A Sister Lost / Rumors of Murder

Summary

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Cold Case Files – "A Sister Lost / Rumors of Murder"

Original Air Date: May 19, 2026
Host/Narrator: Marisa Pinson
Theme: This episode dives into two haunting cold cases: the 1974 disappearance and murder of 13-year-old Elizabeth Wilson in Kansas, and the saga of Julie Hill, long missing and the subject of family whispers and a revived investigation decades later. Both stories chart the unrelenting pursuit of justice, the heartbreak of unresolved crimes, and how perseverance and new leads can finally yield closure—even if imperfect.

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Story One: A Sister Lost (Elizabeth Wilson)

Overview

The episode opens in Prairie Village, Kansas, July 1974, recounting the disappearance of Elizabeth Wilson after leaving the local swimming pool. Despite extensive search efforts, Elizabeth's case goes cold for decades—until advances in investigative techniques and witness testimony finally lead to her killer.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

The Disappearance and Immediate Investigation

• [01:59] John Wilson (Elizabeth's brother) shares his last moments with his sister and the dread that followed when she didn't come home.
  Quote:

  • “Our rule was when the streetlights come on, you better be in your yard. And we never once broke that rule. And so we knew something was terribly wrong.” — John Wilson [02:58]

• [03:07] The search mobilizes local police and eventually the FBI. Officer Politis describes the scale of the operation.

  • “Extreme concern for her welfare. The fact she's 12 years old in her swimming suit and it's now dark and going into the early morning hours..." — Detective/Investigator [03:44]

Focus on the Janitor, John Henry Horton

• [04:26] The investigation centers on John Henry Horton, the high school janitor, whose alibi and evidence appear suspicious.
• [05:05] Discovery of chloroform, ether, a butcher knife, and sulfuric acid in his car shocks investigators.
  Quote:
  • "They're basically an abduction kit." — Narrator/Investigator [11:27]

Parallel Incident with Another Girl

• [06:50] Beth Reichmeyer describes a creepy encounter with Horton the night Liz vanished, raising suspicions he was luring young girls.

Case Goes Cold, Then Reopens

• [09:58] Nearly 30 years later, Detective Kyle Shipps reopens the Wilson case after stumbling on old files.
  • “This poor family for 27 years has lived without justice for their daughter. And the suspect...is still walking around free. So that was my motivation to take a look at it.” — Detective/Investigator [10:18]

New Testimony and Timeline Construction

• [13:28] Forensic mapping confirms Horton had the opportunity to abduct Liz within moments of her last being seen.
  • "The final location that he saw his sister was only 175ft, 13 to 17 seconds away from the location that John Horton was last seen, meaning he was the only one that had the opportunity for the abduction..." — Detective/Investigator [13:28]

A Surviving Victim Comes Forward

• [20:34 & 21:15] Joy Krieger, who as a teen had been lured, drugged, and sexually assaulted by Horton with chloroform, finally tells detectives.
  • "When I came to, it was like a foggy vision, but my pants were down, he had his fingers inside of me." — Joy Krieger [21:49]
• This testimony becomes the missing link proving Horton had both the motive and method.

Trial and Resolution

• [23:12] Prosecutor Rick Gwynn tries the case, hinging his strategy on Joy's testimony showing a pattern of escalating violence.
  • “This was probably, in my opinion, the prosecutor’s dream case in terms of having a victim as pure as the driven snow and a defendant who had done some very outrageous things…” — Prosecutor Rick Gwynn [23:12]
• [25:08] Jury returns a guilty verdict within two hours; Horton is convicted of first-degree murder.
• [25:50] John Wilson reflects on the enduring pain, regret, and small comfort brought by justice.
  • “I often wonder how it would have been growing up with her in teenage years and getting old...But I’ll see her again in heaven.” — John Wilson [25:50]

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Memorable Moments & Quotes

• The haunting moment when John Wilson realizes his sister is gone forever:

  • “I felt bad because I was the last one with her and I felt like I had let everybody down because obviously she ran into foul play and I wasn’t there.” — John Wilson [09:19]

• Joy Krieger breaking her silence after nearly 30 years, giving detectives the breakthrough they needed.

  • “She was very upset by it and...explained to us that we were the first people she’d ever told about.” — Narrator/Cold Case Reporter [22:38]

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[26:24] Story Two: Rumors of Murder (Julie Hill)

Overview

In the second story, Christine Hickman, inspired by another Cold Case Files episode, reignites the investigation into her cousin Julie Hill's three-decade-old disappearance, armed only with family whispers and persistent detective work.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Family Rumors and First Steps

• [26:49] Christine is spurred to action by a TV episode, suspecting the family’s long-held “runaway to Las Vegas” story is untrue.

  • "Families have rumors, okay, is she alive or is she dead? It's time to get down to the bottom of it." — Christine Hickman [27:08]

• [27:30] Christine’s call to police presses them not to dismiss her concerns.

  • “You contact the Duluth police. You tell them you want an investigation. And you don’t take no for an answer.” — Christine Hickman (recounting advice) [27:30]

Suspicion Falls on Donald Bloomer

• [29:18] Family history and odd behavior (including property excavation) make Donald Bloomer, Julie’s controlling ex, a prime suspect.

