Cascadia Crime & Cryptids

Shaylanna Brown Lewis of Haida Gwaii, BC was reported missing by her family on March 21, 2020, after she failed to show up somewhere she was expected. She disappeared, apparently without any personal items, including her cell phone, and she is still missing today. What happened to Shaylanna Brown Lewis?

Shaylanna's mother has graciously given us permission to use photos from her own Facebook posts as part of our Instagram post on this episode.

If you have any information regarding Shaylanna's disappearance or current whereabouts, please contact Crimestoppers at 1-800-222-8477 (you can remain completely anonymous) or the RCMP at 250-626-3991.

The current reward for information leading to Shaylanna's safe recovery or the arrest and conviction of the person responsible for her disappearance is $60,000.

At the end of this episode, another missing person's case from Cascadia was mentioned - Yanira Cedillos. As of May 16, 2022, Yanira's body was recovered in a remote area of Walla Walla County in Washington State. Our thoughts go out to Yanira's family during this incredibly difficult time.

Sources

• https://int-missing.fandom.com/wiki/Shaylanna_Lewis
• https://www.reddit.com/r/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/og3ddi/shaylanna_lewis_missing_on_haida_gwaii/
• https://bc-cb.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/ViewPage.action?siteNodeId=2087&languageId=1&contentId=69077
• https://www.haidagwaiiobserver.com/news/masset-rcmp-ask-public-to-help-find-missing-indigenous-woman/
• https://www.aldergrovestar.com/news/video-families-of-missing-women-participated-in-first-red-dress-day-march-in-langley-city/
• https://www.facebook.com/Bring-Shaylanna-Home-100974271683825/
• https://thetyee.ca/News/2021/05/19/Indigenous-People-Barriers-Drivers-Licensing/
• https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/article/haida-gwaii-british-columbia
• http://britishcolumbia.com/plan-your-trip/regions-and-towns/northern-bc-and-haida-gwaii/haida-gwaii/
• https://www.gofundme.com/f/bring-shaylanna-home
• Instagram hashtag results for #bringshaylannahome: https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/bringshaylannahome/

Founded in 1884, Black Diamond Cemetery is ranked today in the top 5 most haunted locations in Washington state. Join our first spooky episode exploring the origins of Black Diamond Cemetery's phantom whistling and bobbing lights!

Sources

• https://www.historylink.org/File/3304
• https://www.covingtonreporter.com/news/black-diamond-cemetery-lights-and-sounds-draw-puget-sound-ghost-hunters-read-document/
• https://www.seattlepi.com/local/sound/article/Black-Diamond-Cemetery-pictures-show-some-spooky-1022458.php
• https://www.civilwarvetswastate.com/cemeteries/detail.html?veteran_cemeteryid=69
• https://static.s123-cdn-static.com/uploads/4381546/normal_5fdd74ad02820.pdf
• https://blackdiamondhistory.files.wordpress.com/2013/10/2013_fall.pdf
• https://www.onlyinyourstate.com/washington/black-diamond-cemetery-in-wa/
• https://www.kentreporter.com/northwest/washingtons-most-haunted-ghost-hunters-head-to-black-diamond-cemetery/
• https://www.courierherald.com/news/ghost-hunters-wrap-up-black-diamond-cemetery-investigation/
• https://www.hauntedplaces.org/item/black-diamond-cemetery/
• https://puzzleboxhorror.com/encyclopedia-of-supernatural-horror/black-diamond-cemetery/
• http://paranormalstories.blogspot.com/2011/03/black-diamond-cemetery.html
• https://www.newspapers.com/image/332949605/?terms=franklin%20mine&match=1
• https://www.newspapers.com/image/725500006/?terms=franklin%20mine&match=1
• https://www.newspapers.com/image/332949897/?terms=franklin%20mine&match=1
• https://www.newspapers.com/image/332955809/?terms=franklin%20mine&match=1
• https://www.newspapers.com/image/221368279/?terms=lawson%20mine&match=1
• https://www.newspapers.com/image/337480620/?terms=lawson%20mine&match=1
• https://historylink.org/File/1635
• https://www.historylink.org/File/9165
• https://www.newspapers.com/image/725008638/?terms=lawson%20mine&match=1
• https://historylink.org/File/3576
• https://seattleterrors.com/black-diamond-cemetery/
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Diamond_Cemetery
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Ghost_Adventures_episodes
• https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/story-real-canary-coal-mine-180961570/
• https://www.wahauntedhouses.com/real-haunt/black-diamond-cemetery.html
• https://975kissfm.com/haunted-washington-legend-of-black-diamond-cemetery/

It's another cryptid case! Buckle in for this creepy tale of the Wechuge, a nightmarish, cannibalistic creature from the legends of the Athabaskan people of Northern BC and Alberta.

