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SERIAL KILLER: The Lewis-Clark Valley Murders
00:50:44
In the late 70s and early 80s, the Lewiston-Clarkston Valley was rocked by multiple disappearances and homicides. Police at the time thought it was the work of one man, who has remained free. And despite a decades-long investigation, these cases remain unsolved.
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- [00:00]
Ashley Flowers
Hi crime junkies. I'm your host, Ashley Flowers.
- [00:03]
Britt Prawat
And I'm Britt.
- [00:04]
Ashley Flowers
And I have been dying to tell you this story. It is a story about a serial killer. Not one of the ones we've been asked to cover time and time again. Like the ones who have gotten endless coverage as people pick apart their psyche and motivations. This is about someone I'd never heard of. Someone who police suspect of terrible things. Because somehow, wherever this guy goes, tragedy follows. But they have never had enough to prove the things they so strongly suspect. So this man, either one of the unluckiest people I've ever heard of or a cold blooded killer, is living among all of us. He could be our neighbor, or the guy we pass at the grocery store. Someone we know, someone our listeners know. But remember, crime junkie life rule number one, you never really know anyone, ever. But it's my job to make sure you're well informed. So buckle up kiddos, this one's a doozy. I'm talking about the cases that have been linked to a man they call the Lewis Clark Valley Killer. And I'm gonna talk about who police think that man. Actually I don't know what was in the water in the fall of 1982. But authorities in the Lewis Clark Valley where Washington and Idaho and Oregon all meet, they were underwater with cases between August 31 and September 19. In this area where not much happens, four people had gone missing. It started with a two year old little boy named Ricky Barnett, who was visiting his grandparents farm in Grangeville, Idaho. And while workers were unloading a delivery of chickens, Ricky vanished into thin air. Almost two weeks later, on September 12, two young women went missing while out running errands in Lewiston, Idaho. 21 year old Christina Nelson and her stepsister, 18 year old Jacqueline Miller, who goes by Brandi. Then just as 12 September turned into the 13th, before anyone even knew that Brandi and Christina were missing, 35 year old Steven Parasol vanished after he was dropped off at the local civic theater in the same small town. So by the 19th of September, when 18 year old Jennifer Vincent and her car disappear somewhere between her boyfriend's dorm at Washington State University and her home in Spokane, Washington, people are panicked. Authorities, especially in the valley, are drowning. And that's not even speaking of the cold cases they've had looming over them for the last couple of years. The disappearance of a 12 year old girl in 79, and then the murder and dismemberment of a young woman who was found in 81 so something is happening in this area. Captain M. Duane Taylor, chief of detectives for the Lewiston PD, said in an article for the Spokane Chronicle that he had been on the force for 19 years and has never seen anything like this. The peace and illusion of safety that the valley residents used to feel is shattered. Parents don't let their kids walk to school alone anymore. People are locking their doors at night. I mean, it's like they're being hunted by this faceless nameless boogeyman. And that doesn't change after Jennifer Vincent is found. And there actually is an innocent, albeit scary reason for her disappearance. She had gotten into some kind of accident on her way home and she was found pinned in the wreckage of her car with a broken back and hypothermia. And that was nearly four days after she went missing. So at least for her case, like there's no connection seemingly to any of the other victims. And after she gets found, the local papers who had been picking up all of like the five most recent cases and like lumping them together, they let Jennifer's name fall off. Eventually Ricky Barnett's name disappears too, though I'm not really sure why, especially when I started digging, I found some reporting to suggest that he wasn't the only two year old boy to go missing in that area over a span of couple years.
- [04:42]
Britt Prawat
What?
- [04:42]
Ashley Flowers
Dude, I don't know. The papers dropped all the reporting on those kids. Like there's almost nothing. Don't worry, I'm not about to stay tuned like I'm having our reporters dig in, so watch out. Someday.
- [04:52]
Britt Prawat
Yeah.
- [04:53]
Ashley Flowers
But in putting Jennifer and Ricky's cases aside, this new theory began to emerge. Though police were adamant early to the press that they all these cases were considered to be unrelated, it was hard to ignore the fact that three of these people who are still missing, the adults, all went missing on the same night from the same teeny tiny town. So tiny in fact, that it turns out Steven Parasol actually lived just a few apartment buildings down from Kristina Nelson's. Christina actually held the part time job as a janitor at the theater that Steven went missing from before Stephen took that job over a year earlier. And Christina and Steven went to the same college.
- [05:38]
Britt Prawat
So they knew each other then.
- [05:40]
Ashley Flowers
Yeah, I mean they definitely would have at least been familiar in the same circles. Right. I, like, I don't get the sense that they were like close or hung out, but let me lay out for you the separate circumstances surrounding Christina and Brandy's disappearance versus Stephen Stevens so you can get a sense of what Police are working with here. So Christina's boyfriend, this guy Bill, called her at her apartment at around 8:30pm on the night of September 12th. Now, he's planning to come over that night, so I'm sure they're just, like, coordinating or whatever. And she told him that her stepsister Brandy was going to be over in a little bit and that they were going to go to the local Safeway grocery store. Now, Bill ended up falling asleep, so he didn't make the trip to Christina's until the next morning. But when he got there, it had to feel a little like deja vu. Y cause on Christina's front door was a note written to him saying, quote, bill, walk down to the store with Brandi. Back in a few. Come on in and get comfy. Okay. Chris Key's in our hiding place. But even though the note was presumably left for him the day before, when Bill goes inside, Christina's not there. And it doesn't seem like he's worried. Probably just assumed that he'd missed her, he'd see her later. So after waiting, he had to leave to go to work. But when he came back that night, neither Christina nor Brandy were there. But the note that Christina left still.
