Vanished Voices, The Overlooked

Today we are bringing you a special cross over episode from our sister show, Crime Clueless.

On the evening of September 16, 2009, a 24-year-old Cal State Fullerton graduate named Mitrice Richardson walked into an upscale Malibu restaurant and immediately alarmed everyone she encountered. She told the valet she was there to avenge Michael Jackson's death. She told strangers she was from Mars. She couldn't pay her bill.

The staff didn't just call the police — they called because they were worried about her safety. One employee refused to cover her tab, saying: "She's not safe to go ou...

On Labour Day weekend in 2020, Chelsea Poorman, a 24-year-old Cree woman from Kawacatoose First Nation, walked out of a friend’s apartment in downtown Vancouver. At 12:57 a.m. she told her sister on the phone that she’d met “a new bae.” It was the last time her family heard her voice.

Chelsea walked with a limp from a 2014 accident and couldn’t go far without her leg brace.

Yet in April 2022, her remains were found under a blanket behind a vacant mansion in Shaughnessy, about six kilometres away. Parts of her remains were missing, and the ca...

Six days before she disappeared, Hyun Jong "Cindy" Song posted a short poem to her Penn State web page. She called it "under construction."

Cindy left Seoul as a teenager to build a life in America. By fall 2001 she was months from graduating, working multiple jobs, and dreaming of a career in graphic design. On Halloween night she went dancing with friends in a costume she made herself. Somewhere between 3:30 and 4 a.m. on November 1st, a friend dropped her off at her apartment complex outside State College, Pennsylvania. Cindy made it inside. That's the last thing...

On April 17, 2019, Prisma Denisse Peralta Reyes dropped her six-year-old son off with his babysitter and went to work, planning to pick him up at 7:30 like always. By that evening she had argued with a coworker, fought with an ex over lunch, and spent hours alone at a Dallas bar.

Around 6 p.m. she slipped into her ex-boyfriend's apartment garage in Old East Dallas, confused and crying, calling everyone she knew. Then her phone went silent.

Prisma was born in Veracruz, Mexico. She arrived in Texas speaking only a few words of English and finished high...

On July 20, 2013, Bella Laboucan-McLean fell from the 31st-floor balcony of a downtown Toronto condo. She was 25, a Cree woman from Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation in northern Alberta, and a recent Humber College fashion graduate with plans to bring Cree art and traditions to the runway.

Five other people were in the small unit that night. Her phone, purse and shoes were still inside. Police were knocking on doors trying to identify her, and no one in the unit called for about 12 hours. Everyone who was there told investigators they hadn't noticed she was gone.

In...

On December 12, 2021, 23-year-old Lauren Smith-Fields was found dead in her Bridgeport, Connecticut apartment, the morning after a first date with a man she'd matched with on Bumble. Her family wasn't notified by police — they found out from a note taped to her door, left by her landlord, that pointed them to him, not to police.

What followed was weeks of uncollected evidence, a detective who hung up on a grieving family and told them to stop calling — twice, a month apart — and a rape kit that was never performed at all.

Then there's the detail that c...

In June of 2021, Lauren "El" Cho — a music teacher, baker, and tattoo artist from New Jersey — was living a new life she'd built for herself in the California high desert. Then, on an ordinary afternoon, she walked away from the bus she shared with a friend, and in the space of ten minutes, disappeared.

What followed was a search that never turned up a single footprint. A friend's theory about a vehicle that investigators denied.

A national spotlight that arrived only after another woman's disappearance made headlines — and a family that pushed back on the compar...

At 3:30 in the morning on March 9th, 2019, Aubrey Dameron told her mom she was going to meet someone. She walked out the door, down a two-football-field gravel driveway in Grove, Oklahoma, and into the dark.

Her phone pinged one last time at 3:42 AM — just 100 yards from home — and then nothing.

It would take six years, a Supreme Court ruling, and a family who refused to stop fighting to find out what happened to her.

Aubrey was 25 years old. She deserved better.

