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  • The Shoe on Sycamore: Who Left It On a Sealed Porch?

    The Shoe on Sycamore: Who Left It On a Sealed Porch?
    2026/09/11
    The Shoe on Sycamore: Who Left It On a Sealed Porch?

    A single black pump appeared on the second porch step of a house sealed with municipal tape for eighteen months - no mate, no mud, no explanation. The shoe was photographed by a fourteen-year-old on November 9, 2003, logged by police, and then shelved while Tammy Simmons’s death remained ruled accidental; what did that shoe really mean, and who put it there?

    In this episode, we tell what happened from the morning of April 14, 2002 through the discovery on November 9, 2003 and the archival trail that followed, following the records, a firefighter’s private note, and a ledger that Tammy kept; could a single overlooked detail unravel the official conclusion?

    Person: Tammy Simmons
    Date: April 14, 2002
    Location: 411 Sycamore Terrace
    Investigator: Steve Ogle
    First responder: Dennis Pruett

    - A fourteen-year-old named Judith Harris found and photographed the single black pump on November 9, 2003.
    - The house at 411 Sycamore Terrace had been sealed and taped off for eighteen months when the shoe was found.
    - Tammy Simmons died from smoke inhalation in the hallway on April 14, 2002, age thirty-one.
    - Fire marshal Steve Ogle concluded in February 2003 that the fire origin was faulty wiring in the kitchen wall after a six-week investigation.
    - Firefighter Dennis Pruett noted irregular burn patterns concentrated at the baseboard in his personal logbook the night of the fire, and that logbook remained at his home for nineteen years.

    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
  • The Pristine Shoe: How a Burgandy Canvas Unraveled a 20-Year Secret

    The Pristine Shoe: How a Burgandy Canvas Unraveled a 20-Year Secret
    2026/09/10
    The Pristine Shoe: How a Burgandy Canvas Unraveled a 20-Year Secret

    A single burgundy-trim canvas shoe, size seven and pristine after twenty years in a ditch, turned a long-quiet disappearance into a reopened mystery-how could a shoe that looked unused point back to a woman last seen on October 2, 2002? What does the shoe’s impossible condition reveal about what happened to Holly West?

    In this episode, we tell the sequence of discoveries from the shoe found by a road-grader operator to the family’s persistence that kept the case alive, and we follow the questions that pushed investigators to reopen a nineteen-year-old file: could a discarded shoe overturn a voluntary-disappearance ruling?

    Person: Holly West
    Date: October 2, 2002 (last seen)
    Location: Dennisville, Fenwick County
    Case: Voluntary disappearance reexamined after February 2022 shoe discovery
    Person: Jean Stovall

    - The shoe was found at 6:15 a.m. on a February morning in 2022 by county road-grader operator Peggy Chambers.
    - The shoe was buried under eight inches of compacted ice and road fill on Sycamore Flat Road.
    - The shoe was a left-foot canvas, size seven, with burgundy trim and a clean, uncracked sole.
    - Holly West was thirty-three years old in autumn 2002 and ran a small nursery, selling at Copley Square farmers' market.
    - Holly had volunteered at the Fenwick Community Pantry every Thursday since 1998 and had not missed a shift in four years prior to 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
  • The Shoe Under the Floor: How Dunnfield Forgot a Boy for 32 Years

    The Shoe Under the Floor: How Dunnfield Forgot a Boy for 32 Years
    2026/09/09
    The Shoe Under the Floor: How Dunnfield Forgot a Boy for 32 Years

    Fear that something ordinary hides a terrible secret: a child's left white canvas sneaker with a blue stripe stood upright beneath a concrete floor, buried since September 12, 1989 - the floor was poured two days after nine-year-old Scott Powell vanished. How did a 40-square-foot floor repair at a plant less than 1.25 miles from his home go unread in the case file for 32 years, and whose work covered the trail?

    In this episode, we follow the documentary trail in the case file and the people who handled it over decades, from Detective Ray Kowalski to the cold-case investigator Denise O'Brien, and ask whether procedural habit and a single unopened repair permit kept the answer hidden until 2021.

