July 21, 2025 • 50 mins
In the late 70s and early 80s, the Lewiston-Clarkston Valley was rocked by multiple disappearances and homicides. Police at the time thought it was the work of one man, who has remained free. And despite a decades-long investigation, these cases remain unsolved.
Crime Junkie is hosted by Ashley Flowers and Brit Prawat.
Text Ashley at 317-733-7485 to talk all things true crime, get behind the scenes updates, and more!
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- If you have any information about the disappearances of Christina White and Steven Pearsall, or the murders of Kristin David, Brandi Miller, and Kristina Nelson, you can contact the Asotin County Sheriff’s Department by calling 509-243-4717.
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Crime Junkie is hosted by Ashley Flowers and Brit Prawat.
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Text Ashley at 317-733-7485 to talk all things true crime, get behind the scenes updates, and more!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
High crime Junkies. I'm your host, Ashley Flowers, and I'm
brit and I have been dying to tell you this story.
It is a story about a serial killer. Not one
of the ones we've been asked to cover time and
time again, like the ones who have gotten endless coverage
as people pick apart their psyche and motivations. This is
about someone I'd never heard of, someone who police suspect
(00:22):
of terrible things, because somehow, wherever this guy goes, tragedy follows,
but they have never had enough to prove the things
they so strongly suspect. So this man, either one of
the unluckiest people I've ever heard of, or a cold
blooded killer, is living among all of us. He could
(00:45):
be our neighbor or the guy we pass at the
grocery store, someone we know, someone our listeners know. But
remember crime Junkie Life roll number one, You never really
know anyone ever. But it's my job to make sure
you're well informed. So buckle up, kiddos. This one's a doozy.
(01:06):
I'm talking about the cases that have been linked to
a man they call the Lewis Clark Valley Killer, and
I'm going to talk about who police think that man
actually is. I don't know what was in the water
(01:50):
in the fall of nineteen eighty two, but authorities in
the Lewis Clark Valley where Washington and Idaho and Oregon
all meat they were underwater with cases. Between August thirty
first and September nineteenth, in this area where not much happens,
four people had gone missing. It started with a two
year old little boy named Ricky Barnett, who was visiting
(02:12):
his grandparents' farm in Grangeville, Idaho, and while workers were
unloading a delivery of chickens, Ricky vanished into thin air.
Almost two weeks later, on September twelfth, two young women
went missing while out running errands in Lewiston, Idaho, twenty
one year old Christina Nelson and her stepsister eighteen year
old Jacqueline Miller, who goes by Brandy. Then just as
(02:34):
the twelfth of September turned into the thirteenth, before anyone
even knew that Brandy and Christina were missing, thirty five
year old Stephen Parasol vanished after he was dropped off
at the local civic theater in the same small town.
So by the nineteenth of September, when eighteen year old
Jennifer Vincent and her car disappear somewhere between her boyfriend's
(02:56):
dorm at Washington State University and her home in Bokane, Washington.
People are panicked. Authorities, especially in the valley, are drowning.
And that's not even speaking of the cold cases they've
had looming over them for the last couple of years.
The disappearance of a twelve year old girl in seventy nine,
and then the murder and dismemberment of a young woman
(03:17):
who was found in eighty one. So something is happening
in this area. Captain M. Dwayne Taylor, chief of detectives
for the Lewiston PDEs, said in an article for The
Spokane Chronicle that he had been on the force for
nineteen years and has never seen anything like this. The
peace and illusion of safety that the valley residents used
(03:39):
to feel is shattered. Parents don't let their kids walk
to school alone anymore. People are locking their doors at night.
I mean, it's like they're being hunted by this faceless,
nameless boogeyman. And that doesn't change. After Jennifer Vincent is
found and there actually is an innocent, albeit scary reason
for her disappearance. She had gotten into some kind of
(04:00):
accident on her way home and she was found pinned
in the wreckage of her car with a broken back
and hypothermia. And that was nearly four days after she
went missing, So at least for her case, like, there's
no connection seemingly to any of the other victims. And
after she gets found the local papers who had been
picking up all of like the five most recent cases
(04:23):
and like lumping them together, they let Jennifer's name fall off.
Eventually Ricky Barnett's name disappears too, So I'm not really
sure why, especially when I started digging, I found some
reporting to suggest that he wasn't the only two year
old boy to go missing in that area over a
span a couple years. What, dude, I don't know. The
papers dropped all the reporting on those kids, like there's
(04:45):
almost nothing. Don't worry, I'm not about to stay tuned,
like I'm having our reporters dig in, so watch out someday. Yeah,
But in putting Jennifer and Ricky's cases aside, this new
theory began to emerge. Though police were adamant early to
the press that all these cases were considered to be unrelated.
(05:05):
It was hard to ignore the fact that three of
these people who are still missing, the adults, all went
missing on the same night from the same teeny tiny town,
so tiny in fact, that it turns out Stephen Parasol
actually lived just a few apartment buildings down from Christina Nelson's.
Christina actually held the part time job as a janitor
(05:28):
at the theater that Stephen went missing from before Stephen
took that job over a year earlier. And Christina and
Stephen went to the same.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
College, so they knew each other then.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
Ye, I mean, they definitely would have at least been familiar.
You're in the same circles, right, Like, I don't get
the sense that they were like close or hung out.
But let me lay out for you the separate circumstances
surrounding Christina and Brandy's disappearance versus Stevens, so you can
get a sense of what police are working with here.
So Christina's boyfriend, this guy Bill, called her at her
(06:01):
apartment at around eight thirty PM on the night of
September twelfth. Now he's planning to come over that night,
so I'm sure they're just like coordinating or whatever. And
she told him that her stepsister Brandy was going to
be over in a little bit and that they were
going to go to the local Safeway grocery store. Now.
Bill ended up falling asleep, so he didn't make the
trip to Christina's until the next morning. But when he
(06:22):
got there, it had to feel a little like deja
voui because on Christina's front door was a note written
to him saying, quote, Bill walked down to the store
with Brandy back in a few Come on in and
get comfy. Okay, chris Key's in our hiding place. But
even though the note was presumably left for him the
(06:43):
day before, when Bill goes inside, Christina's not there, and
it doesn't seem like he's worried. Probably just assumed that
he'd missed her. He'd see her later. So after waiting,
he had to leave to go to work. But when
he came back that night, neither Christina nor Brandy were there,
but the note that Christina left still was, which is a.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
Pretty big red flag. YEP.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
For some reason, alarm bells weren't ringing for Bill just
yet because he didn't go out and like try and
find her. And I'm not sure if this was normal
for them to just kind of like be missing each
other a lot or what. And in his defense, everything
in the apartment indicated that she was planning on coming
back when he got there the first time, Like she
left a light on, her cat was still there, even
(07:27):
her purse was sitting there. So I'm thinking he just
assumed Christina is going to reappear. They could laugh about
being like ships passing in the night and just like
missing each other.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
Yeah, And at this point, it's not like the disappearances
in the area have started piling up, right, Like, not
everyone's on high alert for this yet.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
Right, So I mean, like prior to Christina and Brandy
going missing, you had like a young kid who went
missing three years before. Then that woman who was found
murdered it was a year before, both of those very
different cases. So like they're not even being connected to
each other much less anything else at this point. And
then you know, we had the little boy Ricky who
goes missing right before as well, But like, but it's
(08:06):
so different, right, And I don't even know how much
pickup his kids got before anything started like happening in
like a short period of time, So it's like not
where Bill's mind jumps to right away that like something
bad has happened, plus in nineteen eighty two, I feel
like fair like this is a totally made up stat
like sixty percent of trying to hang out with people
was like missing them in real time and having to
(08:27):
try and connect later when you got to your landline.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
Because like you, you can't be in contact the way
we are right now.
Speaker 1 (08:33):
So so Bill decides, you know what, He's just gonna
stay at Christina so he doesn't miss her. But when
he wakes up in the middle of the night on
what is now the fourteenth, and there's still no sign
of his girlfriend, like this is when he realizes, like
something more is going on here, so he starts calling friends, family,
anybody who might know where his girlfriend was. I'm sure
(08:54):
he tried to get in touch with Brandy since the
note mentioned her and she lived nearby, but he couldn't
find her either. He even ends up going to check
the safe way where the grocery store where she was
supposed to go to.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
Nothing like they just weren't there at the time, or
they'd never even made it to begin with.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
I have all the questions since her purse was left
behind that makes me think that they never even made
it to the store.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
But was her wallet in her purse or could she
have just like taken some cash for the few things
she needed, left everything else behind.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
Wallets were still there, to be fair, Like, I mean,
I guess she could have just taken some cash. Like,
I don't know exactly what they were getting. I don't
know if they're going for just like, oh, we're just
gonna like grab a soda, or if they're going for
like a full on grocery hall. So, yeah, did she
have money on her did she throw just a couple
bucks in her pocket? I don't know.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
But at the Safeway, no one saw them there.
Speaker 1 (09:46):
No, which like always makes me wonder if they made
it there in the first place, right, And it's worth
noting that the grocery store at the time it closed
at ten, so if they wanted to make it on time,
they would have had to leave before then. And we
know the last time Bill spoke to her was eight thirty.
She was still waiting on Brandy, So it's like a
little bit of a tight timeline.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
Yeah, so between eight thirty and when Bill got there
the following morning, like there.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
Gone something happens, right, And I also haven't seen anything
in the reporting about there being like fresh groceries or
grocery bags or anything like that in the apartment, So.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
There's no signs of foul play in the apartment.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
No nothing.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
And just to go back to the note real quick,
it was for sure written in Christina's handwriting.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
It was hers. Yes, Okay, so we don't really know
when they went missing, but we know for sure that
they were gone by the morning or afternoon of the fourteenth,
and not just because Bill like pops by then. He also,
as he's like looking for them, contacts the restaurant where
Christina works, and he finds out that she'd been a
no call, no show for her shift that day too,
(10:52):
and like that's like the final straw. He knows this
is like bad, bad, and so from there he goes
right to the police to report Christina and Brandy.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
Missing and does their family go with him, so.
Speaker 1 (11:02):
They actually don't live in town, but like when they
find out, everyone's just as worried as Bill is. Like
Christina in particular is one of those super responsible people
who would never know call no shows. So while Bill
is the one who's like there and providing the boots
on the ground presence. In the early days of the investigation,
the family is completely like in the background or on board, Yeah,
do it, giving that extra push. Now police do take
(11:25):
the report right away, and this is when they start
retracing a lot of the steps that Bill took. Right
they look at Christina's apartment, they try and retrace the
paths that the women might have taken, like to and
from Safeway, but they cannot find a single person who
saw them, who interacted with them. Nothing, just like poof gone.
(11:46):
And within a couple of hours of their last interaction
with people or contact with people, all of a sudden,
Stephen Parasol vanishes too. So investigators learn that Steven's girlfriend
drop him off at the Lewiston Civic Theater at around
six thirty pm on September twelfth. Stephen is very involved
(12:07):
in this theater. He plays clarinet, he works on sets,
he is the janitor, and I believe that he was
even in a show or two. And so when he's
dropped off, he was either going to be like they're
practicing playing his clarinet or working on a set or something.
