Going West: True Crime - Humboldt Missing Five // 220

Episode Date: July 23, 2022

Between 1993 and 2014, five women with similar appearances and backgrounds vanished under comparably suspicious circumstances in the same small area of California. As an area that is already nicknamed “The Black Hole” for its large number of disappearances, many locals believe that there is a serial killer stalking the area. These are the stories of Jennifer Wilmer, Karen Mitchell, Christine Walters, Sheila Franks, and Danielle Bertolini. Also known, as the Humboldt Missing Five. BONUS EPISODES patreon.com/goingwestpodcast CASE SOURCES 1. Missing Women Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/HUMBOLDTMISSINGWOMEN/?fref=ts 2. Sheila's Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/HELPFINDSHEILASHERRELLFRANKS 3. Danielle's Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/DanielleBertoliniBrooks/photos/?ref=page_internal 4. Christine Lindsey Walters: https://www.facebook.com/HelpFindChristineLindseyWalters/ 5. Kym Kemp: https://kymkemp.com/2015/04/01/the-humboldt-five-so-many-missing-from-such-a-small-area/ 6. NBC: https://www.nbcnews.com/dateline/femur-bone-found-near-eel-river-fortuna-california-identified-belonging-n1062376 7. Find A Grave: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/231693990/danielle-nicole-bertolini# 8. Web Sleuths: https://www.websleuths.com/forums/threads/ca-james-eugene-jones-43-humboldt-county-poi-serial-murders.376261/ 9. Murder, She Told: https://www.murdershetold.com/episodes/danielle-bertolini 10. Newsday: https://www.newspapers.com/image/725427854/?terms=jennifer%20wilmer&match=1 11. Long Island's Lost Girls: http://billyjensen.com/wp-content/themes/billjensen/pdfs/crime_stories/dark_star.pdf 12. Times Standard: https://www.times-standard.com/2017/11/19/missing-but-not-forgotten-family-friends-share-memories-of-karen-mitchell-20-years-after-her-disappearance/#:~:text=Every%20year%2C%20Karen%20Mitchell's%20family,30. 13. What Happened to Christine Walters: https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&feature=youtu.be&v=NfGGFVjOaUg&fbclid=IwAR0fnjxpnXyZyp2F8jqwHCLhs7iJcvXuRYezeuiE2V-VHNw45Hmm1Nx9LLM 14. Chip Chick: https://www.chipchick.com/2021/10/23-year-old-goes-on-vacation-ends-up-naked-and-covered-in-cuts-on-a-strangers-doorstep-saying-someone-was-out-to-get-her-before-disappearing-just-days-later-and-its-been-over-10-years-since-she-w.html?ccmBTags=true 15. Times Standard: https://www.times-standard.com/2013/11/14/without-a-trace-a-familys-search-for-their-daughter-young-wisconsin-woman-disappeared-in-eureka-five-years-ago-today/ 16. The Capital Times: https://www.newspapers.com/image/522545327 17. KMUD: https://soundcloud.com/kmudnews/families-of-two-missing-girls-say-cases-are-connected-by-one-man 18. Crime Watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HKq7el7APs 19. Kym Kemp: https://kymkemp.com/2014/07/15/memorial-planned-missing-womans-birthday/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What is going on to Prime fans, I'm your host Tee. And I'm your host Daphne. And you're listening to Going West. Thank you everybody for tuning in for yet another episode of Going West. And thank you to Danielle for recommending this string of cases that we have for you today. This is a wild one with a lot of information and a lot of possibilities, so we cannot wait to hear your guys' theories. Yes, and for those of you who are looking for more going West, we just released a new

episode over on our Patreon that's P-A-T-R-E-O-N dot com slash going west podcast. That episode is on the Lady of the Dunes. I'm sure that some of you guys have heard about that case, but it's very wild. It is an interesting one. And yeah, we just covered that one. So that was our 70th bonus episode. So we have 70 full length ad-free bonus episodes

on cases that we have not and will not cover ongoing west that you guys can go listen to right now For five to ten dollars. Yeah, so go check them out. All right guys. This is episode 220 of going west So let's get into it Thank you. Between 1993 and 2014, five women with similar appearances and backgrounds vanished under comparably suspicious circumstances in the same small area of California. As an area that is already nicknamed the Black Hole for its large number of disappearances, many locals believe that there is a serial killer stalking the area. These are the stories of Jennifer Wilmer, Karen Mitchell, Christine Walters, Sheila Franks, and Danielle Bertolini, also known as the Humboldt County in Northern California has long been shrouded in

mystery and intrigue. It's home to the largest distributors of marijuana in the United States, and also to an extremely high rate of crime, and the highest concentration of missing people in the state of California. According to the Netflix multi-part documentary on the region, Murder Mountain, the area has bred, quote, a culture of people who want to disappear. The region got its name from serial killers Michael Baer and Susan Carson, who moved there after brutally killing their roommate, Karen Barnes, in San Francisco after

deciding that she was a witch. They fled to a marijuana farm in Humboldt County where they lived on a hippie commune working as trimmers. They shot and killed one of their friends and co-workers there and fled again. And when they were picked up by someone in Baker's Field whom they also decided was a witch, they were caught killing him in his own car on the side of the road. And after they were arrested, it's manifesto for the assassination of Ronald Reagan was found among their belongings.

