Over the past 50 years, 18 women and girls — primarily Indigenous — have gone missing along the Highway of Tears. Some believe the actual number is more than double that. Today we focus on Delphine Nikal, Cecilia Nikal, and Ramona Wilson — three Indigenous women who disappeared near the same stretch of highway just a few years apart.

Maternity homes were advertised as safe havens for unwed expectant mothers. But the truth was very different. Many young women were sent to these homes involuntarily and were forced into giving up their babies for adoption.

It was May of 1996 when college freshman Kristin Smart went to a party and never returned to her dorm. More than 20 years later, a stranger started a podcast that ignited interest in the case and brought a killer to justice.

Around 40% of missing persons in the US are people of color, the vast majority of them Black. In this special episode, Sarah welcomes sisters-in-law Natalie Wilson and Derrica Wilson of the Black and Missing Foundation to discuss why this percentage is likely even higher. They talk about several current cases, unpacking the many policies and procedures that their organization advocates to change. Plus, the numerous ways that people can help.

In September 1999, 36-year-old Girly Chew Hossencofft was supposed to report to work at a local Bank of America branch in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Due to recent threats made by her husband, Girly’s co-workers were worried. When a colleague went to her house to check on her, she was gone. And she was never seen again.

It was 1957 when the body of an unidentified, malnourished boy was found in a bassinet box In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. For decades, police and community members worked to find his identity and killer. In 2021, they finally got an answer to one of these questions.

On a December evening in 2016, a man called 911 when he spotted an abandoned car on a bridge. Police discovered that 19-year-old Sarah Stern of Neptune City, New Jersey, usually drove the vehicle. She was now missing, and police needed to determine if she had left the car voluntarily or was the victim of a crime.