January 18, 2001. Miami, Florida. Geralyn Graham, the foster mother of four-year old Rilya Wilson, claims that a female caseworker from the Florida Department of Children and Families took Rilya from her residence for a medical evaluation, but never returned. Rilya is not officially reported missing until 15 months later, but the authorities become convinced that Geralyn fabricated her story and is personally responsible for Rilya’s disappearance. Geralyn is eventually charged with numerous crimes and receives a lengthy prison sentence after she is convicted of kidnapping and child abuse at her trial. Since the jury is unable to convict Geralyn of murder and Rilya’s remains are never found, there are a lot of unanswered questions about what actually happened. On this week’s episode of “The Trail Went Cold”, we explore a heartbreaking and controversial missing children’s case which came about as the result of a major scandal within Florida’s foster care system. Special thanks to listener Jaclyn Collins for narrating the opening of this episode.

If you have any information about this case, please contact the Miami-Dade County Police Department at (305) 418-7302.

Additional Reading:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disappearance_of_Rilya_Wilson

https://charleyproject.org/case/rilya-shenise-wilson

https://www.newspapers.com/image-view/652361189/

https://www.cnn.com/2004/LAW/08/18/fla.missing.girl/index.html

https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna7210798

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/proving-murder-in-case-of-missing-girl/

https://www.tampabay.com/incoming/informer-testifies-caretaker-confessed-to-killing-rilya-wilson/1266933/

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/01/25/woman-convicted-missing-girl/1865543/

https://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local/geralyn-graham-faces-sentencing-in-rilya-wilson-case/2015825/

https://www.nytimes.com/topic/person/rilya-wilson

“The Trail Went Cold” is on Patreon. Visit www.patreon.com/thetrailwentcold to become a patron and gain access to our exclusive bonus content.

The Trail Went Cold is produced and edited by Magill Foote.

All music is composed by Vince Nitro.

January 31, 1985. West Seneca, New York. 21-year old Leichia Reilly spends the night hanging out at a nightclub called the Pierce Arrow, but she never returns home and vanishes without a trace. Numerous witnesses recall having seen Leichia leaving the club during the early morning hours with an off-duty state trooper named Daniel Rose, but he denies this and stops cooperating with the investigation. Even though Rose is soon fired by the New York State Police and there appear to be some holes in his story, there is no evidence to implicate him in Leichia’s disappearance and she is never found. On this week’s episode of “The Trail Went Cold”, we explore the controversial disappearance of Leichia Reilly, which has gone unsolved for more than 40 years. In addition, we will also discuss the unsolved 1982 murder of James Adamski, who went missing during the early morning hours of Halloween after leaving a bar in the nearby village of Depew before he was found in a shallow grave in a wooded area just under two months later.

Additional Reading:

https://charleyproject.org/case/leichia-m-reilly

https://www.newspapers.com/image/875577695/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/875582162/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/875637060/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/875577847/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/875673768/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/874757072/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/877043776/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/875897927/

https://www.wgrz.com/article/news/local/cold-case-crime-west-seneca-missing-person-wny/71-ad11d332-e29e-44b4-a933-90d8c33edebe

https://buffalonews.com/news/local/article_b226ae35-9eb5-5afa-8c9d-64ed07491fc5.html

https://www.wgrz.com/article/news/investigations/2-investigates/cold-case-leichia-reilly-disappeared-1985/71-a0527b9d-fda9-4ae4-817b-9ceb49af06e0

https://www.wivb.com/news/36-year-old-cold-case-still-haunts-lancaster-cheektowaga/

https://www.wkbw.com/news/who-killed-james-adamski

https://www.wgrz.com/article/news/unsolved-37-years-later-investigators-still-search-for-clues-in-lancaster-murder/71-ba70ad6f-195d-4bf6-b3bd-e47f3cd94590

“The Trail Went Cold” is on Patreon. Visit www.patreon.com/thetrailwentcold to become a patron and gain access to our exclusive bonus content.

The Trail Went Cold is produced and edited by Magill Foote.

All music is composed by Vince Nitro.

September 17, 1954. Salt Lake City, Utah. Five-year old Gregory MaComb is abducted from his apartment and found dead in a creek bed after he has been sexually assaulted, strangled and bludgeoned to death. A witness reports having seen a man carrying Gregory out of the apartment house and placing him inside his car and he seems to match the description of Norman Ash Fackrell, a friend of Gregory’s mother. Nearly three years later, Fackrell is charged with Gregory’s murder, but winds up being acquitted at trial, so the truth about who was responsible for the crime remains shrouded in mystery. Was Norman Ash Fackrell the right perpetrator all along or did someone else kill Gregory? On this week’s episode of “The Trail Went Cold”, we look at both sides of this controversial case. Special thanks to listener Fran Krause for narrating the opening of the episode.

Additional Reading:

https://www.newspapers.com/image/595549367/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/599289443/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/599195293/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/597692336/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/598548447/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/595867589/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/599418869/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/595866911/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/599233507/

“The Trail Went Cold” is on Patreon. Visit www.patreon.com/thetrailwentcold to become a patron and gain access to our exclusive bonus content.

The Trail Went Cold is produced and edited by Magill Foote.

All music is composed by Vince Nitro.