Afleveringen
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In the 1980s, dozens of women disappeared from San Diego, California. One of them was 26-year-old Cynthia Maine.Cynthia was a daughter, sister, mother, and woman trying to survive addiction while working along El Cajon Boulevard, San Diego’s notorious red light district. By 1986, she was rebuilding her life. She had found work as a waitress, but she was also serving as a police informant. Just months before she vanished, she had allegedly begun an affair with one of her police contacts.
Late in February, she told her family she was going to watch a movie.
She never came home.
As investigators searched for Cynthia, few realized they were witnessing the beginning of one of the largest unsolved series of murders and disappearances in California history.
In the first episode of this three-part investigation, we examine Cynthia's disappearance alongside the murder of her friend Donna Gentile. Together, their stories reveal a hidden world of vice squads, confidential informants, police corruption, and the extraordinary risks faced by women living on the margins of San Diego in the mid-1980s.
This series asks how so many women could disappear from one city and why so many of their cases remain unsolved decades later.
📍 San Diego, California | February 1986
📖 Featuring an original poem written and read in her honor by Aimee Baker.
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On October 26, 1944, Gertrude "Tommy" Tompkins Silver took off from Mines Field in Los Angeles in a P-51 Mustang on what should have been a routine ferry flight.She never arrived.
Gertrude was one of the pioneering Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs), the civilian women who flew military aircraft during World War II so male pilots could be sent overseas. She was also the only WASP to disappear during the war whose aircraft has never been recovered.
In this episode, we explore Gertrude's extraordinary life, from a childhood marked by a debilitating stutter and an unlikely love of goats to world travel, flight, and a quiet wartime marriage just weeks before she vanished.
More than eighty years later, the fate of Gertrude Tompkins Silver remains one of the last great mysteries of the WASPs.
In this episode we talk about women in aviation, World War II history, and the enduring search for one remarkable pilot who never came home.
📍 Los Angeles, California | October 26, 1944
📖 Featuring an original poem written and read in her honor by Aimee Baker.
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Zijn er afleveringen die ontbreken?
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On May 26, 1970, twenty-six-year-old Ilonka Cann vanished from the rural Pennsylvania farmhouse she shared with her husband and fifteen-month-old son.The day before, she had spoken with her parents in Ohio and talked about coming home for a visit that summer.
She never made that trip.
In the weeks and months that followed, investigators searched fields, ponds, and woodlots surrounding the isolated property where Ilonka was last believed to have been seen. Her family spent decades searching for answers as the case slowly faded from public memory.
More than fifty years later, renewed interest in Ilonka's disappearance led to new searches, a coroner's inquest, and testimony that cast the events of May 1970 in a very different light.
In 2024, a coroner's jury concluded that Ilonka Cann died by homicide at the hands of another person.
This episode examines the disappearance of Ilonka Cann, the decades-long search for answers, and what it means when official recognition arrives generations after a woman goes missing.
📍 Huntington Mills, Pennsylvania | May 26, 1970
📖 Featuring an original poem written and read in her honor by Aimee Baker.
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On November 2, 1945, fourteen-year-old Thora Chamberlain left school in Campbell, California, expecting to attend a football game that evening.Her friends saved her a seat.
Thora never arrived.
Witnesses later reported seeing her speaking with a man dressed as a serviceman before getting into his vehicle. Within weeks, investigators focused on Thomas McMonigle, a local laborer with a history of violence. Over the course of the investigation, McMonigle gave multiple confessions, led authorities to key pieces of evidence, and was ultimately convicted of Thora's murder.
But investigators never found the one thing that mattered most.
Thora herself.
More than eighty years later, Thora Chamberlain remains one of California's earliest no-body homicide victims. Her body has never been recovered.
In this episode, we examine the disappearance of Thora Chamberlain, the investigation that followed, and the evidence that secured a conviction despite the absence of a body.
This is a story about loss, memory, and the empty seat left behind when a child never comes home.
📍 Campbell, California | November 2, 1945
📖 Featuring an original poem written and read in her honor by Aimee Baker.
