and called the police.

Once the deputy got to the store, he noticed Stacie and Marty’s cars in the parking lot. Inside, he found the door to the back office had been kicked in, and the safe was open. At first he thought that this had been a robbery and that Stacie and Marty may be restrained in the back of the store, locked in the cooler.

But once he opened the door to the cooler, he saw the bloodbath. There were three bodies - Marty, Stacie and Nicole lying on the floor. All three had been shot multiple times, execution style.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hell and Gone Murder Line: Brooke Allensworth (Archive Episode) Feb 27, 2025

On July 12, 2017, somewhere in the tiny town of Oil Trough, Arkansas, a 37-year-old mother of three named Brooke Allensworth vanished.

Two weeks later, the police found Brooke’s car. The car was near a boat ramp and looked like it had been abandoned there for days or possibly weeks.

The tire was flat, the doors were locked, and the keys were missing. And so was Brooke. Her family, including her three children and a father and half sister, never saw her alive again and are still searching for answers.

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.

Hell and Gone Murder Line: Brandy Dyson Part 2 Feb 20, 2025

On November 5, 2005, a jogger found the body of 32-year-old mother of three Brandy Dyson floating in a lake behind the Lake Charles Civic Center.

Brandy had been struggling with mental health issues and with addition.

For a while she was doing well, and settled into an apartment. But then she lost her apartment after taking refugees in from Hurricane Katrina. She then moved to the Civic Center in Lake Charles with a lot of other evacuees from the storm.

After that, Brandy was caught drinking, which broke the rules of the Red Cross, the organization that was running things at the Civic Center, so she was asked to leave. This seemed to start what would turn out to be her final downward spiral.

Police believe she set up camp on a pier nearby and had been living there for a few weekends when the next massive hurricane, Hurricane Rita, hit and devastated the state.

Sometime in the midst of the storm chaos, Brandy was brutally murdered. The bruising on her neck was so bad that her father said that she had to be buried in a turtleneck sweater.

It’s been almost 20 years. The person arrested and at first charged with her murder has been released, and no new suspects have come forward. But the unsolved case is still on the minds of the detectives at the Lake Charles police department.

Down there, Brandy’s family tells me, they have a nickname for her. They call her The Lady in the Lake.

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.

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Hell and Gone Murder Line: Brandy Dyson Part 1 Feb 13, 2025

On November 5, 2005 a jogger was out running beside a lake in Lake Charles, Louisiana, behind the Civic Center, when he saw something floating in the water. When he took a closer look, he realized it was the body of a woman.

Police identified the body as 32-year-old Brandy Renee Dyson, a mother of three who had recently been made homeless after Hurricane Katrina and then Hurricane Rita, which devastated the state.

It’s been almost 20 years, there’s been one arrest and a lot of controversy, but her case is still unsolved. There's a lot we don't know about Brandy's murder, but we do know that it was violent.

Her father Adley Dyson told a local news station, "We had to bury her in a turtleneck sweater because she was strangled and she was thrown in the lake."

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.

Hell and Gone Murder Line: Cass County Three (Archive Episode) Feb 06, 2025

It was July 29, 2022, just another quiet summer night in Atlanta, Texas. The sun had just gone down when 28-year-old Shommaonique Oliver got a panicked phone call. That’s when her nightmare began. Three of her children- her middle daughters, nine-year-old Zi’Ariel Robinson-Oliver, eight-year-old A’Miyah Hughes, and little five-year-old Te’Mari Robinson-Oliver were missing. Law enforcement found them a few hours later. Divers dragged their lifeless little bodies out of a neighboring pond.

Initially this was described as a drowning in the local media, but months later, law enforcement said that these three little girls had been murdered. The cause was strangulation. And this person could strike again at any time.

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.

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Hell and Gone Murder Line: Nicholas Rudd Jan 30, 2025

On July 30, 2020, in Starke County, Indiana, a 911 call came from North County Road 1025 East just before 3:30 a.m.

The caller, a man named Zachary, had worked late that night and had gotten home and climbed into bed when he said that he and fiancé were woken up by someone pounding on their door.

The man was 27-year-old Nicholas Rudd. Nick said that he had been shot, but neither Zachary nor his fiancé had heard gunshots.

What he didn’t know was that Nick had not been shot, he had been attacked with a hammer, and stabbed in the neck. He was bleeding to death on their doorstep, and the killer was still outside.

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.

