0:01

This episode includes discussions of

0:03

murder, rape, dismemberment, and

0:05

suicide. For mental health support,

0:08

visit Spotify.com slash resources.

0:17

Today's story is still an open

0:19

FBI investigation. Because

0:21

of that, today's serial killer doesn't

0:23

have a name. They're yet

0:25

to be caught, and they may not

0:27

be guilty of all the crimes we'll cover. But

0:30

there are so many connections

0:32

between today's victims, it's worth investigating

0:34

the serial killer theory. Because

0:36

40 years later, they might

0:38

still be out there, waiting

0:41

to be caught. Welcome

0:43

to Serial Killers, a Spotify podcast.

0:46

I'm Janice Morgan. You might

0:48

recognize me as the voice behind the

0:50

investigative docuseries Broken and the True

0:52

Crime podcast Fear Thy Neighbor. I'll

0:55

be your host for the next few weeks, and

0:57

I'm thrilled to be here. We'd

0:59

love to hear from you. Follow us

1:01

on Instagram at Serial Killers podcast and

1:03

share your thoughts on this week's episode.

1:05

Or if you're listening on the Spotify

1:07

app, swipe up and leave a comment.

1:10

Today we're going to the Lewis Clark

1:12

Valley, a collection of small

1:14

remote towns on the Idaho -Washington border. Between

1:17

1979 and 1982, five

1:20

young people went missing from that area.

1:23

Those who were found had been murdered.

1:26

Their disappearances changed the valley

1:28

forever. and cast a shadow

1:30

of suspicion on one man. Stay

1:33

with us. Megan

1:39

trainer laundry retrainer Megan

1:41

trainer you're tossing out

1:43

my gunky laundry detergent

1:45

box Armin

1:55

Hammer Power Sheets. Toss like

1:57

this. Do

2:08

you want to hear something

2:10

spooky? Some monster, it reminded me

2:12

of Bigfoot. Monsters Among Us

2:14

is a weekly podcast featuring true

2:16

stories of the paranormal. One

2:18

of the boys started to exhibit

2:21

demonic possession. Stories straight from

2:23

the witnesses' mouths themselves. Something very

2:25

snake -like lifted its head out

2:27

of the water. Hosted by

2:29

me, your guide, Derek Hayes. Somehow

2:31

I lost eight whole hours.

2:33

Listen now on Spotify or wherever

2:35

you get your podcasts. and

2:57

the very essence of

2:59

your worst nightmares coming to

3:01

life on this weekly

3:03

true horror show. Enter

3:05

at your own risk. The

3:11

Lewis Clark Valley sits along the

3:13

border of Washington and Idaho. It's

3:16

known for its natural beauty. There's

3:19

rolling hills, tall trees, and

3:21

the Snake River. Amid

3:23

the stunning vistas sit a number

3:25

of small, tight -knit towns. One

3:28

is a sotan Washington. In

3:30

1979, a sotan

3:33

had a population of just 1 ,000

3:35

people. Think quaint,

3:37

charming, the kind

3:39

of place where everyone knows

3:41

everyone, and nothing bad ever

3:43

happens. At least,

3:45

until today's story starts. In

3:48

such a small community, annual events

3:50

were a big deal. So,

3:52

even though April 2nd,

3:55

1979, was an unseasonably

3:57

hot day, people came out

3:59

for the Assaulton County Fair. The

4:01

fair still happens to this

4:03

day, and even in 1979,

4:06

it was a major production. Think

4:08

games, rides, and of

4:10

course, a parade. That

4:13

year, Betty Wells dragged her two daughters

4:15

out of the house for the festivities.

4:18

Her youngest, six -year -old, Carlin, seemed to

4:20

have a pretty good time. But

4:22

12 -year -old Christina White got

4:25

bored fast. The heat didn't

4:27

help. Christina was

4:29

a bit of a tomboy, not

4:31

too interested in the glittery bright colors

4:33

of the parade. She'd much rather

4:35

be with her friends, fishing on the

4:37

Snake River or playing in the nearby

4:39

woods. Around noon, when

4:41

the sun was at its peak, Christina

4:43

poked her mom and asked her if she could

4:45

go to her friend's house. She

4:48

had her bike at the fair. She could ride

4:50

there herself and come back home for dinner. Betty

4:53

nodded. The heat was

4:55

starting to bother her too. As Christina

4:57

jumped on her bike and rode away, Betty

4:59

and Carlin started home on foot. They

5:02

passed Christina's friend's house on the way

5:04

and saw her outside. She

5:06

derived safely. They waved

5:08

and carried on. Later

5:11

that afternoon, Betty's phone rang. It

5:13

was Christina calling from the friend's house. She

5:16

had symptoms of heat stroke. This

5:19

had happened before, so Betty wasn't

5:21

too worried. She told her

5:23

daughter to drape a cold, damp towel over her

5:25

head, then lie down for a bit. Then

5:27

as soon as she felt better, bike home.

