The Unsolved Murder of Melissa Witt | Morbid | Podcast | Forensic Files

hey weirdos I'm Ash and I'm Elena and this is [Music] morbid this is morbid in 2025 it's been
that way probably for a long time but not for us I think this is only our second episode of 2025 is it okay I was
like am I like 6 weeks into 2025 being like happy new year new us no I think I mean for The Listener for The Listener
for The Listener hello out there listener for the weirdos it's definitely probably like the 45th episode of 2025
probably uh but for us it's number two yeah so it's still new it's new for us Mikey's looking to January 8th right now
it is it's early it's crazy early days yet Mikey said I don't know what today is the
23rd that was Mikey letting you know today is the 23rd it is but for us for us it's the eighth there you go which
means it's David Bowie's birthday happy birthday David Bowie happy birthday David Bowie actually okay perfect segue
I was watching Real Housewives at Beverly Hills last night thank you love it and garcel bv's son is modeling and
she was like oh my God like there are you like so many great models um of like during my time it was like Naomi it was
Iman it was who else did she name um oh U is it Beverly Johnson yeah yeah Beverly Johnson and he goes I don't know
any of those people which like he wouldn't cuz he's super young but I was like even I was like oh my God it's it
really hits you in the head life comes at you so fast yeah it really does like what it hits you in the head cuz at
first I was like are you [ __ ] kidding me and then I was like oh you're like he's not even in his 20s like why would
you know I mean you know why would you really know those people like guess it's when like it's when you have to answer
to children when they're like did you have this when you were younger and you're like not only did I not have that
there wasn't even the capability to have that like we were talking about cuz uh like Roblox is a big thing among like
children right now but my children are not allowed to use it um that helicopter mom um I don't give a [ __ ] uh but I
don't blame you but yeah they're not allowed to use and they will never be allowed to use it uh [ __ ] Roblox I think
there's a bunch of predators there but that's a story for another time but they had brought it up cuz now they feel uh
like they're fine with it they understand the reasons and they're totally fine and they had brought it up
at one point about like one of their friends got to use it and they were just telling me some story and then they were
like did oh did you get to use Roblox when you were younger mom and I was like we didn't even have an iPad I was like
babe you said we didn't even know what a tablet was only that we didn't have the
internet when I was your age the only tablets we knew of were in the [ __ ] ancient pyramids I now your ribs
hurt oh I cracked myself up they I said Not only did Roblox not exist um the internet didn't exist they
were still working on uh I did not have a computer and tablets were not a thing were in the pyramid did not exist so no
did that nope I did not have to did that below [ __ ] what wow and there's been times
they've asked me if col if pictures were in color when I was little that's such an and I was like okay yes all right I
did have color well cuz to them our generation was born in the 1900s oh they say that all the time like damn yeah
damn they like well you're from the and they love to say you're from the 1970s and I'm like no I'm not I'm not even
from there Mike's like [ __ ] you guys Mike's like I'm from the 1970s and what of it but I'm always like can you not
like send me further back into time like I'm like you're already like they're already dogging me for being born in the
1900s and then they want to make me even I'm like all right yeah that's at least
give me an give my accurate date okay my favorite is that your old your youngest
thinks that I'm older than you oh all the time because I'm taller and they ask every time she ask all the time older
than you I'm like no I am 10 years younger the kids disate 11 with with older it's so weird
I mean it makes perfect sense but I'm like no no no I'm so much younger than Mama damn it so much younger but
honestly at this point I wish I was older Drew is going to turn 30 uh in the 30 Club he's about to join the 30 club
and I said to him last night I was like does that feel like weird like are you are you like mourning your 20s at all
and he was like [ __ ] no he was like I am so excited to turn 30 as he should be
and I felt kind of jealous I feel a little bit jealous of him that he's turning you the anticipation of it I
know I get it but I'm not going to be 30 for like another year and a half yeah that's going to fly by babe I know I
let's hope um it will I'm determined to make it Fly by yeah same ret yeah um if you heard me earlier uh crying as I was
laughing that's because I sat here and I talked to Elena we're just having like some banter okay been a minute it's just
you know New Year New Year same us but maybe not the same cuz I left a lot of me on the floor2 on the Cutting Room
floor on the shower floor I got if you and it's going around so I'm sure a lot of you have probably faced this in the
past couple weeks the neuro virus is going around wash your mother [ __ ] hands yeah wash your hands man I don't
know if I don't know if I got the neuro virus or if it was like a food poisoning
thing cuz I did eat like a sketchy Burger um you know who I am a Captain Crunch slurpie girl yeah a f the a foo
the violence that was inflicted upon me and I literally just been sitting here telling Elena I'm drinking colostrum so
I'm like I'll never get sick I have colostrum and it's an immunity booster you've all been so sick and not me yep
it's true that same day literally it was like a day later like if that the Universe said [ __ ] check yourself
before you wreck yourself actually let me wreck you the universe said oh yeah oh yeah I died for like 3 days and my
ribs are still hurting this was like Saturday night it's Wednesday now my ribs are still hurting that's crazy the
violence with which I yaked damn yeah I'm still recovering but you know what I woke up this morning I chose myself at a
little pep talk with Lux my cat I ate my breakfast it was great it was wonderful
we're trying to you know I like resolutions some people hate resolutions I like them I've never been a huge resol
resolution girly I never really have been either I I I've always thought it was a nice concept but I've never really
part anticipated that much always had concepts of a revolution reolution I like the ideas but I'll be the first one
to admit that I like I never really stick to them I don't even really set them that hard I'll be like yeah really
I want to start working out this year but I never give myself like this plan of action yeah which is most of the
problem and this year I went in being like not my first resolution is I'm going to be nicer to me me too and I
think that is the if any of you are like I would like a resolution or you're struggling your first resolution should
be be nicer to you because it change it's like when your youngest goes this changes everything yes from blue but it
changes everything because if you are like being a dick to yourself like for instance this morning I did not want to
wake up early I felt like [ __ ] the past couple days I saw that alarm I alarm I
turned it off and then I said no girl bet on yourself don't give up on yourself and you didn't say like get up
you lazy sack of [ __ ] you were like hey and it made the biggest difference like if you wouldn't say it to someone
you love and care about don't [ __ ] say it to yourself man I tell my kids that all the time no it's so true if you
wouldn't say it to someone you love if you wouldn't say it to me if you wouldn't say it to daa or anybody else
you love then don't say it to you no cuz that you need to be nice to yourself and
