Cold Case: True Crime

The Milk Carton, the Fake Technician, and a 37-Year-Old Secret Fear and bafflement: a cold, unbroken school milk carton sat in a running truck beside a strangled overnight dispatcher, and for 37 years the same man walked free. What did a Meadow Bell school-issue chocolate milk carton and a fake telephone technician have to do with Amy Osborne’s death-and who put that sealed carton there? In this episode, we tell the story of the night dispatcher Amy Osborne, the stranger who posed as a technician six days before her death, the abandoned white Ford pickup found running at 6:15 a.m. on February 9, 1987, and the preserved evidence that refused to be ignored. How did a distribution code, a freezer, and decades of small details finally begin to answer that question? Person: Amy Osborne Date: February 9, 1987 Location: Sunridge Truck Stop lot, State Route 41, Dellard, Ohio Item: Meadow Bell single-serve chocolate milk carton, foil seal unbroken Event: Fake telephone equipment technician visited Tri-State Freight on February 3, 1987 - Amy Osborne was 31 years old and worked 10 p.m, to 6 a.m. as a night dispatcher since 1982. - The white Ford pickup was found at 6:15 a.m.; police confirmed the scene at 6:22 a.m. - The Meadow Bell carton expiration date was February 13, 1987, and the distribution run traced to February 2, 1987. - The truck’s dashboard VIN had been filed off; the frame rail VIN traced the truck to a salvage auction in Lorain County in fall 1985. - A man posing as a technician stayed about 40 minutes on February 3, 1987; no carrier work order or matching employee was found.

The Turquoise Ring: How Frozen DNA Finally Caught Her Killer Cold and silent at -11°F with wind chill, a county grader blade unearthed Kathleen Dempsey beneath eighteen inches of packed snow on January 14, 1991 - and a turquoise ring on her left index finger that no family member had ever seen. That ring and a frozen collar swab sat untouched in a sheriff’s freezer for 31 years until degraded male DNA from that swab yielded familial matches within seven days of upload - but who did that DNA lead to? In this episode, we lay out the facts of the case from the night she disappeared to the forensic breakthrough three decades later, following how investigators turned two distant GEDmatch and FamilyTreeDNA hits into a family tree and narrowed suspects - who did the partial profile identify? Person: Kathleen Dempsey Date: January 14, 1991 Location: Depot Road (body found); Vander Avenue (abandoned Pontiac) Status: Cold case reopened; partial male DNA profile uploaded to GEDmatch and FamilyTreeDNA Event: Turquoise ring found on left index finger; collar swab produced degraded but usable DNA - Kathleen Dempsey was 24 years old and missing for 11 days before her body was found. - The grader blade struck her body at 4:15 AM after a night at -11°F with wind chill and 18 inches of packed snow and frozen clay. - The turquoise ring was sized for the left index finger and was unknown to her mother, sister, and bowling teammate. - The evidence envelope and collar swab remained sealed in the Harwick County Sheriff’s Office freezer for 31 years. - After a private lab processed the swab in spring 2022, two familial matches appeared within seven days on GEDmatch and FamilyTreeDNA.

The Frozen Vial That Exposed a Killer After Thirty-One Years A single vial of blood sat frozen at minus eighty degrees Celsius for thirty-one years under a donor name while its owner lived freely in a suburb of Erie; that vial, a cream linen tablecloth, and a receipt dated November 12, 1992 would eventually close a case that stalled for decades. How did a blood sample catalogued under Position 44, Drawer 7 become the thread that tied a technician’s cash receipt to a strangulation on Crestfield Avenue? In this episode, we trace the sequence of discoveries from the December 3, 1992 welfare check to the late-breaking genealogical lead, showing how preserved evidence, routine records, and family-tree DNA work converged to answer the question: who was C. Keller and how did that receipt link him to Kimberly Callahan’s death? Person: Kimberly Callahan Date: November 19-23, 1992 (time-of-death range) Location: Crestfield Avenue, Veramont Event: Manual strangulation; body found December 3, 1992 Item: Receipt dated November 12, 1992 - Dexter and Sons, technician "C. Keller", $42 paid in cash - The body was discovered on December 3, 1992 after eleven consecutive days below freezing. - Medical examiner Irene Cho narrowed time of death to November 19 through November 23, 1992. - Crime-scene lab testing in 1992 consumed the only biological sample, leaving a partial STR profile. - Lead Detective Stewart Palk worked the case through 1996, retired in 2009, and died in 2017 with the case still open. - A receipt dated November 12, 1992 listed service by "C. Keller" for Dexter and Sons, $42 paid in Kimberly’s handwriting.

