Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend - Bit@#es Be Hitchin'

Episode Date: June 26, 2025

Conan chats with Trisha in Minnesota about working as an investigative crime reporter on real-life cold cases. Wanna get a chance to talk to Conan? Submit here: teamcoco.com/apply Get access to all the podcasts you love, music channels and radio shows with the SiriusXM App! Get 3 months free using this show link: https://siriusxm.com/conan.

Conan O'Brien needs a fan. Want to talk to Conan? Visit teamcoco.com slash call Conan. Okay, let's get started. Hi, Trisha. Welcome to Conan O'Brien needs a fan. Hey, guys. How are you? I'm great. How are you guys?

We are doing pretty well, I think. Yeah. But we are not the focus, Tricia. You are the focus. And people are sick of hearing about us. I wanna know about you. I've been told, I believe that you're in Minnesota and that your name is Tricia, and that's all I know.

Oh, really? Yeah. Okay. So maybe you could fill us in about what you do, who you are, likes, dislikes, the? Yeah. Okay. So maybe you could fill us in about what you do, who you are, you know, likes, dislikes, the whole thing. The whole, right, the whole thing. Yeah, I'm in Monomitio, Minnesota, which is in the southwest corner of the state, on the prairie.

Okay. So I've been here about seven years. All right. Moved here for my husband's job, had no idea where this place was. Now, are you a native of Minnesota then in general? Yeah, I'm from the North Shore of Minnesota, up by Lake Superior.

Yep. And so, did this feel like a come down for you? Like, oh, I gotta go down to the prairie. I gotta go down to the prairie because of my husband. He's got a job on the prairie. Is that your attitude? I'm seven months pregnant. Oh my God.

Are you guys homesteaders? Yeah. No. Can you help me raise a barn? I have a barn raising on, yeah, I also live on the prairie. It's sort of the prairie sort of- Need help pulling a dead buffalo out of a lake. I'll help you with that.

You help me with my barn. Sure. Well, Tricia, I'm just curious. So what do you do? I know you're a mom, you've got kids. What other things are you interested in? Yeah, I work remotely as an investigative crime reporter. I cover cold cases in Minnesota and the Dakotas.

I'm fascinated by this. I'm fascinated by murder. Sona, I think you're a big murder buff. I like murder. Hey, guys. I like murder, too. Hey. All right, girls.

No, I like murder so much that I would either like to murder or be murdered. Yes. I'm up for either one, it doesn't matter. Yeah, I probably shouldn't put that out though, that's a bad thing. Too late. Oh yeah, you're gonna, they'll replay that

if something happens to them with an echo. I will say, I got dips. Okay, yeah, I'll give you first crack. Okay. That's your investigative crime reporter and your focus is cold cases. I love it. I love these stories.

How far back do you go with a cold case usually? Yeah, so the 1970s has kind of become my sweet spot, which is weird, because I was born in the 80s. Yeah. But it was a really, it was a, I mean, it was a decade of mayhem, you know? I often think- Serial killers were on the news.

Yeah, I like sometimes, you know, cause there are channels for music that just focus on, you know, like it's the 60s channel, it's the 50s channel, like SiriusXM does that. The 70s one, it says 70s, decade of mayhem. But then they just play the Eagles and I think, yes, it was a time for killing. Okay, so here's the thing.

I think there were, what's intriguing about the 70s is that they didn't have the DNA technology yet. And so people would just go missing and there wasn't a lot you could do about it. And so to me, it feels like a time of mystery when there's probably a lot of cold cases, right? Yeah, exactly. I mean, and a lot of times, too, people just, they were considered to be runaways because, like you said, there was no DNA technology.

And especially if it was a young woman, it was just, oh, well just oh well she went off you know hitchhiking to San Francisco Just be hitchhiking. Sorry what? That felt like the right time to drop in a joke These are young women that went missing and you decide here's my joke opportunity Young women that went missing and you decide, here's my joke opportunity. All I'm saying is bitches be hitchhiking. Tricia, I'd like to apologize

because I think what you're doing is valuable and if you find someone, these people are in agony because they're wondering what happened to their loved one. Sorry, Sona. Oh yeah, you care now. I would like to at least thank you for giving us the title of this episode. I was gonna say bitches be hitchin'.

