The people you meet on the road can become confidants, lifelines, or, in some cases, 

the most dangerous variables of all.  Melissa Rodway has spent years listening to - and living - those stories.   She’s recorded more than 180 adventure travel podcast episodes, and sat across from travelers and survivors as they unpack experiences that were thrilling, disorienting, and sometimes deeply unsettling. 

Her debut book, The People You Meet, follows her own backpacking journey through Southeast Asia - a search for connection that reveals how easily strangers can reshape our paths, blur boundaries, and pull us into narratives we never meant to enter. 

Today, we’re talking about the thin line between connection and danger, the unpredictability of human encounters, and how travel can quietly set the stage for stories that feel less like adventure and more like a case file.

Melissa Rodway IG: https://www.instagram.com/fly_travel_media

Melissa Rodway Website: https://flyrodway.com/

Buy The People We Meet on Amazon:   https://a.co/d/1HVmiBq

Do you have a story to share? Send your email to [email protected]

We're on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheLastTripPodcast

Follow us on IG: https://www.instagram.com/thelasttripcrimepod/

And join our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/TheLastTripPodcast

Theme Music by Roger Allen Dexter

America's national parks promise peace and beauty - but they also hold some of the country's darkest mysteries. In Murder on the Trail, bestselling author Michelle Kaminsky investigates disappearances, serial killers, and unsolved cases hidden beneath the redwoods, canyon walls, and mountain switchbacks we think of as safe.

From the Yosemite Park Killer to Gary Michael Hilton and the vanlife tragedy of Gabby Petito, Michelle digs into why these wild spaces become hunting grounds, how isolation turns deadly, and why federal land can complicate justice. With a journalist's precision and a survivor's empathy, she reveals the thin line between wilderness and danger.

In this episode, Michelle joins me to explore the beauty, the horror, and the truths buried deep in America's most iconic landscapes.

Michelle Kaminsky IG: https://www.instagram.com/michkaminsky

Michelle Kaminsky Website: https://www.michellekaminsky.com/

Buy Murder on the Trail on Amazon:   https://a.co/d/2zvbpeL

Do you have a story to share? Send your email to [email protected]

We're on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheLastTripPodcast

Follow us on IG: https://www.instagram.com/thelasttripcrimepod/

And join our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/TheLastTripPodcast

Theme Music by Roger Allen Dexter

On a grey February morning in 1995, one of rock’s most enigmatic voices stepped out of a London hotel room - and into one of music’s most enduring mysteries.  The Manic Street Preachers’ lyricist - Richey Edwards -  brilliant, fragile, and beloved - 

left behind a life heavy with pressure and pain.   After his disappearance, his car was found near the Severn Bridge, a place weighted with symbolism and sorrow. 

Richey himself was gone.  No sightings. No answers.  Just a trail that stops cold on the border between England and Wales.

Listen as we dive into the Britpop Era of London, the case of Richey Edwards, and how to stay alive on vacation.

Do you have a story to share? Send your email to [email protected]

We're on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheLastTripPodcast

Follow us on IG: https://www.instagram.com/thelasttripcrimepod/

And join our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/TheLastTripPodcast

Theme Music by Roger Allen Dexter

Sources:

https://www.the-independent.com/arts-entertainment/music/features/richey-edwards-manic-street-preachers-disappearance-missing-b2690286.html

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c80er6r0pz3o

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2008/nov/29/richey-edwards-manic-street-preachers

https://www.vice.com/en/article/the-holy-bible-richey-edwards/

https://www.penguin.co.uk/discover/articles/withdrawn-traces-richey-edwards-day-of-disappearance

https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/culture/article/richey-edwards-disappearance

https://www.thisdayinmusic.com/stairway-to-heaven/richey-edwards/

https://metro.co.uk/2025/02/01/30-years-ago-manic-street-preachers-richey-edwards-disappeared-without-a-trace-22351235/

https://scruffystorms.com/2018/02/01/richey-edwards-23-years-missing/

https://www.nme.com/news/music/new-evidence-emerges-suggest-richey-edwards-staged-disappearance-2438975

https://news.sky.com/story/richey-edwards-new-appeal-over-missing-manic-street-preachers-guitarist-11923464

https://www.the-independent.com/arts-entertainment/music/news/richey-edwards-disappearance-manic-street-preachers-b2686905.html