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Most people assume that unidentified persons' cases are actively investigated, that somewhere, someone is still working to restore a name to the dead.But the reality is often far more complicated.
This week, She Goes by Jane presents a special interview with author and former FBI agent Katherine Schweit about her new book, Women Who Talk to the Dead: The True Story of 200 Forgotten Murder Victims and the Relentless Pursuit of Justice by an FBI Agent and a Detroit Police Detective.
Together, we discuss the unidentified dead of Detroit, the challenges of solving decades-old cases, and the investigators who refuse to let victims disappear into forgotten file boxes and evidence rooms. We also explore media neglect, institutional barriers, and the quiet, persistent work required to restore names and histories to those who have been lost.
At the end of the episode, actress Mary Lynn Rajskub reads Aimée Baker's poem "Detroit, and Other Sorrows," a meditation on memory, absence, and the lives that remain even when names are forgotten.
Because every unidentified person was once known. And every name returned is a story reclaimed.
📍 Detroit, Michigan | 1950s-Present
📖 Featuring an original poem written in honor of one of Detroit’s formerly unidentified Jane Does read by Mary Lynn Rajskub.
➡️ Help bring attention to missing and unidentified women—subscribe and share this episode.
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More about Katherine Schweit:
Katherine Schweit is an author, attorney, former Chicago prosecutor, and career Federal Bureau of Investigation special agent who helped jail bank robbers, kidnappers, and domestic terrorists, while working daily with local police investigating and responding to mass casualty and active shooter incidents. A native of Detroit, Ms. Schweit earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Michigan State University. She earned a law degree at DePaul University and joined the Cook County prosecutor’s office as an assistant state’s attorney.
More about Mary Lynn Rajskub:
Mary Lynn Rajskub is a comedian, actress and writer, best known for playing ‘Chloe’ on the Fox drama 24 and ‘Gail the Snail’ from It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.This spring, Mary Lynn will co-star in the Netflix series, North of North, and she premiered her second hour-long stand-up special, Mary Lynn Rajskub: Road Gig, on YouTube in December. Her book, FAME-ISH: My Life At The Edge Of Stardom, is a comedic look at Mary Lynn’s awkward and endearing missteps on the road to becoming fame-ish.
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In January 1967, Lois Williams and her 17-year-old daughter Karen disappeared from their apartment on East 21st Street in Indianapolis, Indiana. Inside, everything appeared untouched: coats hanging in the closet, a lamp left burning, and Karen’s schoolbook still open where she had been studying the night before.Neither woman was ever seen again.
Years later, investigators would begin to suspect local service station owner Melvin Chelcie Carr — a man accused of violence against women and girls spanning decades, including rape, coercion, kidnapping, and sexual assault. After Carr’s shocking death in 1977 alongside the bodies of three murder victims, authorities reopened older disappearances connected to him, including the case of Lois and Karen Williams.
Police excavated Carr’s garage and backyard searching for evidence. They never found Lois or Karen.
In this episode, we examine the disappearance of Lois and Karen Williams alongside the disturbing pattern of violence surrounding Melvin Chelcie Carr, a man some investigators feared may have been responsible for far more crimes than were ever proven.
More importantly, we remember Lois and Karen themselves: a mother and daughter whose lives were interrupted, whose absence was deeply felt, and whose story deserves to be told with care.
This episode contains discussions of sexual violence, coercion, violence against women and children, and suspected serial violence.
📍 Indianapolis, Indiana | January 25, 1967
📖 Featuring an original poem written in her honor, read by Megan Storm, host of the podcast A Simpler Time.
➡️ Help bring attention to missing and unidentified women—subscribe and share this episode.
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More about Megan Storm: Megan is the creator and host of A Simpler Time True Crime, a podcast that revisits unsolved cases from decades past and challenges the idea that a simpler time was necessarily a safer one. Through thorough research and a victim and survivor-centered approach, Megan explores forgotten mysteries, overlooked victims, and the lasting impact these cases have on families and communities.