it's like and being nice to yourself also makes it so that you don't take [ __ ] from anyone else and you shouldn't
because you don't accept that kind of [ __ ] from outside sources hell so be nice to yourself and you will suddenly
find yourself being like Oh no I'm not taking your nasty ass comments I'm better than that so that's my words of
wisdom to you one page I suggest following if you're on like a like journey to like just a morning routine
or like a fitness routine any kind of routine just like habit stacking I love Shelby Sako she's um sad to Savage on
Instagram oh okay she has like a podcast and everything I love her she just she starts her mornings and she like has
this whole morning routine but she's where I learned habits stacking which I like stacking is the the move there's so
much actual scientific research behind it like you just slowly add things to your day that you want part of your
routine yeah and once you're comfortable with one thing you add a little the other one like she said she was like I
put too much expectation on yourself yeah she was like I used to wake up at like 9:00 for my 9:00 a.m. job and I was
like same sister and she was like and then I slowly started waking up 20 minutes earlier did that for a couple
week like a little lot of time just don't be hard on yourselves yeah and like if you want to do stuff you can but
just be nice to yourself and do it slowly and you'll get there don't let people make you feel like you got to do
it all at once or see that's part of being nice to yourself is you won't let those people tell you what to do because
you'll be like no I deserve more than that thank you see I trust me I'm going to I'm going to do what I say yeah I
love that it's a nicer more peaceful existence it really is people will try to drag you into [ __ ] don't let them
we're claiming our this year that's right 202 is the year of Peace for us hell yeah and peace for morbid listeners
hey yo all right well since you're morbid listeners and we just bantered your ears off for like 45 minutes thank
you for letting us do that yeah we just went back to Our Roots yeah sometimes we
got feeling that we don't do it all the time but we're feeling Our Roots I just love going back to Our Roots yes I love
it but let's go back to what you're here for which is a case and this case is really important because it's an
unsolved case so it's a little bit shorter obviously because when it's unsolved there's not like the whole
trial part of everything yeah um but this was a Hulu documentary that came out like a few months ago probably and I
said to Dave I was like we got to cover this because it's really interesting and
I want to get more ears on this so let's go we're going to talk about the unsolved murder of Melissa wit it's so
sad cuz she was 19 when she went missing oh and that's when you look back at 19 that's a baby oh my God for me that was
like 10 years ago and the difference between who I was then and who I am now I know you it was like way longer ago it
was 20 years ago that's okay I'm older than the amount of years that is but you look great yeah and you're beautiful so
going back to the story let's talk about Melissa an wit before she disappeared obviously Melissa Anne wit was born
April 20th 1975 she too was from the 70s oh there you go in Arkansas to John and
Maryanne Whit uh she was raised in Fort Smith um I was want to say Arizona but it's Arkansas I look at ar oh yeah and
my brain says Arizona I feel that Aransas AR Kanas AR Kanas don't yell at us we're kidding I know I'm kidding I
promise but she was raised alongside her brother Ronnie and her sister's Caroline
and Barbara her friend Tara limber would later say she was just a happy good girl
she was such a joy to know oh I know according to that friend limber Melissa was quote well-liked by everyone who
knew her she was a good student she was very active in her Church community at the Grand Avenue Baptist Church and she
always had really good relationships with her family particular particularly her mother they were super close oh
after Melissa's death her mother wrote in a letter I never had serious trouble with Melissa we were mother and daughter
best of friends and a source of love and comfort for one another oh that's so beautiful I know and especially like at
19 to have that relationship with your mom wow cuz obviously that's dream yeah I mean teenagers usually try to distance
themselves from their parents around those years but Melissa's relationship with her mom was always a source of
Pride for her and her mother as it should be yeah Tara limber recalled she and her mom marann were so close they
loved each other so much her mom was so protective of Melissa oh this is already
breaking my heart I know so after graduating from Northside High School in 1993 Melissa enrolled at West AR
Community College with plans of becoming a dental hygienist oh damn yeah not long
after starting her first semester she actually became an ambassador for the school holy [ __ ] which meant that she
would go out and recruit students to go there promoting the school and its programs to any perspective students in
the area yeah and like the school has to trust you to send you out there and rep
them like that also dreams of becoming a dental hygienist Dental like School in any capacity hygienist or dentist like
full-blown dentist so hard like so much involved in that hard and you see some of the garnar [ __ ] I was friends with a
girl who went to dental hygienist school and she saw like spiders in somebody's mouth
before that was something I I feel like I was better for not knowing well now you're wor I was I was better before
that I feel you know how many times holy [ __ ] You' you've done so many info drops
on me like that You' been better before Oh but no I can't and and also how do you just like sit there and
calmly I guess remove the spiders from said mouth and then like got hey like we got to be like good about brushing
around the mullers cuz like spiders there was there was some arachnids taken up not arachnid taken up
space in there that's arachnids were holding space in your mouth God no I can't that's awful I cannot that's awful
I got to go woof well kfsm reporter Charlene Sher told ABC News in 2024 the college had her go and recruit students
because they wanted students like her she was already a hard worker she had Big Dreams for her life oh and it just
goes to show that she was willing to put in the work to make her dreams reality because in her Spare Time Melissa
actually worked as an assistant for local dental practice in town oh damn so she was like I want to do this I'm going
to start now yeah she's already like in the you know I'm going to get the on onsite experience yes the office manager
Anita Dodson said she was such a good girl and hard worker she got along with co-workers and patients really with
everyone she met and according to Dodson Melissa brought an invaluable warmth and
brightness to the office whenever she was in the building and after her disappearance she said the absence of
that brightness could be felt by everyone oh she said the staff here are close like family and we and we did all
we could to support each other when Missy went missing everyone was upset for such a long time she was so sweet
and so nice oh it sounds like she just left a gaping void yeah and left like a mark on everybody that she met in such a
good way yeah so on the morning of December 1st 1994 uh Melissa had breakfast with her mother and
unfortunately which doesn't sound like it was very like them at all they got into an argument with each other that
morning and it was over money according to Maryann Melissa wanted to borrow some money and hoping to teach
her daughter a valuable lesson about the value of money she said no and that of course left Melissa frustrated and she
left the house frustrated oh no so not wanting to end the discussion in Anger before she left for work marann wrote
