October 24, 1998. Brooklyn, New York. 28-year old Kristine Kupka, who happens to be five months’ pregnant, is seen leaving her residence alongside the father of her child, Darshanand “Rudy” Persaud. Kristine never returns, but even though Rudy claims that he took her to a shopping mall and dropped her off a few blocks from her home, his story cannot be corroborated. It turns out that Rudy was married to another woman and had asked Kristine to get an abortion for fear that the revelation about her pregnancy would ruin his life. Even though a cloud of suspicion surrounds Rudy, there is no evidence to implicate him in Kristine’s disappearance and no trace of her is ever found. On this week’s episode of “The Trail Went Cold”, we explore a missing persons case involving a pregnant woman which has gone unsolved for over 26 years.

Join us on Saturday, May 10 at 8:00pm ET for an online streaming marathon where we will be watching classic segments from “Unsolved Mysteries”. You can enter our screening room by clicking on this link.

Additional Reading:

https://charleyproject.org/case/kristine-kupka

https://nymag.com/nymetro/news/crimelaw/features/1032/

https://www.kristinekupka.com/

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/kristines-story/

https://www.nytimes.com/1998/10/31/nyregion/pregnant-honor-student-is-missing-family-says.html

https://nypost.com/1999/01/03/missing-womans-ex-love-faced-ostracism-report/

https://www.nydailynews.com/2010/03/06/a-break-in-kristine-kupka-case-is-a-ray-of-hope-for-sister-of-missing-college-student/

https://www.wtsp.com/article/home/tampa-dentist-a-suspect-in-12-year-old-cold-case/67-390710770

https://www.newspapers.com/image/522621310/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/479369403/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/410123826

"The Trail Went Cold" will be appearing at the True Crime Podcast Festival, taking place at the Doubletree by Hilton Hotel Boston North Shore in Boston, Massachusetts on July 18-20, 2025. To get a 20 % discount on tickets, please use our specialized promo code, “ROBIN20”, by visiting https://www.truecrimepodcastfestival.com/. 

“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 produced and edited by Magill Foote.

All music is composed by Vince Nitro.