The Trail Went Cold

April 9, 2008. Gastonia, North Carolina. After having spent the previous day suffering from a stomach virus, 22-year old Jamie Fraley speaks to a friend on the phone from her apartment during the early morning hours. She says that someone has shown up to give her a ride to the hospital, but after the call ends, Jamie is never heard from again. Suspicion turns towards her fiancée’s father, Ricky Simonds Sr., who lived at Jamie’s apartment complex and had allegedly displayed inappropriate behavior towards her. Two months later, Ricky Sr. is found dead after trapping himself inside the trunk of his estranged ex-girlfriend’s car and succumbing to heat stroke, but even though he is investigated for potential involvement in Jamie’s disappearance, there is not enough evidence to implicate him and Jamie is never found. On this week’s episode of “The Trail Went Cold”, we explore the unsolved disappearance of Jamie Fraley.

If you have any information about this case, please contact the Gaston County Police Department at (704) 866-3320.

Additional Reading:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disappearance_of_Jamie_Fraley

https://charleyproject.org/case/jamie-michelle-fraley

https://www.wbtv.com/story/8483895/son-of-man-found-dead-in-trunk-speaks-out/

https://www.wcnc.com/article/news/local/missing-womans-angels-wont-give-up-search/275-374098694

https://www.wbtv.com/story/28767264/missing-gaston-county-womans-family-still-desperate-for-answers-seven-years-later/

https://www.gastongazette.com/story/news/2016/04/07/mother-observes-somber-anniversary/32006351007/

https://www.gastongazette.com/story/news/2018/04/19/10-years-later-no-answers-in-gaston-cold-case/12660238007/

https://www.wcnc.com/article/news/somebody-has-to-know-something-11-years-later-jamie-fraley-still-missing/275-55ba517d-9205-42fc-95c6-a181afd1ea93

https://www.nbcnews.com/dateline/heartbroken-mother-refuses-give-search-answers-2008-disappearance-daughter-jamie-n1232334

https://www.gastongazette.com/story/news/2015/09/05/killer-confesses-to-more-crimes/33582124007/

https://www.gastongazette.com/story/news/2015/09/05/killer-says-he-s-dying/33582162007/

https://law.justia.com/cases/north-carolina/supreme-court/1991/313a86-0.html

“The Trail Went Cold” is on Patreon. Visit www.patreon.com/thetrailwentcold to become a patron and gain access to our exclusive bonus content.

The Trail Went Cold is produced and edited by Magill Foote.

All music is composed by Vince Nitro.

March 18, 1981. Springfield, Illinois. An unknown assailant walks into the Lauterbach Cottage Hardware Store to commit a robbery and grabs an axe from the shelf to bludgeon three victims: the 48-year old co-owner, Yvonne Lauterbach; a 37-year old sewing machine repair shop owner, Floyd Giddings; and a 64-year old customer, John Ewing. While John is pronounced dead at the scene, Yvonne and Floyd manage to survive, but are left with debilitating injuries. Numerous witnesses describe seeing a light-skinned man leaving the store right before the bodies were discovered, but even though a psychiatric patient and a convicted robber are each looked at as potential suspects, there is not enough evidence to implicate anyone and the Lauterbach Hardware Axe Attacks remain unsolved. 

November 10, 1993. Warminster, Pennsylvania. 20-year old Seann Campbell and his 20-year old friend, Bryan Benson, show up to work the closing shift together at a West Coast Video store, but when the owner arrives the following morning, he discovers that the front door is unlocked and Seann and Bryan have been murdered. Their bodies are found in the adult films section at the back of the store, as both victims were stabbed numerous times and have defensive wounds to indicate that they put up a violent struggle against one or more attackers. While money is stolen from the register, there is debate about whether robbery was the actual motive, but even though an earring is found on the floor at the crime scene, there is not enough evidence to determine who was responsible for the murders.

On this week’s episode of “The Trail Went Cold”, we explore the “Lauterbach Hardware Axe Attacks” and the “West Coast Video Murders”, a pair of cold cases in which multiple victims were violently attacked inside a place of business.

If you have information about the Lauterbach Hardware Axe Attacks, please contact the Springfield Police Department at (217) 788-8311. If you have information about the West Coast Video Murders, please contact the Warminster Township Police Department at (215) 443-5000 or the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office at (215) 348-6354. 

