Criminal Notes

Luggage Arrives Warm: The Murder of Vicki Mills When a baggage handler felt a Samsonite suitcase that had spent forty-five minutes in a refrigerated cargo hold at three degrees Celsius and found it warm to the touch, it became the first clue in a case that would end in conviction and leave another woman's fate unresolved. How did a meticulously planned life and a warm suitcase become the center of a precisely documented murder? In this episode, we follow the timeline from a suburban Tucson home and a nine-ten Sunday night Amtrak reservation to a Crestline Depot platform at 6:22 a.m., tracing the physical evidence - a gas station receipt, a cell tower ping, and a mis-timed text message - that tied together Vicki Mills's disappearance and death. Could routine details reveal who turned a routine trip into a murder? Person: Vicki Mills Date: October 13, 2019 Location: Tucson to Lordsburg (Sunset Limited) Status: Conviction and one unresolved disappearance Occupation: Licensed property appraiser - The suitcase was removed from the train at 6:22 a.m. and felt warm despite forty-five minutes in a cargo hold at 3°C. - Donna Reyes called the Darro County Sheriff's Office at 6:31 a.m., nine minutes after the bag was noticed. - Detective Marvin Zimmerman was on the platform by 7:15 a.m. examining luggage linked to a passenger manifest. - Vicki Mills had booked the Sunset Limited ticket three weeks earlier and packed two hard-shell Samsonite bags with combination locks. - Howard Green, Vicki’s partner of fourteen months, had access to Amtrak cargo docks through Salida Transit LLC and used aliases linked to a 2016 disappearance.

The Night a GPS Proved Someone Was Waiting in the Dark A blinking Garmin logged a waypoint at 11:09 PM the night Robert Cole pulled into Crossbow Fuel Plaza, yet the camera covering the propane cage had been sprayed gray at 9:51 - 1 hour 17 minutes earlier. Who disabled the camera and waited in the desert corridor long enough to deliver one precise, fatal blow? In this episode, we follow the timeline from Cole's last text at 10:52 PM through the GPS and camera timestamps, the autopsy details, and the gaps in surveillance that turned a routine stop into a murder scene. How did a single cylindrical instrument and a still-blinking device close the distance between a perfect blind spot and a life sentence? Person: Robert Cole Date: September 13 (night) Location: Crossbow Fuel Plaza, Cibola Flats, Dunbar County, Nevada Age: 48 Investigator: Detective Edward Green - GPS waypoint recorded arrival at 11:09 PM on the dashboard Garmin. - Camera over the propane cage was sprayed gray at 9:51 PM, 1 hour 17 minutes before arrival. - Robert Cole sent last text at 10:52 PM: "Pulling into the stop now. Call you tomorrow. Love you kid." - Cole was found face down behind the propane cage, 40 yards from his cab, with one blow to the base of the skull. - Autopsy described the instrument as cylindrical, metallic, approximately 1.25 inches in diameter.

A Yellow Boot in a Locked Room: The Judith McCarthy Case A single yellow rubber boot appeared upright on the interior windowsill of a locked harbormaster's office at 7:02 a.m., with no broken glass and no sign anyone had been inside - fourteen hours before a kayaker found Judith McCarthy's body two miles north at Cormorant Creek. How did a killer move a body, return to town, and leave that boot like a message? In this episode, we follow the timeline from the moment Paul Greer spotted the boot to the medical examiner's determination of time and cause of death, and the questions that tied the locked-room clue to the murder investigation. What did that yellow boot mean, and why was it central to the case? Person: Judith McCarthy Date: October 13-14 (time of death between 9:00 p.m. and midnight on October 13) Location: Harwick Cove; body found in Cormorant Creek about two miles north of the municipal pier Cause: Manual strangulation, no defensive wounds, no evidence of sexual assault Reporter/Investigator: Detective Sharon Hall - The boot was logged by a dispatcher at 7:02 a.m. after Paul Greer called the non-emergency line. - The harbormaster's office measured 210 square feet and the boot sat on an interior windowsill. - Judith McCarthy was 31 years old and had lived in Harwick Cove for six years. - Kevin McCarthy filed a missing persons report at 11:45 p.m, after failing to reach his sister by phone. - Dr. Anne Burch placed Judith's time of death between 9:00 p.m. and midnight on October 13.