- [07:03]
Britt Prawat
Was, which is a pretty big red flag.
- [07:06]
Ashley Flowers
Yep. For some reason, alarm bells weren't ringing for Bill just yet because he didn't go out and, like, try and find her. And I'm not sure if this was normal for them to just kind of, like, be missing each other a lot or what. And in his defense, everything in the apartment indicated that she was planning on coming back when he got there the first time. Like, she left a light on, her cat was still there. Even her purse was sitting there. So I'm thinking he just assumed Christine is going to reappear. They could laugh about being like, ships passing in the night and just, like, missing each other.
- [07:36]
Britt Prawat
Yeah. And at this point, it's not like the disappearances in the area have started piling up.
- [07:40]
Ashley Flowers
Right.
- [07:41]
Britt Prawat
Like, not everyone's on high alert for this yet.
- [07:44]
Ashley Flowers
Right. So, I mean, like, prior to Christina and Brandi going missing, you had, like, a young kid who went missing three years before, then that woman who was found murdered, it was a year before both of those very different cases. So, like, they're not even being connected to each other, much less anything else at this point. And then, you know, we had the little boy Ricky, who goes missing right before as well. But, like.
- [08:06]
Britt Prawat
But it's so different.
- [08:07]
Ashley Flowers
Right. And I don't even know how much pickup his case Got before anything started like happening in like a short period of time. So it's like not where Bill's mind jumps to right away that like something bad has happened. Plus, in 1982, I feel like fair, like this is a totally made up stat. Like 60% of trying to hang out with people was like missing them in real time and having to try and connect later when you got to your landline because like you, you can't be.
- [08:31]
Britt Prawat
In contact the way we are right now.
- [08:33]
Ashley Flowers
So, so Bill decides, you know what, he's just going to stay at Christina's so he doesn't miss her. But when he wakes up in the middle of the night on what is now the 14th and there's still no sign of his girlfriend, like this is when he realizes like something more is going on here. So he starts calling friends, family, anybody who might know where his girlfriend was. I'm sure he tried to get in touch with Brandy since the note mentioned her and she lived nearby, but he couldn't find her either. He even ends up going to check the Safeway where the grocery store where she was supposed to go to. Nothing.
- [09:07]
Britt Prawat
Like they just weren't there at the time or they'd never even made it to begin with.
- [09:12]
Ashley Flowers
I have all the questions since her purse was left behind, that makes me think that they never even made it to the store.
- [09:20]
Britt Prawat
But was her wallet in her purse or could she have just like taken some cash for the few things she needed, left everything else behind?
- [09:26]
Ashley Flowers
Wallets were still there, to be fair. Like, I mean, I guess she could have just taken some cash. Like I don't know exactly what they were getting. I don't know if they're going for just like, oh, we're just gonna like grab a soda or if they're going for like a full on grocery haul. So. Yeah. Did she have money on her? Did she throw just a couple bucks in her pocket? I don't know.
- [09:43]
Britt Prawat
But at the Safeway, no one saw them there?
- [09:46]
Ashley Flowers
No. Which like always makes me wonder if they made it there in the first place.
- [09:51]
Britt Prawat
Right.
- [09:52]
Ashley Flowers
And it's worth noting that the grocery store at the time, it closed at 10:10. So if they wanted to make it on time, they would have had to leave before then. And we know the last time Bill spoke to her was 8:30. She was still waiting on Brandy. So it's like a little bit of a tight timeline.
- [10:07]
Britt Prawat
Yeah. So between 8:30 and when Bill got there the following morning, like they're gone, something happens.
- [10:13]
Ashley Flowers
Right. And I also haven't seen Anything in the reporting about there being, like, fresh groceries or grocery bags or anything like that in the apartment? So.
- [10:22]
Britt Prawat
And there's no signs of foul play in the apartment?
- [10:25]
Ashley Flowers
No, nothing.
- [10:26]
Britt Prawat
And just to go back to the note real quick, it was for sure written in Christina's handwriting.
- [10:32]
Ashley Flowers
It was hers? Yes.
- [10:33]
Britt Prawat
Okay.
- [10:34]
Ashley Flowers
So we don't really know when they went missing, but we know for sure that they were gone by the morning or afternoon of the 14th. And not just because Bill, like, pops by then. He also, as he's, like, looking for them, contacts the restaurant where Christina works, and he finds out that she'd been a no call, no show for her shift that day too. And, like, that's like the final straw. He knows this is, like, bad, bad. And so from there, he goes right to the police to report Christina and Brandi missing.
- [11:01]
Britt Prawat
And does their family go with him?
- [11:03]
Ashley Flowers
So they actually don't live in town, but, like, when they find out, everyone's just as worried as Bill is. Like, Christina in particular is one of those super responsible people who would never. No call, no show. So while Bill is the one who's, like, there and providing the boots on the ground presence in the early days of the investigation, the family is completely like the background.
- [11:22]
Britt Prawat
They're on board.