• [31:05] Detectives stress the challenge of having no body:

  • "For us, of course, you know, we need a body. That's our best piece of evidence, and right now we don't have it." — Detective/Investigator [31:05]

Interrogation and Search

• [32:40] Detective Laura Marquardt presses Bloomer in a tense, emotional interview.
  • "You need to tell me what happened. You need to explain so Julie can have some peace. So you can have some peace." — Detective Laura Marquardt [32:40]
• Bloomer stonewalls, but subtle slips increase detectives' suspicions ("Well, if you do find any bones, they’re not from me. It’s an ancient Indian burial ground.” — Donald Bloomer [38:22])

Breakthrough, Confession, and Aftermath

• [41:02] In a sudden turnaround, Bloomer confesses, citing an accidental gunshot the night before July 4th.
  • "He accidentally pulls the trigger and shoots her. And he happens to shoot her right between the eyes and she's dead instantly." — Detective Laura Marquardt [42:38]
• [42:55] Detectives doubt the ‘accident’ story but finally get a plea for second-degree manslaughter; Bloomer receives a three-year sentence.
  • “I would like to see him receive the same sentence Julie got, but obviously that won’t happen. So I have to be grateful for what I have…” — Christine Hickman [43:38]
• [44:07] The absence of Julie’s body leaves Hickman and her family grieving, unable to have closure or lay her to rest with dignity.

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Notable Quotes & Moments (with Timestamps)

• John Wilson’s enduring guilt and loss
  [09:19]: “I felt bad because I was the last one with her...It was way beyond me. It's too young, too much.”

• Detective Laura Marquardt’s confrontation with Bloomer
  [32:40]: “You need to tell me what happened. You need to explain so Julie can have some peace. So you can have some peace.”

• Joy Krieger’s brave testimony
  [21:49]: “I couldn't move at all, none whatsoever. But when I came to, it was like a foggy vision, but my pants were down. He had his fingers inside of me.”

• Christine Hickman on justice for Julie Hill
  [43:38]: “I would like to see him receive the same sentence Julie got, but...Donald Bloomer is answering to man and he's answering to the law and he is behind bars.”

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• [01:59]–[09:36]: Disappearance of Elizabeth Wilson—last sighting, search, initial focus on janitor
• [09:58]–[25:50]: The cold case revival, new evidence from Joy Krieger, forensic timeline, trial, and resolution
• [26:24]–[44:49]: Rumors and investigation into Julie Hill’s disappearance, interviews with family, confrontation and confession by Donald Bloomer, legal resolution and lingering questions

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Conclusion

This episode captures the agony and hope tied to cold cases. In Elizabeth Wilson's murder, closure comes three decades later, owing to dedicated investigators and a courageous survivor. In Julie Hill’s case, a family’s refusal to forget revives an investigation, yields a partial confession—but leaves lasting scars in the absence of her remains.

Tone: The speakers maintain a somber, persistent, and empathetic tone, balancing hard truths with respect for victims and their families. Their words underscore the emotional weight borne by survivors, families, and even investigators themselves.

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Recommended for: Listeners interested in true crime, cold case investigations, and stories of resilience in the face of long-standing loss.

Transcript

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[Narrator/Cold Case Reporter]

This episode contains stories involving violence against children. Listener discretion is advised. There are over 100,000 cold cases in America. Only 1% are ever solved. This is one of those rare stories.

[John Wilson]

I had done a cannonball off the side of the pool and I accidentally ran into her. So she was upset and she had told me that she was gonna go home and tell mom and dad that I was gonna get in trouble.

[Narrator/Cold Case Reporter]

It's July of 1974 in Prairie Village, Kansas. John Wilson is 11 years old. His sister Elizabeth is 13.

[John Wilson]

So I went out into the middle of the parking lot and I heard my name. She called out my name. John turned around and looked and she was running My way.

[Narrator/Cold Case Reporter]

John Wilson runs through the parking lot, docks around the corner of a local high school and waits for his sister.

[John Wilson]

I was going to jump out and scare her and try to make a last minute deal with her not to tell mom and dad and she never came by. Never came by.

[Narrator/Cold Case Reporter]

With no sign of Liz, John runs the four blocks home and waits. The minutes turn into hours with no sign of Liz.

[John Wilson]

Our rule was when the streetlights come on, you better be in your yard. And we never once broke that rule. And so we knew something was terribly wrong.

[Narrator/Cold Case Reporter]

At 10pm The Wilsons dial 911. Officer Randy Politis takes the call.

[Narrator/Investigator]

Received a radio call on a missing child from the Prairie Village swimming pool parking lot.

[Narrator/Cold Case Reporter]

Politis and a team of officers hit

[Narrator/Investigator]

the streets, responded to the area and conducted a neighborhood canvas of all these homes and went door to door to see if anyone had seen the little girl.

[Narrator/Cold Case Reporter]

After five hours, the search turns up no trace of Lizabeth and no reports of anyone or anything suspicious.

[Narrator/Investigator]

Extreme concern for her welfare. The fact she's 12 years old in her swimming suit and it's now dark and going into the early morning hours,

[Detective/Investigator]

there's still no sign of it became one of the biggest cases the FBI had in Kansas City.

[Narrator/Investigator]

We can go out, put 100 people on a case, you know, almost around

[Detective/Investigator]

the clock and that's what we did at the time.

[Narrator/Investigator]

It's just a true try to cover all bases.

[Narrator/Cold Case Reporter]

Zach Shelton and J.B. brown are two of 100 FBI agents called in to work Elizabeth Wilson's disappearance.

[Detective/Investigator]

There was no abduction, There was no witness stated that a car drove in and little girl was taken. In fact, it looked like she vanished in thin air.

