Cold Case Files - The Calling Card

Episode Date: July 12, 2022

A hitchhiker is murdered, and a mysterious stack of business cards leads police on a 38-year hunt for her killer. Check out our great sponsors! K12: Take charge of your child's education at K12.com/podcast  SimpliSafe: Claim a free indoor security camera plus 20% off with Interactive Monitoring at simplisafe.com/coldcase  Shopify: Go to shopify.com/coldcase for a FREE 14 day trial and get full access to Shopify’s entire suite of features! Quote your car insurance at Progressive.com to join the over 27 million drivers who trust Progressive!

This episode contains descriptions of violence and sexual assault. Use your best judgment. Regina Reynolds was a student at Morrisville State College in 1975. Her friends and family called her Reggie. She was well-liked. On November 6th, she needed to get to campus. So she started walking, hoping to hitch a ride. Around 5 p.m., someone stopped and asked if she needed a lift.

Regina got into the car. She didn't make it to campus, though, ever again. Regina was murdered. From A&E, this is Cold Case Files. Regina was missing for four days before her roommates called the police. Her friends told the investigator that they were suspicious when Regina missed the dinner date they had planned. Investigator Gene Reifenberg was assigned to the case. It was unusual to have a dinner date and then not show up,

especially with her boyfriend involved and the other people involved. It just didn't make sense that she would just take off. She had no reason to take off. The investigators began to think the worst had happened after a week with no leads. They interviewed Regina's boyfriend, Robert McDonald, one of the last people to see her alive. I think that's one of the things that made it so hard is because other people are looking at you too, like you might have done something. And yeah, it's difficult to go through that. You're very desperate for hope that she's going to be okay. And the longer, you know, day after day went on, it was very difficult. On November 19th, two weeks after Regina had gone missing,

her body was found 50 miles away at Otisca Lake. A fisherman was heading to the water when he found a naked body in the weeds. This is Detective Dave Paul. You could tell at that particular time you're looking for a very serious killer. Just by the way, he threw the body away. And he did throw it away, just like he would a roadkill. Tossed it over, made no attempt to cover her up or anything. Regina had been killed by a single stab wound to the heart with a large double-bladed knife. Semen was found inside her body and preserved on a slide for future testing.

At that time, we didn't have DNA, but we did send it down to the lab to see if we could get the coding, whether it was blood A, B, whatever. And we couldn't get that done at the time. But all that would have done is knock it down to a couple million people if we got the blood typing. Detective Ray Salvey was part of the team of investigators focusing on the crime scene. While at the scene, he walked to the top of the nearest hill, likely the spot where the killer was when he threw the body. While standing there, something caught his eye.

This is Detective Salvey. When I looked down at the scene there, I saw this plastic container, which was similar to what a businessman would carry business cards in. He was right. When he opened the case, there were several business cards inside. The name on the card was Donald Sigsbee, and it had Model Display Company. According to the information on the cards, Donald Sigsbee worked about 60 miles away from the crime scene, but only a few miles from where Regina had been kidnapped.

In my 20 years at crime scenes, I never found anything like this, you know, that was so damaging, because it certainly had the guy's name on it and it wasn't one business card, it was four or five that were in a plastic holder. Multiple cards made it more likely that Donald Sigsbee had been the one to drop the case instead of one of his customers. It was likely Sigsbee was connected to Regina's murder. Either that or extremely unlucky. The investigator started at Sigsbee's business address found on the card. He wasn't there. Investigator Reifenberg then tried Sigsbee's house. Checked by his house, his vehicle wasn't there, so we set up a surveillance post near

Route 20 and 26 and waited, and after a while, he came along. Sixby was driving a dark blue van. Investigator Reifenberg shined his flashlight inside to get a better look. I remember shining in the back of his van, and I could see it would appear to be blood in the back of the van, so naturally, you know, the wheels are turning, and you're going, wow, we obviously got something here. Sixby was taken to the state police barracks and interviewed. Detective Paul asked him how his business cards

ended up at the scene of a murder. He wouldn't go for anything. He didn't admit to anything. We said we found the cards, and his response was, I don't know how they got there. I have no idea how they got there. Then, Investigator Reifenberg asked him

if he had picked up Regina and killed her. Denied it, didn't know anything about it. Didn't know her, never picked up hitchhikers. Donald Sigsbee told the investigators that he was a carpenter and he was working in his shop alone on the night Regina disappeared. He also told them that he was a hunter and that the blood they saw in the van was from a deer. The crime lab tested the blood,

and after confirming it was from a deer, they released Sigsbee from custody. This is Detective Paul. Why don't you let him walk out of that room? He's won. He won that. He knows if you've got anything, you'd be arresting him. The next day, the detectives got a search warrant for Donald Sigsbee's office. Detective Reifenberg found a Rolodex on Sigsbee's desk, but apparently he wasn't very popular. We were searching in his office. He had a file, an index file. There was only one name in that whole index file. That was Martha Allen.