- [11:22]
Ashley Flowers
Yeah, yeah. Giving that extra push. Now, police do take the report right away. And this is when they start retracing a lot of the steps that Bill took. Right. They look at Christina's apartment, they try and retrace the paths that the women might have taken, like, to and from Safeway, but they cannot find a single person who saw them, who interacted with them. Nothing. Just like, poof, gone. And within a couple of hours of their last interaction with people or contact with people, all of a sudden, Stephen Parasol vanishes too. So investigators learn that Stephen's girlfriend dropped him off at the Lewiston Civic theater at around 6:30pm on September 12. Stephen is very involved in this theater. He plays clarinet. He works on sets. He is the janitor. And I believe that he was even in a show or two. And so when he's dropped off, he was either gonna be like, there practicing, playing his clarinet or working on a set or something. Now he does that. Everything's fine. His girlfriend picks him back up at nine because they have to go to this going away party for another staff member of the theater. They're there for a couple of hours, and then on what is now the 13th, at like, midnight, the girlfriend drops him back off at the theater. So he's gonna play his Clarinet. He also has some laundry that he wants to do there too. Now, a few people see his girlfriend drop him off. One was even a police officer. So he is 100% back at that theater by midnight, but alone. So there was apparently one other guy who'd been there that night, and he said he saw Steven before Steven had left at like 9pm and then he says he fell asleep. So by the time Steven made it back the second time, he didn't see him come in or leave. And in fact, no one ever saw him leave the theater. And just like Christina and Brandy, he's never seen again. When he was eventually reported missing and police go and search his place, it was a lot like Christina's in that it looked like he would be right back. I mean, he left his car parked outside of his place. He left behind an uncashed paycheck for 179 bucks, which is like no chump change in 1982, especially if you were planning on leaving, which it's clear Steven didn't do. At least it's clear to those who knew him. Now, a search of the theater didn't turn up anything either, other than finding Stephen's clarinet in the orchestra pit. Like there's nothing interestingly too. Like even his duffel bag that he brought that he was like going to do laundry or whatever, like that's gone.
- [13:58]
Britt Prawat
So at this point, I mean, they have to be thinking that everything is connected, right? Or like other things, it's this wild coincidence. Well, like wait, did Bill come under suspicion at all?
- [14:09]
Ashley Flowers
Oh, I'm sure police looked at him briefly. And Brandy also had a boyfriend who like same thing. I mean, I think they probably looked at. But neither of them are considered suspects. Actually, the first real suspect they had in this case. And this goes to what you were saying about them being connected. The first real suspect was Steven Parasol. Oh, I know. Turn of events. Now, I don't know exactly when police started to have suspicions about Stephen possibly being more suspect than victim. I mean, they sure aren't saying anything like that in the early reporting that I'm able to pull on the case from like 82 and 83, but everything changes in March of 84. That's when the decomposed, mostly skeletal remains of Christina and Brandi are found at the bottom of a Hill about 35 to 40 miles outside of Lewiston.
- [15:06]
Britt Prawat
And were they still doing searches for them?
- [15:09]
Ashley Flowers
No, I actually don't know if they ever did formal searches. Like the way they end up getting found. It's truly A miracle. There was this kid who was out at like the top of this hill looking for cans and, and like the wind or something, like catches his baseball cap and he loses it and he goes down this hill to chase it. That is how they get found.
- [15:30]
Britt Prawat
What are the odds of that happening?
- [15:33]
Ashley Flowers
That is, and that's what I'm saying, like, different hill, different day, different time.
- [15:36]
Britt Prawat
Of day, different kid, different cap.
- [15:38]
Ashley Flowers
I mean, yeah, like they might still be considered missing people, but they're not, right? Like, so they're found on March 19 of 84. By March 27, they've been positively identified as Christina and Brandi. And. And then boom. April 1 of 84, the spokesman review publishes an article saying that police are looking for the third missing person, 35 year old Steven Peristal. Now, they don't call him a suspect, but it's clear to everyone who hadn't already picked up on police's suspicions by now that like they're looking for him. You know what I mean?
- [16:11]
Britt Prawat
Yeah, but why? Like, what would his motive be?
- [16:16]
Ashley Flowers
They don't have one. Like, honestly, at this point, I think they just see the opportunity because I think one of the paths that the girls could have walked to get to Safeway actually went past the theater. So, you know, they're seeing this big, tall older guy who has a military background going missing on the same night as these two young women. And I think they kind of just assume that he was responsible. Maybe, maybe it wasn't planned. Right? Like, maybe everything, whatever happened, something spiraled out of control and that's why Steven left with like literally just the clothes on his back and the ones in his laundry sack. But right away, anyone who knows Steven was like, absolutely no. They would tell you there is no way he could hurt anyone. Steven was like everyone's big brother at the theater. He was this gentle giant, always looking out for everybody, making sure that the theater was a safe haven for everyone involved. Plus, sweet Steven, they say that all you have to do is look at what was left behind to know that he is the victim of foul play too. Because remember how his clarinet was found in the orchestra pit? Like, everyone's like, he loved that thing. Like that thing was his baby. Like, if anything is telling you that your theory is wrong, like, he would never leave that behind. So his loved ones are frustrated that not only is their missing loved one getting wrongly painted as a suspect, but in doing so, they're afraid that they're not putting the same resources into solving this case. Because if he's the victim if he succumbed to foul play. But they're not considering that, like how are you taking the right steps?
- [17:48]
Britt Prawat
They're not just not considering that, they're considering that he is the suspect of foul play.
- [17:52]
Ashley Flowers
Right. And by the way, like, even if you, you know, go with their theory, like you didn't mean for something to happen or whatever, like if you're going to go on the run, like you think you'd at least take your car for a little bit and like cash the paycheck, you're going to need some money on the road. So nothing points to Steven leaving willingly. Nothing points to him hurting Christina and Brandi.
- [18:15]
Britt Prawat
And going back to Christina and Brandi, were they able to determine how they died?
