Gone Cold - Texas True Crime

In April 1985, 27-year-old Lois Ann Lloyd disappeared from Odessa, Texas, just days after telling her father she wanted to leave the city and make a change in her life.Originally from Raton, New Mexico, Lois was a gifted athlete, a loyal friend, and one of relatively few women working in the male-dominated West Texas oilfield industry during the early 1980s. Those closest to her knew she was struggling with alcohol, but none were aware of anyone who might want to harm her.When Lois failed to return home, authorities in several West Texas counties became involved in an increasingly complex investigation. Search teams combed oilfields, highways, and remote stretches of land, while investigators worked to reconstruct her final hours and identify the people last seen around her home.The case would eventually span multiple jurisdictions, produce hundreds of interviews, and leave investigators with crucial unanswered questions about who was with Lois on the night she disappeared.More than forty years later, the murder of Lois Ann Lloyd remains unsolved.If you have any information about the murder of Lois Ann Lloyd, please contact Odessa Crime Stoppers at (432) 333-8477 or submit a tip anonymously at 333tips.orgYou can support gone cold and listen to the show ad-free at https://patreon.com/gonecoldpodcastFind us at https://www.gonecold.comFor Gone Cold merch, visit https://gonecold.dashery.comFollow gone cold on Facebook, Instagram, Threads, TikTok, YouTube, and X. Search @gonecoldpodcast at all or just click https://linknbio.com/gonecoldpodcast#JusticeForLoisLloyd #Odessa #OdessaTX #EctorCounty #Texas #TX #TexasTrueCrime #ColdCase #TrueCrimePodcast #Podcast #Unsolved #MissingPerson #Missing #Murder #UnsolvedMurder #UnsolvedMysteries #Homicide #CrimeStories #MysteryPodcast #PodcastRecommendations #CrimeJunkie #Disappearance #VanishedBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/gone-cold-texas-true-crime--3203003/support.

In the late 1970s, the communities around Lake Granbury were still developing, with new roads, scattered homes, trailers, and weekend properties appearing along the shoreline. One of those communities was Whippoorwill Bay, where a Fort Worth woman and her husband regularly spent their weekends.When Helen Holladay disappeared after a troubling weekend at the lake, her family immediately believed something terrible had happened. The circumstances surrounding her last known movements, along with what relatives knew about her marriage, raised questions they felt were not taken seriously enough by authorities. For years, the case remained largely dormant, leaving Helen’s daughters without answers and forcing the family to conduct searches of their own.More than a decade later, a new investigator revived the case and began reexamining old leads, records, and theories about where Helen might have gone. Lake Granbury became a major focus, prompting a series of searches.Thirty-five years after Helen vanished, an unexpected discovery finally answered one of the case’s longest-standing questions. But it did not explain what happened to her or resolve the concerns that had surrounded the investigation from the beginning.If you have any information about the death of Helen Holladay, please contact the Hood County Sheriff’s Office at (817) 579-3307.You can support gone cold and listen to the show ad-free at https://patreon.com/gonecoldpodcastFind us at https://www.gonecold.comFor Gone Cold merch, visit https://gonecold.dashery.comFollow gone cold on Facebook, Instagram, Threads, TikTok, YouTube, and X. Search @gonecoldpodcast at all or just click https://linknbio.com/gonecoldpodcast#JusticeForHelenHolladay #Granbury #HoodCountyTX #Texas #TX #TexasTrueCrime #ColdCase #TrueCrimePodcast #Podcast #Unsolved #MissingPerson #Missing #Murder #UnsolvedMurder #UnsolvedMysteries #Homicide #CrimeStories #MysteryPodcast #PodcastRecommendations #CrimeJunkie #Disappearance #VanishedBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/gone-cold-texas-true-crime--3203003/support.

During one of the deadliest years in Fort Worth history, two homicide victims were found months apart in very different parts of the city. Neither carried identification, and despite investigative efforts, both remained nameless for decades.Their cases became part of the long list of unidentified people whose deaths could not be fully investigated without first answering the most basic question: who were they?Decades later, preserved evidence and advances in forensic technology gave investigators new opportunities to revisit both cases. One would require modern DNA analysis and genealogical research, while the other depended on an unusual method of recovering fingerprints from evidence preserved since the original investigation.After forty years, both victims finally got their names back. This episode examines their original discoveries, the evidence investigators had to work with, the forensic methods that eventually provided answers, and what remains unresolved now that their names are known. It also looks at another recent identification by the Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office and the continuing effort to locate relatives of people who remained unidentified or unclaimed for years.If you have information about the 1986 murder of Brenda Darnell McLerran Smith, please contact the Fort Worth Police Cold Case Unit at (817) 392-4307.If you have any information that might help locate the next of kin of Jose Francisco Reyes Ortega, whose body was found in October of 1986, please contact the Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office at (817) 920-5700. If you have information about his murder, please contact the Fort Worth Police Cold Case Unit at the number above.If you have any information that might help locate the next of kin of Ciro Estrada Hernandez, whose body was found in August of 2000, please contact the Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office at (817) 920-5700.You can support gone cold and listen to the show ad-free at https://patreon.com/gonecoldpodcastFind us at https://www.gonecold.comFor Gone Cold merch, visit https://gonecold.dashery.comFollow gone cold on Facebook, Instagram, Threads, TikTok, YouTube, and X. Search @gonecoldpodcast at all or just click https://linknbio.com/gonecoldpodcast#JaneDoe #HillsideJaneDoe #JohnDoe #FortWorth #FTW #TarrantCounty #Texas #TX #TexasTrueCrime #ColdCase #TrueCrimePodcast #Podcast #Unsolved #MissingPerson #Missing #Murder #UnsolvedMurder #UnsolvedMysteries #Homicide #CrimeStories #PodcastRecommendations #CrimeJunkie #MysteryPodcast #UnidentifiedPersonBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/gone-cold-texas-true-crime--3203003/support.