In September 2023, 32 year old Chelsea Grimm left California on a cross-country drive to attend a wedding.  She packed her camera gear, camping supplies - and her pet bearded dragon - and headed east to Connecticut.  But somewhere in northern Arizona, something began to unravel.  Days after starting her trip, a police officer found her parked near a cemetery.  Body camera footage captured her speaking calmly - but saying she was emotional from a photoshoot.

Two days after that, her car was discovered deep in the Kaibab National Forest. Two flat tires, no phone, no wallet, no sleeping bag - and no sign of Chelsea or her bearded dragon. No footprints. No struggle. No answers.

Listen as we dive into the Northern Arizona Desert, the case of Chelsea Grimm, and how to stay alive on vacation.

Do you have a story to share? Send your email to [email protected]

We're on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheLastTripPodcast

Follow us on IG: https://www.instagram.com/thelasttripcrimepod/

And join our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/TheLastTripPodcast

Theme Music by Roger Allen Dexter

Sources:

https://www.newsnationnow.com/missing/chelsea-grimm/amp/

https://www.reddit.com/r/MissingPersons/comments/199h977/any_updates_on_chelsea_grimm/

https://redflag.org/project/delevan-dell-erba-amadon-dell-erba-and-genavein/

https://www.investigationdiscovery.com/crimefeed/missing/wheres-chelsea-grimm-california-woman-vanishes-while-on-road-trip-to-attend-wedding

https://myfox8.com/news/california-woman-who-went-missing-during-road-trip-appeared-disoriented-at-hotel-witness-claims/

https://www.facebook.com/groups/3728726574033190

https://www.greenwichtime.com/news/article/greenwich-ct-chelsea-grimm-missing-arizona-19757775.php

https://www.azfamily.com/2024/09/25/renewed-search-new-clues-2023-disappearance-chelsea-grimm/

https://azprivateinvestigator.com/chelsea-grimm

https://www.williamsnews.com/news/regional/two-years-since-disappearance-chelsea-grimm-case-remains-a-mystery/article_b0adb1b0-5857-4653-985b-f845a7385800.html

On the night of November 5, 2024, Mackenzie Michalski was spotted dancing in a Budapest nightclub, carefree and alive. Hours later, that night ended in shattering silence.  A man she left the club with - met only hours before - would end her life. This is the story of Mackenzie Michalski - and the darkness she never saw coming.

Listen as we dive into Budapest, the case of Mackenzie Michalski, and how to stay alive on vacation.

Do you have a story to share? Send your email to [email protected]

We're on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheLastTripPodcast

Follow us on IG: https://www.instagram.com/thelasttripcrimepod/

And join our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/TheLastTripPodcast

Theme Music by Roger Allen Dexter

Sources:

https://abcnews.go.com/International/american-tourist-mackenzie-michalski-missing-hungary-killed/story?id=115654592

https://rilesandwoolleyfuneralhome.com/?p=3259

https://www.wgrz.com/article/news/local/service-held-wny-killed-in-hungary/71-14e55bc8-6f22-48b0-9427-9841d624f3fd

https://www.reddit.com/r/TrueCrimeDiscussion/comments/1ht0ftd/on_november_5th_2024_31yearold_kenize_michalski/

https://news.sky.com/story/mackenzie-michalski-irish-man-allegedly-admits-killing-us-nurse-at-budapest-flat-and-dumping-body-near-lake-say-police-13251900

