August 28, 2023 • 24 mins
Can you imagine coming home to find your spouse and children missing, only to discover the same eerie emptiness in your neighbor's home? Picture the chilling realization of not one mother, but two, along with two children, vanishing without a trace in the quiet town of Grand Junction, Colorado.
As the episode unfolds, you'll encounter the baffling contradictions within the police force concerning the disappearances. From claims hinting at intentional disappearance to police's belief of the women initiating a fresh start. The story is woven during a time authorities call Grand Junction's "killing season." This episode promises an enthralling journey through this captivating true crime story, teeming with strange coincidences, and questions that still remain unanswered.
Frederick, Don. “Identity of woman’s body still a mystery.” The Daily Sentinel. Grand Junction, Col. September 28, 1975.
Frederick, Don. “Victim’s husband jailed in multiple slayings.” The Daily Sentinel. Grand Junction, Col. November 9, 1975.
Frederick, Don and Sinclair, Suzanne. “Police stymied in murder, disappearance cases.” The Daily Sentinel. Grand Junction, Col. September 14, 1975.
Sinclair, Suzanne. “Two Junction women disappear.” The Daily Sentinel. Grand Junction, Col. August 26, 1975.
Sinclair, Suzanne. “Police ‘beef up’ investigation of disappearances.” The Daily Sentinel. Grand Junction, Col. August 27, 1975.
Sinclair, Suzanne. “Private investigators enter probe of disappearance case.” The Daily Sentinel. Grand Junction, Col. September 27, 1975.
Sinclair, Suzanne. “Two bodies identified, third found in search.” The Daily Sentinel. Grand Junction, Col. October 3, 1975.
Sinclair, Suzanne. “Relief evident, but fear lingers.” The Daily Sentinel. Grand Junction, Col. November 9, 1975.
Sullivan, Ray. “Uncertainty finally ends for Bothams.” The Daily Sentinel. Grand Junction, Col. October 3, 1975.
For images related to the cases, check out the Instagram.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Julia Goodwin (00:00):
Aya, this is Julia and murder is bad.
In 1975, bands like the Eagles,kc and the Sunshine Band and
(00:26):
the Bee Gees were topping thecharts.
Please don't say the Bee Gees.
Please don't say the Bee Gees.
Do you guys remember what agirl wants?
I just love Amanda Bynes movies.
But also in 1975, the wholePatty Hearst trial was going on
and at the theater Monty Pythonand the Holy Grail, jaws and
(00:47):
Rocky Horror Picture Show InGrand Junction, colorado.
In 1975, kenneth Botham Jr wasgetting home from an overnight
trip.
When he pulled his blue andwhite Toyota Land Cruiser into
his driveway on Ouray Avenue hesaw Thad, his toddler, playing
(01:08):
in the front yard in only at-shirt and no diaper.
This is pretty common at ourplace.
My three-year-old and myseven-year-old will do like a
lap in their birthday suitsafter they take a bath.
But in 1975, especially in thesuburbs, your kids were usually
put together a little bit.
(01:29):
So Ken definitely thoughtsomething was off and when he
finds his five-year-old there heasks where mom is?
Ken answers I'm sure she'saround here somewhere there,
told Ken he hadn't seen her allday and that he had been taking
care of Thad.
And he asked did I do a goodjob.
(01:50):
Ken checked the house, askedthe neighbors and then went
across the street to see if hiswife was at her friend's house.
When he found that that housewas also empty, with dirty
dinner plates from a spaghettidinner still out and the range
still on, he called police.
(02:10):
Patricia Botham, linda Miracleand Linda's two children, troy
and Chad, were reported missing.
Police don't find any evidenceof forced entry or a struggle or
foul play, but both of thewomen's cars are still parked in
their driveways.
I would say that an entirefamily and a mother without her
(02:34):
children missing suggests foulplay.
But that's just me Plains.
Trains and automobiles arechecked, but there's nothing to
suggest that Pat, linda and thekids used any of those.
Linda's sister-in-law, vonnaMurphy, suspected that Linda
might have called Pat over tohelp with a domestic situation
(02:56):
that got out of hand.
Ken was unable to make acomment, but his boss, president
Frank Simonetti of TriStarCorporation, which was an
auto-ignition systems company,said Ken's quote at loose ends
and didn't know what to believeabout his wife's disappearance.
(03:18):
Linda was separated from herhusband, dilbert Miracle.
At the time he was a truckdriver and made a long-haul trip
to California once a week.
He wasn't even back until theSunday after people discovered
her disappearance.
Then police say that theybelieve the disappearances are
(03:39):
unrelated and that the womenleft at different times.
