Upstate Unsolved

In Season 1: WGY's Phoebe LaFave & the Cold Case Analysis Center at the College of St. Rose explore the 1998 disappearance of UAlbany student Suzanne Lyall.

In Episode 1: A New Beginning - we lay the groundwork for this season. We talk to Suzy’s mother Mary about Suzy and the days that followed her disappearance. We discuss The Center for Hope, the non-profit set up by Suzy’s parents that advocates for missing children and their families, and we highlight how The Cold Case Analysis Center at The College of Saint Rose came about and what it aims to do.

In Episode 2, In Her Footsteps, we retrace Suzy's steps on her last known day - March 2, 1998. After taking her midterm on the morning of March 2nd Suzy attended classes until 4 PM before heading to work. Before boarding a bus to Crossgates she took $20 out of an ATM at the Key Bank near UAlbany's Uptown campus. When she arrived at Crossgates, she took out another $20 before heading to her job at Babbage's.Suzy left her the mall at 9 PM and boarded a bus back to campus around 9:20. The driver who regularly worked the route recognized her picture but was not certain he saw her get off at the Collins Circle stop on campus, which was only a short walk to her Colonial Quad dorm.

In this episode, we detail what happened the day after Suzanne Lyall's disappearance, which remains one of the biggest question marks surrounding her case. On March 3, 1998 $20 was withdrawn using Suzy's ATM card at a Stewart’s convenience store about three miles from campus. We discuss the man identified publicly as “The Nike Man” who was seen at Stewart’s around the time the $20 was withdrawn.

We've narrowed in on two individuals who, as far as we know, were complete strangers to Suzy.The first is Israel Keyes, a serial killer who claims to have committed a long series of elaborate rapes and murders until his capture in 2012. In this episode we highlight the life and crimes of Israel Keyes and three connections he has to Suzy's case.

The last stranger we've narrowed in on is John Regan.This middle aged man from a prominent family in Waterbury, Connecticut shocked his community, when in 2004 he was arrested on an unlawful restraint charge for attempting to sexually assault his 21-year-old co-worker. Then, DNA taken at the time of his arrest linked him to the 1993 rape of his friend's wife, Donna Palomba.While out on bail for his crimes in Connecticut, on Halloween 2005 John Regan drove to Saratoga Springs where he attempted to abduct a young woman from her high school parking lot. Saratoga Springs is a short drive to Suzy's hometown of Ballston Spa.

In this episode, Dr. Christina Lane, a criminologist and the Director of The Cold Case Analysis Center at The College of Saint Rose and I talk with the lead investigator of the initial investigation, about the framework of her case and how investigations like Suzy's are handled. We hear from Suzy's siblings about the aftermath of her disappearance and how their lives have been affected by her absence.

Suzanne Lyall is so much more than her disappearance. She is a daughter, sister, cousin, a hard worker, poet, computer lover, girlfriend, and a friend. In this episode, we speak to members of her immediate family and her two cousins to get at the core of who Suzy was as a child and through her high school years. Her family shares similar anecdotes of Suzy, expressing her kind heart and intelligent nature but also the traits we haven't heard much about.

In this episode we focus on the last two years of Suzy's high school career and her relationship with Rich Condon, whom she dated up until her disappearance on March 2, 1998. We speak to friends of Suzy's from high school who describe her as being open to everyone and had the ability to easily float between the different groups and cliques at school. She had a close circle of friends, but everyone liked Suzy. We explore more of her poetry, and discuss how there were aspects of Suzy's life that she kept to herself. No amount of prying or pushing would get her to speak what was on her mind if she didn't want to.Examining a high school relationship that started nearly 25 years ago is extremely difficult. Young love is so confusing and can be tricky to navigate. But what makes it harder is that we don't have input from the only other person who knows exactly how their relationship was.

In this episode, we focus on Suzy's life after graduating from high school. How she attended her freshman year at SUNY Oneonta but stayed at her boyfriend Rich's house in The Capital Region nearly every weekend, without her parents knowledge. Her loved ones detail how Suzy's grades started to slip and how she spent the majority of her time with Rich, his family and his friends. She confided in her cousin that she was afraid she was going to flunk out of college.We talk about elements of control that Rich had over Suzy, going as far as to have their computers linked, giving him access to her computer at any time.Suzy's family and friends share the last time they saw her and their last conversations with Suzy before she was never seen again. We also talk more about the possibility of an unplanned pregnancy.

