Sponsored by: ZocDoc! Visit ZocDoc.com/Trace and download the app for FREE! | Visit CrimeCon.com and use promo code "Trace" to save 10% today! Barbara Holik fell in love with the American west. Drawn to New Mexico, she emigrated to the states in late 1989 and ultimately settled in Taos. There she established herself as an artist, selling hand crafter jewelry and finely painted pottery. She made friends, delved deep into the history of the region and often led tours through the towns and surrounding wildernes. She was a popular woman who engraciated herself to the local community up until the day she vanished. When Barbara failed to show up for work two days in a row, her boss reported her missing. Investigators from the Taos Police Department found an absence of evidence at her apartment; nothing to suggest a crime had been commited but for the woman's absence. Unfortunately for them this lack of evidence would become the default state of the case. What happened to Barbara Holik? Was she the victim of a random crime, or perhaps a targeted one? Did she leave of her own volition, or was she forcibly abducted? Nearly thirty years later and the answers to those questions remain undiscovered. Trace Evidence Facebook Instagram Twitter Official Website Official Merch Music Courtesy of: "Lost Time" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ #crime #truecrime #truecrimepodcast #missingperson #abduction #newmexico #taos

Visit CrimeCon.com and use promo code TRACE to save 10% on your pass today! In January of 1982, Melvin Wiley was appointed Chief of Police in Hinckley Township, Ohio. With a law enforcement career spanning nearly twenty years and a background in military intelligence, Mel was considered by most the be a prime candidate for the position. For more than three years, they had no reason to question that choice. Then on a warm summer afternoon in July of 1985, Chief Wiley mysteriously vanished. After failing to show up for work for two days, rangers discovered his abandoned vehicle at Edgewater Park in Cleveland, right on the shore of Lake Erie. While some believed Chief Wiley had been the victim of a crime, others theorized that perhaps the aspiring author had written his own mysterious exit. Nearly forty years later and the mystery of Chief Wiley remains. Friends and family never believed he'd have gone away by his own choice, and not one of them has heard from him since July of '85. He remains the first Chief of Police to have ever been listed by the FBI as a missing person and, all this time later, he has never been found. Trace Evidence Facebook Instagram Twitter Official Website Official Merch Music Courtesy of: "Lost Time" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ #truecrime #truecrimepodcast #truecrimecommunity #unsolved #missing #disappearance #coldcase #forensics #hinckley #melwiley #medina