Sources

• https://ofmonstersandnothing.tumblr.com/post/645523059571408896/wechuge
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wendigo#:~:text=Wendigo%20(%2F%CB%88w%C9%9Bn,modern%20ethnology%20as%20speakers%20of
• https://abcbookworld.com/writer/ridington-robin/#:~:text=As%20a%20UBC%2Dbased%20anthropologist,Non%2DFiction%20Prize%20in%201989.
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DK7LNIlQR_c
• https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=wechuge
• https://www.jstor.org/stable/25604963?origin=crossref
• https://archive.org/details/divinehungercann0000sand/page/n9/mode/2up
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wechuge
• http://www.native-languages.org/monsters.htm
• https://historycollection.com/18-spooky-native-american-monsters-that-will-keep-you-awake-at-night/18/
• http://www.native-languages.org/wechuge.htm
• https://stephenking.fandom.com/wiki/The_Wechuge

On July 29, 1971 two young boys were driving horses from one pasture to another when they found a body in the waters of Snedden Creek in Coos Bay. The John Doe was a teenager, and the body was too decomposed to determine cause of death or identity.

Decades later, a young woman set out to find her birth parents, and disovered so much more than she ever expected to find.

Sources

• https://kezj.com/50-yrs-later-idaho-cold-case-solved-bring-closure-to-family/
• https://unidentified-awareness.fandom.com/wiki/Winston_Maxey
• https://www.facebook.com/Where-in-the-world-is-Winston-Maxey-1742405146040444
• https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2021/oct/22/idaho-hitchhiker-vanished-50-years-ago-dna-helped-/
• https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/hitchhiker-who-disappeared-50-years-ago-idd-using-dna-from-child-he-didnt-know-he-had/ar-AAPQLpS
• https://www.chronline.com/stories/a-15-year-old-vanished-without-knowing-he-was-a-father-an-oregon-cold-case-helped-his-daughter,276654?fr=operanews
• https://www.robtaylorreport.com/the-rob-blog/where-in-the-world-is-winston-maxey-part-ii-a-conversation-with-his-daughter-lori-marriam?fbclid=IwAR35v1tm1x4_ZEhDtudFEzVxbP2Kcu_ZSPdNbPgvPYjnzRmvcWDEGtG6Y_E

CW: this episode contains descriptions of violence against a pregnant person

Our first minisode features a case out of Stockton, CA that seems to have gone cold practically as soon as it began.

Barbara Ann Smith's body was found behind a portable classroom on the grounds of Van Buren Elementary in 1991, and 30 years later, we still don't know anything else. What happened to Barbara Ann Smith?

Sources

• https://www.abc10.com/article/news/crime/unsolved-california-chapter-story/103-097c2ac6-7a45-437a-9b30-6c3df3f78eb0
• https://www.abc10.com/article/news/crime/pregnant-stockton-woman-unsolved/103-7974f9fc-8bfc-4c73-b137-4da591335dc8?utm_source=operamini&utm_medium=feednews&utm_campaign=operamini_feednews&fr=operanews
• https://m.facebook.com/SJCDA/photos/a.413782925335053/4593214954058475/
• https://twitter.com/madisoncwade/status/1461781342132355082?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

CW: this episode discusses body descriptions of pregnant women and the concept of "coffin birth," please use caution when listening

One week before her due date, 24 year old Evelyn Hernandez and her 5 year old son, Alex, went missing from her San Francisco neighborhood and were never seen alive again. Months later, Evelyn's body would be found in the San Francisco Bay, but her son Alex and her son-to-be, Fernando, were still missing. This is the case of the Hernandez family, and how Evelyn's case was tragically and unfairly eclipsed by an extremely similar case that captivated the world. Evelyn and her boys deserved, and still deserve, better.

If you have any information about the murder of Evelyn Hernandez and/or the disappearance of Alex + Fernando, please contact the San Francisco Police Department Cold Case Unit at (415) 553-1450.

