MURDERED: Kelly Disney

Speaker 1 Banking with Capital One helps you keep more money in your wallet with no fees or minimums on checking accounts and no overdraft fees. Just ask the Capital One Bank guy.

Speaker 1 It's pretty much all he talks about in a good way. He'd also tell you that this podcast is his favorite podcast, too.
Oh, really? Thanks, Capital One Bank Guy. What's in your wallet? Terms apply.

Speaker 1 See capital1.com slash bank, capital One NA member FDIC.

Speaker 1 Making decisions shouldn't feel mysterious.

Speaker 1 With the State Farm personal price plan, you can personalize your plan to help create an affordable price for you so you can continue cracking all of life's big cases.

Speaker 1 Talk to a State Farm agent to uncover how you can choose to bundle and save. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there.
Prices are based on rating plans that vary by state.

Speaker 1 Coverage options are selected by the customer. Availability, amount of discounts and savings, and eligibility vary by state.

Speaker 2 This is an ad by BetterHelp. I've come to realize that when it comes to reaching out to a friend who has been on my mind, right now is always the right time.

Speaker 2 As the days get shorter, BetterHelp encourages you to check on friends and yourself. With over 30,000 therapists worldwide, BetterHelp is one of the leading online therapy platforms.

Speaker 2 This month, don't wait to reach out. Whether you're checking in on a friend or reaching out to a therapist, BetterHelp makes it easier to take the first step.

Speaker 2 Our listeners get 10% off their first month at betterhelp.com/slash crime junkie. That's betterh.com/slash crime junkie.

Speaker 1 Hi, Crime Junkies. I'm your host, Ashley Flowers.

Speaker 2 And I'm Britt.

Speaker 1 And the story I have for you today is interesting because it is actually close to being solved. And it's a story that investigators think they know almost all of.

Speaker 1 They're just waiting for the right person to come forward with those last few puzzle pieces.

Speaker 1 And maybe that person is listening right now and can help bring closure to a family who's waited 40 years for answers. This is the story of Kelly Disney.

Speaker 1 It's not every day someone comes walking into a police station holding a human skull. But in Newport, Oregon, on Monday, July 25th, 1994, that is exactly what happens.

Speaker 1 This guy just walks in and is basically like, hey, I found something.

Speaker 1 He says that two days earlier, on Saturday, he'd been out on his ATV in this wooded area behind a local reservoir when he came upon this abandoned car.

Speaker 1 And the car is like in a spot spot that's known to attract partiers, but something about the car intrigued him. Maybe he was looking to see if there was anything of value inside.

Speaker 1 Maybe he just had nothing better to do. But he got the surprise of his life when he found the skull in the car somewhere, either wrapped in or covered up by some carpet.

Speaker 2 Just the skull?

Speaker 1 Just the skull. And exactly where in the car is unclear.
So one episode of Dark Minds that I watched states that it was in the trunk, but I can't find any other reporting to back that up.

Speaker 1 So, you know, grain of salt, I don't know. But naturally, this guy decides, cool, a skull.

Speaker 1 And the dude picked it up and brought it home where his sensible girlfriend, shout out to the sensible women out there, she was like, dude, you need to take that to police. Like, don't bring it home.

Speaker 1 Yeah. So he tries taking it to the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office, but since it was a weekend, they're closed, only the jail's open.

Speaker 1 And the folks working at the jail said that he should try to take it to the Newport police. So he drives to that police station and lo and behold, they're closed due.

Speaker 2 And there's not like an emergency number he could call?

Speaker 1 I mean, I don't think he's really classifying this as an emergency. Not to say that I wouldn't, but he's not.
I mean, the skull had clearly been out there for a while.

Speaker 1 So while us crime junkies might be a little panicked, he just took it back home.

Speaker 1 And if you're thinking that he put it in a bag or a box or something for safekeeping until he could get it to police, you weren't listening. This dude brought it home.
Britt,

Speaker 1 it gets worse. He

Speaker 1 cleaned it with dish soap and then put it on top of his TV before then bringing it in Monday when the office finally opened. Oh my God, he cleaned like with dish soap,

Speaker 2 just like scrubbed away in the sink

Speaker 1 to make it nice and shiny and remove any potential evidence. I don't know why he thought that was a good idea.

Speaker 2 Obviously, he wanted to clean it up to display it on his TV.

Speaker 1 I don't know. Again, where was the sensible girlfriend? But at least.

Speaker 2 But he's walking into the police station now.

Speaker 1 It's with police now. Yeah.
And they now have the task of figuring out who this skull belongs to and what happened to this person.

Speaker 1 Obviously, they're already thinking foul play, knowing the way that it was found. But there is also some indication in the research that there's some kind of evidence of injuries to the skull.

Speaker 1 But what exactly those are isn't stated. Now, luckily, there are at least some of the teeth left.

Speaker 1 So they figure maybe if there are any missing people with dental records on file, they can ID this person. Maybe.

Speaker 1 Now, it took about a week, but they did locate dental records of a missing person that matched this skull.

Speaker 1 According to an article in the Corvallis Gazette Times, the records belonged to a young woman named Kelly Disney, who went missing 10 years before in March of 1984.

Speaker 1 She was just 17, and although she lived in Newport at the time, she was originally from Siletz, which is this town about 18 minutes northeast of Newport where her parents lived.