[Narrator/Cold Case Reporter]

Elizabeth Wilson was last seen alive running past a local high school. With nowhere else to turn, detectives returned to the school and the only man working there at the time, a janitor named John Henry Horton.

[Narrator/Investigator]

He's a person of extreme interest at the time given the extensive amount of door to door canvas and investigation that was being conducted. And no one else had seen any other person in the area and he had the job to put him right there where she was last seen.

[Narrator/Cold Case Reporter]

Horton's time card showed he punched out for a dinner break at 8pm and didn't return until almost 11.

[Detective/Investigator]

He clocked out about 20 minutes after Liz Wilson is last seen.

[Narrator/Investigator]

Well, that was the first serious red flag of the investigation was the fact that he had not returned during that window of her disappearance.

[Narrator/Cold Case Reporter]

According to the overnight janitor, when Horton returned to work, he was shirtless and had fresh Scratches on his back and arms. When detectives question Horton about his absence from work, he claims he went out to buy dinner and had some car trouble.

[Detective/Investigator]

His story is that his car broke down at a Milgrams grocery parking lot on 75th Street. We interviewed the employee there at the Milgrams, and this particular employee said there

[John Wilson]

was nobody in that parking lot during

[Detective/Investigator]

that period of time.

[Narrator/Cold Case Reporter]

Horton's shaky alibi raises enough suspicion to merit a search warrant. When detectives open the trunk on Horton's car, they get an eyeful.

[Detective/Investigator]

They pulled a lot of stuff out of the trunk of his car that was very questionable.

[Narrator/Investigator]

Sulfuric acid, chloroform, ether, butcher knife, some bags. And it just wasn't right. Obviously, we all know in police work that chloroform in a rag, you put it over someone's face, you can render them incomplete, incapacitated very quickly. And at that time, I was very concerned about the fact that we had a possible homicide on our hands.

[Narrator/Cold Case Reporter]

Horton tells police he stole the chloroform to get high and the knife was a gift for his wife. Agents don't buy a word of his story. They view Horton as a liar and a murderer. Their theory gained support when police talked to Beth Reichmeyer, a 15 year old who describes an encounter she had with Horton on the same night Elizabeth disappeared.

[Joy Krieger]

I had been over playing tennis at Prairie Village pool, and I was walking home and on my way, a man gentleman stopped me. He's standing right here. He wanted me to stand on his shoulders to help him turn off the water. He said he'd been watering the trees and he said I stand on his shoulders to help him turn off the water. And that just didn't sound right to me.

[Narrator/Cold Case Reporter]

Beth says she refused to help and walked on. When FBI agents revisit the school, they discover the water spigot is just 6 inches off the ground. And suspect Horton was using that ruse to lure Beth into the school. In the weeks and months that follow, detectives work to find a similar link between Horton and Liz Wilson.

[Narrator/Investigator]

You know, when you put a hundred agents out here and one one particular thing, and with all the people you talk to, there's nobody else that shows up that could have done it.

[Detective/Investigator]

That's it. Everybody's a suspect. We interviewed a lot of child molesters, sexual deviants of the area. So we did our job. But it kept coming back to the

[John Wilson]

only explanation of what happened was John Hood.

[Narrator/Cold Case Reporter]

After six months, months, detectives have a circumstantial case but no direct evidence tying Horton to Elizabeth's Disappearance. Meanwhile, her brother John keeps hope alive that his big sister will someday return home.

[John Wilson]

I kept hope. I just knew in my heart she'd return home. But that was not to be.

[Narrator/Cold Case Reporter]

Nine miles from the spot where Elizabeth Wilson vanished is a vacant field. Six months later on January 7, a construction worker named Fred Kipp surveys the land and turns up a skull.

[Detective/Investigator]

You know, it didn't look like much of anything. It was here.

[Narrator/Investigator]

It's winter and you have a skull. You know, it's just there's nothing there

[Detective/Investigator]

but just the bone and the skull

[Narrator/Cold Case Reporter]

and everything else has deteriorated. Kip dials 911 and a team of officers arrived to search the area.

[Narrator/Investigator]

We walked almost arm in arm through

[Detective/Investigator]

this whole half to three quarter section

[Narrator/Investigator]

of bare land looking for anything that

[Detective/Investigator]

we could pick up.

[Narrator/Cold Case Reporter]

Agents recovered the skull and some bones. Put nothing further in the way of usable evidence. Dental records confirm the remains belonged to 13 year old Elizabeth Wilson. After six months, a family's worst fears become a reality.

[John Wilson]

I felt bad because I was the last one with her and I felt like I had let everybody down because obviously she ran into foul play and I wasn't there. I didn't understand it and how could this happen to my family? It was way beyond me. It's too young, too much.

[Narrator/Cold Case Reporter]

Investigators take their case to the da hoping to secure an arrest warrant for John Horton. The da, however, feels there is a lack of sufficient evidence tying Horton to the victim. In time, Lisbeth Wilson finds her way to the cold files where the Investigation sits until 2001 when a rookie detective takes an interest.

[Narrator/Investigator]

One afternoon, while looking for part of a file on another case I was working on, I came across some photocopies of reports related to this case.

[Narrator/Cold Case Reporter]

Kyle Shipps is a detective with the Prairie Village Police Department. On a slow Day in 2001, he comes across the unsolved murder of Lizabeth Wilson.

[Narrator/Investigator]

It was just one of those things that grabbed you when you first read it. This poor family for 27 years has lived without justice for their daughter. And the suspect that everyone keys on is still walking around free. So that was my motivation to take a look at it.

