Trace Evidence

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2021 Wrap Up and Listener Submitted Q&A!


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Music Courtesy of: "Lost Time" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/


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On August 7th, 1962, nine year old Paula Ream passed away following complications from Cerebral Palsy. Her mother, father and three sisters were devasted by her death and struggled to make it through their grief and pain. On a quiet afternoon, the child was laid to rest beneath a simple stone in Riverside Burial Park in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. There she remained for forty-eight years. Then the unthinkable happened.

In early August of 2010, long after Paula's parents had been laid to rest beside her, an unknown figure crept into the cemetery. Under the cover of darkness, they broke through the earth, cracked open the vault and stole the small casket containing Paula's remains. Despite the shocking and grisly nature of the crime, investigators had few leads to follow.

Originally thought to have been a gruesome prank pulled off by teenagers on Friday the 13th, the investigation would soon point towards practitioners of a ritualistic religion; perhaps voodoo or Palo Mayombe. Despite their efforts to identify the perpetrator and recover Paula's remains, the case quickly grew cold and more than a decade later the answers remain undiscovered.

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Music Courtesy of: "Lost Time" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

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Twenty year old Chad Langford had been working as a Military Police officer at the Redstone Arsenal, just outside Huntsville, Alabama. A bright, driven and accomplished soldier, Chad was planning to re-enlist when his term of service ended but he'd never get that chance.

On Thursday, March 12th, 1992, Chad radioed that he was investigating a stalled vehicle at the base. Several minutes later, when they were unable to get a response from Chad, all MPs were directed to track him down. At 8:20pm, Chad was found lying on the ground near his cruisers, bleeding from a gunshot wound to the head. He passed away 90 minutes later.

Despite the fact that Chad had been found with his legs bound, his hat shoved into his mouth, a wire around his neck and handcuffs attached to his left wrist, the Army would rule less than forty-eight hours later that the soldier had died as the result of suicide.

Arguing against this, Chad's family pointed towards conflicting evidence and Chad's fears that his life was in danger. Chad had told loved ones he was working as an undercover officer and worried his identity would be revealed. The Army claimed to have no knowledge of Chad's covert work, alledging that he had made it all up to sound more important. Despite the inability to conclusively prove he fired his gun, a mysterious vehicle stopped near the scene and countless inaccuracies in their report, the Army refuses to change their ruling or consider any other evidence.

Was Chad killed in the line of duty, or had he constructed an elaborate suicide plan in order to make it appear as though he had been the victim of a homicide?

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Music Courtesy of: "Lost Time" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Sources: https://www.trace-evidence.com/chad-langford

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Thirty-nine year old Star Boomer was turning over a new leaf. In the midst of a divorce, she was studying to obtain her GED to put herself on the path to fulfilling her dream of opening her own business. She wanted, more than anything, to be able to provide a good and happy life for her young son, but a casual stop at a local bar would turn deadly.

On the afternoon of February 23rd, 1999, Star walked into Uncle Mike's, a local dive bar in Kansas City, Kansas. Observing an argument between an apparent couple, Star stepped in to protect the woman. Moments later, she was assaulted by the man's friend before he hustled out the back door.

Sometime later, Star's attacker returned and in full view of more than a dozen witnesses, Star was beaten unconscious before being dragged out to a waiting car. She was never seen alive again. Based on witness testimony, two men were charged with second degree murder but the charges would be dropped when not one of the witnesses was willing to testify as to who attacked Star nor what they did with her afterwards.

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Music Courtesy of: "Lost Time" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Sources: https://www.trace-evidence.com/star-boomer

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Twenty-one year old Bruce Falconer had finally gotten his life on track. Enlisting in the Marine Corps at the age of sixteen, Bruce returned home to his native North Dakota on leave. Assigned to a new post in Arizona, Bruce was excited for his military future when suddenly he and his childhood best friend, Timothy Jewell, mysteriously vanished on a cold, February night in 1981.

In addition to Bruce's case, this episode also touches on the underpublicized disappearances of three women: Rebecca Reid from Eugene, OR in 1997, Robin Ellis from Philadelphia, PA in 2003 and Kathleen Haley from Newport News, VA in September of 2012.

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Music Courtesy of: "Lost Time" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Sources: https://www.trace-evidence.com/bruce-falconer

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Teresa Marie Gilcrease walked out of an Alexandria, LA bar with an unknown man and was never seen alive again. Five hours later her body was found off a rural road southwest of town; she had been stabbed and run over. Early on, investigators received a deluge of tips but by year's end, the calls were drying up.

