The Disappearance of Michael Bullinger: Unraveling the 2017 Triple Homicide Tragedy | Forensic Files

Hi, crime junkies. I'm your host, Ashley Flowers, and [music] I'm solo today. Well, not technically solo. I am with
Maggie today. But anyways, even though Brit's not here, I didn't want that to stop me from telling you guys this story
because the one I have for you today is so wild it might sound like I'm describing the plot of [music] this
year's hottest blockbuster release, but I promise it's all true. And one of the biggest leads in the case came from a
crime junkie just like you who trusted their instincts. And we might be just one [music] crime junkie tip away from
finally knowing what happened to the now [music] infamous pilot who murdered his
wife, his secret lover, and her daughter and then vanished into the wilderness. Did he meet his end in the [music]
forest? Or did this man use his survivalist and flying skills to launch a new life? Opinions are [music] split,
but we have brand new information that's never been reported before that might finally help [music] determine where in
the world is Michael Bullinger. July 12th, 2017 is shaping up to be a typical workday for 17-year-old Gina
Hun. Gina helps maintain and clean campgrounds for her dad's management company in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. And
this morning, she's tasked with weed whacking at the Pacific Creek campground. Now, before she leaves,
Gina's [music] dad's like, "Oh, hey, by the way, there is this abandoned car that someone dumped at campsite 4, which
I've been meaning to have towed, but you know, for today, just kind of like work
around it." And she does. But there is something about the white car at campsite 4 that she just can't shake.
Part of it is the thick layer of dust on the windshield as if it's been there for
weeks. But the other part is the context she has being [music] a local. I mean, she knows this is grizzly bear country.
So Gina worries that the owner of the car went hiking and then maybe got attacked in the woods, which isn't
unheard of in this area. So, after she finishes up all of her work, she walks back over to the car and just peers
inside. Now, there's nothing too interesting. She sees a blanket, a hat, a disposable coffee cup, and she can't
go snooping beyond that because the doors and the trunk are locked up tight. So, in true crime junkie fashion,
because by the way, we talked to Gina and she is a legit listener of the show. I mean, like, [music] not then. We
didn't start the podcast till 5 months after this, but crime junkies, I always say, are born, not made. [music] And by
the way, hey girl. So, she snaps some photos of the car and its license plate to take back with her because there
isn't a lick of cell service in [music] this campground or really anywhere near it. But when she gets home that evening,
Gina hops on the computer and the first thing she looks up is missing hikers in the area. The second thing she Googles
is the license plate. And when she types out Utah license plate 129UMP, her screen floods with headlines.
Nationwide manhunt underway. Triple murder victims identified. Suspect in Idaho, triple homicide last seen in
Ogden might be driving a White Ford [music] focus. Trust your gut, folks. Sometimes it's
nothing, but sometimes you break a case cuz who knows if anyone would have connected the dots otherwise. So she
flags this for her dad who in turn calls the police. And we don't see this every
day, but here all law enforcement agencies are picking up the phone and talking to one another, sharing
information. So by that same night, police investigating a triple murder in Canyon County, Idaho, 7 hours west, know
that one of the cars they put into NCIC a few weeks ago in connection to their suspect, now has been found. Idaho
authorities asked them to secure the car ASAP while they get on the road and start writing a search warrant. And in
the meantime, [music] an Idaho detective sends a bulletpoint memo to the Wyoming
authorities to get them up to speed on the crime that they're investigating and the fugitive that they're looking for,
Michael Bullinger. And we actually obtained that memo. It reads, quote, "There is not a clear
motive, but it appears Bullinger suddenly, uncontrollably, and explosively snapped over something.
