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Kimberly Norwood Part 3: Hope & Despair

Kimberly Norwood Part 3: Hope & Despair

Released Monday, 8th April 2024
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Kimberly Norwood Part 3: Hope & Despair

Kimberly Norwood Part 3: Hope & Despair

Kimberly Norwood Part 3: Hope & Despair

Kimberly Norwood Part 3: Hope & Despair

Monday, 8th April 2024
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necessary. I lost. The

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Gone Cold podcast may contain violent

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or graphic subject matter. Listener discretion

1:06

is advised. When

1:10

12-year-old Kimberly Norwood went missing from

1:12

Halsville, Texas, on the early evening

1:14

of May 20th, 1989, 39-year-old

1:18

Harry Lewis Martin was paying

1:20

close attention. This

1:23

child's disappearance touched him. Martin

1:25

would later tell reporters. And

1:28

was the impetus for his

1:30

beginning to research the problem

1:32

of missing children nationwide. Within

1:35

a year, Martin began an

1:37

organization called America's Missing Children,

1:39

set up and run from

1:41

his apartment in Shreveport, Louisiana.

1:44

His mission was simple, to get

1:47

national media attention for Kimberly's case

1:49

and others like it, at absolutely

1:51

no cost to the missing child's

1:54

family. Harry Lewis

1:56

Martin was not your average missing

1:58

persons advocate. He wore

2:00

a black eye patch that covered an

2:02

injury he'd sustained while serving in the

2:04

Navy, and his

2:06

dark brown beard and

2:08

six-foot broad sturdy frame

2:10

only emphasized the unusual

2:12

accessory. Something else

2:15

that set him apart from most was the

2:17

fact that he was a felon. In

2:20

1981, Martin had stolen almost $8,000

2:24

from a Shreveport Burger King he

2:26

managed and fled to Seattle, Washington,

2:28

when he was faced with his

2:30

estranged wife's fourth attempt to get

2:32

custody of their son. After

2:35

living life on the lam and

2:37

hiding out for two months, Martin

2:39

surrendered to police, was ordered to

2:41

pay restitution, and sentenced to five

2:44

years probation. But

2:46

the conviction was something folks could

2:48

easily forgive. The truth, as far

2:51

as those aware of his record were

2:53

concerned, was that Martin, being a desperate

2:55

father, just snapped when he thought he

2:57

was going to lose his son. He

3:00

took responsibility for his actions and

3:03

served out his probation with little

3:05

to no other problems. Later,

3:08

he'd be quoted as saying a

3:10

missing child case is just as

3:12

serious when the kidnapper is apparent.

3:15

That's something most folks can agree

3:17

with, but the irony, perhaps, wasn't

3:19

lost on those in the know.

3:22

Anyway, Martin had set up a

3:24

toll-free hotline at his apartments where

3:26

folks could report sightings of missing

3:28

children, calls that he'd turn

3:31

into the respective police agency. According

3:34

to Martin, it was common for children

3:36

to go missing for five to ten

3:38

years, and law enforcement, he

3:40

added, waste a lot of time and

3:42

resources in their attempts to find

3:44

them. The trick,

3:46

he said, was to take the

3:49

guesswork out of hunting missing kids.