Now this case in particular has nothing to do with what we're talking about today, but it's interesting to know like other bizarre stuff that has happened in Humboldt County and the kind of people that it can attract, because there are a ton of crazy stories about things that have happened in this particular area. And also, by the way, if you're a longtime listener of Going West, you probably remember when we covered the case that I just discussed, also known as the San Francisco Witch Killers back in, what was it, episode two?

I think it was episode two. Yeah. Yeah. Unfortunately that episode along with the other original seven, they disappeared in a media transfer probably a year and a half ago, but we're still working on re covering some of those cases. So a little more information on this area. So Humboldt, Trinity and Mendocino counties are three conjoined counties on the north coast of California, just north of San Francisco, and just shy of the Oregon border. The three counties make up what's called the Emerald Triangle, a nickname that they've earned for the high concentration of weed farms, both legal and illegal. The area has also been called the Napa Valley of weed, so if you're thinking about wine, this is pretty much the equivalent of that, but with weed.

So much weed. But with such booming agriculture and economy comes a rise in crime, with one local resident saying murder there was contagious. In Humboldt County in particular, 717 people per 100,000 people go missing on an annual basis, earning itself the moniker the black hole. So scary. Yeah, so the area has long been in enigma to outsiders and to law enforcement alike. And obviously, I'm sure somebody that is listening lives in Humboldt County and is like, hey, it's not that scary here. So not trying to, you know, talk shit about Humboldt County. It's just, you know, it's part of the conversation with these missing

women that we're talking about today. Yeah, absolutely. You know, Humboldt County is a very beautiful place. Oh, gorgeous. Absolutely stunning. So I can see why it attracts people. Very lush, green, beautiful. Missing posters paper, the tiny towns dotting the lush landscape and the Redwood forest, with many cases left open and unsolved. Such is the case for the five women that we'll be talking about today, although there are many more. This is the case of the Humboldt County missing five,

made up of Jennifer Wilmer, Karen Mitchell, Christine Walters, Sheila Franks, and Danielle Bertolini. These five stick out among the rest because the circumstances and their appearances are so similar. And it's obviously not easy to group many of the odd disappearances together

when so many people disappear without a trace. But these similarities have led some to believe that these women are all victims of the same killer, stalking the area for over a decade. Jennifer Marie Wilmer was born on April 13th, 1972 in Long Island, New York to Susan and Fred Wilmer along with her three siblings. She's remembered by her mom as an incredibly kind and empathetic child who would talk back to the nuns at her Catholic Elementary School when they picked on a student for not knowing an answer. Yes.

In 5th grade, she asked to host a Halloween party for all the members of her class who were not invited to the party that another classmate was throwing, so she was just a total sweetie. Her mom said of her quote, that was Jennifer. She hated inequities. Jennifer attended St. Mary's High School in Manhattan on the North Shore of Long Island and was an excellent student. She even earned a full academic scholarship to St. John's University in Queens, New York. But in 1990, after attending her first semester, she said that she became disenchanted with college

life and she dropped out. In a bit of a transitional period and kind of unsure of what to do or where to go, she took off for Florida with her boyfriend at the time, but eventually returned home to New York and promised her mom that she would not leave again without warning. A self-described hippie, Jennifer finally felt like she found her people when she became a deadhead following the grateful dead to concert after concert and camping out. But Susan said her daughter would always come back home to her. In late 1992, Jennifer moved to Northern California, so all the way across the country, with a friend

with the intention of enrolling at college of the Redwoods, which is a community college in Ureca. Now Ureca is a beautiful historic town on the Pacific Ocean, smack dab in the middle of Humboldt County, with a population of about 25,000 people at this time back in 1992. Unfortunately, after Jennifer had already gotten to the area, she realized that the classes were full for the upcoming semester, so she bided her time just moving in with Fortunately, after Jennifer had already gotten to the area, she realized that the classes were full for the upcoming semester, so she bided her time just moving in with friends in nearby Arcada, working part-time as a waitress at a local restaurant and collecting food stamps.

Shortly before Jennifer disappeared, Susan, who remember as Jennifer's mom, had actually purchased her a plane ticket to go home to New York. And once again, figure out what she was going to do next. But Jennifer wanted just a little bit more time in California before leaving. And around this time, Jennifer was about 20 years old. So that's really nice that her mom is being so supportive and just trying to help her find her way. And, you know, she's like, come home if you need some more time to figure out what your next journey is. Very, very nice.

Right. So Jennifer moved about an hour's drive from Yerika to rural mountainous Hawkins bar, directly east and inland from the coastal city, telling her mom that she wanted to spend some time in the country. Now, Hawkins bar is a census designated place along the Trinity River with one road in and one road out, Route 299. She rented a house there with her boyfriend Trio and her three friends, Opie, Mingo, and

Rebecca, all of whom knew her as Jade, which was her emerald triangle nickname. According to one local resident, everyone in Hawkins bar basically has an alias. And a random tidbit about her boyfriend, Troll, really quick. So try to follow this is a weird connection. So Troll's father was the boss of Eve Nichols. And Eve was Polly class's mother, whose case we covered in episode 42, and Polly was killed just weeks after Jennifer went missing, and just a few hours away in Petaluma, California, so very small world.