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/nov/09/mackenzie-michalski-portland-tourist-killed-hungary#:~:text=The%20suspect%2C%20whom%20police%20identified,and%20placing%20her%20body%20inside.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1188058235596116/

https://telex.hu/belfold/2024/11/07/eltunt-amerikai-no-31-eves-mackenzie-michalski

https://24.hu/belfold/2024/11/07/mackenzie-elizabeth-michalski-eltunt-budapest-no-keresik-31-eves/

https://news.sky.com/story/mackenzie-michalski-irish-man-allegedly-admits-killing-us-nurse-at-budapest-flat-and-dumping-body-near-lake-say-police-13251900

https://24.hu/belfold/2024/11/07/mackenzie-elizabeth-michalski-eltunt-budapest-no-keresik-31-eves/

https://www.wkbw.com/news/local-news/buffalo/deeply-missed-fredonia-native-mackenzie-michalski-remembered-one-year-after-death-in-hungary

https://abcnews.go.com/amp/International/american-tourist-mackenzie-michalski-missing-hungary-killed/story

https://www.wivb.com/news/local-news/western-new-york/chautauqua-county/fredonia/western-new-york-community-gathers-to-honor-life-of-local-woman-killed-in-budapest/

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/american-tourist-31-dismembered--34119153

https://dailynewshungary.com/irish-man-release-after-murder-american-woman/

This past summer I had the opportunity to join some amazing podcaster's for the Death Not Yet Series. This episode of Survivor || TERRI JENTZ || The Last Trip for Death Not Yet first aired on July 4th.

This is a Podcaster’s Give Back collaboration. All podcasters have donated their time and research to help advocate for victims of domestic violence. And we are raising money to give back to non profits which are standing with survivors. To donate, please visit buymeacoffee.com/youshouldbehere.

In 1977, Terri and her college roommate, Avra Goldman, biked across America in search of freedom, adventure, and a little time to figure life out. They were students, dreamers - two women finding their place in the world.  And then, one night in a quiet Oregon park, that journey turned into something unspeakable. A truck. A man with an axe. No motive. No warning. And somehow... Terri survived.

This isn’t just a story of what happened that night. This is about what came after - the silence, the unanswered questions, the system that failed. And it’s about how Terri, years later, went back - not just to that campsite, but into the shadows of her own memory, determined to face the monster who tried to kill her.

This is a Fire Eyes Media, LLC production www.fireeyesmedia.com

Do you have a story to share? Send your email to [email protected]

We're on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheLastTripPodcast

Follow us on IG: https://www.instagram.com/thelasttripcrimepod/

And join our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/TheLastTripPodcast

Theme Music by Roger Allen Dexter

Sources:

https://www.cnn.com/2006/US/05/08/rowlands.jentz/

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2006-apr-30-bk-dolan30-story.html

https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-boston-globe/24121534/

“Strange Piece of Paradise” by Terri Jentz

https://moonmagazine.org/terri-jentz-my-journey-to-justice-2014-02-01/

https://www.crimevictimsunited.org/news/2006/jentz.htm

https://www.nuggetnews.com/story/2007/07/31/news/author-returns-to-the-scene-of-the-crime/14728.html

https://www.bumc.bu.edu/camed/profile/avra-goldman/

This past summer I had the opportunity to join some amazing podcaster's for the Death Not Yet Series. This episode of Survivor || COLLEEN STAN || The Last Trip for Death Not Yet first aired on July 4th.

This is a Podcaster’s Give Back collaboration. All podcasters have donated their time and research to help advocate for victims of domestic violence. And we are raising money to give back to non profits which are standing with survivors. To donate, please visit buymeacoffee.com/youshouldbehere.

In this episode, we’re traveling back to 1977 - to a quiet California highway

where 20 year old Colleen Stan made a simple, trusting choice to hitch a ride.

What followed was a seven-year ordeal so disturbing, it shocked investigators, psychologists, and the public alike. She was held captive in a coffin-like box. Controlled, isolated, manipulated.  But this isn’t just the story of what was done to her - it’s about what she did next.

