Introducing - Killer Story | 1. A Rose for Mom

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Burden – "Introducing Killer Story | 1. A Rose for Mom"

Podcast: The Burden
Host: Orbit Media (Steve Fishman)
Episode Air Date: February 17, 2026

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Overview

The debut episode of "Killer Story," introduced by Steve Fishman of Orbit Media, launches a new investigative series blending personal storytelling and classic true crime. The episode centers on the 1987 disappearance and murder of 17-year-old Sabrina Kidd, a naive, hopeful teenager who vanished without a trace in Las Vegas. Years later, through the relentless efforts of reporter Lyndall Marks, Sabrina’s story resurfaces, exposing systemic apathy in missing persons cases and shining a light on the heroism and heartbreak of those who refuse to forget.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Discovery on the Colorado River

Timestamps: 03:28–05:30

• Tom Percival recounts finding what appeared to be a mannequin while boating with his wife on the Colorado River near Las Vegas, only to realize it was a young woman's body.

• His description is vivid, recalling the floating hair and a "bloody tear" on the girl's face—a haunting and memorable image that sets the emotional tone for the case.

  “I remember looking at her hair, beautiful hair floating in the water, just floating out like a...like a rainbow...And that’s when I noticed the teardrop right in the corner of her eye. I saw a bloody tear. I about lost it right there.”
  – Tom Percival (04:04–05:30)

• At the time, no one knew the girl's name. It would take years to identify her as Sabrina Kidd.

2. Who Was Sabrina Kidd?

Timestamps: 07:53–13:43

• Sabrina is painted as a sweet, trusting teenager (“just a really nice, good-hearted person”—Jennifer, 10:09).

• Raised in Texas by her emotionally distant mother, a former Playboy model, Sabrina yearned for unconditional love and struggled to find connection at home.

• After the family moved to Vegas, Sabrina bounced between relatives and friends’ homes, always searching for stability and affection.

• Her cousin Dewana recalls Sabrina’s simple, heartfelt wish:

  “I just want someone to love me, someone to care about me unconditionally and not judge me.”
  – Sabrina (as quoted by Dewana, 09:32–09:46)

• Sabrina’s move to Vegas at 17 wasn’t driven by ambition—it was an escape from loneliness.

3. Bright Spots and New Beginnings

Timestamps: 11:08–14:29

• Sabrina’s romantic relationship with Jim Bixel, a local with a thrill for motorcycles, brings fleeting happiness. She finds moments of freedom riding through the Nevada mountains at breakneck speeds (“She would say, you know, riding on the bike really makes me feel free.” – Jim, 12:11–12:32).
• Through Jim, Sabrina finds stable housing and lands a retail job, seeming, for the first time, to have a network and hope for the future. She aspires to be a model and receives encouragement from a fatherly landlord.

4. The Disappearance

Timestamps: 14:29–22:31

• On September 17, 1987, Sabrina’s last day unfolds: attending a high school football game and a sleepover at Jennifer’s. The next morning, her friends try to coordinate getting to work.
• She’s last seen being dropped off at her apartment without keys. The landlord lets her in.
• An hour later, coworker Crystal finds the landlord curt and Sabrina missing. Despite their frequent contact, no one hears from Sabrina that day, and she never appears for work or contacts friends.

5. Initial Police Apathy and Family Anguish

Timestamps: 22:17–24:01

• Sabrina’s friends report her missing, but police dismiss the case—treating her as a runaway, brushing aside her friends, even accusing them of prostitution.

  “We said she’s missing. Something happened and they just didn’t believe us. At one point they said she was classed as a runaway and there’s nothing they could do.”
  – Jennifer (22:17–22:31)

• Her mother and aunt become tireless advocates, searching four painful years through missing persons’ records and media outreach, desperate to keep Sabrina’s case alive.

6. A Reporter’s Relentless Drive: Lyndall Marks Enters

Timestamps: 26:20–32:42

• In 1991, Lyndall Marks—a young, tough reporter at "A Current Affair"—receives a call from Sabrina’s family and feels an inexplicable connection.

  “I felt a connection with that family. I felt their pain. And I just...felt something was wrong. People don’t just disappear into thin air.”
  – Lyndall Marks (30:18–30:35)

• Despite skepticism and resistance from her editor (Dan Meanan: “We don’t do missing persons. There’s no conclusion to the story.” 31:17–31:38), Lyndall’s idealism and stubbornness keep her on the case.