There is a love triangle. most grizzly crime scene he has investigated in 20 years. Bodies were dumped in a pile, all
shot in the head, covered in hay, in an outbuilding." End quote. Now, there's a lot packed into this memo. [music] So,
let me break down for you exactly what I've come to learn about the crime scene in Idaho and everything that led up to
this getaway car discovery. So 3 weeks before on June 18th, a deputy out in Caldwell, Idaho had been sent out to do
a welfare check on a guy named Gerald Michael [music] Bullinger, who goes by Mike, and his wife Cheryl. Now, Mike's
son had called in and said that no one had been able to get a hold of his dad or his stepmom, who [clears throat] live
in Utah. But they'd recently bought a house [music] in Caldwell, so they're thinking maybe they're there. like could
someone go and check because it wasn't a quick trip for the son who lives way down in New Mexico. Now, when the deputy
pulls up to this house, he sees that there are cars in the driveway. Everything looks in order, but nobody
answers the door when he knocks. So, he leaves. But the very next day, the same department gets another welfare check to
the same address. But this time, it's a woman named Tammy calling from Utah. and
she said that she was worried about her friend Nadia and Nadia's teenage daughter Payton because no one can get a
hold of them and both have stopped posting on Facebook and apparently Nadia is like a prolific Facebook poster. So
this is cause for concern. Now Tammy tells police Nadia and Payton just moved to Caldwell from Utah with Nadia's
boyfriend Mike Bullinger. Now no one knows what's what at this point. They just send another deputy
back out to the house again. They knock. No answer. Car is still there. But this
time, the deputy decides to have a look around the property. And when he makes his way out back near a shed, he gets a
whiff of that very distinct odor known to most in law enforcement. Decom. That is enough to at least open
the door to the shed. And right away, he spots that three bodies. Now, because of
how decomposed they were, he can't say who they are or even if the people he's looking at are men or women. But, of
course, detectives are running the license plates of the cars that are at the house and taking into account the
welfare check calls. And so, they're pretty sure that these three people are going to end up being Mike's wife,
Cheryl Baker, Mike's girlfriend, Nadia Medley, and Nadia's daughter, 14-year-old Payton Medley. Police end up
getting a search warrant for the house and the rest of the property. [music] Kind of expecting to find Mike's body,
too, thinking this is some kind of murder suicide situation. But Michael isn't there. Meaning instead of murder
suicide, they have a mass murder and a fugitive on the run. One who has had a big jump on them and who left little
behind in the way of clues. I mean, there's no note and no murder weapon, even though it's clear that all three
died of gunshot wounds, shot exactly where they were found, and not even the family pets were spared. Family members
that we interviewed said that some caged birds found in [music] the house had died, though it's unclear how, but it is
clear he shot the family dogs in what Sheriff Donahue with the Canyon County Sheriff's Office believes was an effort
to prevent them from attracting any attention to the crime scene. Because even though their house in Caldwell,
Idaho was on the outskirts of town, I mean, it's still within the greater Boise metro area. So, there were
neighbors to the halfacre property. According to past reporting by the Associated Press, one of those neighbors
told police that she thought she heard gunshots about 10 days before. She also thought she heard a woman's scream
sometime between June 6th and the 10th, and it was like early in the morning whenever she heard it. And that lines up
with the timeline that they start to build and what the coroner gives them, which is that the victims, who they
confirm are 56-year-old Cheryl Baker, 47year-old Nadia Medley, and 14-year-old Payton Medley. The corner said they were
all shot in the head likely on June 8th or June [music] 9th. Now, the other thing that's come into focus through
interviewing everyone is that Michael Bowlinger was living a double life. one at this house in Caldwell where he moved
with his girlfriend Nadia and her daughter and was playing pseudo stepdad and then another life in Ogden, Utah as
Cheryl's husband planning a retirement together. And the truth of this shocks everyone when they find out Cheryl's
brother told our reporter that he thought the two of them seemed pretty happy. Cheryl was Mike's second or maybe
third wife. I've actually seen police reports that say Cheryl was his third wife, but I haven't been able to find
any proof of a second wife. But either way, Cheryl and Mike had been together for like a decade and married about 5
years. And in that time, they enjoyed plenty of hobbies together, like hiking and rafting. They seemed to genuinely
enjoy one another. But for at least the last 2 years, Mike had been secretly dating Nadia. One of Nadia's relatives
told us that she had no idea Mike was married. He says they met because Nadia was a massage therapist and Mike had
been her client. And Nadia sure didn't act like their relationship was a secret or anything. I mean, everyone in her
life knew about Mike. And Nadia had pictures of him all over her Facebook page. Now, cheating
not totally a new concept for Mike. His first wife, Jackie, told the Idaho Statesman that Mike had cheated on her,
too. And some believe that Cheryl had even begun to suspect it in the time leading up to her death. And Jackie even