Now he does that everything's fine. His girlfriend picks him
back up at nine because they have to go to
this going away party for another staff member of the theater.
(12:29):
They're there for a couple of hours, and then on
what is now the thirteenth, at like midnight, the girlfriend
drops him back off at the theater. So he's going
to play his clarinet. He also has some laundry that
he wants to do there too. Now a few people
see his girlfriend drop him off. One was even a
police officer, So he is one hundred percent back at
(12:51):
that theater by.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
Midnight, but alone.
Speaker 1 (12:54):
So there was apparently one other guy who'd been there
that night, and he said he saw Stephen before before
Steven had left at like nine pm, and then he
says he fell asleep. So by the time Stephen made
it back the second time, he didn't see him come
in or leave. And in fact, no one ever saw
him leave the theater, and just like Christina and Brandy,
(13:16):
he's never seen again. When he was eventually reported missing
and police go and search his place, it was a
lot like Christina's in that it looked like he would
be right back. I mean, he left his car parked
outside of his place. He left behind an uncashed paycheck
for one hundred and seventy nine bucks, which is like
no chump change in nineteen eighty two, especially if you
(13:36):
were planning on leaving, which it's clear Stephen didn't do,
at least it's clear to those who knew him. Now.
In search of the theater didn't turn up anything either
other than finding Steven's clarinet in the orchestra pit. Like,
there's nothing interestingly too, like even his duffel bag that
he brought that he was like gonna do laundry or
whatever like that's gone.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
So at this point, I mean, they have to thinking
that everything is connected, right or like other things, it's
this wild coincidence. Well like, wait, did Bill come under
suspicion at all?
Speaker 1 (14:09):
Oh, I'm sure police looked at him briefly, and Brandy
also had a boyfriend who like same thing. I mean,
I think they probably looked at but neither of them
are considered suspects. Actually, the first real suspect they had
in this case, and this goes to what you're saying
about them being connected, the first real suspect was Stephen Parsol.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
Oh.
Speaker 1 (14:29):
I know turn of events now, I don't know exactly
when police started to have suspicions about Stephen possibly being
more suspect than victim. I mean, they su aren't saying
anything like that in the early reporting that I'm able
to pull on the case from like eighty two and
eighty three. But everything changes in March of eighty four.
(14:53):
That's when the decomposed, mostly skeletal remains of Christina and
Brandy are found at the bottom of a hill about
thirty five to forty miles outside of Lewiston.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
And were they still doing searches for them.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
No, I actually don't know if they ever did formal searches.
Like the way they end up getting found, it's truly
a miracle. There was this kid who was out at
like the top of this hill looking for cans, and
like the wind or something like catches his baseball cap
and he loses it, and he goes down this hill
to chase it. That is how they get found.
Speaker 2 (15:30):
What are the odds of that happening?
Speaker 1 (15:32):
That is and that's what I'm saying, Like different hill,
different day, different time of.
Speaker 2 (15:36):
Day, different kid, different cap. I mean, yeah, like.
Speaker 1 (15:39):
They might still be considered missing people, but they're not
right Like, so they're found on March nineteenth of eighty four.
By March twenty seventh, they've been positively identified as Christina
and Brandy, and then Boom. April first of eighty four,
The Spokesman Review publishes an article saying that police are
looking for the third missing person, thirty five five year
(16:00):
old Stephen Parasol. Now they don't call him a suspect,
but it's clear to everyone who hadn't already picked up
on police's suspicions by now that like they're looking for him,
you know what I mean?
Speaker 2 (16:11):
Yeah, but why, Like what would his motive be?
Speaker 1 (16:15):
They don't have one, Like honestly, at this point, I
think they just see the opportunity because I think one
of the paths that the girls could have walked to
get to safe way actually went past the theater. So,
you know, they're seeing this big, tall, older guy who
has a military background going missing on this same night
as these two young women, and I think they kind
(16:36):
of just assume that he was responsible. Maybe maybe it
wasn't planned right, Like maybe everything whatever happens, something spiraled
out of control, and that's why Stephen left with like
literally just the clothes on his back and the ones
in his laundry sack. But right away, anyone who knows
Stephen was like, absolutely no. They would tell you there
(16:58):
is no way he could hurt anyone. Stephen was like
everyone's big brother at the theater. He was this gentle giant,
always looking out for everybody, making sure that the theater
was a safe haven for everyone involved. Plus sweet Stephen.
They say that all you have to do is look
at what was left behind to know that he is
the victim of foul play too, because remember how his
(17:20):
clarinet was found in the orchestra pit, Like everyone's like
he loved that thing, like that thing was his baby,
Like if anything is telling you that your theory is wrong,
like he would never leave that behind. So his loved
ones are frustrated that not only is their missing loved
one getting wrongly painted as a suspect, but in doing so,
they're afraid that they're not putting the same resources into
(17:42):
solving this case. Because if he's the victim, if he
succumed to foul play, but they're not considering that, like
how are you taking the right stuff?
Speaker 2 (17:48):
They're not just not considering that, they're considering that he
is the suspect of foul play.
Speaker 1 (17:52):
Right, and by the way, like even if you, you know,
go with their theory, like you didn't mean for something
to happen or whatever, Like if you're gonna go on
the run, like you think you'd at least take your
car for a little bit, and like cash the paycheck,
you're gonna need some money on the road. So nothing
points to Stephen leaving willingly, nothing points to him hurting
(18:13):
Christina and Brandy.
Speaker 2 (18:14):
And going back to Christina and Brandy, were they able
to determine how they died?
Speaker 1 (18:19):
Oh yeah, so I didn't get into that. The pathologists
determined that they had been strangled, and even though they
didn't appear to have been bound in any way, beneath
their bodies were these like lengths of something that early
days they described as like clothesline cord. Now they also
found with the women like clothing, lipgloss, jewelry, and there
was a bra shoved into the mouth of one of
(18:41):
the skulls. So motive for whoever did this seemed to
be sexual, or at least like had a sexual component
to it. But because of all the time that had
passed between when they went missing and then when they
were found, I mean the chances of them retrieving anything
to prove that or point to their killer was like
virtually zero in nineteen eighty.
Speaker 2 (19:02):
Four, nothing than to officially rule out Stephen either, No.
Speaker 1 (19:08):
But honestly they don't end up needing it for that reason,
you see, a little perspective goes a long way in
cases when investigators zoom out and take stock of everything.
And when they do that in this case, they find
reason to start side eyeing someone else. So remember that
(19:32):
guy that was sleeping in the theater when Stephen was there.
Speaker 2 (19:36):
Yes, I knew there was more to him.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
There's a lot more to him. So his name is
Lance Boss. And what are the odds that he not
only shows up in this case but also in one
of those cold cases from the area, that one from
nineteen seventy nine where a twelve year old girl went missing?
What uh huh? So back on April twenty eighth, nineteen
(20:02):
seventy nine, in a Sultan, Washington, which is like just
across the river from Lewiston, twelve year old Christina White
goes to her friend Rose's house because the two were
gonna go to like the fair that was in town together.
Mom knows she made it to Rose's house because she
actually walked her over there, like dropped Christina off with
her bike and waved goodbye to her as she was
(20:24):
at the front door. But a few hours later, so
around two pm, Christina had called home and asked her
mom to pick her up. She said she wasn't feeling well,
which wasn't entirely out of the ordinary. I guess Christina
had a habit of just not drinking enough water. She
would get overheated pretty easily. Yeah, But like her mom
at the time was home with her little sister, she
couldn't just like like pack up and leave at that moment.
(20:46):
So she's like, okay, Christina, listen, run a towel under
some cold water, put it on your forehead, put it
on your neck, just try and cool off. And then
when you're feeling a little bit better, like just come home.
I'll keep an eye out for you.
Speaker 2 (20:56):
But she never came home.
Speaker 1 (20:57):
She never came home.
Speaker 2 (20:59):
Did she decided to just go to the fair instead
of heading home.
Speaker 1 (21:04):
So this is you asked a complicated question. So the
current investigator thinks no, But I don't know if anyone
can be one hundred percent certain without knowing where Christina
is now, you know what I mean, Police reports from
back then are minimal. I mean, there's a lot that
has been lost to time, if it ever existed at all.
(21:26):
Detective Jackie Nichols, who is on Christina's case today, told
our team that there was like this turf war going
on between the police department and the Sheriff's department when
it came to this case, and they were battling over
who had jurisdiction. Even though, by the way, when Christina
first went missing, it doesn't even feel like anyone was
quick to jump on it. Like they wrote her off
(21:48):
as a runaway. They said, because her mom was divorced.
Speaker 2 (21:52):
What does that have anything to do with Christina being
a runaway?
Speaker 1 (21:59):
They're basically like, oh, it must be a terrible home
life because your mother's divorced, so you're gonna leave. Okay,
it's like complete yet, like yeah, sign of the times.
Speaker 2 (22:06):
Okay, cool, awesome, great? Her friend Rose, did she like
say what happened to her?
Speaker 1 (22:14):
Well, she wasn't there, because when they talked to Rose,
it turns out so again they were planning on going
to the fair. Rose ended up leaving as planned when
Christina wasn't feeling good. So she like left went to
the fair. Christina is there at this house, and when
she left, she just assumed Christina was gonna join her
later or whatever. Now it's a little confusing. Her little brother,
(22:36):
Rose's little brother might have also been home while Christina
was there. But it seems like police don't speak to
him much and like even today he's never sat down
for like a proper interview. Wait, why, well, he was
only ten back then, so like at the time, I
don't know if police didn't know if he'd be much help.
(22:57):
I don't know if like.
Speaker 2 (22:58):
They had this runaway theory, so like did they.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
Write or did like you know, parents come in and
say like, no, you can't interview my ten year old,
Like that's too traumatic. Again, like I don't have a
lot of reports from back in the day to like
reference like what they were even thinking at the time.
To me, this is like I feel like he holds
all the answers, but like if he's not talking, also,
why is he not talking? And I know Detective Nichols
(23:23):
like wants to talk to him still like to this day,
but she says she's waiting for the right time or
like you know, if you're out there, like, you're welcome
to come forward. But all that to say, so little
brother maybe home, maybe not. Rose is already at the fair.
There was someone else who had very close ties to
this household who could have come by. Like theoretically we
(23:44):
don't know if he was in the house that day,
but guess who Rose's mom was dating?
Speaker 2 (23:48):
Lance Foss? Lance Foss, and what's his story?
Speaker 1 (23:54):
I don't know, so like without the reports, it's hard
for me to tell what he said or even if
he was asked at all about that day or his whereabouts.
What I know is Christina and her bike are never
seen or heard from again. The only thing even connected
to her that ever surfaced were some school papers that
(24:15):
were found on the outskirts of a farmer's field shortly
after she disappeared. And when they get found, they were
in pretty good condition, so it looked like they'd only
been out there, I don't know, maybe a day or two.
