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Nancy Eagleson /// The Abduction /// 607

October 15, 2022 / 48:19

This episode covers the unsolved murder of 14-year-old Nancy Eagleson in Paulding, Ohio, in 1960. The hosts discuss the details of her abduction, the investigation, and the impact on the community.

Nancy was abducted while walking home from a movie with her five-year-old sister Cheryl. The episode describes the events leading up to the abduction, including their stop at their father's workplace and the encounter with a man in a car.

After the abduction, Cheryl ran to a neighbor's house to report the incident, leading to a police search. Unfortunately, Nancy's body was discovered just hours later by raccoon hunters in a wooded area, raising questions about the investigation.

The hosts highlight the challenges faced by law enforcement in a small community with limited experience in handling murder cases. They also discuss the potential for new leads in the case, including the involvement of the Porch Light Project.

This episode emphasizes the lasting emotional impact of Nancy's murder on her family and the community, as well as the ongoing efforts to seek justice for her.

TLDR

The episode discusses the unsolved 1960 murder of Nancy Eagleson in Paulding, Ohio, and its lasting impact on the community.

Episode

48:19
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thank you [Music] [Music] foreign foreign garage wherever you are whatever you're
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doing thanks for listening I'm your host Nick and with me as always is a man that
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will remind you that this show is even more enjoyable after you hit that subscribe or follow button here is the
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captain and it gets even better when you hit the stop button it's good to be seen
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and Colonel that's enough of the business all right everybody gather around grab a chair grab a beer let's
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talk some true crime foreign [Music] the village of Paulding is a warm and welcoming community of
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almost 3 600 residents it is also the county seat of Paulding County Ohio at the heart of the village you will
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find the historic County Courthouse in the center of a lush green lawn complete with an old-fashioned gazebo
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the courthouse is surrounded by a traditional Town Square with quaint shops and family-owned restaurants
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Paulding is a quintessential slice of Americana that has managed to preserve its authentic charm
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on a Sunday night in 1960 14 year old Nancy eagleson was walking near that town square
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the county sheriff's office is nearby the city's small police station nearby as well
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but sadly as it would turn out that did not matter because on that night in Tiny Town USA
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there was a predator waiting in the shadows Nancy was pulled into a car that evening
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as she walked home from a movie with her five-year-old sister Cheryl the younger girl screamed and ran to a
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neighbor's home telling him her sister had been grabbed by a man wearing glasses
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about seven hours after the abduction two raccoon Hunters found Nancy's body in a wooded area near Paulding
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authorities found little evidence at the scene they were left with little else other
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than the words of a five-year-old armed with the description the sheriff's department and Paulding
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police began a canvas of The Villages then 2 300 residents seeking information Paulding County Sheriff John Keeler said
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the only apparent motive was a sexual attack early in the investigation he said he
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had uncovered several Clues Keeler said they were compiling a list of possible suspects
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those persons will be interviewed and at the start of the investigation he said the suspect list was composed
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mostly of names of persons convicted of other crimes and the sparsely populated Paulding area
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the murder was the first in the village of Paulding in six years while lawmen continued their
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around-the-clock investigation the residents of Paulding were badly frightened by the abduction and murder
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of the High School freshman and held divided opinions concerning the Killer some persons believe the crime was
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committed by a local man While others wondered if the crime was committed by a crazed man traveling through the area
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Nancy eagleson was born and raised in Paulding Services were held in the First Church
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of Christ where she regularly attended the murder case is now 62 years old and it remains unsolved for now
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today the sheriff of Paulding County is Jason Landers and he told me this is the
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most emotional and heartbreaking case in our County's history this True Crime garage
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[Music] this week we will be talking about an Ohio Cold Case that is heating up once
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again up until May of this year I had never heard of this case before and while it was a case I never knew yet it
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is a case that so many refuse to forget that is the shocking and horrifying murder of 14 year old Nancy eagleson the
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crime that forever changed the village of Paulding Ohio now going back to 1960 the village of Paulding then had about 2
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300 residents but the population for the entire County of Paulding was less than
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17 000 people Paulding is in the northwest of Ohio the county line to the West is
