Gone Cold - Texas True Crime

In July 2010, twenty-nine-year-old Heather Leann Pope left her mother’s home in Royse City, Texas, telling her she was going to visit a friend. She never returned. Days passed without a call or message, something that immediately alarmed her family, who knew Heather always checked in.Nearly two weeks later, while searching the Quinlan area of southern Hunt County, Heather’s father and a family friend made a devastating discovery behind a convenience store off Cedar Hill Road near Lake Tawakoni. Heather’s body had been left under a tarp beside a vacant house. The extreme summer heat had taken a toll, and investigators later confirmed she had been killed by blunt force trauma to the head.More than a decade later, Heather’s murder remains unsolved. Her family continues to seek justice, contributing thousands of dollars of their own money to increase the Crime Stoppers reward to $10,000. The case remains open, and investigators say they are still willing to review new information.Someone knows what happened to Heather Pope. And her family is still waiting for answers.If you have information about the murder of Heather Leann Pope, please contact the Hunt County Sheriff’s Office at (903) 453-6800. You can also contact Hunt County Crime Stoppers at (903) 457-2929.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#JusticeForHeatherPope #RoyseCity #Quinlan #HuntCounty #TX #Texas #TrueCrime #TexasTrueCrime #ColdCase #TrueCrimePodcast #Podcast #ColdCase #Unsolved #MissingPerson #Missing #Murder #UnsolvedMurder #UnsolvedMysteries #Homicide #CrimeStories #PodcastRecommendations #CrimeJunkie #MysteryPodcastBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/gone-cold-texas-true-crime--3203003/support.

In April 1988, the quiet lakeside community of Lakeway, Texas was shaken when 45-year-old Betty Ann Thomas vanished from her home on Cold Water Lane. A violent scene inside the residence suggested a targeted attack, and two days later, Betty was found in the trunk of her Jaguar outside an Austin hotel, bound, gagged, and executed. Her murder became the first, and still the only, homicide in Lakeway’s history.As detectives uncovered Betty’s life story and examined her home for clues, an eerie parallel emerged: her father-in-law had been murdered in a similarly cold-blooded fashion eight years earlier. Though investigators explored every possibility, including motives involving money and past associations, the case ultimately went cold.Decades later, advancements in forensics, including an unidentified male DNA profile and recent fingerprint matches, have reignited the investigation. Nearly forty years on, Betty’s family and the Lakeway community continue to wait for justice.If you have any information about the murder of Betty Ann Thomas, please call the Lakeway Police Department at (512) 261-2800.Sources: The Austin American-Statesman, The Seguin Gazette-Enterprise, The San Antonio Express-News, The Houston Chronicle, The Clinton Eye, The Clinton Daily Democrat, The Lawrence Journal-WorldYou 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#JusticeForBettyThomas #Austin #TravisCounty #ATX #TX #Texas #TrueCrime #TexasTrueCrime #ColdCase #TrueCrimePodcast #Podcast #ColdCase #Unsolved #MissingPerson #Missing #Murder #UnsolvedMurder #UnsolvedMysteries #Homicide #CrimeStories #PodcastRecommendations #CrimeJunkie #MysteryPodcastBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/gone-cold-texas-true-crime--3203003/support.

This is a preview of Of Hell: Texas True Crime, a narrative investigation into the darkest crimes committed on Texas soil.From the creators of Gone Cold, each episode dives deep into cases where violence leaves a permanent scar on the land and the people who call it home.This clip features the haunting case of Nancy, a beloved mother taken from her home and brutally tortured and murdered.What begins as a tragic disappearance in a quiet Texas neighborhood unravels into a story of fear, grief, and a killer who believed he could erase a life without consequence.Hear the clip right here, and if it leaves you wanting answers — and needing justice — subscribe to Of Hell: Texas True Crime wherever you listen to podcasts.Of Hell: Texas True Crime on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/ofhellpodcast/…and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/OfHellpodcast/ Available now wherever you listen to podcasts.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/gone-cold-texas-true-crime--3203003/support.

