The Trail Went Cold - Episode 414 - Barbara Jean Horn, Part 1

July 12, 1988. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Four-year old Barbara Jean Horn disappears from the front yard of her home before her nude body is discovered inside a cardboard box resting on a curb in the same neighbourhood. Nearly four years later, a suspect named Walter Ogrod, who had lived across the street from Barbara Jean’s residence, is arrested after he confesses to her murder and after two trials, he is convicted and sentenced to death. However, Walter claims his confession was coerced by corrupt police detectives and there are numerous allegations of misconduct and serious issues with his conviction. In 2020, after a new review is performed of the case, Walter’s conviction is overturned. While he is finally released from death row and fully exonerated, no one else is charged with the crime. Last week, in Part One of our series about the murder of Barbara Jean Horn, we shared the basic facts about the case. This week, in Part Two, we will attempt to analyze and break down this crime by sharing all the different theories about what happened, as well as explore some other wrong conviction cases which took place in Philadelphia during this time period and involved the same law enforcement figures who put Walter Ogrod in prison. If you have any information about this case, please contact the Philadelphia Police Department’s tip line at (215) 686-TIPS (8477). Additional Reading: "The Trails of Walter Ogrod: The Shocking Murder, So-Called Confessions and Notorious Snitch That Sent a Man to Death Row" by Thomas Lowenstein https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Ogrod_case https://unsolvedmysteries.fandom.com/wiki/Barbara_Jean_Horn https://www.law.umich.edu/special/exoneration/Pages/casedetail.aspx?caseid=5752 https://dpic-cdn.org/production/documents/PhilaDA-CIU-Walter-Ogrod-Expert-Reports-2020-02-28.pdf https://dpic-cdn.org/production/documents/PhilaDA-Answer-to-Walter-Ogrod-Amended-PCRA-Petition-2020-02-28.pdf https://www.inquirer.com/news/walter-ogrod-exonerated-innocent-death-row-larry-krasner-philadelphia-20200605.html https://www.inquirer.com/news/walter-ogrod-exonerated-murder-conviction-overturned-philadelphia-larry-krasner-20200610.html https://www.inquirer.com/philly/columnists/will_bunch/walter-ogrod-death-row-stories-hln-larry-krasner-dna-testing-philadelphia-20180405.html https://www.newsweek.com/pennsylvania-court-orders-death-row-inmate-tested-coronavirus-1493628 https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/after-2-decades-on-death-row-wrongfully-convicted-man-will-be-set-free/2421261/ https://www.cbsnews.com/philadelphia/news/barbara-jean-horn-murder-philadelphia-walter-ogrod/ “The Trail Went Cold” will be appearing at the AdvocacyCon, taking place at the Indianapolis Marriott East in Indianapolis on March 28-30, 2025. To get a 10 % discount on tickets, please use our specialized promo code, “TRAIL10”, by visiting https://www.advocacycon.com/. “The Trail Went Cold” is going to be appearing on podcast row at Crimecon UK” in London on June 7-8, 2024. To get a 10 % discount on tickets, please use our specialized promo code, “TRAIL10”, by visiting Crimecon.co.uk. “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.

If you like highly detailed and thoroughly researched podcasts, you will love “DNA: ID”. The show has over 100 episodes available to binge on right now. This is a sneak preview of Episode 122 (https://www.abjackentertainment.com/dna-id/9xglar65zhwgblh), which covers the case of Patricia Stichler. New Years’ Day 1985 should have rung in an exciting new year for Patti Stichler and her three young daughters. Instead, in the middle of the night on January 1-2, someone slashed and stabbed Patti to death in her bedroom. Her three girls, ages 11, 9 and 6, were in their bedrooms just feet away.  The oldest, Andrea, was the one to find her mom, and also found the most significant clue the police had – the open window in the blood-stained bathroom, and the gaping curtains that had been cut away from it. A knife sheath was found right outside, but the killer eluded police for decades.  Sylvania, OH investigators focused on people Patti knew, but could not link anyone in her inner circle to the crime. Decades later, a very complex forensic genealogy analysis that required interpreting one-sided DNA matches, piercing adoption records, and a lot of luck, finally provided a name – and it was not who anyone suspected. For all things “DNA: ID,” including past episodes, news, and more, please visit the show’s homepage (https://www.abjackentertainment.com/). “DNA: ID” is available on all major podcast apps and players; please subscribe to the show on your favorite app, so you don’t miss a single episode. An all-new season begins in January, 2025.