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also the state line into Indiana and then from roughly the center of Paulding Village if you drive one hour going
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north you are in Michigan so because of the location of the Village and because of the County's close proximity to state
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lines our true crime mystery will take us into some other states earlier this year the captain and I were in Vegas
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this was the last weekend of April for the 2022 crime con event hey what happens Vegas stays in Vegas and so the
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way that we found out about this case was at crimecon there is a relatively new website called uncovered uncovered
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is working to put together the most comprehensive website database of cold cases and missing persons from all over
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the country now this is quite the undertaking because experts estimate that based on information from the
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Uniform Crime reporting program from our friends at the FBI data shows that in our country the greatest of Nations we
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currently have approximately 250 000 unsolved murders a number that increases by about six thousand each
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year so Nancy's case is just one of many many thousands but we say Cold Case here and
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this case is heating up quite a bit and we may just finally be able to get some answers for Nancy's family primarily her
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sisters Merrell and Cheryl remember back to today's trailer Cheryl was with Nancy the night that she was
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abducted but back to uncovered.com one of the Architects behind the uncovered website is from Paulding and she
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approached the porch light project and True Crime garage at crimecon and said hey have you ever heard of this case so
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that's how we got to where we are today Captain eyeballs deep in this case that I think has some meat on the bone this
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case can still be solved for those who don't know what the project porch light is can you explain it to them so the
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porch light project is a organization the True Crime garage has been tied to and involved with for several years now
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in the porch light project offers Victim Advocacy to family members of victims of
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cold cases and some of the services that they can offer to victims into their families is DNA testing in cold cases
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ground searches for somebody that may be still missing or offering trained canines in a team of of volunteers to
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assist with ground searches and also renewed media attention to a case so when a case goes cold it also goes cold
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in the media and it's good to remind everybody that this case still exists it's still unsolved and these people
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still need your help the Public's help and they need law enforcement's help so at porchlight they are there to assist
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the victims victims families and law enforcement with cold cases specific to the state of Ohio and if anybody wishes
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to make a donation or if you are a person who is personally connected to an Ohio Cold Case and you would like to
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submit a case you can go to porchlightonline.org to learn more and we've been able to cover some of the
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cases that you guys have worked on which then drums up interest it drums up people talking about the case and
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possibly some leads as well so let's dive into this case let's dive into the timeline of Nancy eagleson Nancy
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eagleson was kidnapped and murdered in rural Paulding Village Ohio in 1960 her five-year-old sister Cheryl was the only
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witness to this now 62 year old Cold Case the date was Sunday November 13 1960. the day began as a typical Sunday
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for 14 year old Nancy and the eagleson family Nancy attended church and then had a meal with her family afterward
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Nancy and her five-year-old sister Cheryl went to a local movie theater which is a few blocks away from their
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home so all of the general reporting captain on this case says just blocks away which is absolutely true but to
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give a little more perspective it's approximately a half of a mile from the eagleson home to the theater and
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according to my little map app it is about a 10 to 12 minute walk but probably a little slower with a
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five-year-old walking with you Nancy and Cheryl were there to see a double feature at the theater so they are there
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at the theater for a considerable amount of time but shortly after the movies the
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two had just left the double feature Nancy and Cheryl decided to get sodas from a local restaurant before they
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started their walk home at the local restaurant the girls talk to some friends and some other people
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from Paulding now it's about 7 p.m and it's starting to get dark and this is when they began their walk from the
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restaurant nearby is Paulding bowling alley Nancy and Cheryl's father Donald eagleson was
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working at the bowling alley that night now from my understanding Captain this is more of a second job and Donald works
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for a more traditional nine to five type job elsewhere during the week right so the girls stopped by to talk to their
