Eighteen year old Diana Braungardt was smart, funny, caring and popular. She performed well in school, worked a part time job and had just enrolled in modeling classes as high school graduation approached. Then, she vanished.

After finishing a shift at a local discount department store, Diana clocked out and stepped out into the parking lot. She never made it home and her parents found her car, still sitting in the lot. It appeared to investigators that the high school senior had been abducted before she'd made it to her car.
Over the years, a lot of different possibilities have been suggested.

From a personal assault from someone who knew Diana to a slew of serial killers who have been name dropped but never connected to the case. This year will mark thirty-six years since Diana vanished, far too long to go without answers.

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In this week's episode, we kick of a new year of Trace Evidence by taking a look back at 2022 and answering listener questions about the show, the cases, the host and everything in between! Let's kick off 2023 with a bang and keep the ball rolling. Thank you so much to everyone who submitted questions and continues to support the show. Trace Evidence could not exist without you!

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On a cold winter morning in January of 2017, fifty-eight year old Robert Baron was reported missing from Old Forge, Pennsylvania. A lifelong resident and pillar of the community, Robert owned the highly popular pizza restaurant Ghigiarelli's which has been a borough fixture since the 1920's. 

On the morning of Thursday, January 26th, Robert's son Bobby arrived at the restaurant to find the doors locked, llights off and his father gone. Bobby noted several items out of place and traces of blood inside. When police arrived on the scene they found substantial evidence that a violent crime had occurred inside the restaurant and that the assailant had tried to clean up afterwards.

Three days later, Robert's missing car was found abandoned in an area which had been previously searched. The vehicle was caked with mud and blood was found inside and out. What had initially appeared to investigators as a robbery gone wrong was slowly changing shape into something far more sinister.

Was Robert Baron the victim of a random crime or was he specifically targeted by someone he knew and may have trusted?

Special Q&A Episode Next Week -- Submit your questions to [email protected]

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Seventy-six year old Syble Brumley was a kind, caring and beloved member of her community. A widow for more than twenty-years, she continued living in the home she'd shared with her late husband while attending to her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. Until one April night in 1997 when she mysteriously vanished.

Investigators found obvious signs of foul play; the door to Syble's home had been smashed in and items were in disarray inside. It appeared that the assailant had forced his way in and then, rather than ransacking the house, had searched in specific locations as if there was something in particular he was seeking.

While many wondered if perhaps Syble's disappearance could be chalked up as another unsolved crime happening in the stretch of land between Louisiana and Texas, known as the Dead Zone, or if perhaps she had been targeted by someone she knew and trusted.

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On a bitterly cold winter night in January of 1985, twenty-one year old Leichia M. Reilly left her family home to visit a popular, local nightspot. She never made it home and early the next morning, her parents reported her missing.

Investigators tracked down everyone who had been at the bar that night and found several witnesses who stated that they saw Leichia leaving at approximately 3am in the company of another man, off-duty NY State Trooper Daniel D. Rose. Rose did not report being at the bar that night, nor did he tell investigators he had seen the missing woman.

Rose quickly hired a lawyer, denied leaving with Leichia, denied knowing her and denied being involved in whatever happened to her. Severely lacking evidence, and having never found a body, detectives had nothing to work with and cannot even technically classify it as a homicide, rather than a missing persons case.

Leichia's father, Patrick Reilly, was devoted to finding his daughter and seeing her killer put behind bars. He made a vow that both of these things would happen, but tragically, passed away after thirty years of wondering, searching and hoping. What happened to Leichia that cold January night and what secrets might the former police officer hold about her fate?

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On a cool Wednesday morning in September of 1990, three roadside workers discovered the badly decomposed remains of an unidentified female. Murdered via strangulation, her body was dumped just over a guardrail along I-40 in Hillsborough, North Carolina at the New Hope Road Church exit.

The victim was partially dressed, nude from the waist down other than a pair of white, anklet socks with clean bottoms. A pink sweater displaying an image of three cartoon bunnies was partially wrapped around her neck. She wore several pieces of costume jewelry, including a ring which may have been home made.

For more than thirty years the identity of the woman known as New Hope Jane Doe has remained a mystery, as has that of her killer. Perhaps someone out there might recognize her, perhaps you.

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On a cold, November afternoon in 1996, twenty-nine year old Richard Bendele left his mother's home to do a little hunting where his recently deceased father used to take him. Hours later, Richard called his mother in a panic. He couldn't get his truck started and due to the darkness, he couldn't give specific directions to where he was. Planning to mark the road, to make finding him easier, Richard said he would call back, but he never did.

The next morning, investigators discovered his truck abandoned miles north of where they'd thought he had been. The scene itself was bizarre; a window was smashed out, the battery was broken and tilted upside down and Richard had left everything behind: his phone, his gun and his coat.

As massive searches were launched over the course of the next week, the discovery of several items belonging to Richard began making investigators wonder if, perhaps, Richard wasn't lost at all but actually the victim of a sinister trap.

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Twenty-seven year old mother of three, Kelly Wright Sims was heading out for a night on the town. Alongside her boyfriend, Sims planned to participate in a darts tournament at a local bar. Sometime after arriving, however, the couple argued and split up, going their separate ways.

Kelly ended up meeting with different friends, had a few drinks and took a trip. When pulling back into town, she requested to be dropped off so she could walk over to the Rendezvous Tavern to shoot a few games of pool. She has never been seen again.

While investigators believed her disappearance to be an isolated crime, another young woman would go missing less than two weeks later. With both cases growing cold, fears of a serial killer were stirred up when a third woman missing and was later found murdered. Was Kelly another victim of this killer, or was it possible that she may have been targeted by someone much closer to home?

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Unfound 

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In Episode 129, Trace Evidence features the case of the Fort Myers 8. In March of 2007, the skeletal remains of 8 unidentified men were found in a wooded lot in southwest, Florida. Investigators managed to identify three of the victims, but the remaining names were unknown.

A few years earlier, in nearby Charlotte County, investigators discovered the remains of several men. Some of the bodies were found hundreds of feet apart, others were nearly a mile away. Ultimately police arrested and charged Daniel Conahan Jr with one of the murders -- there was not enough evidence to link him to all.

***UPDATE***

In June of 2021, investigators working the "Hog Trail Murders," announced they had positively identified John Doe Number 1 as being Gerald "Jerry" Lombard who had vanished from Lowell, MA in 1991.

In September of 2022, investigators from Fort Myers announced that through the use of genetic genealogy, they had successfully identified the fourth victim in the Fort Myers 8 case. He has been identified as thirty year old Robert Ronald "Bobbie" Soden.

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Thirty-six year old Paresh Patel was on top of the world. Smart, rich and powerful, Patel was the owner of three separate clubs on Austin's famous Sixth Street. Outside of his own clubs, Patel was tied into several others run by friends and business associates. Many loved Paresh and called him a great person and a smart businessman; others believed he was corrupt and went out of his way to try and cut the legs out from under the competition.

On the afternoon of Monday, September 25th, 2000, Paresh stopped by his club, the Metro, to pick up cash from the weekend's profits. Leaving with $15,000 in his hand, Paresh was set to stop at Azucar, another club he owned just down the street. Driving away in his Lexus SUV, Paresh was never seen alive again.

Investigators located his abandoned vehicle the next day, with the windows rolled down and the keys in the ignition but there was no sign of Paresh, nor the money he was carrying. While some believed he had been the victim of a random robbery, others argued that perhaps his own business associates decided to cut him out -- literally.

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