On the morning of November 13, 1992, Suzanne Marie Hummel, a 39-year-old mother of two, parked in the busy lot of Rice Epicurean Market at Kirby and West Alabama in Houston, a familiar spot she used to wait before work. While eating breakfast in her car, she was approached by a woman demanding her purse. Within seconds, a .22-caliber shot tore through Suzanne’s arm and chest, and the assailant fled, vanishing into morning traffic and leaving her fighting for her life.Suzanne managed to drive forward and crash into a nearby bus shelter, drawing the attention of witnesses. Before losing consciousness forever, she gave one vital clue. Houston Police were stunned. A broad-daylight murder in a high-traffic shopping hub bordering River Oaks should have come with witnesses and leads. Instead, detectives were left with a scattered purse, a single gunshot, and the possibility of a waiting getaway vehicle. Whether the killer acted alone remained uncertain.Today, Suzanne’s case remains open and unsolved. Police believe someone did see something that morning. They just haven’t spoken yet.If you have any information about the murder of Suzanne Marie Hummel, please contact the Houston Police Department’s Homicide Division Cold Case unit at (713) 308-3600 or Crime Stoppers at (713) 222-8477.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#JusticeForSuzanneHummel #Houston #HarrisCounty #HTX #TX #Texas #TrueCrime #TexasTrueCrime #GoneCold #ColdCase #TrueCrimePodcast #Podcast #ColdCase #Unsolved #MissingPerson #Missing #Murder #UnsolvedMurder #UnsolvedMysteries #Homicide #CrimeStories #PodcastRecommendations #CrimeJunkie #MysteryPodcast #TrueCrimeAddict #TrueCrimeObsessed #ListenNow #PodcastLifeBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/gone-cold-texas-true-crime--3203003/support.

On August 28, 1989, 24-year-old Jana Carol Simpson walked into her portable classroom at Glen Park Elementary School in southeast Fort Worth for her very first day of teaching in the district. Not long after, she was found dying on the steps of that classroom, stabbed seventeen times in broad daylight.Her purse and jewelry were untouched. There was no sign of sexual assault. And yet the young teacher, remembered for her warmth, hugs, and devotion to her students, had been brutally murdered on what should have been among the happiest days of her career.This episode retraces Jana’s life, her path into teaching, and the events of that August afternoon. We follow the investigation that led police to a troubled 12-year-old former Glen Park student, the controversial interrogation that produced — and then lost — a confession, and the trial that ended in acquittal after only forty minutes of jury deliberation.Along the way, we examine the community’s fear, the changes in school security that followed, the painful aftermath for Jana’s family, and the unresolved questions that linger thirty-six years later.The murder of Jana Carol Simpson remains officially unsolved.If you have information about this case, please contact the Fort Worth Police Cold Case Unit at (817) 392-4307.Sources: The Fort Worth Star-Telegram, The Longview News-Journal, The Marshall News Messenger, The Austin American-Statesman, The Orlando Sentinel, edweek.comYou 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#JusticeForJanaSimpson #FortWorth #TX #Texas #TrueCrime #TexasTrueCrime #ColdCase #TrueCrimePodcast #Podcast #ColdCase #Unsolved #Murder #UnsolvedMurder #UnsolvedMysteries #Homicide #CrimeStories #PodcastRecommendations #CrimeJunkie #MysteryPodcast #TrueCrimeObsessed #CrimeDocs #InvestigationDiscovery #PodcastAddict #TrueCrimeFan #CriminalJustice #ForensicFilesBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/gone-cold-texas-true-crime--3203003/support.

In February of 1983 23-year-old Austin mother Cindy Davis Rendon vanished from her parents’ home in Northeast Austin. It was a normal Tuesday morning — Cindy fed her baby daughter, spoke briefly with her parents before they left for work, and planned to head to her shift at the Internal Revenue Service later that afternoon. But when her estranged husband arrived to pick up the baby, he found the front door wide open, breakfast spilled on the floor, and Cindy gone without a trace.Days passed. Then an anonymous envelope arrived in the mail containing some of Cindy’s personal belongings — but offered no explanation. Months passed. And then, in July, a camper in Pace Bend Park found a skull protruding from the earth. The remains were soon confirmed to be Cindy’s. She had been killed and buried in a shallow grave soon after she disappeared.Investigators believed they had their suspect — Cindy’s estranged husband, Jose “Joe” Rendon. A grand jury agreed, indicting him for murder. But a legal technicality collapsed the case before it could ever reach a judge and jury, and a second grand jury refused to re-indict. No one has ever been held accountable.Forty years later, Cindy’s family is still waiting for justice — and her killer still hasn’t been made to answer for what happened on that ordinary morning in Austin.If you have information that could help bring justice for Cynthia “Cindy” Davis Rendon, please contact the Travis County Sheriff’s Office tip line at (512) 854-1444.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#JusticeForCindyDavisRendon #Austin #TravisCounty #TX #Texas #TrueCrime #TexasTrueCrime #ColdCase #TrueCrimePodcast #Podcast #ColdCase #Unsolved #MissingPerson #Missing #Murder #UnsolvedMurder #UnsolvedMysteries #Homicide #CrimeStories #PodcastRecommendations #CrimeJunkie #MysteryPodcastBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/gone-cold-texas-true-crime--3203003/support.