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Hell and Gone Murder Line: James Escalante Part 3 Jan 23, 2025

Six bodies were found in Wonder Valley between December of 2019 and January of 2021. Some of the bodies in the desert, including the disappearance of 37 year old single mother Erika Lloyd, started making local, then national, news. But there were no national news reports about James Escalante.

We’re going to dive into the missing persons report and compare accounts from the last people who saw James to see if we can shed more light into what really happened out there in the desert on June 25, 2020.

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.

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Hell and Gone Murder Line: James Escalante Part 2 Jan 16, 2025

On June 25, 2020, 56-year-old James Escalante, who also went by Blackhawk, left home on a red mountain bike to help Dee, a friend of his and his girlfriend Sherry’s, whose truck had gotten stuck in the desert.

But he never made it back home, and no one reported him missing until September 7th. Heather Escalante and her husband Jon, James’ son, began their own search.

After Heather started posting on social media and looking for information, she heard that remains were found in the desert on August 8th by a hiker. The body was a John Doe. Half his face was missing, he had long black hair and there was no ID found.

Heather contacted the detective working the case to say that she believed that the body could be James, and on December 15th, the family’s worst fears were confirmed. They got a call from the coroner. James Escalante was dead. His cause and manner of his death were undetermined.

What happened out there in the desert?

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Hell and Gone Murder Line: James Escalante Part 1 Jan 09, 2025

On June 25, 2020, a 56-year-old named James Escalante, who had Native American heritage and was also known by his nickname, Blackhawk, left his home in Wonder Valley, California on his mountain bike

James lived with a girlfriend, Sherry, and she told law enforcement that he left the home that day to head down the road about 10 minutes from their place to help a friend of theirs named Dee whose car had gotten stuck in sugar sand, which is almost like dry desert quicksand.

It’s hot out there; the average temperature for that part of the desert in July and August is 89 degrees and highs regularly top out over 100, or even 105.

And out there in the desert it’s dry heat so it feels like you’re baking in an oven.

It happens every year - hikers go missing or people just wander off and get lost and don’t come back. But the terrain also means that when people do go missing under mysterious circumstances it can be easier for local law enforcement to write it off as just an accident.

Now supposedly the friend, Dee, had been out looking for rocks near Highway 62 and Shelton Road east of Twentynine Palms. And James had lived in that desert for a long time, and knew the area well. So the plan was for James to meet her at a specific intersection to rescue her.

But once he got out there, according to Sherry, he couldn’t find Dee. So James called Sherry on his cell phone to figure out what was going on. At that point, Sherry called Dee on a three way call, and James told Dee to honk her horn so that he could find her.

He seemed to think he could hear her, so he hung up. But he never got to Dee’s car. And no one ever saw James Escalante alive 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.

Hell and Gone Murder Line: William Vick Part 4 Jan 02, 2025

On September 29, 2023, just over nine months after William Vick was found dead on his bedroom floor in Clarksville Arkansas, his house caught on fire and burned down under very suspicious circumstances.

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.

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Introducing: Someone Knows Something Dec 26, 2024

Christine Harron, a book-loving teenager from Hanover, Ontario, leaves for school in the spring of 1993 and is never seen again. A suspect emerges, confessing to her murder, but the case falls apart and Christine's family are left without answers.

In Season 9 of the award winning podcast Someone Knows Something, David Ridgen, along with Christine's mother, reopen the investigation and come face to face with the man who said he killed Chrissy.

Someone Knows Something is the investigative true crime series by award-winning documentarian David Ridgen. Each season tackles an unsolved case, uncovering details and bringing closure to families.

More episodes are available at: lnk.to/beLwSGEq

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Hell and Gone Murder Line: William Vick Part 3 Dec 19, 2024

On January 23, 2023, just six days after William Vick was found dead on his bedroom floor at 1954 County Road 3259 in Clarksville Arkansas, police did a welfare check on his wife Larenda’s mother, 72-year-old Martha McLean, who lived in a detached house on the property with William and Larenda.

They found Martha struggling to breathe with drugs including lorazepam and morphine around her. Martha had overdosed and was close to death, but paramedics administered Narcan, a drug that blocks opioids. So Martha's breathing improved, and she survived.

Matt Foster with the Arkansas State Police wrote that Martha had a pen and a partially handwritten note in her hand when he found her. The note stated that Martha didn’t want to hurt anyone. And after he found her, he executed a search warrant for the property, and he found a second handwritten note where Martha confessed to tampering with William’s medication and to killing him.

