Transcript
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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 and welcome back to Cold and Missing.
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I'm your host, Ali.
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And I'm your co-host, Eli.
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Welcome back everyone.
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We are on episode 90 today.
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I was just telling one of my coworkers the other day that we're approaching a hundred
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episodes and it took me a few times saying it out loud to them that the reality of that.
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And just before we started recording now we were figuring out how long we've been doing
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this and that in August it'll be three years and it's just, it's incredible to be on this
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journey with you and to be at 90 and close to a hundred is, it feels amazing to see some
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of these cases unfold in real time as we speak about them and to learn as much new information
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that you bring with every episode.
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Speaking of updates, there is an update on the Betty Rolf case.
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This is one of the first cases we covered.
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It happened in Wisconsin and recently somebody was arrested a few years ago and the trial
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was just held and there was a conviction.
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So he was found guilty of the murder and sexual assault of Betty Rolf.
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So that is one that is now close that we've covered.
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I'm not taking any credit for this.
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It was all investigators work, but it is empowering to see that a cold case, especially Betty's,
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which had happened in the eighties, if I'm not mistaken, that we can still get justice
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all these years later.
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And it's, it's really, it's really invigorating to see that as well.
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With that being said though, I think we should just go ahead and move on to our case for
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this week.
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We have a missing person case.
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All right.
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Let's get into it.
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Today we are talking about the missing person case of Lynn Schulze.
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And this takes place in December of 1971 in Middlebury, Vermont.
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But first a little bit about Lynn.
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In 1971, Lynn is a 18 year old freshman at Middlebury College, finishing up her first
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semester.
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She grew up in Vermont with her four other siblings and both of her parents.
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She loved the outdoors, skiing, rock climbing, bike riding.
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She did it all.
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Her younger sister, Anne, described Lynn as quote, Lynn was a very outgoing, fun loving,
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adventurous person who was also fearless, which may have been her unfortunate demise.
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She liked meeting new people and getting into deep philosophical discussions about politics,
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art, music, and life in general.
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End quote.
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By all accounts, Lynn was adjusting well to her life on campus.
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She had quickly made friends and seemed engaged in all of her classes.
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While Lynn was a stellar student in high school, at college the classes were proving more difficult
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for her.
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But she was by no means failing.
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She was still doing well academically.
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She loved to write and was known to keep journals and wrote weekly letters home to her family.
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And now a timeline of events.
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On Wednesday, December 8th, 1971, Lynn makes a call to her parents' home.
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Her mother, Virginia, says quote, she was in good spirits and asked how family was and
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what everyone was doing.
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End quote.
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She was entering finals before the holiday break from college, but overall Lynn seemed
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to be in a good mood.
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Just a few days later on Friday, December 10th, 1971, Lynn was spending the late morning
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and early afternoon hours with friends studying for their upcoming English drama final.
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Her roommate had already left for the Christmas break.
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According to friends, Lynn had studied hard for this exam because she wanted to bring
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her overall grade up in the class.
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Lynn had been very attentive in the class, taking notes and she usually sat towards the
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front.
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According to her professor, she never missed a class.
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Before the final, Lynn swings by a health food store in town called All Good Things.
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She's seen outside the store at around 1230 in the afternoon, eating prunes that she had
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purchased inside.
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Lynn heads back to the dorm and gathers her things to head to the final, which was slated
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to start at 1 p.m.
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Lynn was walking to class with fellow students who were all headed to the same place.
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Lynn is wearing blue jeans, a hand-knit navy blue pullover sweater, and a brown ski parka.
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She had a small backpack that was thought to have about $30 cash and a checkbook in
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it.
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During the middle of their walk to the classroom, Lynn suddenly announces to the group that
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she left something back in her dorm room.
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She had either forgotten her favorite pen to write with or her pencil that went with
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the pen they were set.
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Her sister Ann says, quote, Lynn liked to use a cross pen because it had a comfortable
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size width.
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She also had a matching pencil.
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I remember it was green.
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End quote.
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She turned to head back to her dorm in Battelle Hall.
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The rest of the group headed to their final.
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As the minutes ticked by and the test started, Lynn did not make an appearance.
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She never made it to the final.
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Back in Lynn's room, nothing was missing.
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All of her clothes were found, her hiking backpack was there, and her wallet and ID
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were also in the room.
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While she was thought to have $30 cash and her checkbook, she had $185 in the bank that
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was never touched, so no checks were cashed or used.
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In her dorm room was an additional $7 and a $25 check from her father that had not been
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cashed.
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Lynn's friends try to raise the alarm that she is missing.