But Detective Nichols is actually not sure if this find
is even significant. And that's for a few reasons. I mean,
for one, it wasn't just Christina's papers, there are actually
(24:36):
some from another friend. Two, the papers aren't all in
one place, like it doesn't feel like, you know, they
were like staged there. They're sort of scattered almost like
they flew out of someone's car, like passing on a
nearby road. So Detective Nichols kind of wonders if maybe,
you know, some of Christina's and this other friend's schoolwork
was in like the friend's family's car somehow, like it
(24:57):
got mixed up, fell out whatever. And we talked to
a woman named Gloria. She is Christina Nelson's cousin, so
that's how this whole thing got started for her. Okay,
she has been deep in this case, I mean like,
I mean really along with Detective Jackie Nichols. Gloria is
the one who brought this case back to life. And
she says that the field where those school papers were found,
(25:18):
that's where Rose and her mom kept their horses. So
all in all, Detective Nichols doesn't think that those papers
are like the key to cracking this case.
Speaker 2 (25:26):
And is there any direct connection between Lance and this property.
Speaker 1 (25:31):
No, but you can see that there is like a
really strong connection between Lance and Christina. And that's where
I'm like, do the papers mean anything? I don't know,
but like you know, going back to our scope out
just like him being the last person who was in
the same place as Stephen before Stephen disappears. Lance is
suspected by police to potentially be the last person in
(25:53):
the same place as Christina when she disappeared. And when
you look at the case that happened between Christina and
then the other three from Lewiston, there isn't a tight
connection to Lance, But I don't know enough circumstantial things
to make you go huh.
Speaker 2 (26:10):
So.
Speaker 1 (26:11):
The other case is that of twenty two year old
Kristin david So. On June twenty sixth, nineteen eighty one,
Kristin goes missing while riding her bike from her dorm
at the university in Moscow, Idaho, to her parents' house
in none other than Lewiston. Like Christina, both she and
her bike just poof gone, But unlike Christina, Kristin gets
(26:36):
found eight days later on the fourth of July. Her
body is found in pieces in the Snake River. Her
body parts were wrapped in newspaper and placed in black
garbage bags. Now, she'd been in the water for some time,
so finding forensic evidence was pretty much a no go.
They don't know who took her. They don't know where
(26:58):
she was killed, They don't know much of anything. The
only clues they had in her case were the newspaper
that she was actually like wrapped in. They were local
papers from Lewiston dated April of nineteen eighty one, and
police got a couple of sightings of maybe a big
brown van that was maybe stopped on the side of
(27:20):
the road with her and her bike, but they never
figured out who the driver was though, And this is
one of those very loose connections to Lance Foss. It's
been speculated that maybe he had a brown van at
the time. I guess he had a lot of vehicles,
but we're saying brown van not officially confirmed though. What's
(27:41):
more interesting is that Lance's job took him specifically from
the valley to Moscow, which includes the same route that
Kristin would have taken on her bike the day that
she went missing. And Kristin had actually worked at the
Lewiston Civic Theater for at least a little while while
at some point, so she theoretically very well may have
(28:04):
known Lance Foss, although we cannot one percent confirm that.
So again, let's scope out thirty thousand foot view in
nineteen eighty four. You have this witness who was with
Stephen right before Stephen went missing. Now you realize that
his name has come up in other cold cases, very suspicious,
(28:24):
and listen, even early on, they recognize that his story
about being at the theater always kind of stunk a
little bit. So while police are still looking for Stephen,
right after Christina and Brandy are found, they also bring
this guy Lance back in for questioning. And the first
(28:44):
time they talked to him it was just as a witness.
This time it is as a suspect, and this time
his story gets even stranger. Lance's story originally was that
he was working with Steve even on the set and
he left around nine point thirty, which we know Stephen
left at nine, so fine, sure could make sense. But
(29:07):
then in another version of his story or events, he
claimed to police that he'd spent more time at the
theater that night, and that at some point he'd been
working up in this attic, like doing rigging or whatever
for like the curtains or something, and then he accidentally
fell through the ceiling, which is possible because if you
like go up to the attic, there are these like
catwalks that you have to stay on otherwise the ceilings
(29:28):
just like plasters. I mean, it would be easy to
fall through. So in this other version, he's like, oh,
I fell through this thing. Like I'm not super herb,
but I just needed to lay down for a second,
and I ended up falling asleep until like five am.
And he's like, oh, when I woke up, I immediately
was like, oh God, I got to get home because
I never let my wife know that I was going
to be staying there. Oh and by the way, he
(29:50):
tells police, like while I was like there and sleeping
or whatever, I did hear the phone ring at some point, like,
but I was like, you know, I think this is
like when he was like dazed or half a sleep
or whatever. But he's like, I didn't answer it.
Speaker 2 (30:01):
So convenient if his wife says she called looking for
him exactly, he didn't pick up exactly.
Speaker 1 (30:07):
Anyways, he says that on his drive home, as he's
like going, he realized, you know what, like there's no
point in rushing. My wife is probably already at work
by this point, so never mind, I'm going to go
back to the theater. So again, this is like the
kind of weird story he told them before when he
was a witness, and that was back in nineteen eighty two.
Fast forward to now nineteen eighty four, and he gives
(30:29):
a little more detail. So he reiterates that he's working
at the theater, but then he says between nine and
nine thirty he leaves and he drives to this pizzeria
called the Red baron to have a couple of beers
and watch a movie. He says that the movie got
out at eleven, which is when he left the pizzeria
and went back to the theater. This is presumably when
(30:51):
he fell to the ceiling that whole rigging thing, laid down,
sleeps till five am. But he's still in all of
this claiming that he ever saw Steven back at the theater,
and oh no, I never saw the missing women either,
by the way.
Speaker 2 (31:07):
So he's saying he's aware enough to like hear the
phone ring, decide not to answer it, but don't worry.
He definitely didn't like interact with the missing guy that
we absolutely know was there at midnight.
Speaker 1 (31:20):
Okay, yes, but it's even more bananas than that, because
when they dig in, they realize that the couch that
he says he's like asleep on or half asleep on
because he hears the phone whatever is right by the
door that Stephen would have entered from, like when his
girlfriend dropped him back off after the party. So suspicious,
(31:40):
But there are other parts of his story that don't
line up either, Like right he says he goes to
this pizzeria, he leaves when the movie's over at eleven.
When investigators actually check, they find out that the movie
didn't get out at eleven, It got out at midnight.
And they find out that one of the paths that
the women might have taken to get to safeway. Right,
(32:00):
we're talking about Christina and Brandy, there's a path that
just so happens to cross right in front of the
Red Baron, where he's now telling them he was and
to me in the perfect timeframe, right, Like we know
Christina is talking to her boyfriend Bill at eight thirty.
She's waiting for Brandy. We know that the Safeway closes
at ten, so she would have walked right by the
(32:21):
Red Baron as he says he's sitting there right, So
investigators can't help. But wonder could Lance have seen the
girls from inside the Red Baron somehow lured them back
to the theater because at the time Stephen was gone, like
maybe he didn't know Stephen was coming back, and then
Stephen walked in on something happening, and then maybe Stephen
(32:43):
was just like collateral damage.
Speaker 2 (32:45):
Which is an interesting theory. But then where is Steven,
Like they found the girls.
Speaker 1 (32:52):
And yes, Stephen was not with them. One theory has
always been that maybe he's still in the theater, like
when I did a TikTok on this case by asking
locals to tell me, like, what have you been hearing? Right, Like,
you guys need to follow me because I'm always asking
people before it now, before we do stuff, because like
I'm finding, especially in these old cases, there's usually like
this town lore where everyone's like, I've heard this one
(33:15):
hundred times. I thought police knew whatever. So I asked
people what they said, and what I kept getting from
people is that there's this rumor that he is in
the wall of the theater. Now, like were they telling
police that at the time. I don't know. I feel
like if he was in the wall, he would have
been found, like the theater is abandoned and condemned now,
(33:36):
but it wasn't then, Like the smell alone, I feel
like would have gotten some attention from people.
Speaker 2 (33:42):
Yeah, did they ever search it?
Speaker 1 (33:44):
I don't know, Like I don't know how much they
were searching for a body early on.
Speaker 2 (33:48):
Versus evidence of a missing person and their last like
interactions and movement.
Speaker 1 (33:54):
Right, And I know, I know back in the day,
like and I'm pretty sure it was after the Christina
and Brandy were found. I know they were going to
the theater trying to find evidence of a crime scene.
And I haven't told you this yet, not just because
of like the Lance connection in Stephen or whatever, like
the theater makes sense, But I told you there was
like cord found under Christina and Brandy. Like, well, to
(34:17):
police when you again you scope out and you're looking
at all these pieces, that chord looks an awful lot
like the rigging, specifically the type of rigging that Lance
said he was working with at the theater that night.
So like everything in these three cases just like keeps
coming back to the theater for them. So I know
(34:39):
that they conducted luminol testing in the basement by the
back door, but they never got anything that they could
work with because it turns out that the theater walls
were painted with lead based paint, and like lead will
apparently light up just like blood under illumino, which I
did not know fun crime junkie fact. So unfortunately at
the time, like they can't say any anything happened there.
(35:01):
But no, they're not taking down walls looking for a
body either.
Speaker 2 (35:04):
But when they're looking for evidence, I'm not sure i'd
expect like blood at the crime scene if we know
that the women had been strangled.
Speaker 1 (35:12):
Right, yeah, but like we don't know what happened to
Steven so and you don't know if like, no, they
didn't have skull fractures as far as we know or
anything like that, but you don't know if.
Speaker 2 (35:21):
There was like a laceration from like a defensive wound
or something.
Speaker 1 (35:23):
I think they're just looking for anything that can be helpful.
Speaker 2 (35:26):
Well, what would be helpful is finding Steven like that.
I feel like that would be like a huge puzzle
piece in all this. Did they ever actually check the
walls or whatever, like run down some of these local
rumors that like you at least have heard.
Speaker 1 (35:40):
Yeah, like would love to know if they checked the walls,
Like there's nothing in it in the police documents. But
like I said, I know that theater was condemned and
it recently just got purchased with plans to turn it
into a senior center. So with those renovations, like it's twofold, right, like,
there's a chance that any evidence there either already has
(36:01):
or soon going to be lost. I don't know, And
maybe I'm just being like too optimistic, but I'm like, oh, also,
does this mean, like, as we're tearing it down, if
we're careful enough, can something.
Speaker 2 (36:10):
Be fact find evidence?
Speaker 1 (36:11):
Right? But not finding Steven I think is one of
the biggest hang ups in this case because I think
prosecutors are like, well, a defense is gonna have a
field day with this, right.
Speaker 2 (36:22):
Like it's something you can't tie up, right because until
you can prove, like with a body, that he's a victim,
I think a defense attorney is going to paint him
as an alternate suspect.
Speaker 1 (36:31):
It's just not a slam dunk. Even with how suspicious
Lance looks to police, like after that second interview where
it was clear they were suspicious of him, he lawyers up,
refuses a polygraph, stops cooperating.
Speaker 2 (36:45):
I get that this is not like a slam dunk case.
But going back to your like zoom out thirty thousand
foot few. I mean there's something going on here.
