MURDERED: Pamela Milam // Vickie Lynn Harrell

[00:00] Hi, Crime Junkies. It's Britt, and I have big news. One of my favorite seasonal shows, CounterClock, is back with a brand new season, and it is wild. Host Delia D'Ambra is digging into the 2008 Lane Bryant murders. I mean, this isn't just a recap. It is a reinvestigation. She's talking to law enforcement, people from the community, even sources who have never spoken publicly until now. And you know I love a show that asks all the questions. Listen to CounterClock Season 8 now, wherever you get your podcasts. [00:31] Hi, Crime Junkies. I'm your host, Ashley Flowers. And I'm Britt. And today I want to tell you two stories that actually happened here in our own backyard of Indiana. Two women with their whole lives ahead of them that vanished from public places, leaving behind only a tiny handful of clues. These are the stories of Pamela Milam and Vicki Lynn Harrell. [00:55] Thank you. [01:26] September 15, 1972 is a big Friday night for the women of Sigma Kappa sorority at Indiana State University in Terre Haute. Rush festivities are in full swing, and they've got some tough choices to make about who's going to make the cut this year. So the sorority sisters all meet up in their suite in Homestead Hall near Lincoln Quad to talk over, you know, what's going to happen, how it's going to go, maybe some decorating, you know, judge the place a little bit.

[01:56] The girls decide to grab a quick bite before going their separate ways for the night. Now, one of the sisters, a young woman named Pamela Milam, says that she's actually going to run out super quick and move her car closer to the building. [02:07] Pamela's a sophomore, and since she's from Terre Haute, she actually lives at home instead of staying on campus all the time. But since it's rushed, she's actually staying at the Sigma Kappa suite for the weekend just to help out. On her way out of the house, she grabs a box of decorating stuff to put in her trunk to kind of get it out of the way and help clean up the suite. And she tells her sisters that she's going to be back in just a few minutes and then they can all eat. [02:31] The sorority sisters wait. [02:34] and wait. [02:35] and wait. Eventually, they start kind of looking at each other and getting a little worried. Like, it should have only been a few minutes. But because she isn't back, they eventually just decide to eat and call it a night without her. I mean, how long are we talking? Were they, like... [02:51] after two minutes, like, well, let's just eat? Or was this like a considerable amount of time? So because this is an old case and pretty local to Terre Haute, there's not a whole lot of information out there in terms of like a precise timeline of what happened on that Friday night. Like totally speculating here. But [03:09] Remember, she lives off campus, so I wonder if maybe her friends thought she just made a last-minute decision to just head back to her parents' house or just decided to bail last minute on this dinner. Right, there was no need for her to come back that night. Yeah, I mean, again, it's pretty late, and this is back in the days before cell phones. So someone changing their plan and just kind of being no-shows, I think is something that was just kind of more accepted back then. So no one was worried about Pam that night.

[03:39] And to her parents, they knew that that night she was going to be staying at the sorority house. So they weren't worried about her not coming home either. But when Pamela doesn't show up for her shift at work the next morning, that's when alarm bells start going off for the people who knew her. Right away, her friends and family start looking for her and they report her missing on September 16th. [04:03] Finally, at 7 o'clock on that Saturday night, two of Pamela's sorority sisters actually spot her car in the back end of a parking lot across from the Lincoln Quad. And it is definitely Pamela's car, no question. She drives this big boat of a thing, this old red Pontiac from the 1960s, with a big license plate on the front that says Jesus in all caps. Like, you can't miss it or really mistake it for someone else's. [04:28] This time of year is already pretty dark out, so the girls actually go back to the suite and get a flashlight so they can take a closer look at the car and what might be inside. They're going around the car, shining light in the windows, and nothing really jumps out at them until someone catches a flash of reflection on the rear window. And sitting there are Pamela's glasses. [04:58] She wouldn't just leave them. I mean, she was always wearing them. So they know now that they had to call Pamela's family and tell them what they had found. Pamela's dad, Charles, and her younger sister, Sheila, get to the parking lot as quickly as they can with the spare keys to the car. Heart pounding, Sheila helps her dad search inside of Pamela's car, looking for any clue of where she might be. And the first thing that they spot is the last thing they want to see. They find Pamela's purse.

[05:29] According to Crystal Bonvillian's piece in the Springfield New Sun, it had been completely emptied out. Keys, wallet, everything. Everything. [05:36] It becomes obvious pretty early on that there's nothing else inside the car that's going to actually lead them to Pamela or tell them where she may have gone. But before they give up on the car entirely, Charles heads back to check one more area of the car that they haven't looked at yet. The trunk. He puts the key in the lock, takes a deep breath. And as soon as he pops the trunk and sees what's inside, Charles just screams. [06:06] lifeless body. [06:09] Now, Pamela's sister, Sheila, is next to her dad seeing this, too, and she wants more than anything to look away. But she can't. She just can't. Through her whore, she sees Pamela's hands have been tied behind her back. Her face is all cut up. There's a ligature around her neck and there's a piece of white tape over her mouth. Pamela's dad manages to pull himself together long enough to call the ISU campus police, who, according to the Terre Haute Tribune, call the city police in right away. [06:39] As soon as they arrive, the investigation kicks into high gear. When they first see Pamela, they think that she may have been beaten or there was some kind of severe struggle because of those scratch marks and cuts all over her face. It's also clear to them from the onset that whoever killed Pamela used the very items from the decorating box that she had brought out to her car to bind and gag her.

[07:09] with his own items. He used what was already around. [07:13] The only other real piece of evidence found in or around the car itself were a few partial fingerprints that they collected and sent off for testing. [07:22] Pamela's body is then taken off by the coroner for an autopsy. And what they learn at the actual autopsy kind of changes some of their assumptions. So the autopsy shows that all of those cuts and scratches on her face weren't made from like fingernails and a struggle. They were actually made by the taillights from inside her trunk, like the actual nuts and bolts that hold them in place. And the coroner thought that those injuries were most likely caused [07:52] those sharp pieces. So do we know if those cuts happened before or after she died? So based on the evidence, it looks like she went into the trunk after she died. But here's the thing. I didn't see anything about Pamela's body being transported in her car or what kind of assumptions police made about how exactly these scratches got there. Like, I don't know if she got them as she was being placed in the trunk or if she was placed there. And the assumption is he drove around a lot. It was the movement that actually caused those. We don't know that for sure. [08:21] Ultimately, Pamela's cause of death was determined to be strangulation from a thin white clothesline type rope that was still around her neck when her body was found. And it was the same type of rope that the killer had used to tie up her hands as well. [08:36] Now, she did have some scratches and bruises elsewhere on her body, in addition to the marks on her face, showing that their assumption was kind of right at the beginning. There had been a struggle with her attacker. Yeah.