Police Chief Ben Meyer said wewant to make a determination
whether foul play is involved,but at the same time they were
seeming pretty certain thatthere wasn't any foul play.
The way that police interpretthe evidence is that Linda and
(04:00):
her kids left sometime Fridaynight or Saturday morning and
Pat left Saturday before herkids woke up, which would have
been in the morning.
So there's overlap, but they'restill thinking they left at
different times.
Chief Meyer said that thepremature panic had caused him
to send out usually plainclothedofficers in uniform during
(04:23):
evening hours whileinvestigating.
Oh heartbreaking, they had toput on their uniforms.
Right underneath one of thearticles about the
disappearances in the DailySentinel, I saw another story
about a group of peopleloitering in a park and being
suspicious.
The headline was literallyabout a park ranger chasing off
(04:46):
a cult.
So I looked into it and thisgroup supposedly contained
missing persons from Oregon, andthis group would later be known
as Heaven's Gate, the cult thatwould eventually lead to a mass
suicide in the 90s in order toleave their bodily containers
and enter an alien spacecrafthidden behind the Hale-bopp
(05:10):
Comet.
But this is not even the lasttrue crime cameo, just So you
know.
A week after saying thedisappearances were not
connected, police start thinkingthat they are connected.
Sergeant Fred Albrecht tellsthe media that he thinks at
least one woman doesn't want tobe found, and it's clear that
(05:33):
he's referring to Linda.
He doesn't say why he thinksthis, but she is a woman
separated from her husband, whodates around, and even in the
70s people kind of looked ascant at that.
That's only my guess.
Linda's mother-in-law, islaMiracle, was baffled, numbed and
(05:56):
very concerned.
She said her family thought ofhiring a PI but thought too much
time had passed to you know,like search the scene.
Another week passes and themiracles decide to offer a
$5,000 reward for information orfor the return of Linda, troy
(06:17):
and Chad.
They end up only receiving onepostcard at the PO box they had
set up for tips.
It was from a self-declaredastrologer whose advice they
felt wasn't worth following upon.
I'm kind of curious what theysaid.
Now, just just a little bit.
If you're out there, hey, hitme up.
At the same time, chief Myersthinks the disappearance is
(06:39):
merely coincide, though thewomen could be together.
He believes they are unrelatedin that there's no foul play.
Isla said the police are soevasive and don't offer many
answers to our questions.
Maybe they think it is none ofour business.
I get like keeping your cardsclose to the vest, but like that
(07:04):
, just not communicating withthe families is irksome.
Police Captain Robert Burnettsaid he thought they were
related but might have just beena case of the women thinking it
was a good time to start a newlife.
Quote you hear of peopledropping out of society daily.
(07:24):
I don't know what it was likein 1975, but sure.
He also said it was easier forwomen to up and move and get a
job without any work history,because it's more plausible for
women to have been homemakersand have never had a job before.
He goes on to say that thedepartment has found nothing to
(07:46):
even indicate what they shouldbe even looking for.
Police had not gathered anyphysical evidence from the homes
because, according to CaptainBurnett, they saw no need to.
Okay, several news storiescovering the disappearances
(08:09):
would also bring up the stabbingdeath of 24-year-old Linda
Benson and her 5-year-olddaughter a month prior to Pat
and the Miracles missing.
Oh my gosh, pat and theMiracles is such a great band
name, and also the disappearanceof 24-year-old Denise Oliverson
(08:30):
, who was last seen April 6thriding her bike.
Apparently, this area ofColorado had not really
experienced these types ofevents before this point, and
later on 1975 in Grand Junctionwould come to be known as the
killing season.
A couple more weeks passed andon September 26, a badly
(08:53):
decomposed, weighted-down bodyof a young woman was found in
the Gunnison River.
Four members of a Denver andRio Grande railroad maintenance
crew discovered the body in awillow patch about a mile below
the Bridgeport Bridge.
Larry Rowe said it was in about14 inches of water, I guess in
(09:16):
a little eddy in the willows.
We wouldn't have seen it,except we went to see what
smelled so bad.
Trigger warning Foreman AlbertCesario said that the facial
features had been obliteratedbut that the body had looked
like that of a young woman.
(09:36):
The body was nude, except for ablouse or dress that had risen
over the arms, which wereextended over her head.
The body was weighted down witha railroad angle bar that had
been tied around the waist.
There was like a bunch of scraparound too, so they figured
(09:59):
whoever did this just grabbedone of these angle bars from a
pile.