If you have any information about Aubrey's case, no matter how...

On August 18th, 2010, Amber Tuccaro — a 20-year-old mother from the Mikisew Cree First Nation — got into a car with a man she didn't know, on a gravel road just outside Edmonton. She was never seen alive again.

What makes her case different from so many others is a single piece of evidence: a phone call, recorded almost by accident, capturing the last documented minutes of her life.

Two years later, when investigators finally released that recording to the public, they weren't looking to bring Amber home. They already knew, by then, that they wouldn't be.

A doorbell camera catches the last confirmed image of Nakyla Williams: 24 years old, a hairstylist with her own basement salon, getting into a loud-engine pickup truck outside her mother's Indianapolis home on the evening of November 8th, 2021. She never comes home.

What follows is a case built almost entirely out of absences. It takes IMPD three weeks to issue a public alert. The last person seen with her deletes every trace of their online history together and leaves the state.

Her mother postpones a scheduled surgery to search fields near her own neighborhood instead. And...

Kanika Powell did everything right.

She refused to open her door to a stranger claiming to be with the FBI. She called the Bureau directly to check his story. She called the police. She emailed her friends and family, warning them, days before it happened. When two more strangers showed up at her door posing as delivery men, she refused them too, and confirmed with the carriers that no packages were ever coming.

None of it saved her.

On August 28th, 2008, Kanika returned home from running errands and was shot multiple times in...

For decades, the domestic violence movement has operated on a familiar script: abuser is bad, survivor should leave, and the system's job is to punish after the fact. Liz Ortenburger, CEO of SafeNest — Nevada's largest domestic and sexual violence nonprofit, serving Clark County since 1977 — has spent the last ten years challenging that script from the inside.

In this conversation, Liz walks us through the real, layered reasons abuse gets passed down through generations, and why SafeNest made the controversial decision to work directly with abusers alongside survivors. We talk about the DALE lethality assessment and the 4,300 people Safe...

In the early hours of June 15, 2021, Ella Mae Begay's daughter called 911 to report a break-in at her own home. No one came. Minutes later, she watched her mother's truck pull out of the driveway — a truck Ella Mae, a cautious woman who never drove after dark, would never have taken out herself. By the time officers finally responded to a second call, Ella Mae was gone. Her truck has never been found. Neither has she.

Ella Mae was a master weaver known throughout the Navajo Nation, a grandmother of nine, and a mother whose son still texts he...

In December 2021, a Florida woman heading to visit her sister never arrives. Days later, her car turns up with a wallet, phone, sandals, shopping list, and lunch bag at a state park.

And then, a brief, grainy piece of hiker footage becomes the last confirmed trace of her, ever. Is this is because there was no effort to dust for fingerprints or get into her cell phone? Maybe. 

In this episode, we trace what's known, what isn't, and what her family has spent four plus years trying to get answered.

This is Paola M...

Jasmine Moody was 19, an honor-roll freshman with plans to become a nurse, when she flew from  Texas to Michigan to spend Thanksgiving with a woman she'd met online. 

On the night before she was scheduled to fly home, an argument broke out — and Jasmine walked out of the house into a windchill near zero, without her coat, her phone, her ID, or her purse. She has never been seen again.

More than ten years later, no arrests have ever been made. In this episode, we walk through the night of December 4th, 2014, the competing accounts of w...

This episode contains significant updates from three cases Vanished Voices has covered. Anna Marie Scott from Nevada, Phylicia Barnes from North Carolina and Baltimore, and Sara Nicole Graham from North Carolina. You can find links to the coverage on the updates here.

Every morning, Shantieya Smith slung her seven-year-old daughter's backpack over her shoulder and walked her to school. Family called her "Nay Nay." She was the one you called when there was trouble, the one who'd teach you the newest dance in the middle of the living room.

On May 25th, 2018, she left her...

Ricarda Tillman-Lockett was 22 years old, a mother, and an enrolled member of the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska. She had left an abusive marriage, moved into a shelter, and made a plan to start over.

On February 19th, 2007, she left work in Memphis, got into her estranged husband's car, and vanished. Her purse, her wallet, and her cell phone were left behind.

Her son was waiting at the babysitter's. She never came back.

Nineteen years later, Ricarda Tillman-Lockett has not been found. No one has ever been charged. Her family is still waiting.

On the evening of April 15, 2004, fifteen-year-old Silene "Erica" Eaddy walked away from her home on Fountain Lake Road in Columbia, South Carolina. Her neighbor called out to her. She didn't stop. Two days later, firefighters responding to a brush fire in lower Richland County found her body in the brush off Pincushion Road. She had been savagely beaten. And the medical examiner would determine she was still alive when she was set on fire.

Twenty-two years later, no one has ever been arrested. The case remains open. And someone, somewhere, knows what happened in those 34 missing hours.<...

In June of 2012, fourteen-year-old Brittany Robinson kissed her mother goodbye, said "Love you, mom. See you later," and left for a weekend visit with the father she barely knew. She never came home.

What followed was a decade of silence, a father who fled across state lines under an alias, a custodial interference charge that put him behind bars for just four years, and finally — in 2025 — a murder trial that ended not in answers, but in an acquittal. Brittany has now been missing for nearly as long as she was alive.

In this episode, we trac...

On the day before Thanksgiving 2020, Mary Ellen Johnson-Davis was walking down a road she knew well, on land her people had called home for centuries. She sent a text that said she was almost to the church. She never arrived.

Mary was 39 years old, a member of the Tulalip Tribes of Washington State, and a woman who had already survived more than most people will ever face — a childhood fractured by the foster care system, abuse that went unaddressed for years, and a legal fight against the state of Washington that she won. She was on her wa...

Her family made dozens of calls. They sent emails to tribal leaders. They found her covered in blood in her own apartment. They did everything they were supposed to do. And none of it was enough.

In January 2020, Ashlea Aldrich — a 29-year-old member of the Omaha Tribe and mother of two — was found in a cornfield on the reservation in Macy, Nebraska. The official story says she wandered off and died from the cold.

But the physical evidence, the documented history of abuse, and the two sets of tracks found at her boyfriend's abandoned SUV tell...

On the morning of June 23, 2021, 24-year-old geologist Daniel Robinson left his worksite near a remote well in Buckeye, Arizona, and was never seen again. Three weeks later, his Jeep Renegade was found overturned in a desert ravine — with his clothes, phone, wallet, and keys scattered nearby. But Daniel was gone.

What investigators found only deepened the mystery. All airbags had deployed. More than 40 ignition cycles were recorded after the crash. And the odometer showed an 11-mile discrepancy that has never been fully explained. Buckeye Police ruled out foul play early on, but Daniel's father, retired Army veteran Da...

In August 2021, Bessie Marie Walker — a 27-year-old Western Mono mother of three — vanished from the Big Sandy Rancheria in Auberry, California. For eighteen days, the Fresno County Sheriff's Office chased tips across the county.

They searched a dozen locations. They logged nearly a thousand hours. They never found her. Her family did. Twenty-five yards from her mother's front door. Her cause of death remains undetermined. Her case remains unsolved.

And just weeks later, the nation turned its full attention to another missing young woman — one who looked nothing like Bessie.

This is a story...

On the evening of November 20th, 2012 — the night before Thanksgiving — 19-year-old Sage Smith stepped out of her Charlottesville, Virginia apartment to meet someone for a date. She woke up her roommate just long enough to say she'd be back later. She had plans for the holiday. She had a surprise visit lined up for her stepsisters. For the first time in her life, things were falling into place — her own apartment, a job, cosmetology school, and the freedom to live openly as the person she'd always been.

A family member spotted her that evening, walking toward downtown, talkin...