[Brad Courts]

He had all these young teenage girls right across the street. Parking lot at the pool ships.

[Narrator/Cold Case Reporter]

Partners up with agent Brad Courts from the KBI Cold case squad. The two take a hard look at John Horton, the prime suspect from 1974.

[Brad Courts]

What was hard to believe was that he left all that evidence in his trunk. I mean, he didn't get rid of it that night. No, he left it in his trunk and they found it the next day.

[Narrator/Investigator]

And that those telling of items too. I mean, we're not talking anything nondescript but bottles of ether and chloroform. Why would you have those in the trunk of your car?

[Brad Courts]

Exactly.

[Narrator/Investigator]

Yeah. What?

[Narrator/Cold Case Reporter]

27 years earlier, police pulled chloroform, rags and a knife from the trunk of Horton's car. Shipps pulls the evidence and takes a look.

[Narrator/Investigator]

These three bottles here are marked as chloroform. It was our feeling that he had utilized the chloroform in order to render Ms. Wilson unconscious and then to affect the molestation. A person who is just going about day to day business has no business having these kind of items in their trunk. They're basically an abduction kit. Whether to threaten somebody into a accompanying you rendering the person unconscious, things of that nature.

[Narrator/Cold Case Reporter]

Detectives refreshed the investigation by running a criminal history on Horton. In 1993, the former janitor was arrested for peeping into teenage girls windows only. A misdemeanor offense, but telling nonetheless.

[Brad Courts]

That was a big break in the case, I thought, because it established that he's had a propensity for stalking and molesting teenage girls his whole life.

[Narrator/Investigator]

It was all a common thread of this fascination in a sexual manner with young teenage girls.

[Narrator/Cold Case Reporter]

Cold case detectives begin the process of tracking down and re interviewing witnesses.

[Joy Krieger]

Well, first I found a note on my door and so I called them and they said they were going to reopen the case.

[Narrator/Cold Case Reporter]

In 1974, Beth Reichmeyer was just 15 years old when she told police that Horton approached her near the high school on the same night Liz disappeared. Now detectives return to Reichmeyer and ask her if she might have also seen Liz's brother John Wilson that night.

[Joy Krieger]

It was Horton first. And then as I got up around the front of the school, that's when John Wilson went running by. We're up towards the front of the doors and he was out near the pillars.

[Narrator/Cold Case Reporter]

Reichmeyer's statements put Horton that much closer to Liz Wilson and the time she disappeared. Captain Dan Meyer is a specialist in forensic mapping and lays out a timeline for cold case detectives.

[Detective/Investigator]

Based on the evidence provided to me, I know that Beth is talking to John Horton and identifies the time of that encounter at 7:20pm I then calculated the time that it would have taken them to reach the front door. And I know that Beth arrives at the front door of the school at 7:22. It's during that time that she sees young John Wilson run by her location. Based on my calculations, I know that just Seconds prior to the 7:22 time, John had turned and saw his sister while she was continuing to run from this location. The final location that he saw his sister was only 175ft, 13 to 17 seconds away from the location that John Horton was last seen, meaning he was the only one that had the opportunity for the abduction and was in the

[Brad Courts]

area at the time Liz was last seen by her brother John at the end of this median here.

[Narrator/Cold Case Reporter]

Cold case detectives take their timeline into the field and play out how Lisbeth Wilson was abducted.

[Brad Courts]

John Horton was at this location near the sidewalk in between the two trees. John Wilson was on around at the front of the school. And it should have taken Liz about two minutes to walk up to where John was, and she never did arrive at that location.

[Narrator/Investigator]

He didn't forcefully bring her into the school, but rather somehow was able to gain her confidence. We think he used some sort of either ruse or excuse in order to get her to enter the school with him at that time.

[Brad Courts]

Then once he got her in, the school, began a molestation. There's indications that there was a struggle at one point.

[Narrator/Cold Case Reporter]

Their case is built almost entirely on circumstance times and dates that put John Horton in close proximity to Liz. It is not an ideal case, but enough to warrant a sit down with Horton.

[Brad Courts]

We wanted to catch him cold to get that initial unrehearsed response from him because that's. That's a true indicator.

[Narrator/Cold Case Reporter]

On August 7, Brad Courts surprises Horton in the parking lot of the factory where he works and asks him about Lizabeth Wilson.

[Brad Courts]

And immediately he dropped his head and just remained silent like he was trying to think of something to say. And he started to shake. And I actually said to myself, right then, I said, he's killed. He did it. It's not the. The issue is whether you did it or not. It's why it happened, how it happened.

[Narrator/Cold Case Reporter]

Horton agrees to sit down for questioning for two hours. Quartz digs, but Horton sticks to his denials and admits to nothing.

[Brad Courts]

You're the only one there, John.

[Detective/Investigator]

I know I'm the only one there. Put in that I don't remember seeing her. I don't remember anybody running by. As my wife said, I need to evidently contact a lawyer.

[Narrator/Investigator]

All this kind of stuff's going on.

[Detective/Investigator]

This is crazy.

[Brad Courts]

No, it's not crazy.

[Donald Bloomer]

It's fact.

[Brad Courts]

You think I'd make all this stuff up?

[Detective/Investigator]

No, I say make everything up.

[Brad Courts]

It's not crazy, John.

[John Wilson]

It's reality.