In May of 1992, 42-year-old Christine “Starrine” Byrd vanished from her home in west Tyler, Texas. What began as a missing-person case soon turned into something far darker – and more disturbing – than anyone could have imagined.Starrine was a beloved mother of four, a woman of faith whose home was always filled with music. She disappeared without a trace; the front door left open, food still cooking on the stove, pets unfed. The scene looked frozen in time, as if she had been interrupted mid-afternoon. Investigators suspected foul play almost immediately.Then came a phone call. An anonymous man claimed her body could be found at Bellwood Lake. The resulting large-scale search turned up nothing. No remains, no evidence, no answers.But Starrine wasn’t the only person in Tyler to disappear under mysterious circumstances around that time. Months earlier, eight-year-old Chad Choice had been abducted from his home. His case led to ransom demands, rumors of drug debts, and ultimately to a horrifying series of revelations implicating a young man named Patrick Horn.Years later, Horn would be convicted of Chad’s kidnapping and murder. Behind bars, he began talking, and investigators realized that Starrine lived just a short distance from where Chad was buried. Informants claimed Starrine “knew too much.” Some said she may have witnessed something connected to the boy’s killing.Though she was never found, and no charges were filed in her disappearance, Starrine’s daughters have never stopped fighting. Today, the case remains open — and so does the search for justice.If you have any information about the disappearance of Starrine Byrd, please call the Tyler Police Department at (903) 531-1000 or Tyler-Smith County Crime Stoppers at (903) 597-2833.Sources: The Tyler Morning Telegraph, The Tyler Courier-Times Telegraph, KETK News, KLTV News, Smith County District Attorney Press Statements, Patrick Horn v. QuartermanYou 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#WhereIsStarrineByrd #JusticeForStarrineByrd #Tyler #SmithCounty #TX #Texas #TrueCrime #TexasTrueCrime #ColdCase #TrueCrimePodcast #Podcast #ColdCase #Unsolved #MissingPerson #Missing #Murder #UnsolvedMurder #UnsolvedMysteries #Homicide #CrimeStories #PodcastRecommendations #CrimeJunkie #MysteryPodcastBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/gone-cold-texas-true-crime--3203003/support.

On the night of March 28, 1980, twenty-one-year-old Kathryn Ann “Kathy” Stembridge was attacked while closing up the C&M Laundromat on Paluxy Road in Granbury, Texas. Stabbed repeatedly in the chest and abdomen, she managed to crawl more than 170 feet across a vacant lot to the porch of her neighbors, Bill and Mary Lou Carney, where she collapsed after telling them, “I’ve been stabbed.” Despite an immediate response and appeals to anyone who might have been driving by that night, no weapon was ever recovered, and no eyewitnesses came forward to name a suspect.The case soon focused on Robert Lowell Combs, who lived across from the laundromat at the time of the murder. With a violent history that included armed robbery and assaults against women, he was indicted for capital murder in 1981, but the charge was reduced and later dismissed when witnesses changed their stories and prosecutors admitted they lacked evidence strong enough to move forward. Years later, serial killer Henry Lee Lucas tried to claim responsibility, but his version of events didn’t match the facts, and local investigators dismissed him as “all wet.” In the 1990s, DNA tests on hair and blood evidence proved inconclusive, leaving the file open but unsolved. Even decades later, investigators described the crime as a likely passion killing committed by someone close to home. Kathy’s family never stopped pressing for answers, and the community never forgot her final words on a quiet Friday night in Granbury.If you have any information about the murder of Kathy Ann Stembridge, please call the Granbury Police Department at (817) 573-2648.Sources: The Hood County News, The Fort Worth Star-Telegram, The Houston Post, The Austin American-StatesmanYou 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#JusticeForKathyStembridge #GranburyTX #TX #Texas #TrueCrime #TexasTrueCrime #ColdCase #TrueCrimePodcast #Podcast #ColdCase #Unsolved #Murder #UnsolvedMurder #UnsolvedMysteries #Homicide #CrimeStories #PodcastRecommendations #CrimeJunkie #MysteryPodcast #TrueCrimeObsessed #CrimeDocs #InvestigationDiscovery #PodcastAddict #TrueCrimeFan #CriminalJustice #ForensicFilesBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/gone-cold-texas-true-crime--3203003/support.