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dad now even though they don't have very far to walk Nancy thought that they would stop by
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this is because Nancy was wearing new shoes with a heel and as The Story Goes they stopped by
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their father's work to see if he would drive them home there's a couple of problems you know this story is a little
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more complicated than just oh my my feet might be hurting from these new shoes would you drive us home Donald is still
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working at the time right he's still on the clock so he's not able to give them a ride home from the bowling alley but
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part of the story that gets lost along the way is not that Dad told him no it was more of a situation of yeah if you
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could just wait 40 minutes or 30 minutes until the end of my shift I'll drive you guys home
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with me I'm leaving anyway the girls didn't want to wait they're little kids kids hate waiting so
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they didn't want to wait and so they turned down the ride they don't want to wait so from the bowling alley
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out into the dark and down the road they go again we have Nancy she's 14 we have
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Cheryl she's five they're leaving the bowling alley they're going to head east on East Jackson Street they're gonna go
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past the old Iron Bridge this is really a pretty quick walk from the center of town so they are walking eastwardly on
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East Jackson Street and from my understanding back in 1960 there was an old not still in operation gas station
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called P lock that was located on the corner of East Jackson Street and Flat Rock Drive so there would have been a
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driveway and a little lot right there on the corner of these two streets well the girls need to go on Flat Rock
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Drive they live on Flat Rock Drive so naturally with there being a driveway in a parking lot there right there on the
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corner they're going to kind of cut through and cut the corner a little bit of these two streets so the girls are
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cutting through and they are walking the driveway of the old p-lock station now the girls as said live on Flat Rock
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Drive once they get past the p-lock station they only have about six houses to go past p-locks and then they are
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home there there are houses that line both sides of this street so if you are traveling north as they were on foot the
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girls live on the left hand side of the street now one of the details in this case that
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I think can be and is very important the house where the girls live is on that Flat Rock Drive
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at this point in our timeline this is the street that the girls are walking on this Flat Rock Drive is also state route
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111. Ohio State Route 111 runs between the Indiana state line and Defiance Ohio most of the route is a rural two-lane
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Highway and it passes through both farmland and Residential Properties as the girls are cutting through p-locks
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they notice a car parked in the driveway there according to statements later given by Cheryl there was a man sitting
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in a car in that car that was parked there they walked past the car and passed the law on the corner and
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they passed a small house on their left they're getting closer to their home this is when the girls noticed a car was
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following them now to be perfectly clear here it's never been reported that the car at
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p-locks and the car following them is the same right but to me it it feels kind of right you know they're not
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terribly far from p-locks when they they get this feeling that a vehicle is following them Cheryl said that the car
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following them really kind of spooked both of the girls because the car was kind of slowly idling behind following
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behind them so the car pulls up alongside of the girls some of the reporting out there
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states that the man driving the car asks for directions but that doesn't seem to
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be the case because according to Cheryl the man asked the girls if they wanted a
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ride to which the older sister Nancy replied no thank you we are almost there which is both true and Incredibly sad
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because this is all going to go down really just a handful of houses away from the two
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girls being home one also as you get older you have spider senses and so you know when something doesn't feel right
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you know when this person that just claims to be asking for directions you know when there's something more
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dangerous about them that's true and think of this situation it's dark out we have two children walking together and
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look cars don't follow pedestrians very often especially ones that the pedestrians do not recognize and then
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when the person pulls up alongside of you and you do not recognize them and they engage you in conversation
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yeah you're probably probably very concerned at this point and obviously Nancy's going to be thinking more about
