REOPENED: Rumors of Murder

Summary

Cold Case Files: REOPENED – Rumors of Murder

Hosted by Paula Barros and produced by A&E / PodcastOne, the “Cold Case Files” podcast delves into some of America’s most perplexing unsolved murders. In the episode titled “REOPENED: Rumors of Murder,” released on May 15, 2025, host Brooke Giddings explores the haunting disappearance of Julie Hill and the investigative breakthroughs that attempted to bring closure to her case.

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1. Introduction to Julie Hill’s Disappearance

On July 18, 1980, two days before her 21st birthday, Julie Hill vanished from her apartment in Duluth, Minnesota. Julie left behind her two dogs, personal belongings, and even meals in the process of cooking, sparking immediate concern among her family members.

Brooke Giddings introduces the case:

“[...] Julie’s mom reported her daughter missing. Some members of her family believed that Julie had left town and become a sex worker. But Julia had left her dogs, purse, clothes, and essential belongings behind.” [01:08]

2. Family Theories and Christine Hickman’s Doubts

While some family members speculated that Julie had intentionally left to work as a sex worker in Nevada, her cousin, Christine Hickman, harbored suspicions of foul play. Christine noted that Julie's sudden departure, leaving behind personal items and pets, contradicted the idea of her willingly starting a new life elsewhere.

Christine Hickman reflects:

“I believe it was likely that Julie had been murdered.” [01:08]

3. Christine’s Pursuit of the Truth

Fourteen years after Julie’s disappearance, in February 2004, Christine revisits the case after watching an episode of “Cold Case Files” about the Green River Killer. The discussion of murder even among vulnerable populations, such as prostitutes, ignites Christine’s determination to uncover the truth about Julie.

Christine Hickman shares her realization:

“Families have rumors, okay, is she alive or is she dead? It's time to get down to the bottom of it.” [03:16]

4. Involvement of Duluth Police Department

Christine contacts the Las Vegas Metro Police Department to seek guidance. A detective advises her to approach the Duluth Police Department directly to advocate for a thorough investigation, emphasizing persistence.

Law Enforcement Advice:

“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.” [03:39]

Detective Bob Ursbaumer of the Duluth Police initiates a review of the case, gathering his homicide team to reassess the evidence and family testimonies.

5. Uncovering Suspicious Circumstances

The investigation brings Laura Marquardt, a detective assigned to the case, to delve into Julie’s relationship with her boyfriend, Donald Bloomer. Historical reports indicated that Donald had been excavating his property around the time of Julie’s disappearance, raising red flags.

Laura Marquardt notes:

“He had been excavating in his yard just prior to Julie going missing.” [06:00]

6. Interrogation of Donald Bloomer

Detectives confront Donald Bloomer, who exhibits signs of nervousness and avoids direct answers during the interrogation. Over several hours, Bloomer initially claims that Julie ran away to Las Vegas but later recounts a night where he accidentally shot her with a newly acquired revolver.

Detective Laura Marquardt asserts:

“Don, you're gonna need to sit and listen to me, okay?” [11:12]

Donald Bloomer responds defensively:

“It could have been an accident. Maybe it wasn't. I don't know.” [12:30]

Despite Bloomer’s account of an accidental shooting, Detective Ursbaumer remains skeptical, viewing the scenario as implausible and indicative of intentional harm.

Detective Bob Ursbaumer expresses doubt:

“That's not a real accidental gunshot. That's where somebody's aiming.” [21:52]

7. The Search for Julie’s Body

With suspicions mounting, detectives decide to search Bloomer’s property for Julie’s remains. However, the search is thwarted when the city building commissioner orders the demolition of Bloomer’s condemned house, hindering any possibility of uncovering physical evidence.

Detective Bob Ursbaumer explains:

“We started to think that there's a high likelihood he buried her right back here.” [18:38]

The excavation yields no conclusive evidence, leaving the case unresolved and Julie’s body undiscovered.

8. Arrest and Legal Proceedings

Unable to find the body, authorities proceed with charging Donald Bloomer with second-degree manslaughter. In 2006, Bloomer is released from prison after serving three years. Subsequently, the Hill family files a wrongful death lawsuit, which is settled confidentially in 2007.

