Florence Okpealuk and Joseph Balderas: Still Missing

Summary

Up and Vanished in the Midnight Sun: Florence Okpealuk and Joseph Balderas - Still Missing

Episode Release Date: April 25, 2025

Introduction

In Season 4 of Up and Vanished, host Payne Lindsay delves into the chilling disappearances of Florence Okpealuk and Joseph Balderas in Nome, Alaska. This episode explores the complexities of these cases, the strained relationship between the indigenous community and law enforcement, and the relentless pursuit of truth by those left behind.

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Florence Okpealuk’s Disappearance

Florence Okpealuk, a 33-year-old native Inupiaq woman, moved to Nome seeking better healthcare for her daughter after becoming pregnant. On her last known evening, Florence was reportedly seen at a bar on Front Street before heading towards West Beach. Tragically, she never returned home, leaving behind her shoes, jacket, and a family desperate for answers.

• Community Member Insight: "I feel like someone is responsible for getting rid of her... Somebody knows something and covered it up." ([05:38])

The initial search efforts for Florence were inadequate, reflecting a troubling pattern of neglect towards missing Alaska Native individuals. Payne Lindsay emphasizes the systemic issues, stating, "If there's not action taken within a certain time frame... these people stay with you forever." ([06:09])

Joseph Balderas’s Disappearance

Joseph Balderas, a 36-year-old law clerk with aspirations to open his own practice, was last seen in June 2020 after a night out in Nome. His car was discovered on a remote stretch of Nome Council Highway, containing fishing gear and waders but no signs of struggle or Joseph himself.

• Community Member Testimony: "He just seemed like a super nice guy that everybody liked... He was our friend. He came to our house, our cabin. And then one day, he was just gone." ([08:31])

Complicating the investigation, conflicting accounts emerged. Joseph’s roommate, Jake, initially claimed to have seen him the day after his disappearance but later retracted his statement, fostering further confusion.

Investigation Challenges

Both cases highlight significant obstacles in the investigation process, primarily stemming from a deep-seated distrust between the indigenous community and law enforcement. Payne Lindsay recounts the reluctance of locals to speak out, often fearing repercussions: "We're scared... We're recording everything because we don't trust anybody." ([10:40])

The involvement of the FBI did little to provide clarity, as the community felt their concerns were still sidelined. The historical mistreatment of Alaska Native people by authorities exacerbates the situation, with Lindsay noting a stark underreporting of violence against indigenous women.

Community Impact and Response

The disappearance of Florence and Joseph resonated deeply within Nome, a town already grappling with multiple unresolved missing persons cases, predominantly affecting Native women. As Payne Lindsay investigates, the community begins to grapple with the realization that these cases are not isolated incidents but part of a broader, troubling pattern.

• Payne Lindsay: "If somebody abducts us... leave as much evidence as you can." ([20:20])

The community’s awakening leads to increased vigilance and a collective demand for accountability, shifting the narrative from one of silence to one of active pursuit for justice.

Recent Developments and New Leads

A pivotal moment in the episode occurs when Payne Lindsay acquires Joseph Balderas’s abandoned truck, a crucial piece of physical evidence. Despite logistical challenges, Lindsay successfully relocates the truck to Tacoma, Washington, intending to conduct a forensic examination. This breakthrough promises potential insights that could finally shed light on Joseph’s disappearance.

• Payne Lindsay: "And next week, we take it all apart, we forensically examine it on this podcast, and what we find inside might finally tell us something that no one in Nome ever would." ([41:12])

Simultaneously, new information surfaces regarding Florence’s last known interactions. A mysterious individual known as Danny Girl allegedly confessed to involvement in Florence's disappearance, though the validity of these claims remains uncertain.

• Community Member: "He, Michael and Paul admitted they cut her up after getting her high. They said she was screaming too much and freaking out." ([36:12])

These revelations introduce fresh angles to the investigation, intertwining multiple narratives that Payne Lindsay must navigate to uncover the truth.

Conclusion

The episode culminates in a tense anticipation of upcoming revelations as Payne Lindsay prepares to analyze the contents of Joseph Balderas’s truck. The intertwined fates of Florence and Joseph underscore a persistent struggle for justice within Nome, Alaska. Up and Vanished in the Midnight Sun not only chronicles their unresolved disappearances but also highlights the resilience of a community determined to break the cycle of silence and neglect.

