Vanished Into Thin Air: 5 Unsettling Disappearances | Forensic Files

There are some stories [music] that never leave you. Cases that stay open with so many unanswered [music]
questions just waiting for someone to explain what really happened. Today, I want to tell you about five
disappearances that are still as baffling today as they were when they first occurred. But unlike the infamous
disappearances [music] of people like Amelia Heheart or Maline McCann, these five stories haven't
dominated the headlines, but they are just as chilling. [music] These are the stories that make you
wonder how someone could seemingly vanish without a trace. Number five, Zelig Williams.
In October 2024, the dance world is stunned when Broadway performer Zelig Williams, known for his roles in
Hamilton and MJ the Musical, disappears without a trace. Now, he's 32 years old,
charismatic, [music] and at the height of his career, which makes his sudden disappearance all the
more baffling. On October 3rd, 2024, Zelig is at his mom's house in South Carolina. [music]
When she sees him heading out the door with head shot in hand, she assumes he's on his way to make copies, like the kind
of errand you would expect from a performer chasing [music] his next big show. He drives off in her red Ford
Escape. Less than an hour later, though, Zelig's friends in New York receive an SOS [music] crash alert from his phone,
a notification that he's been in a wreck, basically. Concerned, they immediately call his mom to ask if he's
okay and to see if she knows what happened. And as you'd expect, she rushes to the area where the alert
indicated the crash occurred, fearing the worst. But there is no crash, no car, no sign of Zelig. Later that day,
his SUV is found abandoned [music] at a trail head parking lot about 30 minutes from his mom's home. There's no sign of
a struggle, no blood, no broken glass. But inside the car, there are some unsettling clues. His shoes are on the
floorboard. His clothes are folded neatly in the driver's seat. It almost looks as if he deliberately undressed.
But why? The bizarre details don't stop there. A park ranger later talks to a man who claims that he was driving
toward the trail head when he passed a red car. But after passing it, the car turned around and followed [music] him
to the parking lot. According to this witness, when he parked, a man got out of the red car and started [music]
following him down the trail. This man wasn't just walking behind him. He was acting erratic, dancing as he strips off
his clothes and tosses them around until he is fully naked [music] and dancing on
a bridge railing. Now, given the red car and the location, they assume that this
was Zelig. But here's the problem. At the same time that the witness claims to see Zelig, his phone is pinging 90
minutes away in another town. So, was it really him on the trail? Looking to somehow make sense of all of this,
police trace the movements of his car, but the findings raise even more questions. The car appears to have been
driven in loops for hours before it's left at the trail. Now, complicating all of this is the fact that Hurricane Helen
had just hit before Zelig went missing, and it flooded the area. So, it made searching really difficult. But, they
did go out there. They were looking for him with drones and ATVs and helicopters. But it took some time for
divers to get into the river, specifically below the bridge where that naked man was reportedly dancing. But
even when divers were finally able to enter the water, they found nothing. Zelig's family believes that he may have
been in a vulnerable state. They share that he had recently stopped taking his medication. He'd also been fasting and
was exploring new churches. But they and others also think it's very possible that he could have met someone on the
trail who meant to harm him. What makes this case even more heartbreaking is that [music]
Zelig is his mother's only surviving child. His two sisters died in a car accident years earlier and dance was how
he honored them. To this day, no trace of Zelic has [music] been found. Not in the woods, not in the river, not in
hospitals or shelters. His phone remains dark, has never been found, and his family is left with endless questions.
Did Zelig walk away from his life? Was he in the middle of a mental health crisis? Or did he cross paths with
someone who meant him harm? For now, all we know is that a brilliant performer, a
man who brought stories to life through dance, vanished on an ordinary October [music] day. And until he's found, Zelig
Williams disappearance will remain one of the most haunting mysteries in recent years.
Number four, Steven Clark. On December 28th, 1992, 23-year-old Steven Clark goes for a walk with his
mom along the beach in this small town on England's northeast coast. They stroll the familiar two-mile path in the
neighboring town of Saltburn. And when they reach the pier, Steven says that he needs to use the restroom. So, they
