True Crime: Killer Confessions

The Shoe on the Roof: How One Pump Ended Two Cold Murders Fear that someone who appeared ordinary could hide a deliberate violence: a single burgundy pump, size seven, sat heel-down on a locked shed roof nine feet high while the owner lay strangled forty meters away. How did a shoe with Holly Miller's name inside end up as the one piece of evidence that ultimately broke two cold cases? In this episode, we present the sequence of events from Holly Miller's disappearance on April 12, 2004 to the discovery of her body and the puzzling shoe on a shed roof, and trace how a retired detective's notes, contractor records, and a storage unit entry shifted the investigation-what connection between the shoe, contractor calls, and the gated access corridor finally answered the question? Person: Holly Miller Date: April 12, 2004 Location: Pinecrest Park, Millhaven, Pennsylvania Status: Cold case until investigative break Case: Missing right shoe placed on shed roof - Holly Miller was 47 years old and worked eleven years as accounts supervisor at Keystone Property Management. - Holly disappeared on the evening of April 12, 2004 and her body was found April 14, 2004 in a drainage channel behind Pinecrest Park pavilion. - Holly's wallet and phone were found in her jacket pocket and only her left shoe remained on her foot; the matching right burgundy pump was on a shed roof nine feet high. - Three calls to Holly's cell between 5:40 and 8:20 p.m. on April 12, 2004 came from a number registered to Aldgate Building Services and were not initially pursued. - Detective Sergeant Paul Henning photographed the shoe and noted a gated contractor access corridor linked to Keystone contractor codes before the case went cold after an alibi cleared the primary suspect.

The Unmelted Ice: Who Returned To Randy Romano's House? The morning after Randy Romano died, a full glass of orange juice with unmelted ice sat on his back patio in 31°F air - a drink that physics says could only have been poured between 7:20 and 7:50 a.m. Who returned to 414 Birchwell Drive after Randy’s death, and why did it take nineteen years for that glass to matter? In this episode, we follow the evidence trail from a misfiled case file to the single overlooked object that reframed the investigation: a glass logged at 7:52 a.m., outdoor temperature recorded at 31°F, and a reconstructed pour-time that contradicts the established timeline. Can a cold glass rewrite nineteen years of assumptions? Person: Randy Romano Date: March 10-11, 2003 Location: 414 Birchwell Drive Investigator: Darlene Carlson Status: Case reopened after 19 years - Randy Romano was found dead on the living-room floor, time of death estimated between 11:00 p.m, on March 10 and 2:00 a.m, on March 11, 2003. - Ross Callahan, a meter reader, discovered a full glass of orange juice with unmelted ice on the back patio at 7:52 a.m, on March 11, 2003. - Outdoor temperature recorded that morning was 31 degrees Fahrenheit. - Physics-based analysis in the file determined unmelted ice implied the juice was poured approximately 20-30 minutes before discovery (between 7:20 and 7:50 a.m.). - The case file sat in the Pryor County Sheriff’s Office for 19 years before Darlene Carlson reassigned and reexamined the evidence in spring 2022.

Dry Shoe on an Iced Rail: Who Left Valerie's Pump Upright? A dry burgundy pump, size 7½, sat perfectly upright on a frozen metal guardrail post while the surrounding road was glazed with ice - yet the shoe had no frost. Thirty feet away, the body of 52-year-old Valerie Osborne lay in a drainage ditch; who placed that impossible shoe, and why was her car found six and a half miles in the opposite direction with her coat, purse and phone inside? In this episode, we tell the sequence of events from the evening Valerie left the Barton County food pantry to the discovery that reopened her case twenty-two years later, and ask whether the improbable detail of the dry shoe holds the key to what really happened that night. Person: Valerie Osborne Age: 52 Date: February 8-9, 2001 Location: Copley Road, Barton County Vehicle location: Crestwood Lanes parking lot, 6.5 miles west - Shoe: burgundy leather pump, size 7½, balanced upright on a metal guardrail post - Weather: freezing rain that night left a thin transparent shell of ice on guardrail and ground - Discovery: Angela Christensen photographed the shoe and called the Barton County Sheriff on the morning of February 9, 2001 - Body: Valerie found thirty feet east of the post at the bottom of a drainage ditch, wearing the left shoe only - Car: 1998 Buick LeSabre found unlocked in Crestwood Lanes parking lot with coat, purse and phone inside, approximately 17 hours before discovery

