Trace Evidence Steven Pacheco

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Barbara Holik fell in love with the American west. Drawn to New Mexico, she emigrated to the states in late 1989 and ultimately settled in Taos. There she established herself as an artist, selling hand crafter jewelry and finely painted pottery. She made friends, delved deep into the history of the region and often led tours through the towns and surrounding wildernes. She was a popular woman who engraciated herself to the local community up until the day she vanished.

When Barbara failed to show up for work two days in a row, her boss reported her missing. Investigators from the Taos Police Department found an absence of evidence at her apartment; nothing to suggest a crime had been commited but for the woman's absence. Unfortunately for them this lack of evidence would become the default state of the case.

What happened to Barbara Holik? Was she the victim of a random crime, or perhaps a targeted one? Did she leave of her own volition, or was she forcibly abducted? Nearly thirty years later and the answers to those questions remain undiscovered.

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In January of 1982, Melvin Wiley was appointed Chief of Police in Hinckley Township, Ohio. With a law enforcement career spanning nearly twenty years and a background in military intelligence, Mel was considered by most the be a prime candidate for the position. For more than three years, they had no reason to question that choice.

Then on a warm summer afternoon in July of 1985, Chief Wiley mysteriously vanished. After failing to show up for work for two days, rangers discovered his abandoned vehicle at Edgewater Park in Cleveland, right on the shore of Lake Erie. While some believed Chief Wiley had been the victim of a crime, others theorized that perhaps the aspiring author had written his own mysterious exit.

Nearly forty years later and the mystery of Chief Wiley remains. Friends and family never believed he'd have gone away by his own choice, and not one of them has heard from him since July of '85. He remains the first Chief of Police to have ever been listed by the FBI as a missing person and, all this time later, he has never been found.

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On a cool, September afternoon in Burbank, California, thirty-six year old Tom Roche dropped off his girlfriend, Barbara Rondeau, at her office. Promising to return for lunch later that afternoon, Barbara would never see her partner of sixteen years ever again.

Six days after filing a missing person's report, Barbara received a grotesque letter in the mail. In it, the writer claimed to have murdered Tom and dumped his body in the mountains surrounding Los Angeles. In addition to his disturbing words, inside the envelope were several of Tom's personal affects that had gone missing with him.

While investigators were debating whether or not the letter was legitimate, five hundred miles away, investigators in northern California came upon partial human remains surrounded by clothing and personal items belonging to Tom. It would take years to positively identify the remains as those of Tom Roche.

Was Tom Roche targeted at random by a vicious and violent killer or is it possible that the letter was a ruse designed to lead investigators in the wrong direction?

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On a cool Tuesday night in January of 2006, forty-three year old Dori Ann Myers left her Fort Pierce, FL home to play poker in a local tournament. Arriving late, she missed her chance to get a seat at the table and went off to spend the night elsewhere.

Dori then stopped in at the St. Lucie Inn where she was seen speaking with two unidentified men, allegedly US Marines who were injured while serving in Iraq. Known to have a soft spot for members of the military, Dori offered the men a place to stay for the night.

Six hours later, at 3am, neighbors on Dori’s street called 911 to report a house fire. They watched Dori’s car pulling out of her driveways moments before the blaze broke out. In the aftermath, investigators found Dori’s purse and phone left behind. They began theorizing that she had been forcibly abducted from the home.

Less than an hour later, they receive word of another fire. Dori’s car was found burning eighty miles away, left at a rural boat launch. While investigators began searching for the two Marines, others wondered if perhaps the entire story might just be a cover up designed to point detectives away from the real assailant.

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Between 1990 and 1991, four unsolved homicides occurred in and around the city of St. Louis. Robyn Mihan, Brenda Pruitt, Sandy Little and Donna Reitmeyer had been murdered, kept for some period of time and then disposed of by an unknown predator referred to as the "Package Killer."

More than thirty years later, in the winter of 2022, DNA analysis of evidence found at one of the scene finally returned a hit. This led investigators to a 73 year old prison inmate serving life for a murder in 1993. After confronting the man with this evidence, Gary R. Muehlberg confessed to the four murders and gave investigators details about the crimes.

However, just when they thought they'd gotten all they needed from Muehlberg he dropped a surprise on them. He admitted to a fifth murder, one which he claimed occurred during the same time as the other. Muehlberg claimed to have murdered this woman and later to have left her body in a metal barrel at a local car wash.

Investigators were baffled, not because of the admission, but because they were not aware of any crime which fit the description. This has left many to wonder if Victim Number 5 truly exists or if the entire story is just a sick and twisted game being played by a serial killer who doesn't have much time left.

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Eighteen year old Diana Braungardt was smart, funny, caring and popular. She performed well in school, worked a part time job and had just enrolled in modeling classes as high school graduation approached. Then, she vanished.

After finishing a shift at a local discount department store, Diana clocked out and stepped out into the parking lot. She never made it home and her parents found her car, still sitting in the lot. It appeared to investigators that the high school senior had been abducted before she'd made it to her car.
Over the years, a lot of different possibilities have been suggested.

From a personal assault from someone who knew Diana to a slew of serial killers who have been name dropped but never connected to the case. This year will mark thirty-six years since Diana vanished, far too long to go without answers.

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Music Courtesy of: "Lost Time" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/