Speaker 1 Now, her case had been kind of dormant for some time, but they knew the case when it popped up.

Speaker 1 Kelly had moved into her 20-year-old boyfriend Robert's apartment, which her parents weren't super happy about.

Speaker 2 Yeah, you said she was just 17. Was she still in high school?

Speaker 1 Yeah, so that was the catch. She was a senior.
And to be clear, she had a great relationship with her parents.

Speaker 1 So from what I can tell, she wasn't like moving out to escape anything at home or whatever. She was just young and in love.

Speaker 1 And even though her parents weren't jazzed about her moving out, their condition for letting her go was that she had to finish high school. And she agreed.

Speaker 1 But her relationship with Robert wasn't a model one.

Speaker 1 I don't have many details on just how rocky things were, but all of their friends knew that they would argue, they'd get frustrated with each other on a fairly regular basis.

Speaker 1 And according to her case file, that is what happened on the evening of March 8th. They had this pretty small chill party at their apartment, but in the early morning hours of March 9th, Robert left.

Speaker 1 I don't know why, but it really frustrated Kelly that he did leave. So at around 1230, she left too.
Now, Robert eventually came back, but Kelly didn't.

Speaker 1 So at some point, he goes out looking for her and he actually did eventually find her standing along Highway 20, which runs east to west. It's one of the two highways that runs through Newport.

Speaker 2 And it's close to their apartment?

Speaker 1 Relatively. I mean, she left on foot, so it had to have been like within walking distance, you know what I mean?

Speaker 1 Anyways, he says when he finds her, he tries to convince her to get in the car and go back with him, but she refused. Even though the weather was not great.
I mean, it was cold. It was kind of rainy.

Speaker 1 So after a little bit of trying to convince her to come back, he is like, forget it, fine.

Speaker 1 He leaves thinking that she'll be back when she's ready to come back, which, I mean, again, even considering the weather, obviously she's probably going to come back soon. But she never did come back.

Speaker 1 At the time, Robert figured she'd ended up at her parents' house, or maybe.

Speaker 2 How did he think that she would have gotten there though?

Speaker 1 Like you said, she was on foot. Yeah, maybe he thought she found a payphone or maybe another one of her friends could have picked her up or she was walking all night because she was pissed.

Speaker 1 I don't know. But obviously, we know she didn't make it back to her parents.
And when exactly her family and friends started getting worried is a little unclear.

Speaker 1 According to an article by Quentin Smith for Yahat's News, which we use as a primary source for this episode, her mom came to look for her at the apartment the next morning, which technically would have been the ninth.

Speaker 1 But other sources say that Robert called her on the 10th when Kelly still wasn't home. But either way, pretty quickly, everyone in her life realized that something was very wrong here.

Speaker 1 She didn't show up to school. She didn't go to her shift at a local pizza joint.
I mean, she didn't even pick up her paycheck. And when she left, she didn't have her money or ID with her.

Speaker 1 So like all the red flags are up.

Speaker 1 So it was her stepdad who goes to report her missing. And pretty quickly, police had put together a good timeline of Kelly's movements after Robert last saw her.

Speaker 1 And it turns out that he wasn't even the last one to see her. She actually had an encounter with police before she went missing for good.
Now, there are two versions of this story out in the world.

Speaker 1 I don't know if one or both are true, but the first one goes that two men on their way to an overnight shift spotted her walking along the road and stopped to ask if she needed a ride.

Speaker 1 She said she didn't, which frankly, I don't blame her. She's 17.
I'm not about to get into a car with two strange men when I'm 17 or 35. Right.

Speaker 1 And the men just like took no for an answer, but they were worried enough about this teenager walking alone in the dark, cold, rainy, whatever, that they stopped at a convenience store.

Speaker 1 And when they saw a police officer there, they told him about the encounter. So maybe that's how the police officer ended up getting to Kelly.

Speaker 1 But the other story is that a concerned citizen had called police to report a drunk woman walking down the road in traffic.

Speaker 1 But either way, Sergeant Walt Brucha was the one who responded to the situation. At around 1 a.m., he found Kelly still walking down the road.

Speaker 1 Jim Sams reported for the Corvallis Gazette Times that he said she didn't appear drunk and he offered her help. He offered her a ride repeatedly, but again, she refused.

Speaker 1 Now, this time, she said she had gotten into a fight with her boyfriend and she was going to be going to a friend's house that was about a half mile away.

Speaker 1 And since she wasn't intoxicated, since she wasn't breaking any laws, he couldn't really do anything if she refused to go with him.

Speaker 1 So this officer just left her walking down the road, presumably toward that friend's house.

Speaker 1 and that was the last that anyone saw of kelly disney does anyone know what friend she was going to no or even if that's what her intention was like she had a few friends that i know live close to the highway but none of them reported seeing her that night i didn't see anything of a friend coming forward and saying that they had planned for her to come over or had gotten in contact with her like anything like that now Same as I would have been, Kelly's family had been really frustrated with Sergeant Brucha at the time for leaving her, wondering like why he couldn't have at least radioed back to the station, had someone get in contact with her parents since she was a minor,

Speaker 1 but he didn't. So all they and police had to go on now was the last place he remembers seeing her along the highway.
So there was a search conducted along the highway, starting in that area.

