Episodes

  • The index card slipped through the casement window bought twelve days of air

    The index card slipped through the casement window bought twelve days of air
    Oct 19 2026
    A woman held in a rented basement uses a gas-meter-side casement window and an index card to try to call for help - did it buy her time?

    The index card slipped through the casement window bought twelve days of air

    In this episode, we hear the sequence of events after Sarah Duncan vanished: how a gas-meter reading led Cynthia Fleming to an index card with four red words, and how that small message set detectives on the trail of a twelve-day captivity. The episode follows the routines, the surveillance notes, and the forensic clues that raised the question: who had been watching, and what did the card mean?

    Person: Sarah Duncan
    Date: September 5-17, 2019
    Location: 4 Grover Mill Road
    Person: Cynthia Fleming
    Person: Warren Wells

    - Cynthia Fleming found an index card with four words in red marker on a gas meter reading card at 4 Grover Mill Road.
    - The card read: BASEMENT. WELLS. CALL POLICE. S.D., left folded and creased by wind near the meter.
    - Sarah Duncan, vice principal, disappeared after leaving for her weekly Thursday bowling league and returning early with a migraine.
    - Warren Wells, a licensed home inspector, had a margin note from 14 months earlier: “Thurs, bowling - out seven to nine.”
    - Detectives found a sealed basement room with a casement window facing the gas meter, red marker smears on the sill, and a door locked from the outside.

    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 mins
  • The two-centimeter gap that let her fold a note out in time

    The two-centimeter gap that let her fold a note out in time
    Oct 18 2026
    A woman trapped in a storage unit slips a folded note through a two-centimeter gap - did her message reach the van in time?

    The two-centimeter gap that let her fold a note out in time

    In this episode, we reconstruct seven days in August 2019 to trace what Cheryl Hamilton knew, the actions she took while held in Unit 114 of the Dellard Industrial Park, and how a single folded note became the only outward line she could make. What decisions and methods did she use to turn a two-centimeter gap into a chance?

    Person: Cheryl Hamilton
    Date: August 6-9, 2019
    Location: Unit 114, Dellard Industrial Park; Colbert Road; Portsmith Township
    Event: Missing person, folded note slipped under van wiper
    Investigator: Ronald Holt

    - Cheryl left her mother’s house at about 8:40 PM on August 6 and never arrived home, van intercepted roughly 0.4 miles from her apartment.
    - A power outage blanketed part of Dellard County at 9:15 PM the night she vanished, coinciding with the interception location’s darkness.
    - Brian Mills had accessed her apartment building on a service call six weeks earlier and his badge scanned the floor again on July 23; his van logged seven unexplained miles on August 6.
    - Inside Unit 114 Cheryl noted the generator’s cycling pattern, used it as a clock, and applied pattern-recognition skills from medical billing to determine she was in a commercial space.
    - Investigators found a pre-staged notepad and a pen in the unit, Cheryl’s fingerprints on the pen cap, and confirmed a two-centimeter weather-strip gap at the bottom of the roll-up door through which she pushed folded notes for two days.

    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 mins
  • How She Threw a Receipt and Outsmarted Her Kidnapper

    How She Threw a Receipt and Outsmarted Her Kidnapper
    Oct 17 2026
    A retired librarian is missing and a single receipt is found-can a clever trick with a receipt and a window gap lead investigators to her kidnapper?

    How She Threw a Receipt and Outsmarted Her Kidnapper

    In this episode, we follow the discovery that redirected a small Ohio investigation: a laminated receipt found on Ridgetop Trail and the trail of ordinary details that pointed toward someone who knew the route. We lay out the movements, evidence, and decisions that reshaped the search-could a calculated act explain how a document escaped a locked cabin?

