0:00

July 29th, 2012, Palmyra, Pennsylvania. After

0:06

spending the evening at a bar, 21-year-old

0:10

Courtney Stauffer returns

0:12

to her apartment building alongside

0:14

a male friend named Cody

0:16

Pruitt, but gets into a

0:19

confrontation with her neighbors. The

0:21

police are called to the scene and

0:23

manage to de-escalate the situation, so

0:26

Courtney goes into her apartment with Cody.

0:29

When Cody wakes up later that morning, he

0:32

claims that Courtney has vanished

0:35

without explanation and she

0:37

has left her car and all of

0:39

her personal belongings behind. Investigators

0:41

explore a number of different leads,

0:44

but can find no evidence of

0:46

foul play or any strong suspects,

0:49

so Courtney's disappearance remains unsolved.

0:52

After that, the trail

0:55

went cold. Hello

1:27

everyone and welcome to our latest episode of

1:35

The Trail Went Cold. I'm your

1:37

host Robin Water, and today we're

1:39

going to be covering a controversial missing

1:41

persons case, the 2012

1:44

disappearance of Courtney Stauffer. That

1:47

voice you just heard narrating our intro was

1:49

Becky Routtsong, the latest winner of

1:51

our most recent Trail Went Cold listener

1:53

voiceover contest, so thank you very much

1:55

Becky. This is a recurring

1:57

monthly contest which we've been carrying on for

1:59

nearly. seven years now, so if

2:01

you'd like to enter and haven't already done so, I will

2:04

be providing instructions near the end of this

2:06

episode. Anyway, the

2:08

disappearance of Courtney Stauffer is the case

2:10

that Becky requested I cover when she originally

2:12

entered this contest, so I thought now

2:14

would be a good time to put together

2:17

an episode. This is a

2:19

story which was once featured on an episode of

2:21

Disappeared and seems to be one

2:23

of those bizarre missing persons cases in

2:25

which the victim almost literally seemed to

2:27

vanish into thin air. Courtney

2:30

Stauffer lived in an apartment with her

2:32

boyfriend but would experience a very eventful

2:34

night in which her boyfriend was arrested

2:37

under probation violation, she was kicked out

2:39

of a bar after an altercation with

2:41

a male acquaintance and wound

2:43

up getting into another heated confrontation with

2:45

her neighbors after she returned home. As

2:49

a result of all this drama, the police

2:51

recalled the Courtney's duplex no less than three

2:53

times but by the time warning arrived, Courtney

2:56

had vanished without a trace and all

2:58

of her personal belongings as well as

3:00

her car and her dog were left

3:02

behind. A male

3:04

friend of Courtney's named Cody Pruitt had spent

3:06

the night hanging out with her but

3:09

even though he stayed over in Courtney's

3:11

apartment, he had no explanation for what

3:13

might have happened and told police

3:15

that Courtney was simply gone when he woke

3:17

up. Naturally, that has

3:20

caused some suspicion to be directed

3:22

towards Cody but investigators have never

3:24

found any evidence to indicate that

3:26

he was responsible for Courtney's disappearance

3:28

or turned up any noticeable lies

3:30

in his story. There

3:32

are a number of other potential suspects

3:34

in this case including Courtney's neighbor and

3:36

the man she got into an altercation

3:38

with at the bar but no

3:40

evidence has ever implicated any of them

3:43

either. In fact, even

3:45

though it seems likely that Courtney was the victim

3:47

of foul play, nothing has

3:49

ever been found to conclusively prove that

3:52

as it feels like she was here one moment

3:54

and then gone the next. It's

3:56

a pretty perplexing case but while there have been

3:59

no shortage of rumors and theories about

4:01

what might have happened to Courtney, nearly

4:03

12 years have passed without any definitive

4:05

answers. So we're going to try and

4:08

explore all the different scenarios on today's

4:10

episode. However, before we

4:12

get started, just a quick reminder that

4:14

The Trail Went Cold is a weekly

4:17

podcast, which is currently available for download

4:19

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4:21

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4:23

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4:26

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4:28

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4:30

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4:33

Trail Went Cold is on Patreon, so

4:35

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4:37

to support the show, please visit our

4:39

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4:42

little as $1 a month, you can

4:44

garner access to exclusive rewards,

4:46

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4:48

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4:50

bonus content. As our

4:52

Patreon page has around 70 exclusive bonus

4:54

episodes in our archives, which are not

4:57

available on a regular feed. So

4:59

with all that out of the way, let

5:01

us now delve into the disappearance of Courtney

5:03

Stauffer. Our

5:06

story begins in

5:09

2012 in Palmyra,

5:14

Pennsylvania,

5:22

a borough located in Lebanon County which has

5:25

a population of around 7,800 people. Our

5:29

central figure is 21-year-old Courtney Stauffer,

5:31

who is one of six children

5:33

to parents Scott Stauffer and Wendy

5:35

Stauffer-Hamill, and grew up on a

5:37

farm in the unincorporated community of Grantville. Even

5:41

though her parents divorced in 2005,

5:43

Courtney still maintains close relationships with

5:45

both of them, as well as

5:47

her siblings, and she is

5:49

known for being a very outgoing individual

5:51

who has pretty much adopted a persona

5:53

in which she acts and dresses like

5:55

a free-spirited hippie. Since

5:58

Courtney elected not to go to college, She

6:00

now essentially works three part-time jobs

6:02

as a dog groomer, hairstylist,

6:05

and is also employed by the

6:07

Stauffer Equipment Company, a firm owned

6:09

by her father, which distributes recycling

6:12

equipment. Courtney is

6:14

currently residing in a rented second floor

6:16

apartment at a duplex on West Main

6:18

Street in Palmyra, alongside

6:20

her 20-year-old boyfriend Brad Herr, whom she

6:22

has been with for nine months. Courtney

6:26

also lives with her dog Sheva, whom she

6:28

has owned since she was eight years old,

6:31

as well as the second dog which is owned by

6:33

Brad. However, at this

6:35

particular point, Brad is under house arrest and

6:37

serving a sentence of probation for

6:40

driving under the influence of alcohol

6:42

and drugs while underage. On

6:45

the evening of July the 28th, Courtney

6:47

and Brad held a party at their apartment

6:49

which was attended by five other people, but

6:52

since alcohol was being served and

6:54

drinking was a violation of Brad's

6:56

probation, someone made a call

6:58

to the Lebanon County Probation Services Office

7:00

to report what was going on. After

7:04

a probation officer requested assistance from the

7:06

Palmyra Borrow Police Department, they showed up

7:08

at the apartment at around 9 p.m.