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this than her five-year-old sister is going to be but she's one she's not strong enough to defend herself against
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adult male but she can't run because she has to protect her five-year-old sister
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so after they turn down the offer of a ride with the strange man this man stops his car and in a hurry he gets out runs
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over to Nancy and grabs her forcing her into the car on a well-lit street in full view of seven homes Cheryl tried to
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grab the man but he threw her down to the ground Cheryl then ran screaming to the safety of a neighbor's house only to
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see the car drive away with Nancy in the back seat do we know what time roughly this kidnapping took place I think
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roughly is a good word to put it because as the sheriff would later say according
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to the sheriff the abduction occurred at approximately 7 40 PM there is one little hiccup here though because there
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was a slight delay in reporting the abduction and this was no one's fault but the
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delay came because Cheryl ran to the closest neighbor's house and again it was 1960 so not everyone has a home
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phone back then yeah just the fancy people Nancy was abducted right in front of the home of Mr and Mrs Larson so
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Cheryl ran to that home and she screamed at the homeowners now this is Mr Mrs Larson John Larson and Betty Larson and
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these people are essentially neighbors of the eaglesons right there are only several houses away from being home they
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know the Larson's quite well well also like you said it's 1960 so what's fascinating to me about this case is
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there's so many things that are different like today in the case you'd be looking for DNA for example they
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didn't really have that technology back then and also just like you said some of
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these people in this neighborhood they don't have phones and I don't know that this is 100 the case but I believe at
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the time on the street a lot of those homes were being rented and that might be why you know people weren't as
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grounded back then when you were renting and maybe you didn't bother to set up a
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home phone or it was too expensive but also it's 1960 and so what was more commonplace you'd know your neighbors
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and if it was me and I needed to communicate I'd simply open up a window and just start yelling like Rocky hey
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Paulie it's me Rocky I'll call you later so what they have to do here is Cheryl runs to the neighbors that she knows and
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trusts and again the abduction takes place nearly right in front of their home and it's through tears it's fighting
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through tears that she tells Mr and Mrs Larson what had happened and that a man took her sister Nancy right so the
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larsons take Cheryl and they drive to the nearest phone and call the police the village of
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Paulding does have a police department today and even back then but there was maybe like three guys that
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worked there and as we have seen in some of the cases some of these older cases it's probably just two dumb guys in a
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garage with funny outfits that we've covered here in the garage sometimes on a Sunday night they will take emergency
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calls but might not have anyone actively working or patrolling because it's sleepy Town America nothing's really
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going on there's no need for the law at those hours until there's an emergency but also at the same time and this is
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what's weird to me if this were to have been a local person the suspect there's not a great law enforcement
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presence in this County because there's very few people that live in the entire County at the time but out of all the
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places in the county this seems like a very risky or more risky place to commit such a crime if you planned it out
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because you have the village of Paulding Police Department you also have the county of Paulding
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Sheriff's Department that is housed right there in the little village so at the same time you got the police
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department and the sheriff's department is in Paulding as well in 1960 they have
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the Sheriff John Keeler and he's got I believe two or three deputies of his own so that is three or four at the
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sheriff's department for the entire County I'm not sure which of the two agencies was called but both sprung into
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action as soon as the call went out so the law is now out and rushing around they're looking for Nancy they're
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looking for the dark colored car that was described by her little sister Cheryl and they're looking for the man
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that took Nancy and of course really looking for anyone who may have seen Nancy or knows anything at all
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[Music] foreign [Music] [Music] take me [Music] welcome back cheers everybody cheers to you Colonel cheers to you
00:24:56
Captain tall cans in the air to all the good listeners out there just a quick reminder before we jump back into this
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week's case if you are listening to this on Tuesday August 23rd when this episode
00:25:11
