Missing Magnolias

Duson teen, Keiosha Marie Felix, nicknamed "Red" has been missing since April 30, 2012. At the time of her disappearance, Keiosha was living in a group home for teenage girls and young mothers with her eight-month-year-old daughter. Despite an inactive cellphone and social media, Keiosha's case was initially treated as a runaway youth. The FBI would later report that Keiosha was possibly trafficked and could be living in Baton Rouge or Houston. Keiosha's case continues to weigh heavy on the Acadiana community.

Charlie Shunick shares with us the very personal and public murder of her younger sister Mickey Shunick and how the experience served as a catalyst for starting her non-profit RAMP (Resource Association for Missing People).

Tabitha Queen, a 29-year-old mother of three was abducted from her home by an unidentified man in Bastrop, Louisiana the day after Mother's Day on May 10th, 2021. With little assistance from local police who have treated Tabitha's case more as a runaway and less like a potential homicide, the colossal challenge of conducting an investigation has fallen onto the shoulders of Tabitha's mother, Mary Lunford. Flash forward seven months, Tabitha Queen is still missing with no leads and the police have not asked for the FBI's assistance and resources. Mary's experience in trying to get her daughter's case taken seriously is a painful reminder of the unequal treatment of missing persons' cases within black and minority communities that demands to be addressed.

YouTuber, Sleuth Mom, joins us to discuss the case of Ariel Sellers, a six-year-old girl from Hawaii who is believed to have been murdered by her adopted parents in August of 2021. Before she disappeared, Ariel was starved and kept in a cage by these adopted parents with her nose and mouth taped. There is current lobbying for reform under Ariel's Law, which would prohibit anyone with a felony from adopting or fostering a child. The law also lobbies for other safeguards to better protect children within our adoption or foster networks.

Retired Nicholls State University librarian and historian, Fran Middleton, is writing a new history on the 1927 murder of James LeBoeuf, which was the crime of the century for St. Mary Parish. A jury in 1929 found Ada LeBoeuf and her alleged lover, Dr. Thomas Dreher, guilty of the crime and as a result they were both executed. Ada LeBoeuf was the first woman hanged in Louisiana history. Despite receiving a life sentence for shooting the murder victim, local trapper and handyman, Jim Beadle, was released from Angola Prison in the 1940s. Fran Middleton provides new information on the case, while highlighting the media's age-old pattern in vilifying and sexualizing women in crime stories. We also learn more about Mrs. Dreher and the infamous "woman beyond the tracks," as well as Ada LeBoeuf as a person Beyond the Frocks and Gallows.

The mysterious unidentified hiker 'Mostly Harmless' whose body was located in the Florida Everglades in 2018 captured the heart and imagination of the internet. The elusive story is laid to rest when the hiker is ID'd as a Lafayette, Louisiana man who leaves behind a wake of more questions than answers.

For our final chapter of our miniseries Cedar Crime Diaries: Part 3 we speak to a local journalist, Sabrina LeBoeuf, of The News Star, who has actively reported on the story.

An unidentified female child was found in a barrel as a result of a homicide in Bear Brook State Park in 2000. Three other victims were also found in barrels in the park , but were identified in 2019. Authorities believe the child's mother could have genetic ties to Pearl River County, Mississippi which is not far from New Orleans. The girl is the believed victim and biological daughter of the late serial killer, Terry Rasmussen, otherwise known in our podcast as "Tiny Dick Terry." New Hampshire Police are asking the public to come forward with tips or to submit their DNA to help identify this unknown female child.

A twenty-one-year-old Cajun girl and Army Private, Paige Fontenot Briles joined the "Fort Hood Fallen" under suspicious circumstances on Christmas Eve 2016. Returning guest, Jennifer Norris of Military Justice For All, helps to uncover how Paige's death fits into a larger pattern of young soldiers' non-combat deaths at Fort Hood , while acknowledging the frequent mislabeling of homicides to suicides by Army CID. Paige's family, the Fontenots, deserve to have their daughter's case re-opened and re-investigated along with the families of LaVena Johnson,  Kamisha Block, Tina Priest, and Vanessa Guillén. In sharing Paige's story, the pubic can start to become aware of these larger issues on our military bases and can help petition for both transparency and reform.

Dr. Amanda Nickerson is Professor of Counseling, School and Educational Psychology at the University at Buffalo, and Director of UB's Alberti Center for Bullying Abuse Prevention. Dr. Nickerson discusses with us her research and her expertise on bullying, school violence, and its effects on the victim. Part 2 of this miniseries continues its discussion on the recent allegations of abuse and bullying at Cedar Creek, a school in Ruston, Louisiana.