5:31

Betty expected to see her daughter fairly

5:33

soon, but hours passed with

5:35

no sign of Christina and no

5:37

call back. When

5:39

she didn't show for dinner, Betty

5:41

grew worried. She called Christina's

5:43

friend's house, but her daughter wasn't

5:45

there anymore. Nobody knew

5:47

where she was. So

5:50

Betty contacted the police. As

5:53

you probably know, in a

5:55

lot of disappearances, authorities wait anywhere

5:57

from 24 to 48 hours

5:59

to begin an official investigation. But

6:01

in this case, Chief Tom

6:04

Pryor immediately sprang into action, likely

6:06

because Christina was so young and

6:08

the Asotan community was so tight -knit. That

6:12

said, Betty and the

6:14

authorities thought they'd find Christina quickly. She

6:16

was probably riding her bike around,

6:18

totally unaware of the commotion she'd

6:20

caused. Or maybe she was

6:22

still having heat stroke symptoms and decided

6:25

to lie down somewhere. Betty

6:27

and the police scoured every nook

6:29

and cranny of the small town,

6:31

but they couldn't find Christina or

6:33

her bike anywhere. As

6:36

far as they could tell, she

6:38

left her friend's house to bike home,

6:40

then vanished. News

6:43

spread fast in a sotan. That

6:45

night in the next morning, the community

6:48

came together in support of Betty

6:50

and her family. They offered

6:52

help in whatever way they could, searching

6:54

the town, putting up posters,

6:56

or simply lending a sympathetic ear.

7:00

But one man was incredibly quick

7:02

to offer his services. For

7:04

privacy, we'll call him Frank. He

7:07

was a local guy with a wife

7:09

and kids. He worked at a local theater,

7:11

sometimes performing on stage. So

7:13

far, pretty normal. except

7:16

he seemed a little too invested

7:18

in the search, especially right at

7:20

the start, which detectives

7:22

found odd. According

7:25

to one assaultant police officer, it's

7:27

rare for innocent bystanders to get

7:29

highly involved in an investigation, but

7:31

it's actually quite common for the

7:33

perpetrator of a crime. They

7:35

offer to help, but they really just want

7:37

to see what the police know. Frank's

7:40

behavior struck detectives as off

7:43

-putting. But that was just

7:45

gut instinct, not real evidence. Right

7:47

then, the most important thing was

7:49

finding Christina, so they took

7:51

any help they could get. While

7:54

the police dealt with Frank, Christina's

7:57

father, Gary White, braced to a

7:59

sotan to join the search. By

8:01

the time he arrived in town, he had

8:03

his own theory. Someone from

8:05

the county fair kidnapped Christina. He

8:08

tried to get the police to search

8:10

the trailers and campers, but there wasn't

8:12

enough evidence to obtain warrants. Gary

8:15

was frustrated, but he

8:17

had another idea. He asked

8:19

a local man, Jim Pope, for a

8:21

favor. Jim owned a

8:23

helicopter, and Gary thought

8:25

they might have an easier time spotting clues

8:27

from above. So they took

8:29

the chopper all over the county. In

8:32

the air, Gary kept his eyes

8:34

peeled, desperate to find his daughter. They

8:37

didn't see anything. But

8:39

Gary wasn't giving up. When

8:42

the carnival left town, he followed

8:44

it 150 miles to the Tri -Cities

8:46

area. He conducted his

8:48

own informal investigation, going

8:50

through the fairgrounds and questioning everyone

8:52

he could. Still,

8:54

nobody knew anything about

8:56

his daughter. Gary

8:59

was devastated. And

9:01

it wasn't just Christina's parents

9:04

who were heartbroken. Her

9:06

disappearance passed a shadow on the

9:08

whole community. A sotan used

9:10

to be a place where kids played in the

9:12

streets, somewhere children could

9:14

run around without supervision. Now

9:17

everyone was on edge, everyone

9:19

wanted answers. But

9:21

as the weeks turned into months,

9:23

then years, it seems like

9:25

they might never know what happened to Christina. Her

9:28

case went cold, and slowly,

9:31

the townspeople convinced themselves that her

9:33

disappearance was a one -off event.