3:52

Martin had managed to make a

3:54

deal with national news networks to

3:56

air 30-second segments profiling a different

3:58

missing child case. child at the beginning

4:01

of each week, a broadcast

4:03

called Monday's Child. They'd

4:06

begin airing on September 3, 1990, he said. Martin

4:12

told the Marshall News Messenger that

4:14

his plan was to eventually have

4:16

a missing person's show each week

4:18

that lasted thirty minutes, something

4:21

he said would be similar to

4:23

America's most wanted. At

4:25

first, though sort of a strange fellow,

4:28

Harry Lewis Martin seemed to be the

4:30

real deal. He was

4:32

making headway with his organization, beginning

4:35

television spots that could potentially

4:37

make a huge difference. But

4:40

as time went on, the man's past began

4:42

to haunt him, and the things

4:44

he'd go on to do were in

4:46

stark contrast to the goals he was

4:49

claiming to wish to accomplish. When

4:52

everything came to a head, Martin

4:54

looked like a viable suspect in

4:57

the disappearance of Kimberly Norwood. At

5:07

some unknown point, Harry Lewis Martin

5:10

began to claim he was responsible

5:12

for recovering ten children. Sometimes

5:15

he'd boast ten still living,

5:17

unharmed children, and other times

5:19

he'd be quoted as saying

5:22

seven recovered alive and three

5:24

deceased. Believe it

5:26

or not, it was far from the

5:28

most unsettling thing about him. In

5:32

1984, Shreveport's Tome Books published

5:34

a work called The Book

5:36

of the Spitzelod by author

5:39

Harry Lewis Martin. Spitzelod,

5:42

apparently, is a fifteen-foot-tall

5:44

supernatural being of the

5:46

occult. The

5:49

book and the order of the Spitzelod

5:51

itself appears to be based on a

5:53

sexual occult, or at

5:55

least the rituals performed by them

5:58

are mostly sexual and negative. nature.

6:01

Though a modern website owned

6:03

by the Order of the

6:06

Spitzelod acknowledges that the rituals

6:08

were once practiced alongside children,

6:10

they vehemently deny there are

6:13

any sanctioned practices occurring in

6:15

the modern order. But

6:18

Harry Lewis Martin, in his

6:20

book, promotes children participating in

6:22

the rituals. Quote,

6:24

If the Wiccan child sees nudity

6:26

in a spell or ritual working,

6:28

or is nude with a coven,

6:31

so let it be. Such

6:33

exposure to the human form will

6:36

free them from the inhibition and

6:38

idle curiosities that get so many

6:40

non-Wiccan children in trouble. The

6:43

occult child knows. End

6:46

quote. After

6:48

starting America's Missing Children, Martin admitted

6:50

the book makes him look bad

6:52

and might hurt his credibility as

6:54

an advocate for and finder of

6:56

children. But

6:59

he backtracked, claiming the book was his

7:01

foot in the door of the world

7:03

of the occult, which he

7:05

said he could infiltrate and rescue children.

7:09

The mental gymnastics required

7:11

to simply process Martin's

7:13

claims are exhausting. He'd

7:16

said before that it was Kimberly Norwood's

7:18

1989 case that got

7:20

him interested in helping missing children,

7:23

and the book was written in 1984. Still,

7:27

Harry Lewis Martin asked for the benefit

7:29

of the doubt, and he got it.

7:34

Martin's first major discovery concerning Kimberly

7:36

Norwood's disappearance was an abandoned well

7:38

just yards away from where the

7:41

missing girl had been walking with

7:43

her friends. He'd

7:45

stumbled upon the well while searching, and

7:47

when he took the information back to

7:49

the Norwoods, Martin found out that back

7:51

in October of 1989, a member of

7:54

the family had seen what

7:57

looked to be either a white t-shirt or

7:59

a body floating at the bottom. Yet

8:02

another controversy was born. Harry

8:06

Lewis Martin accused the Norwood family

8:08

of withholding evidence from the Harrison

8:10

County Sheriff's Office, but

8:13

Martin was likely angrier that the Norwoods

8:15

hadn't thought to give him the information.

8:19

Kimberly's uncle, a reserve deputy

8:21

for Smith County, had originally visited

8:24

the well because of a

8:26

psychic's vision, and saw a

8:28

white object floating at the bottom. But

8:32

when Janice and her initial private

8:34

investigator returned days later, it was

8:36

no longer there. The

8:39

PI made a makeshift grappling hook

8:41

out of wire coat hangers to

8:43

lower into the well, fish around,

8:45

and determine whether or not anything

8:47

was there. They found

8:49

nothing. Janice

8:52

claimed to have told Sheriff's

8:54

deputies Vicki Stanfield and Claire

8:56

Howell about the potential t-shirt

8:58

or perhaps body in the

9:00

well. They investigated, Janice

9:02

said, and in turn told her it

9:04

was just a piece of PVC pipe.

9:07

Sheriff Oldham admitted his deputies looked

9:10

in the well on a previous

9:12

search, but there wasn't anything there

9:14

except the PVC pipe, which

9:16

was now somehow gone. Someone,

9:19

the lawman said, had removed it.

9:22

Deputy Stanfield denied ever

9:24

seeing it. The department's

9:26

quick response and investigation of

9:29

the well when he informed

9:31

them, Harry Lewis Martin said,

9:33

was proof the Norwoods' claims

9:35

against the Sheriff were unfounded.