7:12

where they broke up the party and arrested

7:14

Brad and took him into custody for a

7:16

probation violation. After

7:19

everyone else left, Courtney called her mother

7:21

Wendy to express concern that Brad was in serious trouble

7:23

and was going to spend a couple of years behind

7:25

bars for this, but even though Wendy asked Courtney if

7:27

she wanted her to come over, Courtney had other plans.

7:31

Shortly after 10 p.m, Courtney

7:34

received texts from a 29-year-old friend

7:36

of hers named Cody Pruitt, as well as a

7:38

second friend named Milton Rodriguez, who

7:40

asked if she would like to meet them at a bar called

7:42

the gas station and the nearby station and

7:45

the nearby town of Hummelstown. Since

7:49

Courtney felt the need to let off some steam,

7:51

she decided to drive to the bar in her

7:53

2002 Ford Focus. While there, Courtney,

7:56

Cody and Milton met up with the police officer and the

7:59

police officer. up with another couple.

8:02

The group decided to pile into Milton's

8:04

car in order to drive about 10

8:06

miles west to Harrisburg, and Courtney

8:08

left her focus behind at the gas station.

8:11

They wound up at an establishment called the

8:14

Hardware Bar, but since Courtney

8:16

was still flustered and bitter about

8:18

Brad's arrest, she wound up getting

8:20

intoxicated. At around

8:22

1.50 am on the morning of July 29, Courtney

8:25

got into a heated argument with a

8:27

male acquaintance of hers named Arver Brown,

8:30

who was at the bar with his girlfriend. Arver'd

8:33

also happened to be friends with Cody and

8:35

Milton, but Courtney believed that he

8:37

had broken into her apartment on a previous

8:39

occasion in order to ransack it and steal

8:42

money from her. The

8:44

confrontation between Courtney, Arver'd, and Arver'd's

8:46

girlfriend became so heated that Courtney

8:48

was kicked out of the bar

8:50

by the Bouncers. Courtney

8:53

eventually met up again with Cody, Milton,

8:55

and the other couple, and

8:57

Cody agreed to function as their designated

9:00

driver and use Milton's car to take

9:02

everyone home. After

9:04

Milton and the couple were dropped off

9:06

at their respective residences, Courtney

9:08

convinced Cody that she was capable of

9:10

driving her own car home, so

9:13

he agreed to take her back to the gas

9:15

station bar where her focus was still parked. Courtney

9:18

then drove the vehicle back to her duplex

9:20

in Palmyra, and Cody agreed to follow her

9:22

to make sure she made it back safely.

9:26

They both arrived shortly after 3 am,

9:28

but wound up crossing paths with

9:30

Courtney's three neighbors who were hanging

9:32

around in the first floor apartment.

9:35

One of them was 44-year-old Todd Saxek,

9:38

a single man who lived beside Courtney's apartment

9:41

on the second floor. Todd

9:43

and Courtney had a very antagonistic relationship

9:46

and did not get along, as

9:48

Todd frequently made noise complaints whenever

9:50

Courtney threw parties. Courtney

9:53

believed that Todd was the one who called

9:55

the Probation Services office and got her boyfriend

9:57

arrested, so she decided to confront the law. and

10:01

a heated argument ensued in which Courtney kicked

10:03

Todd in the leg. The

10:06

other neighbors at the duplex were Janice

10:08

Remenschneider and Rick Sheets, a

10:10

middle-aged couple who lived in the first-floor apartment,

10:12

but when they tried to intervene, Courtney

10:15

and Cody reportedly made hostile remarks

10:17

towards them and told them to

10:19

back off. This

10:21

prompted the couple to close their

10:24

apartment door and Rich phoned the

10:26

Palmyra-Borro Police Department. The

10:28

police arrived at the scene at 3.15 a.m.

10:30

and a few minutes after that, the

10:33

North Londonderry Police arrived as a backup

10:35

unit. Law enforcement

10:37

eventually managed to de-escalate the situation, but

10:39

they also warned everyone that if they

10:42

were called to this address one more

10:44

time, somebody was going to jail. By

10:47

3.50, the situation had seemingly

10:49

cooled down as everyone returned

10:52

to the respective apartments and Cody agreed

10:54

to remain there to spend the night

10:56

with Courtney. However, at

10:58

4.11 a.m., just 20 minutes

11:00

after the police left, they

11:02

received another call from Todd who

11:05

complained that he could hear Courtney making

11:07

loud stopping noises and slamming doors and

11:09

screaming and making threats towards him through

11:12

his apartment wall. 20 minutes

11:14

after this, the Palmyra-Borro PD returned to

11:17

the duplex for the third time that

11:19

night, but when one of the officers

11:21

knocked on the door to Courtney's apartment,

11:23

they got no answer. The

11:26

officer did hear the sounds of the two

11:28

dogs barking from inside and was able to

11:30

see into the residence through a patio door

11:32

and nearby window, but the lights

11:35

were off and he did not notice anything

11:37

unusual. There are

11:39

differing accounts about Todd's whereabouts while this was

11:41

going on, as some sources state

11:43

that he met the police outside the duplex when

11:46

they first arrived, while others state that

11:48

the police went to his apartment and knocked on the

11:50

door, but no one answered there

11:52

either. Whatever the case,

11:54

since the situation seemed to have calmed

11:56

down, the police left without taking

11:59

any further action. at 4.36

12:01

a.m., but at some point

12:03

within the next few hours, Courtney would

12:05

inexplicably vanish without a trace. Later

12:09

that same day, Courtney was scheduled to meet

12:11

her older brother Ryan at the Lebanon County

12:13

Fair, but she never showed up and he

12:15

was unable to get hold of her. And

12:18

even though Courtney's mother Wendy attempted to

12:21

phone her multiple times throughout the day,

12:23

Courtney never answered or returned any of

12:25

Wendy's calls. By the

12:27

morning of July the 30th, no one had

12:29

heard from Courtney, so Wendy became concerned enough

12:31

to pay a visit to her duplex. Wendy

12:34

noticed that Courtney's car was parked outside with

12:37

the windows rolled down, and when

12:39

she went to Courtney's apartment, she was

12:41

surprised to discover that the front door was

12:43

open and the porch lights, television and air

12:45

conditioner were still on. While

12:48

Courtney was not there, all of her

12:50

personal belongings were left behind, including her

12:53

purse, keys, shoes and cell phone, which

12:55

had 18 missed calls on

12:57

it from over the past day. Courtney's

13:00

dog Sheba was also left unattended and had

13:02

left a mess on the floor that Courtney

13:04

had failed to clean up, which

13:06

was very uncharacteristic of her. Wendy

13:10

soon contacted her ex-husband Scott and learned

13:12

that he had not heard from Courtney

13:14

either, and they both proceeded to reach

13:16

out to a number of Courtney's family

13:18

members, friends and acquaintances to try and

13:20

figure out where she was. Scott

13:23

eventually got a hold of Courtney's cell phone

13:25

and started searching through it, and

13:27

when he found her recent text with Cody

13:29

Pruitt, Scott decided to reach out to him.

