The Unlovely Truth

A pair of young sisters went missing in 1975 from a shopping mall in Montgomery County Maryland, a wealthy suburb of Washington D.C. Police had worked the case hard, and it had featured prominently in the local media. Despite the attention and resources given to the investigation, the case went cold. Thirty eight years later, a mislaid witness statement caught a detective’s eye, and that witness, who at the time had been dismissed as a flaky young loser, was suddenly a suspect. Don’t miss “The Last Stone” with special guest Brandon Perron. 

Learn more about Brandon’s work at www.CDITCTraining.com  & www.investigation.us.com

Cases go cold when all leads have been chased as far as possible, and there are no more avenues left where investigators can make progress. But no case is ever completely hopeless. In most cases, someone knows something that can move the case closer to resolution – if they will just come forward.  Larry Phebus was murdered fifty-eight years ago. I’m hoping that someone who hears this podcast holds the key, and contacts police. Help me make that happen.

For more information on this case, check out these resources:

https://www.newspapers.com/clip/13837070/larry-phebus-murder/

https://attorneygeneral.nd.gov/public-safety/cold-cases

https://www.newspapers.com/clip/13837289/larry-phebus/

https://www.newspapers.com/clip/13837206/murder-of-larry-phebus/

 

If you have any information about this case please contact the McKenzie County Sheriff’s Department at 701-444-3654

Business is booming in the true crime genre. But is this growth a good thing? Listen to top content producers from some of your favorite podcasts, tv shows, and the publishing industry discuss the pros and cons of being inundated with true crime all the time. You decide if our national obsession with these stories is healthy, or if we need to look for new ways to spend our time.

There are over 40 million victims of human trafficking across the world. They generate annual profits for their abusers of over 30 billion dollars.  That’s more than the National Football League, Major League Baseball, and the National Basketball Association combined. But the issue of slavery is much more than the statistics that help us quantify its reach.  It’s about the people who are caught up in what is arguably the greatest evil of modern times.

 

If you need help, please call the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 1 (888) 373-7888, or text HELP or INFO to 233733

 

To be an advocate for victims, explore the resources of the following organizations:

Polarisproject.org

Missingkids.org

Ourrescue.org (Operation Underground Railroad)

Deliverfund.org

With tens of thousands of unidentified human remains in police storage across the U.S., officials do not have the resources to clear the backlog of cases. But a group of so-called cyber-sleuths does. Learn how and why they do it, and you may just get the itch to try it yourself.

We all have dreams for our lives. Larissa Sam dreamed big – she was days away from auditioning for the TV show American Idol when she vanished. Police are out of leads to pursue and need fresh information. When you listen and share this episode, you join the Journey for Justice for Larissa. Help her family finally know what happened to the young woman they love so dearly. For more information about Larissa, please access the following sources:

 

https://fox59.com/news/crimetracker/mother-suspects-human-trafficking-connected-to-daughters-disappearance/

http://charleyproject.org/case/larissa-marie-sam

https://www.facebook.com/Bring-Larissa-Sam-home-909497312445343/

https://www.facebook.com/groups/Missing.Indiana

https://www.namus.gov/

https://warinternational.org/

 

If you know anything about the disappearance of Larissa Sam, please reach out to the Missing Persons Branch of the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department 317-327-6160, or 317-262-TIPS if you wish to remain anonymous.

What we don’t know CAN hurt us. Axton Betz-Hamilton didn’t know who her mother really was when she and her dad weren’t looking. Years of financial struggles brought on by identity theft taught her that a person can get away with a lot if no one is watching. They may even cause the people they say they love the most enormous amounts of pain, if it gets them what they want. 

 

If you or someone you know has been a victim of identity theft, you can find resources here: https://www.identitytheft.gov/

Why would an Australian journalist spend a year in America following the case of a black man who had killed a white supremacist? What would he find when he interviewed people who knew them, who loved them, and who hated them? The answers might shock you as much as they did me.

Detectives should pursue justice for every victim with equal diligence. Meet a group from South Central Los Angeles who take their mission to heart, especially when their victim is the son of one of their own.  Why is there so much murder in some communities? This week’s author has some surprising ideas. 

frankbyers.com 

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

Every year in the United States, over 600,000 people go missing according to the website namus.gov. Most are found very quickly, but tens of thousands will remain missing for a year or more.  “The sheer volume of missing and unidentified person cases poses one of the greatest challenges to agencies tasked with resolving these important cases.” This is the story of two of those people, missing now for over 31 years. 

To provide information to authorities, please call:

F Kingsland GBI office 912-729-6198 

Glynn County Police Department 912-554-7800

For more information on Monica and Michael’s case, you can check the following resources:

http://charleyproject.org/case/michael-anthony-bennett

http://charleyproject.org/case/monica-renita-bennett

https://thebrunswicknews.com/news/local_news/sister-searching-for-missing-family/article_88ba7479-545d-5305-a165-ca808a3cd4bd.html

https://craftonmegan.wordpress.com/2019/02/20/michael-anthony-and-monica-renita-bennett/