0:08

The views and opinions expressed in Cold and

0:10

Missing are exclusively those of the hosts. All

0:13

parties mentioned are considered innocent until

0:16

proven guilty in a court of law. Cold and Missing

0:18

also contains adult themes and languages. Listener

0:22

discretion is advised. I'm your host, Ali McLaughlin

0:26

-Sulkowski. And I'm your co -host, Eli Sulkowski.

0:29

And this is Cold and Missing, where we cover

0:31

cold cases and missing person cases. Hello everyone

0:34

and welcome back to Cold and Missing. I'm your

0:37

host, Ali. And I'm your co -host, Eli. Welcome

0:40

back, everyone. Thank you so much for hanging

0:43

with us. I'm so sorry we had to take last week

0:45

off. As you've probably heard before, or maybe

0:48

if you're new here, I'm somebody who gets chronic

0:51

migraines and just had some really bad ones for

0:54

the past month. Usually the weather changing kind of gets me. So I was... Down for the count.

1:00

But I really appreciate your patience and for

1:03

coming back to have another listen. Also, just

1:06

want to say thank you. We did have some really

1:08

wonderful and kind reviews come through on our

1:11

website, on Apple, on Spotify. Just all these

1:15

places, they were really coming through some really positive comments and reviews. And also,

1:22

somebody was so kind and used the Buy Me a Coffee

1:26

link on our website to buy Eli and I coffee.

1:29

So thank you so much for that. We so greatly

1:33

appreciate it. It's such an honor that someone

1:36

would use their hard -earned dollars to help

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support this podcast. But that option is always

1:41

there if you would also like to do that. Yeah,

1:43

here at Cold and Missing, you know, we're a two

1:46

-person team with Ali absolutely at the helm

1:50

of our team. So, of course, you know, we never

1:54

expect anything. So when it does happen, it's

1:57

always wonderful and it is very helpful. Any

2:01

coffee that's ever bought for us goes directly

2:05

back into... making this podcast more accessible

2:10

to everyone. That's always Allie's drive here

2:13

on the technical end and in everything else she

2:17

does. So thank you so much. Yeah, it just goes

2:20

right back into the podcast, into researching,

2:23

into trying to help these cases. So thank you.

2:27

But with that, I think we should go ahead and

2:29

get into this week's episode. That's right. We

2:33

are on episode... It's 126 this week, and it

2:38

is a missing persons case. And just as a quick

2:42

content warning at the top, this case does involve

2:45

a young person, and there are some brief mentions

2:48

of death by suicide. Today, we are talking about

2:52

the missing person case of Roger Ellison. And

2:56

this takes place in February of 1981 in Cedar

3:00

Edge, Colorado. But first, a little bit about

3:03

Roger. Roger is 17 years old in 1981. He is a

3:09

senior honor roll student at Cedar Edge High

3:11

School, but was already looking forward to college.

3:14

He'd been accepted to Western State College in

3:17

Gunnison, Colorado, and he had won a skiing scholarship

3:20

and had already put a deposit down and picked

3:23

out his dorm room. Roger was a gifted skier.

3:26

He had a dream of being on the U .S. national

3:29

ski team, like his older sister had done a decade

3:32

before him. He was the youngest of four siblings

3:36

and the only one left at home. The rest of his

3:39

siblings were older and married at this time.

3:42

Right before the timeline picks up, Roger had

3:44

competed in ski races in Telluride, Colorado.

3:48

He had been disappointed by the outcome. He was

3:51

hoping to secure a place on the U .S. ski B team,

3:54

but had failed to. His parents say that he was

3:57

disappointed but was already looking forward to the next race, which was coming up that weekend.

4:02

And now, a timeline of events. Tuesday, February

4:07

10th, 1981. Roger started the day very normally.