9:36

That is, until a

9:38

second girl went missing. She

9:41

was last seen in Lewiston,

9:43

Idaho, on June 26th, 1981.

9:46

Lewiston is a bigger city than

9:48

Esoten, with a population of around

9:51

28 ,000. But both towns

9:53

are in the Lewiston Clark Valley, and

9:55

what happens in one affects the

9:57

other. That day, James

9:59

Archibald was driving through Lewiston when something

10:01

on the side of the road

10:03

caught his eye. A

10:05

young blonde woman sprawled out on

10:07

the ground, apparently unconscious. Her

10:10

bike was strewn to the side with

10:12

the back wheel still spinning. Nearby,

10:15

a van pulled over. It must

10:17

have hit her. And the accident

10:19

just happened because the driver was still

10:21

getting out of his car. Archibald

10:23

saw the driver had toward the young

10:25

woman. He smiled at James, as

10:28

if to say. All's good here.

10:31

James considered stopping to help, but he

10:33

kept driving. He figured

10:35

he'd be more helpful calling 911, so

10:37

he hurried home and called for help. He

10:40

reported the accident to the 911

10:42

operator. Blonde biker, van,

10:45

the driver around six feet tall,

10:47

maybe 150 pounds. Paramedics

10:49

rushed to the scene. When

10:52

they got there, there was

10:54

no woman. No man,

10:56

no van, no bike, nothing.

11:00

Authorities thought James made the story

11:02

up, and they chewed him out

11:04

for his so -called false report. But

11:07

James held firm he knew what

11:09

he saw. After the

11:11

fact, he wished he'd stopped and

11:13

done more. Now he

11:15

had no idea what happened to the young

11:18

woman or who she even was. The

11:21

answer came a week later on the 4th

11:23

of July. The fisherman

11:25

was having a peaceful, pleasant day

11:27

on the Snake River. That

11:29

was until he saw a garbage

11:31

bag washed up on the shore stuffed

11:33

to the brim. The

11:35

fisherman put down his rod, opened

11:38

the bag, and found

11:40

newspapers tightly wrapped around an object.

11:43

He unraveled them and could not

11:45

believe his eyes. Megan

11:53

Trainor, Laundry Retrainer.

11:55

Megan Trainor? You're tossing out

11:58

my gunky laundry detergent bottle? Booy,

12:01

it's got that booty that

12:03

you see boom, boom, that

12:05

gun right alive. Armin

12:08

Hammer Power Sheets, toss

12:10

like this. Cause I

12:12

toss like this, I wash like this. It's

12:15

an enormous laundry blitz. Armin

12:18

Hammer Power Sheets, more power

12:20

to you. On

12:25

July 4th, 1981, a fisherman enjoying

12:27

his holiday on the Snake River

12:29

found a washed -up garbage bag

12:31

and opened it up. He

12:34

pulled back newspapers to discover

12:36

a young woman's dead body. He

12:38

called the police who raced to the

12:41

river to investigate. Officers

12:43

examined the remains and they

12:45

quickly realized it wasn't a whole

12:47

body, just one part. The

12:50

victim was dismembered. They

12:53

scoured the river. And before

12:55

long, they found five other

12:57

bags, all with additional body parts,

12:59

seemingly belonging to the same

13:01

young woman. They brought them

13:03

back to the lab for testing, and

13:06

eventually ID'd the victim, Kristen

13:08

David. Kristen

13:10

was a 22 -year -old journalism

13:12

major at the nearby University of

13:14

Idaho. Her parents

13:16

described her as a loving, responsible

13:19

young woman who was especially

13:21

close to her younger siblings. One

13:24

of her favorite hobbies was bicycling.

13:26

She'd go on rides for hours. On

13:29

the day she went missing, she was

13:31

biking 40 miles from her school

13:33

in Moscow, Idaho to her hometown of

13:35

Lewiston. When Kristen didn't

13:37

show up for work, her

13:39

family immediately knew something was wrong

13:41

and reported her missing. However,

13:44

the Lewiston police waited 48 hours

13:46

to begin an official search. This

13:49

is especially tragic in hindsight.

13:51

Because it's possible Kristen was the

13:53

young, injured blonde woman James

13:55

Archibald saw while he was driving.