Her interest in true crime began long before she ever picked up a microphone. Growing up, Megan spent evenings watching true crime shows with her mom while her dad worked night shifts, an experience that sparked a lifelong fascination with criminal investigations, unsolved mysteries, and the pursuit of justice.
One of Megan's favorite parts of podcasting is partnering with victims' families, survivors, and advocates to help tell stories with care and accuracy. She is passionate about amplifying voices that might otherwise go unheard and working alongside those closest to a case to support their shared goal of keeping stories alive and answers within reach.
In addition to hosting the podcast, Megan has spent more than 15 years working in human services leadership. Her background in advocacy, investigation, and problem-solving informs her approach to storytelling, helping her examine cases with both curiosity and compassion.
When she's not researching a case, Megan can usually be found training for a race, trying a new recipe, planning her next trip, cheering on Buffalo sports teams, or driving her two kids from one activity to the next.
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In June 1975, investigators followed serial killer Richard Marquette into the woods near Oregon’s Clackamas River. There, buried beneath the soil of a popular campground, they uncovered the remains of an unidentified woman—a victim Marquette reportedly claimed no one would ever look for.
More than fifty years later, she is still known only as Clackamas County Jane Doe.
In this episode, we examine women whose lives were taken by Richard Marquette, one of Oregon’s lesser-known serial killers, who was once added to the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted List after the murder of 23-year-old mother Joan Caudle. We also examine the story of Betty Wilson, a woman who traveled across the country hoping to build a safer life before becoming one of Marquette’s victims.
But at the center of this story is the unidentified woman buried near the Clackamas River in 1975—a woman whose name, family, and history remain unknown.
This episode explores violence against women, institutional failures, parole decisions, unidentified homicide victims, and what it means for a woman to remain unnamed for more than half a century.📍 Oregon | 1961-1975
📖 Featuring an original poem written in their honor, read and written by our host, Aimee Baker
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Patricia Weeks, Cynthia Jabour, and Carol Ann Riley disappeared years apart after ending relationships with the same man: Robert Weeks, whose case would later be featured on Unsolved Mysteries.In 1979, Patricia Weeks vanished from Las Vegas shortly after divorcing Robert Weeks and gaining custody of their four children. More than a decade later, Arizona real estate agent Cynthia Jabour disappeared after telling friends she planned to leave him as well. Then, in 1986, it happened again. Nurse Carola Ann Riley went missing after trying to end her relationship with Robert.
Their cases shared disturbing similarities: planned dinner dates, abandoned vehicles, missing personal belongings, and a man who repeatedly claimed the women had disappeared on their own.
Their stories are about coercive control, violence against women, and what it means when justice arrives long after someone is gone.
If you have information related to these cases, please contact the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department at (702) 828-2907.
📍 Las Vegas, Nevada | 1968 and 1980
📖 Featuring an original poem written in their honor, read by Ruby Wilde and Melissa Mae, hosts of the Bloody Besties podcast.
➡️ Help bring attention to missing and unidentified women — subscribe and share this episode.
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More about Ruby Wilde and Melissa Mae:
Bloody Besties is your true crime podcast with best friends who have known each other since elementary school.Hosts are Forensic Scientist Ruby Wilde presenting little known cases to Melissa Mae, the daughter of police officers and true crime addict who will be the one to bring you fun facts about our episode.
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When Toni Bachman disappeared from White Bear Township, Minnesota in April 1997, investigators initially faced uncertainty. Some believed she may have left on her own. But as police searched the family home, disturbing evidence began to emerge—evidence that challenged the idea that Toni had simply walked away.In Part 2 of this two-part series, we follow the investigation into Toni Bachman’s disappearance as it shifted from a missing persons case to something far darker. Inside the Bachman home, authorities uncovered blood, tissue, and signs of violence. Yet despite mounting evidence, no arrest came for years.
This episode explores the long aftermath of Toni’s disappearance: the changing explanations, the pressure placed on Norman Bachman’s children to recount what they witnessed, allegations of violence that followed, and the decades-long wait before charges were finally filed.
