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  • Left at the Fence: How a Library Card Broke Two Kidnappings

    Left at the Fence: How a Library Card Broke Two Kidnappings
    2026/10/30
    Left at the Fence: How a Library Card Broke Two Kidnappings

    A single sun-faded library card slipped through a chain-link fence led to the discovery that two women were being held on an abandoned parcel - one reported missing for 14 days, the other unreported and captive for seven to nine weeks. How did a laminated card the size of a playing card become the turning point that unspooled months of secrecy and a man’s invisible route through a county?

    In this episode, we tell how routine work, a precise habit, and small, traceable details intersected to change the case: a route-walking meter reader found the card and called; investigators followed utility records and a lease name to the building; and two survivors used one repeated observation - a uniformed meter reader’s schedule - to plan their escape. How did those details combine to force the door open?

    Person: Alice Keller
    Date: July 24, 2019 (missing report filed)
    Location: Fenwick property
    Person: Sandra Pruitt
    Event: Library card found August 7, 2019

    - Alice Keller was twenty-eight and had been missing for fourteen days when her library card was found.
    - Sandra Pruitt was forty-one and had been held for seven to nine weeks before Alice arrived.
    - Craig Porter photographed the library card and called eleven minutes later.
    - The Fenwick parcel’s utility draw increased approximately four times in late June.
    - Doug Fenwick, age seventy-three, had been in assisted care for four years and had not set foot on the property since.

    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
  • She Wrote a Name in Motor Oil: The Crystal Rogers Kidnapping

    She Wrote a Name in Motor Oil: The Crystal Rogers Kidnapping
    2026/10/29
    She Wrote a Name in Motor Oil: The Crystal Rogers Kidnapping

    The idea that a missing padlock on a church shed and a name written in compressor oil could unravel a kidnapping will make you hold your breath - Crystal Rogers vanished from her home on July 7, 2019, leaving her phone charging and her cat’s insulin untouched, and thirty-nine hours later she was found alive inside an HVAC warehouse; how did she survive and who did she mark with oil that put a man in handcuffs?

    In this episode, we tell what happened between the night Crystal failed to return for her cat’s six p.m. insulin and the afternoon volunteers found her in a storage room, describing the timeline of searches, the people involved, and the single scrap of brown paper and bottle of compressor oil that changed everything - could the gap beneath a door and one deliberate act explain why a man was arrested within hours?

    Person: Crystal Rogers
    Date: July 7-9, 2019
    Location: West Climate Systems warehouse, Granger Industrial Parkway, Dunning
    Age: 54
    Finder/Arrested: Harvey West, arrested July 9, 2019

    - Crystal’s missing-persons report was filed at 21:47 on July 7, 2019.
    - Approximately 60 volunteers assembled at City Park by the afternoon of July 8, 2019.
    - Crystal was found at 14:17 on July 9, 2019, inside a 12 ft by 14 ft windowless storage room.
    - The gap beneath the storage room door measured exactly three-quarters of an inch.
    - Harvey West signed the volunteer registry on both July 8 and July 9 before being arrested 24 minutes after Crystal was found.

    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 Watch in the Trail: How Valerie Left Her Only Clue

    The Watch in the Trail: How Valerie Left Her Only Clue
    2026/10/28
    The Watch in the Trail: How Valerie Left Her Only Clue

    A single watch, face-up beneath a pine root, bore a strip of chip-bag foil scratched with "V. S. 44119" - Valerie Schmidt's private employee ID - and tied with an eight-inch blue nylon cord; how did that tiny, deliberate message travel from Valerie to a hiking trail eleven miles away? What did it cost her to put her only clue where a dog would find it?

    In this episode, we follow the discovery and early steps of the Norfield County missing-person case: the trail find, the match to Valerie's ID, and the neighborhood details that shaped the investigation. How did a routine Wednesday call and a secured-looking window fit into the timeline that left Valerie vanished and one watch as the only outward sign?

    Person: Valerie Schmidt
    Age: 23
    Event: Disappearance between midnight and early hours of June 12
    Location: Watch found on Quarry Spur trail at Ridgeline Preserve, Halverson Township
    Date: Watch discovered June 14

    - The watch was found by Linda Hicks at 7:22 AM on June 14 under a root on the Quarry Spur two-mile loop.
    - The watch had a silver case, pale blue dial, and was tied with approximately eight inches of blue nylon cord.
    - A narrow strip of chip-bag foil was knotted to the band with two letters "V. S." and the five-digit number "44119" scratched into it.
    - Valerie called her mother Norma every Wednesday at 11:17 PM and spoke for about twenty minutes the night before she disappeared.
    - Valerie's employee ID/login code at the dental clinic was 44119, a detail not publicly available.