[08:48] Interestingly, the coroner actually puts her time of death kind of at like a specific moment. He thinks it happened around midnight on Friday night. And since Pam was last seen by her sorority sisters around 11, that gives police a pretty narrow time frame to focus their investigation. So did the coroner find any evidence of sexual assault? [09:18] debris between Pamela's pants and her pantyhose. So police think that the killer must have taken her into a wooded area at some point and at the very least, at least pulled down her pants, which kind of makes it seem to me, at least like the killer planned to sexually assault Pamela. And maybe he even started, but he was maybe either spooked or interrupted or ran out of time or [09:48] police send Pamela's clothes off to Indianapolis to be analyzed at the Indiana State Police Lab. Since this is way before DNA, the crime lab at this point is probably just looking for trace fibers, hair, anything unusual that might lead them to Pamela's killer. [10:03] That same day when Pamela's clothes are on their way to Indianapolis, Terre Haute police get their first potential lead. They find out that someone reported a break in at a building near the parking lot where Pamela's car and Pamela's body were found. And they're wondering if maybe this break in might have something to do with Pamela or could somehow be connected to Pamela's murder. I thought you said that the killer likely took her into like a wooded area. What does this have to do with it? They actually don't know. Right.

[10:33] is just super broad. They're literally looking into kind of every call, every complaint from around campus for the entire weekend, looking for anything else that stands out as extraordinary that might have been loosely connected to Pamela's murder. Just basically anything to point them in a direction of a suspect. But ultimately, what they end up finding is that the break-in ends up being a dead end. And it turned out to just be some kids looking for a place to party. [11:03] No witness reports, no complaints, nothing connected to Pamela, and they really don't know where to go. [11:11] But while they're not having a ton of luck in Terre Haute, they do have a little bit better luck with the Indiana State Police lab. Well, sort of. Technicians at the lab find a strange stain on Pamela's blouse. [11:25] Do you mean by strange? Well, they don't know what it is at the time, but they think it might be semen. However, in 1972, police don't have the technology to even confirm that it is that. And if they could, they don't have the technology to prove who it belonged to. But what they do have is the foresight to preserve it and the rest of Pamela's clothing. Did the crime lab find anything else? Honestly, that's pretty much it. At this point, it feels like police are hitting a brick wall. [11:55] I've talked to dozens of people in Terre Haute, to guys who knew Pamela, guys who were on campus that night. According to the Springfield News Sun, at least a handful of them even take polygraph tests, but they couldn't lead police anywhere. And there's really nothing out there to suggest how many people actually took it or how many people even passed or failed. Desperate to keep some momentum in the investigation and to reassure the public like, hey, we got this. Police take to the papers. But there isn't a whole lot they can say.

[12:25] Pamela, no one is in custody and they don't have any real suspects. And without witnesses and very little physical evidence, it's hard for law enforcement to even know where to start to figure out what and who they're looking for. It's kind of a bit like trying to find a needle in a haystack at this point. And police were just [12:42] at a loss. But then, just four days after Pamela's body was found, police get a call that changes everything. [12:54] Chime is changing the way that people bank. They offer the most rewarding fee-free banking built for you. Chime has thousands of fee-free ATMs. Like, why pay to get your own money? Plus, you can get savings that grow faster with a 3.75% APY. That is nine times higher than the national average. Chime members can even staff benefits, like up to $1,150 in annual rewards, [13:23] premium travel perks. Their Spot Me feature even lets you overdraft up to $200. And all of that is without fees. There is nothing not to like about this. It is clear why Chime is rated five stars by USA Today for customer service. Real humans 24-7. When you switch, you're not just switching banks. You are upgrading to America's number one choice for banking with a Chime checking account. Chime's not just smarter banking. It's the most rewarding way to bank. [13:53] banking fee free today head to chime.com slash crime junkie that's chime.com slash crime junkie it only takes a few minutes to sign up chime is a fintech not a bank banking services for my pay and chime card provided by chimes bank partners optional products and services may have fees or charges stated annual percentage yield and cash back for chime prime only no minimum balance required checking account ranking based on a jd power survey published october 20 2025 for more information on apy rates my pay spot me and travel perks go to chime.com slash disclosures

[14:20] This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. For some, summer is their favorite season. Travel picks up, kids are out of school, and adventure is in the focus. For others, juggling it all can lead to overwhelm and counting down the minutes until the kids are back in school. And many worry that they're wasting the days of sunshine. Having someone with you to listen, to understand, to support can make all the difference. BetterHelp makes it easy to get started with quality, fully licensed therapists in the U.S. who follow a strict code of conduct. In fact, BetterHelp is the world's largest online therapy platform [14:50] million people globally. Their therapist match commitment does the initial matching work so you can focus on your therapy goals. A short questionnaire helps identify your needs and preferences. And if you aren't happy with your match, you can switch to a different therapist at any time. It works. BetterHelp has an average rating of 4.9 out of 5 for a live session based on over 1.7 million client reviews. You don't have to say yes to everything this summer. Find support in therapy. Sign up and get 10% off at betterhelp.com slash crimejunkie. That's better [15:21] The call comes in from the Indiana State Police, who tell officers in Terre Haute that they're actually investigating another woman's murder from just a month prior, one that they think could be linked to Pamela's. This victim's name is Vicki Lynn Harrell, and she was killed just a little more than a month before Pamela. And like Pamela, Vicki was last seen in public at the Kmart store where she worked. But this was not in Terre Haute. She was actually in Bloomington.

