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There are some stories [music] that never leave you. Cases that stay open with so many unanswered [music]
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questions just waiting for someone to explain what really happened. Today, I want to tell you about five
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disappearances that are still as baffling today as they were when they first occurred. But unlike the infamous
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disappearances [music] of people like Amelia Heheart or Maline McCann, these five stories haven't
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dominated the headlines, but they are just as chilling. [music] These are the stories that make you
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wonder how someone could seemingly vanish without a trace. Number five, Zelig Williams.
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In October 2024, the dance world is stunned when Broadway performer Zelig Williams, known for his roles in
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Hamilton and MJ the Musical, disappears without a trace. Now, he's 32 years old,
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charismatic, [music] and at the height of his career, which makes his sudden disappearance all the
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more baffling. On October 3rd, 2024, Zelig is at his mom's house in South Carolina. [music]
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When she sees him heading out the door with head shot in hand, she assumes he's on his way to make copies, like the kind
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of errand you would expect from a performer chasing [music] his next big show. He drives off in her red Ford
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Escape. Less than an hour later, though, Zelig's friends in New York receive an SOS [music] crash alert from his phone,
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a notification that he's been in a wreck, basically. Concerned, they immediately call his mom to ask if he's
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okay and to see if she knows what happened. And as you'd expect, she rushes to the area where the alert
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indicated the crash occurred, fearing the worst. But there is no crash, no car, no sign of Zelig. Later that day,
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his SUV is found abandoned [music] at a trail head parking lot about 30 minutes from his mom's home. There's no sign of
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a struggle, no blood, no broken glass. But inside the car, there are some unsettling clues. His shoes are on the
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floorboard. His clothes are folded neatly in the driver's seat. It almost looks as if he deliberately undressed.
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But why? The bizarre details don't stop there. A park ranger later talks to a man who claims that he was driving
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toward the trail head when he passed a red car. But after passing it, the car turned around and followed [music] him
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to the parking lot. According to this witness, when he parked, a man got out of the red car and started [music]
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following him down the trail. This man wasn't just walking behind him. He was acting erratic, dancing as he strips off
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his clothes and tosses them around until he is fully naked [music] and dancing on
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a bridge railing. Now, given the red car and the location, they assume that this
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was Zelig. But here's the problem. At the same time that the witness claims to see Zelig, his phone is pinging 90
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minutes away in another town. So, was it really him on the trail? Looking to somehow make sense of all of this,
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police trace the movements of his car, but the findings raise even more questions. The car appears to have been
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driven in loops for hours before it's left at the trail. Now, complicating all of this is the fact that Hurricane Helen
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had just hit before Zelig went missing, and it flooded the area. So, it made searching really difficult. But, they
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did go out there. They were looking for him with drones and ATVs and helicopters. But it took some time for
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divers to get into the river, specifically below the bridge where that naked man was reportedly dancing. But
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even when divers were finally able to enter the water, they found nothing. Zelig's family believes that he may have
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been in a vulnerable state. They share that he had recently stopped taking his medication. He'd also been fasting and
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was exploring new churches. But they and others also think it's very possible that he could have met someone on the
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trail who meant to harm him. What makes this case even more heartbreaking is that [music]
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Zelig is his mother's only surviving child. His two sisters died in a car accident years earlier and dance was how
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he honored them. To this day, no trace of Zelic has [music] been found. Not in the woods, not in the river, not in
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hospitals or shelters. His phone remains dark, has never been found, and his family is left with endless questions.
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Did Zelig walk away from his life? Was he in the middle of a mental health crisis? Or did he cross paths with
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someone who meant him harm? For now, all we know is that a brilliant performer, a
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man who brought stories to life through dance, vanished on an ordinary October [music] day. And until he's found, Zelig
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Williams disappearance will remain one of the most haunting mysteries in recent years.