Nearly eighteen years after Toni vanished, a confession would offer answers—but not closure.
Because Toni Bachman has never been found.
If you have information about the disappearance of Toni Bachman, please contact the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office at 651-266-9670.
📍 White Bear Township, Minnesota | April 25, 1997
📖 Featuring an original poem written in her honor, read by actress Astrid Rotenberry.➡️ Help bring attention to missing and unidentified women—subscribe and share this episode.
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More about Astrid Rotenberry:
Astrid Rotenberry is a New York–based actress best known for her role as Catherine Kelly in Netflix’s His & Hers. Other credits include The Four Seasons, Law & Order: SVU, and the upcoming Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed on Apple TV+. Originally from Tennessee, she holds a BFA in Theatre Performance and is passionate about making the arts accessible and encouraging young artists to pursue their dreams. -
In 1997, as the internet connected strangers across state lines, Minnesota-native Toni Bachman formed a close bond with a man in West Virginia. Friends say she was thinking seriously about change. About leaving. About building a future that looked different from the life she had.Then she disappeared.
At first, there were questions no one could answer. Did Toni leave her marriage behind? Did she run away to begin a new life? Or did something happen inside the home she shared with her husband and stepchildren?
In Part 1 of this two-part series, we explore Toni’s life before she vanished: her marriage, devastating personal losses, career instability, and the online relationships that became a source of comfort during one of the hardest periods of her life.
If you have information about the disappearance of Toni Bachman, please contact the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office at 651-266-9670.
📍 White Bear Township, Minnesota | April 25, 1997
📖 Featuring an original poem written in her honor, read by actress Astrid Rotenberry.➡️ Help bring attention to missing and unidentified women—subscribe and share this episode.
📍 Find us on Instagram & Facebook.
📚 Get Aimee’s book, Doe, now available via University of Akron Press, Bookshop.org, and Amazon.
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More about Astrid Rotenberry:Astrid Rotenberry is a New York–based actress best known for her role as Catherine Kelly in Netflix’s His & Hers. Other credits include The Four Seasons, Law & Order: SVU, and the upcoming Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed on Apple TV+. Originally from Tennessee, she holds a BFA in Theatre Performance and is passionate about making the arts accessible and encouraging young artists to pursue their dreams.
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An unidentified woman found living in Honolulu in 2004 remains without a name—exploring the rare and overlooked reality of living Jane Doe cases in the U.S.
In 2004, an unidentified woman was found living in a beach park in Honolulu, Hawaii—alive, but unable to say who she was.
Known as the Honolulu Jane Doe, she was diagnosed with dementia and schizophrenia, leaving her without a name, a history, or a way to return to whatever life she once had.In this episode of She Goes by Jane, we examine her case and the broader, often overlooked reality of living Jane Does in the United States. What happens when someone is found alive but cannot identify themselves? Why are these cases so difficult to resolve? And what does it reveal about the systems meant to protect the most vulnerable?
We situate her story within larger conversations around mental health, identity, and the gaps in investigative processes that leave some women unnamed, even in life.
📍 Honolulu, Hawaii | 2004
📖 Featuring an original poem written in her honor, read by Louise Penny, bestselling author of the Inspector Gamache series (Three Pines).➡️ Help bring attention to missing and unidentified women—follow, rate, and share this episode.
➡️ Join us on Patreon! Your support helps us continue to shine light on America’s missing and unidentified women.
📍 Find us on Instagram & Facebook
📚 Doe by Aimee Baker — available via University of Akron Press, Bookshop.org, and Amazon
📰 Subscribe to GIRLHUNT for more women-centered true crime
About Louise Penny:
Louise Penny is the #1 New York Times and Globe and Mail bestselling author of the Inspector Gamache series, adapted into the television series Three Pines. Her work has received numerous awards and is internationally acclaimed. -
If you grew up in the 1980s, you may have seen Tammy Lynn Leppert without ever knowing her name.
A model, aspiring actress, and rising presence in Hollywood, Tammy appeared in films like Scarface and Spring Break. With her striking look and growing momentum, 1983 was supposed to be the year everything changed.
