True Crime: The Killers Room

The Cooler in Locker 7: Who Paid to Keep a Murder Cold? Cold, controlled preservation kept a secret intact for thirty-one years: a styrofoam cooler stored at a steady fifty-five degrees contained a glass vial dated March 14, 1991 - the night Ronald Evans vanished - and a chain-of-custody form signed by an evidence technician. Who put evidence for a murder into a paid storage unit and kept paying $42 a month until a septic contractor opened the door in March 2022? In this episode, we lay out the facts recovered from storage, interviews and records to show what was stored, who handled it, and how the case slipped into cold status - and we ask whether the missing explanation is a mistake, a cover-up, or something more deliberate. Person: Ronald Evans Date: March 14, 1991 Location: storage unit seven, Building C, Dellman, Ohio Status: evidence vial found March 2022; case cold since 1995 Person: Rebecca Campbell - The cooler sat in a climate-controlled unit at 55 degrees for 31 years. - The storage payments were $42 per month until the unit was opened in March 2022. - Ronald Evans was 24 years old and last seen at 5:22 PM on March 14, 1991. - Ronald’s body was recovered March 19, 1991; cause of death was blunt force trauma from a single rounded strike. - Evidence vial labeled March 14, 1991 and a partially completed chain-of-custody form signed by evidence technician Rebecca Campbell were inside the cooler.

The Rest Area Bone: How a Hawk Found a Missing Truck Driver A lone hawk and a human finger bone on top of two inches of fresh snow - found on February 3, 2022 at Harmon Flats rest area - reopened a disappearance that had sat cold for 35 years. What linked a discarded coffee cup, a frozen vial of hair in a state lab freezer, and a daughter waiting each Wednesday at ten o'clock? In this episode, we tell the events that connect the February 2022 discovery to the February 11, 1987 disappearance of long-haul driver Carol Bishop, and how modern forensic genealogy and small pieces of evidence pushed a decades-old case toward resolution. How did a hawk, a photographer named Grant Collins, and a genealogist named Kelly Thorpe become the unlikely keys to an answer? Person: Grant Collins Person: Carol Bishop Date: February 3, 2022 Date: February 11, 1987 Location: Harmon Flats rest area - The bone was discovered lying on top of two inches of fresh overnight snow between two concrete parking stops. - Carol Bishop was 49 years old when she disappeared on February 11, 1987 after running a Grand Island to Scottsbluff refrigerated route. - Carol's truck was found at Harmon Flats on February 12, 1987 at 11:40 AM with engine cold, logbook open, thermos on the dash, and overnight bag in the sleeper. - A single hair root from the passenger headrest was collected in spring 1987, placed in a vial, frozen through two freezer replacements, and submitted to the national DNA database in 2001 with no match. - Grant Collins had been visiting Harmon Flats for three consecutive mornings photographing a rough-legged hawk when he noticed the hawk lift and then saw the finger bone.

The John Doe with the Combed Hair: How a Blood Card Broke 29-Year Silence The discovery of a neatly dressed man with combed hair in a culvert on January 9, 1991, left a county with a nameless body and one frozen blood sample that would later unlock a thirty-year mystery: how did a single vial kept by a medical examiner finally lead to a name? Who recognized the man only after decades of silence and fractured family ties? In this episode, we tell how the case moved from a cold file labeled John Doe Number Four, 1991 to the identification of Douglas Foster, and why a barroom remark and a preserved blood card mattered more than initial police activity. How did disconnected family searches, a remembered bowling ball, and scientific advances converge to end a 29-year silence? Person: Douglas Foster Date found: January 9, 1991 Age at disappearance: 32 (born spring 1958) Location: Hessler Road, Greer County, Ohio Case file label: John Doe Number Four, 1991 - The body was discovered at 7:19 AM on January 9, 1991, by 14-year-old Melvin Gallagher. - The victim wore polished boots and had hair that had been combed; he carried no wallet or keys. - Douglas Foster was reported missing in March 1991 by his sister Beverly; the missing persons report was inactivated after roughly six weeks. - A preserved blood sample from the county medical examiner's freezer was the piece of evidence kept for decades. - Bartender Al Dietrich saw Foster leave Hendry's Tap around 11:30 PM on January 8, 1991, with a heavyset man wearing a jacket bearing a company logo.

