Tonya Teske (The 2 of Spades, Idaho)

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Deck – Tonya Teske (The 2 of Spades, Idaho)

Host: Ashley Flowers (Audiochuck)
Episode Date: May 6, 2026

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Episode Overview

This episode revisits the 1997 homicide of Tonya Teske, an 18-year-old hitchhiker whose body was found near Idaho Falls, Idaho. New developments in the case have emerged, especially involving a potential new suspect, Mark D. Douglas Burns. Ashley Flowers and Detective Prescott Sagers detail the complex, multi-state investigation, uncovering clues, suspects, mishandled evidence, and the ongoing pursuit of justice for Tonya.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Recent Developments and Purpose for Revisiting (00:45-02:18)

• New Information: Ashley Flowers introduces fresh information linking the case to Mark D. Douglas Burns, a convicted murderer who has not yet been interviewed in Tonya’s case but whose movements overlap with Tonya's last known days.
  • "There is a person of interest in Tanya Teske's case that I didn’t even mention in the original episode…We have learned a whole lot more since then…his name is Mark D. Douglas Burns." (00:44)
• Call to action for listeners to scrutinize episode details anew and compare with Crime Junkie’s feature on Burns.

2. Discovery of Tonya’s Body (02:18-05:38)

• Timeline: On August 15, 1997, a trucker and his wife spot a naked, motionless woman off the U.S. Highway 20 on-ramp, near Yukon, Idaho.
• Initial observations include lack of blood, presence of scratches and bruises, and two distinct stages of body decomposition.
  • "It appears that the body had been dumped roadside and had rolled to its final destination, which was several feet from the road." – Det. Prescott Sagers (04:40)
  • "The body had two different states of decay…the left shoulder and arm and the head were in a much further state of decay than the rest" – Det. Sagers (04:56)

3. Crime Scene Details and Evidence Collected (05:38-07:24)

• Body found without clothes or ID; a single costume ring identified.
• Shoelaces found near the scene, possibly linked to ligature marks on Tonya’s right arm.
  • "On the right arm, you could see ligature marks...that kind of looked like they could have been done by some shoelaces." – Det. Sagers (06:11)

4. Autopsy and Mystery of Decomposition (07:24-10:01)

• Findings: Blunt force trauma to head (not fatal), ante mortem bruising, no signs of sexual assault, no definitive cause of death beyond “homicidal violence by undetermined origin.”
• Decomposition Puzzle: Head and left arm estimated to have 40 hours of decomposition vs. 4–5 hours for rest of body.
  • "It was baffling to everyone." (10:24)
  • “They determined… the head and left arm appeared to be in a state of decomp closer to 40 hours.” – Det. Sagers (10:01)

5. Identification of Tonya and Last Known Movements (12:11-16:56)

• Breakthrough: Trucker David Lord recognizes Tonya from posters and claims last contact.
• Family Insight: Tonya’s mother, Catherine, describes her as a “transient,” last seen on August 10th, leaving for Denver.
  • "Tonya had been a runaway since she was 15, 16 years old…" – Det. Sagers (13:59)
• David Lord's Story: Claims to have picked up Tonya on August 13, taken her to Cinnamon Lodge (Montana), and last saw her getting into another truck.

6. Investigating David Lord (18:57-20:38)

• Discrepancies: His logbooks show potential manipulation; law enforcement finds his story questionable.
• Strange "Tip": He later "learns" of a clothing dump site in Utah—near his regular delivery route—which is confirmed to contain Tonya’s belongings.

7. Discovery of Personal Effects and Potential Crime Scenes (21:01-24:34)

• Investigators uncover Tonya’s items (cigarette butts, hair dryer, tampon wrappers) in a vacant apartment above a store in Shotgun Village (Island Park, ID).
• Hot Tub Theory: In a nearby vacant cabin, officers suspect Tonya’s body may have partially been submerged in a hot tub, explaining uneven decomposition.
  • "There were two circular marks...that could line up with jets of a hot tub." – Det. Sagers (22:54)
  • "When they entered the cabin, they claimed that they could smell the odor of a decomposition of body decay." – Det. Sagers (23:14)

8. Complications: Lost Evidence & Suspect Connections (24:34-29:16)

• Lost Evidence: In 2008, a significant portion of evidence is inexplicably destroyed—including possible DNA evidence like cigarette butts.
  • "Clothing items found at the potential crime scene just destroyed…How was a cigarette butt that could be loaded with DNA taking up too much space in an evidence locker?" (35:10)
• Suspects: Besides David Lord, two construction workers—Franklin James and Douglas Shumate—who worked in the area during Tonya’s disappearance, become persons of interest after Franklin's wife, Michelle, provides tips about Tonya’s jacket and suspicious comments overheard.
  • "If the FBI finds out our involvement at Shotgun Village, we're going to be into a lot of trouble." – Michelle, quoting Franklin and Douglas (32:20)
• The men deny knowing both Tonya and David Lord, but Michelle’s daughter remembers Lord visiting their home (33:44).

