Thin Air Podcast

In today's part 2 on the disappearance of Darwin Vest, we cover all of the evidence for foul play, as found in police records and conversations with Rebecca Vest, Darwin's sister, and Annie, another member of Darwin's family. We also discuss why police have previously argued that Darwin drowned in the Snake River that night.

Darwin K. Vest was known for his brilliant insight and scientific mind. In the 80's, he conducted a famous study about Hobo Spiders which changed how the arachnid was perceived. But when Darwin went missing in the early morning hours of June 2nd, 1999, his work would forever remain unfinished. That night, Darwin had been drinking in downtown Idaho Falls, Idaho, where he lived and worked. He was with a friend named Lee Curtis at a bar called The Golden Crown. According to police reports, Lee left to find an ATM, and when he returned, Darwin was gone. Bartenders later reported that Darwin had finished half of his beer and then walked out of a northern entrance. This was the last time he was ever seen. In part one of our story, we discuss the specifics of Darwin's disappearance with a close family member and Eric Seneff, another friend who was with Darwin the night he went missing.

April 26th, 1964. Dora and Chester Fronczak are at Chicago's Michael Reese Hospital after giving birth to their first child, a son named Paul. Around 9:30 a.m., a woman - who Dora assumed was a nurse, entered the room, looked at Paul and left. 4 hours later, around 1:50 p.m., the same woman entered again, this time claiming that the baby was needed for an examination in the nursery. Dora handed Paul to her, she left, and, shortly after, both Paul and the unknown woman vanished. The trail quickly went cold, and it seemed that baby Paul was gone forever. But this was only the beginning of the mystery. To hear the full story, listen now on your favorite podcast app!

In January of 2015, 42-year-old Joann Hakes went missing from Afton, Wyoming. She had been living at the Silver Stream Lodge with her boyfriend, a man named Ronald Weerheim. On the night of January 3rd, Joann and Ronald were drinking at the bar on the property of the Silver Stream. According to Ron, Joann was drunk and making a scene, so they left. Once outside, Joann got into a truck with two men and left, never to return. But much is contested about the details of this story, including from the owner of the Silver Stream and a close family member who saw Ron that night. In addition, Joann's daughter, Laura, thinks Ronald may been the cause of her disappearance. In today's episode, we speak to Laura about Joann's life and relationships, and try to figure out what could have happened to her that night.

Around 11 a.m. on Dec. 2nd, 2011, 23-year-old Shawn Dickerson left his San Francisco house in a hurry -- his roommate and friend, Anjuli, thought he was late for work at Rolo, a men's clothing store. But rather than going to work, it appears that Shawn went for a walk around town, taking a series of photos to chronicle his day. The photos were uploaded to his Facebook page. These photos are the last trace of Shawn Dickerson. In today's episode, we speak at length with Shawn's mother, Trisha Brucker. She shares with us the details of Shawn's disappearance -- and the hopes that he may still be alive.

Last week, we discussed the disappearance of Wanda Lemons in the context of the other missing and deceased women of Chillicothe. But Megan, Wanda's daughter, argued that her mother's case was unrelated to the other women - that, despite having a similar past to the women, that her case hits much closer to home. That her disappearance was personal. In today's episode, Jordan tries to discover more information about key players in Wanda's story. As Wanda was fighting for custody, we try and uncover what her relationship was like with her ex. and how often they saw each other around the time of Wanda's disappearance. We also try and find a man that Wanda was staying with named Marvin - who, as Wanda's mom Diana described, was abusive and may know more than he has said. This is our last episode of 2017. Thank you all so much for your support and we'll be back on January 29th, 2018! We wish you a very merry Christmas and happy holidays!

38-year-old Wanda Lemons went missing in Chillicothe, Ohio on or around November 4th, 2014. Her case is one of six women who either went missing or were found dead in Chillicothe between May of 2014 and June of 2015. These stories quickly gained national attention, and many people thought that their cases were connected.  In today's episode of Thin Air, we devote the first of two episodes on the disappearance of Wanda Lemons to discussing how Wanda fits within the context of these other cases. All of the women, it was said, had problems with drug addiction and prostitution. They all may have known each other and known a dangerous criminal and drug lord known as Dollar Bill. But, in Wanda's case, these connections aren't always the easiest to verify, making her already mysterious disappearance even more questionable.

19-year-old Jesse Ross was visiting Chicago while attending a model UN conference with teammates from the University of Missouri - Kansas City.  Around 2 am on November 21st, 2006, Jesse is called to an emergency meeting of the UN conference's security council. At this point in the evening, Jesse had been to a dance and a party at the hotel where the conference was being held, the Sheraton Hotel and Towers. Jesse makes it to this emergency meeting, but leaves around 30 minutes later. He leaves through a rear entrance, and this is the last time anyone ever saw Jesse. Police would posit that Jesse somehow made his way to the Chicago River, immediately behind the hotel, and somehow fell in and was carried out into Lake Michigan. But filmmaker Brian Rose, who has been working on a film about Jesse since 2013, has evidence that this theory has some major problems. For today's episode, we speak with Brian Rose, creator of the upcoming documentary When I Last Saw Jesse, and Jesse's father, Donald Ross.

Halloween, 1986. 23 year old Steven Allen Davis clocked out of work in downtown San Francisco, California. He has never been seen or heard from since. A year prior to his disappearance, Steve asked his mother Rosetta what she would do if he just vanished one day: this made his family believe he took off on his own, but would show up again when he was ready. But that day never came, and now his family believes he was met with foul play.