Pepita Madalyn Redhair was 27 years old, a member of the Navajo Nation, a skateboarder, a cook, a student at the University of New Mexico, and a daughter who called her mother every single day. On March 24, 2020, Anita King dropped her daughter off at the home she shared with her boyfriend in Albuquerque, New Mexico — 140 miles from their home in Crownpoint. It was the last time she saw her.

And then, the calls stopped. The text messages were never read. And what followed was six years of a mother fighting a system that called her daughter unimportant, a pa...

Benita Desiree Long was 40 years old, a member of the Yakama Nation, and actively working toward sobriety when she was dropped off at the El Corral Motel in Toppenish, Washington, on March 26, 2022. She made one phone call to her sister afterward. Then silence.

For three years, her family searched, organized vigils, and called a police department that never called back. What they didn't know — what no one told them until a journalist uncovered it in 2025 — was that Benita's name had never been entered into NamUs, the federal database built specifically to match missing people with unidentified remains.

On the morning of April 20th, 2011, workers near the Conowingo Dam on the Susquehanna River spotted something in the water.

It was Phylicia.

In Part Two of our Phylicia Barnes episode, we cover the discovery of her body, the homicide ruling, and the man investigators believed was responsible. We walk through three separate trials spanning nearly a decade — a conviction, an overturn, a mistrial, a dismissal, and a final acquittal. We talk about what that process cost the Barnes family. And we talk about the extraordinary legacy they built in Phylicia's name when the legal sy...

She was sixteen years old. A straight-A honor student from Monroe, North Carolina, with a scholarship ahead of her and a whole life waiting.

On December 28th, 2010, Phylicia Simone Barnes was last seen in her half-sister's apartment in Baltimore — and never seen again.

In Part One of this two-part episode, we introduce you to Phylicia — who she was, where she came from, and the family that loved her fiercely. We walk through the days after her disappearance, the massive search that consumed Baltimore, and the devastating silence from a national media that couldn't find the time...

More than 30 years ago, a night out in Aberdeen, South Dakota ended in silence.

On April 7, 1993, 42-year-old mother of three Monica Bercier-Wickre went out to a local bar called The Body Shop. It was a normal night—one she had no reason to believe would be her last. At some point that evening, Monica left with a couple she knew and a man she didn’t.

She never made it home.

Two months later, her body was discovered in the James River. But instead of answers, her recovery only deepened the mystery. The cond...

On the morning of June 15, 2013, 19-year-old Adrienne Celeste Salinas vanished just blocks from her Tempe, Arizona apartment.

She had spent the night at a party with friends—surrounded by people, in a place she felt safe. But by the early morning hours, something had shifted. After leaving, returning, and then leaving again around 4:00 a.m., Adrienne walked out into the quiet streets of Tempe… and was never seen alive again.

What followed is a timeline filled with movement—but very little clarity.

A mysterious crash near Rio Salado Parkway.
A damaged car, abando...

In June 2020, 22-year-old Katelyn Kelley vanished from the Menominee Indian Reservation in northeastern Wisconsin.

She was seen near County Highway VV and Silver Canoe Road late at night. Hours later, she was reportedly at her apartment in nearby Shawano. Then—she disappeared.

Her family knew something was wrong almost immediately. Katelyn wasn’t the kind of person to just stop answering calls or walk away from her life. As days turned into weeks, searches expanded across roads, forests, and waterways. Investigators publicly stated they believed someone may have given Katelyn a ride that night—and asked...

In May 2002, 24-year-old Evelyn Hernandez vanished from San Francisco just days before giving birth to her second child. Her 5-year-old son, Alex, disappeared with her. Months later, Evelyn’s partial remains were found floating in the Bay, her unborn child never recovered. Her case remains unsolved. Her son is still missing. And hardly anyone knows their names.

Just seven months later, another pregnant woman — Laci Peterson — would go missing in Northern California. Her story dominated national headlines. Search teams, press conferences, candlelight vigils, and a media frenzy followed. But Evelyn’s story? It barely made local news.

In...