made allegations to that same news outlet that Mike [music] had been physically abusive toward her. But
still, he doesn't have much of a criminal history to speak of. So, how does someone go from affair to murdering
three people? One of whom isn't even one of the women you're tangled up with. One
of them is a child. I don't know if anyone but Michael will know exactly what happened in that house or in that
shed back in June of 2017. But investigators have a pretty good theory of what happened. According to
property records, Michael and Cheryl bought that Idaho house that spring. He sold this to Cheryl as a place that they
could eventually move to, a place where they could enjoy their retirement, which
was right around the corner. But what Mike [music] actually wanted it for was his other little family. Because
according to neighbors and Facebook posts, shortly after purchasing it, Nadia and Payton moved in and they
thought they were living with Mike. Now, maybe Mike was going back and forth to keep up this ruse, but like, how long
could this have worked? Eventually, Cheryl is going to want to move in or at a minimum visit the house in Idaho. It
was inevitable that his two worlds were going to collide. It was just a matter of when, and when came sooner than he
ever planned. [music] I am popping on to start a conversation about a case. I cannot get it out of my
head. A true mind bender. [music] a huge twist your way. You gut check all your assumptions cuz this is a case that
starts [music] like so many before. >> Hi, crime junkies. [cheering] >> No one knows why Cheryl showed up
unannounced at the house in Idaho in early June. Cheryl's siblings said that she had prior plans that week to be at a
religious event out [music] of town, but like something must have changed. Was she suspicious like her brother thinks
she was? Or was she trying to just surprise her husband? Either way, when she arrived on either June 8th or 9th,
all of Mike's lies were exposed. What was said, how long it took him to make up his mind about what he was going
to do, nobody knows. But somehow, at some point, he marched all three women to the shed and executed them. And after
he had time to gather his things and make a plan, he grabs a bite to eat before becoming the most wanted fugitive
across multiple states, he enjoys a solo sitdown breakfast at a local Caldwell joint called The Griddle on June 10th.
And then after breakfast, Mike drives back to his other house that he shares with Cheryl in Ogden, Utah. This is like
a 4 and 1/2 hour drive. And it's confirmed he did this through surveillance cameras that captured him.
What we know is that he leaves his pickup truck there at the house, hops on a bicycle, and then rides that bicycle
to a nearby car dealership where he picks up Cheryl's white Ford Focus that was being serviced. Now, the next
morning, a text message is sent from Cheryl's phone to one of her longtime friends. But her family and the police
firmly believe that it was Michael who was sending that [music] message, and it said, quote, "Take care of my dogs. I
don't know if I'm coming back." End quote. Now, at this point, Cheryl's family was already worried about her,
but this text sent off a frenzy [music] among them. Because none of this was like her. She wasn't the type to up and
leave on a whim. Or if she were going to, she had far more care for the people in her life than to leave them behind
wondering what happened to her. She was a Buddhist and a beloved teacher. She started out her career at the Utah
School for the Deaf and Blind and later taught art school. She loved her students and making quilts for her loved
ones. And she spent all her free time rafting rivers or hiking with her dogs. Now, no one knows why Mike did this
truck to bike to car switcheroo in Utah, but I assume it's because he knows that
these bodies are going to be found any minute, and he wants to be in a car that isn't registered directly to him. Not
that the car of the wife you just murdered is any better, but I don't know what he's thinking at this point. Police
say that Mike, after he sent that text from her phone, drives 5 hours away, where he's caught on surveillance
cameras again, entering Grand Teton National Park through the Maran entrance in Wyoming. [music] That is at 10:34
a.m. on June 11th, and he's still in Cheryl's white Ford Focus. Now, what's really interesting is where he entered
the national park. You can get to the campground where his car is eventually found by our crime junkie Gina in about
30 minutes. But when we interviewed the campground host Paul, he said that he first noticed the car on June 23rd. And
as far as he knows, it sat there until Gina blew the whistle on July 12th. Now granted, it's not like he had his eyes
on it every single minute of every single day. He worked a lot of campgrounds and would pop by this one
like once or twice [music] a week. But he told us that sometimes hikers park in campsites not realizing that they need
to pay the camping fee if they wanted to park there overnight. So he left a note
on this car's windshield. A few days later, he leaves another note, but he never did see anyone in or around the
car. So the real question to me isn't even if this car moved after June 23rd. Like I think the answer is no. To me,
the real question is where was the car and Michael between when he entered this park on June 11th and then when his car
first gets spotted abandoned on the 23rd, but that is still a mystery. No one has him on any other surveillance
cameras that we know of, [music] and there are no other sightings of him in that time frame.