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It seems like there is a slow start to the friends realizing that Lynn is truly missing
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because as I mentioned earlier, Lynn's roommate had already left.
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So it took some time for folks to notice that she was truly missing and hadn't just ditched
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her final.
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It appears that when her friends did notice, they notified somebody within the school first.
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The school made the choice, it appears, to not call police immediately.
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Campus security searched the buildings.
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The school thought that it was normal for students to take off on the weekends to go
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visit family or friends and that perhaps that is what had happened here.
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And as students were leaving campus for holiday break, this exacerbated that feeling.
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Finally, after five days, on Wednesday, December 15th, Lynn's parents are notified for the
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first time that their daughter is missing.
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Her mother Virginia said, quote, We received a call from the assistant dean of women.
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I called her back the next day and asked her to notify the police in Middlebury, end quote.
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So police are not officially called into her disappearance until December 16th, six days
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since she was last seen.
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Despite the fact that at this point, she's been gone for days.
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Police say that she is 18 years old and can do what she wants, even though she left all
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of her clothes, most of her money and ID in her dorm room.
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Finally, once police start investigating, they are able to find a few leads.
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They piece together that Lynn was seen walking or possibly hitchhiking on US Highway seven.
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She was seen as we mentioned in front of all good things health store eating the dried
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prunes that she had purchased.
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That sighting happened around 1230 in the afternoon.
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Later that day, according to reports, Lynn was last seen standing near Keillor's golf
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station, which was a gas station at the time, which was across from the all good things
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health food store.
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And there was also a bus station right in there.
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She was seen there at 2 15pm.
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A student that knew Lynn saw her around this time and tried to talk to her.
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Her roommate told reporters that the other student said, quote, she was obviously upset
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and didn't feel like talking.
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That was the last anyone saw her, end quote.
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So the last time that Lynn is officially seen is around 2 15 in the afternoon.
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As police continue their investigation, Lynn's family ask that they not publicize her disappearance
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right away.
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They don't want to frighten her and they hope that she'll come back by Christmas.
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The first time the police publicly announced that Lynn is missing and asked for help is
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January 21 1972.
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Lynn has been missing for a full month at that point.
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Police also asked for the help from the FBI.
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But the FBI declined to get involved unless they can prove that there was interstate movement.
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With the public finally aware of Lynn's disappearance, police are also able at this time to get an
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all points bulletin out to 18 different states so that way other police officers can be on
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the lookout for Lynn.
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Her parents are racking their brains on why she would leave.
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Her mother says, quote, we don't really know why she just vanished, but we are guessing
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that was her worry over the philosophy course, end quote.
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As time ticks on her father Otto becomes exceedingly worried that Lynn was met with foul play.
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On January 22 Lynn has been missing for six weeks at this time.
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He says, quote, she was always quite good about telling us what her activities were.
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At college she did some traveling on weekends without telling us, but we consider that normal
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for college students, end quote.
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A friend of Lynn's revealed another side of her.
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This friend said, quote, she and I used to talk about leaving Middlebury at the end of
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the semester or at the end of the year.
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She was not really happy and she didn't like the school.
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She thought it would be better to read things on your own.
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She felt you would learn more that way, end quote.
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Calls of reported sightings start to come in from all over the country.
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A Bristol man said he had picked up a hitchhiker meeting her description and had given her
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a ride to the interstate.
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She said she had planned on hitchhiking to Washington, D.C.
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While police try to run this lead down and find the mysterious hitchhiker, they also
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get calls of reported sightings in Massachusetts and New Hampshire.
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In the end, none of the leads turn up any sign of Lynn.
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The dean of students, Erica Wanekot, doesn't believe that Lynn would just disappear without
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telling her family.
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But the dean does note that Lynn appeared, quote, preoccupied and very sad, end quote,
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the morning that she vanished.
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In May of 1972, approaching five months since Lynn has vanished, police think that they're
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close to solving the case.
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They've gotten a tip that there's a young woman living on a commune in Greensboro Bend.
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Two local officers to Greensboro had ID'd the girl from her missing person poster as
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Lynn.
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Police were so confident that this was her that they almost canceled the interstate beyond
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the lookout, which at this point had spread to all 50 states.
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However, when the investigator from Middlebury arrived, he knew instantly that the girl was
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not Lynn and police were back at square one.
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After this, it appears that the case does go cold for some time.
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The next update we get is in 1992, when police say that they're reopening the case to use
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DNA technology, which had become more advanced by then.
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Investigators fly to Virginia and Otto Schultz's home in Florida to collect DNA from them to
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test against unknown Jane Doe's and to have for the future should they need it.
