How did you become interested in trying to solve missing persons cases?
In Search Of about unsolved mysteries hosted by Leonard Nemoy is what got me started as a little kid. And just like many people within the true crime community, Unsolved Mysteries and Cops. And then I got some public speaking background, improv acting, writing and then the technology of podcasting came along. And then that came together. I just woke up one day and said, “You know, I'm just going to do this.” And it wasn't until after I started that I realized that all this other stuff was going on. I don't know if the word is naive, but I've still never listened to an episode of Serial. I just had a vision. I had it in my head that this is the best way to cover missing persons cases, and that's what I did.
Can you identify a runaway case versus a missing person's case? Are there different signs?
When it comes to runaways, age is a huge factor. Certainly, there are adult women who are in bad relationships who might take off. But when I think about runaways, it has to do with people of a certain age, between 12 and 13, and 17, 18. I don't care if there's allegations that it's foul play or sex trafficking or [an] accident, suicide. If somebody is missing, that's all I really care about. The biggest thing for me is when it comes to the coverage of runaways, I need to make sure that whoever I'm talking to, I can trust. When you start talking about runaways in that demographic of 11 years old to 17 years old, you have to be really careful because it very well could be that a parent caused that teenager's disappearance. I don't ever want to get into a situation somewhere down the road where the person who I interviewed for that disappearance ends up being the person who caused the disappearance. But I will be honest, there have been times where I've reached out to families and started talking to somebody, and I start asking questions and I start getting funny feelings. And those people don't end up on the podcast.
Would you say we often see law enforcement as hesitant to investigate cases of missing people right away?
That's not my impression at all. It’s a combination of them not knowing what to do, having experience that tells them that most missing people are going to appear within a week. So, they try to put off working on that disappearance for as long as possible. You have to wait 24 hours or 40 hours. There's no law in any state anywhere that says that. That's something the police make up so they don't have to do the paperwork. And they're hoping in the next 48 hours that that missing person will happen to reappear. And what happens is most of the time they are correct.
What is a good way for people who aren't trained in criminal justice techniques to contribute meaningfully to investigations?
I think the best thing people can do if they want to get involved is realize that they're amateurs, they don't know everything just because you read Websleuths and go to Reddit at 3:00 a.m. The families want to know these people are there to help them, not to help their burgeoning social media career. So, you have to come very modest: “What can I do for you? I don't have a lot of experience, but it seems you need some help. Are there going to be searches? Do you need flyers passed out?”
Do you think overall that social media helps or hurts the cases that you've experienced?
Well, I would be a real idiot if I said it didn't, because I don't think I'd be able to do what I do without social media. I don't want to be seen as a hypocrite. But if it was the pro-side versus the anti-side, it would be like a baseball game that ends one-zero. The pro-side wins out, but just by a little bit. Unfortunately, these days it's very easy to get attention by being outrageous and sensational. I know even in the work that I do, I have complaints within my own community of trying to fight against hoaxes and conspiracies. I stay away from that stuff, and I speak out against it. It doesn't help. It doesn't solve anything. I'm all about solving things.
Which missing person story has stayed with you, that you think about regularly because you want to see it solved?
The first one that I would have to pick—and one of the main reasons that people now know about my podcast and about me and the reasons that I've appeared on TV—is my being entwined, ensnared in the murder of Jonelle Matthews from 1984. She went missing. And then her remains were found by accident in the summer of 2019 outside of Greeley, Colo. And then I ended up interviewing a guy, Steve Pankey. He wanted to come on, and of course, he professed his innocence. And that interview that I did with him ended up being part of the prosecution's case against him in 2021 and 2022. It was a hung jury in 2021, but in 2022, a jury did convict him. So that can't help but stay with me. I write letters back and forth to him 'cause I'm not convinced he's guilty, even though my interview with him served to put him in jail, I don't think the prosecution really proved its case. I have my own ideas about Jonelle's murder, so that one sticks with me.
And what would you say still drives you all these years later to do this?
I am competitive. I see this as a contest, me against the disappearances, me against the mysteries. I don't like to think that these mysteries are getting the better of me.