Bitches be hitchin'. See, that's better. That would have been cool. It didn't roll off the tongue when I said hitchhiking. That's why I stumbled a lot. That was really why I was upset. It wasn't that it was insensitive. Bitches be hitchin'. Got it.

So have you had success with this? I'll wait for the laughter to stop and then say, have you had success with this? I'll wait for the laughter to stop and then say, have you had success finding the bodies of lost women in the seventies? Jesus Christ. Yeah, we have actually. We've moved, well, we've moved at least two cases forward. One case, a gal from 1974, Belinda, she went missing

and still hasn't been found, but there is a main suspect. Oh. And they've reopened her case and so we could be getting answers. Okay, let's talk about, because I'd like to help crack this case, the main suspect. Have you spoken with the main suspect?

Is the main suspect still alive? Yeah, he's still alive. I have, I met with him for an hour. He's at a secure facility in Northern Minnesota for dangerous sexual offenders. Oh, Jesus. Yeah, okay. And you went there, I mean, that's a creepy place to visit. Was it the kind of situation where he's behind a screen

or a clear plastic and you pick up the phone and he picks up the phone? No, I wish that were the case, but no. So you know when those- It's disappointing. I love it when they pick up the phone and then they pick up the phone. I want him to be in a little mask

and he's on a dolly in a straight jacket, you know? Talk to a guy who may have murdered someone in the 70s and you're like, what phone did you use? Well, I just- How did you communicate? I just love it. It's always the same thing. One person picks up the phone and then points to it.

And the other person then begrudgingly picks up the phone as if it's not clear to pick up the fucking phone. Right. I can see how many have. How else are you gonna talk? They always pick it up and point at it. I've seen that in 10,000 movies and I'm not wrong. It's true.

Yeah, it's a good point. Yeah. Now I'm thinking about, and this is wrong, but now I'm thinking about when people visited serial killers at like 1910, 1910, 1911. One person picks up a candlestick phone and points to the other side of the window and the other person picks up the candlestick phone

and they're like, hello, hello. Look, I didn't do it, see. I didn't do it, see. And they have to still go through an operator. She had it coming, bitches be hitchin'. Yeah, I want Wrigley 5025. Enid, can you put me through? Bitches be hitchin'. Hold on, please.

Zing, zing, zing, zing, zing. Okay, you know what, Trisha? You don't deserve this. This is awful. This is so stupid. I hate us and all three of us are going to hell and I hope soon. I hope we go before we die, just so we can check it out.

But Trisha, this is, I'm gonna pull this thing together, I know I can do it. What you're doing is very cool and valuable, and you talk to this person, and tell me what it was like to look into the eye, do you think this person did it? I mean, I have to, I'm not supposed to say, but yeah, I do think he did.

You showed a lot of restraint there, Trisha. Well, I'm not supposed, yes! Total murderer. So you look in this person's eyes, did this person have remorse, do you think? Well, no, so he and I had been writing letters for quite a while, and so that's how I got my hands. Unrelated to this?

Yeah, this is, I was gonna say, I was gonna say they were pen pals before any of this came up. By the way, what are your hobbies? Killing in the 70s. Hey, maybe I could come by. Do they have a phone there and a plastic divider? I'll pick it up, but you don't pick it up right away

and then I'll point to my phone. Tricia, I'm sorry. We're gonna get it back. We're gonna get it back. You know what? Can I just say this is Tricia's fault for calling us. Yeah, that's true. There are so many legitimate places to call.

Actually, could you pick up the phone? Yeah. Also, I said for calling us. She's on a Zoom. I'm sorry. Tricia, I will rein this in, I promise you. You started writing back and forth, and then you decided to go.

What made you wanna go and meet with this alleged or possible killer in person? So at that point, we knew, I'd been working with Belinda's family, and we knew that he had been named the main suspect. And so we had obtained his police files from, he had three women who escaped from him. Oh God.