split up. Steven heads to the men's. Mom heads to the ladies. Now, when she comes
back out, Steven isn't [music] there. And at first, she like waits. Maybe he's still in the bathroom. Then, after it's
been a little bit, she thinks like, "Oh, he must have gone ahead of her." And so,
she starts walking back home, but he isn't on the path. And when she gets back to the house, she discovers that he
isn't there either. In fact, Steven never comes home again. And it's important to note that Steven had very
little on him when he vanished. No wallet, no passport, no belongings, nothing. But Steven wasn't the type to
just disappear. As a child, he'd been hit by a car. And so that left him with limited use of one arm and this
distinctive limp. But he was independent. I mean, he'd recently won an award through a program that helps
people with disabilities find work. And he even started seeing someone romantically. Now, in the days that
followed his disappearance, a few people reported sightings. [music] One family friend swears that he sees
Steven 2 days later in a nearby town. Another woman claims that she spots him weeks later walking with an older man in
glasses, but neither sighting is ever confirmed. Now, decades go by where we don't really know anything, and then the
case takes a shocking turn. In 2020, nearly 30 years after Steven vanishes, his elderly parents, Doris and Charles
Clark, are arrested on suspicion of murdering their own son. Now, the case against them hinges on an anonymous
letter that police received accusing the parents directly, but by the way, offering no evidence. So, in response,
detectives dig up the family's backyard, but they find nothing. Months later, Doris and Charles are cleared. But the
family is just left stunned and then devastated by the accusations and public [music] suspicion. And at the end of it
all, they're still no closer to finding out what happened to their son. To this day, Steven Clark's disappearance
remains one of the UK's most baffling mysteries. Did he walk away on his own? Did something happen on that short walk
from the pier? Or does the truth lie with someone who's never come forward? Number three, John and Shelley Markley.
On December 15th, 1995, in the small town of Bristol, Ohio, John and Shelley Markley vanish into thin air. That
afternoon, their 15-year-old daughter, Ruth, comes home from school to a scene that doesn't really make sense. Coffee
pot is boiled dry. Her parents clothes for a funeral that night are laid out on their bed. her mom's purse, lighter,
cigarettes, things she would never leave the house without, just sit there in plain sight. But John and Shelley are
gone. Even more alarming is that for the first time ever, Ruth sees that John's gun cabinet is unlocked. When the couple
doesn't show up to the funeral that evening or come home that night, the family finally reports them missing.
Now, police find John's red Chevy Silverado truck abandoned outside a restaurant about 20 minutes away from
the house. And inside the truck, they find tarps, Shel's cell phone, and potentially other evidence, though
accounts differ as to what police actually collect from the vehicle. Even stranger, though, that same truck was
spotted earlier in the day at a Walmart parking lot where John's niece, I mean, she's the one that saw it. She writes,
"Hi, Uncle John." in the dirt that was caked on the side. So, someone must have moved the truck. The question is who?
Now, we know that John and Shel were alive in that truck at some point because a bank teller remember seeing
John and Shel in the truck just hours before they disappear. But they say that a third person was
with them. A slim, dark-haired man sits in the passenger seat as Shelley cashes a $1,000 check. And that is the last
confirmed sighting of the couple. But then come the phone calls. John's brother-in-law starts receiving these
bizarre ransom demands from a man claiming that Jon and Shel are alive but being held in Toronto. He demands
$10,000 and warns that they'll be sacrificed by a cult if the family doesn't pay up. So, [music] police stage
a sting on New Year's Eve after a ransom note directs them to hide cash inside a
pile of penguin sweatshirts at the local mall. Now, instead of kidnappers, they arrest a former employee of John's,
Steven Durst, and Steven's teenage daughter. Now, it turns out Steven once lived with the Markley, but they left on
bad terms. Now, he ends up getting convicted of the extortion plot, effectively taking advantage of their
disappearance, but he's never charged with anything tied to their actual disappearance. And almost 30 years
later, no one seems to know what really happened to the Markleys. Were they victims of a former employees grudge?
Was this a random kidnapping? Or was it something else entirely? Our investigative reporting revealed a wild
tangled web of family feuds and maybe that might hold the key to solving this decades old case.
Number two, the Milbrook twins. On March 18th, 1990, 15-year-old fraternal twins Danette and Janette
