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  • She Died Not Knowing: The Secret Life of Loretta Schell

    She Died Not Knowing: The Secret Life of Loretta Schell
    2026/09/10
    She Died Not Knowing: The Secret Life of Loretta Schell

    Fear and curiosity collide when a black leather Bible turns up with a single margin note: "Loretta, born March 9, 1951. God keep her." Who was Loretta Schell, why was there no official record of her birth, and what family secret had been buried for sixty-eight years?

    In this episode, we follow how a retired postal worker found the Bible in a church donation, how a daughter named Brenda connected the note to her elderly mother Ruth, and how a single photograph in a closet confirmed a hidden family story - but left the central question open: what happened to Loretta after she was placed with another family?

    Person: Norma Schell
    Date: March 9, 1951
    Event: Birth of a girl named Loretta
    Location: Pettis Township / Decatur County area
    Discovery: Bible found November 4, 2019

    - The Bible was a black leather King James with "DALTON" in gilt on the cover.
    - The margin note "Loretta, born March 9, 1951. God keep her." was written in small compressed left-leaning handwriting.
    - No birth record for any Loretta appeared in Pettis Township or Millford county seat records for the first six months of 1951.
    - A three-by-five black-and-white photograph labeled on the back "N. and baby, June 1951" was found in an envelope marked "1950s misc."
    - Norma Schell died in 1994 and had never married; the baby was placed informally with a family in Decatur County with no paperwork.

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    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    20 分
  • The Man Buried Twice: Who Cashed a Surveyor's Pension for 22 Years?

    The Man Buried Twice: Who Cashed a Surveyor's Pension for 22 Years?
    2026/09/09
    The Man Buried Twice: Who Cashed a Surveyor's Pension for 22 Years?

    Fear that someone you trusted quietly erased a life and collected $108,000 in pension checks for two decades - that shock is the first thing you feel when a basset hound noses a $ check from a drainage ditch. The pension sequence shows payments from 2001 through 2022 to a man buried in Dellworth Municipal Cemetery; who kept the fraud alive, and why did no one stop it sooner?

    In this episode, we tell how routine records, a retiring doctor, and a family’s private coping created a decades-long paper trail that let a supposed death turn into steady income, and we ask whether the loose ends the county left behind can ever be tied up.

    Person: Raymond Allen Cutler
    Event: Pension payments from 2001 to 2022
    Amount: $108,000
    Location: Dellworth Municipal Cemetery, plot fourteen
    Witness: Russell Farrell

    - A check found in October 2022 matched a continuous sequence of pension payments dating back to 2001.
    - Raymond Cutler was listed as deceased on a death certificate signed by Dr. Howard Vass in February 2000.
    - A bank account opened in March 2001 at Dellworth Savings used Raymond T. Cutler’s Social Security number and valid identification.
    - A headstone for Raymond was ordered from Ketterman Memorials in March 2003 and paid in cash.
    - Bette Cutler, Raymond’s wife, died in 2007 and Dr. Howard Vass died in 2009, after which the pension continued to be paid.

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

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    23 分
  • Two Sealed Birth Certificates, Two Missing Siblings, One Family Secret

    Two Sealed Birth Certificates, Two Missing Siblings, One Family Secret
    2026/09/08
    Two Sealed Birth Certificates, Two Missing Siblings, One Family Secret

    A mason jar pulled from Aucoin Creek in 2019 held a perfectly dry birth certificate for Diane Lewis dated September 3, 1978 - and three weeks earlier a second sealed jar under a nearby subfloor contained a matching certificate for Robert Lewis. How did two authentic-seeming county birth certificates for children nobody in Garnett County ever recorded end up preserved in glass across the same property, and who put them there?

    In this episode, we follow Denise Miller as she takes two mysterious documents from her mother’s kitchen table to the Garnett County recorder, tracing every odd detail from the creek to the registrar’s files and asking whether a paper trail can reveal a hidden family history. What the records - and the people who remember the land - can and cannot tell her becomes the central question she must answer.