Yeah, that's a really strange connection. Yeah, again, that's Tros' dad is the boss of Polly's mother, very weird. Very interesting. So still looking for some work, Jennifer had heard from a friend that a local farm may be hiring, and she planned to drop by to introduce herself. At 7.30am on September 13th, 1993,

she left a message for her roommates. And here's what it said. Buy everybody went to my first day at the farm. Wish me luck. Good luck to you, Mingo, and see you in a few months. If someone could give food to the kitten as needed, I'd appreciate it. Hopefully, I'll see you folks later. Jade.

She signed this letter with a heart and left to hitchhike the 9 miles along Route 299. Two days later, when her roommates and boyfriend visited the farm hoping to find her, Jennifer's friend, who had been awaiting her there, said that she never showed up. So that's very bizarre because that means two days earlier, when she was supposed to arrive to this farm, her friend was there working on the farm waiting for her to get there to start her first shift. And she just never showed up at all, meaning that Jennifer never made it to this farm. Yeah, I mean, at least that is what the friend is telling.

And we don't know the relationship between the two, you know, how comfortable they were with each other. Very true. But, but, you know, as far as everybody else knows, she did not make it to the farm. So her friends contacted the police Then her parents Susan and Fred in New York Her mother Susan claims the police knowing her lifestyle Immediately tried to paint her as a runaway and this is frustrating because there's nothing Indicating that she would run away. She was excited to work at this farm and then

You know she was planning on eventually going back to New York to figure out what she was excited to work at this farm. And then, you know, she was planning on eventually going back to New York to figure out what she was going to do. Either she would have stayed in California there with her friends who she loved, or she would have gone back to her parents, like where would she have run off to? And it kind of seems to me like police may have said, oh, well, she's, you know, all the way across the United States from her family. So she must have been a runaway. Right. it's just, it's so weird to me how that is such a default because when you really look at it, why would she run away and where would she have gone to? Yeah, she also had plans to start this job.

Yeah, she already, like, running away was kind of like her going to California, which wasn't even running away. It was just relocating. So, yeah, I don't know. Running away is just so silly to me. So, it was a detective back in Long Island who had actually added her to the missing person's registry not in California. So these local California police were not we're not considering her missing person, but police in Long Island were like, okay, she's this is weird, you know. So local police also claimed that she was depressed This is weird, you know. So local police also claimed that she was depressed, citing the fact that she'd been seeing a counselor and had recently told a friend that she was at a low point. Still not, still not meaning she would run away.

But her family and friends, of course, they didn't buy this. And after an exhaustive search done mostly without the help of local law enforcement and spending tens of thousands of dollars on a private investigator, Susan petitioned to have her daughter proclaimed officially dead. She stated, quote, I knew she wasn't alive. A lot of people that are in my situation live with hope, but I knew. But Jennifer left quite a legacy behind. In her memory Susan helped push through Jennifer's law, which requires states, local and federal authorities to routinely cross-reference records on unidentified people with missing persons reports. This procedure provides a better way of connecting missing persons

and unidentified victims, and this law was signed into effect by Bill Clinton in 2000. So remember she went missing in September of 1993, so this happened about seven years later. Yeah, so it took a little bit of time, but they finally got that passed. So while she's now been proclaimed dead to allow some closure for her family, no remains have ever been found. So she's still technically a missing person. mains have ever been found, so she's still technically a missing person. Jennifer had brown hair and blue eyes, and she used to keep her bangs cut in a straight line across her forehead, and her hair styled in a bob. But at the time of her disappearance, she was wearing her hair and dreadlocks.

She was 5 feet 2 inches tall and weighed about 100 pounds. She also had a faint scar over her left eyebrow. Anyone with any information regarding Jennifer's disappearance is urged to call the Trinity County Sheriff's Office. Next up, we have Karen Mitchell. Karen Marie Mitchell was born on November 30, 1980 in Orange County, California. She lived there with her mom Mary and her brothers Andrew and James until she was about 13, but she was planning on studying environmental science in college. So her family thought that it would actually be a good idea for her to spend more time in nature instead of in the city of Orange County.

So as a teenager, Karen moved up to Ureka, California, to live with her aunt and uncle, Annie and Bill Casper. And she really relished in hiking and camping in the nearby forest. So this was a good atmosphere for her and what she wanted to do career-wise. She was described as vivacious and fun. And her friend Megan remembers their high school classmates just being in awe of her as the girl who

moved there from the big city. Her mom said of Karen quote, she was very full of love and compassion and she just cared for everybody, everything. If it was a person or a plant or a bug or a tree, Karen cared about it. She was opinionated but she had an agenda and she wanted to help change the world. Karen attended Eureka High School and was planning on graduating early. But on the morning of November 25th, 1997, just days from Karen's 17th birthday, she chatted with her mom on the phone discussing her plans to come home to Orange County for Christmas, which for references either an 11 and a half hour drive or an hour and a half flight. They helped each other fill out financial aid applications because they were going to

take a few college courses together that summer. Right, so this just shows you that Karen was excited about the future. She was making plans. She was in a good space. Yeah, she was ready to go home. Yes, and of course, you know, see her family for Christmas and then come back and go to college the next semester, which is why she was applying for financial aid. Absolutely.