13:59

By the time body was recovered, over

14:01

a week had passed since Kristen David

14:03

was last seen, and the trail

14:05

had otherwise gone cold. Beyond

14:08

her body, the only evidence

14:10

was the newspapers and trash bags she

14:12

was wrapped in. Officials

14:14

hoped they could salvage a DNA sample

14:16

from the newspapers, but it would be a

14:18

long shot. With the

14:20

technology available in 1981, they'd

14:22

need to get a sample, then compare

14:25

it against a suspect's DNA. Meaning

14:27

that, without a suspect, the

14:30

evidence was useless. But

14:32

law enforcement still had to

14:34

try. Kristen David's case

14:36

became a top priority for

14:39

multiple jurisdictions. Two

14:41

states and three separate counties searched for

14:43

her killer. Eventually, even

14:45

the FBI got involved. Yet

14:47

all this manpower uncovered

14:49

nothing. No clues,

14:51

no potential suspects. Kristen

14:54

David's case hit a dead end. It

14:57

was difficult for the community to

14:59

swallow. The Lewis

15:01

Clark Valley was once a safe haven.

15:04

Now it felt like the setting for a

15:07

horror movie. Locals couldn't

15:09

help but connect Kristen David's story

15:11

to Christina White's the 12 -year -old who

15:13

disappeared on her way home from

15:15

the county fair two years before. What

15:18

if Christina suffered the same

15:20

terrible fate? It

15:23

felt like anybody's daughter could

15:25

be next. A

15:27

chilling thought that soon became

15:29

reality. Less than

15:31

a year later, three more

15:33

people vanished from the Lewis -Clark

15:36

Valley. On

15:38

the evening of September 12,

15:40

1982, 21 -year -old Christina

15:42

Nelson and her stepsister, 18 -year

15:44

-old Brandy Miller, hung out

15:46

at home in Lewiston. Both

15:48

young women were known as kind

15:51

and bubbly. Christina Nelson

15:53

dreamed of becoming a veterinarian. Brandy

15:56

was in her senior year of high school. That

15:59

evening, they decided to run some errands.

16:01

They didn't want to worry their parents,

16:03

so they left a note saying they

16:05

were going to the shop. They

16:08

walked out the front door and

16:10

were never seen again. This

16:13

was the third disappearance in an

16:15

area where things like this never

16:18

happened. Naturally, people thought

16:20

it was related to the previous

16:22

two disappearances. But something

16:24

was different this time. Christina

16:26

White and Kristen David both went

16:29

missing while biking alone. Christina

16:31

Nelson and Brandi Miller were

16:33

two young women who vanished together.

16:36

There's more. The same night Christina

16:38

Nelson and Brandi Miller went

16:40

missing, a local man also disappeared

16:42

from Lewiston, 35 -year -old

16:45

Steven Pearsall. Police

16:47

immediately noticed that Steven didn't

16:49

match the established victim profile. Up

16:52

to this point, they'd all been girls or

16:54

young women. Steven was a

16:56

man in his mid -30s. For

16:59

law enforcement, this was a red

17:01

flag. Then another popped

17:03

up. Steven knew

17:05

Christina Nelson and Brandi. He was

17:07

a janitor at the Lewiston

17:09

Civic Theater, where Nelson worked part

17:11

-time and Brandy often stopped by.

17:14

Detectives wondered, maybe Steven

17:17

was the killer they'd been looking

17:19

for. He quickly became the

17:21

prime suspect, not just in

17:23

Christina Nelson and Brandy's case, but

17:25

all three crimes. Officers

17:28

talked to Steven's girlfriend. She

17:31

said, on the night of his disappearance, they

17:33

went to a party together. Afterward,

17:35

she dropped Stephen off at the Civic

17:37

Theater to do laundry and practice his

17:39

clarinet. Apparently, the

17:42

clarinet was Stephen's most prized

17:44

possession. According to his

17:46

family and friends, there is no way

17:48

he would have left town without it. And

17:50

yet, police found his clarinet in Lewiston.