- [18:20]
Ashley Flowers
Oh yeah. So I didn't get into that. The pathologist determined that they had been strangled. And even though they didn't appear to have been bound in any way, beneath their bodies were these like lengths of something that early days they described as like clothesline cord. Now they also found with the women, like clothing, lip gloss, jewelry, and there was a bra shoved into the mouth of one of the skulls. So motive for whoever did this seemed to be sexual or at least like had a sexual component to it. But because of all the time that had passed between when they went missing and then when they were found, I mean, the chances of them retrieving anything to prove that or point to their killer was like virtually zero in 1984.
- [19:03]
Britt Prawat
Nothing then to officially rule out Stephen either?
- [19:07]
Ashley Flowers
No. But honestly, they don't end up needing it for that reason. You see, a little perspective goes a long way in cases when investigators zoom out and take stock of everything. And when they do that in this case, they find reason to start side eyeing someone else. So remember that guy that was sleeping in the theater when Steven was there?
- [19:36]
Britt Prawat
Yes. I knew there was more to him.
- [19:39]
Ashley Flowers
There's a lot more to him. So his name is Lance Voss. And what are the odds that he not only shows up in this case but also in one of those cold cases from the area, that one from 1979 where a 12 year old girl went missing. What? Uh huh. So back on April 28, 1979 in Asoton, Washington, which is like just across the river from Lewiston, 12 year old Christina White goes to her friend Rose's house because the two were going to go to like the fair that was in town together. Mom knows she made it to Rose's house because she actually walked her over there, like dropped Christina off with her bike and waved goodbye to her as she was at the front door. But a few hours later. So around 2pm Christina had called home and asked her mom to pick her up. She said she wasn't feeling well, which wasn't entirely out of the ordinary. I guess Christina had a habit of just not drinking enough water. She would get overheated pretty easily.
- [20:39]
Britt Prawat
Kids be kids.
- [20:40]
Ashley Flowers
Yeah, but, like, her mom at the time was home with her little sister. She couldn't just, like, pack up and leave at that moment. So she's like, okay, Christina, listen, run a towel under some cold water. Put it on your forehead, put it on your neck. Just try and cool off. And then when you're feeling a little bit better, like, just come home. I'll keep an eye out for you.
- [20:56]
Britt Prawat
But she never came home.
- [20:58]
Ashley Flowers
She never came home.
- [20:59]
Britt Prawat
Did she decide to just go to the fair instead of heading home?
- [21:04]
Ashley Flowers
So this is. You asked a complicated question, so the current investigator thinks no, but I don't know if Anyone can be 100% certain without knowing where Christina is now. You know what I mean? Police reports from back then are minimal. I mean, there's a lot that has been lost to time, if it ever existed at all. Detective Jackie Nichols, who is on Christina's case today, told our team that there was, like, this turf war going on between the police department and the sheriff's department when it came to this case, and they were battling over who had jurisdiction. Even though, by the way, when Christina first went missing, it doesn't even feel like anyone was quick to jump on it. Like, they wrote her off as a runaway, they said, because her mom was divorced.
- [21:53]
Britt Prawat
What. What does that have anything to do with Christina being a runaway?
- [21:59]
Ashley Flowers
They're basically like, oh, it must be a terrible home life because your mother's divorced, so you're going to leave.
- [22:04]
Britt Prawat
Okay.
- [22:04]
Ashley Flowers
It's like, complete B.S. like, yeah, sign of the times.
- [22:06]
Britt Prawat
Okay, cool. Awesome. Great. Her friend Rose, did. Did she, like, say what happened to her?
- [22:14]
Ashley Flowers
Well, she wasn't there because when they talked to Rose, it turns out so again, they were planning on going to the fair. Rose ended up leaving as planned when Christina wasn't feeling good. So she, like, left, went to the fair. Christina is there at this house, and when she left, she just assumed Christina was going to join her later or whatever. Now it's a little confusing. Her little brother, Rose's little brother might have also been home while Christina was there, but it seems like police don't speak to him much. And, like, even today, he's never sat down for, like, a proper interview.
- [22:48]
Britt Prawat
Wait, why?
- [22:51]
Ashley Flowers
Well, he was only 10 back then. So, like, at the time, I don't know if police didn't know if he'd be much help. I don't know if, like, they had this runaway theory. So, like, did they write or did, like, you know, parents come in and say, like, no, you can't interview my 10 year old. Like, that's too traumatic. Again, like, I don't have a lot of reports from back in the day to, like, reference, like, what they were even thinking at the time. To me, this is, like, I feel like he holds all the answers, but, like, if he's not talking, also, why is he not talking? And I know Detective Nichols, like, wants to talk to him still, like, to this day, but she says she's waiting for, like, the right time or, like, you know, if you're out there, like, you're welcome to come forward. But all that to say. So, little brother, maybe home, maybe not. Rose is already at the fair. There was someone else who had very close ties to this household who could have come by. Like, theoretically, we don't know if he was in the house that day, but guess who Rose's mom was dating?
- [23:49]
Britt Prawat
Lance Voss.
- [23:50]
Ashley Flowers
Lance Voss.
- [23:52]
Britt Prawat
And what's his story?
- [23:54]
Ashley Flowers
I don't know. So, like, without the reports, it's hard for me to tell what he said or even if he was asked at all about that day or his whereabouts. What I know is Christina and her bike are never seen or heard from again. The only thing even connected to her that ever surfaced were some school papers that were found on the outskirts of a farmer's field shortly after she disappeared. And when they get found, they were in pretty good condition, so it looked like they'd only been out there, I don't know, maybe a day or two. But Detective Nichols is actually not sure if this find is even significant. And that's for a few reasons. I mean, for one, it wasn't just Christina's papers. There were actually some from another friend. Two, the papers aren't all in one place. Like, it doesn't feel like, you know, they were, like, staged there. They're sort of scattered, almost like they flew out of someone's car, like, passing on a nearby road. So Detective Nichols kind of wonders if maybe, you know, some of Christina's and this other friend's schoolwork was in, like, the friend's family's car. Somehow, like, it got mixed up, fell out, whatever. And we talked to a woman named Gloria. She is Christina Nelson's cousin. So that's how this whole thing, like, got started. For her.