But that's the window of time when the bodies are found and when a bolo went out for him in the state of Idaho. Now,
who knows if he had access to the internet or news at that time. But I do find it interesting that the triple
murders start to get splashed all over the news around June 20th or so. And then Mike's car gets abandoned just a
few days later. So, all of this brings me to the moment I have been dying to tell you about. what they found inside
his car. And this is exclusive, brand spanking new information. Our reporter Emily has been working on this case for
literal years. I mean, before she was even at Audio Chuck, she covered this area of Jackson Hole for a local
newspaper. And she got these details back in 2017, but it was off the record then. And she has been sitting on it
this whole time. But patience paid off because during her reporting for this episode, Sheriff Donahghue gave us
permission to finally share all of this. So, I'm actually going to read directly
from an investigative report which gives the results of the search warrant. One, the trunk compartment of the Ford
Focus was opened and it contained a full complement of camping equipment. Two, the camping inventory included sleeping
bag, tent, cot, daypack, survival gear, matches, fire starter, space blanket, and first aid kit, blue plastic tarp,
outdoor clothes, boots, an all-purpose utility tool, and two water bottles. One was full of water and the other was
empty. No food were present in the trunk or inside the car, and there was an empty cooler in the trunk.
Three. Tucked just inside the trunk compartment was an empty leather holster that once protected a handgun. The
missing handgun from the leather holster appeared to have been a large revolver.
Four. Conspicuously located inside the trunk compartment was all the personal identifications belonging to Gerald Mike
Bullinger. This included his wallet full of personal documents, [music] a laptop,
nearly $3,600 in cash, and his Utah driver's license. All of this was found in Bowlinger's brown canvas dayack. Also
in the dayack was a 357 revolver in a holster. The pistol was fully loaded. Five. Remarkably left behind in the
trunk of the Ford Focus were all three murdered victims smartphones and Bullinger's own smartphone. Six. Also
left behind in the trunk, which unequivocally tied Bullinger to the homicide crime scene, two women's
purses. One purse with Nadia Medley's personal identification and the other purse with the identification of Cheryl
Baker in wallet. Both of the murdered adult female victims. Now, Sheriff Donahue would not confirm
if the gun that was found in the trunk was the murder weapon. All he would say is that the murder weapon has been
located and it was found [music] outside of the state of Idaho. Now, the car, the trunk or whatever is an easy
conclusion to jump to, right, of where they could have found it. But I think it's a good reminder to tell you that
Michael's house where he dropped his truck off is also outside of the state of Idaho. So, [music] is that where he
picked up all that survivalist gear and cash? or did he make other stops that we
just don't know about at other places where a gun might have been left? Whatever the case, it's the empty gun
holster that they found that makes them believe wherever Mike is now, he is quite literally armed [music] and
dangerous. A massive manhunt gets underway for Mike in northwest Wyoming. And to prepare for the searches,
authorities are gathering intel from Mike's friends and family. And they learn some very interesting things.
First of which is that Mike grew up in Billings, Montana, and he has extensive family [music] there. And fun fact, pull
up a map. If you drive from Ogden, Utah to Billings, Montana, where are you going to pass through if you take a
route that avoids major highways? Why? right through western Wyoming, Jackson Hole in particular. And the authorities
find out that Mike was actually registered to attend a motorcycle event in Billings that took place June 26th to
June 30th. The dude had no issue throwing back some eggs and sausage right after killing his wife,
girlfriend, and a young girl he treated like a stepdaughter. [music] How far-fetched is it to think that he
dumped his car around June 23rd when it's first spotted and then somehow made his way up to Billings just in time for
this event? And one more fun fact, while Michael did have a motorcycle that was left at his house in Utah, according to
an internal police bulletin that we obtained, it stated that Mike also had access to another unknown motorcycle.
