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The views and opinions expressed in Cold and Missing are exclusively those of the hosts.

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All parties mentioned are considered innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

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Cold and Missing also contains adult themes and languages.

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Listener discretion is advised.

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I'm your host, Ali McLaughlin-Sulkowski.

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And I'm your co-host, Eli Sulkowski.

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And this is Cold and Missing, where we cover cold cases and missing person cases.

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Hello and welcome back to Cold and Missing.

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I'm Ali.

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And I'm Eli.

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This is episode 95.

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If this is your first episode, welcome.

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If you've been with us for a while, welcome back.

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This is actually a first for us.

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Ali and I are currently on vacation and we are recording this episode in the back of

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our rental car.

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We built a little studio to, you know, keep doing what we do here at Cold and Missing.

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So it feels really cool to do this.

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I love that Ali and I are committed to Cold and Missing as much as our listeners are.

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So if we sound a little different this week, that's why our setup is just slightly different.

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But we still wanted to bring you an episode.

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We are on a cold case this week.

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Episode 95.

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Let's get to it.

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So today we are covering the cold case of Julia Niswender.

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And this takes place in Ypsilanti, Michigan in December of 2012.

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But first a little bit about Julia.

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Julia is 23 years old in 2012 and is a student at Eastern Michigan University.

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She is studying electronic media and film.

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She wanted to become a news anchor.

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She had recently transferred from a community college to finish up her degree at EMU.

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She lives in a ground level apartment that is technically off campus, but it sits just

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across the street from the campus.

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She has a part-time job at Walmart that she has had for some time and she enjoys working

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there.

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At this time in December of 2012, it's approaching Christmas break and she's excited for the

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holiday.

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Her apartment is decorated with gel window clings and candy canes on the front door.

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She even asked her family to hold off decorating the Christmas tree until she got home.

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Julia is energetic and outgoing.

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She loved animals and her friends said that animals would approach her as if they were

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old friends.

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Julia is also a twin.

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Her sister Jennifer had recently just graduated from ESU this spring before.

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Her and her twin were very close.

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According to a high school friend, quote, those two were inseparable.

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They could not get enough of being around each other.

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End quote.

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Julia and Jennifer are also very close to their 10 year old sister.

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And now a timeline of events.

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On Saturday, December 8th, during the morning hours, Julia works a shift at Walmart.

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Later that evening, she has a date.

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This was just a casual date.

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The two weren't considered a couple yet.

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The next day on Sunday, December 9th, for lunch, Julia meets up with her twin sister

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Jennifer and their younger sister.

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The three have a great afternoon talking about the upcoming holiday.

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After lunch, Julia walks her sisters to their car and says, quote, I love you.

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Goodbye.

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End quote.

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Julia also sends a happy birthday text to a friend.

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That afternoon, she has another shift at Walmart.

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She ends up getting off at around 5pm and heads back to her apartment.

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During the evening hours, Julia is constantly chatting with her twin.

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They talk on the phone and text all evening.

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Julia stops responding to texts at around 10.30pm.

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On Monday, December 10th, Julia's roommate had been out of town, but they returned home

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and Julia is not there to greet them.

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They do notice, however, that her car is in the parking lot, but she doesn't come home

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and nothing is heard from her room.

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Julia misses class that day and also misses a shift at Walmart.

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The next day, Tuesday, December 11th, Julia misses more classes.

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This is strange for her.

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Julia's roommate is also becoming worried that Julia hasn't been around the apartment.

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The way the college apartment is set up, the kitchen and living room are central and then

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the rooms split off into their own sections with their own bathrooms.

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The roommate decided to notify apartment security, who in turn called the police.

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The police get a master key to enter Julia's room.

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The door is locked, but there are no signs of forced entry to the apartment or her room.

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When they enter, they find Julia's bedroom in disarray.

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All of her dresser drawers had been pulled out and her clothes dumped on the floor.

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She had some organizational plastic drawers that were all dumped out as well.

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Initially, police believe that a robbery could have happened, but they do notice that her

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computer, iPod, flat screen TV, and wrapped Christmas gifts were all left at her place.

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They also found her school lanyard with her ID and keys.

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It was on her bedroom floor.

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Only her apartment key was missing.

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Police also noticed that what seemed to be missing was a black and white zebra pillow

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case from her bed.

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Laying on the bedroom floor was a white pair of latex gloves.

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Inside was a dark substance that was later confirmed to be Julia's blood.

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The gloves were in front of Julia's closed bathroom door.

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When police opened the bathroom door, they find Julia.