17:53

They also discovered his car still in

17:55

town, along with a number of

17:57

uncashed paychecks. Detectives

18:00

faltered. Maybe they had the

18:02

wrong idea. As the

18:04

days went on, a more likely

18:06

scenario emerged. Steven

18:08

wasn't responsible. He was

18:10

probably a victim himself. With

18:13

Steven Pierson reclassified as a

18:16

missing person, detectives started

18:18

over from scratch. Eventually,

18:20

they determined a new person

18:22

of interest. Frank, the

18:25

man who offered to help search for

18:27

12 -year -old Christina White, the one

18:29

police had been suspicious of for years. It's

18:32

not clear how authorities narrowed in

18:34

on Frank, but one way

18:36

or another, it came to their attention that he

18:38

had a connection to all five victims. He

18:41

lived in the same neighborhood as

18:43

Christina White. She'd been to his

18:45

home before. Some sources even

18:47

told police they saw her at his house

18:49

the day she went missing. And

18:52

Kristen David, the 22 -year -old who

18:54

disappeared on her bike ride, might have

18:56

also known him. She spent a

18:59

few summers working at the same theater

19:01

as Frank. That's

19:03

also how we knew Christina Nelson,

19:05

Brandy, and Stephen. The

19:07

three of them all either worked or

19:09

socialized at the theater, where Frank also

19:11

worked and performed. According

19:14

to FBI agent Bradley Garrett, who

19:16

joined the case later on, it's

19:18

unusual for a serial killer to target

19:20

victims they know personally, but

19:23

it's not impossible. And

19:25

for Agent Garrett, That's what makes

19:27

this case so fascinating. If

19:29

the authorities' suspicions were correct, Frank

19:32

was a unique killer. So

19:34

detectives brought Frank in for questioning. Their

19:37

working theory was that he'd been at a bar

19:39

in Lewiston when he saw Nelson and Brandy walk

19:41

by. He might have offered them

19:43

a lift home, and because they knew him, they

19:45

accepted. At that point, he

19:47

brought them back to the theater where he

19:49

had enough privacy to kill them. Frank

19:52

didn't anticipate that anyone else would

19:54

show up at the theater, especially so

19:56

late at night. When

19:58

Stephen's girlfriend dropped him off, Frank

20:00

killed him, so there wouldn't be any

20:02

witnesses. That's the idea,

20:04

at least. But for every

20:06

question investigators threw at Frank, he

20:09

gave a quick answer. He

20:11

admitted he went to the theater

20:13

that night, but told detectives a story

20:15

about accidentally injuring himself and then

20:17

taking a nap. He claimed

20:19

he was asleep and never heard

20:22

Nelson, Brandy, or Stephen enter the building.

20:25

Later, he said he did move his

20:27

car around back to load something up,

20:29

but he swore it was just his

20:31

tools. Everything

20:33

about this story felt too

20:35

convenient to investigators, but it's

20:38

not enough to arrest Frank, and

20:40

as of 2025, he's never

20:42

been charged for any crimes related to

20:44

the murders. He also

20:46

declined interview requests. With Frank

20:48

free to go, investigators were at

20:50

a loss. For

20:52

the next 18 months, there were

20:54

no new leads. Five

20:57

people were gone, one

20:59

most definitely murdered. In

21:01

all likelihood, this was an

21:03

active serial killer. And

21:05

it felt like there was nothing anyone

21:08

could do. Tension

21:10

built until March 1984. A

21:13

15 -year -old boy named Marvin Mead

21:15

went out to collect cans. He

21:18

stopped on a remote property about

21:20

40 miles away from Lewiston. After

21:22

grabbing the cans, he

21:24

walked through the tree line back to his truck.

21:28

Just then, a branch knocked his

21:30

hat off. It

21:32

blew down the hill and stopped

21:34

near a strange gray object. Marvin

21:37

figured it was an animal bone, and

21:39

he thought, hey, that would be cool to

21:41

have on display. So we

21:43

reached down to pick it up, only

21:45

to realize it was

21:47

a human skull. Horrified,

21:51

Marvin alerted the police. When

21:54

crime scene technicians got there, they

21:57

made another grisly discovery. It

21:59

wasn't just one skull, there

22:02

were two badly decomposed bodies.