    Person: Judith Smith
    Date: July 14, 2019 (receipt found); July 9, 2019 (reported missing)
    Location: Millpond Loop / Ridgetop Trail, Harlan County, Ohio
    Investigator: David Holt, Harlan County Sheriff's Office
    Suspect: Kent Barnes (HVAC technician; volunteer signer on July 10-11)

    - A size seven pair of walking shoes was found neatly placed at the Rec Center loading dock with laces tied and no drag marks.
    - A laminated receipt from Unit Seven, Pinecrest Rental Management appeared three-quarters of a mile away on Ridgetop Trail.
    - Lead investigator David Holt checked service logs and found Kent Barnes logged eleven Rec Center visits, three without work orders clustered within ten days before July 7.
    - Kent’s phone photos and location data showed him walking Millpond Loop twice, not driving, and the images included a grain elevator on that route.
    - Barnes signed the county search-and-rescue roster on July 10 and 11, then stopped; his volunteer withdrawal field was left blank.

    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 mins
  • A red nail tore her sleeve and closed the only exit in time

    A red nail tore her sleeve and closed the only exit in time
    Oct 16 2026
    A blind woman is abducted from her duplex; a red nail is found-did search teams get to Quarry Mill Road in time?

    A red nail tore her sleeve and closed the only exit in time

    In this episode, we follow the timeline from Gloria Gray’s last confirmed movements through the first chaotic days of the search and the puzzling discoveries that shifted the investigation. What choices and oversights shaped the search, and could the clues she left by touch lead anyone to her?

    Person: Gloria Gray
    Date: June 4, 2019 (abduction), June 7, 2019 (note found)
    Location: 14 Sorrow Creek Road; Quarry Mill Road (eleven miles away)
    Status: Missing (command post active; search ongoing)
    Investigators: Lead investigator Vicki Morris; Detective Ray Puente

    - Gloria, blind for seven years, kept a meticulous tactile map of her neighborhood and volunteered weekly at Crale County Vision Services for fourteen months straight.
    - Her mother, Sandra Gray, reported her missing after Gloria missed her Wednesday shift and failed to answer calls.
    - Search command post protocols in the first 72 hours allowed an uncredentialed volunteer, Alice Hamilton, to redirect grid assignments.
    - A folded, dry paper with seven block-printed lines ending “I am alive” was found in a willow fork above Sorrow Creek three days after Gloria disappeared.
    - On a twelve-acre property off Quarry Mill Road, responders later found an unused equipment shed with a protruding nail, rust-orange clay on the floor, and traces suggesting someone had been held there.

    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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    23 mins
  • The wristwatch kept running and bought five days they didn't have

    The wristwatch kept running and bought five days they didn't have
    Oct 15 2026
    A county surveyor finds a running wristwatch on rural land - a missing teacher’s last routine and a towing log don’t add up: did they make it in time?

    The wristwatch kept running and bought five days they didn't have

    In this episode, we follow how a routine fence survey and an empty diner booth set off a missing-persons inquiry that hinges on a single terse towing log entry. As detectives trace a locked car, absent keys, and the tow company’s paperwork, one question drives the search: who wrote that line - and why?

    Person: Mark Reynolds
    Date: May 10, 2011 (first reported missing)
    Location: Booth Four, Keller's Diner; dark blue sedan parked on county road; property inside padlocked gate in rural Deller County
    Event: Surveyor Sandra Morris found a running wristwatch half-buried twelve feet inside gate on May 14, 2011
    Case: Dispatch log entry "no contact / abandoned vehicle" by Lane's Towing for May 9, 2011

    - Sandra Morris, a county surveyor, knelt beside a fence line on May 14 and found a man's wristwatch crystal-down, still running.
    - Mark Reynolds, a 38-year-old high school shop teacher, missed his habitual Tuesday 7:15 AM booth at Keller's Diner on May 10; his car was later found locked with keys missing.
    - Lane's Towing dispatch log for the evening of May 9 contains a four-word entry: "no contact / abandoned vehicle," yet the vehicle was secured and keys absent.
    - Detective Ryan Price reviewed tow records on May 11 and flagged the mismatch between the log entry and the car's condition but had other leads that briefly diverted the probe.
    - Tom Hecht, a part-time lot attendant for Lane's, contacted the sheriff's office on May 13 after seeing a missing-person notice and reported something he had observed two nights earlier.

    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 mins
  • The tiny margin letters that forced a driver to race the inspection

    The tiny margin letters that forced a driver to race the inspection
    Oct 14 2026
    A grocery list folded in a jacket pocket pleads HELP LAURA BROOKS - did anyone read it in time?