So later that morning, Karen stopped by Annie's shoes, the shoe store that her aunt owned at the Bay Shore Mall to help out for a bit. Her aunt offered a driver to her next stop, the Coastal Family Development Center, where she worked, but Karen declined. It was a beautiful, sunny day, and the daycare was only a mile away, so she decided to walk. But when her aunt Annie came by at what was supposed to be the end of Karen's shift, her co-workers told her that she never even made it there that day. A tip center was set up at the nearby Yerika Inn and three witnesses came forward to say

that they had seen Karen walking east on Broadway, the street that Bayshore Mall is on, towards the daycare center. So, obviously, this is really scary because she was at her aunt's shop, everything was good, she was excited to walk in the sunshine to her job, which is like you said, only a mile away. And somewhere within that mile, she just disappeared. Yeah, it's very scary because, you know, going back to Jennifer's case, she had about nine miles to go.

And, you know, Karen only had one mile. Right. One mile to walk. Right. miles to go and Karen only had one mile. One mile to walk. Right, but comparing the cases like they both disappeared while they were on their way to work. Yep. So all three claimed a car had pulled over and was talking to her, reporting that it was a compact car

that looked like either a 1976 Ford Granada or a Mercury monarch. Opinions on the potential car differed slightly, but the description of the driver was the exact same. The man was white, middle-aged, clean-shaven, had cropped gray hair and light eyes, and he was also wearing glasses. And this is interesting to know that she was talking to somebody, or that somebody had pulled over and started talking to her, because we know that she was talking to somebody or that somebody had pulled over and started talking to her

Because we know that she didn't want to catch a ride to work at all So it's not like with Jennifer where Jennifer was specifically looking for somebody to pick her up That's why she was hitchhiking, but Karen said no to her aunt taking her to work because she wanted to walk She was like, I'm gonna it's a nice sunny day.'m going to walk to work. Yeah, so this makes us think, did this person pull over and try to talk to her and then abduct her because she probably would not have taken a ride from this person because she didn't want to ride? Yeah, that kind of seems like the most likely scenario. Now, one person of interest who emerged soon after Karen's disappearance was Wayne Adam

Ford, who is known to have murdered at least four women in the area between 1997 and 1998. And remember, this is November of 1997 when Karen went missing. So the time frame matches up. Yes. Now Wayne was a long haul trucker from outside of San Francisco, who was reportedly struck by a drunk driver in 1980 and suffered from psychological problem since. So again, 1980 is about 17 years before he started murdering these women. On November 4, 1998, his brother, having found out

about what he'd been doing, convinced Wayne to turn himself in. Wayne did so, with his brother by his side and a woman's breast in his pocket. Wayne killed his four victims by strangling them during sex and then dismembering them, but his involvement in Karen's disappearance was deemed unlikely as she didn't fit the profile of his other victims. His last victim was a woman in Eureka just a month before his confession in 1998 and was actually a hitchhiker, so investigators thought that there may have been a possibility that

he pulled over attempting to give Karen a ride. But Wayne continues to deny involvement and even consented to and passed a polygraph. And presently, he is still sitting on death row in San Quentin, prison in California. And I do, I don't know, whenever killers confess to a slew of murders and not others Something about that makes me want to believe them because if you're already confessing to these Why wouldn't you confess to another one that you committed? Yeah, if you're already kind of giving up the information why not go the full way right like say everything that you did Yeah, why why say oh I killed these women, but I didn't kill Karen and I'm even gonna take a polygraph and That's showing that I didn't do it either, so I don't really think it was this guy.

Yeah, I have to agree with you there. So tips continue to trickle in, such as that Karen had been seen begging for money in Tempe, Arizona, a claim which after Mary flew to Arizona herself and found her daughter's look like was found to be untrue. And imagine how hard that was for her to go to Arizona and look for somebody who looked like her daughter, how much time that would have taken, and just the amount of passion that her mom has for finding her daughter. Yeah, the amount of hope that you would have in that scenario of like, am I going to

find my daughter alive? But this would also mean that she was likely a runaway as well, which we know, I mean to me, that doesn't connect either because she was on her way to work, everything was good, she has plans for the future, you know, something obviously happened to her. Yeah, but Karen's case finally received

the national media attention that it deserved when it was linked to a millionaire murderer, Robert Durst. If you don't know who Robert Durst is, he was a wealthy real estate heir from New York and the subject of an amazing documentary on HBO called The Jinks. I'm sure a lot of you guys have watched that documentary and we actually covered his story on our Patreon a couple years ago. He started gaining attention as a suspect in the unsolved disappearance of his wife, Kathleen,

whose body was never found. He denied involvement, but after the suspicious death of his close friend, Susan Burman, and then the brutal murder of his neighbor, Morris Black, which was later convicted of, he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. He was a waiting trial for the suspected death of his wife, Kathleen, when he passed away in a prison hospital in January of this year, 2022. Now, his potential involvement in Karen's death stemmed from a series of eerie coincidences. Robert was living in nearby Trinidad at the time she disappeared, which is just 20 minutes

north of Eureka where Karen lived. He was a regular shopper at any shoes, again her aunt shop, and rumor has it, he and Karen had met on occasion when she was helping her aunt at the store, and the two of them also even volunteered at the same homeless shelter. However, logic would dictate that his three known victims were very close to him, so Karen would have been an anomaly, though not impossible he definitely could be involved, but police don't really believe that he is. But let's talk about that description of the man in the car that was seen, you know,

pulled over talking to Karen on her way to work. So like Heath mentioned, that was either a 1976 Ford Grenada or a Mercury monarch, and everybody had the same description of the man that he was white, middle-aged, clean-shaven, had cropped gray hair and light eyes. Now Robert Durst has very like black eyes. Very dark eyes, yeah. Like, stand out black hole eyes. And he was about 54 at this time. So he, I was looking for pictures to see

what he looked like in this particular year. I'm not sure he probably had grayish hair, but maybe not straight up gray white hair, like he did later in his life, but he was middle aged and was probably clean shaven as he typically was clean shaven. And he was white. So very possible.