The body was taken to MontroseMemorial Hospital to be frozen
before an autopsy could be doneby forensic pathologist Dr
Thomas Canfield.
The newspapers speculated thatit could be Pat Botham, linda
(10:21):
Miracle or Denise Oliverson.
Ila Miracle said police did notcontact them about the body
being found.
Quote it just gives you acreepy feeling.
Every time the phone rings Ijump and now we will wonder
until we hear something.
The Miracle said they werewilling to spend all their money
(10:44):
to find them.
They hire a former FBI agent,vince Jones, who was assisted by
Mesa County Deputy Rick Clausen.
Like the Pickles, formerMontrose County Deputy Bill Wise
also offered his help free ofcharge.
A couple days later Dr Canfieldsaid the woman had to have been
(11:06):
deceased at least three weeks,if not more.
Pat and the Miracles have beenmissing about a month.
At this point A search is donea mile in both directions around
the nearby tracks and policespend four hours combing the
riverbed.
Foreman Cesario said they hadbeen in the same area a week and
(11:28):
a half ago and they hadn't seenor smelled the body A week
after its discovery.
The body is rolled out as beingPat or Denise.
It is that of a woman between20 and 30 years old.
Private Investigator Jonesbelieves it to be Linda.
(11:50):
The very next day, another bodywas found about half a mile from
where the first body had beenfound and it had an angle bar
tied to its pelvic area as well.
From two rings a high schoolclass ring and a wedding band
and the nightgown being worn.
This body is identified as25-year-old Patricia
(12:13):
Jantz-Botham.
At 3 am Ken Botham was calledto identify his wife's body and
dental records confirmed it aswell.
Ken had told reporters earlierin the week that he thought
something had happened to hiswife.
He suspected she had left inher nightgown because he found
signs that she had been readingin bed.
(12:34):
He thought she had slipped onher tennis shoes to go over to
Linda's because one of her shoeshad been found there.
Ken said that Pat often helpedLinda with problems and somehow
had got into something shecouldn't handle.
He added she would never leavethe children alone.
If she could be here, she would.
(12:56):
After her body had beendiscovered, ken remembered that
she was always taking picturesof the kids at Bridgeport.
Ironically enough, she used tolike to go down there in the
evening.
Sheriff Dick Williams and threeof his deputies, milo Vig, mike
Smith and Larry Smith.
(13:16):
The Smiths used two boats tosearch for the missing teeth of
the first body.
When they found Pat's body nearsome rocks about 50 feet away
from the shore, it seemed thatthe lowering water level caused
it to be revealed.
Chief Myers said that they hada lot to go on and will now go
(13:39):
and collect evidence from thehomes.
Over a month later Ken was ableto call Pat's parents, albert
and Maria Jantz, before thediscovery was announced on the
news.
They lived in Greenville, southCarolina at the time.
Her father said we had notexpected her to be alive, so in
(14:00):
that sense it's not a surprise,it's a relief.
News sources then began totentatively ID the first body as
25-year-old Linda DianneMiracle.
Her father, A.
B.
Chamberlain, came down fromDenver.
Her mother, dolly Baldwin, hadremarried and lived in Los
(14:20):
Angeles at the time.
This is when the Sheriff'sDepartment took over from the
Grand Junction Police Departmentand formed a massive search for
Troy and Chad Miracle, thinkingthat the boys might also be
tied to railroad scraps.
They dragged a 22-mile stretchof the river with magnets Around
(14:42):
.
12.30 on October 3rd, a child'sbody was found halfway between
where the other bodies had beenfound and shortly after that a
fourth body, another child, wasfound.
Sheriff Williams said anybodywho is connected with any one of
the women is a suspect and thatthey had gathered up a lot of
(15:05):
stuff but didn't know what itmeant, which is better than just
not collecting any evidence atall.
Authorities tried to drain partof the river using a bowl dozer
to divert a channel of theriver, but they were
unsuccessful.
A week after the discovery oftwo children, it was announced
that they had been shot.
The following week a memorialservice for Pat was held at
(15:29):
Faith Baptist Church.
On October 14, the searchesalong Gunnison River were called
off.
Police also say that they werelooking more into friends and
family of the two women.
It is also reported that KenBoetham had revived Linda after
an attack in her home six weeksprior to her disappearance and
(15:51):
murder.
So here's the story.
In the early morning hours ofJune 15, linda had been asleep
in front of her television whenshe was awakened by a man trying
to choke her.
She kicked the man and fainted.
When she came to she ranoutside, screamed and fainted
(16:14):
again, and before we starttalking about delicate female
sensibilities and pulling out ofShay's lounge, linda Miracle
was like 5'4 and 99 pounds.
