Épisodes

  • She Carved a Cry for Help-How Rachel Survived 11 Hours Bound in a Van

    She Carved a Cry for Help-How Rachel Survived 11 Hours Bound in a Van
    Aug 16 2026
    She Carved a Cry for Help-How Rachel Survived 11 Hours Bound in a Van

    A frozen hand pressed a strip of fast-food bag against a frost-covered van window at 6:15 a.m., each letter scored with a thumbnail - a makeshift ransom note carved by a woman with no pen after being held for approximately eleven hours. How did a billing coordinator and part-time student named Rachel Allen spend those eleven hours zip-tied in a Hartwell fleet van and still leave a trail that led to a toll receipt and a lie in a work log?

    In this episode, we follow the timeline from a routine service call to the discovery on a church parking lot and the neighbor’s missing-hours report, tracing the van’s odometer, a toll receipt, and discrepancies in the fleet log to ask how those pieces connected to Rachel’s survival.

    Person: Rachel Allen
    Date: November 8, 2017
    Location: Harmon, Illinois; Portsmith, Indiana
    Vehicle: gray Hartwell Residential fleet van (Dodge Caravan)
    Duration: approximately eleven hours

    - Rachel was 44 years old and found with her wrists zip-tied after roughly eleven hours inside the van.
    - The first sighting of the hand at the rear window occurred at 6:15 a.m, in a church parking lot in Harmon, Illinois.
    - A toll receipt from the Westhaven Interchange on Interstate 74 (21 miles from Harmon) was found in the driver’s-side map pocket.
    - William Bauer signed the van out from the Hartwell fleet at 2:40 p.m.; a witness remembered him at about 3:15 p.m, at Cressy Lane.
    - Gene Cobb, the north-side neighbor, called police at 7:52 p.m. after Rachel missed her cat Porter’s insulin injection scheduled at 7:00 p.m.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    22 min
  • The Sneaker on Millpond Loop: How Darlene Outsmarted Her Kidnapper

    The Sneaker on Millpond Loop: How Darlene Outsmarted Her Kidnapper
    Aug 15 2026
    The Sneaker on Millpond Loop: How Darlene Outsmarted Her Kidnapper

    A single gray-and-coral sneaker was found upright against a pine tree on Millpond Loop at 6:40 AM on October 14, 2017, with no second shoe, no footprints, and no tire tracks within 200 yards - so how did the missing woman leave that sign? What role did a botanical book, a pressed object in its back cover, and seventeen penciled characters play in getting her home?

    In this episode, we walk through the timeline from the library departures on October 4 to the sneaker on Millpond Loop, outlining the evidence found at Darlene Reed’s apartment, the malfunctioning service-entrance camera, and the repeated visits logged by a single technician - and ask how those details connect to the message that brought her back.

    Person: Darlene Reed
    Date: October 4, 2017 (last seen); October 14, 2017 (sneaker found)
    Location: Harriwell; Millpond Loop trail
    Event: Missing person reported; sneaker discovery
    Case: Evidence included botanical illustration book with secret pressed item

    - Darlene Reed was 28 years old and worked four years at Harriwell Public Library.
    - She was last seen on October 4, 2017, leaving the library at 6:15 PM and passing a Marsh Road camera at 6:27 PM.
    - Her shoe-lacing habit: she always tucked laces inside when removing shoes.
    - A gray-and-coral sneaker was found alone at 6:40 AM on October 14, 2017, with no other shoe within 200 yards and no footprints or tire tracks.
    - A service-entrance camera had been nonfunctional for six weeks with a green indicator light, and a Copeland technician, Gregory Fleming, badged in and out of that alley door 11 times.

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    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    20 min
  • Ransom Without Money: How Heather Left a Prescription-Bottle SOS

    Ransom Without Money: How Heather Left a Prescription-Bottle SOS
    Aug 14 2026
    Ransom Without Money: How Heather Left a Prescription-Bottle SOS

    Fear tightens: a folded grocery receipt in a taped prescription bottle floated from the Sable River with four precise sentences that redirected a missing-persons case from ransom to zoning. The note named a county employee and said "He wants the Alderman vote, not money"-so who would abduct a woman to secure a local land vote?

    In this episode, we walk through the timeline from Heather Crawford's disappearance on September 5 to the river discovery on September 9, showing how one small, deliberate message reshaped the investigation and raised the question: what stake did someone have in that zoning decision?