I don't know anything about Ford Grenadas or Mercury Monarchs or if these were, I mean, it was at this time like a 20 year old car. Are those nice cars? I mean, not for that time. They would be an older car at that point, but I mean, you know, I know Robert Derser was really rich.

So I'm like, yeah. Would he be driving that? I'm sure police know what he was driving at the time. Right, that's what I was about to say is that I'm sure that they knew what kind of car he was driving and they tried to maybe make that connection and were not able to do so. I think if they, if he were driving one of those cars,

they would have looked into it deeper or there would be more evidence that he could potentially be involved, do you know what I mean? But it doesn't seem like, it doesn't seem like that was a thing. So probably a different guy. Karen's family still holds an annual memorial celebration on the anniversary of the day she disappeared, and her friend Megan said in an interview that she still thinks of her friend any time she feels like a hippie or a free spirit, just like Karen was. She stated, quote, not knowing is the hardest part.

If she is past, I can know she's watching over me. If she hasn't, at least maybe she can feel my thoughts to her and those from my friends. Karen was 5'5", 130 pounds, and had sandy hair and blue green eyes. Like Jennifer, she is still deemed a missing person. And anyone with information is urged to call the Humboldt County Sheriff's Office. Now that we've told you about Jennifer Wilmer and Karen Mitchell, that brings us to Christine Walters. Christine Lindsay Walters was born on August 8, 1985, in Deerfield, Wisconsin, to Dean and Anita Walters.

I think I said, Deerfield, weird. Deerfield. She's remembered as friendly, confident, independent, and a, quote, bright light. She loved to do yoga and pilates, and she had a passion for all things nature, especially hiking. She considered herself very spiritual and loved the spiritual aspects of her yoga practice and spending time outdoors.

In 2008, 23-year-old Christine was studying botany at the University of Wisconsin, Steven's point. When she wasn't at school, she worked at an organic farm and also taught yoga and pilates classes. So that July, while she was on summer break, she traveled by herself to Portland, Oregon for what was supposed to be a three-week vacation. And during her time there, she really fell in love with the West Coast. Soon after, she called home to her parents in Wisconsin with some really surprising news.

Christine had decided to drop out of school and move to Humble County with a new group of friends that she had made. In September of 2008, Christine relocated to Arcada, California, where Jennifer Wilmer briefly lived, and became involved with an organization called Green Life Evolution Center. A friend from college named Tony fondly remembers her as, quote, so thirsty to experience the world. I remember her telling me that she was torn between so many different majors to choose from. Everything from anthropology to Spanish, to ethnobotany and anything with the arts. She just wanted

to experience everything the world had to offer. Tony said their last exchange was in October of 2008 via Myspace, and it started with Christine apologizing for taking so long to get back to her, explaining that she had been, quote, off the grid. According to her mother Anita, something in Christine changed after she moved to Humboldt County. One week before she went missing, Christine participated in a cleansing ceremony where the attendees drank Ayahuasca together. And for those who don't know, ayahuasca is a hallucinogenic tea produced in South America,

and it's commonly consumed in group settings so the attendees can share this spiritual experience. So Christine Partook in this and stayed with friends who also participated in the ceremony until November 11th, 2008. And to be clear, she wasn't doing Ayahuasca from October to the middle of November. She's just doing two months of Ayahuasca. No, no, no. I just mean like she was staying with them from October until November 11th, and that is when she had done Ayahuasca during this time.

Yes. So the following morning, Christine turned up almost 20 miles away from where she had done Ayahuasca during this time. Yes. So the following morning, Christine turned up almost 20 miles away from where she had last been spotted. A couple found her on the doorstep of their home on Tompkins Hill Road, naked with her feet bloodied and arms badly scratched. Paranoid, disoriented and terrified, she claimed that she was being followed by someone.

For those wondering, Ayahuasca typically lasts only like four to six hours, so she would not still be tripping the next morning, though some after effects can include fear and paranoia. And even I read that you can experience hallucinogen, or hallucinogen, hallucinatians later, but yeah, she wouldn't still be high. And yeah, I mean, it depends on the dosage she took, I guess, because you could take a heavier dose and then maybe trip for even longer, but I'm not an expert on this, so.

