2014 - Fortuna, California.

In 2014, a childhood friend of mine from Maine went missing in Fortuna, California. Her name is Danielle Bertolini, and she’s one of the Humboldt County Missing Five. One year later, her skull was found at the mouth of a river. Her killer hasn't yet been brought to justice.

For years I felt her family’s pain through updates online, and when I asked Billie Jo if she would want to talk to me about Danielle, she agreed. We sat down at my dining room table and had a surprisingly intimate and heartbreaking conversation.

This is the story of Danielle Bertolini, and her mother, Billie Jo’s fight for justice.

SIGN THE PETITION – We are asking the Humboldt County DA to prioritize this case. You can help us make this happen. Please listen to her story and share this petition. change.org/danielleandsheila

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1984 - Dallas, Texas.

In 1984, Angela Samota was brutally murdered in her home in Dallas, Texas, and for over twenty years her case remained unsolved... until Sheila Wysocki took action and solved the case.

This week Murder, She Told welcomes a very special guest, Sheila Wysocki, to the show to talk about the journey to justice on her best friend's cold case, what it's like as a female private investigator in a world that's dominated by men, DNA test kits, and what made her keep going after solving Angie's case.

Special thanks to Sheila Wysocki for participating in this interview. Check out her podcast, Without Warning.

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1999 - Biddeford, Maine.

In March of 1999, the talk of the town in the Saco, Maine area was who killed 15-year-old Ashley Ouellette. And one day, while watching a news segment on her murder, Angel Torres, who went by Tony, said to his parents that he knew who killed her in a way his father later said left no room for doubt.

Two months later, while attending a party in Biddeford, Tony Torres disappeared... and hasn't been seen for almost 22 years.

Was Tony Torres silenced so a killer could continue to walk free?

This is the story of disappearance of Angel Antonio Torres.

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1999 - Scarborough, Maine.

Ashley Erin Ouellette was murdered.

Her body was still warm when a passerby discovered her—perfectly placed in the middle of the road on a cold February night in Scarborough, Maine.

“We turned around and there was this girl lying face down in the road. She was blue, and she had blood around her mouth. My initial thought was somebody had been hit by a car. But she was just placed so perfectly. Her hands were right by her side, legs straight, toes pointing down.”

Ashley was only 15 and had her whole life ahead of her. Today, over 2 decades later, police are still trying to answer the one question that could crack this case wide open: what happened between the hours of 12:30 and 4:00am on February 10th, 1999?

This is the unsolved murder of Ashley Erin Ouellette.

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1980- Manchester, New Hampshire.

The hallway was unusually dark as Judith Rahn stepped inside her apartment building in Manchester, New Hampshire. It was around 1am, and she was returning home to her 14-year-old daughter, Laureen, after a night out.

Immediately, she knew something was wrong. Laureen wasn’t home. In fact, the young teen had just... vanished.

Little did Judith know, she was about to be thrust into an agonizing journey of unexplained phone calls, and rumors of cults, pornography, and sex hotlines to find her missing daughter—a journey that would span over 40 years and counting.

This is the bizarre 1980 disappearance of Lauren Rahn, and a mother's endless quest for answers.

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1966 - Biddeford, Maine.

When Armand Brochu served his wife, Monique, a vodka cocktail one November night at their home in Biddeford, Maine in 1966, he had no idea that just a few days later she would be dead.

The autopsy showed she’d died of methyl alcohol poisoning, a liquid chemical similar to the alcohol we drink, except deadly. What was methyl doing in Monique’s system?

But somebody saw more than they should. Armand’s 12-year-old daughter, Nancy. And Nancy decides to go to the Police to tell them what she saw. Less than three hours later, Armand Brochu is placed under arrest for the murder of his wife

Did Armand Brochu murder his wife? You decide.

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1988 - Bangor, Maine.

When Peter J. Bassett stepped outside of Judy’s Bar and Grill to get some air, he had no idea that this would be his last moment. Within minutes, an unknown person pulled the trigger on a gun, shooting and killing Peter in cold blood in the middle of downtown Bangor, Maine on a Saturday night.

Who would shoot this man? And how could somebody get away with something like this? Surely there were witnesses... Surely the family had answers...

But they don’t. And this 1988 unlisted Maine cold case remains open and unsolved, and a killer remains on the loose. 

This episode highlights some of the music and culture of the Passamaquoddy People, an Indigenous tribe of Maine.

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2011 - Amity, Maine.

Thayne Ormsby sat the police station in Dover, New Hampshire to answer more questions to help them catch a killer. Two weeks prior to this moment, somebody brutally stabbed a father, his best friend, and his young son in Amity, Maine.

But Thayne secretly knew this killer was never going to get caught. He knew this... because he was killer.

Is Thayne Ormsby a cold-blooded killer? or is he criminally insane?

Using police interviews and original affidavits, Murder, She Told dives deep inside the mind of multiple murderer to try and answer the biggest question that still lingers: why?

This is Part Two of Mind of a Killer: Thayne Ormsby.

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2010 - Amity, Maine.

In 2010, the small town of Amity, Maine was rocked after a triple homicide took the lives of Jeff Ryan, his best friend, Jason Dehahn, and his young son, Jesse.

The search for the killer brought police to 20-year-old Thayne Ormsby, a smooth talking drifter who had just moved into town. But why would he murder three innocent people with no apparent motive?

Is Thayne Ormsby a cold blooded killer? Or is he clinically insane?

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2006 - Skowhegan, Maine.

Amy Drake was only 18-years-old when her body was found by hunters in 2006 in the woods of Norridgewock, Maine, just a few miles from the Skowhegan town line. She’d been missing for a little over a month. Since then, there have been few answers as to what happened to Amy, and her case, although still open 14-years later, sits on a list of 100+ other cold cases in the state of Maine.

But this story isn't about a murder.

It’s about friendship. And nostalgia. And legacy. The things that were, and a butterfly effect of the things that could have been.

Special thanks to Jason Dickerson for sharing his personal stories for this episode.

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If you or someone you know is struggling with substance abuse, it’s not too late to get help. Call the Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Hotline at 1-800-662-HELP or visit findtreatment.gov for additional resources.

If you have any information on the murder of Amy Drake, please reach out to to the Maine Major Crimes Unit Central at (207)624-7076 x9 or leave a tip.

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