Episode 140 Gayla McNeil

In October 1983, a young homicide detective caught his first case when a woman turned up floating in a canal in Palm Beach County, Florida.  The Jane Doe was a homicide victim, with brutal injuries and evidence of rape.  A complex investigation failed to identify her – but then her fingerprints did.  She was Gayla Ann McNeil, a former US Airforce service member. Detective Bill Springer began a 40 year quest to solve Gayla’s murder – which involved figuring out where she had last been seen and by whom.  It turned out, her last known contact was with law enforcement – and a clerical error may have cost her her life.   

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Introducing Morbidology, a preview of episode 294: The Mandan Massacre.   It was just before 7:30AM on 1 April, 2019, when employees started to arrive at RJR Maintenance and Management in Mandan, North Dakota. When they entered the building, however, it quickly became apparent that something was amiss. A body was found, followed by another, then another, then another…. Make sure to subscribe to Morbidology across all podcast platforms and YouTube.

Episode 139 Doe: ID 'Wayne County Jane Doe' Connie Christensen 

In December, 1982, deer hunters in Wayne County, Indiana, found skeletal remains in the woods along Martindale Creek. When the remains were first found, authorities were unable to tell much about the skeletonized remains other than that they belonged to an adult female. There was no ID found with the remains, but police theorized that they had a homicide on their hands. Later they would be proven right when it was discovered that the victim had died from a gunshot. Police were stumped as they had no missing females in their area that matched the clues that they had for this victim, and the investigation slowed. The unknown homicide victim became known as 'Wayne County Jane Doe'. Years later, DNA & genealogy would be used to finally identify this victim. Her name was Connie L. Christensen, and she had last been seen by her family in March, 1982, when she dropped her young daughter off with family saying that she was leaving the area. Connie was believed to have been pregnant when she was last seen by her family. Subsequent investigation revealed that Connie spent time in Nashville, TN, in April, 1982. After that, she vanished. An older man that had a relationship with Connie is a suspect in her murder. Unfortunately, this suspect has passed away, and perhaps took anything he knew about Connie's death to his grave. Although Wayne County Jane Doe's killer has never been brought to justice, she at least has her name back; it's Connie Christensen, and this is her story. 

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Introducing: Women and Crime 

Women and Crime Podcast is True Crime told by real Criminologists. Amy Shlosberg and co-host Meghan Sacks are both criminologists who have spent their entire careers studying and teaching about crime.

In each episode of Women and Crime, you'll hear about cases involving women as both victims, and offenders. In this preview, you'll hear about the case of Ana Abulaban, in which A perfect Tiktok marriage, hid a violent reality that would quickly turn lethal.

To listen to the full Ana Abulaban episode, head over to the Women and Crime website. You'll find over 200 episodes of Women and Crime available to binge on right now, and it's available everywhere you listen to podcasts. 

Episode 138 Yvonne Leroux 

 

Detectives in the York Regional Police, located in Ontario, Canada, had a perplexing scene on their hands in late November 1972. A teenage girl was found dead in the middle of a quiet roadway, bludgeoned to death. It appeared she may have been raped as well.  The victim, 16 year old Yvonne Leroux, was well known to police because of her recent history as the victim in a drug-pushing biker gang’s threats to her safety. But all investigative avenues in pursuit of this information led nowhere. Detectives over the years revived the case, but got nowhere until they obtained a male DNA profile from Yvonne’s autopsy samples in 2001. Finally, in 2021, the investigation turned to IGG, the oldest cold case taken up by Canada’s only in-house law enforcement genealogy team.  They quickly named the man who had killed Yvonne. Her family was relieved to know who had taken Yvonne from them, although many questions remain unanswered.

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Episode 137 Doe ID: Nora Castillo 

In June, 1988, a farmer in Baca County, Colorado found skeletonized human remains on his property. Investigators found nothing in the way of identification, and only a 1986 quarter in a pocket. All investigators knew was that they had found the remains of a young woman, who was likely Hispanic, and although a cause of death could not be determined, severe injuries to her legs, and the overall circumstances led police to think that she was the victim of a homicide. Police had no missing persons cases on women in the area that matched their victim, and her case went cold almost immediately. They kept the Jane Doe's remains for years before finally laying her to rest. Over the years, investigators searched databases for DNA links, and frustratingly, a link was missed by the system that could have given Jane Doe her name back sooner. Eventually, genealogy did provide police with their victim's name. It was Nora Castillo, a young mother from McAllen, Texas, who had gone missing in 1986 or 1987 following a string of struggles in her life. Now that police know who their victim is, they still want to find out how she came to be in the farmer's field in 1988, and who put here there. This Jane Doe finally has her name back; it's Nora Castillo, and this is her story. 

