A long shot lead claiming Joyce Yost had died at the hands of a satanic coven took an unexpected turn when South Ogden police Sgt. Terry Carpenter confronted Doug Lovell's ex-wife in April of 1991. Rhonda Buttars came clean to Carpenter, breaking open his investigation more than five years after Joyce's disappearance. But Rhonda did more than just talk. She recorded Doug Lovell while wearing a wire.

Joyce Yost had never met the man who followed her home on an April night in 1985, who kidnapped and raped her. He threatened to kill her, but she went to police anyway. Then, she vanished. Joyce has never been found. Now, investigative journalist Dave Cawley delves into the decades-old case to uncover the details of a murder-for-hire plot to silence Joyce. Cold reveals flaws in the system that left Joyce unprotected, examines pitfalls of the death penalty and asks if there’s such a thing as justice for Joyce Yost.

Survivors of rape, sexual abuse and sexual assault and their allies in the United States can connect with free resources at https://www.rainn.org/.

See photos, files and more for this episode: https://thecoldpodcast.com/season-2/ep-6-here-we-are-rhonda-buttars-confession/

Episode transcript: https://thecoldpodcast.com/season-2-transcript/here-we-are-full-transcript/

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Episode credits:

• Research, writing and hosting: Dave Cawley
• Audio production: Nina Earnest
• Audio mixing: Trent Sell
• Cold main score composition: Michael Bahnmiller
• Cold main score mixing: Dan Blanck
• KSL executive producers: Sheryl Worsley, Keira Farrimond
• Workhouse Media executive producers: Paul Anderson, Nick Panella, Andrew Greenwood
• Amazon Music team: Morgan Jones, Eliza Mills, Vanessa Rebbert, Shea Simpson

If you enjoy Cold, please try these other great shows from KSL Podcasts: The Letter, Ransom, Unsolved Histories

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