    Person: Denise Miller
    Person: Cheryl (Miller’s mother)
    Event: Jar found in Aucoin Creek on September 14, 2019
    Event: Second jar found beneath rear bedroom subfloor in late August 2019
    Date: Birth certificates dated September 3, 1978

    - A mason jar recovered from Aucoin Creek on September 14, 2019 contained a sealed, dry birth certificate naming Diane Lewis.
    - A second sealed mason jar found under a rear bedroom subfloor less than 600 yards from the creek contained a birth certificate for Robert Lewis with the same birth date.
    - Forensic analysis in St. Louis confirmed the paper, typeface, and county seal on the documents were consistent with the period.
    - Garnett County registrar Paul Ingram reported that neither Diane nor Robert Lewis appears in any birth register for 1978, nor for August or September of that year.
    - Denise Miller, a 38-year-old insurance adjuster, began the inquiry after her mother Cheryl, age 61, received word of the jars and had never before known of any siblings.

    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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    20 分
  • The Photograph Buried in Concrete That Rewrote a Family's Past

    The Photograph Buried in Concrete That Rewrote a Family's Past
    2026/09/07
    The Photograph Buried in Concrete That Rewrote a Family's Past

    A four-inch-by-three photograph sealed in concrete for seventy-three years turned up with a folded letter and a stopped wristwatch - and the pencil inscription on the back read "Sal, August 1944, for Mom." Who was the young man in the uniform, why did the handwriting belong to Ralph Russo's grandfather, and what did those items mean for a family story that suddenly didn't fit?

    In this episode, we follow how a county surveyor's routine boundary correction led a Harlen hardware-store owner to open a package that challenged decades of family memory. Listen to how a recovered photograph, a woman's handwritten note, and a military watch force Ralph to question who his grandfather really was and where a name like Louise Crane belongs in the family history.

    Person: Ralph Russo
    Person: Sal Russo
    Person: Diane Russo
    Event: Boundary correction recovery
    Date: August 2019

    - The photograph measured four inches by three on cream-colored paper stock.
    - The photograph had been sealed inside concrete for seventy-three years.
    - The pencil inscription on the back read "Sal, August 1944, for Mom."
    - Ralph Russo was sixty-two years old in the summer of 2019.
    - Everett Powell was killed in action at age twenty-four in the Pacific Theater.

    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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    24 分
  • The Hidden Father: Envelope, Photograph, and a Lie That Lasted Decades

    The Hidden Father: Envelope, Photograph, and a Lie That Lasted Decades
    2026/09/06
    The Hidden Father: Envelope, Photograph, and a Lie That Lasted Decades

    A sealed envelope taped to a cinderblock wall for decades contained a single handwritten name and a directive in a will - and it quietly held the key to a closed adoption that connected three neighbors across Harwick. How did an envelope labeled "Dennis White. Personal." survive half-peeled tape and twenty-four years of deliberate silence, and who decided to keep that secret?

    In this episode, we follow the discovery of the envelope and the threads it unravels: the adoptee Dennis White, the retired machinist Curtis Rice who left the envelope, and the birth family decision that placed Dennis with Louise White - a childhood neighbor of his birth mother. What does the envelope reveal about choices made in 1994 and the loyalties that kept them hidden?

    Person: Dennis White
    Person: Curtis Rice
    Person: Louise White
    Date: July 9, 2019
    Event: Envelope found taped to basement wall

    - The envelope was found at 7:40 a.m. on July 9, 2019 behind a utility shelf in the basement of a house on Briar Hollow Road.
    - The envelope front was labeled in blue ballpoint: "Dennis White. Personal."
    - Curtis Rice lived in the house for 22 years and died eight months before the envelope was found at age 71.
    - Dennis White was adopted in 1995 through a closed agency and was 24 years old at the time of the envelope discovery.
    - In December 1994 Curtis Rice paid cash for a paternity-related genetic screening and later drafted a letter he never sent.

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

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    19 分
  • A Dead Man's Card Surfaces: The Glenn Weaver Case

    A Dead Man's Card Surfaces: The Glenn Weaver Case
    2026/09/05
    A Dead Man's Card Surfaces: The Glenn Weaver Case

    A laminated community pool card with a clear photo and a June 1992 expiration was pulled from Harrow Pond in 2019 - the man pictured, Glenn Weaver, had been declared drowned in 1991 and never recovered. The card showed a fresh tideline indicating recent submersion, and it turned up eleven miles from where his staged disappearance began; what did a dead man’s membership card mean for the family who kept his secret for 28 years?

    In this episode, we trace the timeline from a staged car on Millhaven Road bridge in June 1991 to weekly Wednesday calls that lasted until 2019, following Glenn’s new identity as Gerald Muns, his life in Carver Falls, and the letters sent from rotating post offices that sustained a family secret - what finally explains the pool card and why was the truth kept from their mother?