Sources

• https://abcnews.go.com/Primetime/story?id=131949&page=1#:~:text=On%20July%2024%2C%202002%2C%20Hernandez's,would%20become%20a%20national%20obsession.
• https://vocal.media/criminal/the-unsolved-murder-of-evelyn-hernandez
• https://www.altaonline.com/dispatches/a5143/a-tale-of-two-killings/
• https://themorbidlibrary.com/2020/11/15/the-unsolved-evelyn-hernandez/
• https://medium.com/the-crime-logs/torso-in-the-bay-6138839d1f31
• https://www.reddit.com/r/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/l1r72y/the_unsolved_case_of_evelyn_hernandez_and_her/
• https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Remains-may-be-S-F-woman-who-vanished-Remains-2789331.php
• https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Eerily-similar-case-languishes-in-obscurity-2621215.php
• https://www.maryhallbergmedia.com/post/unsolved-the-strange-case-of-evelyn-and-alex-hernandez
• http://pwc-sii.com/Research/research/serial.htm
• https://www.newspapers.com/image/462797668/
• https://www.newspapers.com/image/462665572/?terms=evelyn%20hernandez&match=1
• https://www.newspapers.com/image/566686338/?terms=evelyn%20hernandez&match=1
• https://www.newspapers.com/image/462336498/?terms=evelyn%20hernandez&match=1
• https://www.newspapers.com/image/462426842/?terms=evelyn%20hernandez&match=1
• https://www.newspapers.com/image/462323026/?terms=evelyn%20hernandez&match=1
• https://www.newspapers.com/image/462347109/
• https://www.newspapers.com/image/462369157/?terms=evelyn%20hernandez&match=1

CW: descriptions of anti-trans violence and language, as well as graphic description of bodily injury

Nikki Kuhnhausen was a bright, confident 17 year old who went missing after telling friends she was meeting someone she'd met on Snapchat in the early morning hours of June 6, 2019. Nikki was never heard from again, and the main suspect in her disappearance skipped town immediately after she vanished. Please use caution when listening as this episode contains quotations of anti-trans language and descriptions of violence against transgender people.

Sources

• https://people.com/crime/washington-man-convicted-murdering-transgender-teen-after-date-case-inspired-mom-to-create-change/
• https://www.columbian.com/news/2021/sep/09/bogdanov-sentenced-to-20-years-in-murder-of-nikki-kuhnhausen/
• https://thecinemaholic.com/nikki-kuhnhausen-murder-how-did-she-die-who-killed-her/
• https://www.thereflector.com/stories/bogdanov-receives-almost-20-years-for-2019-murder-of-nikki-kuhnhausen,272294
• https://www.cbsnews.com/news/nikki-kuhnhausen-murdered-transgender-teen-dreams-of-working-with-idol-nicki-minaj/
• https://www.columbian.com/news/2021/aug/27/bogdanov-found-guilty-of-murder-in-death-of-nikki-kuhnhausen/
• 48 Hours episode - 41 mins https://www.cbsnews.com/news/nikki-kuhnhausen-david-bogdanov-transgender-teens-murder-new-law/?fbclid=IwAR2NfOCak0D6VcipU101WHfMEEYt2arf7h6BFiXcbGOeylLWxgznbzjlg1c
• https://lgbtqbar.org/programs/advocacy/gay-trans-panic-defense/gay-trans-panic-defense-legislation/

Just shy of 70 years ago, two little skeletons were found by a groundskeeper in Stanley Park in Vancouver, BC. From the very morning of their discovery, all the way until February 2022, the search for their identities and their killer stretched over 7 decades, multiple investigators, and threatened to remain just a Vancouver horror story until a young woman started asking questions about old family photos. This is the story of the 1953 Babes in the Woods case of Vancouver, BC.