The Postmark That Hid a Killer: 31 Years to Confess Fear tightens when a single postage stamp holds the answer: a postmark dated November 4, 1991 matched a typed draft that sat thirty-one years in a rented storage unit, and a fragment of DNA smaller than the eye finally broke the case. Who kept that draft, and why did a harmless-looking envelope hide the trail to a killer for three decades? In this episode, we trace the timeline from Tracy Cole's last confirmed sighting to the discovery that reopened the investigation, following the evidence that linked a postmarked envelope, a drainage canal at Sutter Field, and a storage unit to the confession. How did forensic advances and a genealogist’s list of eleven names turn a cold file into a solved case? Person: Tracy Cole Date: November 4-5, 1991 Location: Sutter Field drainage canal, Millhaven County Cause of death: Strangulation Evidence item: Envelope postmarked November 4, 1991 - Tracy Cole was thirty-two years old and worked as a paralegal on Clement Street, a twelve-minute walk from her apartment. - Tracy was last seen returning library books on Thursday, October 31, 1991, by librarian Frances Ott. - Tracy’s body was found November 7, 1991, four miles into Paula Bauer’s morning run at the drainage canal; rings and wallet were intact. - The envelope arrived at Tracy’s apartment a few days before her body was found and was postmarked November 4, 1991, from the Owens Mill Road drop box. - A typed draft matching the envelope’s wording survived thirty-one years in a metal safe inside a rented storage unit outside Birch Falls.

The Locksmith's Secret Shoe: How a Single Sneaker Broke Silence A single clean canvas sneaker - left foot, size seven, double-knotted - sat on a rotting back porch at 9:15 AM on a Thursday in June 2019, untouched by thirty years of weather. Inside its compressed pocket was an answer sealed for three decades; what happened to Paula Weaver, whose disappearance left a locked house, a missing nurse, and a file that quietly waited? In this episode, we tell what the shoe revealed and how a forgotten work order and a locksmith’s routines connect to a thirty-year missing persons file. How did a technician’s visits and a mismatched chain of records hide evidence that might rewrite the case? Person: Paula Weaver Date: October 11, 1989 Location: Osborn Terrace Detective: Frank Odell Technician: George Reynolds - The sneaker found was a canvas left-foot shoe, size seven, double-knotted, placed on the top back porch step at 9:15 AM on a Thursday in June 2019. - Paula Weaver was 52 years old in October 1989 and missed her shift two days after a brief call to her daughter on October 11, 1989. - Detective Frank Odell, 41 years old with 20 years on the force, began the case on October 13, 1989 and focused on suspect Donald Fitch for the next 15 years. - Boot prints photographed at the scene measured size eleven to twelve, tracking from the alley gate to the porch and back again. - Locksmith George Reynolds made 11 documented service calls to Millhaven Memorial Hospital in the 1980s, with three visits to the long-term care floor, the last logged on September 22, 1989.

The One Missing Shoe That Broke a Forty-Year Murder Mystery A single polished dress shoe, found on a stranger’s pickup seat eleven days after a man vanished, became the stubborn clue that outlived every theory and every suspect for nearly forty years - and the missing mate was never found. How did one cleaned shoe and a cotton handkerchief hidden in evidence for decades finally point to the person responsible? In this episode, we lay out the facts of the case as recorded from the morning Wade Porter disappeared through the long investigation and its unexpected breakthrough, focusing on the objects and timeline that kept investigators circling back. What role did a stored handkerchief, an unlocked truck, and a saliva sample uploaded decades later play in resolving the mystery? Person: Wade Porter Date: September 4, 1983 (disappearance); September 28, 1983 (body found) Location: four miles east of town (body in drainage culvert); Calvary Methodist Church parking lot (shoe) Status: identified guilty plea years later (victim identified as Wade Porter; closure noted by daughter Melissa) Case: missing shoe, handkerchief, and broken back door linked across decades - Wade Porter left his apartment at roughly 6:45 a.m. on September 4, 1983; a neighbor heard two steps, a pause, then the outer door. - A polished dress shoe was found on September 15, 1983 on the center console of a 1979 Ford pickup parked at Calvary Methodist Church with the passenger door open. - Wade’s body was discovered on September 28, 1983 in a shallow drainage culvert four miles east of town; he was in socks with no shoes, watch, or wallet recovered. - A plain white cotton handkerchief bagged from the culvert on September 28, 1983 later contained epithelial cells that were reexamined decades after initial classification. - Dennis Pruitt, the lead investigator, kept personal notes in a yellow legal pad and retained them after retiring in 2008, preserving investigative questions across the stalled case.

The Cup, the Lid, and the Man Who Never Tipped The rotten stump held a paper cup with its Bridger Mart lid still snapped on after thirty years of Minnesota rain and winters - and that intact cup would later help end a man's freedom. Who made a delivery stop on a Friday morning he wasn't scheduled to be there, used the store coffee machine, and left a cup that survived three decades in the forest? In this episode, we follow the timeline from Ruth Hansen's routine Saturday disappearance in August 1992 to the overlooked Bridger Mart stop that lived only on a single page in the file, asking how one forgotten detail might have been the key no investigator pursued. Person: Ruth Hansen Age: 28 Date: August 7, 1992 Location: Alderton State Forest / Bridger Mart on Hollander Road Status: Remains recovered; case later reopened in 2022 - Ruth Hansen last called her mother at 10:58 PM on August 6, 1992 for an 11-minute call. - Ruth had planned to buy coffee filters and rode a ten-speed bicycle; her bike was found locked at Bridger Mart on August 9. - A fragment of dark blue cotton fabric was found near the left arm of skeletal remains in a narrow depression. - Tom Waverly, Bridger Mart register worker, reported a delivery driver stopped Friday outside the scheduled Tuesday/Thursday route in early August 1992. - The paper cup found in a silver maple stump bore a Bridger Mart logo and its white plastic lid remained intact after roughly thirty years.