[15:50] Bloomington is about an hour and a half like southeast-ish of Terre Haute, and it's another Indiana college town. For listeners outside of Indiana, Bloomington is home to Indiana University, and the university itself really is the heart of the city. Was Vicki also a student? So she wasn't, at least not that I could find. And I have to say, there just isn't a ton out there about Vicki's personal life and not a ton of coverage on her case, really. [16:20] What we do know, though, is that she was 25 years old, so a bit older than Pamela. And we know that she had been divorced. And it's interesting and a little disgusting and off-putting that the media coverage on her case back in 72 made very sure to point out that she was divorced and also how she liked to go to bars and listen to rock music. [16:50] making it seem like what happened to Vicky was her own fault, like a divorced woman out on the town. What do you expect? Kind of thing. Right. Like a total assassination of her character. Yeah. And, you know, as I was trying to find out more about her, I did find that she may have also been a single mom. So one of the articles I found in the Terre Haute Tribune called her, quote, an unwed mother. But that detail doesn't appear everywhere.

[17:20] I truly just don't know what's real and what's not, but I do know how differently they were talked about. [17:27] So on Saturday, August 12th, 1972, Vicky headed from her apartment to her job at the local Kmart. According to the Indianapolis Star, her roommate waited for her to come home at her normal time, but she just never showed up. Sunlight was fading and it was pouring down rain outside. And with still no sign of Vicky, her roommate started to worry. She called around a few places looking for her, thinking maybe Vicky had gone over to a friend's house to wait out the rain before heading home. [17:57] to meet up with someone for a drink or something, but no one had seen or heard from Vicki. So later that night, her roommate called the police and reported her missing, but the weekend came and went with no sign of her. And then on Monday the 14th, some highway workers were out on a country road near Spencer, Indiana, which is about a half hour from Bloomington, when they spot a young [18:27] water they call in police right away and when officers arrived they quickly realize just how disturbing this crime scene really was [18:35] While the woman's cause of death wasn't overtly obvious, there was no sign of a struggle, no murder weapon or anything near her body. But when they moved her body, they were shocked to find something wrong. [18:48] carved into her chest.

[18:51] Carved into the front of this woman's body were the initials K-N-E. [18:57] own. [18:58] Now, police take the victim back to Bloomington for an autopsy, and it was here that they finally identify her as Vicki Lynn Harrell. Based on what they found at the crime scene, or maybe I guess what they didn't find, like clothing or signs of a struggle, police figured that it was probably a secondary crime scene where they found her, that Vicki was probably killed somewhere else and then just dumped at that site. But just like Pamela, Vicki had died after being strangled with a rope. [19:28] clear signs of sexual assault, according to coverage in the Lafayette Journal and Courier. Okay, but back to these letters on the chest, like what does KN stand for? Girl, I wish I knew. Police couldn't find any significance to the letters. And it's not that they thought the letters were irrelevant. It's just that nothing really fit or made sense. Now, for a moment, police are thinking this feels a little bit ritualistic, not like satanic, [19:58] serial killers, how they have this pattern. There's this secondary site, the carvings in her chest, the sexual assault. And they're thinking maybe this is what's happening here. Maybe we have a serial killer on our hands. And this is when the Indiana State Police, like once they learn about Pamela, reach out to Tara Haute and say, hey, like we just had this happen in a college town. You have a kind of similar case in yours. Maybe they're connected. Yeah. I mean, you have to make a contact like that. But

[20:25] I guess I'm having trouble connecting them. Like the scenes seem really different. The actual acts like. [20:30] One has a body carving. One doesn't. One was sexually assaulted. One wasn't. Yeah. I mean, again, I think you have two cases where... [20:39] There's just like no idea what could have happened. And there are at least enough similarities that they're kind of wondering. I mean, obviously, they recognize the differences, but I think they were wondering if maybe Pamela's killer ran out of time before he could finish his whole plan. Because, again, I mean, he had pulled out her pants. There was some intent there. I mean, maybe he got interrupted. Who knows? But that would explain why their bodies were found in such different ways. [21:09] Vicki and Pamela's deaths together to try and figure this thing out. [21:14] Now, you would think because this was such a brutal crime, it would have gotten a lot of media attention. But that would be wrong. Instead, kind of the opposite happens. Like, yeah, Vicky's case got some press in the first few days after her body was discovered. But then it was kind of like her murder just got shrugged off, not by the police, but by the public. [21:44] bright-eyed, bright future. And when her body was discovered just one month and one town away, because she was getting so much attention, it kind of renewed interest in Vicki's case just a little bit because of the potential connection. But aside from that initial burst, a couple of articles, maybe they're connected, there was really just nothing else. It was like no one seemed to care that Vicki had lived or that she had died such a brutal death.

[22:08] And actually, the apathy got so bad in her case that by early October of 1972, this is, you know, after two months of investigating her murder, the Indiana State Police detective who was working with law enforcement from Owen and Monroe counties actually went on record with Howard Stevens in the Terre Haute Tribune and said, and this is a direct quote, I've never seen a case marked by less sympathy for a murder victim than this one. [22:36] end quote so i know you mentioned that vicky was divorced and may have had a child so i really wonder if the stigma of that time had anything to do with [22:45] Like, why? You know, being a divorced woman, especially that young and a, quote, unwed mother who maybe wasn't sitting at home and dreaming of a husband. It kind of feels like that's why people in that era just couldn't be bothered to care. Yeah. And I mean, that's kind of exactly what the media coverage reflects is that kind of stigma. [23:15] Pamela, because it was literally like Pamela loves Jesus, Vicki loved to party. [23:21] really sad to see. I mean, because these are both always contrasted against each other, even though they were potentially connected. Yeah. So with no clues, no clothes, no murder weapons, no witnesses in Vicki's case, there just wasn't anything for law enforcement to really go on when it came to solving her murder. And though they look closely at both cases, they basically end up finding that there really wasn't anything to connect Vicki to Pamela. So without that