9:38

But in real world logic, it

9:40

absolutely did not prove anything,

9:43

except perhaps that every endeavor that

9:46

ended in such disputes only lessened

9:48

the chances of fulfilling the mission

9:50

that seems to have taken the

9:52

back seat again and again, finding

9:55

Kimberly Norwood On

9:58

Friday, July 20th. Nineteen Ninety

10:00

after oxygen was pumped into the

10:03

well to help dissipate the methane

10:05

gas that might be there. Deputy

10:07

Frank Garrett and Diver Forest Pittman

10:10

were lower down one hundred and

10:12

thirty feet by police and wenches.

10:15

On. This new search of the well.

10:17

Nothing was found save a few

10:19

pieces of trash. Harry

10:22

Louis Martin had also been following

10:24

a lead back at home. Both.

10:27

He and sure of old I'm

10:29

had received multiple calls from a

10:31

woman in Shreveport, Louisiana, which is

10:33

about fifty miles east of Halls

10:35

of All Entertaining Creek. This.

10:38

Woman told both of them that

10:40

she'd seen Kimberly on several occasions.

10:43

Martin. Told reporters he suspected

10:45

relatives who lived there of

10:48

harboring the missing girl. And.

10:50

Although he later said he'd ruled

10:52

that out, he made clear he

10:54

was not ruling out the possibility

10:56

Kimberly was in Shreveport. The.

10:59

Norwood family decided it was time

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12:49

psychic throughout the late 1970s and

12:52

1980s. He'd

12:54

undoubtedly helped police nab a

12:57

few perps and find a

12:59

few missing people. Most unfortunately

13:01

deceased. But those in law

13:03

enforcement who knew him chalked

13:06

his successes up to investigative

13:08

genius and uncanny ability at

13:10

psychological profiling. Ketchings,

13:13

who says he gained his clairvoyant

13:15

powers after being struck by lightning,

13:17

had predicted Kimberly would be found

13:19

buried in the Norwood's dirt driveway

13:21

in 1989 not long after she

13:23

disappeared. Now in late

13:28

July of 1990, Harrison

13:30

County Sheriff's deputies and Texas

13:32

Department of Public Safety cadaver

13:34

dogs joined Ketchings on the

13:36

property of Kimberly's family looking

13:38

for the missing girl's body.

13:42

The self-proclaimed psychic said,

13:45

She was murdered and I am as

13:47

sure as I can be that she

13:49

is dead and buried somewhere here close

13:51

to home. Though

13:53

he had an idea about who

13:55

murdered Kimberly, Ketchings was keeping it

13:57

to himself for the time being.

14:01

At this time, Sheriff Bill

14:03

Oldham denied rumors that, at

14:06

best, he let persist, and

14:08

at worst he perpetuated himself.

14:11

The rumors that Janice and

14:13

Bobby Norwood, and perhaps other

14:15

family members, were suspects in

14:18

Kimberly's disappearance. If

14:20

they were suspects, the sheriff commented,

14:22

he'd have them being interrogated back

14:24

at the station. As

14:27

it appeared, were cooling off at least

14:29

some between the two parties. Janice

14:33

Norwood even praised the sheriff's efforts.

14:36

Although she believed her daughter was

14:38

still alive, Janice said she was

14:40

grateful action was being taken. John

14:44

Ketchings, anyway, walked the Norwood

14:46

property and, not including the

14:48

driveway where he predicted Kimberly's

14:51

body would be found, marked

14:53

six particular places to dig.

14:56

The driveway, no doubt, was a

14:59

spot Ketchings predicted because the day

15:01

Kimberly disappeared, her father Bobby had

15:03

been constructing a culvert. Why

15:06

he chose the other areas is anyone's

15:08

guess. It comes

15:10

as no surprise that nothing was found, no

15:13

body, or any other sign of

15:15

Kimberly Norwood. Meanwhile,

15:19

Harry Lewis Martin, Janice Norwood

15:21

said, was putting the family

15:23

through hell and torment. Both

15:27

in letters written to the missing

15:29

girl's parents and in person, Martin

15:31

was putting forth a bold accusation.