- [25:07]
Britt Prawat
Okay.
- [25:07]
Ashley Flowers
She has been deep in this case. I mean like, I mean really along with detective Jackie Nichols. Gloria is the one who brought this case back to life. And she says that the field where those school papers were found, that's where Rose and her mom kept their horses. So all in all, Detective Nichols doesn't think that those papers are like the key to cracking this case.
- [25:27]
Britt Prawat
And is there any direct connection between Lance and this property?
- [25:32]
Ashley Flowers
No, but you can see that there is like a really strong connection between Lance and Christine. And that's where I'm like, do the papers mean anything? I don't know. But like you know, going back to our scoped out. Just like him being the last person who is in the same place as Steven Before Steven disappears, Lance is suspected by police to potentially be the last person in the same place as Christina when she disappeared. And when you look at the case that happened between Christina and then the other three from Lewiston, There isn't a tight connection to Lance. But I don't know enough circumstantial things to make you go, huh? So the other case is that of 22 year old Kristen David. So on June 26, 1981, Kristen goes missing while riding her bike from her dorm at the university in Moscow, Idaho to her parents house in none other than Lewiston. Like Christina, both she and her bike just poof, gone. But unlike Christina, Kristen gets found. Eight days later on the 4th of July, her body is found in pieces in the Snake river. Her body parts were wrapped in newspaper and placed in black garbage bags. Now she'd been in the water for some time, so finding forensic evidence was pretty much a no go. They don't know who took her. They don't know where she was killed. They don't know much of anything. The only clues they had in her case were the newspaper that she was actually like wrapped in. They were local papers from Lewiston dated April of 1981. And police got a couple of sightings of maybe a big brown van that was maybe stopped on the side of the road with her and her bike. But they never figured out who the driver was though. And this is one of those very loose connections to Lance Voss. It's been speculated that maybe he had a brown van at the time. I guess he had a lot of vehicles. But we're saying brown van, not officially confirmed though. What's more interesting is that Lance's job took him specifically from the valley to Moscow, which includes like the same route that Kristen would have taken on her bike the day that she went missing. And Kristen had actually worked at the Lewiston Civic Theater for at least a little while at some point. So she theoretically very well may have known Lance Voss, although we cannot 100% confirm that. So again, let's scope out 30,000 Foot View in 1984. You have this witness who was with Steven right before Steven went missing. Now, you realize that his name has come up in other cold cases. Very suspicious. And listen, even early on, they recognized that his story about being at the theater always kind of stunk a little bit. So while police are still looking for Steven right after Christina and Brandi are found, they also bring this guy Lance back in for questioning. And the first time they talked to him, it was just as a witness. This time it is as a suspect. And this time, his story gets even stranger. Lance's story originally was that he was working with Steven on the set and he left around 9:30, which we know Steven left at 9. So fine. Sure could make sense. But then in another, like, version of his story or events, he claimed to police that he'd spent more time at the theater that night and that at some point he'd been working up in this attic, like, doing rigging or whatever for, like, the curtains or something. And then he accidentally fell through the ceiling, which is possible because if you, like, go up to the attic, there are these, like, catwalks that you have to stay on. Otherwise the ceiling's just like plaster. So, I mean, it would be easy to fall through. So in this other version, he's like, oh, I fell through this thing. Like, I'm not super hurt, but I just needed to lay down for a second. And I ended up falling asleep until, like, 5am and he's like, oh. When I woke up, I immediately was like, oh, God, I gotta get home. Because I never let my wife know that I was gonna be staying there. Oh. And by the way, he tells police, like, while I was, like, there and sleeping or whatever, I did hear the phone ring at some point, like. But I was like, you know, I think this is, like, when he was, like, dazed or half asleep or whatever. But he's like, I didn't answer it.
- [30:02]
Britt Prawat
So convenient if his wife says she called looking for him and he didn't pick up.
- [30:06]
Ashley Flowers
Exactly. Anyways, he says that on his drive home, as he's, like, going, he realized, you know what? Like, there's no point in rushing. My wife is probably already at work by this point, so never mind. I'm gonna go back to the theater. So again, this is like the kind of weird story he's told them before when he was a witness. And that was back in 1982. Fast forward to now, 1984, and he gives a little more detail. So he reiterates that he's working at the theater. But then he says between 9 and 9:30, he leaves, and he drives to this pizzeria called the Red Baron to have a couple of beers and watch a movie. He says that the movie got out at 11, which is when he left the pizzeria and went back to the theater. This is presumably when he fell through the ceiling, that whole rigging thing laid down, sleeps till 5am but he's still in all of this, claiming that he never saw Stephen back at the theater. And, oh, no, I never saw the missing women either, by the way.
- [31:07]
Britt Prawat
So he's saying he's aware enough to, like, hear the phone ring, decide not to answer it. But don't worry, he definitely didn't, like, interact with the missing guy that we absolutely know was there at midnight.