But why did Martha kill William, and what really happened to her?

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.

Hell and Gone Murder Line: William Vick Part 2 Dec 12, 2024

On January 17 2023 at 11: 22 PM the Johnson County deputy coroner arrived at 1954 County Road in Clarksville Arkansas and found the body of 53-year-old William Vick.

The case of death on William’s autopsy was listed as a combined mixed prescription and illicit drug toxicity. Manner of death: homicide.

William’s family was suspicious of his wife, LaRenda, but someone else confessed: LaRenda's mother, Martha McLean. She was in her late seventies, terminally ill with throat cancer, and lived in a separate structure on William and LaRenda's property. And she had written a letter confessing to the murder.

So why would LaRenda’s 72 year old mother want to hurt William. And with her supposedly being frail and ill, would she even be physically capable of something like that?

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.

Hell and Gone Murder Line: William Vick Part 1 Dec 05, 2024

On January 17, 2023, 53-year-old William Vick was recovering at home in Clarksville, Arkansas. William was in good health. He loved making videos for his YouTube channel. But William had gone in for tonsillectomy operation the week before, and had been experiencing some complications. He had texted his daughter, Ashley to say that he believed that something inside him was broken and that he was throwing up a large amount of blood in the sink.

Ashley was worried, and told her dad that this didn't seem normal to her - she encouraged him to go see the doctor. But LaRenda had worked as an ER nurse and Ashley believed that her stepmother was taking care of her father.

A lot of what we know is pieced together after the fact from coroner’s reports and case notes. We do know that at 11: 22 PM, the Johnson County deputy coroner Dave Cogan arrived at 1954 County Road responding to an unexpected death. They spoke to LaRenda who, according to the coroner’s report, told the deputy coroner that she had been staying in a separate room because she had been sick recently and was worried about COVID.

The deputy coroner noted that William was already in full rigor mortis; meaning that he had been dead, lying on that floor, for a long time. William Vick was fifty three years old. He went in for what was supposed to be a routine operation, and a few days later, he was dead. And this was just the beginning of an investigation that involves charges of insurance fraud, two mysterious deaths, and a family torn apart.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hell and Gone Murder Line: Taylor Barksdale Part 4 Nov 28, 2024

Last week, we talked about the mystery regarding whether or not Deputy Blake Hassell ever went out to the area in Kingston where on August 5th at 12:34 AM, a 911 caller reported that she heard a woman screaming - that it sounded like she was being raped or tortured.

The dispatch report reads, "A caller advised she believes that she heard a woman in the woods behind her house yelling. Stated she believes at one point the woman screamed for help. Caller advised there is not a physical address but it is in area where a bunch of homeless people were camped out.”

We know that the caller waited all night for the Madison County's Sheriff’s Office to respond, but no one ever came.

And that a few weeks later on September 9, Taylor Barksdale’s remains were found just a few hundred feet from where that 911 call was placed. Her death was labeled a homicide. The Madison County Sheriff’s Department said that only one deputy, Blake Hassell was working the overnight shift from August 4 to August 5. And Sheriff Ronnie Boyd said that Blake Hassell told dispatch that he responded to the call when he didn’t.

Later that same day, August 5 when his supervisor Sergeant Drew Scott questioned him, he said that he didn’t respond to the call because he ‘had just been out to that area 30 minutes or an hour earlier.” But is that true?

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hell and Gone Murder Line: Taylor Barksdale Part 3 Nov 21, 2024

We’ve been trying to figure out what happened to Taylor Barksdale in the last few weeks of her life that led her to Kingston, Arkansas

At 12:34 on August 5, a 911 caller reported that it a woman was screaming on a rural property in Kingston and that she sounded like she was being raped or tortured.

Just over a month later, on September 9, Taylor’s remains were found in a field near where the 911 call was made.

We have made some headway in finding out what was going on in Taylor Barksdale’s life during the last few weeks of her life.

We know that she had been staying on and off with her ex-boyfriend, Kenny.

Apparently, Taylor and Kenny got into an argument. After that, Kenny's neighbors say that they didn't see her come back to Kenny's residence. After July 20th, Taylor was staying on and off with different friends, and two of those friends who she was hanging out with were men. Men who were also, and two of those friends who she was hanging out with were mutual friends of hers and Kenny's.

One of the men lived in a camper on a piece of land near where the 911 call originated from. So who are these men? How do they know Taylor, and what happened to Taylor on that last day of her life that ended with her remains being found in a field?