So being choked and attackedwould definitely cause major
physical reactions in anyone,but especially someone as petite
as Linda.
Ken Boetham then ran across thestreet, picked her up and
(16:36):
called out to his wife.
Pat opened their door so Kencould carry Linda in.
Ken was able to revive her andthen call the rescue squad, who
arrived around 2 am.
Linda was admitted to St Mary'sHospital for a hurt toe and
some sources say blood in herlungs.
(16:56):
Even more baffling is that hoursbefore and only a mile and a
half away, another woman wasinvolved in a similar attack.
A man entered the bedroom ofNaomi Jackson and put his hands
over her mouth.
A struggle ensued.
Naomi was able to kick the manwho took off, and then Naomi ran
(17:18):
to a neighbor's house to callpolice.
Around 10 pm A man in eitherattack was never identified.
Then, on October 5th, a13-year-old girl had gone
missing.
Police said no foul play wassuspected, but that's also what
they had said about Pat and theMiracles.
Tracy Freitas was last seen bysome friends who were dropping
(17:41):
her off just after midnight.
Tracy lived 3.5 miles northwestof Ure Avenue by the mainline
Grand Valley Canal.
On October 16th.
The same day, police called offthe search around Gunnison
River, tracy Freitas was founddrowned in a pond.
After an autopsy it wasdeclared an accidental drowning.
(18:05):
Tracy had been drinking beerwith her friends and had also
taken 12 motion sickness pillsand decided to go swimming after
being dropped off.
Her friends said she had beenhallucinating when they dropped
her off.
Tracy's dad, phil Freitas, saidthat an abstinence program
isn't the answer to underage use.
(18:26):
Instead there should beeducation on how to control
themselves and to help otherswho may be tripping out.
I know it seems like we're goingoff on a lot of little tangents
, but I find it really hard notto tell a story as completely as
possible.
It's also difficult not to tellsomeone's story who I know has
mostly been kind of lost to time.
(18:47):
So back to the case at hand.
Captain Burnett, you know theman who thought there was no
need to collect evidence at theBothams or Miracles.
He actually resigns.
In an interview with the DailySentinel he alleges that there
were other complications in theBotham Miracle murders and
(19:07):
alluded to the neighbors onUreah Avenue not being
cooperative.
But wouldn't you know it?
The whole 1900 block of UreahAvenue?
What was left of it?
Responded by writing a letterto the editor saying that they
tried to help and were neverlistened to.
(19:28):
At the beginning of November,funerals for Linda Troy and Chad
Miracle were held at MemorialGarden Cemetery.
Then, on November 8, 1975,27-year-old Kenneth Botham Jr
was placed under arrest.
He had been surveilled Fridaynight until the arrest affidavit
(19:52):
was completed Saturday morningAt 1145,.
Botham was driving south on US50 when two cars pulled him over
20 miles away from his home andabout a quarter mile away from
where his wife's body and thebodies of the Miracles had been
found Under.
(20:14):
Sheriff Hod Hutchinson, alongwith Sheriff's deputies Vig the
Smiths, if you remember, and theBobs Bob Silva, bob Evers
exited their cars to apprehendBotham.
His two sons that and their,along with an unidentified woman
were in the car with him.
The woman took the two childrento their grandparents who lived
(20:37):
about a mile away from UreahAvenue.
Botham's bond was set at$500,000 and he was held in the
Mesa County Jail and OJ Holler,or Reverend the Juice, visited
Botham in jail.
When asked if he thought Bothamwas shocked, he answered I
(20:58):
don't think so.
Back in September Botham hadtold reporters he thought he was
a suspect.
He had also recently put an adin the Ureah County newspaper
looking for a man who couldconfirm he was in Ureah at
midnight on August 22.
A neighbor, cora Hiner, whowould babysit for Pat and Linda,
(21:20):
occasionally said that anybodythat would be cruel enough to
kill two children because theythought the children might talk
wouldn't be beyond poppingsomeone else off if they thought
someone knew something.
She remembered Pat pulling oneof her kids in a wagon, as she
often did the morning of August22.
(21:42):
Another Ureah neighbor, NedCrawford, said that the
neighborhood knew it was morethan just disappearances.
Quote it's the feeling of ourfamily that authorities have
finally accomplished something.
We are relieved they have madean arrest in connection with the
murders.
He added we're nearly satisfiedthey wouldn't have arrested
(22:08):
someone if they didn't haveenough evidence to support the
arrest.
He remembers Pat as a devotedmother.
Pat's father, albert, remembersher as a bright and artistic
child.
ila Miracle said the arrestdidn't make her feel any better.