In the season finale of "Upstate Unsolved," we speak with the lead investigator of Suzy's case, Retired Senior Investigator Jim Horton. In this exclusive interview, he shares never before told aspects of Suzy's case; largely involving her boyfriend Rich Condon and his family.

Now in its second season, this WGY original true-crime podcast, in partnership with the Cold Case Analysis Center at the College of St. Rose, investigates the unsolved murders of Catherine ‘Kate’ Blackburn (1964), and Ruth Whitman (1959). While seemingly unconnected, these women have one crucial element in common: their cases aren’t well known to the public. With the support of the Albany Police Department and the Colonie Police Department, WGY’s “Upstate Unsolved” brings these cold cases into the spotlight in the hopes of finding justice for these women no longer forgotten.

Now in its second season, the true crime podcast, in partnership with the Cold Case Analysis Center at the College of St. Rose, investigates the unsolved murders of Catherine ‘Kate’ Blackburn (1964), and Ruth Whitman (1959). While seemingly unconnected, these women have one crucial element in common: their cases aren’t well known to the public. With the support of the Albany Police Department and the Colonie Police Department, WGY’s “Upstate Unsolved” brings these cold cases into the spotlight in hopes of finding justice for these women...no longer forgotten.

Catherine "Kate" Blackburn was found beaten and stabbed death in the unoccupied upstairs apartment in her Colonie Street home in Albany on September 14, 1964. While Albany Police Detectives at the time went to great lengths to investigate her brutal murder, the case went cold.While it’s important to re-evaluate her case using modern day techniques and tactics, we have to also understand the context of her life.

Please be advised that we will be detailing the extreme violence Catherine Blackburn had to endure in this episode. Listener discretion is advised.

55 years ago Catherine Blackburn's niece and sister found her exposed body in the vacant upstairs apartment of her home on Colonie Street in Albany. In 1964, crime scene cleanup wasn't facilitated by police; that burden fell on the deceased's loved ones. Kate's 20-year-old nieces, Sandy and Theresa, had to clean their Aunt's blood from the apartment. In this episode, we speak to Kate's niece Sandy about the impact her Aunt's murder had on her life and family.

We believe that Catherine Blackburn's case can be solved. The acts she endured are unique and rare, and with the modern day ability to disseminate the details of her case, we are hopeful that someone somewhere will be able to provide new connections, leading to answers.

The body of 18-year-old Ruth Whitman was found face down in a drainage ditch on Sand Creek Road in Colonie on December 8, 1959. She had been severely beaten in the head, with one eye swollen shut and she had a laceration on the back of her head. For 60 years, Ruth's case has remained unsolved.

Law enforcement interviewed approximately 500 people. The case file is massive and is filled with inconsistencies. More specifically, the statements made by the people who claim to know Ruth Whitman contain contradictory information about the moments leading up to her murder. Some accounts place her at a certain time and place, while others insist she was in a completely different location.

Investigating, researching and reporting on a murder that has been cold for 60 years is difficult on various levels. In order to understand the victim you have to understand the social climate in which they lived and the people that made up their life. You have to get to know the victim through the accounts of their friends and families, any diaries or notes they kept, or treasured belongings still in possession of loved ones. When there's 60 years of time between now and when the crime happened, tangible connections to the person become imperative.We don't have that for Ruth Whitman. We don't have personal items from her life and no family or friends have come forward willing to speak publicly about Ruth. And the handful of surviving family members we have been able to speak to, do not wish to discuss their memories of her on Upstate Unsolved. All that we have to get to know Ruth is the original case file, filled with interviews from hundreds of people. But not all of these interviews are reliable, a good portion of them are riddled with gossip and contradictions. In this episode, we talk about the culture Ruth grew up in and the disadvantages her family faced. We also detail the numerous men that claim to have been romantically involved with Ruth prior to and right up until her murder.