As the investigation progresses, listeners are left with a profound sense of urgency and hope that the truth behind these mysterious vanishings will soon come to light.

---

Notable Quotes

• Payne Lindsay ([06:09]): "If there's not action taken within a certain time frame... these people stay with you forever."
• Community Member ([05:38]): "I feel like someone is responsible for getting rid of her... Somebody knows something and covered it up."
• Payne Lindsay ([20:20]): "If somebody abducts us... leave as much evidence as you can."
• Payne Lindsay ([41:12]): "And next week, we take it all apart, we forensically examine it on this podcast, and what we find inside might finally tell us something that no one in Nome ever would."

Final Thoughts

This episode of Up and Vanished masterfully intertwines personal testimonies, investigative challenges, and emerging evidence to paint a comprehensive picture of the unsettling disappearances in Nome. Payne Lindsay’s unwavering commitment to uncovering the truth serves as a beacon for the community and listeners alike, emphasizing the importance of perseverance in the face of adversity.

Transcript

[Payne Lindsay]

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[Payne Lindsay]

Up and Vanished in the Midnight sun is released every Thursday and brought to you absolutely free. But for ad free listening and exclusive bonuses, subscribe to Tenderfoot plus at tenderfootplus.com or on Apple Podcasts up and Vanished in the Midnight sun is intended for mature audiences and may include topics that can be upsetting such as emotional, physical, mental and sexual violence, rape and murder. The names of survivors have been changed for anonymity purposes. Testimony shared by guests of the show is their own and does not reflect the views of Tenderfoot TV or Odyssey. Thank you so much for listening.

[Advertiser]

Welcome back to up and Vanished Season four In the Midnight Sun. It's time to finish what I started. This is the first time I've ever covered two cases in the same season. Florence Okpialik and Joseph Balderas Two names, two mysteries and one central place. Gnome, Alaska. I know it's been a while and I want to be honest with you. The break we took wasn't because this story faded. It's because news stories came roaring back to life. Cases from earlier seasons that couldn't wait any longer. Real updates, real consequences. And people connected to these stories who passed away, gone before we got the full truth. I've learned that you don't just walk away from these cases. As Mark Smerling once told me, you don't get to clock out of this work like you're bagging groceries. These people stay with you forever. And even now, while recording this very episode, someone from Nome reached out to me with new information about Florence. This isn't a story I'm telling from a distance. I'm still very much in the center. In this episode. We're going to catch you back up and we're going to listen closely to some of the tape we've been sitting on, tape that no matter how many times we play it, something keeps pulling us back in. From Tenderfoot TV in Atlanta, I'm your host Payne Lindsay, and this is up and Vanished in the Midnight Sun.

[Narrator]

Nome, Alaska, a town where stories freeze and then disappear. For some, it's the last stop on the edge of the earth.

[Payne Lindsay]

She had reportedly last been seen on West Beach. From that point on, we were doing updates on a daily basis as to what was happening with the search efforts.

[Narrator]

This season on up and Vanished. Payne Lindsay arrived in Nome to investigate not one, but two missing persons cases, both unsolved, both haunting. Her name was Florence Okpialik, a 33 year old native Inupiaq woman. After becoming pregnant, she moved from the small village she grew up in to Nome in search of better care for her daughter. Allegedly, she was last seen near a bar on Front street headed towards west beach, never to return. She left behind her shoes, jacket, and a family who has never stopped looking.

[Community Member]

I feel like someone is responsible for getting rid of her, whether it was an accident and they didn't want to get in trouble for how it looked or if it was an intentional incident, she was harmed, somebody knows something and covered it up.

[Narrator]

But when she disappeared, no one searched the way they should have. Not at first, not seriously, not like they would have for someone else.

[Payne Lindsay]

My reporter and I were covering this nonstop because we've seen enough instances leading up to this to know that if there's not action taken within a certain time frame, if there's not some sort of accountability with the police department, this.

[Community Member]

Could easily get swept under the rug.

[Payne Lindsay]

Another Alaska native person is missing, and that is what it is.

[Community Member]

And then nothing happens.

[Narrator]

And when Payne arrived in Nome, Florence's name was barely being whispered. Then there was Joseph Balderas, 36 years old, drawn to Nome by both work and. And passion for the outdoors.

[Advertiser]

Welcome to Alaska. This is it.