drops Unfortunately today marks 30 years since Tammy zawicki was abducted and killed we covered her case and several
00:25:21
others in the Americas Highway serial killers episodes we did four parts on that story that is episodes 590 through
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593 released in June of this year if you haven't listened to those yet give it a
00:25:38
listen please we're now at 30 years on Tami zawiki's Cold Case so 14 year old Nancy was walking with her sister
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five-year-old Cheryl they get almost back to their house they were followed by a car this person and ask for
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directions and then jumps out of the car kidnaps Nancy Cheryl runs to a neighbor's house they then make a call
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to law enforcement law enforcement is now out looking for this kidnapper yeah and this is one of those cases where you
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know we find these little tidbits of sad information in some of these cases that
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we cover and Nancy's case is just really full of them unfortunately because think
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about this situation and now all of the cases that we cover are unfortunate they're all sad they're all
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heartbreaking cases just like Tammy's a wikis that we just mentioned coming back
00:26:35
from the break but in Nancy's case there are very few cases that I can think of that we've covered that there
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was a a sibling a tiny child walking with the person who gets abducted right and mind you just minutes before the
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abduction takes place their father was presented with a possible opportunity to drive his
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children home and he says hey I gotta finish out my shift and the girls say well we don't
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feel like we don't feel much like waiting and so they went on they went on ahead and then mom is at home just about
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four or five houses away from where they are abducted they're abducted on a well-lit street in front of the view of
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six or seven other homes like you said in so many cases there's these what if this would have happened moment what if
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this would have happened and those people sometimes get trapped in those what-ifs for the rest of their
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lives and can you imagine the heartache and the guilt felt by Nancy's family but
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especially her little sister Cheryl who was there that night when it went down and what we will later see and will
00:27:45
continue to go through the timeline here Captain but one thing that we're going to see in this case that is incredibly
00:27:51
sad and unfortunate for the investigation as well is that Cheryl is so little she's such a young child at
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the time and this all happened so very quickly that she's able to provide some details to law enforcement but not a
00:28:05
whole lot of details that are going to help them when it comes to trying to find the person who did this the other
00:28:13
thing that's incredibly shocking in this case and it's something that we don't see very often
00:28:21
in cases that we've covered but the search for Nancy or the vehicle that took her it's not a very lengthy one
00:28:29
you know sometimes it can be days or weeks or unfortunately months or even longer before our victim is found now
00:28:38
we're not happy about the result obviously here but the Frantic search for Nancy ended
00:28:44
when not more than seven hours later two raccoon Hunters this is Joseph offerense and Kenneth Nelson
00:28:54
they find Nancy's body her body was located in a clearing in a heavily wooded area she was lying about
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100 feet from the road she was partially clothed with some of her clothing lying nearby
00:29:12
at first the two Hunters thought that what they were seeing was a discarded Halloween costume keep in mind this is
00:29:20
early November so Halloween costume makes a little bit of sense right they get closer and it it is
00:29:28
not anything that anybody would want to find it's not a mannequin the road that we
00:29:34
are talking about and this goes back to something that I think might be key here
00:29:38
in this case especially when we get to the suspect portion of it this was Paulding County Road 176.
00:29:47
so I'm gonna have to try to explain this visual to all of the listeners out there
00:29:52
captain and you know how great I am at doing this yeah some say you're the van Gogh of painting
00:29:58
pictures with words right I would recommend that you pull up the village of Paulding on your favorite map app
00:30:05
that you use and look this up but it will make a lot of sense but it will also and I recommend for the listeners
00:30:11
to cut their ears off like like Van Gogh before before we get to the painting of
00:30:17
the picture it will also present several questions to the listeners as well so Paulding County
00:30:24
Road 176 is where the body's found about 100 feet from the road Flat Rock Drive as we explained is the
00:30:36
road that Nancy and Cheryl live on with their family and Flat Rock Road is also state route
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111. now where the abduction takes place is on the left hand side of the road if you
00:30:52
are traveling north on Flat Rock Drive slash state route 111. the suspect's car after putting Nancy into the back seat
00:31:01
then drives and continues North on Flat Rock Road it's pretty much a straight shot after you go around one
00:31:11
curve there but once you get going you're going to come to a stop sign and I don't know if
00:31:17
there was even a stop sign back then there is one there now and once you get to that stop sign you make a left to
00:31:23
continue on State Route 111. if you don't make a left at that stop sign you just go straight and that road becomes
00:31:33
Paulding County Road 176. so while the road has a different name when you look at it on a map
00:31:42
it essentially looks like the same road right Nancy's basically abducted thrown into this car the driver speeds
00:31:51
off but he never really goes anywhere as far as we know right we have seven hours
00:31:57
that expire between the time of the abduction roughly seven hours between the time of the abduction and when her
00:32:03
body is found but if you go from point A to point B we're pretty much talking about the same