her daughter a short note reminding her that she herself marann had bowling league that evening and she said in the
note Melissa why don't you come to Bowling World after school and after work and I'll buy you dinner oh like I
just want to end the day on like let's so let's kind of put this behind us yeah so Melissa went to school that day left
work at 5:00 p.m. but when she tried to start her car that night the engine wouldn't turn over later during their
investigation detectives were able to determine that the dome light in her car had been accidentally left on while she
was at work maybe like the door didn't close all the way or something so the car's battery was drained but
fortunately she and a cooworker were able to flag down a local business owner who gave her car a jump start and she
was able to get the engine started okay once the car was started she headed home
to change out of her work clothes which investigators later found on her bedroom
floor they also assumed that she must have seen the note that Maryann left for her because after she changed her
clothes she headed to the Bowling World arriving sometime between 6:00 and 6:30 and parking her car in the northwest
corner of the lot okay where her mom was inside with her bowling leak the bowling
alley unfortunately had no security cameras in the parking lot you have to remember this is early
it wasn't super common for everywhere to now we be like what but back then it would be like wait they had security
cameras be more shocking the other way and it's also like back then I'm sure like Banks and that kind of place had
security cameras but it's bowling alley it's a local bowling alley for sure so because they didn't have security
cameras whatever happened after Melissa parked her car is almost entirely unknown according to statements from
Witnesses she was last seen quote arguing with a black male at bowling around 6:00 p.m. and that was the last
time anybody saw her a little before 8:00 p.m. somebody found her keys in the parking lot of the bowling alley and
turned them into the cashier at the front desk but at that time nobody noticed that there was actually small
splatters of blood dried onto the keys and nobody at the alley would later remember who had turned those keys in oh
no yeah so later that night when marann returned home she was surprised to find that Melissa hadn't returned home yet
however she figured that maybe she'd gone out with some friends and would come back later that night it wasn't
something she was super worried about right away but the next morning when Melissa still hadn't returned that's
when Maryann became really worried she wouldn't have spent the night out without calling her and contacting her
somehow so she contacted the police a little after 9:00 a.m. to report her daughter missing over the course of the
next two days Melissa's friends and family and the local police spread out across Fort Smith looking for her they
handed out over 6,000 Flyers with her photograph but nobody had seen or heard anything that's and just having to make
that phone call as a mother to report your child missing I can't that I feel like every time I hear that I'm always
like I can't even bring myself to be in that position I can't that alone no you know and then to hear that no one's seen
her no one being able to be like oh no no no she's here like I saw her here and knowing that you just have like a
run-ofthe-mill argument before and just knowing that that's like the last contact you had with her before she just
disappeared is so normal and so like every day of course like like I said run-of-the-mill like everybody has
argued with their mom in the morning before heading out to go somewhere yeah and and her mom did the right thing by
being like you know what like I don't want to end on this note meet up later like let's not end the day on a bad note
exactly but oh oh it's so sad at least at least she knew that her daughter saw the note yeah you know I know that is a
good thing but then of course she lived with guilt because she was the one who said of course come to the bowling alley
oh God I hate that I know so it wasn't until Monday December 4th that Melissa's car was discovered in the parking lot of
the Bowling World after an employee realized that the keys had blood smeared on them finally and bore the name Missy
on the keychain more importantly there was also a pool of blood found near the car and one gold earring and a hair clip
believed to have belonged to Melissa which I'm like why did it take people that long to realize that that was there
she was parked in like the corner far Corner the far corner so I think that had a lot to do with it but I was like
damn investigators yeah but when they did discover all that they cordoned off the area and they started taking samples
and processing the vehicle for evidence until that moment Melissa's case had actually been labeled a Runway shocked
crazy but the discovery of the blood and the personal item shifted the focus to a
potential kidnapping at that moment they still didn't think that she was murdered
or anything several police officers contacted the employees of the bowling alley and the customers who were known
to have been there that night but this is interesting one person recalled hearing what sounded like a young
woman's voice shouting for help at one point that evening but they said they couldn't be sure what they heard and
nobody else remembered anything I never get these like I don't I'm like you heard someone yelling for
help you know did you say anything in the moment to anyone else I think it's so easy to talk yourself out of what you
heard in the moment like I think I've probably even done it and hopefully like actually like it's been something where
I talked myself into what it actually was kind of thing you know it's easy to do it from a you know from hindsight
kind of thing and from like looking at it from an outside point of view but I always just think and I I'm like uber
and maybe it's because we do this I well now I think my focus has shifted so much
or my sh so much I'm like Wicked on on like high alert so if I hear something that I
think is somebody yelling I will I always say something to somebody just to be like did you hear that like am I
going am I crazy like I always like to know that I'm not the only one hearing it no I think doing this has made us
hyper aware almost like to a to a bad point sometimes yeah honestly yeah there's been points when I'm like we
like kind of spiral sometimes I heard a coyote in the woods the other night and I was convinced that a woman was in the
woods like being abducted andw was like that's absolutely coyotes I was like should we like call someone though he
was like ash that is 100% are not calling someone for coyotes I was like okay okay back to the story though two
weeks later Fort Smith police arrested a local man Larry Landrum on suspicion of
sexual assault and a string of other crimes unrelated to Melissa's disappearance detective Jay Ryder said
if my memory serves me well we questioned landram on the afternoon of December 13th about Melissa wit Landrum
was a bad guy he he was eventually convicted of an unrelated murder and sentenced to life in prison W so they
probably thought they had their guy yeah at a loss for for productive leads investigators hoped that his arrest
would be the break that they needed to find Melissa or at least get some kind of answers cuz you know usually people
like that are not associated with other great people yeah criminals no criminals
MH his body language and evasiveness during the interview also raised a lot of red flags and the results of his
polygraph examination showed deception but they were never able to collect any evidence linking him to the crime oh
that's frustrating yeah every lead that they get in this case so frustrating because it falls apart so quickly or
it's like the leadup and then it just like completely Fizzles out it's rough so a week later on December 21st Fort
