December 1, 2023 • 44 mins
Thank you for joining us for our season six finale.
While we are on a Holiday break, don’t forget that WTFs are releasing on Patreon 2 Wednesdays a month. Come join us for the fuckery!
We announced this episode that next season the podcast is going worldwide. While the PNW is our home and that’s where our true crime roots will always be, we want to venture out to bring you new cases. If you have any suggestions of cases you want to hear us cover, send them our way!
We are wrapping up by sharing 2 cases that have remained unsolved for over 20 years.
Sharon “Shari” Anderson is a beloved mother and grandmother who went missing December 2, 2000 after a day of running errands and Christmas shopping. Her SUV was found in a mall parking lot in Everett, WA, with no sign of her or a struggle. There have been no solid leads as to what happened to her in all this time. Friends and family still hope to learn of her whereabouts and any leads can be directed to the Everett PD at (425) 257-8483. She was last seen wearing a green jacket, jeans and white tennis shoes. She is 5’ 8”, of Caucasian and Native American ancestry, has brown eyes and brown hair and would be 72 years old now. There is a $20,000 reward offered for credible information.
https://www.websleuths.com/forums/threads/wa-sharon-anderson-50-everett-2-december-2000.452843/
https://original.newsbreak.com/@ada-e-1668135/3204353228481-in-2000-shari-anderson-went-to-buy-christmas-presents-in-washington-and-didn-t-come-back
https://uncovered.com/cases/sharon-christine-anderson
Linda Tran and her 2 children were murdered on December 18, 1998 in their home by and unidentified male seen fleeing her home before it exploded and was engulfed in flames. She was also 7 months pregnant at the time of her murder. It has been over 2 decades since her murder and her case is still unsolved. There is a composite sketch released to the public that has given no leads. Anyone with any information is asked to contact Tacoma PD at (253) 798-4721 or Crimestoppers 1-800-222-TIPS. There is a reward of $1,000 for any information.
https://www.king5.com/article/news/crime/unsolved/1998-killing-pregnant-tacoma-woman-her-two-kids/281-72d31b8a-6002-4fe9-8263-1fd4bf5828e5
https://www.fox13seattle.com/washingtons-most-wanted/murder-mystery-pregnant-mother-2-children-brutally-beaten-before-home-set-ablaze
https://www.reddit.com/r/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/vwzx4f/the_murder_of_linda_tran_and_her_children_in_1998/?share_id=bG0R1XsxbgG_MOIrfPSYU&utm_content=2&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_source=share&utm_term=10
While we are on a Holiday break, don’t forget that WTFs are releasing on Patreon 2 Wednesdays a month. Come join us for the fuckery!
We announced this episode that next season the podcast is going worldwide. While the PNW is our home and that’s where our true crime roots will always be, we want to venture out to bring you new cases. If you have any suggestions of cases you want to hear us cover, send them our way!
We are wrapping up by sharing 2 cases that have remained unsolved for over 20 years.
Sharon “Shari” Anderson is a beloved mother and grandmother who went missing December 2, 2000 after a day of running errands and Christmas shopping. Her SUV was found in a mall parking lot in Everett, WA, with no sign of her or a struggle. There have been no solid leads as to what happened to her in all this time. Friends and family still hope to learn of her whereabouts and any leads can be directed to the Everett PD at (425) 257-8483. She was last seen wearing a green jacket, jeans and white tennis shoes. She is 5’ 8”, of Caucasian and Native American ancestry, has brown eyes and brown hair and would be 72 years old now. There is a $20,000 reward offered for credible information.
https://www.websleuths.com/forums/threads/wa-sharon-anderson-50-everett-2-december-2000.452843/
https://original.newsbreak.com/@ada-e-1668135/3204353228481-in-2000-shari-anderson-went-to-buy-christmas-presents-in-washington-and-didn-t-come-back
https://uncovered.com/cases/sharon-christine-anderson
Linda Tran and her 2 children were murdered on December 18, 1998 in their home by and unidentified male seen fleeing her home before it exploded and was engulfed in flames. She was also 7 months pregnant at the time of her murder. It has been over 2 decades since her murder and her case is still unsolved. There is a composite sketch released to the public that has given no leads. Anyone with any information is asked to contact Tacoma PD at (253) 798-4721 or Crimestoppers 1-800-222-TIPS. There is a reward of $1,000 for any information.
https://www.king5.com/article/news/crime/unsolved/1998-killing-pregnant-tacoma-woman-her-two-kids/281-72d31b8a-6002-4fe9-8263-1fd4bf5828e5
https://www.fox13seattle.com/washingtons-most-wanted/murder-mystery-pregnant-mother-2-children-brutally-beaten-before-home-set-ablaze
https://www.reddit.com/r/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/vwzx4f/the_murder_of_linda_tran_and_her_children_in_1998/?share_id=bG0R1XsxbgG_MOIrfPSYU&utm_content=2&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_source=share&utm_term=10
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
What Happens in the Woods is atrue crime podcast. We discuss events that
are often violent in nature. Listeners, discretion is advised. Hello, and
(00:32):
welcome to the campfire. Friends.We are so thankful to have you with
us as we wrap up the season. We are entering the end of our
sixth season. Hi, Bryce,Hello, can you believe it? Can
you believe it? Yeah? Timeflies when you're having fun, time flies
(00:56):
when you have them something an imaginablefund Yeah. Yeah. So while we
won't have any new regular season episodesfor a little while, we are going
to take a holiday break, PatreonWTFS will still be going strong, so
head on over there to get signedup for the chaos otherwise known as WTFS.
(01:19):
You don't want to miss out.If you're not signed up already on
Patreon, you are missing out,Yes, my friends, you're missing out
on the funs, the fuckery.Yeah all right. Do you have any
announcements? UK still in the lead? Awesome? Thank you for listening.
(01:45):
What else? What else? Doyou have a couple of new ones?
Oh? Yeah, yeah, whatare they? Number five? Italy,
Oh, I tell you number seven? Wild guests, God, I have
no idea. Jamaica, Jamaica isit because we were talking about no,
(02:09):
because that was on the Patreon.Hm, where'd you come from? Jamaica?
Hello, someday I would like tocome and visit you someday. Yeah,
we could do a live WTF inJamaica. That would be the dream.
Oh yeah, that would be cool. Let's make that happen. Yes,
(02:31):
yes, and then just an interestingone way down there is Kuwait what?
Yeah, okay, that's interesting.I would have never have guessed that
in a million years. We welcomeeverybody. Well, yeah, thank you
for listening. We hope you keeplistening. Welcome to the campfire. Welcome
(02:55):
to the campfire. Sorry I'm sicky, Yes, you got that? Uh
the credit whatever's going around? Yeah, the nastiness. You're very nasally Yeah,
yeah, that's okay. You won'tbe talking much. I'm squid word
today. You're squid word all SpongeBob. Oh yeah, well I will say
(03:20):
this. You know, usually inthe United States, Washington is number one.
Yeah, hello Texas, ah fuck, number two, Florida, Hello,
Illinois, Illinois? Oh, hello, number three New York. Washington's
(03:40):
not even the top three. No, wow, a right, you want
to see number four? What?Hello? Arizona Arizona. Yeah, all
right, wow, are people justtraveling for the holidays? Is that what
it is? I think that's whatit is. I can't imagine. And
you want to head a number five? What's number five? Utah, No,
(04:04):
I'm not kidding you. Yeah,people are traveling. Number six.
That's the logical reason. Number six. We can't possibly be popular in any
other states. California. Okay,well that one I get. Okay,
number seven to Washington. Damn,I'm number seven, number eight Colorado.
(04:24):
Are you going to go through allfifty states? No? Okay, they're
honestly like our top three has changeddrastically. Yeah. I really am feeling
that people are traveling for the holidaysand that's why maybe Yeah, thank you
for traveling, Thank you, thankyou, and be safe. Be safe.
Yes you don't want to end upon the podcast. No, I
(04:46):
didn't mean that, but just besafe. Yeah, be safe. Wow.
Well, thank you everybody for listening. We hope that you know,
speaking of holidays, you guys enjoyedyour Thanksgiving and had a good time.