[Narrator/Cold Case Reporter]

Cold case detectives believe their case is as good as it's going to get and prepare to take their evidence to to the da. Then another woman surfaces, one who had her own run in with John Horton and his bottle of chloroform.

[Joy Krieger]

I couldn't move at all. None whatsoever. But when I came to, it was like a foggy vision.

[Narrator/Cold Case Reporter]

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[Brad Courts]

The vast majority of people at noon that we talk to said the same thing. Basically that he was a creepy, weird, strange person. They didn't believe a lot of the information he said. So, you know, he's, he's a deceptive person naturally. I mean, that's his nature.

[Narrator/Investigator]

Yeah. Told a lot of stories.

[Narrator/Cold Case Reporter]

Brad Courts and Kyle Shipps are talking about John Horton, a former school janitor and the man they believe abducted and killed 13 year old Elizabeth Wilson more than 30 years earlier. Courts and Ships can place Horton at the school where Wilson was last seen and have a bottle of chloroform and a knife recovered from his car, but little else in the way of hard evidence. That is until they review the case file and happen upon a name.

[Brad Courts]

There was just a written note in the case file I found that said had a name. Joy Krieger. We have another young teenage girl. She needs to be talked to.

[Joy Krieger]

When they brought up his name, it freaked me out. And I was at work and I'm like, oh my God, you know, why do they want to talk to me? They haven't in 30 years almost, you know.

[Narrator/Cold Case Reporter]

Joy Krieger has kept a secret for almost 30 years. On August 8, she sits down with Agent Angie Wilson and decides to talk. We ask her how she felt about

[Joy Krieger]

John Horton and what her experiences were

[Narrator/Cold Case Reporter]

like with John Horton. And that's when she became very emotional and said that she didn't like him at all. Joy tells Agent Wilson that two months before Elizabeth disappeared, her neighbor John Horton offered to get her high. Krieger at the time was 14 years old.

[Joy Krieger]

So we were just going to go to the golf course for what I thought was just gonna pot and get high. Walked over to a green, kind of sat down, like a little circle area. And he pulls out this bottle and a rag and kind of says, here, you know, this will get you high. And I went like this because that's what he told me to do. And I was like, no. And he said, no, go ahead. And I remember him putting his hand back up to mine.

[Narrator/Cold Case Reporter]

Joy inhaled the fumes and quickly blacked out. Sometime later, she woke up in a haze.

[Joy Krieger]

I couldn't move at all, none whatsoever. But when I came to, it was like a foggy vision, but my pants were down. He had his fingers inside of me. He was kind of leaning up over me a little bit, but it's like I couldn't move. I couldn't say anything.

[Narrator/Cold Case Reporter]

Before she could do anything to stop Horton, Joy blacked out a second time.

[Joy Krieger]

I have no idea how I came to, but when I did, my pants were being pulled up and zipped. I kind of went out again. When I came to again, I remember sitting up and just violently throwing up.

[Narrator/Cold Case Reporter]

Joy found her way home and made a promise to herself that she would never tell a soul.

[Joy Krieger]

She was very upset by it and

[Narrator/Cold Case Reporter]

explained to us that we were the first people she'd ever told about. Detectives believe the attack on Krieger to be a blueprint for Horton's abduction of Lisbeth Wilson and the final piece in their case against him.

[Narrator/Investigator]

You almost thought it was too good to be true, that there's no way this guy could be doing this twice.

[Narrator/Cold Case Reporter]

On October 15, 2003, Horton is arrested and charged with the murder of lizabeth wilson. On september 20, 2004, horton, john horton's trial begins.

[Prosecutor Rick Gwynn]

This was probably, in my opinion, the prosecutor's dream case in terms of having a victim as pure as the driven snow and a defendant who had done some very outrageous things to cause this to happen. And, yeah, I was fired up about trying to get a conviction.

[Narrator/Cold Case Reporter]

Central to prosecutor Rick Gwynn's case is the testimony of Joy Krieger.

[Joy Krieger]

Nothing can prepare you for saying something like that on the stand and seeing him in person.

[Narrator/Cold Case Reporter]

On September 23, she takes the stand and tells the jurors her story.

[Joy Krieger]

He had molested me when I was young.

[Prosecutor Rick Gwynn]

We believe there were two lessons he learned. Number one, that Joy Krieger woke up in the middle of his assault on her, and so therefore, more chloroform would be needed in order to keep his next victim unconscious. And number two, Joy Krieger never told a soul. So in his mind, it could have very easily been that she had no memory of what happened to her, and therefore, it was the perfect crime.

[Narrator/Cold Case Reporter]

Gwyn picks up on Krieger's testimony, arguing that Lisbeth Wilson was victimized in the same ways, except this time, Horton went one step further and killed his victim.

[Prosecutor Rick Gwynn]

Our theory was that she was solicited by the defendant to come inside the school to turn off a water hose. He took her into a TV room inside the high school, had the chloroform with him at that time, had a knife with him at that time to threaten her in case she struggled or fought with him, and then he subdued her through the chloroform, rendered her unconscious, and then removed certain clothings. For the purpose of fondling her. In the process of doing that, the chloroform, instead of rendering her unconscious, ended up killing her.

[Narrator/Cold Case Reporter]

After six days of testimony, the case goes to the jury. Just two hours later, they're back with a verdict. Guilty in the first degree.

[Narrator/Investigator]

You can see the color slowly draining out of his face. That smile that had been present throughout the trial suddenly started turning into a look of shock, a look of surprise.

[Brad Courts]

The look on his face when they announced guilty, it was priceless because he was stunned.

