Season 08 Episode 31: Morning Has Broken
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is the anchor. For NBC Nightly News, I'm Tom Yamas. A new chapter begins. NBC Nightly News with Tom Yamas. Evenings on NBC. Over the years of making my true crime podcast, Hell and Gone, I've learned no town is too small for murder. I'm

I'm Katherine Townsend. I've heard from hundreds of people across the country with an unsolved murder in their community. I was calling about the murder of my husband. The murderer is still out there. Each week, I investigate a new case. If there is a case we should hear about, call 678-744-6145.

Listen to Hell and Gone Murder Line on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I think everything that might have dropped in 95 has been labeled the golden years of hip-hop. It's Black Music Month, and we need to talk. It's tapping in. I'm Nyla Simone, breaking down lyrics, amplifying voices, and digging into the culture that shaped the soundtrack of our lives.

Like that's what's really important and that's what stands out is that our music changes people's lives for the better. Let's talk about the music that moves us. To hear this and more on how music and culture collide, listen to We Need to Talk from the Black Effect Podcast Network on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I also want to address the Tonys.

On a recent episode of Checking In with Michelle Williams, I open up about feeling snubbed by the Tony Awards. Do I? I was never mad. I was disappointed because I had high hopes. To hear this and more on disappointment and protecting your peace, listen to Checking In with Michelle Williams from the Black Effect Podcast Network on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Hello, it's Richard McLean-Smith here with a quick update before we dive into today's episode. Unexplained is very excited to be a part of Crime Wave at Sea this November, joining forces with some of the eeriest voices in the world of true crime and the paranormal. Four nights in the Caribbean with amazing podcasts like Last Podcast on the Left, Scared to Death and many more. Live shows, meet and greets, creepy stories under the stars and you can be there too.

But don't wait, rooms are nearly sold out. Head to CrimeWaveAtSea.com/Unexplained to grab your fan code and lock in your cabin. We'd love to see you on board. It was a hazy summer morning in 1992 when 18-year-old Janelle Kirby turned her car onto a quiet suburban street in Springfield, Missouri.

She'd been up late the night before, celebrating her high school graduation, and she was running on fumes. Despite this, she didn't feel tired. If anything, she felt too awake, a little on edge. She'd been trying to reach her friend Susie Streeter since 7am, but all of her calls had gone to voicemail. It wasn't like her at all, and Janelle couldn't help shake the feeling that something was wrong.

Janelle pulled into the driveway of Susie's home, relieved to see her friend's car parked up outside. See, said her boyfriend Mike, who was sitting next to her. Nothing to worry about. Finally, Janelle could relax. She knew she was overreacting. After the late night they'd had, Susie had just slept through the calls. But even still, it was strange, she thought, that Susie's mum Cheryl hadn't picked up the phone either.

She was always up early, even on a Sunday. Janelle parked up and got out of the car. Then together, she and Mike walked up the driveway toward the house. As they climbed up the porch steps, Mike put a hand on Janelle's arm to stop her. Careful, he said, pointing to the top step. It was covered in tiny shards of broken glass. Janelle looked about, wondering where it had come from.

Then she clocked the broken porch light overhead. That's weird, she thought. That feeling of unease, which she'd been trying to ignore, grew stronger. They rang the doorbell and waited. Then they rang it again, growing impatient. Mike knocked hard on the front door, but still no one came. Janelle pressed her ear to the door, straining to hear any sound from inside.

The plan had been to drive to a water park for the day, along with another friend of Janelle and Susie's named Stacey McCall. As far as Janelle knew, Stacey had spent the night at Susie's, so both girls should have been there. But the house was completely silent, and after ringing the bell one more time, Janelle and Mike gave up.

Janelle spotted a broom leaning up against the side of the house and carefully swept up the broken glass. Then, she and Mike discussed their options. The house was within walking distance of a number of local restaurants. Maybe Cheryl had offered to treat the girls to a post-graduation breakfast. Janelle and Mike hovered on the porch, unsure what to do next. In the end, they decided just to wait it out at the house.

The missing trio would no doubt show up soon. Surely, they couldn't have just disappeared. You're listening to Unexplained, and I'm Richard McLean Smith. For 47-year-old Cheryl Levitt, 1992 had started on a high note. After years of scrimping and saving from her wages as a cosmetologist, she'd finally been able to afford a down payment on a home of her own.

1717 East Del Mar Street was a modest house in a lovely historic neighborhood of Springfield, Missouri. It needed some work, but that suited Cheryl perfectly. She'd always been house-proud, but she'd never had the chance to put her own stamp on a place before.