15:35

According to him, Bobby and

15:37

Janice were attempting to sabotage

15:39

his investigation by withholding leads

15:41

and refusing to answer a

15:44

questionnaire from his one-man organization,

15:46

America's Missing Children. The

15:49

Norwoods were the only family, Martin

15:51

said, he'd ever had to confront,

15:53

a euphemism here for accuse in

15:56

order to get their attention, though

15:58

in their case, they were not. the emotional

16:01

stakes were considerably higher, Kimberly's family

16:03

were far from the only folks

16:05

Harry Lewis Martin was starting to

16:08

annoy. Deputy Claire

16:10

Howell said she had completely

16:12

lost competence in Martin after

16:14

reading portions of his sex

16:16

occult book, which again advocated

16:19

for allowing children into adult

16:21

sex rituals. Deputy

16:23

Howell also commented that Martin's

16:26

accusations against the Norwoods bordered

16:28

on slander. Charles

16:30

Pickett of the National Center

16:32

for Missing and Exploited Children

16:34

agreed. Martin's

16:37

behavior, his accusations against a

16:39

family whose child was likely

16:41

abducted by a stranger, Pickett

16:44

said, was outrageous. In

16:47

fact, Martin's aggressive allegations and

16:49

confrontations prompted the National Center

16:51

for Missing and Exploited Children

16:53

to drop his organization from

16:56

their list of valid and

16:58

approved child recovery and rescue

17:00

agencies. But this is

17:02

hardly what did Harry Lewis Martin

17:04

in for good. About

17:08

a year after his self-created

17:10

debacle on the Kimberly Norwood

17:12

case, Martin closed up shop

17:14

in Shreveport and headed to

17:16

Orlando, Florida. He

17:18

believed donations there would be bigger

17:21

and better, Martin said, but at

17:23

the heart of the move was

17:25

actually the fact that the IRS

17:27

wouldn't give him the approval to

17:29

take tax-free donations. After

17:32

settling in Florida, he was

17:34

still promoting America's Missing Children

17:36

as a nonprofit organization, even

17:39

though he was still unapproved to do

17:41

so by the tax man. In

17:44

the Sunshine State, the law came

17:46

down on him for working as

17:48

an investigator while unlicensed, but

17:51

his legal troubles had just begun. In March

17:55

of 1993, Harry Lewis Martin was

17:57

arrested and charged with three cases

17:59

of murder. counts of committing

18:01

lewd acts on three girls.

18:05

The girls, two ten-year-olds and

18:07

one eight-year-old, lived in Martin's

18:09

neighborhood and weren't associated in

18:12

any way with his organization.

