In June 1982, twenty-year-old Kelly Bergh Dove vanished from her overnight shift at the Imperial gas station on South Main Street in Harrisonburg, Virginia. A wife. A mother. A middle child who had already faced more than most her age. That night, she called 911 not once, not twice, but three times — each call sharper and more urgent than the last. Her final words: “Please hurry, he’s back.”

By the time police arrived, Kelly was gone. Her purse sat on the counter. A cigarette smoldered in the ashtray. No robbery. No forced entry. No struggle. Just absence.

Forty years later, Kelly’s disappearance remains one of the Valley’s most haunting mysteries. And her story doesn’t exist in isolation. Just weeks earlier, in neighboring West Virginia, another young woman — Patty Vaughan — also vanished. The same highways, the same culture of night-shift gas stations, and a landscape where women working alone were left vulnerable.

This episode steps back from the Patty Vaughan series to widen the lens: to understand Kelly’s story, the danger of that era, and how the echoes of 1982 still shape the search for answers today.

This isn’t just a podcast. It’s an investigation. And if you’re listening, you’re part of it now.

If You Know Something

Harrisonburg Police Department — (540) 434-4436

Crime Solvers of Harrisonburg & Rockingham County — (540) 574-5050

Text tips: Send “HPD” plus your message to CRIMES (274637)

For information on the disappearance of Patty Vaughan in Hardy County, WV: contact the Hardy County Sheriff’s Office or the West Virginia State Police

Even the smallest detail could matter.

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Patty Vaughan didn’t just vanish — she disappeared into the orbit of a man. To understand her fate, we have to understand his life.

This episode traces the story of Galen Douglas Sager, from his childhood in the small mountain town of Mathias, West Virginia, to the tragedies and violence that followed him into adulthood. Through survivor testimony, family accounts, and records still being gathered, we examine how silence and protection allowed Doug’s violence to escalate — from broken marriages and a manslaughter conviction to the disappearance of an eighteen-year-old girl and years of abuse that scarred those closest to him.

Ellen, his second wife, offers the clearest window into what happened behind closed doors: captivity, manipulation, sexual violence, and the constant threat that disobedience meant death. Patty didn’t survive to tell her story. Ellen did. And through her words, we see how Doug perfected the silence that kept him hidden for decades.

This isn’t just Doug’s story. It’s the story of his survivors, and of the voices that can no longer speak.

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In 1982, Patty Vaughan vanished in the mountains of West Virginia. For more than a decade, the only story anyone heard was Doug Sager’s: that he dropped her at a truck stop along I-81 and never saw her again. But inside Doug’s own family, another story began to surface. His nephew, Ralph, claimed Patty never left at all—that he saw her body in the downstairs shower.

Decades later, hikers stumbled across human remains in the wilderness near Judy Gap. Could they belong to Patty? Or was there another victim hidden in those same mountains?

This episode unravels the competing stories, the silence that lasted for thirteen years, and the chilling discovery that raised even more questions. Two stories. Two endings. Only one can be true.

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At 18 years old, Patricia “Patty” Vaughan ran away from her home in Connecticut to escape abuse. She and a friend hitchhiked south, eventually ending up in rural Mathias, West Virginia, where Patty moved in with long‑haul truck driver Galen “Doug” Sager.

Not long after arriving, Patty was last seen with a black eye. Her friend left. Patty stayed. And she was never seen again.

For more than 40 years, whispers have haunted the mountains of West Virginia. Family members claim Doug killed her in his home and hid her body on his property. Investigators suspect he may be tied to multiple unsolved murders along the I‑81 corridor—but no one has ever been charged.

In this episode, The Grimes Files retraces Patty’s final days, explores chilling family confessions, and exposes a pattern of predatory behavior that went unpunished for decades.

Listen to uncover the truth—and help bring Patty home.

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One week after Helen Eskew was found murdered in her home, a neighbor told police something shocking: a man had confessed. His name was known. His record was violent. His connection to Helen undeniable.

But what followed wasn’t an arrest. It wasn’t even a search warrant.

Instead, the case began to drift—despite multiple burglary reports, named suspects, and fingerprints collected from inside Helen’s trailer. As new interviews surfaced, another name entered the picture—a teenager with a quiet presence and a history of break-ins, including Helen’s.

In this episode, we examine how two suspects ended up at the center of the same crime. We trace their stories, the contradictions in their timelines, and the details investigators had right in front of them. What emerges is a case that feels less like a mystery—and more like a missed opportunity.

Two confessions. Two sets of prints. Zero charges.

Twenty-seven years later, we’re asking why.

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On October 14, 1998, 12-year-old Miranda Eskew came home from school to find her mother, Helen, bludgeoned to death on the bedroom floor. There were no signs of forced entry. No one heard a scream. And the killer may have only been steps away.

In the premiere episode of The Grimes Files, we dive deep into the chilling, unsolved murder of Helen Eskew—an ordinary waitress living in a small Georgia trailer park who may have known her killer all too well. With a trail of burglaries, whispered confessions, and a hammer left at the scene, the case quickly gained traction but mysteriously faded from public view.

Who killed Helen Eskew? And why has no one been held accountable in over 25 years?

Join me as I reopen the file, break down the evidence, and speak directly with those who lived it.

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