0:00

On a winter night in a small community

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near Denver, Colorado, Jim Matthews

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arrived home late. He expected to

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find his twelve year old daughter who'd been dropped

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off after Christmas concert. But when he

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called out, hey Janelle, the house

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was eerily quiet. His daughter's shoes

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were on the floor, but she was gone.

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And it would be thirty five years before

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she would be found dead. After

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the discovery of Janelle Matthew's body

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in two thousand nineteen, the police turned

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their attention to a man who had told law enforcement

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years ago that he knew something. But they

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dismissed him. The man did seem

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obsessed with the case, but is that all

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he was a true crime fanatic or

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was he a Wondery and

0:39

campsite media shocking true crime

0:41

podcast suspect is back for

0:43

a second season. This time with a story

0:45

that attempts to separate fact from fiction,

0:48

compulsion from guilt, and one man's

0:50

true crime obsession from a motive for

0:52

murder. You're about to hear a clip from

0:54

suspect vanished in the snow. While

0:57

you're listening. Follow suspect wherever you

0:59

get your podcasts. And hey, Prime members.

1:01

You can binge all six episodes ad

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free on Amazon Music. Download the

1:05

Amazon Music app today.

1:12

Weld County is a desert. Feels

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relatively warm outside for Colorado

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in December. And

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this the sky is just this

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Caribbean and blue. It's

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winter, but it's hot out, dry,

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and dusty. The snow capped

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rocky mountains are all behind us.

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Ahead, it's flat. The

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horizon goes on forever. I

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feel like we're in the Wikipedia Temple.

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We It's don't you feel rich and sound rich

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and something else? Yeah. Boom. Shit.

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People tear ass down this road.

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A few of the trucks passing us or souped

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up, brand new, tires, jacked

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high, oil and gas workers

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apparently un bothered by speed

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limits. If there is a speed

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limit out here. We're

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relieved to turn into a dirt driveway

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of a lone rambling house. Hi,

2:04

guys. Hello

2:06

again. I'm

2:11

Jody. You can try Vance and

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Jody Gilliland lives so far from

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most of their neighbors that it's easier

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to drive to see them. Across

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from their house is a field that stretches

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about a thou and acres. It's

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full of brush and weeds. The

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kind of place where people often will

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abandon things. Old mattresses,

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wash and dryers, even boats.

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It's like, wow. Almost

2:37

tended to hook that up and take it home, see what I can

2:39

do. But No.

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I mean, people still still do dump

2:44

things out here, but it's

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usually quick and round, quick and round. I mean, what

2:48

they can show off the back, what trucking two seconds?

2:51

In the summer of twenty nineteen, Vance

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and Jody were in their kitchen when they saw

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blue and red lights flashing across

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the perimeter their property. All

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of a sudden, there was cop cars

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going by, and I was like, uh-oh, up

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until it was dark actually. They were out there.

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They were out there forever. Fans

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and Jody soon learned those oil and

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gas workers and their fancy pickups

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they'd unearth a small

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human skull with a

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single bullet hole in it. And

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authorities knew it exactly

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who the remains belong to. It

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is the cold case that has baffled the

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Greeley for nearly thirty five

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years, but tonight, Police may be closer

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to figuring out what happened to Janelle

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Matthews. The twelve year old disappeared from

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her home in late nineteen eighty

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four. Her remains were discovered this

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week. By a construction crew in rural

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Weld County. Gone for thirty

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five years today, human remains founded

3:49

in oil and gas fighting Greeley give investigators

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new leads on a decades old

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cold case. Like

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a lot of Colorado residents who

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had been following Janelle's case since

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the nineteen eighties. Vance

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and Jody watched the news reports with

4:04

fascination. They waited

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to hear what would happen next. Hoping

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that the remains in the field would finally

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lead investigators to the killer. As

4:14

it turned out, it wouldn't be

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nearly so simple. This

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is a story about obsession, my

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own. Sure. So

4:25

I am working on podcast

4:28

about the Janelle Matthews case.

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I know you know about that case.

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Right? I assume you're probably well

4:34

versed. I thought I'd try you one

4:36

last time, but also

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the obsession of a community that

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kept pushing to find Janelle,

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to get her name into the national spotlight.

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And all the way to the White

4:48

House. For example, I learned about

4:50

Jonelle Matthews of Greeley Colorado.

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Who would have celebrated a happy thirteenth

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birthday with her family just

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last month. And it's about the

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obsessions of a self described true

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crime junky. A man who

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had started talking about the Janelle

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Matthews case just a

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few days after police responded

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to a distress call from

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her home. And over the next

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thirty five years, he

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kept talking and

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talking. He was just me

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trying to be

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a big man in the case. He's a

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busy body. He gets himself in the middle

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of murder cases, but that doesn't

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necessarily mean Actually, he was

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involved in them. People are like, oh, he's

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just crazy and he's just he's he's

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just being bad or or whatever

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else and he's he's harmless. He

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wouldn't hurt anybody. He's such a good

5:41

liar that he could convince the juror

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that he wasn't involved. So

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You know? He's a liar. He is. He

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was a good one. I turned around and

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I said, you're gonna be arrested for obstructing.

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If don't get back in your car. And

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he says, don't fuck

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with me, officer Edgerton. I

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bury more people than you'll know. When

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he was shot, you know Matthews in the forehead?

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Was she begging for her life? Never

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have her name.

6:11

Hey, Prime members, you can binge all

6:13

six episodes of suspect vanished

6:15

in the snow, ad free on Amazon

6:17

Music. Download the Amazon Music app

6:19

today.