At the same time, a task force operating in Baton Rouge was back on the hunt for a serial killer after the arrest of Derrick Todd Lee showed he was not the only monster stalking the streets. Could Teresa's murder be connected to these crimes or did the answer lie somewhere closer to home?

Following up on a new tip, detectives turned their attention towards a Louisiana State Trooper. Their investigation would dig deep into the man's life in order to determine if the officer might be moonlighting as a brutal killer or if, perhaps, their unknown suspect might be someone who had disappeared without leaving any evidence to his identity.

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Music Courtesy of: "Lost Time" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Sources: https://www.trace-evidence.com/teresa-gilcrease

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June, 2002 - At the tail end of a month long trip to visit family in Louisiana, forty-four year old Teresa Marie Gilcrease went missing. She had driven a friend of her daughter's home that night, but never made it back to her parents home in the town of Boyce. The next morning, as her family began trying to track down their missing daughter, sister and mother, investigators with the Rapides Parish Sheriff's Office announced they had found the body of a woman along a rural stretch of road on the outskirts of nearby Alexandria.

By mid-day, the family contacted the Sheriff's office who, at that time, confirmed their belief that the murder victim they'd discovered was Teresa. She had been killed in a grisly fashion with her assailant stabbing her multiple times. He then proceeded to drive his vehicle over her body multiple times before disappearing into the early morning darkness.

At first, investigators believed there had to be some personal connection between Teresa and her killer. However, at the case developed, they began considering the possibility that the crime itself had been random and may have been committed by someone passing through Alexandria. This however opened the door to a dark consideration: was it possible that the yet unidentified serial killer plaguing the streets of Baton Rouge may have decided to take a two hour drive north in search of his next victim?

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Music Courtesy of: "Lost Time" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Sources: https://www.trace-evidence.com/teresa-gilcrease

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On Monday, October 14th, 1996, forty-two year old Ylva Hagner was working late at her Belmont, California office. Waving goodbye to her boss at 9:30 this would be the last time anyone saw the Swedish National alive. Before sunrise the next day, she would mysteriously vanish.

Thirty-six hours later, Ylva was reported missing. Two days after that, police found her abandoned car less than a mile south of her office. There was no trace of Ylva, no sign of a struggle, nothing to suggest a crime had even been committed. Faced with a stunning lack of evidence, investigators almost immediately began hitting dead ends.

Ylva's friends rallied, building websites and organizing a memorial dedication to keep her name alive. While detectives initially believed Ylva had to have been the victim of a random crime of opportunity, close friends began wondering if perhaps someone who claimed to want to find Ylva may in fact have been responsible for her disappearance in the first place.

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Music Courtesy of: "Lost Time" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Sources: https://www.trace-evidence.com/ylva-hagner

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While children from coast to coast donned masks of ghosts and monsters for a night of trick or treating, a real life monster was walking the streets of Fort Dodge, Iowa. Arriving at the home of sixty-nine year old Marvin Brandland, the man pulled a pillow case over his head and tucked a gun into his waistband.

Believing the man was a friend pranking them for the holiday, Marvin and his wife Ethel didn't take him seriously. The hooded man demanded to be led into the basement where the Brandland's kept a secret safe. Marvin fought back, reaching for the gun when a shot rang out and the man burst through the front door moments later, disappearing into the night.

While investigators believed the crime was likely random, a robbery gone wrong, members of Marvin's family began to think that they knew who the killer was and he was not a stranger.

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Music Courtesy of: "Lost Time" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Sources: https://www.trace-evidence.com/marvin-brandland

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While most people were celebrating Valentine's day with the one they love, forty-one year old Maureen Fields was scared for her life. Throughout her day at work, she told multiple co-workers and customers that she was afraid something bad would happen, and if it did, her husband, Paul, would be responsible. Less than twenty-four hours later Maureen mysteriously vanished.

Her car was found abandoned in the desert near Death Valley. A series of confusing pieces of evidence left investigators to wonder if perhaps her husband had made true on her words of warning. Focusing in on Paul, the investigation struggled to accumulate enough to file charges.

Then, after six long years, detectives got a hit on DNA found inside Maureen's car. To their surprise, it did not belong to her husband but to a convicted sex offender who made frequent trips to Maureen's town. Was this truly a random crime with no involvement from her husband or was there a connection between Paul Fields and Keith Wayne Holmes?

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Music Courtesy of: "Lost Time" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Sources: https://www.trace-evidence.com/maureen-fields

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