In August 1970, 26-year-old schoolteacher Linda Jane Phillips, daughter of Kaufman County School Superintendent Jimmy Phillips, vanished while driving home from a Dallas wedding party. Two days later, her mutilated body was discovered in a hedgerow near Post Oak, Texas.The case shocked Kaufman County—a quiet, rural community east of booming Dallas—and became one of North Texas’s most haunting unsolved murders. Investigators found her car abandoned along Farm Road 1641, its window shattered, her clothing scattered along the roadside for nearly a mile. Despite hundreds of volunteers searching and an intensive investigation led by Sheriff Roy Brockway, no suspect was found.Over the following decade, a wave of similarly brutal killings of women swept across North and East Texas. Lawmen speculated about a single “lust killer” operating around Dallas, connecting Linda’s death to others in Garland, Irving, Plano, and Grapevine. Yet no pattern held.Then, in 1984, serial confessor Henry Lee Lucas—already infamous for hundreds of claimed murders—pleaded guilty to Linda’s killing. Kaufman County briefly marked the case “cleared.” But Lucas’s confession later fell apart. Records showed he was still in Michigan at the time of her death.Fifty-five years later, Linda’s murder remains officially unsolved. What endures is the picture of a kind, capable young woman caught between the growing city and the fading quiet of small-town Texas—and a reminder of how easily a search for closure can bury the truth.If you have information about the murder of Linda Jane Phillips, please contact the Kaufman County Sheriff’s Office at (972) 932-4337.Sources: The Fort Worth Star-Telegram, The Tyler Morning Telegraph, The San Antonio Express-News, The Odessa American, The Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, The Longview Daily News, The McKinney Courier-Gazette, The Austin American-Statesman, The Brownsville Herald, The Mesquite Daily News, and Henry Lee Lucas filesYou 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#JusticeForLindaJanePhillips #Kaufman #Dallas #TX #Texas #HenryLeeLucas #ConfessionKiller #TrueCrime #TexasTrueCrime #ColdCase #TrueCrimePodcast #Podcast #ColdCase #Unsolved #Murder #UnsolvedMurder #UnsolvedMysteries #Homicide #CrimeStories #PodcastRecommendations #CrimeJunkie #MysteryPodcast #TrueCrimeObsessed #CrimeDocs #InvestigationDiscovery #PodcastAddict #TrueCrimeFan #CriminalJustice #ForensicFilesBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/gone-cold-texas-true-crime--3203003/support.

In the early hours of June 23, 1985, fourteen-year-old Jennifer Leigh Day opened Preston Road Donuts in North Dallas for her usual Sunday shift. She brewed the coffee, stocked the shelves, and rang up her last customer at 6:20 a.m. Fifteen minutes later, the shop was silent. Jennifer’s purse and jewelry sat untouched on the counter, her apron on the floor, and the cash drawer still full.Three days later, construction workers discovered her body in a field off Preston Road and State Highway 121 in Plano—eleven miles north. Jennifer had been bludgeoned and stabbed through the throat.Her murder shook a city that believed it was safe. Detectives followed every lead, chased sightings of a white 1970s sedan, and combed the area for evidence, but the case went cold within weeks.Jennifer’s mother, Patsy Day, turned heartbreak into advocacy, helping other families navigate life after violent loss. Decades later, the case remains unsolved, but her daughter’s story endures as one of North Texas’ most haunting reminders of how quickly ordinary moments can change forever.If you have any information about the abduction and murder of Jennifer Leigh Day, please contact the Plano Police Department’s Crimes Against Persons Unit at (972) 941-2148, or go to this Plano Police website where you can submit a tip anonymously: https://www.planocoldcases.com/case/1985-7/jennifer-leigh-daySources: The Plano Star-Courier, The Dallas Morning News, The Fort Worth Star-Telegram, KXAS-TV archives accessed on texashistory.unt.eduYou 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 #SanAntonio #JusticeForJenniferDay #Dallas #Plano #TX #Texas #TrueCrime #TexasTrueCrime #ColdCase #TrueCrimePodcast #Podcast #ColdCase #Unsolved #Murder #UnsolvedMurder #UnsolvedMysteries #Homicide #CrimeStories #PodcastRecommendations #CrimeJunkie #MysteryPodcast #TrueCrimeObsessed #CrimeDocs #InvestigationDiscovery #PodcastAddict #TrueCrimeFan #CriminalJustice #ForensicFilesBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/gone-cold-texas-true-crime--3203003/support.