Smith police held a press conference to provide an update on the case and at that time they disclosed that Melissa
had last been seen arguing with a man in the parking lot of the Bowling World on
the night that she went missing the individual was described as a quote black male probably in his early 20s
with short hair a medium builds and approximately 6 fet tall after 3 weeks of dead un leads and very little
evidence the local authorities were starting to express their concern that something pretty terrible could have
happened to Melissa the kidnapping angle is seeming less likely at this point yeah definitely as time is going but
they assured reporters that they did remain committed to the case Sergeant David Overton said it's becoming
frustrating but we continue to look for Quality leads and we hope to still find her alive but again when that much time
goes by it's it becomes less likely and one thing about this case is like I was saying like they dropped everything
there were other cases being worked on at this point in time and multiple police officers dropped those cases that
were like obviously important but of lesser importance and everybody committed their time to finding Melissa
oh wow so by that time two large full color Billboards had been ated in town showing a picture of Melissa alongside
the number for Crim Stoppers and the Fort Smith bank was offering a $30,000 reward for any information that would
have led to her safe return but neither yielded productive results that's so crazy which is yeah that's a big reward
so $30,000 in 1994 or 1995 would be about $64,000 today so almost more than double
damn that's crazy that's crazy a few weeks later on January 13th 1995 investigators got the break that they've
been waiting for but it definitely was not the outcome that anybody was hoping for oh no at about 9:30 a.m. two hunters
in Ozark Arkansas about 40 miles from Fort Smith reported to the Franklin County sheriff's officer that they had
been walking through the woods and they came upon what they thought was a mannequin lying face down in the woods
about 30 ft from the main road according to the hunters they had actually been out in those same woods and walked the
same exact Road the day before but they didn't recall call seeing anything at the time remember she's been missing for
weeks at this point like over 3 weeks close to a month that's interesting yeah detective Ryder recalled when the phone
call came in from Sheriff Ross all hell broke loose detective Ryder and his team
along with several crime scene technicians went out to the spot in the Ozark National Forest where Melissa's
body had been discovered and while they couldn't be positive it was Melissa at the time they were reasonably confident
that they had found their missing person that's awesome and she would ultimately
be exclusively identified through dental records oh that's awful yeah Ryder said
about the location it was a Logging Road more or less a single Lane Road rough terrain the road was mainly accessed by
loggers clearing and cutting the national forest so not a frequently traveled Road by like your every kind of
person Melissa's body this is so sad was lying nude in a muddy area she had a non-fatal wound wound on the side of her
head from what appeared to be a blow from a heavy object and based on the location ryer and the other
investigators theorized that the killer was probably local yeah or at least somebody who had frequented the area
often enough to be familiar with this particular particular section of the forest so possibly a hiker or a camper
something like that as they surveyed the crime scene investigators also noticed something strange there was a
human-sized indentation in the earth behind two large rocks just several feet away from where her body had been
discovered so they theorized that the killer had actually initially placed the body Behind The Rock
after the murder occurred like probably closer to when it occurred which would explain why Hunters hadn't seen her the
previous day what so he moved her they think that he did move what the [ __ ] there's there's two sides there's some
people who think he moved her and then we'll talk about what the other people think because why the killer would have
returned and moved the body about 20 feet was a total mystery my only theory is that they were feeling some kind of
something about the fact that she hadn't been found yet like stranger things have
happened yeah but I don't know there were also visible finger marks on her wrists where the killer grabbed her body
and dragged it from one location to the other Jesus detective Ryder said it would have been a gruesome task
Melissa's body had been out in the elements for 45 days and was in advanced stages of decomposition there was small
animal activity on the body whoever moved that body did it so it could be found more easily that's the thing so I
feel like if the killer moved the body then I think they did so because they were frustrated that she hadn't
been found yet I was actually just thinking about what I had just said I don't think they felt bad I don't think
there was I want her to be found cuz you don't leave a your murder victim nude you know in the middle of the forest
just be and be like oh I feel bad I want them to no I think they wanted they wanted her to be found they just didn't
want to be found themselves I agree with you yeah despite ryer suggestion that Melissa's body had been moved by the
killer on the other side of things some investigators believed that it was equally possible that the an that
animals in the forest had moved the body but there was visible finger marks on her wrists from dragging right and that
would be that'd be tough I think for animals to move a full body yeah I mean it's happened I suppose but usually it's
pieces of body I hate to be I know it's gruesome but it's just reality yeah and I don't know I feel like you would be
able to tell well you would be able obviously like you've done autopsy so you know yeah they can tell the
difference between fresh finger marks and finger Mark indentations that actually happened sounds like they were
saying this looks like it was more fresh yeah yeah interesting Jinx uh State Police Lieutenant Dale Bess said we
believe the body had been moved it looked by like by animals we did find the location where she had been in the
wooded area and it looks like she'd been there for quite some time now this is also just coming to me in the moment on
the other side of things I wonder if they said that it was animals who moved to the body because they're not going to
want to sit there and say that the killer was in those woods like right under their noses a few days ago when
they can't find him like he went there twice so it's easier to say that animals it is easier to say than like you just
said admit that he came back and had free reain to move the whole thing right you know who knows who knows but just a
day or two earlier and this is this will give you chills this freaked me out and
it's just awful two days earlier or sorry just a day or two earlier an anonymous caller had left a message at
the Fort Smith Major Crimes unit and an older woman with a thick southern accent
can be heard saying go ahead and tell them what you found and then a younger voice which was probably male they said
can be heard saying no I can't and then the call just disconnected what the [ __ ] a day or two
before Melissa was found Melissa's body was found what yeah in the woods that day
when they did finally discover her detective Ryder couldn't but wonder if somebody had found Melissa's body before
those Hunters did but didn't want to get involved I think that is absolutely a possibility and they never were able to
figure out where that call came from or who it was oh my God this makes me so mad yeah or I should say no other
information came out about it but other than the body in the mud and The Impressions uh humanized impression in