- [31:20]
Ashley Flowers
Okay, yes, but it's even more bananas than that because when they dig in, they realize that the couch that he says he's, like, asleep on or half asleep on because he hears the phone, whatever is right by the door that Steven would have entered from, like when his girlfriend dropped him back off after the party. So suspicious. But there are other parts of his story that don't line up either. Like, right, he says he goes to this pizzeria. He leaves when the Movie's over, at 11, when investigators actually check, they find out that the movie didn't get out at 11, it got out at midnight. And they find out that one of the paths that the women might have taken to get to Safeway, right, We're talking about Christina and Brandi. There's a path that just so happens to cross right in front of the Red Baron, where he's now telling them he was. And to me, in the perfect timeframe, right? Like, we know Christina is talking to her boyfriend Bill at 8:30. She's waiting for Brandy. We know that the Safeway closes at 10, so she would have walked right by the Red Baron, as he says, he's sitting there.
- [32:24]
Britt Prawat
Right?
- [32:25]
Ashley Flowers
So investigators can't help but wonder, could Lance have seen the girls from inside the Red Baron, somehow lured them back to the theater? Because at the time, Steven was gone. Like, maybe he didn't know Steven was coming back. And then Steven walked in on something happening. And then maybe Steven was just, like, collateral damage.
- [32:46]
Britt Prawat
Which is an interesting theory. But then where Is Stephen, like, they.
- [32:51]
Ashley Flowers
Found the girls and yeah, Steven was not with them. One theory has always been that maybe he's still in the theater. Like when I, I did a TikTok on this case, asking locals to tell me, like, what have you been hearing? Right. Like, you guys need to follow me because I'm always asking people before now, before we do stuff. Cause, like, I'm finding, especially in these old cases, there's usually like this town lore where everyone's like, I've heard this a hundred times. I thought police knew whatever. So I asked people what they said. And what I kept getting from people is that there's this rumor that he is in the wall of the theater now. Like, were they telling police that at the time? I don't know. I feel like if he was in the wall, he would have been found. Like, the theater is abandoned and condemned now. But it wasn't then. Like, the smell alone, I feel like would have gotten some attention from people.
- [33:42]
Britt Prawat
Yeah. Did they ever search it?
- [33:44]
Ashley Flowers
I don't know. Like, I don't know how much they were searching for a body early on.
- [33:49]
Britt Prawat
Versus, like evidence of a missing person and their last, like, interactions and movements.
- [33:54]
Ashley Flowers
Right. And I know, I know back in the day, like, and I'm pretty sure it was after the Christina and Brandi were found. I know they were going to the theater trying to find evidence of a crime scene. And I haven't told you this yet, not just because of like the Lance connection and Steven or whatever, like the theater makes sense. But I told you there was a cord found under Christina and Brandi.
- [34:16]
Britt Prawat
It was like a clothesline.
- [34:17]
Ashley Flowers
Yeah. Well, to police, when you again, you scope out and you're looking at all these pieces, that cord looks an awful lot like the rigging, specifically the type of rigging that Lance said he was working with at the theater that night. So like, everything in these three cases just like keeps coming back to the theater for them. So I know that they conducted luminol testing in the basement by the back door, but they never got anything that they could work with because it turns out that the theater walls were painted with lead based paint and like lead will apparently light up just like blood under luminal, which I did not know. Fun crime junkie fact. So unfortunately at the time, like, they can't say if anything happened there. But. But no, they're not like taking down walls looking for a body either.
- [35:04]
Britt Prawat
But when they're looking for evidence, I'm not sure I'd expect like blood at the crime scene. If we know that the women had been strangled, right?
- [35:13]
Ashley Flowers
Yeah. But, like, we don't know what happened to Steven, so. And you don't know if, like. No, they didn't have skull fractures as far as we know, or anything like that. But you don't know if there was.
- [35:22]
Britt Prawat
Like a laceration from, like, a defensive wound or something?
- [35:24]
Ashley Flowers
I think they're just looking for anything that can be helpful.
- [35:26]
Britt Prawat
Well, what would be helpful is finding Steven. Like that. I feel like that would be like a huge puzzle piece and all this. Did they ever actually check the walls or whatever? Like, run down some of these local rumors that, like, you at least have heard?
- [35:40]
Ashley Flowers
Yeah. Like, would love to know if they checked the walls. Like, there's nothing in it in the police documents. But like I said, I know the theater was condemned and it recently just got purchased with plans to turn it into a senior center. So with those renovations, like, it's twofold, Right. Like, there's a chance that any evidence there either already has or soon going to be lost. I don't know. And maybe I'm just being, like, too optimistic, but I'm like, oh, also, does this mean, like, as we're tearing it down, if we're careful enough, can something be found?
- [36:10]
Britt Prawat
You could find evidence.
- [36:12]
Ashley Flowers
Right. But not finding Steven, I think, is one of the biggest hang ups in this case. Because I think prosecutors are like, well, a defense is going to have a field day with this. Right.
- [36:22]
Britt Prawat
Like, it's something you can't tie up.
- [36:24]
Ashley Flowers
Right. Because until you can prove, like, with a body that he's a victim, I think a defense attorney is going to paint him as an alternate suspect. It's just not a slam dunk. Even with how suspicious Lance looks to police. Like, after that second interview where it was clear they were suspicious of him, he lawyers up, refuses a polygraph, stops cooperating.
- [36:45]
Britt Prawat
I get that this is not like a slam dunk case, but going back to your, like, zoom out, 30,000 foot view. I mean, there's something going on here.