She remembers Linda as asensitive woman who often wrote
(22:31):
poetry.
One of her poems, titled A Place, read.
I like it here.
On nights like this, when thelake is silent and the rain
belongs to me, there is no needfor yesterday, and tomorrow
doesn't matter.
Now.
All that remains is reflectedpeace like a rainbow in my mind.
(22:57):
If this would last forever, I'dstay that long too, or I would
take it with me when the stormpasses over and I have to go.
Then where would I have to cometo?
On other lonely nights, I'dfind another place quite like
(23:17):
this.
For now.
I'll sit in wonder and perhapstake time to know just how many
raindrops it would take to fillthe palm of my hand.
And that's where we'll stop forpart one.
I'm not sure how many partsthis will be, but definitely
(23:38):
more than two.
Thanks for listening to Murderis Bad.
If you're interested in seeingpictures related to this case,
go over to Instagram at Murderis Bad podcast.
Take care of each other andremember murder is bad.
Aya, this is Julia and murder is bad.
In 1975, bands like the Eagles,kc and the Sunshine Band and
(00:26):
the Bee Gees were topping thecharts.
Please don't say the Bee Gees.
Please don't say the Bee Gees.
Do you guys remember what agirl wants?
I just love Amanda Bynes movies.
But also in 1975, the wholePatty Hearst trial was going on
and at the theater Monty Pythonand the Holy Grail, jaws and
(00:47):
Rocky Horror Picture Show InGrand Junction, colorado.
In 1975, kenneth Botham Jr wasgetting home from an overnight
trip.
When he pulled his blue andwhite Toyota Land Cruiser into
his driveway on Ouray Avenue hesaw Thad, his toddler, playing
(01:08):
in the front yard in only at-shirt and no diaper.
This is pretty common at ourplace.
My three-year-old and myseven-year-old will do like a
lap in their birthday suitsafter they take a bath.
But in 1975, especially in thesuburbs, your kids were usually
put together a little bit.
(01:29):
So Ken definitely thoughtsomething was off and when he
finds his five-year-old there heasks where mom is?
Ken answers I'm sure she'saround here somewhere there,
told Ken he hadn't seen her allday and that he had been taking
care of Thad.
And he asked did I do a goodjob.
(01:50):
Ken checked the house, askedthe neighbors and then went
across the street to see if hiswife was at her friend's house.
When he found that that housewas also empty, with dirty
dinner plates from a spaghettidinner still out and the range
still on, he called police.
(02:10):
Patricia Botham, linda Miracleand Linda's two children, troy
and Chad, were reported missing.
Police don't find any evidenceof forced entry or a struggle or
foul play, but both of thewomen's cars are still parked in
their driveways.
I would say that an entirefamily and a mother without her
(02:34):
children missing suggests foulplay.
But that's just me Plains.
Trains and automobiles arechecked, but there's nothing to
suggest that Pat, linda and thekids used any of those.
Linda's sister-in-law, vonnaMurphy, suspected that Linda
might have called Pat over tohelp with a domestic situation
(02:56):
that got out of hand.
Ken was unable to make acomment, but his boss, president
Frank Simonetti of TriStarCorporation, which was an
auto-ignition systems company,said Ken's quote at loose ends
and didn't know what to believeabout his wife's disappearance.
(03:18):
Linda was separated from herhusband, dilbert Miracle.
At the time he was a truckdriver and made a long-haul trip
to California once a week.
He wasn't even back until theSunday after people discovered
her disappearance.
Then police say that theybelieve the disappearances are
(03:39):
unrelated and that the womenleft at different times.
Police Chief Ben Meyer said wewant to make a determination
whether foul play is involved,but at the same time they were
seeming pretty certain thatthere wasn't any foul play.
The way that police interpretthe evidence is that Linda and
(04:00):
her kids left sometime Fridaynight or Saturday morning and
Pat left Saturday before herkids woke up, which would have
been in the morning.
So there's overlap, but they'restill thinking they left at
different times.
Chief Meyer said that thepremature panic had caused him
to send out usually plainclothedofficers in uniform during
(04:23):
evening hours whileinvestigating.
Oh heartbreaking, they had toput on their uniforms.
Right underneath one of thearticles about the
disappearances in the DailySentinel, I saw another story
about a group of peopleloitering in a park and being
suspicious.
The headline was literallyabout a park ranger chasing off
(04:46):
a cult.