the dirt behind the Rocks the scene was devoid of evidence or anything unusual that might have helped Point them in the
right direction and her killer took her clothing and her jewelry what the [ __ ]
she was found with nothing wow yeah there was no sign of her clothes her personal items anywhere
technicians did take samples of the soil and the natural debris from the location
and Melissa's body was then moved to Little Rock to be autopsi by the state medical examiner in his autopsy report
they he listed the cause of death as asphixiation by strangulation and noted that leaves and soil from the area were
found in her Airway oh my God indicating that she had quote been strangled face down and she inhaled debris from the
forest floor so she was brutal and she was killed out there out there yeah she was brought from one figur she was
killed somewhere else brought there no it sounds like she was killed in the forest holy [ __ ] which is horrifying
yeah based on the evidence collected during the autopsy investor investigators concluded that Melissa's
killer had like we were just saying abducted her from Bowling the Bowling World parking lot and then taken her to
that area off the logging world she was also sexually assaulted and then strangled so the news of the discovery
of Melissa's body in the Ozark Woods came as a shock to everybody who obviously were out there doing the work
passing Flyers all the while hoping that she would be found alive but for some it
was a disappointing end to a frustrating mystery Fort Smith detective Klay Thomas
said I hate to say it but finding her body was the first break we've had in this case at at least it g gives us a
direction before this we didn't have that so I guess you can I guess I mean at least there was that it's like it's
such a double-edged sword because obviously the aim was to find Melissa alive and bring her home this is the
last thing you want to find but at least finding someone's body can give you anything you know like it gives you any
cuz before that you're just kind of blind especially with no security cameras no you know this isn't the time
of like digital Footprints and [ __ ] right and for her family to actually have a place to go visit her where they
know she's laid to rest like that which again means a lot to the last thing you want to happen of in these scenarios but
I'm glad they were at least able to have something to go on at this point M oh it's just awful it is Reverend Ed sa I
think it's saier from the family's Church conveyed similar sentiments telling reporter this is a difficult
time but the family feels a little relief and finally knowing something yeah cuz I I imagine that the unknown
must be just completely unbearable well because we've said it before your mind fills in the blanks and a lot of times
that's you're coming up with somehow even darker things sometimes you know absolutely several months later after
the initial shock had worn off marann wit gave an interview to a local reporter where she couldn't help but
blame herself for her daughter's death which was in no way her fault she said I try not to think about how our lives
would be different if I had not invited Melissa to bowling world that night there's no use thinking about it I know
she's gone but my heart you know as a mom I sometimes wonder what if I had done something
differently kills me breaks your heart she did nothing wrong no she did nothing wrong and it's awful that because of
somebody else being a piece of [ __ ] monster she had to feel that way for the rest of her life yeah because
unfortunately uh Melissa's Father John and her mother Maran wh passed away in 2004 and 2011 respectively so they never
got answers and just waited the rest of their lives to hear anything oh that makes me so sad they never got it now in
a city of nearly 300,000 residents Fort Smith obviously had its fair share of violent crime in fact around the time
that Melissa wit disappeared there were a number of other young women who either
disappeared or were also murdered in 1995 just 9 months after Melissa was killed another Fort Smith woman named
Lori meres went missing after she was released from jail on a public intoxication charge
she was on her way to pick up her paycheck with a plan to return back to the jail and bail out her boyfriend but
she never returned and has never been seen since damn just vanished Into Thin Air those are always the scariest man
yeah a year later in 1996 Fort Smith resident summer Wilkinson disappeared and her remains were later discovered
near a racetrack in Oklahoma oh in 2000 a man named Jonathan Cole was convicted of her death and at the time he was
already serving a life sentence for the 1997 murder of a 13-year-old Fort Smith girl whose remains were also found in
Oklahoma holy [ __ ] the most alarming of these incidents occurred on June 9th 1995 when six-year-old Morgan Nick
disappeared from a little Nick Morgan Nick y disappeared from a little league game in Alma AR Arkansas just 20 miles
uh from Fort Smith so not far at all no Morgan had gone off with some friends to
catch fireflies which just no that absolutely ruined you she was last seen standing by her own
parents car talking to an unknown man before she disappeared a few weeks before her disappearance there were
actually two separate incidents of attempted kidnappings in the area including one where a man tried to pull
a 4-year-old girl into his own pickup truck in Alma and another in which a man tried to abduct a 9-year-old girl from a
convenience store in Fort Smith holy [ __ ] yeah it was a dangerous area my God now despite the obvious difference in
their ages investigators at the time did consider that Melissa's killer might also be responsible for the attempted
kidnapping of the girls in Alma and Fort Smith and The Disappearance of Morgan Nick my God scary that's horrifying
scary despite the surprising number of assaults attempted abductions and murders of young women in this area
investigators on Melissa's case had pretty much nothing to work with very little to work with and even less luck
when it came to find leads in June of 1995 they set up roadblocks in the area uh that Arkansas State Police did in the
hopes that a passing motorist might have seen or heard anything that could lead them to help find Melissa's killer or
help them find Morgan Nick Lieutenant Dale best told a reporter we will follow leads until we've exhausted them
somewhere somewhere out there there is that one lead somewhere a person knows this suspect the information is out
there if we can just reach out to the right person and get them to call but despite their best efforts the
roadblocks turned up zero useful leads which is nuts that's crazy me that many girls going missing ending up dead
like attempted kidnappings and nobody knows anything that's the thing they're not like these people who are doing this
are not that smart no no like they know people they've said things they've done things like come on and people just
don't want to get people don't get involved people don't want to get involved especially in like smaller
towns you see it so much more often it's a very different mindset there's a whole
like you know set of small town politics that comes into play yes big time that's
a perfect way to say it mhm it wasn't until nearly a year later in April 1996 that investigators finally got their
best lead in Melissa's uh Melissa wit's murder case among the stronger suspects in her murder was a local man named
William Taylor who detective Ryder described as somebody with a quote history of sexual abuse and violence
toward women and young girls but the problem was after warrants were issued for his arrest in September of 1995 he
went on the run in law enforcement officials hadn't been able to find him but finally in April of 1996 they used
phone records to track him to Mulberry Arkansas and he was finally arrested on those 95 organt good according to Ryder
