The Vanished Podcast

On the evening of November 4, 2023, 33-year-old Jared McColloch left his home in Marion, Louisiana, for a spur-of-the moment trip. It is believed that Jared was planning to drive to the Salem, Illinois, area to visit his teenage son. Jared packed his truck with some supplies and his two beloved dogs. That 500-plus trip should have taken Jared roughly eight and a half hours. Along the way, Jared stopped at various gas stations to fill his gas tank and grab food and drinks. Jared was spotted on camera arriving in the Salem, IL, area in the early morning hours of November 5, where he purchased some gas and an energy drink. Several hours later, he was seen at another nearby gas station. After this time, Jared seemed to veer off course from his intended destination. He was then seen a third time at yet another gas station, but he now appeared to be heading east toward Indiana, and no one knows why or where he was going.The following day, Jared's mother received a phone call from law enforcement in the state of Ind

In early September of 2021, Kevin Winters disappeared from Lahaina, Hawaii, after spending an evening doing what he enjoyed most: going out for dinner and a few drinks. Kevin was seen on a surveillance camera at an ATM late on September 2 and again at the same ATM the following morning. After that time, Kevin’s phone pinged a few miles away, but he was never seen or heard from again. Where Kevin was that night between the two trips to the ATM remains a mystery, along with where he may have headed next. From the beginning, it was difficult for Kevin’s family to search for him because they were all thousands of miles away. In the months that followed Kevin’s disappearance, his sister decided to make the trip to Hawaii to see if she could get somewhere, but things only got more bizarre. Kevin’s family has spent the last two and a half years digging for any clues that may uncover what happened to him. They have been sent down various rabbit holes only to come up empty-handed. If you have any information rega

On the evening of September 2, 2021, Kevin Winters was at one of his favorite restaurants having dinner in Lahaina, Hawaii, on the island of Maui. About an hour later, Kevin was seen on camera depositing a check at a nearby ATM. It remains unclear where Kevin went after that time. It’s believed that Kevin had taken public transportation to the restaurant that evening, and the place he had been staying was about 29 miles away. Kevin showed up on the same ATM camera the following morning, still wearing the same clothes he had on the night before. Kevin was once again making a deposit. Kevin walked away from the ATM that morning and was never seen or heard from again. Kevin had a close relationship with their mother; the two spoke twice every single day. When she didn’t hear from Kevin and couldn’t reach him by phone, she knew something was wrong. Thousands of miles away in Michigan, Kevin’s parents decided it was time to report their son missing. Nearly two and a half years later, Kevin’s family is still workin

On July 26, 1992, 22-year-old Brenda Lambert spent much of the day celebrating her son’s first birthday at her home in Bluewell, West Virginia. Brenda was surrounded by her close family and many extended relatives. This party should have been a joyous occasion for Brenda, who loved being a mother to her two young children, but something was off that day. Brenda seemed upset or bothered. During the party, Brenda quietly asked several of her siblings if they could stay the night with her, but they each had a reason why they couldn’t. By the next morning, Brenda was gone. Her car, purse, and keys were all left behind at the home. Rumors began to spread around town about what had happened to Brenda, even stories that her disappearance was connected to another missing person. However, Brenda’s family has been adamant since the very beginning that they know exactly who made Brenda Lambert disappear and why.If you have any information regarding the disappearance of Brenda Lambert, please call the Mercer County Sheri

By the summer of 2023, most would say that Amber Arnett had hit rock bottom. She had lost her home and job after allowing her boyfriend to stay at the care facility that she managed. Amber was also now facing charges due to this incident. She was due to be in court on July 13, 2023, but Amber never made it. In fact, Amber disappeared from Lansing, Michigan, just 19 days before she was to appear in court. We may never know whether Amber was innocent or guilty of the charges because she never had the opportunity to plead her case before the court. As Amber’s loved ones began searching for her, they heard stories about what happened to Amber. They were told that in the lead-up to Amber’s disappearance, suspicions had been brewing in her circle, suspicions that Amber was planning to snitch. If this is true, we have no way of knowing, but the consensus has been that some people believed that Amber was gathering evidence about something so that she could trade that information for a lighter sentence on he