9. New DNA Evidence and Continuing Efforts (37:18-38:12)

• A 2021 tribute by artist Lily Lee reignites interest. Subsequent DNA testing reveals partial male profiles on Tonya’s body, but tests against David Lord are inconclusive. Authorities still hope to test Franklin James and Douglas Shumate.
  • "There's too many coincidences with all these people. They say they don't know each other, but other people say they do…" – Det. Sagers (37:59)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• "The manner was clear. So her cause of death ended up being listed as homicidal violence by undetermined origin." – Chuck (08:32)
• "Her lips were swollen...almost looks like she had been struck in the mouth as well because they were quite swollen." – Det. Sagers (08:08)
• “By that spring, police were going down a completely different path, trying to find out if Tanya’s murder might be connected to seven other murdered women around the mountain west.” (24:34)
• “Tanya deserved to have those life experiences and come out the other side.” – Chuck (38:12)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:45–02:18: Case update and introduction of new suspect Mark D. Douglas Burns
• 02:18–07:24: Discovery of Tonya’s body and initial scene investigation
• 07:24–10:01: Autopsy details and the decomposition puzzle
• 12:11–16:56: Witness identification and family background
• 18:57–20:38: Investigating David Lord and his suspicious leads
• 21:01–24:34: Discovery of Tonya’s belongings in Island Park/Shotgun Village; hot tub theory
• 24:34–29:16: Evidence mishandling; emergence of construction worker suspects
• 37:18–38:12: 2021 DNA testing and renewed investigation

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Takeaways & Call to Action

• Community Appeal: The host urges listeners with any memory or knowledge about Tonya, her movements in August 1997, or suspects named (David Lord, Franklin James, Douglas Shumate) to contact the Bonneville County Sheriff's Office at 208-529-1200.

• Justice for Tonya: The case remains unsolved. Despite limited surviving evidence, there’s the hope that new DNA science or witness memories can finally bring justice to Tonya Teske.

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For more details or to view photos related to the case and Tonya's tribute, visit thedeckpodcast.com.

Transcript

[Ashley Flowers]

All right, everyone, if you have been waiting for the perfect moment to pick up my latest novel, the Missing Half, this is it. Because it is officially out on paperback and there is more waiting for you inside. There is nothing better than getting cozy and diving into a story that you can't put down. And now you can take the missing Half anywhere, crack the spine, roll the COVID and lose yourself in a mystery that will keep you guessing until the very end. And in paperback, the ending extends beyond

[Chuck]

where the story has before.

[Ashley Flowers]

And just when you think you have it all figured out, now there is a new chapter. One more piece of the puzzle, one more twist that you didn't see coming.

[Chuck]

If you're ready for a story full

[Ashley Flowers]

of secrets, surprises, and a final turn that will stay with you, grab your paperback copy of the Missing Half now. Wherever books are sold this week, I wanted to resurface an important old episode for you because there's more information that's out there now. You see, there is a person of interest in Tanya Teske's case that I didn't even mention in the original episode because there wasn't enough information about him when we released it in 2023. Well, we have learned a whole lot more since then. And I want to tell you about a guy named Mark D. Douglas Burns. He is a terrifying individual that just came up in a crime junkie episode that I dropped in the fan club. Mark Burns confessed to murdering a young mom in her home back in 2001, and authorities believe that he could be capable of much more. Now, law enforcement in Tanya's case have not gone to talk to Mark in prison yet, so he has neither been officially ruled in normal or ruled out. But the overlaps between him and Tanya's last known movements can't be ignored. So re listen to today's episode closely. And then if you're interested, go check out the episode on Sue Higgins murder in the crime Junkie fan club and tell me what you think. Could Mark be the missing link to solving Tonya's case?

