Trace Evidence

In this special Update episode, we look back on six cases previously featured on Trace Evidence which have had major updates.  We begin with the case of Charles and Catherine Romer who disappeared more than forty years ago during a drive from Florida to New York.  

In addition to new discoveries in that case, we'll look into new searches and developments in the disappearance of Asha Degree, the Murder of Justin Turner, the abduction and murder of Jessica Gutierrez, the disappearance of Branson Perry and the murder of Faith Hedgepeth.  

If you would like to submit a question for the year end, 2024 Wrap-Up Q&A, you can submit them here through the 2024 Q&A Form

The full length episodes of each of these updates is available for listening as well:

173 - The Vanishing of Charles & Catherine Romer
011 - The Vanishing of Asha Degree
170 - The Murder of Justin Turner Part 1
171 - The Murder of Justin Turner Part 2
097 - The Abduction of Jessica Gutierrez
089 - The Vanishing of Branson Perry
023 - The Murder of Faith Hedgepeth


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On a cold, rainy spring night in April of 1987, seventeen year old Martha Leanne Green mysteriously vanished.  After the car she and her brother were driving ran out of gas, Leanne remained behind in the car while her brother went to get help.  Returning less than fifteen minutes later, the car was empty and Leanne has never been seen again.  

Investigators determined the seventeen year old had been abducted and several suspects were identified.  One, in particular, was thought to have taken Leanne and committed similar crimes throughout the area.  Law enforcement never collected enough evidence to charge the man and he took his secrets to his grave.

What happened to Leanne Green?  Was she abducted by a stranger or perhaps taken by someone she knew and believed she could trust?  Or did the seventeen year old encounter a ruthless and brutal killer all alone on a dark, deserted highway?

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When twenty-nine year old Loy Evitts failed to return to her Kansas City, MO office job after taking a late lunch, her co-workers were concerned.  When they found her car, parked in its assigned spot, but could find no trace of the woman, that concern transformed into worry.  They quickly called her home and spoke to her husband, Don, who immediately knew something had to be wrong.

The next day, Kansas City Police kicked off a massive search for Loy.  They interviewed co-workers and friends, they went around town and established a timeline which showed everywhere and everything the woman had done.  But they couldn't fill in a small window of time, five to ten minutes, and it's believed that is when she vanished.

When an anonymous caller claimed responsibility for the crime, police quickly located and questioned him but they could never confirm whether he had knowledge of the crime or was just a sick prank caller.  Forty-seven years later, Loy has never been found and her abductor has never been identified.  To date, her disappearance is the longest unsolved missing persons investigation in the history of Kansas City.

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When thirty-two year old Shirley McAvoy didn't show up for her youngest daughter's birthday everyone knew something was wrong.  After being unable to reach her, Shirley's estranged husband, Brian, reported her missing to the Pittsfield Police Department in Maine.

Initially, investigators found nothing to indicate a crime had been committed and did little other than issue a statewide bolo for Shirley and her car.  Thirty-four days later, a massive puddle of blood was discovered in Shirley's home.

Friends and neighbors told a strange tale about a man who called himself "Jerry."  Jerry moved into Shirley's home just days before her disappearance and gave many different, contrasting stories about his background.  He was missing, too.

Detectives soon learned that Jerry had been involved in an accident in Shirley's car in Boston the day after she was last seen alive.  One month later, the mother of two was found dead in a rural area of Virginia.  For detectives, solving the disturbing case appears to hinge entirely on identifying this so-called Jerry.

Composite Image of suspect "Jerry"

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Twenty-three year old Randy Church was a bright, talented and driven student attending Montana State University.  Majoring in electrical engineering, Randy was excited for what opportunities the future would afford.  Living off campus in Bozeman at the time, Randy picked up a part time job at a local Pizza Hut.  He quickly was promoted to the position of shift supervisor.

On the evening of Saturday, February 9th, 1985, Randy was scheduled on a closing shift.  Locking up just after midnight, he stayed behind with one other employee to clean and prep for the next day's business.  At approximately 3 AM, Randy's co-worker left and sometime shortly thereafter, an armed individual gained entry to the restaurant.

The next morning, co-workers discovered Randy's body.  The college student had been shot two times during what appeared to have been a robbery gone wrong.  No one has ever been charged, no suspect officially named, no motive confirmed.  Was he the victim of a random crime, perhaps committed by two escaped prisoners on the run?  Was he targeted by a local violent criminal or was he murdered by someone close, perhaps a friend or co-worker?

