Cold and Missing: Aaron Dowdle

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The views and opinions expressed in Cold and Missing are exclusively those of the hosts.

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All parties mentioned are considered innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

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Cold and Missing also contains adult themes and languages.

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Listener discretion is advised.

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I'm your host, Ali McLaughlin-Sulkowski.

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And I'm your co-host, Eli Sulkowski.

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And this is Cold and Missing, where we cover cold cases and missing person cases.

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Hello everyone, welcome back.

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Welcome back everyone.

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I'm Ali.

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And I'm Eli.

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And this is Cold and Missing on our 40th episode.

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Wow.

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Congratulations.

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Thank you, Mr. Sulkowski.

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Thanks.

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Okay, well, with our 40th episode, it's a cold case this week, correct?

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That's right, we're covering a cold case this week.

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Would you like to start us off?

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Yeah, let's jump into it.

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Great.

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So today I have for you a cold case, but just as a content warning at the top, this case

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does involve a young person.

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Today we are covering the case of Aaron Dowdle, and this takes place in April of 2005 in South

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Salt Lake, Utah.

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But first a little bit about Aaron.

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Aaron is 15 years old in 2005.

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He was born December 29, 1989, and he would be 33 years old today.

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Aaron was a freshman at Granite High School, where he was a popular kid known for his smile

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and sense of humor.

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He loved football, skateboarding, and was a talented artist.

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His sister Carrie says, quote, he was just so outgoing and always trying to make everybody

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laugh, end quote.

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Aaron's mother, Vicki, said he had a quirky personality.

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He was an active member of the Kimball Ward of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day

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Saints.

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And now a timeline of events.

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So Thursday, March 31, 2005, Aaron and his best friend Andrew leave their homes in South

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Salt Lake, Utah to ride their bikes around.

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I wasn't able to officially confirm, but based off of current academic calendars, I

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do believe that the boys were on spring break during this time.

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Aaron and Andrew hang out all day and into the night.

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Aaron and Andrew were last seen between midnight and 1 AM, so this is April 1 now, standing

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on a corner outside of Aaron's home.

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In the early morning hours of April 1, an exact time isn't given.

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Andrew is found lying unconscious near Burton Avenue and West Temple by people passing by.

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Andrew is only wearing his boxers, a t-shirt, and one sock.

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A few hours later, Aaron is found by passerbys a few blocks away.

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Aaron is found at 195 West Malvern Avenue.

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Aaron is fully clothed but has been beaten into a coma and stabbed.

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The boys are rushed to the hospital while police work to ID the boys because they are

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unrecognizable after the assault.

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Police go on local media asking for the public's help.

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The police spokesperson says, quote, We have nothing else at this point, so our detectives

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are out trying to determine who they are.

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We're checking with other agencies and missing persons, end quote.

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It's unclear how the boys are eventually ID'd, but Aaron's mother, Vicki, gets a phone

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call from police.

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She said, quote, I called my husband and I said, I just got a phone call saying that

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Aaron had gotten hurt and they wanted us to identify him and make sure it is him, end

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quote.

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So the next piece of media coverage we have on this case comes on April 28, so this is

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27 days after the attack.

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Aaron and Andrew's family speak with the media for the first time and Aaron and Andrew's

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picture are released.

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The hope in releasing their name and picture is that it will help generate leads as investigators

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had hit a dead end.

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Police Captain Tracy Tingey says, quote, This case is going nowhere, end quote.

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Family and investigators have high optimism that both of the boys will fully recover.

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Aaron, at this time, was awake and responding to certain stimuli but couldn't speak since

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his jaw was wired shut.

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Andrew is improving rapidly but he can only remember two days before the attack, nothing

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from the day itself.

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At this time, investigators believe that the boys were attacked together and then dropped

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at different locations.

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Police still don't know where the attack took place, where Andrew's clothes are, or

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the motivation for the attack.

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Aaron's mother, Vicki, says, quote, It's been a nightmare.

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It's been four weeks of utter hell.

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I just want to know why.

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My son has never hurt anyone, end quote.

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Aaron's sister, Carrie, says, quote, I want to know who did this to my brother.

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It boggles my mind.

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I just don't know what he could have done that he could have, why someone would want

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to do this to him, end quote.

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On Sunday, May 8, 2005, so this is 37 days from the attack, Aaron is rushed from his

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long term care facility to Alta View Hospital.

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Aaron suffered from a brain hemorrhage and was pronounced dead at 530 p.m.

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Family are shocked since he had been making such great recovery strides.

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Aaron's mother says, quote, I'm just kind of numb.

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It just seems unbelievable.

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I keep thinking I'll wake up and it'll be a dream.

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It's been really hard, end quote.

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Aaron's sister, Carrie, says, quote, I feel like I've been robbed.

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We not only lost a brother, we lost an uncle, and we lost a best friend that can never be

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replaced, end quote.

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Police shift their investigation to a homicide case.

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Police Captain Tracy Tingey says, quote, we were conducting the investigation like it

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was a homicide anyway because we had two victims that couldn't talk to us.

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The only change is now it truly is a homicide.

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It really doesn't change the method and manner, end quote.