Milbrook leave their home in Augusta, Georgia to walk to their godfather's house for bus money. On the way, they
stop by their sister's place, then a nearby gas station, where a cashier remembers them buying chips [music] and
soda. They never make it to their godfather's house. Their mom reports them missing that same night, but
instead of launching a search, police tell her to just wait 24 hours. Now, when the report is finally filed and
taken, the officer gets nearly everything wrong. I mean, misspelling their last name, listing the wrong
birthday for them, and even writing down the wrong street address for the twins home. The first investigator on the case
dismisses the girls as runaways, despite the fact that they have left behind seizure medication, personal belongings,
and had no more than 20 bucks on them. As the weeks turn into years, the case only gets more bizarre. Their names are
eventually removed from the National Missing Persons Database after police wrongly claim that they've been found.
And at one point, their mother is even told that the girls have been placed in foster care, which makes no sense,
especially since there's no paperwork or evidence to prove it. Meanwhile, possible connections to violent
criminals go ignored. Around the time that the twins disappear, a local man named Joseph Patrick Washington, a
suspected serial killer, mind you, is attacking women in the very same neighborhood that the twins disappeared
from. And he lived just blocks from the twins father who also had a violent past. Decades later, new investigators
reopen the case. But the original files are missing and so leads quickly fizzle out. Danette and Janette's family have
fought for more than 30 years to prove that they didn't run away. And today, they remain one of the only missing twin
cases in America. Their family is still searching, and someone out there knows what happened to them.
Number one, Trevaline Evans. In June 1990, 52-year-old Trevaline Evans vanishes from the bustling Welsh
town of Langofflin in broad daylight, resulting in what police called one of the strangest cases they've ever worked.
June 16th, 1990 starts out like any regular Saturday for Trevolene. The only difference is her husband was out of
town that day. Had been for the previous week. She opens up her antique shop as usual. Customers come and go. And around
lunchtime, a friend drops off flowers and Trevaline makes plans for a girl's night with her the following week. Now,
sometime after noon, she tapes a handwritten note to her door that reads, "Back in [music] 2 minutes." But she
never comes back. Her car is there. Her handbag, her keys, even her makeup compact are left inside the shop. All
suggesting that Trevaline truly thought she would only be gone for a moment, but
she is never seen again. Now, in the days leading up to her disappearance, people around town noticed something
unusual. Trevalene was seen several times with an unidentified, [music] smartly dressed man. This guy was in a
suit carrying a briefcase. I mean, the very morning she disappeared, she was spotted walking down the street [music]
with him. But despite a nationwide search, police were never able to identify this mystery man. Naturally,
rumors swirl. Was she abducted? Did she walk away from her life? Was she harmed by someone she knew? Was this mystery
man, a foe, a lover, a friend? Foulplay became a real possibility when in 2011, police shocked everyone by arresting
Trevaline's husband. However, after questioning, he gets released without charges. And then in 2019, the case took
another bizarre turn. Two brothers hear this strange story that leads them to search beneath the floorboards of a
nearby golf club using this like tiny camera, specifically looking for Trevaline's remains. And they actually
find something and are even able to photograph it. Problem is, days later, police come and they search this same
spot and they claim there's nothing there. Now, the brothers insist that the body was removed, fueling theories of a
cover up. And then, not long after, anonymous plaques begin appearing around town, claiming that Trevaline's body was
found there, but later hidden, and that someone is denying her justice. More than 30 years later, Trevaline's fate is
still a mystery. Who was the man in the suit? What happened to her after she left her shop that afternoon? And was
her body really hidden just miles away for all these years? If so, where is it now? So, those are five mysterious
disappearances that you may never have heard of, unless you're a crime junkie, that is. Each one leaves families still
searching for [music] answers and proves that some of the most haunting stories are the ones without endings. If you
want to go deeper into these mysteries, you can hear the full stories of all these cases on Crime [music] Junkie
wherever you get your podcasts or in the Crime Junkie fan club. Don't [music] forget to like, subscribe, and hit the
bell so you never miss our next investigation.