Speaker 1 Because I mean, at first her family's biggest worry wasn't that she'd been abducted or something like that. Maybe she'd been hit by a car.
It was dark. It was rainy.

Speaker 1 But as they look and look and look for her, there is just no trace of her anywhere along the side of the road.

Speaker 2 And with no trace of her, I mean, abduction has to be a theory early on.

Speaker 1 Yes, but also like this early on, everything was on the table. Right.
And there was talk, I know, from officials early on about possible foul play.

Speaker 1 But what's so strange is they seemed to backtrack pretty quickly and they started saying that they thought she chose to run away. But her family didn't even think that was a reasonable assumption.

Speaker 1 They were convinced that something had to have happened to her, not only because she had no reason to run away, but also because she left everything behind, literally.

Speaker 1 But at the time, police say they made that ruling because they got a report that a few students, maybe even a teacher, had seen Kelly at school around 8 a.m.

Speaker 1 the next morning making a call at the payphone. So based on that, seemingly alone, they determined that she must have chosen to leave.

Speaker 1 As days and eventually years passed, there were moments when they questioned that assumption.

Speaker 1 Like when this man was arrested for killing two women in a town about an hour and a half away, maybe he was involved. Or when they found a woman's body along a logging road, maybe that was Kelly.

Speaker 1 But the man arrested was determined not to be related to her case and the body that they found wasn't Kelly's.

Speaker 1 So every once in a while, her small little file would get a new slip of paper, at least six from tips related to psychics that called in over the years.

Speaker 1 But no concrete evidence or leads had turned up.

Speaker 2 Until now.

Speaker 1 Until now.

Speaker 1 You know those gifts that make everyone go, wait, where did you get this? Well, those gifts come from JCPenney. Yes, JCPenney.

Speaker 1 JCPenney has gifts for that person in your life who is impossible to shop for. You know the one, the friend who buys themselves everything or the family member who swears they don't need anything.

Speaker 1 Sorry, not this year. From diamond jewelry to the newest gadgets, JCPenney has gifts that look expensive at a fraction of the price.

Speaker 1 I did all of my holiday shopping for my daughter through JCPenney online. I got the exact things I was looking for at stellar prices.

Speaker 1 And she is going to lose her little mind when she realizes I found the perfect frozen sneaker to replace the ones that she grew out of.

Speaker 1 We have been looking everywhere for them, and I had no idea they were just waiting for me at JCPenney.

Speaker 1 With prices up to 60% off during JCPenney's Black Friday sales, it is the perfect time to fill your cart and throw in a little something for yourself too.

Speaker 1 It's guilt-free, the way holiday shopping should be. Shop jcp.com.
Yes, JCPenney.

Speaker 2 Hi, Crime Junkies. Whether we're piecing together clues or creating episodes, Ashley and I make important connections thanks to another partner in solving crime, T-Mobile 5G Home Internet.

Speaker 2 With T-Mobile Home Internet, getting set up and online is never a mystery. Plug in, power up, and in 15 minutes, you're connected.

Speaker 2 With their fast feeds, we can deep dive for answers and stay in the know. And don't worry about surprise endings.
Your great price won't change for five years, guaranteed.

Speaker 2 I rely on T-Mobile 5G home internet every day, but especially first thing in the morning when I go to check my email and inevitably find an email from Ashley with a brand new exciting case she's discovered and already started totally deep diving on.

Speaker 2 With T-Mobile 5G home internet, I know I can open a new search tab and start digging in right away too. Visit t-mobile.com/slash home internet to check availability.

Speaker 2 Guarantees monthly price of fixed wireless 5G internet data. Exclusions like taxes and fees apply.
Service delivered via 5G network speeds vary due to factor affecting cellular networks.

Speaker 2 Guarantee exclusions and details at t-mobile.com slash home internet.

Speaker 1 Things were different now. Police were now holding her skull in their hands, and they realized how much time has been lost and how much making up they're gonna have to do a full decade later.

Speaker 1 But this time they hit the ground running.

Speaker 1 The investigation is done by the Lincoln County major crime team, which includes officers from the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office, the Oregon State Police, the Newport Police, Toledo, and Waldport Police Departments.

Speaker 1 Even the district attorney's office is involved. And one of the first things they do is search the area where the skull was found, wondering if Kelly's body might be nearby.

Speaker 1 But according to more of Jim Sam's reporting, their search comes up empty and no trace of Kelly's other remains are discovered.

Speaker 1 All's not lost though, because the timing and the location of the discovery of the skull is almost as important.

Speaker 1 If you remember, I said that this was a popular party hangout area where this car was, where the skull is found.

Speaker 1 Well, after speaking with some local kids, Police learned that there had been a few people hanging out in the car the day before Kelly's skull was found.

Speaker 1 And they say that the skull definitely wasn't there then.

Speaker 2 Is this car like important? Is it some old abandoned thing that had been out there forever?

Speaker 1 Or no,

Speaker 1 based on everything I've found, it looks like it had been out there for a few years at least. So I don't think they're going to like trace it to anyone who like had the skull.

Speaker 1 And again, the skull just showed up in it. I don't know if it's been there since she went missing, but it doesn't seem like it has anything to do with her case.

Speaker 1 It's just like one of the places in the woods teenagers tend to congregate at.