    Person: Heather Crawford
    Date: September 5, 2014
    Location: Birchwood Drive, Kinsley
    Date found: September 9, 2014
    Investigator: Detective Diane Bishop

    - Heather Crawford was 54 years old and worked three days a week as a licensed dental hygienist.
    - Heather left Hargrove's Market at about 6:30 PM on September 5; her eleven-minute drive home never completed.
    - Carl Crawford called the Ardmore County Sheriff's Department at 9:17 PM on September 5 to report her missing.
    - A pitch-shifted male call threatened $40,000 and instructed not to contact law enforcement; no follow-up instructions arrived within 48-72 hours.
    - On the morning of September 9, fisherman Earl Harrison found an amber prescription bottle sealed with electrical tape containing a folded grocery receipt with Heather's handwritten message.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    21 min
  • She Walked Out: The Tally Marks That Broke His Plan

    She Walked Out: The Tally Marks That Broke His Plan
    Aug 13 2026
    She Walked Out: The Tally Marks That Broke His Plan

    A woman left eleven tally-marked days on a yellow legal sheet nailed inside a locked shed - and she had already walked out two days earlier. The paper, a copy left behind, named WILLIAMS and forced investigators to rethink how Alice survived; who left the original, and why was the copy nailed where a surveyor would find it?

    In this episode, we follow the sequence of events from Alice Williams's last confirmed sighting to the discovery of the paper and the shed that held her, laying out how a planned blackout, a familiar tow operator, and a flat tire converged to create a trap - and why a copy of the tally sheet would be found after she was already gone.

    Person: Alice Williams
    Age: 22
    Date: August 9-11, 2011
    Location: Millbrook Connector Road; locked equipment shed on parcel owned via shell company
    Investigator: Detective Frank Vickers

    - Alice signed out from Millbrook Connector at 9:47 PM on August 9, 2011, and was last seen driving away by coworker Pam Elridge.
    - A power outage began at 10:22 PM that night, affecting roughly 4,000 customers and lasting between 6 and 14 hours depending on area.
    - Alice’s car was found the morning of August 11, parked on the shoulder about 1.5 miles from the restaurant with a sudden flat right rear tire and an untouched spare in the trunk.
    - Melvin Baker had serviced Alice’s car 14 months earlier, obtained her contact information, and admitted to watching her for about three months before August 9.
    - A yellow legal paper with eleven tally marks and the name WILLIAMS was nailed inside the locked equipment shed; the paper found by a county surveyor was a copy, and Alice had already left two days before its discovery.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    20 min
  • She Walked Her Route - He Had Been Watching for Months

    She Walked Her Route - He Had Been Watching for Months
    Aug 12 2026
    She Walked Her Route - He Had Been Watching for Months

    A single shoe placed upright on a septic cover, laces tied and sole down, was found four days after Dawn Weaver vanished from her four-mile morning route - a deliberate message left at a rented cabin on Teller Creek Road. The man had watched her for months, logging thirteen camera sightings in two months, but the answer to why Dawn could name him after four days in a locked room is the question that pulls you into this episode.

    In this episode, we follow the timeline from Dawn's routine morning walk to the moment she reappears with a name; we cover the surveillance timestamps, the people who found her car running, and the detective building a map of movements that led to a rent-a-cabin clue. How did Dawn turn routine into actionable intelligence while held captive?

    Person: Dawn Weaver
    Date: July 5, 2019
    Location: Sonora Avenue
    Investigator: Detective Brian Hamilton
    Vehicle sightings: 13 times across two months

    - Dawn walked the same four-mile route on Sonora Avenue at 6:00 AM every morning for three years.
    - Dawn was 38 years old in the summer of 2019 and worked as a billing coordinator at a regional orthopedic clinic.
    - Curtis Pringle found Dawn's car at 9:15 AM on July 5 with the engine running, keys in ignition, and phone on the passenger seat.
    - Detective Brian Hamilton had 14 years with the Pinebrook County Sheriff's Office, four as a detective, when assigned the case.
    - A green and yellow service truck driven by Glenn Dempsey appeared on camera 13 times along Dawn's route between early morning windows over two months.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    22 min
  • Found in a Drainpipe: How a Blind Woman Named One Name and Survived

    Found in a Drainpipe: How a Blind Woman Named One Name and Survived
    Aug 11 2026
    Found in a Drainpipe: How a Blind Woman Named One Name and Survived

    A hand reached out of a corrugated drainpipe at 6:48 a.m., holding a two-inch brown glass bottle, and the woman inside spoke one word: "Larry" - a single name that later helped send a man to prison for twenty-two years. How did a sixty-two-year-old blind woman survive roughly seventy-two hours in a concrete room with no visible injuries, carrying only a cologne sample that later became crucial evidence?

