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 McLaughlin-Sulkowski.
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And my co-host, my wonderful husband, Eli Sulkowski, is again taking a break from the
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podcast right now.
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My mother-in-law, his mom, passed away recently, so he's just taking some time to grieve and
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to take care of himself.
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So thank you so much.
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If you have reached out, we've gotten lots of well wishes and condolences.
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So thank you so much.
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It really means the world to us.
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And it's so kind and so thoughtful.
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So thank you.
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And also thank you to everyone who reached out.
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I know last week I talked a little bit about my mental health and how it was affecting
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me specifically in getting a new episode of the podcast out.
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And so many people reached out and said, it's totally okay.
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I understand where you're coming from.
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I suffer with that as well.
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I get it.
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So just thank you so much for those kind words and your understanding.
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It means so much to me.
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And it helps me not feel as ashamed of my mental health or not feeling like I'm strong
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enough or good enough or I just can't muscle through it.
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I got to release a lot of that guilt that I was feeling just by your kind words.
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So thank you so much if you've reached out or even if you've just thought about us or
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prayed about us.
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It's so appreciative and we definitely feel it.
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I also just want to take a quick second at the top.
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We got a new review in our Apple podcast.
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So thank you so much.
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It was so kind.
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Someone said that they're newer to podcasts and they're really enjoying ours.
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So thank you for being here.
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I hope you're still with us and enjoying the podcast.
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Actually if you leave us a review on Apple podcasts, I am 100% going to know about it
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and I'm going to glow about it all week.
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It just it means so much to me and it helps others find this podcast as well and give
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it a listen.
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So thank you if you've already done that.
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And maybe if you have some time while you're listening to the new episode right now, you
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can just go ahead and leave us a quick review in Apple podcast or whatever platform you're
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on.
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It would be so helpful.
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It just helps this podcast get to more people and therefore these stories get to more people.
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So thank you for doing your part.
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Means the world to me.
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But otherwise, I think we should just go ahead and jump into the case.
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We are on a cold case this week.
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So today we are talking about the cold case of Stella Bolton and James J.J. Moore.
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And this takes place in Portsmouth, New Hampshire in February of 1991.
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But first a little bit about Stella and J.J.
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Stella is 68 years old in 1991.
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She was born May 6, 1922.
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And James, who goes by J.J., is 73 years old and was born December 1, 1917.
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The two lived together as roommates.
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J.J. had known Stella's husband and when he passed away, Stella and J.J., who was also
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a widower, took care of each other.
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Even though they lived together, they slept in separate bedrooms in their small rented
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bungalow in what was then known as Mariners Village.
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They were the best of friends.
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Mariners Village was a working class neighborhood where everyone looked out for each other.
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Stella was originally from Trinidad and acted as a grandmother to all of the children in
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the neighborhood.
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She always welcomed neighbors for a meal and would often pass cookies out to the neighborhood
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children.
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Stella helped care for J.J., who had diabetes and gout in his later years.
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He was a veteran having served in three wars, World War II, Korea, and Vietnam.
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J.J. was also known for his love of cars.
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Just about every year, he would buy a brand new Buick.
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Their neighbors had nothing but glowing remarks about them.
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Their neighbor Ray Harris said, quote, They were just people you would love to have for
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a neighbor.
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They had a little front porch 10 feet from the street, so you couldn't go anywhere
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without seeing them.
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You had to know them.
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They loved company, and if you didn't sit and visit with them, you stood on the sidewalk
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and talked as you went by.
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End quote.
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Another neighbor, who also happened to be a city counselor, Linda Pannori, says, quote,
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They were the kind of people everybody loved.
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It wasn't unusual to see an ice cream truck pull up and they would whip out some money
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and buy all the kids in the neighborhood some ice cream.
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That's the kind of people they were.
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Just loving and wonderful people.
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End quote.
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Now a timeline of events.
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On Saturday, February 16th, 1991, in the evening hours, Stella went out to play bingo, one
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of her favorite things to do, while JJ stayed at their shared home.
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It was rumored that Stella had been on a big winning streak at her bingo games recently.
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We know that Stella did eventually return home to the house she shared with JJ.
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In the early morning hours of Sunday, February 17th, 1991, at around 1 30 a.m., a fire is
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reported at 74 Rockhill Avenue in the Mariners Village complex.
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This ends up being a two alarm fire, which means that the responding fire department
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had to call in additional assistance from other fire departments.
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The fire even spread to the house next door.
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While fighting the fire, firefighters discovered the remains of two bodies.
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Officers on the scene assume that the two perished in the house fire.