[Payne Lindsay]

This is my little piece of home here. That's open ocean out there. You can certainly feel the magnitude of the ocean when you're on this. You don't really want to around out there.

[Advertiser]

Gives me the heebie jeebies just being out here.

[Narrator]

In June 2020, Joseph disappeared after a night out. His car was found on an isolated stretch of Nome Council highway near mile marker 44. There was some fishing gear and a pair of waders in his truck, but not much else. No signs of struggle, no Joseph.

[Community Member]

Everybody was pretty consistent about what they said about Joseph. They described him as a very charismatic, smart guy who loved Alaska and had, you know, a lot of plans for the future. Had met this woman in Juneau, Megan Ryder. They were planning to get married. He had spent several years working as a law clerk to judges, and he was ready to transition from that kind of work into a law practice. So he was going to open a practice in Juneau, and he and Megan were going to get married. There was, you know, nothing negative that I found in researching Joseph. Nothing that, you know, raised red flags for me. He just seemed like a super nice guy that everybody liked, a guy with a lot of plans and, you know, a lot of stuff going on.

[Narrator]

There have been suggestions from law enforcement that he was eaten by a bear or fell into a portal. But Payne didn't buy that, and neither did the people who knew him.

[Payne Lindsay]

He's talked to me about her. He was very in love with her. He would text her right away.

[Community Member]

She sent us all the messages.

[Payne Lindsay]

I mean, they're like, there is no wait time. If she messaged him, he messaged her right back. Good morning, Meg.

[Advertiser]

I hope you have a good Friday.

[Payne Lindsay]

In fact, I know you will. I'm sure Cafe Internationale is going to be hopping today, and I'm sure you're going to have a good lunch, and I'm sure you're going to have good walks and a good hike. But I just wanted to say also.

[Advertiser]

That I love you and have a great day, babe.

[Payne Lindsay]

Bye.

[Narrator]

Two people gone in a sparsely populated town. One, an Alaska native mother whose case was almost invisible. The other, a man working in the court system, hoping to soon start his own law firm. Both disappeared without a trace. And the one thing they shared. No.

[Payne Lindsay]

Had she just simply walked off and died, we would have found her.

[Community Member]

That scenario, that he was attacked by a bear, somehow the body was hidden. That just seemed unlikely. And so it was worth looking into. The more you look into it, the more unanswered questions and red flags there were.

[Narrator]

Nome has seen dozens of people vanish, most of them Native, most of them women, and most of them ignored. When Paine started asking questions, he hit a wall of silence. Officials didn't want to talk. Locals were hesitant, and a history of distrust between indigenous communities and law enforcement loomed over everything. Please turn those videos into this department.

[Community Member]

Okay, okay.

[Payne Lindsay]

We're scared. We're scared everywhere we go because somebody's usually following me.

[Advertiser]

I understand that. We do.

[Payne Lindsay]

We're recording everything because we don't trust anybody. The police department, they neglected her. They neglected Flo in every way, shape and form, and I'm really mad about it.

[Community Member]

They judge natives.

[Payne Lindsay]

I think that there could be human.

[Community Member]

Trafficking, sex trafficking, and somebody's holding a secret and they're not telling.

[Payne Lindsay]

They're not going to tell anything.

[Community Member]

I think they killed her and they.

[Payne Lindsay]

Got away with it. If you know the history of Nome.

[Community Member]

There have been a lot of people missing.

[Payne Lindsay]

We all believe these people are going to do it again.

[Narrator]

But then slowly, people started talking. And Payne realized these two disappearances weren't just parallel mysteries. They were pressure points. And something was starting to crack. Two disappearances, one town. And with each episode of up and Vanished, a question echoed louder. Is this just coincidence, or is Noem hiding something deeper? Florence's story was the quieter one until you really listened. She was last seen on west beach, just outside of town, the place where her shoes were found. Where the tide pulls things away. The search started late. Too late.

[Community Member]

I don't want to bash anyone, but it feels like the police department priority of cases is not based on the protection of the actual people that live there.

[Narrator]

The FBI stepped in, but even then, answers didn't come. The Alaska Native community had seen this before. A woman goes missing, the family begs for help, and the silence settles in again.

[Payne Lindsay]

I started looking into Nome and long history of public complaints about mistreatment of Alaska Native people by police. Women and girls in Alaska faced four times the national average of homicides. I felt it was really underreported.