  “When I feel something, and my instinct is telling me this is right, I have to follow this. I will go down every rabbit hole. If I feel like a victim hasn’t been given a voice, I won’t stop until I have found a way to tell that story.”
  – Lyndall Marks (32:42–33:03)

7. Personal Stakes and Foreshadowing

Timestamps: 33:03–34:08

• The episode hints at a personal connection between Lyndall’s past and her compulsion to pursue justice for Sabrina, building anticipation for future episodes.

  “A friend of mine came to visit me, and she just walked in, and I remember the shock on her face. I felt an incredible sadness because I could feel that it was going to have an impact on her for the rest of her life. Not in a good way. I completely connect it to what happened to me.”
  – Lyndall Marks (33:33–33:58)

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Notable Quotes

• On finding Sabrina’s body:

  “I saw a bloody tear. I about lost it right there. I said, who would do this to this poor girl?”
  – Tom Percival (05:08–05:30)

• On Sabrina’s longing for love:

  “She was over in the one bed and I was in the other bed. And I asked her…I just want someone to love me, someone to care about me unconditionally and not judge me.”
  – Dewana, quoting Sabrina (09:32–09:46)

• On police dismissal:

  “We said she’s missing…they said she was classed as a runaway and there’s nothing they could do.”
  – Jennifer (22:17–22:31)

• Lyndall’s drive:

  “If I feel like there’s a big man kicking a little guy in the guts, I will go after that story…I will go after that with aggression and passion.”
  – Lyndall Marks (29:13–29:24)

• Reporter skepticism:

  “We don’t do missing persons. There’s no conclusion to the story.”
  – Dan Meanan (31:17–31:38)

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Memorable Moments

• The haunting description of finding Sabrina’s body, especially the detail of the “bloody tear” (05:08).
• Sabrina’s heartfelt wish for unconditional love, voiced in her cousin’s bedroom (09:32–09:46).
• The anger and frustration of Sabrina’s friends as their worries are dismissed and they are accused instead (22:43–23:01).
• Lyndall’s personal and professional resolve to fight for those denied a voice, even against her boss’s orders (32:42–33:03).
• The mysterious allusion to Lyndall’s concealed connection and trauma, a hook for the listener (33:33–33:58).

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Key Timestamps

• 03:28: Tom Percival describes the discovery on the river
• 09:32: Sabrina’s longing for unconditional love
• 12:11: Motorcycle rides and moments of freedom with Jim
• 14:29: Sabrina’s last day and disappearance
• 22:17: Friends’ frustration with police apathy
• 26:20: Lyndall Marks receives the family’s call
• 31:17: Lyndall’s boss refuses the story, she persists
• 33:33: Lyndall hints at her personal stake in the case

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Tone and Style

The episode is immersive, cinematic, and empathetic—balancing journalistic rigor with compassion for its subjects. Interviews and narration are intimate, combining emotional recollection with suspenseful pacing, and foreshadowing deeper revelations still to come.

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Conclusion

"A Rose for Mom" sets the stage for a multi-layered investigation into a long-cold case, entwining the search for truth with the deeply personal stakes of all involved—from bereaved family members to the relentless reporter determined to give them a voice. The episode foreshadows a series as much about the seekers of justice as the missed opportunities and small cruelties that quietly derail it.

Transcript

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[Steve Fishman]

It'S Steve Fishman from Orbit Media. I want to introduce today's featured episode. It's the pilot of our new true crime thriller killer story. It's a series about a teenager with dreams, a murder that no one knew was a murder, and a reporter with a hidden past that drives her to pursue this hopeless story for years. You're going to love the reporter. Brazen, cunning when she has to be, and always endlessly relentless. Oh, and there's a love story in the middle of this podcast, too. The series is distributed by Sony Music, and you can listen wherever you get your podcasts. Or you can hear all episodes of Killer Story right now by going to thebinge.com enjoy the bench. It's just after dawn in late September 1987, and Tom Percival is about half an hour by car from Las Vegas. He's just launched his boat into the Colorado River. His wife is with him. They've planned a day with the kids playing in the river's clean, clear water.

[Tom Percival]

We were probably at 10, 12 minutes into the water.

[Steve Fishman]

As they head across the water, the two watch out for debris in their path.

[Tom Percival]

And that's when I see it. It's about 75ft away.