    Person: Glenn Weaver
    Event: staged disappearance with car left on Millhaven Road bridge (June 1991)
    Location: Harrow Pond, Brackett Township, Ohio (card found June 11, 2019)
    Identity used: Gerald Muns (appeared on rental and tax records 1993-2018)
    Letters sent: 26 letters mailed from different post offices over 28 years

    - The pool card was found at 5:45 AM on June 11, 2019, wedged four feet from the bank in a half-submerged willow root.
    - The card’s expiration date read June 1992, and the pool (Millhaven Community Pool) was demolished in 2004.
    - Glenn Weaver was recorded as drowned on June 14, 1991, with no body recovered.
    - Glenn adopted the name Gerald Muns and filed federal tax returns under that name every year from 1993 through 2018.
    - Sandra placed a collect call on October 1991 and then called Glenn every Wednesday at 11:00 AM for 28 years without documented interruption.

    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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    20 分
  • The Portrait That Revealed My Father's Secret Marriage

    The Portrait That Revealed My Father's Secret Marriage
    2026/09/04
    The Portrait That Revealed My Father's Secret Marriage

    Curiosity turns to unease in a single moment: a 14-year-old paper carrier finds an open door and a small framed portrait that no one recognized, and that photograph upends a 54-year-old son’s certainty about his family history. Who were the man and woman dated May 3, 1971, and why was that portrait kept for decades in a closet where everyone could have seen it?

    In this episode, we follow how a found portrait, eleven handwritten letters, and public records force a family to confront a hidden marriage the household never acknowledged. What did the marriage license and the divorce decree reveal, and why were letters from Miriam addressed to Sandra?

    Person: Douglas Allen Vogel
    Date: April 29, 1971 (marriage license)
    Date: November 1972 (divorce decree)
    Person: Miriam Louise Hecht
    Person: Sandra Vogel

    - A 14-year-old paper carrier named Roger Vickers discovered the open front door at 412 Caldwell Avenue on the morning of May 11, 2019.
    - The portrait found was wooden-framed, eight inches by ten, with handwriting reading "Douglas and Miriam - May 3, 1971."
    - Eleven handwritten letters from Miriam, postmarked between September 1973 and March 1982, were found in a manila envelope beneath the portrait.
    - Douglas Allen Vogel died on April 24, 2019, at age 78, and had lived at 412 Caldwell Avenue for decades.
    - Public records show Douglas and Miriam married April 29, 1971, and a divorce decree was filed in November 1972 citing irreconcilable differences.

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

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    19 分
  • Mother Buried the Truth for 52 Years: The Switched Babies of Room 4

    Mother Buried the Truth for 52 Years: The Switched Babies of Room 4
    2026/09/03
    Mother Buried the Truth for 52 Years: The Switched Babies of Room 4

    Fear and astonishment: two hospital bracelets stamped April 14, 1971 - both reading Room Four - were found buried in a field in 2019, hinting at a secret kept for 52 years; who moved two newborns that night and why were the bracelets hidden in a metal strongbox? What follows is a family unraveling that pivots on a single nursing note and a mother's line, "I always thought this day would come."

    In this episode, we follow how a discarded strongbox, a consumer DNA match and a reunion conversation lead a woman to confront her mother's confession about April 14, 1971, and the cryptic hospital entry that ordered infants in Room Four to be repositioned. How did two newborns end up swapped into different families, and what does the smeared order tell us?

    Person: Vicki Young
    Person: Agnes Young
    Person: Roy Long
    Date: April 14, 1971
    Event: Strongbox discovered April 9, 2019

    - A green metal strongbox was unearthed by a road-grader operator on April 9, 2019 along Teller Creek Road.
    - Inside the box were two plastic maternity bracelets stamped April 14, 1971, both listing Room Four at Crestline County General Hospital.
    - One bracelet read BABY GIRL YOUNG and the other read BABY GIRL LONG.
    - Vicki Young discovered a 25% DNA match to Roy Long after her high school reunion in August 2019.
    - The nursing log for Room Four contains a single April 14, 1971 entry at 3:40 a.m.: "R4 infants, repositioned per Dr. Ashford's order," with Dr. Ashford not found in hospital staff records.

    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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    22 分