4:12

He was eating breakfast in the kitchen with his

4:14

mother when he noticed the weather outside. It

4:17

looked like it was going to snow. He told his

4:20

mom it was a good sign for the upcoming race

4:22

in Aspen that weekend. Roger got ready and left

4:26

for school. He had his yellow backpack and $3

4:29

for lunch. He boarded the bus and headed to Cedar

4:33

Edge High School, which was about six miles away

4:35

from his home. Once at school, Roger caught up

4:38

with his friend and locker mate at their shared

4:41

locker, number 191. Roger shared the locker with

4:46

his friend Mitch. Mitch was just about to slam

4:49

the locker door shut when Roger called out for

4:51

him to leave it open. Roger and Mitch chatted

4:54

for a second. Roger was dropping off some books

4:58

at the locker and grabbing some stuff that he

5:00

needed for the day. Mitch headed off to class

5:03

while Roger was finishing up at the locker. Roger

5:06

told him he would catch up. This appears to be

5:09

the last confirmed sighting of Roger. Roger never

5:13

attended any classes that day. Even though Roger's

5:17

attendance was perfect up until this point, his

5:20

absence was not reported to his parents. Rogers'

5:24

parents didn't know anything was wrong until he failed to get home from school that day. His

5:29

mother, Evelyn, says, quote, When he didn't come

5:32

on the bus, we thought he'd call. My husband

5:35

and I waiting up all night. The next morning,

5:38

we called the sheriff. He told us we had to wait

5:41

48 hours before he could begin a search. We tried

5:44

to explain that Rogers never done anything like

5:47

that before, that he always called or left us

5:50

a note on the kitchen table. This time, there

5:53

was nothing. End quote. Like Evelyn says in her

5:56

statement, when they tried to call police that

5:59

next day, Wednesday, February 11th, when Roger

6:02

failed to come home all night, the police didn't

6:05

take it seriously. They assumed Roger was with

6:08

friends or maybe with a girlfriend. His parents

6:12

stressed that this was not the case. He had only

6:15

taken his lunch money and the clothes he was

6:17

wearing to school. His skis, his car, his motorcycle,

6:22

and bank account were all untouched. Not wanting

6:25

to wait for the police to start their search, Evelyn and her husband, Ernest, start searching.

6:31

She says, quote, we drove down back roads, we

6:34

combed the woods, we walked ditches. Gradually,

6:37

it dawned on us that something terrible had happened

6:41

to Roger and was happening to us. Suddenly, I

6:45

was living every mother's nightmare, end quote.

6:48

Over that weekend, Roger has been missing for

6:51

four days. His parents hope that he'll show up

6:54

to the race in Aspen since he had already paid

6:56

the entry fee. But he didn't show up to the race.

7:01

It doesn't appear that any major searches were

7:04

done for Roger at this point in his disappearance.

7:07

On February 25th, so Roger has been missing for

7:10

15 days, and police believe that he's a runaway

7:14

at this point. They believe that he had run away

7:17

to a ski resort and found a job or was looking

7:20

for a job. When asked about the length of time

7:23

and the fact that he hadn't contacted his parents

7:26

in 15 days, the police said that it wasn't unusual

7:30

for teenagers to behave this way. His parents,

7:34

however, are worried sick and think something

7:36

terrible has happened to their son. On March

7:39

11, 1981, Roger has been missing for a month

7:43

at this point, and it's his 18th birthday. Police

7:47

and his parents are hoping that he'll reach out

7:50

now that he's officially an adult and let them

7:53

know where he is. But the phone doesn't ring,

7:56

and he never calls. In May of 1982, so it's been

8:01

15 months since Roger vanished, and his father

8:04

has also passed away as well. Rogers' family

8:08

firmly believed that it was due to the heartbreak

8:10

of his youngest son vanishing. At this point,

8:14

Delty County Sheriff Detective Keith Weibel says,

8:18

It looks like Roger Ellison just disappeared

8:21

into thin air, but I know that can't happen.

8:25

We've never had a single solid lead. We can't

8:28

find a trace of where he went. This case has

8:31

turned me into a blithering idiot. I've known

8:34

the Ellison for years. They're a good family,

8:37

and I gradually became convinced Roger wasn't

8:40

a runaway. There was absolutely no evidence of

8:44

a drug problem, no hint of mental illness, nothing

8:48

to indicate Roger had been the slightest bit

8:50

depressed." Investigators have asked the FBI

8:54

to take a look at the case, but the FBI refuses

8:57

since there is no evidence that Roger ever crossed

9:00

state lines or that even a crime has been committed.