A Shoe on Untouched Snow: The Murder of Peggy Tillman A single tan leather pump stood upright on three days of undisturbed snow, and sixty feet beyond it lay Peggy Tillman, covered with frozen earth and freshly cut pine boughs that did not belong in that birch stand. The shoe was size seven with a wooden heel and the last snow had fallen on January 11 - so why had no snow settled on or around the pump for at least three days? In this episode, we tell the facts of Peggy Tillman's disappearance and death in January 1973, the overlooked evidence gathered in the five days between her last sighting and discovery, and the clues that sat untested for decades; what unanswered question finally unlocked the case? Person: Peggy Tillman Date: Last seen January 8, 1973 Date: Body found January 14, 1973 Location: Birch stand east of Kellerton, Pennsylvania Age: 44 - A tan leather pump, size seven with a wooden heel, was found standing upright on snow that fell January 11. - Peggy Tillman’s time of death was estimated between January 8 and January 10 by the medical examiner. - Peggy’s body was found in a shallow depression 60 feet into the birch stand, covered with frozen earth and green pine boughs. - The nearest pine stand was about a quarter mile away on property belonging to Douglas Feld, who reported a dark-colored pickup on the easement around January 9 or 10. - Peggy had an address book entry reading “Norman Z. - Crandall acct.” referring to Norman Zeller of Zeller Electric, who was initially noted but not pursued further.

Trotline Wallet: The 32-Year Secret Buried Three Hundred Yards Away A battered wallet pulled from the Alder Fork after four miles in the current revealed an Indiana driver's license for Kevin A. Porter - a man missing for thirty-two years - and reopened a case that county investigators had long stopped expecting to solve. How could a wallet survive decades in a river, end up in a trotline, and finally connect to remains found less than three hundred yards from an abandoned pickup? In this episode, we lay out the timeline from Kevin Porter's last confirmed sighting to the discovery that cracked the case open, and we follow the details that led Detective Marie Evans to a name hidden in an old sign-in log. What did a four-gallon gas receipt, a gray 1988 Dodge pickup, and a trotline wallet finally reveal? Person: Kevin A. Porter Date (last seen): December 3, 1991 Date (wallet found): December 9, 2023 Location (vehicle found): Gravel lot behind boat ramp at Alder Fork Cause of death: Blunt force trauma to the rear of the skull - The wallet traveled four miles downstream in the Alder Fork before being caught on a trotline on December 9, 2023. - Kevin Porter had been missing for thirty-two years when his driver's license was found in the wallet. - Human remains matching Kevin Porter were discovered in October 2022 less than 300 yards from where a 1988 gray Dodge pickup was found abandoned in 1992. - The pickup was discovered four days after Porter was reported missing, unlocked, with no keys, no blood, and a four-gallon gas receipt on the passenger seat. - Detective Marie Evans reopened the case in February 2023 after reviewing a file compiled over sixteen years that included a name from a Millhaven Community Center sign-in log.

The Birdbath, the Watch, and the Nurse Who Vanished without a Trace Cold water hid a small gold-toned wristwatch for thirty-six years until a county surveyor found it in a birdbath-its back stamped with a single initial, N. A nurse vanished the night her cat's insulin log stopped mid-entry, a suspect was framed, and a company van erased from witness memories; what truth did that watch keep submerged all this time? In this episode, we follow the discoveries and conflicting leads that shaped Nicole Perry's disappearance and the long silence that followed. We trace the timeline from a final notebook entry to shifting witness statements and the object that reopened questions: who had access to Nicole's house the night she vanished? Person: Nicole Perry Date: November 12, 1983 Location: Alderton Case: Missing person / cold case Investigator: Detective Lou Barger - The watch was recovered on November 9, 2019, from four inches of water in a birdbath. - The watch had been underwater for thirty-six years and bore the initial "N" on the back. - Nicole Perry was fifty-four years old when she disappeared and had been a licensed practical nurse for eleven years. - Nicole's cat Cinder, aged fourteen, required twice-daily insulin and the evening entry on November 12, 1983, was left blank. - Two witnesses initially reported a pickup truck that matched Terry Kowalski's vehicle, then later recanted saying they had seen a white company van with lettering.

The Clasped Handbag, Six Dollars, And A Probate Note Fear that someone erased a life with almost no effort: a leather handbag clasped, buried four feet down under six concrete blocks, holding a driver's license, a coffee punch card, and exactly six dollars - and a courthouse document with her name filed twelve days earlier. Why was Erin Schmidt listed as a witness on a probate filing twenty-two blocks from where she worked, just days before she vanished? In this episode, we tell the factual events surrounding Erin Schmidt's disappearance, the items recovered from the dry well, and the probate record dated September 28, 2001 that placed her name in public view before she was reported missing - and ask how those facts might fit together. Person: Erin Schmidt Date: October 10, 2001 Location: Oswald Building parking lot, Kellerton Status: Missing; body never recovered until handbag found Document Date: September 28, 2001 - Handbag was fastened at the clasp and buried four feet below ground in a dry well behind an equipment shed. - The bag was weighted down by six concrete masonry blocks. - Inside the bag were a driver's license, a coffee-shop punch card, six dollars and change, and a spiral notebook with phone numbers in blue ink. - Erin Schmidt was twenty-two years old and had not been seen for eighteen years after she stopped answering a Wednesday night call. - Erin's name appears as a witness on a probate filing dated September 28, 2001, filed in a courthouse twenty-two blocks from the Oswald Building.

