Dakota Spotlight: True Crime & Cold Case Investigations
Dakota Spotlight is a true crime series investigating unsolved murders, cold cases, and missing persons in North Dakota and the Midwest. Hosted by investigative journalist James Wolner, each season takes a deep dive into one case, from rural crime and small town murders to decades-old disappearances. Through meticulous research, exclusive interviews, and on-the-ground reporting, Dakota Spotlight brings forgotten crimes back into the public eye and gives voice to victims and their families. Alongside full investigative seasons, the show also features shorter standalone episodes that explore individual mysteries in a single sitting. If you are drawn to investigative journalism, small town true crime, and real crime stories based on actual events, Dakota Spotlight offers gripping and respectful storytelling you will not forget.
Episodes
October 20, 2025 • 8 mins
Announcing Season 12
Meanwhile in Mankato: Lies, Silence & Murder in Minnesota arrives this November.
Episode 1 premieres for all listeners on Thursday, November 6.
Spotlight PLUS subscribers can hear — and binge — the entire season ad-free that same day.
Learn more at https://dakotaspotlight.com/meanwhile-in-mankato-true-crime-podcast/
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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September 25, 2025 • 41 mins
Episode 6, Escape to the Movies, brings forward Misty Jones — remembered as the girl with the little red car — in a 2020 interview. Misty recalls her early path into a party lifestyle, her personal struggles since 1998, and her account of the night Barbara and Gordon Erickstad were killed. She also discusses figures like Rick Storhaug and Ryan Werner. This North Dakota true crime story adds a human voice to one of the state’s most ...
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September 25, 2025 • 50 mins
The arrest of Brian Erickstad and Robert Lawrence confirmed their role in Barbara and Gordon Erickstad’s murders, but the aftermath shocked the community. Episode 5, A Sick Salute, reveals how the East Sweet crew rallied disturbingly behind the killers — with salutes, letters, and public disrespect for the victims’ families. Former detectives Bob Haas and Lloyd Halvorson reflect on what the case meant and whether unanswered questio...
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September 25, 2025 • 33 mins
The night before Barbara and Gordon Erickstad’s murders revealed troubling signs in Bismarck, North Dakota. Episode 4, One of These Days, traces September 16, 1998, through interviews and police files. Detectives Bob Haas and Steve Lundin worked parallel leads, while interviews with Misty’s boyfriend Rick Storhaug and others uncovered disturbing details. A darker side of Robert Lawrence also came to light. This North Dakota true cr...
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September 25, 2025 • 37 mins
Episode 3, Patience Pays Off, captures how patient police work broke open the Erickstad murder case. Barbara and Gordon Erickstad’s deaths had left Bismarck shaken in 1998. Detectives pressed a hesitant witness until the truth began to surface, while a frightened woman rushed into the station with new details in the middle of the night. This documentary style true crime story reveals how testimony reshaped a North Dakota small town...
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September 25, 2025 • 47 mins
Detective Lloyd Halvorson knew where to look for answers about the murders of Barbara and Gordon Erickstad in 1998. Episode 2, Never Ever Narc, follows Bismarck police as they questioned Brian Erickstad’s teenage friends and the East Sweet crew, searching for someone who would talk. With Brian and Robert Lawrence wanted for questioning, the pressure mounted. This North Dakota true crime story reveals how silence and loyalty complic...
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September 25, 2025 • 42 mins
September 1998 brought a chilling moment in Bismarck, North Dakota, when 17-year-old Aimee walked into the police station. She suspected her boyfriend, Brian Erickstad, had harmed his parents. A welfare check was meant to set things straight — but it uncovered something far worse. Episode 1, A Little Red Car, introduces Barbara and Gordon Erickstad’s case, a North Dakota true crime story that exposed violence hidden within a circle...
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September 11, 2025 • 46 mins
In this gripping update on the Barbara Cotton cold case, we delve into new testimony surrounding one of North Dakota's most enduring unsolved disappearances. Barbara Louise Cotton vanished from Williston in 1981, and after decades of silence, a man who worked with Stacey Werder in Montana shares critical insights about seeing him with Barb in Williston. This episode, hosted by James Wolner and Lisa Jo of #FindBarbCotton, explores t...
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September 4, 2025 • 35 mins
In July of 2018, 20-year-old Mollie Tibbetts went on a run in her small hometown of Brooklyn, Iowa. Something she’d done countless times before. But this time, she didn’t come home. What followed was a search unlike anything this town had ever seen. Neighbors combed the fields. Reporters camped out at the local diner. And as the weeks stretched on without answers, the questions only grew louder: How does someone vanish without a tr...