9:04

However, a break in the case appears to come

9:07

by the end of June of 1982, so just a few months

9:10

later. Roger has been missing for a year and

9:13

a half. And police say that Roger was seen alive

9:17

as recently as April of 1982, so just a few months

9:21

before this. Roger was seen working at a plant

9:25

nursery in Mississippi up until April. A co -worker

9:29

at the nursery reported it after seeing a story

9:31

about Roger being missing. Delta County Sheriff

9:34

says, quote, Ellison had been on the nursery

9:38

property in April, but he left and nobody knew

9:41

where he was going. We were close, but not close

9:44

enough. If Roger reads anything about this, we're

9:48

urging him to please contact his mother as soon

9:50

as possible. End quote. Police do believe that

9:54

this is a good lead and confirm that the person

9:57

at the nursery was using Roger's name and social

10:00

security number. However, years later, police

10:04

will say that this sighting was a hoax. But this

10:08

lead seems to stall the investigation for years,

10:11

as it appears that Roger just didn't want to

10:13

be found. But again, police say that this whole

10:17

sighting was just a hoax. However, by April of

10:21

1985, so it's been four years since Roger vanished,

10:25

and his mother is still trying to get coverage

10:27

for her son's case. She doesn't believe that

10:30

he simply ran away or doesn't want to be found.

10:33

She thinks something nefarious happened to him.

10:36

She also confirms that even after all these years,

10:40

his bank account, which had over $1 ,000 in it,

10:43

was still sitting untouched. In 1989, so it's

10:48

been over eight years since Roger vanished, and

10:51

the new Delta County Sheriff Bill Blair says,

10:54

quote, we have followed lead after lead after

10:58

lead, but nothing has panned out. It's really

11:01

tragic that we can't come up with something, end quote. There have been sightings of Roger

11:07

over the years that have been reported to police.

11:10

There were reports of Roger living in a commune

11:13

in California. There was a sighting of him at

11:16

a singles bar in Pittsburgh. And then a woman

11:19

in Jacksonville, Florida, said that she had a

11:22

child with a drifter that fit Roger's description.

11:25

But none of these leads panned out. Investigators

11:28

say that in each and every one of these instances,

11:31

it was just someone who looked a lot like Roger.

11:34

In March of 1994, so it's been 13 years since

11:39

Roger disappeared, and police are taking another

11:41

look at the case. They decide to re -interview

11:45

classmates that were at school with Roger at

11:47

the time. During this process, a tip surfaces.

11:52

The tip is around a teacher that was at Cedar

11:55

Edge High School when Roger vanished. Pash had

11:58

taught psychology and coached wrestling at the

12:01

high school. Pash was also known to Roger's family.

12:05

He had stopped by the Ellison's house after Roger

12:09

vanished to tell his parents that he had been

12:11

counseling Roger at his home before he disappeared.

12:15

He shared with his family that Roger was suicidal,

12:19

but this didn't sound right to Roger's parents.

12:22

They didn't know the counseling sessions were

12:24

happening and were even more surprised as Roger

12:28

had expressed that he didn't like Pash as a teacher.

12:31

While it's unclear exactly what the tip was,

12:35

it prompts a search of Pasha's former home. At

12:39

this point, the home had been turned into a mortuary.

12:43

Police bring in ground -penetrating radar to

12:46

search the grounds. There are six spots that

12:49

show an anomaly underground, four in the yard

12:52

and two under the concrete garage. Police dig

12:57

in the four spots in the yard and nothing is

12:59

found. However, it doesn't appear that they ever

13:02

dug under the garage, so those spots remain unchecked.

13:07

In February of 1998, so it's been 17 years since

13:12

Roger vanished, and Sheriff Blair asks for the

13:15

public's help. He says, quote, someone out there

13:19

knows what happened to him. We don't have a body,

13:22

and even if we found one, we would have to have

13:25

someone involved say, this is what happened.

13:28

Either he went to some house close by or someone

13:31

was there to meet him and pick him up in a car.