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In 2002, over 30 years since Lynn has disappeared.
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With the internet going into more and more homes, police receive more and more tips from
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websites devoted to missing people.
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A tip comes through that leads investigators to skeletal remains in Ohio.
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Police sent Lynn's DNA and her dental records, but according to Detective Bo, quote, they
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could not rule her in or rule her out for the skeletal remains, end quote.
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While this does sound promising, police still doubt that the skeletal remains are connected
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to Lynn.
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Other clues seem to make them think this.
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And later, police will test the skeletal remains and do a DNA composite sketch of the Jane
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Doe and her hair color and eye color are different than what Lynn's would be.
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So that also has led investigators to believe that it is not her.
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In 2005, still over 30 years have passed since Lynn has vanished and detectives still work
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the occasional tip.
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But overall, there's no real progress in the oldest missing person case in Middlebury.
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Police ponder what could have happened to her.
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They wonder if she's living off the grid somewhere.
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The main detective at that time said, quote, she apparently made some comments about dropping
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out of society.
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Some people thought she had more or less succeeded, end quote.
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At this point, police have checked out communes, cults and off the grid communities and still
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no sign of Lynn.
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It's like she just evaporated, according to police.
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Over the years, her father, Otto, would pursue his daughter's disappearance until his death.
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Anne, Otto's daughter and Lynn's sister, says, quote, one of his greatest wishes was
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to find answers to my sister's disappearance.
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He kept an in-depth file of every conversation he had with Middlebury college staff and with
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Middlebury police, every letter he wrote or received on my sister's behalf, end quote.
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Unfortunately, Lynn's parents will both pass away without finding answers to what happened
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to their daughter.
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In 2011, approaching 40 years since Lynn has vanished, her siblings still want answers
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in her disappearance.
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Anne says, quote, we hope to locate Lynn's remains or at least get some confirmation
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about her death.
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Our family doesn't believe that Lynn is alive and suspect that she was killed or accidentally
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died soon after she disappeared, end quote.
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Lynn's family goes on to say, quote, we speculate that Lynn got to know a group of
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people who lived in Middlebury or nearby, possibly Rutland or maybe Burlington.
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We surmise that some of them may know of Lynn's demise, end quote.
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The last big update in the case comes in 2015.
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There's renewed interest in Lynn's case.
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A documentary called The Jinx appears on HBO, which details the murders of millionaire Robert
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Durst, and they catch him admitting to murder when he forgets that his mic is still on him.
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I'm sure if you're listening to this podcast, you have watched at least season one of this
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series on Robert Durst.
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So you're familiar with what I'm talking about.
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It turns out that All Good Things, the store that Lynn was last seen at, was owned and
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operated at that time by Robert Durst.
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Police say that they have been aware of this link for several years, since 2012.
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They say that they had searched the property of the home where Robert Durst used to live
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when he was in Vermont.
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Nothing was found.
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However, police did not question Robert Durst at the time of Lynn's disappearance.
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Police stopped short of calling Durst a suspect.
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They say they are just very interested in talking with him.
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But they also hope that all of the press around Robert Durst will help get Lynn's case out
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to the masses.
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However, as the press around Robert Durst begins to die down, so does Lynn's case.
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As of 2024, there have been no additional updates around Robert Durst and Lynn.
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I don't know if Middlebury police ever got the chance to question him about Lynn's disappearance
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before he died.
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But that was the last major update in the case and truly all we know about the disappearance
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of Lynn Schulze.
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If you know anything about the disappearance of Lynn Schulze in 1971, please call the Middlebury
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police at 802-388-3191.
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So that is the case of Lynn Schulze.
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I think that with cases like these, it's always important to be, or better to be, more safe
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than sorry.
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The 18 year old defense is in place, but especially because you can't hear or read what law enforcement
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is also saying when they say, well, the person is 18 years old, they have every right to
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yada yada walk away from their life, blah, blah, blah.
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To me, when I hear that, it just sounds like you don't want to do your job.
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And I know that that's my own opinion, but it's rough.
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It's rough to know that multiple days went by, that the response was slow.
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That's kind of where I'm sitting right now, but would love to just talk a little bit.
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Yeah, it's always frustrating when even when everything says differently, police are just
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like, well, maybe they walked away or even more infuriating with kids when they're like,
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well, they probably ran away.
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But it's like, there's so many things pointing to the fact that she didn't.
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Why wouldn't she take any clothes if she was walking away from her life?
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Why wouldn't she take all of the money in her room?