He Folded Her Coat and Left It There: The Angela Snyder Case A dry, buttoned coat folded across an iron railing in the snow became the first concrete clue in a disappearance that began with a phone ping at 8:03 PM and stopped four minutes later. How did a garment stay dry under two feet of open sky, and who had the means to place it precisely in the narrow dry zone beneath a hidden steel overhang? In this episode, we follow the timeline from Angela Snyder’s last confirmed phone signal to the discovery on the caisson, laying out the physical evidence, access to the platform, and early investigative leads that raised the central question of whether someone with specific knowledge of the site staged the scene. Person: Angela Snyder Age: 52 Occupation: Real estate agent at Carrow Realty Group Last phone ping: 8:03 PM on February 3 Discovery time: coat found at 6:20 AM on February 4 - Coat found folded and buttoned to the top button across the caisson railing at 6:20 AM - Six inches of snow fell between the afternoon of Feb 3 and 4 AM on Feb 4, yet the coat was dry - Caisson platform is accessed through a padlocked iron gate with four keys; one was signed out 18 months earlier to Vernon Sharp - Angela’s phone pinged a cell tower near Fenwick Drive at 8:03 PM and had no further pings or outgoing communications - A prepaid device connected at 8:07 PM on Feb 3 to a tower within 200 meters of Fenwick Drive, four minutes after Angela’s last ping

Locked From Outside: How a Boathouse Padlock Became a Murder Clue A brass Master Lock was found still fastened to the boathouse door while its owner lay dead on the floor inside - a key missing, a single fatal blow, and no obvious way the door could have been secured from within. What did the receipt hidden on the workbench and a parked 2017 F-150 among the maples reveal about the person who walked out and locked the door behind them? In this episode, we tell the sequence of events from the first welfare check to the medical examiner's findings, following the evidence Ferris County deputies collected and the questions it raised about access, motive, and opportunity. Could a single key and one receipt point detectives to the person who left the padlock locked from outside? Person: Edward Underwood Age: 46 Location: Whetstone Lake, Lakeview Road Date: September 14 Investigating Officer: Detective Sergeant Gary Clark - Edward had run Underwood Marine Service as a one-man operation and bought the brass Master Lock eleven months earlier, with the receipt found in a coffee tin. - The padlock was still locked on the boathouse door when deputies arrived and the key was not found anywhere on the property. - Phil Dorsey called 9-1-1 at 7:48 a.m. on Sunday, September 14 after seeing Edward’s 2017 F-150 parked behind the boathouse among the silver maples. - Medical examiner Dr. Ruth Albright determined a single blow from a cylindrical object about 1.25 inches in diameter struck from behind and slightly above, consistent with a right-handed assailant. - Deputies found no secondary entrance, a fixed window with screws painted over, no signs Edward had been dragged, and that he died where he fell.

She Took Her Suitcase-Someone Else Carried Her Body to the Train A navy-blue hard-shell suitcase was found perfectly centered in train car fourteen, thirty-one inches from each wall, while its owner, twenty-eight-year-old Jean Hughes, was already missing and later discovered dead. Who carried her luggage to the station and checked it in under her name while she never made the trip? In this episode, we follow the timeline from Jean's routines and last confirmed sighting to the moments her suitcase was checked and loaded, tracing the investigative steps that focused attention on a nearby rail-yard worker. How did meticulous evidence and bold hiding intersect with a man who had allegedly done something similar before? Person: Jean Hughes Date: March 14 Location: Laconia Junction train station Person: Ronald Hunter Person: Detective Dawn Richardson - Jean had packed a navy-blue hard-shell suitcase, 24 inches, six weeks before she disappeared. - Sandra Frey called Jean's cell phone 11 times between 7:00 a.m. and 12:00 p.m, on March 14 with no answer. - Jean was last positively seen walking south on Pembrook Street at approximately 9:15 p.m., about six blocks from the train platform. - A navy-blue hard-shell bag was handed to Willa Knox at the counter at approximately 9:40 p.m. and checked against Jean's exact online reservation. - Ronald Hunter lived four streets from Jean on Aldrich Road and had worked at the Laconia Junction rail yard for six years.

The Wrong Way Home: What Gary's Locked Journals Hid About Kathleen A woman was captured on camera driving the wrong way for work - a gray Honda Civic headed north at 6:51 a.m. on October 14, 2009 - and then disappeared; four years later, locked journals found on an unknown property would name more than one victim. What could a metal box and years of writing reveal about where Kathleen Rice went? In this episode, we follow the timeline from Kathleen’s last confirmed sighting to the discovery that changed the case, outlining the physical evidence, witness accounts, and the stalled investigation that led to the journals. What did those locked writings say, and how did they finally connect the dots about Kathleen’s disappearance? Person: Kathleen Rice Date: October 14, 2009 Location: Carver Falls, New Jersey Last confirmed sighting time: 6:42 a.m. Car found: March 2010 in Flemington commuter lot - Camera recorded Kathleen’s gray Honda Civic moving north on Route 35 at 6:51 a.m, on October 14, 2009. - Neighbor Frank Aldous saw Kathleen back out of her driveway and wave at 6:42 a.m. the same morning. - The gas station footage showing the Civic was nine seconds long with a legible plate. - A hardware-store camera captured the Civic turning onto Birchwood Lane at 7:04 a.m., thirteen minutes after the gas station image. - Kathleen’s Civic was located five months later in March 2010 in a commuter parking lot in Flemington, 22 miles from Carver Falls.

