E281: Shannon Collins Part 1

When 52-year-old Shannon Lee Collins vanished from his home in Pottsville, Arkansas, on March 12, 2021, there were no tire tracks leading away, no note left behind—just silence. A phone that suddenly went dark. A man who never missed a call simply stopped answering. At first, his loved ones were told he’d left on his own. But as the months passed, the stories about where he’d gone began to shift—and the truth grew harder to ignore. Why hadn’t anyone in his home reported him missing? Why were there so many conflicting explanations about the last time anyone saw him? And what secrets were buried behind those small-town walls? In this two-part series, we follow Shannon’s brother, Blake, and his sister, Holly, as they piece together a puzzle built on contradictions. If you know anything about the disappearance of Shannon Lee Collins, please contact the Pope County Sheriff’s Office at 479-968-2558. To learn more about how you can support Shannon’s family, email ⁠[email protected]⁠, donate to their GoFundMe at ⁠gofund.me/6362b47⁠, and follow their ongoing efforts on Facebook at ⁠Share Shannon’s Story⁠ If you would like to join Coffee and Cases Patreon to support the show and listen to bonus content, please go to ⁠https://www.patreon.com/coffeeandcases⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When 52-year-old Shannon Lee Collins vanished from his home in Pottsville, Arkansas, on March 12, 2021, there were no tire tracks leading away, no note left behind—just silence. A phone that suddenly went dark. A man who never missed a call simply stopped answering. At first, his loved ones were told he’d left on his own. But as the months passed, the stories about where he’d gone began to shift—and the truth grew harder to ignore. Why hadn’t anyone in his home reported him missing? Why were there so many conflicting explanations about the last time anyone saw him? And what secrets were buried behind those small-town walls? In this two-part series, we follow Shannon’s brother, Blake, and his sister, Holly, as they piece together a puzzle built on contradictions. If you know anything about the disappearance of Shannon Lee Collins, please contact the Pope County Sheriff’s Office at 479-968-2558. To learn more about how you can support Shannon’s family, email [email protected], donate to their GoFundMe at gofund.me/6362b47, and follow their ongoing efforts on Facebook at Share Shannon’s Story If you would like to join Coffee and Cases Patreon to support the show and listen to bonus content, please go to https://www.patreon.com/coffeeandcases Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On July 24, 1997, 24-year-old Amy Wroe Bechtel set out for what should have been an ordinary afternoon near Lander, Wyoming. A rising athlete with Olympic dreams, Amy was in the middle of mapping the course for a 10K race she was organizing. By the end of the day, her white Toyota station wagon sat abandoned, her to-do list unfinished, and Amy herself was nowhere to be found. Despite a massive search effort that involved hundreds of people, cadaver dogs, and aircraft, no trace of Amy was ever recovered. 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

In late August 2016, the Tromp family of Silvan, Victoria—Mark, Jacoba, and their three adult children—suddenly fled their successful berry farm and thriving businesses without phones, wallets, or passports. Over the next week, their strange journey would stretch hundreds of miles across Australia, leaving behind a trail of abandoned cars, disoriented wanderings, and desperate pleas for help. What could drive a close-knit, hardworking family to believe they were being hunted? Was it paranoia, environmental toxins, or a rare psychological condition known as folie à deux—shared psychosis? The case gripped the nation of Australia, making headlines worldwide, and even now it leaves more questions than answers. Why did some family members resist the delusion while others collapsed under its weight? And most haunting of all—could something like this happen to any of us? 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

On March 2, 1996, 25-year-old Alicia Showalter Reynolds set out before breakfast, pointing her white Mercury south from Baltimore toward Charlottesville for a shopping day with her mom. Somewhere along U.S. Route 29 in Central Virginia—near Culpeper—that ordinary drive met an extraordinary danger, the kind that hides in plain sight on the shoulder of a busy highway. By nightfall, Alicia hadn’t arrived. Her car was found on the roadside; witnesses remembered a clean-cut man in a dark pickup offering “help.” In this episode, we walk the Route 29 corridor minute by minute, piecing together what Alicia saw, what bystanders noticed, and how a roadside “good Samaritan” ruse may have masked a predator. Anyone with information is asked to call the Virginia State Police Culpeper Division toll-free at 1-800-572-2260, the Bureau of Criminal Investigation toll-free at 1-888-300-0156, or you can also email them at [email protected]. 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

A bent bell. A bike tossed six feet into a field. A rush of leads that cancel each other out: a bloody handkerchief, conflicting train sightings, a black Morris, a red-and-gray van. In this episode, we trace April Fabb’s 1969 disappearance minute-by-minute and ask the question residents of Norfolk, England have asked for decades: what happened in the nine minute window during which April disappeared? 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

On April 15, 2005, Centre County District Attorney Ray Gricar of Pennsylvania left work for what seemed like an ordinary day off. He called his girlfriend while driving his red-and-white Mini Cooper, promised to be home later, and then—he was never seen again. His locked car was found the next day near the Susquehanna River, his phone still inside but his laptop mysteriously missing. Did Gricar walk away from his life voluntarily? Was his disappearance tied to one of his high-profile prosecutions—or to secrets someone wanted buried? Or did tragedy strike by accident along the water’s edge? Nearly twenty years later, the case remains one of the most haunting unsolved disappearances in America. 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

On November 1, 1986, 51-year-old Morro Bay fisherman Hugh Harlin vanished along Highway 1 between San Simeon and Cambria, California. His truck was discovered roadside under suspicious circumstances—but not a trace of Hugh. Did he flee secrets tied to his wife’s unsolved murder, or did the same hand that strangled Dian Harlin in 1982 come for him, too? For context, you’ll likely want to start with last week’s episode on Dian Harlin first: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/e274-dian-harlin/id1492318464?i=1000723044083 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

In the fall of 1982, the quiet rhythm of Morro Bay, California was shattered when the body of 43-year-old Dian Harlin was discovered beneath a cluster of cypress trees near the high school. She had been strangled with a dog leash—an eerie detail that raised more questions than answers. Was her stormy marriage to blame? Or was Dian the victim of a predator who struck by chance? And what are we to make of the fact that her husband Hugh, who acted strangely after her death, also vanished without a trace just four years later? More than four decades later, the mysteries remain. Who killed “the Dog Lady” of Morro Bay? Did her husband know more than he admitted? Or was he another casualty of a truth still buried in the fog? Tune in as we unravel the case of Dian Harlin—a story of eccentric lives, whispered rumors, and unanswered questions that continue to echo through the small seaside town. 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

July 1995. Ada, Oklahoma. A small city with a long memory for tragedy. When 15-year-old Daniel Furr vanished, the search ended in a place that seemed to hold more questions than answers — the bottom of an abandoned brick quarry. What happened to Daniel in the days before a body was found has become the subject of rumor, fear, and conflicting theories that still divide those who knew him. Was it gang retaliation? A robbery gone wrong? Or — as his own mother fears — was it not Daniel in the pit at all? This is the story of a boy, a mystery, and a community still looking for the truth. If you have information about the case of Daniel Furr, please contact OSBI at (800) 522–8017 or email information to [email protected]. To hear more from our guest Raven Rollins, listen to Sirens: A Southern True Crime Podcast on your favorite podcast platform, and find her books at thesirenspodcast.com. 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