Instead, it became the year she disappeared.
On July 6, 1983, Tammy left her home, telling her mother she would be back shortly. She was last seen in Cocoa Beach after an argument with a friend. She has never been seen again.
In this episode of She Goes By Jane, we look beyond the headlines and theories to focus on who Tammy was—her ambitions, her discipline, and the life she was building before it was abruptly interrupted.
We explore the days leading up to her disappearance, the unanswered questions that remain, and the ways her case was shaped by early assumptions and missed opportunities.
This is a story about visibility, vulnerability, and what happens when someone can be seen by so many and still vanish without a trace.
📍 Cocoa Beach, Florida | July 6, 1983
📖 Featuring an original poem written in her honor, read by actress and author Kathy Garver..➡️ Help bring attention to missing and unidentified women—subscribe and share this episode.
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More about Kathy: KATHY GARVER is most fondly remembered for her starring role as “Cissy” in the long-running CBS international television hit, Family Affair, Kathy Garver has also garnered critical acclaim in movies, stage, radio, voice-over animation, speaking and audio book narration.To add to her long list of credits and accolades, Kathy was nominated for a 2026 Grammy Award for the Best Audiobook, Narration, Storytelling Recording for Elvis, Rocky and Me. She also received the Golden Era Award in March of 2026 and will receive the Margaret O’Brien legacy award in December of 2026.
In addition, Ms. Garver added author to her long list of accomplishments. Her first book, The Family Affair Cookbook, published by Bear Manor Media is a tasty trip down memory lane with anecdotes and photos. Her memoir, Surviving Cissy: My Family Affair of Life in Hollywood was released next and sold out in three months -- a reprint was ordered and now is also available in the paperback version. X-Child Stars: Where Are They Now was launched in 2016 and is already planned for a reprint. Holiday Recipes for a Family Affair was next in 2019 . The Family Affair Scrapbook was released in 2022 to critical claim. Her newest book released appropriately on St. Valentine’s Day is Romancing with the Stars, a tome about long term relationships in Hollywood along with a travel guide in each of the 27 chapters to recreate romantic moments and places the stars now made famous.
The talented Ms. Garver has also won acting accolades such as Best Actress from the Family Television Awards, and continues her award-winning presence by securing recognition from the entertainment world. Recent awards include two more Audie Awards, one for her narration of The World’s Best Short Stories, the other for her direction of Amy Tan in The Opposite of Fate, read by the author. She was also recognized by the Young Artists Foundation with the “Former Child Star Lifetime Achievement Award” and the Emerald Award from the Southern California Motion Picture Council. In 2013, this prestigious organization also bestowed on Ms. Garver the highly-esteemed Golden Halo Lifetime Achievement Award previously given to Mickey Rooney and Margaret O’Brien.
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In this update episode, we return to the Texas Killing Fields—specifically the 25-acre stretch of land off Calder Road in League City, Texas, where four women were found murdered over the course of years: Heide Fye, Laura Miller, Audrey Cook, and Donna Prudhomme.For decades, their cases remained unsolved.
Investigators pursued multiple leads and named several persons of interest, but one name continued to surface: Clyde Hedrick—a local man later convicted in the 1984 death of Ellen Beason.
In March 2026, investigators finally questioned Hedrick about the Calder Road murders.
Hours later, he was dead.
But the case did not end there.
In the weeks that followed, authorities arrested Hedrick’s associate, James Elmore, charging him with manslaughter in the death of Laura Miller, as well as tampering with evidence in both Laura’s and Audrey Cook’s cases.
In this episode, we revisit the history of the Texas Killing Fields, the failures that allowed these cases to go unsolved for so long, and the lives of the women at the center of it all—particularly Audrey Cook and Donna Prudhomme, who remained unidentified for decades before finally being named.
We also examine the long-standing suspicions surrounding Clyde Hedrick, the investigative threads that tied him to multiple victims, and what these new developments could mean for long-awaited answers.
This is not a resolution.