[Chuck]

Our card this week is Tanya Teske, the two of spades from Idaho. Free spirited Tanya was 18 and choosing to live her life on the open road by hitchhiking all around the Mountain west when one summer day in 1997, she hitched a ride that would be her last. For the past 26 years, the investigation into Tanya's murder has spanned across several states, and detectives are very close to solving it. So I need you to listen close because they've decided to provide us with the most information they have ever released in her case in hopes of a resolution. I'm Ashley Flowers and this is the deck. August 15, 1997 was a Friday afternoon and a trucker named John and his wife had just picked up a load of produce in East Idaho. John hopped into the passenger seat while his wife took the wheel and on the off they went. But when they turned onto the on ramp of U.S. highway 20 near Yukon, Idaho, something out the window caught John's eye. It was a naked woman lying motionless on her back down the grassy embankment off the highway ramp. John told his wife to pull over onto the shoulder and when she did, they got out and flagged down two more cars behind them. John, his wife and one of the other drivers stayed put while the other motorists took off to the nearest truck stop to call for help. Deputies from the Bonneville County Sheriff's office arrived on scene at about 5:45pm when they walked down the grassy hill to the woman, it was clear right away she was dead. But there wasn't any noticeable blood on her at the scene, so it wasn't immediately clear how she died, though she did have some noticeable scratches and bruises. Officers secured the scene and called for the coroner as well as the Idaho State Police forensic lab to come quickly. Here's Detective Prescott Sagers, who is the lead on the case today.

[Detective Prescott Sagers]

It appears that the body had been dumped roadside and had rolled to its final destination, which was several feet from the road.

[Chuck]

As medical personnel arrived, they took a closer look along with detectives, and something about the woman's body perplexed them.

[Detective Prescott Sagers]

They noticed that the body had two different states of decay. The left shoulder and arm and the head were in a much further state of decay than the rest of the body.

[Chuck]

This was something none of them had ever seen before. Honestly, I've covered hundreds of cases now, consumed thousands, and it's something I had never even heard of. But they weren't going to figure it out right there on the side of the highway. So as the coroner's office took the woman's body to prep for an autopsy, detectives stuck around. They took statements from the people who found the body, but none of them had anything else to add. They hadn't seen anyone stopped on the ramp or any suspicious cars or anything like that. So John, his wife and the other two motorists were allowed to leave and detectives took a more detailed look around the scene.

[Detective Prescott Sagers]

It was odd finding a body with no clothing, no identification. So they searched the area for any kind of clues that they could find and they took a Lot of evidence, most of it being roadside trash. But one item of note, they found some shoelaces.

[Chuck]

The shoelaces were up the hillside and on the gravel shoulder of the on ramp, as if they'd either been dropped there or tossed from a car. And the reason police keyed in on the shoelaces was because of some marks on the woman's wrists.

[Detective Prescott Sagers]

On the right arm, you could see ligature marks on the arm that kind of looked like they could have been done by some shoelaces. So, of course, the shoelaces were taken as evidence.

[Chuck]

Detectives also collected everything else in the grassy median area, which, like Detective Sager said, looked to be mostly just trash, not really anything else of note. But they did take all of it back to the Bonneville County Sheriff's Office evidence room just in case. Detectives started looking through missing person reports to see if they could find anyone who met the woman's description. She was white, about 5 foot 9 inches tall, and her hair was cropped short just to her chin and dyed a very distinctive color. It was this bright yellow orange color, like almost the color of a highlighter marker. Based on her roots, they figured her natural hair color was blondish brown. Her fingernails were painted pink. And the only other thing on her body was a single ring. Not a wedding ring or an engagement ring, though. More like a metal costume jewelry ring with a mother of pearl center. They continued to search and search, but there weren't any missing person reports from anyone similar. The next day, August 16, the autopsy was done at Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center.

[Detective Prescott Sagers]

There was a lot of interesting things in the autopsy. They determined that there was a blunt force trauma to the back of the head, but they didn't determine that as a cause of death. They found a bunch of superficial bruising that could have been made from her being dumped roadside and rolling. But there's also what appeared to be a bruise on her left breast that appeared to have been ante mortem.

[Chuck]

Even though she had signs of blunt force trauma, her skull wasn't fractured, which is why the pathologists didn't believe blunt force trauma was what killed her. They were also able to rule out strangulation because the woman's hyoid bone in her neck was still intact. There were no other obvious signs of how this woman could have died.

[Detective Prescott Sagers]

No gunshot wounds, no stab wounds, no big open wounds, nothing that would suggest that she bled out at the scene. She wasn't covered in blood. Her lips were swollen and kind of protruding from her body and doesn't mention this in the Autopsy itself, But to me, it almost looks like she had been struck in the mouth as well because they were quite swollen.