If you have any information about Castillo or this case, please contact the Baca County Sheriff’s Office at 719-523-4511 or the McAllen Texas Police Department at 956-681-2221.

 

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Episode 136 Teree Becker and Cherrie Bridgewater Part 3 of 3 

This is part 3 of the Becker/Bridgewater case. If you have not listened to parts 1 and 2 yet, please stop now and go back and listen to those two parts first. 

To listen to every episode of DNA: ID ad-free and get other benefits, simply  visit our channel page on Apple Podcasts to get started with an AbJack Insider subscription. Of course, you can also support DNA: ID with a Patreon subscription.

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Episode 136 Teree Becker and Cherrie Bridgewater Part 2 of 3

This is part 2 of the Becker/Bridgewater case. If you have not listened to part 1 yet, please stop now, and go back and listen to part 1 first. 

To listen to every episode of DNA: ID ad-free and get other benefits, simply  visit our channel page on Apple Podcasts to get started with an AbJack Insider subscription. Of course, you can also support DNA: ID with a Patreon subscription.

For all things DNA: ID, visit the show's homepage Visit this link to buy DNA ID Merch

Episode 136 Teree Becker and Cherrie Bridgewater Part 1 of 3

In 1975, 19 year old free spirit Teree Becker was found in a Westminster, CO field, after hitchhiking toward home two days earlier.  Police did everything they could to solve her case, but could not identify the culprit. Then, in 1991, it happened again – this time in Las Vegas, NV.  The victim this time was Cherrie Bridgewater.  The cases bore some similarities, but as they were 16 years and states apart, they were not connected until DNA linked both murders to the same man.  And that man would not be named for another decade, when a complex genealogy analysis finally named the despicable rapist and murderer who had snuffed out the lives of these two young women. 

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Introducing: Killer Communications

AbJack Entertainment, the same network that brings you new episodes of DNA: ID every week, has a brand new show launching March 1,2025. It's called Killer Communications, and it's hosted by Mike Morford. In each episode of Killer Communications, Mike discusses a true crime case where one of the clues is a mysterious form of contact; whether it's a frightening phone call to a victim, a mysterious email to the press, or a taunting letter sent to the press, these bizarre communications happen more often than you might think, and sometimes have deadly consequences.

In this short preview of Killer Communications, Season 1 Episode 1, you'll hear about the case of Dale Williams, a father and husband, who was lured from the Nucla, Colorado body shop he owned by a mysterious caller in 1999. He was never seen again. His abandoned truck was found submerged in a local waterway, but there was never any sign of Dale himself. Despite an ex-friend of Dale's being a longtime suspect in the case, police were never able to make an arrest. But that all changed in 2024 when an arrest and answers finally came.

After you listen to this preview of Killer Communications, head over to your favorite podcast app, and be sure to subscribe to Killer Communications, so you can hear the full episode on Dale Williams, and catch every new episode of Killer Communications. 

Visit the Killer Communications homepage for news about the show, and past episodes.

You can also follow Killer Communications on social media, via X or Facebook.

Episode 135 Doe ID: Maria Telles-Gonzalez

 

On May 24, 1995, the partially nude body of an unidentified woman was found by a highway worker in a drainage ditch on Cottonhall Road in Yemassee, South Carolina. Authorities believed that the woman, who was Hispanic, had been strangled to death. Police didn't have much to go on, but they scoured missing persons cases across SC and nearby states looking for a victim who might fit the description of their Jane Doe, but they could not find one. They theorized that she had been driven quite some distance before her remains were discarded. With no leads to go on her case went cold. In 2020, officials turned to the victim's DNA for help, and began the process of identifying her through genealogy. They hit pay dirt in 2022. The Yemassee Jane Doe was actually Maria Telles-Gonzalez, a 36 yr old woman who vanished from Kissimmee, Florida in May, 1995 after returning from a trip to Puerto Rico. She was last seen by her husband and children in the weeks before her body was found, but she wasn't reported missing. Due to the fact she wasn't reported missing, and a lack of complete cooperation from her husband, police consider him a person of interest. Police also want to ID a male associate of Maria's who may have been in a relationship with her. They don't know much about him other than he was Hispanic, and his name was Carlos. He stands about 5-foot-8 or 5-foot-10, speaks Spanish and English very well. He may be living in the Orlando or Kissimmee area, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

Now police are working to find out who murdered Maria and dumped her body. Anyone with information about Maria Telles-Gonzalez’s disappearance and murder is urged to contact cold case investigator Bob Bromage at 843-816-8013 or by email at robertb@bcgov.net

Maria Telles-Gonzalez now has her name back, and this is her story. 

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