22:05

Detectives sent the remains back to the

22:07

lab for testing. Through the clothing

22:10

and jewelry found with the bodies, they could

22:12

ID them. Sure enough, it

22:14

was Christina Nelson and Brandy Miller. A

22:18

year and a half after the women

22:20

went missing, the police finally

22:22

had some answers, just

22:24

not the ones they wanted. Christina

22:28

Nelson and Brandy Miller's case was

22:30

now a murder investigation. Detectives

22:32

brought Franken for another round

22:34

of questioning, this time as an

22:37

official suspect. He

22:39

repeated his claims. He

22:41

didn't see or hear Nelson, Brandy, or

22:43

Stephen come into the theater that night,

22:45

but given the layout of the building

22:47

and where Frank said he was sleeping,

22:50

that seems nearly impossible. Investigators

22:53

kept pressing. Frank

22:55

was nervous and fidgety. Every

22:58

time he repeated his story,

23:00

details changed. Detectives still

23:02

thought he was hiding something. But

23:05

they didn't have any physical evidence

23:07

to tie him to Nelson and Brandi's

23:09

murders. Without that, they

23:11

needed a confession, and Frank

23:13

wasn't going to give one. So

23:16

once again, Frank was free to

23:18

go. This

23:20

frustrated the police, especially after

23:22

they looked into Frank's past. It

23:25

doesn't paint him in a very good light. For

23:27

example, his acquaintances recalled that a

23:29

woman he once dated died by

23:31

suicide. Frank was the one who

23:33

discovered her body. At

23:36

the time, her loved ones wrote

23:38

it off as an unexplainable tragedy. But

23:41

as news came out about the Lewis

23:43

Clark Valley murders, they noticed

23:45

it was awfully suspicious that so

23:47

much violence and death surrounded

23:49

one man. They wondered

23:51

if Frank was capable of murder. There's

23:55

also the fact that Frank had a

23:57

criminal record in California. While

23:59

he was living there, A

24:01

17 -year -old girl died under suspicious

24:03

circumstances. A day or

24:05

two later, Frank was arrested for

24:07

breaking into the funeral home where her

24:09

body was being kept. He'd

24:11

been carrying a hunting knife. His

24:14

behavior didn't improve even after

24:16

the police interrogated him. At

24:18

some point in the mid -1980s, Frank

24:20

put his house up for sale. A

24:23

local woman came to check it out. It

24:26

went fine, except that he kept

24:28

insisting she come see the basement.

24:31

Eventually, she agreed and they headed

24:33

down. On their way down,

24:36

she turned around to say something to him,

24:38

and he quickly dropped his arm. He

24:40

was holding something raised above his

24:42

head. He tried to play it

24:44

off, but she told him to show her his

24:47

hands. Reluctantly,

24:49

he revealed a bedpost finial.

24:52

It's not an obvious weapon,

24:54

but the woman was terrified. She

24:57

later said she couldn't help but

24:59

think if she hadn't turned around at

25:01

just the right moment, Frank

25:03

might have murdered her. So

25:06

the community and the police never

25:08

stopped considering Frank as suspect. They

25:10

couldn't shake their suspicion, but they

25:12

also couldn't find any proof. Then

25:15

in 1990, a man

25:17

named John Jeffers took over as the

25:19

Assaulton County Sheriff. Bright

25:21

eyed and determined, he

25:23

hoped to solve the area's most haunting

25:25

cold cases. And he wanted

25:28

to try something different. See,

25:31

up until this point, all the

25:33

investigations were handled by different agencies. Christina

25:36

White's case was under the jurisdiction

25:38

of the Assotan County Sheriff's Department. Kristen

25:41

David's was split between various

25:43

local, state, and federal agencies.

25:46

And the Civic Theater Trio was in the

25:48

hands of the Lewiston PD. Not

25:51

an efficient way to run things.

25:53

Sheriff Jeffers was all too aware, especially

25:56

because, as far as he could

25:58

tell, law enforcement organizations were

26:00

all looking at the same person

26:02

of interest. Frank. The

26:05

Assaulton County Sheriff's Department and Lewiston

26:07

PD agreed to pool their resources in

26:09

hopes of finding a breakthrough. And

26:12

that's when they got a tip

26:14

that sent shivers down their spines.

26:22

In 1990, the Esoten

26:25

and Lewiston police departments made a

26:27

huge discovery. Frank, their

26:29

main person of interest, had just poured

26:31

a layer of concrete into the basement

26:33

of one of his properties. A

26:36

chilling development. Authorities worried

26:38

he was trying to hide something

26:40

beneath that concrete. Not

26:42

missing a beat, they obtained a search

26:44

warrant and arrived at Frank's property with

26:46

radars and cadaver dogs in tow. Despite

26:49

the impulse to tear up every last

26:51

inch of the basement, Assaulton

26:53

County Sheriff John Jeffers was

26:56

methodical. He and his team

26:58

tested different areas, using specialized equipment

27:00

to look for aberrations or empty

27:02

spaces beneath the concrete, signs

27:04

that they should start digging. They

27:07

narrowed in on one spot they believed was big

27:09

enough to hide a body, and

27:11

Jeffers ordered his men to start excavating.