18:14

The charges specifically were lewd,

18:17

lascivious acts in the presence

18:19

of a child under sixteen

18:21

years of age, sexual battery,

18:23

coercion by means of authority,

18:25

and lewd acts upon a

18:27

child. Ultimately,

18:29

Martin pleaded no contest to

18:31

the charges while still maintaining

18:34

his innocence. He

18:36

was sentenced to two years' house

18:38

arrest and five years' probation. Though

18:42

America's Missing Children, Incorporated still

18:44

operated, its reach at that

18:47

point was minimal until it

18:49

eventually faded away completely. Martin

18:52

would never name the ten cases

18:55

in which he claimed to have

18:57

recovered children, and his entry into

18:59

Kimberly's case, when considering his actions

19:02

and crimes as a whole, is

19:05

inarguably suspicious. Harry

19:08

Lewis Martin had been a thing

19:10

of the past for nearly two years

19:13

by the time his conviction came as

19:15

far as Kimberly's case was concerned, but

19:18

there was plenty of activity going

19:20

on without his hindrance. In

19:23

March of 1991, newly elected Texas State Representative

19:27

Paul Sadler introduced House Bill 2337,

19:29

which laid out strict guidelines for

19:34

law enforcement agencies to follow

19:37

concerning missing persons investigations. If

19:40

those guidelines were not followed, the

19:42

new law would allow for the

19:44

Attorney General's office to come into

19:46

the investigation. That

19:48

same month, on the 27th, three-year-old Meghan

19:52

Elizabeth Garner vanished from a

19:54

playground near her residence in

19:56

Tyler, Texas, about forty-eight miles

19:58

west of Hollis. Halsville. Like

20:01

Kimberly Norwood, Meghan remains missing

20:03

to this day. The

20:06

Heidi Search Center came to Caney Creek in

20:09

May of 1991, around the second anniversary of

20:14

Kimberly's disappearance. As

20:17

was the case with searches in

20:19

the initial investigation, the days were

20:21

rainy and overcast, the

20:23

perfect conditions for cotton-mouth snakes who

20:26

slithered hidden in the brush and

20:28

ground cover. But

20:31

there was a bright side to

20:33

the rain, Heidi Search Center director

20:35

Rick Bennington said, since it may

20:37

have sunken the ground around any

20:39

hidden graves in the area, or

20:42

might have even uncovered something. The

20:45

week before the search took place,

20:47

Marshall native and star of the

20:50

television show Dallas, Susan Howard, led

20:52

a prayer for the Norwoods at

20:54

Central Baptist Church. Nothing

20:57

was found in the search. Two

21:01

computer-enhanced, age-progressed photos of Kimberly

21:03

were released, each with hairstyles

21:05

matching the most well-known pictures

21:08

of her. The

21:11

following year, in nearby Gilmer,

21:14

Texas, 17-year-old Kelly Day Wilson

21:16

disappeared after leaving her job

21:19

at Northwest Texas Video Store

21:21

in the small cities downtown,

21:24

about 38 miles

21:26

to the northwest of

21:28

Halsville. In 1993, Harrison County

21:30

had a new sheriff, Bob Green.

21:33

He poured over the voluminous case

21:36

file of the Kimberly Norwood disappearance,

21:39

Sheriff Green said, and made two

21:41

stacks, one fact and

21:43

evidence, and the other opinion

21:45

and rumors. Green

21:48

assigned a deputy to the case who'd

21:50

never worked it, while

21:52

renewing the investigation with new

21:54

eyes, and from scratch, was

21:56

music to Janice Norwood's ears,

21:58

two things foreshadowed trouble. One

22:02

was the fact that Sheriff Green

22:04

still considered Kimberly a runaway. It

22:07

seemed to be a foregone

22:09

conclusion before his deputy even

22:11

got started. The second was that

22:13

the county's new top lawman was

22:15

wishy-washy about letting a psychic into

22:17

the case. At first,

22:20

he said they didn't need the department's

22:22

help. They could go out and

22:24

find Kimberly and report back to him. He'd

22:27

be tickled, Green said. But

22:30

not terribly long after, the sheriff told

22:32

the Marshall News messenger that he was

22:34

in talks with a psychic out of

22:37

New Jersey and hoping her arrival in

22:39

town was imminent. It's

22:41

not clear if she ever came. If

22:55

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call Colombo Law 24-7 and we'll be there to

23:00

make sure you're taken care of. When

23:02

someone is hurt by a truck, Colombo Law

23:04

is the law firm people call to get

23:06

answers. Hurt by a truck? Call

23:08

Colombo Law. When

23:12

someone is hurt in a truck accident,

23:14

the one question everyone has is why

23:16

did this terrible collision happen? To

23:19

answer that question takes an experienced team

23:21

of lawyers and experts. Not

23:23

everyone has this type of experience. At

23:26

Colombo Law, we are truck injury

23:28

lawyers. It's what we do every

23:30

day. When someone is hurt

23:33

by a truck, Colombo Law is the law

23:35

firm people call to get answers. Hurt

23:37

by a truck? Call Colombo Law. In

23:42

1994, several members of a

23:44

family named The Kurz were

23:46

indicted by an Upsure County

23:48

Grand Jury alongside Gilmer Police

23:51

Sergeant James York Brown for

23:53

the disappearance, the kidnapping and

23:55

murder of 17-year-old Kelly Day

23:58

Wilson. Her body It

24:00

been found, but some curve

24:02

family members added for lengthy

24:04

prison sentences implicated Sergeant Brown

24:06

in their see tannic rituals

24:08

which were a fabrication from

24:10

the mind of the Ups

24:12

Or County District Attorney and

24:15

an overzealous Child Protective Services

24:17

caseworker. Because. Some

24:19

of the abuse alleged against the

24:21

Curve family happened around the time

24:24

Kimberly Norwood vanished. Sheriff Bob Green

24:26

was interested in following the lead.

24:30

Pits. Impossible to get into the

24:32

Kelly Day Wilson case here in

24:34

any meaningful way, and the likelihood

24:36

her case is connected with Kimberly's

24:38

is minute anyway. But if you'd

24:40

like to know more, check out

24:42

our episodes on the case from

24:44

April of Twenty Twenty One. Bottom.

24:48

Line Is. The Harris and County

24:50

Sheriff's Office found nothing to tie

24:52

Kimberly nor Woods case with Kelly

24:54

Day Wilson's. By.