And also, do not forget thatit is like Indigenous People's month. Yes,
(05:09):
yes, that's a big deal.That that is a big actually I'm
not being a shitty like. I'mnot trying to make a joke. That's
a big deal. Yeah, andI actually like that we are making like
that. There's recognition for that.Now. Bryce is showing me the the
United States maps of where we're likewhere everybody Texas is loud and proud.
(05:34):
Yes, yes, very represented.Yeah yeah, okay, well, I
mean welcome Texas, Welcome everybody.We will we will gladly take any in
all people who want to listen tous. Hello, yeah, all right,
(05:56):
any other updates? No, I'mjust having fun, I mean closing
it out. Might at all recognizeeverybody? Yeah, No, I think
it's awesome. I did want tosay, because I know Christy is listening,
we'll stay in bad But yeah,we started shining veil Christie. Oh
yeah, Oh my fucking god.I don't know what it is about weird
(06:19):
shows that I've been watching, butI think I'm on a trend right now,
and that is just quickly. Idon't know. We had to stop
watching because it got late, butwe'll be finishing that up. It's an
interesting concept. I don't think.I don't think that there are many shows
(06:42):
that could kind of go into thatit's hitting a lot of hard topics,
and then it's also talking about youknow, ghosts and spiritual not spiritual,
but like, oh my god,why am I having a brain part?
What's the word hauntings? But yeah, there's supernatural, yeah, but very
(07:05):
comical, like there's a lot ofcomic relief. I don't know, it's
it's not for everybody. I couldsay that, but if you don't mind,
if you don't mind cussing and justweird topics, then you might like
it. It's a good show.Or realizing that you're old, Oh my
god, yeah that we kept sayingthat. Well there is Now let me
(07:27):
say this, there's nothing wrong withpeople aging. I get more irritated when
people, I don't know, theytalk about things as if we're not supposed
to get old. You are supposedto get old. There's a circle of
life here, right. It's justvery hard when you're like looking at people
and you're like, oh shit,like that person is has aged along with
(07:54):
me, you know what I mean. I think we tend to look at
actress actresses and actors and immortalize them, you know, and we do.
They're immortalized forever in a movie ora TV show or whatever. But you
realize, like, as you've beenaging and you're getting older, the people
that you used to watch when youwere a kid, and you know,
(08:16):
you felt a certain kind of way, or you liked their acting or whatever,
you thought they were hot or cuteor whatever, they're aging too,
and it puts your age more inperspective. I guess. Yeah, it
was kind of hard to watch alittle bit because I was like, fuck,
I am old because all these peoplethat I used to watch as a
(08:37):
kid are now older. They're old. Yeah, but I like seeing people
that I used to watch on TVthat I really liked, you know,
like Judith Light she's in that show. She was on Who's the Boss for
anybody who doesn't know, and Ireally like that show, and then she
(08:58):
just kind of seemed to disappear.She did a lot of like TV movies
for a little bit. I knowshe was on the soap opera prior.
I think prior to Who's the Bossshe was on I didn't know that.
Yeah, I think she was onGeneral Hospital, or I think just before
I was born. That's how Ilook at the world. Okay, well,
Who's the Boss came after you wereborn? So but if like I
(09:20):
didn't know she was in the soapopera before, didn't, Well it wasn't
before you were born before I watched. Okay, well that's good for you.
I live in your La La lands. It's fine. But yeah,
the show is good. I wouldrecommend it. So all right, do
you have any other announcements? AmI supposed to? No, I'm just
(09:41):
asking. Okay, well I havean announcement. You already knew this.
So next season we are going global. We are we are while the Pacific
Northwest is you know, the basisof the show. Obviously, we're going
(10:03):
to expand and we're going to broadenour reach, so to speak. So
what happens in the woods, we'llbe sharing cases from around the world starting
next season. We are gladly goingto take any suggestions from any anybody.
If there's any cases that you wouldlike us to cover, does not have
to be Pacific Northwest related. We'regoing to cover anything and everything, so
(10:28):
send them in, send them suggestions, and get ready to go global.
It'll just match our WTF. Yes, anything and everything, anything in everything.
It's it is time to broaden thehorizons. All right, are you
ready? I'm ready. We gotnot one, but I've got two cases
(10:50):
for you. Oh yeah. Bothof these take place during the holiday season,
and both of these are unsolved.All right. That's very frustrating.
It is very frustrating. And they'renot recent either. These are both kind
of older cases. So come on, campers, we can do it.
(11:11):
Somebody knows something, as they alwayssay. All right. So the first
case that I have for you isthat of missing grandma mom. Beloved family
member, so Sharon Sherry Anderson.She was fifty years old when she disappeared.
(11:33):
She was in living in Stanwood,Washington, with her husband John at
the time. They had two daughters. I believe they were not from both
of them, but they were hertwo daughters. And then she had two
grandsons that were aged six and eight. And she loved her family. She
(11:56):
was described as very hard working,but she was always there, She was
always supportive, She was always there, and she would not have wanted to
disappoint. She would not have disappearedwillingly from anybody's life. She had worked
in social services, so the Departmentof held social services for over fifteen years,
(12:18):
and she was dedicated to that jobin helping people. It was a
very important part of her life,and no one assumed or thought that she
would disappear, and they're just there. She was dependable and she would not
have willingly gone anywhere. So onthe day that she disappeared, it was
(12:41):
December second, two thousand, shehad relayed to her friends that she friends
and family that she was going togo run some errands. So she was
going to get some breakfast, shewas going to pick up photos as you
used to have to do from thephoto lab. She was then going to
(13:03):
head to Walmart, and she hadChristmas shopping to do, so she was
going to be making a drive aboutthirty miles down the road to the Everett
Mall. There were plans later onin the day with her and her husband
for dinner in Seattle, and thenthey were actually going to go to a
motorcycle exhibit. So they were bothinto like Harley Davidson. She had told
(13:26):
her husband when she left in themorning about nine am, that she would
be back around four four thirty sothat they would get ready to go to
dinner, and you know, theirplans for the evening. So John wakes
up in the afternoon about four o'clockand I'm sorry about five o'clock and she's
not home yet, so he startslooking around the house. Her car's not
(13:48):
there. She had a Toyota forRunner that was not parked anywhere around the
property, and there were no signsof hers. So he began contacting friends
about six o'clock and asking if anybodyhad heard from her, calling family,
(14:09):
friends, and nobody knew, youknow, where she was, if she
had even made it to the malllike she had planned to do. Everybody
was kind of aware of what shewas supposed to be doing for the day,
but nobody had heard from her.Yeah, so at ten pm,
one of her friends had driven tothe Everett Mall and the Forerunner was found
(14:33):
parked in front of a Mervins,which is that's a blast from the past.
And it's not known whether she actuallyentered the mall or if it was
just parked there. Inside of theForerunner. She did have a cell phone
that was in the car, andthen there was a firearm that she carried
(14:54):
on her person for you know,protection, It was in the car.
It was very unusual for her tohave left those things. There was no
sign that she had done any shopping, so there was nothing in the car
that led them to believe that sheactually got any of her errands done for
the day. It was found locked, those things were inside of it.
(15:18):
There was no sign of a struggle. There was no sign of any injuries,
any blood, nothing that could tellthe police what might have happened,
where she would have gone, anything. So she was declared a missing person
pretty much right away. There weresearches from leads over the next few days.