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Number four, Steven Clark. On December 28th, 1992, 23-year-old Steven Clark goes for a walk with his
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mom along the beach in this small town on England's northeast coast. They stroll the familiar two-mile path in the
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neighboring town of Saltburn. And when they reach the pier, Steven says that he needs to use the restroom. So, they
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split up. Steven heads to the men's. Mom heads to the ladies. Now, when she comes
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back out, Steven isn't [music] there. And at first, she like waits. Maybe he's still in the bathroom. Then, after it's
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been a little bit, she thinks like, "Oh, he must have gone ahead of her." And so,
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she starts walking back home, but he isn't on the path. And when she gets back to the house, she discovers that he
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isn't there either. In fact, Steven never comes home again. And it's important to note that Steven had very
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little on him when he vanished. No wallet, no passport, no belongings, nothing. But Steven wasn't the type to
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just disappear. As a child, he'd been hit by a car. And so that left him with limited use of one arm and this
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distinctive limp. But he was independent. I mean, he'd recently won an award through a program that helps
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people with disabilities find work. And he even started seeing someone romantically. Now, in the days that
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followed his disappearance, a few people reported sightings. [music] One family friend swears that he sees
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Steven 2 days later in a nearby town. Another woman claims that she spots him weeks later walking with an older man in
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glasses, but neither sighting is ever confirmed. Now, decades go by where we don't really know anything, and then the
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case takes a shocking turn. In 2020, nearly 30 years after Steven vanishes, his elderly parents, Doris and Charles
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Clark, are arrested on suspicion of murdering their own son. Now, the case against them hinges on an anonymous
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letter that police received accusing the parents directly, but by the way, offering no evidence. So, in response,
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detectives dig up the family's backyard, but they find nothing. Months later, Doris and Charles are cleared. But the
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family is just left stunned and then devastated by the accusations and public [music] suspicion. And at the end of it
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all, they're still no closer to finding out what happened to their son. To this day, Steven Clark's disappearance
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remains one of the UK's most baffling mysteries. Did he walk away on his own? Did something happen on that short walk
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from the pier? Or does the truth lie with someone who's never come forward? Number three, John and Shelley Markley.
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On December 15th, 1995, in the small town of Bristol, Ohio, John and Shelley Markley vanish into thin air. That
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afternoon, their 15-year-old daughter, Ruth, comes home from school to a scene that doesn't really make sense. Coffee
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pot is boiled dry. Her parents clothes for a funeral that night are laid out on their bed. her mom's purse, lighter,
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cigarettes, things she would never leave the house without, just sit there in plain sight. But John and Shelley are
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gone. Even more alarming is that for the first time ever, Ruth sees that John's gun cabinet is unlocked. When the couple
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doesn't show up to the funeral that evening or come home that night, the family finally reports them missing.
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Now, police find John's red Chevy Silverado truck abandoned outside a restaurant about 20 minutes away from
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the house. And inside the truck, they find tarps, Shel's cell phone, and potentially other evidence, though
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accounts differ as to what police actually collect from the vehicle. Even stranger, though, that same truck was
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spotted earlier in the day at a Walmart parking lot where John's niece, I mean, she's the one that saw it. She writes,
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"Hi, Uncle John." in the dirt that was caked on the side. So, someone must have moved the truck. The question is who?
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Now, we know that John and Shel were alive in that truck at some point because a bank teller remember seeing
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John and Shel in the truck just hours before they disappear. But they say that a third person was
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with them. A slim, dark-haired man sits in the passenger seat as Shelley cashes a $1,000 check. And that is the last
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confirmed sighting of the couple. But then come the phone calls. John's brother-in-law starts receiving these
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bizarre ransom demands from a man claiming that Jon and Shel are alive but being held in Toronto. He demands
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$10,000 and warns that they'll be sacrificed by a cult if the family doesn't pay up. So, [music] police stage
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a sting on New Year's Eve after a ransom note directs them to hide cash inside a
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pile of penguin sweatshirts at the local mall. Now, instead of kidnappers, they arrest a former employee of John's,
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Steven Durst, and Steven's teenage daughter. Now, it turns out Steven once lived with the Markley, but they left on
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bad terms. Now, he ends up getting convicted of the extortion plot, effectively taking advantage of their
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disappearance, but he's never charged with anything tied to their actual disappearance. And almost 30 years
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later, no one seems to know what really happened to the Markleys. Were they victims of a former employees grudge?
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Was this a random kidnapping? Or was it something else entirely? Our investigative reporting revealed a wild
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tangled web of family feuds and maybe that might hold the key to solving this decades old case.