I wish I had any more information on that, but I don't. Now, I don't know how deeply they look into this motorcycle
event to see if he showed up or if they would even know, but I know they did go search his parents' house in Billings,
and they found no sign of him there. Though, I'm not sure when those searches happened. Mike's family members have
never spoken publicly, and they didn't return any of our calls. His son, Bryant, did text Emily back, but he
declined to do an interview. Now, the other thing they learn about Mike is that he is a career pilot who can fly
almost any type of plane. He also has experience as a backcountry wilderness guide, specifically in Montana and guess
where else? Northwest Wyoming. In fact, his son Bryant told police that his dad's favorite place is the
Thoroughfare, which straddles the southeast corner of Yellowstone National Park. And when I looked this up, I have
never heard of a better place for a fugitive to hide. The thoroughare is the most remote place in the United States
outside of Alaska. You can only get there by foot or horseback and there are ranger cabins just kind of like dotted
for miles along the river. So with that intel, the FBI, US Marshals, park rangers, Forest Service, and local cops
all set out to find this 60-year-old fugitive. They deploy four different K-9 teams. They close down roads. They set
up checkpoints, evacuate the nearest subdivisions to the campsite, and search every house, garage, crawl space, and
shed looking for this guy. They also check flight logs at Jackson Hole Airport, which conveniently is only like
20 m away from where Mike left the car. They're also checking tail numbers of private planes to try and see if Mike
could have gained access to one of those in June or July. And they announced in the local news that if anyone picked up
a hitchhiker in the past month who looked like Mike Bullinger, please call police. Hitchhiking is actually super
common in this area even today because of all the rafting that happens on the river. They also send cops and rangers
out on horseback and in helicopters with infrared to check the cabins out in the
thoroughfare, half expecting to find Mike just like holed up with his gun. But despite those searches that
continued around the clock, day and night for days, all of it results in a whole lot of nothing. So, if he's not
there, where in the actual world could he be? By now, there is an official warrant out for Mike's arrest, and news
of what happened is spreading far and wide. So, hundreds of tips are coming in both in Idaho and Wyoming, which is
great, but also not because Mike is the most averagel looking 60-year-old, 6' tall, 240lb white guy with gray hair.
Teton County Sheriff Matt Carr said that he looks like everybody's grandpa. Carr's office alone worked 64 tips in
those weeks during the manhunt. Someone reported seeing him in the produce section of the local grocery store, at a
Walmart in Michigan, at the Dairy Queen in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Most of them obviously turned out not to be him.
Otherwise, I might be telling you a different story. But there was one credible tip that came in from a family
who'd been out hiking near the Pacific Creek campground. [music] That's where the Ford Focus was found.
and they reported a strange interaction with a man on the trail in early July. On July 1st, a local district ranger,
his wife, and two of their teen kids are hiking on the trail that starts at the Pacific Creek campground. Now, it's
about 4:45 p.m. when the ranger stops to cut down a tree that's on the path. And
his wife and kids decide to just keep going. And a little ways up the trail, mom and kids come across a gray-haired
man wearing a baseball hat and jeans, but most of his clothes are dirty, like he'd been out there for some time. The
thing is, he isn't carrying a hiking pack or water or anything. Mom notices that this man turns his face away as
they pass him, and she says hello, but the man doesn't even reply. Now, at the time, she thinks his behavior is odd,
but she doesn't really give it another thought until July 16th when she sees Mike Bullinger's picture on the news.
She immediately thinks that is the man she saw on the trail, so she reports it to police.
When asked on a scale from 1 to 10 how certain she was it was him, she said seven or eight. Now, the problem with
this sighting is snow. Even though we're talking about midsummer in July, the campground is at a high altitude, almost
7,000 ft above sea level, and the trail goes up even higher from there. So, if you tried to hike that trail, say in mid
June when the car was down, you'd come across a ton of snow pretty quickly. And so, if it is him, we know a lot of his
camping and survival stuff is back at the car in the trunk. So, this isn't a perfect lead, but it is the best lead
they've had. And law enforcement considers this July 1st trail sighting legit. So, they search that trail area
extensively during the manhunt. They do find a spot where it looks like someone started a campfire, but no Mike there,
no gun, no piles of clothes or anything. So, after more false sightings, the manhunt gets scaled way back towards the
end of July, and police are left with three competing theories about Mike's whereabouts. One, he's hiding in the
woods undetected. Two, he used the missing gun to take his own life and they just haven't come
across his body yet. or three. Mike Bullinger somehow managed to leave the area and the guy who was
living two lives now has started a third somewhere without a thought given to the
devastation he left behind. Now, I haven't talked much yet about Nadia and Payton, and I want to because this was a
motheraughter duo who had a lot of life to look forward to. Nadia was a widow and raising Payton on her own after
losing her husband in 2014. And it's clear from her social media how much she loved her daughter. A few days before
they died on June 3rd, Nadia posted a picture of Payton showing [music] off the makeup that she'd done for a Pride
social media video. And Payton was a typical teen girl. I mean, her Facebook is full of like moody selfies and she
loved animals, volleyball, writing, and soccer. One of Payton's school friends told KUTV back then that she called Mike
dad. So many people believe that Mike just got caught off guard by Cheryl and feeling backed into a corner, he
snapped. But I don't know. I can't help but wonder if this was his plan the [music] whole time. Or even if he was
backed into a corner, why did he have to resort to murder? I mean, the man had cheated and gotten divorced before.