[23:51] with it, law enforcement kind of ended their joint efforts and the cases got worked separately. So while Pam's was still getting picked up by the media, Vicki's case started to fade away in the public's eye. And though police had done something like 30 polygraph tests, they cleared more than 20 people through interrogation. None of those people were able to give any hints about the weirdest and most twisted part of this whole crime, those mysterious initials carved into Vicki's [24:21] 1972, I read in the Terre Haute Tribune that police were saying they weren't even 100% sure anymore that it was even a K and an N on her chest at all. Wait, what? Well, you know, after months of searching, they couldn't find any link between Vicky and... [24:36] anything or one with KN initials. So they started wondering if maybe it wasn't a KN after all, maybe they were reading it wrong. Like from what I've read, I guess, depending on how you orient the markings vertically, horizontally, maybe they could mean something totally different, though no one gives a specific example of like, what? Like, you know, when we talked about the update in the Gilgo Beach, they released that belt that, you know, one way looks like... Yeah, I was actually about to ask, like, is it one of those things where like, if it's upside down, [25:05] Or if it's actually right side up, it looks like this. Yeah, I can't even tell you that much because I don't even know what something different could be. Like I went all over trying to find pictures or recreations because I can't let this go. But there's nothing out there that gives more information. Like some articles describe it as looking like it was a scratch on. Others say it was carved. Some say it was on her upper stomach. Others describe it on her lower chest. Like there's so many discrepancies like that.

[25:35] or maybe it isn't, but just like the act of carving into someone like that feels way more distinctive than even the letters written. [25:44] themselves like that seems so significant it has to be a huge clue well i mean it is a clue definitely but just not [25:50] enough of a clue to move the investigation along. So a year after Vicki's death, even with no concrete leads, detectives were still working the case. I mean, they still wanted justice for Vicki. So [26:04] They started like kind of rethinking this. You know, she's not connected to Pam, but they do think that she still could be a victim of a serial killer. So here's the interesting thing. According to the Indianapolis Star in something that they put out in 1973, there were several murders between 1969 and 1971 that were eerily similar. [26:34] all located within 40 miles of Interstate 70, and get this, all with initials carved into their chest. [26:45] a lot with a very... [26:46] distinct similarity. Were the initials all K-N or possibly even similar to K-N, if that makes sense? So not all were K-N. Apparently they were different initials. But listen, this is literally [27:03] all I know. I wish I could tell you more about these women or who they were, when they were found, where they were found, how they were found. I mean, I have so many questions myself, but there

[27:13] isn't [27:14] I mean, anything out there, like literally nothing. I did crazy Internet deep dives looking for other cases from each year and in the specific states that were mentioned. And I can't find anything. And again, I mean, in this article, they give a 69 to 71. They even give a state, Maryland and Pennsylvania. And I thought that that would help narrow down like. [27:35] Again, you know, girl found with carving in her chest college. It seems like so much information. But every time I got nothing. So if any of our listeners out there are from those areas and know of any cases way back then that match, let us know, because this is something that's literally keeping me up at night. What I can tell you is that as far as I know. [27:59] None of those murders were solved, and neither was Vicki's. By November of 1972, any trail pointing to Vicki's killer was ice cold. But Pamela's case was about to get started. [28:15] Red Hot. [28:18] For decades, some cold cases have been reduced to files in a cabinet, but not anymore. I'm Ashley Flowers, and me and my team on the deck have been traveling across the country to report on these forgotten cases. And in some instances, it's resulted in these cases being solved after decades. [28:38] Join me every Wednesday as we revive these stories one card at a time. Listen to The Deck now, wherever you get your podcasts.

[28:49] In November of 1972, two months after Pamela's murder, two women, two Indiana State University students, report being abducted and sexually assaulted by a stranger. [29:03] On Friday, November 10th, Terre Haute Police and ISU security officers arrest a man named Robert Wayne Austin for both crimes. [29:11] According to the Terre Haute Tribune, these assaults happened within just two blocks of where Pamela's body was found back in September. Now, police won't say at the time if they think Roberts connected to Pamela's murder. But that same Tribune article reported that the police took him to Indy for a polygraph after he was arrested. [29:30] I feel like this guy is, you know, kidnapping women, sexually assaulting them. [29:35] in the same area of the same campus. Like you have to explore that. Oh, I mean, I totally agree. I mean, Robert was literally attacking these two women one right after the other, either Monday, Tuesday or Tuesday, Wednesday, depending on which source you read. But either way, two kidnappings and sexual assaults on two consecutive days. Robert's thing was that he would snatch women, take them into the woods, assault them, and then let them go. And this brings me back to all of [30:05] Pam's pants and her pantyhose that police thought that she had been taken into the woods. Right. So Robert is arrested and charged with kidnapping and sexual assault related to those two victims that he attacked in November. And according to Chris Essex article for WTHI News, Robert readily admits to the rapes and abductions. But when they ask him point blank about Pamela's murder, which they do many times, he's adamant that he had nothing to do with it.

[30:32] But police don't believe this for a second, and neither does the media, partly because, I mean, what are the odds of having two different predators operating in the exact same small area in such a short period of time and in almost such a similar way? At this point, it's pretty much a foregone conclusion that he's responsible for Pamela's death to everyone in the media and the public. [31:02] Pamela with any kind of physical evidence. But that doesn't stop the media and the public from wild speculation. It gets so loud and out of hand that by the time Robert gets to trial in early 1973, his lawyer asked the judge to set some rules that the media members covering the case can't say that Robert's even a suspect in Pamela's murder because it could taint the jury pool against him and hurt his chances of getting a fair and impartial trial. Has he officially been named a [31:32] murder though no not officially but we've seen this before where police are so sure that they have their guy even if there's no way to actually prove that it's 100 true that it kind of just continues to get reported as fact so when he was first charged robert actually pled not guilty by reason of insanity but by the time he goes to trial he pulls back on the insanity piece and just pleads not guilty [31:57] The jury doesn't buy it, and in the end, they find him guilty on all charges. On April 9, 1973, he's sentenced to a life term in prison.