    Person: Scott Powell
    Date: September 12, 1989
    Location: Stedman Fabricating east bay floor, Dunnfield, Indiana
    Case: Missing child; file reopened by cold-case review in 2019-2021
    Event: 40-square-foot floor section broken up and repoured on September 14-15, 1989

    - The sneaker found was a left-foot child's white canvas shoe with a blue stripe, standing upright under a concrete floor.
    - Scott Powell was nine years old when he disappeared after leaving a store at approximately 4:15 PM on September 12, 1989.
    - A witness reported seeing Scott beside a gray pickup on Granger Avenue and provided a partial plate prefix "DW," leading to 17 registered trucks being checked.
    - A repair permit in the case file documented a 40-square-foot section of the east bay floor at Stedman Fabricating broken up and repoured on September 14-15, 1989.
    - The repair permit and contractor name Frank Mason remained unread in Detective Kowalski’s file for 32 years until Denise O'Brien reviewed the materials in 2019-2021.

    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 Single Shoe on the Bridge: How Two Counties Lost Her

    The Single Shoe on the Bridge: How Two Counties Lost Her
    2026/09/08
    The Single Shoe on the Bridge: How Two Counties Lost Her

    A single size seven tan canvas shoe, laces tucked, stood upright on a two-inch railing above a twelve-foot drop the morning a runner found it-no other shoe, no bag, no phone. That lone shoe marked the spot where twenty-nine-year-old Susan Coleman would be found strangled hours later, and a county line would keep two crucial witness statements apart for eighteen years; how could one shoe signal such a divided investigation?

    In this episode, we lay out the sequence of discoveries, the jurisdictions involved, the witness statements that never crossed file cabinets, and the forensic lead that lingered in storage-then ask how two counties' systems and assumptions allowed a crucial link to go unnoticed.

    Person: Susan Coleman
    Date: August 14, 2001 (shoe found) / August 12-13, 2001 (disappearance)
    Location: Pell Creek Greenway, Marker Seven, Harwick County, Indiana
    Case: Missing person turned homicide; body found downstream after shoe discovery
    Evidence: Partial male DNA recovered from under victim's fingernails

    - Shoe found by Curtis Jenkins at 11 minutes into his morning run, balanced on a two-inch concrete railing.
    - Victim age 29; worked four years as a dental hygienist three blocks from the courthouse on Founders Avenue.
    - Two witness statements: Trish Amos saw Susan with a man by a dark-colored pickup on Keswick Street; Ed Pruitt saw a dark-colored pickup at an access road behind the greenway.
    - Distance between Susan’s home county (Tull County) and body location county (Harwick County): 41 miles.
    - Case remained cold and separated by jurisdictions for 18 years despite partial male DNA in the record.

    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
  • Seiko in the Vault: How a Running Watch Became a Murder Clue

    Seiko in the Vault: How a Running Watch Became a Murder Clue
    2026/09/07
    Seiko in the Vault: How a Running Watch Became a Murder Clue

    A Seiko watch kept perfect time inside a sealed utility vault for four days with Gary Turner's fingerprints on the crystal and clasp - yet the vault showed no signs of forced entry. Who placed a running, engraved watch in a meter vault six blocks from his home, and why would it be left there?

    In this episode, we present the sequence of events, the physical evidence, and the investigative trail built over seventeen years that connect a missing maintenance supervisor to a watch found crystal-side up on a meter register. How did a single object and a photograph ultimately reshape the case?

    Person: Gary Turner
    Date: July 14, 2003
    Location: Aldine Street vault at 1100 block
    Status: Remains not recovered
    Item: Seiko automatic watch, caseback engraved G.T. and date July 14

    - Gary Turner was 54 years old and worked as a maintenance supervisor for Kellner County School District.
    - Security camera recorded Gary walking north on Aldine Street at 4:52 p.m, on July 14, 2003.
    - The Seiko watch was found crystal-side up on the meter register inside a vault on July 18, 2003, and the second hand was still moving.
    - Fingerprint technicians recovered Gary Turner's prints from the watch crystal and band clasp.
    - The watch remained in evidence for 17 years and was still running when a cold case investigator signed it out in February 2020.

    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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    17 分
  • The Letter Behind the Shelf: Confession Postmarked June 19, 1999

    The Letter Behind the Shelf: Confession Postmarked June 19, 1999
    2026/09/06
    The Letter Behind the Shelf: Confession Postmarked June 19, 1999

    A twenty-year-old confession letter, postmarked June 19, 1999, sat unopened behind a shelf for two decades - and it described, in calm sequential language, how a twenty-two-year-old man died. Why would someone confess to murder and deliberately send the letter to the wrong address, and what secret did that misdirected envelope hide?

    In this episode, we follow how a discovery in a cardboard box at Redeemer Lutheran Church in Dunbar, Ohio reopened the cold case of Mark Weber and forced investigators to ask the question that had never been considered. Could a single misplaced piece of mail be the key to a twenty-year-old homicide and the unexpected answer that followed?