For the first half of the year, Cheryl spent most of her spare time redecorating the house room by room, transforming it into a dream home for herself and her daughter Susie. At 19, Susie was about to graduate from high school. She and her two best friends, Stacey McCall and Jenelle Kirby, had spent weeks planning out their graduation weekend. By the beginning of June, they had it all pinned down.

After the graduation ceremony, they would attend a series of parties that classmates were hosting all over town. Then, they'd drive 40 miles south to the nearby city of Branson and spend the night at a fancy hotel. The following day, they'd continue their celebrations with a visit to Whitewater, a 13-acre water park in Branson. On the evening of graduation day, June 6th,

18 year old Stacey went out to dinner to celebrate with her family at a local steakhouse. Afterwards, she gave her mother Janice a goodbye kiss on the cheek and headed out to the parking lot of the restaurant where Susie was waiting to pick her up. The two girls headed to three different parties that evening, meeting Janelle along the way.

At some point, they realised they'd been over-ambitious with their plan to drive to Branson that night. They decided to stay in town at Janelle's house instead, then drive to the water park early the following morning. Stacey called her mum to give her the update and let her know that she was planning to stay the night at Janelle's. It was the last time Janice ever spoke to her daughter.

Around 1am on graduation night, Susie Streeter and Stacey McCall were both flagging. The party they were at was still in full swing, but both girls wanted to be relatively fresh for the water park the next day. Just as they were debating what to do next, a siren was heard approaching the property. Then blue lights began to pulse through the window.

A neighbour had called the police complaining about the noise and now they'd arrived to break up the party. The young women took it as their cue to leave. Janelle was ready to leave too, so she, Stacey and Susie headed home for the night. But when they arrived at Janelle's, they realised there was a problem. A lot of Janelle's family had come from out of town for her graduation ceremony, meaning the house was completely full.

Janelle's mother offered to make up beds for the girls on the living room floor, but Susie had a better idea. She'd just been given a brand new waterbed as a graduation gift and it was more than big enough for two, so she and Stacey decided to stay at Susie's house. Janelle would meet up with them the following morning to drive to Whitewater. That night, Susie and Stacey, in their separate cars, drove away from Janelle's house.

Based on the distance, they probably arrived at Susie's house on East Delmar Street sometime around 2.15am. The girls both parked their cars in the circular driveway of the house, gathered their belongings and went inside to bed. While her daughter was out celebrating her graduation, Cheryl Levitt had spent a quiet Saturday night in

She'd spent the evening painting a chest of drawers that she'd picked up at a vintage store and chatting to an old friend on the phone. Around 11:15pm, she told the friend she was planning to get an early night. Janelle woke up restless early the following morning. Despite the late night, she had no interest in sleeping in. Keen to get on the road and make the most of the day,

Whitewater was bound to be busy that weekend and she wanted to get there for when the doors opened at 10am. As soon as she was up, she called Susie's house, but there was no answer. She tried again, figuring they were all still probably sleeping. Still nothing. After three calls, Janelle got a strange feeling in the pit of her stomach. She brushed it off as best she could, probably feeling more irritated than anxious.

Still, she told her boyfriend Mike to get dressed as fast as he could so they could drive over to the house just to calm her growing nerves. We get it. There are too many car insurance companies trying to convince you that they have the best car insurance rates. We don't think we need to convince you. We're rude and we do car insurance differently. We don't think it makes sense to only base your car insurance rate on things that have nothing to do with your driving, like your occupation or education.

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Campers who began the summer in heavy bodies were often unrecognizable when they left. In a society obsessed with being thin, it seemed like a miracle solution. But behind Camp Shane's facade of happy, transformed children was a dark underworld of sinister secrets. Kids were being pushed to their physical and emotional limits as the family that owned Shane turned a blind eye. Nothing about that camp was right. It was really actually like a horror movie.

In this eight-episode series, we're unpacking and investigating stories of mistreatment and reexamining the culture of fatphobia that enabled a flawed system to continue for so long. You can listen to all episodes of Camp Shame one week early and totally ad-free on iHeart True Crime Plus. So don't wait. Head to Apple Podcasts and subscribe today.

Okay.

Every week on "Hell and Gone Murder Line," I dig into a new case, bringing the skills I've learned as a journalist and private investigator to ask the questions no one else is asking. If you have a case you'd like me to look into,

Call the Hell and Gone Murder Line at 678-744-6145. Listen to Hell and Gone Murder Line on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun?

Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multibillion-dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission.

This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Ad-free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts.

