The Dark Oak

By Just Us Gals ProductionsTrue Crime

The Dark Oak episodes

October 23 Episode 169: Iesha Jackson - The Empty Apartment
Ieshia Nicole Jackson, a 22-year-old from El Dorado, Arkansas, disappeared in early November 2020 after attending a Halloween party and traveling to Houston, Texas, with relatives (her aunt Shakila and uncle William Parker Jr.). Police confirmed the trip and treat her last verified sighting as the evening of November 4, when the relatives dropped her off at her South Roselawn apartment around 9 p.m.; she left her phone and wallet inside, and the door was later found cracked open. Family members, including her mother Laquita Parker and brother Ji’quez Jackson, had already discovered the apartment in that state early on November 2 after losing contact, creating an unresolved timeline discrepancy. No remains or definitive trace of her have ever been found, though foul play is suspected. She had reported prior break-ins involving her ex-boyfriend Semajee Dismuke, who was briefly arrested in connection with her case (and later released without formal charges) and was separately sentenced in 2024 to five years in prison for child sexual assault offenses. The case remains open and active, with family advocacy continuing and a reward offered for information.

Sources:
Iesha Jackson Is Still Missing | The Steve Wilkos Show

The Charley Project –
charleyproject.org/case/ieshia-nicole-jackson

MyArkLaMiss / KTVE – : iesha-jackson-a-clearer-timeline-unfolds

Uncovered.com (or KATV) –
uncovered.com/cases/iesha-jackson-el-dorado-ar

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This episode of The Dark Oak was created, researched, written, recorded, hosted, edited, published, and marketed by Cynthia and Stefanie of Just Us Gals Productions with artwork by Justyse Himes and Music by Ryan Creep

53 min
October 16 Episode 168: Shannon Olson and BTK
On October 31, 1987, Wichita, Kansas, was shaken when 15-year-old Shannon Olson, left her friend group and never returned. The following day two fishermen found Shannon's lifeless body floating in a sand pit. Rumors that Shannon's death had been related to the occult began swirling. At the time of Shannon's death, America was experiencing the phenomenon known as "Satanic Panic" which helped to fuel these theories.

Sources:
Shannon Olson Unsolved Homicide Case | Wichita, Kansas | Wichita Police Department (KS) | Solve the Case
'The killer changed those plans': 1987 Wichita Halloween cold case still a mystery to detectives | Special Content | kake.com
Murdered: Shannon Olson | Wichita, KS | Uncovered
Six-Year Investigation Reexamines the Fager Family Murders and Corrects Longstanding Public Narrative | Alternative Eye
Crime Reads » How ‘Satanic Panic’ Came to Roil the Nation During the 1980s
Disappearances & Dragons: The James Dallas Egbert III Story | The Saturday Evening Post

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This episode of The Dark Oak was created, researched, written, recorded, hosted, edited, published, and marketed by Cynthia and Stefanie of Just Us Gals Productions with artwork by Justyse Himes and Music by Ryan Creep

51 min
October 07 Episode 167: Resurrection Mary and the Legend of the White Woman
For ninety years, drivers on a dark stretch of Archer Avenue have been picking up the same girl. She is young, blonde, and dressed for a dance that ended decades ago. She is quiet. Her hands are cold. She asks to be taken home, and home is Resurrection Cemetery. At the gates she is gone—no door opened, no one in the road, sometimes only the feeling that the car just hit something that is no longer there. No grave fits her. The woman most often named died downtown, with dark hair. The girl who actually left the ballroom that night was twelve, and she is buried somewhere else. In 1976 a police officer answered a call about a woman locked inside the cemetery and found two bars bent apart, blackened with what looked like small hands. The cemetery said a truck did it. The marks stayed anyway, until the bars themselves were cut out. Richard Crowe spent a career collecting the rides and then was buried in the same ground. She is still the girl who never made it home, and Archer Avenue is still the road where someone stops.

Sources:
Hunting a ghost named Mary. (1985, October 31). Chicago Tribune. https://www.chicagotribune.com/1985/10/31/hunting-a-ghost-named-mary/

Chicago History Museum. (2022, October 25). Resurrection Mary, the hitchhiking ghost of Archer Avenue. https://www.chicagohistory.org/resurrection-mary/

Deathly dancer. (1992, October 25). Chicago Tribune. https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1992-10-25-9204060394-story.html

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This episode of The Dark Oak was created, researched, written, recorded, hosted, edited, published, and marketed by Cynthia and Stefanie of Just Us Gals Productions with artwork by Justyse Himes and Music by Ryan Creep
53 min
September 16 Episode 166: Kent Jacobs - A Well-Worn Path
Kent Jacobs, a 41-year-old Lumbee man with an intellectual disability who functioned at about a nine-year-old level, disappeared on March 10, 2002, while taking his usual Sunday walk through his childhood neighborhood in Hope Mills, North Carolina, after a weekend at his mother Martha’s home; he was last seen around 5 p.m. wearing a distinctive Harley-Davidson hoodie and carrying about $200 in cash. A massive search involving helicopters, dogs, boats, and hundreds of volunteers found no trace of him. Authorities later classified the case as a presumed homicide based on an informant tip that he may have been robbed and killed in a planned attack, possibly by people who knew him, though no arrests were made and his body was never found. A later lead involving felon Clifton Jones, who allegedly said Jacobs was buried in a refrigerator on his property, produced an incomplete 2010 search that recovered nothing; Jones had already died and much of the land went unexamined. Jacobs was declared legally dead in 2012, but the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office still lists the case as an open homicide. His family, especially sister Jackie, who left her life in Seattle to search for him, has never stopped seeking answers, and his mother kept his bedroom unchanged with a candle in the window hoping he would find his way home.