In late June of 2023, 39-year-old Amber Arnett contacted her mother, Marty, asking if she could stay with her at her home for a bit. Amber expressed that she didn’t feel safe where she had been living. Marty was away on a trip and told her daughter that she would be home late the following day. Marty expected to see or hear from Amber after she returned to Lansing, Michigan, but she never heard from her daughter again. The days began to pass, and Marty still had not heard from Amber. At first, Marty assumed she had found somewhere to stay or that maybe things had turned out okay. However, Amber was outgoing and frequently posted on social media and messaged back and forth with those she was close to. Marty began asking around, and no one had seen or heard from Amber. That was when Marty decided to go to the police to report Amber missing. Over the past seven months, Marty has been digging for clues to help find Amber, and she has uncovered a tangled web of people and stories. Still, nothing has led to concret

In late December of 1978, 15-year-old Larry Goodman disappeared from Park Ridge, New Jersey. His mother left home that day to go shopping and asked Larry if he would like to go along with her, but he declined. When she arrived home, Larry was gone. His mother reported that he had left home wearing a red flannel shirt, jeans, a denim jacket, sneakers and had $30 in his pocket. Investigators spoke to the teen's friends, teachers, and parents, but no one knew where he may have gone. Larry was a good student, and there didn't appear to be anything in his life to run from. There were articles in the local paper detailing Larry's mysterious disappearance. The local police stated they had run down every lead and hoped to appeal to the public for information. Everyone was shocked when Larry reappeared 27 days later on his 16th birthday. Larry told his mother he had been hundreds of miles away in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The police closed the case now that he was home safe, but that wouldn't last long. Soon, Larry wa

38-year-old Mary Badaracco disappeared from Sherman, Connecticut, in August of 1984. At the time, Mary had been married to her husband, Dominic, for 14 years. According to Dominic, Mary left him and took almost all of her belongings and $100,000 in cash that he had stashed inside their home. Dominic didn't report Mary missing; according to Mary's daughters, he discouraged them from reporting their mother missing to local authorities. The last time that one of Mary's daughters had heard from her was on August 19. Dominic said he saw Mary on August 20, but she was gone when he returned from work. Following Mary's disappearance, one of Mary's daughters went to Mary and Dominic's home and found Mary's car parked in the driveway. How had she left without her car? Even more disturbing, the windshield was shattered. Just as Mary had, the vehicle later disappeared, too. In the months that followed, Dominic divorced Mary and moved on to a new relationship. Years later, the case heated up when a member of the Hell

On January 2, 1999, 11-year-old Mikelle Biggs was playing outside with her 9-year-old sister, Kimber. Mikelle was on Kimber's bike while Kimber walked the dog on a leash. The girls could hear an ice cream truck in the distance, but Kimber got while cold waiting and went inside. When Kimber got back to the house, her mom told her to go back and tell Mikelle it was time to come in. Investigators estimate that Kimber was only gone for 90 seconds. In those 90 seconds, Mikelle vanished. In this episode, I'm joined by Kimber to discuss her sister's case.If you have any information regarding the disappearance of Mikelle Biggs, please call the Mesa Police Department at 480-644-2211.If you have a missing loved one that you would like to have featured on the show, please fill out our case submission form.Follow The Vanished on social media at:FacebookInstagramTwitterPatreonSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This episode originally aired on March 24, 2018. On May 26, 1992, 13-year-old Brandy Myers disappeared after she had left her apartment to go door-to-door for a school fundraiser. Many years went by with no good leads until the Canal Killer was apprehended for two murders. Is Bryan Patrick Miller also responsible for Brandy's disappearance?If you have a missing loved one that you would like to have featured on the show, please fill out our case submission form.Follow The Vanished on social media at:FacebookInstagramTwitterPatreonSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In late December of 2022, 30-year-old Lauren Willhoit disappeared from the suburbs of Chicago, Illinois. Lauren spoke with family members over the phone on December 28th, and she was seen by her boyfriend leaving their home that same day. It's believed that Lauren may have been staying at a hotel on Mannheim Road in the Melrose Park area in the days leading up to New Year's Eve, though the facts are difficult to pin down in this case. After that, Lauren was never seen or heard from again. Her family became alarmed in early January when her boyfriend called to ask if they had heard from Lauren. Since that day, Lauren's sister, Michelle, has been working diligently to piece together every clue she can find to figure out what happened to her sister.If you have any information about the disappearance of Lauren Willhoit, please call the Cook County Sheriff's Office at 708-865-4896.If you have a missing loved one that you would like to have featured on the show, please fill out our case submission form.Follow