At 1717 East Delmar Street, all was quiet. Both Stacey and Susie's cars were parked in the driveway and Cheryl's was parked in the carport at the side of the house. After cleaning up the broken glass and knocking to no avail, Janelle and Mike sat down on the porch steps and waited under the morning sun. But then, Janelle thought to try something they hadn't done yet.

Jumping up, she stepped toward the front door and turned the handle. To her shock, the door opened. She looked back at Mike, no longer trying to disguise her unease. This was a low-crime neighbourhood, but Springfield wasn't the kind of town where people ordinarily left their doors unlocked, not overnight, and definitely not when you weren't home.

Suddenly, they heard frantic yapping from inside the house, accompanied by the tippy-tap of little paws. A brown and black bundle of fur launched itself out at the front door and onto the porch. Susie's Yorkshire Terrier, Cinnamon. Janelle knew the dog well. She reflexively caught him in her arms, afraid he'd run out into the road.

Thankfully, Cinnamon recognised her and calmed down enough to let Janelle carry him back into the house. But inside, Cinnamon remained agitated. He ran frantically back and forth between rooms, yapping and whining. Janelle had never seen him act like this before. He barely made a sound, usually.

Though Janelle had been inside Cheryl and Susie's home many times before, it didn't feel right tiptoeing around uninvited. And if they had just stepped out for some food, she really didn't want them to come back and find her inside. She quickly went from room to room, just to make sure there was nothing untoward. Certainly from what she could see at first, everything looked as it always did.

Peeking into Susie's room, she saw the bed had clearly been slept in, with both sides of the covers pulled back. On a dresser next to the bed was the outfit that Stacey had worn to graduation, in a neat pile next to Susie's clothes. There was also a bikini and a pair of shorts laid out, ready for the water park. Aside from that, there was nothing much else to gleam.

At a loss, Janelle and Mike left cinnamon inside and headed back to their car. They made a quick search of the neighbourhood, checking on spots where they thought the trio might have gone for breakfast. They asked if anybody had seen them at all, but nobody had. And by then, they weren't the only ones who were starting to worry. Janice McCall wasn't too surprised when she didn't hear from her daughter Stacey first thing on Sunday morning.

She knew the girls were out late celebrating and she was safe in the knowledge that Stacey had gone to Janelle's house for the night. By midday, she was starting to feel anxious. She called Janelle's house to see if the girls were awake yet, but when Janelle's sister answered the phone, she told Janice that Stacey wasn't there. She'd spent the night at Susie's instead, she said.

Janice was surprised and slightly irritated. Stacey was normally very responsible. Janice made a point of making sure her daughter kept her updated at all times if her social plans changed. And when she called Susie's house and nobody answered the phone, it left her even more on edge. Still, she tried to keep things in perspective.

Stacey and her friends had probably headed out early that morning to beat the crowds at Whitewater, she thought. She didn't want to be a killjoy on graduation weekend. But as the day wore on, with no word from Stacey, Janice could no longer ignore the nauseating, knotty feeling steadily growing in her stomach. She called Susie's house again and again, every unanswered call making the knot tighten.

Finally, with dusk approaching, she couldn't stand it any longer. She drove over to Cheryl and Susie's house, accompanied by some other concerned friends and relatives. Janice immediately recognised Stacey's car in the driveway, just like with Janelle. As soon as Janice and the others entered the house, Cinnamon the Yorkshire Terrier sprang to his feet and began yapping frantically, racing back and forth.

Heading to the bedrooms at the back of the house, Janice too found Susie's unmade bed and saw her daughter Stacey's outfit neatly folded on the dresser and the swimming outfits too. Moving back into the main house, she then found the three missing women's handbags with their wallets and keys still inside. Janice gasped when she opened her daughter's and saw that her bottle of migraine medication was still inside.

Stacey had suffered bad migraines since childhood and never travelled anywhere without her medication. In case she felt one, coming on at short notice, no longer able to stop the deep panic rising within her, Janice was paralysed with fear. She called her husband Stu and relayed everything she'd found to him. Without hesitation, he told her to call the police immediately.

Janice hung up the call with her husband, then called the local police department. The dispatcher asked her if she wanted to be connected to 911, since that was the emergency number. Almost without thinking, Janice said no. Surely this wasn't an emergency, she told herself. Not yet, and so she asked the dispatcher to send an officer over to the house instead. A young officer named Rick Bookout took the call.