Decades after the murder of 17-year-old Lecia McGee went cold, advances in forensic testing gave investigators an opportunity to take another look at the evidence that remained. Testing on a cigarette butt recovered from Lecia’s car produced a male DNA profile. That profile eventually matched a Fort Worth man already serving a prison sentence for a violent attack; a man who, as a teenager, had been questioned in the initial investigation.The discovery led detectives into the man’s extensive history of violence. Years after Lecia’s murder, he deliberately struck a woman with his truck as she was speed walking in her neighborhood, leaving her critically injured before attempting to force her into his vehicle. He fled after a failed attempt to abduct her, but was eventually arrested and put back behind bars. Investigators also examined an earlier crime spree involving burglaries, armed robberies, stolen vehicles, and gunfire.Perhaps most significant was his history before Lecia was killed. While living only a short distance from her family, he had already been involved in increasingly serious crimes. Shortly before Lecia’s death, he abducted a young woman after playing Good Samaritan. Luckily, she escaped before he could do his worst. After hearing about Lecia’s murder, someone familiar with that incident contacted homicide detectives and pointed out possible similarities between the two cases. Police questioned the teenager and his family, but the lead was never fully pursued.Decades later, the DNA match brought investigators back to him. He denied knowing Lecia well or ever being inside her car, despite his DNA being found there. Detectives believed the accumulated circumstances were significant, but prosecutors concluded the available evidence was not enough to bring a murder charge. With key physical evidence gone and no additional DNA linking him directly to the killing, Lecia’s case remains unsolved.Part two of two.If you have any information about the murder of Lecia Ann McGee, please contact the Fort Worth Police Cold Case Unit at 817-392-4307.You can support gone cold and listen to the show ad-free at https://patreon.com/gonecoldpodcastFind us at https://www.gonecold.comFor Gone Cold merch, visit https://gonecold.dashery.comFollow gone cold on Facebook, Instagram, Threads, TikTok, YouTube, and X. Search @gonecoldpodcast at all or just click https://linknbio.com/gonecoldpodcast#JusticeForLeciaMcGee #FortWorth #FTW #TarrantCounty #Texas #TX #TexasTrueCrime #ColdCase #TrueCrimePodcast #Podcast #Unsolved #MissingPerson #Missing #Murder #UnsolvedMurder #UnsolvedMysteries #Homicide #CrimeStories #PodcastRecommendations #CrimeJunkie #MysteryPodcast #MissingTrio #FortWorthMissingTrio #CarlaWalkerBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/gone-cold-texas-true-crime--3203003/support.

In the late 1970s, Fort Worth was a city in transition. Although it had always been sleepy compared to other major Texas cities, downtown had begun to lose much of its former glory, parts of the Stockyards were in decline, and violent crime remained an increasingly serious problem across the entire region. Against that backdrop, the murder of a seventeen-year-old high school student became one of the city’s most disturbing unsolved crimes in 1978.Lecia McGee was remembered as outgoing, kind, and well-liked, but also tough. She played sports, enjoyed spending time with friends, and took particular pride in the older Chevrolet Impala she carefully maintained. One bitterly cold winter night, she left a friend’s house after watching a movie and eating pizza but never returned home. Her disappearance was immediately considered unusual, and her family began searching before police were contacted.The following evening, her abandoned car was found only a short distance from home. Evidence inside made it clear that a violent attack had occurred, and Lecia was found dead inside the vehicle. Investigators determined that she had fought desperately against her attacker. Robbery appeared unlikely, and detectives struggled to identify anyone who had a reason to harm her.Police examined several possible suspects and compared the murder with other crimes in the area, but none of those leads produced an answer. As the months and years passed, coverage faded and the case grew cold, leaving Lecia’s family without justice and with few explanations for what happened during the short drive home that night.Part one of two.If you have any information about the murder of Lecia Ann McGee, please contact the Fort Worth Police at (817) 392-4307.You can support gone cold and listen to the show ad-free at https://patreon.com/gonecoldpodcastFind us at https://www.gonecold.com For Gone Cold merch, visit https://gonecold.dashery.comFollow gone cold on Facebook, Instagram, Threads, TikTok, YouTube, and X. Search @gonecoldpodcast at all or just click https://linknbio.com/gonecoldpodcast#JusticeForLeciaMcGee #FortWorth #FTW #TarrantCounty #Texas #TX #TexasTrueCrime #ColdCase #TrueCrimePodcast #Podcast #Unsolved #MissingPerson #Missing #Murder #UnsolvedMurder #UnsolvedMysteries #Homicide #CrimeStories #PodcastRecommendations #CrimeJunkie #MysteryPodcast #MissingTrio #FortWorthMissingTrio #CarlaWalkerBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/gone-cold-texas-true-crime--3203003/support.