    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
  • Left Glove on the Waterline: The Note That Brought Her Back

    Left Glove on the Waterline: The Note That Brought Her Back
    2026/10/27
    Left Glove on the Waterline: The Note That Brought Her Back

    A freezer bag tied eight feet above the waterline held a torn paper strip with five words in eyeliner and a hand-drawn map that led investigators back to a missing woman after eleven days. How did a left leather work glove from Harwick Fabricating, found hidden behind Donna Wilson’s water heater, point the sheriff’s detective to an industrial corridor and a contractor with a prepaid phone?

    In this episode, you’ll hear the timeline from the morning Melvin Myers found the bag under the Route Nine bridge to Detective Lauren Fitzgerald’s concentric rings of inquiry, following service records, a utility closet glove, and a shell rental parcel - and ask whether one four-minute, eleven-second call was the key to what happened to Donna.

    Person: Donna Wilson
    Date: May 19 (bag found), missing for eleven days prior
    Location: Under Route Nine bridge; Donna’s house in Harwick, Orin County
    Detective: Lauren Fitzgerald
    Suspect: Larry Boyd

    - The freezer bag was knotted tight, dry despite overnight rain, and tied to a catwalk rung eight feet above the waterline.
    - The note inside was a torn strip of brown paper with five words written in eyeliner pencil plus a hand-drawn map.
    - Donna Wilson was thirty-eight, missing for eleven days, and described by colleagues as reliable and punctual.
    - A left-hand heavy leather work glove labeled HARWICK FABRICATING was found half-hidden behind the water heater in Donna’s utility closet.
    - A prepaid phone purchased in cash at a Talbert City gas station made a four-minute, eleven-second outbound call to Donna’s landline on May 6 and went dark afterward.

    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 Oak Note, No Footprints: How Linda Moore Vanished and Survived

    The Oak Note, No Footprints: How Linda Moore Vanished and Survived
    2026/10/26
    The Oak Note, No Footprints: How Linda Moore Vanished and Survived

    A folded yellow legal pad wedged four feet up in a white oak held a wet-weather message: "Linda Moore. Taken. Please." The note was dry despite two days of rain, found nearly nine-tenths of a mile from the locked barn where Linda had been held, and there were no footprints or drag marks leading between them - how did the note travel and who left it?

    In this episode, we tell the sequence of events from Linda Moore's routine Wednesday visits to her sister to the discovery of the oak note and the unlocked back door at the fairgrounds, laying out the physical details and timelines that puzzle investigators; what do the bent strike plate and a nine-week clipboard of departure times reveal about the abductor's planning?

    Person: Linda Moore
    Date: April 10-14, 2019
    Location: Dunbar County, Hollis, Ohio
    Item found: Yellow legal pad note, folded into a triangle, placed in a white oak tree
    Vehicle observed: White utility van seen on Tanner Lane across nine Wednesdays

    - The note was found on April 14, 2019, wedged four feet high in the bark of a white oak on the Tipton property.
    - Linda Moore's barn where she was held measured nearly nine-tenths of a mile from the oak tree where the note was found.
    - The area between the barn and the oak showed no footprints, broken stems, or drag marks after two days of rain.
    - Linda's silver Honda Civic was found at the fairgrounds turnout with the driver's door unlocked and her wallet on the passenger seat; her phone was missing.
    - A white utility van was seen on Tanner Lane in February, March, and into April, always on Wednesdays, and its driver carried a clipboard documenting nine consecutive Wednesdays of Linda's departure times.

    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 Wrong Cellar: How a Child's Shoe Exposed a Kidnapper

    The Wrong Cellar: How a Child's Shoe Exposed a Kidnapper
    2026/10/25
    The Wrong Cellar: How a Child's Shoe Exposed a Kidnapper

    The discovery of a single size four blue-and-white child's shoe on the storm cellar steps turned a routine call into a life-or-death puzzle: why was a child’s sneaker deliberately placed outside a locked cellar when no child lived on Kettner Loop and no child was reported missing in Piedmont County? Who left the shoe as a message, and what did it reveal about the man found inside?