(15:39):
This got out same day really andmade nudes and there were some calls
that had some leads, there wereno results. There were searches all over
the mall area. There was volunteersearches that happened. The family kind of
rallied and got you know, membersof you know, people that she had
(16:03):
worked with, members of the community. They distributed flyers. There was a
lot of movement on this on thefamily's party, and nothing ever came up
to fruition. There was nothing thatpanned out. Her bank accounts were never
touched, credit cards never touched,so there was no financial motive that they
(16:25):
could see. There just really wasno information. She just disappeared. There
was no closed circuit TV or videoor anything, so they never know if
she went into the mall. Soat one point, friends and family are
knocking on doors and distributing these flyers. The police stated that without them they
(16:48):
really wouldn't have gotten as much tractionas they did. But it's still,
like I said, is amounted tonothing. And despite all of that,
and within twenty days they had atwenty thousand dollars reward posted for leads of
any information, there is nothing zerozero. Wow. So her husband was
(17:12):
looked at. Of course, itwas found out that the year prior to
her disappearance, he had asked fora divorce. Not really understanding this,
but he said, quote unquote needto progress his life. That was his
reason for asking for the divorce.However, when talked to family and friends,
(17:33):
said that there was no signs ofan unhappy marriage between the two of
them, so really no idea whyhe had asked for a divorce or what
that meant was that he needed toprogress his life. The year after her
disappearance, he again he actually filedfor divorce under the grounds that she was
(17:55):
missing and later declared dead, sohe was granted a divorce before she was
declared debt. I mean, peopledeal with it. I don't like that
I don't know, no, andI can't. I'm not saying that to
blame him, and the police obviouslyhave not had any reason to suspect him.
He has been cleared. So it'san interesting twist on it. I
(18:17):
guess you would say it's an interestingbit of information, but it does not
lead to her disappearance or possibly murder. Other than that, there really have
been no none of the news articles, nothing has There's been no search wants,
there's been no possible leads, there'sbeen no suspects. There is an
(18:41):
article that I read, kind ofa blog that I read that stated around
that time that there were disappearances ofwomen along the I five corridor, which
we all know that might be relatedto maybe a serial killer. And Everett
is on the I five corridor,and about this time there were a couple
of people that you know, couldbe suspects if you're looking at that.
(19:07):
She is indigenous, so she ispart Cherokee heritage and white. So there
is also the aspect of the missingand murdered and Indigenous women. Yeah,
that's huge, It is huge.It is huge, and it doesn't get
(19:29):
discussed, you know. If itdoes, it's frustrating because like in this
case, there are no answers.There are women who go missing, women
and children. There are men whogo missing too, but not at the
rate that women. Like young women, teenage women, young females that are
Indigenous, they go missing, andnobody talks about it but their family.
(19:55):
If it gets traction, it's becauseit's you know, somebody's taken up the
cause basically. And we know afew people, you know, we know
Karmita who who also runs a podcast, and this is what she does.
This is what she talks about allthe time, and it's it. If
these people were not talking about it, it would not yet talked about it
(20:15):
about because the agencies, the localagencies don't communicate with one another. So
police or sheriff or state patrol whateverdon't communicate with the you know, the
the police forces that are at thereservations. There's also nobody. Nobody's talking
(20:37):
about it because there's no story toit, you know what I mean.
It's not there's nothing that you're it'sit's disgusting, but it is very true
as we all learned, you knowthis past year, that if you're not
blonde, blue eyed, and white, your chances are you're not going to
(20:57):
make news. And I think that, especially back in two thousand, very
much the case. So while local, you know, the Everett News,
local news might have covered this,I don't think that it got coverage outside
of that. So if there issomething to the I five, you don't
(21:21):
I guess the I five corridor thatthat theory. Yeah, Well I five
runs all along the western part ofthis country. So if it doesn't make
it out of Everett News, wise, who in Oregon would be looking for
this woman? Who in California wouldbe looking for this woman? Who in
Canada would be looking for this woman? You know? Nobody. So when
(21:45):
she was last seen, she waswearing a green jacket, blue jeans,
and white tennis shoes. She's aboutfive eight and she has brown hair and
brown eyes. And I will postyou know the photos that we can.
And she was placed on the playingcards that they distribute in the jails,
(22:11):
So she was placed on one ofthe cards and hopes that maybe somebody coming
through the jail would have any information. But like I said, she would
be seventy two years old this year, and it's been since December second of
two thousand with no answer for thisfamily, for her children, for her
(22:34):
grandchildren, for her friends that arestill you know, pushing information, pushing
her information out to the public.Yeah, so terrible time to go missing
right before Christmas anytime, but especiallyaround the holidays. Well, I think
that's when you feel the loss themost. You know, when you're supposed
(22:56):
to gather with your family and yourloved ones and you can't. So yes,
it's not good anytime of the year, but that I think it hits
you a little differently when major holidayscome around. I think at this point
that the family would just like resolution. You know, there's that hope that
(23:18):
you want to have keep alive,that you hope somebody is going to return
then. But I mean, allthis time later, I think the reality
of it is any answer is betterthan no answer. So that is our
first case that is unsolved. Andafter this break we'll come back and we'll
discuss the second. Our second casewas recently featured on a local K five
(23:47):
show called Unsolved Northwest. And thisalso happened quite a long time ago.
So this is December eighteenth of nineteenninety eight from Tacoma. So on December
eighteenth, the bodies of Linda Tran, who at the time of her death,
was seven months pregnant, and hertwo children, so one year old
(24:07):
Austin and nine year old Patricia,were found brutally beaten and murdered in their
own home in Tacoma. In Tacoma, so Linda and her kids had stopped
by where her father worked. Heowned a auto repair shop. In the
afternoon that day, they were goingto go and have dinner with him at
(24:29):
one of their favorite restaurants, andunfortunately, a customer came into her father's
auto shop and so he ended upstaying Later. She ended up going next
door to his home and began tocook dinner so that they could eat dinner
there. While she was at hishouse, someone called the home to say
that they had clothes and Christmas giftsfor her children and to meet the person
(24:52):
back at her house. So atLinda's house, that was about seven forty
five. When they left her father'shome, they stopped on the way to
her home at a local market.They purchased some fruit, and then by
eight fifteen they were home. Neighborsstated that they saw Linda and her two
children come home. So her homewas a duplex. The neighbor next door
(25:18):
heard shouting and saw a man standingon her porch yelling at her and threatening
her with a baseball bat. Sothe neighbor saw the man usher her into
the home and then told the childrento come along as well. Afterwards,
after they were led inside the home, the neighbor called nine to one one.
(25:42):
He continued, this neighbor, Idon't know if it was he or
she. They actually don't say inthe article. The neighbor continued to hear
yelling, crying, breaking glass andwas very you know, told the police
you need to get here now.Not long after this was made and the
neighbor was describing what they were hearing, what they had seen, the home
(26:06):
was rocked with an explosion. Yes, now, is this a duplex,
neighbor, Yes, okay, soLinda's home had an explosion. The man
who had been seen on the frontporch and yelling at them to get in
the house was seen running quickly outof the back of the house to a
waiting car, where he got intoa dark colored sedan with the driver waiting
(26:33):
for him, and sped off.Oh that's not suspicious at all, not
at all. It took police aboutten minutes to respond, so emergency services
came about ten minutes the house wasfully engulfed in flames. Oh wow,
and the explosion was so bad thatit actually after the house, you know,
the fire had been put out andemergency services and medical services were able
(26:56):
to get into the home, itcould be seen that the roof was superating
from the wall the foundation. Basically, Yeah, so they do determine that
the house was set on fire dueto an accelerate Yeah. The Corners report
came back stating that Linda and herchildren were beaten, not necessarily dead when
(27:19):
the fire was started, and thattheir cause of death was smoke inhalation.
Actually, so there is a compositesketch of this male. The information is
very it's just not good. Sohe's dark skinned, could be African American,
(27:41):
could be Asian male. And that'sreally all they got. It's very
descriptive things. Yeah, it's it'sI just don't know that they're going to
get much from that. And thecomposite sketch. And I know this,
this is not this is a realthing. It is thing for people to
have very long necks. It's anextremely long neck. Extremely that is drawn
(28:07):
and the person that is drawn alsois wearing a beanie. So if the
person was wearing a beanie, youknow, when the neighbors saw or any
of the neighbors had seen this person. Who knows what kind of hair could
have been, long hair, shorthair, curly hair, dark hair,
who knows? Who? Absolutely,who knows the bat was found in the
(28:30):
home. It was badly burned,obviously, and they thought that they could
get, you know, any evidenceoff of it. The fire damaged it.