13:32

Cody recounted the events which took place

13:34

on the night he went out with

13:36

Courtney and claimed that after the police

13:38

left, following her confrontation with Todd Saxik,

13:41

he accompanied Courtney back to her apartment in an

13:43

attempt to calm her down. Cody

13:46

said that Courtney continued to remain upset

13:48

and started yelling and stomping on the

13:50

ground until the police returned again. They

13:54

both then decided to switch off the lights

13:56

and remain quiet when the officer knocked on

13:58

the door, and after he left, Courtney

14:01

finally calmed down and they both soon

14:03

fell asleep. Cody

14:05

claimed that he woke up later that morning at

14:07

around 7.56 a.m. but did

14:09

not see Courtney and while he believed

14:11

that she had gone to sleep in

14:13

another room, he never actually confirmed she

14:15

was there and simply shouted

14:17

out that he was leaving before exiting

14:19

the apartment. Cody

14:21

then climbed into Milton's car and drove

14:23

to a nearby convenience store and

14:26

it would later be confirmed that the

14:28

security cameras had captured footage of Cody

14:30

buying coffee. Well there

14:32

Cody also used his phone to text

14:34

Courtney but he never received any response.

14:38

After leaving, Cody traveled to Milton's

14:40

house to return his car before

14:42

he was driven back to his own residence

14:44

in Hummelstown. Throughout the

14:46

course of the day, Cody texted Courtney

14:48

on two more occasions but once again

14:51

did not receive a response. Well

14:53

after hearing Cody's account, Scott contacted

14:56

the Palmyra Borrow Police Department in

14:58

order to officially report his daughter

15:00

missing but since Courtney was a

15:02

legal adult, they would

15:04

not technically start investigating her disappearance

15:06

until July the 31st which

15:09

was 48 hours after she was last seen.

15:12

The staffers remained at Courtney's apartment that

15:15

night on the chance she might

15:17

return but when she failed to

15:19

resurface by morning, a missing persons

15:21

investigation was finally launched. When

15:23

Cody was questioned by police, he told them

15:26

the same story that he shared with Scott

15:28

and maintained that since he was a

15:30

very strong sleeper, he was not woken

15:32

up and did not hear anything unusual

15:34

during the time period Courtney was believed

15:36

to have vanished so he had no

15:38

idea what happened to her. Courtney's

15:43

family and friends would organize search

15:45

parties and start circulating missing persons

15:47

flyers for and they also

15:49

held a candlelight vigil at the Palmyra

15:51

police station. The Lebanon

15:53

County District Attorney's Office Detective Bureau

15:56

became involved in the investigation and

15:59

Courtney's apartment was sealed off and

16:01

processed as a crime scene by numerous

16:03

law enforcement agencies. There

16:05

was no blood or sign of any struggle

16:07

in the apartment and no forensic evidence could

16:10

be found to indicate that foul play might

16:12

have taken place there. Wants

16:14

were also secured to perform forensic searches

16:17

of Courtney's Ford Focus, Milton Rodriguez's

16:19

car, as well as Cody's vehicle,

16:22

but this failed to turn up any evidence either.

16:25

All of the other neighbors who

16:28

lived at Courtney's duplex, including Todd

16:30

Saxik, Janice Remenschneider, and Rick Sheets,

16:33

granted their consent to allow the police

16:35

to search their apartments and were considered

16:37

to be fully cooperative with the investigation.

16:40

Janice and Rich did confirm that

16:42

they heard loud stomping noises from

16:45

Courtney's apartment after she returned there

16:47

shortly before 4am, but claimed

16:49

that they went to bed almost immediately thereafter

16:51

and had no knowledge of her

16:53

disappearance. As for Todd,

16:56

he actually showed up at the Palmyra

16:58

Police Station at 7.30am that morning in

17:00

order to make a formal complaint and

17:03

request to file charges against Courtney for

17:05

kicking him during the altercation. Both

17:08

of Courtney's parents had their suspicions about

17:10

Todd and claimed that whenever they attempted

17:13

to ask him questions about her disappearance,

17:15

he was always evasive and acted strangely.

17:18

According to Wendy, Courtney had told

17:20

her that Todd was a very creepy

17:23

person and about a week before she

17:25

went missing, Courtney expressed her concern

17:27

about Todd videotaping her on the

17:29

porch, though Todd would later deny

17:31

that this incident ever took place. It

17:35

turned out that on the same night Courtney

17:37

disappeared, Todd had left a voicemail

17:39

for their landlady in which she went off

17:41

on an angry rant about how he wanted

17:43

Courtney out of their building and told the

17:46

landlady that if she didn't take care of

17:48

the problem, he would. When

17:50

Scott and Wendy were staying at Courtney's apartment on

17:53

the evening of July 30, they claimed they

17:55

saw Todd nervously walk in and

17:57

out of his apartment at least six times

18:00

and he took multiple bags of garbage to

18:02

his car. Todd would

18:04

later tell the police those bags contained

18:07

debris from a home improvement project and

18:09

he did consent to searches of his

18:11

apartment, vehicle and trash. The

18:14

searches were performed with cadaver dogs but

18:16

they failed to turn up any evidence

18:18

of foul play and there was nothing

18:20

to indicate that Todd was involved in

18:22

court-east disappearance. For a while,

18:24

investigators would not publicly reveal who

18:27

phoned the Lebanon County Probation Services

18:29

Office to report that underage drinking

18:32

was taking place at Courtney's party.

18:35

But in recent years, it has been confirmed

18:37

that Todd made the call after he

18:39

saw people bringing cases of beer into

18:41

the apartment. Even though

18:43

Brad Hurr had been taken into custody on

18:46

a parole violation, he only had

18:48

to spend one week in jail before he was

18:50

released. While no

18:52

evidence has ever been found to definitively

18:54

prove that Courtney was the victim of

18:56

foul play, investigators do believe this is

18:58

what likely took place and while they

19:00

never named anyone as a suspect or

19:03

person of interest, they have said that

19:05

no one has been ruled out either.

19:08

Even though Cody Pruitt was not ruled

19:10

out, he did cooperate with investigators as

19:12

he agreed to take a polygraph and

19:14

handed over a sample of his DNA.