[Chuck]

However she died, it was violent. But ultimately the pathologist couldn't determine an exact cause, though the manner was clear. So her cause of death ended up being listed as homicidal violence by undetermined origin. A sex assault examination was done, but even results of that came back as undetermined. There weren't any signs of trauma, but they did collect some biological materials just in case. So how about the big question though? The different stages of decomp? Well, even the pathologists also had no idea why the woman's head and arm were more decomposed than the rest of her body. So even though the autopsy was complete, investigators were really no further along in their investigation. The only thing somewhat valuable that was gleaned from the examination was a better guess on her age, which the pathologist determined to be likely anywhere from 18 to 25. Bonneville County Sheriff's Detective Victor Rodriguez was assigned to the case. So with very little to work with, he decided the next move was to get a sketch drawn up and distributed some posters around the region. A black and white sketch was made of the woman's face, and it was labeled unknown homicide victim. They also included a sketch of the ring that she'd been wearing and her physical description. Anyone who recognized her was asked to call the sheriff's office. While police waited for tips to come in, they called Idaho State University and asked for a body consultation to try and make sense of the differences in decay of the woman's head and arm.

[Detective Prescott Sagers]

So between the autopsy and the consultation with Idaho State University, they determined that the the state of decomp was within a 4, 5 hour period for most of the body. But the head and left arm appeared to be in a state of decomp closer to 40 hours.

[Chuck]

So most of her body was telling them that she was likely killed just hours before her body was found. The thing that backed that theory up was the fact that she still had undigested food in her stomach during the autopsy. Beans, olives, and tomatoes. But then how in the hell was part of her body showing decomp in the range of 40 hours? It was baffling to everyone. With no name and more questions than answers from an autopsy, investigators were feeling stuck. But a week later, police got the break that they'd been waiting for.

[Ashley Flowers]

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[Chuck]

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[Ashley Flowers]

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[Chuck]

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[Ashley Flowers]

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[Chuck]

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[Ashley Flowers]

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[Chuck]

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[Ashley Flowers]

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[Chuck]

On August 22, a trucker named David Lord was at a port of entry station near Idaho Falls and he went inside to check in with the inspector, this guy named Devin Weaver.

[Detective Prescott Sagers]

While he's speaking, he looks over and sees the flyer and he tells Mr. Weaver, I think I know that girl. I saw her at a place in Montana. He recognized her from a truck stop. And what he told Mr. Weaver, it didn't sound like he knew her on like a personal level, had just seen her, but it was still something for detectives to follow up on.

[Chuck]

David Lohr didn't call police, though the port of entry inspector, Devin Weaver, did. And Devin did his best to tell the Bonneville County Sheriff's Office what David had told him.

[Detective Prescott Sagers]

He might have said that he gave her a ride at that point, but he was very much minimizing his involvement with her to Mr. Weaver.

[Chuck]

Police called David and asked him if he remembered the woman's name, and he said, yeah, that's Tanya Teske, a frequent hitchhiker at truck stops. Clearly, David had some valuable information and detectives wanted to get more out of him. So they arranged for David to come in for an interview. And in the meantime, they looked up Tonya Teske. She was an 18 year old from a teeny, tiny town called Shoshone, Wyoming. She'd dropped out of high school and had one minor infraction on her record, a $50 check forgery from a Pizza Hut in Utah a few months before her death. She was actually arrested for that, which meant that police were Able to see Tonya's mugshot, and they were pretty certain she was their victim. The sheriff's office sent some deputies nearly 300 miles to east shoshone to find Tonya's family, to let them know and to have them officially identify her. Through a photo, they found Tanya's mom, Catherine teske, at home.

[Detective Prescott Sagers]

It doesn't seem like it was a huge surprise to Katherine. Tanya had been a runaway since she was 15, 16 years old. So for the last two, three years, she had been home, you, know, once every couple months, once every six months, and she would stay for maybe a night and then be on the road again. Katherine described tanya as a transient who would just go get rides from truckers to anywhere she wanted to go.

[Chuck]

Katherine told police that though their visits were infrequent, she actually saw her daughter just five days before her body was found. On August 9th and 10th, she said Tonya came home Looking very tired after being gone for several months, and she stayed the night. On the 10th, Catherine said Tonya had told her she was going to Denver to visit a boyfriend, and that was the last time she saw or heard from her daughter. Catherine threw out a few names of boys or men that Tonya had mentioned, but she wasn't sure which was the Denver boyfriend. Before leaving, deputies asked Catherine to describe what Tonya had been wearing when she left and what she had taken with her, you know, just in case her belongings turned up during their investigative efforts.

[Detective Prescott Sagers]

She was wearing some cutoff shorts, A t shirt, Some lace shoes. She said that tanya would like to go barefoot a lot, but she had some lace shoes. And then she left with a large green suitcase and I think a brown bag as well.