Detective Laura Marquardt shares her sentiments:

“I would like to see him receive the same sentence Julie got, but obviously that won't happen.” [22:44]

9. Lingering Questions and Unresolved Grief

Despite the guilty plea, the absence of Julie’s body leaves the case officially cold. Detectives and the family grapple with unresolved grief and unanswered questions, yearning for definitive closure.

Detective Laura Marquardt reflects:

“My fervent hope that they would find her body. One thing that really bothers me is that any person of faith [...] has a right to have that final prayer said over their remains.” [23:17]

10. Conclusion: The Quest for Justice Continues

“REOPENED: Rumors of Murder” underscores the challenges faced by cold case investigators in securing justice without concrete evidence. Julie Hill’s disappearance remains a poignant reminder of the many unresolved cases that linger within the cold files, awaiting breakthroughs that may one day bring closure to the affected families.

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This episode highlights the intricate dance between family suspicions, police investigations, and the elusive nature of cold cases. Through dedicated individuals like Christine Hickman and persistent detectives, the pursuit of truth and justice continues against the odds.

Transcript

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[Brooke Giddings]

Julie Hill was 21 in 1980. She lived in an apartment in Duluth, Minnesota with her two dogs. On July 18, two days before her birthday, Julie's mom reported her daughter missing. Some members of her family believed that Julie had left town and become a sex worker. The thing was, not only did Julie leave her dogs behind, she had also left her purse, clothes and other essential belongings. Julie had also left her dinner, still cooking on the stove. Julie's cousin Christine had been told stories about Julie, but she didn't share her family's belief that she had intentionally left without a trace. Christine believed it was likely that Julie had been murdered. From ae this is Cold Case Files. I'm Brooke and here's the fascinating Bill Curtis with the classic case rumors of murder.

[Christine Hickman]

At the edge of a forest in the valley of the Green River, a team of detectives works. In February of 2004, 34 year old Christine Hickman flips through the channels and stops on the story of a serial killer.

[Bob Ursbaumer]

So we knew we had a serial killer obviously working here.

[Laura Marquardt]

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. They're right. It was like a bolt of lightning.

[Christine Hickman]

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.

[Laura Marquardt]

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

[Christine Hickman]

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.

[Laura Marquardt]

I reached a lady detective. I laid out what I had for her, and 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.

[Bob Ursbaumer]

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

[Christine Hickman]

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

[Bob Ursbaumer]

She says that her cousin, 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.

[Christine Hickman]

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

[Donald Bloomer]

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.

[Christine Hickman]

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 good for it.

[Bob Ursbaumer]

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.

[Donald Bloomer]

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.

[Bob Ursbaumer]

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 going to 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.

[Christine Hickman]

Her Spaumer and his team have a suspect and some intriguing circumstance. The one thing their homicide lacks a.

[Bob Ursbaumer]

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. So as we're developing our probable cause, we're going to have to show the best we can that Julie no longer exists.

[Christine Hickman]

Without a lot in the way of physical evidence, Ursbaumer decides to shake up his suspect by confronting him. And the detective knows right where to find Donald Bloomer. Across the street from the police department.

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[Brooke Giddings]

21 year old Julie Hill had been missing for 14 years when her cousin Christine started to question the reason for her disappearance. Most of their family believed that Julie had left on purpose and was working in Nevada as a sex worker. The detectives looked into Julie's disappearance and believed it was likely that Julie had been murdered. The problem was that without a body, murder would be very hard to prove. The detectives suspected Donald Bloomer, Julie's boyfriend at the time of her disappearance.

[Bob Ursbaumer]

Coincidentally, our office windows were right up there, and Mr. Blumer does business right here.

[Christine Hickman]

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

[Bob Ursbaumer]

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

[Christine Hickman]

Hersbaumer flashes his badge and told him.

[Bob Ursbaumer]

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.

[Christine Hickman]

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

[Bob Ursbaumer]

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

[Christine Hickman]

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

[Donald Bloomer]

I need you to help me. 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 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?

Okay.

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. I know that. 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.

You're wrong.

It was an ups. I'm not wrong.

[IQ Bar Representative]

Don't.

[Donald Bloomer]

You are wrong. You are wrong.

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

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

Don't say those things. Let me know they're not right.