19:18

Attention was also placed on Arvard

19:20

Brown, the man whom Courtney had

19:22

a heated confrontation with at the hardware

19:24

bar shortly before she went missing. Courtney

19:27

did smoke marijuana and since Arvard was rumored

19:30

to be a drug dealer, she may have

19:32

scored drugs from him in the past but

19:34

when interviewed by police, he denied the allegations

19:36

that he had broken into Courtney's apartment to

19:39

steal money from her. Arvard

19:41

also denied any involvement in Courtney's disappearance

19:43

and claimed that after he and his

19:46

girlfriend left the hardware bar, they went

19:48

over to his parents house and stayed

19:50

there all night and this

19:52

alibi was apparently substantiated. Even

19:55

though no one was considered to be a suspect, Scott

19:58

Stauffer still believed that there were people who

20:00

knew more about Courtney's disappearance than they were

20:02

letting on. Scott would

20:04

personally investigate every lead and rumor he

20:07

heard about the case, no matter how

20:09

unbelievable it might have been, stating, quote,

20:12

How can I go to bed at night if

20:14

I know that I heard something that day and

20:16

I didn't follow up on it as ridiculous as

20:19

it possibly could be? End quote. Well,

20:21

in March of 2014, it was reported that Scott had been in contact

20:25

with a woman from South Lebanon

20:28

Township named Amanda Ballester, who

20:30

told him she had overheard a conversation

20:32

about Courtney being killed by two acquaintances

20:35

of hers, one of whom had called

20:37

the Lebanon County Probation Services Office to

20:39

complain about Courtney's party. According

20:42

to Ballester, this individual was

20:44

intentionally arranging things for Brad to be

20:47

arrested on a probation violation so they

20:49

could search his apartment for money and

20:51

drugs. But when they

20:53

later went to the apartment, they wound up

20:55

crossing paths with Courtney and killing her. They

20:58

then proceeded to wrap her body in a carpet

21:01

and dumped it in the 85-acre

21:03

Memorial Lake, located in Memorial State

21:05

Park about 12 miles away. However,

21:09

even though Scott wanted the authorities

21:12

to search the lake, Lebanon County

21:14

District Attorney David Arnold was not

21:16

convinced by Ballester's story, alleging that

21:19

she called his office several times based

21:21

on information she supposedly learned from a

21:23

psychic and changed her story on no

21:25

less than three occasions. Arnold

21:28

said that all of Ballester's claims were

21:30

investigated and since no hard evidence was

21:32

found to support them, he did

21:34

not believe this justified a search, particularly

21:37

since Lebanon County did not have a

21:39

scuba diving team and it would require

21:41

him to seek assistance for outside resources.

21:44

In spite of this, Scott still believed

21:46

that Ballester was credible and he

21:48

circulated an online petition urging the authorities

21:51

to search the lake. When

21:53

the New Cumberland River Rescue team said they would

21:55

be willing to do it, Arnold

21:57

gave them the go-ahead, but after performing a

22:00

six-hour search in Memorial Lake, they failed to

22:02

turn up anything. The

22:04

case would be featured on an episode of

22:06

Disappeared titled, Spiered It Away, which aired in

22:08

April of 2017, but while this helped to

22:12

bring about some new tips and leads which were

22:14

followed up on, they failed to bring

22:16

the case any closer to a resolution. Even

22:20

though Courtney's body has never been recovered, her

22:22

family would plant a tree in Levitt's

22:24

Park outside of Grantville, which is considered

22:26

to be a pseudo-grave for her and

22:28

has been turned into a memorial site.

22:32

One of Courtney's favorite activities was tubing,

22:34

so every year on the anniversary of

22:36

her disappearance, a Come Home

22:38

Courtney event is held at Swatera Creek

22:40

Park in Hershey, where her loved

22:43

ones line the banks of Swatera

22:45

Creek with inner tubes in order

22:47

to float down the currents towards

22:49

Hummelstown in remembrance and celebration of

22:51

Courtney. A $100,000 reward is

22:53

currently being offered for information that

22:56

leads to Courtney's whereabouts, but after

22:58

nearly 12 years, she continues to

23:00

remain a missing person. So

23:02

I guess you could say the trail went

23:05

cold. The Well,

23:25

I've covered numerous cases on this podcast

23:27

in which someone went missing or died

23:29

under suspicious circumstances after a night of

23:31

partying, and since the victim was frequently

23:33

in the company of other people, there

23:36

was speculation that something went horribly wrong

23:38

and some sort of cover-up took place.

23:41

On the surface, you might assume that

23:43

something like that happened here, but it's

23:45

so frustrating how there appears to be

23:47

literally zero evidence to work with. This

23:50

is also a case in which there appears to

23:52

be no shortage of potential suspects, but

23:55

these people have all been thoroughly investigated by

23:57

law enforcement, and while none of them have

23:59

been ruled out, no concrete

24:01

evidence is turned up to implicate them

24:03

either. It almost appears that after

24:05

returning to her apartment for the night, Courtney

24:07

Stauffer just literally seemed to vanish into

24:09

thin air. Now I know

24:12

it is common practice for true crime media

24:14

to paint victims in the best possible light,

24:17

and even though the disappeared episode about

24:19

this case portrayed Courtney as a special

24:21

person who was greatly missed by her

24:23

family and friends, it also

24:25

did not shy away from the fact

24:27

that Courtney had what was described

24:29

as a quote-unquote, feisty personality, and

24:32

she got into a number of heated confrontations

24:34

with people on the night she went missing.

24:37

Unfortunately, if you read online discussions

24:39

about this case, many of

24:41

them have a tendency to devolve into victim

24:43

blaming, which I try to shy away from

24:46

since nobody deserves to be murdered or go

24:48

missing. However, if the

24:50

case is still unsolved and the victim's

24:52

flaws and their questionable actions may have

24:54

somehow played a role in what happened

24:57

to them, then it's important

24:59

to acknowledge these issues without being

25:01

too judgmental. After

25:03

all, one of the primary theories in

25:05

this case is that Courtney may have

25:07

gone missing because she pissed off the

25:09

wrong person. And

25:12

there's also the possibility that there are

25:14

people who may not have been directly

25:16

involved in Courtney's disappearance, but no more

25:18

information than they're letting on, yet

25:21

are still remaining silent because of their

25:23

own personal issues with her. Even

25:26

though they have been divorced for two

25:28

decades, Courtney's parents, Scott and Wendy, have

25:30

always been very active when it comes

25:32

to spreading awareness about her case and

25:34

keeping it in the spotlight. And

25:37

while they never directly pointed the finger

25:39

at anyone suspect and accused them

25:41

of harming Courtney, they have

25:43

openly expressed their belief that someone

25:45

is not sharing everything they know.