And yeah, I mean like really bad stuff. Oh shit. Like he abducted them at gunpoint, knife point, and had a kill bag. And all three of these women lived to tell what happened to them. And so yeah, I think it was more so out of, obviously for the story, because, you know, writing a story, writing a series about

Belinda, you know, it was only natural to want to go and ask him some questions. Yep. Yep So, I mean that's why I went there not for kicks But you know, no, you're a crime reporter. This is yeah spite Everything we've done in this podcast. This is a real thing you're doing, and it's invaluable, and these are real victims, and I cannot believe I'm transitioning us out of that laughing fit. You have to, though. But I have to, and I hope that everyone listening understands

that we're three sociopaths. I was going to say, though, to make you guys feel better, understands that we're three sociopaths. I was going to say though, to make you guys feel better, like I laugh with the families all the time. I feel like people have to have some sort of a dark sense of humor. So I think it's all right. So you talk to this person, I'm curious because I have always had an interest in this subject and I was always wondered how I would do interviewing somebody. You know what I mean? Would I be

able to get any information out of them or would I just go on too many tangents? What's your professional opinion of how I would fare? Would I go on too many comedic tangents or there be about to confess to the murder and I'd have a funny idea and start to describe it. Are you thinking of having murderers on this podcast? Well, it's a big genre in podcasts. And if we can combine our humor with murder, we might be the biggest podcast in the entire world.

I mean, I know we're close, but we're not there yet. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I think number one rule is to make them feel comfortable. I think you would be really good at that. Yeah. And, you know, making them laugh, doing some bits would, you know, get them feeling, you know, loose.

Yeah. That's key. That's key is get them laughing and get their trust and then maybe they'll tell me something. I mean, I would, maybe I could come with you some point and just, that might be distracting, you know. I think it'd be good. And I've, so I only do interviews by myself,

but ideally you wanna do it in a team because then you have like a good cop, bad cop, and then an observer. And a very silly cop. It's good cop, bad cop, like, cop and then an observer. And a very silly cop. Ha ha ha ha. It's good cop, bad cop, like, we're going to, I'm going to, five minutes with you, I'm going to beat your face in if you don't tell us what to do.

Hey, man, I'm your friend. Yeah, and I'm here too. Ha ha ha. I'm goofy cop. There's good cop, bad cop, and goofy cop. Hey, look, I've got antlers on. They're made of foam. Um. There's good cop, bad cop and goofy cop. Hey, look, I've got antlers on, they're made of foam.

Um. What? ["The Big Bang"] I do think, I think I would be pretty good. Uh, and I'm fascinated. I am legitimately, all bits aside, fascinated by what you do. And I'm also noticing, I don't know if you've noticed this

too, but there are couples, it's usually a couple, or sometimes it's one person who'd been missing since the 70s, or sometimes the 80s, but a lot of times it's the 70s or even the late 60s. It's this phenomenon that's come up now. And what happens is there'll be a scuba diver in a lake and they find, they're like, hey, there's an old rusty car down there.

And they dredge it up and it turns out that the person was driving home. And this is more common, these stories pop up in the news. One popped up like two days ago, it's a couple, I think that went missing in the 60s. And because more and more people are scuba diving in lakes to sort of poke around, they're finding cars that just people were driving home

and their car went into the water somewhere, they're going over, or their car went in and no one knew about it. And everyone assumed they're the victim of foul play. But that's a thing too, is just, they're more and more finding people. Obviously the women that you're talking about were abducted, but I'm finding that to be kind of fascinating

in this age of, there are like scuba sleuths out there, which is weird, but it's true. Yeah, no, I've heard of that too. And then it's kind of sad too, because in a lot of those cases, there's like someone who is accused of doing it, was never convicted. And then after all these years,

they were just, you know, in an accident. Yes, they were in an accident on their way. It always freaks me out. Like, how do you, how does your car go into a pond and nobody knew it? Nobody knew there was a crime scene, but that's happening more and more. Yeah. Where they're finding things, just because things turn up.

But obviously these are people that were abducted and if you, do you think when you're talking to this person and you interviewed them in jail, do you think this is someone who might be willing to confess? Or would you, if you went back, or if you repeatedly went back a couple of times? Because what would they have to lose at this point? Why not?

Yeah, exactly. I don't know, you know, it's kind of weird because you think they're these masterminds, because they've, you know, gotten away with murder, or at least you think they have. But a lot of times they're just kind of dopey, like that guy's just kind of pathetic. At the same time, he doesn't strike me as someone who's going to just confess on his deathbed.