[Narrator]

Florence became part of a pattern, a painful historical one. And Payne knew if this case was going to move, it wouldn't be through official channels. It would be through whispers, through courage, through the people willing to talk. Joseph's Story spiraled in a different direction. The more Payne looked into his disappearance, the more confusing it became. He was last seen allegedly near mile 44, but the details didn't add up. His car was there, but some said he returned to town afterward. Others said they saw him Sunday after he was already considered missing. And then came Jake, Joseph's roommate, the last person who claims to have seen him. Jake's account changed. At first he said he didn't see Joseph after Sunday. Then he said he saw him Sunday. Then he said nothing at all.

[Payne Lindsay]

I know that the timeline doesn't make.

[Advertiser]

Sense to you, and we know that.

[Community Member]

His roommate says he saw him.

[Payne Lindsay]

People are mistaken. It could be that.

[Advertiser]

It could be that he came back.

[Payne Lindsay]

In, forgot his phone.

[Community Member]

There's all these theories, but I don't have the answers. Nobody does.

[Advertiser]

The roommate's Sunday. Do you know what he said about that? Like, yes, I saw him.

[Payne Lindsay]

I spoke to him.

[Advertiser]

I saw him driving away. What level of commitment do you think.

[Narrator]

They passed each other in the home.

[Advertiser]

Inside the house on Sunday? Guys, I'll be happy to go talk to Jake again.

[Narrator]

Jake wasn't just a roommate. He was also Christine's cousin, Joseph's co worker and occasional drinking buddy.

[Advertiser]

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[Payne Lindsay]

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[Payne Lindsay]

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[Payne Lindsay]

Blair went down the beach to try to find her sister. This guy gives her some of Flo's clothes, but she's not there. I just know he was a cab driver in town and a lot of people didn't like him.

[Narrator]

That's when Oregon John entered the picture. A mysterious man who lived on West Beach. A transient gold miner. There is no mining for gold in the winters of Nome, but during the warmer months, miners flocked to west beach and set up camps. This was the last place Florence was seen leaving the tent belonging to Oregon John. Rumors began to spread and eventually he had to leave town. But Payne and his team eventually got A meeting with John disguised as someone looking for a job opportunity. They talked in a bar, and Lindsay did his best to get as much information about John's time in Nome as possible. Florence and Joseph. Two names. Two stories. Two families still waiting. While Joseph's case grew darker, Florence's family stepped forward stronger. They didn't want revenge. They wanted to be heard.

[Payne Lindsay]

He took a mother away from her child. Sister and aunt away from her family. A daughter.

[Community Member]

He took a daughter away from her parents.

[Narrator]

The FBI investigation had stalled. No updates, no suspects. But the community was waking up. People began to remember the women who had gone missing before. The cases that were closed without ever being solved. Florence's name was no longer a whisper. It was a rallying cry.

[Payne Lindsay]

If somebody abducts us, scratch them, pull our hair out.

[Community Member]

Leave as much evidence as you can.

[Payne Lindsay]

Behind, and rely on the public to.

[Community Member]

Find them, not the police department, because.

[Payne Lindsay]

They'Re not capable or willing to. I've got a couple friends who were beaten up by them, but they were too scared to go forward.

[Narrator]

Then something else happened. Payne was scheduled to fly back to Nome, but five days before the flight, his name was leaked. A private flight manifest. Confidential. Somehow, people in Nome knew he was coming. They started talking 23 hours ago.

[Community Member]

That's when I started hearing rumors about you.

[Narrator]

Payne never boarded that plane. And suddenly the story wasn't just about Florence or Joseph. It was about him too. The message was clear. Don't come back. So where does that leave us? Florence Okpialik. Joseph Balderas. Two lives lost to mystery. Two families without answers. And one town that has learned to forget, but up and vanish, didn't come here to forget. And the people of Nome, some of them aren't staying quiet anymore. Because someone knows what happened to Florence, to Joseph, and they're still out there. This is up and vanished in the midnight sun. Two disappearances. Two truths still buried. For now.

[Community Member]

Did you hear about the Sonia Ivanov case?

[Advertiser]

I did.

[Community Member]

So you kind of know the background between the community and law enforcement right now and how it's been in recovery but not recovering.

[Advertiser]

In Nome. Grief doesn't fade, it settles. And the silence that Florence left behind is still very loud. Dila was the very first person to reach out to me about Florence. She's been the voice keeping this case alive.

