November 28, 2004. Nairn, Scotland. An unidentified man arrives at the front door of 30-year old Alistair Wilson and hands him an empty envelope with the name “Paul” written on it. The man shoots Alistair three times and takes the envelope back before fleeing the scene and the murder weapon is found in a nearby drain ten days later. Investigators explore a number of different theories and eventually conclude that the crime might be connected to a dispute over a decking area at a hotel pub located across the street from Alistair’s home. Police believe that at least two people were involved in the murder and have one potential suspect in mind, but the crime is never solved. On this week’s episode of “The Trail Went Cold”, we explore one of the most bizarre cold cases in the history of Scotland. Special thanks to listener Alison Simmonds for narrating the opening of this episode.

Additional Reading:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Alistair_Wilson

"To Catch a Killer - My Hunt for the Truth Behind the Doorstep Murder" by Peter Bleksley

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-42056011

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/resources/idt-sh/the_doorstep_murder_alistair_wilson

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-61215644

https://www.thetimes.com/article/two-men-could-have-been-behind-unsolved-murder-of-banker-alistair-wilson-qspbcrwkq

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0r884dlgpno

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/sep/21/family-of-banker-alistair-wilson-murdered-20-years-ago-rebuke-incompetent-police-scotland

https://www.inverness-courier.co.uk/news/police-officer-in-nairn-murder-investigation-found-guilty-of-366536/

https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/new-alistair-wilson-murder-evidence-34174176

https://news.sky.com/story/alistair-wilson-20th-anniversary-of-bankers-doorstep-murder-as-police-reject-callous-handling-of-unsolved-shooting-13257633

“The Trail Went Cold” will be appearing at the AdvocacyCon, taking place at the Indianapolis Marriott East in Indianapolis on March 28-30, 2025. To get a 10 % discount on tickets, please use our specialized promo code, “TRAIL10”, by visiting https://www.advocacycon.com/.

“The Trail Went Cold” is going to be appearing on podcast row at Crimecon UK” in London on June 7-8, 2024. To get a 10 % discount on tickets, please use our specialized promo code, “TRAIL10”, by visiting Crimecon.co.uk.

“The Trail Went Cold” is on Patreon. Visit www.patreon.com/thetrailwentcold to become a patron and gain access to our exclusive bonus content.

The Trail Went Cold is produced and edited by Magill Foote.

All music is composed by Vince Nitro.

November 19, 2006. Littleton, Colorado. First Lieutenant Nonnie Dotson, a 33-year old nurse with the United States Air Force, has travelled from San Antonio, Texas to Colorado with her infant daughter and is saying with her brother, Tony Dotson. Nonnie leaves Tony’s residence in order to presumably travel to a nearby shopping center, but she never returns. Even though police track Nonnie’s cell phone signal and her scent to a nearby field, no trace of her can be found. Investigators explore a number of different angles, including the possibility that Nonnie was harmed by a stalker, the estranged father of her child, and even her own brother, but she remains a missing person. On this week’s episode of “The Trail Went Cold”, we explore a baffling unsolved disappearance in which the victim seemingly vanished into thin air.

Additional Reading:

https://charleyproject.org/case/nonnie-ann-dotson

https://www.crimelibrary.org/criminal_mind/forensics/nonnie_dotson/1_index.html

https://transcripts.cnn.com/show/ng/date/2011-03-23/segment/01

https://www.denverpost.com/2006/12/06/ex-beau-of-missing-nurse-quizzed/

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/case-of-missing-air-force-nurse-grows-cold/

https://www.denverpost.com/2007/11/27/missing-moms-trail-goes-cold/

https://www.9news.com/article/news/crime/something-happened-to-her-family-wants-answers-10-years-after-single-moms-disappearance/73-437111811

https://kdvr.com/news/colorado-cold-cases/cold-case-have-you-seen-this-woman-missing-since-2006/

https://www.denverpost.com/2014/01/17/man-gets-96-to-life-in-break-in-sexual-assault/

https://www.westword.com/news/rapist-tony-dotson-guilty-in-murder-for-hire-bid-against-victimand-sister-is-still-missing-6283026

“The Trail Went Cold” will be appearing at the AdvocacyCon, taking place at the Indianapolis Marriott East in Indianapolis on March 28-30, 2025. To get a 10 % discount on tickets, please use our specialized promo code, “TRAIL10”, by visiting https://www.advocacycon.com/.

