15 years ago to the day of this episode's release, 29-year old Toni Lee Sharpless drove away from a party in the early morning hours of Sunday, August 23 and hasn't been seen since.

Toni was an intelligent, driven woman who also struggled with bipolar disorder. On the night of her disappearance she was spending a rare night out with an old friend and all was well until things took a turn.

Toni may have been having a manic episode on the night she vanished. In today's episode, join returning guest Lulu and I as we dive into the events surrounding her disappearance, including several intriguing twists that lead to a variety of possibilities.

If you have any information about the disappearance of Toni Sharpless:

• West Brandywine Police Department 610-380-8201
• Lower Merion Township Police Department 610-649-1000

Toni's car is also missing: A Black four-door 2002 Pontiac Grand Prix GT with tinted windows and the Pennsylvania license plate number DND7772

If you or someone you know is struggling with bipolar disorder, help is available. Consider visiting the Depression and Bipolar Disorder Alliance: https://www.dbsalliance.org/

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One Minute and Forty-Three Seconds is dedicated to my number one fan. Thank you, Dad. I love you, and I miss you. 

Jesse Ross had so much going for him. A 19-year-old sophomore at the University of Missouri at Kansas City, he was headed to Chicago for the second time to take part in a model United Nations program. But when Jesse got up and walked out of the conference room at about 2:30 AM during a break for a mock emergency meeting, a real-life disaster was in the making. 

Alarms were raised the next day when it came time for fellow students to head back to Kansas City and Jesse was nowhere to be found. Police were eventually called, along with Jesse's parents, and an investigation was launched, but in the 18 years since Jesse walked out of that conference room, not a trace of him has been found. 

What happened to Jesse that chilly November night? Did he, under the influence of alcohol, end up in the river, his body washed away forever? Did he encounter a nefarious person or persons upon exiting the hotel? Or did something happen to Jesse within the premises, the evidence being covered up?

Returning guest Joann Li is back--join us as we talk through the details and speculate about what could have happened to Jesse. 

If you have any information on the disappearance of Jesse Ross, contact the Chicago Police Department at 312-744-8266.

To support the search for Jesse, visit http://www.findjesseross.com

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Check out The Trail Went Cold podcast where you get your podcasts and here: http://www.trailwentcold.com

One Minute and Forty-Three Seconds is dedicated to my number one fan. Thank you, Dad. I love you, and I miss you.

31-year-old Joan Risch was educated, successful, and by all accounts a loving wife and mother. She seemed to have everything together. But sometimes things are not always as they seem. 

Something sinister happened to Joan on the afternoon of October 24, 1961. Her young daughter stumbled upon a troubling scene, and investigation would reveal puzzling clues including some strange items in the trash, a questionable collection of library books, and some sightings of a woman thought to be Joan in distress. 

Today, join me for a special episode of the podcast featuring my one and only sister, Erin. Erin and I rewind the clock back 63 years to try and make sense of one of history's most baffling cases, and there is no shortage of theories. 

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One Minute and Forty-Three Seconds is dedicated to my number one fan. Thank you, Dad. I love you, and I miss you. 

A tragic suicide in a motel bathroom, a man on a beach in Ireland, and the victim of a violent crime in a dark alleyway in Chicago--what do they all share in common? The fact that the deceased in each case has sadly not been identified. 

As of 2023, there were around 14,000 unidentified remains in the United States alone--all people with pasts, with names, with stories waiting to be told. 

In today's episode, Amber, Elaine and I highlight three compelling cases of John/Jane Does--join us as we try to pick apart each timeline in an effort to make sense of the puzzle, in hopes that one day, these three unknown individuals will get their names back.

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One Minute and Forty-Three Seconds is dedicated to my number one fan. Thank you, Dad. I love you, and I miss you. 

Two women named Mary Morris, both in the Houston, Texas area are murdered in a violent way--both of their bodies being found in their cars. They share similar physical features. And these events while separate, occur within four days of each other.

Mary Lou Henderson Morris left for work on the morning of October 12, 2000 as she typically did. For reasons unknown, she never showed up at work. It wasn't until her husband called her place of employment that he found out she had never arrived, and her body would later be found in her car in a rural area. The vehicle burned a fire so hot that parts of the engine and the tires melted.

Mary McGinnis Morris had a few more issues going on in her life that were easier to pinpoint. By some accounts, her marriage was on the rocks, and there was a coworker that was causing some trouble for Mary at her job as a nurse practicioner. She would be found dead in her own car with a single gunshot wound to the head.

Opinions are divided on this case--was this a case of mistaken identity--a hit gone wrong? Or is it simply a coincidence that two women of the same name were killed near the fourth largest city in the United States? 

Join returning guest Elaine Erickson and I as we lay out the many confounding details of this case and explore a variety of angles in these tragic murders. Coincidence or correlation? Listen and decide for yourself.

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One Minute and Forty-Three Seconds is dedicated to my number one fan. Thank you, Dad. I love you, and I miss you. 

It was September 11, 2001 in New York City. Americans everywhere woke up that Tuesday morning and went about their day. It was business as usual for the thousands of New Yorkers who made their way into lower Manattan to go to work at the World Trade Center. 

Then, as we all know, the world changed.

Between the purposeful attacks on the two towers, the Pentagon, and the downed flight in Pennsylvania, 2,977 lives were officially claimed that day to terrorism. 

But as the smoke continued to billow in lower Manhattan, that fateful day would see another victim just before midnight. Henryk Siwiak, a Polish immigrant living in Queens, was trying to build a better life back home for his family. He worked any job he could find tirelessly, and sent every penny he earned back to Poland so his wife and two children could live a better life. 

