Box in the Basement

Arlene, Leah, Bree
  • 4.5 (32)
  • TRUE CRIME
  • UPDATED WEEKLY

"Box in the Basement" is a compelling new podcast created by Arlene, a woman whose life was forever changed by a family tragedy. The unsolved murder of her Uncle Leon Laurales serves as the catalyst for this investigative series. Disturbed by the lackluster investigation and the mystery that still surrounds his case, Arlene dives deep into the details of her uncle's story, uncovering the many problems that plagued the investigation. Her journey doesn't stop there, as she expands her focus to other unsolved cases in Central Texas. Each episode of "Box in the Basement" promises to shed light on the overlooked and forgotten mysteries in her local community, hoping to find answers and justice for those who have been silenced.

  1. A Child Gone in 1985. A Mother Gone in 2025. Why Are These Texas Cases Still Unsolved?

    FEB 5

    A Child Gone in 1985. A Mother Gone in 2025. Why Are These Texas Cases Still Unsolved?

    Send us a text In 1985, 11-year-old Angelica Gandera vanished while walking home from her grandmother’s house in Temple, Texas. Despite eyewitness accounts and multiple persons of interest, no trace of her has ever been found. In 2025, 48-year-old Monica Sanford disappeared after leaving to go camping near Bridgeport, Texas. Her car, belongings, and beloved dog were left behind—raising immediate concerns of foul play. We explore the timelines, witness statements, possible suspects, and investigative gaps in both cases, while honoring the families who continue to search for justice. Support Box in the Basement & Our Causes Leon Laurales: Website & GoFundMe Follow us on Facebook & Instagram Donate to Seasons of Justice Listen to Darkcast Network Shows Join Uncovered.com Donate to Project Cold Case

    25 min
  2. A 12-Year Old Kimberly Norwood Walks Home & Vanishes Forever

    JAN 15

    A 12-Year Old Kimberly Norwood Walks Home & Vanishes Forever

    Send us a text On May 20, 1989, Kimberly Rachelle Norwood, a 12-year-old honor student, left a friend’s house in Hallsville, Texas and began the one-mile walk home. She never arrived. In this episode, join Arlene and Leah as they examine Kimberly’s disappearance, the early assumption that she had “run away,” and how that narrative stalled the investigation at a critical moment. We break down the timeline of her final hours, the overlooked red flags, witness sightings, questionable investigative decisions, and the theories that still haunt her family more than three decades later. Kimberly’s case remains unsolved — and her family is still waiting for answers. If you have information, contact the Harrison County Sheriff’s Office at 903-935-4888. 🔗 SHOW NOTES & SOURCES Kimberly Rachelle Norwood: A 12-Year-Old Who Vanished in HallsvilleVanished: The Disappearance of Kimberly Rachelle Norwood14 Years Later: Family Still Searching for Kimberly NorwoodCold Case Spotlight: Kimberly NorwoodNew Photo Released in Kimberly Norwood Cold CaseHave You Seen Kim? Hallsville Girl Missing Since 198933 Years Later: Kimberly Norwood Still MissingSearching for Answers: 1989 Disappearance of Kimberly NorwoodSupport Box in the Basement & Our Causes Leon Laurales: Website & GoFundMe Follow us on Facebook & Instagram Donate to Seasons of Justice Listen to Darkcast Network Shows Join Uncovered.com Donate to Project Cold Case

    27 min
  3. The Highway That Hunts: Canada’s Most Infamous Cold Cases - Highway of Tears part 3

    JAN 1

    The Highway That Hunts: Canada’s Most Infamous Cold Cases - Highway of Tears part 3

    Send us a text Part 3 of our Highway of Tears series examines some of the most infamous missing and murdered cases along Highways 16, 5, and 97 in British Columbia, from the 1990s to the present day. We explore the disappearances of Delphine Nikal, Ramona Wilson, Roxanne Thiara, Alisha Germaine, Lana Derrick, Nicole Hoar, and Aielah Saric-Auger, tracing patterns of neglect, systemic racism, and missed investigative opportunities. Join Arlene and Leah as they confront how geography, isolation, and indifference created a killing ground, and why justice remains elusive decades later. Show Notes A Lingering Evil: From Residential Schools to Murdered Women Delphine Nikal: Disappeared While Hitchhiking on Highway 16 Ramona Wilson: A Teen’s Murder That Changed Canada’s Awareness Roxanne Thiara Remembered, 31 Years Later Alisha Germaine: Murdered at 14 Lana Derrick: Forestry Student Who Vanished in 1995 Nicole Hoar: Alberta Tree Planter Missing Since 2002 Aielah Saric-Auger: Murdered Along Highway 16 If She Was White, She Would Still Be Here The Stories of the Victims of the Highway of Tears Support Box in the Basement & Our Causes Leon Laurales: Website & GoFundMe Follow us on Facebook & Instagram Donate to Seasons of Justice Listen to Darkcast Network Shows Join Uncovered.com Donate to Project Cold Case