13:33

I just don't know what happened to him, end quote.

13:37

During this plea for information, an English

13:40

teacher that Roger had mentioned this about his

13:43

time at school. She said, quote, he used to tell

13:46

me stories that the kids would chase him and

13:49

he would have to hide on rooftops. I don't think

13:51

he fit in all that well, end quote. Later in

13:56

1998, In September, a dying man comes forward,

14:01

saying that he wanted to clear his conscience

14:03

and that he knew what happened to Roger. Police

14:07

report that the man and his friend, quote, Supposedly,

14:28

it was over a bad cocaine deal. Ellison had absconded

14:33

with the money and given it to his friends, end

14:35

quote. The two men walked away and a few minutes

14:40

later heard two gunshots. The two men agreed

14:44

to never talk about it and forget about it until

14:47

one of them wanted to clear their conscience. The Hunter friend confirmed the story. They both

14:54

were polygraphed and passed. They also both picked

14:57

a picture of Roger out of a lineup saying that

15:00

he was the young man being restrained. This confession

15:04

prompts a huge police search in the area that

15:07

the hunters pointed out. The Delta County Sheriff,

15:11

CBI, and the FBI all help search the area. They

15:16

even bring in students from an anthropology department

15:19

in case remains are found to help in the process

15:21

of documenting and recovering. No remains were

15:27

found, and this was really the last update we

15:30

get on Roger's case and the last big movement

15:33

on it that I could find. Over the years, Roger's

15:36

case is brought up in papers as part of cold

15:39

cases, but there's no new leads, no new evidence,

15:43

no new information on his case. So with that,

15:47

if you know anything about the disappearance

15:50

of Roger Ellison in February of 1981, or his

15:55

whereabouts today, please call the Delta County

15:58

Sheriff's Office at 970 -874 -2000. So that is

16:07

the missing person case of Roger Ellison. This

16:10

is one of those cases where, as I was listening

16:13

to the timeline, I kept getting up because I

16:17

wanted to walk back here to ask you questions

16:20

as you were talking about the timeline. And I

16:23

think I may have mentioned this last episode

16:26

when we were covering a case. Sometimes I can't

16:32

write down the questions fast enough, and that's

16:37

definitely the case here for Roger. Just first

16:41

off, I guess there's no real good way to kick

16:48

off rediscussing the timeline, but... I can't

16:53

not mention how law enforcement bungled this,

17:00

in my opinion. I don't—I never understand the

17:06

reaction of, wait, of wait, wait, wait, because

17:10

that always seems to be where the case goes wrong

17:15

and goes south for a lot of these victims, and

17:18

it's— It's excruciating to listen to because

17:22

some of the things that they are quoted saying,

17:27

like it was painful to listen to someone in law

17:32

enforcement say, it gradually came to me that

17:37

this is what's happening is what the parents

17:41

told us to begin with. And it's not. necessarily

17:46

an admission, but almost like a revelation. And

17:49

there's no time for you to have a revelation

17:52

about what you believe is happening to someone.

17:57

I know I sound passionate, but I'm angry on behalf

18:02

of this family. And now a lot of time has passed

18:05

and some people are gone. And as a listener,

18:11

it's just really difficult to digest that. To

18:14

digest that information, it's so unfair. Yeah,

18:17

it's very difficult to imagine in this day and

18:20

age telling parents of a senior who showed up

18:25

to school but never attended any classes that

18:27

they need to wait 48 hours before they can start

18:30

searching for him. Like, I just imagine that

18:33

story breaking today and it's like that whole

18:36

town would be turned upside down searching for

18:39

him. We say that sitting in 2025 and law enforcement

18:46

has learned a lot over the years. But I agree

18:48

with you. It's so maddening and frustrating that

18:51

these protocols, these things were put in place,

18:54

especially for children. Just there's I feel

18:58

like there's no excuse to not know where a child

19:00

is. So if we don't know where a child is, everybody

19:03

should be looking for them. Yeah. Again, to me

19:06

and obviously to you, it's an all hands on deck.