[32:07] So now the police investigation into Pamela's murder goes into this odd state of limbo. Like they have this gut feeling that Robert's the one who killed her, but they don't have the evidence to actually charge him with murder. And I guess as long as he's sitting in jail, people are just feeling like the dangerous man is off the street and there's nothing necessarily to worry about. [32:29] So while Robert sits in jail, Pamela's case sits on a cold case shelf all through the 70s, the 80s, even through the 90s. Nothing moves on her case at all. [32:41] Thank you. [32:42] until [32:43] 2001, almost 30 years after her murder, the Terre Haute police decide to give Pamela's case another look. Forensic technology in the early 2000s, I mean, is light years ahead of what they had back in 72. And DNA in particular is huge. [33:01] The investigator working the case decides to see if there's anything they have in evidence that might provide them with enough DNA to test anything that they can compare specifically to Robert Wayne Austin to see once and for all if their gut was right and he was their guy this whole time. [33:16] Please tell me that they come back to the stain. [33:19] Yes. So according to the Springfield News Sun, investigators go back to the shirt Pamela was wearing, that one with the small stain that they couldn't really place before. And sure enough, there is enough genetic material in that stain to test for DNA. But that's not all. Police are also able to grab a fingerprint off of Pamela's glasses using technology that wasn't around in the 70s.

[33:42] So armed with this new DNA profile for comparison, police look Robert up and find that he's actually out on parole. They track him down. It's not super difficult, thankfully. And they get their DNA sample from him. They send it off to the lab. [33:57] They wait. And I mean, so much anticipation here, right? Because if he's their guy, that's a 30 year old murder solved in a high profile case off their books. Yeah. But if he's not, I mean, they're back to square one, but 30 years later. [34:14] When the results come back, [34:15] They are not the slam dunk that police had been hoping for. Robert was not their guy after all. [34:23] They're able to confirm that the DNA on Pamela's blouse did come from a man, but it just wasn't Robert. And the fingerprint isn't his either. So back to square one, they run the DNA through CODIS and get married. [34:36] nothing. They were on the fingerprint and the two partials they pulled from her car through APHIS, which is basically the fingerprint version of CODIS, hoping that they'll find an answer there. But once again, they come up empty. And once again, Pamela's case goes back on the shelf. [34:54] Seven long years pass, and in 2008, a man named Sean Keane becomes chief of detectives for the Terre Haute police. And one of the first things he does is start passing out cold cases to his team. Since it doesn't seem fair to pass them out to others and not take one for himself, Sean decides to take on Pamela's case because it is the oldest in their files.

[35:15] According to the Tribune star, Sean spends hours reviewing the case files in the office during his shift and even after hours at home. And he's tracking down more than 50 men who were interviewed in connection with Pamela's murder back in 1972, which is a hard job. [35:45] almost 40 years ago. Right. So desperate for a break, Sean decides to try some out-of-the-box methods to heat this case up. According to the Springfield News Sun, one of the things Sean does is he takes Pamela's picture along with a little blurb on the case and his contact information and puts all of that on decks of cards that go out to prisoners all throughout Indiana on the off chance that maybe an inmate with information would see it and come forward. [36:15] And as creative as that was, I mean, I know that's been done continuously since then. Unfortunately, nothing comes of it. No one comes forward. So he looks back to DNA. [36:26] The last time Pamela's murder case was investigated closely was 2001. And Sean knows how far DNA technology has come in even just those few years. [36:35] By 2008, touch DNA is starting to emerge where DNA can be tested from skin cells that the killer leaves behind on something that they've touched. Something like a murder weapon or the rope that police found around Pamela's neck. And listen, like they already have a profile of the killer. But if there's DNA on that piece of rope that doesn't match what's on Pam's blouse, suddenly Sean would be looking for more than one suspect. So this is something that could change the course of the investigation.

[37:05] lose, Sean decides to give it a try. And sure enough, his hunch was spot on. There is some DNA on the rope, but it's just a partial profile. So it's another dead end. Yeah, kind of. Because really, what this partial profile tells us is it's not 100% match to the stain, but it also can't be [37:30] It doesn't really help in one way or another. We're kind of, like you said, we're at a dead end. We're right back to where we started. [37:35] After about a year on Pamela's case, Sean starts to, again, try and think outside of the box. And he's starting to hear about how in other states they're using familial testing to get to unknown killers. And this isn't the genealogy testing that we have been talking so much about in the last couple of years. This one is using genealogy. But at the time, you could just test against other family members who were already in CODIS. [38:05] great, maybe the DNA sample will match someone in like a distant family member who's in prison. And then that will lead us to our perpetrator. This could be the ticket. But the thing was, in 2009, when this is going on, when he's having this idea, it's actually illegal to do that in Indiana. You can't use like a family member who's had to submit DNA because they've committed a crime to get to another family member who hasn't already. Right. [38:31] So Sean is back at square one again, and it's starting to feel like this early work on this investigation is kind of like a roller coaster. I mean, really up and down. He's two steps forward, one step back. But Sean knows the answer to this puzzle is somewhere in the case file. He refuses to give up.

[38:52] up. [38:53] Year after year after year until eight years later. In 2017, the investigation gets a boost by yet another advance in DNA technology. This is when genetic phenotyping really starts. Now, we talked about this before, how incredible phenotyping can be. And it basically just uses a DNA sample to predict what a person with this DNA might look like. I mean, what color hair, what color eyes, what color skin tone. [39:23] basic composite sketch. Yeah. According to WTHR News, Sean gets a phenotype composite made from the Indiana State Police Lab based on the DNA from Pamela's file. [39:34] So what he learns is the person that they're looking for has dark hair, [39:39] dark eyes and like a medium skin tone. And so finally, he's like, okay, I can actually narrow down my search. [39:48] And he starts going through the file and only focusing on people who match that description. [39:53] He starts pulling arrest records from the late 60s and the early 70s, searching for suspects who had been arrested for violent sexual crimes. That search yielded 106 potential suspects. A hundred and six. [40:08] This creates almost a full year of work for Sean looking for suspects based on that phenotype composite. But he ends up having no luck and he's starting to feel like he's running out of options. And he's wondering if maybe this case actually isn't solvable after all.