[Jennifer]

75, 80ft, something like that.

[Tom Percival]

I told her it was a log. Just looked like it was barely floating underwater, just barely breaking the surface.

[Steve Fishman]

Tom's not convinced, so he steers the boat closer. As he approaches, time seems to stand still.

[Tom Percival]

I remembered everything. I mean, I could probably even tell you how many ripples were in the water at the time.

[Steve Fishman]

Tom sees something unusual. He can't tell what it is.

[Tom Percival]

Looked like a beautiful mannequin. So I took the oar and kind of pushed on her. And she went about 6 inches underwater and then floated back to the surface. And I'm going, no. Was a. I didn't want to hurt her skin. I didn't want to touch. Really, I didn't want to touch her. And I was only this far away from her, six, eight inches. I remember looking at her hair, beautiful hair floating in the water, just floating out like a. Like a. Like a rainbow kind of like just. It's beautiful. And she did have this, like a mossy green tint all over the skin that I could see. And that's when I noticed the teardrop right in the corner of her eye. I saw a bloody tear. I about lost it right there. I said, who would do this to this poor girl?

[Steve Fishman]

The girl's name was Sabrina Kidd, but no one knew that. They won't know that for years. Nobody will know that Sabrina is dead and still wouldn't know if not for the preternatural drive of a total stranger. A stranger who decided for her own reasons, to find out what happened to Sabrina. This is a story of lies, cons, and cover ups.

[Jennifer]

He said, she never came home. I go, that motherfucker's lying.

[Steve Fishman]

And of a woman compelled to get justice for someone she's never met.

[Lyndall Marks]

No one ever dared tell me anything. I did it because I wanted to. Because I was telling the truth.

[Steve Fishman]

And it's a story of yearning for better endings.

[Dewana]

Because I just want someone to love me. Someone to care about me unconditionally.

[Steve Fishman]

From Sony Music Entertainment and Orbit Media, you're listening to Killer Story ad free on the binge where you get all episodes all at once. This is episode one, A Rose for Mom. Head west from the Colorado river and you'll most likely run into Las Vegas, known across America as Sin City. That's its attraction. Las Vegas is a place to do whatever you want. People float into Vegas to shake off their workaday selves. They hit the Vegas Strip, a row of casinos with high stepping showgirls and flashing neon lights so bright you can see them miles into the Mojave Desert. Viva Las Vegas. A place where adults gamble on changing their stories. What Sin City is not is a place for a beautiful, naive teenager. So why in the late spring of 1987, did 17 year old Sabrina Kidd move to Vegas alone? The answers begin with her mother. Don't they always? It's the 1980s and Sabrina is a child living with her mom, Bobby sue in Texas.

[Dewana]

She worshiped her mom.

[Steve Fishman]

This is Dewana, Sabrina's first cousin.

[Dewana]

I remember when I would go over and I would spend the weekend over at my Aunt Bobby's and Sabrina and I would, we would go walk the strip mall.

[Steve Fishman]

Sabrina was probably 8 or 9 at the time. At the strip mall, they drifted past store windows peering in until Sabrina found what she wanted. Always the same thing.

[Dewana]

And her pride deal was always to stop and get her mom a rose.

[Steve Fishman]

And so I picture a young girl walking with a single rose in her hand. She holds it in front of her like a candle. I imagine it's red. She's moving with purpose, eager to get home to mom with her special gift. But mom wasn't always there, not emotionally at least. Mom was beautiful herself, a Playboy model at one point, according to Dewana, and men flocked. And when a man came into Bobby Sue's life, well, that's when mom's focus changed and Sabrina was out of the picture.

[Dewana]

She spoiled Sabrina and gave her just about whatever she wanted. I mean, material things she didn't do without. But her mom was always gone. So, you know, as long as Sabrina got in the way of her boyfriends or got in the way of anything, then, you know, she just shoved her off onto people.

[Steve Fishman]

At 17, Sabrina moved in with Dewana, whose family had migrated from Texas to Vegas. They shared an apartment for a time.

[Dewana]

She was over in the one bed and I was in the other bed. And I asked her, I said, what do you want? And she goes, I just want someone to love me, someone to care about me unconditionally and not judge me.

[Steve Fishman]

Did you remember saying anything to that?

[Dewana]

I told her, you know, I love you.