She Was Built Into the Harbor Wall: The Tammy Hunt Bone Found The discovery of a human femur embedded in Colter's Neck Harbor wall after a 16-foot storm surge shattered twenty-two years of assumption: a size 7.5 canvas sneaker with a purple lace tied around late summer 2001 lay sealed nearby - how did a woman vanish and end up built into concrete? What does the bone, the shoe, and a retired detective's nine-year-old box of files now force us to ask about a case long declared a probable drowning? In this episode, we present the sequence of events from the night Tammy Hunt disappeared in September 2001 to the September 2023 storm that exposed the femur, describing the evidence recovered, the people who kept the case alive, and the questions that remain about the harbor, the contractor with access, and the sealed cavity that hid the truth. Person: Tammy Hunt Date: September 14, 2001 Location: Colter's Neck Harbor north wall Case: Missing person turned identified remains Investigator: Leon Parrish (retired detective), Harvey Bauer (cold case unit) - 14 feet of concrete was stripped down to rubble by the prior night's storm surge. - The shoe found was a right-foot canvas sneaker, size 7.5, with a purple lace that appeared tied around late summer 2001. - Tammy Hunt was 38 years old at the time she vanished and worked as an office coordinator at Gilmore and Associates. - Russo Marine Construction held a service contract with the Gilmore building from 1998 through 2000, giving Duane Russo regular access to the office. - Leon Parrish kept the Hunt case files in a cardboard box in his basement for nine years after retiring in 2014.

The Padlock in His Fist: Who Silenced Dennis Wright? A dead man with a brand-new retail padlock clutched in his right hand, a missing witness statement tucked in a deputy's private box, and a county that ruled the death a suicide within days - what forces left these concrete clues unanswered for thirty years? What was in the hardware log and the mailed documents that might rewrite the official story? In this episode, we lay out the timeline, the people, and the records that were overlooked or hidden after the death of Dennis Wright, and we follow the trail from a care facility visit to a drainage ditch to ask the question the file refused to answer: who silenced him? Person: Dennis Wright Date: August 20, 1991 Location: Madrona Drive service road, Harney County, Oregon Status: Death ruled suicide; case file incomplete Topic: Padlock found sealed in deceased's right hand - At 5:40 AM on August 20, 1991, Leon Jenkins found Dennis Wright face-down in a drainage ditch with his right hand clenched around a sealed retail-packaged padlock. - Dennis Wright was 62 years old and had worked 30 years as a maintenance supervisor at Cascade Basin Lumber in Seco Flats. - Wright met with attorney Susan Park three times in spring 1991 and mailed her a packet of survey records and two signed tribal elder statements the week before he died. - A witness, Dorothy Ash, signed a statement on August 22 describing two vehicles and a man at the service road on August 19; that statement was removed from the official file and stored by Deputy Raymond Voss. - The county medical examiner recorded blunt-force head trauma as the cause and ruled the manner suicide, citing a blood-alcohol reading of 0.16.

The Envelope Under the Wiper: How a Kidnapper Hid for Decades Fear of a hidden predator: an envelope with a ransom note, a seven-year-old's school photo, and a fishing license appeared under a county grader wiper on July 19, 1991 - yet the maintenance yard showed no forced entry and no tracks. How did a kidnapper gain access, leave a precise trace, and then vanish while official records recorded every anomaly but never connected them? In this episode, we tell the sequence of events from the morning Philip Brooks disappeared to the moment a cold-case investigator re-reads the file decades later, and we follow the single detail that finally links the missing pieces: who had the key and why did that matter? Person: Philip Brooks Date: July 15, 1991 (disappearance) and July 22, 1991 (recovered) Location: Dellard Township, Morrison County, Minnesota Status: Recovered alive after four days; case unresolved in the record for 28 years Investigator: Nicole Reynolds (cold-case review, October 2018) - The ransom demand found in the envelope was for $40,000 and included Philip's school photo and Thomas Brooks's fishing license. - Philip was seven years old at the time and was seen in the yard at 12:40 p.m.; he was gone by 12:55 p.m. - Philip was found dehydrated and confused at 7:10 a.m. on July 22, 1991, on the shoulder of County Route 12 and could not describe his captor or the holding location. - Jeffrey West had visited the Brooks farm three times between April and June 1991 to service a grain dryer and later took the fishing license from the truck's glove compartment. - West was issued a legitimate key to the maintenance yard that gave him access to place the sealed envelope under Neil Dalton's grader wiper sometime after midnight July 18-19, 1991.