Later on in twenty fifteen, therewas a thought that they might be
able to get some DNA evidence offof it. I have not seen where
anything has come back that they actuallywere able to get DNA and send it
(28:55):
off to a lab to be tested. If they did that, they might
be keep being that a secret,and we've maybe just it hasn't progressed enough
for the DNA to be able tobe used, but that that is out
there. It is still being lookedat this case. So they are still
you know, there is somebody who'sactively looking at this case now. So
(29:18):
the night prior to this incident toher death, she had called a cousin
about eight pm and stated that hera window in her back door had been
broken. Her cousin called nine toone, one called police. There was
no sign that anybody had entered thehome, and there was no sign of
(29:38):
anybody, you know, around,I don't know. While you know,
there's plenty of mention of that andall of the articles that I read,
I don't know whether the window hadbeen fixed at this point of when the
incident actually takes place on the eighteenth, or if it was still broken,
if there was a minor repair done, if you know what the state of
(30:03):
the window was, I call thatlandlord. Well, I mean, obviously
this is how somebody got in.Yeah, So if the back window was
broken out, chances are that ishow the person got in. The theory
is that the person was there waitingfor them obviously had called yeah and said
I have presents for your kids.Whether she bought that story or not or
(30:26):
really thought it was true, Idon't know. But the person had already
shown up and put the accelerant allaround the home. So Linda was in
cosmetology school, so there is atheory that she she herself, could have
had the accelerant because a lot ofchemicals are used with cosmetology, that it
(30:49):
wasn't necessarily something that somebody had tobring into the home that she maybe already
had something that could be used foraccelerant. I don't know on that scale
though, I don't know that shewould have had like gallons of something acid
tone or I mean, to setan explosion that size, you would either
need to put accelerant on something thatwould explode, which is possible, or
(31:12):
have enough accelerant to run throughout thewhole house to just blaze it up.
Or he could have just I don'tknow, if there was a gas stove
and he just turned it on andthat could be it too. The theory
is also that the fire started towardsthe end beginning of the house because he
ran out the back. Police alsotheorized that he might this person might have
(31:37):
burned himself in this explosion. However, there's no mention. It's mentioned several
times that that could have happened,but there's no mention. Did they follow
up with any emergency rooms or urgentcares in the area for a burn victim.
I would assume that this person probablyhad severe burns if it went down
(32:00):
on that quickly. Yeah, Imean, that's very forceful to do damage
to a home like that. Youprobably would have burned yourself trying to get
out. Chances are I'm just sayingI kind of agree with that theory,
but I don't know what the followup was on that theory. So unfortunately,
(32:22):
Tacoma police are still they're asking forany assistance if somebody knows anything.
They did look at any anybody thatshe had had a past relationship with the
fathers of her children. They haveall been cleared. Nobody is being looked
at, however, No, Andthat was the other thing I was trying
(32:44):
to look at was did phone recordsdid anybody? I mean, if if
there's a phone call made, evenin nineteen ninety eight, they could trace
a call the you know, thephone companies could tell you who called in
that line. Maybe wasn't that advanced. I don't know, but we had
(33:05):
in nineteen ninety eight we had callerID. Yeah, not everybody had it,
though, remember that you had topay for that. That's true,
you did. Yeah, it's abut I'm just saying if we had collor
ID that the telephone companies definitely hadcaller I D. They could trace stuff.
So I am unsure and maybe thatis why, well, yeah,
(33:28):
exactly did they want to know.But maybe that is why some of the
like that seems like a logical thingto me that the police would maybe keep
under you know, keep close tothemselves, because that's it's a possible lead,
(33:50):
but they can't definitively do anything aboutit. Yeah, because just because
you find a phone number doesn't meanthat you're gonna find the person who called
from that phone number. You knowwhat, if it's a payphone, gather
(34:10):
around children, I'll tell you astory of the days of old. It
is. It is unfortunate. ButI agree with a lot of what seemed
to be hinted at in news articlesis that I would think this is a
crime of passion. Not only didyou brutally beat and murder a pregnant woman,
(34:35):
but you did it to her childrenas well. Somebody was mad.
Somebody was you know, mad mad. Somebody needed to fucking time out.
They were so mad. And Imean, that's a poor joke, But
honestly, what does it take forsomebody to not only do that, to
(34:57):
do that to the person and thatyou're probably mad at, but also her
children. That's that's uncontrollable rage there, yes, or somebody sending a message
don't come after free clothes. Idon't know. I there is a so
a. You know, of course, police were looking at background. What
(35:20):
would she maybe have done or gotteninto or did she see something. They
theorized that maybe she had like agambling issue, that she liked to frequent
play bingo, she liked pull tabs, things like that. So there's a
theory that she may have owed peoplemoney that she couldn't pay back. I
(35:40):
don't think that people well I don't, don't laugh, but it's like a
bingo addiction, like how much howmuch are you trying to pull there?
I don't know. I mean gamblingin general. But if she even if
she owed people money, I don'tknow that somebody would lure her to her
own home saying I have gifts foryour children. Yeah, how much?
(36:00):
You're right? How much money wouldthat? Would we be talking in nineteen
eight ninety eight For somebody to dothat to the children. It just seems
you have to look at every possiblelead, and maybe she saw something,
maybe the kids saw something. Idon't know, but it had to have
(36:22):
been something. You just don't dothat to a pregnant woman and her children
over I wouldn't think over gambling money. It just seems like jealousy there something
maybe a bad relationship. But yeah, maybe I could see that or I
(36:45):
don't know. It's very it's verytragic and horrible way to She must have
known who he was. That's Ithink that's pretty obvious. Yeah, I
think so, and even even thekids. Maybe her daughter knew who it
(37:06):
was, because there's one article thatI read that said the daughter wanted to
spend the night at the grandpa's houseand the mom said, no, these
are Christmas presents for you. Youneed to come. So it's it could
be. I think that line ofthinking is very logical to follow. So
(37:27):
we're looking for a burnt long neckman. Yeah, basically, I mean,
I will show you the picture it. Whoever do this composite sketch?
I I don't understand it, Likeif this is really what people gave you
as a and they were like,yeah, that's it. Wow, that
(37:54):
is a very long neck. Yeah. They shaped like a penis too.
It is kind of yes, especiallywith the skull cap on the So we're
looking for a burnt penis man,A burnt penis man, a piece of
shit. Well, you have tocome out wherever you are. Yeah,
(38:14):
to do that to kids, Yeah, that woman, kid, you kind
of ared a piece of If theaccelerant wasn't around, there's still a piece
of shit. Well yeah, becauseyou beat them. You beat them and
left them knowing knowing you. Yeah, you lured them there, Yeah,
and then beat them with a bat. Come find me, bro, what's
(38:35):
he got to be like sixty?Now? Well, neighbors should say he
was in his thirties, so whatthat? Yeah, okay, well we're
not spring chickens anymore, so Idon't know it brings them out. I
don't even know what I could doin a fight anymore. That's sad.
(38:57):
I don't even know. If Idon't even know, you're old enough not
to fight, that's it. Yeah, but you know, shit still happens.
I don't know. It's it's verysad. And her her family is
still, you know, very muchasking for questions. One of the things
that I saw was there's only onethousand dollars reward for information. It's so
(39:22):
little, but it's very hard.Like I don't think her family could put
up a lot of money, youknow what I mean? Her dad worked
every day at an auto shop,you know, I mean he he owned
the auto shop, so I don'tknow. Making no, I don't know
that he was necessarily working at theshop and they were they were immigrants,
(39:46):
so they immigrated to the United Stateswhen she was six years old from Vietnam.
Her mom, right before this happened, had actually moved back to Vietnam.
Why I don't it didn't say personalreasons. I don't know. Maybe
she had family members that were sick, or maybe maybe she was only here
(40:07):
on a certain visa and had togo. I don't know. I didn't
realize they were a Vietnamese. Theywere Vietnamese. You It could be like
a cultural thing too. It couldbe it could be Okay, maybe I
don't want Vietnamese smoke. Yeah,I mean you're I wouldn't want any smoke.
What the man, I'm just tryingto get this guy to come out.
(40:30):
Well, there's got to be somebodywho knows something, is the thing.
You know, plenty of people sawthis person enough to make a composite
sketch. He was not wearing amask, and he was somebody who was
obviously knew her dad's phone number.I mean, not everybody was that.