[Steve Fishman]

Sabrina wasn't particularly bold or assertive. She didn't strike people as driven. She was running from not to. But she was a good friend, the kind everyone values. This is her friend Jennifer.

[Jennifer]

She was just a really nice, good hearted person and she was very trusting and she was a good friend. And the big standout for me is that she was just, just really kind.

[Steve Fishman]

Sabrina did have moments of conflict and not just with her mother. A few weeks after she moved in with her cousin Duana, they had a falling out. Dewana didn't approve of a guy Sabrina was seeing. So much for unconditional love. The boyfriend was soon gone and Sabrina was on her own again, hunting for a job and a home where she felt welcome. I imagine her rippling with anxiety and yeah, I find that heartbreaking. 17 and on your own and just wanting to be loved. Then she met Jim and life seemed to get better. They met at a party.

[Jim Bixel]

As soon as I saw her I was like, wow, she's a kitty. And so obviously I started striking up the conversation and we, we just hit it off.

[Steve Fishman]

This is Jim Bixel. Jim was a good looking Vegas native. He sported a mullet when it was the going fashion and usually wore a leather motorcycle jacket.

[Jim Bixel]

She didn't get into detail with me, but just the little things that she did tell me. Yeah, she did not have a great childhood. So one of my goals was just for me to make sure she had a great time whenever we were together.

[Steve Fishman]

A lot of those great times involved Jim's motorcycle.

[Jim Bixel]

I bought a Kawasaki Ninja 600. The crotch rocket is what we called it. On the weekends we'd meet at the old Wet N Wild Water park on Las Vegas Boulevard on the strip, right next to the Sahara Hotel. And then at midnight we would all take off and we'd do a really fast long ride somewhere. We went up to Mount Charleston.

[Steve Fishman]

Mount Charleston is over two miles high.

[Jim Bixel]

We came down that, that canyon and we were doing 135, 140 miles an hour. She was definitely holding on for dear life. She would love going fast. She would say, you know, riding on the bike really makes me feel free.

[Steve Fishman]

In Las Vegas, friends remember Sabrina as a blonde, though I've seen early photos and in them she's a brunette with thick, gentle waves of hair. She has hazel eyes. Her skin is almost as pale as her shining teeth. In most of the photos, she's smiling, though it strikes me as the smile you put on for the camera, thinking one thing, showing another. To me. Sabrina looks almost middle aged in these photos. In one, she actually wears pearls. She looks ready for a job as a bank teller in Vegas. Sabrina seems to shake off the person she was. For one thing, she lightens her hair and she crafts a signature hairstyle. Short on one side, long on the other. And sometimes she manages to feel free. Jim introduces Sabrina to his friends. One, a childhood friend lives with his girlfriend at his father's house. Turns out that his father has an extra bedroom to rent, and Sabrina jumps at the chance.

[Jim Bixel]

So Sabrina liked that idea and said, yeah, I'll do that.

[Steve Fishman]

Sabrina hasn't had a steady address in the six months she's been in Vegas. And now that problem seems solved. Life seems to be getting better and better for Sabrina. A dependable living situation, new friends, a boyfriend who makes her feel free. And she's recently interviewed for a job at the fashion mall. And she landed it, her first solid gig since arriving in Las Vegas. She seems to have, to her credit, developed a network of support in an intimidating new city. And then another break. Her friend's father, her landlord, he asked.

[Jim Bixel]

Her something to the effect of, hey, what do you want to do ultimately with your life? And she said, you know, I'd like to be a model.

[Steve Fishman]

And her landlord, a kind fatherly figure, encouraged her. And so, for Sabrina Kidd, life is looking pretty good. She's too young to gamble, but it's as if she walked into a casino and exited with a pocket full of cash. And then, just as everything is coming together, one morning in late summer, one of Sabrina's best friends knocks on her door, expecting to spend the day with her. Instead, she learns that Sabrina didn't come home the previous night. No one sees her ever again. Sabrina vanishes. Why?

[Ryan Seacrest]

How?

[Steve Fishman]

What happened to this promising life? On that late summer morning.

[Ryan Seacrest]

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[Steve Fishman]

In Las Vegas, Sabrina made a couple of close friends, Jennifer and Crystal. They were the same age as Sabrina, 17. They'd grown up in Vegas. The three were a striking trio. Young, full of life and pretty. They snuck into Caesar's palace to hear their favorite bands. They went to high school parties. They talked nearly every day. This is Jennifer.