[Narrator/Cold Case Reporter]

For the family of Lisbeth Wilson, the verdict means justice. Thirty years in the making, and a small bit of comfort for Liz's brother, who wonders how different things might have been.

[John Wilson]

We were supposed to walk home together, and even though she was right behind me, you know, that that was not supposed to happen, you know, but I knew in my heart that I wasn't there. And that was hard to overcome. Miss her. I often wonder how it would have been growing up with her in teenage years and getting old and. But I'll see her again in heaven.

[Narrator/Cold Case Reporter]

In February of 2004 in Las Vegas, Nevada, 34 year old Christine Hickman flips through the channels and stops on the story of a serial killer.

[Christine Hickman]

I was watching an episode of Cold Case Files. They were profiling the Green River Killer. In that episode, they make the statement that even though those girls were prostitutes, nobody deserved to die like that. And I shot forward in my chair and thought, that's it.

[Detective Laura Marquardt]

They're right.

[Narrator/Cold Case Reporter]

Flashing through Christine's mind is an image of her cousin, Julie Hill. For most of her life, Christine had believed Julie ran away from home and worked as a prostitute in Nevada. Then Christine began to hear family rumors that Julie had actually been murdered.

[Christine Hickman]

Families have rumors, okay, is she alive or is she dead? It's time to get down to the bottom of it.

[Narrator/Cold Case Reporter]

Family gossip lays the murder at the feet of Julie Hill's abusive boyfriend at the time, a Duluth native named Donald Bloomer. Hickman gets on the phone to the Las Vegas Metro Police Department, lays out her situation and asks for advice.

[Christine Hickman]

I reached a lady detective. I laid out what I had for her, and she, she listened and she asked questions. And when I was through, she said, by all means, you contact the Duluth police. You tell them you want an investigation. And she stressed, and you don't take no for an answer.

[Detective/Investigator]

I got a phone call from a lady named Christine Hickman. She lives in Las Vegas. And Christine has a story to tell.

[Narrator/Cold Case Reporter]

Bob Erz Palmer is a detective with the Duluth Police Department department. After talking To Christine, he gathers together his homicide team and lays out what he knows.

[Detective/Investigator]

She says that her cousin, a girl named Julie Hill, was reported missing to the Duluth Police Department in July of 1980. She said that she was at a family gathering discussing Julie, and since the family is so spread out over the United States, they don't get together often. And they all started realizing that nobody's seen Julie since the day she was reported missing.

[Narrator/Cold Case Reporter]

Laura Marquardt is one of the detectives in the meeting and is given the job of following up with Julie Hill's family.

[Detective Laura Marquardt]

I started talking to family members and getting a better idea of who Julie Hill was, what the family thought was going on back then. I started having little flags go up in my head that maybe there is something more going on.

[Narrator/Cold Case Reporter]

Marquardt's initial legwork convinces her there might be something to Christine Hickman's story that Julie Hill might in fact have been murdered and that her old boyfriend, Donald Bloomer, might be the culprit.

[Detective/Investigator]

Christine told me that Julie, at the time she went missing, had a boyfriend named Donald Bloomer. And she came right out and said she believes, and the family believes, that Donald Bloomer had something to do with her disappearance.

[Detective Laura Marquardt]

He was very controlling, so if she were wanting to leave, this would not be a very good thing from his perspective. His reaction to this would be to control it if she was going to leave.

[Detective/Investigator]

Julie and Donald had a very tumultuous relationship, and she said that Julie's mother actually remembers that there was some excavating being done in the back of Bloomer's house. They didn't know if he was putting in a root cellar or repairing part of the foundation. So this is all information that we're gonna have to really start nailing down so that we can get a timeline going and start using this information to put into a search warrant. He had been excavating in his yard just prior to Julie going missing. And then she heard that when Julie's mom went to check with Bloomer to see if he had seen Julie, this was all filled in. And she thought that that was suspicious and said, maybe it's something, maybe it's not, but it's at least a place to get started.

[Narrator/Cold Case Reporter]

Urs Palmer and his team have a suspect and some intriguing circumstance. But the one thing their homicide lacks is a body.

[Detective/Investigator]

For us, of course, you know, we need a body. That's our best piece of evidence, and right now we don't have it. So as we're developing our probable cause, we're gonna have to show the best we can that Julie no longer exists.

[Narrator/Cold Case Reporter]

Without much in the way of physical evidence, Urspalmer decides to shake up his suspect by confronting him. And he knows exactly where to find Donald Bloomer. Right across the street from the police department.

[Detective/Investigator]

Coincidentally, our office windows were right up there. And Mr. Bloomer does business right here.

[Narrator/Cold Case Reporter]

At 8:00am, Sergeant Erspalmer greets Donald Bloomer as he works unloading newspapers.

[Detective/Investigator]

The truck was parked right here. He was taking newspapers into that door right there.

[Narrator/Cold Case Reporter]

Erst Palmer flashes his badge and told

[Detective/Investigator]

him that I was a police detective and wanted to talk to him. He didn't ask us, why do you want to talk to me? And you could tell he was very shocked. He then became actually afraid because as he was moving newspapers in, he was just shaking. Just shaking.

[Narrator/Cold Case Reporter]

Bloomer follows investigators back to the police station, never asking why they want to speak with him.

[Detective/Investigator]

This is the interview room that we brought Mr. Bloomer into. We had this set up.

[Narrator/Cold Case Reporter]

At 9am Donald Bloomer sits down with Detectives Bob Erspalmer talks to Bloomer for a while. Then Laura Marquardt takes over.