[Community Member]

Nome, Alaska, if you can envision, it's the hub community for all of these Smaller, remote, like people fly on really small charter planes. They go to Nome all the time for medical. They go to go grocery shopping. They go for meetings and conferences and stuff. But Nome is like the Vegas of all these smaller communities surrounding Nome. So Nome is where the heavy traffic of indigenous people go. And then they either go home as planned or they don't. That's just how it is there. Doing, like all of this research and trying to understand, like, where are the issues and like, where are we lacking, where are we needing to improve? And what I've noticed is that if we are not honest and if we're not speaking the truth, as an indigenous woman, as a single mom growing up in that culture, in a small community, living outside of the small community, in what they say is like the real world and seeing racism firsthand, experiencing it, you know, like how everything kind of ties into really what the MMIWG statistics are today. And like, how. How can we really approach it? Well, one thing is, like, if you're not going to be honest and call the truths out, then there won't. No one is going to address it. No one is going to understand it fully if you can't speak the truth and we have to speak the truth and like, if anyone's willing to hear it, then that is them seeing us and our concerns. She had been drinking and she went to west beach and continued to, I guess, like, party a little bit. And there was a witness that had watched her go in and out of this one mining tent on West Beach. That seemed very clear as a fact. And that is what the local law enforcement was also putting out there and asking for anyone to come forward with any more information. If it can happen to Flo, which everyone knew she worked at the hospital and records, it can easily happen to one of us. So I think that is a clear example of why most do not feel safe in Nome. So it's hard not to think of Flo for various reasons. There's no justice. Why don't we have justice in a native community? Why don't we have that?

[Advertiser]

Now back to the case of Joseph Balderas. We've talked to a lot of people in this case, but this next voice you've never heard before. Her name is Hannah, and she may have been the last person to ever see Joseph Balderas alive. She wasn't someone telling a secondhand story. She was there. She walked with him through the quiet streets of Nome that night. This is a new lead, a new piece to the puzzle that only seems to make things more confusing.

[Community Member]

I saw Joseph the night before he went missing. It was around 3am My daughter wouldn't Sleep. So I took her for a walk through town. He was leaving soap and suds alone. He told me he had plans to go ridge running and fishing the next morning. Said he was heading about 40, 45 miles down Council Road, right around where they found his truck. We stood outside the bar for a while, talking. He crouched down, played with my daughter in her stroller. Then we started walking toward our houses. He leaned on me for a bit, just to steady himself. We split off near the gas station. I stopped to talk to some friends outside. Joseph didn't know them, so he kept walking alone toward home. We were only a few blocks from his place, and knowing him, he probably made it home. The next morning, I told my mom I'd seen him. Then Monday came, and we heard he was missing. That's when we joined the search. My grandparents had driven back from their cabin that Sunday morning. They saw Joseph's truck parked out on council road before 1pm before anyone claims they saw him that afternoon. So when people say they saw him Saturday at the beach or Sunday at home, I don't know. And my papa, he worked dispatch for Gnome pd. He told us the last outgoing message from Joseph's phone was around 9am Saturday. If he'd really been meeting up with someone, you'd think there'd be a text, right? He was our friend. He came to our house, our cabin. He took pictures for my daughter's first birthday. And then one day, he was just gone. No sign of him. No belongings. Nothing. People disappear from Nome. It's not new. Some say it's the Ishiguks. Some say it's something worse. Me, I don't know. Maybe he fell. Maybe someone hurt him. But with everything we put into the search, someone should have found something, anything. It's haunted me ever since.

[Advertiser]

Joseph wasn't some fleeting figure. He was right next to her, laughing, talking about the wilderness, making plans to leave town the next morning. Plans he never got to finish. Joseph said he was headed 40 miles out on Council Road. That's where his truck was found. Almost too conveniently. But the problem is, his roommate Jake said he saw him at home the next day. So which version of events here is actually true? They can't both be. And then there's Hannah's grandfather. He worked dispatch for Gnome pd. He told Hannah the last text message from Joseph's phone went out around 9am on Saturday. Then no more messages. No sign of life whatsoever. And yet his truck was spotted early Sunday. And then there's Tom Moran, back when Andy clamser the private investigator first came to Nome. Tom was the city manager.

[Community Member]

It is the 4th of October 2016. The time now is 3:27pm and you're the city manager, Noam, correct?

[Tom Moran]

Correct.

[Community Member]

And you know Joseph or you knew Joseph, correct?