This is about the time when peopleweren't listing themselves in the phone anymore in
(40:51):
the phone books, had her dad'sphone number, knew she would be there?
What's a phone book? Stop it? I've already said I'm old,
all right? How much more doyou need from me? Google it?
You know, knew where to findher, knew her dad's phone number,
and was somebody that known to herto get her to come back to her
(41:14):
home. Yeah, So this isa personal issue. This is a personal
crime, most definitely. Yeah.So if anybody knows anything, you really
should speak up. There's just noreason to not give this family closure.
(41:36):
None help was find the penis man, Yeah, find the burnt penis man.
And those, unfortunately, are thecases I wanted to while they are
both recently being discussed, because itis the time of year that they've they
you know, disappeared or been murdered, it is there just as many more
(42:05):
unsolved cases out there than what Ican bring to light. They happen all
the time anyway. So Linda Tranand her children, Austin and Patricia,
and then Cherrie Anderson who is stillmissing, and we just I want to,
(42:32):
you know, offer thoughts and supportto the family members for them and
for anybody who's you know, missinga family member or has lost a family
member due to a violent crime.Nobody should have to do that. We
shouldn't have to worry about these thingsas we're just trying to live our lives,
daily lives. You know, Cherrywas just going Christmas shopping. She
(42:58):
wanted to get things for her grandkids. You shouldn't have to think that this
is the day that I'm going togo missing. There are so many other
things in the world that are goingon. We shouldn't have to worry about
these things too. So if anybodyknows anything, if you were living in
(43:20):
Stanwood, Washington or Everett, Washingtonin the year two thousand and you maybe
saw anything, even if you don'tthink it's anything, and you haven't said
it to the please call Everett PoliceDepartment if you know anything. You know
you were living in Tacoma in nineteenninety eight and you maybe knew this family
(43:43):
or had heard about this, andyou might have seen this composite sketch and
you didn't say anything, Then thinkabout saying something now and you don't know,
maybe your information is exactly what isneeded to put some resolution this.
Yeah, all right. Well,as we're getting ready to wrap up our
(44:05):
sixth season, I just want tosay thank you again. We are incredibly
lucky and it's been amazing to beable to do this. So we're going
to continue doing what we're doing.We're going global. Send us your suggestions,
find us on Patreon, and ifyou haven't already, give us a
review and of five stars. Whatthe hell? Why would you not do
(44:29):
that? Merry Christmas, everybody,have good holidays. We will see you
into the new year. And don'tforget stay out of the damn woods.
Bye guys. All right,
What Happens in the Woods is atrue crime podcast. We discuss events that
are often violent in nature. Listeners, discretion is advised. Hello, and
(00:32):
welcome to the campfire. Friends.We are so thankful to have you with
us as we wrap up the season. We are entering the end of our
sixth season. Hi, Bryce,Hello, can you believe it? Can
you believe it? Yeah? Timeflies when you're having fun, time flies
(00:56):
when you have them something an imaginablefund Yeah. Yeah. So while we
won't have any new regular season episodesfor a little while, we are going
to take a holiday break, PatreonWTFS will still be going strong, so
head on over there to get signedup for the chaos otherwise known as WTFS.
(01:19):
You don't want to miss out.If you're not signed up already on
Patreon, you are missing out,Yes, my friends, you're missing out
on the funs, the fuckery.Yeah all right. Do you have any
announcements? UK still in the lead? Awesome? Thank you for listening.
(01:45):
What else? What else? Doyou have a couple of new ones?
Oh? Yeah, yeah, whatare they? Number five? Italy,
Oh, I tell you number seven? Wild guests, God, I have
no idea. Jamaica, Jamaica isit because we were talking about no,
(02:09):
because that was on the Patreon.Hm, where'd you come from? Jamaica?
Hello, someday I would like tocome and visit you someday. Yeah,
we could do a live WTF inJamaica. That would be the dream.
Oh yeah, that would be cool. Let's make that happen. Yes,
(02:31):
yes, and then just an interestingone way down there is Kuwait what?
Yeah, okay, that's interesting.I would have never have guessed that
in a million years. We welcomeeverybody. Well, yeah, thank you
for listening. We hope you keeplistening. Welcome to the campfire. Welcome
(02:55):
to the campfire. Sorry I'm sicky, Yes, you got that? Uh
the credit whatever's going around? Yeah, the nastiness. You're very nasally Yeah,
yeah, that's okay. You won'tbe talking much. I'm squid word
today. You're squid word all SpongeBob. Oh yeah, well I will say
(03:20):
this. You know, usually inthe United States, Washington is number one.
Yeah, hello Texas, ah fuck, number two, Florida, Hello,
Illinois, Illinois? Oh, hello, number three New York. Washington's
(03:40):
not even the top three. No, wow, a right, you want
to see number four? What?Hello? Arizona Arizona. Yeah, all
right, wow, are people justtraveling for the holidays? Is that what
it is? I think that's whatit is. I can't imagine. And
you want to head a number five? What's number five? Utah, No,
(04:04):
I'm not kidding you. Yeah,people are traveling. Number six.
That's the logical reason. Number six. We can't possibly be popular in any
other states. California. Okay,well that one I get. Okay,
number seven to Washington. Damn,I'm number seven, number eight Colorado.
(04:24):
Are you going to go through allfifty states? No? Okay, they're
honestly like our top three has changeddrastically. Yeah. I really am feeling
that people are traveling for the holidaysand that's why maybe Yeah, thank you
for traveling, Thank you, thankyou, and be safe. Be safe.
Yes you don't want to end upon the podcast. No, I
(04:46):
didn't mean that, but just besafe. Yeah, be safe. Wow.
Well, thank you everybody for listening. We hope that you know,
speaking of holidays, you guys enjoyedyour Thanksgiving and had a good time.
And also, do not forget thatit is like Indigenous People's month. Yes,
(05:09):
yes, that's a big deal.That that is a big actually I'm
not being a shitty like. I'mnot trying to make a joke. That's
a big deal. Yeah, andI actually like that we are making like
that. There's recognition for that.Now. Bryce is showing me the the
United States maps of where we're likewhere everybody Texas is loud and proud.
(05:34):
Yes, yes, very represented.Yeah yeah, okay, well, I
mean welcome Texas, Welcome everybody.We will we will gladly take any in
all people who want to listen tous. Hello, yeah, all right,
(05:56):
any other updates? No, I'mjust having fun, I mean closing
it out. Might at all recognizeeverybody? Yeah, No, I think
it's awesome. I did want tosay, because I know Christy is listening,
we'll stay in bad But yeah,we started shining veil Christie. Oh
yeah, Oh my fucking god.I don't know what it is about weird
(06:19):
shows that I've been watching, butI think I'm on a trend right now,
and that is just quickly. Idon't know. We had to stop
watching because it got late, butwe'll be finishing that up. It's an
interesting concept. I don't think.I don't think that there are many shows
(06:42):
that could kind of go into thatit's hitting a lot of hard topics,
and then it's also talking about youknow, ghosts and spiritual not spiritual,
but like, oh my god,why am I having a brain part?
What's the word hauntings? But yeah, there's supernatural, yeah, but very
(07:05):
comical, like there's a lot ofcomic relief. I don't know, it's
it's not for everybody. I couldsay that, but if you don't mind,
if you don't mind cussing and justweird topics, then you might like
it. It's a good show.Or realizing that you're old, Oh my
god, yeah that we kept sayingthat. Well there is Now let me
(07:27):
say this, there's nothing wrong withpeople aging. I get more irritated when
people, I don't know, theytalk about things as if we're not supposed
to get old. You are supposedto get old. There's a circle of
life here, right. It's justvery hard when you're like looking at people
and you're like, oh shit,like that person is has aged along with
(07:54):
me, you know what I mean. I think we tend to look at
actress actresses and actors and immortalize them, you know, and we do.