Like, what happened this time? And I wanted to do more than just ask the question. I mean, there is something
about family annihilators I feel like I just have to get to the bottom of. What were the signs? How do you know if there
is potential for the man that you love to one day turn on you in the worst possible way? So, we actually reached
out to a forensic psychologist, [music] Jeffrey Frasier, to get his take. Jeff says that Bullinger appears to have an
insecure attachment style, which makes him highly reactive to potential public humiliation. I haven't touched on this
yet, but Mike was actually brought up in an LDS household. Jeff says that people
who are brought up in rigid religious households might lack coping skills when confronted unexpectedly. We don't know
if that was the case for Mike, but if so, it leans more toward the theory that he was surprised and panicked. [music]
Now, the background with his first wife and the fact that he was in this second or maybe third marriage living a double
life for so long also makes Jeff think that Bullinger lacks empathy. [music] So, while most people might admit fault
or ask for forgiveness or feel shame, Bullinger is more likely to be violent because he doesn't have those same
barriers between a logical solution and homicide. Jeff actually brought John List up when we were asking him about
Bullinger. And for those of you unfamiliar, in 1971 in New Jersey, John List killed his mom, his wife, and his
three kids at their house and then disappeared. He assumed a new identity, got remarried, and went 18 years totally
undetected. And when he finally did get caught, he said he was in major debt and
just wanted to spare his family the shame of losing their New Jersey mansion. It's like White Lotus season 3,
anybody? Now, [music] we don't know that Bullinger was facing any money problems.
Cheryl and Mike were both employed. They didn't seem to have any like significant
debt, [music] but one of Cheryl's loved ones did tell us that Mike was pressuring Cheryl to put his name on the
deed of the Utah house before they moved to Idaho. Almost as if he was worried he
wouldn't be getting any of the cash from that sale, but Cheryl had said no. Now,
something else I find interesting about Mike and all of his relationships is the
fact that every woman he was with had very different religious [music] beliefs. His first wife, Jackie, was LDS
like Mike. Cheryl was Buddhist. Nadia was atheist. Now, Jeff, the forensic psychologist we interviewed, didn't have
any strong theories about this, but I kind of wonder if this was Mike's way of making sure none of his overlapping
lovers ever crossed paths socially. Now, over the next year, there are more sightings reported of Mike Bullinger
around the country, but nothing noteworthy. The only thing that becomes of great interest to police doesn't
happen until the summer of 2018. And this isn't a sighting of Mike. Someone hiking up the Pacific Creek Trail finds
a gun. This backpacker named Ben found it under a log in the creek. And it seems like a bit of a miracle, like the
water and the light hit this thing just right so that somehow he saw something shiny and then went digging for [music]
it. The thing is fully loaded, too. So, he takes it with him, calls the sheriff's office the next day when they
finally get cell service, and then as soon as Ben tells the deputy where exactly he found it and what kind of gun
it is, the deputy has this like, oh, moment where he's like, "This could be Michael Bullinger's gun, the one that he
took off with." It's a Ruger 357, which would fit in the empty gun holster. So Ben drops this gun off and a detective
contacts the ATF to search the serial number. And interestingly, the gun is registered to not Mike Bowlinger, but
instead to an older man who lives in Utah. Like what are the odds? Now, when police reach out to the gun owner, he
says that he bought the gun in 1980 in Utah, but he hasn't seen the gun in like 20 years. [music]
He said he sold it to someone, but he doesn't remember who. Now, the cops check out his story. They confirm as
much as they can. Yes, he did in fact buy it from a dealer in 1980 in Utah, but beyond that, there's no paper trail.