[Tom Moran]

I did, yeah.

[Community Member]

Do you recall if you were with Joseph on Friday evening, that would have been the 24th of June 2016. It would have been just before the weekend he went missing.

[Tom Moran]

When Joseph moved to Nome, there's kind of a small group of like a lawyers guild, I guess I'd call it. A friend of mine named Andrew Dunmire, who is a public defender for the state of Alaska and now he is stationed out of Anchorage, introduced me to Joseph. So just by a long winded way of saying Joseph and I, when he first moved up here a couple years ago, hung out a few times and then it kind of, you know, for whatever reasons he found a different group to kind of, kind of roll around with and he stopped hanging out with for, you know, whatever reason, like I said, found kind of a different social circle. So we did not hang out socially, but I would see him around and we'd, you know, exchange pleasantries. I think he was a big college football fan. So if there was something happening in the world of college football, we talked. So I did see him that night. I mean it's so long ago that I can remember where it was and I can remember about what time it was, but it was. He was with a couple of girls, Christine and Kim Peskoya. I think they're, I think Kim's last name is Pasquia. I know Christine's is at Breakers Bar and I had been there. I went for happy hour with some friends when I got out of work at 5:30 or 6. I mean this is so long ago that I can't remember exactly when it was. And I'd say when I was leaving at 9 o'clock to go home for the night or thereabouts, he was coming out for the night. So just we exchanged pleasantries as I was kind of going out and he was coming in.

[Community Member]

So home certain are you of the times? Because we, we had been under the impression that Joseph didn't go out with Christine and Kim until after midnight.

[Tom Moran]

I would be happy to like check an ATM receipt or something, but I can tell you that often, you know, I know when I was out that night and it would be not, not impossible but pretty rare for it to be a six hour shift for me. So if I said nine and it was really ten There's a possibility, but I. My belief would be that it was earlier than that. That's a relatively strong belief. I know. You know, when we first started discussing this, when we were on the search in the, you know, months or weeks or whatever that followed, I've always said that it was about that time. So even when it was kind of fresh in my recollection, I was pretty sure that it was a little. A little in advance of midnight.

[Community Member]

Do you happen to know of anyone who saw Joseph or his truck that weekend?

[Tom Moran]

Let me think. So I imagine that, like I said, the group of people that I was with would have seen him at in the same context that I had, which was sitting in a middle stool and breakers bar as we were kind of heading. Heading home for the night, I think. You know, I heard that again. One of the. One of the rumors about the. The Scoia girls was that Christine was interested in him, but he went and got this girlfriend in Juneau and she was mad about that. I know her well enough to think that she's not but psychopath, but I. Boy, I just. I just don't know Thinking in my head and I'm trying to think of justifications for why I think it was 9:00 is that I wasn't partying like an animal that weekend and I had a triathlon to do on Sunday morning. I'll try to think about that and sort of vet that with these. This group of people that I go out for cocktails with.

[Community Member]

Great. Thank you very much. I appreciate your time.

[Tom Moran]

All right, Andy, no problem. Thanks for the call. I'll let you know if I think of anything.

[Payne Lindsay]

This episode is brought to you by Rakuten. If you're shopping while working, eating or even listening to this podcast, then you know and love the thrill of the hunt. But are you getting the thrill of the best deals? Rakuten shoppers do. They get the brands they love with the most savings and cash back and you can get it too. Start getting cash back at your favorite stores like Samsung, Expedia and Sephora, and even stack sales on top of Cashback. It's easy to use and you get your cash back through PayPal or check. The idea is simple. Stores pay Rakuten for sending them shoppers and Rakuten shares the money with you as cash back. Download the free Rakuten app and never miss a deal or go to rakuten.com to start getting the most bang for your buck. That's R A K U T E N this episode is Brought to you by Pluto tv. Are you looking for your next case? Pluto TV has all your favorite crime dramas streaming for free, which means suspicion is free. With countless cases to crack. Watch csi, Criminal Minds, ncis, Blue Bloods Tracker, FBI and swat. All for free from all your favorite devices. Feel the free Pluto TV stream now. Pay Never. This Mother's Day show the moms in your life just how much they mean to you with a stunning bouquet from 1-800-flowers.com for almost 50 years, 1-800-flowers has set the standard for high quality bouquets. Right now, order early from 1-800-FLOWERS and save up to 40% on gorgeous bouquets. And one of a kind arrangements guaranteed to make her day. Save up to 40% today at 1-800-flowers.com Spotify. That's 1-800-flowers. Com Spotify, the official florist of Mother's Day.