Sources:
Dateline: Missing in America. (n.d.). Via Fyyd: Podcast, Search, Engine. https://fyyd.de/podcast/dateline-missing-in-america/3
Buczek, K. (2025, February 13). He left for a routine walk in 2002 but missed curfew, never made it home, and has remained missing ever since. Chip Chick. https://www.chipchick.com/2025/02/he-left-for-a-routine-walk-in-2002-but-missed-curfew-never-made-it-home-and-has-remained-missing-ever-since
Sederstrom, J. (2023, December 20). Family still searching for answers after man vanishes during routine Sunday walk. Oxygen. https://www.oxygen.com/crime-news/kent-jacobs-missing-in-north-carolina-dateline-recap
Kent Jacobs – The Charley Project. (n.d.). https://charleyproject.org/case/kent-jacobs

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This episode of The Dark Oak was created, researched, written, recorded, hosted, edited, published, and marketed by Cynthia and Stefanie of Just Us Gals Productions with artwork by Justyse Himes and Music by Ryan Creep
45 min
September 02 Episode 165: Where is Mary Agnes Gross?
In June 1962, 20-year-old Marlys Gross gave birth to a daughter named Mary Agnes at Worthington Regional Hospital in Minnesota after a difficult, heavily sedated labor; she later recalled seeing the infant’s feet move and briefly viewing a baby who did not look dead—not cyanotic, with dark hair and forceps marks—before being told the child had lived only about an hour. She was too ill to attend the funeral, but her friend Judy Voges saw a different-looking infant at the funeral home, her mother Clara photographed a closed casket and noticed an unknown family mourning at the gravesite, and only one fresh grave was visible despite reports that another baby, Pamela Rae Dickey, had also died and been buried the same day. Official records later proved contradictory—a birth certificate describing a healthy live birth at 6:23 p.m. versus a death certificate calling the infant stillborn at 6:20 p.m.—the cemetery had no burial record for Mary Agnes, an anonymous photo of a family with a newborn arrived three months later, and a 1996 exhumation found remains that DNA showed belonged to neither Mary Agnes nor Pamela. The case remains unsolved: whether Mary Agnes died and the records and burial were simply mishandled, or whether a living infant was taken and another child’s body placed in the grave, has never been resolved.

Sources:
https://web.archive.org/web/19990222082412/http:/unsolved.com/magross.html
https://groups.google.com/g/alt.crime/c/GGrerrScq1Y
https://unsolvedmysteries.fandom.com/wiki/Mary_Agnes_Gross
https://open.spotify.com/episode/2u6PQBzRUwzE1BfMe3rjwA

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This episode of The Dark Oak was created, researched, written, recorded, hosted, edited, published, and marketed by Cynthia and Stefanie of Just Us Gals Productions with artwork by Justyse Himes and Music by Ryan Creep
1 hr 1 min
August 26 Episode 164: Jelani Day
When 25-year-old graduate student failed to come home on a routine August day, his family immediately knew something was wrong. His family filed a missing persons report and Jelani's vehicle was found an hour away from where he was last seen, abandoned on a dead-end street. More than a week went by before a badly decomposed body was found in a nearby river, but it took nearly three weeks for the remains to be identified as Jelani Day. Investigators immediately believed that Jelani took his own life but his friends and family have never believed that to be the case and instead believe Jelani to be the victim of foul play.

Five years after his death, Jelani's family created the Jelani Day Foundation which offers support to the families of missing persons of color and honors Jelani's life and legacy while continuing to keep his case in the public eye.

Sources:
https://www.kcra.com/article/help-me-find-justice-questions-outweigh-answers-in-the-case-of-jelani-day/38081079

https://www.wandtv.com/news/illinois/5-years-later-jelani-day-s-family-continues-fight-for-answers/article_4727c96f-ffe8-470f-ad91-3ca7a2ccf684.html

https://will.illinois.edu/21stshow/story/turning-pain-into-purpose-jelani-days-family-talks-foundation-four-years-after-his-death

jelanidayfoundation.org

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This episode of The Dark Oak was created, researched, written, recorded, hosted, edited, published, and marketed by Cynthia and Stefanie of Just Us Gals Productions with artwork by Justyse Himes and Music by Ryan Creep
45 min
August 05 Episode 163: The Abduction of Kevin Verville Jr.
On July 1, 1980, a woman calling herself "Sheila" approached Kevin's parents, Angelina and Kevin Verville Sr. at their off-base military apartment complex. Posing as a social worker from a military family assistance program, she gained their trust by offering free support for young families.
The woman offered to drive Angelina and baby Kevin to her office to enroll in the program. Under the guise of picking up another family, the abductor asked Angelina to step out of the car to knock on a door, but when Angelina complied, sped away with baby Kevin inside.
Authorities believe that baby Kevin is still alive and has probably been living under a false identity for the last 46 years.

