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  • Compass Rose Tattoo, Three of Clubs: The Six-Year Manhunt Unravels

    Compass Rose Tattoo, Three of Clubs: The Six-Year Manhunt Unravels
    2026/09/20
    Compass Rose Tattoo, Three of Clubs: The Six-Year Manhunt Unravels

    A single three of clubs, face up and weighted by a flat stone, sat on a Briar Falls windowsill the morning Heather Ramsey found it - the only trace left by a woman who vanished eleven days before her federal trial. What did that deliberate silence mean, and how did a compass rose tattoo become the one thing investigators said could "still tell the truth"?

    In this episode, we follow the timeline from the August fourth discovery to the six-year fugitive hunt, outlining the identities, tactics, and decisions that shaped the case and asking whether a playing card and a tattoo held the key to unraveling everything.

    Person: Erin Fleming
    Date: August 4 (card found); disappeared eleven days before trial scheduled in fall 2017
    Location: Locket Road rental, Briar Falls
    Case: Federal fraud involving thirty-one investors
    Agent: Kenneth Moore, Deputy U.S. Marshal (Indianapolis Fugitive Task Force)

    - The playing card was a three of clubs from a Bicycle deck, placed face up on the exterior kitchen windowsill and weighted with a flat stone.
    - The notepad backing beneath the card had blue ballpoint ink writing: "Wednesday. Sorry about the breaker."
    - The tenant who signed the lease for the Locket Road rental used the name Diane Cross and paid four months' rent in cash with a disconnected phone number.
    - Erin Fleming had a quarter-sized black compass rose tattoo on the inside of her left wrist; her co-defendant Patrick Seel had a matching tattoo in the same place.
    - A document broker later sentenced to eight years in federal custody in Kentucky admitted designing parameters for false identities used across at least eleven aliases during the fugitive period.

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

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

    The Cat That Betrayed a Decade of Quiet Disappearance
    2026/09/19
    The Cat That Betrayed a Decade of Quiet Disappearance

    Fear of being found in a life carefully hidden: a torn feeding schedule and a laminated photo in a wet wallet ended a ten-year manhunt. A tortoiseshell cat named Pepper, a precise feeding routine written in blue ballpoint, and $430 in cash raised one question: how did a pet's needs expose a fugitive who left everything else behind?

    In this episode, we follow the trail of documents, veterinary notes, and a marshal's single theory that led to an arrest; you will hear how a routine feeding instruction connected two states and what finally unspooled a decade of absence. What happened when a habit became the breadcrumb no one expected?

    Person: Lisa Marie Marie
    Date: July 2024 (wallet found), April 2014 (charges filed)
    Location: Dellwood, Ohio (arrest); Kemper River (wallet found)
    Case: Financial fraud with approximately $90,000 in false service charges
    Investigator: Deputy Marshal Todd Casey, age 38 when case received in August 2014

    - Wallet found face-up six inches from the Kemper River on a Wednesday morning just before 7 a.m.
    - Wallet contained $430 in cash, a laminated photograph of a tortoiseshell cat, and a handwritten feeding schedule in blue ballpoint.
    - Feeding schedule specified two-thirds cup of dry food at 6 a.m., one-third cup at 6 p.m., and half a teaspoon of joint supplement.
    - Indictment alleges approximately $90,000 generated by false service codes between hire and spring 2014.
    - Marie was arrested six days before the wallet was found and had been the subject of a manhunt since 2014.

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

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    21 分
  • How a Facilities Man Vanished for 31 Days - Found Eating Cereal

    How a Facilities Man Vanished for 31 Days - Found Eating Cereal
    2026/09/18
    How a Facilities Man Vanished for 31 Days - Found Eating Cereal

    A man who had siphoned $418,000 vanished with a coffee mug steaming on a truck hood and was found 31 days later, 22 miles away, calmly eating cereal - how did an organized facilities coordinator disappear with only $900 cash and no passport? What exactly shaped those thirty-one precise days?

    In this episode, we lay out the timeline, the charges, and the small decisions that turned a routine morning into a month-long disappearance, asking whether skill with paperwork became the tool of escape.