[Jennifer]

You talk about like girl, shit and boys and what are we doing this weekend and what are you wearing? That's the kind of stuff it's day to day. It's weekend to weekend. It's not really deep like oh my mother's. You know. It doesn't. It never got into that.

[Steve Fishman]

So you were all 17?

[Jennifer]

Yeah.

[Steve Fishman]

Vegas was a good town to be 17 in.

[Jennifer]

It was because you knew everybody. You know there was only so many high schools. Everybody knew everybody.

[Steve Fishman]

So they did Las Vegas y things like hang on the Strip and teenage things like attend a junior varsity football game. Which is what was on the agenda on what would be the evening before Sabrina disappeared. After Sabrina vanished, Jennifer and Crystal would review again and again their last hours together. It's September 17, 1987. The evening starts with a junior varsity football game at Valley High School. It's a bit after sunset and Crystal picks up Sabrina. Sabrina doesn't have a car though with her new job it's on her list. As usual, Sabrina looks great. She's tall and slender. Her nails are painted pink, her favorite color from childhood. A couple of boys decide to flirt with Sabrina which annoys the boys girlfriends harshing the mellow. Crystal and Sabrina leave in a bad mood talking about those rude girls. A bit after 8pm crystal drops Sabrina off at her place an hour or so later that same evening. So still September 17th. Jennifer picks Sabrina up around 9pm they head over to Jennifer's boyfriend's apartment. He's older and has his own place. Both Jennifer and Sabrina spend the night. It's now morning, September 18th. Sabrina's running late for work and starts shaking Jennifer awake. Sabrina needs a ride home because Crystal is picking her up. Crystal and Sabrina are both working at Lane Bryant at the front fashion wall and they can't be late. So Jennifer drives Sabrina back to her place. She drops Sabrina at about 8:30 in the morning. The drop off will stick in Jennifer's mind because Sabrina doesn't have her keys. She empties her purse in Jennifer's car looking for them but no luck. Sabrina has to knock on the door. Jennifer remembers that the landlord lets Sabrina in. You dropped her off at like 9 in the morning and you.

[Jennifer]

It was early. Yeah.

[Steve Fishman]

Right. About an hour later, Crystal pulls up to Sabrina's place. It's around 9:30 in the morning. Sitting in her car, Crystal honks, expecting Sabrina to pop out. As her friends know, Sabrina is dependable and always punctual. But Sabrina doesn't appear. So Crystal gets out of her car and goes to the front door and knocks two times, three times. The door finally opens, but only a few inches. It's the landlord in his bathrobe. Usually he's friendly to Crystal and invites her in. This morning he seems put out. Crystal asks him, you seen Sabrina? We're supposed to go to work. I told her I would meet her. She's not home. The landlord tells her he doesn't know where she is, so Crystal heads to work alone. Sabrina doesn't show up. Crystal doesn't hear from Sabrina all day and neither does Jennifer. And they're usually in touch with daily. Sabrina had mentioned an opportunity to go to California for free that weekend. Maybe she's taken up that offer. Maybe it's tied to modeling work or that guy she just met. Still, it isn't like Sabrina to be out of touch. Jennifer says they have to go to the police.

[Jennifer]

We waited 24 hours and then we went to the police. We said she's missing. Something happened and they just didn't believe us. One point they said that she was classed as a runaway and there's nothing they could do.

[Steve Fishman]

Jennifer isn't satisfied. When Sabrina doesn't show up in the next couple days, she and Crystal return to the police department. This time the cops accused them.

[Jennifer]

I remember them saying, oh, you were a prostitute that went to Caesar's Palace. And I was like, no. Even if it was true, it had nothing to do with the fact that she's missing. I remember being so angry.

[Steve Fishman]

What happens after Jennifer and Crystal visit the police? As far as they can tell, nothing. Sabrina's case is filed with the files of hundreds of other missing teenagers. Seemingly a final resting spot. Except that her family back in Texas. Bobby Sue, Sabrina's mother, along with her aunt, will not give up. They scour missing person reports from around the country. They reach out to media. If they could just get her image on TV, maybe someone would recognize her. Four excruciating years pass like this. It's now 1991 and someone, mother or aunt, gets an idea. There's a very popular new tabloid TV show, A Current Affair. Maybe they'd take an interest in the story of a beautiful teenager who mysteriously vanishes in Las Vegas. It's worth a shot.