[40:25] Because every year that passes is another year further from anyone who might have memories of Pamela's murder. But it's also another year of advances in DNA technology. [40:36] But here's the thing, even as that potential like keeps growing, so much of the DNA sample from Pam's blouse has already been used for that test that the state police lab actually did. And the lab warned Sean, like, listen, you might only have one usable piece of DNA left, like one more chance to use this precious clue to try and figure out who killed Pamela. So knowing that he has one last chance, this might be it. [41:06] this guy responsible down for murder, Sean thinks long and hard about what to do next, and where to play his very last card. [41:18] For decades, some cold cases have been reduced to files in a cabinet, but not anymore. I'm Ashley Flowers, and me and my team on the deck have been traveling across the country to report on these forgotten cases. And in some instances, it's resulted in these cases being solved after decades. [41:37] Join me every Wednesday as we revive these stories one card at a time. Listen to the deck now, wherever you get your podcasts. [41:50] In 2018, Sean decides to send the DNA sample from Pamela's blouse out of state to this lab down in Virginia called Parabon Nanolabs. And we've talked about Parabon on the show before. We love them. Yes, we love Parabon. They are a DNA technology company, and they're huge in the field of forensic genealogy. And they're best known for helping identify the Golden State Killer in California for cracking the April Tinsley case right here in Indiana.

[42:18] Tons and tons of cases. And one of the things in 2018 that Parabon was doing, I mean, genealogy was still just brand new to them, but they were deep into this process called snapshot, which takes phenotyping like up like a couple of notches, basically. So this seems really promising, but Sean knows that he has to be so careful here. The Milam family has waited so long for answers and this responsibility is weighing heavy on him. [42:48] This could be his last chance. So at first, he wants to split the difference. He tried just sending Parabon half of the sample that he had left, just in case it doesn't work. Like, maybe he'll have a backup. But Parabon comes back in and tells him, it's not enough. Like, if you want us to do this, we need the whole sample. Okay. [43:08] Sean agonizes over what to do. According to Fox 23 News, he turns it over and over and over in his head. [43:16] And then he decides. [43:18] to go for it. This is his Hail Mary pass. He sends the full sample, the very last bit of DNA to Parabon and prays that he's made the right call. [43:28] When Parabon gets it, they do two things. First, they create a phenotype composite for Sean, their best guess at what the suspect is going to look like, what his DNA profile is. Here's the totally crazy part. Their phenotype snapshot. [43:45] comes back completely different from the one Sean got from the Indiana State Police Lab. Like, how different? So, if you remember, the guy that Sean's been looking for for the last year has brown hair, brown eyes, and medium skin tone. Right. Well, Holly Hayes reported for the Indianapolis Star that the Parabon composite had blonde hair, blue-green eyes, and light hair.

[44:08] skin. Sean is just totally stunned. Like, again, he's been going through all of the case files by hand, pulling arrest records by hand, ruling out people who didn't fit this original phenotype, only to learn that basically he can throw away all the work he's done for the last year. How did they get it so wrong? I don't know. So from what I can tell, it seems like the Indiana State Police Lab used a smaller sample than the one Sean sent to Parabon. And it seems like [44:38] led to better results. But truthfully, I'm a little fuzzy on the details. And more truthfully, [44:44] Honestly, I'm a little concerned because I think it proves something that we've kind of suggested before. I think there is still so much about DNA and especially these new technologies that we still don't fully understand. But that new composite is actually only part of what Parabon does. So they actually run the DNA through the GEDmatch system, which is a database that we talked about before. So they in 2018, making these snapshots is pretty well known. [45:14] starting to get into that genealogy familial matching. [45:18] And incredibly, when they do that, when they put it into the system and do some tracking, they get. [45:25] a hit. They don't find their suspect exactly, but they do find a distant relative of their suspect. Again, not a slam dunk, but it's enough to get the ball rolling again in Sean's investigation. [45:37] According to Parabon, this distant relative, a woman, is actually still in Indiana, living in the town of Washington, about an hour due south of Terre Haute. And this is finally the lead Sean's been waiting for.

[45:50] Genealogists get to work plotting out this woman's family tree, honing in on the men in the family who'd be the right age range, lived in the area, and they start collecting more DNA samples and getting more and more detailed with this whole huge family line as they go. [46:08] Until 2019, when they get down to just now. [46:12] One name. [46:14] Jeffrey Lynn Hand. Okay, who is this guy? So Jeffrey was a traveling delivery man with roots in Indiana who was working out of Chicago at the time. He basically drove all around Indiana and Illinois delivering records to music stores. He would have been 23 in 1972 when Pamela died. So really nothing about him would have stuck out on a college campus. He would have looked [46:44] student. What he was, Sean found out, was a violent sexual offender and murderer. And you want to know what else he was? What? [46:52] A dead ringer for the Parabon composite right down to the part in his hair. Here, I'm going to send you a picture of Jeffrey and a picture of the composite. [47:03] Oh, my gosh. Yeah. They're so similar, like the face shape, the nose, like the eye shape and the eyebrows. It's really, really wild. Well, according to Fox 59 News, Jeffrey had a violent criminal record for kidnapping and murder. I mean, this guy is a prime example why we have this don't hitchhike rule as a crime junkie life rule. When police look more closely at him and his background, they learn that he had a history with the legal system,

[47:33] Pamela's murder. That year, he picked up Carol and Jeff Thomas, this young newlywed couple that were hitchhiking near Terre Haute. [47:41] They were trying to get back home to Evansville, which is about two hours away, and Jeffrey offered them a ride. Now, they're driving along when Jeffrey said, hey, I'm going to make a quick stop over at my sister's house to get some cash. Except he actually took them to his house out in the country, pulled a gun on them, and then demanded $500 before tying them up in a grain silo. [48:05] Jeffrey ended up leaving with the husband, and while they were gone, Carol was able to make a run for it. When police finally caught up to Jeffrey, he led them straight to Jeff, the husband's dead body. [48:17] Jeffrey was arrested and tried for murder, but ended up in the Indiana State Reformatory after being found not guilty by reason of insanity. He spent three years there before his lawyer got him out in 1976 on a technicality. I guess the lawyer claimed Jeffrey should have been found not guilty for the kidnapping, too, even though, according to the Terre Haute Tribune star, Jeffrey was never actually tried for the kidnapping. I'm sorry. What? I guess there was some jurisdictional issues that really got in the way here. [48:47] I think it was because he kidnapped Jeff and Carol in one county, then committed the murder in another. Because as I was researching, I found some legal back and forth about, OK, you know, where exactly do we prosecute him for this? Do we combine the charges? Do we split them? Do we do? Is he fit to stand a second trial? Do you do a second trial if he's not fit? Like, I mean, there was all of this stuff. And eventually, I think it kind of all contributed to him getting out of custody just three years after such a violent crime.