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August 28, 2025 • 53 mins
What if 90% of Frank Abagnale’s claims are totally made up? In this special Dakota Spotlight episode, host James Wolner talks with Javier Leiva, creator of PRETEND, about his season The Real Catch Me If You Can. In this series, Javier debunks Abagnale’s extraordinary con-man story using court and prison records, while also bringing forward new victim testimonies. After the interview, hear the full Episode 1 as Leiva begins dismantl...
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August 21, 2025 • 31 mins
In this Case Snapshot, Dakota Spotlight investigates the 1984 disappearance of 12-year-old Sharon Bald Eagle, who vanished while traveling from South Dakota to Idaho. This unsolved mystery devastated her family and community and led to the capture of Royal Russell Long, a predator who stalked rodeos, carnivals, and highways for years. Through careful research and respectful storytelling, investigative journalist James Wolner explor...
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August 7, 2025 • 38 mins
In September 1991, Joseph “Joe” Anderson, a millionaire cattleman, was found murdered under mysterious circumstances in Jamestown, North Dakota. His body was discovered in the trunk of his own Buick at the Gladstone Inn parking lot, sparking one of the city’s most troubling cold cases. More than three decades later, the murder of Joe Anderson remains unsolved, with lingering questions about who wanted him dead and why justice has n...
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August 1, 2025 • 9 mins
In this update episode, we break down the North Dakota Supreme Court’s recent decision in the Brian Erickstad case. The court ruled that Erickstad’s sentence was improperly amended in 2022 without notice, and has sent the case back to the lower court for correction. While not a reversal of his conviction, the ruling could impact when he becomes eligible for parole.
Check out the full catalog and everything Dakota Spotlight: https:...
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July 24, 2025 • 21 mins
In 1995, 75-year-old retired truck driver Talmadge “Pat” Patton vanished from his home in the rural town of Alexander, North Dakota. When his daughter came to check on him, she found clues that pointed to a troubling disappearance but no clear answers. Nearly three decades later, the case of Pat Patton remains unsolved, raising lingering questions about what happened in those final days and why this North Dakota cold case continues...
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July 10, 2025 • 24 mins
In 1995, Mary K. Ross, a 25-year-old single mother and college student, was brutally stabbed to death in her Sioux Falls, South Dakota apartment while her baby watched. Her murder remains one of the city’s most haunting crimes, raising painful questions about how evil drifts from place to place, preying on the vulnerable and recruiting the unguarded. This essay reflects on violence, vulnerability, and how compassion can endure even...
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June 26, 2025 • 20 mins
In July 2002, 19-year-old Russell Turcotte disappeared while hitchhiking home to Montana. Last seen at a truck stop in Grand Forks, his body was discovered months later near Devils Lake. Russell had been murdered, and two decades later his case remains one of North Dakota’s most haunting cold cases. This episode retraces his final steps and the tireless efforts of his family to seek justice, efforts that continue to this day.
If y...
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June 13, 2025 • 33 mins
Part 5 (Chapters 23–27): As the story draws to a close, Doug Rolfstad faces the full weight of his choices, with each moment tightening the grip of consequences. What began with a mysterious manila envelope of cash now races toward a chaotic and unexpected conclusion, testing bonds of family, trust, and survival in North Dakota.
Dead Cold Drop by James Wolner is told across five gripping episodes in the signature Friday Night Fict...
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June 6, 2025 • 36 mins
Part 4 (Chapters 17–22): With tensions simmering, Doug Rolfstad follows through on key parts of the plan as new information surfaces and close calls tighten the grip of fear. As pressure builds and alliances prove uncertain, Doug must navigate the weight of choices that cannot be undone, pulling him further into danger.
Dead Cold Drop by James Wolner is told across five gripping episodes in the signature Friday Night Fiction style...
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June 6, 2025 • 7 mins
Season 6 of Nobody Should Believe Me–out weekly starting June 19, available in full for subscribers at launch–covers the extraordinary and tragic saga of the McDaniel family, a real-life Southern Gothic tale of Munchausen by Proxy that spans decades and has left untold damage in its wake.
For the past twelve years, Lisa McDaniel worked for The Guthy Jackson Foundation, a high-profile non-profit, dedicated to a rare disease called...
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June 5, 2025 • 40 mins
Keith Schmidt was last seen on the morning of May 20, 2024, in Dickinson, North Dakota. His unexplained disappearance shocked the community and left his family searching for answers. This episode retraces the days leading up to when Keith was last seen, with insight from those who knew him best and reporting from a journalist covering the case. The story of Keith Schmidt is both a personal tragedy and a developing North Dakota miss...
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