[Detective Laura Marquardt]

You need to tell me what happened. You need to explain so Julie can have some peace. So you can have some peace. He comes up with different scenarios as to what happened to Julie. And his belief is that she. Julie, ran off to Las Vegas to be a prostitute. Clearly, what I know to have happened is that Julie is dead. Donald, you're gonna need to sit and listen to me, okay?

[Brad Courts]

Okay.

[Detective Laura Marquardt]

All right. She is dead. Okay? And I do believe that you had some part, you know something about what happened. He's sitting there, he's leaning into me. I'm leaning into him, and he's nodding, he's agreeing with me. And I don't want you to tell me what you've already told me. You've already told me that dozens of times. And you and I both know that's not the truth. Don. Don, that isn't the truth. And that's probably a couple hours into the interview when I start down that road. I know you're responsible for her death. Something happened. It was unfortunate. It was a mistake.

[Donald Bloomer]

You're wrong.

[Detective Laura Marquardt]

It was an ups. I'm not wrong, Don. I'm not wrong.

[Donald Bloomer]

You're wrong.

[Detective Laura Marquardt]

It could have been an accident. Maybe it wasn't. I don't know. You were the only one there. That kind of thing.

[Donald Bloomer]

Everything I said was exactly like I said. My last memory. This is the gospel truth. My last memory.

[Detective Laura Marquardt]

Don't say those things when we know they're not right.

[Donald Bloomer]

No, they're not right.

[Detective Laura Marquardt]

I know you want to remember those things. Please look good now I'm looking at you. I'm looking at you.

[Donald Bloomer]

Say this.

[Detective Laura Marquardt]

I'm just telling you, don't say those things to me. To my eye like that, I know that's not you. And we go down that road for quite a while. And on several occasions, he gets very, very close to telling me the truth, to admitting that truth. I've heard what you've had to say, Don. We've spent hours listening to what you had to say. Your explanation about what happened, it's not true. None of the facts show this. What it shows is that you lied to me.

[Donald Bloomer]

No, those facts are all wrong. There's a lot of things you said that those facts.

[Detective Laura Marquardt]

No, they're not, Don. They're not. You can't go on living with us like this, Don.

[Donald Bloomer]

You're wrong.

[Narrator/Cold Case Reporter]

In the end, Donald Bloomer said sticks to his story and cold case detectives have no choice but to get out the backhoe. I used to grab whatever meat was on sale at the grocery store and call it a day. It worked, but it wasn't exactly exciting. Then I tried Omaha Steaks and wow. Suddenly weeknight dinners actually felt like something to look forward to. The flavor is richer, the texture is noticeably more tender, and I'm not saving the good stuff for special occasions anymore. What I love most is how easy it is. I built a custom box, it showed up at my door, and now my freezer's stocked with everything from juicy burgers to chicken, salmon and these incredible filet mignon and top sirloin fillets, both USDA certified tender. I just season sear and dinner's done in minutes with way more flavor than anything I used to pick up last minute. Everything's perfectly portioned and individually vacuum sealed so there's less food waste and every order is backed by 100% savings satisfaction guarantee. Omaha Steaks has been doing this for over 100 years and you can taste the difference in every bite. Their steaks are aged at least 28 days. Grass fed grain finished just consistently great. Honestly, it's made everyday meals feel a lot less ordinary. Taste the Omaha Steaks difference and never settle for grocery proteins again. Get flavorful, high quality proteins delivered by visiting Omaha steaks.com, plus $35 off when you use promo code cold case at checkout. That's Omaha steaks.com code cold case terms. Apply CSIP for details. I have way too much free time. Said no One ever. Work, appointments, family and friends. Life is nonstop. And trying to find a new place on top of all that, completely overwhelming. That's where apartments.com comes in. If you want to make time for the things you love, but you still need to find your next home, apartments.com has tools to make your home search so much easier.

[John Wilson]

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[Narrator/Cold Case Reporter]

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[Detective Laura Marquardt]

You know what I'm going to. I'm going to keep doing what I need do until I find where she is. And I believe she's on your property.

[Narrator/Cold Case Reporter]

Inside a police interrogation room, Homicide detective Laura Marquardt earns her pay. Marquardt suspects the man in front of her, Donald Bloomer, killed his girlfriend 24 years earlier and buried her under his house.

[Detective Laura Marquardt]

He continually denies that and says we won't find anything like that on his property. That there's no. There's nobody buried there. There's no bones, no nothing.

[Donald Bloomer]

Please.

[Narrator/Cold Case Reporter]

How are you going to deal with that?

[Detective Laura Marquardt]

You need to deal with it now instead of later.

[Donald Bloomer]

Let me do this now, please. No way. That little piece of earth is so sacred. Let me finish, please. Don't you want to hear me?

[Detective Laura Marquardt]

I do.

[Donald Bloomer]

Why don't you listen to me?

[Detective Laura Marquardt]

I've been listening to you for several hours.

[Donald Bloomer]

No, you're not. I'm telling you right now, absolutely not.

[Detective Laura Marquardt]

And then, interestingly, as I push that whole issue, he tells me things like, well, if you do find any bones, they're not from me. It's an ancient Indian burial ground.

[Donald Bloomer]

You think I could live there with Julie's body in my yard? No way. I go home there. That used to be the most sacred, the only thing I had. I'd come crawling out from her and maybe get a few minutes there. No way. That is that sacred Indian land there.