    In this episode, we follow the timeline from a routine morning walk to a locked back door and a missing-persons report, tracing the small, precise details that detectives used to reconnect a life disrupted. What did the misplaced note and the scent of lavender, cedar and something sweet reveal about the abductor and the room where Amanda was held?

    Person: Amanda Sanders
    Age: 62
    Date discovered: June 14
    Duration held: approximately 60-72 hours
    Evidence item: two-inch brown glass cologne/sample bottle

    - At 6:48 a.m. on a Saturday, Beverly Mason found a trembling hand extending from a corrugated drainage culvert holding a two-inch brown glass bottle.
    - Amanda had been blind for thirty years after losing sight progressively by age thirty-one and volunteered every Wednesday for eleven years without fail.
    - Amanda did not arrive at the Pallister Vision Resource Center on June 11, prompting a missing-persons report filed by director Patricia Odom.
    - The back door to Amanda’s bungalow was locked from the outside with a Medeco deadbolt while both her primary and spare keys remained inside the house.
    - Amanda described the abductor’s hands as large with a callus ridge on the right palm, a concrete room with a ceiling under seven feet, and a layered cologne: lavender dominant, cedar underneath, and a sweet note like tonka bean or vanilla musk.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    20 min
  • The Shoe on the Hydrant: How He Survived Being Taken Twice

    The Shoe on the Hydrant: How He Survived Being Taken Twice
    Aug 10 2026
    The Shoe on the Hydrant: How He Survived Being Taken Twice

    A white-and-gray women's size seven sneaker sat upright on a fire hydrant with a folded note stuffed inside: a name, an address, and the single word "Please." That shoe, found by a sixteen-year-old paperboy at 6:17 a.m. on May 14, 2009, would reconnect a victim to a kidnapping three years cold and raise one central question: how did Kent Farrell turn a lone sneaker into his lifeline?

    In this episode, we tell what happened from the moment Troy Schultz found the shoe through the moments that followed, showing how a routine morning run, a diner booth, and a shoe on a hydrant combined to answer the question that saved a life.

    Person: Kent Farrell
    Date: May 14, 2009
    Location: Olcott Avenue and Prenter Street
    Case: 2006 abduction and 2009 abduction
    Investigator: Detective Thomas Gallagher

    - The shoe was a women's size seven New Balance, white and gray, clean outside and dry inside.
    - The paperboy Troy Schultz found the shoe at 6:17 a.m. on May 14, 2009.
    - Kent Farrell had been previously abducted in May 2006 and held for approximately 18 hours.
    - On May 11, 2009 Kent ran his regular four-mile route Tuesday through Saturday and ate at the Cornerstone Diner after Thursday runs.
    - Kent estimated the van ride lasted 20 to 25 minutes before he was taken into a basement with concrete and metal shelving.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    21 min
  • Locked by a Bolt: The Margin Note That Broke a Captor

    Locked by a Bolt: The Margin Note That Broke a Captor
    Aug 9 2026
    Locked by a Bolt: The Margin Note That Broke a Captor

    A single eleven-second note hidden in the margins of a grocery list ended a six-day disappearance and exposed a shed that hid more than one secret - but how did a tiny cramped message topple an otherwise controlled captor? The discovery began with a plastic bag on a county road and led to a fifty-five-year-old grandfather sentenced to life.

    In this episode, we follow the timeline from the morning Clifford Olson found the bag on April 9, 2019, to the unraveling of Donald Christensen's hold over Raymond Holt, asking how a margin note became the most precise evidence in a Tillman County courtroom.

    Person: Raymond Holt
    Person: Donald Christensen
    Date: April 9, 2019
    Location: County Road Fourteen; Faber Road; Orchard Street
    Status: Captive then rescued

    - Clifford Olson found a plastic grocery bag on County Road Fourteen on the morning of April 9, 2019.
    - The folded paper inside the bag contained handwriting so small it required reading glasses to read.
    - Raymond Holt was held in a shed on Faber Road with a hasp lock and an internal bolt, and he could not reach the bolt from inside.
    - Christensen visited once a day, provided food, and gave Holt a notepad and pen on April 7 to write a grocery list.
    - The margin note written in eleven seconds led to finding the shed that contained the remains of two men and resulted in a fifty-five-year-old grandfather receiving a life sentence.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    22 min