Unsolved: A true crime podcast

Police investigate Teri Mueller’s husband, Joe, who has a long criminal record and whom police suspect may have been involved in the death of his son from his first marriage. His account of the events surrounding Michelle’s death don’t match Jan’s and the results of his polygraph are inconclusive, but police can never find the evidence to tie him to the crime.

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Tipster Sharon Blasing gives police some of her ex-husband James Dunn’s books, which discuss black magic and the practice of baptizing Satanists with water in which un-baptized children have drowned. Police eliminate Dunn as a suspect in Michelle’s death when they realize he was in jail at the time of her disappearance, but wonder if he was involved in the deaths of 19-year-old high school sweethearts Timothy Hack and Kelly Drew, who disappeared the year before Michelle. Flashback to a point earlier in the investigation into Michelle’s disappearance, when police suspected her mother could be involved.

For more information on the true crime series Unsolved: A murder mystery podcast, visit http://usatoday.com/unsolved.

For more reporting on cold cases, unsolved cases and true crime detectives, as well as additional true crime stories and investigative journalism visit witness.usatoday.com. Crime reporter and investigative reporter Gina Barton is also host of Untested: A true crime podcast, in which Annie Harrison joins the rank of true crime detectives as she solves the cold case of a possible serial rapist. Subscribe to Untested: A true crime podcast at https://art19.com/shows/untested

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Private investigator Norbert Kurczewski hires a police artist to come up with a sketch of the couple who was with the little girl in the Black Earth Café. One of the waitresses is hypnotized, but she can’t come up with any additional information about them. Teri Mueller tells Kurczewski that shortly after she opened the door for Michelle, she saw the little girl in the back seat of a white car. A woman named Sharon Blasing tells police the man in the sketch resembles her ex-husband.

For more information on the true crime series Unsolved: A murder mystery podcast, visit http://usatoday.com/unsolved.

For more reporting on cold cases, unsolved cases and true crime detectives, as well as additional true crime stories and investigative journalism visit witness.usatoday.com. Crime reporter and investigative reporter Gina Barton is also host of Untested: A true crime podcast, in which Annie Harrison joins the rank of true crime detectives as she solves the cold case of a possible serial rapist. Subscribe to Untested: A true crime podcast at https://art19.com/shows/untested

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Jan Manders can’t accept the finding that her daughter’s death was an accident. She walks away on her daughter Jennifer’s fifth birthday and declines into substance abuse and mental illness. Jennifer and her older brother, Christopher, are pretty much left to raise themselves. Jan hires a private detective, Norbert Kurczewski, to investigate Michelle’s disappearance. Kurczewski tracks down a waitress and several patrons at a restaurant in Black Earth, about 70 miles away, who say they saw Michelle there during the time she was missing.

For more information on the true crime series Unsolved: A murder mystery podcast, visit http://usatoday.com/unsolved.

For more reporting on cold cases, unsolved cases and true crime detectives, as well as additional true crime stories and investigative journalism visit witness.usatoday.com. Crime reporter and investigative reporter Gina Barton is also host of Untested: A true crime podcast, in which Annie Harrison joins the rank of true crime detectives as she solves the cold case of a possible serial rapist. Subscribe to Untested: A true crime podcast at https://art19.com/shows/untested

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

A couple of months before Michelle Manders disappeared, her mother Jan befriended a woman named Teri Mueller. Teri stayed at the Manders’ house one night when her husband failed to pick her up at 10 p.m. The next morning, both she and Michelle were gone. Two and a half weeks after Michelle disappeared, Teri tells police she opened the door for Michelle that night. They base their classification of accidental death largely on her statement, even though she has an intellectual disability and suffers from schizophrenia that sometimes causes delusions.

For more information on the true crime series Unsolved: A murder mystery podcast, visit http://usatoday.com/unsolved.

For more reporting on cold cases, unsolved cases and true crime detectives, as well as additional true crime stories and investigative journalism visit witness.usatoday.com. Crime reporter and investigative reporter Gina Barton is also host of Untested: A true crime podcast, in which Annie Harrison joins the rank of true crime detectives as she solves the cold case of a possible serial rapist. Subscribe to Untested: A true crime podcast at https://art19.com/shows/untested

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Watertown police investigate Michelle’s death on their own for 24 hours and find her mother’s purse about a block away. Police and her family search for the free-spirited little girl. Meanwhile, Michelle’s 4-year-old sister Jennifer tells them that on the night Michelle disappeared, a man came into their bedroom.

For more information on the true crime series Unsolved: A murder mystery podcast, visit http://usatoday.com/unsolved.

For more reporting on cold cases, unsolved cases and true crime detectives, as well as additional true crime stories and investigative journalism visit witness.usatoday.com. Crime reporter and investigative reporter Gina Barton is also host of Untested: A true crime podcast, in which Annie Harrison joins the rank of true crime detectives as she solves the cold case of a possible serial rapist. Subscribe to Untested: A true crime podcast at https://art19.com/shows/untested

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Two-and-a-half-year-old Michelle Manders disappears from her Watertown home in the middle of the night in October 1981. About three weeks later, her body is found in the Rock River, which winds through town.

Hers was the fifth in a series of strange disappearances and deaths in Jefferson County over a seven-year period. At first, police suspect she was abducted. But after her body is found, officials deem it an accidental drowning.

The district attorney at the time doubts that conclusion, and a review by the Journal Sentinel reveals shortcomings in the investigation.

For more information on the true crime series Unsolved: A murder mystery podcast, visit http://usatoday.com/unsolved.

For more reporting on cold cases, unsolved cases and true crime detectives, as well as additional true crime stories and investigative journalism visit witness.usatoday.com. Crime reporter and investigative reporter Gina Barton is also host of Untested: A true crime podcast, in which Annie Harrison joins the rank of true crime detectives as she solves the cold case of a possible serial rapist. Subscribe to Untested: A true crime podcast at https://art19.com/shows/untested

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Coming Aug. 30: Authorities quickly ruled the death of 2 ½-year-old Michelle Manders an accident. But there were shortcomings in the investigation. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel investigates: Did Michelle wander off in the middle of the night? Or was she kidnapped?

For more information on the true crime series Unsolved: A murder mystery podcast, visit http://usatoday.com/unsolved.

For more reporting on cold cases, unsolved cases and true crime detectives, as well as additional true crime stories and investigative journalism visit witness.usatoday.com. Crime reporter and investigative reporter Gina Barton is also host of Untested: A true crime podcast, in which Annie Harrison joins the rank of true crime detectives as she solves the cold case of a possible serial rapist. Subscribe to Untested: A true crime podcast at https://art19.com/shows/untested

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

A new detective takes over the John Zera homicide investigation and discovers a serial killer with Wisconsin ties.

For more information on the true crime series Unsolved: A murder mystery podcast, visit http://usatoday.com/unsolved.

For more reporting on cold cases, unsolved cases and true crime detectives, as well as additional true crime stories and investigative journalism visit witness.usatoday.com. Crime reporter and investigative reporter Gina Barton is also host of Untested: A true crime podcast, in which Annie Harrison joins the rank of true crime detectives as she solves the cold case of a possible serial rapist. Subscribe to Untested: A true crime podcast at https://art19.com/shows/untested

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.