Imagine your favorite high school teacher. What were they like? What was it about them that made you want to pay attention in class. Or if you couldn’t do that, what was it about them that made them your favorite? Mine was a Psychology teacher in my senior year. He was very easy to talk to. He made himself available to you and met you were you were. He pushed me to take on challenges. I was new at the school and trying out for the basketball team. He made me, a very shy, straight A nerd, who knew no one, the captain of the basketball conditioning club. I’m still grateful for that attempt by him to help me see the leadership skills I possessed but largely ignored. He stood up for me and I trusted him immensely.

This story is about a teacher just like that. Who was well loved.  She was described as a real life version of Maria from The Sound of Music. She was a nun. She taught english, coached drama and was musically minded.  Her students trusted and confided in her. Sometimes confiding dark things to her. 

Music:
Touching Light - Scott Holmes
Mindship - Sergey Cheremisinov
Fragile Ice - Sergey Cheremisinov

Episode 001 - Sister Cathy

In June of 2011, a 30-year-old lone hiker set off from Maryland heading south to Georgia along the Appalachian Trail. He last spoke to his family 45 days later when over 200 of his over 800-mile journey was completed. 12 days later, his body was found partially buried near a shelter along a side trail in central Virginia. 

Episode 002 - Scott (Stonewall) Lilly

 In October of 1986, a jogger came across and vehicle pushed down an embankment. Inside the vehicle were the bodies of Cathleen Thomas and Rebecca Dowski. Both women had be brutally murdered. The killer has never been found and may have killed at least three more couples.

Episode 003 - Colonial Parkway Murders: Part 1

On a Saturday afternoon in 1987, in the Chesapeake Bay area of Virginia, two people met for the first time at an arcade. The most popular games of the time were Street Fighter, Double Dragon, Outrun and Road Blasters. 14-year-old Robin Edwards and 20-year-old David Knobling struck up a conversation and an interest in each other. He was there with his two brothers. All together they left the arcade and rode around in his truck until she had to be home, presumably for her curfew. Knobling dropped her off at her home in Newport News and then he returned to his home in the next town over, Hampton, Virginia. He didn’t stay long though. His brothers reported that he left shortly after and never returned. Robin Edwards left her home too. She snuck out late Saturday night and met up with Knobling. He drove them across the James River Bridge to the Ragged Island Wildlife Refuge in Isle of Wight County near Smithfield, Virginia. He parked the truck in a lot at the south end of the James River bridge. Late on a Saturday night, he might have thought it was the perfect place to be alone. They weren’t alone for long, however, and they wouldn’t survive the night.

Episode 004 - Colonial Parkway Murders: Part 2

On April 8th, 1988, Richard Keith Call took Cassandra Lee Hailey out for their first date. They were last seen early the next morning leaving a party together near the college that they both attended. They were never seen again.

Episode 005 - Colonial Parkway Murders: Part 3

Daniel Lauer and Annamaria Phelps left their parents' homes in Amelia County, Virginia to drive a few hours east to Virginia Beach where Daniel's brother/Annamaria's fiance' lived. They only got as far as an hour away. Daniel's car was later located in a strange place, but Annamaria and Daniel were gone.

unsolvedpodcast.com

Music:

Fight the Power - Public Enemy
Meta - Vir Nocturna
Gather - dustmotes
Dream Big - Audiobinger

Episode 006 - Colonial Parkway Murders: Part 4

The handwritten note said, “This is tantamount to my insensititivity (sic) to people especially women. I will admit the others when you catch me if you can! Free-Way Phantom.”

The note was found inside the pocket of the maroon-colored coat that had been draped over the deceased 18-year-old woman. A police officer, patrolling the Baltimore Washington Parkway at about 4:50 AM, found the body of Brenda Denise Woodard lying off the shoulder of the road, not far from the Route 202/Cheverly Exit. Her body was still warm.

Brenda Woodard was not the first victim of the Freeway Phantom and unfortunately she wouldn’t be his last.

Thank you for listening. - hg

Music: Polyrhythmics - Octagon - http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Polyrhythmics/Octagon/Octagon_Pt1

Unsolved Podcast

Episode 007 - Freeway Phantom

On October 11th, 1994, Linda finished the late shift walked to her car, which was parked in an adjacent commercial garage. She was last seen by a coworker driving out of the garage. Her destination, her estranged husband’s home, an approximately 20 minute drive away, to pick up her 2-year-old daughter.

Episode 008 - Linda May Lester

A community leader, and single mother, mysteriously disappeared in 1984. Police believe there to be suspicious circumstances, but no clues have been found to answer the many questions they have.

012 - Stephanie Gant-Brady

Former cop and crime scene investigator, current crime analyst and host of a true crime podcast about unsolved crimes. I believe there is always someone out there who knows something that could finally bring justice to communities and families of victims.

Heidi Galore