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The Highway of Tears is ground zero in one of Canada’s darkest ongoing tragedies. For more than 50 years, dozens of people – mostly Indigenous women and girls – have been murdered or gone missing along Highway 16 and its connecting routes in northern British Columbia. Despite RCMP task forces and national attention, these cases have been plagued by racism, mismanagement, jurisdictional confusion, and a chronic lack of funding and manpower.

In this episode of Box in the Basement, Arlene and Leah open the first boxes from the early years of the Highway of Tears – the late 1960s through the 1970s. They explore how a remote stretch of road with no public transit, limited cell coverage, deep poverty, and systemic indifference became a hunting ground for serial predators and a graveyard of unanswered questions.

Show Notes: 

Finding Closure Fifty Years After a Murder
Gloria Lee Levina Moody (1969): A Case Never Truly Closed
Micheline Paré: A Young Hitchhiker’s Unsolved Murder
A Case Never Opened: Tracey Clifton
Listening to Indigenous Women’s Stories
A Teen Disappears Months After Giving Birth: Helen Claire Frost (1970)
Searching for a Birth Mother Missing Since 1970
The Mysterious Disappearance of Helen Claire Frost
Jean Virginia Sampare: Vanished at 18 Along Highway 16
MMIW Profile: Jean Virginia Sampare
The Teen Who Vanished While Pregnant with Twins: Velma Marie Duncan (1972)
“Highway of Tears” Murder Solved With Improbable DNA Sample
Oldest DNA Match in Interpol History Links U.S. Serial Killer to Highway of Tears Victim
In Memory – Official Highway of Tears Victims
The Road That Swallows Souls: Investigating the Highway of Tears

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Two Indigenous women—Jennifer Kirk and Sue Sue Norton—were both found dead at the home of a former Alaska mayor. Both had dated his sons. Both suffered violence. And yet, no one has ever been charged. Join Box in the Basement as Arlene and Leah uncover the disturbing failures, corruption, and silence surrounding two deaths that demand answers.

🔗 Show Notes – The Deaths of Jennifer Kirk & Sue Sue Norton in Kotzebue, Alaska

1. Alaska State Troopers Seek Public’s Help in 2020 Killing of Kotzebue Woman
   
   
2. Police Refuse to Reopen Case of Woman Found Dead on Former Mayor’s Property
   
   
3. Kotzebue Women’s Deaths at Former Mayor’s Home Did Not Get Thorough Investigations
   
   
4. Daily Mail: Two Indigenous Women Found Dead at Alaska Mayor’s Home
   
   
5. Families in Northwest Alaska Still Seek Answers on Unsolved Deaths and Suicides
   
   
6. ProPublica: Two Women Died on Alaska Mayor’s Property—No One Was Ever Charged
   
   
7. KTOO: Investigative Report Highlights Failures in Kotzebue Death Investigations
   
   
8. Alaska Public Media: State Charges 41-Year-Old in Death of Kotzebue Girl

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In this episode, Arlene and Leah uncover the tragic cases of Senovia Medina, a young mother who fled civil war in El Salvador only to vanish in Houston in 2006 — her boyfriend later convicted of her murder, though her body was never found — and Cecilia Huerta Gallegos, a San Antonio nurse and mother of four who told her sister, “If anything happens to me, look at my husband,” before disappearing in 2019.

 Join us as we trace the evidence, the contradictions, and the families’ tireless fight for answers in two Texas cases that remain shrouded in heartbreak and mystery.

Show Notes 

1. The Charley Project
2. Police Get Break in Case
3. Man Charged with Murder
4. Houston Police Search for Missing Pregnant Woman’s Body
5. Search Continues for Woman’s Remains
6. Houston Man Charged
7. Houston Police
8. Official HPD Statement
9. Houston Woman Vanishes

Cecilia Huerta Gallegos

1. Charley Project
2. San Antonio Police Arrest Husband
3.  Outrage After Husband’s Bond Changes
4. Search Continues
5. Husband Back in Jail
6. Search Underway 
7. Fight Caught on Surveillance Camera
8. Husband Charged
9. Family Still Searching

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 In this episode of Box in the Basement, Arlene and Leah uncover the chilling case of Vicki Lynn Nisbett, a Texas mother who vanished in 1991—without a body ever found. Her husband was convicted, released, and reconvicted in a legal saga that still divides Williamson County. Was justice truly served, or is the real story still buried in the evidence? 