They're immortalized forever in a movie ora TV show or whatever. But you
realize, like, as you've beenaging and you're getting older, the people
that you used to watch when youwere a kid, and you know,
(08:16):
you felt a certain kind of way, or you liked their acting or whatever,
you thought they were hot or cuteor whatever, they're aging too,
and it puts your age more inperspective. I guess. Yeah, it
was kind of hard to watch alittle bit because I was like, fuck,
I am old because all these peoplethat I used to watch as a
(08:37):
kid are now older. They're old. Yeah, but I like seeing people
that I used to watch on TVthat I really liked, you know,
like Judith Light she's in that show. She was on Who's the Boss for
anybody who doesn't know, and Ireally like that show, and then she
(08:58):
just kind of seemed to disappear.She did a lot of like TV movies
for a little bit. I knowshe was on the soap opera prior.
I think prior to Who's the Bossshe was on I didn't know that.
Yeah, I think she was onGeneral Hospital, or I think just before
I was born. That's how Ilook at the world. Okay, well,
Who's the Boss came after you wereborn? So but if like I
(09:20):
didn't know she was in the soapopera before, didn't, Well it wasn't
before you were born before I watched. Okay, well that's good for you.
I live in your La La lands. It's fine. But yeah,
the show is good. I wouldrecommend it. So all right, do
you have any other announcements? AmI supposed to? No, I'm just
(09:41):
asking. Okay, well I havean announcement. You already knew this.
So next season we are going global. We are we are while the Pacific
Northwest is you know, the basisof the show. Obviously, we're going
(10:03):
to expand and we're going to broadenour reach, so to speak. So
what happens in the woods, we'llbe sharing cases from around the world starting
next season. We are gladly goingto take any suggestions from any anybody.
If there's any cases that you wouldlike us to cover, does not have
to be Pacific Northwest related. We'regoing to cover anything and everything, so
(10:28):
send them in, send them suggestions, and get ready to go global.
It'll just match our WTF. Yes, anything and everything, anything in everything.
It's it is time to broaden thehorizons. All right, are you
ready? I'm ready. We gotnot one, but I've got two cases
(10:50):
for you. Oh yeah. Bothof these take place during the holiday season,
and both of these are unsolved.All right. That's very frustrating.
It is very frustrating. And they'renot recent either. These are both kind
of older cases. So come on, campers, we can do it.
(11:11):
Somebody knows something, as they alwayssay. All right. So the first
case that I have for you isthat of missing grandma mom. Beloved family
member, so Sharon Sherry Anderson.She was fifty years old when she disappeared.
(11:33):
She was in living in Stanwood,Washington, with her husband John at
the time. They had two daughters. I believe they were not from both
of them, but they were hertwo daughters. And then she had two
grandsons that were aged six and eight. And she loved her family. She
(11:56):
was described as very hard working,but she was always there, She was
always supportive, She was always there, and she would not have wanted to
disappoint. She would not have disappearedwillingly from anybody's life. She had worked
in social services, so the Departmentof held social services for over fifteen years,
(12:18):
and she was dedicated to that jobin helping people. It was a
very important part of her life,and no one assumed or thought that she
would disappear, and they're just there. She was dependable and she would not
have willingly gone anywhere. So onthe day that she disappeared, it was
(12:41):
December second, two thousand, shehad relayed to her friends that she friends
and family that she was going togo run some errands. So she was
going to get some breakfast, shewas going to pick up photos as you
used to have to do from thephoto lab. She was then going to
(13:03):
head to Walmart, and she hadChristmas shopping to do, so she was
going to be making a drive aboutthirty miles down the road to the Everett
Mall. There were plans later onin the day with her and her husband
for dinner in Seattle, and thenthey were actually going to go to a
motorcycle exhibit. So they were bothinto like Harley Davidson. She had told
(13:26):
her husband when she left in themorning about nine am, that she would
be back around four four thirty sothat they would get ready to go to
dinner, and you know, theirplans for the evening. So John wakes
up in the afternoon about four o'clockand I'm sorry about five o'clock and she's
not home yet, so he startslooking around the house. Her car's not
(13:48):
there. She had a Toyota forRunner that was not parked anywhere around the
property, and there were no signsof hers. So he began contacting friends
about six o'clock and asking if anybodyhad heard from her, calling family,
(14:09):
friends, and nobody knew, youknow, where she was, if she
had even made it to the malllike she had planned to do. Everybody
was kind of aware of what shewas supposed to be doing for the day,
but nobody had heard from her.Yeah, so at ten pm,
one of her friends had driven tothe Everett Mall and the Forerunner was found
(14:33):
parked in front of a Mervins,which is that's a blast from the past.
And it's not known whether she actuallyentered the mall or if it was
just parked there. Inside of theForerunner. She did have a cell phone
that was in the car, andthen there was a firearm that she carried
(14:54):
on her person for you know,protection, It was in the car.
It was very unusual for her tohave left those things. There was no
sign that she had done any shopping, so there was nothing in the car
that led them to believe that sheactually got any of her errands done for
the day. It was found locked, those things were inside of it.
(15:18):
There was no sign of a struggle. There was no sign of any injuries,
any blood, nothing that could tellthe police what might have happened,
where she would have gone, anything. So she was declared a missing person
pretty much right away. There weresearches from leads over the next few days.
(15:39):
This got out same day really andmade nudes and there were some calls
that had some leads, there wereno results. There were searches all over
the mall area. There was volunteersearches that happened. The family kind of
rallied and got you know, membersof you know, people that she had
(16:03):
worked with, members of the community. They distributed flyers. There was a
lot of movement on this on thefamily's party, and nothing ever came up
to fruition. There was nothing thatpanned out. Her bank accounts were never
touched, credit cards never touched,so there was no financial motive that they
(16:25):
could see. There just really wasno information. She just disappeared. There
was no closed circuit TV or videoor anything, so they never know if
she went into the mall. Soat one point, friends and family are
knocking on doors and distributing these flyers. The police stated that without them they
(16:48):
really wouldn't have gotten as much tractionas they did. But it's still,
like I said, is amounted tonothing. And despite all of that,
and within twenty days they had atwenty thousand dollars reward posted for leads of
any information, there is nothing zerozero. Wow. So her husband was
(17:12):
looked at. Of course, itwas found out that the year prior to
her disappearance, he had asked fora divorce. Not really understanding this,
but he said, quote unquote needto progress his life. That was his
reason for asking for the divorce.However, when talked to family and friends,
(17:33):
said that there was no signs ofan unhappy marriage between the two of
them, so really no idea whyhe had asked for a divorce or what
that meant was that he needed toprogress his life. The year after her
disappearance, he again he actually filedfor divorce under the grounds that she was
(17:55):
missing and later declared dead, sohe was granted a divorce before she was
declared debt. I mean, peopledeal with it. I don't like that
I don't know, no, andI can't. I'm not saying that to
blame him, and the police obviouslyhave not had any reason to suspect him.
He has been cleared. So it'san interesting twist on it. I
(18:17):
guess you would say it's an interestingbit of information, but it does not
lead to her disappearance or possibly murder. Other than that, there really have
been no none of the news articles, nothing has There's been no search wants,
there's been no possible leads, there'sbeen no suspects. There is an
(18:41):
article that I read, kind ofa blog that I read that stated around
that time that there were disappearances ofwomen along the I five corridor, which
we all know that might be relatedto maybe a serial killer. And Everett
is on the I five corridor,and about this time there were a couple
of people that you know, couldbe suspects if you're looking at that.
(19:07):
She is indigenous, so she ispart Cherokee heritage and white. So there
is also the aspect of the missingand murdered and Indigenous women. Yeah,
that's huge, It is huge.It is huge, and it doesn't get
(19:29):
discussed, you know. If itdoes, it's frustrating because like in this
case, there are no answers.There are women who go missing, women
and children. There are men whogo missing too, but not at the
rate that women. Like young women, teenage women, young females that are
Indigenous, they go missing, andnobody talks about it but their family.
(19:55):
If it gets traction, it's becauseit's you know, somebody's taken up the
cause basically. And we know afew people, you know, we know
Karmita who who also runs a podcast, and this is what she does.
This is what she talks about allthe time, and it's it. If
these people were not talking about it, it would not yet talked about it
(20:15):
about because the agencies, the localagencies don't communicate with one another. So
police or sheriff or state patrol whateverdon't communicate with the you know, the
the police forces that are at thereservations. There's also nobody. Nobody's talking
(20:37):
about it because there's no story toit, you know what I mean.