Sponsored by: ZocDoc! Visit ZocDoc.com/Trace and download the app for FREE! On a cool, September afternoon in Burbank, California, thirty-six year old Tom Roche dropped off his girlfriend, Barbara Rondeau, at her office. Promising to return for lunch later that afternoon, Barbara would never see her partner of sixteen years ever again. Six days after filing a missing person's report, Barbara received a grotesque letter in the mail. In it, the writer claimed to have murdered Tom and dumped his body in the mountains surrounding Los Angeles. In addition to his disturbing words, inside the envelope were several of Tom's personal affects that had gone missing with him. While investigators were debating whether or not the letter was legitimate, five hundred miles away, investigators in northern California came upon partial human remains surrounded by clothing and personal items belonging to Tom. It would take years to positively identify the remains as those of Tom Roche. Was Tom Roche targeted at random by a vicious and violent killer or is it possible that the letter was a ruse designed to lead investigators in the wrong direction? Trace Evidence Facebook Instagram Twitter Official Website Official Merch Music Courtesy of: "Lost Time" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Sponsored by: Daily Harvest! get up to $40 off your first box! | Magic Mind! Visit and get up to 56% off your subscription! | NomNom! Visit and get 50% off today! Listen to Donajean's interview on Unfound On a cool Tuesday night in January of 2006, forty-three year old Dori Ann Myers left her Fort Pierce, FL home to play poker in a local tournament. Arriving late, she missed her chance to get a seat at the table and went off to spend the night elsewhere. Dori then stopped in at the St. Lucie Inn where she was seen speaking with two unidentified men, allegedly US Marines who were injured while serving in Iraq. Known to have a soft spot for members of the military, Dori offered the men a place to stay for the night. Six hours later, at 3am, neighbors on Dori’s street called 911 to report a house fire. They watched Dori’s car pulling out of her driveways moments before the blaze broke out. In the aftermath, investigators found Dori’s purse and phone left behind. They began theorizing that she had been forcibly abducted from the home. Less than an hour later, they receive word of another fire. Dori’s car was found burning eighty miles away, left at a rural boat launch. While investigators began searching for the two Marines, others wondered if perhaps the entire story might just be a cover up designed to point detectives away from the real assailant. Trace Evidence Facebook Instagram Twitter Official Website Official Merch Music Courtesy of: "Lost Time" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Sponsored by: Suspect Season 2, available wherever you listen to podcasts! Between 1990 and 1991, four unsolved homicides occurred in and around the city of St. Louis. Robyn Mihan, Brenda Pruitt, Sandy Little and Donna Reitmeyer had been murdered, kept for some period of time and then disposed of by an unknown predator referred to as the "Package Killer." More than thirty years later, in the winter of 2022, DNA analysis of evidence found at one of the scene finally returned a hit. This led investigators to a 73 year old prison inmate serving life for a murder in 1993. After confronting the man with this evidence, Gary R. Muehlberg confessed to the four murders and gave investigators details about the crimes. However, just when they thought they'd gotten all they needed from Muehlberg he dropped a surprise on them. He admitted to a fifth murder, one which he claimed occurred during the same time as the other. Muehlberg claimed to have murdered this woman and later to have left her body in a metal barrel at a local car wash. Investigators were baffled, not because of the admission, but because they were not aware of any crime which fit the description. This has left many to wonder if Victim Number 5 truly exists or if the entire story is just a sick and twisted game being played by a serial killer who doesn't have much time left. Trace Evidence Facebook Instagram Twitter Official Website Official Merch Music Courtesy of: "Lost Time" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Sponsored by: Magic Mind! Visit https://www.magicmind.co/traceevidence and get 56% off your subscription with my code TRACEEVIDENCE | ZocDoc! Visit ZocDoc.com/TRACE and download the app for FREE! | Suspect Season 2, available wherever you listen to podcasts! Eighteen year old Diana Braungardt was smart, funny, caring and popular. She performed well in school, worked a part time job and had just enrolled in modeling classes as high school graduation approached. Then, she vanished. After finishing a shift at a local discount department store, Diana clocked out and stepped out into the parking lot. She never made it home and her parents found her car, still sitting in the lot. It appeared to investigators that the high school senior had been abducted before she'd made it to her car. Over the years, a lot of different possibilities have been suggested. From a personal assault from someone who knew Diana to a slew of serial killers who have been name dropped but never connected to the case. This year will mark thirty-six years since Diana vanished, far too long to go without answers. Trace Evidence Facebook Instagram Twitter Official Website Official Merch Music Courtesy of: "Lost Time" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Sponsored by: Magic Mind! Visit MagicMind.co/TraceEvidence for 56% off your subscription using the code TRACEEVIDENCE | Nom Nom Now! Visit TryNom.com/Trace for 50% off your no-risk two week trial! In this week's episode, we kick of a new year of Trace Evidence by taking a look back at 2022 and answering listener questions about the show, the cases, the host and everything in between! Let's kick off 2023 with a bang and keep the ball rolling. Thank you so much to everyone who submitted questions and continues to support the show. Trace Evidence could not exist without you! Trace Evidence Facebook Instagram Twitter Official Website Official Merch Music Courtesy of: "Lost Time" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Sponsored by: ZocDoc! Visit ZocDoc.com/Trace and download the ZocDoc app for FREE! | MasterClass! Visit Masterclass.com/Trace today and get a free annual membership when you gift one! | Exhibit C - join now by following Wondery Exhibit C on Facebook or on the web at WonderyExhibitC.com*** On a cold winter morning in January of 2017, fifty-eight year old Robert Baron was reported missing from Old Forge, Pennsylvania. A lifelong resident and pillar of the community, Robert owned the highly popular pizza restaurant Ghigiarelli's which has been a borough fixture since the 1920's. On the morning of Thursday, January 26th, Robert's son Bobby arrived at the restaurant to find the doors locked, llights off and his father gone. Bobby noted several items out of place and traces of blood inside. When police arrived on the scene they found substantial evidence that a violent crime had occurred inside the restaurant and that the assailant had tried to clean up afterwards. Three days later, Robert's missing car was found abandoned in an area which had been previously searched. The vehicle was caked with mud and blood was found inside and out. What had initially appeared to investigators as a robbery gone wrong was slowly changing shape into something far more sinister. Was Robert Baron the victim of a random crime or was he specifically targeted by someone he knew and may have trusted? Special Q&A Episode Next Week -- Submit your questions to TraceEvidencePod@gmail.com Trace Evidence Facebook Instagram Twitter Official Website Official Merch Music Courtesy of: "Lost Time" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Sponsored by: NextEvo! Visit NextEvo.com/podcast and use code "trace" for 25% off your subscription of $40 or more! | Shopify! Visit Shopify.com/trace to signup for a free trial! Seventy-six year old Syble Brumley was a kind, caring and beloved member of her community. A widow for more than twenty-years, she continued living in the home she'd shared with her late husband while attending to her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. Until one April night in 1997 when she mysteriously vanished. Investigators found obvious signs of foul play; the door to Syble's home had been smashed in and items were in disarray inside. It appeared that the assailant had forced his way in and then, rather than ransacking the house, had searched in specific locations as if there was something in particular he was seeking. While many wondered if perhaps Syble's disappearance could be chalked up as another unsolved crime happening in the stretch of land between Louisiana and Texas, known as the Dead Zone, or if perhaps she had been targeted by someone she knew and trusted. Trace Evidence Facebook Instagram Twitter Official Website Official Merch Music Courtesy of: "Lost Time" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

