RHODE ISLAND, 2003: On Christmas morning in 2003, a security guard on the Johnson & Wales Harborside campus in Providence, Rhode Island discovered the body of a young man leaning up against a chain link fence. Fingerprints would later identify the man as 22-year old Roy Weber.

Roy was part of a population of men who engaged in street-based sex work in Providence, many of them exchanging sexual acts for money to support their substance use. Almost 20 years later, Roy’s homicide is still unsolved. Police have photos of a man they’ve said could have information about what happened to Roy, and yet no arrests have been made to this day.

Richard Holcomb knew Roy Weber, their lives intertwined by their mutual lifestyle at the time. He’s now in recovery, and Rich has spent much of his adult life advocating and raising awareness for street-based sex work and helping researchers, health care professionals, and the general public better understand the realities of that life, one that he fell into at a young age.

This is the case of Roy Weber, but it’s also the story of Richard Holcomb and how he sought recovery and helped reclaim Roy Weber’s legacy by helping other men like him.

• If you have information about the 2003 unsolved homicide of Roy Weber, please contact the Providence Police Department at (401) 272-3121.
• Watch Invisible, a documentary about male sex work in Providence, RI
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View source material and photos for this episode at darkdowneast.com/royweber

Dark Downeast is an audiochuck and Kylie Media production hosted by Kylie Low.

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NEW HAMPSHIRE, 1982: On December 10, 1982, a car sat in a ditch engulfed in a furious blaze. Janet Dow and her son, Stephen Dow, were inside that vehicle that appeared to have skidded off the road just 500 feet from their own home. They were deceased, but the cause of their deaths – whether from the seemingly gentle car crash, the wild flames, or something else – was not clear. What was clear to the first witnesses on the scene was that there must be more to what they were seeing.

Over the next forty years and across multiple investigations, the truth of the suspicious deaths of Janet and Stephen Dow was hotly debated. Was it truly an accident or was the fire hiding evidence of a double homicide?

• If you have information regarding this case, contact the New Hampshire Cold Case Unit at (603) 271-2663, [email protected], or leave a tip.
• Shop Sarah Madeira Day with code: DOWNEAST for 20% off your order of unstretched and paper prints
   

View source material and photos for this episode at darkdowneast.com/janetstephendow

Dark Downeast is an audiochuck and Kylie Media production hosted by Kylie Low.

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MASSACHUSETTS, 1982: For over 40 years, the family of 19-year old Brenda LaCombe has wondered what happened to the single mother of a little baby boy after she walked out of her grandmother’s apartment in Lowell, Massachusetts after midnight on May 16, 1982.

Lacey Kearns has taken the lead in the fight for answers in her aunt Brenda’s case. Though she never got to meet Brenda, Lacey wants to help her family finally learn the truth after all these years.

• If you have information regarding the unsolved 1982 homicide of Brenda LaCombe, please call the Worcester County District Attorney’s Anonymous Tip Line at (508) 453-7589.
• Donate to A Voice for Brenda via GoFundMe
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View source material and photos for this episode at darkdowneast.com/brendalacombe

Dark Downeast is an audiochuck and Kylie Media production hosted by Kylie Low.

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NEW HAMPSHIRE, 2001: On December 27, 2001, a friend arrived at 50-year old George Jodoin’s farmhouse in Auburn, New Hampshire, expecting to get a tutorial on caring for his animals ahead of George’s trip to Thailand. Instead, he found George dead in his bedroom.

In the early days of the investigation, the list of suspects could never be narrowed down to just one person. Investigators were frustrated, and the residents of Auburn, a small town just east of Manchester, feared there could be a killer on the loose. Despite a sizable reward offered by the Jodoin family and efforts by investigators, a year passed with dwindling leads, no arrests, and a lack of evidence. Eventually, the case went cold.

But in 2009, New Hampshire’s first-ever Cold Case Unit was established. Within two years, the Cold Case Unit had taken on over a hundred cases of unsolved murders and missing persons in New Hampshire. George’s brother, Robert Jodoin, made sure George's murder case was a priority to investigators. Fourteen years after George Jodoin was found dead in his home, New Hampshire’s Cold Case Unit landed their first conviction.

View source material and photos for this episode at darkdowneast.com/georgejodoin

Dark Downeast is an audiochuck and Kylie Media production hosted by Kylie Low.

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MASSACHUSETTS, 1969: It was the morning of January 7, 1969 and 23-year old Harvard University graduate student Jane Britton should have been in class to take her exam. A dedicated and standout student of anthropology, Jane wouldn’t have missed a test unnecessarily.

Jane was later discovered by her boyfriend and neighbors dead in her bed, the victim of a violent attack. Details of the investigation leaked to the media spiraled into sensational headlines of rumored ancient burial rituals with suspicion cast on Jane’s own anthropology classmates, while other clues at the crime scene led some officials to theorize that the attack was random and opportunistic.

Investigators would come up empty handed in the case for decades until finally DNA evidence closed the unsolved mystery of the murdered Harvard Student.

View source material and photos for this episode at darkdowneast.com/janebritton

Dark Downeast is an audiochuck and Kylie Media production hosted by Kylie Low.

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In March of 1976, a young woman was discovered, with no obvious trauma, in the Harpeth River in Nashville; she carried on her a picture of a little boy, and a trail that led to witnesses who said she’d hitchhiked with a mysterious friend, all the way from Minnesota—but that trail led nowhere. Without the possibility of DNA testing, the best shot of identifying “Sherry” Jane Doe is using her extremely accurate forensic art, and the details she shared of her life—and, perhaps, a daughter that ties her to South Carolina.