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She was, quote, face down, submerged in the bathtub filled with water, end quote.

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She was nude from the waist down.

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Her yoga pants had been cut away and were left on the bathroom floor.

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Her pink shirt had also mostly been cut away.

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Only her right sleeve remained on her arm.

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Underneath Julia in the water was her cell phone.

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At first, there were no obvious signs of trauma on Julia's body.

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There were a few small circular abrasions near her left elbow, and she seemed to have

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been bleeding from her mouth.

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Police also noticed ligature marks on her wrist and ankles.

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However, whatever had been used to bound or tie up Julia was taken from the scene, along

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with whatever was used to cut her clothes.

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Police are able to review security footage from the apartment.

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The video showed a black male pacing in front of the office at around 5.30 in the evening.

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Police however do not take the footage at this time, and when they return for it later,

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the tape is already taped over, so the footage is lost.

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Police have no idea if this man was connected or not connected to Julia's murder.

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The next day, Wednesday, December 12, Julia's autopsy is conducted.

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They find that she had a deep contusion on the right side of her tongue from biting it.

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Police hold off from publicly saying that this case is a homicide.

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They want to get the toxology report back, but they start investigating it like it's

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a homicide.

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On Thursday, December 13, Julia's twin sister Jennifer at around 3 a.m. posts a picture

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of Julia smiling with the caption, quote, Julia was my twin, other half and best friend.

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No one will ever understand the bond we shared.

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I love her so much and just don't know how I can go on.

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My beautiful sister didn't deserve this.

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Justice will be served even if it's the last thing I do.

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For the rest of my life, I will be living for her, end quote.

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It's also around this time that Julia's death is reported in the media and a newspaper

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notes that on Julia's apartment door, somebody had clipped a note that said, RIP equals question

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mark.

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Love you, Julia, Larry, end quote.

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The college campus is shocked by the death of Julia.

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Normally, around this time, students would be cramming for finals, but instead they're

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talking with counselors and trying to process what has happened.

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Over 200 students and staff gather for a memorial in her honor.

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On Monday, December 17, it's been almost a week since Julia was found dead and she's

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laid to rest in her hometown of Monroe Township, Michigan.

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On January 29, so now it's been over a month since Julia was found dead and her toxicology

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report comes back.

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There was no alcohol or drugs in her system when she died.

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Police officially rule her death as a homicide, noting that Julia died by asphyxiation by

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drowning.

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By April 2013, so it's been four months since Julia was murdered and police are offering

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a $10,000 reward for information.

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Julia's family remain confident that the police will be able to track down Julia's

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murderer.

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They talk with police at least once a week.

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Julia's mother Kim says, quote, I'm willing to be patient as long as it brings justice.

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She deserves that, end quote.

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Police have also been able to determine that while some things were missing from her room,

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police do not think that robbery was the motive.

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By this point, police have interviewed hundreds of people, her family, friends, classmates

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from both high school and college.

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Police have given polygraph tests and everyone has passed.

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Police are still working their way through the case.

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Detective Annette Kopek says, quote, we still have a current list of names that we need

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to look at and a to do list, end quote.

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Police do confirm that they have ruled out the guy that she went on a date with the weekend

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before she was found murdered.

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In December of 2013, just shy of the one year anniversary, Julia's family begs for the

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person or people involved in Julia's murder to please come forward.

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Her stepfather Jim, who raised her since she was a child, says, quote, for the persons

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that are responsible, I'm sorry that you didn't have the open mind to see who my daughter

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truly was.

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Maybe one day you will, end quote.

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They also announced that the reward has been increased to $15,000.

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The next time Julia's murder is in the media is at the two year anniversary in December

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of 2014.

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Julia's family hold a memorial service not only for Julia, but for other families as

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well that are seeking answers.

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Kim, Julia's mother says, quote, this night is about Julia and finding justice for Julia,

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but all of these cases have a common denominator.

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Someone knows something.

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If we can bring closure to any of these cases, we've done good here tonight, end quote.

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Police are a little more clear at this time in what they believe happened the night Julia

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was murdered.

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They believe that she was asphyxiated and then placed into the bathtub where she drowned.

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A few months later in February of 2015, Julia's stepdad, James Turnquist, is arrested for

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different charges.

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I'm not going to get into it since he was found not guilty and his wife and daughters

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stood by him throughout the entire ordeal.

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However, in that trial, additional details come out in Julia's case.

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He's also named a person of interest in her murder, but this will also fizzle out over

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time.

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A lot of the additional details I already went over in the timeline.