In June 1964, a Fort Bend County farmer discovered a headless, handless torso in a roadside ditch — a killing so cleanly done that investigators said only someone trained in anatomy could have done it. Sheriff “Tiny” Gaston and the Texas Rangers searched for weeks, but the victim was never identified. Then, just months later, another scene shocked Texas — Room 636 of San Antonio’s Sheraton Gunter Hotel, where blood coated the walls and floor but no body was found. The man who’d checked in under a false name vanished, only to turn up two days later dead by suicide in another downtown hotel. His name was Walter Audley Emerick — a drifter, forger, and former airman who may have been responsible for far more than the crime in that room.From the rice fields of Fort Bend County to the marble halls of the Gunter, this episode follows the grim trail of the 1960s Texas torso murders and asks whether the mystery that began in the Rio Grande ended that night with a .22 in Room 536 — or if the real killer was still out there.If you have any information about the Fort Bend Torso Case of 1964, please contact the Sheriff’s Office there at (281) 341-4665.If you have any information about Walter Audley Emerick or his victim, please contact the San Antonio Police at (210) 207-7635.Sources: The Houston Post, The Houston Chronicle, The San Antonio Express-News, thegunterhotel.com, historichotels.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 #SanAntonio #FortBendCounty #TX #Texas #TrueCrime #TexasTrueCrime #ColdCase #TrueCrimePodcast #Podcast #ColdCase #Unsolved #Murder #UnsolvedMurder #UnsolvedMysteries #Homicide #CrimeStories #PodcastRecommendations #CrimeJunkie #MysteryPodcast #TrueCrimeObsessed #CrimeDocs #InvestigationDiscovery #PodcastAddict #TrueCrimeFan #CriminalJustice #ForensicFilesBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/gone-cold-texas-true-crime--3203003/support.

Three years after a suitcase containing a man’s torso surfaced in the Rio Grande near El Paso, another horror emerged—this time in the pine woods of East Texas. On February 3, 1962, two brothers seining minnows in a roadside ditch off U.S. Highway 59 north of Cleveland discovered two cardboard boxes wired together and packed with cement. Inside was the severed torso of a woman. Her head, arms, and legs were missing.San Jacinto County Sheriff Lewis Woodruff and Constable Collis Everitt called in the Texas Rangers and Houston pathologist Dr. Joseph Jachimczyk. The autopsy revealed crude dismemberment, a missing heart, and faint teeth marks on the torso. Nine pieces of women’s clothing surrounded the body, all stripped of laundry tags. Every clue, as few as there were, pointed toward Houston.Investigators chased leads across Texas and beyond.Between the 1959 discovery in El Paso and the 1962 killing in San Jacinto County lay nearly eight hundred miles, three years, and two nameless victims—each drained of blood, each missing a heart. The phantom butcher once dubbed “Mack the Knifer” disappeared without a trace, leaving the questions of who they were and why they died buried with them.If you have any information about the 1962 San Jacinto Torso Case, please call the sheriff’s office there at (936) 653-4367.Sources: The El Paso Times, The El Paso Herald-Post, The Houston Post, The Houston Chronicle, The Sarasota Journal, The Fort Lauderdale NewsYou 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 #SanJacintoCounty #TX #Texas #TrueCrime #TexasTrueCrime #ColdCase #TrueCrimePodcast #Podcast #ColdCase #Unsolved #Murder #UnsolvedMurder #UnsolvedMysteries #Homicide #CrimeStories #PodcastRecommendations #CrimeJunkie #MysteryPodcast #TrueCrimeObsessed #CrimeDocs #InvestigationDiscovery #PodcastAddict #TrueCrimeFan #CriminalJustice #ForensicFilesBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/gone-cold-texas-true-crime--3203003/support.

In June of 1959, a fisherman on the Rio Grande west of El Paso pulled a black suitcase from the slow, muddy current near Montoya, Texas. Inside was a headless, handless torso — mutilated, skinned, and wrapped in the previous day’s newspaper. Within hours, El Paso County Sheriff Bob Bailey was standing over what he’d later call “the most brutal murder in El Paso history.” What followed was a multi-state investigation that spanned Texas, New Mexico, and beyond — an effort to name the victim and find the sadist who cut him apart.Over the next weeks, more body parts surfaced downstream and across the desert near Tularosa. Each discovery added a new layer of horror — feet in a sandwich box, organs in a cereal carton, and hands packed in plastic and left in the sand. Every clue pointed to someone who knew anatomy and took their time.Despite help from the FBI, countless missing-person matches, and even a copycat case a year later in New Mexico, the Rio Grande torso murder remained one of the Southwest’s most chilling mysteries. The body was never identified, the killer never found.This is Part One of Three of The Torso Murders — a case that haunted El Paso lawmen for years and stretched from the cottonwoods of the Rio Grande to the deserts beneath the Sacramento Mountains.If you have any information about the 1959 Torso Case, please contact the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office at (915) 538-2292.Sources: The El Paso Times, The El Paso Herald-Post, The Carlsbad Current-Argus, The Albuquerque JournalYou 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 #ElPaso #ElPasoTX #TX #Texas #TrueCrime #TexasTrueCrime #ColdCase #TrueCrimePodcast #Podcast #ColdCase #Unsolved #Murder #UnsolvedMurder #UnsolvedMysteries #Homicide #CrimeStories #PodcastRecommendations #CrimeJunkie #MysteryPodcast #TrueCrimeObsessed #CrimeDocs #InvestigationDiscovery #PodcastAddict #TrueCrimeFan #CriminalJustice #ForensicFilesBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/gone-cold-texas-true-crime--3203003/support.

