Over the last few weeks, rumors have torn through Hardy County—bones in a backyard, a surgical plate, and whispers that eighteen-year-old Patricia “Patty” Vaughan may have finally been found.

But rumors aren’t answers.

In Episode 5, Joey Grimes corrects the record—publicly and personally—then follows the evidence and testimony where it actually leads: into the silence that swallowed Patty’s name, into one of the earliest known survivor accounts connected to Doug Sager, and into the disturbing discovery along Route 259 that reignited this case.

This episode includes:

• Major factual corrections about Patty’s background and identifying details
• Why so many locals say they never even heard Patty’s name until now
• An early survivor account that predates Patty—showing Doug’s pattern years earlier
• A clear breakdown of what’s confirmed (and what is not) regarding the bones, plate, and ongoing testing
• A witness who lived beside Doug’s former land—and what he learned about the chicken houses tied to multiple accounts

This episode includes discussion of sexual assault, coercion, grooming, violence, and traumatic experiences. Listener discretion advised.

If you want to support records requests, travel, forensic consultation, and ongoing reporting, you can donate here:

Donate: https://app.redcircle.com/shows/cef31eb2-a731-4b09-b2e4-f6b293fd4f4a/donations

Facebook Group (Missing: Patricia Vaughan): https://www.facebook.com/share/g/1RyvCFadui/

Linktree: https://linktr.ee/TheGrimesFiles

TikTok / Instagram / updates and documents are posted as this case develops.

If you worked with Doug Sager, knew him, trucked alongside him, or you have information about Patty Vaughan—or any woman you believe may be connected—reach out. Confidentiality respected.

Contact: joeyg@mcwgp.com

On Thanksgiving night in 2009, the Sitton family gathered in Jupiter, Florida for a warm, ordinary holiday—full of food, laughter, piano music, and the kind of comfort only family can create. But sitting quietly among them was a man who hadn’t come to reconnect. He had come with a plan.

This episode of The Grimes Files tells the full, chilling story of Paul Michael Merhige—how a lifetime of untreated mental decline, deep resentment, and quiet fixation turned into one of the most devastating family massacres in recent American history.

We take you from Paul’s early struggles and escalating obsession, to the days of preparation leading up to Thanksgiving 2009, where he shaved his entire body, bought ammunition, mapped out his escape, and waited for a moment when his entire family would be gathered under one roof.

Inside the Sitton home that night, we walk through the moments of calm before the violence: the conversations, the TV humming in the living room, the kids falling asleep, and six-year-old Makayla Sitton joyfully playing piano for her cousin one final time. And then, we follow the horror minute-by-minute as Paul retrieved a handgun from his car and opened fire—killing his twin sister Carla, his cousin Lisa Knight and her unborn child, and young Makayla, while wounding others who tried desperately to hide or flee.

From there, we cover Paul’s calculated escape, the multi-state manhunt, the media frenzy, and the break that came when a motel employee recognized him after seeing the case featured on America’s Most Wanted. His quiet arrest, days later in the Florida Keys, shocked even seasoned investigators.

Finally, we explore the courtroom aftermath: Paul’s guilty plea, the decision to remove the death penalty, the heartbreaking victim impact statements, and the seven consecutive life sentences that ensure he will never walk free again. We look at how the Sitton, Knight, and Merhige families have carried their grief forward, honoring the memories of Makayla, Lisa, Carla, and Baby Knight while navigating the lifelong aftershocks of trauma.

This is the full story of a Thanksgiving that became a nightmare—and a family whose strength, faith, and commitment to remembrance refuse to let their loved ones be defined only by the violence that took them.

Help keep The Grimes Files independent and investigative.

Donate here:

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Hosted, written, and produced by Joey Grimes.

Thank you for listening and supporting independent true crime journalism.

From 1983 to 1995, women were vanishing along America’s highways—pulled from truck stops, gas stations, on-ramps, and interstate corridors stretching from Tennessee to West Virginia. Their bodies appeared miles from where they were taken, often strangled, discarded, and left unidentified for decades. The press called them the Redhead Murders. Later, law enforcement whispered about another pattern: the I-81 Strangler.

But these weren’t isolated series.

They were a network of predators using the interstate system as their hunting ground.

In this episode, we break down the victims, the trucking routes, the law enforcement failures, and the long-haul drivers tied to multiple states and multiple murders—including Jerry Leon Johns, Henry Wise, Sean Patrick Goble, and Warren Luther Alexander. We look at the survivors who escaped, the victims who still have no names, and the cases that overlap in terrifying ways.

And we connect this landscape directly to the disappearance of Patty Vaughan in 1982—because the world she vanished into wasn’t random. It was already full of men who knew how easy it was to make a woman disappear along America’s highways.

This is Truck Stop Killers.

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Submit tips (confidential):

@thegrimesfiles or joeyg@mcwgp.com

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Every donation helps fund travel, records, FOIA requests, interviews, and boots-on-the-ground work.

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