But I think they're, like when you look at FBI professionals and their interrogation tactics, they're much smarter than I am. And I think in that case, yeah, I think it could happen. Yeah. I'm amazed that you got into this. It sounds like you just got into this on your own. And I mean, when you started,

you started making this your beat as a crime reporter? Well, no. I kind of fell into it because, like I said, I moved here, I was taken here when I was seven months pregnant, and there's nowhere to work around here. You said I was taken here. Were you abducted? No, I didn't want to say it.

Yeah, I'm gonna say, you were like, I was taken here when I was seven months pregnant against my will to the prairie. Oh no. Now I feel like we have to go rescue you. Is your husband in the crime business? No, no, he's a physician. Working that angle, eh?

Those are the best murderers. Best murderers in Belize. Yeah, yeah, yeah, the physicians. They know where to hit. Okay, Jesus. She's right there with us. No, so I got into it because, yeah, I had three kids right in a row and it was,

I never intended on being a stay-at-home mom, God bless them, it's the hardest thing in the world, but when I was pregnant with my third, I was like, okay, I need to go back to work, and at that point it was after COVID, so there were more remote opportunities, so I was like, okay, let's look for a job for me. And then I found that one and it was with a company

I used to work for. So it just kind of happened that way. I completely, I mean, we completely support your decision because Sona had twins and offered to go back to work from the hospital. Yeah. You wanted to get away. I was ready to go back.

During labor. And she said, and she hasn't seen them since. I don't know where they are. Yeah. since. I don't know where they are. Yeah. No, I don't know where they are. I understand. I don't know what they're doing. Yeah, she said, you said you're willing to meet them

when they graduate college. Yeah, I came here and I haven't left. I've just been in the studio. Sona, how old are your twins? You have twins, right? They're three and a half. Okay, I have a three and a half year old, so yeah. Oh yeah.

And I can't imagine two. Yeah. You said you had three in a row, how quickly? 19 months apart. Fuck. Oh my God. Yeah. Okay, Jesus. Sona?

It was so... I had to move on to crime and murder. My parents, that's how in my family, there was a child born every four months. Dear God. For 35 years. Yeah, we were high-fiving each other in the womb. Well, I gotta go, I'm shipping out,

but I'll see you in a couple of months. They said it was a medical miracle. And your mom went back to work too immediately. She went back to work as soon as she could. Yeah, yeah, I don't blame her. And she went back to work, yeah. She was a prize fighter. 75 knockouts.

Never lost a fight. Well, this is fascinating. I'm really interested. I'm very interested in what you do. And I think it's incredibly cool that you're doing this and I wish you the best of luck. I also find the seventies to be such an eerie time.

You're familiar with the List case, right? The- What's that? The List case. It's a pretty famous case. It's a guy who, the stepfather, the movie The Stepfather was based on the List case, but it was John List.

He lost his job, didn't want to tell his family. They were living in kind of a fancy house. He was trying to keep up appearances. And then he just decided to kill everybody and then disappear. And he went, he disappeared successfully for like 25 years. And they only found him because of America's Most Wanted.

And they made a recreation of what he would look like today. And someone said, I know that guy. And it turned out it was him. And I was a writer at Saturday Night Live at the time. And I went to the trial. The trial was in New Jersey. And I would drive in my 1973 Plymouth Valiant over to New Jersey when I wasn't working on sketches

and just sit there and look at this guy. Wow. He had a big family and he just waited for the kids to come home one by one and killed them. Jesus. Yeah. Wow. And then went and started a whole new life.

And when they caught him, he was having financial trouble again. And they were theorizing he might have, if they hadn't caught him, done the same thing again. Oh my God. And his rationale was, they're starting to, it's the seventies. They're starting to wear,

my daughter's starting to wear a short skirt, the kids are, I'm gonna kill them so that they don't go to hell. I'll kill them now and they'll go to heaven. That was his rationale. Okay, probably a good time for murdering cause there's no DNA stuff, right? No, exactly, I think it's, and I agree with you.

Golden age of murder. I agree with you. You'll never see it again. Yeah. Isn't that a shame? It's like the studio system. Oh, they made good movies then. They can't go home.

