Dark Downeast

When a 10-year-old girl didn’t come back from a quick trip to the store on a cold January night in 1988, her family and the Pawtucket, Rhode Island community searching for her feared the worst. Then weeks later when her body was found miles away, those fears were confirmed… and the questions just started stacking up.

What happened to Christine Cole? Investigators have considered multiple persons of interest and suspects over the las...

On the night of July 4, 1980, an evening of celebrations in the rural town of Anson, Maine ended in the murder investigation of a young local mother. Tire tracks at the scene raised suspicion and rumor, but despite the evidence and apparent confidence of investigators, years passed without any movement in the case. 

By the time it went to trial, Rita St. Peter’s case would be the longest standing unsolved homicide in the state of Ma...

16-year-old Ashley Turniak died on the side of the highway in Massachusetts during a busy weekday morning commute. Was it a terrible accident or an intentional act? 

Despite the numerous drivers passing by who likely witnessed the final moments of her life, more than 25 years later investigators are still trying to determine what exactly happened to the teenage girl, and who, if anyone, is responsible. 

• If you have information th...
  

When a young mother and her 6-month-old son were found dead in their car one September night in 1996, no one could fathom the senselessness of ending two young lives with still so much ahead of them. 

Who would have the motive to kill a mother and her baby? Despite the suspicion that continues to surround an individual connected to the little boy, police in Stamford, Connecticut are still struggling to build a case against anyone al...

When Ralph Robbins went missing in 1993, his disappearance seemed to be forgotten almost as soon as it was reported. Now over 30 years later, his daughter is searching for answers, but more than anything, she wants closure. 

• If you have any information about the 1993 disappearance of Ralph “Roby” Robbins, please contact Massachusetts State Police Lt. Ann Marie Robertson at (508) 961-1918.
   

View source material and photos for...

In March of 1978, the small town of Warren, Rhode Island was sent into a tailspin after a well-known member of their community was shot to death just days after his business burned to the ground. Who would have it out for a man so beloved? 

The deeper you dig into this unsolved case, the murkier it gets. 

• If you have any information about the unsolved homicide of Amon Jamiel, please contact the Cold Case Rhode Island tip line at ...
  

Nearly four decades after a Connecticut flight attendant and mother disappeared without a trace, investigators don’t seem any closer to solving the mystery. But ask anyone who knows anything about Regina Brown’s life, and they’ll tell you exactly what they believe happened and who they feel is responsible for her disappearance…If only they had the evidence to prove it. 

• If you have information relating to the 1987 disappearance ...
  

On a crisp fall day in October of 1991, Patricia Scoville set out for a bike ride on the scenic Moss Glen Falls trails in Stowe, Vermont. When she hadn’t returned home more than two days later, Patty’s roommate reported her missing, triggering a search and rescue effort that soon morphed into a homicide investigation. 

The case that unfolded baffled investigators for almost two decades, but the person responsible for Patricia’s deat...

When 54-year-old Bobbie Miller and her dog were found dead in their Gilford, New Hampshire home one November afternoon in 2010, it didn’t take long for the public to point the finger at her former husband. 

The circumstances might be convincing, but over a decade later, no one has been arrested for Bobbie’s murder. Her family waits alongside so many others for closure in her unsolved homicide. 

• If you have information about the 2...

On January 1, 1988, 17-year-old John Lango walked out the front door of his home in Pottsville, Pennsylvania never to return. He was treated as a runaway, but now more than three decades later, all signs indicate John never meant to disappear on his own. John Lango’s case unfolded just outside the boundaries of New England. However, Dark Downeast is sharing this mini episode alongside other audiochuck shows to bring attention to un...

It has been more than three decades since the day 41-year-old Audrey Groat left her Northfield, Vermont home supposedly for an afternoon of shopping only to vanish without a trace. 

The initial search for the missing mother had just a few details to go on, but not even those details can really be trusted. The most important question still lingers: What really happened on that August afternoon in 1993? 

• If you have any information...
  

On a chilly December night in 1972 just outside of Boston, Massachusetts, what might have been just a routine traffic stop took an unexpected turn when two police officers trailed a mysterious man in a dark Cadillac and their pursuit spiraled into a high-speed chase and a shoot out. 

When officers finally caught up to the vehicle and apprehended the driver, the past four months of fear and torment through the greater Boston area wou...

On the night Gwendolyn Taylor was attacked just outside her apartment building in Dorchester, Massachusetts, witnesses watched helplessly as an unknown man grabbed the 18-year old, demanded money, and told everyone within earshot not to call the police. 

When her body was discovered hours later, those same witnesses found themselves at the heart of the investigation. Their recollections of the man they saw that night pointed authori...

It was early afternoon of September 29, 1971 and 11-year old Barbara Ann Ripley should’ve been getting off the bus at home in North Yarmouth, Maine like she did every Wednesday. When she didn’t walk through the front door on schedule, her mother went looking for Barbara in what she thought was the most likely of places. But Barbara wasn’t there, and not even an extensive days-long search effort would uncover any trace of the little...

When 25-year old Nadine Mendonça went to her favorite hang out in downtown Fall River, Massachusetts for a casual night out, neither she nor her family could’ve expected it would end the way it did. 

To this day, Nadine’s family is still trying to figure out exactly what happened that July night in 1991, and after over 30 years, where exactly Nadine could be now. 

• If you have any information about the 1991 disappearance of Nadine...
  

When 13-year old Matthew Margolies didn’t come home for supper on the night of August 31, 1984, police in Greenwich, Connecticut launched a full scale search scouring the Pemberwick woods and waters of the Byram River for any sign of the young fisherman.

Despite numerous suspects and abundant evidence over the last 40 years, police have failed to make an arrest in this senseless crime that tossed the otherwise idyllic New England to...

MAINE, 1973: Just months into production of a new and exciting project, film director Jon Pownall was found dead at his Monument Square office in Portland, Maine. Why would anyone want to kill him? As the investigation into his murder began, a motive for his death emerged, but the question of who was behind it all is one that still hasn’t been answered with a conviction 50 years later.

Lynda Pownall-Carlson was only 16-years old whe...

MAINE, 1987: On the night of June 8, 1987, David Nixon had just hung up the phone with his father. He called back home to let his folks know that he was staying over at their family beach house in Kennebunkport, Maine for one more night. That phone call was the last contact David ever had with his family. Sometime after he put the phone back on the hook, David was killed just steps from the house on Goose Rocks Beach.

The investigat...