If you have a case you’d like Catherine Townsend to look into, you can reach out to our Hell and Gone Murder Line at 678-744-6145.

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Hell and Gone Murder Line: Taylor Barksdale Part 2 Nov 07, 2024

The Madison County Sheriff’s Office got a 911 call in the early morning hours of August 5, 2024 from caller who heard sounds that she believed could be from a woman being raped or tortured.

But the police never came. Then a few weeks later, people were expressing concern about Taylor Barksdale, a 30-year-old woman who had been living in Huntsville and who had gone missing. When police finally went to the area of the 911 call to investigate on September 9, they went out to a residence in Kingston, and they found Taylor's remains.

Taylor was a mother of two young children, someone who was loved by her friends and family and someone who was vulnerable. Someone who died screaming in a dark field, desperately waiting for help that never came.

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Hell and Gone Murder Line: Taylor Barksdale Part 1 Oct 31, 2024

On September 9, 2024, searchers on a property in Madison County in the area of Kingston, Arkansas, broke open a hay bale and found a body.

Police have shared almost no information about this investigation. And while Sheriff Ronnie Boyd at the Madison County Sheriff’s office has publicly denied this, some people in Madison County think this body was discovered while the police were searching for Jason Lierl.

We did several episodes about that case: 41-year-old Jason Lierl was going through a tough time. His 14-year relationship with his wife Jamaica had deteriorated and they were divorcing. Jason had had issues with drugs in the past and then sometime in the winter of 2022, it seems he relapsed.

In January of 2022, Jason Lierl was visiting friends in Madison County. He was last seen at various residences in Huntsville and then...Jason disappeared. His abandoned car was found in the parking lot of a mall in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

His car keys, motorcycle and other belongings were found in different places, spread across Arkansas and Missouri, but to this day, no trace of Jason has ever been found.

And some people a serial killer is on the loose.

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.

Hell and Gone Murder Line: Shannon Lee Collins Update Oct 24, 2024

In this summer we covered the case of Shannon Lee Collins, the 48-year-old veteran who vanished without a trace from his family home in Pottsville Arkansas.

I am thrilled to report that we have a major update in this case: federal fraud charges have been filed against Shannon’s wife Treasa and her daughter, Brittany. And now that the fraud has been uncovered could murder charges come next?

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Hell and Gone Murder Line: Doug Janis Part 4 Oct 17, 2024

After Doug Janis was murdered in 2020, police were focused on one suspect: his wife, 31-year-old April Mae Janis.

Was April a loving wife who adored Doug or a master manipulator who orchestrated his murder? In Hemphill, Texas, it depends on who you ask. Half the town thinks that April was this vixen who has murdered multiple people, while the other half see her as a victim of sexual abuse.

This week, we finally got in touch with April Janis. And we learned about an alternative suspect...someone the police apparently never considered.

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.

Hell and Gone Murder Line: Doug Janis Part 3 Oct 10, 2024

We’re in Sabine County, Texas, investigating the area where Doug Janis was murdered. We’ve talked a lot about April and Doug’s relationship - one that went on for years - but what I wonder is, if April did kill Doug, why did she choose that moment? What was her motive?

I think that solving Doug Janis murder starts with figuring out what really happened to April’s mother, Anna, on the night she was fatally shot, September 3, 2004. That's the same night when Anna told her friend Yvonne that she found out that April was being molested by Doug Janis.

Last week, we heard from April’s father's book, which gave his version of what happened the night his wife was fatally shot. But Yvonne has a very different version of what went down that night.

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Hell and Gone Murder Line: Doug Janis Part 2 Oct 03, 2024

Catherine and Amy head to Sabine County, Texas, where on December 13, 2020, there was a massive explosion on Toledo Bend lake. The houseboat belonging to 64-year-old Doug Janis, a well known commercial catfisherman, went up in flames. Doug Janis was found dead inside the boat. At first, police assumed that it had been a propane leak, but then the medical examiner found the two bullets in the back of Doug’s head.

Doug Janis had been murdered. And his much younger wife, 30-year-old April Mae Janis was nowhere to be found. A witness told police that they saw April leaving the scene shortly before it blew up.

And as we said last week we found out that April’s mother, Anna, had also died of a fatal gunshot wound to the head. Another a mysterious death that was never fully explained.

April's dad Bob Thompson wrote a book which he self published called A Different Ballgame. In that book, he described in detail what happened the night Anna was shot and his version of events. And we've talked to some of the other people who were around that night, and let’s just say that we will be taking everything that Bob says with a very large grain of salt.