“The Trail Went Cold” is going to be appearing on podcast row at Crimecon UK” in London on June 7-8, 2024. To get a 10 % discount on tickets, please use our specialized promo code, “TRAIL10”, by visiting Crimecon.co.uk.

“The Trail Went Cold” is on Patreon. Visit www.patreon.com/thetrailwentcold to become a patron and gain access to our exclusive bonus content.

The Trail Went Cold is produced and edited by Magill Foote.

All music is composed by Vince Nitro.

If you like highly detailed and thoroughly researched podcasts, you will love “DNA: ID”. The show has over 100 episodes available to binge on right now. This is a sneak preview of Episode 122 (https://www.abjackentertainment.com/dna-id/9xglar65zhwgblh), which covers the case of Patricia Stichler.

New Years’ Day 1985 should have rung in an exciting new year for Patti Stichler and her three young daughters. Instead, in the middle of the night on January 1-2, someone slashed and stabbed Patti to death in her bedroom. Her three girls, ages 11, 9 and 6, were in their bedrooms just feet away. The oldest, Andrea, was the one to find her mom, and also found the most significant clue the police had – the open window in the blood-stained bathroom, and the gaping curtains that had been cut away from it. A knife sheath was found right outside, but the killer eluded police for decades. Sylvania, OH investigators focused on people Patti knew, but could not link anyone in her inner circle to the crime. Decades later, a very complex forensic genealogy analysis that required interpreting one-sided DNA matches, piercing adoption records, and a lot of luck, finally provided a name – and it was not who anyone suspected.

For all things “DNA: ID,” including past episodes, news, and more, please visit the show’s homepage (https://www.abjackentertainment.com/). “DNA: ID” is available on all major podcast apps and players; please subscribe to the show on your favorite app, so you don’t miss a single episode. An all-new season begins in January, 2025.

March 2, 1996. Culpepper County, Virginia. After leaving her home in Baltimore, Maryland in order to drive to Charlottesville, 25-year old Alicia Showalter Reynolds goes missing and her abandoned car is found alongside U.S. Route 29. Eyewitnesses report having seen Alicia speaking with an unidentified man in a pick-up truck and it becomes apparent that he may have tricked Alicia into pulling over before abducting her. Two months later, Alicia’s body is discovered in a remote field and while it is theorized that she fell prey to a killer known as the “Route 29 Stalker”, no one is ever charged with her murder. On this week’s episode of “The Trail Went Cold”, we explore the death of Alicia Showalter Reynolds, a crime which has had some compelling suspects over the years, but remains unsolved.

If you have any information about this case, please contact the Virginia State Police Culpepper Division at 1-800-572-2260 or the Virginia State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigation at 1-888-300-0156.

Additional Reading:

https://unsolved.com/gallery/alicia-showalter/

https://unsolvedmysteries.fandom.com/wiki/Alicia_Showalter_Reynolds

https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1996/05/09/culpeper-body-is-that-of-md-woman/b7b731e7-0d2f-4389-9a8c-40bb178e60c2/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1996/11/16/their-name-linked-to-stalker-larry-breedens-bear-a-burden/8f991bdb-3940-48cd-a3a1-1ef188dcbd2e/?utm_term=.c800767169fd

https://scholar.lib.vt.edu/VA-news/ROA-Times/issues/1997/rt9703/970302/03030076.htm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missing_persons_cases_along_U.S._Route_29_in_Virginia

