Trace Evidence

All of his life Stephen Sandlin wanted to be a police officer. Growing up the son of a cop, Stephen looked up to his father and wanted to follow in his footsteps. At the age of twenty-one one Stephen realized his dream, but less than two months later, he would be violent killed in the line of duty.

On the evening of Saturday, May 7th, 1988, Officer Sandlin was found lying in a pool of blood on the floor of the Mountainair, NM police department, the victim of a single gunshot wound to the head. Initially investigators believed the wound might have been self-inflicted, but multiple investigations would raise a series of disturbing questions.

Was Stephen Sandlin's murder related to a recent drug bust? Was it connected to an investigation into accusations made against the department? Or was Stephen targeted by more than one individual in an attempt to cover up illegal activities possibly involving drug trafficking and local officials?

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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/stephen-sandlin

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Thirty-five year old Regina Brown put her youngest child on a plan to Texas, to stay with her family. She was setting a plan in motion, one which would allow her follow her child, to escape the constant fear and worry she suffered under. Moments later, Regina stepped out of the airport and vanished.

Over the next thirty-four years the investigation would stop and start as phone calls initiated a massive search, court testimony indicated a world of pain and horror for the young mother of three and the discovery of new evidence reinvigorated the search for justice.

Regina Brown has been missing for nearly as many years as she was known to be alive and her children are now older than she was when she vanished in 1987. Many questions remain, but perhaps the most pertinent are what became of Regina Brown and who may have been responsible for her disappearance?

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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/regina

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In the Winter of 1986 the world was captivated by the disappearance of Danish flight attendant Helle Crafts. Police would eventually arrest and charge her husband, pilot Richard Crafts for her grisly murder in what became known as the "Wood Chipper Murder." However, while all eyes were fixed on the Crafts, an eerily similar case was developing just down the road.

Thirty-five year old Regina Brown mysteriously vanished after being seen at New York's LaGuardia airport. Much like Helle Crafts, she too was a flight attendant and mother of three married to a pilot. She lived less than three miles from the Crafts, in Newtown, Connecticut, and vanished just four months after Helle.

Yet there were no major headlines for Regina, without the headline stealing aspects of a gruesome crime and an arrest, few articles were dedicated to her disappearance. When the Newtown Police began investigating they never imagined what they'd uncover; a life lived in fear, a woman subjected to brutal domestic violence and an estranged husband with a bizarre list of accusations against his missing wife.

Regina had set a plan into motion, one which would allow her to finally escape from the nightmare in which she lived. However, on March 26th, 1987, as she was making her final preparations someone got to her before she could get away. This is her story.

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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/regina

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In the Fall of 1978, twenty-five year old Russell Bean mysteriously vanished from a small New Hampshire town. He left behind a wife, children, siblings and a mother. For a long, dark decade, Russell's fate remained a mystery until a dramatic confession changed everything.

In early March of 1988, a woman went to the police and relayed a story told by her father less than a week before his death. Her story suggested the location of a body and when police arrived they were shocked to discover Russell Bean had never left New Hampshire, but had been buried right beneath their noses.

The land belonged to Robert Chambers, a long-time resident, part-time police chief, Russell's former best friend and the man his wife next married. Soon the investigation was swallowed into a sensational chaos of rumors telling of a bizarre love triangle, anger, jealousy and betrayal. It was up to investigators to determine fact from fiction, myth from reality, in hopes of uncovering just who killed Russell Bean and who exactly knew where to find him for all those years?

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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/bean

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James William "Bill" Wood Kaidena Lozelle "Kay" Wood had just celebrated their third wedding anniversary. Each had lived long, good lives building their own families and only united them when Bill was 77 and Kay was 60. For three long years they were in love and spent time with their families and enjoying their hobbies of antiquing and country music.

Just two weeks later a massive fire broke out at the home they shared together. When firefighters were able to sift through the rubble they discovered Bill's body, but his cause of death was not what they had expected. Bill had been shot prior to the fire, which is believed to have been arson. What became of Kay, no one knew for sure as she mysteriously vanished.

Over the course of the next ten years investigators would work hard to determine who had been responsible and why they had targeted the elderly couple. Finding their missing truck was the first major break, which lead to a description of a person of interest. The question was, could they identify him and track him down or would the case grow stagnant?

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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/woods

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Due to laryngitis, this is a previously recorded Patreon exclusive episode. Famed author Edgar Allan Poe was a master of mystery and fear. He wrote suspense stories, beautiful poems and created the modern detective story along the way. His mysteries were compelling and captivating, but perhaps none so much as the circumstances surrounding his death.

In today's episode we examine Poe's life, love, loss and death trying to get to the heart of what led to one of the world's greatest writers dying in such a bizarre and confusing fashion.


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

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In this week's conclusion we pick up with investigators turning their attention towards known killers who were active in Florida during the time that Mary Opitz vanished. After a brutal and violent spree ending with his death, Christopher Wilder becomes a prime focus for police and the possibility of his involvement is weighed.

Forty years later, questions remain without answers. Are the disappearance of Mary Opitz and the murder of Mary Hare directly linked, or could there have been two separate but similar crimes committed from out of the same parking lot. In Part 2 we delve into all of the theories surrounding these cases and how one may tie into the other.

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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/mary-opitz

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It was a chilly Friday night, by Florida standards, when seventeen year old Mary Opitz took a trip to the Edison Mall with her mother and brother. Less than an hour later she would mysteriously vanish from the parking lot, leaving no trace behind. Investigators at the time believed she had runaway, and would soon return.

One month later, when eighteen year old Mary Hare vanished from the same parking lot, and nearly the same parking space, it became clear that something more sinister was at play. The vital hours lost in the early days of Mary Opitz's disappearance may have been just the space the assailant needed to strike again.

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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/mary-opitz

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Seventy-one year old Shirley McKeown left home early on the morning of Saturday, August 24th, 2002. Her destination was just seven miles across town, her daughter's new house, where painters were working. It should have been a quick trip, but Shirley never arrived.

Within twenty-four hours she was reported missing, but she had seemingly vanished without a trace. It wouldn't be until ten days later when her car was found that investigators knew something terrible had happened.

The backseat was soaked in blood, enough to show that someone had been mortally wounded. While detectives would be lead towards two persons of interest Shirley's fate, and location, have never been discovered.

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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/shirley-mckeown

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Four high school friends decide to a Friday afternoon doing some last minute Christmas shopping. Kenneth Dungee, Levern Allen III, Darius Bannerman and Kenneth Newkirk were excited about the 90 minute trip, never imagining that only three of them would make it home.

Driving along I-40, an unknown man emerged in a blue, Monte Carlo. After aggressively tailgating the teens, he began ramming their car. A fun outing quickly became a nightmarish fight for survival until, finally, the assailant succeeded in forcing them off the road where the car flipped down an embankment.

Kenneth Dungee was dead and Levern Allen had his leg amputated while Darius Bannerman and Kenneth Newkirk survived with minor injuries. The killer then stopped, surveying the carnage, before speeding off into the unknown.

Had this been a random incident of road rage gone out of control or was the white assailant driven by racism as he targeted the four black teens?

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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/i40

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