00:32:11
road yeah but that makes me wonder because we do have that seven hour time Gap did
00:32:16
this person live close or know of a secluded area that he took her to first and then dumped her body basically in
00:32:26
the same area the Paulding County Sheriff John Keeler who was going to oversee this
00:32:33
investigation this was this was really probably too big of a case too complicated of a case for the
00:32:39
sheriff's department but it was certainly most certainly too big and complicated of a case for the Little
00:32:46
Village Police Department so the county sheriff is going to oversee this case and I really think
00:32:52
there's some debate on how good of a job he did per the residence perspective and we'll get into that as we continue
00:33:03
along but immediately one thing that he did do and this is where I give praise to John Keeler is he immediately called
00:33:12
in the Ohio State Patrol to come in and assist in this investigation assist in some type of Manhunt for whoever took
00:33:19
her that didn't happen a lot back in 1960. Sheriff's departments chief of police back then they didn't
00:33:29
call in other agencies so quickly here he does that and this is from a statement from the
00:33:36
daily Advocate newspaper out of Greenville and it says Nancy's death was the first
00:33:42
murder of this type in this Northwestern Ohio community of 2300. most of the local authorities have never
00:33:49
investigated a murder I wanted to make sure that we included that statement from the daily Advocate because my
00:33:56
suspicions right away when learning about this case was just that I had wondered if any of these guys had ever
00:34:03
investigated a murder before and that statement that we just read was from a paper a local paper local to Northwest
00:34:11
Ohio anyway and that statement made at the time of the murder now unfortunately mistakes and errors will occur in a
00:34:20
homicide investigation and homicide investigations but you may end up with even more errors due to the lack of
00:34:27
experience right but just because you've never worked a case before it doesn't mean you're incapable of solving one
00:34:34
but like you said you're probably more capable of making more mistakes the other thing too and thank you for
00:34:40
pointing that out Captain for this lack of experience you cannot blame law enforcement it's not their fault that
00:34:46
they live in a nice area where the most violent of crimes is not being committed
00:34:51
also the lack of crime in the area can bolster the idea that law enforcement in the area are in fact doing a great job
00:34:58
but also some of the techniques that you use to solve a crime that's not a murder
00:35:03
you can use to solve a murder case one of the very first errors that I see in this investigation comes from the crime
00:35:12
scene our longtime listeners know that when we are talking about an abduction murder
00:35:18
case we are talking about multiple crime scenes first in this situation we have the scene of the abduction almost right
00:35:27
in front of the Larson's home second we have the perpetrator's vehicle this is one of the tools used by the
00:35:34
killer to take Nancy away and take her to the next location which likely is our third and final crime scene this is the
00:35:41
location where Nancy's body was found and we will Circle back around and talk about the possibility of a fourth crime
00:35:48
scene but before we do because we are talking about mistakes made in the investigation
00:35:54
the first one I see is they should have had some tire tracks I would have thought that you could find
00:36:02
tire tracks at the abduction scene crime scene number one right and I definitely
00:36:07
definitely think you would have found tire tracks from the suspect's car where Nancy's body was found very possible but
00:36:15
you also have to take into account that she was only 14 years old so she's not going to weigh a lot I bet she was under
00:36:22
90 pounds so you can carry the victim pretty easily but yeah tire tracks maybe even
00:36:31
Footprints and that's the thing Captain you're exactly right Nancy eagleson was listed at 85 pounds approximately at the
00:36:40
time of her death so yes it wouldn't have been terribly difficult to carry her the 100 feet from the roadside and
00:36:49
place the body there there's also a chance that she was alive before getting to where she's eventually
00:36:57
found the thing though that makes it difficult for me to look at this situation and go man we missed out on
00:37:04
something potentially big here for our investigation is let's go back to Crime Scene number one where the abduction
00:37:10
took place it is possible and based off of the recollection of the five-year-old Cheryl
00:37:19
our witness it's not clear if the driver and their vehicle stopped off of the road or not they may have still
00:37:27
completely been on the road or been on gravel there's seeing the location as it is today
00:37:36
it's not clear that the driver would have had to pull into the dirt or the mud or the grass right
00:37:43
now when we go out to Crime Scene number three where Nancy's body is later located
00:37:50
you know we say Paulding County Road 176. I would be shocked you know I'm a betting man Captain I
00:38:00
would wager a 50 bill right now that that road was probably not a paved road back in 1960. big spin was probably
00:38:07
gravel would be my guess probably and 100 feet from the road it would make sense to me if the killer
00:38:18
in the abductor took her immediately from point A to point B from abduction scene to where she was
00:38:26
eventually found right I think that the killer would have had to pull off of the
00:38:32
road because of the way that it's situated law enforcement keep in mind shortly after by 8 pm at the latest
00:38:42
they're hopping in their cars and they're driving out looking for one the car that took Nancy
00:38:50
two Nancy standing on the side of the road somewhere because the captor abductor Let Her Go
00:38:57
those are the two main things that you're looking for if you drove out to the abduction scene and you know which
00:39:04
direction the vehicle went you're going to continue naturally going down that road
00:39:10
it's a straight shot once you get past those curves to where a vehicle would have been
00:39:16
parked had it remained on the road to carry her to where she's later seen the story ends completely different if they
00:39:24
spot that car shortly after the abduction but where we're going there are no roads and it's not super late so
00:39:32
there's still people out and about doing things so there's a possibility that we
00:39:36
would have had an eyewitness of that vehicle being parked for a time period there was a tree stump
00:39:44
that was in the general area of where Nancy's body was located and one of the old statements from the
00:39:54
investigation and from that crime scene was that there was some kind of paint on that tree stump