But for the first time in years, it is movement.
📍 League City, Texas | 1984-1991📖 Featuring an original poem written in her honor, read by actor and advocate Briana Evigan.
➡️ Help bring attention to missing and unidentified women—subscribe and share this episode.
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More about Briana:
Briana Evigan has been on a quest to give a voice to the voiceless, shine a light on darkness and create a positive impact. She co-founded MoveMe Studio, a woman-led production company creating inspiring media that compels action. Briana has a successful career in film, TV, music, and dance. Her first foray into Hollywood was everyone’s favorite dance film Step Up 2: The Streets and the reinstalment Step Up 5: All In. Her TV career includes starring in From Dusk Till Dawn, Trooper, and Longmire. To follow Briana’s incredible advocacy work, follow her on Instagram and Facebook. -
In 1978, a series of disappearances and murders terrified Morgan City, Louisiana.
Sixteen-year-old Mary Rodermund vanished after leaving home to run a simple errand. Hours later, her parents received a phone call—it was her kidnapper. He forced Mary onto the phone, where she told her parents she was okay. It would be the last time anyone ever heard from her.
Weeks later, nineteen-year-old Bridget Cantrell Sons disappeared from the grocery store where she worked. When police arrived, her cigarette was still burning. Seventeen-year-old Gordon Canella Jr., who had been with her, was also missing.
Then, in May, fourteen-year-old Bertha Gould and fifteen-year-old Judy Ann Adams left a school fair together. A witness saw the girls get into a car with a man.
Authorities eventually connected the cases to Robert Carl Hohenberger, a former California sheriff’s deputy living in Louisiana under an alias and with a history of violent assaults. Investigators believe he used his position and perceived authority to gain the trust of his victims.
In this episode, we examine the disappearances of Mary Rodermund and Bertha Gould, the murders of Judy Adams, Bridget Cantrell Sons and Gordon Canella Jr., and the unanswered questions that remain decades later.
📍 Morgan City, Louisiana | 1975
📖 Featuring an original poem written in their honor, read by our host, Aimee Baker
➡️ Help bring attention to missing and unidentified women—subscribe and share this episode.➡️ Join us on Patreon! Your support helps us continue to shine light on America’s missing and unidentified women.
📍 Find us on Instagram & Facebook.
📚 Get Aimee’s book, Doe, now available via University of Akron Press, Bookshop.org, and Amazon.📰 For more women-centered true crime content, subscribe to Aimee’s newsletter, GIRLHUNT.
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In June 1975, 20-year-old Leslee Larson disappeared while mushroom hunting with her husband near Little Prickly Pear Creek in Wolf Creek, Montana. He told investigators she slipped into the swollen water and drowned—a tragic accident in a fast-moving river.But from the beginning, there were questions.
Years later, after his third wife died in another supposed accident while hiking along the cliffs in Acadia National Park. This time, investigators noticed a pattern.
In this episode, we center Leslee’s life, the failures that allowed her case to go unquestioned, and the devastating pattern that only came into focus after another woman lost her life.
If you have information about the disappearance of Leslee Larson contact the Lewis and Clark County Sheriff’s Office – Coroner Division at 406-442-7398.
📍 Wolf Creek, Montana | June 1975📖 Featuring an original poem written in her honor, read by Ashley, host of the podcast Crime Salad.
➡️ Help bring attention to missing and unidentified women—subscribe and share this episode.
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More about Ashley: Ashley is the co-host of Crime Salad, a true crime podcast she runs with her husband, Ricky. Together, they cover real cases with a focus on raising awareness around domestic violence, promoting healthy relationships, and shedding light on gaps in the justice system. Through honest, in-depth storytelling, they aim to give victims a voice and help create real change. -
On August 16, 1983, fourteen-year-old Elizabeth Miller left her home in Idaho Springs for a routine morning jog. It was something she did often—a way to stay in shape for basketball, a moment of independence in a small mountain community. But that morning, Elizabeth never came home.Witnesses reported seeing Elizabeth speaking with a man in a pickup truck. Days earlier, a man matching that description had approached her—and became angry when she refused to engage. Investigators have spent decades trying to identify the man and determine what happened in the final moments before Elizabeth vanished.