On April 5, 1985, 29-year-old Kathleen “Kathy” Ranft finished her shift at Lippe Tire Center in Seguin, Texas, and headed into the weekend. She was in the middle of a separation, moving into a new apartment, and trying to build a fresh start for herself and her three sons. That night, Kathy was supposed to meet friends at the Country Cabaret, a small nightclub off FM 467. She never made it.The next morning, her 1980 Chevy Citation was found in the club’s parking lot. Inside were two cigarette butts and a child’s wristwatch. Back at her apartment, her purse and makeup sat untouched, but her wallet and keys were gone. Kathy was never seen again.In the weeks that followed, the Guadalupe County Sheriff’s Office chased leads that led nowhere. Investigators even called in a Dallas psychic, who led deputies and reporters to dig the clay pits of Acme Brick, where Kathy’s estranged husband worked. The spectacle drew headlines but uncovered nothing.Decades later, Kathy’s disappearance remains Guadalupe County’s most haunting cold case. With no suspects, little evidence, and only painful silence, her family has spent nearly forty years waiting for answers.If you have any information about the disappearance of Kathleen Ranft, please contact the Guadalupe County Sheriff’s Office at (830) 379-1224 or Guadalupe County Crime Stoppers at (877) 403-TIPS.Sources: The Seguin Gazette-Enterprise, The Wichita Falls Times, The New Braunfels Herald-Zeitung, The San Antonio Express-News, KTSX.com, FoxSanAntonio.com, SeguinToday.comYou 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#WhereIsKathyRanft #JusticeForKathyRanft #Seguin #SanAntonio #TX #Texas #TrueCrime #TexasTrueCrime #ColdCase #TrueCrimePodcast #Podcast #ColdCase #Unsolved #MissingPerson #Missing #Murder #UnsolvedMurder #UnsolvedMysteries #Homicide #CrimeStories #PodcastRecommendations #CrimeJunkie #MysteryPodcast #TrueCrimeObsessed #CrimeDocs #InvestigationDiscovery #PodcastAddict #TrueCrimeFan #CriminalJustice #ForensicFilesBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/gone-cold-texas-true-crime--3203003/support.

In October 1996, a rancher in rural Wise County, Texas, stumbled on a body hidden in a brush pile. For over two years she was known only as “Brush Girl,” a Jane Doe with no name, no identity, and no justice. Eventually, persistence and forensic artistry revealed her true identity: 14-year-old April Dawn Lacy from Oklahoma City.April’s story is one of poverty, addiction, instability, and systemic failure — a child caught between parents lost to alcohol and drugs, shuffled between motels and friends’ homes, desperate for stability. Five days after storming out of a seedy motel room following a fight with her mother, she was dead. Strangled. Dumped. Forgotten by many, but not by all.This episode follows April’s life, disappearance, discovery, and identification, and examines how her murder fits into a chilling pattern of killings along interstates in Texas and Oklahoma — crimes later tied to long-haul truckers like John Robert Williams, the so-called “Big Rig Killer.”Nearly three decades later, April’s grave still bears no headstone. Her case remains unsolved. But her story is more than a case number — it is a call for justice, and a reminder of the children who slip through the cracks.If you have any information regarding the 1996 murder of April Dawn Lacy, please contact the Wise County Sheriff’s Office at (940) 627-5971.Sources: The Fort Worth Star-Telegram, The Houston Chronicle, The Daily Oklahoman, The Bryan-College Station Eagle, The Tyler Morning TelegraphYou 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 #JusticeForAprilDawnLacy #WiseCountyTX #TX #Texas #OklahomaCity #Oklahoma #OK #TrueCrime #TexasTrueCrime #ColdCase #TrueCrimePodcast #Podcast #ColdCase #Unsolved #Murder #UnsolvedMurder #UnsolvedMysteries #Homicide #CrimeStories #PodcastRecommendations #CrimeJunkie #MysteryPodcast #TrueCrimeObsessed #CrimeDocs #InvestigationDiscovery #PodcastAddict #TrueCrimeFan #CriminalJustice #ForensicFilesBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/gone-cold-texas-true-crime--3203003/support.