**Sponsored by: ZocDoc! Visit ZocDoc.com/Trace and download the ZocDoc app for FREE! | Talkspace! Visit Talkspace.com and use code "TRACE" to get $100 off your first month! | Masterclass! Visit Masterclass.com/trace to give one annual membership and get one free!*** On a bitterly cold winter night in January of 1985, twenty-one year old Leichia M. Reilly left her family home to visit a popular, local nightspot. She never made it home and early the next morning, her parents reported her missing. Investigators tracked down everyone who had been at the bar that night and found several witnesses who stated that they saw Leichia leaving at approximately 3am in the company of another man, off-duty NY State Trooper Daniel D. Rose. Rose did not report being at the bar that night, nor did he tell investigators he had seen the missing woman. Rose quickly hired a lawyer, denied leaving with Leichia, denied knowing her and denied being involved in whatever happened to her. Severely lacking evidence, and having never found a body, detectives had nothing to work with and cannot even technically classify it as a homicide, rather than a missing persons case. Leichia's father, Patrick Reilly, was devoted to finding his daughter and seeing her killer put behind bars. He made a vow that both of these things would happen, but tragically, passed away after thirty years of wondering, searching and hoping. What happened to Leichia that cold January night and what secrets might the former police officer hold about her fate? Trace Evidence Facebook Instagram Twitter Official Website Official Merch Music Courtesy of: "Lost Time" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

***Sponsored by: Shopify! Visit Shopify.com/trace to signup for a free trial! | NextEvo! Visit NextEvo.com and use promo code trace for 25% off subscription orders of $40 or more! *** Who is New Hope Jane Doe Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/WhoIs1990OrangeCountyNCJaneDoe/ On a cool Wednesday morning in September of 1990, three roadside workers discovered the badly decomposed remains of an unidentified female. Murdered via strangulation, her body was dumped just over a guardrail along I-40 in Hillsborough, North Carolina at the New Hope Road Church exit. The victim was partially dressed, nude from the waist down other than a pair of white, anklet socks with clean bottoms. A pink sweater displaying an image of three cartoon bunnies was partially wrapped around her neck. She wore several pieces of costume jewelry, including a ring which may have been home made. For more than thirty years the identity of the woman known as New Hope Jane Doe has remained a mystery, as has that of her killer. Perhaps someone out there might recognize her, perhaps you. FB: https://www.facebook.com/TraceEvidencePod/ IG: https://www.instagram.com/traceevidencepod/ TW: https://twitter.com/TraceEvPod Visit https://www.trace-evidence.com for more information, case photos, contact information and more. Merch: https://traceevidence.threadless.com/ Music Courtesy of: "Lost Time" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