Speaker 2 So it's almost like someone wanted this skull to be found, like placed it there.

Speaker 1 Right. But why?

Speaker 1 And there are a few options to that question that investigators consider.

Speaker 1 One is that someone else found it somewhere else and they didn't want to go to police with it for fear that maybe they'd be looked at with suspicion.

Speaker 1 So they just leave it somewhere they knew it would be found because people hang out there. But another option is that whoever killed Kelly left it there on purpose, maybe for the same reason.

Speaker 2 Okay, but why would they want it to be found? I mean, they were basically home free, right? 10 years, a whole decade, no one was coming to look for them.

Speaker 1 Well,

Speaker 1 was it guilt? Was it a game? Because here's the interesting thing.

Speaker 1 So even though police weren't saying foul play out loud, 10 years in, even they were acknowledging like, okay, someone would have probably heard something from Kelly in all this time.

Speaker 1 So they had actually recently done a presser. They went to the media to remind them of this 10-year-old case that they had, and they were looking for any tips.

Speaker 1 According to a segment of OnYourSide for Kval.com, that presser was just days before that guy found her skull in the car.

Speaker 1 So they can't help but wonder if the timing is very coincidental or if that plea for tips caused the skull to be left in this place where they knew someone would find it.

Speaker 1 Now, using the press in active cases can be a bit of a game. You got to play your cards right.
Let's not jump straight to her killer placed it there.

Speaker 1 Let's keep an open mind, get whoever put it there to feel comfortable coming forward.

Speaker 1 So, they put out a statement asking whoever found the skull and placed it where it had been found to come and chat with them.

Speaker 1 So, they kind of go with that theory publicly, like, oh, maybe you just came across it, whatever. Just like, whoever found it, whoever put it there.

Speaker 2 I don't believe anybody had anything to do with this. We just want to know what to do.

Speaker 1 We just want to talk to you.

Speaker 1 Yeah. Now, I'm assuming they also send the skull off for testing, but thanks to Homeboy who washed it with the evening dishes, like that part is exaggeration.

Speaker 1 Like, I don't think you did it with the dishes, but you get it. They're probably not going to get anything off the skull to help them.
So they're really counting on someone to come forward.

Speaker 1 But despite that initial push, it looks like no one ever actually does. No one claims to be the person who placed her skull in that car.

Speaker 2 Were they able to collect the carpet that it was with, like under or around or whatever?

Speaker 1 I'm sure it was there, but I don't see anything mentioned about the carpet. So I don't know if it wasn't important.
It seems like, again, like I said, the car was kind of a junker.

Speaker 1 Maybe the carpet had already been in it. Maybe they could tell that it was really old, had been there a long time and the skull hadn't.
I'm totally guessing. I have no idea.

Speaker 2 But it's so weird to me. Cause like, why cover the skull at all if the goal is to be found?

Speaker 2 You know, like, why hide it so someone can find it?

Speaker 1 I wish I knew. more about how active of an area this was.
Like, were people in and out of there all the time?

Speaker 1 Maybe they wanted to delay it being found just a little bit so they could put some distance between them in the car or like them in the time of like being there.

Speaker 2 Okay, but that brings up another good point. You have to know that that car is there and that it's a place where people will be like

Speaker 2 kind of in and out of without being noticed or watched or like planned. Right.
It'll be found, but maybe not soon.

Speaker 2 Like you have to know a lot about this area and this like specific car in this spot to even choose that place.

Speaker 1 I totally agree. And you see this in so many cases where the place where something is hidden tends to be connected in a meaningful way to the person who hid it there.

Speaker 1 But I don't know if they followed that as an angle back then, or if they did, I don't know if they connected anyone that Kelly knew to that spot.

Speaker 2 I mean, unless they're looking at Robert, it feels like this can't be someone who's connected to her. At this point, you almost have to work backwards.
Like, who all knows this spot?

Speaker 2 And then who can you put on that highway 10 years before?

Speaker 1 Yes, but that means their suspect pool is wide. And when you have all the possibilities, you're only working with a washed skull and you're a decade behind, that's when a case can go cold fast.

Speaker 1 And that's exactly what happens to Kelly's.

Speaker 1 So the years again start to pass, and Kelly's family is once again left to pick up the pieces, knowing that their loved one is dead, but not knowing how she died or who took her from them.

Speaker 1 To her mom, it is almost a relief to finally know that her daughter's not coming home, but it doesn't undo the years of pain that her family endured as a result.

Speaker 1 And they don't even get to lay her to rest because her mom doesn't want to until her complete set of remains are found.

Speaker 1 Kelly's disappearance and her death touched each member of her family differently.

Speaker 1 Kelly's mom and stepdad divorced, one of her brothers suffered with substance use disorder, and her sister bounced between the homes of different relatives as she grew up.

Speaker 2 And we talk about this all the time. It's the ripple effect of crime.

Speaker 2 It doesn't just impact the victim, it impacts every single one of their loved ones, their friends, the community that they were in.

Speaker 1 I mean, truly, even the generation after that.

Speaker 1 And you have to, I think, grieve to heal. You have to know what you're grieving to fully process it.

Speaker 1 And in Kelly's case, there were still so many questions, questions that felt like they would never be answers to. But in 2009, there was hope.