https://www.nvdaily.com/nvdaily/police-continue-to-search-for-alicia-reynolds-killer/article_645eff83-4236-5969-afd3-3ef583a5dd9d.html

https://www.29news.com/2021/05/07/family-alicia-showalter-reynolds-still-looking-answers-years-after-her-death/

https://dailyprogress.com/news/community/madisonnews/police-continue-to-investigate-showalter-reynolds-homicide/article_d857aa78-da96-11ee-a14a-0b1ad05a8707.html

https://pix11.com/news/suspect-sketch-in-1996-virginia-murder-looks-like-accused-gilgo-killer-victims-family-says/

https://www.fredericksburgfreepress.com/2024/03/01/state-police-continue-to-investigate-the-disappearance-and-homicide-of-alicia-showalter-reynolds/

“The Trail Went Cold” will be appearing at the AdvocacyCon, taking place at the Indianapolis Marriott East in Indianapolis on March 28-30, 2025. To get a 10 % discount on tickets, please use our specialized promo code, “TRAIL10”, by visiting https://www.advocacycon.com/.

“The Trail Went Cold” is on Patreon. Visit www.patreon.com/thetrailwentcold to become a patron and gain access to our exclusive bonus content.

The Trail Went Cold is produced and edited by Magill Foote.

All music is composed by Vince Nitro.

Since “The Trail Went Cold” originally launched in February 2016, we have featured nearly 500 cold cases on the podcast, a number of which have wound up being solved or have experienced major developments. As a result, we have now released a total of six special “update” episodes and this is our second episode about updates which took place in 2024. This time around, we’ll share major developments in such cases as the 1996 murders of Julie Williams and Lollie Winans, the 2000 disappearance of Asha Degree and the 1995 disappearance of Morgan Nick. These are just some of the cases we’ll be discussing on our sixth “update” episode of “The Trail Went Cold”.

Here are the links to our three previous “update” episodes: https://trailwentcold.podbean.com/e/the-trail-went-cold-episode-155-update/ https://trailwentcold.podbean.com/e/the-trail-went-cold-episode-257-update-part-2/ https://trailwentcold.podbean.com/e/the-trail-went-cold-episode-310-update-part-3/ https://trailwentcold.podbean.com/e/the-trail-went-cold-episode-359-update-part-4/ https://trailwentcold.podbean.com/e/the-trail-went-cold-episode-369-update-part-5/

“The Trail Went Cold” will be appearing at the AdvocacyCon, taking place at the Indianapolis Marriott East in Indianapolis on March 28-30, 2025. To get a 10 % discount on tickets, please use our specialized promo code, “TRAIL10”, by visiting https://www.advocacycon.com/.

“The Trail Went Cold” is on Patreon. Visit www.patreon.com/thetrailwentcold to become a patron and gain access to our exclusive bonus content.

The Trail Went Cold is produced and edited by Magill Foote.

All music is composed by Vince Nitro.

On this special holiday bonus episode titled “True Crime Convos”, “The Trail Went Cold” has been teamed up with two other fellow true crime podcasters to converse about our various experiences in the medium. Join me as I chat with Melissa of the “Navigating Advocacy Podcast” and Robert Parmer of “The Broken System Podcast” about such topics as researching cold cases, working with victims’ families, and even some of the more bizarre things we’ve experienced as podcasters.

“The Trail Went Cold” will be appearing at the AdvocacyCon, taking place at the Indianapolis Marriott East in Indianapolis on March 28-30, 2025. To get a 10 % discount on tickets, please use our specialized promo code, “TRAIL10”, by visiting https://www.advocacycon.com/.

“The Trail Went Cold” is on Patreon. Visit www.patreon.com/thetrailwentcold to become a patron and gain access to our exclusive bonus content.

The Trail Went Cold is produced and edited by Magill Foote.

All music is composed by Vince Nitro.