[Chuck]

Catherine also told police that Tanya had been on her period or was about to get it, so she gave her some tampons to take with her. Now, back in Idaho, Detectives were sitting down with David lord and finally piecing together some information. David said he saw Tanya on August 13 and did, in fact, give her a ride.

[Detective Prescott Sagers]

He told the police that he had met Ms. Teske in a truck stop in belgrade, montana. He had been at the truck stop, and he saw sheriff's deputies there talking to Ms. Teski about prostitution. While there, he was told by deputies that she needed to get out of there, and they asked him to give her a ride out of there so she'd stop being a problem. So he said that he was just trying to help out law enforcement by getting her out of the area.

[Ashley Flowers]

Okay.

[Chuck]

So David said the only reason he gave tanya a ride Was to do Montana law enforcement a favor. Detectives noted to check on that later, but in the moment, they pushed on. They asked David, well, where did you two go?

[Detective Prescott Sagers]

He said he took her to a place called the Cinnamon Lodge, which is roughly 100 miles south of Belgrade, just outside of Big sky, Montana. Took her to the Cinnamon Lodge, where? That is the last place he saw her. He claims that once they arrive at the Cinnamon Lodge, he's tired, so he gets back into the sleeper of his truck. She wants to continue going, so he gives her permission to get on the CB radio and ask other truckers for a ride.

[Chuck]

David said it was around 10pm when he watched Tanya get out of his truck and into another semi trailer with her big green suitcase and brown shoulder bag in tow. But unfortunately, David said he didn't get a good look at this other truck. He didn't notice the color of it or what they were hauling or who was driving, Nothing.

[Detective Prescott Sagers]

They said, you know, you're the last person to see her alive. Do you know anything that happened to her since then? And he said, no. They didn't ask him point blank, did you kill her? Anything like that? At that point, he was a person of interest, but they didn't have anything to say that he had done anything more than what he said.

[Chuck]

The interview with David lasted about an hour and a half, and the sheriff's office didn't see any violent crime on his record that would make them think he killed Tanya, so they released him. After that, they went to Gallatin county, Montana, to see what they could find out about Tonya's last movements. If David's story was true, then she was alive and well on August 13, just two days before her body was found in Idaho. Their first stop was to talk to the deputies who reportedly had contact with Tanya just before she got a ride with David. And their story of events was a bit different than David's. The Gallatin county authorities said that they were called to a truck stop in Belgrade, Montana, on August 13th at around 6:30pm by an employee of the business who said some truckers were complaining about a girl getting on a CB radio soliciting sex while work. They approached Tanya, and she said she had only been kidding, According to reporting by the Bozeman Daily Chronicle, in 1997, the deputies couldn't find anyone who she'd solicited, and her warrant for the Utah Pizza Hut forgery wasn't extraditable, so they let her go. According to detective Sagers, the Montana deputies denied asking David Lord or any trucker to give tanya a ride out of state. So this made bonneville county detectives Decide they should dig A little deeper into david. They asked Idaho state police to conduct an investigation Into David's truck logs, and they found what they called discrepancies.

[Detective Prescott Sagers]

It could be truthful, but he would be driving at very, very slow speeds to make the log fit what he was saying.

[Chuck]

This was interesting to detectives, but not enough to exactly call him a suspect. But then David called police with a tip.

[Detective Prescott Sagers]

Not long after he was interviewed, he calls into detective Rodriguez and tells him of a clothing dump site down in brigham city, Utah, that he believes has the clothing of tanya teske.

[Chuck]

Detectives asked David how he knew this, and he said he had just randomly heard it over his CB radio.

[Detective Prescott Sagers]

So detectives start looking into it, and it turns out that this is a place that David lord actually made deliveries Right next to where the clothing dump site is.

[Chuck]

Bonneville county detectives Went down to Utah, Canvassed the area, Took photos of the clothing, and sent them to Catherine teske, who identified them as tonya's. Police returned to Idaho, Put all the clothes in evidence, and with no other leads really to go on in tanya's case, Detectives headed out to all the area truck stops to see if they could get a better read On David's behaviors and routines while out on the road. Now, David told police that he and Tonya did not have sex. So they were not only questioning his story, but they were wondering what his motive would have been to give her a ride. And also, why lie about being asked to give her a ride by the montana authorities? Unless, of course, deputies in montana didn't want to admit that they told a teenager who turned up dead to get into a stranger's truck. After lots of trucks stopped canvassing in the months after Tonya's murder, It finally paid off. When detectives ran into someone who knew

[Detective Prescott Sagers]

David, they found out that David lord had a tendency to pick up girls on the side of the road and take them to some family property in the shotgun village, island park area to party. So that's not that far from the cinnamon lodge in Montana, Just over the Idaho border, and it's on the way to idaho falls.