This is a Fire Eyes Media, LLC production www.fireeyesmedia.com

Do you have a story to share? Send your email to [email protected]

We're on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheLastTripPodcast

Follow us on IG: https://www.instagram.com/thelasttripcrimepod/

And join our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/TheLastTripPodcast

Theme Music by Roger Allen Dexter

Sources:

https://www.crimeandinvestigation.co.uk/article/colleen-stan-the-girl-in-the-box

https://people.com/crime/girl-in-the-box-how-janice-hooker-helped-colleen-stan-escape/

https://allthatsinteresting.com/girl-in-the-box-colleen-stan

https://www.oxygen.com/snapped/crime-news/colleen-stan-kidnapping-told-in-snapped-notorious-girl-in-the-box

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/exclusive-woman-imprisoned-in-coffin-for-7-years-has-special-message-for-jaycee-dugard/

https://www.13newsnow.com/article/news/seven-years-of-torture-a-survivors-story/291-316456285

https://www.naijanews.com/buzz/people/colleen-stan-kidnapping-everything-you-need-to-know/

https://people.com/where-is-colleen-stan-now-girl-in-the-box-kidnapping-8648943

https://barrieshelter.com/how-to-stay-safe/

https://celebnowthen.com/what-is-colleen-stan-doing-now/

https://medium.com/crimebeat/the-brainwashing-and-torture-of-colleen-stan-a-kidnapping-survivor-ec6e2410503a

https://medium.com/%40lisariggio1994/surviving-abduction-colleen-stan-9f9b5261d919

https://murderintheblack.com/colleen-stan-the-girl-in-the-box.html

In November 2008, 30-year-old Ani Ashekian landed in Hong Kong—jet-lagged, excited, and ready for her next adventure. She sent a quick birthday text to her niece, withdrew cash from an ATM… and then vanished without a trace.

No calls. No bank activity. No confirmed sightings.  Just a few seconds of CCTV showing Ani standing calmly in a crowded terminal—moments before she disappeared into a city of seven million people.

Was she the victim of a robbery, a scam, or something far darker? Or did Ani choose to disappear on her own terms?

Her journal, later discovered in Canada, hinted at secret plans—but also a growing undercurrent of fear.

Listen as we dive into Hong Kong, the case of Ani Ashekian, and how to stay alive on vacation.

Do you have a story to share? Send your email to [email protected]

We're on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheLastTripPodcast

Follow us on IG: https://www.instagram.com/thelasttripcrimepod/

And join our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/TheLastTripPodcast

Theme Music by Roger Allen Dexter

Sources:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/54077259736/

https://truecrimediva.com/ani-ashekian/

https://websleuths.com/threads/china-ani-ashekian-31-hong-kong-11-nov-2008-canadian-tourist.104205/

https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1065968/ani-ashekians-journal-offers-new-clues-after-four-years-silence

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/canadian-woman-feared-missing-in-china-1.714555

https://www.toronto.com/news/search-continues-for-missing-toronto-woman-in-hong-kong/article_8b549fea-1aa7-5482-b643-1d303e5ada6f.html

https://web.archive.org/web/20151105180831/http://www.findani.com/

https://www.reddit.com/r/HongKong/comments/18b64d1/where_is_ani_ashekian/

https://time.com/archive/6948538/u-s-crime-writer-tackles-a-real-hong-kong-cold-case/

https://windsorstar.com/news/sister-to-pick-up-search-in-china

In November 2018, a young man vanished into the gray sea night, stepping across the forbidden line that separated two worlds. 

His name was John Allen Chau - twenty-six years old, an American with a quiet resolve, a missionary’s conviction burning in his chest. He sailed toward North Sentinel Island - a place sealed off from the modern world, where the Sentinelese have refused all contact for centuries.

But he wasn’t a tourist. He saw himself as a messenger with a message no one else dared deliver. He carried in his pack a waterproof Bible, gifts, hopes, and a deep certainty that he would either be welcomed or die trying.

What followed is part tragedy, part mystery. The fisherman who dropped him off

 claimed they saw islanders dragging a body across the sand and a burial at dusk. But exactly what happened in the hours between his arrival and his death - no one knows. His body was never recovered.

Was he a martyr? A fool? A man haunted by divine urgency? Or someone who crossed the ultimate boundary - between the known and the unknowable - and paid the price?

Listen as we dive into North Sentinel Island, the case of John Allen Chau, and how to stay alive on vacation.