🔗 Show Notes – The Disappearance of Vicki Lynn Nisbett

1. Missing Mother: The Disappearance of Vicki Nisbett in Williamson County
   
   
2. No Body, No Murder? Not Necessarily – Texas Case Study
   
   
3. The Charley Project: Case File for Vicki Lynn Nisbett
   
   
4. Appeal Filed After Reversal of Williamson County Murder Conviction
   
   
5. Court Overturns Flawed Murder Conviction in Williamson County
   
   
6. 2014 Murder Conviction for Vicki Nisbett’s Husband Reinstated
   
   
7. Central Texas Man Convicted of Killing His Wife Will Go Free
   
   
8. Attorney Claims State Delayed Release After Murder Conviction Reversal
   
   
9. Free to Kill: A Texas Murder Case Without a Body

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In 1987, 24-year-old Margaret Chauncy left her shift at St. Michael’s Hospital in Texarkana and asked a coworker to follow her home, fearing she was being stalked by a man in a black car. She pulled into her apartment complex in her red Pontiac Fiero—and vanished. Nearly 38 years later, Margaret’s case remains unsolved.

Two decades later, in 2007, 44-year-old Lisa Chandler spoke with her mother about her divorce and plans to see a doctor. The next day, her car sat in her driveway, her purse and ID were on the kitchen table, and her loyal dog guarded the yard—but Lisa was gone. Despite extensive searches, her trail ended five miles south of Wolfe City.

Join Arlene & Leah as they investigate. 

Show Notes – Margaret Jane Chauncy

1. The Disappearance of Margaret Jane Chauncy
2. FBI ViCAP: Margaret Jane Chauncy – Texarkana, Texas
3. Search for Missing Woman Yields Car in Lake
4. Texas Police Reignite Search in Decades-Old Missing Person Case
5. Vanished: Margaret Jane Chauncy
6. Help Police Solve This Cold Case
7. Doe Network Case File: Margaret Jane Chauncy
   
   

 Show Notes – Lisa Lee Chandler

1. The Disappearance of Lisa Lee Chandler
2. 11 Years Later: Texas Mother Still Missing
3. Without a Trace: The Lisa Lee Chandler Case
4. Sheriff’s Office Reopens Cold Case of Lisa Chandler
5. Cold Case: Wolfe City Woman’s Disappearance Still a Mystery
6. Video Feature: Cold Case – Lisa Lee Chandler
7. Disappeared Blog: Lisa Chandler
8. Hunt County Missing Persons – Lisa Chandler
9. New Appeal on 15th Anniversary of Lisa Chandler’s Disappearan

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Join us for part 2 exploring the perpetrator of the Austin Servant Girl Murders. 

If you or someone you know is a victim of violence, please go to Domestic Violence Support or call the National Domestic Violence Hotline. 800-799-SAFE. The hotline is asnwered 24 hours a day by trained advocates prepared for crisis intervention support, safety planning, education, advocacy, and can refer you to local shelters and other resources. 

National Suicide Prevention Hotline: 800-273-8255

The LBGT National Hotline: 888-843-4564

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Between 1884 and 1885, a shadowy figure terrorized the city, breaking into homes, dragging women from their beds, and leaving behind scenes so brutal that even hardened reporters became physically ill. The press dubbed him the Servant Girl Annihilator—some later called him the Midnight Assassin or even speculated he was Jack the Ripper before London.

In this two-part special, we peel back the layers of history: the booming city of Austin in the 1880s, the gruesome series of axe murders that left eight dead and eight injured, the suspects who stood trial, and the theories that still linger nearly 140 years later. Was the killer a local cook with a violent streak? A transient who slipped away to Europe? Or a murderer whose crimes connect Texas to one of the most infamous cases in history?

Join Arlene and Leah as we explore one of America’s earliest and most chilling serial murder cases—a story of terror, hysteria, and mystery that remains unsolved to this day.