Unfortunately, Detective Reifenberg recognized the name Martha Allen right away. Martha Allen was a person whose body was found near Sylvan Beach in a swampy area. So badly decomposed, we couldn't ascertain how she died. Martha Allen's body had been discovered two years earlier, but it wasn't investigated as a homicide. Now, though, the detectives thought that they could possibly be dealing with a serial killer. The detectives brought Donald Sigsbee back in for questioning. When Detective Paul asked him why Martha Allen's name was in his Rolodex, he simply said she was a customer.

That was his answer to that. And he said, you know, she's murdered too. And he just said, no kidding. And that was his response. He never asked one question about murdered how or where or anything else. Just no kidding. The investigators strongly suspected that Sigsbee had murdered Regina and likely Martha. Unfortunately, there was no forensic evidence tying the suspect to either case. Plus, Detective Paul wasn't having much luck getting any information from Donald Sigsbee. You'd be in there for six hours and you'd be mentally exhausted after talking to him. You'd try to put little plants and traps and everything in different words, hoping that he'd lie about certain things and you'd catch him in it. You're such a guy that would talk about generalities that and you'd catch him in it. He was such a guy that would talk about generalities that you couldn't put him in anything.

The detectives decided on an unusual approach. They released Sigsbee, but gave him a tape recorder. They told him to record a play-by-play of his daily life. I wanted to listen to his activities from the time he got up in the morning until he went home at night, and I felt if there was anything in there that I could punch a hole in, I would. Sixby did as he was told and started recording. December 8th, Monday morning, quarter after 8th. This weekend, Saturday, I went deer hunting.

Didn't get anything. Didn't get a shot. Didn't get a shot this year. In one particular recording, Sixby talks about how his business cards could have ended up in the place where the investigators found them. Continuing on there, they know I've been thinking all along.

Somebody come in and grab them cards here in the shop. That's where I've been concentrating my thoughts. It's who's been in. I can't think of times and dates and everything. The detectives thought the theft was unlikely, but they couldn't prove otherwise. And after listening to hours of tape-recorded monologue, they weren't any closer to being able to make their case.

The detectives also started to feel a little guilty. Sigsbee was a respected businessman and a father of seven children. Here's Detective Paul. Everybody knew him. He lived there for generations. People thought we were nuts when we were interviewing him. Why him? With no witnesses, no murder weapon, and no forensic evidence, the case went cold and was boxed up and put in storage next to the case of Martha Allen. In 1999, more than 20 years after Regina was killed, a detective named David Krause took another look at the case.

When you look at her photo and you think about the fact that this girl was 19 years old at the time that she was abducted and murdered, and I think you just kind of say to yourself, what a tragic waste of a life. He believed that the original investigators were on the right track by investigating Donald Sigsbee. Detective Krause had something that the original investigators did not. DNA testing. The evidence was all here. It was right here at Troop D headquarters in our long-term storage area. And I went through each individual item. And I was at that point specifically looking for anything that might yield some DNA evidence that we could possibly match to a suspect.

While examining the box of evidence for anything that might contain DNA, Detective Krause came across the preserved slide of the semen that was found on Regina. As soon as I saw it, I said, whoever's responsible for this crime, this is probably their DNA right there on that slide. The slide was sent to the crime lab. Investigators hoped that time hadn't degraded the quality of the genetic material, preventing a DNA profile from being extracted. DNA analyst Russ Gettig wasn't very encouraged by the slide. In this case, because it was from a microscope slide, there was a very low amount of material on there to begin with, so we essentially had to take almost all of it in order to do our extraction.

It was a single shot. Everything had to go correct in order for us to get this profile. Fortunately, they were able to extract a genetic profile from the sample without any issues. Cold case investigator Mike Grandy was the one who got the call from the lab. It was a big moment, and of course, when it arrived, and actually when we got the phone call, we were thinking, that'll six me. The investigators had a DNA profile from the biological evidence on the victim.

So the next step was for them to collect a sample from the suspect, on the victim, so the next step was for them to collect a sample from the suspect, allowing the two DNA profiles to be compared. Unfortunately, Sigsbee hadn't been cooperative with the investigators, and they had no probable cause to get a warrant. The investigators had to get the DNA from Sigsbee in a more creative way. They started by putting him under surveillance. Donald Sigsbee lived in the country, which made tailing him a little challenging for investigator Mike Grandy.

You know, it's a lot different than surveillance, somebody in a city situation where you can blend in. You can only follow somebody so long in a rural situation where they see the same car following every turn they make. So there's, I guess, some kind of an arc to it. After three days of surveillance, with no usable evidence being discarded, investigator Grandy got a break.