Yeah, it just, it doesn't seem like she still was, but it makes sense though, if she was experiencing fear and paranoia, but this is kind of a big part of the questioning of her case in general is just, where was this fear coming from? Was it true fear? Was someone really following her

or was she paranoid about something that didn't exist? Well, let's talk about that. So Christine was taken to St. Joseph Hospital with the responding officers. They treated her cuts and ran a drug test on her and found nothing in her system, so it does appear that it was already out of her system by this time. So she was released. She reportedly didn't want to be touched or examined by anybody at the hospital and was quiet about what had happened, fearing retribution from whomever she thought was coming after

her. So even after being in the hospital, she feels like somebody is following her. Yes, yes, she's already been released from the hospital and she still has this fear and anxiety. So after leaving the hospital, her parents set her up at the red lion hotel in Eureka and hatched a plan about how they were going to get her back home. But Christine claimed that she had lost her belongings, including the identification that she'd need to fly and any access to her bank account. Also remember her parents or her family are back in Wisconsin. So they are not there in California to actually, you know, be present parents or her family are back in Wisconsin, so they are not there in California to actually be present to help her in that way.

Right, so they're doing everything they can from a different state. Yes. So her mother in need affects her copies of her driver's license and social security card, and her father, Dean, wired her $1,000 to get herself home. On November 14th, Christine walked to the Central Office Copy Center on 1st Street in Eureka, down the street from her hotel to pick up the copy pages that Anita had faxed to her, arriving around 3.30 pm that day. The employee who helped her said that she looked disheveled, wearing pajamas and slippers and that she

seemed scared, looking over her shoulder the entire time that she was inside. She apparently asked the employee where the local DMV was and then left. This was the last confirmed sighting of her. The thousand dollars that she was wired was never withdrawn, and after not hearing from her, Christine's family finally reported her missing. And this has got to be the most bizarre one of the bunch so far, just knowing how afraid she was and that she was very interested in going home to see her family, and her parents had gone to such great lengths to provide her with what she needed to come home, and she still went missing.

It just makes you wonder if this paranoia that she was experiencing was real and this wasn't some post-drug effect, but instead like a real true scenario that somebody was after her. And how horrifying for her poor parents, the fact that they're like, okay, she's about to come home.

We finally got these, this documentation facts to her. We sent her some money. All she's got to do is buy a plane ticket, get on a plane, and then she's home. So they were so close to having her back, and then poof, she is gone. Yeah, she just asked where the DMV is, and then she is not seen ever again.

I can't even imagine the parents' feelings. So curiously, her backpack containing her wallet, she is not seen ever again. So curiously, her backpack containing her wallet, debit cards, and ID were found at the Green Life Evolution Center in Arcada where she worked, although Christine told her mom Anita that she had lost them. The owner of the center claimed that she would often leave her belongings there while she went on long hikes through the forest adjacent to the center. So it wasn't strange to find them there. It was more so just strange that Christine didn't know where they were. She may have just misplaced then.

Yeah, she must have left them there and just forgot, or I don't know, but that makes you kind of maybe question her mental state a little bit. And I mean that in the kindest way possible. Green life marketed themselves as this organic food store that has also offered like classes and workshops like yoga. But some have come forward as critics of Green life, claiming it was more of a cult, which may explain why she thought there were people coming after her. So was her paranoia related to something that was going on at her work? Yeah, and we really can't speak to that because we don't know anything about

Green Life I've never been there and I don't know people who go there so so it's kind of hard to confirm or deny this. It very much is. Tips did come in leading some to believe that she left her life behind on her own volition. So again, people pondering if she's a runaway just like Karen and Jennifer. It's been hypothesized that she suffered a traumatic brain injury, maybe lost her memory, and that she's still out there somewhere, which to me is one of the most terrifying conclusions of all. Yeah. Some also pinpointed the ayahuasca, of course, claiming that it was not uncommon for people

to experience extended effects of the drug and even hallucinations, like I mentioned. It also may have exacerbated an existing mental illness. The family hired private investigator Chris Cook, who was interviewed in the Netflix docu-series murder mountain, but to this day, there have not been any confirmed sightings of Christine. Christine was 5-1, about 100 pounds, and had strawberry blonde hair and green eyes. She also had two tattoos, one on her neck and one on her hip. And the one on her neck is like a purple and green iris, and then the one on her hip and one on her hip. And the one on her neck is like a purple and green iris, and then the one on her hip is a butterfly.

Now our next two women are confirmed to be linked, even if the same perpetrator is not to blame for all five of these disappearances. Sheila Cheryl Franks was born on July 19, 1976. At the time of her disappearance, she was living with her boyfriend in Fortuna, a town of about 11,000 people in West Central Humboldt County, about a 20-minute drive southwest from the coastal town of Eureka. Shila had previously lived in Lolita and Rio del California, both of which are within a few minutes of fortuna and still in Humboldt County. Sheila was married until about the year of 2000 and had two sons, now 19-year-old Jordan and 23-year-old Andrew. She's remembered by her sister Melissa Wallstrom as gentle and kindhearted, and she loved animals

especially horses. Her sister said that Sheila had some tough times, and that she had occasionally fallen in with the wrong crowd. Unfortunately, someone in that crowd is the man believed to have brought her life to an end. Her boyfriend James Eugene Jones. Better known as Jim. So 43-year-old Jim, a worker for the local sawmill, had lived in Humble County his entire life, and the two had grown up together

and reconnected after her marriage ended. Her sister Melissa said Sheila had been scared to leave him, for fear of retaliation against her and her boys. Jim has been in and out of jail for his entire life and has compiled a rap sheet with crimes such as burglary, assault, drug trafficking, and sexual assault. There were even domestic violence charges from children of women that he had been dating, so this guy is just... Piece of shit.