19:10

situation and the fact that those two parents

19:13

began the search on their own like I can barely

19:18

take saying that out loud that is horrifying

19:21

to feel I mean I don't know the feeling but to

19:28

know that they were just completely alone at

19:31

the beginning and you know his father passing

19:34

not that long after like This family was dealt

19:40

a lot and given next to nothing to deal with

19:43

it. Yeah. You know, the resources in this case

19:48

just felt like it all came way too late. Just,

19:50

you know, they missed, you know, that period

19:56

of time where the most critical information was

19:58

going to be. It was all missed. And that's really

20:01

unfortunate for Roger and for his family to try

20:05

to have to deal with that. Now, because the storyline

20:11

that you so beautifully put together for us involves

20:15

a lot of speculative nature on both law enforcement

20:20

and witnesses and even family of what they think

20:25

happened, I am kind of operating from asking

20:30

my questions because of those speculations. I

20:34

think my mind just naturally... followed the

20:37

speculative pathway but from multiple angles

20:42

so I'm going to try to balance them out as I

20:45

ask these questions. My first one being and I

20:49

have my own answer for this but what would be

20:52

his motive for running away? I was curious to

20:55

know what you thought especially because that

20:57

was something that was tossed around so much between law enforcement that that was the speculation

21:02

that he left because he was running away. Yeah,

21:05

this is one where it's like, I don't really see

21:08

him running away at all. You know, like, I get

21:10

that he, you know, was kind of bummed at his

21:12

performance on the race the weekend before. But,

21:17

you know, he was getting ready to go to college,

21:19

had put down that down payment on the dorm room,

21:21

was looking forward to the race this weekend.

21:25

And then, you know, he left everything that he

21:29

would kind of need if he was running away. He

21:31

left his car. He left his motorcycle, he left

21:34

his skis, which were pretty important to him,

21:38

and left all his money. So I don't see him running

21:42

away from those actions alone and what was going

21:46

on around his life. It doesn't seem like a runaway.

21:49

This is where I feel, I think, wishy -washy.

21:55

I guess that's the best way to say it, about

21:58

being speculative, because... I definitely don't

22:01

want to add insult to injury, but when I asked

22:05

myself this question, what would be his motive

22:07

for running away, my general answer was kids

22:14

can hide a lot. They can hide a lot from their

22:18

parents. They can hide a lot from their teachers.

22:20

They can hide a lot from their friends. I think

22:25

it's possible that he has a motive that we don't

22:28

even know about. And I think because there are

22:33

so few details in this case, it's absolutely

22:35

possible that there is a motive. No, I think

22:39

that's a really important point is that like truly we don't know anything. You know, at this

22:45

point, police have like kind of labeled this

22:49

as foul play is suspected. I think that while

22:55

not impossible, I think it would have been. harder

22:58

for a 17 year old to vanish without a trace without

23:03

taking some money taking some clothes like taking

23:07

some things to just vanish kind of in a very

23:11

short amount of time right before classes start

23:14

not impossible of course but does feel slim in

23:22

this case but I do agree with your point about

23:25

hiding things because it took years and years

23:28

for that english teacher to kind of come out

23:32

and say like he was bullied at school that was

23:35

never mentioned before and i thought that that

23:40

could have been you know again this is all speculative

23:43

but it's like well that's was that ever looked

23:46

at like could it have been bullies in the school

23:49

and like something got out of hand like could

23:51

that have happened I think what my mind is trying

23:55

to do is draw correlations together and knowing,

24:00

as we moved around in the timeline and found

24:03

out much later, that possibly he was facing mental

24:08

health issues and that maybe he was being bullied

24:13

in school. If he was trying to disappear himself,

24:17

those seem like more... probable motives as to

24:25

why for me I will say this though the the tip

24:31

about the teacher and like the counseling and

24:33

stuff like that I had the impression like based

24:37

off of the reporting at the time that this was

24:40

like kind of nefarious and suspicious that it

24:42

was like strange that this teacher was doing

24:47

this counseling like the parents didn't have

24:49

any prior knowledge that their son was being

24:53

like counseled by a psychology teacher that Roger

25:01

was even going to his house for this because

25:03

Roger had said that he didn't really like this teacher so all of that was strange to the family