In October 1987, a visiting nurse walked into a Tyler, Texas duplex and discovered a scene of unimaginable violence. Fifty-seven-year-old Mary Hooper, confined to a wheelchair after a long battle with illness, had been bludgeoned to death. Just steps away, her longtime partner, sixty-two-year-old Emmett Lynch, was found beaten in the bathroom. Nothing in the home appeared disturbed. Valuables remained untouched. The only thing missing was Emmett’s car—a gray 1977 Ford LTD he cherished and would never have willingly sold.When the car turned up more than 1,000 miles away in Prescott, Arizona, so did two suspects: Terry and Kathryn McMahan, former neighbors of the victims. What followed was one of the most expensive capital murder trials in Smith County history—filled with contradictions, unanswered questions, and ultimately, an acquittal.Decades later, the murders of Mary Hooper and Emmett Lynch remain unsolved. This episode explores the crime scene, the investigation that stretched across state lines, and the courtroom drama that left a grieving community with no justice.If you have any information about the murders of Mary Hooper and Emmett Lynch, please contact the Tyler Police Department at 903-531-1000 or Tyler / Smith County Crime-Stoppers at 903-597-2833. Sources:The Tyler Morning Telegraph, The Tyler Courier-Times, cityoftyler.org, KETK.comYou 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.com Follow gone cold on Facebook, Instagram, Threads, TikTok, YouTube, and X. Search @gonecoldpodcast at all or just click https://linknbio.com/gonecoldpodcast #JusticeForMaryAndEmmett #TylerTX #TX #Texas #TrueCrime #TexasTrueCrime #ColdCase #TrueCrimePodcast #Podcast #ColdCase #Unsolved #Murder #UnsolvedMurder #UnsolvedMysteries #Homicide #CrimeStories #PodcastRecommendations #CrimeJunkie #MysteryPodcast #TrueCrimeObsessed #CrimeDocs #InvestigationDiscovery #PodcastAddict #TrueCrimeFan #CriminalJustice #ForensicFilesBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/gone-cold-texas-true-crime--3203003/support.

Most disappearances leave echoes—missing persons flyers, TV reports, police pleas for tips. But when James Robert “Jimmy” Farenthold vanished in the spring of 1989, there was only silence. No bulletin. No headlines. No public outcry. Just absence.Jimmy wasn’t just anyone. He was the youngest son of one of Texas’s most prominent dynasties, a family bound by oil, politics, and power. But behind the legacy was a private story of grief and dysfunction. Jimmy had been born a twin—and when his brother Vincent died suddenly, Jimmy became the “one who lived,” carrying scars that shaped the rest of his life.Charming yet reckless, Jimmy drifted through addiction, rehab programs, and cities across the South. In April 1989, he promised a fresh start. Bags packed, ticket in hand, he was set to enter a Florida treatment program. Instead, he disappeared. His car, his passport, even his clothes—left behind.What followed was not the frantic search you’d expect for the son of a famous family. Instead, his disappearance became another fracture inside an already divided household. A father chasing rumors. A mother haunted by silence. A family dynasty unraveling.Part 3 of 3 of our series follows Jimmy’s apparent final days, the dead ends that followed, and the generational weight of a name built on both power and tragedy.If you have information about the disappearance of James Robert “Jimmy” Farenthold, please contact the San Antonio Police Department at 210-207-8939. Sources: The Corpus Christi Caller-Times, The Port Aransas South Jetty, The Houston Chronicle, The San Antonio Express-News, Texas Monthly, Texas Observer, texashistory.unt.edu, The Los Angeles Times, The University of Texas School of Law – Frances Tarlton “Sissy” Farenthold Archives ProjectYou 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.com Follow gone cold on Facebook, Instagram, Threads, TikTok, YouTube, and X. Search @gonecoldpodcast at all or just click https://linknbio.com/gonecoldpodcast#WhereIsJimmyFarenthold #CorpusChristi #CCTX #TX #Texas #TrueCrime #TexasTrueCrime #ColdCase #TrueCrimePodcast #Podcast #ColdCase #Unsolved #Murder #UnsolvedMurder #UnsolvedMysteries #Homicide #CrimeStories #PodcastRecommendations #CrimeJunkie #MysteryPodcast #TrueCrimeObsessed #CrimeDocs #InvestigationDiscovery #PodcastAddict #TrueCrimeFan #CriminalJustice #ForensicFilesBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/gone-cold-texas-true-crime--3203003/support.

