On July 24, 1997, 24-year-old Amy Wroe Bechtel set out for what should have been an ordinary afternoon near Lander, Wyoming. A rising athlete with Olympic dreams, Amy was in the middle of mapping the course for a 10K race she was organizing. By the end of the day, her white Toyota station wagon sat abandoned, her to-do list unfinished, and Amy herself was nowhere to be found. Despite a massive search effort that involved hundreds of people, cadaver dogs, and aircraft, no trace of Amy was ever recovered.

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E280: Amy Bechtel

In late August 2016, the Tromp family of Silvan, Victoria—Mark, Jacoba, and their three adult children—suddenly fled their successful berry farm and thriving businesses without phones, wallets, or passports. Over the next week, their strange journey would stretch hundreds of miles across Australia, leaving behind a trail of abandoned cars, disoriented wanderings, and desperate pleas for help. What could drive a close-knit, hardworking family to believe they were being hunted? Was it paranoia, environmental toxins, or a rare psychological condition known as folie à deux—shared psychosis? The case gripped the nation of Australia, making headlines worldwide, and even now it leaves more questions than answers. Why did some family members resist the delusion while others collapsed under its weight? And most haunting of all—could something like this happen to any of us?

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E279: The Tromp Family

On March 2, 1996, 25-year-old Alicia Showalter Reynolds set out before breakfast, pointing her white Mercury south from Baltimore toward Charlottesville for a shopping day with her mom. Somewhere along U.S. Route 29 in Central Virginia—near Culpeper—that ordinary drive met an extraordinary danger, the kind that hides in plain sight on the shoulder of a busy highway.

By nightfall, Alicia hadn’t arrived. Her car was found on the roadside; witnesses remembered a clean-cut man in a dark pickup offering “help.” In this episode, we walk the Route 29 corridor minute by minute, piecing together what Alicia saw, what bystanders noticed, and how a roadside “good Samaritan” ruse may have masked a predator.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Virginia State Police Culpeper Division toll-free at 1-800-572-2260, the Bureau of Criminal Investigation toll-free at 1-888-300-0156, or you can also email them at bci-culpeper@vsp.virginia.gov.

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E278: Alicia Showalter Reynolds

A bent bell. A bike tossed six feet into a field. A rush of leads that cancel each other out: a bloody handkerchief, conflicting train sightings, a black Morris, a red-and-gray van. In this episode, we trace April Fabb’s 1969 disappearance minute-by-minute and ask the question residents of Norfolk, England have asked for decades: what happened in the nine minute window during which April disappeared?

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E277: April Fabb

On April 15, 2005, Centre County District Attorney Ray Gricar of Pennsylvania left work for what seemed like an ordinary day off. He called his girlfriend while driving his red-and-white Mini Cooper, promised to be home later, and then—he was never seen again. His locked car was found the next day near the Susquehanna River, his phone still inside but his laptop mysteriously missing. Did Gricar walk away from his life voluntarily? Was his disappearance tied to one of his high-profile prosecutions—or to secrets someone wanted buried? Or did tragedy strike by accident along the water’s edge? Nearly twenty years later, the case remains one of the most haunting unsolved disappearances in America.

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E276: Ray Gricar

On November 1, 1986, 51-year-old Morro Bay fisherman Hugh Harlin vanished along Highway 1 between San Simeon and Cambria, California. His truck was discovered roadside under suspicious circumstances—but not a trace of Hugh. Did he flee secrets tied to his wife’s unsolved murder, or did the same hand that strangled Dian Harlin in 1982 come for him, too?

For context, you’ll likely want to start with last week’s episode on Dian Harlin first: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/e274-dian-harlin/id1492318464?i=1000723044083

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E275: Hugh Harlin

In the fall of 1982, the quiet rhythm of Morro Bay, California was shattered when the body of 43-year-old Dian Harlin was discovered beneath a cluster of cypress trees near the high school. She had been strangled with a dog leash—an eerie detail that raised more questions than answers.

Was her stormy marriage to blame? Or was Dian the victim of a predator who struck by chance? And what are we to make of the fact that her husband Hugh, who acted strangely after her death, also vanished without a trace just four years later?

More than four decades later, the mysteries remain. Who killed “the Dog Lady” of Morro Bay? Did her husband know more than he admitted? Or was he another casualty of a truth still buried in the fog?

Tune in as we unravel the case of Dian Harlin—a story of eccentric lives, whispered rumors, and unanswered questions that continue to echo through the small seaside town.

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E274: Dian Harlin

July 1995. Ada, Oklahoma. A small city with a long memory for tragedy. When 15-year-old Daniel Furr vanished, the search ended in a place that seemed to hold more questions than answers — the bottom of an abandoned brick quarry. What happened to Daniel in the days before a body was found has become the subject of rumor, fear, and conflicting theories that still divide those who knew him. Was it gang retaliation? A robbery gone wrong? Or — as his own mother fears — was it not Daniel in the pit at all? This is the story of a boy, a mystery, and a community still looking for the truth.

If you have information about the case of Daniel Furr, please contact OSBI at (800) 522–8017 or email information to tips@osbi.ok.gov.

To hear more from our guest Raven Rollins, listen to Sirens: A Southern True Crime Podcast on your favorite podcast platform, and find her books at thesirenspodcast.com [http://thesirenspodcast.com/].

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E273: Daniel Furr

She was tiny, fierce, and fighting for survival from the moment she was born. On October 4, 1978, Wilma June Nissen’s body was discovered along a quiet country road in Lyon County, Iowa. For decades, no one knew her name—only that someone had brutally taken her life. Today, we explore the haunting questions: Who wanted Wilma gone? What really happened at the parties she attended that summer? And why, all these years later, has no one been held accountable?

If you know anything, please contact the Lyon County Sheriff’s Office at (712) 472-8326 or amy.stoner@lyoncountyia.com, call the main office at (712) 472-8300, or submit an anonymous tip to Crime Stoppers at (800) 222-TIPS.

To connect with Wilma’s daughter, Krissi Haas, visit Justice4WilmaJuneNissen.com [http://justice4wilmajunenissen.com/] or email justiceforwilma@aol.com. You can also sign and share her Change.org petition [https://www.change.org/] to strengthen transparency for families of cold case victims.

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E272: Wilma June Nissen

An unregistered ship. A haunting distress signal. A crew found dead, their faces twisted in terror—and then, an explosion that swallowed the vessel forever. This isn’t the plot of a horror movie. This is the real (or is it?) story of the SS Ourang Medan. In this episode, we dive deep into one of the most unsettling maritime mysteries ever recorded—or invented. What really happened aboard the ghost ship that governments have seemingly tried to erase? Why was the CIA still referencing it a decade later? And could it all have been the cover-up of a deadly wartime secret?

If you are interested in bonus content for our show or in getting some Coffee and Cases swag, please consider joining Patreon. There are various levels to fit your needs, all of which can be found here: https://www.patreon.com/coffeeandcases

E271: The SS Ourang Medan

Coffee and Cases is a true crime podcast where we like our coffee hot and our cases cold. Join us (Allison and Maggie) weekly to dive into the unknown and the unsolved.

Allison Williams

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