- [36:56]
Ashley Flowers
Yeah. And I mean, if you think that now, just wait, because I haven't even told you what Lance's history was before the crimes in the Lewis Clark Valley started happening. Lance moved around a bit before he settled in the Valley. He grew up in Chicago. He was out in California for a little bit. Like, dude kind of bounced around. And that his movements is something that Gloria has really dug into. She traced Lance's location over the years and cross referenced other homicides or suspicious deaths in those areas, and she found a few that, like, you Said Brett. Feel like a little more than a coincidence to me. First was the unsolved murder of Diane Taylor in Chicago. Diane was 8 years old when she went missing on August 1, 1963 while heading home from the YMCA. Her body gets found two days later. She's been brutally beaten, sexually assaulted and stabbed. Now, while researching Diane's case, Gloria found that a 15 year old Lance Voss was her YMCA camp counselor and lived in the same neighborhood as Diane. What's wild is I'm not even sure if he was interviewed at the time. Now, our team tried reaching out to Chicago PD to see where the investigation stands today because Detective Nichols told us that they were really interested when Gloria brought this to them. But when we reached out to Chicago investigators, they would not talk to us. So I'm not sure if they have any evidence to test. I don't know if they've tried talking to Lance about this. Like, I truly know nothing about where things stand in that case today. But it's odd, right?
- [38:38]
Britt Prawat
Yeah.
- [38:38]
Ashley Flowers
So that's Chicago, 1963. Fast forward to June 1972. Lance is now 24 years old and living in California. 17 year old Antoinette Anino is found in the early morning hours floating in the water near the shore of Santa Cruz. Police quickly rule her death a suicide by drowning because they found out that the night before she and her boyfriend, her brother and her brother's girlfriend were like all out on the boardwalk together. When she and her boyfriend get in this argument, the two of them like leave their friends to go sit on the beach and talk about it. But apparently she was really upset. So her boyfriend got up, leave, left her alone, telling her, listen, you can like come join us again when you're calmed down. Now they don't see her again. And when police hear this, they're like, oh, she must have been so upset that she threw herself into the ocean to drown. Even though she was found nude and all of her clothes were missing. Never found.
- [39:33]
Britt Prawat
I'm sorry, what?
- [39:34]
Ashley Flowers
I know. Now here's where it gets freaking weird.
- [39:37]
Britt Prawat
Weirder than this?
- [39:38]
Ashley Flowers
Weirder than this. Her body was taken to Willow Glen Mortuary in San Jose. Later that same night, Lance Voss gets caught breaking into this mortuary with a flashlight, with a hunting knife and with a camera. According to the owner's daughter in law, Lance gets caught and he tries to explain this whole thing away. He's like, oh, I'm just trying to get in to see my girlfriend one last time.
- [40:07]
Britt Prawat
And was Lance the boyfriend that she had been arguing with?
- [40:11]
Ashley Flowers
No, he wasn't her boyfriend. But listen, you can't even say that like it was another.
- [40:17]
Britt Prawat
Was there someone else there?
- [40:18]
Ashley Flowers
Antoinette's body was the only one in the mortuary at the time. So he gets charged with attempted burglary, which ended up being reduced to a misdemeanor at the time. And again, like, nobody's connected him to a Chicago thing. This seems like the only thing that has happened. So, like, I understand how maybe it got like, pled down or whatever. First time offense. A freaking weird first time offense. When we talk about, like, paying attention to things that people are doing. Breaking into a mortuary with a camera, a flashlight, and a knife, that feels.
- [40:49]
Britt Prawat
Like different than attempted burglary to me. But what do I know?
- [40:52]
Ashley Flowers
We should again, we need to be paying attention. All the red flags. So there's that. Yeah. Then the last case that came up in Gloria's digging is the death of 25 year old Claudette Volova in Lewiston on July 27, 1987. Claudette was also involved with the civic theater, according to people who knew her. And despite Lance being married, the two were having an affair. According to one of Lance's friends, the day of her death, he had walked into her apartment and found her body after what was eventually ruled a suicide. Now, I'll say up front, like, from everything I've seen, it doesn't seem like anyone questions the validity of. At this current time, like, everyone seems to believe it really was a suicide. He's just connected to her. They were having an affair.
- [41:42]
Britt Prawat
But it's just so weird, right?
- [41:45]
Ashley Flowers
So, I mean, this is what you have, Right? Like, the thing about this case that hooked me from the beginning is I think it's one of the first instances that I've come across where everyone connected, like, whether it's law enforcement or family, like, to these murders and disappearances, they seem to think that there is a serial killer at work. They seem to think that they know exactly who it is, where he is, but the public at large knows nothing about it.
- [42:12]
Britt Prawat
Yeah.
- [42:13]
Ashley Flowers
And there is this guy out there living his life. And people who come in contact with him may never know the things that he has been connected to, coincidentally or not.
- [42:24]
Britt Prawat
And so much time has passed, though surely there's gotta be something in one of those cases that could connect them to a killer. The killer.