Speaker 1 (36:55):
Yeah, And I mean if you think that now, just wait,
because I haven't even told you you what Lance's history
was before the crimes in the Lewis Clark Valley started happening.
Lance moved around a bit before he settled in the valley.
He grew up in Chicago, he was out in California
(37:16):
for a little bit, like dude kind of bounced around,
and that his movements is something that Gloria has really
dug into. She traced Lance's location over the years and
cross referenced other homicides or suspicious deaths in those areas,
and she found a few that, like you said, Brett,
feel like a little more than a coincidence to me.
(37:39):
First was the unsolved murder of Diane Taylor in Chicago.
Diane was eight years old when she went missing on
August first, nineteen sixty three, while heading home from the YMCA.
Her body gets found two days later. She's been brutally beaten,
sexually assaulted, and stabbed. Now, while researching Diane's case, Gloria
found owned that a fifteen year old Lance Boss was
(38:03):
her HAWAIIMCA camp counselor and lived in the same neighborhood
as Diane. What's wild is I'm not even sure if
he was interviewed at the time. Now, our team tried
reaching out to Chicago PD to see where the investigation
stands today, because Detective Nichols told us that they were
really interested when Gloria brought this to them, But when
we reached out to Chicago investigators, they would not talk
(38:25):
to us. So I'm not sure if they have any
evidence to test. I don't know if they've tried talking
to Lance about this, Like, I truly know nothing about
where things stand in that case today, but it's odd, right, Yeah,
So that's Chicago nineteen sixty three. Fast forward to June
nineteen seventy two. Lance is now twenty four years old
(38:46):
and living in California. Seventeen year old Antoinette Anino is
found in the early morning hours floating in the water
near the shore of Santa Cruz. Police quickly rule her
death as suicide by drowning because they found out that
the night before, she and her boyfriend, her brother, and
her brother's girlfriend were like all out on the boardwalk together.
When she and her boyfriend get in this argument, the
(39:09):
two of them like leave their friends to go sit
on the beach and talk about it. But apparently she
was really upset, so her boyfriend got up left her alone,
telling her, listen, you can like come join us again
when you're calmed down. Now, they don't see her again,
and when police hear this, they're like, oh, she must
have been so upset that she threw herself into the
ocean to drown, even though she was found nude and
(39:31):
all of her clothes were missing, never found. I'm sorry
what I know. Now here's where it gets freaking weird.
Weirder than this, weirder than this. Her body was taken
to willow Glen Mortuary in San Jose. Later that same night,
Lance Voss gets caught breaking into this mortuary with a flashlight,
(39:52):
with a hunting knife, and with a camera. According to
the owner's daughter in law, Lance gets caught and he
tries to explain this whole thing away. He's like, oh,
I'm just trying to get in to see my girlfriend
one last time.
Speaker 2 (40:07):
And was Lance the boyfriend that she had been arguing with.
Speaker 1 (40:11):
No, he wasn't her boyfriend, but listen, you can't even
say that, like it was another was there someone else there?
Antoinette's body was the only one in the mortuary at
the time. So he gets charged with attempted burglary, which
ended up being reduced to a misdemeanor at the time.
And again, like nobody's connected to him to a Chicago thing.
(40:32):
This seems like the only thing that has happened, so
like I understand how maybe it got like pled down
or whatever. First time event a freaking weird first time offend.
When we talk about like paying attention to the things
that people are doing, breaking into a mortuary with a
camera a flashlight in the night, that.
Speaker 2 (40:48):
Feels like different than attempted burglary to me. But what
do I know?
Speaker 1 (40:52):
We should again, we need to be paying attention all
the red flags. So there's that.
Speaker 2 (40:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (40:58):
Then the last case that came up and Gloria's digging
is the death of twenty five year old Claudette Volova
in Lewiston on July twenty seventh, nineteen eighty seven. Claudette
was also involved with the Civic Theater, according to people
who knew her, and despite Lance being married, the two
were having an affair. According to one of Lance's friends,
(41:19):
the day of her death. He had walked into her
apartment and found her body after what was eventually ruled
a suicide. Now, I'll say up front, like from everything
I've seen, it doesn't seem like anyone questions the validity
at this current time. Like everyone seems to believe it
really was a suicide. He's just connected to her, they
(41:41):
were having an affair. But it's just so weird, right, So,
I mean, this is what you have, right.
Speaker 2 (41:48):
Like.
Speaker 1 (41:48):
The thing about this case that hooked me from the
beginning is I think it's one of the first instances
that I've come across where everyone connected, like whether it's
law enforcement or family like to these murders and dis appearances,
they seem to think that there is a serial killer
at work. They seem to think that they know exactly
who it is, where he is, but the public at
(42:10):
large knows nothing about it. Yeah, and there is this
guy out there living his life, and people who come
in contact with him may never know the things that
he has been connected to, coincidentally or not.
Speaker 2 (42:24):
And so much time has passed, so surely there's got
to be something in one of those cases that could
connect them to a killer. The killer.
Speaker 1 (42:36):
Listen, they've been trying. Detective Nichols has done physical searches
over the years looking for victims. I mean, she actually
even trained her own cadaver dog to conduct searches for
Christina's remains because her apartment didn't have the funds to
pay for a dog search. Like this woman's like going
above and beyond doing the lord's work. And listen, I'll
tell you that, like, not all of the searches she's
done have been directly related to Lance, Like she's looked
(42:58):
at other people, other places, whatever, but a good number
of them have been connected to him, because, by the way,
dude owned slash owns currently like a few homes and
pieces of property around the valley, including and I think
this is important, a home that was right between Christina's
(43:19):
house and Rose's house at the time Christina went missing,
and that house was vacant at the time Christina White disappeared.
But even when she looked at that place and all
the other places she's looked at, Detective Nichols, She's turned
up nothing. What she has gotten over the years, what
our reporter got as she was interviewing people for this episode,
(43:40):
what I've gotten in my dms are stories upon stories
from locals who have personally had creepy or just downright
terrifying experiences with Lance, And I'm not going to go
over all of them, but the one that I can't
stop thinking about is described by Detective Nichols in an
episode of Cold Valley called person of Interest. So i'll
(44:02):
start it up for you. This woman, she's looking to
buy a house, and one of the homes that she
was looking at was owned and being sold by none
other than Lance Voss. So he's giving her this tour,
and throughout it, he's like hyping up the basement, like
I've done all this work down there. You really got
to see the basement. You gotta go down in the
basement like highlight of the home. So eventually she's like, yeah, okay,
(44:24):
well you know I've seen the house. Let's go down
to the basement. She started towards the stairs first, with
like him following behind, but before they actually got to
the stairs, she like turned around to tell him something,
and when she turned around, she says that he put
his arm his arm was up and he like put
it down really fast, and sort of like she felt
like hid something behind his back, and she asked him.
(44:46):
She's like what, like, what are you holding? And eventually
he pulls something out. Okay, there's something in his hand,
and it is a finial, which is basically like this
like decorative like top of a bedpost.
Speaker 2 (44:58):
And when did this happen?
Speaker 1 (45:00):
I believe this was after all of the murder slash
disappearances that we've talked about. But this thing like freaked
her out because she felt like he was gonna hit
her with it. And to add to the weirdness, he
started asking her questions like does anyone know you're here, which,
like thankfully lots of people knew she was, or she
at least like said, like everyone in my life knows
I'm here, Like that's what I would be doing. I
(45:22):
was like, I'm leaving everyone.
Speaker 2 (45:23):
Everyone I know they know the address.
Speaker 1 (45:27):
Yeah, And then like but as soon as he knows that,
he's like, doesn't seem interested in showing her the basement.
Speaker 2 (45:32):
Basement's not a big deal now.
Speaker 1 (45:34):
According to our reporting, Lance moved to the East Coast
in nineteen ninety nine and is still there today. We
did try getting in contact with him for this episode,
but he did not call us back. So listen, if
you have your own story or know anything something whatever.
Detective Jackie Nichols wants to talk to you. No tip
is too small. She is technically only the lead on
(45:57):
Christina's case because of jurisdiction stuff, so that's probablyably the
one she has spent the most time with. But it
is almost impossible to look at just one case without
looking at the other. So she is fully read up
on all five cases, and she is unofficially taken over Christina,
Brandy and Stevens cases two, who most people now call
the Civic Theater three and right now she's looking into
(46:19):
anything that can be tested for DNA, like the ropes
from Christina Nelson and Brandy's bodies, like underneath them. And
it's worth saying again it's not just about Lance like.
She's also actively looking into serial killers who were operating
at the time. She's trying to rule people in and
out based on where they were their mo whatever.
Speaker 2 (46:39):
Does she unofficially have Kristin David's case two?
Speaker 1 (46:43):
She does not, The FBI has jurisdiction there. Oh, Kristin
has always been the outlier. And even though I think
she'll forever be tied and like lumped in with this
group in the Lewis Clark Valley just due to proximity
and local lore. Most if not all, investigators actually believed
that she was not killed by the same person who
(47:05):
killed all the others, mostly because them o is just
so different.
Speaker 2 (47:11):
Well, yeah, and she was dismembered, right, Like, that's like
a whole different ballgame.
Speaker 1 (47:17):
And I'm dismembered by somebody who knew what they were doing,
someone authorities believe probably did it before. I told listeners
at the top, like, this was one of the first
stories I'd come across where there was a serial killer
the you know, public didn't necessarily know about. But it
was not the last. And actually, I've been tracking another
(47:38):
man who may be responsible for the murder and dismemberment
of women across the country, and Kristen David could very
well be one of his victims. And listen, I'm not
ready to like completely lay that story out yet. Me
and a bunch of the reporters are working on this.
We still have a ton of investigating to do, but
(48:00):
I do want to give everyone a peek into the
investigation because the number one thing I'm looking for right
now are similar cases. Like you know, they won't let
me into ViCAP I keep trying like whatever. So what
I need is are millions of listeners to tell me
if there are cases local to them that match this
same mo. So with that, what I'm gonna say is,
(48:22):
do not miss next week's episode. Set your watches, or
join the Crime Junkie fan Club. You can listen to
it early. I'll let you listen to it right now.
I'm gonna drop it at the same time. I'll have
a link to sign up in the show notes. But
in next week's episode, I'm gonna dive deep into Kristen
David's case and bring people in on this what is
for us kind of an active investigation. So I'm not
(48:45):
giving up. Detective Nichols isn't giving up either, but she
recognizes that she is not gonna be able to solve
these cases without the help of the public. Her hope
is that someone who may have been too scared to
come forward back then we'll feel comfortable doing so now.
And that's exactly why coverage of these cases are so important,
(49:07):
and thankfully we're not the only ones. The Snake River
Killer podcast has also done a deep dive into these cases.
We create more of an opportunity for someone who knows
something to hear it and to come forward. So if
you have any information about the disappearances of Christina White
and Stephen Parasol, or the murders of Brandy Miller and
Christina Nelson, or Kristin David, you can contact the Asotin
(49:31):
County Sheriff's Department. We're gonna have all that contact information
in the show notes. You can find all the source
material for this episode on our website, Crimejunkie podcast dot com.