The Rag in the Snow: How a Notebook Named a Killer A county road grader found a man in a gray wool coat buried in fresh snow on December 4, 1992, with his wallet and watch untouched and only a metric-threaded galvanized pipe and a grease-stained rag nearby-evidence that would sit unsolved for decades. How did a greasy rag and a pipe with European threads, ignored for years, later point to a person no one could name in 1992? In this episode, we tell what the episode covers and follow the trail from the ditch on Harwick Pike to the evidence locker, through a 2009 partial DNA result and a 2022 forensic genealogist’s reexamination, asking how new methods finally reopened the question of who killed Howard Collins. Person: Howard Collins Date: December 4, 1992 Location: Harwick Pike, Orchard Spur Road area Status: Homicide unsolved for decades until cold case review Investigator: Beverly Barrett - Body discovered by Philip Moore at 6:45 AM on December 4, 1992 - Victim age: 51 years old and a retired machinist - Two physical evidence items: one galvanized steel pipe and one dark grease-stained rag - Rag reexamined in 2009 yielded a partial male DNA profile labeled "incomplete" - Beverly Barrett, a 44-year-old forensic genealogist, arrived in fall 2022 to reprocess the evidence

The Stamp That Stayed Silent for Thirty-One Years A thirty-two-cent stamp sat in an evidence freezer for thirty-one years before it finally spoke, tied to a letter mailed November 14, 1991 - two days before Bruce York’s body was found under a blue tarp. Who mailed an anonymous, falsely accusatory letter before anyone knew York was dead, and why would someone send it believing they’d never be found? In this episode, we lay out the sequence of events from Bruce York’s last missed call to the discovery of his body and the three anomalies that haunted the investigation: a tagless tarp, a bicycle with a combination set to a nineteen-year-old’s birthday, and that pre-discovery letter. How did a stamp in an evidence freezer undo decades of certainty? Person: Bruce York Date: Postmark November 14, 1991 Location: drainage easement off Route Nine, Millhaven County, Ohio Discovery: November 16, 1991 at 9:47 AM Item: thirty-two-cent stamp kept in evidence freezer for thirty-one years - Body found under an eight-by-ten foot blue polyethylene tarp with brass grommets and no manufacturer tag - Bicycle locked to a signpost about 300 yards from the body with combination set to Melissa York’s 19-year-old birthday - Letter mailed November 14, 1991 written in block capitals, no return address, accusing York of theft and falsely claiming he deserved it - Bruce York was 44 years old and had worked 11 years at Teller Aggregate, last three as maintenance supervisor - Dispatch call reporting the body came in at 9:47 AM on November 16, 1991

The Sneaker on the Spillway: How a 22‑Year Clue Broke a Killer A twenty‑two year‑old sneaker sat sealed in evidence, yellowed by darkness but dry when a jogger found it on October 9, 2019 - its midsole showed decades of sealed storage and fossilized white pine needles were pressed into the tread. Inside the heel lining was a partial male DNA profile that labs could read within 72 hours; who did that DNA belong to, and how did one shoe reconnect a long-cold homicide to a living suspect? In this episode, we tell the sequence of events from Crystal Wilson’s disappearance on October 14, 1997, through the evidence handling that preserved one sneaker, to the breakthrough tests in 2019 that produced a usable DNA lead. How did a detective’s persistence, a preserved shoe, and modern lab work converge to reopen a two‑decade‑old investigation? Person: Crystal Wilson Date: October 14, 1997 Location: Kellner Reservoir / Clement Avenue supermarket parking lot Status: Remains recovered; cause of death asphyxiation Case: Missing person turned homicide with preserved sneaker evidence - The sneaker was found by a jogger on October 9, 2019, sitting dry on a soaked concrete spillway. - Lab results returned within 72 hours showing a partial male DNA profile from a contact touch inside the heel lining. - The sneaker was logged into evidence in October 1997 and remained sealed in a Sheriff's Office freezer for 22 years. - Crystal Wilson disappeared after leaving work at 5:45 PM on October 14, 1997; her unlocked car was found the next morning in the supermarket parking lot with decomposing groceries. - Crystal’s remains were recovered in April 1998 in a shallow depression behind white pines, with the medical examiner ruling asphyxiation as the cause of death.

The Wallet Behind the Juniper: How a Penciled Number Unraveled Murder Fear grips small towns when an ordinary routine becomes the last trace of a life: a brown leather wallet wedged behind a juniper, a West Virginia driver's license dated September 1981, and a seven-digit phone number penciled on paper that led investigators to a road Douglas Stroud had no reason to visit. Why was a man’s wallet hidden for thirty-eight years in a house he never entered, and how did a DNA match from a consumer test finally crack a case that had gone cold? In this episode, we follow the discovery at Sutter's Hollow and the patchwork investigation that spanned decades, from a missing-persons report filed September 15, 1981, to a breakthrough tied to a genetic test upload by a 26-year-old woman. What connections link the penciled number, a subcontractor who worked in Stroud’s basement, and the DNA found in the wallet? Person: Douglas Stroud Date: September 9, 2019 (wallet discovery) Location: Sutter's Hollow; Crestfield Road house; Harwick, West Virginia Event: Missing person reported September 15, 1981 Person: Jason Hamilton - The meter reader Gregory Duncan worked the Sutter's Hollow block for 11 years and found the wallet on September 9, 2019. - The driver's license inside was issued to Douglas Stroud from Harwick and expired September 1981, still readable after nearly 38 years. - Douglas Stroud was born in 1926, was 55 years old in 1981, and had a routine of arriving at Patsy's Counter every Wednesday at the same time and leaving at 7:45. - June, Stroud’s daughter, entered the house through the basement hatch on September 15, 1981, finding his pickup in the driveway and a half-eaten bowl of cereal. - County permit records show Jason Hamilton worked as a subcontractor on the Crestfield Road basement renovation between 1979 and 1983.

