UNSOLVED - A True Crime Podcast · Kristy Kramer

Episode 23 The Disappearance and Murder of 4 year old Jessica Phelps

·47 min·3 clips

On April 2, 1998, road crews on Horton Road uncovered skeletal remains near Jessica’s clothing.

Christy Kramer begins with a Memorial Day reminder. She explains why the day matters and draws a clear line between honoring those who have passed on and recognizing service more broadly. That opening feels personal and deliberate, but it is only the doorway into the case. Jessica Phelps becomes the center of the hour. Kramer frames the podcast as a place to give victims of unsolved crimes the voice they deserve, and she treats the story with that purpose in mind. The narration stays solo and intimate. Kramer sounds like someone speaking to an extended community rather than reading from a case file. She moves through the timeline in a way that shows her thought process. Facts, caveats, and corrections appear as she builds the story in real time. Flint matters throughout. Kramer returns to the city as a place she knows, and she folds in the feeling of driving around there and seeing a sad, worn landscape that makes the case land harder. The middle of the episode brings in a woman who says she contacted Flint police with suspicions. Kramer repeats that the woman says police asked a few arbitrary questions and then stopped there. The woman also uploaded her DNA to GEDmatch. That detail lands as an attempt to help the case through any route available. The Justice for Jessica Phelps Facebook page enters the picture next. Kramer reports that the page says authorities have asked for a retest of forensic evidence connected to the body, but that police have not agreed. The page also says the department has kept details close to the vest and has not been willing to share findings with other cold case teams or other departments. Kramer does not hide her reaction. She is bothered by the idea that help might be available and not welcomed. She wonders why a police force would not take it. She argues that there is no reason the case should still be unsolved. The episode settles into that frustration rather than rushing past it. Kramer points to the major holes she sees and keeps insisting that the story deserves wider attention. The closing section returns to the human cost. Kramer says the case hit her hard. She links that feeling to Flint's long struggle and to the people who have already endured enough. She ends by hoping she can someday give listeners an update that says the case is solved. The final note is not tidy. It is a promise to keep Jessica Phelps' story in view until something changes.

As heard by us

A Flint-centered Michigan case shaped by grief, frustration, and a plainspoken push for answers.

Christy Kramer treats Jessica Phelps' disappearance as a case that still feels unfinished, and the best stretch comes when grief, frustration, and the facts are allowed to sit together.

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Why you'd press play

You want a Michigan unsolved case from a host who is still visibly carrying it.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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