Speaker 1 A new district attorney named Rob Bovette takes office and Kelly's case is reopened along with the cases of four other girls, four others who were also last seen near highways along the coast of Oregon, and four others who all vanished under similar circumstances.

Speaker 1 This time of year gets so busy, it's hard to make time for yourself, let alone a full workout.

Speaker 1 Break through the busiest time of the year with the new Peloton Cross-Training Tread Plus powered by Peloton IQ, designed to make every minute count.

Speaker 1 Peloton IQ personalizes your workouts, tracks progress, corrects form, and gives real-time insights to help you hit goals faster.

Speaker 1 With the swivel screen, switch from a 45-minute run to a five-minute stretch in one spin. It's cross-training reimagined for busy schedules.
Let yourself run, lift, sculpt, push, and go.

Speaker 1 Explore the new Peloton Cross-Training Tread Plus at onepeloton.com. onepeloton.com.

Speaker 1 This podcast is brought to you by Squarespace. Squarespace is the all-in-one website platform designed to help you stand out and succeed online.

Speaker 1 Whether you're just starting out or scaling your business, Squarespace gives you everything you need to claim your domain, showcase your offerings with a professional website, grow your brand, and get paid all in one place.

Speaker 1 Every dream needs a domain. Squarespace domains make it easy to find the best name for your business at at one fair, all-inclusive price, no hidden fees or add-ons required.

Speaker 1 And with Squarespace's collection of cutting-edge design tools, anyone can build a beautiful, professional online presence that perfectly fits their brand or business.

Speaker 1 Start with Blueprint AI, Squarespace's AI-enhanced design partner, or choose from a library of professionally designed and award-winning website templates.

Speaker 1 No matter where you start, your website is flexible to what you need. Head to squarespace.com/slash crimejunkie for a free trial.

Speaker 1 And when you're ready to launch, use offer code Crime Junkie to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain.

Speaker 1 Eight years after Kelly went missing, two young women, 17-year-old Melissa Sanders and 19-year-old Sheila Swanson, vanished while on a camping trip with Melissa's family.

Speaker 1 Last anyone saw them, they were north of Newport at Beverly Beach State Park trying to call friends or their boyfriends to come and pick them up.

Speaker 1 But according to an article by Noelle Crombie for Oregon Live, they decided to hitchhike when no one would come.

Speaker 1 They vanished close to Highway 101, which is the other highway that I mentioned that runs through Newport. And then they were found by hunters five months later, about 20 miles east of Newport.

Speaker 2 And remind me where this car was where they found Kelly's skull?

Speaker 1 So that was in a wooded area by the local reservoir. I'm not sure that it matters because I don't think that's where Kelly was for all those years, though, or where the rest of her was/slash is.

Speaker 1 Right. So I don't even know that the car location like matters in relation to where these two other girls were found.

Speaker 1 But to go back to how they were found, so Melissa was found nude and Sheila's ankles were tied together with leggings.

Speaker 1 At the time, the medical examiner theorized that they'd both been strangled, but they were both severely decomposed. So the cause of death wasn't determined.
Now, This case goes unsolved for a while.

Speaker 1 And then three years after Melissa and Sheila were murdered, there were two more young victims, 15-year-old Jennifer Essen and 16-year-old Carol Lees.

Speaker 1 The two of them had been hanging out at a friend's house, but as the evening drew on, they decided to go to Jennifer's brother's place instead.

Speaker 1 Her brother had offered to give them a ride, but for an unknown reason, the two decided to walk, but then they never made it.

Speaker 1 About two weeks later, according to reporting for Kvall.com, their bodies were discovered off a remote logging road covered in brush.

Speaker 1 They were both found clothed, other than the top button of one of the girl's pants being undone and her zipper being about halfway down.

Speaker 1 Now, unlike Melissa and Sheila, since they were found relatively soon after they vanished, their cause of death was able to be determined.

Speaker 1 Both girls had been strangled, and although I haven't seen anything about Kara having defensive wounds, it was obvious that Jennifer had fought back. Now, their cases as well end up going unsolved.

Speaker 1 But when Rob ends up taking office, he can't help but notice the similarities between them.

Speaker 1 I mean, even without the similarities, he knows that they have a better chance of solving all of them now due to the advancements in DNA.

Speaker 1 And since Jennifer specifically, I mean, we knew she fought back, there's hope that she might have gotten his DNA on her somewhere.

Speaker 1 Now, frustratingly, there seems to be a gap in the reporting when it comes to any sort of DNA testing that happens in 2009. Police just haven't been all that forthcoming with information.

Speaker 1 So if there is DNA on Jennifer's body or nails or anywhere else or on any of the girls' bodies, that has not been reported on. Still, though, the similarities between all the cases are striking.

Speaker 1 You've got five girls, all teenagers, all who went missing along coastal highways in or around Newport. It's worth looking into.

Speaker 2 Okay, so can you break down the timeline for me? Kelly was in.

Speaker 1 Kelly goes missing in 84. Melissa and Sheila are killed in 1992.
1992 and Jennifer and Kara are killed in 1995.

Speaker 2 And then no more between 1995 and 2009 when this rob guy takes office?

Speaker 1 No, none that I could find. And they must have looked too because investigators seem to be really focusing on these five specifically.

Speaker 1 Now, details are a little sparse here, but at least when it comes to Kelly's murder, this reopening leads to them interviewing over 200 people and recompiling all the reports that they had from 1984.