[49:17] you [49:18] Where is Jeff now? Jeffrey has actually been dead since 1978. He was shot by police in Kokomo after he tried to kidnap yet another woman. And he left behind a wife and two young sons. They actually give Sean samples of their DNA to do a reverse paternity test of sorts. And when they do those tests, the results come back positive. [49:48] Pamela all those years ago in 1972. [49:52] Pamela's older sister, Charlene, thought that she would die before she ever learned who killed her sister. [49:58] 46 years, seven months and 20 days. But Pamela's family finally had the answers that they waited a lifetime for. [50:08] Is there any chance that Jeffrey could have been Vicki's murderer as well? So I haven't seen anything that connects Jeffrey and Vicki or even mentions like, hey, there might be a connection. Because truthfully, no one has written about Vicki or spoken her name in a long time. I mean, really, she's been forgotten all over again, the way she was back in 1972. [50:38] still hope for Vicki. If you have any information that could help lead to solving her case, please call the Indiana State Police at 1-800-HONES-T-HONES.

[50:48] 423. [50:50] One, two. [50:51] 886. [50:52] If you want to see the pictures or source material for this episode, you can find all that information on our website, Crime Junkie podcast dot com. And be sure to follow us on Instagram at Crime Junkie podcast. [51:16] We'll be back next week with a special episode, but stick around for Puppet of the Month. [51:47] Bye. [51:47] . [51:48] you [51:49] *music* [51:51] *music* [51:54] Crime Junkie is an audio Chuck production. So what do you think, Chuck? Do you approve? [52:07] - Okay, Ashley, I have made an official decision regarding [52:10] the puppet of the month segments. You're not going to make me cry anymore? Well, here's the thing. I feel like we need a tier scale. As I put these segments together, I'm going to give it a tier scale rating from one to ten. To prepare. I like that. Yeah, like one, you're going to be fine at a one. Like it's literally, literally puppies and rainbows. Okay. At a ten, you will be crying so much that your tears will have shorted out your computer where you're recording, and I possibly may have killed you with sorrow, and now crime junkies no more. So, I'm going to be a little

[52:38] Based on that rating system, I'm going to try really, really hard to stay under an eight consistently. Okay, but what's today? So today I have, and we'll probably have to revisit this at the end just to see if we're on the same page wavelength. But I'm giving it like a 6.5 rating. [52:55] maybe a seven, but I personally think it ends closer to a six. Okay. All right. Let's hear it. So, yeah. So I'm telling you this. And so all of our puppet loving listeners can also be prepared just a little bit. [53:07] I know last month we had a surprise cryfest in the middle of the segment, which couldn't have been accounted for. [53:13] even if I had rated it. But yep, just wanted to give you guys the heads up [53:17] We're looking at six and a half, I think. So today I want to tell you about our listener, Sydney, and how she came to know her best friend, the truly incredible Callie. So Sydney was in college, which I feel like is how so many of these segments start. Yeah, it's like the worst time to get a dog, but also has worked out so well for so many people. Right. But Sydney wasn't doing great. She had opted to get her degree in three years instead of four, which I don't think I know any overachievers, but it certainly sounds like one to me. Oh, my goodness. [53:47] And the pressure was really taking a toll on her mental health. And [53:51] She was just kind of floundering and really struggling to feel like her life had purpose or like she even had anything to live for. So she decided that she needed something to distract her from where she was mentally, something to take care of and give her life some sort of meaning. So she went out and got married.

[54:08] A bunch of plants. [54:10] I've totally been there and her outcome was just as successful as mine. [54:15] every single plant suffered a tragic, grueling death. So RIP plants. I'm all about fake plants. I cannot keep one alive. Exactly. And Sydney figured like, what was the next logical step? A dog. And obviously, like we all do, she started poking around the local shelter website and bugging her boyfriend about all the cute dogs that were available. But she was never really able to take the leap. Like in the back of her mind, she was like, what if I'm already not doing great? [54:45] What if the responsibility of a dog [54:47] was just gonna be too much and make her feel even worse if she was not only failing herself, but she was also failing this helpless dog that she kind of forced into the situation. [54:58] But one day they were driving around town together and her boyfriend basically was tired of hearing about all these dogs. Like, reach breaks, turns around and takes Sydney to the shelter. You're kidding. No, I love this so much. And they go down, you know, all the aisles and looking at... [55:15] all these adorable dogs. And obviously, like Sydney, like us, loves all of them. But [55:22] she wasn't really connecting with them. And her boyfriend would even suggest, like, "Oh, look at this one. I think this would be a really good fit." And she was just never really like, "This is the one." Until she looked into the eyes of this beautiful, [55:36] Mutt. Yes, the Mutt was sick and underweight and looked sad, but she was staring into Sydney's soul with the kindest eyes Sydney had ever seen.

[55:48] And it was at that moment... [55:50] She knew her life was about [55:52] to completely [55:54] change. [55:55] And that sad mutt, which Sydney didn't really define her breeds or like what she thinks she is. I, based on the pictures, think she's probably like an American bulldog mix. Or what Embark calls super mutt, like when you do your testing. Right, like definitely super mutt, like she's... [56:11] She's gorgeous. I'm going to send you pictures here in a little bit. Yeah. And she was then known as Michelle, but... [56:16] from that day forward was Sydney's best friend, Callie. Callie. And five years after that day, Callie and Sydney have had a wild ride together. The day after Sydney graduated from college, [56:31] She and Callie drove for eight days straight from Kansas to Seward, Alaska. Oh, my gosh. Sydney was like, [56:41] I need something completely different than the life I've always known, [56:45] Let's go to Alaska. And holy cow. She's so brave. I love her. Oh, I know. I'm like, I am fine right here. Oh, I'm so I am so down. I will go to Alaska with you, Sydney. And Kelly and Sydney learned to hike and camp and fish together. And this is like so cute to me that Sydney even brought this up. But she was like, we saw our first whale and sea and sea lions and otters together. And it's so real. [57:15] other, right? Like, we just want to answer a concert together or our first. I'm just so cute. And Kelly was the proudest dog in all of Alaska. She would always hold her head up high when they'd walk down the street and tourists, which evidently are kind of weird in Alaska. I guess I would be weird in Alaska, too, just like wanting to soak it all in. But tourists would ask to pet her and take pictures with her. And Kelly was just like preening with pride. And she's like,