So I looked into it and thisgroup supposedly contained
missing persons from Oregon, andthis group would later be known
as Heaven's Gate, the cult thatwould eventually lead to a mass
suicide in the 90s in order toleave their bodily containers
and enter an alien spacecrafthidden behind the Hale-bopp
(05:10):
Comet.
But this is not even the lasttrue crime cameo, just So you
know.
A week after saying thedisappearances were not
connected, police start thinkingthat they are connected.
Sergeant Fred Albrecht tellsthe media that he thinks at
least one woman doesn't want tobe found, and it's clear that
(05:33):
he's referring to Linda.
He doesn't say why he thinksthis, but she is a woman
separated from her husband, whodates around, and even in the
70s people kind of looked ascant at that.
That's only my guess.
Linda's mother-in-law, islaMiracle, was baffled, numbed and
(05:56):
very concerned.
She said her family thought ofhiring a PI but thought too much
time had passed to you know,like search the scene.
Another week passes and themiracles decide to offer a
$5,000 reward for information orfor the return of Linda, troy
(06:17):
and Chad.
They end up only receiving onepostcard at the PO box they had
set up for tips.
It was from a self-declaredastrologer whose advice they
felt wasn't worth following upon.
I'm kind of curious what theysaid.
Now, just just a little bit.
If you're out there, hey, hitme up.
At the same time, chief Myersthinks the disappearance is
(06:39):
merely coincide, though thewomen could be together.
He believes they are unrelatedin that there's no foul play.
Isla said the police are soevasive and don't offer many
answers to our questions.
Maybe they think it is none ofour business.
I get like keeping your cardsclose to the vest, but like that
(07:04):
, just not communicating withthe families is irksome.
Police Captain Robert Burnettsaid he thought they were
related but might have just beena case of the women thinking it
was a good time to start a newlife.
Quote you hear of peopledropping out of society daily.
(07:24):
I don't know what it was likein 1975, but sure.
He also said it was easier forwomen to up and move and get a
job without any work history,because it's more plausible for
women to have been homemakersand have never had a job before.
He goes on to say that thedepartment has found nothing to
(07:46):
even indicate what they shouldbe even looking for.
Police had not gathered anyphysical evidence from the homes
because, according to CaptainBurnett, they saw no need to.
Okay, several news storiescovering the disappearances
(08:09):
would also bring up the stabbingdeath of 24-year-old Linda
Benson and her 5-year-olddaughter a month prior to Pat
and the Miracles missing.
Oh my gosh, pat and theMiracles is such a great band
name, and also the disappearanceof 24-year-old Denise Oliverson
(08:30):
, who was last seen April 6thriding her bike.
Apparently, this area ofColorado had not really
experienced these types ofevents before this point, and
later on 1975 in Grand Junctionwould come to be known as the
killing season.
A couple more weeks passed andon September 26, a badly
(08:53):
decomposed, weighted-down bodyof a young woman was found in
the Gunnison River.
Four members of a Denver andRio Grande railroad maintenance
crew discovered the body in awillow patch about a mile below
the Bridgeport Bridge.
Larry Rowe said it was in about14 inches of water, I guess in
(09:16):
a little eddy in the willows.
We wouldn't have seen it,except we went to see what
smelled so bad.
Trigger warning Foreman AlbertCesario said that the facial
features had been obliteratedbut that the body had looked
like that of a young woman.
(09:36):
The body was nude, except for ablouse or dress that had risen
over the arms, which wereextended over her head.
The body was weighted down witha railroad angle bar that had
been tied around the waist.
There was like a bunch of scraparound too, so they figured
(09:59):
whoever did this just grabbedone of these angle bars from a
pile.
The body was taken to MontroseMemorial Hospital to be frozen
before an autopsy could be doneby forensic pathologist Dr
Thomas Canfield.
The newspapers speculated thatit could be Pat Botham, linda
(10:21):
Miracle or Denise Oliverson.
Ila Miracle said police did notcontact them about the body
being found.
Quote it just gives you acreepy feeling.
Every time the phone rings Ijump and now we will wonder
until we hear something.
The Miracle said they werewilling to spend all their money
(10:44):
to find them.
They hire a former FBI agent,vince Jones, who was assisted by
Mesa County Deputy Rick Clausen.
Like the Pickles, formerMontrose County Deputy Bill Wise
also offered his help free ofcharge.
A couple days later Dr Canfieldsaid the woman had to have been
(11:06):
deceased at least three weeks,if not more.
Pat and the Miracles have beenmissing about a month.
At this point A search is donea mile in both directions around
the nearby tracks and policespend four hours combing the
riverbed.
Foreman Cesario said they hadbeen in the same area a week and
(11:28):
a half ago and they hadn't seenor smelled the body A week
after its discovery.