Speaker 1 And this takes a full year to get all of that done.

Speaker 1 I wish I could tell you who they interviewed or what leads they followed up on, but again, that's really being kept close to the vest right now, or back then too.

Speaker 1 And things are just as slow going for the other girls' cases. There are no arrests, not even any persons of interest that police share with the public.

Speaker 1 It's just radio silence for three years until 2012. That is when a man's name comes on everyone's radar from all the way up in British Columbia, Canada.
So this guy, Bobby Fowler, was a U.S.

Speaker 1 citizen who ended up getting connected through DNA to the murder of a teenage Canadian girl from back in 1974.

Speaker 1 Her name was Colleen McMillan, and she was 16 years old when she vanished off a stretch of highway that's come to be known as the Highway of Tears due to the number of crimes against women that occur on this specific stretch of road.

Speaker 2 And we did an episode on the Highway of Tears back in December 2019.

Speaker 1 Yeah, like the OG days.

Speaker 1 Now, Colleen had been walking down the road alone at night when she vanished. And then her body was found about a month later, also along a logging road, just like Kara and Jennifer.

Speaker 1 But that's not the only thing that they find similar or the only thing that they're connecting to these cases in Oregon. So the thing is, Bobby has a record in Newport back in 1995.

Speaker 1 That's when he had assaulted a woman and threatened to sexually assault and kill her once they got back to his motel.

Speaker 1 Now, thankfully, this woman was able to escape him by jumping out of a second story window, but it shows you, A, he was there in the exact place at the time of Kara and Jennifer's crimes.

Speaker 1 And that wasn't his only crime, not by a long shot. He killed two people in Texas back in 1969, but he wasn't charged with murder or anything even close to it.

Speaker 1 He was charged with discharging a firearm in the city limits. And then he served time in Tennessee after assaulting a woman and leaving her for dead.

Speaker 1 She too, thankfully, was able to escape and get help.

Speaker 2 So we have Texas, Tennessee, Oregon, Canada.

Speaker 1 This guy was kind of everywhere. I mean, that's putting it lightly.
Lori Tobias reported for Oregon Live that the more investigators dive into his past, the more they put together this pattern.

Speaker 1 He shows up in a town, a young woman goes missing, either from a bar or while hitchhiking, and then her body would be found off back roads, usually nude and bound.

Speaker 1 But by then, by the time they're found, he's halfway across the country. For instance, investigators know that he was in Arizona two weeks before Kara and Jennifer went missing.

Speaker 1 And then three days after they vanished, poof, now all of a sudden he's in Louisiana. And investigators think that he did this on purpose to try and give himself an alibi.

Speaker 1 Like this dude was Israel Keys before Israel Keys. That's like his MO, like show up somewhere else.
So they look at it and be like, it would be really hard to do, but really hard is not impossible.

Speaker 1 And the cases that this guy could be connected to are stacking up because unlike Keys, this guy's victims were found and he has a pretty solid MO.

Speaker 1 There are two of them in South Carolina, one in Arizona, the girls that we've talked about in Oregon. three others in Oregon, that murderer up in Canada.
I mean, the list goes on.

Speaker 1 For a time, he is thought to be connected to at least 20 murders in the US and Canada. Now, by 2012, when they're piecing all of this together, this guy's not around to face the music anymore.

Speaker 1 He died of cancer back in 2006 while serving a sentence for that assault he committed back in 95. So investigators can't just go and ask him about Kelly, Melissa, Sheila, Jennifer, and Kara.

Speaker 2 And when exactly was it in 95 that he did that? When would he have been locked up?

Speaker 1 Well, that's what they have to piece together. They have to go diving into old records, trying to place this guy in Oregon at the times that any of these girls disappeared.

Speaker 1 And when they do, they actually find something.

Speaker 1 Every holiday gathering has its mysteries. Who's bringing the dessert? Who's bringing the wine? The case for the perfect bottle always leads to Stellarosa wines.

Speaker 1 Stellarosa Black delivers smooth, sweet notes of blackberry and blueberry, while Stellarosa Moscato diasti offers refreshing bubbles with hints of pear and apple, these wines are sweet, festive, and always ready to join the investigation at your next gathering.

Speaker 1 Made with natural ingredients and around 100 calories a glass, Stellarosa wines are perfect for every holiday celebration.

Speaker 1 So, grab a bottle or two today and make your holiday celebrations even more special. Must be 21 plus.
Please celebrate responsibly.

Speaker 1 It turns out just three hours after Kara and Jennifer went missing, state police ran a check on a vehicle Bobby was known to drive, a 1977 Dodge Monaco.

Speaker 1 Now, what spurred this check is a little unclear, but based on that same article by Lori Tobias for Oregon Live, it seems like the car was spotted in Newport or one of the surrounding towns.

Speaker 2 So he was definitely there.

Speaker 1 He was probably there, not definitely, because this is a car he was associated with, but there's nothing in the old records about him being there.

Speaker 1 Again, he didn't necessarily like own this car, had to have been driving that car. He's just associated with that car.
So he could have left that car for some reason.

Speaker 1 Maybe someone else was driving it. You know, we can't place him in that car.
That's the point.

Speaker 2 But it still seems like the best lead they've got.