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Why wouldn't she take her ID, her wallet, her hiking backpack, like things that even
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if she was going off the grid, if she didn't need money anymore, didn't need an ID, like
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there were things still left in the room that she would probably want to take if she went
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off the grid.
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So the police's response initially of just being a little slow to treat it like a missing
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person case is really baffling and frustrating.
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I was, you know, very shocked to hear Robert Durst's name to come up at all.
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And something I started thinking about in relation to her and the store is that someone
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said that they saw her outside of the store and she was upset.
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Now to me, just thinking about the time, technology, everything, if someone was, I'm thinking about
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myself, if I was upset directly outside of an establishment, like a grocery grocery store
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or shopping center, I would either have been upset about something that had happened in
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that space, or something I had seen on my phone.
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So if you take away that, and also like, you know, now know the fact that Robert Durst
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was maybe in that store and own that store.
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Immediately, my mind said that like she was upset about an interaction that had happened
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in that space, removing the layer of Robert Durst.
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She still could have just been upset about something that had happened in that store.
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I really wish some more investigation would have been around, would have happened around
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that moment in time, especially because there was a witness that said, I saw her, it was
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around this time, and she was upset.
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Yeah, the Robert Durst connection was one that I was not expecting when I started researching
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this case.
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And that's something that I knew about beforehand.
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I watched the Jinx when it first came out and never really saw this case enter my news
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feed around that same time either, but there were a lot of reports, you know, as the Jinx
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came out.
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But yeah, the the store, all good things that was owned and operated by Robert Durst.
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So while we don't know, I don't know, maybe police know if Robert Durst was working that
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day in the store.
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It sounds likely that he could have been.
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For me, it's really frustrating that she was seen outside of the store at 1230.
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And then she was seen across the street from the store around 215.
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So knowing that she was really in this area, it seems strange to me in the year 2024 that
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police wouldn't talk to all of the businesses that were around there.
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So they know she was eating dried prunes.
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They have that detail.
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Why wouldn't you go into the store and talk to the people who are working that day about
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the girl who bought the dried prunes that went missing later that day?
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Like that part doesn't make sense to me.
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And maybe they did.
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Maybe they did do that.
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But we do know that police never talked to Robert Durst.
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So maybe that means he wasn't working.
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Maybe they did talk to workers at all good things.
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But it seems like they police might have brought forth that information.
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I don't know.
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So that would seem strange if they didn't do any questioning of the employees.
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I mean, they had eyewitness accounts.
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To me, those are, you know, it's the next best option besides a camera or CCTV footage.
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And you know, that wasn't around at the time.
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So those folks who happened to be in there, whether they noticed her or not, again, it
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makes me think that maybe those questions didn't happen.
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Because you know, law enforcement was saying she's 18.
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She can go wherever she wants.
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Yeah, I'd love I'd love to rewind time and know and also just to rewind time for this
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family.
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Listening to Otto, like look for his daughter for the rest of his life.
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Like that's no way for a parent to go.
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Like to leave this world not knowing.
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My heart really breaks for him and his family.
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And with every passing day, this case gets older and older.
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And Robert Durst isn't here anymore.
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It's very unfortunate.
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But with that said, you know, the Golden State Killer was found.
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So I really believe that all cases can reach a point where new leads pop up even in cases
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like this where it seems like there's not a lot there.
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Once you start talking about them again and they gain traction, it oftentimes seems like
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someone knows something or someone still knows something about that moment in time.
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I agree that I think that there still can be closure in this case and finding out what
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happened to Lynn.
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And I hope that for the family, it seems like a lot of their energy is in the recovery of
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Lynn and being able to bring her home.
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So for me, I hope that the family gets that and that they're able to put Lynn to rest.
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And then from there, if they still want to pursue the answers as to what happened, why,
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how, when, then hopefully police can provide those answers.
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But yeah, just really hoping that we're able to find her someday.
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Again, if you know anything about the disappearance of Lynn Schultze, please call the Middlebury
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Police at 802-388-3191.
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And we will have pictures of Lynn on our Instagram.
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You can follow us there at Cold and Missing.
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Thank you so much to those of you who gave us reviews and Apple this week.
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The written reviews means so much to us.
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So thank you, thank you, thank you.
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If you haven't done that yet, you can do it right now.
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Today's a new day.
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Go ahead and do it.
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If you or someone you love is hard of hearing, we have transcripts of all our podcast episodes
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on our website, www.coldandmissing.com.
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But that is all I have for this week.
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Thank you so much for listening to Cold and Missing.
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It's an honor to be a part of your week.
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I'm your host, Allie.
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And I'm your co-host, Eli.
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Have a good week and stay safe, y'all.
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Stay safe, y'all.