quote Taylor was wanted for questioning in the wit case because several coincidences make him a possible suspect
Taylor is known to have frequented bowling allees in the region and was living in the area at the time wit
disappeared about 10 miles from where her body was discovered oh [ __ ] yeah according to Ryder detective Ryder
investigators quote attempted to question Taylor about the murder of Melissa wit and the Abduction of little
Morgan Nick but we never connected him to either case Taylor on the other hand claims
that he was never interviewed by detectives regarding Melissa wit or Morgan Nick's cases and said that even
though he requested a polygraph exam to prove his innocence those those requests
were denied but I thought you were never asked about it yeah in the first place none of that makes any sense I'm sorry
did you just contradict yourself 100% And detective Ryder disputed those claims saying Taylor's probably holding
a grudge over being convicted of those horrible crimes he committed likely yeah uh by all appearances it does seem that
he was cleared as as a suspect not long after his arrest okay at at least in those two cases I was going to say he
did other stuff I was going to say he's not a good guy uh he was only one of a handful of suspects who investigators
focused on very intensely after the discovery of Melissa's body in the woods the earliest suspect was actually the
Good Samaritan who helped Melissa after her car wouldn't start on the night of her disappearance oh under the
circumstances the timing of his appearance was pretty suspicious to investigators but that man was
interviewed several times by investigators and ultimately cleared oh man there was also a local homeless man
Roger Dale Wood who was arrested for quote this is is so gross mailing obscene sexual devices to Maryann wit
Melissa's mother are you [ __ ] kidding me no about a week after Melissa's death
a postal worker was sorting some packages and noticed a package addressed to the wit home without a return address
and they were like that's weird they became concerned that it actually might be from the killer so the employee
reported the package to the authorities which like hell mother [ __ ] yeah employee to think that far ahead high
fives to that employee for thinking that clearly about it and to be like I don't
want her family to have to deal with this and this be help so let me let me call someone let me say something they
saw something they said something good job so the authorities opened it and they found the obscene device what a
piece of [ __ ] truly detective Ryder said the package had been mailed from a Dropbox wood was attempting to frame
another man for killing Melissa because he suspected that the man had been stealing from him wow yeah scum see scum
literally just scum every as far as the eye can see truly now he ended up mailing another package the to the wit
home a week later and he became the focus of the investigation for a short time yeah it's like dude you're you're
going to look like the guy I don't know why look crazy you're trying to frame somebody else well you're doing a good
job of making yourself look real [ __ ] guilty exactly detective ryer later commented I still find it bizarre that
wood interjected himself into the wit case but after an intense investigation we are are confident he was not
responsible for Melissa's murder damn he's just an [ __ ] he's just a piece of [ __ ] my added quote at the time
Melissa's body was discovered anyone with a Criminal past and connection to Melissa no matter how trivial seemed
like a promising suspect yeah of course but as the years past and the case evolved those early suspects were pretty
much more than likely just pretty desperate grasps at finding any leads yeah I mean they had to they had to they
had to go for anything you're when you don't have anything you have to chase down what you can you do since then
several other suspects have emerged who quickly became a focus of the investigation and are actually far more
serious than the Good Samaritan and Roger Wood like you understand why they chased them down but these next people
we're going to talk about are actually like make you scratch your head a in 1999 Marcus Blair a Fort Smith reporter
was covering the the crime beat for the Times Record when he came across an interesting story from a Texas paper
about a man named lar uh Larry Swearingen at the time Swearingen had been arrested for the murder of
19-year-old Melissa Trotter who he was accused of sexually assaulting strangling and dump dumping in the Sam
Houston National Forest in Texas so literally the same exact thing same exact thing even at dumping the body in
a national for same victim profile same victim profile and actually if you if you look at a picture of Melissa if of
both melissas they bear striking resemblance and he recalled I immediately thought you know wow this
girl looks like Melissa wit the more I read the more I realized how similar the cases were to each other o that's scary
yeah when Blair brought the uh story to detective Ryder's attention which like again see something say something you
love to see it the detective felt like he had finally gotten a break in the case that he'd been Desperately Seeking
he said I've been waiting for a guy like this to come along since the case began
I've never seen two cases this similar but I've also run into more coincidences in this case than any other but this
coincidence is almost unbelievable yeah things and they do look a lot alike when
you put them next to each other see and around the same age y unfortunately murdered in the same manner
assaulted dumping location similar dump things looked even more promising when Ryder discovered that Larry had
been in Arkansas visiting his grandparents just days before Melissa went missing oh come on add that to the
fact that he had a history of kidnapping in he in Melissa's now despite these coin very
strong coincidences between the cases saren Jen maintained his innocence in the wick case until the day of his
execution in Fall of 2019 for years investigators tried to get him to cooperate with an interview
and sought any evidence that could tie him to Melissa's death but he refused to speak to them and they were never able
to produce anything of substance he feels like a really good suspect to me he does and the fact that he refused to
speak about it just wouldn't talk about it and was like I'm being executed anyway yeah so like what the [ __ ] yeah
another prominent suspect in Melissa's abduction and murder was convicted rapist Travis Dale Crouch at the time of
Melissa's disappearance he was working as a handyman at a church camp not far from where Melissa's body was discovered
a [ __ ] rapist yeah working at a church camp awesome and it was not far from where her body was convicted rapist
working at a church camp yeah fantastic great uh he had grown up in Ozark and spent the late 1980s riding around the
country with several motorcycle gangs before being sent to prison in the early 90s for stabbing a man in Minneapolis
wow in October 1994 he was released from prison and returned to Ozark to live with his parents having grown up in the
area he was very intimately familiar with the region and he had actually been seen driving in the area of the Bowling
World at the time of Melissa disappearance detective Ryder said we have witnesses that place him in Ozark
Arkansas at least through mid December adding that Crouch was arrested in Louisiana on January 1st 1995 so not
long after Melissa was killed in interviews with law enforcement he has no alibi he had no alibi for the night
that Melissa went missing and couldn't account for his whereabouts during the weeks that followed oh [ __ ] yeah in 1998
investigators took hair fiber and stain samples from the the car that he was driving at the time but the test results
were inconclusive oh I [ __ ] hate that mhm otherwise he has denied playing any role in Melissa's death but again he