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Hell and Gone Murder Line: Doug Janis Part 1 Sep 26, 2024

On December 13, 2020, in Hemphill, Texas, police in Sabine County got a call about a houseboat on fire.

The houseboat was docked behind 322 Echo Ridge, off of Cedar Grove Road on Highway 21 in the Pendleton area of Toledo Bend. And the scene very quickly descended into total chaos.

The firefighters had trouble getting out to the remote location, and by the time they got there the boat was engulfed in flames.

Firefighters and paramedics rushed to the boat but it was too late. By the time they got there the walls had caved in. And then, when they dug through the remains of the boat, they found the body of 64-year-old Doug Janis.

At first, they thought that the fire had been some kind of accident and that Doug had died as a result of a propane leak. But then, they took Doug's body in for an autopsy, and they found two bullets in his head.

Doug Janis had been murdered. And his much younger wife April Mae Janis was nowhere to be found.

But Doug’s death was just the beginning of a story that goes back twenty years and involves sex, allegations of corruption, and multiple murders.

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.

Hell and Gone Murder Line: Christina Pipkin Part 4 (Archive Episode) Sep 19, 2024

Hello Hell and Gone listeners! We'll be back on September 26th with brand new episodes of Hell and Gone Murder Line.

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.

Hell and Gone Murder Line: Christina Pipkin Part 3 (Archive Episode) Sep 12, 2024

Hello Hell and Gone listeners! We'll be back on September 26th with brand new episodes of Hell and Gone Murder Line.

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.

Hell and Gone Murder Line: Christina Pipkin Part 2 (Archive Episode) Sep 05, 2024

Hello Hell and Gone listeners! We'll be back on September 26th with brand new episodes of Hell and Gone Murder Line.

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.

Hell and Gone Murder Line Season 2 Trailer Aug 30, 2024

New episodes of Hell and Gone Murder Line start September 26th!

In the meantime, if you have a case you’d like Catherine Townsend and her team 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.

Hell and Gone Murder Line: Christina Pipkin Part 1 (Archive Episode) Aug 29, 2024

Hello Hell and Gone listeners! We'll be back on September 26th with brand new episodes of Hell and Gone Murder Line.

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.

Hell and Gone Murder Line: Barbara Bryan Aug 22, 2024

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 just like in Amanda Tusing’s case, there were suspicions that a police officer may have been involved - and the murder is still unsolved.

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.

Hell and Gone Murder Line: Dana Stidham Part 2 Aug 15, 2024

On Tuesday July 25 1989, 18 year old Dana Stidham went home to do some laundry. She drove from her home in Centerton to where her parents Lawrence and Georgia lived in Hiwasse, Arkansas.

After she put her clothes in the wash cycle, she headed out to run an errand for her dad. His stomach was upset and he needed some medicine.

She left the Phillips food store - which is now a Harp’s grocery - in Bella Vista at 3:17 pm.

We know this because the receipt was later found in her car, and the cashier and a lot of other people working in the store confirmed that she was there that day - she knew them because she worked there for three years in high school.

We’re going to explore some theories that have come up over the years and ask - was this someone Dana knew, or a stranger, maybe even a serial killer?

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hell and Gone Murder Line: Dana Stidham Part 1 Aug 08, 2024

On July 25, 1989, 18-year-old Dana Stidham had just graduated from high school in Gravette, Arkansas and had her whole life in front of her.

Dana had moved out on her own for the first time to Centerton where she was living with her older brother Larry and a cousin.

She was starting her life and excited about the future, but on that day, she had to do some laundry and like a lot of kids that age, she was going to do her laundry at home. And she was a little homesick; she wanted to spend some time with her dad.

Her parents Lawrence and Georgia Stidham lived in Hiwasse, an unincorporated area in Benton County about a ten minute drive to where she liveD. So Dana drove home. She started doing a big pile of laundry with her dad. And then her dad said he was not feeling well, so he asked Dana to run some errands for him and she said yes.

She was planning on coming right back. She had clothes in the wash cycle, and her dad said that he would put them in the dryer if she wasn’t back by then.

There has been a lot of publicity about this case, but no real answers.

We're going to try to relive the last day of Dana Stidham’s life and see if there's anything that was missed that can help get us closer to finding out what happened to her and who killed her.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hell and Gone Murder Line: Amanda Tusing Aug 01, 2024