00:40:03
now nobody can say for certain but there's a thought that in the dark that the abductor did not see that tree
00:40:12
stump and may have brushed up against it with the car leaving a paint mark on the
00:40:17
tree stump or even ran over that tree stump well that'd be a great piece of evidence to test right exactly and the
00:40:26
thing is we've discussed this a hundred times here in the garage maybe a billion
00:40:30
police love looking for a vehicle yes police are very good at finding vehicles and had they had tire tracks
00:40:42
there's a good chance that they would have known what kind of vehicle to hone in on
00:40:49
but they didn't have that and I think that was a misstep here in this investigation
00:40:55
now November and Ohio Means lots of leaves on the ground yeah hoodie weather pumpkin spice lattes and then where
00:41:03
Nancy was found all kinds of people were coming in trying to help we're talking about this is the state police family
00:41:10
members were on the scene the newspapers the hunters that were there so where she was found was not secured
00:41:18
by police they didn't know better and so the crime scene was not going to be incredibly helpful in a case where you
00:41:25
already have very little to work with from the very beginning unfortunately this was a murder that happened
00:41:33
I believe everything went down rather quickly and in the process the killer left few Clues behind
00:41:39
it's a complicated case a complicated investigation and when you fail to locate and document the suspect's cars
00:41:46
tire tracks left behind you severely compromised your investigation well I hate to keep bringing it up but your
00:41:53
other eyewitness is five years old so you have to be very careful when you're questioning a young person because you
00:42:02
don't want to be so suggestive that they just start telling you information that's not actually true but just things
00:42:09
that they might think you want to hear and I and I want to Circle back to something that you had mentioned earlier
00:42:14
Captain which I think is something very interesting to contemplate here in this case could there have been a possible
00:42:22
fourth crime scene we talked about the abduction site the abductor's vehicle is crime scene number two and then we are
00:42:30
calling the location of her body where her body is found that is our final crime scene but could
00:42:37
there be a situation where the abductor took Nancy somewhere before taking her to that final site I
00:42:45
think it's likely it's it's a possibility and it could explain why they didn't see a car on that County
00:42:52
Road that what I believe to be an unpaved Road out near where her body was later
00:42:58
found right so maybe maybe the suspect's card never goes off-road never leaves any tire tracks in the dirt or the mud
00:43:07
or up near her body and that's why they didn't see a vehicle there if they would
00:43:12
have just gone right to that that again today it's a four-way stop I don't think they would have had a
00:43:19
four-way stop back then but if they would have gone up to that that part right there that four-way stop
00:43:27
and it would be a natural place to go you've been told that she was abducted and the the attacker took her North
00:43:34
continued on State Route 111. you would go out there looking for that vehicle and even if you only got to that
00:43:42
four-way stop so that you could turn around and head back into town and look elsewhere
00:43:47
if the vehicle was sitting on the road you would have spotted it so there's a reason why they didn't spot
00:43:54
that vehicle when they were out looking for Nancy either a it wasn't there and there is in fact the fourth crime scene
00:44:01
or B he took the car and went off the road with it so it would not be seen from that four-way stop and just imagine
00:44:09
what the neighbors are going through imagine what her father is going through I mean you you want to find this
00:44:17
individual rip their throat out you want to kill this individual they just took your child from you the other
00:44:28
thing that's very complicated when we try to review this case here Nancy eagleson's case
00:44:34
is I do not have a great understanding of if she was killed in a vehicle killed elsewhere or killed where she was found
00:44:42
there's some debate about that there are people out there that have followed this
00:44:46
case from Jump Street that insist that she was probably killed shot and killed in a vehicle there are other people that
00:44:54
believe she was killed near where she was found and then you have the other argument if in fact there was a fourth
00:45:01
crime scene additional crime scene she could have been killed at that location and I don't know if they know
00:45:08
this or if this was a misstep but you would think that there would be some evidence at the crime scene to let us
00:45:15
know if she was just dumped there or if it was actual crime scene what would follow Captain would be an extensive
00:45:22
search of every local vehicle that matched the description that was provided to law enforcement by our
00:45:30
surviving eyewitness Cheryl this was a big undertaking the other thing they did was multiple interviews
00:45:37
with community members and they say that that line community members but this was everybody from
00:45:45
prominent figures in the community well-liked upstanding citizens to known criminals in the area as well later
00:45:54
Cheryl would even be put under hypnosis in hopes that she could recall details from the kidnapping that she had
00:46:01
previously been unable to report to the authorities the thing that happens very early on in this case though that is
00:46:09
incredibly interesting is from a newspaper article that came out on November 15 1960 this is from a
00:46:18
newspaper in the great state of Indiana well keep in mind that she was kidnapped
00:46:22
on the 13th and then her body was found a little bit later on the 14th so this news is coming out pretty quickly very
00:46:29
quickly and the headline reads two slangs committed by same killer question mark and this is a new story out of the
00:46:36
great City of Chicago and the article reads Illinois authorities Monday checked in Ohio slaying in an attempt to
00:46:45
ascertain whether the killer might also be the same man saw in the death of a nine-year-old Chicago girl and it goes
00:46:53
on to say Captain James McMahon chief of detectives said several similarities were noted between the slangs of Gloria
00:47:01
kowalowitz age nine in Chicago and Nancy eagleson age 14 of Paulding Ohio have we got a killer traveling
00:47:11
cross-country McMahon wondered aloud before reporters [Music] thank you so much for joining us here in
00:47:34
the garage make sure you come back tomorrow we got so much more to get to in this case and until then be good be
00:47:41
kind and don't live foreign [Music]

