Hell and Gone: Murder Line

On May 21, 2023, Dr. John Forsyth, a 49-year-old ER doctor, was due to work the evening shift at Mercy Hospital in Cassville, Missouri. He had already worked the overnight shift the day before and finished up at 7 am. After that he went to crash for a few hours before starting his next shift that night. 

This was a normal day for John. He had a habit of pulling long shifts and working between 80 and 100 hours per week. But John never showed up for work that night, and it wasn’t long before his family and colleagues realized that he had disappeared.

John Forsyth was a hard working, well respected doctor and a father of eight children, but he also had a complicated personal life, one that he kept compartmentalized. One that involved an expensive divorce, a new fiancée, and a crypto company that he co-founded with his brother that had been involved in some shady dealings.

What happened to Dr. Forsyth? Was he kidnapped by someone with bad intentions? Did he walk away on his own? Could he have been living a double life?

If you have a case you’d like Catherine Townsend to look into, you can reach out to us at our Hell and Gone Murder Line at 678-744-6145. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It was Thursday night, November 1, 2007, and 18-year-old Justin Gaines was getting ready for a night out with his friends at Wild Bill’s, a club in Duluth, Georgia.  

Justin was a freshman in college. He had just started at Gainesville State college, which was about an hour away from where his family was. Justin was 5 '11, 210 pounds, with blue eyes and brown hair in a buzz cut. He was a handsome, clean cut, preppy guy. 

Justin didn’t take a wallet out with him that night, so he had no credit cards, just cash, a couple fake IDs, and his cell phone. He caught a ride with his friends to the club. But when they arrived, his friends didn’t want to pay the cover charge and left. Justin saw someone in line who he knew and was able to get in for free and went into the club on his own. He said that it was no problem. He would find a ride. This was something he did often.

A while later, in the early morning hours of November 2, 2007, Justin walked out into that parking lot in Duluth, and no one ever saw him again.  

If you have a case you’d like Catherine Townsend to look into, you can reach out to us at our Hell and Gone Murder Line at 678-744-6145.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On the evening of Sunday, September 14, 2014, 15-year-old Cassie Kay Compton went out for a pack of cigarettes down the road from her small white house in Stuttgart, Arkansas...and never came back. At least that’s the official story. 

We know a few things for sure: Cassie had been spending the weekend with a friend of hers named Hunter, and Cassie slept over there on Saturday night.  

Hunter’s mother has said that this was not out of the ordinary. In fact, Cassie spent a lot of time at her house because, she said, things were chaotic at Cassie’s house.

Hunter drove her home on Sunday early evening and an hour later, she vanished. 

What really happened to Cassie Compton? And was she running from something at home? 

If you have a case for Catherine Townsend to look into, you can reach out to us at our Hell and Gone Murder Line at 678-744-6145.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On February 15, 2024, 11-year-old Audrii Cunningham, a fifth grade student at Creekside Elementary in Livingstone, Texas, never made it to the bus stop.  And when she didn’t come home after school, her family knew that something was very wrong.

Audrii lived with her dad, and on that property, there was someone else living there: a 42-year-old friend of the family’s who lived in a camper. And even though he had a very disturbing criminal record, this man was allowed to babysit for Audrii. 

Once Audrii went missing, people started taking a look at what was really going on behind the closed doors of this house in rural Texas. We talk about stranger danger, but with this case, sometimes the most terrifying people can be living inside our home.

If you have a case you’d like Catherine Townsend to look into, you can reach out to the Hell and Gone Murder Line at 678-744-6145.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This episode continues the investigation into the disappearance of Ieshia Jackson. 

It was Halloween night 2020, and 22-year-old Ieshia was getting ready to go to a party. She lived in El Dorado, Arkansas just a short distance away from her mother, her younger brother, and the rest of her family, but because she had had a couple of break-ins at her new home, she was staying at her uncle’s.

Ieshia and her mother were very close and normally spoke a few times per day. So by November 2, 2020 when Laquita had not heard from her daughter, she was getting worried. Laquita, her boyfriend, and her son jumped in the car and headed to Ieshia’s. 

When the family got there they could see immediately that something was very wrong. Laquita went in and found her daughter’s stuff there, including her wallet and cell phone. The place looked like she had just stepped out for five minutes. But Ieshia never came back home. 

If you have a case you’d like Catherine Townsend to look into, you can reach out to the Hell and Gone Murder Line at 678-744-6145.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It was Halloween night 2020, and 22-year-old Ieshia Jackson was getting ready to go to a party. She lived in El Dorado, Arkansas just a short distance away from her mother, her younger brother, and the rest of her family, but because she had had a couple of break-ins at her new home, she was staying at her uncle’s.

Ieshia and her mother were very close and normally spoke a few times per day. So by November 2, 2020 when Laquita had not heard from her daughter, she was getting worried. Laquita, her boyfriend, and her son jumped in the car and headed to Ieshia’s. 

When the family got there they could see immediately that something was very wrong. Laquita went in and found her daughter’s stuff there, including her wallet and cell phone. The place looked like she had just stepped out for five minutes. But Ieshia never came back home. 

If you have a case you’d like Catherine Townsend to look into, you can reach out to the Hell and Gone Murder Line at 678-744-6145.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Catherine continues her investigation into the disappearance of Jason Lierl.

In January of 2022, Jason Lierl was visiting friends in Madison County Arkansas when he disappeared off the face of the earth. 

Jason was last seen in Madison County, Arkansas. His abandoned car was found in the parking lot of a mall in Fayetteville, Arkansas. 

His car keys, motorcycle and other belongings were found in different places, spread across Arkansas and Missouri  - but to this day, no trace of Jason has ever been found. What happened to Jason Lierl?

If you have a case you’d like Catherine Townsend to look into, you can reach out to us at our Hell and Gone Murder Line at 678-744-6145. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In January of 2022, Jason Lierl was visiting friends in Madison County Arkansas when he disappeared off the face of the earth. 

Jason was last seen in Madison County, Arkansas. His abandoned car was found in the parking lot of a mall in Fayetteville, Arkansas. 

His car keys, motorcycle and other belongings were found in different places, spread across Arkansas and Missouri  - but to this day, no trace of Jason has ever been found. What happened to Jason Lierl?

If you have a case you’d like Catherine Townsend to look into, you can reach out to us at our Hell and Gone Murder Line at 678-744-6145. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sometime between the evening of September 2 in the early morning hours of September 3, 1994, 35-year-old Billie Jean Phillips was brutally beaten to death at her home in Alabam, Arkansas.

The case soon became the biggest story in Madison County, and there was a long list of potential suspects. 

But in 2002, there was an arrest in the Billie Jean Phillips murder case. One that would shock the community. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On Saturday September 3, 1994, a federal poultry inspector named Chic Philips was taking his seven-year-old son MacKenzie back to the home of his mother and Chic’s ex-wife, 35-year-old Billie Jean Philips. 

When they arrived, Billie Jean’s son ran inside the house and walked back to the bedroom he saw his mom lying on the floor a few feet from the bed with her head kind of propped up against a wall. She wasn’t moving. So the little boy ran outside to the car and told his dad, “Mommy fell painting”.  

Chic put his son back in his truck and walked in to see what he was talking about and that’s when he found his former wife’s body and realized his son thought the blood spattered all over her bedroom were paint. 

Of course, the house became a crime scene, and it wasn’t long before the whole town heard what happened. Billie Jean had been brutally murdered. 

There was a long list of suspects including a sheriff living a double life, the prosecutor and his son who were sleeping with the victim, and a tale of conspiracy theories, arson, meth, and murder in Arkansas. So what really happened to Billie Jean Phillips?

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.