The Fall Line has commissioned new isolated forensic art of her teeth to share with the public in hopes that this information will aid in identification; you can see this image and all others associated with the case on our website. To submit information, please contact Detective Filter at Metro Nashville Police at 615-862-7803.

Pre order Laurah Norton's book LAY THEM TO REST: https://www.hachettebooks.com/titles/laurah-norton/lay-them-to-rest/9780306828805/

Submit a case to The Fall Line: https://www.thefalllinepodcast.com/case-submissions

Written, researched, and hosted by Laurah Norton, with research assistance from Bryan Worters, Kyana Burgess, and Michaela Morrill/Interviews by Brooke Hargrove/Produced, scored, and engineered by Maura Currie/Content advisors are Brandy C. Williams, Liv Fallon, and Vic Kennedy/ Theme music by RJR/Special thanks to Liz Lipka and Sarah Turney

Sources at The Fall Line's website: https://www.thefalllinepodcast.com/sources

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2023 All Rights Reserved The Fall Line® Podcast, LLC

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MASSACHUSETTS, 1979: It was August 20, 1979 and 35-year old Margaret Pizio was clocking into her overnight shift at the Susse Chalet Motor Inn in Seekonk, Massachusetts.

Margaret should have returned home the next morning, but as it got later and later with no sign of her, the growing unease in the house was palpable. And then the phone rang. A reporter wanted to speak with someone about Margaret Pizio's murder.

Beth Pizio was just a few days shy of her 9th birthday when her mother was killed. Over four decades later, Margaret’s murder remains unsolved. Beth hopes that by sharing her mother’s story, it’ll reach the person or persons who have been withholding information all these years, information that could answer the question that looms over Beth to this day – Why?

• If you have information regarding the unsolved 1979 homicide of Margaret Pizio, please contact State Police Lt. Ann Marie Robertson at 508-961-1918, Massachusetts State Police Unresolved Cases Tip Line at 855-MA-SOLVE (855-627-6583) or text the word “Bristol” to CRIMES (274637), followed by the tip.

View source material and photos for this episode at darkdowneast.com/margaretpizio

Dark Downeast is an audiochuck and Kylie Media production hosted by Kylie Low.

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MASSACHUSETTS, 2022: On November 26, 2022, 41-year old Reina Morales Rojas got into a car in East Boston, MA and some time later was dropped off in nearby Somerville. That’s the last time anyone had seen or heard from the mother of two.

Though she was reported missing soon after, the public didn’t hear anything about Reina’s disappearance for almost two months, and if advocates like Lucy Pineda of Latinos Unidos en Massachusetts hadn’t stepped in to help bring attention to her case, Reina’s family wonders if her story would’ve ever made the news.

Now four months later, Reina still isn’t home and information is scarce. Her children and sister in El Salvador who once spoke to her every single day await any sign that she is okay, all while fighting for attention on her case that took far too long to receive.

• Anyone with information regarding her whereabouts is advised to contact 911 or A-7 Detectives at (617) 343-4324. If you would prefer to share information anonymously you can do so by calling the CrimeStoppers Tip Line at 1-800-(494)-TIPS or by texting the word 'TIP' to CRIME (27463).
   

View source material and photos for this episode at darkdowneast.com/reinamoralesrojas

Dark Downeast is an audiochuck and Kylie Media production hosted by Kylie Low.

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NEW HAMPSHIRE, 1973: On July 11, 1973, 15-year old Diane Compagna swung her beach bag over her shoulder and headed out the door of her house in Merrimack, New Hampshire. She was off to a nearby lake to swim with her friend, 15-year old Anne Psaradelis. At least, that was the story they told their parents.

Neither girl was expected home that night, but their parents weren’t suspicious as the girls left for the day. It wasn’t until the next afternoon when the pair didn’t return to either home that their parents began to worry.

What began as a missing persons investigation for two teenage girls in the summer of 1973 ended in a double-homicide. In 2023, this case will reach its 50 year anniversary without answers.

This is the case of Diane Companga and Anne Psaradelis.

• If you have information that could aid in the investigation, leave a tip.
   

View source material and photos for this episode at darkdowneast.com/compagnapsaradelis

Dark Downeast is an audiochuck and Kylie Media production hosted by Kylie Low.

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MAINE, 1999: On the night of April 20, 1999, 41-year old Bessie Selek was walking along Route 202 near the Waterboro-Lyman, Maine town line when she was hit and killed by a passing vehicle. The driver fled the scene, leaving Bessie there to die on the side of the road not far from her own home.

Detectives zeroed in on her boyfriend, Raymond Wood. They’d had a tumultuous relationship. A long history of domestic violence and abuse. Maine State Police were certain that Raymond was their guy. During an intense interrogation by two State detectives, Raymond Wood even confessed to the crime.

But as the investigation continued, it appeared the evidence wouldn’t so easily fit the foregone conclusion reached by police, and the confession by their primary suspect wasn’t exactly proof that he did it.

• If you have information regarding this case, please contact the Maine State Police Major Crimes Unit - South at (207) 624-7076 x9 or toll free at 1-800-452-4664. You may also report information about this crime using the leave a tip form.
   

View source material and photos for this episode at darkdowneast.com/bessieselek

Dark Downeast is an audiochuck and Kylie Media production hosted by Kylie Low.

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