[Lyndall Marks]

And I'm sitting there one day and the phone rings and I pick it up.

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[SpinQuest Legal/Disclaimer Voice]

Support for the show comes from Public, the investing platform for those who take it seriously. On Public, you can build a multi asset portfolio of stocks, bonds, options, crypto and now generated assets which allow you to turn any idea into an investable index with AI. It all starts with your prompt. From renewable energy companies with high free cash flow to semiconductor suppliers growing revenue over 20% year over year, you can literally type any prompt and put the AI to work. It screens thousands of stocks, builds a one of a kind index and lets you back test it against the S&P 500. Then you can invest in a few clicks. Generated assets are like ETFs with infinite possibilities, completely customizable and based on your thesis, not someone else's. Go to public.com podcast and earn an uncapped 1% bonus when you transfer your portfolio. That's public.com podcast paid for by Public Investing Brokerage Services by Open to the Public Investing Inc. Member FINRA and SIPC Advisory services by Public Advisors, llc, SEC Registered Advisor. Generated Assets is an interactive analysis tool. Output is for informational purposes only and is not an investment recommendation or advice. Complete disclosures available at public.com disclosures.

[Steve Fishman]

So in 1991, Lyndall Marks answers the phone at her office. Lyndall is at that moment a new reporter at the wildly popular TV show A Current Affair, leader in the newest TV genre, the tabloid.

[Lyndall Marks]

I mean, we would get calls often it would be people that you knew were crazy, people who just had dumb stories, just unbelievable stories. Or, you know, I've spotted a celebrity or whatever and you know, how much? How much will you pay for my tape.

[Steve Fishman]

Today? The caller is a woman, middle aged from the sound of her voice. Soft spoken, a Texas draw. She introduces herself as the aunt. Lindell hears the mother in the background.

[Lyndall Marks]

So I'm talking to her, I'm talking to her and. And they weren't crazy at all. And this woman tells me that her niece is missing. And my first reaction was okay.

[Steve Fishman]

Deanne explains that her niece was living in Las Vegas when she vanished and.

[Lyndall Marks]

She was clearly upset. We have phoned newspapers, we've phoned Other people in the media. We have phoned the local press. No one cares. We can't get anyone to do anything. You are our last resort.

[Tom Percival]

Right.

[Lyndall Marks]

Okay. So what have you done to fight? Have you told the police? Yes, but the police have done nothing. What do you mean, the police have done nothing? We reported her missing a few days after she went missing. They've done nothing. And when I hear that, that makes me go, I'm here for you. I will listen to you.

[Steve Fishman]

Lyndall is in her 20s and already a seasoned reporter. She comes from a hard news background. She's Australian, but more at home in a place like New York, where ambition and she's ambitious matters. I've seen a bunch of her TV segments from the 90s, and she looks cool in a 90s sort of way. Petite, with perfect bangs and those shoulder pads that seemed so excellent back then. She's down to earth. She does her own makeup for tv. As a reporter, she's old school. Lots of shoe leather, door knocking, file searching. And relentless. Like irrationally relentless. Prides herself on that. The word hard bitten comes to mind.

[Lyndall Marks]

You never take no for an answer.

[Steve Fishman]

But also, she's, like, wildly idealistic. She seems to truly believe that her efforts, her relentless efforts, can change the course of history.

[Lyndall Marks]

If I feel like there's a big man kicking a little guy in the guts, I will go after that story. I will go after that with aggression and passion.

[Steve Fishman]

And from where she sits at a desk on a phone in a New York office, the mom and the aunt in Texas are the little guys. Lyndall can't believe that the cops shrugged at the report of their missing girl. That they shirked their duty. For a soft spoken, helpless aunt and mother, the system couldn't be bothered. Or so it seemed to Lindell at that moment. On the phone, the aunt shares more details. She says her niece disappeared from Las Vegas when she was 17.

[Lyndall Marks]

I asked her, when did she go missing? She said, four years ago.

[Steve Fishman]

Whoa, Lindell. Four years ago? And they're just popping up now? If there was a trail, it's not there anymore. That timetable would have made a lot of reporters hang up.

[Lyndall Marks]

Lyndall keeps listening, so she's begging me to help. I just. I felt a connection with that family. I felt their pain. And I just. I felt something was wrong. People don't just disappear into thin air.