25:07

so I had the feeling that this teacher that all

25:11

that information was like very suspicious I also

25:16

had written down it was the next thing that I

25:18

was going to get to was that This child was essentially

25:23

having an unknown relationship to his parents

25:28

with another adult. I think that that will always

25:33

rise a red flag in my mind. And knowing that

25:39

there was ground -penetrating radar in both the

25:46

yard, which was dug up, and the... garage which

25:50

was not I am very interested to know what is

25:54

under that cement but I also know you know working

25:57

in maintenance and just like general construction

26:00

I know how expensive it is to pulverize cement

26:04

and dig beneath it because there's a lot of stuff

26:06

that you have to dig through and rip through

26:09

and I guess what I'm saying is I'm also I also

26:13

have eyes on this teacher as well along with

26:17

every other correlation my brain has tried to

26:21

string up in this case. Yeah, I would also be

26:25

interested to know, you know, in a perfect world

26:28

where we could just throw money at this and make

26:32

it happen. I would love to know just if there's

26:35

anything of value underneath the garage, especially

26:40

in Roger's case. I would also be interested to

26:43

know just if police ever had the chance to talk

26:48

to that teacher and interview him and interrogate

26:50

him. Because from my understanding, it didn't

26:53

seem like they had been able to. That teacher

26:57

had moved out of state at that point when this

27:00

tip kind of surfaced and they started digging in what was his old yard. So it doesn't seem

27:06

like they ever talked to him. So I would be interested

27:08

just to know if. that happened and how police

27:12

felt after that interview. Yeah, especially because

27:16

there's such little information about it, but

27:19

it seems like a poignant and important relationship

27:24

to take note of and investigate in. Again, to

27:28

echo you, I'd love to know more information about

27:33

if there was any investigation done on this person.

27:38

Well, and also to validate his story, like, it's

27:41

strange that after Roger disappeared, he, I don't

27:45

want to say inserted himself into the investigation, but, like, came to the parents and said, like,

27:50

you know, Roger was depressed. He was suicidal.

27:53

I was counseling him. Like, you know, just to

27:58

validate all that, like, was that true? Was this

28:00

just, like, a... that this teacher maybe tried

28:04

to tell the parents to make them feel bad. You know, like, there's a lot of different ways to

28:10

think about it. So I would just want to know,

28:13

like, what parts of that story was true? Was

28:16

any of it true? Like, what was the reason for

28:19

all this? Yeah, and you say this to me all the

28:23

time when you and I are just discussing true

28:26

crime and true crime cases. When people start

28:30

to behave oddly around an event like this, around

28:35

a person going missing, take note of that behavior.

28:39

And to me, a teacher stopping by out of the blue,

28:43

that's something to take note of. I had another

28:46

question to ask you, and this is more just about

28:49

Roger. I wanted to know what you thought of the

28:52

untouched bank account. That's one thing that

28:56

I come back to again and again that makes me

28:58

think that maybe Roger didn't leave voluntarily.

29:04

From my understanding, this was money that he

29:07

had been saving up for and that he had won through

29:10

ski racing. As I was researching Roger for years,

29:14

I just saw him being awarded these skiing competition

29:18

titles. I don't know a lot about skiing, to be

29:22

honest. He was winning a lot and being mentioned

29:25

in the paper a lot for it. So if somebody, you

29:31

know, just a month before their 18th birthday

29:33

is going to take off, I think they would just

29:37

take a little bit of money with them, especially,

29:39

you know, 1981. Like there's no debit cards.

29:42

Like people would write checks. But he wasn't

29:48

even doing that. You know, none of that money was being accessed. I think he would have taken

29:53

more than just the $3 for lunch and then the

29:57

clothes on his back. There would have been some more outfits missed, just something else. It

30:02

would be really hard for him to just leave. The

30:05

reason I brought up the bank account is because

30:08

that is the one, honestly, fact about this case

30:13

that ties me to the reality that he didn't leave

30:19

willingly. As many correlations I can draw and

30:22

speculation I can come up with, that untouched

30:26

bank account stands out to me. And I thought

30:31

that it would for you too as well. And it seems

30:34

like we have the same thought about this is that

30:38

he would have taken just a sliver of something

30:42

else. And, you know, another like fact in this

30:47

case that I keep coming back to is just. If it

30:50

wasn't Roger, then who was the boy in the woods

30:53

that these hunters stumbled upon being restrained?