It's not there's nothing that you're it'sit's disgusting, but it is very true
as we all learned, you knowthis past year, that if you're not
blonde, blue eyed, and white, your chances are you're not going to
(20:57):
make news. And I think that, especially back in two thousand, very
much the case. So while local, you know, the Everett News,
local news might have covered this,I don't think that it got coverage outside
of that. So if there issomething to the I five, you don't
(21:21):
I guess the I five corridor thatthat theory. Yeah, Well I five
runs all along the western part ofthis country. So if it doesn't make
it out of Everett News, wise, who in Oregon would be looking for
this woman? Who in California wouldbe looking for this woman? Who in
Canada would be looking for this woman? You know? Nobody. So when
(21:45):
she was last seen, she waswearing a green jacket, blue jeans,
and white tennis shoes. She's aboutfive eight and she has brown hair and
brown eyes. And I will postyou know the photos that we can.
And she was placed on the playingcards that they distribute in the jails,
(22:11):
So she was placed on one ofthe cards and hopes that maybe somebody coming
through the jail would have any information. But like I said, she would
be seventy two years old this year, and it's been since December second of
two thousand with no answer for thisfamily, for her children, for her
(22:34):
grandchildren, for her friends that arestill you know, pushing information, pushing
her information out to the public.Yeah, so terrible time to go missing
right before Christmas anytime, but especiallyaround the holidays. Well, I think
that's when you feel the loss themost. You know, when you're supposed
(22:56):
to gather with your family and yourloved ones and you can't. So yes,
it's not good anytime of the year, but that I think it hits
you a little differently when major holidayscome around. I think at this point
that the family would just like resolution. You know, there's that hope that
(23:18):
you want to have keep alive,that you hope somebody is going to return
then. But I mean, allthis time later, I think the reality
of it is any answer is betterthan no answer. So that is our
first case that is unsolved. Andafter this break we'll come back and we'll
discuss the second. Our second casewas recently featured on a local K five
(23:47):
show called Unsolved Northwest. And thisalso happened quite a long time ago.
So this is December eighteenth of nineteenninety eight from Tacoma. So on December
eighteenth, the bodies of Linda Tran, who at the time of her death,
was seven months pregnant, and hertwo children, so one year old
(24:07):
Austin and nine year old Patricia,were found brutally beaten and murdered in their
own home in Tacoma. In Tacoma, so Linda and her kids had stopped
by where her father worked. Heowned a auto repair shop. In the
afternoon that day, they were goingto go and have dinner with him at
(24:29):
one of their favorite restaurants, andunfortunately, a customer came into her father's
auto shop and so he ended upstaying Later. She ended up going next
door to his home and began tocook dinner so that they could eat dinner
there. While she was at hishouse, someone called the home to say
that they had clothes and Christmas giftsfor her children and to meet the person
(24:52):
back at her house. So atLinda's house, that was about seven forty
five. When they left her father'shome, they stopped on the way to
her home at a local market.They purchased some fruit, and then by
eight fifteen they were home. Neighborsstated that they saw Linda and her two
children come home. So her homewas a duplex. The neighbor next door
(25:18):
heard shouting and saw a man standingon her porch yelling at her and threatening
her with a baseball bat. Sothe neighbor saw the man usher her into
the home and then told the childrento come along as well. Afterwards,
after they were led inside the home, the neighbor called nine to one one.
(25:42):
He continued, this neighbor, Idon't know if it was he or
she. They actually don't say inthe article. The neighbor continued to hear
yelling, crying, breaking glass andwas very you know, told the police
you need to get here now.Not long after this was made and the
neighbor was describing what they were hearing, what they had seen, the home
(26:06):
was rocked with an explosion. Yes, now, is this a duplex,
neighbor, Yes, okay, soLinda's home had an explosion. The man
who had been seen on the frontporch and yelling at them to get in
the house was seen running quickly outof the back of the house to a
waiting car, where he got intoa dark colored sedan with the driver waiting
(26:33):
for him, and sped off.Oh that's not suspicious at all, not
at all. It took police aboutten minutes to respond, so emergency services
came about ten minutes the house wasfully engulfed in flames. Oh wow,
and the explosion was so bad thatit actually after the house, you know,
the fire had been put out andemergency services and medical services were able
(26:56):
to get into the home, itcould be seen that the roof was superating
from the wall the foundation. Basically, Yeah, so they do determine that
the house was set on fire dueto an accelerate Yeah. The Corners report
came back stating that Linda and herchildren were beaten, not necessarily dead when
(27:19):
the fire was started, and thattheir cause of death was smoke inhalation.
Actually, so there is a compositesketch of this male. The information is
very it's just not good. Sohe's dark skinned, could be African American,
(27:41):
could be Asian male. And that'sreally all they got. It's very
descriptive things. Yeah, it's it'sI just don't know that they're going to
get much from that. And thecomposite sketch. And I know this,
this is not this is a realthing. It is thing for people to
have very long necks. It's anextremely long neck. Extremely that is drawn
(28:07):
and the person that is drawn alsois wearing a beanie. So if the
person was wearing a beanie, youknow, when the neighbors saw or any
of the neighbors had seen this person. Who knows what kind of hair could
have been, long hair, shorthair, curly hair, dark hair,
who knows? Who? Absolutely,who knows the bat was found in the
(28:30):
home. It was badly burned,obviously, and they thought that they could
get, you know, any evidenceoff of it. The fire damaged it.
Later on in twenty fifteen, therewas a thought that they might be
able to get some DNA evidence offof it. I have not seen where
anything has come back that they actuallywere able to get DNA and send it
(28:55):
off to a lab to be tested. If they did that, they might
be keep being that a secret,and we've maybe just it hasn't progressed enough
for the DNA to be able tobe used, but that that is out
there. It is still being lookedat this case. So they are still
you know, there is somebody who'sactively looking at this case now. So
(29:18):
the night prior to this incident toher death, she had called a cousin
about eight pm and stated that hera window in her back door had been
broken. Her cousin called nine toone, one called police. There was
no sign that anybody had entered thehome, and there was no sign of
(29:38):
anybody, you know, around,I don't know. While you know,
there's plenty of mention of that andall of the articles that I read,
I don't know whether the window hadbeen fixed at this point of when the
incident actually takes place on the eighteenth, or if it was still broken,
if there was a minor repair done, if you know what the state of
(30:03):
the window was, I call thatlandlord. Well, I mean, obviously
this is how somebody got in.Yeah, So if the back window was
broken out, chances are that ishow the person got in. The theory
is that the person was there waitingfor them obviously had called yeah and said
I have presents for your kids.Whether she bought that story or not or
(30:26):
really thought it was true, Idon't know. But the person had already
shown up and put the accelerant allaround the home. So Linda was in
cosmetology school, so there is atheory that she she herself, could have
had the accelerant because a lot ofchemicals are used with cosmetology, that it
(30:49):
wasn't necessarily something that somebody had tobring into the home that she maybe already
had something that could be used foraccelerant. I don't know on that scale
though, I don't know that shewould have had like gallons of something acid
tone or I mean, to setan explosion that size, you would either
need to put accelerant on something thatwould explode, which is possible, or
(31:12):
have enough accelerant to run throughout thewhole house to just blaze it up.
Or he could have just I don'tknow, if there was a gas stove
and he just turned it on andthat could be it too. The theory
is also that the fire started towardsthe end beginning of the house because he
ran out the back. Police alsotheorized that he might this person might have
(31:37):
burned himself in this explosion. However, there's no mention. It's mentioned several
times that that could have happened,but there's no mention. Did they follow
up with any emergency rooms or urgentcares in the area for a burn victim.
I would assume that this person probablyhad severe burns if it went down
(32:00):
on that quickly. Yeah, Imean, that's very forceful to do damage
to a home like that. Youprobably would have burned yourself trying to get
out. Chances are I'm just sayingI kind of agree with that theory,
but I don't know what the followup was on that theory. So unfortunately,
(32:22):
Tacoma police are still they're asking forany assistance if somebody knows anything.