But like in this country, there wouldn't be if it was a private sale. Now, this man seemingly has no ties to Michael
Bullinger other than being about the same age and also living in Utah in a town about 30 minutes from Ogden where
Michael lived. And he says he has no idea how his gun wound up in Wyoming. Detectives checked with various agencies
in Utah to see if the gun had been pawned. They even checked with the manufacturer Ruger to see if the gun
ever made it back to them for maintenance, but no go. Now, something I learned during our research for this
episode is that in the Mountain West, large revolvers are also known as bear guns. Basically, if you're going hiking
in grizzly bear areas such as this, it is highly suggested that you carry a revolver for your own safety.
Which makes me wonder, when Bullinger left his car, he might have grabbed that gun for his own safety, not necessarily
to use it on himself. I mean, think about it. He's familiar with this area. He knows the grizzlies are active there,
and he would have known that they're especially dangerous to encounter in June because they've been hibernating
[music] all winter, just woke up, and they are hungry AF. But maybe it's just the weirdest coincidence of all time
that this Utah gun that fits his empty holster shows up near an area where we also have the only potential credible
sighting of him. A retired investigator that we interviewed who processed the gun says he thinks it looked like it had
not been in the woods for a year. Essentially, it was like too clean looking. But to play devil's advocate,
it's a stainless steel gun that was in a creek and the reports note corrosion on
the bullet. So, I don't know. We actually got some evidence pictures of the gun and Mike's holster that you can
check out on the blog post for this episode. Listen, I'm no gun expert, so if you are and you have a strong opinion
on this, find me, DM me, or email us tipsaudio.com. In the end, while this gun is highly
suspicious, police can't rule it in or out of this case definitively. So, it kind of got logged into evidence kept
until 2020 when for reasons unknown, even to current investigators, it was destroyed. Maybe Emily reached out to
the retired investigator who processed the gun, and he says he logged it into evidence, and as far as he knows, it is
still sitting in evidence. But a different retired evidence technician made a report saying that the gun was
destroyed in 2020. And when Emily reached out to him, he [music] couldn't remember anything about the gun. The
current detective says he's doing evidence inventory sometime soon. And he promises he will call us if he comes
across the gun. If this gun was Michael Boolinger's, [music] I think we would be able to say that he
didn't die by suicide because they would expect there to be at least one missing
bullet from the gun. But this one was fully loaded. Still, just to be sure, a few days after this gun was found in
August 2018, cadaavver dogs were taken to the area, and they did show interest in a spot up the trail. Not as high up
as where the gun was found, but actually closer to the spot that the family thought they saw Michael. So that week,
the US Marshalss came back to Jackson Hole and put together a task force of federal agents and local deputies to do
another search up Pacific Creek Trail. Our reporter Emily actually got to tag along on this search and recorded audio
of the whole thing where a detective talks through what they're looking for and why and where. I'm actually going to
be dropping that audio in our field notes in the fan club along with some crime scene photos. So, fan club
members, make sure you look for that. They end up searching a 4 mile radius that day, but nothing is found, [music]
which is hard for me to wrap my head around. Like, if he died out there in the wilderness, like so many people
still believe, how have they done all this searching and found zero trace of him? Now, along this line, there are two
leading theories with the most popular one being that he died and his remains got scattered by the affforementioned
grizzly bears. Another theory an investigator floated to us was that Bullinger started hiking up, hit snow,
tried to cross the creek, and got like swept downstream. And the probability of this is really dependent on the water
levels at the time. The water would have been high in June 2017 from snow runoff,
but his body would have likely gotten caught up in some brush in the creek along the way. I mean, you would think
that if that happened, someone would have eventually found him, unless the stream took him all the way to the Snake
River, which is where Pacific Creek dumps [music] out. But that is miles and miles downstream. And you know what? Put
the how aside. There is something else that bothers me more. Why? If he was planning to die by
suicide, why not do it at the original crime scene or at the car? Why disappear first? This is a fact that really
bothers the families of the victims, who, by the way, are split on the theories themselves. Some of them think
he's likely dead. And then others told us that Bullinger was too egotistical to ever take his own life. And they believe
that he straight up got away with murder. What if somehow he did get out and somehow he got on a plane? We know
he's a pilot. That opens up a lot of doors. He could be anywhere. Cheryl's brother told us that Bullinger flew
planes both commercially and privately, and his clients in the private sector were ultra wealthy and well-connected. I
think that's why some of them think, even though it's tough to make yourself go missing these days, that he could
have pulled it off. And it doesn't seem like law enforcement has done much surveillance ever since making their
suicide theory public. [music] I do know they checked his phone. They confirmed that he did make some calls on the road
around June 10th, but Idaho authorities have been tight lipped about who he talked to or any digital data that they
have beyond that. But something I want to toss out into the world in case it could be helpful here is a trick that a
detective used in a different case that we covered earlier this year. He actually got a search warrant for the
email of his prime suspect in case the suspect decided to talk to anyone about the crime in the days after our episode
dropped. In the Bullinger case, I feel like a tactic like this could be useful in case he's made contact with anyone or
in case he decides to. And who knows, maybe they're already doing this and they're just not sharing it with us.