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Police don't have a confirmed ID on the bodies, but the whole neighborhood knew.
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Neighbor Linda Pinores says, quote, There was such shock because it was so insane.
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And they had lived in the same place such a long time you couldn't even say maybe somebody
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got the wrong house.
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End quote.
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Fire investigators ruled the fire as arson.
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The fire was started intentionally in the back left bedroom and spread throughout the
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home and to the home next door.
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On Monday, February 18th.
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So this is the next day after the fire.
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Medical examiners begin an autopsy to confirm the IDs of the two bodies found in the home.
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It is confirmed that the bodies that were found were Stella and JJ.
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However, the medical examiner also discovers that each of them had been stabbed multiple
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times and were murdered before the fire was set.
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In the following days after the fire, rumors began to spread around the neighborhood about
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who would hurt these two beloved figures.
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Neighbor Ray Harris says, quote, Teenagers looking for money, a robbery gone bad.
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There were personal theories and police theories and criminology theories.
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She was playing bingo that night and he was home alone.
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And there's a theory that she came home and surprised a robber and he set the fire to
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cover up the evidence.
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End quote.
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Police begin to comb through the neighborhood going door to door asking questions.
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Police begin to wonder if Stella and JJ's open and welcoming nature was used against
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them.
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As police are going through the burned out home, a young boy approaches police and tells
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them that he found a knife.
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The knife is about eight inches and police do believe that this is the murder weapon.
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On Thursday, February 21st, 1991, just four days after their murder, Stella and James
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are laid to rest.
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Hundreds of people attend the funeral.
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Folks come from all over to pay respects to Stella and JJ, including Pennsylvania, New
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York and Trinidad.
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Stella and JJ are ultimately laid to rest together.
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Police are chasing leads, but they're not public about what they're looking for or
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who they're looking at.
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Police do tell the public that the rumor that Stella had won thousands playing bingo the
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night before she died was false.
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But people in the neighborhood, along with police, will continue to talk about her bingo
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winnings as a potential motive over the years.
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In June of 1994, so this is three years since the murder of Stella and JJ, there is a grand
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jury held in regards to this case.
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Now police seem to have been working on this case in the background because I couldn't
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really find any media coverage outside of the initial shock of the crime.
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But come June of 1994, they do hold a grand jury against a person of interest.
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However, police don't get an indictment against this person.
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Because grand juries are held in secrecy, we do not know who the person of interest
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in this case is or was, if they're still considered a person of interest at all.
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However, from these proceedings, police will go on to arrest William Schroeder, who is
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30 years old, for tampering with a witness and hindering a police investigation.
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Police believe that William has withheld information about the murder investigation to them the
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police and also when he was a witness for the grand jury.
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He also told another person to lie to the grand jury.
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This other person happened to be a police detective.
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Police hope that his arrest will generate more leads and tips in the case of Stella
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and JJ.
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The chief of the Criminal Justice Bureau at the Attorney General's Office, Mike Ramsdale,
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says, quote, We certainly believe that he had knowledge about what went on on the night
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of the murder, and when he wasn't forthcoming, the charges were brought.
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End quote.
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Police don't say that they think William was involved in the murder, but they for sure
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believe that he has information about the murder.
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No murder charges are ever brought against him, and ultimately, William will plead guilty
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to witness tampering in January of 1995, and he's sentenced to three and a half to seven
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years.
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And it doesn't seem like William ever provides any more information about what he may or
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may not know to police.
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In May of 1996, so it has been five years since Stella and JJ were murdered, police
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connect with Dr. Henry Lee, hoping that he will take a look at the evidence to see if
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he could help find some suspects.
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Dr. Henry Lee, as some of our listeners may recognize, is a forensic scientist who has
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worked on some of the most famous cases.
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He's worked on the Jean-Béné Ramsey case, O.J. Simpson, Kathleen Peterson, and Kaylee
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Anthony.
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Several items are sent to Dr. Lee, but the only DNA that he is able to develop matches
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the victim's, so there's no suspect DNA developed.
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The next year, in October of 1997, so now it's been six years since the murder, police
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offer a $10,000 reward for any information in this cold case.
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In the year 2000, they double it to $20,000, and this reward is still in place as of 2023
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for information leading to an arrest in the murders of Stella and JJ.
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In 2001, so it's been 10 years since Stella and JJ's murder, there's another double
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murder in New Hampshire, a husband and wife who were both professors at Dartmouth College,
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half and Suzanne Zantop.
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They were both stabbed to death like Stella and JJ.