***Sponsored by: ZocDoc.com/Trace | Everlywell.com/trace | Talkspace.com code Trace | The End Up Podcast | MasterClass.com/trace *** On a cold, November afternoon in 1996, twenty-nine year old Richard Bendele left his mother's home to do a little hunting where his recently deceased father used to take him. Hours later, Richard called his mother in a panic. He couldn't get his truck started and due to the darkness, he couldn't give specific directions to where he was. Planning to mark the road, to make finding him easier, Richard said he would call back, but he never did. The next morning, investigators discovered his truck abandoned miles north of where they'd thought he had been. The scene itself was bizarre; a window was smashed out, the battery was broken and tilted upside down and Richard had left everything behind: his phone, his gun and his coat. As massive searches were launched over the course of the next week, the discovery of several items belonging to Richard began making investigators wonder if, perhaps, Richard wasn't lost at all but actually the victim of a sinister trap. FB: https://www.facebook.com/TraceEvidencePod/ IG: https://www.instagram.com/traceevidencepod/ TW: https://twitter.com/TraceEvPod Visit https://www.trace-evidence.com for more information, case photos, contact information and more. Merch: https://traceevidence.threadless.com/ Music Courtesy of: "Lost Time" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

***Sponsored by: Canva Pro! Visit Canva.me/trace for FREE 45 day extended trial! | Everylywell! Visit Everlywell.com/trace for 20% off your next at-home lab test! | Shopify! Visit Shopify.com/trace to sign up for a FREE trial! | The End Up Podcast - available wherever you listen to podcasts!*** Unfound: https://theunfoundpodcast.com/2019/05/10/kelly-sims-conjecture-coincidences-and-crimes/ Twenty-seven year old mother of three, Kelly Wright Sims was heading out for a night on the town. Alongside her boyfriend, Sims planned to participate in a darts tournament at a local bar. Sometime after arriving, however, the couple argued and split up, going their separate ways. Kelly ended up meeting with different friends, had a few drinks and took a trip. When pulling back into town, she requested to be dropped off so she could walk over to the Rendezvous Tavern to shoot a few games of pool. She has never been seen again. While investigators believed her disappearance to be an isolated crime, another young woman would go missing less than two weeks later. With both cases growing cold, fears of a serial killer were stirred up when a third woman missing and was later found murdered. Was Kelly another victim of this killer, or was it possible that she may have been targeted by someone much closer to home? FB: https://www.facebook.com/TraceEvidencePod/ IG: https://www.instagram.com/traceevidencepod/ TW: https://twitter.com/TraceEvPod Visit https://www.trace-evidence.com for more information, case photos, contact information and more. Merch: https://traceevidence.threadless.com/ Music Courtesy of: "Lost Time" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

***Sponsored by: ZocDoc! Visit ZocDoc.com/trace and download the FREE app today!*** In Episode 129, Trace Evidence features the case of the Fort Myers 8. In March of 2007, the skeletal remains of 8 unidentified men were found in a wooded lot in southwest, Florida. Investigators managed to identify three of the victims, but the remaining names were unknown. A few years earlier, in nearby Charlotte County, investigators discovered the remains of several men. Some of the bodies were found hundreds of feet apart, others were nearly a mile away. Ultimately police arrested and charged Daniel Conahan Jr with one of the murders -- there was not enough evidence to link him to all. ***UPDATE*** In June of 2021, investigators working the "Hog Trail Murders," announced they had positively identified John Doe Number 1 as being Gerald "Jerry" Lombard who had vanished from Lowell, MA in 1991. In September of 2022, investigators from Fort Myers announced that through the use of genetic genealogy, they had successfully identified the fourth victim in the Fort Myers 8 case. He has been identified as thirty year old Robert Ronald "Bobbie" Soden. FB: https://www.facebook.com/TraceEvidencePod/ IG: https://www.instagram.com/traceevidencepod/ TW: https://twitter.com/TraceEvPod Visit https://www.trace-evidence.com for more information, case photos, contact information and more. Merch: https://traceevidence.threadless.com/ Music Courtesy of: "Lost Time" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