On October 15th, 2016, 55 year old Nancy Paulikas visited the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, also known as LACMA, with her husband Kirk and some other family members. The year before, Nancy was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's disease. She had severe dementia and had problems communicating, and by October of 2016, caring for her was Kirk's full time job. The trip to LACMA was going well, and Nancy was having a good day. But when the two got separated, Nancy vanished. After an hour of not finding her around the museum, Kirk called the police. Shockingly, Nancy has never been found. The last traces of her are surveillance video images of her on Wilshire and McCarthy Vista, an intersection not far from LACMA. Since her disappearance, Kirk, along with an incredible team of friends and family, has mounted an incredible effort to find her. Both Kirk's team and investigators believe it is likely that Nancy is alive, right now, in a medical facility where they cannot get any information about her, and that she may be misidentified with an incorrect social security number.

Darwyn Hope went missing on July 12th, 2016 from Boise, Idaho. Darwyn was 92 years old at the time, and was suffering from depression and suicidal thoughts brought on by a painful medical condition. He had scheduled a surgery to fix the condition, but when it was unexpectedly cancelled on July 11th, Darwyn became despondent. The night before he went missing, his son Dale went visit him after Mike, his brother, asked him to visit their dad and try to lift his spirits, and keep him focused on getting better. Dale spent some time with Darwyn, who spoke of his suicidal thoughts. But Dale left feeling convinced that his father would carry on, and that everything would be okay. But the next day, Darwyn and his car, a silver Pontiac Bonneville, were nowhere to be found. Mike arrived at Darwyn's house around 2:30 that day to check on him, and found him missing. Darwyn had left his hearing aids, which he needed to communicate with others, his cane, which he used to walk with his condition, and cash - around 300-400 dollars, fanned out on top of his washer. Police were called shortly after, and Darwyn has been missing ever since. In early 2017, investigators turned their focus on the brothers, and began to accuse them of having something to do with Darwyn's disappearance. In the episode, we speak with Dale Hope, his wife Lonnie, Mike Hope, and Detective Monte Iverson with Boise PD to uncover all the theories for where Darwyn could be and where he could have gone that day.

On the morning of September 14th, 2007, 14 year old Andrew Gosden left his home in Doncaster, England. His parents believed he was on his way to school, but Andrew had other plans. Instead, he returned home, changed his clothes, and caught a train to London. CCTV footage captured Andrew leaving Kings Cross Station. This is the last time Andrew Gosden was ever seen, and his family has had few answers since. Today, we speak with Andrew's father, Kevin Gosden, Andrew's sister Charlotte, and Josie Allen from the UK organization Missing People. As the ten year anniversary of Andrew's disappearance is just days from the release of today's episode, we hope that someone comes forward with new information.

On September 17th, 2001, police were called to a suicide at the Lake Quinault Hotel in Amanda Park, Washington. The man, who had checked into the hotel with the name Lyle Stevik, had hanged himself. Police assumed an open and shut case. But Lyle was a fake name, and since his death, no missing persons case has matched him, and no family has come forward to claim him, and his true identity remains unknown.

Jose Ricardo Garay, who went by Rick, was last seen on or around July 30th, 2009. Rick’s case is complicated and controversial because he went missing while attempting to enter the country illegally through the Sonoran Desert in Arizona. In this episode, we talk with Anne, Rick’s fiancee, and Chelsea Halstead from The Colibri Center for Human Rights, one of the few resources that family members of undocumented migrants have when looking for their missing loved one.

In the early morning hours of October 10th, 2010, Unique Harris went missing from her Washington D.C. apartment while her two sons and great niece slept in the next room. She has never been seen or heard from again. In this episode we speak to Unique's mom, Valencia Harris, and Cpt. Michelle Caron from the Washington D.C. Metropolitan Police Department about the details of Unique's case. We also speak to Natalie Wilson, co-founder of the Black and Missing Foundation, about the social and systemic issues that are brought to light when a person of color goes missing.

David Ezell Blockett went missing on December 11th, 1980 in Newport News, Virginia. He was only 15 days old. Today's episode examines David's case with his brother, Frederick, and reporter Jessica Larche. We also discuss the issue of infant abductions as a whole: the type of perpetrator likely to commit this crime, locations these abductions take place, and specific cases that have led to shocking discoveries. David Ezell Blockett remains missing.

James Rowe went missing from the small community of Crestone, Colorado on July 30th, 2004. On that day, James drove his Jeep 17-miles outside of the city limits, parked his car along the side of the road, walked back to town, had a short conversation with a close friend, and was never seen or heard from again. In this episode, we speak to James’ sister, Laura, and his best friend from Crestone, Jeremiah, as they share with us details about the case and theories about what might have happened to James Rowe.

In Part 2 of our coverage of David Sneddon, a 24 year old American student who went missing in Yunnan Province, China in 2004, we discuss the evidence that David Sneddon was abducted by North Korea. We return to our conversations with David’s brother, James, and David’s former roommate in China, George Bailey. We also speak to Greg Scarlatoiu, the Executive Director of The Committee for Human Rights in North Korea, Robert Boynton, author of The Invitation Only Zone: North Korea’s Abduction Project, and Congressman Chris Stewart from Utah.

24-year-old David Sneddon went missing in August, 2004 from Yunnan Province, China, near an area called the Tiger Leaping Gorge. David had been studying in Beijing, and was traveling around Southern China before returning home. In this episode, part one of a two-part series, we speak with both George Bailey, the last person who knew him to see him before he disappeared, and his brother, James, who travelled to China to hike the trail in search of his lost brother.

Cameron Remmer disappeared from San Francisco in October, 2011. Since his disappearance many questions have remained about the time he spent in San Francisco. On this episode, we speak to Adrienne, a woman he had met on his stay in San Francisco, and Zach, his business partner back in San Diego--someone who was depending greatly on Cameron to return with the product he had set out to get. What happened to Cameron Remmer still remains a mystery, but join us as we hope to get a little bit closer to the truth of what happened to him.