27:14

As the dig started, he

27:16

watched and waited. Positive,

27:18

this was the moment they'd all been waiting

27:20

for. Finally, he could

27:22

put this case to bed and send

27:24

the man responsible to prison. When

27:27

the digging was done, no

27:29

one said anything. Sheriff

27:32

Jeffers stepped forward and peered

27:34

into the ground. Nothing

27:36

was there. This

27:39

marked the end of an era. Authorities

27:42

didn't have probable cause to question

27:44

Frank again or to search any more

27:46

of his properties. Until

27:48

they could find something more definitive,

27:50

they had to stop investigating him. So

27:53

the cases went cold. Although

27:55

Christina White and Stephen Pearsle's bodies

27:57

hadn't been found by this point,

28:00

most people assumed they were dead. Because

28:03

of this, all five cases

28:05

became known as the Lewis Clark Valley

28:07

murders. Over the

28:09

coming decades, most of the officers

28:11

who worked the original investigations

28:13

retired. The pain

28:15

of the crimes dulled. but nobody

28:18

in the valley forgot. Then,

28:21

in the 2000s, a new

28:24

detective joined the Assotan County

28:26

Sheriff's Office. Her

28:28

name was Jackie Nichols, and

28:30

she breathed new life into the cold cases. Since

28:33

she was based in Assotan, she's

28:35

specifically focused on Christina White. Although

28:38

nearly 30 years had passed since

28:40

her disappearance, Jackie considered

28:42

it her job to figure

28:44

out what happened. She hoped to

28:46

finally give Christina's family answers. So

28:49

she poured over all the evidence.

28:52

She re -interviewed the witnesses. She

28:54

retraced the steps of both the victims

28:56

and her prime person of interest. Like

28:59

her predecessors, she believed

29:01

Frank was responsible for at least

29:03

four of the disappearances and deaths. In

29:06

her mind, there was only one

29:08

that could potentially be the work of

29:10

another second killer. That's Kristen

29:12

David's case. the 22 -year -old who

29:14

went missing on her bike ride. Jackie

29:17

thought the way Kristen's body was dismembered

29:19

didn't match the MO in the other

29:21

cases. So

29:23

Jackie looked into a lead for a

29:25

potential suspect, a convicted murderer

29:27

named Harry Hantman. In

29:30

1968, when Hantman was college -aged, he

29:32

was arrested for the rape and murder

29:34

of an 11 -year -old girl. He

29:36

pleaded not guilty by reason of

29:38

insanity and was sentenced to stay in

29:40

a psychiatric hospital. Five years

29:42

later, he escaped and went on

29:44

the run. He

29:46

spent the next two decades hiding out in

29:49

a cabin on the Idaho -Oregon border. It's

29:51

about a hundred miles away from the Lewis

29:53

Clark Valley, but still close enough that he

29:55

could have easily made a day trip. Eventually,

29:59

Handman was caught and returned to prison

30:01

in 1993. But that

30:04

was 12 years after Kristen David's

30:06

death. It's possible he killed

30:08

her. So Jackie went to

30:10

Handman's old cabin and searched the place.

30:13

As she walked to the grounds, she

30:15

spotted something half buried in the

30:17

earth. The remains of

30:19

black trash bags disintegrated like

30:21

they'd been sitting there for

30:23

years. Jackie couldn't

30:25

help but think, maybe

30:27

these are the same garbage bags used

30:29

to wrap up Kristen's dismembered body. It

30:32

was a glimmer of hope. Remember,

30:35

Years earlier, police thought they might

30:37

be able to get DNA from

30:39

the garbage bags or newspapers, and

30:42

genetic technology had advanced a

30:44

lot by the 2000s. If

30:46

samples of these items still existed, police

30:49

might be able to salvage DNA

30:51

from them and compare it to Handman's

30:53

genetic profile. But

30:55

there was a major problem. Jackie

30:57

had no idea where the

31:00

original garbage bags and newspapers even

31:02

were. Certainly not in

31:04

evidence storage, and there was actually

31:06

a pretty good chance they'd been thrown out

31:08

in the last four decades. In

31:11

the end, Jackie's discovery didn't amount

31:13

to much. But it wasn't

31:15

a dead end, because Jackie wasn't

31:17

the only one searching for answers. Remember

31:20

Christina Nelson? Her

31:22

cousin, Gloria Boebert, devoted her

31:24

life to finding answers for

31:26

all the victims' families. Like

31:29

Jackie and the authorities, Gloria

31:31

believed Frank was guilty, but

31:34

she also thought there were more

31:36

than just five victims. With

31:38

his history of violence, she was

31:40

convinced Frank had to be responsible for

31:42

other murders. If she

31:44

could find proof of that, it might help prosecute

31:46

him in the valley. Gloria's

31:49

mission took her all the way to

31:52

Chicago, where she looked into the 1963

31:54

murder of an eight -year -old girl. The

31:57

victim was last seen alive at a

31:59

local YMCA, the same place

32:01

Frank worked as a youth camp counselor. At

32:04

the time, Chicago police

32:06

questioned nearly everyone in the

32:08

neighborhood, including 15 -year -old Frank, but

32:11

he was never a real suspect. The

32:14

cops thought they were looking for someone much older.