Additional Reading:

https://sangamoncountyhistory.org/lauterbach-cottage-hardware-ax-attacks-1981/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/1307541603/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/1306795519/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/1307544293/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/1306795538/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/1307559975/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/1307727598/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/1318645104/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/1319129351/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/1301177798/

https://www.sj-r.com/story/news/2011/01/16/first-in-print-30-years/44237723007/

https://www.sj-r.com/story/news/crime/2018/04/20/city-to-demolish-scene-37/12624959007/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/178466254/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/170119080/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/198104998/

https://www.phillyburbs.com/story/news/2011/07/12/a-decade-unanswered-questions-10/17880603007/

https://www.phillyburbs.com/story/news/crime/2011/08/11/bryan-benson-seann-campbell-warminster/17868157007/

https://www.phillyburbs.com/story/news/crime/2013/11/29/da-actionable-info-in-93/17976178007/

https://www.cbsnews.com/philadelphia/news/bryan-benson-seann-campbell-cold-case-murders-1993-bucks-county-warminster-reward-fund-exclusive/

https://www.cbsnews.com/philadelphia/news/cbs3-mysteries-bryan-benson-seann-campbell-warminster-west-coast-video/

“The Trail Went Cold” is on Patreon. Visit www.patreon.com/thetrailwentcold to become a patron and gain access to our exclusive bonus content.

The Trail Went Cold is produced and edited by Magill Foote.

All music is composed by Vince Nitro.

June 17, 1969. Albuquerque, New Mexico. 12-year-old Patty Chesher leaves her residence in order to go door-to-door and sell some raffle tickets, but after her next-door neighbour purchases a ticket, she vanishes without a trace. While the police initially suspect that Patty ran away voluntarily, her family does not believe this and when she fails to resurface, investigators start exploring the possibility that she was the victim of foul play. Four decades later, it is announced that no less than four persons of interest popped up on the radar after drawing suspicion with some questionable behaviour after Patty went missing, but there is no conclusive evidence to implicate any of them and Patty is never found. On this week’s episode of “The Trail Went Cold”, we travel to Albuquerque in order to explore a missing children’s case which has gone unsolved for over 57 years.

If you have any information about this case, please contact the Albuquerque Police Department at (505) 242-2677.

Additional Reading:

https://charleyproject.org/case/patricia-joan-chesher

https://www.newspapers.com/image/157109930/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/783485569/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/783465617/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/783465670/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/783500523/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/784316247/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/148646739/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/206266437/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/262759977/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/262760009/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/262759993/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/784648330/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/206266611/

“The Trail Went Cold” will be appearing at AdvocacyCon, which is taking place at the Albuquerque Convention Center in Albuquerque, New Mexico on September 11-13, 2026. To get a 10 % discount on tickets, please use our specialized promo code, “TRAILCOLD10”, by visiting https://www.advocacycon.com/.

“The Trail Went Cold” is on Patreon. Visit www.patreon.com/thetrailwentcold to become a patron and gain access to our exclusive bonus content.

The Trail Went Cold is produced and edited by Magill Foote.

All music is composed by Vince Nitro.

October 27, 2006. Sacramento County, California. While performing his overnight patrol duty for the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department, 38-year old Deputy Sheriff Jeffrey Mitchell sends a message to dispatch that he has pulled over a white Chevrolet van with no plates in a rural area. Minutes later, a clicking noise is heard on the radio and Jeffrey is soon found dead on the ground behind his patrol car, as it turns out he had gotten into a violent struggle before he was shot in the head with his own service revolver. Twelve hours later, a white Chevrolet van containing the bodies of 43-year old Allan Shubert and 28-year old Nicole Welch is found in the Cosumnes River over 20 miles away and it is determined that they succumbed to carbon monoxide poisoning. Over the years, law enforcement explores the possibility that Allan and Nicole’s deaths are connected to Jeffrey’s murder, but no conclusive answers can be found. On this week’s episode of “The Trail Went Cold”, we explore the bizarre murder of a police officer and the deaths of two other potential victims which have gone unsolved for two decades.

So you have any information about this case, please contact the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department Cold Case Homicide Unit at 916-874-5057 or their tip line at 916-874-TIPS (8477).

Join us on Sunday, September 6 at 8:00pm ET for an online streaming marathon where we will be watching classic segments from “Unsolved Mysteries”. You can enter our screening room by clicking on this link.