Badges

This episode stands out for the following:

  • 80
    Most heartbreaking
  • 70
    Most emotional
  • 65
    Most shocking
  • 60
    Most intense

Episode Highlights

  • The Abduction of Nancy Eagleson
    On a Sunday night in 1960, 14-year-old Nancy Eagleson was kidnapped in Paulding, Ohio.
    “Nancy was pulled into a car that evening as she walked home from a movie.”
    @ 04m 16s
    October 15, 2022
  • A Community in Fear
    The murder of Nancy Eagleson left the small village of Paulding shaken and fearful.
    “Residents were badly frightened by the abduction and murder of the high school freshman.”
    @ 05m 45s
    October 15, 2022
  • The Ongoing Investigation
    Despite the passage of time, Nancy's case remains unsolved, with hopes for new leads.
    “The murder case is now 62 years old and remains unsolved for now.”
    @ 06m 19s
    October 15, 2022
  • 30 Years Since Abduction
    Today marks 30 years since Tammy Zawicki was abducted and killed.
    “Unfortunately today marks 30 years since Tammy Zawicki was abducted and killed.”
    @ 25m 11s
    October 15, 2022
  • The Frantic Search
    The search for Nancy ended just seven hours after her abduction.
    “The frantic search for Nancy ended when not more than seven hours later.”
    @ 28m 42s
    October 15, 2022
  • A Community's First Murder
    Nancy's death was the first murder of this type in her small community.
    “Nancy's death was the first murder of this type in this Northwestern Ohio community.”
    @ 33m 42s
    October 15, 2022
  • Join Us Again Tomorrow
    Don't miss out on more exciting content tomorrow!
    @ 47m 34s
    October 15, 2022

Episode Quotes

  • It's good to be seen and good to see you.
    Nancy Eagleson /// The Abduction /// 607
  • This is the most emotional and heartbreaking case in our County's history.
    Nancy Eagleson /// The Abduction /// 607
  • Can you imagine the heartache and the guilt felt by Nancy's family?
    Nancy Eagleson /// The Abduction /// 607
  • This was the first murder of this type in this Northwestern Ohio community.
    Nancy Eagleson /// The Abduction /// 607
  • Imagine what her father is going through. You want to kill this individual.
    Nancy Eagleson /// The Abduction /// 607
  • Thank you so much for joining us here!
    Nancy Eagleson /// The Abduction /// 607

Key Moments

  • Thank You00:11
  • Cold Case Revival09:00
  • Cheers to Listeners24:56
  • 30 Years Later25:11
  • Frantic Search28:42
  • First Murder33:42
  • Gratitude47:31
  • Tomorrow Teaser47:34

Words per Minute Over Time

Vibes Breakdown