This case reminds me so much of the Travis Decker manhunt which is unfolding right now. He's the father in Washington
State accused of killing his three daughters before vanishing. The efforts being made to find him have been
exhaustive and a few months into searching, the authorities are just now scaling back those searches. And
hopefully Travis gets found before it turns into a case like Mike Bullingers where we're talking about it years
later. The Bullinger case is still open. Mike Bullinger is an active fugitive on
the wanted list for the US Marshall Service. And if he turns up alive one day, Sheriff Donahue in Idaho says they are
ready to prosecute him. If he is still alive, Bullinger would be 68 years old, an age that none of his victims, Cheryl,
Nadia, or Payton, got to see. And that's what's so heartbreaking. All of these women still had a lot of life to live.
They had a lot to offer the world. Cheryl had just retired, and Sweet Payton was only 14. And at this point,
what everyone wants, family and police, is just some closure, some finality to this whole saga. Let's hope they get it
one way or another. So, if you know anything about this case, if you know anything about the whereabouts of Gerald
Michael Bullinger, please contact the Canyon County Sheriff's Office in Idaho. And if you're hiking in Jackson Hole and
find something that might be connected to this case in the Pacific Creek area of the Bridger Teton National Forest,
call the Teton County Sheriff's Office in Wyoming. We're going to put all of the contact information in the show
notes. You can find all the source material for this episode on our website, crimejunkypodcast.com. [music]
And don't forget, if you want to listen to more episodes like this and all of our episodes completely adree, plus
extra episodes that have never been released, be sure to join the CrimeJunkie fan club. You can follow us
on Instagram and Tik Tok at CrimeJunkie [music] Podcast. And me and Brick will be back next week for a brand new
episode.

In June 2017, three bodies- Cheryl Baker (Michael Bullinger’s wife), Nadja Medley (his girlfriend), and her 14-year-old daughter Payton- were discovered in a shed on a newly purchased property in Caldwell, Idaho. Investigators quickly identified Michael Bullinger as the primary suspect and uncovered that Bullinger had been living a double life. After the murders, he vanished. His wife’s car was later discovered abandoned at a remote Wyoming campground, packed with survival gear, weapons, cash, and multiple IDs, but there has been no trace of him.

Over the years, a tip called in by a crime junkie, a credible witness sighting, and the discovery of a revolver near the campground have fueled intense speculation: Did Michael Bullinger take his own life? Did he succumb to the elements? Or did he escape to start a new life under a false identity? Law enforcement and family members remain divided. To this day, Michael Bullinger is still an active fugitive, and the case remains open. Investigators believe that one crucial tip could finally bring justice and closure

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Brief Summary

Michael Bullinger is a fugitive suspected of murdering his wife and girlfriend and then disappearing after the crime.

Key points

The Infamous Pilot's Crimes. A pilot murders his wife, secret lover, and her daughter, then vanishes.
Gina's Discovery. Gina finds an abandoned car linked to a triple homicide and alerts authorities.
The Shocking Memo. A memo reveals the explosive motive behind a triple murder case.
The Manhunt Begins. Authorities launch a massive search for Mike Bullinger, a fugitive wanted for murder.
A Mysterious Sighting. A family reports seeing a man resembling Mike Bullinger on a hiking trail.
Theories on Mike's Fate. Investigators explore multiple theories about Mike Bullinger's disappearance.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

Trust your gut, folks. Sometimes it's nothing, but sometimes you break a case.

3:30WatchSep 22, 2025

Tension

85/ 100High tension

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