also looks like a good one another strong suspect in 1997 he was convicted of sexually assaulting a 20-year-old
woman in Broomfield Colorado and in this case he kidnapped the woman in her own car and drove her to a remote location
in the mountains where he violently sexually assaulted her this victim was able to Escape after he passed out in
the front seat oh my God and at that time she obviously reported the assault to police as of now he still maintains
his innocence and is serving uh a 64e sentence in Colorado holy [ __ ] but maintains his innocence as far as the
Melissa Wick case with each new suspect that emerged in this case it seemed like
investigators were getting closer to finding the identity of Melissa's killer finally but they were never able to make
any actual case against any individual but there was always one one man that many investigators strongly suspected of
involvement in Melissa's murder and more than any other suspect he had the criminal history to justify their
opinions really yes in 2000 detectives in Arkansas arrested Charles Ray vines that name
might sound familiar he was arrested after he violently attacked a 16-year-old girl
breaking into her home raping her and almost killing her holy [ __ ] not long after that arrest the investigation and
covered additional evidence that proved he was the notorious serial killer that the Press had dubbed the river valley
killer oh okay he was responsible for the brutal killings of 89-year-old Lily Jones in 1993 why did I know that name
mhm and the murder of 58-year-old Wanita Wofford 2 months later a little over a year later a local Fort Smith resident
Danny Bennett confessed to those murders and was actually sent to prison for them
but whatever relief that brought was shortlived because in August of that year while Danny Bennett was sitting in
jail or prison rather 74-year-old Ruth Henderson was murdered and the killing and crime scene were remarkably similar
to the murders of Jones and Wofford so the murder of Ruth Henderson was determined to have been committed by the
same killer and authorities were then forced to let Danny Bennett go it wasn't until 5 years later when Vines was
arrested for this assault on the teenage girl that investigators finally started
connect ing those previous cases to him and he was arrested after his arrest he made a deal with the prosecutor's office
in in which he agreed to provide details of his previous murders in exchange for
their agreeing not to pursue the death penalty at which point he confessed to the other murders holy [ __ ] yeah he had
lived in Fort Smith for many years including the period that Melissa wit disappeared and was killed in an
investigator strongly suspected him of being Melissa's killer but when he was was directly confronted about the murder
after his arrest he denied abducting or killing Melissa given that he had confessed to killing the other women it
really wouldn't make a lot of sense for him to deny Melissa's murder if he was responsible but law enforcement Still
Remains suspicious according to Rob Allen who was one of the FBI agents who pursued the case in 2019 he said there
was a lady who had emailed a detective she worked with Charlie vines's mother and Charlie Vines sometimes would show
up to his mother's work and that way witness reported she saw him wearing a bowling league shirt of some sort oh so
that's interesting that is very interesting the report about the bowling league shirt is obviously circumstantial
the best but it was just one of several things about Charlie Vines Charles vines
that made him a strong suspect he worked about 8 minutes from where Melissa's body was discovered was known to be very
familiar with the area like I said he lived there most of his life and was very familiar with the logging trails in
Ozark there's a lot of people are in 2021 27 years after Melissa's murder an investigatory team of FBI agents and
local La enforcement officers were sent out to the area where Melissa's body was
discovered in the Ozark forest and they brought several several tracking dogs with them and despite having nearly
three decades having passed those dogs located an old mattress in the woods with Charles Ray Vine's DNA on it shut
the [ __ ] up as well as several several old Cambridge cigarette butts containing
DNA what and this is crazy when the original investigators processed the scene in 1994 when Melissa's body was
found they located several Cambridge cigarette butts right near where her body was
discovered this again this feels like it's it feels so strong yeah he was ultimately convicted and sentenced to
three life terms for the murders of Lily Jones Wanita wford and Ruth Henderson but despite the best best efforts of FBI
and local law enforcement he refused to talk on the record about Melissa whip [ __ ] and he died in prison in September
2019 and he is a disgusting looking man just so everybody knows he is gross he's
heinous as of 2025 now Melissa wit's murder remains unsolved currently the nonprofit organization all the Lost
Girls is offering a $29,000 reward for any information that will lead to the arrest and successful prosecution of her
killer and anybody with any information about her murder is encouraged to call the organization's confidential hotline
at 1 1800 4419 2022 again 1 1800 449 2022 or they can email confidentially at who killed Missy wit@
gmail.com this is just such a frustrating case such a frustrating case cuz every time they felt like they got
close and that they had their guy it was just that the person wouldn't cooperate and they didn't have anything
else to hold them there on that or to to completely you know yeah seal the deal it's like there's a couple of really
good like I feel like he's in there for me Charles Ray Vines and I would say Larry Larry Larry Swearingen are
probably the and I was really stuck on Larry until I found that uh the cigarette butts Charles the kind that
Charles rine smoked were right near the body that's very very interesting and an
old mattress with his DNA on it it's like why was there an Old Mattress out there yeah and that's the thing it's
like what the [ __ ] yeah bizarre yeah and just such a tragic tragic awful awful
case the fact that her parents died not knowing yeah not having any answers of what happened to their 19-year-old
daughter no that makes me sick who had everything going for her everything going for her she came from a good
family she was beautiful she was well-liked she was going to be a dental hygien involved in her the damn thing
yeah and just went to the bowling alley to hang out with her mom one night after
work that makes me sick so sad so guys if you have if anybody listening has um knows anybody with any information or if
you have any information again that the number that I provided and the uh email you can submit it submit an email
confidentially and again submit a tip to that number confidential it's completely
confidential if you know anyone if you saw anything if your family member remembers something if you're from the
area do you ever heard anything at all you ever heard a damn thing it's like these kind of things I'm like this can
be solved absolutely this can be solved 100% oh I but's I want it to happen I know I'm glad that we did an unsolved
case at the top of the year I like to let's start the year yes with some fresh years on it let's get it solved but you
know what if the lady of the dunes the boy in the Box the Summerton man if all those things can be can be solved I mean
decades and decades and decades later this can be sof but yeah no I completely agree with you and so guys remember see
something say something yeah we love you you keep listening be nice to yourselves
and keep it weird but not so weird that if you see something you don't say something and not so weird that if you
have a tip you don't submit it because you could help the whole entire family and to get Justice for a wonderful woman
who was killed by a terrible monster [Music] [Music] [Music]

