December 26, 1983. Dallas, Texas. Two-year old Amber Crum is reported missing after James Britt Monroe, the live-in boyfriend of Amber’s mother, Stephanie Hughes, informs police that Amber was abducted from his parked pick-up truck while he was inside a grocery store. Weeks later, Britt is arrested on suspicion of murder after Stephanie implicates him in Amber’s death. However, when Stephanie testifies during a preliminary hearing, she recants her original story, so Britt is released from custody and a grand jury declines to indict him due to lack of evidence. In 2007, a convicted child murderer named David Elliott Penton is looked at as a person of interest in Amber’s disappearance, but there is no evidence to implicate him. Was Amber actually the victim of a stranger abduction? Or was someone close to her responsible for her disappearance? On this week’s episode of “The Trail Went Cold”, we explore a controversial missing children’s case which has gone without answers for 40 years. Special thanks to listener Jana Goetz for narrating the opening of this episode.

If you have any information about this case, please contact the Dallas Police Department at (214) 670-4426.

Additional Reading:

https://charleyproject.org/case/amber-nicole-crum

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

https://rcccmcc.com/2019/08/11/25-txf-amber-nicole-crum/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/612293968/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/635481365/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/636825769/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/362885757/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/635327431/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/636618595/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/635327584/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/636621155/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/638092936/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/638543496/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/590301319/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/589235846/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/591052589/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Elliott_Penton

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

All music is composed by Vince Nitro.