Speaker 2 (49:54):
And you can follow us on Instagram at Crime Junkie Podcast.
Speaker 1 (49:57):
And we're gonna be back next week with a brand
new app. But don't forget. If you want to listen
to Kristen David's episode right now, I'm dropping it early
in the Crime Junkie fan Club, go to Crime Junkie
podcast dot com slash fan club. Crime Junkie is an
(50:36):
audio Chuck production. So what do you think, Chuck? Do
you approve
High crime Junkies. I'm your host, Ashley Flowers, and I'm
brit and I have been dying to tell you this story.
It is a story about a serial killer. Not one
of the ones we've been asked to cover time and
time again, like the ones who have gotten endless coverage
as people pick apart their psyche and motivations. This is
about someone I'd never heard of, someone who police suspect
(00:22):
of terrible things, because somehow, wherever this guy goes, tragedy follows,
but they have never had enough to prove the things
they so strongly suspect. So this man, either one of
the unluckiest people I've ever heard of, or a cold
blooded killer, is living among all of us. He could
(00:45):
be our neighbor or the guy we pass at the
grocery store, someone we know, someone our listeners know. But
remember crime Junkie Life roll number one, You never really
know anyone ever. But it's my job to make sure
you're well informed. So buckle up, kiddos. This one's a doozy.
(01:06):
I'm talking about the cases that have been linked to
a man they call the Lewis Clark Valley Killer, and
I'm going to talk about who police think that man
actually is. I don't know what was in the water
(01:50):
in the fall of nineteen eighty two, but authorities in
the Lewis Clark Valley where Washington and Idaho and Oregon
all meat they were underwater with cases. Between August thirty
first and September nineteenth, in this area where not much happens,
four people had gone missing. It started with a two
year old little boy named Ricky Barnett, who was visiting
(02:12):
his grandparents' farm in Grangeville, Idaho, and while workers were
unloading a delivery of chickens, Ricky vanished into thin air.
Almost two weeks later, on September twelfth, two young women
went missing while out running errands in Lewiston, Idaho, twenty
one year old Christina Nelson and her stepsister eighteen year
old Jacqueline Miller, who goes by Brandy. Then just as
(02:34):
the twelfth of September turned into the thirteenth, before anyone
even knew that Brandy and Christina were missing, thirty five
year old Stephen Parasol vanished after he was dropped off
at the local civic theater in the same small town.
So by the nineteenth of September, when eighteen year old
Jennifer Vincent and her car disappear somewhere between her boyfriend's
(02:56):
dorm at Washington State University and her home in Bokane, Washington.
People are panicked. Authorities, especially in the valley, are drowning.
And that's not even speaking of the cold cases they've
had looming over them for the last couple of years.
The disappearance of a twelve year old girl in seventy nine,
and then the murder and dismemberment of a young woman
(03:17):
who was found in eighty one. So something is happening
in this area. Captain M. Dwayne Taylor, chief of detectives
for the Lewiston PDEs, said in an article for The
Spokane Chronicle that he had been on the force for
nineteen years and has never seen anything like this. The
peace and illusion of safety that the valley residents used
(03:39):
to feel is shattered. Parents don't let their kids walk
to school alone anymore. People are locking their doors at night.
I mean, it's like they're being hunted by this faceless,
nameless boogeyman. And that doesn't change. After Jennifer Vincent is
found and there actually is an innocent, albeit scary reason
for her disappearance. She had gotten into some kind of
(04:00):
accident on her way home and she was found pinned
in the wreckage of her car with a broken back
and hypothermia. And that was nearly four days after she
went missing, So at least for her case, like, there's
no connection seemingly to any of the other victims. And
after she gets found the local papers who had been
picking up all of like the five most recent cases
(04:23):
and like lumping them together, they let Jennifer's name fall off.
Eventually Ricky Barnett's name disappears too, So I'm not really
sure why, especially when I started digging, I found some
reporting to suggest that he wasn't the only two year
old boy to go missing in that area over a
span a couple years. What, dude, I don't know. The
papers dropped all the reporting on those kids, like there's
(04:45):
almost nothing. Don't worry, I'm not about to stay tuned,
like I'm having our reporters dig in, so watch out someday. Yeah,
But in putting Jennifer and Ricky's cases aside, this new
theory began to emerge. Though police were adamant early to
the press that all these cases were considered to be unrelated.
(05:05):
It was hard to ignore the fact that three of
these people who are still missing, the adults, all went
missing on the same night from the same teeny tiny town,
so tiny in fact, that it turns out Stephen Parasol
actually lived just a few apartment buildings down from Christina Nelson's.
Christina actually held the part time job as a janitor
(05:28):
at the theater that Stephen went missing from before Stephen
took that job over a year earlier. And Christina and
Stephen went to the same.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
College, so they knew each other then.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
Ye, I mean, they definitely would have at least been familiar.
You're in the same circles, right, Like, I don't get
the sense that they were like close or hung out.
But let me lay out for you the separate circumstances
surrounding Christina and Brandy's disappearance versus Stevens, so you can
get a sense of what police are working with here.
So Christina's boyfriend, this guy Bill, called her at her
(06:01):
apartment at around eight thirty PM on the night of
September twelfth. Now he's planning to come over that night,
so I'm sure they're just like coordinating or whatever. And
she told him that her stepsister Brandy was going to
be over in a little bit and that they were
going to go to the local Safeway grocery store. Now.
Bill ended up falling asleep, so he didn't make the
trip to Christina's until the next morning. But when he
(06:22):
got there, it had to feel a little like deja
voui because on Christina's front door was a note written
to him saying, quote, Bill walked down to the store
with Brandy back in a few Come on in and
get comfy. Okay, chris Key's in our hiding place. But
even though the note was presumably left for him the
(06:43):
day before, when Bill goes inside, Christina's not there, and
it doesn't seem like he's worried. Probably just assumed that
he'd missed her. He'd see her later. So after waiting,
he had to leave to go to work. But when
he came back that night, neither Christina nor Brandy were there,
but the note that Christina left still was, which is a.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
Pretty big red flag. YEP.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
For some reason, alarm bells weren't ringing for Bill just
yet because he didn't go out and like try and
find her. And I'm not sure if this was normal
for them to just kind of like be missing each
other a lot or what. And in his defense, everything
in the apartment indicated that she was planning on coming
back when he got there the first time, Like she
left a light on, her cat was still there, even
(07:27):
her purse was sitting there. So I'm thinking he just
assumed Christina is going to reappear. They could laugh about
being like ships passing in the night and just like
missing each other.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
Yeah, And at this point, it's not like the disappearances
in the area have started piling up, right, Like, not
everyone's on high alert for this yet.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
Right, So I mean, like prior to Christina and Brandy
going missing, you had like a young kid who went
missing three years before. Then that woman who was found
murdered it was a year before, both of those very
different cases. So like they're not even being connected to
each other much less anything else at this point. And
then you know, we had the little boy Ricky who
goes missing right before as well, But like, but it's
(08:06):
so different, right, And I don't even know how much
pickup his kids got before anything started like happening in
like a short period of time, So it's like not
where Bill's mind jumps to right away that like something
bad has happened, plus in nineteen eighty two, I feel
like fair like this is a totally made up stat
like sixty percent of trying to hang out with people
was like missing them in real time and having to
(08:27):
try and connect later when you got to your landline.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
Because like you, you can't be in contact the way
we are right now.
Speaker 1 (08:33):
So so Bill decides, you know what, He's just gonna
stay at Christina so he doesn't miss her. But when
he wakes up in the middle of the night on
what is now the fourteenth, and there's still no sign
of his girlfriend, like this is when he realizes, like
something more is going on here, so he starts calling friends, family,
anybody who might know where his girlfriend was. I'm sure
(08:54):
he tried to get in touch with Brandy since the
note mentioned her and she lived nearby, but he couldn't
find her either. He even ends up going to check
the safe way where the grocery store where she was
supposed to go to.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
Nothing like they just weren't there at the time, or
they'd never even made it to begin with.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
I have all the questions since her purse was left
behind that makes me think that they never even made
it to the store.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
But was her wallet in her purse or could she
have just like taken some cash for the few things
she needed, left everything else behind.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
Wallets were still there, to be fair, Like, I mean,
I guess she could have just taken some cash. Like,
I don't know exactly what they were getting. I don't
know if they're going for just like, oh, we're just
gonna like grab a soda, or if they're going for
like a full on grocery hall. So, yeah, did she
have money on her did she throw just a couple
bucks in her pocket? I don't know.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
But at the Safeway, no one saw them there.
Speaker 1 (09:46):
No, which like always makes me wonder if they made
it there in the first place, right, And it's worth
noting that the grocery store at the time it closed
at ten, so if they wanted to make it on time,
they would have had to leave before then. And we
know the last time Bill spoke to her was eight thirty.
She was still waiting on Brandy, So it's like a
little bit of a tight timeline.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
Yeah, so between eight thirty and when Bill got there
the following morning, like there.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
Gone something happens, right, And I also haven't seen anything
in the reporting about there being like fresh groceries or
grocery bags or anything like that in the apartment, So.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
There's no signs of foul play in the apartment.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
No nothing.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
And just to go back to the note real quick,
it was for sure written in Christina's handwriting.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
It was hers. Yes, Okay, so we don't really know
when they went missing, but we know for sure that
they were gone by the morning or afternoon of the fourteenth,
and not just because Bill like pops by then. He also,
as he's like looking for them, contacts the restaurant where
Christina works, and he finds out that she'd been a
no call, no show for her shift that day too,
(10:52):
and like that's like the final straw. He knows this
is like bad, bad, and so from there he goes
right to the police to report Christina and Brandy.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
Missing and does their family go with him, so.
Speaker 1 (11:02):
They actually don't live in town, but like when they
find out, everyone's just as worried as Bill is. Like
Christina in particular is one of those super responsible people
who would never know call no shows. So while Bill
is the one who's like there and providing the boots
on the ground presence. In the early days of the investigation,
the family is completely like in the background or on board, Yeah,
do it, giving that extra push. Now police do take
(11:25):
the report right away, and this is when they start
retracing a lot of the steps that Bill took. Right
they look at Christina's apartment, they try and retrace the
paths that the women might have taken, like to and
from Safeway, but they cannot find a single person who
saw them, who interacted with them. Nothing, just like poof gone.
(11:46):
And within a couple of hours of their last interaction
with people or contact with people, all of a sudden,
Stephen Parasol vanishes too. So investigators learn that Steven's girlfriend
drop him off at the Lewiston Civic Theater at around
six thirty pm on September twelfth. Stephen is very involved
(12:07):
in this theater. He plays clarinet, he works on sets,
he is the janitor, and I believe that he was
even in a show or two. And so when he's
dropped off, he was either going to be like they're
practicing playing his clarinet or working on a set or something.
Now he does that everything's fine. His girlfriend picks him
back up at nine because they have to go to
this going away party for another staff member of the theater.
(12:29):
They're there for a couple of hours, and then on
what is now the thirteenth, at like midnight, the girlfriend
drops him back off at the theater. So he's going
to play his clarinet. He also has some laundry that
he wants to do there too. Now a few people
see his girlfriend drop him off. One was even a
police officer, So he is one hundred percent back at
(12:51):
that theater by.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
Midnight, but alone.