They, I think you're right. I think it's, you made a really good point, which is people think that if you get away with murder, you're a genius, but no, it's a busy, crazy world out there. And as we saw with the Long Island killings, those were all sex workers, and sadly they would go missing

and the police would go like, eh, it's a sex worker. She's, God knows where she is. And they were treated as second-class citizens. And then later on it turned out that this serial killer was extremely prolific, sadly. And so you're right, there is, it's not that this person's a genius.

They were just preying on a section of society that was not, you know, held in the same regard, which is too bad. Yeah, exactly. And it's, I mean, it's kind of weird, obviously, to think about just because most of us would get so much anxiety after killing someone and it would show, you know, but they're able to just

Yeah, I don't know. Go about their day. Yeah, I think that my coworkers are pointing at me. They've seen me do terrible bits and then they see that I have no remorse. None at all. Just none, and that... And bits are worse than murder in many cases.

In a way, my bits are, I'm murdering people's peace of mind around me. I'm killing people's sense of a good world that they live in with my bits. So, in my own way, I've left a long trail behind me. I don't know, we dipped in and out of, this is a fascinating conversation because we've dipped in and out of laughter

and then incredibly dark moments and then back to laughter again, which shows that both, well, the three of us need to be jailed. Yeah, we do. Yeah, we need to be in some facility. I mean, no. Not convincing. You said that in such a Minnesota way.

Ah, no. No. You've been on the prairie too long, Trisha. We gotta get you out of there. I know, I have. It's a great place. Is your physician husband out delivering a calf right now? What is he doing?

Oh my God. A human baby, probably. Oh, okay, all right. Yeah, okay, good. More so. Yeah. Yeah. Well, our best to him, and you seem like a very cool person

and very, just really fascinating to talk to you. And thanks for listening to our nonsense. Did you have a question for me before we go? Oh, well, my question, you kind of already answered, which would be, you know, well, actually, no, let me start over. What advice would you give me, because you've obviously been known

as one of the great interviewers of our country. What advice would you give me the next time I go in and interview a serial killer? I thought you were gonna say, what advice would you give to any killers out there? I've had a kill and kill again. It's the same thing. I mean, I think we talked about it,

but I do think it's all about getting rapport. And one way I try, I always try to find common ground with people, which is strange, because if you're talking to a prolific serial killer, it would be weird, but I think I would try and go into it trying to liken what I do to what they do so that we could have a feeling of rapport. Like I've killed in front of an audience.

Oh, boy. That's what I would do. I would try and find common ground or talk about the time I've murdered. But you're trying to get them to admit they murdered. Yeah. So you can't talk about, hey, we're both, we both kill, but in different ways. Yes, that's what you do.

That's what most jailhouse confessions are, one criminal talking to another. Yeah. That's what I think it is. I think it's a good strategy. Yeah. Thank you very much. It's a good strategy. And you lose, Sona.

I want you to go undercover in prison and like befriend these people. Undercover in prison, oh that's gonna go well. That's gonna go really well. Hiya fellas. Stand up. I'm not Conan O'Brien. My name's Conrad O'Ryan. Well, off to the showers.

Oh man. Trisha, have a wonderful day and really good luck to you. And I hope that you're successful and that you get some closure for these people. I really do. Thank you so much. And I do want to say that I listen to you guys all the time and laugh so hard. Oh, good! I appreciate it. Yeah, it helps all the time and laugh so hard. Oh, good.

I appreciate it. Yeah, it helps when I'm doing the murder stuff. Yeah, well, I like to laugh along with you and then go murder. So, same way. All right, you take care, Trisha. Bye-bye. Thanks, guys. Bye. See ya.

Conan O'Brien needs a fan. With Conan O'Brien, Sonam Avsesian, and Matt Gourley. Produced by me, Matt Gourley. Executive produced by Adam Sachs, Jeff Ross, and Nick Leal. Incidental music by Jimmy Vivino. Take it away, Jimmy. Supervising producer Aaron Blayard. Associate talent producer Jennifer Samples. Associate producers Sean Doherty and Lisa Berm. Engineering by Eduardo Perez. You'll get three free months of SiriusXM when you sign up at siriusxm.com slash Conan. Please rate, review, and subscribe to Conan O'Brien Needs a Fan wherever fine podcasts are down.