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The major difference is that the case received a lot of media attention and resources from
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the state to get the case solved.
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This didn't sit well with the folks that knew Stella and JJ.
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They believed that Stella and JJ deserved just as much media attention and resources
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from the police to get the case solved.
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Executive counselor Ruth Griffin, who was from Portsmouth, says, quote, they were black
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and poor.
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They lived in subsidized housing.
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It has bothered me.
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Isn't it the attorney generals who direct how the state prosecutes?
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End quote.
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Police counter that they continue to work this case and they have never forgotten about
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Stella and JJ.
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Sergeant Michael Ranci says, quote, it is still an active investigation.
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We're still going through certain items of evidence collected from the scene, and these
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items are being retested due to progress made in forensic sciences.
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End quote.
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Police do continue to work behind the scenes on the case.
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However, it's another 10 years before Stella and JJ are back in the media in 2011, 20 years
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since their murder.
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And they're back in the media because police firmly believe that other people know about
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what happened the night that they were murdered and have never come forward with this information.
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Detective Aaron Goodwin says, quote, we're not looking to charge anyone who just has
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information.
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If you were living in the community and you heard something, anything, come forward, let
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us know what it is.
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End quote.
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In 2011, police are confident that they are close to an arrest in this case.
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As of 2023, so this is 33 years since Stella and JJ were murdered.
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The case is now with Detective Rachelle Jones.
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Detective Jones used to live near Stella and JJ as a child.
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And she says, quote, for me, just with JJ and Stella, I look at them and I have a personal
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knowledge of how great they were as people.
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And it makes me very angry.
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End quote.
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Detective Jones took over the case in 2021.
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And since then, she has developed multiple persons of interest.
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She doesn't get specific, but she says that the person of interest used to live in the
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neighborhood and they were younger than Stella and JJ, who were in their 60s and 70s.
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So it's still very wide range for younger.
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Detective Jones has interviewed around 50 people, including the persons of interest.
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Police do believe that the motive for the murder was money.
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Detective Jones says, quote, we really need the people that are probably still afraid
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and have that direct knowledge, just one little clue that could help us go forward.
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End quote.
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But that is really the last update we have on this case.
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Police have felt confident in the past 20 years that this case was going to be solved
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soon.
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But to date, there has never been anybody charged with the murder of Stella and JJ.
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If you know anything about the murder of Stella Bolton and James JJ Moore in February of 1991,
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please contact Detective Rachelle Jones directly at 603-610-7503.
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And the sources for the timeline to date come from Journal Tribune, Sun Journal, Concord
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Monitor, Valley News, Morning Centennial, The Boston Globe, Seacoast Online, and WMUR.
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So that is the cold case of Stella and JJ.
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My first reaction when I found this case and started researching it was just how sweet
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Stella and JJ are as people and as friends who were in their later years in life and
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were supporting each other and taking care of each other.
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But there wasn't that romantic aspect involved, which I think is so easy to just place on
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a man and a woman's friendship.
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But for them, they were best of friends and they took care of each other through their
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golden years.
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And I just thought it was such a beautiful story and just a beautiful way to live your
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life.
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For that to be cut short when you're already at the end of your life, it just feels like
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so tragic that you've lived your whole life, you've done everything, and then at the end
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of it, somebody murders you.
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You don't even get to live out your final years the way that your maker intends.
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It just, obviously, at any time, I think a murder is bad.
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But there's something about murder of the elderly that just seems so unfair in the same
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way that it feels so unfair for children to be murdered.
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I do have questions around this case, and I'm sure a big one that came up for a lot
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of you as well is, who is this person of interest?
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Who did they bring against the grand jury?
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If I got to sit down with Detective Jones, who is covering the case today, and just ask
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and get all the answers I wanted, I would want to know, who is this person of interest
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that they took to a grand jury?
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They didn't get the indictment, so the grand jury didn't feel like there was enough evidence
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to support that murder charge, or I guess in this case, a double murder charge.
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But still, I have to just wonder who this person is.
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And I know I've mentioned this before, but just being somebody who loves true crime and
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takes in a lot, I always have to wonder, is this person who they couldn't get the indictment
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on, are they really a good suspect, or is it somebody that the police just kind of tunnel
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visioned in on?
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That's something that I would like to know as well, but without really knowing who the
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person is and the evidence they have against him or her, I guess we really don't even know.
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But without those details, all you can do is like wildly speculate, which is what I'm
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doing right now, so I'll stop.
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I also am curious, and I couldn't find any additional details on it, but the murder weapon
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was found by a young boy in the neighborhood.