He Kept Her Planner for 26 Years - Then DNA Locked the Truth Fear that the person you’re looking for has been living in plain sight for decades - and the proof sat in a shoebox for 26 years: a dried sandwich, a library book, and Marcia Tillman’s yellow spiral-bound planner. How did preserved fabric and a partial DNA profile finally overturn a decades-old suspicion and point to the man who had been missed? In this episode, we tell how a preserved DNA sample from clothing, a reopened cold case, and a civilian genetic genealogist converge to answer the question investigators couldn’t: who left Marcia’s body eighty yards off a familiar trail on August 19, 1993? Person: Marcia Tillman Date: August 19, 1993 Location: Elver Creek recreational trail, Sable County Investigator: Phil Hurd Genealogist: Carl Nelson - The shoebox containing Marcia’s yellow spiral-bound planner and a wrapped sandwich sat on a closet top shelf for 26 years. - Marcia was 22 years old, wearing a yellow polo and tan canvas sneakers when she left work at approximately 5:20 PM. - Her body was found the next morning approximately 80 yards off the trail, partially concealed beneath brush, and cause of death was strangulation. - The original lead detective, Phil Hurd, retired in 2008 and died in 2014 still convinced a suspect who died in 2009 had been responsible. - A partial DNA profile from Marcia’s clothing was developed as early as 2004 and submitted to consumer genealogy databases in 2017 by genealogist Carl Nelson.

Frost in July: The Freezer Bag That Kept a Killer Quiet The discovery of frost inside a commercial freezer bag wrapped around human remains on a Tennessee trail stopped the medical examiner cold - the body had been frozen and then buried in ninety-one degree summer heat. A DNA swab taken from a passenger headrest in a truck nine years earlier sat in a minus-eighty-degree freezer until forensic genetic genealogy turned a dormant profile into a partial match; who froze the victim and why was he left for almost a decade before discovery? In this episode, we follow how a sealed epithelial swab preserved at minus-eighty degrees and uploaded to consumer genealogy databases led investigators from a boot print to a distant Ohio relative and then into a family tree that pointed back to Parrish, Tennessee - could a single freezer bag and one stubborn sample solve a ten-year mystery? Person: Roy Wagner Date: July 14, 2022 Location: Vernon Evans Trail, Parrish, Tennessee Status: Missing for 3,641 days before remains found Method: Headrest epithelial swab preserved in minus-80°C freezer - The remains were found on July 14, 2022, after a border collie pulled off the Vernon Evans Trail into scrubland. - Roy Wagner last texted at 6:47 PM on July 9, 2012; his phone last pinged at 7:22 PM that night. - Roy had been missing for exactly 3,641 days when his remains were discovered. - A passenger-side boot print in Roy’s truck was size 11 lug sole; Roy wore size 9. - The headrest swab was collected, DNA extracted in 2013, and stored in a minus-80-degree freezer until uploaded for genetic genealogy in spring 2022.

The Key, The Float, and the Quiet Woman Who Was Watched A sixty-one-year-old woman found in a river with a brass key stamped “12” tied to her left wrist and a small orange Drifter fishing float knotted into the cord - the float cost about $1.50 and was sold at 16 stores within 30 miles. Who tied those things to Sarah Donnelly, and why did it take 28 years for their meaning to surface? In this episode, we follow the sequence of evidence, the people who knew Sarah’s routines, and the detective who cataloged every detail, as the story moves from Archer Street to a locked car in a library lot and finally to the Garrett Mill Road bridge. What did the key and the float reveal about patience, planning, and a life watched? Person: Sarah Donnelly Date: June 14, 1993 (found at six in the morning) Location: Calvert River (near Garrett Mill Road bridge), Pell Crossing public library parking lot, Archer Street duplex Status: Cause of death: homicide Investigator: Detective Al Norris - Sarah Donnelly was sixty-one and had lived on Archer Street for twenty-two years. - She called her sister every Wednesday at 11:15 p.m.; the June 9 call occurred but the June 16 call never happened. - Her car was found locked in the Pell Crossing Public Library parking lot with her purse on the passenger seat and no library card on file. - A brass key stamped with the number 12 was tied to her left wrist on a cord alongside an orange Drifter-brand fishing float. - The Drifter float was stocked at sixteen retail locations within thirty miles and cost about $1.50.