251 - The Disappearance of Judy Martins

November 5, 2025·1 hr 30 min·5 clips

Judy Martins walked into the darkness of Kent State campus wearing a red wig, never to be seen again.

The night begins in rain. A chilly downpour fades into mist over campus, with lampposts, windows, and wet walkways setting the quiet around Prentice Hall. Judy Martins arrives by car, and the account stays with that last visible moment: a young woman getting out on the passenger side outside an all-girls dormitory while campus life carries on nearby. Then the focus tightens. Police send Judy's description to Ohio law enforcement, including her height, weight, hair, eyes, complexion, and the clothing she was believed to be wearing. The red wig stands out. So do the photographs from that final night with friends, later used in missing persons flyers meant to move her face beyond campus. Detective Tim Brandon contacts the friends Judy was supposed to travel with that weekend and learns they had left without her, assuming she had changed plans. That assumption stays lodged in the timeline. Campus police start looking, but the early response is slowed by uncertainty, not pushed by clear evidence of a crime. The question sits there. Had Judy gone somewhere without telling anyone, or had the case already turned dangerous? Sunday brings another detective. By Monday, May 29th, students are back, interviews pick up, and investigators can finally reach people they had been trying to contact. Public notice comes late. Chief Robert Malone later says police waited because they did not want to overreact before they knew she had not simply gone away for the weekend. The episode treats that delay plainly. It stays with the hesitation, the bulletin, and the moment private worry becomes public attention. The closing softens, as the host thanks listeners during a quiet relaunch of Trace Evidence and notes that life has settled enough to return to weekly unsolved cases.

As heard by us

A patient campus-disappearance story that values chronology, restraint, and the uneasy gap before anyone sounded the alarm.

The episode treats Judy Martins' disappearance with patience and atmosphere, letting the campus setting and late-night arrival settle before the case shifts into something more serious.

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Why you'd press play

You want Judy Martins' disappearance handled with patience, not theatrics, from the first minute.

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