When he arrived at the house, Janice greeted him anxiously and filled him in on the situation. She emphasised the fact that Stacey was a very responsible girl, not the kind of teenager who might run away on a whim. Officer Bookout noted the fact that Stacey, Susie and Cheryl's handbags were all together inside the house, lined up neatly in the living room. That struck him as unusual.

So did the fact, according to Janice, all of the clothes Stacey had with her were inside the house. If she'd gone out willingly somewhere, she must have done so in her pyjamas. Bookout also learned that Susie and Cheryl were both heavy smokers and they'd left their cigarettes behind. To the observant officer, that alone was a red flag. Then Officer Bookout took a walk around the perimeter of the house where he noticed the broken porch light

A couple of shards of glass were still lying on the ground, but most of it seemed to have been cleared up. It seemed like a clue, perhaps an intruder trying to cover his tracks. But when he began taking statements, he learned from Janelle and Mike, who by then had joined the group at the house, that they had swept the glass up that morning. It never occurred to them at the time that they were destroying crucial evidence.

Stepping back into the house, the young officer looked about at all the concerned relatives, friends and neighbours and sighed. If this was a crime scene, it was now hopelessly compromised. His eyes fell on Cinnamon, the little Yorkie, who was now curled up under a dining chair. If only that little dog could talk, he thought. He might be the only creature in the world who knew what had really happened in this house.

As he left the property that night, Officer Bookout told Janice that he would be filing this as a missing persons report. With the suspicion of foul play, he didn't want to panic her, but it was better she hear it from him than from a local newspaper. In truth, he had a very bad feeling about it all.

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Camp Shane, one of America's longest-running weight loss camps for kids, promised extraordinary results.

Campers who began the summer in heavy bodies were often unrecognizable when they left. In a society obsessed with being thin, it seemed like a miracle solution. But behind Camp Shane's facade of happy, transformed children was a dark underworld of sinister secrets. Kids were being pushed to their physical and emotional limits as the family that owned Shane turned a blind eye. Nothing about that camp was right. It was really actually like a horror movie.

In this eight-episode series, we're unpacking and investigating stories of mistreatment and reexamining the culture of fatphobia that enabled a flawed system to continue for so long. You can listen to all episodes of Camp Shame one week early and totally ad-free on iHeart True Crime Plus. So don't wait. Head to Apple Podcasts and subscribe today.

Okay.

Every week on "Hell and Gone Murder Line," I dig into a new case, bringing the skills I've learned as a journalist and private investigator to ask the questions no one else is asking. If you have a case you'd like me to look into,

Call the Hell and Gone Murder Line at 678-744-6145. Listen to Hell and Gone Murder Line on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes.

But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops called this taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multibillion-dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. ♪

I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2, and 3 on May 21st and episodes 4, 5, and 6 on June 4th. Ad-free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts.

In the days following their disappearance, the police made efforts to piece together information about Cheryl, Susie and Stacey's lives. They were on the lookout for anything that might point to a suspect, somebody who might have held a grudge against any of the women. There was no sign of a struggle or forced entry at the house. Investigators' best guess was that the women had left willingly, perhaps with someone they knew or trusted.

Cheryl's colleagues at the salon where she worked described her as reliable, hardworking and well-liked, close to a model employee. There'd been no indication that there was anything wrong in her life. In fact, she seemed to be in a better place than ever after moving into the new house. Susie and Stacey were both known as dependable and responsible girls, not troublemakers or likely runaways.

But after a few days, police did identify one potential lead. Susie had an ex-boyfriend named Dustin Reckler, who'd recently had some significant run-ins with the law. The previous year, Dustin and two of his friends had been arrested for grave robbing. They'd broken into a Springfield mausoleum and tried to steal gold fillings from a corpse's mouth.

It was a particularly disturbing crime that had horrified the local community. Susie broke up with Dustin around this time and had reportedly been due to testify against him in an upcoming court case. According to various unconfirmed reports, an acquaintance of Dustin's overheard him wishing Susie dead before her disappearance.

Dustin was promptly called in for questioning along with one of his grave robbing accomplices, but due to a lack of any significant evidence, the pair were released soon after. Another tip came in from a woman who lived only a few streets away from Cheryl and Susie. She recalled that on the morning of June 7th, she was sitting out on her front porch at around 6.30am when she saw a green van park up in the street

This was notable to her not just because it was before dawn on a Sunday morning, but also because she knew everybody on her street. The neighbour claimed she saw a distressed looking young woman in the driver seat who looked as if she had been crying. Then she heard a man ordering the young woman to back up and get out of here. Seconds later, the van screeched into motion.