On Friday, May 15, 1987, 32-year-old Daniel Maleska left his home in Princeton, Minnesota, to travel about three hours north to Gunn Lake in Itasca County, Minnesota. That weekend, Dan, his brother Mike, and several other longtime friends planned a camping trip for the opening of fishing season. Dan and Mike were raised as avid outdoorsmen, and opening weekend was a big deal. While this was their first time visiting Gunn Lake, this annual trip was something they looked forward to all year. The area where the men were camping was very rural and densely wooded. It wasn't a campground with amenities; they were roughing it, but that was how Dan and his buddies liked it. The men set up camp, spent many hours fishing on the lake, drank some beers, and seemed to be having a great time. However, by Sunday morning, Dan had vanished. They found a canoe in the water with some of his fishing supplies still inside. It looked like he had been plucked from that boat, leaving his items undisturbed. Despite extensive searches

On June 28, 2023, 45-year-old Nanci Britner went to a motel in Winchester, VA, to visit her sister. She spent time at the motel that evening, and around midnight, Nanci contacted several people looking for a ride home. Nanci’s sister said that she fell asleep while Nanci was still there, but when she awoke, Nanci was gone, and she assumed that she had found a ride home. Nanci has four adult children, and they became concerned when a couple of days passed with no word from their mother. That wasn’t like Nanci, who was a devoted mother and grandmother. Nanci’s children began piecing together information about the day Nanci disappeared, but things weren’t adding up. When the dust settled, a few unconnected people were acting suspiciously. However, law enforcement hasn’t been able to gather concrete evidence, and today, Nanci’s case remains unsolved.If you have any information regarding the disappearance of Nanci Britner, please call the Winchester Police Department at 540-662-4131.If you have a missing loved one

On March 9, 2023, 27-year-old Kay-Alana Turner left a friend’s home in Silsbee, Texas, and headed toward Austin, about four hours away, apparently to see a friend. In the days leading up to March 9, Kay-Alana had not been sleeping well, and she didn’t seem quite like herself. Witnesses in the towns of Hockley and Tomball, Texas, interacted with Kay-Alana in the early morning hours of March 10. She had been asking people if she could sleep in their driveways. By this time, Kay-Alana’s phone had died. Around 6 AM, a homeowner in the Holly Creek Estates subdivision in Tomball, Texas, noticed Kay-Alana’s car in their driveway, and she was asleep inside. The homeowner decided to call someone from their homeowner’s association and other neighbors. They gathered around Kay-Alana’s car and attempted to wake her. Kay-Alana was scared and decided to drive her car away, but they blocked her. Then, an officer from Harris County broke Kay-Alana’s driver-side window. She bolted, first by driving her car through the yard, o

On March 8, 2023, 27-year-old Kay-Alana Turner stayed at a friend’s home in Silsbee, Texas. Kay-Alana’s friend, Brittany, noticed that she hadn’t been sleeping well, and something appeared to be troubling Kay-Alana. The following morning, Brittany left for work, believing Kay-Alana was asleep. As the day wore on, Brittany kept trying to contact Kay-Alana, but something was off with the way that her text messages were going through. She attempted to reach Kay-Alana via phone and Facetime video calls. She eventually reached Kay-Alana, but something still wasn’t quite right, and she didn’t know where her friend was. Brittany enlisted the help of Kay-Alana’s boyfriend, James, who went out searching for her that night. He stopped at all of Kay-Alana’s familiar places with no luck. They later learned that Kay-Alana had planned to visit a friend in Austin, about a four-hour drive from Brittany’s home. Where along that 245-mile trip could something have gone wrong? Did Kay-Alana get into an accident? Had she run out