    38 min
  4. The Stranger, the Job Offer, and the Family That Never Returned: More Mysteries on the Highway of Tears

    12/11/2025

    The Stranger, the Job Offer, and the Family That Never Returned: More Mysteries on the Highway of Tears

    Send us a text For more than five decades, a remote stretch of road in British Columbia has been the epicenter of one of Canada’s darkest crises. The Highway of Tears is home to dozens of missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, and families — many cases mishandled, ignored, or never fully investigated. In this episode, Arlene and Leah uncover: The disappearance of the Jack Family, the tragic story of Alberta Williams, RCMP misconduct and systemic failures, & how racism, isolation, and lack of resources compounded a national tragedy.  🔗 Show Notes: Sources & Further Reading Stories of the Victims Behind Canada’s Highway of Tears Cold Case Files: Highway of Tears – Prince George A Mother Still Searching for Answers: Shelley’s 37-Year Mystery History of Residential Schools in Canada The Jack Family Disappearance: 35 Years Without Answers Police Renew Search for the Missing Jack Family Stranger Offering “Odd Jobs” May Be Key in Jack Family Case “Smoke on the Asphalt”: An Indigenous Family’s Fight for Justice CBC’s Missing & Murdered – Episode Transcript The Unsolved Murder of Alberta Williams Police Abuse Allegations in Prince George RCMP Province Orders Investigation Into RCMP Misconduct Archived News Report: Early Clues & Coverage Supreme Court Case: Landmark Decision Tied to Investigation SCC News Note: Updates Related to the Case Convicted Murderer of Two Indigenous Women Denied Parole Support Box in the Basement & Our Causes Leon Laurales: Website & GoFundMe Follow us on Facebook & Instagram Donate to Seasons of Justice Listen to Darkcast Network Shows Join Uncovered.com Donate to Project Cold Case

    32 min
  5. The Shocking Truth Behind 40 Missing Women: What’s Really Happening on Canada’s Highway of Tears?

    11/20/2025

    The Shocking Truth Behind 40 Missing Women: What’s Really Happening on Canada’s Highway of Tears?

    Send us a text The Highway of Tears is ground zero in one of Canada’s darkest ongoing tragedies. For more than 50 years, dozens of people – mostly Indigenous women and girls – have been murdered or gone missing along Highway 16 and its connecting routes in northern British Columbia. Despite RCMP task forces and national attention, these cases have been plagued by racism, mismanagement, jurisdictional confusion, and a chronic lack of funding and manpower. In this episode of Box in the Basement, Arlene and Leah open the first boxes from the early years of the Highway of Tears – the late 1960s through the 1970s. They explore how a remote stretch of road with no public transit, limited cell coverage, deep poverty, and systemic indifference became a hunting ground for serial predators and a graveyard of unanswered questions. Show Notes:  Finding Closure Fifty Years After a Murder Gloria Lee Levina Moody (1969): A Case Never Truly Closed Micheline Paré: A Young Hitchhiker’s Unsolved Murder A Case Never Opened: Tracey Clifton Listening to Indigenous Women’s Stories A Teen Disappears Months After Giving Birth: Helen Claire Frost (1970) Searching for a Birth Mother Missing Since 1970 The Mysterious Disappearance of Helen Claire Frost Jean Virginia Sampare: Vanished at 18 Along Highway 16 MMIW Profile: Jean Virginia Sampare The Teen Who Vanished While Pregnant with Twins: Velma Marie Duncan (1972) “Highway of Tears” Murder Solved With Improbable DNA Sample Oldest DNA Match in Interpol History Links U.S. Serial Killer to Highway of Tears Victim In Memory – Official Highway of Tears Victims The Road That Swallows Souls: Investigating the Highway of Tears Support Box in the Basement & Our Causes Leon Laurales: Website & GoFundMe Follow us on Facebook & Instagram Donate to Seasons of Justice Listen to Darkcast Network Shows Join Uncovered.com Donate to Project Cold Case

