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Roadside Vanishings, Real Timelines
Manage episode 511178575 series 3374682
A simple errand, a stamped receipt at 3:17 p.m., and a car left on US 71 with the keys still in the ignition. We walk through the last verified hours of 18-year-old Dana Stidham and sort what’s true from what’s been repeated for decades. No theatrics—just timestamps, locations, and choices that still demand answers: the unfixed flat, the Omni facing the wrong way, and a seven-week silence broken by a hunter who waited before calling his discovery in.
We unpack why those details matter in a rural 1989 Bella Vista—before cell phones, before robust DNA workflows, and before trails cut through deep Ozark terrain. We look at early suspects and fragile alibis, including a boyfriend whose grief blurred lines but not evidence, and we press on the questions that keep resurfacing: Was the tire sabotaged? Did someone move the Omni to misdirect the search? What did investigators document about the tire, trunk, and missing items that could signal a souvenir? Along the way, we separate rumor from record on “serial killer” talk in the Ozarks and focus on what the case can actually sustain.
We also examine behavior that sets off alarms—the delayed call from the man who found remains—and consider what modern profiling says about witness conduct versus narrative control, without leaping past the facts. Then we outline our next steps: FOIA requests for the officer sighting, tire photos, and evidence inventories; outreach to Benton County; and an open invitation for locals who remember that stretch of US 71 to come forward with specifics. If you drove those roads, worked those shifts, or owned a similar pickup, your memory might tighten the timeline.
If this case gripped you, share the episode with someone who knows northwest Arkansas, subscribe for updates as records come in, and leave a review with the one question you want answered most. Your perspective could nudge a detail out of the past and into the file that finally moves.
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Chapters
1. Setting 1989 Bella Vista (00:00:00)
2. Dana’s Errand and Last Sighting (00:00:21)
3. The Abandoned Omni and Clues (00:01:15)
4. Discovery of Remains (00:01:51)
5. Building the “Murder Book” (00:02:32)
6. Methods, Records, and FOIAs (00:03:34)
7. Life Context and Stakes (00:05:10)
8. Terrain, Community, and 1989 Policing (00:07:17)
9. Timeline Gaps and Car Anomalies (00:09:40)
10. Seven Weeks Later: The Hunter (00:12:41)
11. Early Suspects and Alibis (00:15:01)
12. Forensics Limits and DNA Hurdles (00:17:58)
13. The Hunter’s Behavior Examined (00:20:09)
14. Rumors, Other Cases, Serial Claims (00:23:08)
15. Local Offenders Considered (00:26:13)
16. Questions for Law Enforcement (00:28:39)
17. Next Steps and Listener Tips (00:30:38)
18. Closing, Merch, and Contact (00:33:08)
52 episodes
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