Cold Case Files: The Podcast

In a town most famous for the death of legendary gunfighter Wild Bill Hickok, police try to solve a murder not in the 1880s, but the 1980s. This murder involves a man named David Crockett, another named "Outlaw," a bus full of hippies, and a very large rock.

Police in Columbus, Ohio spend more than a decade hunting a man who terrorized a neighborhood known as Linden. In the process, he became one of the most prolific rapists in U.S. history.

In 1993, Charles Murray, an experienced hunter, went missing on the first day of bow hunting season. His family fears that something terrible had happened were quickly realized. But who was it that found Charles out in the middle of the woods? And why did this hunter become someone else's prey?

This week marks the 71st anniversary of one of the most infamous cold cases in America - the gruesome murder of Los Angeles actress Elizabeth Short, more commonly known as The Black Dahlia. We'll go explore what makes this case so complicated, unpack the prevailing theories, and find out why some people say it will never be solved - while other claim it already is.

On a fall day in 1978, an apartment manager in Reynoldsburg, Ohio takes a call. On the other end of the line is a frantic tenant who says water is pouring out of her ceiling. The super calls a maintenance man who forces his way into the apartment above, to try to find the leak. He makes his way to the bathroom and discovers a young woman in the bathtub, hands bound at the wrists, and strangled.

The bodies of two teenage girls are discovered. One set on fire, the other stuffed in a box and thrown in a lake. Both are Jane Does. Both have been murdered. Eight years later, a third woman comes forward and reveals their identities, and how she escaped from suffering the same fate.

Jack Irwin is a 71-year-old war veteran who lives by himself in San Bernardino, CA. That is until two young women - Marcia Ann Johnson and Judy Gellert - embed themselves into Jack's affairs, and his finances. Jack's neighbors become concerned, and when Jack disappears, they are left asking: Are Marcia and Judy friends, con artists, or worse?

Detectives track a serial killer and predator through the projects of East Harlem, who keeps finding new and creative ways to dispose of bodies, and elude police.

After a pair of attacks on older and middle-aged women, police believe they are on the trail of a sexual predator turned murderer. But when a third victim shows up who doesn't fit the profile, the investigation is forced to take a hard turn.

Bind. Torture. Kill. That was the mantra of one of America's most notorious serial killers. After killing at least seven people in the Wichita, Kansas area during the 1970s, BTK disappeared for nearly three decades. Then in 2004 he re-surfaced, and used the local new to make sure everybody knew it.

A California Highway Patrol officer spots a fire in an olive orchard and pulls off to investigate. He finds a woman's body, shot and set ablaze. It doesn't take police long to develop a theory on who did it, but why, where, how, and who else all remain a mystery.

John Robinson is a con artist. He has a history of scamming vulnerable women, convincing them that he has the best of intentions, and then taking their money. But over the course of nearly three decades, it isn't just the money going missing, it's also the women themselves. And despite a lack of evidence, or bodies, police begin to suspect that John Robinson might be far more than a con artist. He might be a serial killer.

Indiana police are baffled by the murder of an 86-year-old woman, found dead in her bedroom with a pillow and a footstool on top of her head. With few leads and no conceivable motive the case remains unsolved for years, until a single piece of evidence uncovers Julia Gurty's killer.

A murdered man in his 70's, a tube of hydrocortisone cream, a stolen identity, and a plea deal involving the Super Bowl. What do all of these things have in common? They're connected by a tattoo of a bouquet of roses, inscribed with the name, "Phyllis."

A man on Long Island is preparing to sell his house when he discovers a 55-gallon barrel hidden in his crawlspace. It has seemingly been there for decades, at least for as long as he's owned the home. But when he pries off the lid, he quickly realizes that it isn't just a barrel, it's a tomb.

From 1999 to 2002, eleven young girls and women were sexually assaulted in a similar way. Despite these cases spanning across five states, in all of them, the same man kept popping up as a suspect. The problem wasn't figuring out who had committed these crimes. The problem was figuring out how to catch him.

When the burned body of an infant is found in the Arizona desert, investigators search for the child's identity and come up empty-handed. Four years later, officers in another county respond to a tip about a couple who sold their baby daughter in an extortion scheme and ultimately killed her. It doesn't take long for investigators to connect the dots and finally discover the name of their Baby Jane Doe.

While police in Michigan and Texas search for what they believe to be two separate killers, women are being strangled, stabbed, and sometimes left alive. When one man is found guilty in Texas, a legal loophole forces Michigan investigators to race to find the link before the killer is released from prison.

In the fall of 1987, Fred Wilkerson disappeared. He didn't leave a note. There was no sign of foul play. And yet his son, Tim, knew in his heart what the whole town came to suspect - that Fred had been murdered. Sixteen years later, investigators take up the case, and look to get to the bottom of the town's biggest mystery. Join us for this classic Cold Case Files story, featuring the voice of Bill Kurtis.

In the 1980s the police discovered no fewer than 44 bodies along the Green River near Seattle, making the Green River Killer the most prolific serial killer in U.S. history. The investigation would become the largest ever performed in King County and span nearly 20 years before finally bringing the killer to justice. Still, with bodies continuing to surface, the true number of Green River Killer victims may never be known.