Capital Murder: The Servant Girl Annihilator’s Reign of Terror
Revisiting the Austin Axe Murders
Autopsy Report for Susan Hancock (1885)
New Documents Reveal Details in Servant Girl Murders
Austin’s Servant Girl Annihilator: A Chilling Tale of Horror
The Axe Murderer Who Killed Servants—and Was Never Caught
Hell Broke Loose
The Midnight Assassin
Servant Girl Annihilator Terrorized Austin in the 1880s
The Servant Girl Annihilator
The Servant Girl Murders
The Axeman of Austin
1885 Newspaper Archives on the Austin Axe Murders
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She was setting up for a garage sale at sunrise. Minutes later, she was dead.

On January 25, 2019, 29-year-old Elizabeth Barraza stepped into her driveway in Tomball, Texas, ready for a weekend of fundraising and fun. What happened next was caught on camera—but the killer remains a mystery. Wearing a disguise, the shooter approached Liz, fired four rounds at point-blank range, and vanished without a trace. No arrest. No clear motive. And no answers for the family and friends left behind.

In this episode, Arlene and Leah unravel the haunting timeline, dissect the chilling surveillance footage, and explore theories that range from personal vendettas to the perfect stranger murder. This is a case that feels solvable, but isn’t.

If you think you know what happened to Elizabeth Barraza, you might want to listen twice.

Show Notes: 

Who Killed Elizabeth Barraza? Tomball Woman Fatally Shot 

Tomball Woman Killed While Setting Up Garage Sale

Memorial Planned for Tomball Woman Killed

Elizabeth Barraza Coverage & Updates 

Houston’s Shocking Unsolved Murder Nears 5-Year Anniversary

 Elizabeth “Liz” Barraza Murder

Sergio Barraza Speaks on Wife’s Murder

Tomball Woman Shot to Death 

Police Still Seeking Clues

Five Years Later: Murder of Tomball Woman Remains Unsolved

Unresolved: The Murder of Elizabeth Barraza

Case File: Elizabeth Nuelle Barraza – SolveTheCase.org

Who Killed Liz Barraza? 

The Unsolved Murder of Elizabeth Barraza

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Tiera Strand, a 25-year-old mother from Austin, Texas, vanished on April 16, 2023, after a night out on Sixth Street with friends. As she worked to complete her GED, Tiera dreamed of joining the Navy to forge a better future for herself and her daughter, despite her family's expectation that she would follow a path in cosmetology. 

That evening, Tiera and her friends stopped by the Mooseknuckle Pub in the "Dirty Sixth" district. Surveillance footage captures her involvement in a heated fight, first inside the bar and then outside, where a group of women attacked her. Witnesses last saw her running away barefoot, leaving behind her purse, shoes, and phone. One friend caught a glimpse of her heading toward Trinity Street but quickly lost track of her. 

Five days later, authorities discovered her body 70 miles away near Temple, Texas. The autopsy raised more questions than answers—no visible signs of trauma, no drugs in her system, only alcohol present. Decomposition likely concealed any evidence of injury. With an official cause of death still undetermined, investigators now treat the case as a homicide, deepening the mystery surrounding Tiera's disappearance.

Join Arlene and Leah as they posit the theories of what happened to Tiera Strand. 

Woman Seen in Footage Attacked Outside Austin Bar Found Dead 

Unsolved: The Death of Tiera Strand

Autopsy Report Released for Tiera Strand, Cause of Death Undetermined

Tiera Strand's Cause of Death Remains Undetermined

Texas Cold Case: What Happened to Tiera Strand?

Family of Tiera Strand Seeks Justice

Missing 25-Year-Old Found Dead

Family of Austin Woman Found Dead in Bell County Wants Answers

Video Report: Family Seeks Justice

Missing Austin Woman Found Dead in Bell County

Woman Reported Missing in Austin Found Dead

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In 1968, five members of the Arellano family were slaughtered outside a remote Texas farmhouse, after two blown out tires in the middle of nowhere. Like out of a horror movie, the whole family was found shot, stabbed and beaten to death, with one sole survivor, 5-year old Manuel Jr. He claims a cowboy good Samaritan who helped with their flat tire was the perpetrator, a man police never found. 

With renewed attention from journalists, podcasters, and even the Texas Rangers, pressure is building to uncover the truth. New evidence and theories, was it a sole man, or multiple perpetrators? 

Join Arlene and Leah as they examine the victims, the timeline, the eerie silence of the investigation, and the lingering shadows cast by one of Texas’s most baffling mass murders.

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