25:48

While Courtney had a lot of friends whom

25:50

her parents knew well and liked, some

25:53

of her newer friends were allegedly involved

25:55

in drugs and had very little interaction

25:57

with Scott or Wendy. So

26:00

it is possible that Courtney's disappearance could

26:02

have been the result of her hanging

26:04

around with the wrong crowd. What

26:07

does seem certain is that Courtney happened

26:09

to go missing from her apartment during

26:11

what appears to be a 3 or

26:13

3.5 hour window during the early morning

26:15

hours of July the 29th, but

26:18

no one is ever admitted to seeing

26:20

or hearing anything unusual. Since

26:23

by his own admission, Cody Pruitt was

26:25

staying at the apartment during this time

26:27

period, he would seem like the most

26:29

obvious suspect, but after nearly 12

26:31

years, investigators have never uncovered

26:33

evidence that he did anything wrong and

26:35

as far as I know, they have

26:37

not caught him in any obvious lives.

26:41

So to figure out what happened, we'll

26:43

have to backtrack and examine the events

26:45

which took place in the hours prior

26:47

to Courtney's disappearance. Everything

26:50

was set in motion on the evening of July the

26:52

28th, when Courtney and her boyfriend,

26:54

Brad Herr, held a party

26:56

inside their apartment which was broken

26:58

up by the police and Lebanon

27:00

County Probation Services Office who took

27:03

Brad into custody on a probation

27:05

violation for underage drinking. And

27:08

I think it's safe to say that if

27:10

someone had not made a phone call to

27:12

the Probation Services Office, things probably would have

27:14

turned out much differently. If

27:16

Brad was not taken away, Courtney may not

27:19

have gone out to any bars and since

27:21

Brad was under house arrest, he would have

27:23

remained with Courtney and she likely wouldn't have

27:25

gone missing. Obviously, since

27:28

Brad was in jail, there's no

27:30

way he could have been personally

27:32

responsible for Courtney's disappearance, but

27:34

rumors have circulated that someone else may

27:36

have harmed her because of something he

27:38

was involved in. Indeed,

27:41

investigators have stated that Brad was

27:43

not particularly cooperative and forthcoming when

27:45

they tried to question him, even

27:48

though he had about as rock solid an alibi

27:50

as you can get. office

28:00

in order to get Brad out of the

28:02

apartment to search for money and drugs, but

28:05

we'll talk more about this angle in a little while.

28:08

I know that in the early stages of the

28:10

investigation, law enforcement would not publicly

28:12

reveal who made the call, though Courtney

28:14

definitely believed that it was her next

28:17

door neighbor at the duplex, Todd Saxik.

28:19

But in recent years, it has been officially

28:22

confirmed that it was Todd who made

28:24

the call after he saw people carrying

28:26

cases of beer into the apartment. This

28:29

seemed like a pretty calculated decision on

28:31

Todd's part because he specifically called the

28:34

probation services office rather than the police,

28:36

since he knew this might lead to

28:38

Brad being arrested. We

28:41

know that Courtney always got creepy vibes

28:43

from Todd, who was a single man

28:45

living alone, so if you believe

28:47

Todd is the guilty party, perhaps

28:49

this was a calculated attempt to get Brad out of

28:51

the picture, so Courtney would be

28:53

left alone. Of course, since

28:55

Todd never got along with Courtney and was

28:57

always making noise complaints about her, perhaps

29:00

there were no ulterior motives and he

29:02

simply decided to call the probation services

29:04

office because he was angry that another

29:07

noisy party was about to take place.

29:10

I performed a search on Todd's background and

29:12

discovered that he had a criminal record. He

29:16

was arrested for such offenses as

29:18

possession of cocaine and marijuana, selling

29:20

and furnishing alcohol to minors, forgery,

29:23

criminal mischief, and disorderly conduct, though

29:25

it does not sound like he has any

29:28

documented history of serious violence. In

29:30

fact, I could see a man who was

29:32

once arrested for providing alcohol to minors,

29:34

thinking that the ultimate revenge against his

29:37

noisy younger neighbors would be to have

29:39

one of them arrested for underage drinking.

