January 15, 1991. Kingston, Tennessee. 35-year old Karen Farmer Beard, who happens to be seven-and-a-half months pregnant, drops off her two daughters at the residence of the parents of her ex-husband, Reece Beard. Hours later, Karen’s abandoned car is found next to a bridge located a quarter-mile away and while a woman claiming to be Karen had phoned a towing service and asked them to pick up her car, investigators believe the caller may have been an impostor. Since Karen was engaged in a heated child custody battle with Reece and alleged that he was the father of her unborn child, there is speculation that this may have been connected to her disappearance and multiple people were involved in covering the whole thing up, but no trace of Karen is ever found.

November 12, 1987. Phillips, Wisconsin. After finishing her shift at a factory, 23-year old Marchelle “Shelly” Hansen vanishes without a trace and her abandoned car is found in the parking lot of a resort over ten miles away. Shelly had recently told her family that she was two-to-three months pregnant and said that the child’s father would provide her with financial support if she kept his identity a secret. Less than one year later, a local resident named John Weber is arrested for the torture and murder of his sister-in-law, as well as the torture and attempted murder of his wife, but investigators find no evidence to link him to Shelly’s disappearance, so her whereabouts and the identity of her unborn child’s father remain a mystery.

Additional Reading:

https://charleyproject.org/case/karen-farmer-beard

https://www.newspapers.com/image/775231377/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/775231393/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/775239035/

https://archive.knoxnews.com/news/local/pregnant-womans-disappearance-remains-unsolved-ep-407130784-358316301.html/

https://charleyproject.org/case/marchelle-hansen

https://www.newspapers.com/image/241224377/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/241224389/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/116548314/

https://www.wsaw.com/2024/01/05/forgotten-wisconsin-cold-cases-marchelle-hansen-single-mom-missing/

On this week’s episode of “The Trail Went Cold”, we explore a pair of unsolved missing persons cases involving pregnant women.

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The Trail Went Cold is produced and edited by Magill Foote.

All music is composed by Vince Nitro.