Over the years, multiple persons of interest have emerged, including a man later linked to a similar truck and a disturbing claim involving a burial site in the mountains. Possible evidence has been discovered, tested, and re-examined—but no definitive answers have ever been found.
Elizabeth left behind her family and the ordinary rhythms of a fourteen-year-old girl’s life. Her case remains open, and her story remains unfinished.
If you have information about the disappearance of Elizabeth Miller, please contact the Idaho Springs Police Department at 303-567-4291.
📍 Idaho Springs, Colorado | August 1983📖 Featuring an original poem written in her honor, read by Chrissy Champagne, host of the podcast Residue, where true crime meets the movies.
➡️ Help bring attention to missing and unidentified women—subscribe and share this episode.
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📚 Get Aimee’s book, Doe, now available via University of Akron Press, Bookshop.org, and Amazon.
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Chrissy Champagne is a true crime podcast host and the creative force behind her show RESIDUE, where she single-handedly writes, researches, produces, edits, and hosts every episode. As a one-woman production team, Chrissy combines a deep love for film and storytelling, creating immersive narratives that pull listeners directly into the cases she explores.Her approach to true crime focuses not only on the facts of each case, but on the human stories behind them and the moments that changed lives forever. With a cinematic style and a storyteller’s perspective, Chrissy transforms complex cases into compelling narratives that keep audiences engaged from beginning to end.
Through her work, Chrissy continues to explore the power of storytelling as a way to examine the darker corners of human nature. You can find Residue: A True Crime Podcast on all listening platforms.
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On June 14, 1985, Charlotte Lysdale, a widow living in Pine River, Minnesota, drove to her former home on Lower Hay Lake to meet the man buying the property from her. She was last seen arriving between 6:10 and 6:20 p.m.The buyer, Jerome Bye, later said he paid Lysdale thousands of dollars during the meeting and that she handed over the deed to the property. He told investigators she left a couple of hours later. No one ever saw her again.
When family members checked on her two days later, Charlotte’s apartment appeared undisturbed. Her car was in the garage. Fresh coffee grounds sat in the kitchen. But Charlotte was gone, and so was her purse.
Two years later, Jerome Bye was charged with murder and several other crimes connected to Lysdale’s disappearance. The case became the first murder trial in Minnesota to proceed without a body.
Nearly four decades later, Charlotte Lysdale has never been found.
📍 Cass County, Minnesota | June 1985📖 Featuring an original poem written in her honor, read and written by Aimee Baker
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‘RSSVERIFY’ -
In July 1980, the body of a young pregnant woman was discovered in the parking lot of Westlake High School in Westlake, California. She had been brutally raped, strangled, and stabbed. Investigators quickly realized she had been killed somewhere else and left behind—but they had no idea who she was.For decades, she was known only as Ventura County Jane Doe.
In 2015, DNA evidence linked her murder to serial killer Wilson Chouest, who was later convicted of the crime. But even with a killer identified, the woman he murdered remained nameless.
In 2018, the DNA Doe Project began working to restore her identity using genetic genealogy. Years of research, distant DNA matches, and family history slowly narrowed the search but it wasn’t until a breakthrough phone call in December 2025 connected investigators with a family who had been searching for their missing sister since 1980.
In 2026, Ventura County Jane Doe was finally identified as Maricela Rocha Parga, a nursing student, waitress, and mother of a two-year-old daughter who had immigrated to the United States from Monterrey, Mexico.
After forty-five years, Maricela finally has her name back.
📍 Thousand Oaks, California | July 1980📖 Featuring an original poem written in her honor, read and written by Aimee Baker
➡️ Help bring attention to missing and unidentified women—subscribe and share this episode.
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In February 2022, 32-year-old Irene Gakwa vanished from Gillette, Wyoming. A nursing student who had moved from Kenya to pursue her dreams, Irene was deeply connected to her family—speaking with them almost every day. Then the calls suddenly stopped.Strange text messages appeared, written in a way that didn’t sound like her. Her accounts were deleted. Her phone was deactivated. She was never heard from again.