    In this episode, we follow the timeline from Ronald Thorpe’s morning arrival at the rental property to Investigator Marilyn Cox’s scene work and Melvin Hill’s rescue, outlining what was found in the cellar and the questions those findings raised about motive and misidentification. How did a misplaced shoe and a new padlock become the clues that uncovered what happened?

    Person: Melvin Hill
    Date: March 4-5 (evening of March 4 to morning of March 5)
    Location: Kettner Loop, Piedmont County
    Investigator: Marilyn Cox
    Finding: one child's shoe, size four, blue-and-white

    - Shoe found at 9:52 AM on March 5 sitting on the top step of the storm cellar
    - Padlock new, laminated steel, photographed and cut by Investigator Cox before entry
    - Inside cellar: folding cot, five-gallon drum with about one-third of water remaining, plastic bucket
    - Rope on cellar floor was cut clean through; original cellar hardware was old and surface-rusted
    - Melvin Hill located walking in socks on Route Fourteen at 11:47 AM, three miles northeast of Kettner Loop, with contusion on left skull and mild hypothermia

    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
  • Dry Bag in Snow, No Tracks: How She Survived Four Days

    Dry Bag in Snow, No Tracks: How She Survived Four Days
    2026/10/24
    Dry Bag in Snow, No Tracks: How She Survived Four Days

    A woman vanished from her kitchen with a cold piece of toast and an unlocked back door, and two days later a dry tote bag sat in a cottonwood hollow forty yards from the trail in two inches of unbroken February snow - with no tracks and no drag marks. What could leave a dry bag in deep snow and nothing else to link it to the missing woman?

    In this episode, we lay out the timeline, the scene, and the people around the case to show how ordinary routines and one small vehicle scrape point to something far less ordinary. How did a reliable 48-year-old volunteer disappear so quickly, and why was the lone physical trace a baffling dry bag?

    Person: Carol Hunter
    Age: 48
    Date: February 7-9
    Location: Birchdale Street, Fenwick; Sable Marsh corridor; Marfield Avenue
    Case: Missing person with unexplained dry tote bag

    - At 7:14 AM on February 9, Jason Whitley found Carol's dry tote bag in a cottonwood hollow about 40 yards from the trail.
    - The hollow was surrounded by two inches of unbroken snow with no footprints or drag marks around the bag.
    - Carol left the Hartwell Community Pantry after a shift on Tuesday, February 7; a traffic camera recorded her car northbound on Marfield Avenue at 3:52 PM.
    - Carol's back door was unlocked, her phone was on the kitchen counter, a cold piece of toast remained in the toaster, and her coat was missing.
    - A new low-speed scrape appeared on Carol's car front fender between February 4 (no scrape) and her disappearance.

    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
  • She Bought Ninety Seconds: How Kelly Escaped Her Kidnapper's Trap

    She Bought Ninety Seconds: How Kelly Escaped Her Kidnapper's Trap
    2026/10/23
    She Bought Ninety Seconds: How Kelly Escaped Her Kidnapper's Trap

    Cold, precise, and almost invisible: a contractor mapped a camera blind spot to the inch, and a woman bought herself ninety seconds that kept her alive - but how did she use them to escape? This episode centers on a disappearance that began at 4:51 PM and hinged on a deliberate shadow zone in a parking-structure stairwell; who noticed the note that led investigators back to her, and what did those ninety seconds accomplish?

    In this episode, we tell what happened between the last badge scan and the moment Kelly Novak was found in a storage unit, following the timeline and the physical details that reveal how the abduction was planned and how she survived. Listen as we trace the parking structure’s blind spot, the storage unit contents, and the sequence of events that created the chance she used - and the question remains: what did Kelly do during those ninety seconds?

    Person: Kelly Novak
    Date: January 8-9, 2019
    Location: Mercer Parking Structure, Caldwell
    Person: Frank Brooks
    Event: Found note photographed by Monica Burns

    - Kelly Novak was 32 years old and had worked at Stanton & Peele in Caldwell for four years.
    - Kelly badged out of Stanton & Peele at 4:40 PM and her phone stopped transmitting at 4:51 PM.
    - Frank Brooks’s van entered the Mercer Parking Structure at 4:58 PM and exited at 5:22 PM, a 24-minute span.
    - The northeast stairwell had a shadow zone: the third and fourth steps from the bottom fell outside every camera angle after a spring camera upgrade Brooks supervised.
    - Kelly was later found in a 10-by-15-foot storage unit containing a folding chair and a space heater; Brooks had rented the unit under a defunct business name and had spent about 40 minutes there earlier.

    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