Speaker 1 Oh, it totally is. So Bobby's actually named a suspect in Kara and Jennifer's murders.
And he's named a person of interest in Melissa and Sheila's murders.

Speaker 1 But even though it seems like he was everywhere, investigators determined that he couldn't have killed Kelly. He was actually in prison in Iowa at the time of her disappearance.

Speaker 2 So then she's probably not connected to the other four if they're thinking that Bobby killed Kara, Jennifer, Melissa, and Sheila.

Speaker 1 Right. And there were obviously more differences that make Kelly the outlier, right? I mean, she was the only one who was missing on her own.
Her body still hasn't been found.

Speaker 1 The other pairs were killed within three years of each other, whereas Kelly was was killed eight years before Melissa and Sheila.

Speaker 1 So more time passes, much to the frustration of Kelly's family, who continue to mourn her loss.

Speaker 1 So in an effort to drum up some more attention, Kelly's family puts up 200 signs along Highway 101 and 20, and she hands out about 2,000 posters, all on the 26th anniversary of the discovery of Kelly's skull.

Speaker 1 Now, this isn't done in conjunction with investigators, but rather than being upset by it, I know I've seen that before, these investigators, they're actually pretty pumped about it.

Speaker 1 They'll take any help they can get.

Speaker 1 And since it's been decades by now, they're hopeful that people who maybe didn't feel comfortable coming forward back in the 80s or 90s or whatever, maybe they'll feel comfortable now. And some do.

Speaker 1 Now, fair warning, everything I've been able to piece together about who comes forward and what they say is pretty vague.

Speaker 1 For instance, I know several men say that they were there when Kelly was killed, but the details of that, who, where, why, none of that is ever released. Police do release this, though.

Speaker 1 They tell the public that they think they have a pretty good idea of what happened to Kelly.

Speaker 1 Based on several consistencies in the stories, they believe that she was picked up along the highway that night by a few people that she knew who lived in Siletz, which if you remember, is where her parents lived.

Speaker 1 And this was possibly under the pretense of giving her a ride home. Of course, they didn't take her home, though.

Speaker 1 Instead, it is said that they took her to an unknown location, sexually assaulted her, and then killed her before dumping her remains.

Speaker 2 Her going with someone she knew makes the most sense, since we know she turned down a ride from those two guys and a cop.

Speaker 1 Right, yeah.

Speaker 2 And none of these named or unnamed people are Robert, I'm assuming.

Speaker 1 No, I mean, despite him, I know at one point he didn't want to talk to investigators, but they've been pretty forthcoming with saying that they don't think he was involved.

Speaker 1 And actually, her family outright says that they think they know who did it, but they obviously don't release those names. Now,

Speaker 1 even though the police, you know, her family thinks they know who, I assume police think they know who, the mystery still is, where are Kelly's remains?

Speaker 1 There's a rumor that goes around that her killers dumped her down a well, but no remains are found in any of the local wells.

Speaker 2 And that doesn't seem totally true because like someone was able to go get her skull. That seems kind of like impossible to do at the bottom of a well.

Speaker 1 If it's a well. Yeah.
And when I go back and think about how her skull was found, the fact that they just made that plea for tips and then poof, it shows up.

Speaker 1 It makes me think that there's this like third option.

Speaker 1 I mean, you have all these people coming forward now saying that they know what happened. I feel like someone who knew what happened, someone who intimately knew, maybe was there.

Speaker 1 They had to have known where she was. Or maybe they were told where she was.
I don't know, but I think maybe that person heard. So it's not someone who just randomly found her.

Speaker 1 Maybe it's not the the killer, but maybe it's this like other person who goes to get a piece of her, the one piece of her with the best likelihood in the 90s of IDing her.

Speaker 1 And they wanted to make sure it got found.

Speaker 2 Right. And if someone can lead them to the rest of her remains, I mean, that would make their story pretty legit.

Speaker 1 I know. And they're going to need something pretty reliable because physical evidence is so few and far between in this case.
I mean, I know they always keep looking for new tech and options.

Speaker 1 They even at one point got more resources from the Oregon DOJ,

Speaker 1 but what they need is the rest of Kelly.

Speaker 1 In 2022, I know one investigator presents Kelly's case to a group of other Oregon investigators who suggest that they go back to the location her skull was found and widen their search for potentially the rest of her remains.

Speaker 1 And they do this. They even bring in chainsaws and power trimmers to painstakingly make their way through the dense woods.
But all they find are animal bones, nothing human.

Speaker 1 By 2024, investigators have approached the FBI and asked them to help put up a reward. But as of the recording of this episode, I don't know if that request has been granted.

Speaker 1 And although investigators believe that they are really close, they aren't ready to make any arrests yet. They're just not there.
So her case remains unsolved.

Speaker 1 But there's been a bit of an update in the like last few years or so. From what I can tell, it looks like Bobby's not the prime suspect for for Kara and Jennifer's murders anymore.

Speaker 1 Investigators determined that he was actually in jail in Arkansas right before they disappeared.

Speaker 1 And even though he was known to make these huge jumps from state to state, it seems like the timing here, they just can't quite like make it make sense.

Speaker 1 And then separately, Melissa and Sheila are thought to be the victims of another man, John Aykroyd. John was a state highway worker who was convicted in 1993 of killing a woman who was out jogging.