On August 14, 2003, 40-year-old William "Arlin" Bynum was at a bar and grill in Big Spring, Texas. Big Spring is where Arlin was born, but he was a stranger, having lived his entire life outside of the small town. Arlin enjoyed the evening having drinks with friends. He was last seen walking toward his truck on the morning of August 15, shortly before the bar closed. After that, the trail ends. The next day, Arlin didn't show up for lunch with a relative, and from there, his family knew something was wrong. They found his truck still parked outside the restaurant, and the search began. Twenty years later, Arlin has never been seen or heard from again. The story of his disappearance spans the spectrum from questionable friends, to abandoned wells, to the possibility of cartel involvement. Today, there are many complicated factors that make solving the mystery of what happened to Arlin Bynum seem nearly impossible, but his loved ones aren't giving up.If you have any information about Arlin's disappearance, plea

29-year-old Kevin Bass disappeared from Milledgeville, Georgia, in the early morning hours of May 27, 2020. Kevin had last spoken to a friend around 5 AM and then disappeared. Someone thought they may have seen him on foot that morning around 5:30 AM, but they couldn’t be sure that it was actually Kevin. A couple of friends said that Kevin had been at their house the night before and left early that morning. Stories would later change, and rumors of an affair surfaced, which divided those who knew Kevin into two camps. Three years later, what happened to Kevin remains a mystery.If you have any information about the disappearance of Kevin Bass, please contact the Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office at (478) 445-4891.If you have a missing loved one that you would like to have featured on the show, please fill out our case submission form.Follow The Vanished on social media at:FacebookInstagramTwitterPatreonSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privac

Theresa Hartley, a Florida native living in St. Augustine, was learning how to live life on her own after her husband passed away several years earlier. On March 11, 2023, she vanished, supposedly while in the company of a friend looking for firewood in the Ocala National Forest. But when she was reported missing to police on March 15 by another friend, the details didn't add up. In a real-life horror story filled with shady characters with a history of defrauding people and others with lengthy criminal records of violent offenses, Theresa was a vulnerable woman who was the perfect target for predators. After Theresa's disappearance, people her family had never met started coming out of the woodwork to claim her assets. Did Theresa really get lost in the woods, leaving no trace behind? Or was something much more sinister going on in her life?If you have any information about Theresa's disappearance, please call the St. Johns County Sheriff's Office at 904-824-8304 or the Marion County Sheriff's Office at 352-

Last week, we shared Part 1 of Joshua Simiskey's story. 41-year-old Joshua Simiskey vanished under bizarre circumstances in October of 2019. He had given all his belongings to a woman he had recently met. She claimed that he had offered the items for her hand in marriage while on a spiritual journey. But then, Josh was picked up by park rangers inside Olympic National Park, walking barefoot early one morning. They dropped him off at a general store and watched him walk away on foot. That is the last official, confirmed sighting of Joshua Simiskey. However, there were other unconfirmed sightings of Josh that seemed to point to a voluntary disappearance. Others believed that Josh was in a vulnerable mental state and was possibly coerced into giving his valuables away. Four years have gone by, and Josh Simiskey has never surfaced. What is known about the circumstances leading up to Josh's disappearance has left his loved ones with more questions than answers. Today, you will hear from two of the women in Josh's

In the late summer of 2019, 41-year-old Joshua Simiskey left his father's home in Tacoma, Washington, and headed for Port Angeles, about 2 hours away. Josh stayed there for several weeks and told his family he planned to go on a spiritual journey. Josh met a woman during his time in Port Angeles, and things got weird. The last known communication from Josh was a voicemail that he left for his father on October 6, saying that he had given away his car and other possessions. The woman he had recently met in Port Angeles had a handwritten note, allegedly penned by Josh, saying he was giving everything to her. Was this indeed what Josh wanted, or had something more sinister happened?As Josh's family rushed to find him, things became more bizarre. Josh Simiskey seemed to disappear and reappear multiple times with sightings that seemed credible, but was that Josh that people were seeing around town or a case of mistaken identity?Join us as we work to untangle this mystery. Could Josh still be out there on his spiri