Snow, No Tracks, One Boot Size: How Silence Buried Wendy Bennett Snow showed no tire tracks, no vehicle, and yet at 6:12 a.m. a 22-year-old woman lay dead on a narrow access road - her boot prints the only sign someone had been there. How did a killer leave size eleven prints and no other trace in perfectly undisturbed snow, and who used knowledge of evidence to try to buy time? In this episode, you will hear the timeline from the last call at 8:54 p.m. to the discovery at 6:12 a.m., the key people connected to Wendy Bennett, and the investigative dead ends that followed - including eliminated suspects and missing phone evidence - all pointing to one central question: who could walk into fresh snow and leave almost no trace? Person: Wendy Bennett Age: 22 Location: Ridgeline, Washington (access road off Route 9) Cause: blunt force trauma Time discovered: 6:12 a.m. - Last outgoing call on Wendy's phone to Claire Noonan at 8:54 p.m. the night before. - Snow-clearing operator Ron Sutter entered the access road at 5:47 a.m. and reached the far end by 6:12 a.m., finding the body. - Boot prints around the body matched a size eleven work boot tread; no vehicle tracks on the road between 5:47 and 6:12 a.m. - Detective Gregory Novak spent six weeks verifying Ron Sutter’s timeline and ruled out errors in the snow-clearing timestamps. - Suspect Dale Pruett was eliminated: cell tower and a gas receipt place him in Wenatchee (about 200 miles east) the morning after, and he wore size nine boots.

The Wallet in the Cornfield: How a Missing Dad Was Found Buried Forty-three dollars, a Missouri driver's license, and two credit cards were found folded inside a leather wallet unearthed by a combine in a Pratt County cornfield - eleven days after the owner, Stanley Price, vanished 230 miles away. How did a meticulous 38-year-old father’s wallet end up buried in Illinois with untouched cash, and what single discovery changed this from a missing person case into something else? In this episode, we follow the timeline from Price’s last known routine to the moment a farmer found the wallet in the stubble and the detectives connected two investigations across state lines. Listen for the clues in bank records, gate access logs, and the single card swipe that reframed the case: what does that entry tell investigators about where the wallet - and Price - had been? Person: Stanley Price Age: 38 Date: October 3-14 (wallet found on October 14) Location: Pratt County, Illinois; Cape Girardeau, Missouri Investigator: Detective Phil Stanton; Detective Warren Edwards - Wallet contained $43 in cash, two credit cards, and a Missouri driver's license. - Wallet was found in a soybean/cornfield during a combine’s last pass on the morning of October 14 at 8:52. - Stanley Price had been missing for 11 days when the wallet was found. - Price woke at 5:15 daily, worked 9 years as receiving dock manager at Bellridge Agricultural, and had an 11-year-old daughter. - Millard Cooperative gate logs showed a proximity card swipe on the night of October 3 by card assigned to former employee Bruce Griffin.

He Watched Her for 15 Months: The Murder of Lauren Tillman A dusty pink Motorola pager rang under a desert motel for 47 minutes before a highway patrol officer traced it to a locked room where Lauren Tillman had been dead for at least two days. She was a 61-year-old top regional sales coordinator found moved into a crawl space and manually strangled; who could have watched her for 15 months, and why did they wait to act? In this episode, we lay out the timeline from Lauren’s last check-in at 6:22 p.m, on September 9 to the discovery at 4:47 a.m. on September 12, and follow the evidence that pointed investigators to a planned crime rather than an accident. How did a carabiner looped through a hatch, a partial boot print, and an undisturbed hotel room lead detectives toward a suspect who had long observed her movements? Person: Lauren Tillman Date (check-in): September 9 at 6:22 p.m. Date (discovery): September 12 at 4:47 a.m. Cause of death: Manual strangulation Location: Sagebrush Motor Court Unit Seven and crawl space beneath the motel - Lauren’s pager, a dusty pink Motorola Advisor registered to her employer, continued to ring beneath the motel after her death. - She was 61 years old and had been named top regional representative four consecutive years by supervisor Phil Garret. - Room evidence: laptop open, organized sample case, glasses on nightstand, phone plugged in, and a Patricia Cornwell novel beside the bed. - Forensics found a partial claw-sole boot print size 11 or 12 in alkaline soil and a hardware-store carabiner looped through the hatch latch on the interior side. - Time of death was narrowed to between 10:00 p.m, on September 9 and 2:00 a.m. on September 10; body moved to crawl space and hatch had been wiped.