[Steve Fishman]

So, Lindell, you thought everyone's pushed him aside so you can do something different?

[Lyndall Marks]

Yeah, 100%.

[Steve Fishman]

Just one problem. Lyndall doesn't actually have the authority to decide what story she works on. At A Current Affair, there's a chain of command. So she hangs up with the mother and aunt and heads to the office of news editor Dan Meanan. It's Dan who clears or kills story ideas. Reporters are in and out of his office all day. It's a busy place. Lindell edges her way in. This is Dan.

[Dan Meanan]

She came up to me and said she got a phone call, and what do I think of this story? I said, it's a missing person. We don't do missing persons. There's no conclusion to the story. And she kept insisting there was. I said, I can't. No, I can't waste any money on this. I'm sorry.

[Lyndall Marks]

There is something going on here. This just doesn't sound right. She's so young. How do you not follow? She's a baby. How do you not follow that? How do you ignore a mother?

[Dan Meanan]

She argued with me and said, it's a story here. I'm telling you, I feel it. This is a missing girl, and it's not a murder investigation, and we don't have facts. What is the viewer going to walk away with?

[Steve Fishman]

Lyndall. He's being clear. Stop the nonsense. Get back to work.

[Dan Meanan]

You know, this is a sausage factory, and I've got to come up with about four or five stories a night, so I can't be wasting my time on stories that I feel doesn't have a conclusion.

[Steve Fishman]

Lyndall's reaction?

[Lyndall Marks]

Yeah, totally.

[SpinQuest Legal/Disclaimer Voice]

Fuck off.

[Steve Fishman]

All right, so a girl is missing. A girl who, because of one phone call, Linda feels tied to. And so, guess what? Linda will find a way.

[Lyndall Marks]

When I feel something, and my instinct is telling me this is right, I have to follow this. I will follow it. I will go down every rabbit hole. If I feel like a victim hasn't been given a voice, I won't stop until I have found a way to tell that story.

[Steve Fishman]

Now, there's a reason that Lyndall is so compelled by this phone call and by this story. A reason that Lindell's kept secret for years. A reason that she's ready to reveal on this podcast to a national audience. Just like it's a segment on A Current Affair, only better. Next time on Killer Story, Lindell's secret revealed.

[Lyndall Marks]

A friend of mine came to visit me, and she just walked in, and I remember the shock on her face. I felt an incredible sadness because I could feel that it was going to have an impact on her for the rest of her life. Not in a good way. I completely connect it to what happened to me.

[Jennifer]

I I was glad somebody was investigating it and I remember being glad somebody believed us.

[Steve Fishman]

If this wouldn't have worked for Lyndall, her career at A Current Affair may have come to a dead end.

[Lyndall Marks]

You wake up one morning, you go, screw it. I need to do this story.

[Steve Fishman]

You're listening to Killer Story ad free on the binge. As a subscriber, you get binge access to to new stories on the 1st of every month. Check out the Binge channel page on apple podcasts or getthebinge.com to stay up to date on all the binge worthy shows included in your subscription. Killer Story is a production of Orbit Media in association with Signal Company. Number one creator and host is me, Steve Fishman Executive producers Arundel Marks, Kevin Wardes and Jonathan Hirsch from Sony Music Entertainment producers Jackie Pauley, Hannah Biel and Austin Smith production coordinator Austin Smith series consultant Emil Klein Sound designer Brit Spangler Fact check Ryan Alderman Our lawyers are at Clarislaw. Special thanks to Emily Rasik, Steve Ackerman, Catherine St. Louis, Sammy Allison, Allison Haney, Fisher Stevens and the glamorous Rhea Julian. We also thank our agents at wme, Evan Krasek, Marissa Hurwitz, Ben Davis and a special thanks to Shelly Shenoy for voiceover casting. And a special special thanks to the inimitable Emil Klein.

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[SpinQuest Legal/Disclaimer Voice]

This February, Aldous Hodge returns as Alex Cross, your favorite detective on television for season two of the hit show Cross. Now streaming exclusively on Prime Video. Fresh off his capture of the infamous serial killer, the fanboy Cross teams up with the FBI to hunt down a vigilante serial killer targeting corrupt billionaires. As the case unfolds, Kross navigates a moral crossroads where the lines between justice and vengeance are blurred. Catch season two of Kross, with a new episode dropping weekly. Now streaming only on Prime Video.