    The tiny margin letters that forced a driver to race the inspection

    In this episode, we follow how a simple grocery list became a fragile lifeline from a sixty-two-year-old recovering librarian to the outside world. The episode traces the 72-hour window, the placement that controlled Laura Brooks’s communications, and the unexpected septic inspection that created an opening - did that note reach help soon enough?

    Person: Laura Brooks
    Person: Scott Sullivan
    Person: Donna Reyes
    Date: April 11-14, 2019
    Event: Routine septic tank inspection

    - Laura, a widowed retired librarian recovering from hip surgery, spent two days crafting three pencil drafts of a margin note and burned the first two while her caregiver slept.
    - Sullivan Household Staffing placed Donna Reyes into Laura’s guest room; Donna controlled Laura’s phone calls and relayed scripted excuses to her social circle.
    - Scott Sullivan’s intake file labeled the placement "active placement - L. Brooks / DC-19" and contained Laura’s address, schedule, property layout, and social contacts.
    - Marcus Cole found the folded grocery list in his jacket on April 14 with tiny left-margin letters reading HELD HELP LAURA BROOKS SYCAMORE CREEK and drove straight to the sheriff’s office without finishing his route.
    - A pre-booked septic inspection by Clearwater Well & Septic Service for April 14, scheduled before the placement, was the unscripted visit that Sullivan had not anticipated.

    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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    23 mins
  • The coal-chute panel that let her slip out-did they reach her in time?

    The coal-chute panel that let her slip out-did they reach her in time?
    Oct 13 2026
    A retired mail carrier finds a pink sneaker near an abandoned pump house - did rescuers reach the ten-inch vent in time?

    The coal-chute panel that let her slip out-did they reach her in time?

    In this episode, we follow the early hours of the missing-person search for Marilyn York and the discoveries that reframed where investigators looked. The episode traces the timeline around the missed insulin injection, the unnoticed coal-chute panel, and the gaps in search-grid coverage that put a decommissioned pump house at the center of the investigation.

    Person: Marilyn York
    Date: March 7-10, 2019
    Location: Harwick County carriage house and nearby pump house
    Event: Missing person search and discovery of sneaker in vent grate
    Person: Craig Bauer

    - Marilyn missed Fig’s 7 PM insulin injection on March 7; the kit remained on the kitchen counter the next morning.
    - The carriage house had a coal-chute panel on the north wall that latched from the inside and opened from the outside without resistance.
    - Detective Charles Phillips found fresh mud on the interior sill and photographed and bagged the sample as potential evidence.
    - Volunteer SAR grids assigned by coordinator Craig Bauer had covered north, west, and south but left an eastern drainage corridor unassigned.
    - A decommissioned pump house with a nine-foot-high vent grate and a ten-by-fourteen-inch interior opening sat inside that unsearched eastern corridor.

    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 mins
  • The paint label that slipped through the crack and bought her time

    The paint label that slipped through the crack and bought her time
    Oct 12 2026
    A paint label on a wet sidewalk suggests a woman held in a windowless room sent a message through an impossible gap-did they make it in time?

    The paint label that slipped through the crack and bought her time

    In this episode, we follow the discovery that restarted a missing-persons hunt: a dry paint label on a soaked pavement and the clues it tied to a woman who vanished weeks earlier. The episode traces the timeline, the searches, and the decisions that shaped a race to locate her.

    Person: Sherry Petersen
    Date: February 4-19, 2011
    Location: Caldwell Lane, Harlowe
    Person: Norman Brooks
    Event: discovery of a dry paint label on sidewalk

    - A sixteen-year-old paper carrier found a thumbnail-sized paint label clean and dry on a wet sidewalk at 5:14 a.m.
    - Sherry Petersen, a 47-year-old LPN, had her usual 0.8-mile walking commute and vanished on the morning of February 4, 2011.
    - Marcus Petersen noticed his mother missed their weekly 11 p.m. call on February 5 and reported her missing the morning of February 6.
    - Investigator Diane Cho linked a separate missing-persons case and remains found on February 9 to a person of interest named Norman Brooks.
    - Norman Brooks, a 51-year-old painter, bought four gallons of Vantage Pro paint in December and had transformed a basement room into a windowless trompe-l'oeil scene.

    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 mins