[Detective Laura Marquardt]

That was a huge red flag, actually, when he said that, that made me think, my gosh, she probably is there.

[Narrator/Cold Case Reporter]

Detective Marquardt is more convinced than ever that if they dig under Donald Bloomer's house, they will find bones not from an ancient Indian tribe, but from his ex girlfriend, Julie Hill.

[Narrator/Investigator]

We are at 215 W. Ninth St. In Duluth. This is the site of where the home was, where we believe Julie Hill was murdered.

[Narrator/Cold Case Reporter]

On a Monday morning, a team of detectives, including Tom Maa, descends on Donald Bloomer's property.

[Narrator/Investigator]

Front of the house was about here. Driveway was right along this side here.

[Narrator/Cold Case Reporter]

They are looking for Julie Hill or at the very least, an indication that she may have been murdered inside Bloomer's home. Problem is Donald Bloomer is a pack rat and the house is an utter wreck. After a day of searching, the city building commissioner weighs in. He halts police efforts and orders the building be demolished. Three days later, Donald Bloomer's house is razed and the earth underneath is laid bare.

[Narrator/Investigator]

Based on information we had back from about the time she was missing, neighbors and family had mentioned that they saw him digging in the backyard here, digging a hole. And then the digging stopped shortly after Julie disappeared, and he never built anything further on that location. We started to think that there's a high likelihood he buried her right back here.

[Narrator/Cold Case Reporter]

A backhoe reaches into the earth and begins to dig, but nothing is found.

[Narrator/Investigator]

It is frustrating when you invest that amount of time and you don't find what you were hoping for. Don't get that closure for the family. Remains some questions in your mind as to did we actually uncover all the truth or is there something else hidden there?

[Narrator/Cold Case Reporter]

Homicide detectives still don't have a body and resign themselves to another session of give and take with Donald Bloomer when they return to the interrogation room.

[Joy Krieger]

However.

[Narrator/Cold Case Reporter]

However, detectives find a changed man.

[Donald Bloomer]

Something's changed.

[Detective Laura Marquardt]

What's changed?

[Donald Bloomer]

It's time for Dudes that come on.

[Detective Laura Marquardt]

Within 20 minutes of talking with Donald, he tells me that he wants to get down to business, that he has things to tell me.

[Donald Bloomer]

You can. That first day when we all done and you put your hand on my shoulder, I'm about. Some beasts carry him a verdict for a long time.

[Narrator/Cold Case Reporter]

Stay out of tissue.

[Detective Laura Marquardt]

Just like that, certainly. And then he says it was an accident and that he needs to tell me about everything that happened and that he should have told me the first time that we were talking, but he just couldn't. And then he goes on about how it's been haunting him and that he feels Julie's presence. Can you tell me what happened? What was the accident that happened?

[Donald Bloomer]

Oh, yeah. The night before the fourth of July.

[Detective Laura Marquardt]

They're gonna go camping and canoeing and target shooting the next day on the 4th of July.

[Detective/Investigator]

So

[Detective Laura Marquardt]

they were practicing loading and unloading this brand new. 41 Smith Wesson revolver that he had gotten that they hadn't used before.

[Donald Bloomer]

I just picked it up and started pulling the trigger and went around like this, the sights. And she came downstairs, carpeted stairs with her bare feet. Didn't leave her here. She came around left corner smiling, and the conscience went up. I couldn't believe it.

[Detective Laura Marquardt]

He accidentally pulls the trigger and shoots her. And he happens to shoot her right between the eyes and she's dead instantly.

[Narrator/Cold Case Reporter]

Bob Erst Palmer watches the interview in another room and doesn't believe there was anything accidental about the shot that killed Julie Hill.

[Detective/Investigator]

That's not a real accidental gunshot. That's where somebody's aiming. That's a very large caliber handgun, very powerful. It takes some strength to hold that handgun up and aim it at somebody's head. You'd almost have to be doing it. So I was suspicious.

[Narrator/Cold Case Reporter]

Donald Bloomer is arrested and charged with murder. He tells police he wrapped Julie's body in a carpet and dumped it in the woods. A search, however, turns up nothing. Without a body, the DA agrees to a plea of second degree manslaughter and Donald Bloomer receives a sentence of three years for Christine Hickman. It hardly seems enough.

[Christine Hickman]

I would like to see him receive the same sentence Julie got, but obviously that won't happen. So I have to be grateful for what I have, which is Donald Bloomer is answering to man and he's answering to the law and he is behind bars. That is what I have to be grateful for.

[Narrator/Cold Case Reporter]

Despite the guilty plea, this is a cold case case without an ending. As Julie's body has never been recovered and the questions linger, it was my

[Christine Hickman]

fervent hope that they would find her body. One thing that really bothers me is that any person of faith, I believe, strongly has a right to have that final prayer said over their remains. Donald Bloomer denied Julie that one basic right.

[Detective/Investigator]

It would be tremendous to be able to bring Julie back to her family. But again, I know we have done absolutely everything we could to do this. Julie's body's still out there. And if by chance, you know, somebody knows something and we get a tip, boy, we'll be out there looking. We really will.

[John Wilson]

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[Narrator/Investigator]

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[John Wilson]

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[Narrator/Investigator]

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[Detective/Investigator]

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[Narrator/Cold Case Reporter]

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[Narrator/Cold Case Reporter]

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[Podcast Host]

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[Narrator/Cold Case Reporter]

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[Detective/Investigator]

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[Detective/Investigator]

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