More than forty years later, Randy's murder remains the sole unsolved homicide on the books in the city of Bozeman.

Justice for Randy Church Facebook Page

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Ten year old Amber Barker was riding her bike home from a friend's house.  It wasn't a long distance, just over half a mile through neighborhood roads she was highly familiar with.  Unfortunately, she never arrived.

Within hours, the Oklahoma City Police Department descended upon the neighborhood and began searching.  The next day they were joined by more than 30 FBI agents.  It was clear that something sinister had occurred.

While investigators maintained optimism in the beginning, the discovery of a disturbing trail of clues suggested the child was in grave danger.  Closing in on a person of interest, detectives were devastated when the man died, taking everything he knew with him to the grave.

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Two days after Christmas of 1993, thirty-eight year old nurse and mother of two, Latricia White failed to show up for work.  Hours later, her father went to her home and was devastated to find her lifeless body lying in bed.  It would later be determined she had been shot multiple times in the head as she slept.

Investigators soon learned of Lee Wackerhagen, Latricia's live in boyfriend, who was nowhere to be found.  Not only was Lee missing, but so was his nine year old son, Chance.  Days later, Lee's abandoned truck was found in east Austin, the bed smeared with blood.  It didn't take long for detectives to determine Wackerhagen had killed Latricia and fled, abducting his son in the process.

For twenty long years that is exactly as the case remained until a cold case investigator with the Texas Rangers found several problems with the original investigation. In 2016, the Texas Department of Public Safety officially announced they now believed that Lee and Chance were both victims of foul play, likely at the hand of Latricia's killer.

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On a warm spring night in March of 1975, thirty-two year old John Harden completed an emergency call for a client and returned home.  Less than an hour later, he'd be shot dead in his driveway.

After finishing his shower, John glanced out the window and saw his work truck engulfed in flames.  Running outside to try and snuff out the blaze, his killer got his opening and fired a single blast from his gun.  John fell to the pavement and died from his wounds less than twenty minutes later.
Investigators would later determine that the fire had been purposefully set to lure the father of five outside and into the kill zone.  They recovered the murder weapon, though they could never identify it or the owner.  As years wore on, the case grew increasingly cold.

In October of 1991 an episode of Unsolved Mysteries revitalized interest in the yet solved homicide.  Not by focusing on the murder and investigating the case, but by chasing alleged ghosts around the house in which John had been killed.

Was John Harden the victim of a random act of violence, had he been targeted by someone he knew and trusted or was his murder arranged by local union members who grew furious watching John take contracts they felt belonged to them.

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On November 13th, 1993, twenty-eight year old Lola Katherine Fry attended a party at a northeastside Indianapolis apartment owned by a friend.  She has never been seen again and more than thirty years later the mystery of her disappearance haunts family and friends.

Reported missing, the Indiana State Police began their investigation by interviewing everyone who had been at the party.  They all told the same story, that Kathy left with her former boyfriend, John Ryker.  Ryker would tell authorities that, the next morning he ran out on a job call and when he returned Kathy and her car were gone.

For seven long years the case grew cold until a new investigator took up the casefile and began unraveling years worth of lies and deception.  Two men who had been present at the party finally confessed; they had lied in 1993.  Kathy hadn't left voluntarily with John Ryker - she'd been taken out, wrapped in a blanket and unconscious.

Did Kathy Fry accidentally overdose leading her alleged friends to dispose of her body or was the twenty-eight year old murdered as the party goers made a pact to take the truth with them to their graves?

Family Website

Unfound - The Disappearance of Lola Katherine Fry:  A Matter of Timing

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On Friday, September 24th, 1971, sixteen year old Cathy Moulton disappeared while walking home in downtown Portland, Maine. Despite the desperate pleas of her family, local law enforcement treated the case as that of a runaway and did almost no investigation whatsoever.

For more than twenty years, the Moulton family did their best to investigate the case themselves. They followed leads, interviewed witnesses and hired private investigators but could get no closer to the truth. Finally, in 1995, a new detective looked at the case and was determined to find answers.

Detective Kevin Cady would quickly uncover a series of eyewitnesses who were able to track the missing teen's movements out of Portland and to the northern tip of the state before she disappeared across the Canadian border. Perhaps what was most disturbing was the realization that, had investigators in 1971 taken the case seriously, they might have been able to bring Cathy home alive.

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