Speaker 1 (12:54):
So there was apparently one other guy who'd been there
that night, and he said he saw Stephen before before
Steven had left at like nine pm, and then he
says he fell asleep. So by the time Stephen made
it back the second time, he didn't see him come
in or leave. And in fact, no one ever saw
him leave the theater, and just like Christina and Brandy,
(13:16):
he's never seen again. When he was eventually reported missing
and police go and search his place, it was a
lot like Christina's in that it looked like he would
be right back. I mean, he left his car parked
outside of his place. He left behind an uncashed paycheck
for one hundred and seventy nine bucks, which is like
no chump change in nineteen eighty two, especially if you
(13:36):
were planning on leaving, which it's clear Stephen didn't do,
at least it's clear to those who knew him. Now.
In search of the theater didn't turn up anything either
other than finding Steven's clarinet in the orchestra pit. Like,
there's nothing interestingly too, like even his duffel bag that
he brought that he was like gonna do laundry or
whatever like that's gone.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
So at this point, I mean, they have to thinking
that everything is connected, right or like other things, it's
this wild coincidence. Well like, wait, did Bill come under
suspicion at all?
Speaker 1 (14:09):
Oh, I'm sure police looked at him briefly, and Brandy
also had a boyfriend who like same thing. I mean,
I think they probably looked at but neither of them
are considered suspects. Actually, the first real suspect they had
in this case, and this goes to what you're saying
about them being connected, the first real suspect was Stephen Parsol.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
Oh.
Speaker 1 (14:29):
I know turn of events now, I don't know exactly
when police started to have suspicions about Stephen possibly being
more suspect than victim. I mean, they su aren't saying
anything like that in the early reporting that I'm able
to pull on the case from like eighty two and
eighty three. But everything changes in March of eighty four.
(14:53):
That's when the decomposed, mostly skeletal remains of Christina and
Brandy are found at the bottom of a hill about
thirty five to forty miles outside of Lewiston.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
And were they still doing searches for them.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
No, I actually don't know if they ever did formal searches.
Like the way they end up getting found, it's truly
a miracle. There was this kid who was out at
like the top of this hill looking for cans, and
like the wind or something like catches his baseball cap
and he loses it, and he goes down this hill
to chase it. That is how they get found.
Speaker 2 (15:30):
What are the odds of that happening?
Speaker 1 (15:32):
That is and that's what I'm saying, Like different hill,
different day, different time of.
Speaker 2 (15:36):
Day, different kid, different cap. I mean, yeah, like.
Speaker 1 (15:39):
They might still be considered missing people, but they're not
right Like, so they're found on March nineteenth of eighty four.
By March twenty seventh, they've been positively identified as Christina
and Brandy, and then Boom. April first of eighty four,
The Spokesman Review publishes an article saying that police are
looking for the third missing person, thirty five five year
(16:00):
old Stephen Parasol. Now they don't call him a suspect,
but it's clear to everyone who hadn't already picked up
on police's suspicions by now that like they're looking for him,
you know what I mean?
Speaker 2 (16:11):
Yeah, but why, Like what would his motive be?
Speaker 1 (16:15):
They don't have one, Like honestly, at this point, I
think they just see the opportunity because I think one
of the paths that the girls could have walked to
get to safe way actually went past the theater. So,
you know, they're seeing this big, tall, older guy who
has a military background going missing on this same night
as these two young women, and I think they kind
(16:36):
of just assume that he was responsible. Maybe maybe it
wasn't planned right, Like maybe everything whatever happens, something spiraled
out of control, and that's why Stephen left with like
literally just the clothes on his back and the ones
in his laundry sack. But right away, anyone who knows
Stephen was like, absolutely no. They would tell you there
(16:58):
is no way he could hurt anyone. Stephen was like
everyone's big brother at the theater. He was this gentle giant,
always looking out for everybody, making sure that the theater
was a safe haven for everyone involved. Plus sweet Stephen.
They say that all you have to do is look
at what was left behind to know that he is
the victim of foul play too, because remember how his
(17:20):
clarinet was found in the orchestra pit, Like everyone's like
he loved that thing, like that thing was his baby,
Like if anything is telling you that your theory is wrong,
like he would never leave that behind. So his loved
ones are frustrated that not only is their missing loved
one getting wrongly painted as a suspect, but in doing so,
they're afraid that they're not putting the same resources into
(17:42):
solving this case. Because if he's the victim, if he
succumed to foul play, but they're not considering that, like
how are you taking the right stuff?
Speaker 2 (17:48):
They're not just not considering that, they're considering that he
is the suspect of foul play.
Speaker 1 (17:52):
Right, and by the way, like even if you, you know,
go with their theory, like you didn't mean for something
to happen or whatever, Like if you're gonna go on
the run, like you think you'd at least take your
car for a little bit, and like cash the paycheck,
you're gonna need some money on the road. So nothing
points to Stephen leaving willingly, nothing points to him hurting
(18:13):
Christina and Brandy.
Speaker 2 (18:14):
And going back to Christina and Brandy, were they able
to determine how they died?
Speaker 1 (18:19):
Oh yeah, so I didn't get into that. The pathologists
determined that they had been strangled, and even though they
didn't appear to have been bound in any way, beneath
their bodies were these like lengths of something that early
days they described as like clothesline cord. Now they also
found with the women like clothing, lipgloss, jewelry, and there
was a bra shoved into the mouth of one of
(18:41):
the skulls. So motive for whoever did this seemed to
be sexual, or at least like had a sexual component
to it. But because of all the time that had
passed between when they went missing and then when they
were found, I mean the chances of them retrieving anything
to prove that or point to their killer was like
virtually zero in nineteen eighty.
Speaker 2 (19:02):
Four, nothing than to officially rule out Stephen either, No.
Speaker 1 (19:08):
But honestly they don't end up needing it for that reason,
you see, a little perspective goes a long way in
cases when investigators zoom out and take stock of everything.
And when they do that in this case, they find
reason to start side eyeing someone else. So remember that
(19:32):
guy that was sleeping in the theater when Stephen was there.
Speaker 2 (19:36):
Yes, I knew there was more to him.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
There's a lot more to him. So his name is
Lance Boss. And what are the odds that he not
only shows up in this case but also in one
of those cold cases from the area, that one from
nineteen seventy nine where a twelve year old girl went missing?
What uh huh? So back on April twenty eighth, nineteen
(20:02):
seventy nine, in a Sultan, Washington, which is like just
across the river from Lewiston, twelve year old Christina White
goes to her friend Rose's house because the two were
gonna go to like the fair that was in town together.
Mom knows she made it to Rose's house because she
actually walked her over there, like dropped Christina off with
her bike and waved goodbye to her as she was
(20:24):
at the front door. But a few hours later, so
around two pm, Christina had called home and asked her
mom to pick her up. She said she wasn't feeling well,
which wasn't entirely out of the ordinary. I guess Christina
had a habit of just not drinking enough water. She
would get overheated pretty easily. Yeah, But like her mom
at the time was home with her little sister, she
couldn't just like like pack up and leave at that moment.
(20:46):
So she's like, okay, Christina, listen, run a towel under
some cold water, put it on your forehead, put it
on your neck, just try and cool off. And then
when you're feeling a little bit better, like just come home.
I'll keep an eye out for you.
Speaker 2 (20:56):
But she never came home.
Speaker 1 (20:57):
She never came home.
Speaker 2 (20:59):
Did she decided to just go to the fair instead
of heading home.
Speaker 1 (21:04):
So this is you asked a complicated question. So the
current investigator thinks no, But I don't know if anyone
can be one hundred percent certain without knowing where Christina
is now, you know what I mean, Police reports from
back then are minimal. I mean, there's a lot that
has been lost to time, if it ever existed at all.
(21:26):
Detective Jackie Nichols, who is on Christina's case today, told
our team that there was like this turf war going
on between the police department and the Sheriff's department when
it came to this case, and they were battling over
who had jurisdiction. Even though, by the way, when Christina
first went missing, it doesn't even feel like anyone was
quick to jump on it. Like they wrote her off
(21:48):
as a runaway. They said, because her mom was divorced.
Speaker 2 (21:52):
What does that have anything to do with Christina being
a runaway?
Speaker 1 (21:59):
They're basically like, oh, it must be a terrible home
life because your mother's divorced, so you're gonna leave. Okay,
it's like complete yet, like yeah, sign of the times.
Speaker 2 (22:06):
Okay, cool, awesome, great? Her friend Rose, did she like
say what happened to her?
Speaker 1 (22:14):
Well, she wasn't there, because when they talked to Rose,
it turns out so again they were planning on going
to the fair. Rose ended up leaving as planned when
Christina wasn't feeling good. So she like left went to
the fair. Christina is there at this house, and when
she left, she just assumed Christina was gonna join her
later or whatever. Now it's a little confusing. Her little brother,
(22:36):
Rose's little brother might have also been home while Christina
was there. But it seems like police don't speak to
him much and like even today he's never sat down
for like a proper interview. Wait, why, well, he was
only ten back then, so like at the time, I
don't know if police didn't know if he'd be much help.
(22:57):
I don't know if like.
Speaker 2 (22:58):
They had this runaway theory, so like did they.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
Write or did like you know, parents come in and
say like, no, you can't interview my ten year old,
Like that's too traumatic. Again, like I don't have a
lot of reports from back in the day to like
reference like what they were even thinking at the time.
To me, this is like I feel like he holds
all the answers, but like if he's not talking, also,
why is he not talking? And I know Detective Nichols
(23:23):
like wants to talk to him still like to this day,
but she says she's waiting for the right time or
like you know, if you're out there, like, you're welcome
to come forward. But all that to say, so little
brother maybe home, maybe not. Rose is already at the fair.
There was someone else who had very close ties to
this household who could have come by. Like theoretically we
(23:44):
don't know if he was in the house that day,
but guess who Rose's mom was dating?
Speaker 2 (23:48):
Lance Foss? Lance Foss, and what's his story?
Speaker 1 (23:54):
I don't know, so like without the reports, it's hard
for me to tell what he said or even if
he was asked at all about that day or his whereabouts.
What I know is Christina and her bike are never
seen or heard from again. The only thing even connected
to her that ever surfaced were some school papers that
(24:15):
were found on the outskirts of a farmer's field shortly
after she disappeared. And when they get found, they were
in pretty good condition, so it looked like they'd only
been out there, I don't know, maybe a day or two.
But Detective Nichols is actually not sure if this find
is even significant. And that's for a few reasons. I mean,
for one, it wasn't just Christina's papers, there are actually
(24:36):
some from another friend. Two, the papers aren't all in
one place, like it doesn't feel like, you know, they
were like staged there. They're sort of scattered almost like
they flew out of someone's car, like passing on a
nearby road. So Detective Nichols kind of wonders if maybe,
you know, some of Christina's and this other friend's schoolwork
was in like the friend's family's car somehow, like it
(24:57):
got mixed up, fell out whatever. And we talked to
a woman named Gloria. She is Christina Nelson's cousin, so
that's how this whole thing got started for her. Okay,
she has been deep in this case, I mean like,
I mean really along with Detective Jackie Nichols. Gloria is
the one who brought this case back to life. And
she says that the field where those school papers were found,
(25:18):
that's where Rose and her mom kept their horses. So
all in all, Detective Nichols doesn't think that those papers
are like the key to cracking this case.