The Dry Wallet in the Bait Box: Who Drank the Second Tea? A sealed bait cooler held a leather wallet sitting on live crawdads in three inches of creek water - and the wallet inside was completely dry. A dark-red lipstick swab from a second glass of iced tea on Connie Cooper’s kitchen table would sit in a freezer for thirty years; who drank that tea, and why did the answer stay hidden for decades? In this episode, we follow the facts from the morning Kent Stevens found the cooler at Ardell Creek through the early investigation and the cold trail that followed, asking how a preserved swab and a DNA profile could fail to close a case for thirty years. What prevented the dark-red lipstick swab and a CODIS match from pointing to the person who sat at Connie Cooper’s table? Person: Connie Cooper Date: July 14, 1991 Location: 714 Marsh Street, Caldera Status: Unresolved for thirty years Event: Dark-red lipstick swab preserved in state crime lab freezer - Kent Stevens found an orange snap-lid ventilated styrofoam cooler tied to a willow root at the second bend of Ardell Creek on the morning of July 14, 1991. - Inside the cooler, a dry leather wallet rested on live crawdads in three inches of creek water and contained $43 cash, a Sears charge card, a library card, a folded photograph of two children, and Connie Cooper’s driver’s license. - Deputies reached Ardell Creek by 9:15 AM and by noon found Connie Cooper weighted to the creek bed with a cinder block, four feet deep and twenty yards downstream from the second bend; she was strangled. - Two glasses of iced tea were on Connie’s kitchen table; one had coral-pink lipstick matching Connie’s, the other had dark-red lipstick that did not match her and was swabbed and frozen by the state crime lab. - A DNA profile from the orange nylon rope tied to Connie’s left ankle was extracted in 2003 and entered CODIS, ran in 2003-2004 with no match, indicating the perpetrator had no criminal record in the database.

The Sneaker in the Pump House: How a Killer Hid a Life A white canvas high-top sneaker, size eleven, was found standing upright on a buried pump house foundation on April 26, 2022 - its sole completely clean after thirty-one years. Who left a shoe preserved in a collapsed concrete ledge, and why was Harvey Taylor never found despite his truck, wallet and routine being left behind? In this episode, we tell the story of Harvey Taylor and the circumstances that connected his disappearance to a buried pump house foundation discovered during a property survey; what happened around June 1991, and how a surveyor’s find in 2022 reopened a three-decade mystery. Person: Harvey Taylor Date: June 12, 1991 (last routine call), April 26, 2022 (sneaker found) Location: Layton Road / Kelso Township, Rankin County Status: Body never found; missing person case reopened by discovery Finder: Laura Wagner, county surveyor - Harvey Taylor was last expected to call his mother on Wednesday, June 12, 1991, after calling every Wednesday between 9:00 and 9:15 p.m. - Harvey’s truck was found on June 14, 1991, on the gravel shoulder of Layton Road with the driver’s door unlocked and his wallet on the seat containing $43 and a nearly complete gas station loyalty card (9 of 10 punches). - A pump house on leased land was demolished in August 1993; its foundation remained buried and undisturbed until 2022. - On April 26, 2022, county surveyor Laura Wagner photographed a depression, found a hole in collapsed concrete, and discovered a size eleven white canvas high-top sneaker standing upright on a narrow ledge. - The sneaker’s sole was completely clean, appearing not to have touched the ground, despite being buried for approximately 29 years.

The Paint Can, The Finger, The Watch Stopped at 11:47 A sealed paint can pulled from a septic tank in Teller's Bluff produced a human finger bone, a folded note with the name Nicole Simpson, and a wristwatch stopped at 11:47 - thirty-one years after Nicole vanished. What connects a retirement-community homeowner, a hobby genealogy kit, and a case file that grew to 412 pages with no body and no charges? In this episode, we lay out the sequence of discoveries from May 14, 2022 through the original disappearance on May 9, 1991, tracing the evidence that resurfaced and the unanswered question that ties them together: who placed Nicole Simpson’s name and remains in that can, and why did it stay hidden for decades? Person: Nicole Simpson Date: May 9, 1991 Location: Delaney Street, Garnet Falls, Ohio Event: Missing person reported Case file: 412 pages - At 2:00 PM on May 14, 2022, a one-gallon paint can was logged into Halverson County Sheriff's evidence after being pulled from a septic tank. - Inside the can were two nested freezer bags containing a single human finger bone, a folded notebook paper with "Nicole Simpson" written in pencil, and a man's wristwatch with hands stopped at 11:47. - Nicole Simpson was 38 years old in spring 1991 and had a ten-year-old daughter named Paige who lived with Nicole's mother, Sandra. - Security footage on May 9, 1991 captured Nicole buying pasta, sauce, frozen peas, and dish soap the afternoon she disappeared. - The property where the septic tank sat belonged to Vernon Hatch, deceased in 2011, and the tank had not been serviced for over a decade.