29:43

What we do know is that Courtney

29:45

got upset about Brad's arrest, so she

29:47

decided to let off some steam by

29:49

going out drinking with Cody Pruitt, Milton

29:51

Rodriguez, and another couple. As

29:54

far as I can tell, the name of

29:56

this couple has never been released publicly and

29:58

this is going to be a bit of a recurring theme

30:00

in this case, but Milton Rodriguez also

30:03

has a history of troubles with the

30:05

law. In April

30:07

of 2016, Milton and his

30:09

younger brother, Jordan Rodriguez, were

30:11

both arrested on the charges

30:14

of burglary, aggravated assault, criminal

30:16

trespass, terroristic threats, simple assault

30:18

and harassment after kicking down

30:20

the door of a residence and assaulting and

30:22

injuring the man who lived there. It

30:26

sounds like the charges were later reduced and

30:28

Milton wound up receiving a sentence of two

30:30

years probation and a $600 fine. I

30:34

somehow doubt that Milton had any direct

30:36

involvement in Courtney's disappearance since it was

30:38

established that Cody dropped him off at

30:40

his home before heading to Courtney's apartment,

30:43

but Milton is still an important figure in

30:45

this story since Cody was borrowing and driving

30:47

his car that night. So

30:50

theoretically, if Cody killed Courtney, he would

30:52

have likely needed to use Milton's car

30:55

to transport and dispose of her body,

30:57

but the vehicle was searched and no

30:59

forensic evidence was found to indicate that

31:02

something like this took place. And

31:05

while we're on the subject of people from

31:07

this case with criminal records, let's talk about

31:09

Arver Brown, the man whom Courtney

31:11

confronted at the hardware bar while he

31:13

was alongside his girlfriend. As

31:16

you recall, the altercation led to Courtney being

31:18

ejected from the bar and the

31:20

story goes that she accused Arver to breaking

31:22

into her apartment and stealing money from her

31:24

on a previous occasion. Well,

31:27

shortly after midnight on October the

31:29

10th, 2012, just over two months

31:31

after Courtney went missing, Arver Brown

31:33

and three accomplices would commit a

31:36

violent home invasion at her residence

31:38

in Grantville in which they woke

31:40

up a woman and her nine-year-old son and

31:42

held them at gunpoint while they ransacked and

31:44

robbed the place. Even

31:47

though the four suspects were mass, they

31:49

would all gradually be identified and arrested

31:51

over the next few years and

31:53

in October of 2016, they

31:56

pled guilty to such charges as

31:58

burglary, robbery and theft. each

32:00

received a sentence of five to ten years in

32:02

state prison followed by five years

32:04

probation. So given

32:06

his actions here, I can see

32:08

why Arvard would be a compelling suspect in

32:11

this case. It's

32:13

also been rumored that Arvard was a drug

32:15

dealer at that time and may have even

32:17

supplied Courtney with the marijuana she smoked. If

32:20

he really did break into Courtney's apartment and stole

32:22

from her on a previous occasion, that

32:24

he obviously would have known where she lived. And

32:27

if he was angry about the incident at

32:29

the hardware bar, he could have traveled there

32:31

in order to abduct and harm Courtney out

32:33

of revenge. Arvard

32:36

was investigated as a potential suspect and his

32:38

alibi during this time period is that after

32:40

he left the bar, Arvard and his girlfriend

32:42

went to his parents' house and spent the

32:44

rest of the night there. The

32:47

authorities have confirmed that this alibi

32:49

was substantiated, though of course, I'm

32:51

sure it's easy to be cynical and assume

32:53

that Arvard's girlfriend and his parents could be

32:56

lying in order to cover for him. However,

32:59

the main issue with the idea

33:01

of Arvard or anyone else forcibly

33:03

abducting Courtney from her apartment is

33:05

that Cody was there the entire night and

33:08

there were no signs of struggle, forced

33:10

entry, or any indication that something violent

33:13

took place. I

33:15

find it unlikely that anyone went to the

33:17

trouble of following Courtney home from the hardware

33:19

bar as she left alongside four

33:21

other people and after three of them were

33:24

dropped off, Courtney was taken to the

33:26

gas station bar to pick up her own vehicle

33:28

to drive herself home. And

33:30

then, right after she arrived at her

33:32

apartment, she gets into a heated confrontation

33:34

with her neighbors, which led to the

33:36

police being called not once, but twice

33:38

within the next hour. I

33:41

have to think that if anyone was shadowing

33:43

Courtney, the constant police presence would have discouraged

33:45

them from doing anything, as well as Cody

33:47

spending the night there. The

33:50

downstairs neighbors who lived at the apartment

33:52

building, Janice Remenschneider and Rick Sheets, were

33:55

the ones who first called the police

33:57

at 3.12 AM after finding

33:59

themselves caught in the middle of the

34:01

confrontation between Courtney and Todd, but I see

34:03

no reason to believe that they were involved

34:06

in what happened to Courtney. While

34:08

Todd has never spoken to the media on the

34:10

advice of his attorney, Janice and

34:13

Rich did agree to be interviewed and

34:15

claimed that being associated with this case

34:17

caused them to be harassed by people

34:19

who believed they harmed Courtney, even

34:21

though they were never named as suspects or persons

34:23

of interest. They also

34:25

expressed their belief that Courtney may have

34:28

left her apartment at some point following

34:30

the confrontation and encountered someone who harmed

34:32

her. Indeed, it sounds

34:34

like the couple were never anything

34:36

but cooperative with investigators, and

34:38

sadly, I found an obituary for

34:40

Janice, as it looks like she passed

34:42

away in August of 2022. So

34:48

we know that only about 20 minutes after

34:50

the first altercation was de-escalated, the

34:52

police received a second call from

34:54

Todd, who was complaining about

34:56

stopping noises and yelling from Courtney's

34:59

apartment. When police arrived,

35:01

no one answered Courtney's door, so one

35:03

of the most prominent theories is that

35:05

the noise Todd heard could have been

35:08

Courtney being violently attacked. Since

35:10

Cody was going to be spending the night in

35:12

the apartment with Courtney and knew that Brad was

35:15

locked up, it's been speculated

35:17

that he could have tried to take advantage

35:19

of the situation in order to commit sexual

35:21

assault, and if Courtney tried to fight him

35:23

off, things might have escalated into

35:26

murder. So if this is

35:28

what happened, then perhaps Courtney was already dead

35:30

by the time the police officer knocked on

35:32

her door. Courtney's

35:35

family have always expressed their criticism

35:37

over the fact that this officer decided

35:39

to leave without investigating things any

35:42

further. When the officer

35:44

from the previous altercation left the duplex,

35:46

he told everyone, quote, if I have

35:48

to come back here again, someone is

35:50

getting arrested. And when you

35:52

consider that the police were called again a mere

35:54

20 minutes later, it is a

35:57

bit surprising that no additional action was taken.

36:00

However, I get the impression that a different

36:02

officer showed up the second time around, so

36:05

perhaps he felt that since there was no

36:07

noise emanating from Courtney's apartment, she may have

36:10

gone to sleep, so there was no need

36:12

to potentially escalate the situation again. After

36:15

all, even though there were a lot

36:17

of loud noises, no crime was actually

36:19

committed. I mentioned

36:21

earlier that there is conflicting information about

36:24

there about Todd's whereabouts when the police

36:26

arrived. It was

36:28

originally reported in some places that the

36:30

officer knocked on Todd's apartment door and

36:32

there was no answer, but

36:34

more recent articles have stated that Todd went

36:36

outside to meet the police when they arrived.

36:40

If the former scenario was true, then that

36:42

is odd since Todd was the one who

36:44

phoned the police to complain to begin with.

36:47

You could possibly construe this as

36:49

Todd entering Courtney's apartment and harming

36:51

her before the police arrived and

36:53

then remaining silent in order not

36:55

to arouse any suspicion. However

36:57

if Todd was present outside with the police the

37:00

entire time they were there, then you can

37:02

rule out that scenario. Of

37:04

course Todd still could have done something

37:06

to Courtney after the police left, but

37:08

he also showed up at the Palmyra

37:10

Police Station to file a formal complaint

37:13

and charges against Courtney at 7.30am that

37:15

morning. Sure this could

37:17

have been a diversionary tactic and an attempt

37:19

to direct suspicion away from himself, but

37:21

if Todd was responsible for what happened to

37:23

Courtney, that he would have needed to kill

37:25

her and dispose of her body within a

37:28

window of only around 3 hours. And

37:31

since Todd arrived at the station at pretty much

37:33

the exact time that Cody woke up, he

37:36

would have needed to do this while he

37:38

was still inside Courtney's apartment. I

37:41

know that when Courtney's parents were staying there,

37:43

they became very suspicious of Todd as they

37:45

saw him making multiple trips to his vehicle

37:47

in order to dispose of some garbage bags

37:50

filled with what they believed might have been

37:53

incriminating evidence. But

37:55

I'm not sure why Todd would have all

37:57

this evidence inside his own apartment, unless for

37:59

some reason Courtney decided to head

38:01

over there sometime between 4.36 and 7.56 a.m.