March 2, 1996. Culpepper County, Virginia. After leaving her home in Baltimore, Maryland in order to drive to Charlottesville, 25-year old Alicia Showalter Reynolds goes missing and her abandoned car is found alongside U.S. Route 29. Eyewitnesses report having seen Alicia speaking with an unidentified man in a pick-up truck and it becomes apparent that he may have tricked Alicia into pulling over before abducting her. Two months later, Alicia’s body is discovered in a remote field and while it is theorized that she fell prey to a killer known as the “Route 29 Stalker”, no one is ever charged with her murder. On this week’s episode of “The Trail Went Cold”, we explore the death of Alicia Showalter Reynolds, a crime which has had some compelling suspects over the years, but remains unsolved. If you have any information about this case, please contact the Virginia State Police Culpepper Division at 1-800-572-2260 or the Virginia State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigation at 1-888-300-0156. Additional Reading: https://unsolved.com/gallery/alicia-showalter/ https://unsolvedmysteries.fandom.com/wiki/Alicia_Showalter_Reynolds https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1996/05/09/culpeper-body-is-that-of-md-woman/b7b731e7-0d2f-4389-9a8c-40bb178e60c2/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1996/11/16/their-name-linked-to-stalker-larry-breedens-bear-a-burden/8f991bdb-3940-48cd-a3a1-1ef188dcbd2e/?utm_term=.c800767169fd https://scholar.lib.vt.edu/VA-news/ROA-Times/issues/1997/rt9703/970302/03030076.htm https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missing_persons_cases_along_U.S._Route_29_in_Virginia https://www.nvdaily.com/nvdaily/police-continue-to-search-for-alicia-reynolds-killer/article_645eff83-4236-5969-afd3-3ef583a5dd9d.html https://www.29news.com/2021/05/07/family-alicia-showalter-reynolds-still-looking-answers-years-after-her-death/ https://dailyprogress.com/news/community/madisonnews/police-continue-to-investigate-showalter-reynolds-homicide/article_d857aa78-da96-11ee-a14a-0b1ad05a8707.html https://pix11.com/news/suspect-sketch-in-1996-virginia-murder-looks-like-accused-gilgo-killer-victims-family-says/ https://www.fredericksburgfreepress.com/2024/03/01/state-police-continue-to-investigate-the-disappearance-and-homicide-of-alicia-showalter-reynolds/ “The Trail Went Cold” will be appearing at the AdvocacyCon, taking place at the Indianapolis Marriott East in Indianapolis on March 28-30, 2025. To get a 10 % discount on tickets, please use our specialized promo code, “TRAIL10”, by visiting https://www.advocacycon.com/. “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.

Since “The Trail Went Cold” originally launched in February 2016, we have featured nearly 500 cold cases on the podcast, a number of which have wound up being solved or have experienced major developments. As a result, we have now released a total of six special “update” episodes and this is our second episode about updates which took place in 2024. This time around, we’ll share major developments in such cases as the 1996 murders of Julie Williams and Lollie Winans, the 2000 disappearance of Asha Degree and the 1995 disappearance of Morgan Nick. These are just some of the cases we’ll be discussing on our sixth “update” episode of “The Trail Went Cold”. Here are the links to our three previous “update” episodes: https://trailwentcold.podbean.com/e/the-trail-went-cold-episode-155-update/ https://trailwentcold.podbean.com/e/the-trail-went-cold-episode-257-update-part-2/ https://trailwentcold.podbean.com/e/the-trail-went-cold-episode-310-update-part-3/ https://trailwentcold.podbean.com/e/the-trail-went-cold-episode-359-update-part-4/https://trailwentcold.podbean.com/e/the-trail-went-cold-episode-369-update-part-5/ “The Trail Went Cold” will be appearing at the AdvocacyCon, taking place at the Indianapolis Marriott East in Indianapolis on March 28-30, 2025. To get a 10 % discount on tickets, please use our specialized promo code, “TRAIL10”, by visiting https://www.advocacycon.com/. “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.

On this special holiday bonus episode titled “True Crime Convos”, “The Trail Went Cold” has been teamed up with two other fellow true crime podcasters to converse about our various experiences in the medium. Join me as I chat with Melissa of the “Navigating Advocacy Podcast” and Robert Parmer of “The Broken System Podcast” about such topics as researching cold cases, working with victims’ families, and even some of the more bizarre things we’ve experienced as podcasters. “The Trail Went Cold” will be appearing at the AdvocacyCon, taking place at the Indianapolis Marriott East in Indianapolis on March 28-30, 2025. To get a 10 % discount on tickets, please use our specialized promo code, “TRAIL10”, by visiting https://www.advocacycon.com/. “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.