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And from all reports, it seems like it was a child that found the knife.
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But I couldn't find an exact detail of where the knife was found.
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By all accounts, it just seems like it was found as somebody was fleeing the crime scene.
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That was kind of how it was described.
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It was dropped or thrown while fleeing the crime scene.
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So I assume it was a little bit away from the home.
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But again, I don't know.
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So that would just be something that I would be curious about today.
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Where was that found in regards to where the home was, where Stella and JJ's home was?
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I also wonder who lived in that back left bedroom.
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From all reports, it does seem like the arson was started in the back left bedroom.
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So I wonder, was that the target of this attack?
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Like whoever's bedroom that was, were they kind of the initial target?
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And then the other person was just the collateral damage of everything.
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Again, this is all very much speculation.
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But I just wonder.
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Or maybe that's just where they started, back left, and they just zipped around with some
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kind of accelerant and then started the fire.
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Maybe it means something, maybe it means nothing.
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But I couldn't find out whose room that was exactly.
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And then police, during the initial investigation, they tell media that the rumors that Stella
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had won thousands at bingo the night before she died was untrue.
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But I wonder, did she win at all?
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Did it just get inflated to where she had won thousands of dollars when maybe in reality
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she had won a couple hundred bucks, you know, or maybe she had been winning throughout the
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week?
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It does seem like bingo is one of her favorite things to go and do.
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So had she had a winning streak recently?
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Had she been talking about it?
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Did people just assume that maybe she had more money than she did?
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There's stories of her and JJ buying ice cream for everyone in the neighborhood or always
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giving food or cookies out to neighbors who needed it.
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So I wonder if someone mistook their kindness for a ton of wealth.
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From everything that the police report from the beginning until 2023, it does seem like
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money is a major motivator in this murder, which is so sad.
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Like money is the root of all evil.
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Truly fully unstopped.
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I wish we could go back in time and just get rid of the need for money at all.
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Like it brings so much negative into this world.
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And it's the reason that Stella and JJ lost their lives.
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I mean, JJ was a 30 year vet who served in three wars.
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Like he's a national hero in my eyes.
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You serve in three wars?
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You're a hero.
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He deserved to live out his days exactly how he wanted to and not have them end abruptly.
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And the same for Stella, who was a beautiful person from all accounts, she acted as a mother
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or grandmother to everyone in the neighborhood.
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If you needed anything, Stella would have given it to you.
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They were always chatting with neighbors and just a part of that community.
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I just really hope that Stella and JJ get justice.
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And police do seem to be close.
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You know, they keep begging for just that one piece of information, a little clue.
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It seems like they just need a little bit more to like get everything to fall in place.
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And they really do seem convinced that people out there know people in this area, in this
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community know what happened to Stella and JJ.
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So if you know anything about the death of Stella and JJ in 1991, or if you're from that
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area and have heard rumors, please call those into police and police will do the work of
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sorting out who's right, who's wrong, what's true, what's not like that's their job.
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But if you've ever heard anything, you never know what wild rumor might actually have like
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a little kernel of truth in it.
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So if you know anything at all, please call Detective Rochelle Jones directly at 603-610-7503.
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And again, I mentioned it at the top of our podcast, but if you could just give us a little
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review, it helps others find this podcast and it'll help others know Stella and JJ story.
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There's very little media coverage, very little podcasts on them.
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So they deserve to have their case covered and heard.
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And just by sharing it, promoting it, rating it, you help their names get out to others
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out there and their stories get known and ultimately, hopefully close, we get their
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stories closed.
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So if you have a minute, please review us if you can, or maybe just share with somebody
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in your life that also enjoys true crime.
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That's also a win and gets more people knowing about these cases.
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We'll be posting pictures of Stella and JJ on our Instagram.
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So if you're not following us, you can go ahead and follow us there at Cold and Missing.
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We're also on YouTube.
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We put all of the episodes up on YouTube and there's some lovely conversations happening
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in the comment sections, just about the cases in general.
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Maybe if you like to listen on YouTube, you can find us there too and subscribe.
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It's a great time.
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We also have our website, ColdandMissing.com.
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So all of our episodes are on there.
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The YouTube videos are on there.
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And we also have transcripts.
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So if you or someone that you love is hard of hearing or deaf, you can also follow along
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with the podcast or read it at our website, ColdandMissing.com.
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But that's all I have for this week.
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Thank you so much for listening.
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I'm Allie McLaughlin-Sulkowski.
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This is Cold and Missing.
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Have a great week and stay safe, y'all.
