Gone Cold - Texas True Crime

By 1983, Betty Cash, Vickie Landrum, and Vickie’s grandson Colby had spent more than two years seeking answers about their reported encounter. Their account had reached national television, attracted civilian investigators, and prompted official inquiries. Continuing health complaints kept the search personal, while the helicopters they described remained central to their belief that the government knew what had happened.

Claims of inside knowledge offered possible explanations. Air Force special agent Richard Doty and UFO author William Moore became sources of information about an alleged experimental aircraft. But evaluating those stories required more than military connections or assurances of secrecy. Attorney Peter Gersten and investigator John Schuessler sought supporting material as the family’s efforts moved toward federal court.

Legal proceedings unfolded alongside medical appointments, mounting expenses, and further television appearances. Betty continued receiving treatment in Alabama. Vickie sought assistance as her eyesight affected her ability to work. Colby faced health complaints, frightening memories, and the attention that followed being publicly associated with a UFO encounter.

As the years passed, the case accumulated another history: the history of how it was told. Newspaper articles, documentaries, anonymous tips, and dramatic reconstructions introduced competing explanations. Questions arose about the roadway, the car, and the witnesses’ recollections. Early interview notes and recordings became important in distinguishing details reported near the beginning from interpretations attached later.

Betty and Vickie continued writing officials and speaking publicly, maintaining that information about the encounter could matter to their medical care. Their experiences became part of a wider debate about military secrecy, witness credibility, and the reliability of purported government sources. For the people who had been inside the Oldsmobile, however, the questions remained rooted in one night and its consequences.

Part three of three.

Happy Halloween!

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In the months after their December 1980 encounter on a rural road in southeast Texas, Betty Cash, Vickie Landrum, and Vickie’s grandson Colby continued living with its effects. Medical appointments, persistent health concerns, and Colby’s fear of helicopters kept that night close. For Betty and Vickie, finding out what they had seen was tied to another question: whether someone could explain what had happened to their health.

An unexpected conversation at a helicopter display in Dayton became one of several leads pursued by aerospace engineer John Schuessler. His investigation focused heavily on the aircraft the witnesses described surrounding the unidentified object. Tracing those helicopters meant contacting military installations, questioning pilots, and comparing accounts from people who had been elsewhere in the area that night.

By August 1981, the search had brought Betty, Vickie, and Colby to Bergstrom Air Force Base in Austin. They arrived with questions about medical testing, military responsibility, and where they could turn for help. Their efforts also drew the attention of Texas health officials, whose work introduced a separate examination of the reported encounter and its possible consequences.

As the story reached national television, more people became involved. Additional witnesses described helicopters and unusual lights over southeast Texas. An Army inquiry examined possible military participation, while physicians and researchers considered the medical information available to them. The accounts, records, and interpretations did not always align.

Through 1982, Betty and Vickie continued seeking treatment and pursuing answers. Questions about the roadway, the helicopters, and the nature of their reported injuries became increasingly intertwined with the question of responsibility. What had begun as an attempt to understand a frightening drive home was becoming a prolonged effort to navigate medical uncertainty, government offices, public attention, and the first steps toward a legal claim.

Part two of three.

Happy Halloween!

You can support gone cold and listen to the show ad-free at https://patreon.com/gonecoldpodcast

Find us at https://www.gonecold.com

For Gone Cold merch, visit https://gonecold.dashery.com

Follow gone cold on Facebook, Instagram, Threads, TikTok, YouTube, and X. Search @gonecoldpodcast at all or just click https://linknbio.com/gonecoldpodcast

#CashLandrum #HoustonTX #Texas #TX #TexasTrueCrime #ColdCase #TrueCrimePodcast #Podcast #Unsolved #MissingPerson #Missing #Murder #UnsolvedMurder #UnsolvedMysteries #Homicide #CrimeStories #MysteryPodcast #PodcastRecommendations #CrimeJunkie #Disappearance #Vanished #UFO

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On the night of December 29, 1980, Betty Cash, Vickie Landrum, and Vickie’s six-year-old grandson, Colby, were traveling along a remote stretch of road through the Piney Woods of southeast Texas. What began as an ordinary evening out would become one of the most disturbing and controversial reported UFO encounters in American history.