Sources

• https://evelazarus.com/its-almost-70-years-since-they-were-found-buried-in-stanley-park-but-now-the-babes-in-the-woods-have-their-names-back/
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babes_in_the_Wood_murders_(Stanley_Park)
• https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/babes-in-the-woods-identified-1.6352438
• Cold Case Vancouver: The City's Most Baffling Unsolved Murders by Eve Lazarus, pg 23-36
• https://vpd.ca/news/2022/02/15/vpd-identifies-child-victims-in-historic-cold-case-murder/
• https://globalnews.ca/news/4611940/babes-in-the-woods-case-dna/
• https://www.doenetwork.org/cases/69umbc.html
• https://www.doenetwork.org/cases/68umbc.html
• https://unidentified-awareness.fandom.com/wiki/Babes_in_the_Wood
• https://morbidology.com/the-babes-in-the-woods/
• https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/492366318/
• https://www.vancouverpolicemuseum.ca/post/murder-mystery-and-intrigue-in-review-babes-in-the-woods
• http://babesinthewoodsmurdercase.blogspot.com/
• https://forum.canucks.com/topic/400045-identity-of-victims-in-famous-babes-in-woods-stanley-park-70-year-old-murder-mystery-case-finally-solved/

This case is a bit of rollercoaster and Caro is riding it with you, listeners! Sara brings us the extremely frustrating case of Nicholas Francisco - an apparent family man who disappeared from the Seattle area in 2008.

Our thoughts and hearts are with the people of Ukraine, please find below a list of recommended organizations to donate to if you are looking for ways to support from around the globe:

UNICEF

Doctors Without Borders

Voices of Children

Intl Committee of the Red Cross

Save the Children

UN Refugee Agency

CARE

Intl Medical Corps

Last but not least, please find here the story of the Gil sisters, found dead in their father's Renton home in December of 2021. Their father was also found dead, upstairs in his bedroom. This case appears to have stalled and it needs more attention!

Full link: https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/law-justice/3-dead-in-renton-apartment-teen-girls-father-found-without-apparent-injuries/

Sources

• https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexsmartinnicholasfrancisco
• https://abcnews.go.com/Primetime/nicholas-francisco-family-man-disappears-revealed-leading-double/story?id=11145043
• https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/missing-seatac-man-found-with-new-name-in-new-state/
• https://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-real-life-don-draper-ad-exec-who-disappeared-to-lead-double-life-is-found/
• https://westseattleblog.com/2009/11/remember-the-nicholas-francisco-disappearance-case-closed/
• https://supportingchristine.wordpress.com/
• https://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/remember_nicholas_francisco-iphone
• https://westseattleblog.com/2010/02/local-tv-station-tracks-down-once-missing-nicholas-francisco/
• https://www.eyesforlies.com/blog/2010/02/alex-martin-is-nick-francisco/
• https://www.adweek.com/agencyspy/runawaymissing-art-director-found-in-la-doing-design-work/6676/
• https://twitter.com/sisco?lang=en (old Twitter account)
• My Life is a Lifetime Movie (#2 - Betrayed by a Lover?)
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9OAvqY5MHMU - 20/20 on ID - Love and Lies - starts at about 26:40 in
• http://mydeathspace.com/vb/showthread.php?8387-Nicholas-Francisco-ran-away-and-abandoned-pregnant-wife-kids
• https://rightbraintheology.com/ - Christine's website

You've heard of Sasquatch, but have you heard of Batsquatch? It hasn't been around long, but it sure has made some lasting impressions in Washington state after its mysterious appearance following the 1980 eruption of Mount St Helens. Do you believe?

Sources

• https://cryptidz.fandom.com/wiki/Batsquatch
• https://cryptidz.fandom.com/wiki/Orang_Bati
• https://www.oregonlive.com/entertainment/2021/08/half-bat-half-sasquatch-nw-legend-explored-in-batsquatch-of-mount-st-helens.html
• https://portlandghosts.com/the-story-of-the-batsquatch-the-terror-that-mount-st-helens-awoke/
• https://washingtonbigfoot.com/tag/mount-st-helens/
• https://aminoapps.com/c/urban-legends-cryptids/page/blog/the-batsquatch-of-mt-saint-helens/8anY_EqumujKYGz8YbEeMWq1VMr1ZGVEqo
• https://www.alamy.com/batsquatch-is-a-legendary-creature-that-is-alleged-to-inhabit-the-pacific-northwest-in-the-area-of-mount-st-helens-image419136827.html
• http://karlshuker.blogspot.com/2014/06/is-it-bird-is-it-plane-no-its-batsquatch.html
• https://beyondtheparanormal.co.uk/2020/02/01/batsquatch/
• Monsters Across America, "Batsquatch"
• Camp Monsters Podcast by REI, "Batsquatch"
• Indonesian translation + background research by Danny Dhillon