Ghosts and Garnets

On April 28th, 2011 in Boise, Idaho the trial began for a man named Edgar Steel. He had been accused of use of interstate commerce to commission murder for hire, possession of a destructive device in relation to a crime of violence, use of explosive material to commit a federal felony, and tampering with a witness. All four charges centered around the alleged plot to murder his wife so he could be with his Ukrainian pen pal mistress. This is the story of a delusional racist gremlin lawyer who finally got what was coming to him.

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Today we are talking about the rape and murder of Angie Dodge, the conviction and imprisonment of an innocent man, and a mothers 22 year long fight to find her daughters real killer. 

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For decades, Idaho investigators knew him only as the Unknown Wanderer. He was a man without a confirmed identity, a person whose final chapter was known but whose first chapters remained almost completely hidden.But mysteries don't always stay buried. Sometimes, old records survive.Sometimes, memories surface.Sometimes, a name that meant nothing for decades suddenly connects one piece of the puzzle to another. And when that happens, the question changes.

It is no longer simply: Who was the man who wandered into Idaho?

It becomes: What happened to him before he got there?

We're going back through the life of the man behind the mystery. Not just the final days. Not just the strange circumstances surrounding his appearance in Idaho.

But the pieces of his life that investigators have uncovered — the places he lived, the people who encountered him, the questions surrounding his past, and the long investigation that eventually began to put a name to a man who had spent decades without one.

This is the story of the Unknown Wanderer. A man who arrived in Idaho as a mystery...and left behind one of the strangest unanswered stories in the state's history.

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There are missing-person cases that seem to begin with a crime. There's a gunshot, a struggle, a body, a witness, maybe a vehicle leaving the scene. There are clues, even if those clues are difficult to understand. But then there are cases that begin with something much more frightening — silence.

A child is there, surrounded by adults, and then suddenly, he isn't. There is no confirmed sighting after that moment. No obvious trail leading into the wilderness. No abandoned piece of clothing. No body. No clear explanation. Just a little boy who disappears from a campground in the Idaho mountains while four adults are RIGHT THERE. His name is DeOrr Jay Kunz Jr. He was only two years old when he disappeared from Timber Creek Campground in Lemhi County, Idaho, on July 10, 2015. 

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The story we have for you today is ultimately about love. It's about never giving up hope. It's about family. It's about two incandescently stupid men who managed to be both total monsters and total dummies at the same time. This is the story of the disappearance of Rachael Leigh Anderson. 

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November 22, 1977 was a typical Tuesday when Marie Ann Watson vanished without a trace from Emmett, Idaho. No signs of struggle, no security footage, no witnesses—just an empty car in a diner parking lot and a mystery that has haunted the small community for the last 48 years. Rumors have run rampant over the last almost 5 decades about what could have happened to this young mother. This is one of those stories that becomes more baffling the further you dig- because how can a story that involves rampant police misconduct , whispers of satanic rituals and child abuse, a serial killer and the skeleton of a monkey still remain unsolved? Today, we dive into the chilling details of the disappearance of Marie Ann Watson.

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We're so grateful for your continued support. We are releasing an old patreon bonus episode to tide you over while we get back on track. April 2024 Bonus Episode: The Tortoise and The Chair- Ammon Bundy

For our bonus episode this month, we are walking you through the exploits of Idaho's most belligerent asshat, Ammon Bundy.

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Pocatello, Idaho has always been a close-knit community, where crime seems like a far-off problem. But on the evening of September 28, 2004, that illusion was shattered. A 25-year-old woman with a bright future and an infectious smile  was brutally murdered in her own home. A crime so senseless, it left a community searching for answers, and a family torn apart. Her case went cold for over a decade, before new advances in forensic testing were able to give a family and a community answers they had been waiting for. This week we are telling you the story of the murder of Nori Jones. 

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Today we're talking about Bloody Mary, exorcisms, ghost chickens and murder... Happy Halloween!

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Kellogg, Idaho is a small city in the Silver Valley of Shoshone County in the Idaho Panhandle. After its incorporation in 1907, Kellogg was a mining community, the inhabitants primarily silver miners. After around a century of mining and several catastrophic incidents, most mines in the area closed, causing thousands to lose their jobs. Since that time, Kellogg residents have worked to rebuild the area as a resort town, to take advantage of its mountains for skiing and other activities. But a few mines remain and this week we will be telling you the story of a miner who was also a murderer. This is the story of Majorjon Kaylor, a man who murdered a family of four after accusing one of the victims of being a pedophile.
Music: Frosty Forest by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

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