Missing persons cases, mapped one state at a time.
State Of Missing moves through disappearances one U.S. state at a time, with recent stops in Louisiana, Massachusetts, New Mexico and California, as host Laura traces last sightings, searches and suspects. She tells the cases plainly and personally, with candid asides and open opinions about people whose stories do not hold together.
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Plenty of true crime stays with a single disappearance. State Of Missing groups disappearances by state instead. Each installment picks a U.S. state, collects a set of its missing persons cases and works through them one after another. Recent installments cover Louisiana, Massachusetts, New Mexico and California, and the larger states run across multiple parts. California is big enough that the host plans three. That host is Laura, and she tells the cases herself. The episodes open with a burst of teaser lines before the welcome, each squeezing a case into a single hook: a scared young boy who leaves only a note, a woman who boards a train, an attorney who vanishes along with his son. After the teasers, each case is built from specifics. In one, a child's likely route to a new home becomes the search area, covered on foot, on horseback and by helicopter while bloodhounds follow a trail for about two miles. In another, a missing man's description runs down to his dreadlocks, his surgical scars, a possible alias and the engraving on his wedding band. Suspects get the same close reading, with the questions they asked police and the accusations they made against others laid out in order. Laura does not hide her own view of the people involved. When a man's account of where a missing child went keeps changing, she says plainly that she thinks he is lying. The range in time is wide. One California installment gathers child disappearances from 1956 to 1968 around what she calls a single connecting puzzle piece, while a Louisiana case is recent enough that she remembers it and knows some listeners have been waiting for it. When a case is still open, she may close it with a plea for anyone with information to contact the sheriff's office working it. Between cases, the tone loosens. She apologizes when illness and a cracking voice delay a release, thanks listeners for their support since she restarted the podcast, and considers drawing the next state out of a hat. One sign-off simply announces that she is going to bed. That mix of case-file detail and offhand candor is what sets the show apart. It suits a listener who wants a broad sweep of disappearances that, as she puts it, have sometimes seemed forgotten, sorted by place and told by a narrator who lets her own reactions show.
Made for: Suits a listener who likes true crime organized by place and would rather hear many less-publicized disappearances than one case in exhaustive depth, told by a narrator who does not hide her own reactions.
What sets it apart: The state-by-state structure gathers several disappearances from one U.S. state per installment and splits the bigger states into parts. Laura pairs case-file detail like clothing, scars and search routes with candid asides and plain opinions about suspects.
Your bi-weekly true crime podcast that covers the missing persons cases you may not have heard about.-Formerly known as Never To Be Seen Again Podcast-
California takes three parts; you might need a bigger map for Laura's missing-person cases.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
Seven California juvenile disappearances are tied together by a withheld connection that gives the episode its central pull.
State of Missing: California Part 2 frames seven California juvenile disappearances from 1956 to 1968 around a shared question, saving one key connection for the close.
A Humboldt County disappearance gains weight through physical detail, timeline work, and questions around an engraved wedding band.
State of Missing begins its California run in Humboldt County, with the host dividing the state into three parts to make room for the scale of its missing-person cases.
A New Mexico missing-persons installment where suspicion keeps changing hands.
State of Missing's New Mexico Part 2 tracks several disappearances where the ground keeps moving: a child gone while walking to a friend's house, a baby found in a bathroom connected to a missing mother, a lone survivor who later vanishes, and a case whose focus shifts from son…
A New Mexico disappearance shaped by changing stories, family turmoil, and a delayed report.
New Mexico opens through a wider pattern of missing-person cases, then narrows to David, a boy last seen leaving a hospital in Dixon in January 1970.
Seven Massachusetts cases lead from missing mothers and a vanished boy to a police officer's near-fatal attack.
State of Missing uses Massachusetts as a bleak map, moving through seven cases that include a bloody kitchen, a crying baby, missing mothers, a death after a disappearance, and a boy who leaves only a note.
A Connecticut disappearance widens into a troubling trail of linked missing-person cases.
Janice Catherine Pocket's disappearance pushes Laura beyond a planned Connecticut-focused episode and into a broader chain of missing-person cases, eventually leading toward a convicted child molester.
Evidence first, rumors on trial.
State of Missing: Episode 34 - California Part 2 links seven juvenile disappearances in California between 1956 and 1968 to Mac Ray Edwards, a man who later confessed to six killings and was suspected in many more.
State of Missing’s Episode 34 focuses on Humboldt County, California, with the host explaining that California’s missing-person totals are so large that the series is splitting the state into three parts.
State Of Missing episode 33 covers five New Mexico cases, starting with Gurley Chu Hossenkoft and the claim that her husband Dazian Hossenkoft was a con artist who later testified he was a reptilian shapeshifter.
State Of Missing episode 33 covers New Mexico by comparing 160 Charlie Project cases, 224 NamUs cases, and a selection process that narrowed the state to 10 cases.
State Of Missing Episode 32 focuses on Massachusetts cases, led by Joan Carol Reich’s 1961 disappearance in Lincoln, where police found blood smears, an overturned table, and a trail ending at her car.
State Of Missing episode 31, part two, stays in Louisiana and opens with three cases: Albert Bloch, Kyosha Marie Felix, and Daniel Gregory Miller.
State Of Missing Episode 31 opens by explaining the rename from Never to be Seen Again, the shift to biweekly releases, and the Louisiana weather and housing damage that delayed production.
State Of Missing Episode 30 covers six Nevada disappearance cases, led by Francillion Pierre, a 3-year-old who vanished from the Broad Acres swap meet in North Las Vegas after earlier child-abuse allegations against Amy and Lee Lester.
Episode 29 of State Of Missing covers four Connecticut disappearances: Julianne Miller, Bianca Elaine LeBron, William Paul Smolenski Jr., and Jose Ortiz.
Laura links Janice Catherine Pocket’s disappearance in Tolland, Connecticut, to four other missing-person cases in Connecticut, Massachusetts, Montana, and Wyoming.
Host Laura covers six missing persons cases from Vermont, including a unique case of bodies swept away by Hurricane Irene.
Host Laura covers multiple missing persons cases from New York, starting with the oldest male missing case from 1927.
The host introduces four missing persons cases from Nebraska, noting a theme among female cases and promising a shorter, more factual episode.
The host introduces an episode covering multiple missing persons cases in Utah, including juveniles and possible Ted Bundy victims.
The host introduces the podcast's growth and previews a full episode covering multiple missing persons cases from Tennessee.
Host Laura discusses the case of Jennifer Dawn Lancaster and her two daughters, who went missing in Kansas.
The host introduces the podcast, discusses bonus episodes, and previews a case from Kentucky.