Investigators believe Irene may have been taken to a remote area, but searches have brought no answers. A 55-gallon burn barrel, a gray Subaru Crosstrek, and a fiancé with disturbing actions are at the center of this unsolved case. Irene’s family continues to fight for justice and to keep her story alive.
If you have information about the disappearance of Irene Gakwa, contact the Gillette Police Department.
📍 Gillette, Wyoming | February 2022📖 Featuring an original poem written in her honor, read by Kim Roberts.
➡️ Help shine light on stories like Irene’s—subscribe and share this episode.
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📚 Get Aimee’s book, Doe, now available via University of Akron Press, Bookshop.org, and Amazon.
📰 For more women-centered true crime content, subscribe to Aimee’s newsletter, GIRLHUNT.
More About Kim Roberts: Kim Roberts is an internationally known Canadian actor with over 200 film, television, theatre and voice credits.
Most recently seen as “Nancy” in All The Lost Ones, you have also enjoyed Kim as “Ms. Patty“ in Alert: Missing Persons Unit, “Maggie”, in Workin’ Moms, “Alice” in The Changeling and “Nina Fields” in The Good Doctor.
Kim’s most memorable roles include “Marnie” in Schitts Creek, ”Christine” in The Handmaid’s Tale,,“Greta” in “The Sinner”, “Neeva” in The Strain, “Mazz” in The Doodlebops, “Deborah” in SAW III and SAW IV, “Mrs. Bosco” in The Cheetah Girls and her continuing role as “Mayor Goodway” in Paw Patrol , Paw Patrol the Movie, Paw Patrol the Mighty Movie and A Paw Patrol Christmas.Kim is a pioneer in her industry. Not only has she represented Canada on domestic and international screens for the past 35 years, she is one of the first to have paved the way for artists of colour right here at home. Kim was the first Black Woman to speak in a nationally televised Canadian commercial. The spot was for Benalyn cough syrup. She is one of the co-founders of Obsidian Theatre, Canada’s most prominent Black and Diverse theatre company. And she has remained a mentor to emerging actors throughout her career.
Kim has worked alongside the best in the business, from producers and directors like Stephen Spielberg, Zack Snyder, Maya Angelou, Sydney Lumet and Atom Egoyen to actors and musicians like Drake, Robin Williams, Jackie Chan,, Mariah Carey, Lakeith Stanfield, Lindsay Lohan, Bill Pullman, Jeffrey Wight and Helen Mirren.
In 2024, Kim was invited to join The Stratford Festival Theatre as a lead performer in the world premiere of “Get That Hope”. Kim’s stellar performance as Margaret Whyte received numerous accolades, and is still being lauded by theatre-goers to this day.
Upcoming roles for Kim include playing “Theresa” in THE SNAKE. Shot on Prince Edward Island and set to debut at the 2026 SXSW Film Festival.
You can follow Kim on:
Instagram: @mskimroberts
X: @kimroberts1
Facebook @kimrobertspage
Threads: @mskimroberts
LinkedIn: Kim Roberts -
It’s 1946. Twenty-four year old Lola Celli is visiting her parents in Grandview Heights, Ohio when she decides to take a bus into Columbus to buy some nylons. But her neighbors don’t report seeing her on the morning bus nor is there any record of her making a purchase at the store she planned to visit. Is it possible that something happened to Lola in the two blocks between her parents’ home and the bus stop?
Join us on Patreon! Your support helps us continue to shine light on America’s missing and unidentified women. Flashlight level members also get access to additional content like Behind the Poem, a weekly conversation about the episode’s featured poem, and our monthly true crime/mystery book club. Our August 2024 selection is the Pulitzer Prize winning nonfiction book Liliana’s Invincible Summer by Christina Rivera Garza.
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To buy Aimee’s book, Doe, it’s available now with University of Akron Press, at Bookshop.org, and Amazon.
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