When the neighbour saw the news about the missing women the following day, she recognised Susie as the woman in the driver's seat. The police did what they could to pursue the tip, but ultimately failed to track down the van or find any corroborating witnesses. In the end, just like all the others in the case, this lead went cold.

Five years after the Springfield Three, as they became known, disappeared, an incarcerated kidnapper named Robert Craig Cox gave an interview to a local reporter claiming that he'd been involved in the crime. Speaking to Dennis Graves from KY3 TV, Cox stated that Cheryl, Susie and Stacey had been murdered and that their bodies would never be found. I know that they're dead. I'll say that.

I know that. That's not a theory. Yeah, but I know that they're dead. Cox was a highly decorated army ranger with a history of abducting women. He moved to Springfield a few weeks before the three women went missing, but he also worked with Stacey's dad at a local car dealership. And he stalked Stacey and followed her to Cheryl and Susie's home the night they went missing.

The police had more than enough reason to bring him in for questioning, but he was soon released when his girlfriend gave an alibi for the night in question. The only thing was, when Cox was arrested some time later for a different offence, his girlfriend seemed no longer willing to back him up and she retracted her initial alibi statement.

In the end, police decided that Cox, who was a notorious fabulist, was messing with them. A suspected serial killer by the name of Larry DeWayne Hall has also been put forward as a possible suspect. Although Hall has never been convicted of murder, he is currently serving a life sentence for kidnapping and is suspected of killing dozens of women and girls during the 1980s and 1990s.

In 1992, Hall reportedly spent a lot of time in Springfield. Given that his preferred approach was to abduct women from their own homes, many have theorised that he could have been involved, but this too has never been corroborated. One long-standing rumour posits that the women's bodies may be buried underneath the Springfield Hospital.

At the time of their disappearance, the parking garage of Springfield's Cox Health Hospital was under construction, just five minutes from the house on East Delmar Street. In 2007, local crime reporter Kathy Baird hired a specialist to conduct a ground-penetrating radar survey at the hospital's parking garage.

That survey reportedly detected three anomalies of a size and shape that indicated human remains, but this theory has been dismissed by the Springfield Police as implausible. Despite receiving nationwide attention and being featured in an episode of America's Most Wanted, the disappearance of the Springfield Three is a complete and horrifying mystery.

No arrests have ever been made, no solid theory of the case has ever emerged. Today, a bench dedicated to Cheryl, Susie and Stacey stands inside Springfield's Victim's Memorial Garden, but it has done little to stymie the gaping hole of grief that their loved ones continue to carry to this day.

The question of what really happened on that night, June 6th, 1992, remains to this day unexplained. This episode was written by Emma Dibden and produced by Richard McLean-Smith. Thank you as ever for listening. Unexplained is an AV Club Productions podcast created by Richard McLean-Smith.

All other elements of the podcast, including the music, are also produced by me, Richard McLean-Smith. Unexplained the Book and Audiobook is now available to buy worldwide. You can purchase from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Waterstones and other bookstores.

Please subscribe to and rate the show wherever you get your podcasts and feel free to get in touch with any thoughts or ideas regarding the stories you've heard on the show. Perhaps you have an explanation or a story of your own you'd like to share. You can find out more at unexplainedpodcast.com and reach us online through X and Blue Sky at UnexplainedPod and Facebook at facebook.com forward slash unexplainedpodcast.

Over the years of making my true crime podcast, Hell and Gone, I've learned no town is too small for murder. I'm

I'm Catherine Townsend. I've heard from hundreds of people across the country with an unsolved murder in their community. I was calling about the murder of my husband. The murderer is still out there. Each week, I investigate a new case. If there is a case we should hear about, call 678-744-6145. Listen to Hell and Gone Murder Line on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I also want to address the Tonys.

On a recent episode of Checking In with Michelle Williams, I open up about feeling snubbed by the Tony Awards. Do I? I was never mad. I was disappointed because I had high hopes.

To hear this and more on disappointment and protecting your peace, listen to Checking In with Michelle Williams from the Black Effect Podcast Network on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I think everything that might have dropped in 95 has been labeled the golden years of hip-hop.

It's Black Music Month and We Need to Talk is tapping in. I'm Nyla Simone, breaking down lyrics, amplifying voices, and digging into the culture that shaped the soundtrack of our lives. Like, that's what's really important and that's what stands out is that our music changes people's lives for the better. Let's talk about the music that moves us. To hear this and more on how music and culture collide, listen to We Need to Talk from the Black Effect Podcast Network on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. You say you never give in to a meltdown.

This is an iHeart Podcast.