    Person: Warren Hughes
    Date: May 28, 2019
    Location: Kessler, Ohio
    Case: Federal wire fraud
    Amount: $418,000

    - At 6:43 AM on May 28, 2019, a full coffee mug sat steaming on the hood of Warren Hughes's pickup truck outside his Clearfield Road house.
    - Hughes had worked 11 years as facilities coordinator at Kessler Trucking Company and allegedly redirected payroll fees over approximately 4 years.
    - Auditors discovered the scheme in May 2019, leading to federal indictment and expected surrender within 60 days.
    - Hughes withdrew $900 from an ATM-the daily maximum-three miles from home on the morning he disappeared.
    - Thirty-one days later, a federal marshal team found him 22 miles away eating cereal; his truck had been found 6 days after he vanished at a commuter lot outside Zanesville with the interior wiped clean.

    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
  • Dry Shoes, No Footprints: How a Gardener Vanished from Prison

    Dry Shoes, No Footprints: How a Gardener Vanished from Prison
    2026/09/17
    Dry Shoes, No Footprints: How a Gardener Vanished from Prison

    The dry correctional-issue shoes were found parallel and double-knotted on a muddy morning after a 53 mph storm, but there were no footprints in the standing water anywhere around the shed - how did someone leave shoes and leave no trace? This episode unfolds the disappearance that triggered a 15-day manhunt and the baffling clues that kept leading investigators in circles.

    In this episode, we follow the sequence of discoveries from the church shed to the gravel maintenance road and the donation box that may have mattered, laying out the facts and the anomalies that complicated the search: where did Karen Rafferty go, and how had she planned this?

    Person: Karen Rafferty
    Date: May 8 (discovery), night of May 7 (storm)
    Location: Calvary Ridge Lutheran Church shed / Danfield Correctional Center
    Event: 15-day manhunt across three counties
    Officer: U.S. Marshal Holly Tillman

    - Shoes found at 6:30 AM on May 8 tucked between a lawn mower and folding chairs in a church storage shed
    - Storm on the night of May 7 had winds gusting to 53 miles per hour and peaked between 10:40 PM and 2:00 AM
    - Gap in shed base measured roughly 18 inches leading to a gravel maintenance road that drains fast
    - Karen Rafferty had kept a yellow notepad logging soil temperature and moisture every morning between 6 and 8
    - A donation box logged in the first week of May contained two pairs of women’s size-eight sneakers

    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
  • She Hid a Birthday Cake - Arrested Standing in the Food Aisle

    She Hid a Birthday Cake - Arrested Standing in the Food Aisle
    2026/09/16
    She Hid a Birthday Cake - Arrested Standing in the Food Aisle

    Fear sits in quiet choices: a fugitive found not running but standing in a grocery aisle, holding a plain bakery box and a tube of blue gel icing after nineteen days on the run - why did she carry a cake for nine days and leave it on a creek rock? Who was the seven-year-old birthday that tied her to a trail only four miles from where she started?

    In this episode, we tell the sequence of events from the first call that set her moving through the details of her movements, the cake left at Tanner Creek, and the arrest in the Food Aisle bakery aisle; what did the cake and the Wednesday dinners reveal about the choices she made?

    Person: Laura Dempsey
    Age: 28
    Location: Food Aisle bakery aisle near Dunbar, Indiana
    Duration on run: 19 days
    Item found at creek: single-layer yellow cake with pink roses and blue gel lettering "Happy Birthday Maisie"

    - On April 10 she bought a white bakery box, a single-layer yellow cake, a birthday card, and a tube of blue gel icing at a Food Aisle self-checkout and paid cash.
    - On April 17 at 9:47 AM Howard Owens found that cake on a flat rock at Tanner Creek with a dry box and no utensils.
    - Laura left her Irvington apartment after two ATM withdrawals totaling $3,800 and left her cat with a neighbor.
    - She checked into Dunbar Inn, room six, paid cash, asked twice where the nearest grocery store was, and stayed four nights before leaving.
    - U.S. Marshals tracked Laura across two counties and arrested her standing in the Food Aisle bakery aisle holding a plain bakery box while a tube of blue gel icing was tucked in her sweatshirt pocket.

    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
  • The Laminated Card: Why a Fugitive Wanted to Be Found

    The Laminated Card: Why a Fugitive Wanted to Be Found
    2026/09/15
    The Laminated Card: Why a Fugitive Wanted to Be Found

    Fear and curiosity collide: a dry, intact laminated library card issued 1,100 miles from where it washed up in a Tennessee river, carried by a municipal utilities supervisor who vanished days after a federal fraud warrant. Why would a man who had quietly withdrawn only small sums, used his real name at a library, and then seal a card in two bags before leaving it to a current want to be found?