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This episode of The Dark Oak was created, researched, written, recorded, hosted, edited, published, and marketed by Cynthia and Stefanie of Just Us Gals Productions with artwork by Justyse Himes and Music by Ryan Creep
38 min
July 30 Episode 162: Black Eyed Children
In the dead of night, pale figures that look like children—yet somehow are not—appear at car windows and doorways, their eyes pure voids of black that swallow the light. They speak in flat, too-adult voices, asking only to be invited inside, for the ancient rule binds them: without permission they cannot cross the threshold. First whispered into the world by a Texas journalist’s chilling 1996 encounter and then carried on the early internet’s currents, these Black-Eyed Children leave witnesses frozen in primal dread; refuse them and they simply vanish, accept them and misfortune is said to follow. Whether demons wearing the faces of the innocent, travelers from some other realm, or a collective nightmare given form, they continue to surface across the globe, their true nature still hidden in the dark.

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This episode of The Dark Oak was created, researched, written, recorded, hosted, edited, published, and marketed by Cynthia and Stefanie of Just Us Gals Productions with artwork by Justyse Himes and Music by Ryan Creep
1 hr 2 min
July 23 Episode 161: The Circleville Letters
In the mid-to-late 1970s, the quiet Ohio town of Circleville was gripped by a wave of anonymous letters that transformed a close-knit community into one of fear and suspicion. Most postmarked from Columbus, the letters were handwritten in stark block capitals, unsigned, and filled with disturbingly precise details and accusations.
The most prominent target was Mary Gillispie, a school bus driver accused of having an affair with school superintendent Gordon Massie. The writer claimed to have been “observing” her house, noted that she had children, ordered her to “stay away from Massie,” and warned of dire consequences if she failed to comply.
Mary’s husband, Ron Gillispie, also received letters, some urging him to confront the alleged affair and others suggesting violence. On August 19, 1977, after answering a phone call that left him agitated, Ron left the house armed and died in a single-vehicle crash. Officially ruled accidental, the incident fueled lingering suspicions of foul play.
As the campaign intensified, the letters threatened to expose secrets through media, posters, and billboards. Spanning roughly 18 years—from about 1976 to 1994—the ordeal deeply eroded trust within the community.
The investigation was hampered by scant physical evidence and the strong possibility that the writer was a local resident. In 1983, Paul Freshour was convicted of attempted murder in connection with a booby-trapped sign placed on Mary’s bus route, though he was never charged with authoring the letters. His conviction rested on a disputed handwriting analysis later questioned by forensic experts. Letters continued to arrive even while he was imprisoned, leaving the case steeped in controversy.
The Circleville Letters stand as a chilling reminder of how intimate knowledge, anonymous threats, and communal suspicion can intertwine, leaving behind a legacy of unresolved questions and a town forever changed.

Sources:
https://www.thevintagenews.com/2024/03/01/circleville-letters/
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/circleville-letters-author-unmask/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEDYK5veqwg&t=3s

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This episode of The Dark Oak was created, researched, written, recorded, hosted, edited, published, and marketed by Cynthia and Stefanie of Just Us Gals Productions with artwork by Justyse Himes and Music by Ryan Creep
57 min
July 15 Episode 160: The Disappearance of Lynette Hooker - Overboard in Paradise
Lynette Hooker, a 55-year-old Michigan woman and avid sailor, disappeared on the night of April 4, 2026, while in the Bahamas with her husband of about 25 years, Brian Hooker. According to Brian’s account, the couple had dinner at the Abaco Inn in Hope Town and were returning to their anchored sailboat, the Soulmate, in an 8-foot dinghy near Elbow Cay when rough weather caused Lynette to fall overboard; he said she was holding the keys (stopping the engine), strong currents swept her away, and he paddled the powerless dinghy to shore, arriving in Marsh Harbour around 4 a.m. on April 5 before reporting her missing. No body has been recovered despite initial and later resumed searches by Bahamian authorities and the U.S. Coast Guard. The case has raised significant questions due to inconsistencies and this case is still being actively investigated.

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This episode of The Dark Oak was created, researched, written, recorded, hosted, edited, published, and marketed by Cynthia and Stefanie of Just Us Gals Productions with artwork by Justyse Himes and Music by Ryan Creep
52 min

About The Dark Oak

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Attention all shiver-seekers! The Dark Oak is a weekly thrill and chill inducing mystery podcast. Every Wednesday, Stefanie and Cynthia will present to you a true tale of the supernatural, the…