[Advertiser]

We're not done with Florence's case either. Not by a long shot. Her family is still fighting for answers. I want to revisit someone who's come up more than once in this season. We've referred to her as Kelly. Now, I've heard a lot of stories, most of them rumors. And I still don't know what's true. But there's one thing I do know. It's time to talk about it. Blair, Florence's sister, told us about Kelly. And since I'm now pulling the cat out of the bag here, Kelly's real name that she goes by is Danny Girl. Remember that?

[Payne Lindsay]

She apparently sent this text to a friend who then sent it to Blair and they shared it with me. This one says Danny Girl from Teller said Paul admitted to her that him, Michael and Paul admitted they cut her up after getting her high. They said she was screaming too much and freaking out. So they did that to her. Don't know if it's true.

[Advertiser]

Fucking freak me out now. Everything revolving around Danny Girl is a little clouded. There may be drug abuse, there may be some truth, and there may be both. Do you know someone who goes by the name Dani Girl?

[Community Member]

I met with her.

[Advertiser]

You did?

[Community Member]

I was at work and she kept calling me and I was getting irritated cause she does drugs and I couldn't be a part of that. And then she said, I have to talk to you about something about flu. Then she said no. And she said finally she said yes. So I told my boss, I have to go. So I met up with her and I recorded it.

[Narrator]

You did?

[Community Member]

I did. When I first met with her, she was on the phone with the Bing, being distant Then she started talking to me about Flo, where she's at, what she did, what they did.

[Narrator]

Did you believe her?

[Community Member]

Yes and no.

[Advertiser]

Why yes and why no?

[Community Member]

Cause she got hired to shovel. That's what she told me.

She.

[Advertiser]

She did what?

[Community Member]

She got hired to shovel for meth.

[Advertiser]

Do you still have those recordings and stuff?

[Community Member]

I brought it to the police department.

[Advertiser]

You don't have it anymore?

[Community Member]

I don't. That phone broke.

[Advertiser]

It's okay.

[Community Member]

But I brought it to the police department and they brought the cadaver docs and never told us that they brought them until they left.

[Advertiser]

Where'd they take them?

[Community Member]

To a house by Aurora Inn. Where Danny girl said that she was under there and there was something wrapped in there, but she didn't know what it was. Something wrapped in the corner.

[Advertiser]

Who do you think is responsible for her disappearance?

[Community Member]

John Curtin. The FBI said their most lost conversation was to her friend and she lives in a privilege. She told her that there was four people in the bushes and they were passing something around and she asked if she was okay and she said she didn't know.

[Advertiser]

Was this a phone call?

[Community Member]

Yeah, it was a phone call. It was her last phone call. But on her phone, that was her last conversation.

[Advertiser]

It was the last call?

[Community Member]

Yeah. And then her phone died. Every night.

[Advertiser]

Do you know who she was with?

[Community Member]

John Curtin.

[Advertiser]

And who are the other guys?

[Community Member]

Michael McKeown.

[Advertiser]

On June 26, 2016, 36 year old Joseph Balderas dropped off the grid entirely. And he's never been seen since then. In most missing persons cases, there's almost nothing left behind. No clues, no crime scene, just questions. It's why these stories drag on for years. Because we're grasping at shadows. But in the case of Joseph Balderas, there is one undeniable piece of physical evidence. Joseph's truck. It sat in Nome for years. A ghost on the side of the road, frozen in time. And when I realized the only way to truly understand what happened was to get my hands on that truck, it's like a miracle happened. I found it listed on Facebook marketplace. Joseph's truck. The truck. And so I bought it. But here's the catch. Right after I made the transaction and sent the money via Venmo, I realized I had less than a couple of hours to move it off that island or risk it being stuck in Nome for another year. We need it off that fucking island. Foolishly, I didn't think it would be this hard. I have someone holding the vehicle for us now in Gnome. Why is this so hard? I Thought Facebook Marketplace. Money sent. Done deal.

[Narrator]

Shipping Gnome, Alaska Premium Auto Transport. Gnome is a city in Western Alaska's unorganized borough.

[Advertiser]

We know the winter in Nome doesn't wait for you. Neither does the last boat out.