He followed Donald Sigsbee and his wife to a restaurant. Grandy heard Sigsbee order a root beer and waited 45 minutes hoping to collect the cup and straw. Finally, Sigsbee headed to the garbage can and investigator Grandy had his chance. I'm sure he just thought I was another customer, which was to our advantage

because I was able to reach in immediately because he never even looked back. The cup and straw were bagged and sent to the lab where the DNA could be collected, analyzed, and then compared to the sample of the killer. It was a match. Investigator Grandy was thrilled. Probably the best moment I've had on this job. You know, 20, 23 years, almost 24 years.

That was the best feeling I had on this job, without a doubt. Two weeks later, investigator Grandy visited Donald Sigsbee's house with a lab report in his pocket. He hid his excitement in an attempt to catch Sigsbee off guard. We didn't want to get him thinking that he was in any trouble. Just that it was a routine thing. So that he would, you know, be willing to give us a statement or at least talk to us. Donald Sigsbee sat at his own kitchen table and wrote and signed a statement saying he had never met Regina Reynolds and did not have sex with her.

At that point, Grandy pulled out the lab report and asked if Sigsbee could explain how his DNA got inside of Regina's body. One of the words out of his mouth, one of the several little words were, how do you have anything to compare me with? And once he came out with that, I said, remember when you went to dinner about a week ago? Well, I happened to be the guy behind you that picked up your straw and cup. And at that point, he became adamant and asked us to leave. He didn't want you out of my house.

The detectives left the house, but so did Donald Sigsbee, wearing handcuffs and headed to jail. Sigsbee was charged with the murder of Regina Reynolds. In March of 2004, almost 30 years after Regina was killed, Donald Sigsbee was on trial for her murder. District Attorney Bill Fitzpatrick was the prosecutor. As I said to the jury, you know, I said, folks, I've been trying cases for 25 years,

and I've always wanted to say to a jury, this defendant left his calling card at the scene of the crime. Well, here he did. He actually did leave his calling card at the scene of the crime. Well, here he did. He actually did leave his calling card at the scene of the crime. The business cards were an important piece of evidence that put Sigsbee at the crime scene. But it was the DNA evidence that connected him to the murder. I mean, the other things were nice.

The business cards were certainly a huge piece of evidence. The hinks in his story, the discrepancies. But it was essentially DNA. And my pitch to the jury was, this is a no-brainer. The jury deliberated for less than a day before returning a verdict. What is the jury's verdict as to the first count murdering the second degree? Guilty. Donald Sigsbee went to prison for murdering Regina Reynolds,

but the investigators still wondered if he was connected to Martha Allen's death. Here's DA Fitzpatrick. What are the chances that you would check someone's Rolodex and there'd be not a single name on it, just a blank Rolodex, except for one name, Martha Allen. And that's what happened with Sixby's case. Martha Allen's case was now in the hands of Ken Dentz, a state police investigator that grew up with Martha. He was even a pallbearer at her funeral.

It's strange. It's strange. But it helps a lot, too, because you've got, like, an instant background on what happened, what she was like, you know. It helps out a lot. Martha was about the same age as Regina Reynolds and was also last seen hitchhiking on a rural road. Martha's body was also dumped in upstate New York. The swamp where Martha's body was found also destroyed any possible forensic evidence. Cases that are this old, it's either loose lips or a conviction in another case

where somebody decides just to clean their slate. Something like that. New York State investigators have identified several murders from the 1970s that involved female hitchhikers in the area where Regina was killed. There's very little doubt in my mind that he is responsible for the death of other women in central New York. He was 40 years old when he killed Regina Reynolds. My experience tells me that you don't start becoming a killer at 40 years old when he killed Regina Reynolds. My experience tells me that you don't start

becoming a killer at 40, particularly the nature of this crime. Maybe when the appeal is done and he's reconciled in his own mind that he's been caught and exposed and that there's no further point to it, if there's any semblance of humanity left in him, maybe he could bring himself to give some peace and comfort

to the other victims' relatives. Donald Sigsbee died on October 26, 2009, in the Mohawk Correctional Facility. He was 74. He never confessed to Regina's murder or any other unsolved murders. His appeal was dismissed on December 30th, 2009, two months after he died. Cold Case Files, the podcast, is hosted by Brooke Giddings, produced by McKamey Lynn and Steve Dolomater. Our associate producer is Julie Magruder.

Our executive producer is Ted Butler. Our music was created by Blake Maples. This podcast is distributed by Podcast One. The Cold Case Files TV series was produced by Curtis Productions and is hosted by Bill Curtis. You can find me at Brooke Giddings on Twitter and at Brooke the Podcaster on Instagram.

I'm also active in the Facebook group, Podcast for Justice. Check out more Cold Case Files at aetV.com or learn more about cases like this one by visiting the A&E Real Crime blog at AETV.com slash real crime.