They did look at any anybody thatshe had had a past relationship with the
fathers of her children. They haveall been cleared. Nobody is being looked
at, however, No, Andthat was the other thing I was trying
(32:44):
to look at was did phone recordsdid anybody? I mean, if if
there's a phone call made, evenin nineteen ninety eight, they could trace
a call the you know, thephone companies could tell you who called in
that line. Maybe wasn't that advanced. I don't know, but we had
(33:05):
in nineteen ninety eight we had callerID. Yeah, not everybody had it,
though, remember that you had topay for that. That's true,
you did. Yeah, it's abut I'm just saying if we had collor
ID that the telephone companies definitely hadcaller I D. They could trace stuff.
So I am unsure and maybe thatis why, well, yeah,
(33:28):
exactly did they want to know.But maybe that is why some of the
like that seems like a logical thingto me that the police would maybe keep
under you know, keep close tothemselves, because that's it's a possible lead,
(33:50):
but they can't definitively do anything aboutit. Yeah, because just because
you find a phone number doesn't meanthat you're gonna find the person who called
from that phone number. You knowwhat, if it's a payphone, gather
(34:10):
around children, I'll tell you astory of the days of old. It
is. It is unfortunate. ButI agree with a lot of what seemed
to be hinted at in news articlesis that I would think this is a
crime of passion. Not only didyou brutally beat and murder a pregnant woman,
(34:35):
but you did it to her childrenas well. Somebody was mad.
Somebody was you know, mad mad. Somebody needed to fucking time out.
They were so mad. And Imean, that's a poor joke, But
honestly, what does it take forsomebody to not only do that, to
(34:57):
do that to the person and thatyou're probably mad at, but also her
children. That's that's uncontrollable rage there, yes, or somebody sending a message
don't come after free clothes. Idon't know. I there is a so
a. You know, of course, police were looking at background. What
(35:20):
would she maybe have done or gotteninto or did she see something. They
theorized that maybe she had like agambling issue, that she liked to frequent
play bingo, she liked pull tabs, things like that. So there's a
theory that she may have owed peoplemoney that she couldn't pay back. I
(35:40):
don't think that people well I don't, don't laugh, but it's like a
bingo addiction, like how much howmuch are you trying to pull there?
I don't know. I mean gamblingin general. But if she even if
she owed people money, I don'tknow that somebody would lure her to her
own home saying I have gifts foryour children. Yeah, how much?
(36:00):
You're right? How much money wouldthat? Would we be talking in nineteen
eight ninety eight For somebody to dothat to the children. It just seems
you have to look at every possiblelead, and maybe she saw something,
maybe the kids saw something. Idon't know, but it had to have
(36:22):
been something. You just don't dothat to a pregnant woman and her children
over I wouldn't think over gambling money. It just seems like jealousy there something
maybe a bad relationship. But yeah, maybe I could see that or I
(36:45):
don't know. It's very it's verytragic and horrible way to She must have
known who he was. That's Ithink that's pretty obvious. Yeah, I
think so, and even even thekids. Maybe her daughter knew who it
(37:06):
was, because there's one article thatI read that said the daughter wanted to
spend the night at the grandpa's houseand the mom said, no, these
are Christmas presents for you. Youneed to come. So it's it could
be. I think that line ofthinking is very logical to follow. So
(37:27):
we're looking for a burnt long neckman. Yeah, basically, I mean,
I will show you the picture it. Whoever do this composite sketch?
I I don't understand it, Likeif this is really what people gave you
as a and they were like,yeah, that's it. Wow, that
(37:54):
is a very long neck. Yeah. They shaped like a penis too.
It is kind of yes, especiallywith the skull cap on the So we're
looking for a burnt penis man,A burnt penis man, a piece of
shit. Well, you have tocome out wherever you are. Yeah,
(38:14):
to do that to kids, Yeah, that woman, kid, you kind
of ared a piece of If theaccelerant wasn't around, there's still a piece
of shit. Well yeah, becauseyou beat them. You beat them and
left them knowing knowing you. Yeah, you lured them there, Yeah,
and then beat them with a bat. Come find me, bro, what's
(38:35):
he got to be like sixty?Now? Well, neighbors should say he
was in his thirties, so whatthat? Yeah, okay, well we're
not spring chickens anymore, so Idon't know it brings them out. I
don't even know what I could doin a fight anymore. That's sad.
(38:57):
I don't even know. If Idon't even know, you're old enough not
to fight, that's it. Yeah, but you know, shit still happens.
I don't know. It's it's verysad. And her her family is
still, you know, very muchasking for questions. One of the things
that I saw was there's only onethousand dollars reward for information. It's so
(39:22):
little, but it's very hard.Like I don't think her family could put
up a lot of money, youknow what I mean? Her dad worked
every day at an auto shop,you know, I mean he he owned
the auto shop, so I don'tknow. Making no, I don't know
that he was necessarily working at theshop and they were they were immigrants,
(39:46):
so they immigrated to the United Stateswhen she was six years old from Vietnam.
Her mom, right before this happened, had actually moved back to Vietnam.
Why I don't it didn't say personalreasons. I don't know. Maybe
she had family members that were sick, or maybe maybe she was only here
(40:07):
on a certain visa and had togo. I don't know. I didn't
realize they were a Vietnamese. Theywere Vietnamese. You It could be like
a cultural thing too. It couldbe it could be Okay, maybe I
don't want Vietnamese smoke. Yeah,I mean you're I wouldn't want any smoke.
What the man, I'm just tryingto get this guy to come out.
(40:30):
Well, there's got to be somebodywho knows something, is the thing.
You know, plenty of people sawthis person enough to make a composite
sketch. He was not wearing amask, and he was somebody who was
obviously knew her dad's phone number.I mean, not everybody was that.
This is about the time when peopleweren't listing themselves in the phone anymore in
(40:51):
the phone books, had her dad'sphone number, knew she would be there?
What's a phone book? Stop it? I've already said I'm old,
all right? How much more doyou need from me? Google it?
You know, knew where to findher, knew her dad's phone number,
and was somebody that known to herto get her to come back to her
(41:14):
home. Yeah, So this isa personal issue. This is a personal
crime, most definitely. Yeah.So if anybody knows anything, you really
should speak up. There's just noreason to not give this family closure.
(41:36):
None help was find the penis man, Yeah, find the burnt penis man.
And those, unfortunately, are thecases I wanted to while they are
both recently being discussed, because itis the time of year that they've they
you know, disappeared or been murdered, it is there just as many more
(42:05):
unsolved cases out there than what Ican bring to light. They happen all
the time anyway. So Linda Tranand her children, Austin and Patricia,
and then Cherrie Anderson who is stillmissing, and we just I want to,
(42:32):
you know, offer thoughts and supportto the family members for them and
for anybody who's you know, missinga family member or has lost a family
member due to a violent crime.Nobody should have to do that. We
shouldn't have to worry about these thingsas we're just trying to live our lives,
daily lives. You know, Cherrywas just going Christmas shopping. She
(42:58):
wanted to get things for her grandkids. You shouldn't have to think that this
is the day that I'm going togo missing. There are so many other
things in the world that are goingon. We shouldn't have to worry about
these things too. So if anybodyknows anything, if you were living in
(43:20):
Stanwood, Washington or Everett, Washingtonin the year two thousand and you maybe
saw anything, even if you don'tthink it's anything, and you haven't said
it to the please call Everett PoliceDepartment if you know anything. You know
you were living in Tacoma in nineteenninety eight and you maybe knew this family
(43:43):
or had heard about this, andyou might have seen this composite sketch and
you didn't say anything, Then thinkabout saying something now and you don't know,
maybe your information is exactly what isneeded to put some resolution this.
Yeah, all right. Well,as we're getting ready to wrap up our
(44:05):
sixth season, I just want tosay thank you again. We are incredibly
lucky and it's been amazing to beable to do this. So we're going
to continue doing what we're doing.We're going global. Send us your suggestions,
find us on Patreon, and ifyou haven't already, give us a
review and of five stars. Whatthe hell? Why would you not do
(44:29):
that? Merry Christmas, everybody,have good holidays. We will see you
into the new year. And don'tforget stay out of the damn woods.
Bye guys. All right,
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang
Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.