- [42:36]
Ashley Flowers
Listen, they've been trying. Detective Nichols has done physical searches over the years looking for victims. I mean, she actually even trained her own cadaver dog to conduct searches for Christina's remains because her apartment didn't have the funds to pay for a dog search. Like, this woman's, like, going above and beyond doing the Lord's work. And listen, I'll tell you that, like, not all of the searches she's done have been directly related to Lance. Like, she's looked at other people, other places, whatever. But a good number of them have been connected to him. Because, by the way, dude owned, slash owns currently, like, a few homes and pieces of property around the valley, including, and I think this is important, a home that was right between Christina's house and. And Rose's house at the time Christina went missing. And that house was vacant at the time Christina White disappeared. But even when she looked at that place and all the other places she's looked at Detective Nichols, she's turned up nothing. What she has gotten over the years, what our reporter got as she was interviewing people for this episode, what I've gotten in my DMs are stories upon stories from locals who have personally had creepy or just downright terrifying experiences with Lance. And I'm not going to go over all of them, but the one that I can't stop thinking about is described by Detective Nichols in an episode of Cold Valley called Person of Interest. So I'll set it up for you. This woman, she's looking to buy a house. And one of the homes that she was looking at was owned and being sold by none other than Lance Voss. So he's giving her this tour, and throughout it, he's, like, hyping up the basement. Like, I've done all this work down there. You really gotta see the basement. You gotta go down in the basement. Like, highlight of the home. So eventually she's like, yeah, okay, well, you know, I've seen the house. Let's go down to the basement. She started towards the stairs first with, like, him following behind. But before they actually got to the stairs, she, like, turned around to tell him something. And when she turned around, she says that he put his arm. His arm was up, and he put it down really fast. And sort of like she felt like hid something behind his back. And she asked him, she's like, what? Like, what are you holding? And eventually he pulls something out. Okay, there's something in his hand, and it is a finial, which is basically like this, like, decorative, like, top of a bedpost.
- [44:58]
Britt Prawat
And when did this happen?
- [45:01]
Ashley Flowers
I believe this was after all of the murder disappearances that we've talked about. But this thing, like, freaked her out because she felt like he was gonna hit her with it. And to add to the weirdness, he started asking her questions, like, does anyone know you're here? Which, like, thankfully, lots of people knew she was. Or she at least, like, said, like, everyone in my life knows I'm here. Like, that's what I would be doing. I'd be like, I'm leaving. Everyone knows I'm here.
- [45:24]
Britt Prawat
Everyone I know. They know my address. They know I'm leaving. Yeah.
- [45:28]
Ashley Flowers
And then, like, but as soon as he knows that, he's, like, doesn't seem interested in showing her the basement anymore.
- [45:32]
Britt Prawat
Jka, basement's not a big deal.
- [45:34]
Ashley Flowers
Now, according to our reporting, Lance moved to the East coast in 1999 and is still there today. We did try getting in contact with him for this episode, but he did not call us back. So, listen, if you have your own story or know anything, something, whatever, Detective Jackie Nichols wants to talk to you. No tip is too small. She is technically only the lead on Christina's case because of jurisdiction stuff. So that's probably the one she has spent the most time with. But it is almost impossible to look at just one case without looking at the other. So she is fully read up on all five cases. And she is unofficially taken over Christina, Brandi, and Steven's cases, too, who most people now call the Civic Theater 3. And right now, she's looking into anything that can be tested for DNA, like the ropes from Christina Nelson and Brandi's bodies, like, underneath them. And it's worth saying again, it's not just about Lance. Like, she's also actively looking into serial killers who were operating at the time. She's trying to rule people in and out based on where they were, their M.O. whatever.
- [46:39]
Britt Prawat
Does she unofficially have Kristen David's case, too?
- [46:43]
Ashley Flowers
She does not. The FBI has jurisdiction there.
- [46:47]
Britt Prawat
Oh.
- [46:48]
Ashley Flowers
Kristen has always been the outlier. And even though I think she'll forever be tied and, like, lumped in with this group in the Lewis Clark Valley, just due to proximity and local lore, most, if not all investigators actually believe that she was not killed by the same person who killed all the others. Mostly because the MO Is just so different.
- [47:11]
Britt Prawat
Well, yeah. And she was dismembered, right? Like, that's like a whole different ball game.
- [47:18]
Ashley Flowers
And dismembered by somebody who knew what they were doing. Someone authorities believe probably did it before. I told listeners at the top, like, this was one of the first stories I'd come across where there was a serial killer the public didn't necessarily know about, but it was not the last. And actually, I've been tracking another man who may be responsible for the murder and dismemberment of women across the country. And Kristin David could very well be one of his victims. And listen, I'm not ready to, like, completely lay that story out yet. Me and a bunch of the reporters are working on this. We still have a ton of investigating to do. But I do want to give everyone a peek into the investigation because the number one thing I'm looking for right now are similar cases. Like, you know, they won't let me into ViCAP. I keep trying, like, whatever. So what I need is our millions of listeners to tell me if there are cases local to them that match this same MO So with that, what I'm going to say is do not miss next week's episode. Set your watches or join the Crime Junkie fan club. You can listen to it early. I'll let you listen to it right now. I'm going to drop it. At the same time, I'll have a link to sign up in the show notes. But in next week's episode, I'm going to dive deep into Kristen David's case and bring people in on this, what is for us, kind of an active investigation. So I'm not giving up. Detective Nichols isn't giving up either, but she recognizes that she is not going to be able to solve these cases without the help of the public. Her hope is that someone who may have been too scared to come forward back then will feel comfortable doing so now. And that's exactly why coverage of these cases are so important. And thankfully, we're not the only ones. The Snake River Killer podcast has also done a deep dive into these cases. We create more of an opportunity for someone who knows something to hear it and to come forward. So if you have any information about the disappearances of Christina White and Steven Parasol or the murders of Brandi Miller and Christina Nelson or Kristen David, you can contact the Asotan County Sheriff's Department. We're going to have all that contact information in the show notes Foreign. You can find all the source material for this episode on our website, crimejunkiepodcast.com.
- [49:55]
Britt Prawat
And you can follow us on Instagram at crimejunkiepodcast.
- [49:58]
Ashley Flowers
We're gonna be back next week with a brand new episode. But don't forget, if you want to listen to Kristen David's episode right now, I'm dropping it early in the Crime Junkie fan club. Go to crimejunkiepodcast.com fan club up. Crime Junkie is an audio Chuck production. So what do you think, Chuck? Do you approve.