***Sponsored by: Everlywell! Visit Everlywell.com/trace to save 20% on an at home test today!*** Thirty-six year old Paresh Patel was on top of the world. Smart, rich and powerful, Patel was the owner of three separate clubs on Austin's famous Sixth Street. Outside of his own clubs, Patel was tied into several others run by friends and business associates. Many loved Paresh and called him a great person and a smart businessman; others believed he was corrupt and went out of his way to try and cut the legs out from under the competition. On the afternoon of Monday, September 25th, 2000, Paresh stopped by his club, the Metro, to pick up cash from the weekend's profits. Leaving with $15,000 in his hand, Paresh was set to stop at Azucar, another club he owned just down the street. Driving away in his Lexus SUV, Paresh was never seen alive again. Investigators located his abandoned vehicle the next day, with the windows rolled down and the keys in the ignition but there was no sign of Paresh, nor the money he was carrying. While some believed he had been the victim of a random robbery, others argued that perhaps his own business associates decided to cut him out -- literally. FB: https://www.facebook.com/TraceEvidencePod/ IG: https://www.instagram.com/traceevidencepod/ TW: https://twitter.com/TraceEvPod Visit https://www.trace-evidence.com for more information, case photos, contact information and more. Merch: https://traceevidence.threadless.com/ Music Courtesy of: "Lost Time" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

***Sponsored by: Canva! Visit Canva.me/trace for a FREE 45 Day Extended trial! | Shopify! Visit Shopify.com/trace for a FREE 14 day trial! | The End Up Podcast, available where you listen to podcasts! *** On Christmas night, 1992, Boaz, Alabama resident Peggy Reaves Mock left the home she shared with her mother for a night of drinks and celebration with friends. She never made it home, and for months following her disappearance, investigators didn't have a single clue. Then, in March, several of Peggy's personal affects were discovered discarded at the sight of a burned down club that was once a town hotspot. Despite the recovery of the items, no additional information about the disappearance was uncovered. Two months later, Peggy's missing car was found, parked at an apartment complex less than a mile from where she was last seen. It had been wiped clean of prints. Back to square one, with no solid leads or clues, investigators received a bizarre letter. A local woman wrote about Peggy's disappearance and suggested that the missing woman had been taken to Texas, in the trunk of a car. By the time detectives went to question the writer they learned she had been killed a year earlier. What happened to Peggy Reaves Mock? Was she attacked in a random act of violence, was she stalked and specifically targeted or did she place her trust in the wrong person? FB: https://www.facebook.com/TraceEvidencePod/ IG: https://www.instagram.com/traceevidencepod/ TW: https://twitter.com/TraceEvPod Visit https://www.trace-evidence.com for more information, case photos, contact information and more. Merch: https://traceevidence.threadless.com/ Music Courtesy of: "Lost Time" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

***Sponsored by: ZocDoc! Visit ZocDoc.com/Trace and download the app FREE! | The End Up podcast. Subscribe today wherever you listen to podcasts! | Talkspace! Visit Talkspace.com and use code Trace to get $100 off your first month!*** In May of 2008, the body of twenty year old Irina Yarmolenko was discovered along the shore of the Catawba River, in North Carolina. Initially, investigators were baffled as they found Irina with three ligatures tied around her neck. Hoping to locate witnesses in the area who had seen or heard something, detectives began canvassing. They quickly came upon thirty-nine year old Mark Carver, fishing just up the river. He, along with his cousin, Neal Cassada, would become the prime suspects despite absolutely no evidence linking them to the crime. Cassada would pass away as the result of heart attack before going to trial, Carver would ultimately be found guilty and sentenced to life without the possibility of parole. Several years later in 2019, Carver's lawyer successfully argued to have his conviction thrown out and a new trial ordered. While the District Attorney promised to charge Carver again, his lawyer felt there wasn't even enough evidence to have charged him the first time. ***Update*** -- In August of 2022, fourteen years after Irina Yarmolenko was murdered, the Gaston County District Attorney's Office officially dropped all charges against Mark Carver noting that the Touch DNA upon which he had originally been arrested did not meet the modern standard necessary to link him to the crime. In today's episode we'll dig into all of the news regarding this update and what it means for the case in the future. FB: https://www.facebook.com/TraceEvidencePod/ IG: https://www.instagram.com/traceevidencepod/ TW: https://twitter.com/TraceEvPod Visit https://www.trace-evidence.com for more information, case photos, contact information and more. Merch: https://traceevidence.threadless.com/ Music Courtesy of: "Lost Time" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