38:03

while Cody was asleep, and

38:07

Todd then proceeded to kill her. Since

38:10

Todd has not been completely ruled out

38:13

as a suspect, I suppose that scenario

38:15

isn't impossible, but he did

38:17

allow police to search his apartment and his

38:19

vehicle and they found no evidence to indicate

38:21

foul play. So

38:23

if Todd is guilty, then he

38:26

obviously covered his tracks extremely well.

38:30

Okay, so for obvious reasons, the brunt

38:32

of suspicion in this case has always

38:34

been directed towards Cody Pruitt, who claimed

38:36

that he went to sleep inside the

38:38

apartment sometime around 4.30 a.m. and

38:40

when he woke up at 7.56, he

38:43

did not see Courtney there. He also

38:45

claimed that when the police officer knocked on

38:47

the apartment door, he and Courtney switched off

38:49

the lights and remained silent until the officer

38:51

went away, though the officer reported that he

38:53

could hear the sounds of dogs barking while

38:55

this was taking place. Courtney's

38:58

parents have always maintained that they did not

39:01

know Cody all that well and found it

39:03

surprising that Courtney would allow him to stay

39:05

over at her apartment while her boyfriend was

39:07

gone. However, some of the

39:09

earliest reporting of this case stated that Cody

39:11

had known Courtney for two years and almost

39:14

considered her to be like a sister to

39:16

him, though Cody himself has

39:18

never granted any interviews. When

39:21

this case was featured on Disappeared, they

39:23

presented a reenactment which showed Courtney and

39:25

Cody sleeping on top of the same

39:28

bed together, but none of

39:30

the sources I found have specified where exactly

39:32

they fell asleep and if they were in

39:34

the same room. Cody's

39:36

story is that even though he did not see Courtney

39:38

when he woke up, he just assumed she

39:41

had gone to sleep in a different room but

39:43

never actually confirmed this before he left.

39:46

Instead, he decided to text Courtney's phone

39:48

after driving to a convenience store and

39:51

this was captured by the store's security camera.

39:54

Some people have taken this as a sign that Cody made

39:56

a calculated decision to go to the store and said that

39:58

he was not going to sleep. send out this text

40:00

while he was on camera in order

40:03

to fabricate an alibi for himself. Of

40:06

course this so-called alibi doesn't clear Cody

40:08

since no one can vouch for his

40:10

whereabouts between 436 and

40:12

756 but it sounds like

40:15

he did drive to Milton's residence to

40:17

return his car a short time later.

40:19

That means that Cody would have only had

40:21

a window of about three hours to kill

40:23

Courtney, clean up all the evidence in her

40:25

apartment and dispose of her body so thoroughly

40:28

that it has not been found in nearly

40:30

12 years. But Milton's vehicle,

40:32

Courtney's vehicle and Cody's vehicle were all

40:34

forensically searched and none of them contained

40:36

any evidence to suggest that they were

40:39

used to transport a body. As

40:42

unusual as Cody's actions may have seemed perhaps

40:44

he didn't want to wake Courtney up so

40:46

early in the morning which is why he

40:48

decided to send her a text after he

40:50

left. He may have felt

40:52

that Courtney would get back to him after she woke

40:54

up and in Cody's defense he did

40:56

text her twice more throughout the course of the

40:58

day when she didn't get back to him. Now

41:03

obviously it's hard to imagine an outside

41:05

party would have been able to harm

41:07

or abduct Courtney from inside her apartment

41:09

while Cody was there without waking him

41:11

up. I know

41:13

that Cody maintained that he was a very strong

41:15

sleeper but even if he had been drinking that

41:18

night he did function as the group's designated

41:20

driver so I'm not sure he would have been

41:22

intoxicated enough to get blackout drunk and pass out.