Additional Reading:

https://www.cbsnews.com/sacramento/news/wife-of-murdered-deputy-speaks-out/

https://www.kcra.com/article/11-years-later-deputys-murder-remains-unsolved/14770313

https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/unsolved-jeffrey-mitchell-murder-sacramento-17382062.php

https://www.abc10.com/article/news/crime/unsolved-california-who-killed-sacramento-co-sheriff-deputy-jeffrey-mitchell/103-749ae7ae-ad48-44ca-a27f-62eeeb8c81b6

https://www.abc10.com/article/news/crime/unsolved-california-wife-of-murdered-deputy-shares-her-hope-for-justice-and-how-she-keeps-jeffrey-mitchells-legacy-alive/103-9e1af8e8-984b-4c1a-b69f-ec7cc64b9e85

https://www.sacramentodsa.com/the-fallen/deputy-jeffrey-mitchell/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/649554054/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/631192523/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/631196359/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/631196601/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/637956019/

https://corruptionexposer.blogspot.com/2013/10/corruption-and-sacramento-sheriffs.html

“The Trail Went Cold” will be appearing at AdvocacyCon, which is taking place at the Albuquerque Convention Center in Albuquerque, New Mexico on September 11-13, 2026. To get a 10 % discount on tickets, please use our specialized promo code, “TRAILCOLD10”, by visiting https://www.advocacycon.com/.

“The Trail Went Cold” is on Patreon. Visit www.patreon.com/thetrailwentcold to become a patron and gain access to our exclusive bonus content.

The Trail Went Cold is produced and edited by Magill Foote.

All music is composed by Vince Nitro.

October 8, 1976. Benton County, Indiana. A farmer discovers a large cardboard shipping box in his cornfield which contains the body of an elderly woman who has been shot through the head. Since the victim cannot be identified, she remains a Jane Doe and is nicknamed “The Box Lady of Benton County”. Nearly 50 years later, genetic genealogy finally identifies the victim as 69-year old Jane Hart, who lived in Chicago around the time of her death, but the identity of her killer and the motive for the crime remain unknown. On this week’s episode of “The Trail Went Cold”, we explore the unsolved murder of Jane Hart, a former Jane Doe whose recent identification has also brought up more questions than answers. In addition, this episode will also explore the story of a Jane Doe from Benton County, Arkansas who was found murdered in 1990, but was identified three decades later as a 28-year old victim named Donna Sue Nelton. Special thanks to listener Shane Beneke for narrating the opening of this episode.

if you have information on the murder of Jane Hart, please contact the Benton County Sheriff’s Office at (765) 884-0080. If you have any information about the murder of Donna Sue Nelton, please contact the Benton County Sheriff’s Office Criminal Investigation Division at (479) 271-1009. 

Additional Reading:

https://unidentified-awareness.fandom.com/wiki/Jane_Hart

https://dnadoeproject.org/case/benton-co-jane-doe-1976/

https://www.bentonreview.com/articles/popular-podcast-discusses-benton-county-cold-case/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/105870898/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/262897187/

https://www.jconline.com/story/news/2019/07/13/body-exhumed-reopening-76-cold-case-woman-found-box-benton-co-cornfield/1702057001/

https://www.jconline.com/story/news/local/2026/07/15/benton-county-jane-doe-identified-after-almost-50-years/90932141007/

https://www.jconline.com/story/news/local/2026/07/18/dna-match-leads-to-identity-of-jane-doe-50-years-later-benton-county/90955165007/

https://ancestors.familysearch.org/en/LC2F-HZJ/mary-gole%C5%A1-1888-1945

https://dnasolves.com/articles/benton-county-donna-sue-nelton/

https://unidentified-awareness.fandom.com/wiki/Donna_Nelton

https://www.nwaonline.com/news/2022/nov/01/texas-company-key-to-identifying-benton-county/

https://www.nwahomepage.com/news/benton-county-ids-three-cold-case-homicide-victims/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/207571824/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/1117407730/

“The Trail Went Cold” will be appearing at AdvocacyCon, which is taking place at the Albuquerque Convention Center in Albuquerque, New Mexico on September 11-13, 2026. To get a 10 % discount on tickets, please use our specialized promo code, “TRAILCOLD10”, by visiting https://www.advocacycon.com/.

“The Trail Went Cold” is on Patreon. Visit www.patreon.com/thetrailwentcold to become a patron and gain access to our exclusive bonus content.

The Trail Went Cold is produced and edited by Magill Foote.

All music is composed by Vince Nitro.