Do you have a story to share? Send your email to [email protected]

We're on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheLastTripPodcast

Follow us on IG: https://www.instagram.com/thelasttripcrimepod/

And join our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/TheLastTripPodcast

Theme Music by Roger Allen Dexter

Sources:

https://www.instagram.com/johnachau/

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/feb/03/john-chau-christian-missionary-death-sentinelese

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-46345231

https://allnations.international/john-chau

https://www.alex-perry.com/the-last-days-of-john-allen-chau/

https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/22/asia/north-sentinel-island-john-allen-chau-diary-intl

https://www.newyorker.com/news/on-religion/john-chaus-death-roils-the-missionary-world

https://www.npr.org/2019/08/01/747368557/the-story-behind-john-allen-chau-an-american-missionary-who-was-killed-while-wor

https://au.thegospelcoalition.org/article/john-allen-chau-noble-savages/

https://allthatsinteresting.com/john-allen-chau

https://frontline.thehindu.com/arts-and-culture/a-national-geographic-documentary-examines-the-life-and-death-of-john-allen-chau/article67807254.ece

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-46336355

https://sojo.net/articles/john-allen-chau-was-product-missions-marketing-system

https://abcnews.go.com/International/john-allen-chau-detailed-efforts-convert-islanders-christianity/story?id=59401238

In March 2020, 18 year old Eloi Rolland left his homestay on Auckland’s North Shore 

just before dawn. He was a French exchange student - curious, soft-spoken, 

and enchanted by New Zealand’s beauty. That morning he opened Google Maps and searched the word Piha. A remote black-sand beach known for its cliffs, its isolation… and its danger.

He caught a bus, then a train. CCTV caught him walking alone as the city woke up. By 9:18am, his phone pinged one final time along Piha Road in Waitakere Ranges - 

and then… nothing.No more messages. No more movement. No more Eloi.  Police scoured the bushland - dense, silent, and endless - but no trace of him was ever found.

What happened in the misty hills outside Auckland? Did Eloi wander off the track? Fall off the cliffs?  Or was something - or someone - waiting for him there?

Listen as we dive into New Zealand, the case of Eloi Rolland, and how to stay alive on vacation.

Do you have a story to share? Send your email to [email protected]

We're on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheLastTripPodcast

Follow us on IG: https://www.instagram.com/thelasttripcrimepod/

And join our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/TheLastTripPodcast

Theme Music by Roger Allen Dexter

Sources:

https://www.thepress.co.nz/nz-news/360759600/parents-missing-french-teen-eloi-rolland-take-search-south-island

https://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/124382819/missing-french-teen-eloi-rolland-friends-and-family-still-have-no-answers-a-year-on?_

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/120283016/french-national-eloi-jean-rolland-18-missing-in-auckland

https://www.police.govt.nz/missing-persons/listings/eloi-rolland

https://www.facebook.com/MISSINGELOIJEANROLLAND/

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/120409689/french-teen-missing-from-auckland-had-troubled-state-of-mind

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/120511116/sister-of-fit-smiley-french-teen-missing-in-auckland-desperate-for-answers

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/120860887/chances-of-finding-missing-french-teen-eloi-rolland-alive-becoming-more-slim

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/family-of-french-teen-eloi-jean-rolland-missing-in-auckland-since-march-reveal-more/5GVRVY5ZNGMZMKKHJGV4YDB3R4/

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/300097890/missing-french-teen-eloi-rolland-family-say-theyve-lost-hope-six-months-after-disappearance

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/300189370/the-missing-people-of-piha-25-years-six-cases-no-answers

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/300201475/missing-french-teen-eloi-rolland-reportedly-sighted-13km-from-last-known-location

https://www.20minutes.fr/faits_divers/4096164-20240621-disparition-eloi-rolland-nouvelle-zelande-va-declarer-mort-jeune-homme

https://www.leparisien.fr/faits-divers/malgre-labsence-de-corps-la-nouvelle-zelande-va-prononcer-le-deces-deloi-rolland-18-ans-disparu-en-2020-24-06-2024-W2572J4WSNHH7F4NG2S7VJ573M.php

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwbEs-Xku8Y