[57:41] Callie would even wait dutifully outside the grocery store or the post office while Sydney was inside. And Sydney said a lot of times when she came back, [57:50] kids would be like hugging Callie and hanging all over her and playing with her on the sidewalk. [57:56] Sydney made a point to say, like, Callie sounds like the perfect dog, but she also has angered a few moose and bear in her day and more than once has almost gotten them both, like, attacked and killed. Yeah, no, that sounds like Charlie to me. And I so get this. [58:13] So after over three years in Alaska, Sydney actually started getting sick and was diagnosed. Oh, my gosh. I thought they just, like, drove up there for a trip. They, like, moved there. Oh, no. They were there for, like, a long time. [58:26] for over three years. Wow. Okay. I'm back. I'm here. I'm with you. So Sydney started getting sick and was actually diagnosed with early stages of cancer. And with that diagnosis, you know, she kind of wanted to be closer to home for her treatment. So she packed up and Callie, once again, hopped in the front seat and took the eight day road trip back to Kansas with her. And Sydney said, [58:49] Callie was so amazing through it all. Let her cry on her after every doctor's appointment and just [58:55] Callie was really a huge part of Sydney's [58:57] support system through all of this. And back in January, Sydney actually got the all clear from her cancer. Oh, congratulations, Sydney! And as amazing as that news was, Sydney also considers it to be the hardest day of her life because that was a day that it was also discovered that

[59:18] Kelly had cancer. Are you freaking kidding me right now? And at that point in time, the vets gave Kelly two months to live. [59:25] But, Sydney said, [59:27] They didn't know her, Callie. And if we aren't at a seven yet, this might be where we hit it. I feel like I'm at an eight. Because I want to quote directly from my conversation with Sydney now. And Sydney said... [59:39] Are you going to be okay? No, your system is whack. Go on. Okay. Okay. [59:44] So Sydney said, quote, [59:46] You see, I know that she took my cancer from me. Oh, my God. It's the type of thing my Callie Alley would do. She's pulled me out of the deepest depressions of my life. She's pulled me up 10,000-foot mountains in the snow because she knew I needed to get outside. [1:00:04] She's warned me of coyotes and moose and bear and made sure I never left the house alone. [1:00:11] She is the protector I didn't know I needed, and now I get to be hers. Her last act is to save me from something I didn't even know I had lurking within me. [1:00:22] And she's doing a great job. [1:00:25] Okay, that's like our, at least our seven. I thought you said it got lighter at the end. [1:00:31] Well, that's a thing. Sidney said that Callie is doing... [1:00:34] amazing to this day. I just talked to Sydney a couple days ago. She's doing it so well that vets are like, [1:00:40] in awe and amazed with how well she's you know living with this diagnosis and living with this treatment and [1:00:47] like she's like defying all the odds. Sydney said you wouldn't even be able to tell that she was sick. That's how like spry and healthy and well she's doing. And now that Sydney is working from home recently, she is thrilled that she gets sick.

[1:01:02] front row seat to see just how strong and resilient Callie is. And Sydney said, "You know, Callie has never been one to give up easily and [1:01:12] is [1:01:12] Just a living, beautiful reminder of that. [1:01:15] every single [1:01:17] day. And you know, like, what... [1:01:19] God, I can't even talk. What like a good blessing. I know like there has been so much... [1:01:27] sadness and change and grief that I think has come along with COVID. I mean, we've lost people, people have lost jobs. It has been hard on everyone. But I do think it's important to [1:01:39] always try and find like the bright spot of where you are because you can't change where you are, right? Like we're all going to be in a situation no matter what. But like looking at their situation, I think this can apply to all of us is like how great that... [1:01:51] You know, even though Callie's doing great with her diagnosis, you know, even dogs, dogs that have no diagnosis, like we only get them for so much time. Exactly. And how great that that she can not be at work. You know what I mean? Like she gets to spend so much more time. Yeah. It's like bonding and reigniting. They're like incredibly special bond. Like I truly believe their bond is incredible, just like you and Charlie and just like so many other listeners and their dogs. [1:02:18] So [1:02:19] I think you hate my rating system, and it probably should have been rated worse. But again, I feel like we need to, like you said, look at the bright side. Look at how this story is still unfolding for Callie and Sydney. [1:02:29] And I think that brings it [1:02:31] down to the 6.5 but I might be wrong. I know just like I'll take count of our blessings and so even if even if everything feels a little terrible if if the one bright light in your life is that you get to be at home with your furry best friend for however long this is going to be that that's truly a gift because we don't have forever with them.

[1:02:53] Yeah. And as always, we love featuring shelters and rescues at the end of these segments. And this one that I'm going to feature today was actually sent to us as a recommendation completely randomly from a listener. It's called Shadows Fund and they're located in Lampo, California. And they have a focus on senior dogs. So obviously I was like totally in it. But they also have programs for adoption and fostering, even fostering litters of puppies. [1:03:23] vulnerable or at-risk dogs in shelters that have histories of, you know, bleak outcomes, breeds like Pitties, which obviously, you know, have my heart. I did a little bit of reading on them. They seem to be an awesome organization with a ton of ways to support and engage in all of their different programs that aren't just even just [1:03:41] adopting and fostering. So they're located out of where they're located out of Lumpo, California. Okay. [1:03:46] And we'll link to Shadows Fund on our website as always. And obviously, we're going to include some pictures of the strongest pup in Kansas, if you ask me, Callie. [1:03:56] Thank you. [1:04:02] Okay, crime junkies, you know I absolutely love a twist and a turn, especially when it comes to people who turn out to be someone they're not. That's why I have been obsessed with the podcast Chameleon. Every Thursday, host Josh Dean deep dives into a scam so bizarre, it will leave you wondering, how did they get away with that? [1:04:20] It is truly one of my favorite podcasts right now, and I've been listening for years.

[1:04:24] I think you'll love it too. [1:04:26] Listen to Chameleon wherever you get your podcasts.