[Chuck]

So, next stop, island park, Idaho, which is about an hour north of where Tanya's body had been found in yukon. It was fall by now, so police knew it might be a stretch to find any type of crime scene. But they started knocking on doors and showing Tanya's photo Around the shotgun village neighborhood anyway. And some people did remember seeing her there Back in august. And here's where things get really interesting. Above a local store, there was a vacant apartment where a window had been left open. And detectives asked if they could have a look around. Now I'm not sure if someone led them there or if they just got lucky, but inside they found some cigarette butts of Cambridge Light 100, which was Tanya's preferred cigarettes. They also found Tanya's hair dryer and tampon wrappers, the same brand that Catherine had given to Tanya on August 10. They couldn't say for sure, but police were thinking Tanya had been inside that apartment just days before she was murdered. And their trail of clues didn't end there.

[Detective Prescott Sagers]

There was no sign of a struggle or anything like that inside the apartment. Just some odd items that kind of tied her into the apartment. And then they continue searching the area and they find that another cabin that was vacant at the time appeared that it had also been broken into.

[Chuck]

This vacant cabin was in the same neighborhood and was across the street from David Lord's uncle's cabin. And a window at the vacant cabin had also been mysteriously left open. Detectives called the owner of the cabin before going inside and he said that he had suspected a break in over the summer because he had popped by at some point point and found a faucet running. And he also thought that his hot tub had been tampered with, as if someone had drained it and then partially refilled it and then put it on the wrong temperature. And that was especially interesting when the body was found.

[Detective Prescott Sagers]

There were two circular marks on the lower back of Teske bruising that appeared to have happened before death. Two circular marks that could could line up with jets of a hot tub.

[Chuck]

When police finally went into the cabin, they were struck by something immediately they went in.

[Detective Prescott Sagers]

And when they entered the cabin they claimed that they could smell the odor of a decomposition of body decay. But there was no sign of any kind of burglary, any kind of disturbance, any kind of crime scene. But there was that smell there.

[Chuck]

Detectives were almost frozen in shock thinking did we actually just stumble upon the murder scene two months later? They took some measurements of the hot tub and some photos and called out a K9 and his officer to do a walkthrough to see if the dog would notice the smell. But unfortunately the police records from the investigation they did after that at the cabin are nowhere to be found.

[Detective Prescott Sagers]

In the report it says refer to the K9 officer's report. Again, I don't have that report, so it's very frustrating.

[Chuck]

I know you're probably Wondering if the hot tub could be the answer to the mystery about Tanya's arm and head being in a further state of decay. We asked, but there's not really a straight answer.

[Detective Prescott Sagers]

So it's theorized that it could have been her head and arm were inside the hot tub at a hotter temperature and been there for a little bit, and then the body was removed. And because the hot water was inside her skin, it continued to further the decomp of the body. Do we know for certain? No.

[Chuck]

And to be clear, there were no signs of water in Tanya's lungs during the autopsy, so police never once thought she had drowned. And her toxicology report was clean, so she wouldn't have passed out in the hot tub, at least not on her own. In early 1998, police wrote an affidavit for a court order for David Lord's fingerprints, DNA, and they collected the bedding from his semi. Because the police reports from this time frame are lost, we aren't sure what came of any of that, but it must have been nothing, because after that is when the investigation into Tanya's murder hit a wall. Also, they figured that by the time they obtained David's bed sheets in 98, he had likely changed his bedding. By that spring, police were going down a complete, completely different path, trying to find out if Tanya's murder might be connected to seven other murdered women around the mountain west. The Associated Press ran a story on April 22, 1998, that said Tonya might have been another victim of the quote, unquote, Great basin serial killer. The murders all spanned over several decades and states, but all the women were known to hitchhike with truckers, their bodies left on the sides of major highways. The press seemed to have run wild with this possibility because every headline involving Tonya's murder from 1998 was something about the Great basin serial killer. In June of 98, the AP ran another story reporting that investigators had found links between all of the murders, including Tanya's. But police today thought that the theory was too much of a reach. The timeline didn't add up, and the causes of death weren't the same.

[Detective Prescott Sagers]

They're kind of grasping at straws, trying to cling to anything that makes any kind of sense because there's just not a lot to this case. There's not a lot of proof, not a lot of evidence. So they're kind of, in my opinion, grasping at anything they can to see if they can get anything to make sense with the case.

