FROM THE VAULT (2021): Chynna and Blake Dickus

After flying to San Francisco for the summer, 18-year-old Kristen Modafferi told her sister that she was “learning about life.” Unfortunately, life has a dark side. Link to order form for the cookbook: ⁠http://www.kristenfoundation.org/cgi-bin/datacgi/database.cgi?file=hw&report=sp&ID=009⁠ Link to order form for the bracelet: ⁠http://www.kristenfoundation.org/cgi-bin/datacgi/database.cgi?file=hw&report=sp&ID=010⁠ If you would like to make a donation to the Kristen Foundation, please see the link below: ⁠http://www.kristenfoundation.org/cgi-bin/datacgi/database.cgi?file=hw&report=sp&ID=107⁠ Please also consider supporting Coffee and Cases by joining us over on our Patreon page! Are you up-to-date on all our regular content?! Be a part of the C & C Fam by going to ⁠https://www.patreon.com/coffeeandcases⁠ to register! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

One small change to a schedule-- Blake Dickus staying a bit longer with his dad and step-mom to have lunch-- changed the course of so many lives forever. After Blake’s dad returned to work from a lunch at home with his family, someone came into his home and brutally murdered his wife, Chynna, and his ten-year-old son. But who could have committed such a senseless act? Please also consider supporting Coffee and Cases by joining us over on our Patreon page! Are you up-to-date on all our regular content?! Be a part of the C & C Fam by going to ⁠https://www.patreon.com/coffeeandcases⁠ to register! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On May 14, 2008, 19-year-old Brandon Swanson disappeared near Porter, Minnesota, after calling his parents for help in the middle of the night. What should have been a simple drive home after celebrating the end of the college semester became one of the most haunting missing persons cases in Minnesota history. Brandon was on the phone with his father when something happened. Then the call went silent. Nearly two decades later, his family is still waiting for answers. If you are interested in bonus content for our show or in getting some Coffee and Cases swag, please consider joining Patreon. There are various levels to fit your needs, all of which can be found here: ⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/coffeeandcases Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

June 1st, 1983 began as an exciting day for 12-year-old Ann Gotlib since it was the first day of summer vacation. She spent the day with various friends before making a short bike ride home. But it was a ride during which Ann disappeared. Sadly, law enforcement were not short on potential suspects— even though it is a case that remains open to this day. If you are interested in bonus content for our show or in getting some Coffee and Cases swag, please consider joining Patreon. There are various levels to fit your needs, all of which can be found here: ⁠https://www.patreon.com/coffeeandcases Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Over the past two episodes, we followed a story that almost refuses to be believed: a newborn taken from Michael Reese Hospital in Chicago, a toddler found abandoned outside a department store in Newark, and a man raised as Paul Fronczak who later learned through DNA that he was not the baby everyone believed had been returned. After decades of questions, genetic genealogy finally gave him the name he had been born with: Jack Thomas Rosenthal. But that answer opened another mystery, because Jack had not been born alone. Fourteen minutes before him, a baby girl entered the world too. Her name was Jill Lynne Rosenthal. And unlike Jack, Jill was not found abandoned in Newark. She was not placed into foster care under another name. She did not grow up inside someone else’s story. She simply disappeared—without headlines, without a public search, without a childhood photograph, and without the world even knowing it should be looking for her. Today, in the final episode of our coverage, we turn fully toward Jill: a little girl who was born, a little girl who had a name, and a little girl whose disappearance was hidden so thoroughly that silence nearly became the final word. This is the final episode in our three-part coverage of the case of Jill Rosenthal. I want to again thank Paul Fronczak and Tracy Hastings again for trusting us with this story and for taking the time to speak with me. Please listen to their podcast, The Fronczak Files, because they are telling this story from the inside—not just as a mystery, but as a lived experience involving identity, family, loss, silence, and the ongoing search for answers. You can find their work at https://www.thefronczakfiles.com/. And if you are caught up on our regular Coffee and Cases episodes and want more content, join us on Patreon, where we cover a solved case each month as part of our state-by-state spotlight: https://www.patreon.com/coffeeandcases. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Everyone has a special place in their hearts for Bill and Peggy Stephenson, the 74-year-old couple who would bring cookies, fish with them, visit with them, or minister to them. So, when Bill and Peggy were found brutally murdered on May 29th, 2011, everyone was in shock. Who would be capable of committing such a heinous crime? And, what’s more, who could be callous enough to remain in the home for hours afterward staging items in each room of their home? And if you’re caught up on regular Coffee and Cases episodes and still want more, join us on Patreon for solved cases and bonus content each month: ⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/coffeeandcases⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What happens when the truth you spent your whole life chasing opens the door to an even deeper mystery? In Part 2 of our coverage of Jill Rosenthal, we continue the unbelievable story of Paul Fronczak—the man who grew up believing he was the baby kidnapped from Michael Reese Hospital in Chicago, only to learn decades later that the truth was far more complicated. This episode follows Paul through DNA results, impossible discoveries, family secrets, and the kind of revelation that changes not only what you know about your past, but what you understand about your entire life. And just when it seems like one mystery may finally be solved, another name emerges. Another child. Another disappearance. Another question that refuses to stay buried. Listen to Part 2 now, and then follow Paul and Tracy’s work on The Fronczak Files podcast here: https://www.thefronczakfiles.com/. And if you’re caught up on regular Coffee and Cases episodes and still want more, join us on Patreon for solved cases and bonus content each month: https://www.patreon.com/coffeeandcases Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

By all accounts, 41-year-old Dottie Caylor suffered from a near debilitating phobia of public places and spent most all of her time at home. So, when her soon-to-be ex-husband reported that she had asked him to drive her to a very public, crowded train station so she could travel to visit a friend, the story raised eyebrows. When Dottie failed to ever return, suspicions continued to grow. Please also consider supporting Coffee and Cases by joining us over on our Patreon page! Are you up-to-date on all our regular content? Get access to monthly solved cases by joining today! Be a part of the C & C Fam by going to ⁠https://www.patreon.com/coffeeandcases⁠ to register! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What if the story you were told about who you are was only part of the truth? In Part 1 of our coverage of the Jill Rosenthal case, we begin not with Jill, but with a little boy named Paul Joseph Fronczak—a child connected to one of the most shocking hospital kidnappings in American history. In 1964, a newborn was taken from Michael Reese Hospital in Chicago by a woman dressed as a nurse. Nearly two years later, a young boy was found abandoned outside a store in Newark, New Jersey. Was he the missing baby everyone had been searching for? Or had one mystery simply been mistaken for another? This episode is about identity, family secrets, impossible choices, and the kind of truth that waits for decades before cracking everything open. And trust me—this is only the beginning. Listen now to Part 1 of our coverage of the case of Jill Rosenthal. Please check out Paul and Tracy's podcast, The Fronczak Files to support their efforts to help others and to hear even more about Paul's life story and where it has led them today. Check out their website at https://www.thefronczakfiles.com/ to listen to their podcast, for information on Paul's books, and to help support their search for Jill. If you’re caught up on regular episodes and want more Coffee and Cases, join us on Patreon, where we cover solved cases and additional bonus content: https://www.patreon.com/coffeeandcases Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When she promised this was her last drug deal, that she was going to rehab, that she was going to change for her daughter, was it really her last? Did someone stop her from fulfilling the promise she made to her family? If you would like to access bonus content, including SOLVED true-crime cases, consider joining our Patreon. Just head on over to patreon.com/coffeeandcasespodcast to learn more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices