When someone disappears in the wilderness, the search doesn’t begin with guessing where they might be—it begins with establishing where they were last reliably known to be. In this episode of The Tracker’s Mind, we use a real Rocky Mountain National Park search to explore how time, terrain, weather, intended route, and human behavior shape the opening stages of a search. You’ll learn why protecting the last known point can preserve information that otherwise disappears beneath the boots of searchers. And you’ll learn a simple tracking principle: separate what you know from where you think the missing person went.

Most people walk through an environment noticing objects; a tracker notices changes. In this episode of The Tracker’s Mind, we explore the fundamentals of sign, baseline, disturbance, compression, displacement, and transfer—the clues that reveal what has moved through an area. You’ll learn why good tracking is less about extraordinary eyesight than disciplined observation, patience, and learning what “normal” looks like before deciding what is unusual.

On a warm July night in 2021, 19-year-old Army National Guard recruit Chrys Carvajal stepped out of a Fourth of July party in Chicago’s Belmont Cragin neighborhood and was gunned down in a seemingly random shooting. Federal prosecutors say the triggerman and getaway driver were Milwaukee Kings gang members looking to boost their street cred — one of them, Joseph “Troubles” Matos, has been on the run ever since. With the FBI now offering $50,000 for his capture, this is the story of a senseless murder, a fugitive covered in tattoos that scream his allegiance, and a family still waiting for justice nearly five years later.

Discover the story of Thomas James Holden, the very first criminal placed on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list on March 14, 1950.
This episode examines his leadership of the Holden-Keating gang, his brutal 1949 triple murder of his wife and her two brothers in Chicago, and his prior career of mail train robberies and daring prison escapes.
Essential listening for students of true crime, law enforcement history, and criminal justice, revealing how one man’s flight helped launch the FBI’s iconic Most Wanted program.

In this compelling episode of Cases of the FBI, we examine the federal investigation into Ryan James Wedding, a former Canadian Olympic snowboarder from the 2002 Winter Games who allegedly became the leader of a sophisticated transnational cocaine trafficking organization with ties to the Sinaloa Cartel. FBI investigations uncovered an extensive criminal enterprise spanning Colombia, Mexico, California, and Canada, involving multi-ton drug shipments, money laundering, and multiple alleged murders, culminating in Wedding’s placement on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list with a record $15 million reward. This major FBI operation highlights advanced law enforcement procedures, international cooperation, criminal profiling techniques, and justice system insights into dismantling high-level narco networks, delivering critical takeaways on transnational crime and federal case studies.

In this episode, we examine the record-breaking capture of Samuel Ramirez Jr., added to the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted list on March 10, 2026, for a 2023 double murder and attempted murder in Washington state. Just 73 minutes after the announcement, he was apprehended in Culiacán, Sinaloa, Mexico, shattering the previous 1969 record of over two hours. The discussion analyzes the role of public tips, rapid international coordination, and modern fugitive tracking that made this the fastest capture in the history of the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted program.

In this episode, we examine the remarkable case of KaShawn Nicola Roper, added to the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list on April 14, 2026, for her alleged role in the 2020 murder of 23-year-old Jazmyn Henrion in Kansas City. Just one day later, on April 15, she was arrested during a routine traffic stop in High Springs, Florida, following a surge of public tips triggered by the $1 million reward. The swift capture highlights the effectiveness of federal visibility, community engagement, and the power of rapid public response in resolving long-standing fugitive cases.