[IQ Bar Representative]

They're not right.

[Donald Bloomer]

I know you want to remember those things. I'm looking at you. I'm looking at you.

I didn't say this.

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 had to say, Don. We've spent hours listening to what you had to say. Your explanation. Explanation? About what happened. It's not true. None of the facts show this. What it shows is that you lied to me.

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

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

Don. You're wrong. I'm telling you. Julie told me.

She had no reason.

[Christine Hickman]

In the end, Donald Bloomer sticks to his guns, and cold case detectives have no choice but to get out the backhoe.

[Donald Bloomer]

You know what? I'm gonna. I'm gonna keep doing what I need to do until I find where she is. And I believe she's on your property, Don. I do. I absolutely do believe. What are you gonna do?

Please. How are you gonna deal with that?

You need to deal with it now instead of later.

[Christine Hickman]

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 ago and buried her under his house.

[Donald Bloomer]

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.

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

I do.

Why don't you listen to me?

I've been listening to you for several hours.

No, you're not. Listen. I'm telling you right now? Absolutely not.

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.

You think I could live there with Julie's body in my yard? No way. I go home there. That used to the most sacred 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.

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

[Christine Hickman]

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 the woman who, 24 years earlier, unhappily called Donald Bloomer her boyfriend.

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[Detective]

Are at 215 West 9th street in Duluth. This is the site of where the home was, where we believe Julie Hill was murdered.

[Christine Hickman]

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

[Detective]

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

[Christine Hickman]

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 an utter wreck. After a day of searching, the city building commissioner weighs in, halting police efforts and ordering the building be demolished. Three days later, Donald Bloomer's house goes the way of old things and the earth underneath is laid bare.

[Detective]

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.

[Christine Hickman]

A backhoe reaches into the earth and begins to dig. Precious little, however, is found.

[Detective]

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?

[Christine Hickman]

Homicide detectives still don't have their body and resign themselves to another session of give and take with Donald Bloomer. When they returned to the interrogation room, however, detectives find a changed man.

[Donald Bloomer]

Today. Something's changed.

What's changed? To me.

It'S time for you to come home.

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.

When you came.

[Laura Marquardt]

First.

[IQ Bar Representative]

All done.

[Donald Bloomer]

You put your hand on my shoulder and become some beasts burden for a long time.

Yeah, tissue, certainly. Just like that. 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. Can you tell me what happened? What was the accident that happened?

Oh, yeah, it was the night before the fourth of July.

They're going to go camping and canoeing and target shooting the next day on the 4th of July. So they were practicing, loading and unloading this brand new. 41 Smith & Wesson revolver that he had gotten that they hadn't used before.

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 even hear her. She came around left corner, smiling, and the gun just went out. I couldn't believe it.

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

[Christine Hickman]

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

[Bob Ursbaumer]

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.

[IQ Bar Representative]

You'd.

[Bob Ursbaumer]

You'd almost have to be doing it. So I was suspicious.

[Christine Hickman]

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. The search, however, turns up nothing. Without a body, the DA agrees to a plea of second degree manslaughter and Donald Bloomer receives a sentence, three years, for Christine Hickman. It seems hardly enough.

[Laura Marquardt]

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.

[Christine Hickman]

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

[Laura Marquardt]

My 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.

[Bob Ursbaumer]

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.

[Brooke Giddings]

Donald Bloomer was released from prison in June of 2006. His home had been condemned during the search for Julie's body, and he filed a wrongful destruction case against the city. In July of 2007, the family of Julie Hill filed a wrongful death civil suit against Bloomer. A confidential settlement was reached outside of court. Cold Case Files, the podcast is hosted by Brooke giddings, produced by McKamey, Lynn and Steve Delamater. Our associate producer is Julie McGruder. Our executive producer is Ted Butler. Our music was created by Blake Maples. This podcast is distributed by Podcast one. The Cold Case Files TV series was produced by Curtis Productions and is hosted by Bill Curtis. You can find me brookginnings on Twitter and rookthepodcaster on Instagram. I'm also active in the Facebook group Podcast for Justice. Check out more Cold case [e-mail] or learn more about cases like this one by visiting the A E RealCrime [e-mail] RealCrime.

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[Bob Ursbaumer]

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[Laura Marquardt]

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