October 16, 1987. Indiana, Pennsylvania. Jack Davis Jr., a 20-year old sophomore at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, spends the night partying and drinking with members of his fraternity, but he never returns to his apartment. Five days later, Jack’s body is found at the bottom of an exterior stairwell on the university’s campus and the county coroner concludes that Jack passed out there while intoxicated and choked to death on his own vomit. However, there are a number of discrepancies which make Jack’s family suspect that his body was placed in the stairwell after he died. When the investigation is reopened and Jack’s body is exhumed, a number of unexplained fractures are discovered on his skull. Was Jack Davis Jr. the victim of an accidental death or did some sort of cover-up take place to conceal what really happened to him? For our first new episode of 2021, “The Trail Went Cold” explores the unexplained death of a university student which has yet to find conclusive answers after three decades.

Additional Reading:

http://unsolved.com/gallery/jack-davis-jr

“Justice Wanted: The Kid in the University Stairwell” by Marlene Gentilcore

https://unsolvedmysteries.fandom.com/wiki/Jack_Davis_Jr.

https://www.newspapers.com/image/33568754/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/33650609/

https://web.archive.org/web/20131224081638/http://www.indianagazette.com/news/indiana-news/new-book-tries-to-unravel-mystery-of-iup-students-1987-death,115043/

“The Trail Went Cold” is on Patreon! Visit www.patreon.com/thetrailwentcold to become a patron and gain access to our exclusive bonus content.

“The Trail Went Cold” is going to be appearing on podcast row at “Crimecon 2021: Austin” at the Fairmont Hotel in Austin, Texas on June 2-4, 2021, as well as “Crimecon UK” at the Leonardo Royal Hotel & Spa in London on June 12-13, 2021. To get a 10 % discount on the purchase of tickets to either event, please use our specialized promo code, “COLD21”, by visiting https://www.crimecon.com/CC21 or https://www.crimecon.co.uk.

“The Trail Went Cold” is now doing a weekly livestream show on GetVokl every Thursday from 7:00-8:00 PM ET as part of their “True Crime Thursday” line-up. For more information, please visit their website.

The Trail Went Cold is produced and edited by Magill Foote.

All music is composed by Vince Nitro.