24:57

Ninety Ninety Seven Sheriff Green told

24:59

the Marshall News Messenger that his

25:01

department, after extensively investigating the Kimberly

25:04

Nor would file and attempting to

25:06

gain new leads, hadn't come up

25:08

with anything at all. The.

25:11

Preceding years and decades offered

25:13

a little more. To

25:16

their credit, the Marshall News Messenger

25:18

and even The Long View News

25:20

Journal cats kimberly space and description

25:22

in their newspapers as much as

25:24

they could even if the story

25:26

was so small as the only

25:29

report that police were still looking

25:31

for leads and information in the

25:33

case. In two

25:35

thousand and three, Kimberly's mother,

25:37

Janice Norwood vintage her frustrations.

25:40

She. Claims that evidence had been

25:43

fabricated. Suppose. It letters

25:45

and drawings depicting abuse at

25:47

the hands of Kimberly's father,

25:49

Bobby she said had been

25:51

forged and the subject matter

25:54

completely contrived. When. she

25:56

tried to jump start an investigation

25:58

by an outside law enforcement agency

26:00

the year before, Janice said. They

26:02

told her the statute of limitations

26:04

was up on such a crime.

26:08

No sheriff since Bill Oldham,

26:10

the county's top lawman at

26:12

the time of Kimberly's disappearance,

26:14

had publicly mentioned the letters

26:16

and possibility that Bobby Norwood was

26:18

a suspect, and Janice

26:20

told a reporter her husband had

26:23

been polygraphed by the FBI and

26:25

passed. Still, whispers

26:27

about his involvement persist. In

26:32

2010, Harrison County Sheriff Tom McCool,

26:34

who'd begun his first term in

26:36

2001, commented that

26:39

the case has never had a

26:41

legitimate suspect. The

26:44

following year, the Harrison County Sheriff's

26:46

Office took DNA samples from the

26:48

Norwood family. The development

26:51

likely came as the result of

26:53

the discovery of human remains in

26:55

brush and dirt 30 miles from

26:57

Halsville, just outside Orr City in

27:00

Upshur County. Janice

27:02

Norwood chose to believe her daughter

27:04

was still alive, and that

27:06

hope was not dashed as the result

27:08

of this finding. Though

27:10

they've not been identified to this

27:13

day in April of 2024, the

27:15

bones certainly did not belong to

27:17

Kimberly Norwood. Instead, they

27:20

were estimated to belong to a male between

27:22

30 to 50 years

27:24

of age at the time of his death. Because

27:28

the bones showed absolutely no

27:30

signs of foul play, and

27:32

even stranger did not naturally

27:34

decompose in that or a

27:36

similar environment, the University of

27:39

North Texas Health and Sciences

27:41

theorized they'd been used for

27:43

research purposes and discarded. It

27:47

was a relief for the Norwoods, but

27:50

also it wasn't. It's

27:52

a fine, fragile line between

27:54

hope and despair. Janice

27:58

Norwood's Hope and possibly belief

28:01

that Kimberly was still alive, had

28:03

fully materialized in 2009 when J.C.

28:05

Dugard, abducted

28:08

as an 11-year-old in

28:11

1991, resurfaced. When

28:13

Michelle Knight, Amanda Berry, and Gina De

28:15

Jesus escaped in 2013 after being held

28:18

captive by a Cleveland, Ohio monster since

28:20

2002, 2003, and 2004 respectively, Janice's hope

28:22

that her daughter was still alive grew

28:30

even stronger, she said. In

28:35

2017, that hope remained. Janice

28:37

told her reporter that although

28:39

her husband doesn't sense that

28:41

Kimberly is alive, she does.

28:44

No matter the case, the grieving

28:47

mother said, it is worse not

28:49

knowing, torturous. That

28:52

year, the National Center for Missing

28:54

and Exploited Children released another age-progressed

28:56

depiction of Kimberly Norwood at age

28:59

40. In 2018, the last

29:04

publicly known lead came

29:06

investigators' way. For

29:08

those of you who are too young to

29:10

remember for a little more than a decade

29:13

beginning in 1984 in Iowa with 12-year-old Johnny

29:15

Gosh and

29:18

13-year-old Eugene Martin, milk

29:20

cartons featured the photos

29:22

and descriptions of missing

29:24

children. In early

29:26

January 2018, Harrison

29:29

County Sheriff's Office deputies traveled

29:32

340 miles southwest to

29:34

Victoria, Texas. Several

29:36

milk cartons featuring Kimberly's missing person's

29:38

case were found in the attic

29:40

of a house there. But

29:43

the caller hadn't told the whole story.

