This is a re-release of our original episode on the disappearance of Alicia Navarro that originally aired in April of 2022. Alicia was found safe on July 26, 2023, after being missing for nearly four years.“I ran away. I will be back. I swear. I’m sorry.” Jessica Nuñez awoke on the morning of September 15, 2019, and found that note in her daughter Alicia’s room. Alicia Navarro’s 15th birthday was only five days away, but she was gone. Alicia wasn’t the type of kid to run away. She had social anxiety and liked to keep her inner circle closed. So who could have convinced her to leave her Glendale, Arizona home in the middle of the night? Jessica fears that the answers surrounding her daughter’s disappearance may lie in her daughter’s secret online activities.In this episode, we also talk to our 13-year-old kids about staying safe online and what they think may have happened to Alicia. Buy the ebook! - And Then They Were Gone: True Stories of Those Who Went Missing and Never Came HomeSubmit a caseFind us everywhereGet episodes early and ad-free on PatreonMerch storeFor a full list of our sources, please visit our blog

Re-Release: Alicia Navarro

Each week hosts Kona and Ethan go beyond the headlines and social media posts to do a deep dive into a different missing persons case. Do you hold the key to bringing someone home?

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A troubled marriage leads to divorce and a bitter custody battle, with two young children caught in the middle. In 2011 Julia Birukova and her two children, 4-year-old Maile and 2-year-old Sky were living in an apartment in Redmond, Washington. On November 6, 2011, Julia and her children were up early. Sky was sick, and she needed to take him to the hospital. She bundled the children into her brother’s car that she was borrowing, and headed to the Overlake Medical Center. But they never arrived. According to Julia, the car ran out of gas on the way. She left Sky strapped in his car seat as she and Maile went to go get help, but when she returned, her son was gone. Sky’s father, Solomon Metalwala was immediately suspicious of his estranged wife’s story, as were Bellevue Police. However, it’s been over a decade since Sky was last seen, and there have been no arrests in his case, or answers as to what happened to the little boy on that November morning.Buy the ebook! - And Then They Were Gone: True Stories of Those Who Went Missing and Never Came HomeFind us everywhereGet episodes early and ad-free on PatreonMerch storeFor a full list of our sources, please visit our blog

Sky Metalwala

No new episode this week, so in celebration of the release of The Tortured Poet's Department, Taylor Swift's new album, and the song, "Florida," we're re-releasing the episode on Richard Hoagland, the Indianapolis family man who walked away from his wife and kids in 1993 and decided to re-invent himself in-- you guessed it-- Florida. ---Richard Hoagland was a successful family man who lived with his wife and two sons in a suburb outside of Indianapolis, Indiana. On February 10, 1993, he called his wife from work and told her he was sick and heading to the emergency room. He never came home again. For over 23 years, his wife Linda and their two sons wondered about his fate. But in 2016, a bizarre story emerged that proved Richard Hoagland wasn’t who they or anyone else thought he was.Buy the ebook! - And Then They Were Gone: True Stories of Those Who Went Missing and Never Came HomeFind us everywhereGet episodes early and ad-free on PatreonMerch storeFor a full list of our sources, please visit our blog

Re-Release: Richard Hoagland

On December 17, 2022, 19-year-old Kadin Black had dinner with the family he was staying with, the Foust Family. Their son, Ethan, was one of Kadin’s best friends, and the family had taken him in after Kadin had a fight with his father. Though Kadin wasn’t living at his father’s house, he had plans the next day to go over and exercise his dogs. But Kadin never showed up. When Kadin’s father, Maurice, couldn’t get in touch with him, he called the Fousts. The father, Chris Foust, said that Kadin was probably still asleep. By Tuesday, the teenager was still gone. The months that followed brought an investigation with frustratingly few clues. Did Kadin decide to vanish without a trace? Or was his disappearance at the hands of someone else?GoFundMe for a private investigator in Kadin Black's caseBuy the ebook! - And Then They Were Gone: True Stories of Those Who Went Missing and Never Came HomeFind us everywhereGet episodes early and ad-free on PatreonMerch storeFor a full list of our sources, please visit our blog

Kadin Black: Part 2

2022 was a rough year for Kadin Black. The popular high school athlete had moved from Pennsylvania to Maryland with his mother, but had recently moved back to his father’s house in Pennsylvania so that he could be closer to his friends. The move, however, came with its own set of challenges. Fights at school led to him being expelled, and a fight with his father led to an arrest, a psychiatric hold, and needing to find a new place to live. Thankfully, the family of one of his childhood friends, the Fousts, agreed to take him in. The arrangement seemed to work out for everyone, and the Foust family, especially the father, Chris, helped Kadin get back on track. But then in December 2022, Kadin mysteriously vanished. It took several days for his parents to find out that their son was missing, and when they did, there were questions surrounding when he was last seen. In modern missing persons cases, there are usually plenty of theories to be found on social media, and Kadin’s case is certainly no exception. Did the young man leave on his own to avoid his upcoming trial? Did he harm himself? Did the Foust family, who graciously took him in, actually have something to do with his disappearance? We’ll be talking about all of this and more, as we dig into the story of Kadin Black.GoFundMe for a private investigator in Kadin Black's caseBuy the ebook! - And Then They Were Gone: True Stories of Those Who Went Missing and Never Came HomeFind us everywhereGet episodes early and ad-free on PatreonMerch storeFor a full list of our sources, please visit our blog

Kadin Black: Part 1

When 17-year-old Brianna Maitland didn’t make it home after her shift as a dishwasher at The Black Lantern Inn in Montgomery, Vermont, it took nearly a week before police started an investigation. While Brianna was initially dismissed as a troubled runaway, her family knew that something much worse had happened to her. Tips began pouring in, along with the rumors that you typically find in small towns. But one rumor in particular seemed to have some weight: that Brianna was being held against her will in a nearby farmhouse. This tip led to a police raid, but while arrests were made, Brianna remained missing. Was this tip a dead end, or, could it still hold some clues even 20 years later?The Hunt for Brianna Maitland: The Relentless Pursuit of Answers to One of Vermont’s Biggest MysteriesBuy the ebook! - And Then They Were Gone: True Stories of Those Who Went Missing and Never Came HomeFind us everywhereGet episodes early and ad-free on PatreonMerch storeFor a full list of our sources, please visit our blog

Re-Release: Alicia Navarro

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