    Person: Mark Weber
    Date: June 15, 1999 (time of death between 1:00 and 3:00 AM)
    Location: Birchfield Drive, Dunbar, Ohio
    Case: Cold homicide until evidence surfaced in 2019
    Person: Vicki Bishop

    - The envelope was postmarked June 19, 1999 and remained unopened for twenty years behind a shelf.
    - Mark Weber was 22 years old, graduated December 1998 with a degree in applied communications, and was living at home.
    - Time of death was placed between 1:00 and 3:00 AM on June 15, 1999 from a blunt force injury to the posterior left skull.
    - Mark missed his regular Wednesday night call on June 9 and again on June 16; his roommate Pete Collier had called every Wednesday at 11 PM.
    - Jason Hunt, age 24 and living three houses down, was interviewed twice in July 1999 and was not deemed a significant suspect.

    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
  • The Pristine Sneaker: How Evidence Quietly Unsheathed a Murder

    The Pristine Sneaker: How Evidence Quietly Unsheathed a Murder
    2026/09/05
    The Pristine Sneaker: How Evidence Quietly Unsheathed a Murder

    White canvas, laces tied in a double bow, and no mud after seven years - a sneaker found forty yards off Sycamore Ridge held beige office carpet fibers pressed into its sole. That single detail contradicted an accidental ruling, an unreturned watch, and faint ligature marks in an autopsy photograph; who stored that shoe indoors, and why did it surface only years later?

    In this episode, we tell the sequence of events from the walk Rebecca Tillman took on May 15, 1994, to the shoe discovery and later lab results that reopened questions about her death. How did a patrol officer with no authority and a partial DNA match change a closed case?

    Person: Rebecca Tillman
    Date: May 15, 1994
    Location: Harrel River (Cutter's Bluff), Hartfield, Pennsylvania
    Status: Death ruled accidental in 1994; evidence reexamined in 2002
    Officer: Denise Bowers, age 29

    - The sneaker was found in a drainage gully forty yards off the Sycamore Ridge Nature Path with laces tied in a double bow and canvas still white.
    - Rebecca Tillman was thirty-eight in spring 1994 and left for her walk at approximately 7:15 PM on May 15, 1994.
    - Her body was found on May 19, 1994, at the base of Cutter's Bluff and showed blunt-force trauma to the head and cervical spine.
    - Autopsy photographs documented faint ligature marks on both wrists, though the official report mentioned only one mark annotated as a watch-strap impression and no watch was recovered.
    - In 2002, fiber analysis found beige low-pile commercial carpet fibers embedded in the sneaker's sole, indicating it had been stored indoors for most of the intervening years.

    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 Tackle Box: Four Words That Broke a 19-Year Silence

    The Tackle Box: Four Words That Broke a 19-Year Silence
    2026/09/04
    The Tackle Box: Four Words That Broke a 19-Year Silence

    A green tackle box, banded with orange electrical tape and clipped deliberately to a trotline hook, sat on the Cutter River with a Missouri driver's license, one pearl earring, $47 cash and a four-word handwritten note: "Ask him about the truck." Nineteen years later that note - penned in Michelle Williams's own hand - would become the single clue that refused to be ignored. Who did Michelle expect to answer that instruction, and why was a truck the only detail left behind?

    In this episode, we walk through the timeline from Michelle Williams's ordinary March 25, 2003 afternoon to the discovery on April 9, the investigative steps taken by Det. Roy Prentiss, and the evidence that sat untouched for nearly two decades. Listen for the moment the old evidence locker finally yielded a new question about the truck.

    Person: Michelle Williams
    Date: March 25, 2003 - April 9, 2003
    Location: Cutter River, near Route 7 bridge; Parnell, Harlan County, Missouri
    Status: Missing; case cold for nineteen years
    Investigator: Det. Roy Prentiss

    - Michelle Williams was 61 years old and lived alone four miles outside Parnell.
    - Eleven unregistered prepaid phone calls were placed to Michelle over 14 months, last call four minutes on March 26, 2003.
    - Lisa Doyle found the green tackle box on April 9, 2003 about 1.5 miles south of the Route Seven bridge.
    - The tackle box contained a Missouri driver's license, one pearl earring, $47 cash, and a handwritten note reading "Ask him about the truck."
    - A forensic document examiner confirmed the handwriting on the note as Michelle's within days of discovery.

    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