Yes. Jim was the last person to have seen Sheila at their home on Mill Creek Way in Fortuna on February 2nd, 2014. Jim claimed that she left for a walk and never came back, but Sheila's sister Melissa knows better. All of Sheila's belongings, including her credit cards and identification, had been left behind, and other belongings had been put in storage. Shortly after her disappearance, just one day after Mother's Day in 2014, Sheila's mother passed away, with friends saying the cause was a broken heart. Sheila was 37 years old, five feet, five inches tall, weighed 120 pounds, and had blonde hair and blue eyes. Now with her case, her sister is saying

she wouldn't have just left, like she wanted to leave Jim, but she wouldn't have left her children. No. And she wouldn't have left with nothing telling nobody that she knows and loves for now eight years where she is And that's the old classic. Oh, she just walked off somewhere. Yeah, what she's walked out the door and just where where did she go with Nothing on her back right and we're gonna talk about Jim

So Danielle Nicole Bertolini was born on March 6th 1990 in California, to John Bertolini and Billy Joe Dick. She spent her childhood in California and then Oregon before moving back to her mom's hometown in Maine. After her mom, Billy Joe split from her dad, she married a man named Shannon Brooks, and the couple had Mariah and Tristan, Danielle's little sister and brother. Danielle, nicknamed Nelly by her family, was spunky, outspoken, and unapologetic as a child, but also had a heart of gold. She's remembered as incredibly kind by those who knew her, and always spoke up for those

in need. Her childhood friend, Kristen Ceevy, based a multi-episode arc on her crime podcast, murder she told on Danielle, and interviewed her mom and others who knew her. According to classmates of theirs, the most memorable things about Danielle are her free spirit, the light of her smile, and her kindness. More than anything she loved the outdoors, hunting, camping, and smile and her kindness. More than anything, she loved the outdoors, hunting, camping, and fishing with her family. In 2010, 20-year-old Danielle got pregnant with a baby boy.

But at six and a half months along, doctors told her that he wouldn't be viable and diagnosed him with Edward Syndrome, which is a rare genetic disorder in which the baby has an extra Y chromosome. The baby, whom Danielle called Xavier David, already had two tumors on his brain and only one kidney. Danielle really hoped for the best here, but just three days after receiving this news, she went into labor almost three months early. After over 30 hours of excruciating labor, she wound up having to undergo an emergency C-section and hemorrhaged badly.

Danielle did make it out alive, but Xavier sadly did not. Her mom claims Danielle was never quite the same after that. So wanting a fresh start after the horrible things that she had been through, Danielle relocated to her birthplace of California. She said on near fortuna California because her birth father was apparently also from that area. But eventually, she told her mom, Billie Joe, that she was moving to Murder Mountain, aka Humboldt County, to work on a marijuana

farm. And her mom said that it just all went downhill from there. Danielle reportedly fell in with a wrong crowd. People she met and worked within the area and started using drugs. But Danielle, always wanted to be guided by her conscience, told her mom that she had seen and heard some things that really didn't sit right with her and was planning on leaving her life there behind and reporting what she had witnessed to the police. So she had seen something bad but

didn't mention what it was to her mom and she was ready to, you know, spill the beans on what she'd seen and make things right. Yeah. So their last phone call took place on January 29, 2014, so mere days before Sheila went missing on February 2, 2014. Her family didn't hear from her for a couple of weeks, which was very rare for Danielle, especially for her sister, Mariah, who was her closest confidant. The two spoke almost every day.

Mariah and Billy Joe agreed that something was wrong and they reported her missing. Danielle was last seen on February 9, 2014, near Swan's flat, which is a rural area along the Van Dues in River, about a 30-minute drive east of Fortuna. She had allegedly been crashing on the couch of an unknown local man after moving off of

Murder Mountain, and on the night of her disappearance called him to come pick her up along Highway 36, the route that intersected the area in which she was last seen. Police believed that this local man was Jim Jones, who was Sheila's boyfriend. Making him even more suspicious, Sheila and Danielle had known each other, and their disappearances occurred just a week apart. Danielle's mom had done six searches of the area and had also teamed up with Sheila's family looking for answers. At the time of her disappearance, Danielle was 23 years old, five-foot-two-inch-as-tall, and weighed 105 pounds, and had blue eyes and bright blonde hair.

And if you don't know already, there seems to be kind of this pattern of these more kind of petite women, they tend to be around the this pattern of these more kind of petite women. They tend to be around the same height and same weight. Yeah, and a lot of light eyes and blondish hair. And remember just because we're talking about Jim Jones here, Sheila was 37 years old, but Danielle is 23 and all the other victims in this story are also a bit younger. So Sheila was kind of the more outcast, not outcast, but you know what I mean, she was a little bit older, but still had kind of a similar personality

and similar appearance. But the difference between these is that Sheila was actually dating Jim. Yeah. So that probably makes a little bit more sense that she's a little bit older because they're around the same age. Yeah, well right, but how interesting that then Police believe that then 23 year old Danielle is also seeing Jim Well, you know what we know Jim to be Sheila's boyfriend. Yeah So also Danielle had a lip piercing and three tattooes The she had the northern star on her lower back a tribal sign on the back of her neck,

and a blue and purple pattern on her wrist. One year later, on March 9, 2015, an ATV writer found a piece of a human skull along the eel river of which the van Duzin River is a tributary, meaning they flow into each other. So the bone was found just south of Fortuna and test confirmed that it matched Danielle Bertolini's DNA. But with nothing connecting Jim and Danielle's skeletal remains, there do not seem to have been any advancements in the case, and it has been almost seven years. Or over seven years, now actually this was March. Yeah.