41:25

I think one aspect of this case which

41:27

doesn't get discussed enough is the

41:29

fact that Courtney's dog Sheba and a

41:32

dog belonging to Brad were left behind

41:34

in the apartment. Regardless

41:36

of whether you believe Cody was the

41:38

guilty party or someone else was responsible

41:41

I have a hard time imagining that Courtney

41:43

could have been attacked inside the apartment without

41:46

those dogs reacting or at least barking loud

41:48

enough that the other neighbors would have heard

41:50

something. Hell we know the

41:52

dogs barked when the police officer knocked on the

41:54

door so I get the impression that it wouldn't

41:56

take much to garner this type of reaction from

41:58

them. Now, one of

42:00

the biggest leads in this case has been

42:03

the account from Amanda Ballister, who claimed

42:05

that she overheard a story about Courtney

42:07

being killed by two male acquaintances who

42:09

were searching her apartment for drugs and

42:11

money and proceeded to roll up her

42:13

body in a carpet and dump it

42:15

in Memorial Lake. The

42:17

authorities have always maintained that they did not

42:20

find Ballister's story to be credible and only

42:22

decided to authorize the search of the lake

42:24

due to public pressure. And

42:27

while the search did not turn up anything,

42:29

it only lasted around 5 or 6 hours

42:31

and some people have argued that it wasn't

42:33

thorough enough. But I

42:35

definitely agree that there are major issues

42:37

with Ballister's story, though it's possible

42:39

that she is not intentionally lying and

42:41

was just passing along a false story

42:43

she may have heard from someone else

42:46

who was lying or exaggerating. The

42:49

scenario which Ballinger pushed forward is that

42:51

one of the killers called the Probation

42:53

Services Office in order to report Brad's

42:55

underage drinking and get him arrested so

42:58

they could get him out of the apartment

43:00

and search for some drugs and money which

43:02

were supposedly sashed there. But

43:04

when Courtney crossed paths with them, they wound up

43:06

killing her. Well, the

43:09

obvious hole in this scenario is that

43:11

Brad was arrested at 9pm and

43:13

Courtney soon left the apartment and was

43:15

gone for several hours before she returned

43:17

shortly after 3am. So

43:20

why would these two guys have broken in

43:22

during the nearly 6 hour window when Courtney

43:24

was out? We know

43:27

that Cody stayed with Courtney when she returned,

43:29

so why would she be killed while he

43:31

was left alive? Not

43:33

to mention that if a break-in took place,

43:35

you would think that there would have been

43:37

some signs of ransacking in Courtney's apartment. I

43:40

am not going to discount the possibility that

43:42

there might be some elements of truth in

43:45

Ballister's story, as Courtney's body may

43:47

have actually been wrapped up in a carpet and

43:49

dumped into a body of water somewhere, but

43:52

I just don't believe she was killed while interrupting

43:54

a break-in. In fact,

43:56

given that there was no sign of any

43:58

struggle or any forensic evidence pointing towards

44:00

foul play, I am inclined to

44:02

believe that if Courtney was murdered, the

44:04

crime did not actually take place inside

44:07

the apartment. The

44:09

way I look at it, if Cody is telling the 100%

44:12

complete truth and

44:14

had nothing to do with Courtney's disappearance,

44:16

there are two logical explanations for what

44:18

might have happened. The

44:20

first option is that Courtney was actually sleeping

44:23

in another room when Cody woke up, and

44:25

he legitimately did not see her before he

44:27

left the apartment, which means that something

44:29

could have happened to her afterwards. Courtney

44:32

was first noticed to be missing when she failed

44:34

to meet her brother at the Lebanon County Fair

44:37

later that day, so if she was

44:39

still sleeping at 7.56 a.m., then

44:42

that opens up a window of time when Courtney could

44:44

have been killed. Courtney's

44:46

mother said that the front door was open when she

44:48

went to the apartment the following day, so

44:51

hypothetically, an outside party could

44:53

have entered and done something to Courtney

44:55

after Cody left. The

44:57

second option is that for reasons unknown,

45:00

Courtney decided to leave the apartment sometime between

45:02

4.36 and 7.56 a.m. while Cody was sleeping.

45:07

Given that Courtney left all of her personal

45:09

belongings behind, I'm not exactly sure why she

45:11

would do this, but if she

45:13

went outside and someone proceeded to abduct her

45:15

and murder her at another location, that

45:18

might explain why no one saw or heard

45:20

anything and why no evidence has ever been

45:22

found. Of course, I

45:24

don't know what the odds are of Courtney running

45:26

into a random killer at that time of the

45:28

morning, but if she was being

45:30

followed or stalked by someone, that could

45:33

explain how something like this might happen. I

45:36

will admit that this theory is a long shot,

45:38

but the problem is that none of the more

45:40

plausible theories which have been pushed forward in this

45:42

case have panned out. Since

45:44

there's no shortage of potential suspects,

45:46

including Cody Pruitt, Todd Saxek, and

45:49

Arthur Brown, it's so tempting to point

45:51

the finger at one of them, but in

45:53

my eyes, no theory involving any of

45:55

these individuals makes 100% complete sense. And

45:59

yes, That includes the guy who spent the

46:01

night with Courtney and was technically the last person

46:03

to see her alive. So

46:06

I'm honestly not sure what to make of this

46:08

whole case as it really seems to be a

46:10

major head scratcher. But even

46:12

if none of the individuals we've discussed

46:14

are directly responsible for Courtney's disappearance, I

46:17

would not be surprised if one or more of

46:19

them are not sharing the full truth about everything

46:22

they know. And that

46:24

even includes her boyfriend, Brad Herr, as

46:26

I won't discount the idea that Courtney was

46:28

harmed because of something he was involved in.

46:32

It's possible that we may never know

46:34

the full truth about what happened until

46:36

the right person comes forward. So if

46:38

you happen to have any information about

46:41

the disappearance of Courtney Stauffer, please contact

46:43

the Lebanon County District Attorney's Office Detective

46:45

Bureau at 717-228-4403, or

46:50

the Palmyra Borough Police Department at 717-838-8189.

46:55

Anyway, another special thanks to listener

46:57

Becky Routtsong for narrating the opening of this episode.

47:00

We've been carrying on this monthly listener

47:02

voiceover contest for nearly seven years now, and if you've

47:04

already entered, you are automatically

47:06

eligible for our next random drawing so you

47:09

don't have to do anything. But

47:11

if you'd like to enter, all you have to do is

47:13

send me an email under the subject line, trail with cold contest,

47:15

naming the one unsolved cold case you

47:19

would most like to see featured on this podcast. So I'm

47:21

going to go ahead and send you an email so

47:24

once again, send me an email

47:26

under the subject line, trail with

47:29

cold contest to robin.warder at icloud.com.

47:31

That's robin.warder at icloud.com.

47:35

Now the reminder that the trail with

47:37

cold is on Patreon, so please visit

47:40

patreon.com/the trail with cold to learn how

47:42

you can support our podcast and become

47:44

eligible for some pretty neat rewards. Over

47:47

the past six years, our Patreon page has

47:49

released around 70 exclusive bonus

47:51

episodes which are all currently available in

47:53

our archives for our patrons in tiers

47:56

two and three. This past

47:58

month, I released a bonus episode. about

48:00

two separate boating mysteries which were featured

48:02

on Unsolved Mysteries, the disappearances

48:05

of the Liebling and the Antigua.

48:08

I've also dropped an exclusive bonus episode

48:10

from my spin-off podcast, The Path Went

48:12

Chili, in which myself and my two

48:14

co-host, Jules and Ashley, cover

48:16

yet another case which was featured on

48:18

Unsolved Mysteries, the

48:20

1991 murder of Jamie Santos. And

48:24

for our patrons in tier 3, I have

48:26

recorded another new audio commentary track which can

48:28

be played over a classic episode of Unsolved

48:30

Mysteries, and we now have over 60 of

48:32

these commentary tracks in our archives. I'd

48:35

also like to give a shout out to

48:37

our most recent listeners who have signed up

48:39

with us on Patreon this week, and they

48:41

are Georgia Kay, Michael B., Em

48:44

Little, Heather, and Saint Wave.

48:47

Thank you all so much for your support! I

48:49

just wanted to remind everyone that in one

48:51

month, The Trail When Cold will be returning

48:54

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48:56

being held at the Denver Marriott Westminster in

48:58

Colorado from July the 12th to the 14th.

49:01

And as a bonus, my brother

49:03

Phil will also be attending as

49:05

he hosts his own paranormal themed

49:07

podcast titled Unexplained Incorporated, so

49:10

you'll be getting two orders for the price of one.

49:13

If you would like to purchase

49:15

tickets, we have a 15% discount

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enter the promo code TRAIL. Once

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again, that's truecrimepodcastfestival.com, and the

49:25

promo code is TRAIL for

49:27

15% off tickets. I

49:30

just wanted to give another shout out to

49:32

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49:34

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49:36

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49:38

a big thanks to Miguel Foote, who edits and

49:40

assembles this podcast together for me, and

49:42

Vince Nitro, who composes the eerie music he

49:45

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49:47

you haven't already, you can like us on

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49:56

week and join us next Wednesday for another

49:58

brand new episode of the trail. went

50:00

or good

50:33

I