[Chuck]

In August of 1999, two years after Tonya's murder, a tourist hiking in the woods on Targhee Pass on the border of Montana and Idaho, came across a pile of girl's clothing and a stuffed animal. The tourist reported the discovery to a park ranger, and then the ranger called Montana Highway Patrol, and a trooper who was familiar with Tanya Tesky's case called the Bonneville County Sheriff's Office.

[Detective Prescott Sagers]

Some of our detectives went up there and collected the clothing. And the clothing was again photographed, placed into our evidence, and photographs were sent to Catherine Teske. And again, Catherine Teske identified items of this clothing as Tanya's.

[Chuck]

The stuff in the woods was all specific stuff Tanya was known to either carry with her or wear, like a T shirt of Tonya's that Catherine recognized that had a rip in the collar. And some other items that were a harsh reminder of just how young Tanya was when she died.

[Detective Prescott Sagers]

There was a doll, a Barney stuffed animal doll that Tanya was said to have always been carrying with her. There was a sports watch that appeared to be the same kind of watch that Tanya was wearing when she left home. And then there was also a pair of underwear with a pad in it that Katherine believed was Tanya's.

[Chuck]

So if you're keeping up, so far, we've got Tanya's clothes being found in Montana, Tanya being found in Idaho, and more of her clothing being found in Utah. All of these places have one thing in common.

[Detective Prescott Sagers]

It would have been right on the. The pathway that David Lord would have been driving.

[Chuck]

To be fair, it's a route a lot of truckers drove. See, the other clothing discovery in Montana was just into the woods from a popular trucker turnout. Detectives interviewed an act of David's. And she did say that they used to stop at that very turnout to hook up. So by fall of 99, David was back on Bonneville County's suspect list, which was also right around the time they were receiving a very interesting tip in Tanya's case. In September 1999, the FBI got a call from a woman named Michelle, and she was like, hey, a few years ago, my husband at the time, a guy named Franklin James, and I were living a little less than an hour from Island Park, Idaho. She went on to say that on August 15, 1997, Franklin had just gotten home from being away on a construction job, and he gifted her this random Levi's denim jacket with cartoon characters all over it. Michelle told agents that she had reason to believe that jacket belonged to Tonya Teske.

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[Chuck]

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[Chuck]

At the time, Michelle thought the gift was weird, so she asked her husband Franklin where the jacket came from and he said that he had gotten it From a friend at work. And he just thought that she would like it. Well, she didn't. So she hung it up in a closet and never really wore it. And a few weeks later, Michelle saw their friend Wendy Wearing the exact same jacket. Wendy was married to a guy named douglas shumate, who worked with franklin. In August of 1997, Douglas and Franklin had been building houses in island park, idaho, in none other than the shotgun village neighborhood. But there's more.

[Detective Prescott Sagers]

She thought the whole thing was very odd. And then couple that with the fact that she had overheard Douglas and franklin saying, if the FBI finds out our involvement at shotgun village, we're going to be into a lot of trouble.

[Chuck]

When the FBI gave this information to the bonneville county Sheriff's office in 99, they obviously wanted to know more. So they interviewed michelle, and michelle said there was something else she wanted to divulge.

[Detective Prescott Sagers]

So they had a payphone out by the shock and village store. So when doug and franklin were working in that area, they would go to use the payphone there to call home. On one night, A couple nights before they came home on the 15th, Douglas apparently heard a altercation happening in the apartment above the shotgun village store. Neither franklin or douglas went and looked into that, which michelle thought was odd because franklin was the kind of guy that would go and see what was going on. Yeah, neither one of them went and investigated the altercation.

[Chuck]

Next, police tracked down douglas and franklin and interviewed them. By 99, they had both moved out of idaho, but police asked them in separate interviews if they knew david lord, and they both say no. The interesting thing is, Michelle also wasn't sure if she had ever met david, but her daughter did remember him.

[Detective Prescott Sagers]

Later on, she asks her daughter about david lord, and her daughter says, yeah, I remember david lord. He was at our house in September of 97 with Franklin.

[Chuck]

The daughter also told police in a follow up interview that she remembered her dad having a big green suitcase in the back of his truck that weekend when he returned from the island park job site. And that summer, he had tried to give away Some of the clothes that he said had been inside the suitcase. Police also asked franklin and douglas about tonya teske. They both said they didn't know tanya. So detectives were like, okay, well then where'd you get the denim jacket? And douglas wife wendy said that they had got it from franklin, and in fact, she still had it. In December of 1999, Wendy shipped the jacket to the bonneville county sheriff's office. They confirmed through tonya's mom that it Was Tonya's jacket. So they stored it away in evidence. But over the next several years, There were no further developments in Tonya's case. And in 2008, there was a massive, unexplainable misstep.