    In this episode, we tell how routine municipal work, a six-year fraud of $412,000, and a seemingly ordinary library visit connect to one man’s disappearance - and we follow the sequence of receipts, ATM withdrawals, and actions that point to a deliberate plan. What did the laminated card mean, and why did he let the river carry it away?

    Person: Chad A. Whitfield
    Date: February 21, 2019
    Location: Sawyer Fork, eastern Tennessee
    Amount: $412,000
    Period: six years

    - A federal fraud warrant was issued for Chad A. Whitfield on February 21, 2019.
    - Whitfield had been municipal utilities supervisor for nineteen years and was 54 years old in February 2019.
    - $412,000 was diverted across six years through fake vendors and shell companies.
    - Whitfield’s last confirmed sighting in Harlan was around February 17 or 18, 2019; the library visit occurred February 26, 2019.
    - A laminating pouch purchase in Joplin, Missouri on February 28, 2019 cost $2.19.

    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
  • Nail in an Ash Tree: The Receipt That Trapped a Fugitive

    Nail in an Ash Tree: The Receipt That Trapped a Fugitive
    2026/09/14
    Nail in an Ash Tree: The Receipt That Trapped a Fugitive

    Cold, calculated, and oddly domestic: a single receipt nailed to an ash tree and a 35% tip on a $7 breakfast became the thread that led marshals to a fugitive in sub-ten-degree Wisconsin. Why would a wanted man walk into a diner, tip generously, and still stay in town instead of catching the bus?

    In this episode, we follow the six-day search that began the morning after an assault and progressed through a diner, a hardware store, a snowmobile groomer’s sighting, and a frozen hunting blind - all building toward the question of who Gary Fisher was when no one was looking.

    Person: Gary Fisher
    Person: Paul Morrow
    Date: February 9, 2019
    Location: Calvert Flats, Wisconsin
    Investigator: Deputy Marshal Lisa Harris

    - Fisher stole approximately $340 from tenant Paul Morrow and assaulted him, discovered at 6:15 a.m, on February 8.
    - Fisher was 22 years old with four months' residency on Birchwood Street and no registered vehicle or active bank accounts.
    - On February 9 at 7:30 a.m., Fisher paid $7.40 for a breakfast and left a $2.60 tip (35%) at the Sunrise Grille four blocks from the bus depot.
    - Deputy Marshal Lisa Harris, age 38, arrived in Calvert Flats the evening after the BOLO and kept a legal pad with handwritten updates for the case.
    - Jim Tetzel saw a figure with a large backpack crossing an open field on the Purcell parcel while grooming snowmobile trails on the evening of February 9.

    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
  • She Left Her Shoes: The Public Defender Who Vanished for 19 Days

    She Left Her Shoes: The Public Defender Who Vanished for 19 Days
    2026/09/13
    She Left Her Shoes: The Public Defender Who Vanished for 19 Days

    A calm public defender walked away from a courthouse water fountain at 8:53 AM on January 14, 2019, leaving a Styrofoam cup of vending coffee - and four minutes later she was gone. Her gray Subaru was found 40 minutes after that on Millbrook Road with hazard lights blinking, engine off, and a pair of low-heeled court shoes placed carefully on the center console - so why did she plan her disappearance down to the last shoe?

    In this episode, we follow the day-to-day facts of the disappearance and the months that led up to it, showing how routine details - a folded dollar under a saucer, a weekly diner order, a courthouse note that read "They know." - connect to a larger financial scheme and a sealed indictment; how far had she planned her exit?

    Person: Marilyn Patterson
    Date: January 14, 2019
    Location: Millbrook Road (Subaru found), Dellford, Ohio (county seat)
    Event: Subaru found with badge and shoes; disappearance lasted 19 days
    Related Actor: Steven Quarles (Columbus businessman tied to narcotics distribution network)

    - At 8:53 AM on January 14, 2019, courthouse security camera recorded Patterson standing at a second-floor water fountain holding a Styrofoam cup.
    - Forty minutes after the camera image, a gray Subaru Forester was found parked on Millbrook Road with hazard lights blinking and engine off.
    - Inside the Subaru, a county attorney ID badge and a pair of low-heeled court shoes were placed on the center console with soles facing down.
    - A folded note passed to Patterson during courtroom recess read "They know," and she was not aware of a sealed indictment until that morning.
    - Patterson had purchased a Malibu on January 13, 2019, for $1,100 cash from a private seller with the bill of sale signed "Karen Sutton."

    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