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However, we also learned that seminal fluid was found on her body.

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It was male DNA and consistent with a man who had had a vasectomy.

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There were also two DNA profiles found in the latex glove.

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One DNA profile is weak and they're only able to determine that it's male.

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The other one, however, is stronger and would be good enough to make a comparison.

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It also comes out that police failed to collect a purple rug that sat outside the bathtub

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in Julia's bathroom.

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Police will later ask him for the rug so they can test it.

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When Kim takes police to the storage locker where they kept Julia's things, the rug

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was nowhere to be found.

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Some believe that the police had the rug the entire time.

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To date, no one knows what happened to the rug.

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In 2022, at the 10-year anniversary, Julia's family worked to keep her story in the media,

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but they're frustrated with the progress that police have made.

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Her sister says, quote, we're just frustrated and they need to hand it over.

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This is too big for them, end quote.

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The family has been advocating for the Ypsilanti police to hand the case over to the state

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police.

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The family don't trust the Ypsilanti police after what they put Julia's father through.

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The family has started working with retired detective Yuhas, who worked the case from

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the beginning initially.

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From him, the family have learned new details, one of them being that police haven't been

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able to rule out a serial killer, and that the killer also took his time.

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Previously, the family thought that the murder was quick.

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They think the killer might have followed Julia after she took the trash out at her

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apartment.

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But that is all we know about Julia Niswender’s case.

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So if you know anything about the murder of Julia in December of 2012, the family asked

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that you please call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-773-2587.

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So that is the case of Julia Niswender.

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Not that I ever know what to expect when you are sharing a case with us, but I was just

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shocked.

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I was talking to myself a lot while I was listening to you, and just a very heartbreaking

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case.

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You know, like her going to school, kids going to school, just after they graduate, it's

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supposed to be a safe space to explore different interests and hobbies and meet new friends

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and a place to grow.

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And the fact that it was violated in such a violent way, it's just really heartbreaking.

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Yeah, this is a case that I also found really shocking while I was researching it.

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I didn't know much about it.

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It is a case that has been covered quite a bit out there, but it's one that I personally

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didn't know.

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So I wanted to get into it and uncover things for myself.

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And at each turn, I was very shocked.

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And yeah, I agree with you that it's always heartbreaking whenever we do one on a college

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campus just because that was such a sweet time in my life.

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And it feels like it should be like a sacred place where you are safe.

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But unfortunately, we find again and again that people are not.

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The first thing I just wanted to say about her, I immediately knew or could picture who

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she was based on her love of animals and their animals' reactions to her.

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Yeah, I always heard that if animals and babies like you, then you're a good person.

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So the fact that animals just approached her like old friends, I think speaks volumes about

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how good of a person she really was.

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Yeah, and her sisterly connection and bond with not just her twin, but her younger sister,

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like them meeting for lunch.

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I don't know, I have sisters and siblings and we are all close and meeting for lunch

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around a busy Christmas time is something we would do just to quickly check in and kind

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of de-stress in the middle of what could be a busy, frazzled time.

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Yeah, she was extremely close to her family and her family is still deeply advocating

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for her and fighting for her.

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So that bond is still so tight.

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Something else that I wrote down was that's a good roomie, that her roommate knew something

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was wrong and did something about it.

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We say it all the time, but that's a real one.

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That's a real friend, someone looking out for you.

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You know, obviously I would want someone to look for me.

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I'd want people like that to advocate for me.

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So I don't know if you could say who that name or what that person's name was, but yeah,

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you're a real one.

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Yeah, the roommate was actually never named in any of the research that I was looking

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at, but yeah, they immediately kind of knew something was off, like not sticking to the

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regular schedule.

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They really noticed that her car hadn't moved at all, so it's not like she was doing things

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and coming and getting her car, dropping it off.

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Like they took note and yeah, raised the alarm very quickly, which is what you want.

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This kind of segues us into the terrifying site that they found eventually when they

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opened that bathroom door.

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But first was, you know, just the mess in what could look like a robbery.

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But what I also wrote down was violation of space is, if you've experienced it before,

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you know, like been robbed, then maybe you know what I'm talking about or can relate.

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But it's a destabilizing experience to know that your space was violated like that, especially

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if you are someone who, you know, really curates your space and make it a safe and relaxing

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one for you to be in.

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But also, you know, that nothing was really taken.

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Yeah, police do believe that the rummaging of the drawers and like dumping everything

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was more of a decoy to try to make it look like a robbery gone wrong.

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But it doesn't seem like anything of value was really missing.

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We do know for sure that her apartment key was missing.