While driving between New Caney and Huffman, the three noticed an unusual glow through the trees. Within minutes, they found themselves confronted by an enormous, brilliantly illuminated object hovering above the roadway. The intense heat, deafening sounds, and terrifying appearance of the unidentified craft left them fearing for their lives. Even more puzzling was the presence of numerous helicopters that appeared in the sky shortly afterward, seemingly following the mysterious object.

But the ordeal did not end when Betty, Vickie, and Colby finally made it home. All three soon experienced troubling symptoms of a strange illness, and Betty's condition deteriorated so severely that she required prolonged hospitalization. As doctors struggled to determine what had caused her injuries, the women feared that revealing what they had witnessed would only invite ridicule and disbelief.

Eventually, their account reached UFO researchers, including aerospace engineer John Schuessler, whose investigation would bring new attention to the reported encounter. Interviews, medical records, and examinations of the isolated roadway raised questions about what had happened that December night and whether there was evidence beyond the witnesses' extraordinary testimony.

The Cash-Landrum Incident would ultimately become a case involving not only an unidentified aerial phenomenon, but also allegations of military involvement, unexplained illnesses, and a search for answers that would continue for years. At the heart of it were three people whose lives had been profoundly altered by an experience they could neither explain nor forget. Was it a hoax, a secret military maneuver, or something else entirely?

Part one of three.

Happy Halloween!

You can support gone cold and listen to the show ad-free at https://patreon.com/gonecoldpodcast

Find us at https://www.gonecold.com

For Gone Cold merch, visit https://gonecold.dashery.com

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In April 1985, 27-year-old Lois Ann Lloyd disappeared from Odessa, Texas, just days after telling her father she wanted to leave the city and make a change in her life.

Originally from Raton, New Mexico, Lois was a gifted athlete, a loyal friend, and one of relatively few women working in the male-dominated West Texas oilfield industry during the early 1980s. Those closest to her knew she was struggling with alcohol, but none were aware of anyone who might want to harm her.

When Lois failed to return home, authorities in several West Texas counties became involved in an increasingly complex investigation. Search teams combed oilfields, highways, and remote stretches of land, while investigators worked to reconstruct her final hours and identify the people last seen around her home.

The case would eventually span multiple jurisdictions, produce hundreds of interviews, and leave investigators with crucial unanswered questions about who was with Lois on the night she disappeared.

More than forty years later, the murder of Lois Ann Lloyd remains unsolved.

If you have any information about the murder of Lois Ann Lloyd, please contact Odessa Crime Stoppers at (432) 333-8477 or submit a tip anonymously at 333tips.org

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In the late 1970s, the communities around Lake Granbury were still developing, with new roads, scattered homes, trailers, and weekend properties appearing along the shoreline. One of those communities was Whippoorwill Bay, where a Fort Worth woman and her husband regularly spent their weekends.

When Helen Holladay disappeared after a troubling weekend at the lake, her family immediately believed something terrible had happened. The circumstances surrounding her last known movements, along with what relatives knew about her marriage, raised questions they felt were not taken seriously enough by authorities. For years, the case remained largely dormant, leaving Helen’s daughters without answers and forcing the family to conduct searches of their own.

More than a decade later, a new investigator revived the case and began reexamining old leads, records, and theories about where Helen might have gone. Lake Granbury became a major focus, prompting a series of searches.

Thirty-five years after Helen vanished, an unexpected discovery finally answered one of the case’s longest-standing questions. But it did not explain what happened to her or resolve the concerns that had surrounded the investigation from the beginning.

If you have any information about the death of Helen Holladay, please contact the Hood County Sheriff’s Office at (817) 579-3307.

You can support gone cold and listen to the show ad-free at https://patreon.com/gonecoldpodcast

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