Speaker 1 And he's also been connected to several other deaths as well. There's a lot that connects him to Melissa and Sheila's murders.

Speaker 1 Like, for instance, he reportedly tried to lure them to a party before they went missing.

Speaker 1 He was also spotted in the area that their bodies were found in the weeks after they went missing, but before they were discovered.

Speaker 1 And not only that, but the day that they vanished, a few of his coworkers noticed that his truck was still in the parking lot past when his shift was supposed to end.

Speaker 1 But it's worth noting, like his tow rig was gone, which they thought meant that he was just working late.

Speaker 1 But when he pulled back into the lot, his co-workers saw that he had blood on his hands and arms, though his explanation was that he had just hit a deer. Now, like Bobby, John has also passed away.

Speaker 1 He died in December of 2016, and he, in all his time being alive, never confessed to their murders. More than likely, the cases we've talked about today aren't connected.

Speaker 1 Jennifer and Kara were probably killed by a stranger, Bobby, someone who offered them a ride who didn't seem too scary.

Speaker 1 Melissa and Sheila, if the theory is to be believed, were probably killed by an acquaintance. John, who was trying to get them to go to a party.

Speaker 1 And then there's Kelly, who was most likely killed by people she knew and trusted. People who have been carrying the weight of that night around for decades.

Speaker 1 And I bet it's pretty heavy knowing what happened to her. But what is even heavier than that is not knowing.
Her family has waited 40 years to bring her home and give her the burial she deserves.

Speaker 1 And all it would take is the right person to come forward. So if you want to ease the family's burden or set yours down after all this time, you can call 541-265-0284 or submit a tip online.

Speaker 1 We're going to have the link to that in our show notes.

Speaker 1 You can find all the source material for this episode on our website, CrimeJunkiePodcast.com.

Speaker 2 And you can follow us on Instagram at Crime Junkie Podcast.

Speaker 1 We will be back next Monday with a regular episode, but it's the end of the month. Stick around for the good segment.

Speaker 1 All right, Britt, another month coming to a close. I need another good segment.
Yes, take it away.

Speaker 2 Okay, this is a web submission from Alicia. And just a reminder, guys, you can head to our website to submit your own story.
We are all, everyone at Audio Talk loves.

Speaker 2 So obsessed with reading your story.

Speaker 1 I was gonna say, and just so you know, even if it doesn't make it onto the show, the whole thing got started because we have a Slack channel here at the office called The Good.

Speaker 2 We share them internally, like just to talk about them and be encouraged.

Speaker 1 Yes, yes, it keeps us going every day. Every single team member looks at that channel daily.
Okay, here we go.

Speaker 2 Hi there. My name's Alicia.
I've been listening to your podcast for over a year now, and I've been hooked. Plus, it has helped me in ways I could never have imagined.

Speaker 2 I've been stalked and harassed by someone for about two years now. This person has followed me since my space days, then onto Facebook.

Speaker 2 At first, I thought he was completely harmless until the harassing got next level. Anyways, I decided to document everything.
I mean everything.

Speaker 2 Between any phone numbers he contacted me on to any information I knew about him. You guys had taught me to document anything, even if it seemed silly.

Speaker 2 Well, When things got to the next level of stalking and harassment, I decided to finally go to the police about it. Honestly, I was worried they wouldn't believe me.

Speaker 2 But when I presented them with my whole list of stuff I'd been writing down about this guy, they were so impressed and took it seriously.

Speaker 2 All it took was a simple phone call to my harasser to finally get him to stop before we move forward with harassment charges. Because of you guys, I wouldn't have thought to document everything.

Speaker 2 It's been a year and I haven't heard from him. I'm finally starting to feel safe again.
So thank you.

Speaker 1 I love that. I love when people get the education piece out of this episode that's like actually applicable to real life.

Speaker 1 And that's what so much of it. We're not, everyone's like, oh, you don't want to scare people into being paranoid.
I say it all the time, it's proparanoid.

Speaker 1 No, we're not here to like fear-monger, but there are things you could do when you find yourself in a situation like this.

Speaker 1 And like trying to find the resources and the understanding of the education when you're in the middle of it can be so hard and overwhelming and daunting.

Speaker 1 So, I love that when you're, you know, listening to your Monday podcast, if you can take little bits throughout your life, and if God forbid you ever find yourself in a situation or a friend or a family member, you know at least where to turn for some resources.

Speaker 1 And I'm glad we can go there as a resource for people. I know, I love it.

Speaker 1 Crime Junkie is an audio Chuck production. So, what do you think, Chuck? Do you approve?

Speaker 3 Always so fresh, delicious, and nutritious, Eglin's Best Eggs fuel the body with six times more vitamin D, ten times more vitamin E, and 25% less saturated fat compared to ordinary eggs.

Speaker 3 Visit eglundsbest.com to learn more.

Speaker 1 Hey neighbor, this holiday season, Birch Lane is here to help you celebrate with friends and family.

Speaker 1 From guest-ready dining tables to cozy sofas that fit the whole crew, our classic furniture and decor are crafted to last.

Speaker 1 And with fast-free delivery, you can be ready for holiday hosting in days, not weeks. So you can spend time on what matters most.
It's classic style for joyful living.

Speaker 1 Shop Birch Lane, a Wayfair specialty brand at Birch Lane. com.