Speaker 2 (25:26):
And is there any direct connection between Lance and this property.
Speaker 1 (25:31):
No, but you can see that there is like a
really strong connection between Lance and Christina. And that's where
I'm like, do the papers mean anything? I don't know,
but like you know, going back to our scope out
just like him being the last person who was in
the same place as Stephen before Stephen disappears. Lance is
suspected by police to potentially be the last person in
(25:53):
the same place as Christina when she disappeared. And when
you look at the case that happened between Christina and
then the other three from Lewiston, there isn't a tight
connection to Lance, But I don't know enough circumstantial things
to make you go huh.
Speaker 2 (26:10):
So.
Speaker 1 (26:11):
The other case is that of twenty two year old
Kristin david So. On June twenty sixth, nineteen eighty one,
Kristin goes missing while riding her bike from her dorm
at the university in Moscow, Idaho, to her parents' house
in none other than Lewiston. Like Christina, both she and
her bike just poof gone, But unlike Christina, Kristin gets
(26:36):
found eight days later on the fourth of July. Her
body is found in pieces in the Snake River. Her
body parts were wrapped in newspaper and placed in black
garbage bags. Now, she'd been in the water for some time,
so finding forensic evidence was pretty much a no go.
They don't know who took her. They don't know where
(26:58):
she was killed, They don't know much of anything. The
only clues they had in her case were the newspaper
that she was actually like wrapped in. They were local
papers from Lewiston dated April of nineteen eighty one, and
police got a couple of sightings of maybe a big
brown van that was maybe stopped on the side of
(27:20):
the road with her and her bike, but they never
figured out who the driver was though, And this is
one of those very loose connections to Lance Foss. It's
been speculated that maybe he had a brown van at
the time. I guess he had a lot of vehicles,
but we're saying brown van not officially confirmed though. What's
(27:41):
more interesting is that Lance's job took him specifically from
the valley to Moscow, which includes the same route that
Kristin would have taken on her bike the day that
she went missing. And Kristin had actually worked at the
Lewiston Civic Theater for at least a little while while
at some point, so she theoretically very well may have
(28:04):
known Lance Foss, although we cannot one percent confirm that.
So again, let's scope out thirty thousand foot view in
nineteen eighty four. You have this witness who was with
Stephen right before Stephen went missing. Now you realize that
his name has come up in other cold cases, very suspicious,
(28:24):
and listen, even early on, they recognize that his story
about being at the theater always kind of stunk a
little bit. So while police are still looking for Stephen,
right after Christina and Brandy are found, they also bring
this guy Lance back in for questioning. And the first
(28:44):
time they talked to him it was just as a witness.
This time it is as a suspect, and this time
his story gets even stranger. Lance's story originally was that
he was working with Steve even on the set and
he left around nine point thirty, which we know Stephen
left at nine, so fine, sure could make sense. But
(29:07):
then in another version of his story or events, he
claimed to police that he'd spent more time at the
theater that night, and that at some point he'd been
working up in this attic, like doing rigging or whatever
for like the curtains or something, and then he accidentally
fell through the ceiling, which is possible because if you
like go up to the attic, there are these like
catwalks that you have to stay on otherwise the ceilings
(29:28):
just like plasters. I mean, it would be easy to
fall through. So in this other version, he's like, oh,
I fell through this thing. Like I'm not super herb,
but I just needed to lay down for a second,
and I ended up falling asleep until like five am.
And he's like, oh, when I woke up, I immediately
was like, oh God, I got to get home because
I never let my wife know that I was going
to be staying there. Oh and by the way, he
(29:50):
tells police, like while I was like there and sleeping
or whatever, I did hear the phone ring at some point, like,
but I was like, you know, I think this is
like when he was like dazed or half a sleep
or whatever. But he's like, I didn't answer it.
Speaker 2 (30:01):
So convenient if his wife says she called looking for
him exactly, he didn't pick up exactly.
Speaker 1 (30:07):
Anyways, he says that on his drive home, as he's
like going, he realized, you know what, like there's no
point in rushing. My wife is probably already at work
by this point, so never mind, I'm going to go
back to the theater. So again, this is like the
kind of weird story he told them before when he
was a witness, and that was back in nineteen eighty two.
Fast forward to now nineteen eighty four, and he gives
(30:29):
a little more detail. So he reiterates that he's working
at the theater, but then he says between nine and
nine thirty he leaves and he drives to this pizzeria
called the Red baron to have a couple of beers
and watch a movie. He says that the movie got
out at eleven, which is when he left the pizzeria
and went back to the theater. This is presumably when
(30:51):
he fell to the ceiling that whole rigging thing, laid down,
sleeps till five am. But he's still in all of
this claiming that he ever saw Steven back at the theater,
and oh no, I never saw the missing women either,
by the way.
Speaker 2 (31:07):
So he's saying he's aware enough to like hear the
phone ring, decide not to answer it, but don't worry.
He definitely didn't like interact with the missing guy that
we absolutely know was there at midnight.
Speaker 1 (31:20):
Okay, yes, but it's even more bananas than that, because
when they dig in, they realize that the couch that
he says he's like asleep on or half asleep on
because he hears the phone whatever is right by the
door that Stephen would have entered from, like when his
girlfriend dropped him back off after the party. So suspicious,
(31:40):
But there are other parts of his story that don't
line up either, Like right he says he goes to
this pizzeria, he leaves when the movie's over at eleven.
When investigators actually check, they find out that the movie
didn't get out at eleven, It got out at midnight.
And they find out that one of the paths that
the women might have taken to get to safeway. Right,
(32:00):
we're talking about Christina and Brandy, there's a path that
just so happens to cross right in front of the
Red Baron, where he's now telling them he was and
to me in the perfect timeframe, right, Like we know
Christina is talking to her boyfriend Bill at eight thirty.
She's waiting for Brandy. We know that the Safeway closes
at ten, so she would have walked right by the
(32:21):
Red Baron as he says he's sitting there right, So
investigators can't help. But wonder could Lance have seen the
girls from inside the Red Baron somehow lured them back
to the theater because at the time Stephen was gone, like
maybe he didn't know Stephen was coming back, and then
Stephen walked in on something happening, and then maybe Stephen
(32:43):
was just like collateral damage.
Speaker 2 (32:45):
Which is an interesting theory. But then where is Steven,
Like they found the girls.
Speaker 1 (32:52):
And yes, Stephen was not with them. One theory has
always been that maybe he's still in the theater, like
when I did a TikTok on this case by asking
locals to tell me, like, what have you been hearing? Right, Like,
you guys need to follow me because I'm always asking
people before it now, before we do stuff, because like
I'm finding, especially in these old cases, there's usually like
this town lore where everyone's like, I've heard this one
(33:15):
hundred times. I thought police knew whatever. So I asked
people what they said, and what I kept getting from
people is that there's this rumor that he is in
the wall of the theater. Now, like were they telling
police that at the time. I don't know. I feel
like if he was in the wall, he would have
been found, like the theater is abandoned and condemned now,
(33:36):
but it wasn't then, Like the smell alone, I feel
like would have gotten some attention from people.
Speaker 2 (33:42):
Yeah, did they ever search it?
Speaker 1 (33:44):
I don't know, Like I don't know how much they
were searching for a body early on.
Speaker 2 (33:48):
Versus evidence of a missing person and their last like
interactions and movement.
Speaker 1 (33:54):
Right, And I know, I know back in the day,
like and I'm pretty sure it was after the Christina
and Brandy were found. I know they were going to
the theater trying to find evidence of a crime scene.
And I haven't told you this yet, not just because
of like the Lance connection in Stephen or whatever, like
the theater makes sense, But I told you there was
like cord found under Christina and Brandy. Like, well, to
(34:17):
police when you again you scope out and you're looking
at all these pieces, that chord looks an awful lot
like the rigging, specifically the type of rigging that Lance
said he was working with at the theater that night.
So like everything in these three cases just like keeps
coming back to the theater for them. So I know
(34:39):
that they conducted luminol testing in the basement by the
back door, but they never got anything that they could
work with because it turns out that the theater walls
were painted with lead based paint, and like lead will
apparently light up just like blood under illumino, which I
did not know fun crime junkie fact. So unfortunately at
the time, like they can't say any anything happened there.
(35:01):
But no, they're not taking down walls looking for a
body either.
Speaker 2 (35:04):
But when they're looking for evidence, I'm not sure i'd
expect like blood at the crime scene if we know
that the women had been strangled.
Speaker 1 (35:12):
Right, yeah, but like we don't know what happened to
Steven so and you don't know if like, no, they
didn't have skull fractures as far as we know or
anything like that, but you don't know if.
Speaker 2 (35:21):
There was like a laceration from like a defensive wound
or something.
Speaker 1 (35:23):
I think they're just looking for anything that can be helpful.
Speaker 2 (35:26):
Well, what would be helpful is finding Steven like that.
I feel like that would be like a huge puzzle
piece in all this. Did they ever actually check the
walls or whatever, like run down some of these local
rumors that like you at least have heard.
Speaker 1 (35:40):
Yeah, like would love to know if they checked the walls,
Like there's nothing in it in the police documents. But
like I said, I know that theater was condemned and
it recently just got purchased with plans to turn it
into a senior center. So with those renovations, like it's twofold, right, like,
there's a chance that any evidence there either already has
(36:01):
or soon going to be lost. I don't know, And
maybe I'm just being like too optimistic, but I'm like, oh, also,
does this mean, like, as we're tearing it down, if
we're careful enough, can something.
Speaker 2 (36:10):
Be fact find evidence?
Speaker 1 (36:11):
Right? But not finding Steven I think is one of
the biggest hang ups in this case because I think
prosecutors are like, well, a defense is gonna have a
field day with this, right.
Speaker 2 (36:22):
Like it's something you can't tie up, right because until
you can prove, like with a body, that he's a victim,
I think a defense attorney is going to paint him
as an alternate suspect.
Speaker 1 (36:31):
It's just not a slam dunk. Even with how suspicious
Lance looks to police, like after that second interview where
it was clear they were suspicious of him, he lawyers up,
refuses a polygraph, stops cooperating.
Speaker 2 (36:45):
I get that this is not like a slam dunk case.
But going back to your like zoom out thirty thousand
foot few. I mean there's something going on here.
Speaker 1 (36:55):
Yeah, And I mean if you think that now, just wait,
because I haven't even told you you what Lance's history
was before the crimes in the Lewis Clark Valley started happening.
Lance moved around a bit before he settled in the valley.
He grew up in Chicago, he was out in California
(37:16):
for a little bit, like dude kind of bounced around,
and that his movements is something that Gloria has really
dug into. She traced Lance's location over the years and
cross referenced other homicides or suspicious deaths in those areas,
and she found a few that, like you said, Brett,
feel like a little more than a coincidence to me.