[Narrator]

Gnomes Causeway serves as a dock.

[Advertiser]

Get to it. As it turns out, shipping a vehicle out of the Arctic tundra requires about six miracles, a port manifest, and a goddamn time machine. Thanks for calling SIP.

[Payne Lindsay]

Your car now powered by A1 Transport. For auto transport within the United States, press 1. This call is being recorded.

[Advertiser]

We were already way past the cutoff. Every minute that passed, I was picturing Joseph's truck frozen in place, buried under snow. No, I believe the cutoff was a couple days ago, actually untouched for yet another year. This can't happen. Let me put out an email. And I'd almost say they're gonna tell me we're way too late in the season for this. They stop doing that when the winter comes. You know what?

[Narrator]

What's your first name?

[Advertiser]

Final destination of this truck is Tacoma, Washington. Please take a picture before you leave it. Hello?

[Community Member]

It's Tracy.

[Advertiser]

Hey, it's Payne. Can you do me a huge, huge favor?

[Community Member]

Maybe.

[Advertiser]

That's when I called one of my local friends in Nome. Tracy. Not a shipping company. A person. Someone who could actually do something. We had one shot. One hour. The keys were in the truck. Tracy had the address. Can you right now go get the truck so it can make the last shipment out before winter?

[Payne Lindsay]

I. I think so.

[Advertiser]

Where's the key? The keys are in the truck.

[Payne Lindsay]

Okay.

[Advertiser]

At this address. I'm texting it to you now. I can go get it now. All we needed was time. Is it possible for you to drive the vehicle to the port within the next hour? It's the cutoff, Dylan. Did you already pay and run the card? Cutting it close. Lol. It won't be lol. If that truck doesn't get on that chip. I'm gonna put you on with Dylan. God, send it. It's on its way to Anchorage. Somehow it made it. And right now, Joseph's truck is sitting in Tacoma, Washington. And next week, we take it all apart, we forensically examine it on this podcast, and what we find inside might finally tell us something that no one in Nome ever would. Stay tuned next week for another episode of up and Vanished in the Midnight Sun. Hey, guys, real quick. I'm on the road right now. We just wrapped shooting for a new show I'm hosting, America's Most Wanted Missing Persons. It premieres this Monday, April 28, 8pm Eastern Time on Fox. And it also streams the next day on Hulu. So no excuse to not watch it. Please, please check it out. I promise you don't want to miss it. America's Most Wanted Missing Persons premiering this Monday, April 28, 8pm Eastern Time on Fox. And you can also watch it on Hulu. All right, shameless plug is over. Talk soon. Gonna get some sleep. I'll see you next week.

[Payne Lindsay]

Up and Vanished in the Midnight sun is a production of Tenderfoot TV in association with Odyssey. Your host is Payne Lindsay. The show is written by Payne Lindsay with additional assistance from Mike Rooney. Executive producers are Donald Albright and Payne Lindsay. Lead producer is Mike Rooney, along with producers Dylan Harrington and Cooper Skinner. Editing by Mike Rooney and Cooper Skinner with additional editing by Dylan Harrington. Supervising producer is Tracy Kaplan. Additional Production by Victoria McKenzie, Alice Kanique, Glenn and Eric Quintana. Artwork by Rob Sheridan. Original music by Makeup and vanity. Set mix and mastered by Cooper Skinner. Thank you to Oren Rosenbaum and the team at uta, Beck Media and Marketing and the Nord Group. Special thanks to all of the families and community members that spoke to the team. Additional information and resources can be found in our show Notes. For more podcasts like up and Banished, search Tenderfoot TV on your favorite podcast app or visit us@Tenderfoot TV. Thanks for listening.

[Narrator]

Well, I just found out that my dad lived a secret life as a.

[Advertiser]

Hitman for the Chicago Mafia for all these years. It doesn't matter.

[Narrator]

Make any sense. He was a firefighter, paramedic. How the hell can he be a hitman?

[Advertiser]

I need answers. So I am currently on a plane.

[Narrator]

Back to Chicago to interview everybody, anybody.

[Advertiser]

That knows anything about this.

[Narrator]

I'm in shock.

[Advertiser]

This is absolutely insane. I just don't understand.

[Narrator]

I need to figure this out.

[Payne Lindsay]

The shocking new true crime series Crook county from Tenderfoot TV and iHeart podcasts is available now. Binge the entire series for free on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.