On June 6, 1972, the Gulf of Mexico gave back one of its secrets. The body of Randolph “Randy” Farenthold, 32 years old, oil money in his veins, and gambling smoke in his lungs, washed ashore on Mustang Island. His hands were bound, his body chained, his skull fractured. The brutal murder of the South Texas “sportsman” triggered one of the most intensive investigations in Nueces County history, pulling in local lawmen, Texas Rangers, and even the FBI.But this was no simple killing. Randy had been scheduled to testify in a federal fraud case against men tied to shady financial schemes, leaving investigators to question whether his death was a mob-style hit meant to silence him. His movements in the final hours were traced from Corpus Christi’s nightlife to the waters he loved, yet every lead pointed to a tangle of gambling debts, betrayals, and organized crime connections.Though suspects were named and one man, Bruce Lusk Bass III, eventually indicted and convicted, Randy’s murder remains clouded by unanswered questions. His violent end became one more curse in a dynasty already fractured by addiction, politics, and loss.Randy’s death was only the beginning. Seventeen years later, the family would face another devastating silence—the disappearance of his younger brother, James Robert “Jimmy” Farenthold.If you have any information about the disappearance of Jimmy Farenthold, please contact the San Antonio Police Department at (210) 207-8939.Sources: The Corpus Christi Caller-Times, The Port Aransas South Jetty, The Houston Chronicle, The San Antonio Express-News, Texas Monthly, Texas Observer, texashistory.unt.edu, The Los Angeles TimesYou 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#WhereIsJimmyFarenthold #CorpusChristi #CCTX #TX #Texas #TrueCrime #TexasTrueCrime #ColdCase #TrueCrimePodcast #Podcast #ColdCase #Unsolved #Murder #UnsolvedMurder #UnsolvedMysteries #Homicide #CrimeStories #PodcastRecommendations #CrimeJunkie #MysteryPodcast #TrueCrimeObsessed #CrimeDocs #InvestigationDiscovery #PodcastAddict #TrueCrimeFan #CriminalJustice #ForensicFilesBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/gone-cold-texas-true-crime--3203003/support.

Texas dynasties are remembered for oil, ranching, and politics. Their names are carved into courthouses and campuses—but behind the polished legacy of the Farenthold family lies a darker story. In this first part of our multi-episode series, we trace the family’s rise from European aristocracy and South Texas oil wealth into political power, before unraveling the tragedies that shadowed their name.From the sudden death of a child to the brutal gangland-style murder of 32-year-old Randy Farenthold, this episode examines the intersections of privilege, politics, and violence. As Frances “Sissy” Farenthold’s political star rose on reform and civil rights, her family life was shattered by a killing that sent shockwaves through Corpus Christi society.But Randy’s murder was only the beginning. Another son, Jimmy, would one day vanish—without obituary, without a police report, without answers. Just silence.This is Part One of Three of The Disappearance of Jimmy Farenthold: Oil, Power, and Secrets.If you have any information about the disappearance of Jimmy Farenthold, please contact the San Antonio Police Department at (210) 207-8939.Sources: The Corpus Christi Caller-Times, The Port Aransas South Jetty, The Houston Chronicle, The San Antonio Express-News, Texas Monthly, Texas Observer, texashistory.unt.edu, The Los Angeles Times,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#WhereIsJimmyFarenthold #CorpusChristi #CCTX #TX #Texas #TrueCrime #TexasTrueCrime #ColdCase #TrueCrimePodcast #Podcast #ColdCase #Unsolved #Murder #UnsolvedMurder #UnsolvedMysteries #Homicide #CrimeStories #PodcastRecommendations #CrimeJunkie #MysteryPodcast #TrueCrimeObsessed #CrimeDocs #InvestigationDiscovery #PodcastAddict #TrueCrimeFan #CriminalJustice #ForensicFilesBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/gone-cold-texas-true-crime--3203003/support.

In October of 1989, ten-year-old Sheila Renae Finch left her grandmother’s home in South Waco, Texas, for what should have been a quick trip. She rode her pink-and-white bicycle to a corner grocery store to use the payphone and call her aunt for a ride to school. She made the call, hung up, and started the short ride home.Sheila never made it back.Two days later, her body was discovered on the banks of Lake Waco’s Speegleville Park.The search for Sheila, the discovery of her body, and the haunting details revealed by her autopsy gripped Waco. Investigators pursued every lead, recovering her bicycle from a nearby creek, circulating a composite sketch of a possible suspect, and eventually arresting a man named Anthony Torres. But the case against him collapsed under the weight of shaky eyewitness accounts and the absence of physical evidence.If you have any information about the murder of Sheila Renae Finch, please contact the Waco Police Department at (254) 750-7500, or search Waco Cold Cases on your web browser, look for Sheila’s case, and fill out the tip form.Sources: The Waco Citizen, The Waco Tribune-Herald, KCENtv.com, KWTX.com, waco-texas.com/Departments/Police-Department/Cold-Cases/CC80sYou 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 #JusticeForSheilaFinch #Waco #WTX #TX #Texas #TrueCrime #TexasTrueCrime #ColdCase #TrueCrimePodcast #Podcast #ColdCase #Unsolved #Murder #UnsolvedMurder #UnsolvedMysteries #Homicide #CrimeStories #PodcastRecommendations #CrimeJunkie #MysteryPodcast #TrueCrimeObsessed #CrimeDocs #InvestigationDiscovery #PodcastAddict #TrueCrimeFan #CriminalJustice #ForensicFilesBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/gone-cold-texas-true-crime--3203003/support.