Didn't Just Disappear: Daphne Jones

In this episode of Hunting 4 Answers: In January 1999, Daphne Jones — a 22-year-old pregnant college student — vanished from her New Orleans apartment just days before heading home to D.C. The scene she left behind raised more questions than answers. The lights were off—but the TV, heater, and iron were still on. Food sat out and her suitcase was packed. Anyone with information about this case should contact the New Orleans Police Department at 504-244-4600.  This is the story of Daphne Jones. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hi, Paper Ghost listeners! We're excited to share with you a sneak peek at iHeartPodcasts' latest release, Hands Tied!   Hands Tied: Lizz Melgar Rose went from being interested in true crime to living true crime. Back in 2012, relatives found her mother Sandy Melgar shut in a closet, her hands bound behind her back. Her dad Jim Melgar had been murdered. There was no time to finish the university course Lizz had signed up for, inspired by her teenage fascination with violence and serial killers. She needed to figure out what happened.  If it weren't for her strange interest, she believes she’d have been lost. It enabled her to protect her family and herself, and helped her try to fit the pieces of a seemingly unsolvable puzzle together.  Award-winning journalist and host Maggie Robinson Katz will take you inside the police investigation that followed, inside the courtroom drama as a jury wrestles with who’s responsible for a truly shocking crime, and inside Lizz’s ongoing battle for answers and for justice. Because there is one thing Lizz is convinced of, the wrong person is in prison for her dad’s murder. Hands Tied is a new eight-part true crime podcast from iHeartPodcasts and BBC Studios Audio.   Listen to Hands Tied on the iHeartRadio App or wherever you get your podcasts!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What does it mean to be a victim, or a villain? What happens when the line between the two starts to blur? On 7th July 2010, Kelly Harnett says her abusive boyfriend murdered a man right in front of her.  So how did she end up in prison for it? Anna Sinfield - the journalist behind the global number 1 podcast, The Girlfriends, returns with her toughest story yet. This series isn’t a whodunnit. It’s not even really about what happened. It’s about how a woman who was a victim of domestic violence became a villain in the eyes of the law. Found guilty of murder and locked up for over a decade; Kelly Harnett taught herself the law. And as she battled to overturn her conviction, she became a beacon of hope, fighting for the freedom of the abused women locked up alongside her. Listen here and subscribe to The Girlfriends: Jailhouse Lawyer on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hello, Paper Ghosts Fans! We want to share our new show, "Cold Case Files: Miami." About the show: Joyce Sapp, 76; Bryan Herrera, 16; and Laurance Webb, 32—three Miami residents whose lives were stolen in brutal, unsolved homicides. Cold Case Files: Miami follows award‑winning radio host and City of Miami Police reserve officer Enrique Santos as he partners with the department’s Cold Case Homicide Unit, determined family members, and the advocates who spend their lives fighting for justice for the victims who can no longer fight for themselves. Listen here and subscribe to "Cold Case Files: Miami" on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this final episode of season 4, Phelps interviews a suspected serial killer, who he believes could be responsible for Dana Stidham’s murder—the first time anyone has spoken to the suspect about the case in 33 years.  After confronting him with the evidence, Phelps implores law enforcement to knock on the suspect’s door and interview him. A final call is made about the connection between the two murders - and who, ultimately, is to blame. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

With investigative pressure mounting on the Benton County Sheriff’s Office’s suspect in Dana Stidham’s murder, Phelps uncovers a disturbing phone call made to a local woman in charge of Dana’s tip-line. Meanwhile, Phelps continues to make connections to his new suspect. Phelps uncovers an old tape of a revealing interview with the man’s ex-wife.  Armed with new evidence, Phelps finally convinces the suspect to agree to an interview, a man he now believes is likely behind Dana Stidham’s murder, with jaw-dropping revelations made.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The second female victim, known only as “Grace Doe” for nearly 30 years, is identified as Shauna Garber. Phelps’s investigation turns toward a new suspect in the murder of Dana Stidham (and possibly Shauna), while uncovering a revealing, lost recording of a new suspect - unheard until now. Phelps teams up with the detectives investigating the Shauna Garber case, evaluating similarities between her and Dana Stidham’s death. All of it leads Phelps to the doorstep of a potential killer walking the streets a free man, confronting the man some think is a prolific serial killer who has eluded law enforcement for some 34 years.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

With the discovery of a second young female murder victim just over the Missouri border, 20 minutes away from where Dana Stidham’s body was found, a new suspect seems to be playing cat-and-mouse with law enforcement. Phelps drills down and compares the similarities in the cases—as infamous serial killer Dennis “BTK” Rader enters the narrative as a major suspect in both homicides.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The investigation by the Benton County Sheriff’s Office heats up in Dana Stidham’s gruesome murder, zeroing in on one particular suspect.  Phelps digs deeper, speaking to the suspect and wonders if law enforcement has been chasing the wrong man. Just over the Missouri border, not far from the Dana Stidham crime scene, a second young woman’s body is discovered. Are the cases linked? Phelps uncovers several exclusive, recorded interviews never-before-heard, speaks to several sources who claim that not only are the cases the work of one killer, but the suspect has been hiding in plain sight, taunting police, all along.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As the 1989 holiday season looms, Dana Stidham’s body is discovered by a local hunter in a Bella Vista creek bed. Law enforcement shifts its focus from missing person to murder… and begins to zero in on a suspect after he is arrested for a bizarre theft. Phelps’s contemporary, real-time investigation branches out and he questions whether the evidence against the chief suspect supports law enforcement’s push to arrest him – and whether Dana’s case is part of a more widespread series of murders by a serial killer targeting victims throughout the Ozarks during the late 1980’s and early 1990’s.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.