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Number two, the Milbrook twins. On March 18th, 1990, 15-year-old fraternal twins Danette and Janette
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Milbrook leave their home in Augusta, Georgia to walk to their godfather's house for bus money. On the way, they
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stop by their sister's place, then a nearby gas station, where a cashier remembers them buying chips [music] and
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soda. They never make it to their godfather's house. Their mom reports them missing that same night, but
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instead of launching a search, police tell her to just wait 24 hours. Now, when the report is finally filed and
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taken, the officer gets nearly everything wrong. I mean, misspelling their last name, listing the wrong
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birthday for them, and even writing down the wrong street address for the twins home. The first investigator on the case
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dismisses the girls as runaways, despite the fact that they have left behind seizure medication, personal belongings,
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and had no more than 20 bucks on them. As the weeks turn into years, the case only gets more bizarre. Their names are
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eventually removed from the National Missing Persons Database after police wrongly claim that they've been found.
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And at one point, their mother is even told that the girls have been placed in foster care, which makes no sense,
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especially since there's no paperwork or evidence to prove it. Meanwhile, possible connections to violent
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criminals go ignored. Around the time that the twins disappear, a local man named Joseph Patrick Washington, a
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suspected serial killer, mind you, is attacking women in the very same neighborhood that the twins disappeared
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from. And he lived just blocks from the twins father who also had a violent past. Decades later, new investigators
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reopen the case. But the original files are missing and so leads quickly fizzle out. Danette and Janette's family have
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fought for more than 30 years to prove that they didn't run away. And today, they remain one of the only missing twin
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cases in America. Their family is still searching, and someone out there knows what happened to them.
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Number one, Trevaline Evans. In June 1990, 52-year-old Trevaline Evans vanishes from the bustling Welsh
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town of Langofflin in broad daylight, resulting in what police called one of the strangest cases they've ever worked.
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June 16th, 1990 starts out like any regular Saturday for Trevolene. The only difference is her husband was out of
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town that day. Had been for the previous week. She opens up her antique shop as usual. Customers come and go. And around
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lunchtime, a friend drops off flowers and Trevaline makes plans for a girl's night with her the following week. Now,
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sometime after noon, she tapes a handwritten note to her door that reads, "Back in [music] 2 minutes." But she
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never comes back. Her car is there. Her handbag, her keys, even her makeup compact are left inside the shop. All
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suggesting that Trevaline truly thought she would only be gone for a moment, but
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she is never seen again. Now, in the days leading up to her disappearance, people around town noticed something
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unusual. Trevalene was seen several times with an unidentified, [music] smartly dressed man. This guy was in a
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suit carrying a briefcase. I mean, the very morning she disappeared, she was spotted walking down the street [music]
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with him. But despite a nationwide search, police were never able to identify this mystery man. Naturally,
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rumors swirl. Was she abducted? Did she walk away from her life? Was she harmed by someone she knew? Was this mystery
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man, a foe, a lover, a friend? Foulplay became a real possibility when in 2011, police shocked everyone by arresting
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Trevaline's husband. However, after questioning, he gets released without charges. And then in 2019, the case took
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another bizarre turn. Two brothers hear this strange story that leads them to search beneath the floorboards of a
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nearby golf club using this like tiny camera, specifically looking for Trevaline's remains. And they actually
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find something and are even able to photograph it. Problem is, days later, police come and they search this same
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spot and they claim there's nothing there. Now, the brothers insist that the body was removed, fueling theories of a
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cover up. And then, not long after, anonymous plaques begin appearing around town, claiming that Trevaline's body was
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found there, but later hidden, and that someone is denying her justice. More than 30 years later, Trevaline's fate is
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still a mystery. Who was the man in the suit? What happened to her after she left her shop that afternoon? And was
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her body really hidden just miles away for all these years? If so, where is it now? So, those are five mysterious
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disappearances that you may never have heard of, unless you're a crime junkie, that is. Each one leaves families still
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searching for [music] answers and proves that some of the most haunting stories are the ones without endings. If you
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want to go deeper into these mysteries, you can hear the full stories of all these cases on Crime [music] Junkie
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wherever you get your podcasts or in the Crime Junkie fan club. Don't [music] forget to like, subscribe, and hit the
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bell so you never miss our next investigation.