The body is rolled out as beingPat or Denise.
It is that of a woman between20 and 30 years old.
Private Investigator Jonesbelieves it to be Linda.
(11:50):
The very next day, another bodywas found about half a mile from
where the first body had beenfound and it had an angle bar
tied to its pelvic area as well.
From two rings a high schoolclass ring and a wedding band
and the nightgown being worn.
This body is identified as25-year-old Patricia
(12:13):
Jantz-Botham.
At 3 am Ken Botham was calledto identify his wife's body and
dental records confirmed it aswell.
Ken had told reporters earlierin the week that he thought
something had happened to hiswife.
He suspected she had left inher nightgown because he found
signs that she had been readingin bed.
(12:34):
He thought she had slipped onher tennis shoes to go over to
Linda's because one of her shoeshad been found there.
Ken said that Pat often helpedLinda with problems and somehow
had got into something shecouldn't handle.
He added she would never leavethe children alone.
If she could be here, she would.
(12:56):
After her body had beendiscovered, ken remembered that
she was always taking picturesof the kids at Bridgeport.
Ironically enough, she used tolike to go down there in the
evening.
Sheriff Dick Williams and threeof his deputies, milo Vig, mike
Smith and Larry Smith.
(13:16):
The Smiths used two boats tosearch for the missing teeth of
the first body.
When they found Pat's body nearsome rocks about 50 feet away
from the shore, it seemed thatthe lowering water level caused
it to be revealed.
Chief Myers said that they hada lot to go on and will now go
(13:39):
and collect evidence from thehomes.
Over a month later Ken was ableto call Pat's parents, albert
and Maria Jantz, before thediscovery was announced on the
news.
They lived in Greenville, southCarolina at the time.
Her father said we had notexpected her to be alive, so in
(14:00):
that sense it's not a surprise,it's a relief.
News sources then began totentatively ID the first body as
25-year-old Linda DianneMiracle.
Her father, A.
B.
Chamberlain, came down fromDenver.
Her mother, dolly Baldwin, hadremarried and lived in Los
(14:20):
Angeles at the time.
This is when the Sheriff'sDepartment took over from the
Grand Junction Police Departmentand formed a massive search for
Troy and Chad Miracle, thinkingthat the boys might also be
tied to railroad scraps.
They dragged a 22-mile stretchof the river with magnets Around
(14:42):
.
12.30 on October 3rd, a child'sbody was found halfway between
where the other bodies had beenfound and shortly after that a
fourth body, another child, wasfound.
Sheriff Williams said anybodywho is connected with any one of
the women is a suspect and thatthey had gathered up a lot of
(15:05):
stuff but didn't know what itmeant, which is better than just
not collecting any evidence atall.
Authorities tried to drain partof the river using a bowl dozer
to divert a channel of theriver, but they were
unsuccessful.
A week after the discovery oftwo children, it was announced
that they had been shot.
The following week a memorialservice for Pat was held at
(15:29):
Faith Baptist Church.
On October 14, the searchesalong Gunnison River were called
off.
Police also say that they werelooking more into friends and
family of the two women.
It is also reported that KenBoetham had revived Linda after
an attack in her home six weeksprior to her disappearance and
(15:51):
murder.
So here's the story.
In the early morning hours ofJune 15, linda had been asleep
in front of her television whenshe was awakened by a man trying
to choke her.
She kicked the man and fainted.
When she came to she ranoutside, screamed and fainted
(16:14):
again, and before we starttalking about delicate female
sensibilities and pulling out ofShay's lounge, linda Miracle
was like 5'4 and 99 pounds.
So being choked and attackedwould definitely cause major
physical reactions in anyone,but especially someone as petite
as Linda.
Ken Boetham then ran across thestreet, picked her up and
(16:36):
called out to his wife.
Pat opened their door so Kencould carry Linda in.
Ken was able to revive her andthen call the rescue squad, who
arrived around 2 am.
Linda was admitted to St Mary'sHospital for a hurt toe and
some sources say blood in herlungs.
(16:56):
Even more baffling is that hoursbefore and only a mile and a
half away, another woman wasinvolved in a similar attack.
A man entered the bedroom ofNaomi Jackson and put his hands
over her mouth.
A struggle ensued.
Naomi was able to kick the manwho took off, and then Naomi ran
(17:18):
to a neighbor's house to callpolice.
Around 10 pm A man in eitherattack was never identified.
Then, on October 5th, a13-year-old girl had gone
missing.
Police said no foul play wassuspected, but that's also what
they had said about Pat and theMiracles.