[Detective Prescott Sagers]

So, back in 2008, from my understanding, and this is before I worked here, but in 2008, the Tanya Teskey evidence Was taking up a large portion of the evidence room, so people were told to do something about it. So they went through the evidence and destroyed a large portion of it.

[Chuck]

Clothing items found at the potential crime scene Just destroyed, you know, the cigarette butt that they collected from the possible crime scene in island park, gone. How was a cigarette butt that could be loaded with DNA Taking up too much space in an evidence locker?

[Detective Prescott Sagers]

I asked why it was destroyed, and I don't have a good answer. But we still do have some evidence.

[Chuck]

They still have Tanya's fingernail scrapings. They have some cups that were found near her clothes in utah, the barney doll, her watch, and the glass slides from the sexual assault kit. It's not as much evidence as they used to have, but it's a hell of a lot better than nothing. Virtually nothing happened in Tanya's case. And after the evidence mishap, and for whatever reason, she hasn't ever had very many people advocating for her case to be solved over the years. But in August of 2021, that's 24 years since her murder, Someone who was a total stranger to tanya did take interest in her case. Lily lee. This artist and professor of arts and design at Boise state university, Honored tonya by including her in an art project where she created weaving patterns with textiles to represent homicide victims. The weaving lily made to Honor Tonya is 5ft, 9 inches long to match Tonya's height. And she used orange yarn and even bleached the edges of the weaving As a nod to the color Tonya had dyed her hair. She also incorporated silver yarn to represent the one thing Tonya still had on her when her body was found, that silver ring. Lily and photographer Carrie Quinney visited the grassy median in Ukraine, Idaho, on August 15, 2021, exactly 24 years since Tanya was discovered there. They laid the weaving down in the grass and took some photos, which you can see on our website, thedeckpodcast.com it was a beautiful tribute to Tanya by two perfect strangers. And maybe it was that gesture that breathed new life into Tanya's case, Because after that is when detective sager started investigating and he decided to send off the old sex assault slide. To be tested for DNA. And what do you know?

[Detective Prescott Sagers]

There's a partial profile on the left breast and then on the other breast there was evidence of multiple people DNA. There's three people's DNAs, one Tanya's and then two other one for sure male and then the third. It's unknown if it was a male or a female because it's such a small sample of DNA.

[Chuck]

When they tested those partial profiles against David Lord's DNA that they had also preserved since the 90s, the tests came back inconclusive. Detective Sagers wants to try and get a fresh sample from him to test again. He also wants to get DNA samples from Franklin Janes and Douglas Shumate and he wants to re interview them because there are questions that have still gone unanswered.

[Detective Prescott Sagers]

There's too many coincidences with all these people. They say they don't know each other, but other people say they do. Where did the jacket come from? Why would you have a green suitcase in your car?

[Chuck]

Tonya Teske was barely 18 when she was murdered. Who knows where her adventures would have taken her in life had it not been cut so short. Tonya's cousin Kelly Garza told our reporting team that Tonya was kind, she was a creative kid and when they were little she talked about having a family of her own sometimes day. I think some have discounted Tonya's tragedy because she was on a wild streak when she was killed. But Tonya deserved to have those life experiences and come out the other side. Police need your help to solve Tonya's murder. If you remember seeing Tonya or interacting with her in Montana or Idaho between August 10th and 14th of 1997, call the Bonneville County Sheriff's Office in Idaho Falls, Idaho. Or if you also witnessed Tyler getting into another semi truck at around 10pm on August 13th of 97 near Big Sky, Montana. Detectives want to hear from you and if David Lord, Franklin James or Douglas Shumate are listening, it's time to cooperate and tell the authorities what you know. You can call 208-529-1200 with information. The Deck is an audio Chuck production with theme music by Ryan Lewis. To learn more about the Deck and our advocacy work, visit thedeckpodcast.com so what do you think, Chuck? Do you approve? Hi everyone, I'm Delia d', Ambra, an investigative journalist, avid park enthusiast, and host of Park Predators, a weekly podcast that explores the dark underbelly of beautiful landscapes we all know and love. Each week I guide you through national parks and forests across the globe and share stories that highlight how the most beautiful landscapes can be equally as dark and sinister. So whether you're a park enthusiast or are always diving into true crime stories, Park Predators is your next listen. Listen to Park Predators every Tuesday, anywhere you get your podcasts.