30:56

Like, what was that situation? Because if it's

30:59

not Roger, then it's somebody else. So who is

31:03

it? And, you know, just because nothing was found

31:09

in that area, like, you know, we've seen bodies

31:13

be moved before from one spot to another. Like,

31:16

that can happen. What is that story? What do

31:22

we know? What do we not know? These two people

31:27

kind of told the same story, saw the same thing,

31:31

backed each other up, passed the polygraph. So

31:33

something happened. And if it wasn't related

31:35

to Roger, it was related to somebody else. So

31:38

I think we need some answers there. Yeah, that

31:42

revelation in this timeline kind of came out

31:45

of left field for me. I wasn't expecting it.

31:48

At all. But I also, I left a little bit of room

31:53

in me to know that like both of those men could

31:57

have 100 % believed that it was Roger that they

32:01

saw. So therefore, they would pass that polygraph

32:04

test. Yeah, I just, if it wasn't Roger, then

32:09

who was it? In this scenario, I don't want to

32:12

believe that it was him because I know what the

32:15

end result is. I don't know what to make of that

32:18

deathbed confession. I think it's fascinating. I think it's completely possible that because

32:25

of what we said earlier about how kids can hide

32:29

things and teenagers do all the time, that it's

32:32

possible that this was absolutely happening in

32:34

the woods and these men stumbled upon that and

32:36

then his body was moved and never recovered.

32:40

Yeah, I don't know. This case is tough. I get

32:47

why somebody would want to maybe get that off

32:49

their chest towards the end of their life. I

32:54

know we could speculate and try to draw conclusions

32:58

for hours. We do this when we're not on the mic.

33:03

So I don't think there's any great way to wrap

33:08

up discussing this case. I'm just very grateful

33:10

that you brought it to... My attention, our attention,

33:15

and I'm hoping that, you know, people who engage

33:20

with true crime do their thing and investigate

33:23

more and we get to hear more about just who Roger

33:27

was and maybe a few more of those details will

33:33

trickle in and fill in the gaps here. Somebody

33:36

absolutely knows what happened to Roger. That

33:40

much I do know. I think there's more information.

33:43

I think maybe somebody he went to school with.

33:46

Somebody knows something that they haven't come

33:49

forward with yet. Roger's siblings, you know,

33:53

still want answers for him. And, you know, I

33:56

hope someday that we're able to get those answers

33:58

and we're able to bring Roger home. However that

34:02

is, we're able to get him home. So again, if

34:05

you know anything about the disappearance of

34:07

Roger Ellison in February of 1981 or his whereabouts

34:12

today, please call the Delta County Sheriff's

34:15

Office at 970 -874 -2000. As always, Eli will

34:24

have graphics on our Instagram for you. It will

34:27

show pictures of Roger and also some age progress

34:30

photos. So what he would have looked like towards

34:32

his later 20s and then into his 40s as well.

34:35

So please take a look and share in your communities,

34:38

share in your stories. Just get Roger's face,

34:41

get his case out there so other people know about

34:43

him and are talking about him. And like I mentioned

34:46

at the top, thank you so much to everyone who has left us a positive review, a positive comment,

34:51

five stars, thumbs up, whatever it is. Thank

34:54

you so much. Thank you to those who went to our

34:56

website to review. Appreciate it so much. And

34:59

extra special thank you to our listener who bought

35:02

us a coffee this week. And if you want to do

35:04

that, you can find that on our website, www .coldandmissing

35:07

.com, where we also have transcripts. So if you

35:10

need those because you might be hard of hearing,

35:12

you can find those there as well as all our old

35:15

episodes. That is all I have for you this week.

35:18

Thank you so much for listening to Cold and Missing.

35:21

I'm your host, Ali . And I'm your co -host,

35:24

Eli. Have a good week and stay safe, y 'all.