29:46

When investigators arrived in Victoria, they

29:48

obtained permission from the renter of

29:51

the property to go up to

29:53

the attic. There

29:55

they found many milk cartons with

29:57

many missing kids on them, not

29:59

just Kimberly's. Kimberly. They'd

30:02

been printed at a local facility,

30:04

apparently, and a former renter was

30:06

an employee there. Who

30:09

the other children on the cartons were has

30:11

never been released publicly, nor has

30:14

how many different children there were.

30:17

Whatever the case, Harrison County Sheriff's

30:19

deputies were satisfied with the answer

30:22

they got. He's

30:25

father, Bobby Norwood, suffered several health

30:27

issues, particularly throughout the 2000s and

30:29

2010s. He died in July of

30:32

2019. Janice passed away the following

30:38

year, in June. She'd

30:41

also gone through a series of health

30:43

problems in the previous two decades. When

30:46

I die, Janice told the Marshall News messenger

30:48

in 2013, I will know. While

30:53

it is possible Kimberly Norwood ran

30:55

away from home, she was in

30:57

danger and likely came upon danger

31:00

since she's not been heard from

31:02

since 1989. There has been

31:05

no activity as far as her

31:07

social security number is concerned, and

31:10

she isn't known to have contacted

31:12

anyone. Not one

31:14

sighting of Kimberly has been confirmed.

31:18

Michelle Lee Richardson's case, which we

31:21

began this series with, has seen

31:23

very little public attention.

31:26

DNA was collected from her son in the

31:28

2000s, but she

31:30

has yet to be found. When

31:33

he was 21 years old in 2011, Michelle's son commented

31:37

that he believed she was out there

31:39

somewhere. He'd always wondered

31:41

how much different life would have been

31:43

had his mother not vanished. Although

31:46

Michelle had disappeared when he was

31:48

only a few months old, her

31:50

son said he didn't feel like

31:53

his mother was dead. That may

31:55

be just wishful thinking, he said,

31:57

but I just don't feel like she is. Michele

32:01

Lee Richardson is a white female

32:04

and was 16 years old when

32:06

she went missing from Palestine, Texas.

32:09

She stood 5 feet 6 inches tall,

32:11

weighed about 150 pounds, had reddish blonde

32:13

hair and blue eyes.

32:17

Michele occasionally wore glasses and has

32:20

a U-shaped scar on her left

32:22

arm. Michele was

32:24

last seen wearing a pink

32:26

and white pullover sweatshirt, pink

32:28

jogging pants, and black sneakers.

32:32

If you have any information about

32:34

the disappearance of Michele Lee Richardson,

32:36

please contact the Anderson County Sheriff's

32:38

Department at 903-729-6068. If

32:46

you like Gone Cold's mission

32:49

to renew the public's interest

32:51

in cold cases, you can

32:53

support the show at patreon.com/gonecoldpodcast.

32:57

Leave a 5-star rating and written review at iTunes

32:59

also helps immensely, as it bumps the

33:07

algorithm and gets us into the ears of

33:09

more folks. However you

33:11

choose to support the show, we appreciate

33:14

it more than words can express. You

33:17

can find Gone Cold online

33:20

at gonecold.com or on nearly

33:22

all the social media platforms

33:24

by searching at gonecoldpodcast. You

33:27

can also find a link in bio in

33:30

the episode's description. Thanks

33:32

for listening y'all. If

33:35

you've been hurt by a truck, you can call

33:37

Colombo Law 24-7 and we'll be there to make

33:39

sure you're taken care of. When

33:41

someone is hurt by a truck, Colombo Law is

33:44

the law firm people call to get answers. Hurt

33:46

by a truck? Call Colombo Law. When

33:51

someone is hurt in a truck accident,

33:53

the one question everyone has is why

33:55

did this terrible collision happen? To

33:58

answer that question takes an experienced... team

34:00

of lawyers and experts. Not

34:03

everyone has this type of experience. At Colombo

34:05

Law, we are truck injury lawyers.

34:08

It's what we do every day.

34:11

When someone is hurt by a truck, Colombo

34:13

Law is the law firm people call to

34:15

get answers. Hurt by a

34:17

truck? Call Colombo Law.

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