Henryk's dreams of a better future were stolen from him  the night of September 11, 2001 while he was on his way to a prospective job in a neighborhood unfamiliar to him.  Gunshots rang out, but Henryk was dead before rescue workers could arrive on the scene.

Join me for this episode as I tell the story of Henryk Siwiak: A man who survived the worst terrorist attack in American history only to meet a senseless death just 14 hours later. Who killed him, and why?

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Note: Clips from this episode contain audio from "The Today Show" (1952-Present) on NBC.

One Minute and Forty-Three Seconds is dedicated to my number one fan. Thank you, Dad. I love you, and I miss you.

This episode is a little different than most, and unlike most mysteries we cover. While much has been done to understand and trace the origin of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, there is still some uncertainty and misinformation about the once mysterious and (if untreated) deadly disease.

Many people likely know HIV/AIDS to have begun in the early 1980's in the United States among homosexual men in large cities, but data shows that the virus was already making its' way around the world in the 1950's and 1960's.

Join me and returning guest, friend, and scientist Dave Ford as we discuss the historical, medical, and political implications of HIV/AIDS. Were did it actually come from? We'll discuss a teenager believed to have died from the virus in the 1960's, the presence of the virus in Africa in the early 1900's, and a man who was falsely believed to have been responsible for spreading the virus into the United States. 

Special thanks to Dave Ford for lending his scientific knowledge to this episode.

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One Minute and Forty-Three Seconds is dedicated to my number one fan. Thank you, Dad. I love you, and I miss you.

Tamla Horsford, loving wife and mother of five, was excited to spend some time with some of the Moms from her sons' school on the night of November 3, 2018. She was celebrating a birthday for one of these Moms, and although she didn't know the other women at the gathering well, she was happy to join in on the festivities.

But what was supposed to be a joyful celebration in the form of an adult slumber party ended in absolute horror when Tamla was discovered deceased in the backyard the next morning. What would follow this discovery would be sketchy details, questionable behavior, and ultimately a subpar investigation on the part of all those involved, to say the least. 

How did a healthy 40-year-old woman end up dead after what was supposed to be a fun night celebrating a birthday? Did Tamla drink too much and fall to her death? Or do the other people in the house that night know more information than they are letting on?

Join first-time guest Lulu Luttmer and I as we discuss the devastating case of Tamla Horsford--a woman who, whether her death was accidental or not, deserved so much better than what she got.

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One Minute and Forty-Three Seconds is dedicated to my number one fan. Thank you, Dad. I love you, and I miss you. 

Have you ever pondered about the chilling mysteries that remain unsolved? The ones that make your spine tingle and your hairs stand on end? This episode is dedicated to exploring two such enigmatic cases - the disappearances of Larisha Deanna Walker and her mother, Wanda Faye Walker. The unsettling circumstances - locked doors, lights left on, and stereos left blaring – only deepen the mystery around Deanna's disappearance. Even more intriguing is the untraceable car that she was supposed to have gone to repair.

Further complicating this narrative is the disappearance of Deanna's mother, Wanda, 17 years later. Unlike Deanna's, Wanda's car was found a week later, tainted with a significant amount of blood in the backseat. We'll delve into the peculiarities of these incidents, and the challenges posed by the lack of details. We’ll journey together into these dense clouds of mystery, attempting to piece together these unsettling puzzles that time has only made more perplexing.

Lastly, we'll consider the everlasting impact these unsolved mysteries have had on their families and the community. The pain of not knowing what happened to their loved ones is a haunting reality they live with every day. Their resilience and faith, despite the heartbreak, are a testament to the human spirit. So, join Joann and I as we unravel these gripping narratives, hoping, if not for solutions, then awareness about these heart-wrenching cases. 

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One Minute and Forty-Three Seconds is dedicated to my number one fan. Thank you, Dad. I love you, and I miss you.

Who knew that a discarded rental application and a burner phone could hold the key to a gruesome murder investigation? Join Elaine, Amber and I as we pull back the curtain on the chilling case of Oakey "Al" Kite's murder in 2004. A riveting tale of a man's life and work, a move to Aurora, Colorado, and a gruesome murder that would leave even seasoned crime buffs restless. The details we reveal are not for the faint-hearted, as we recount the horrifying discovery of Al, who was tortured in the most unimaginable way.

Who brutally killed Al Kite, a kind man who had no known enemies, in his own home? Could this horrific crime, steeped in premeditation and precision, hint at the work of a serial killer? We'll take a look at the clues in this case and try to make sense of its most obvious question: Why?

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One Minute and Forty-Three Seconds is dedicated to my number one fan. Thank you, Dad. I love you, and I miss you. 

30-year old Ben McDaniel was an avid scuba diver and had enjoyed partaking in the underwater activity since he was a teenager, so when he disappeared 13 years ago today after going on an evening dive, most people assumed that he drowned. But Ben's disappearance would prove to be anything but straightforward. 

At the time of his disappearance, Ben was working on overcoming some rough circumstances: He had just lost his younger brother at the young age of 22, he was in debt after a business failure, and he was recently divorced. Still, things were looking up for Ben until the fateful day he vanished. 

Suspicious clues left behind, contact with some questionable characters, and a whole lot of speculation surround the still unsolved disappearance of Ben McDaniel. 

Join longtime friend and first-time podcast guest, Bryan and I as we discuss the mysterious fate of Ben McDaniel: Did he drown that day, his body being lost to depths, or did something more sinister happen?

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One Minute and Forty-Three Seconds is dedicated to my number one fan. Thank you, Dad. I love you, and I miss you.