(37:39):
First was the unsolved murder of Diane Taylor in Chicago.
Diane was eight years old when she went missing on
August first, nineteen sixty three, while heading home from the YMCA.
Her body gets found two days later. She's been brutally beaten,
sexually assaulted, and stabbed. Now, while researching Diane's case, Gloria
found owned that a fifteen year old Lance Boss was
(38:03):
her HAWAIIMCA camp counselor and lived in the same neighborhood
as Diane. What's wild is I'm not even sure if
he was interviewed at the time. Now, our team tried
reaching out to Chicago PD to see where the investigation
stands today, because Detective Nichols told us that they were
really interested when Gloria brought this to them, But when
we reached out to Chicago investigators, they would not talk
(38:25):
to us. So I'm not sure if they have any
evidence to test. I don't know if they've tried talking
to Lance about this, Like, I truly know nothing about
where things stand in that case today, but it's odd, right, Yeah,
So that's Chicago nineteen sixty three. Fast forward to June
nineteen seventy two. Lance is now twenty four years old
(38:46):
and living in California. Seventeen year old Antoinette Anino is
found in the early morning hours floating in the water
near the shore of Santa Cruz. Police quickly rule her
death as suicide by drowning because they found out that
the night before, she and her boyfriend, her brother, and
her brother's girlfriend were like all out on the boardwalk together.
When she and her boyfriend get in this argument, the
(39:09):
two of them like leave their friends to go sit
on the beach and talk about it. But apparently she
was really upset, so her boyfriend got up left her alone,
telling her, listen, you can like come join us again
when you're calmed down. Now, they don't see her again,
and when police hear this, they're like, oh, she must
have been so upset that she threw herself into the
ocean to drown, even though she was found nude and
(39:31):
all of her clothes were missing, never found. I'm sorry
what I know. Now here's where it gets freaking weird.
Weirder than this, weirder than this. Her body was taken
to willow Glen Mortuary in San Jose. Later that same night,
Lance Voss gets caught breaking into this mortuary with a flashlight,
(39:52):
with a hunting knife, and with a camera. According to
the owner's daughter in law, Lance gets caught and he
tries to explain this whole thing away. He's like, oh,
I'm just trying to get in to see my girlfriend
one last time.
Speaker 2 (40:07):
And was Lance the boyfriend that she had been arguing with.
Speaker 1 (40:11):
No, he wasn't her boyfriend, but listen, you can't even
say that, like it was another was there someone else there?
Antoinette's body was the only one in the mortuary at
the time. So he gets charged with attempted burglary, which
ended up being reduced to a misdemeanor at the time.
And again, like nobody's connected to him to a Chicago thing.
(40:32):
This seems like the only thing that has happened, so
like I understand how maybe it got like pled down
or whatever. First time event a freaking weird first time offend.
When we talk about like paying attention to the things
that people are doing, breaking into a mortuary with a
camera a flashlight in the night, that.
Speaker 2 (40:48):
Feels like different than attempted burglary to me. But what
do I know?
Speaker 1 (40:52):
We should again, we need to be paying attention all
the red flags. So there's that.
Speaker 2 (40:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (40:58):
Then the last case that came up and Gloria's digging
is the death of twenty five year old Claudette Volova
in Lewiston on July twenty seventh, nineteen eighty seven. Claudette
was also involved with the Civic Theater, according to people
who knew her, and despite Lance being married, the two
were having an affair. According to one of Lance's friends,
(41:19):
the day of her death. He had walked into her
apartment and found her body after what was eventually ruled
a suicide. Now, I'll say up front, like from everything
I've seen, it doesn't seem like anyone questions the validity
at this current time. Like everyone seems to believe it
really was a suicide. He's just connected to her, they
(41:41):
were having an affair. But it's just so weird, right, So,
I mean, this is what you have, right.
Speaker 2 (41:48):
Like.
Speaker 1 (41:48):
The thing about this case that hooked me from the
beginning is I think it's one of the first instances
that I've come across where everyone connected, like whether it's
law enforcement or family like to these murders and dis appearances,
they seem to think that there is a serial killer
at work. They seem to think that they know exactly
who it is, where he is, but the public at
(42:10):
large knows nothing about it. Yeah, and there is this
guy out there living his life, and people who come
in contact with him may never know the things that
he has been connected to, coincidentally or not.
Speaker 2 (42:24):
And so much time has passed, so surely there's got
to be something in one of those cases that could
connect them to a killer. The killer.
Speaker 1 (42:36):
Listen, they've been trying. Detective Nichols has done physical searches
over the years looking for victims. I mean, she actually
even trained her own cadaver dog to conduct searches for
Christina's remains because her apartment didn't have the funds to
pay for a dog search. Like this woman's like going
above and beyond doing the lord's work. And listen, I'll
tell you that, like, not all of the searches she's
done have been directly related to Lance, Like she's looked
(42:58):
at other people, other places, whatever, but a good number
of them have been connected to him, because, by the way,
dude owned slash owns currently like a few homes and
pieces of property around the valley, including and I think
this is important, a home that was right between Christina's
(43:19):
house and Rose's house at the time Christina went missing,
and that house was vacant at the time Christina White disappeared.
But even when she looked at that place and all
the other places she's looked at, Detective Nichols, She's turned
up nothing. What she has gotten over the years, what
our reporter got as she was interviewing people for this episode,
(43:40):
what I've gotten in my dms are stories upon stories
from locals who have personally had creepy or just downright
terrifying experiences with Lance, And I'm not going to go
over all of them, but the one that I can't
stop thinking about is described by Detective Nichols in an
episode of Cold Valley called person of Interest. So i'll
(44:02):
start it up for you. This woman, she's looking to
buy a house, and one of the homes that she
was looking at was owned and being sold by none
other than Lance Voss. So he's giving her this tour,
and throughout it, he's like hyping up the basement, like
I've done all this work down there. You really got
to see the basement. You gotta go down in the
basement like highlight of the home. So eventually she's like, yeah, okay,
(44:24):
well you know I've seen the house. Let's go down
to the basement. She started towards the stairs first, with
like him following behind, but before they actually got to
the stairs, she like turned around to tell him something,
and when she turned around, she says that he put
his arm his arm was up and he like put
it down really fast, and sort of like she felt
like hid something behind his back, and she asked him.
(44:46):
She's like what, like, what are you holding? And eventually
he pulls something out. Okay, there's something in his hand,
and it is a finial, which is basically like this
like decorative like top of a bedpost.
Speaker 2 (44:58):
And when did this happen?
Speaker 1 (45:00):
I believe this was after all of the murder slash
disappearances that we've talked about. But this thing like freaked
her out because she felt like he was gonna hit
her with it. And to add to the weirdness, he
started asking her questions like does anyone know you're here, which,
like thankfully lots of people knew she was, or she
at least like said, like everyone in my life knows
I'm here, Like that's what I would be doing. I
(45:22):
was like, I'm leaving everyone.
Speaker 2 (45:23):
Everyone I know they know the address.
Speaker 1 (45:27):
Yeah, And then like but as soon as he knows that,
he's like, doesn't seem interested in showing her the basement.
Speaker 2 (45:32):
Basement's not a big deal now.
Speaker 1 (45:34):
According to our reporting, Lance moved to the East Coast
in nineteen ninety nine and is still there today. We
did try getting in contact with him for this episode,
but he did not call us back. So listen, if
you have your own story or know anything something whatever.
Detective Jackie Nichols wants to talk to you. No tip
is too small. She is technically only the lead on
(45:57):
Christina's case because of jurisdiction stuff, so that's probablyably the
one she has spent the most time with. But it
is almost impossible to look at just one case without
looking at the other. So she is fully read up
on all five cases, and she is unofficially taken over Christina,
Brandy and Stevens cases two, who most people now call
the Civic Theater three and right now she's looking into
(46:19):
anything that can be tested for DNA, like the ropes
from Christina Nelson and Brandy's bodies, like underneath them. And
it's worth saying again it's not just about Lance like.
She's also actively looking into serial killers who were operating
at the time. She's trying to rule people in and
out based on where they were their mo whatever.
Speaker 2 (46:39):
Does she unofficially have Kristin David's case two?
Speaker 1 (46:43):
She does not, The FBI has jurisdiction there. Oh, Kristin
has always been the outlier. And even though I think
she'll forever be tied and like lumped in with this
group in the Lewis Clark Valley just due to proximity
and local lore. Most if not all, investigators actually believed
that she was not killed by the same person who
(47:05):
killed all the others, mostly because them o is just
so different.
Speaker 2 (47:11):
Well, yeah, and she was dismembered, right, Like, that's like
a whole different ballgame.
Speaker 1 (47:17):
And I'm dismembered by somebody who knew what they were doing,
someone authorities believe probably did it before. I told listeners
at the top, like, this was one of the first
stories I'd come across where there was a serial killer
the you know, public didn't necessarily know about. But it
was not the last. And actually, I've been tracking another
(47:38):
man who may be responsible for the murder and dismemberment
of women across the country, and Kristen David could very
well be one of his victims. And listen, I'm not
ready to like completely lay that story out yet. Me
and a bunch of the reporters are working on this.
We still have a ton of investigating to do, but
(48:00):
I do want to give everyone a peek into the
investigation because the number one thing I'm looking for right
now are similar cases. Like you know, they won't let
me into ViCAP I keep trying like whatever. So what
I need is are millions of listeners to tell me
if there are cases local to them that match this
same mo. So with that, what I'm gonna say is,
(48:22):
do not miss next week's episode. Set your watches, or
join the Crime Junkie fan Club. You can listen to
it early. I'll let you listen to it right now.
I'm gonna drop it at the same time. I'll have
a link to sign up in the show notes. But
in next week's episode, I'm gonna dive deep into Kristen
David's case and bring people in on this what is
for us kind of an active investigation. So I'm not
(48:45):
giving up. Detective Nichols isn't giving up either, but she
recognizes that she is not gonna be able to solve
these cases without the help of the public. Her hope
is that someone who may have been too scared to
come forward back then we'll feel comfortable doing so now.
And that's exactly why coverage of these cases are so important,
(49:07):
and thankfully we're not the only ones. The Snake River
Killer podcast has also done a deep dive into these cases.
We create more of an opportunity for someone who knows
something to hear it and to come forward. So if
you have any information about the disappearances of Christina White
and Stephen Parasol, or the murders of Brandy Miller and
Christina Nelson, or Kristin David, you can contact the Asotin
(49:31):
County Sheriff's Department. We're gonna have all that contact information
in the show notes. You can find all the source
material for this episode on our website, Crimejunkie podcast dot com.
Speaker 2 (49:54):
And you can follow us on Instagram at Crime Junkie Podcast.
Speaker 1 (49:57):
And we're gonna be back next week with a brand
new app. But don't forget. If you want to listen
to Kristen David's episode right now, I'm dropping it early
in the Crime Junkie fan Club, go to Crime Junkie
podcast dot com slash fan club. Crime Junkie is an
(50:36):
audio Chuck production. So what do you think, Chuck? Do
you approve
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