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So that's how her bedroom door was locked and the apartment was locked when the roommate

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got back.

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So they locked it on the way out.

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And the pillowcase was also missing and it seems like a pillow.

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We know ligatures are missing from the scene and something that was used to cut was removed

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from the scene.

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But there might be some other things missing, those things we don't know.

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But it's hard to know what the real motive is here.

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I mean, just recently the retired detective, you know, told the family that they think

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that the person just slipped in, followed Julia when she took the trash out from her

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apartment and followed her back.

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But there was no sign of forced entry.

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So maybe she knew the person.

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You know, there's a lot of things and police are also even saying like a serial killer.

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They don't mention a name or specifics in that.

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But it seems like nothing has really been ruled out here.

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I know with our podcast, we don't spend a ton of time on details of a murder, but this

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is for clarification's sake.

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I don't think I understood.

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She asphyxiated and was then drowned.

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That's what I don't understand.

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Yeah, so police aren't very clear exactly on the details.

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But what I took kind of took it as, it does seem like it was two acts of like the asphyxiation

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is one and then the drowning was the final piece.

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Yeah, to me, and I'm just thinking of this in real time.

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It's not something that I wrote down.

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To me that really does say that was someone who was taking their time.

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You know, it didn't even occur to me but like to take the time to, you know, draw the water

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unless it was already in there, but if she was talking to her sister and whatnot, it

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doesn't seem like that is what was happening.

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So oh, God, that's very terrifying to think about.

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Yeah, it's really scary to think about what this girl went through.

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You know, police found ligature marks.

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So they do say she was tied up or bound.

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So it does seem like whoever committed this horrible act realized that he had the time

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to be there.

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00:21:09,640 --> 00:21:15,880
I know you mentioned that the perpetrator was someone who had had a vasectomy, which

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to me, definitely like if I was, you know, investigating, I would think it was an older

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man.

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Those are my thoughts, at least on like profile that it was probably someone older.

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But I'm curious to know what you thought.

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I would agree with you that the vasectomy does point to somebody who is older.

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I wouldn't think that it would be typical of a college student.

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Another thing I just kind of wanted to point out is that there does seem to be two, possibly

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two DNA profiles from the latex gloves that police found in the bedroom floor.

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00:21:56,600 --> 00:22:02,500
The FBI and police did talk about the latex gloves possibly being like a decoy or something

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00:22:02,500 --> 00:22:04,420
to throw them off.

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So that is something but there did seem to be like two sets of DNA.

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One was pretty weak.

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So maybe that is just the other DNA profile, just a weaker pull of it.

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But there is a strong DNA profile that could be used in comparison.

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So I hope in the future, the family gets justice.

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They're fighting for it, they're advocating for it.

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They actively want this case worked.

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So I hope that they're able to get a profile to match to this DNA that they have.

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I do know it hasn't showed up in any systems like CODIS.

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So that is something that police have mentioned.

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Yeah, I think with cases like this, once there is a possible theory or speculation that a

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serial killer could possibly be involved, it becomes a case where a lot of people start

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speculating and the most important thing is honestly like just what you did brought this

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case to our attention.

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I feel sad that I didn't know about it because I originally am not too far from where she

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was from.

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I'm very interested in helping.

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00:23:20,320 --> 00:23:26,440
Anyway, I can, especially because this case was so recent.

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It feels possible to me that there are answers out there, but you know, more than anything,

335
00:23:31,840 --> 00:23:34,680
just keep just continuing to talk about it.

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Absolutely.

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And again, if you know anything about Julia Niswender’s murder, please call Crimestoppers

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at 1-800-773-2587.

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And we'll of course have pictures of Julia on our Instagram at ColdandMissing.

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If you're not following us, please follow us there.

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00:23:52,200 --> 00:23:56,400
We have updates in case we ever do need to miss a week of the podcast.

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We usually post about it there.

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So please follow us if you're not already.

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Thank you if you've taken the time to rate and review us.

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00:24:03,560 --> 00:24:06,640
If you haven't, today could be your day to do it.

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00:24:06,640 --> 00:24:09,080
So please write us a written review.

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You can do it in Apple podcasts or at our website www.coldandmissing.com where we also

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have transcripts and all of our back catalogs.

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So go check it out.

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If you're new here, if you want to look at more cases, you can find all of them there.

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But that is all I have.

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Thank you so much for listening to Cold and Missing.

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I'm your host Allie.

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And I'm your co-host Eli.

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Have a good week and stay safe, y'all.

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Stay safe, y'all.