***Sponsored by: The End Up podcast. Subscribe today wherever you listen to podcasts.*** October 29th, 1982 -- Wilkesboro, North Carolina. Twenty year old Angela Gray Hamby had a big day planned with her mother. Together, the two women were set to head out on an all day shopping trip where they'd hit all the clothing stores, share lunch and just be together. Sadly, however, Angela never made it to the store that day. At approximately 9:30am, Angela headed out to run some errands. She needed to fill her gas tank, drop off a payment on her car and deliver a message to her sister at work. All of this should have taken no longer than an hour so when Angela hadn't returned by 11am, her mother grew concerned. When noon hit, that concern transformed into panic and terror. By evening, the Wilkes County Sheriff's Department, along with the Wilkesboro Police and the State Bureau of Investigation were out searching for the missing woman. More than fifteen hours after she had last been seen, detectives discovered her car, abandoned behind a local restaurant. Soon they found witnesses who had seen Angela throughout the day. One of them described an unknown male, seen behind the wheel of her car. For nearly four decades the mystery of Angela's disappearance has haunted investigators, her family and the town of Wilkesboro. What became of the smart, driven, hardworking twenty year old who ran errands and never returned? FB: https://www.facebook.com/TraceEvidencePod/ IG: https://www.instagram.com/traceevidencepod/ TW: https://twitter.com/TraceEvPod Visit https://www.trace-evidence.com for more information, case photos, contact information and more. Merch: https://traceevidence.threadless.com/ Music Courtesy of: "Lost Time" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

***Sponsored by: Shopify! Visit shopify.com/trace for a free 14 day trial and full access to the entire suite of features! | TalkSpace! Visit Talkspace.com and use promo code Trace to get $100 off your first month!*** In episode 200 of Trace Evidence we examine one of the most shocking, disturbing and haunting murders in Texas history -- The Shocking Murder of Betty Williams. Odessa Texas, 1961. Seventeen year old Betty Williams goes missing from her bedroom sometime during the night. At first investigators don't believe there's any reason to worry, it's not uncommon for seventeen year old's to sneak out or run off for a few hours. As a matter of procedure, an investigator heads to Odessa High School to find out if anyone knew where Betty was. They could have never imagined what happened next. John Mack Herring, a popular football player at the school, and Betty's ex-boyfriend, makes a shocking confession. He killed Betty the night before and hid her body beneath the muddy waters of a rural stock pond. When detectives ask why, Herring simply replies "Because she asked me to." Herring explained that Betty had begged him to end her life, saying she was miserable and wanted to escape from this world. In Herring's own words, moments before firing the fatal shot, he asked for a kiss to remember her by, and Betty obliged. The media christened the crime "The Kiss and Kill Murder." The town rallies behind the good looking and smart Mack Herring, a boy from the right side of the tracks from a good family while they demonize Betty, a harlot who seduced a tender teen into committing a hideous and violent act. Even in death, Betty Williams was blamed for the horrible crime committed against her. FB: https://www.facebook.com/TraceEvidencePod/ IG: https://www.instagram.com/traceevidencepod/ TW: https://twitter.com/TraceEvPod Visit https://www.trace-evidence.com for more information, case photos, contact information and more. Merch: https://traceevidence.threadless.com/ Music Courtesy of: "Lost Time" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Sponsored by: ZocDoc! Visit ZocDoc.com/Trace and download the ZocDoc App for FREE! | Gobble! Visit gobble.com/trace to get your first 6 Gobble meals for just $36!*** Episode 200 - Q&A Special. In this week's episode, as we prepare for the release of episode 200, host Steven Pacheco answers listener submitted questions covering everything you want to know from details about case, creation of the show and overall views of podcasting and true crime in general. FB: https://www.facebook.com/TraceEvidencePod/ IG: https://www.instagram.com/traceevidencepod/ TW: https://twitter.com/TraceEvPod Visit https://www.trace-evidence.com for more information, case photos, contact information and more. Merch: https://traceevidence.threadless.com/ Music Courtesy of: "Lost Time" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/