    49 min
  6. The Mayor’s Sons and the Women Who Died: Alaska’s Unanswered Crimes

    11/06/2025

    The Mayor’s Sons and the Women Who Died: Alaska’s Unanswered Crimes

    Send us a text Two Indigenous women—Jennifer Kirk and Sue Sue Norton—were both found dead at the home of a former Alaska mayor. Both had dated his sons. Both suffered violence. And yet, no one has ever been charged. Join Box in the Basement as Arlene and Leah uncover the disturbing failures, corruption, and silence surrounding two deaths that demand answers. 🔗 Show Notes – The Deaths of Jennifer Kirk & Sue Sue Norton in Kotzebue, Alaska Alaska State Troopers Seek Public’s Help in 2020 Killing of Kotzebue Woman Police Refuse to Reopen Case of Woman Found Dead on Former Mayor’s Property Kotzebue Women’s Deaths at Former Mayor’s Home Did Not Get Thorough Investigations Daily Mail: Two Indigenous Women Found Dead at Alaska Mayor’s Home Families in Northwest Alaska Still Seek Answers on Unsolved Deaths and Suicides ProPublica: Two Women Died on Alaska Mayor’s Property—No One Was Ever Charged KTOO: Investigative Report Highlights Failures in Kotzebue Death Investigations Alaska Public Media: State Charges 41-Year-Old in Death of Kotzebue GirlSupport Box in the Basement & Our Causes Leon Laurales: Website & GoFundMe Follow us on Facebook & Instagram Donate to Seasons of Justice Listen to Darkcast Network Shows Join Uncovered.com Donate to Project Cold Case

    26 min
  7. She Tried to Leave Him. Then She Disappeared: The Cases of Senovia Medina & Cecilia Huerta Gallego

    10/23/2025

    She Tried to Leave Him. Then She Disappeared: The Cases of Senovia Medina & Cecilia Huerta Gallego

    Send us a text In this episode, Arlene and Leah uncover the tragic cases of Senovia Medina, a young mother who fled civil war in El Salvador only to vanish in Houston in 2006 — her boyfriend later convicted of her murder, though her body was never found — and Cecilia Huerta Gallegos, a San Antonio nurse and mother of four who told her sister, “If anything happens to me, look at my husband,” before disappearing in 2019.  Join us as we trace the evidence, the contradictions, and the families’ tireless fight for answers in two Texas cases that remain shrouded in heartbreak and mystery. Show Notes  The Charley ProjectPolice Get Break in CaseMan Charged with MurderHouston Police Search for Missing Pregnant Woman’s BodySearch Continues for Woman’s RemainsHouston Man Charged Houston PoliceOfficial HPD StatementHouston Woman Vanishes Cecilia Huerta Gallegos Charley ProjectSan Antonio Police Arrest Husband  Outrage After Husband’s Bond ChangesSearch Continues Husband Back in JailSearch Underway Fight Caught on Surveillance CameraHusband ChargedFamily Still Searching Support Box in the Basement & Our Causes Leon Laurales: Website & GoFundMe Follow us on Facebook & Instagram Donate to Seasons of Justice Listen to Darkcast Network Shows Join Uncovered.com Donate to Project Cold Case

    39 min
  8. Gone Without a Trace: How a Mother’s Disappearance Exposed the Dark Side of Texas Justice

    10/09/2025

    Gone Without a Trace: How a Mother’s Disappearance Exposed the Dark Side of Texas Justice

    Send us a text  In this episode of Box in the Basement, Arlene and Leah uncover the chilling case of Vicki Lynn Nisbett, a Texas mother who vanished in 1991—without a body ever found. Her husband was convicted, released, and reconvicted in a legal saga that still divides Williamson County. Was justice truly served, or is the real story still buried in the evidence?  🔗 Show Notes – The Disappearance of Vicki Lynn Nisbett Missing Mother: The Disappearance of Vicki Nisbett in Williamson County No Body, No Murder? Not Necessarily – Texas Case Study The Charley Project: Case File for Vicki Lynn Nisbett Appeal Filed After Reversal of Williamson County Murder Conviction Court Overturns Flawed Murder Conviction in Williamson County 2014 Murder Conviction for Vicki Nisbett’s Husband Reinstated Central Texas Man Convicted of Killing His Wife Will Go Free Attorney Claims State Delayed Release After Murder Conviction Reversal Free to Kill: A Texas Murder Case Without a BodySupport Box in the Basement & Our Causes Leon Laurales: Website & GoFundMe Follow us on Facebook & Instagram Donate to Seasons of Justice Listen to Darkcast Network Shows Join Uncovered.com Donate to Project Cold Case

    31 min
See All (89)

4.5
out of 5
32 Ratings

About

"Box in the Basement" is a compelling new podcast created by Arlene, a woman whose life was forever changed by a family tragedy. The unsolved murder of her Uncle Leon Laurales serves as the catalyst for this investigative series. Disturbed by the lackluster investigation and the mystery that still surrounds his case, Arlene dives deep into the details of her uncle's story, uncovering the many problems that plagued the investigation. Her journey doesn't stop there, as she expands her focus to other unsolved cases in Central Texas. Each episode of "Box in the Basement" promises to shed light on the overlooked and forgotten mysteries in her local community, hoping to find answers and justice for those who have been silenced.

Information

  • Creator
    Arlene, Leah, Bree
  • Years Active
    2023 - 2026
  • Episodes
    89
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Box in the Basement
  • Show Website
    Box in the Basement

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