On January 7, 2016, nineteen-year-old Tyarra Williams stepped out of her apartment in Greensboro, North Carolina to visit a friend nearby. It was supposed to be a quick visit — just a short walk across the apartment complex. She told her boyfriend and brother she’d be back within an hour.

She never returned.

What should have been a routine walk home turned into a mystery that has haunted her family and investigators for years. Tyarra’s phone activity suddenly stopped. No confirmed sightings have ever been reported. And early in the investigation, police said the circumstances surrounding her di...

On the night of June 15, 2018, 23-year-old Jermain Charlo — a young Indigenous mother and a citizen of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes — was seen in downtown Missoula, Montana near the Badlander bar. 

Surveillance footage captured her in the alley just before midnight. She walked out of frame with her ex-boyfriend, Michael DeFrance.

Jermain was never seen again.

In this episode, we examine what's known about Jermain's life and community, the weeks and months leading up to the night she disappeared, and the history of domestic violence in her relationship. We  reconstruct what’s known ab...

On March 15, 2019, 30-year-old Najah Ferrell left her home in Avon, Indiana in the dark of the early morning—heading to her third day of orientation at a new job that was supposed to help her build a better future for her kids. She had five children depending on her: two biological sons and three foster children she had welcomed into her home.

But Najah never made it to work.

And by the end of the day, the people who knew her best were certain of one thing: this wasn’t a choice. Najah was reliable. Pres...

In July 2019, 30-year-old mother of four Cecilia Huerta Gallegos vanished without a trace from her San Antonio home. Security cameras inside the house captured her entering the bedroom she shared with her husband, Reyes Gallegos — but never coming back out. 

Hours later, those same cameras were shut off. When they came back on, Cecilia was gone, and Reyes was unloading a chainsaw, shovels, and trash bags from the family SUV.

Despite mounting evidence and a murder charge filed more than two years later, Reyes Gallegos has been released on bond — multiple times — while his trial has bee...

On a frigid January night in 2014, 20-year-old Rocelyn Gabriel — Ojibway, bright, full of plans — vanished into the blizzard in Portage la Prairie, Manitoba. Hours later, she was found behind an industrial recycling depot, barely alive, wearing only a sweater. 

Authorities called it death by exposure, hypothermia. But her family insists: Rocelyn didn’t end up there by accident.

In this episode of Vanished Voices, we retrace Rocelyn’s final hours, challenge the gaps in the investigation, and amplify the voices of those still demanding justice. 

How did she get to that desolate place? Why didn’t...

On February 22, 2010, 18-year-old Jalesa Chantell Reynolds followed her normal routine in Scotland Neck, North Carolina. She attended class. She visited the local library. She logged into Facebook.

Then she logged off — and never came home.

Hours later, investigators would discover her Facebook account had been accessed again — this time from a private residence outside town on Cemetery Road. The man who lived there admitted Jalesa had been at his home that afternoon. He told investigators she left sometime between 2:00 and 3:00 p.m.

She was never seen again.

In this episode, we exam...

On August 15, 2019, 39-year-old Cynthia Acevedo was seen walking near a cemetery in Laveen, Arizona, within the Gila River Indian Community. She never made it home.

Two weeks later, when Cynthia’s mother reported her missing, investigators realized this was no ordinary disappearance. Cynthia was a devoted mother, daughter, and community member — someone who stayed in constant contact with her family. Her sudden silence was completely out of character. Law enforcement would later classify her case as suspicious, and the FBI now believes foul play may have been involved.

In this episode of Vanished Voices, we trac...

In January 2015, Rita Janelle Papakee was last seen at the Meskwaki casino in central Iowa. What should have been an ordinary night ended in silence. Days passed. Then weeks. And before urgency ever took hold, a mother, sister, and community member had vanished.

Witnesses would later tell police they saw Rita walking in the cold and snow, visibly angry, when a dark pickup approached her. Others reported seeing her at a man’s home the next day. Then came more disturbing claims — that Rita was dead, that evidence had been hidden, that her body had been moved.