On December 1, 1994, nineteen-year-old Melissa Witt planned to meet her mother at a FAort Smith, Arkansas bowling alley, but by all appearances, she only made it as far as the parking lot. Two days later, investigators discovered Melissa’s car abandoned in the Bowling World parking lot, a trail of blood leading away from the vehicle. Six weeks later, animal trackers located Melissa’s nude body in an isolated part of the Ozark National Forest and the hunt was on to find her killer.

In the thirty years since Melissa Witt’s murder, a number of strong suspects have popped up on investigators’ radars, including serial killer Charles Ray Vines, yet to this date no one has been charged with her death. After three decades of unanswered questions, Witt’s family are desperate to know, what happened to Melissa on the night she went missing, and will detectives ever be able to hold her killer responsible for her tragic death?

Currently, the nonprofit organization All the Lost Girls is offering a $29,000 reward for any information that will lead to the arrest and successful prosecution of her killer. Anyone with any information about the murder is encouraged to call the organization’s confidential hotline at 1-800-440-1922 or email confidentially at whokilledmissywitt@gmail.com

Thank you to the Incredible Dave White of Bring Me the Axe Podcast for research and Writing support!

References Alvey, Tina. 1995. "Fort Smith teen's body found near Turner Bend." Madison County Record, Janaury 19: 4.

Associated Press. 1995. "Man questioned about girl; police say he's not a suspect." Batesville Guard, June 14: 6.

Cavallier, Andrea. 2024. "A teenager was snatched from the parking lot of a bowling." The Independent, August 10.

Humphrey, LaDonna. 2022. The Girl I Never Knew: Who Killed Melissa Witt. Milwaukee, WI: Genius Books.

Kilby, Brenda. 1996. "Long-sought man awaits questioning ." Tulsa World , May 6: 29.

Connect with Wondery http://wondery.com/shows http://facebook.com/WonderyMedia http://twitter.com/WonderyMedia http://instagram.com/WonderyMedia

Brief Summary

Melissa Wit, 19, went missing in 1994; her unsolved murder remains a mystery with numerous suspects.

Key points

Celebrating David Bowie's Birthday. The hosts celebrate David Bowie's birthday with a nostalgic reflection.
Melissa's Disappearance. The tragic story of Melissa Anne Wit, who went missing at 19.
A Mother's Heartbreak. Maryann's struggle as she reports her daughter missing.
Melissa's Body Discovered. After weeks of searching, Melissa's body is found in the Ozark Woods, shocking the community.
The Guilt of a Mother. Melissa's mother blames herself for her daughter's death, despite having done nothing wrong.
The Search for Leads. In June 1995, police set up roadblocks hoping to find leads in Melissa's case.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

Be nicer to yourself.

Encouragement to practice self-compassion.

7:33WatchJan 23, 2025

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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