32:18

Gloria sent everything she learned to

32:20

Detective Jackie Nichols. And

32:22

the more Jackie read about it, the more

32:24

she thought Gloria was on to something. Jackie

32:28

called up her counterparts in Chicago and

32:30

shared the details of her investigation. From

32:33

there, the FBI stepped in. They

32:36

asked for all of Jackie's notes and files.

32:39

Then they took over. As

32:42

we mentioned at the beginning, the

32:44

investigation is currently in the hands of the

32:46

FBI. They continued to gather

32:48

clues in hopes of prosecuting the killer. Meanwhile,

32:51

in the Lewis Clark Valley, life

32:54

was permanently altered. Kristen

32:57

David, Brandi Miller, and Christina

32:59

Nelson were all found and returned

33:01

to their families. But

33:03

to this day, Christina White

33:05

and Stephen Purcell have never

33:07

been located. Christina's

33:10

father, Gary White, held out hope

33:12

that Christina was still alive until the

33:14

day he died. In

33:17

the 2011 documentary, Confluence,

33:19

he told filmmakers, quote,

33:23

you just sit there and hope that

33:25

somewhere down the line she'll surface and

33:27

will be a happy lady. She

33:29

was born in 1967 and so

33:32

you know she's a young woman now

33:34

if she's still alive. Who

33:37

can blame him for hoping? Sometimes

33:40

that's the only way to

33:42

deal with such terrifying senseless

33:44

violence. to hope some

33:46

of the victims will turn up safe,

33:48

to hope answers will be found, to

33:51

hope justice will be served. These

33:53

crimes serve as a constant

33:55

reminder that evil lingers in the

33:57

safest places. There's no

34:00

turning back from that loss of innocence.

34:02

And there's no forgetting, only

34:05

processing. One

34:07

local, who was a kid when

34:09

the murders happened, recalled hearing a rumor

34:11

about a certain man. a danger

34:13

in their midst. He

34:15

said in a later interview, kids and

34:18

teens knew to stay away from him, even

34:20

if the police couldn't arrest him. That

34:22

kid, Brian Fuller, grew

34:24

up to create TV shows like Pushing

34:26

Daisies, Dead Like Me and

34:28

Hannibal, which is about serial killers. His

34:32

childhood memories influenced those shows. By

34:35

the time Fuller moved to Hollywood, there

34:37

was no illusion that the Lewis Clark

34:39

Valley was a safe place where nothing

34:41

ever happened. It was an

34:43

inspiration for horror stories. As

34:46

Lewiston reporter Sandra Lee put

34:48

it in the 2018 documentary Cold

34:50

Valley, these cases, how

34:52

can they go away? They

34:54

still all have family here and they

34:56

all have friends and we all

34:58

know those cases and if we didn't

35:00

know those people before, we feel

35:02

like we know them now because they've

35:04

become part of our lives. What

35:06

happened is forever a part of this

35:08

community. If

35:17

you have any information related

35:19

to this case, please go

35:21

to tips .fbi .gov or call

35:23

1 -800 -CALL -FBI. Thanks

35:26

for listening to Serial Killers. We're

35:28

here with a new episode every Monday.

35:31

Be sure to check us out on Instagram,

35:33

at Serial Killers podcast, and we'd love

35:35

to hear from you. So if you're listening

35:37

on the Spotify app, swipe up and

35:39

give us your thoughts. For more

35:41

information on the Lewis Clark Valley murders, amongst

35:44

the many sources we used,

35:46

we found the documentaries Confluence and

35:48

Cold Valley extremely helpful to

35:50

our research. Stay safe

35:53

out there. Aggy

36:00

Admire, fact -checked by Hailey Millican,

36:02

researched by Mickey Taylor, video

36:04

edited by Spencer Howard, and sound

36:06

designed by Kelly Gary. I'm

36:09

Janice Morgan.