Here's our first-ever Top 5 stories that have haunted families and investigators for decades. Join us today as Ashley Flowers goes through five of the most puzzling unsolved missing-persons cases we've covered.

Case #5: Zelig Williams (South Carolina, 2024) A 32-year-old Broadway dancer known for his roles in Hamilton and MJ the Musical vanishes after leaving his mother’s home in South Carolina. His red Ford Escape was found abandoned at a trailhead, his clothes folded neatly inside. Was it a breakdown, or something far more sinister?

Case #4: Steven Clark (Marske-by-the-Sea, England, 1992) A seaside walk with his mother ends with 23-year-old Steven Clark disappearing from a restroom near Saltburn Pier. Decades later, police arrest his elderly parents for murder, only to clear them months later. So what really happened on that winter afternoon? Listen to the full-story on Crime Junkie, wherever you listen to podcasts.

Case #3: John and Shelly Markley (Bristolville, Ohio, 1995) A married couple vanishes from their rural home--coffee pot boiling dry, clothes laid out, and truck abandoned miles away. Ransom calls, cult threats, and a convicted extortionist only deepen the mystery. Watch the full episode on this case: https://youtu.be/Q3uP-fECEGc

Case #2: Dannette and Jeannette Millbrook (Augusta, Georgia, 1990) Fifteen-year-old twins disappear after a short walk for bus money. Police dismiss them as runaways, misfile reports, and even remove them from the national missing-persons database. Decades later, their family is still fighting for answers.

Case #1: Trevaline Evans (Llangollen, Wales, 1990) A 52-year-old shop owner tapes a note to her antique store door: “Back in two minutes.” She never returns. Thirty years later, new clues emerge — from a mysterious man in a suit to a shocking discovery beneath a Welsh golf club.

Chapters: 00:00 Intro 00:44 Zelig Williams 05:06 Steven Clark 07:40 John and Shelly Markley 10:52 Millbrook Twins 13:00 Trevaline Evans

Courtesy: Mieoki Corbett-Jackson Credit: Clark Family Photo Credit: Markley Family Photo Credit: National Center for Missing & Exploited Children Credit: Evans Family Photo

Watch the full episode on this case: https://youtu.be/Hv6OLTIcESY From South Carolina to North Wales, these stories prove that even in an age of technology, people can still vanish without a trace.

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Check out these other great crime channels: @rottenmangopod I Saw Luigi Mangione In Court, And This Is EVERYTHING He Did https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5pA4rPQM_w&t=6s @kallmekris The Most TERRIFYING Stalker Turned Murder Case https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0AQ0Mbo5oY @EleanorNeale Russia's Most EVIL Female Serial Killer: 'Satan in a Skirt' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RoLtS98R5og&t=1s @annieelise Accident at WakeFest or Murdered by Friends? | What Really Happened to Lauren Agee https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZMLxq5Yafg&t=1s

Brief Summary

Five baffling disappearances highlight chilling mysteries and unanswered questions surrounding each case.

Key points

Zelig Williams' Mysterious Disappearance. Broadway performer Zelig Williams vanishes without a trace, leaving behind unsettling clues.
The Baffling Case of Steven Clark. Decades after his disappearance, Steven's parents are accused of his murder without evidence.
The Vanishing of John and Shelley Markley. John and Shelley Markley disappear, leading to bizarre ransom demands and unanswered questions.
The Milbrook Twins' Disappearance. Danette and Janette Milbrook vanish, with police mishandling the case for decades.
Trevaline Evans' Strange Case. Trevaline Evans vanishes in broad daylight, leaving behind a mystery that remains unsolved.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

These five stories haven't dominated the headlines, but they are just as chilling.

0:24WatchOct 22, 2025

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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