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Police are reinterviewing people and while they have no leads, they do believe that whoever

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attacked the boys probably knew them and intended for them to die.

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Andrew has fully recovered and has been released from the hospital but still has no memory

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of the event or of the day.

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Aaron's mother says, quote, I really want these guys caught.

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It's silly to let something like this happen and let them get away.

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It's silly, end quote.

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The next day, May 9th, Aaron's autopsy is conducted and grief counselors are sent to

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Granite High School to support the students there.

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Principal Stephen Hess says, quote, the kids were upset by what happened.

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They were hoping he would pull through, end quote.

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Investigators keep hitting dead ends.

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Police Captain Tracy Tingey says, quote, normally we'd get someone saying that they were hanging

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out with this person or that person who said something.

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The beating was so bad, it felt like it was a personal vendetta.

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But there's nothing.

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It may very well turn out to be a stranger or strangers.

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It very well could be random, end quote.

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Another theory police have at this time is that the boys saw something or stumbled into

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something that they shouldn't have seen.

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On Friday, May 13th, Aaron's funeral is held at the South Salt Lake Steak Center and he

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is laid to rest at Redwood Memorial Mortuary.

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And then Aaron's case really goes cold after that.

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Then the next media report that I could find comes on December 12th, 2019.

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So this is 14 years after Aaron's death.

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Local media cover the cold case, but it does appear that the motive has shifted in the

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investigation.

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Sergeant Matt Allhur told local media that they believe gang involvement and drugs could

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have led to the assault.

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Police say Andrew no longer cooperates with police.

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And this is the last media coverage that I could find on the case.

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However, I did reach out to South Salt Lake Police and Executive Officer Danielle Croyle

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from the South Salt Lake Police Department responded back to me on May 18th and she said

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the case is still active.

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Unknown motive, but there is some indication of drug and possible gang involvement.

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And she encourages anyone that knows anything to call the South Salt Lake Police.

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So with that said, if you know anything, please contact the South Salt Lake Police at 801-840-4000.

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And the sources for the timeline come from ABC4 News, Desert News, KSL, the Utah.gov

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website, South Salt Lake Police, the Daily Spectrum and the Daily Herald.

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So that is the case of Aaron Dowdell.

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Yeah, I mean, it's a pretty brutal case, but I don't have any questions.

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More just curious as to what you have to say about it.

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Yeah, I, this case is really brutal.

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I think it's interesting that kind of 14 years after the fact is the first time that we hear

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about the possible drug deal or gang involvement.

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And even I think there's a quote from his mother from 2019 that says like, they don't

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know if it was a drug deal gone bad or what happens.

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They just like really don't know the story yet.

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And therein lies the answer, right?

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That's always kind of what we say.

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Like once you have the full timeline, you know everything.

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And also I'm curious as to like, why police say that Andrew, who was the other boy involved

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in this attack who ended up surviving, why he no longer cooperates with the police?

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Because from everything that we know in 2005, he sustained a pretty substantial head injury

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from everything that was described.

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So he just didn't have any memory from the days leading up to it.

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I think it's said that he had no memories from two days before.

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So we didn't remember the day before the day of.

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Yeah, that makes sense.

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So I just wonder why police say he's not cooperating when it doesn't seem like he can tell them

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anything, you know?

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Yeah.

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Because your husband, I enjoy that I get to listen along with the listeners.

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I mean, I know it's technically the night before, but you know, they're listening right

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now.

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And I get to be like surprised and impressed by you because, you know, yes, I'm I have

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an interest in true crime in the same aspect as you as your interests and you want to be

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a part.

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Your interest is rooted in care and like finding people solving, you know?

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But it wouldn't occur to me to like reach out to the deputy sheriff lady.

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She is the executive officer, Danielle Croyle.

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Danielle Croyle.

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Yeah, I like wouldn't think to do that.

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It makes sense.

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Like, you know, and I've heard it on other podcasts and people who investigative journalism

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where they do that kind of outreach or just like solving my my brain as far as true crime

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goes just isn't really set up that way.

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So I think it's cool.

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I think it's great that she responded.

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I think it's great that she's encouraging to encouraging people to, you know, come forward

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if they've heard something or just anything is reiterating what we're doing on this episode.

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So again, if you know anything about what happened to Aaron Dowdell in April of 2005,

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please call the South Salt Lake Police at 801-840-4000.

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And if you're not following us on Instagram, please go ahead and search us out.

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You can find us at Cold and Missing.

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We'll be posting pictures of Aaron along with all the information that's in the show notes

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while you're in your podcast app.

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If you wouldn't mind leaving us review, that would be awesome.

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It helps others find the podcast, which helps others hear about these cases, which potentially

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helps them get solved.

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So just by telling a friend about this cool podcast you like, you're doing the work.

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And if you don't have any social media and you don't want to review us on a podcast app,

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head over to our website, Cold and Missing.

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Everything's on there.

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We also have transcripts if you are maybe hard of hearing or someone you love is hard

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of hearing that would maybe be interested in our podcast.

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They can go on there and read all our episodes, which is really cool.

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I'm glad we have that up now.

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And that's all I have.

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So have a good week and stay safe, y'all.

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Stay safe, y'all.