The last public update was in September of 2019 when a piece of a femur bone was found also along the eel river near Fortuna, and that was confirmed to belong to Sheila Franks. And here's what Melissa Sheila sister said. It may sound horrible, but to be able to lay her to rest, she deserves that as a human. Nobody deserves to be thrown in a creek. I know that she's gone.

I think if we had her, then we could start to move forward. Not knowing anything, that is the worst part. And now her family, I mean, they don't even have closure because the all that we know is her femur bone was found, and just knowing that it was found in the same general area that Danielle's skull or part of Danielle's skull was found, this is what leads us to believe even more so that they were killed by the same person. And that person dumped them in the same area. I mean, yeah, I don't see how there could not be a connection between the two.

Yeah, and well, like you said, we'll talk about Jim Jones. Well, here we go. Jim Jones now sits in jail on unrelated, unrelated domestic violence charges, which means he continue to date and abuse women. But he has yet to be convicted or even named a suspect for either of these, you know, either Danielle or Sheila's abduction to murder's let alone anybody else in this story. It's possible that he had something to do with all of them because it was revealed to

the public after the discovery of Sheila's and Danielle's remains that he knew Karen Mitchell as well. She used to babysit for a good friend of Jim's. So he does seem to have connections to multiple victims here. Yeah, definitely. And he's just not being named. I wonder if there's any connection to Jennifer.

Why, we don't know. Yeah, that's the hard part as we just, we don't know, because... Or Christine. Because, yeah, or Christine, because these crimes are so spread out Among you know so many over a decade. Yeah, we have like 1993 right? Yeah to 2014 so that is a very long span of time so it does make you think Could then could these all be committed by the same person over 20 years?

How old would that make Jim Jones? I don't know how old Jim Jones is, but if Sheila was 37, I'm assuming maybe he's around her age or older. So he would be probably like a legal adult by that time, but who knows if he would have been out there murdering people, it's so hard to say. Yeah. So it's possible in 1993, he was like, what, 20 or something? Right. Probably around that age, I would assume. to say. Yeah, so it's possible in 1993 he was like what 20 or something? Right, probably

around that age I would assume, but we know that he grew up in the area, so it's possible, but I mean, I think more than anything, it's clear that he was potentially involved in Danielle or and or Sheila's case, you know, of course, we're not saying that because we don't know, there's no evidence, it's just circumstantial evidence that we're talking about here, knowing that he is abusive towards women, knowing he was the last person to see Sheila, and knowing that he potentially had ties and saw Dan yell right before she disappeared.

Yeah, I can't, I don't know. I mean, I don't want to say it, but you all know what I'm thinking. So among the hundreds of people who go missing each year in Humboldt County, these five stick out because the women look similar, all petite and light skin and light eyes as we mentioned. They also seem to have similar personalities and interests, all loving nature and all friendly, warm and kind young women.

Unfortunately, some person or persons took advantage of their bright spirits and tried to extinguish them. The families of these five women still have no closure in the cases of their loved ones. All five families have conducted their own searches, hired private investigators, circulated missing posters, launched campaigns on social media, offered up rewards, and continued to fight for their forgotten girls to no avail. Murder Mountain earned and has kept its name, but worse, it's kept its secrets. Thank you so much everybody for listening to this episode of Going West. Yes, thank you guys so much for listening to this episode and on Tuesday we'll have an

all new case for you guys to dive into. Make sure that you share this case, of course on our social media as you can find missing posters for all of these women as well As photos of them and just the area in general, so please make sure to share I mean this is these are five cases right here. Well actually, I'm sorry two of them We know are no longer missing and sadly they are deceased But at least the other three are still considered missing so please share Yeah, and not only that, but there have been many, many other people

who have disappeared in that area. And I remember watching Murder Mountain. I know. And I had no idea really what to expect because being from Oregon, I'm so close to Humboldt County. So I really had no idea that any of this stuff was actually going on.

And I've been in that area many, many times throughout my childhood, and just not really known about all these secrets. Yeah, it's very eerie just that this county in and of itself is just very known for disappearances and murders and that it continues to happen. So of course, as we said earlier as well, it is a beautiful place and people live there

and they are fine, but it is very weird to hear these cases that could be connected and just think what could have happened to these women and all these people that go missing there. Again, if you want more episodes of Going West, head on over to our Patreon, that's P-A-T-R-E-O-N dot com slash Going West podcast. Got 70 full length ad free episodes. Yes, and those are bonus episodes of their stories that you haven't heard before by Heath and I,

and that is our bonus series called Real Crime. So it's kind of a separate situation. Make sure you follow all of our social medias we're on Instagram at Going West Podcast, Twitter at Going West Pod, and we have a Facebook discussion group as well as a regular Going West page. And also, if you'd like to leave us a review,

you can do so on whatever platform you use. And just thank you guys so much for listening to the show and sharing it means a lot to Heathen I, and I always say that a lot, but it really does mean a lot to us that you guys tune in every week. So thank you so much. All right, guys, so for everybody out there in the world,

don't be a stranger. Thank you. you