Tracy Freitas was last seen bysome friends who were dropping
(17:41):
her off just after midnight.
Tracy lived 3.5 miles northwestof Ure Avenue by the mainline
Grand Valley Canal.
On October 16th.
The same day, police called offthe search around Gunnison
River, tracy Freitas was founddrowned in a pond.
After an autopsy it wasdeclared an accidental drowning.
(18:05):
Tracy had been drinking beerwith her friends and had also
taken 12 motion sickness pillsand decided to go swimming after
being dropped off.
Her friends said she had beenhallucinating when they dropped
her off.
Tracy's dad, phil Freitas, saidthat an abstinence program
isn't the answer to underage use.
(18:26):
Instead there should beeducation on how to control
themselves and to help otherswho may be tripping out.
I know it seems like we're goingoff on a lot of little tangents
, but I find it really hard notto tell a story as completely as
possible.
It's also difficult not to tellsomeone's story who I know has
mostly been kind of lost to time.
(18:47):
So back to the case at hand.
Captain Burnett, you know theman who thought there was no
need to collect evidence at theBothams or Miracles.
He actually resigns.
In an interview with the DailySentinel he alleges that there
were other complications in theBotham Miracle murders and
(19:07):
alluded to the neighbors onUreah Avenue not being
cooperative.
But wouldn't you know it?
The whole 1900 block of UreahAvenue?
What was left of it?
Responded by writing a letterto the editor saying that they
tried to help and were neverlistened to.
(19:28):
At the beginning of November,funerals for Linda Troy and Chad
Miracle were held at MemorialGarden Cemetery.
Then, on November 8, 1975,27-year-old Kenneth Botham Jr
was placed under arrest.
He had been surveilled Fridaynight until the arrest affidavit
(19:52):
was completed Saturday morningAt 1145,.
Botham was driving south on US50 when two cars pulled him over
20 miles away from his home andabout a quarter mile away from
where his wife's body and thebodies of the Miracles had been
found Under.
(20:14):
Sheriff Hod Hutchinson, alongwith Sheriff's deputies Vig the
Smiths, if you remember, and theBobs Bob Silva, bob Evers
exited their cars to apprehendBotham.
His two sons that and their,along with an unidentified woman
were in the car with him.
The woman took the two childrento their grandparents who lived
(20:37):
about a mile away from UreahAvenue.
Botham's bond was set at$500,000 and he was held in the
Mesa County Jail and OJ Holler,or Reverend the Juice, visited
Botham in jail.
When asked if he thought Bothamwas shocked, he answered I
(20:58):
don't think so.
Back in September Botham hadtold reporters he thought he was
a suspect.
He had also recently put an adin the Ureah County newspaper
looking for a man who couldconfirm he was in Ureah at
midnight on August 22.
A neighbor, cora Hiner, whowould babysit for Pat and Linda,
(21:20):
occasionally said that anybodythat would be cruel enough to
kill two children because theythought the children might talk
wouldn't be beyond poppingsomeone else off if they thought
someone knew something.
She remembered Pat pulling oneof her kids in a wagon, as she
often did the morning of August22.
(21:42):
Another Ureah neighbor, NedCrawford, said that the
neighborhood knew it was morethan just disappearances.
Quote it's the feeling of ourfamily that authorities have
finally accomplished something.
We are relieved they have madean arrest in connection with the
murders.
He added we're nearly satisfiedthey wouldn't have arrested
(22:08):
someone if they didn't haveenough evidence to support the
arrest.
He remembers Pat as a devotedmother.
Pat's father, albert, remembersher as a bright and artistic
child.
ila Miracle said the arrestdidn't make her feel any better.
She remembers Linda as asensitive woman who often wrote
(22:31):
poetry.
One of her poems, titled A Place, read.
I like it here.
On nights like this, when thelake is silent and the rain
belongs to me, there is no needfor yesterday, and tomorrow
doesn't matter.
Now.
All that remains is reflectedpeace like a rainbow in my mind.
(22:57):
If this would last forever, I'dstay that long too, or I would
take it with me when the stormpasses over and I have to go.
Then where would I have to cometo?
On other lonely nights, I'dfind another place quite like
(23:17):
this.
For now.
I'll sit in wonder and perhapstake time to know just how many
raindrops it would take to fillthe palm of my hand.
And that's where we'll stop forpart one.
I'm not sure how many partsthis will be, but definitely
(23:38):
more than two.
Thanks for listening to Murderis Bad.
If you're interested in seeingpictures related to this case,
go over to Instagram at Murderis Bad podcast.
Take care of each other andremember murder is bad.
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