The views and opinions expressed in Cold and Missing are exclusively those of the hosts.
All parties mentioned are considered innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
Cold and Missing also contains adult themes and languages and is intended for a mature
audience.
Listener discretion is advised.
Hello everyone and welcome back to Cold and Missing.
I'm your host, Ali McLaughlin-Sulkowski.
I am your co-host, Eli Sulkowski.
And please forgive me, I am a little sick this week.
So I probably won't be speaking a ton this week.
You'll hear me again more at the end of the episode when I have questions for Ali after
I hear about the case.
Yeah, so this week we're going to be talking about a missing person.
His name is Myron Traylor and this takes place July 27th, 1988 in Phoenix, Arizona.
And just as a heads up, he is 13 years old when this takes place.
So we are talking about a kid this week.
So just at the top, I want to give a trigger warning.
We are going to be talking about violence against youth.
There is mention of drug use and then rumors of murder and assault.
So all of those things will be mentioned throughout the podcast today.
But first, a little bit about Myron.
He was born October 1st, 1974.
And at this time in July of 1988, he is 5'5", 106 pounds.
He has black hair and brown eyes.
And he wore glasses, but not on the day he disappeared.
He also had a half inch scar on the right side of his head from a bicycle accident.
His family describes him as very artistic.
His grandmother Ruthie had his art in her home.
And the Phoenix New Time reporter wrote, quote, it's better than what you would expect for
a sixth grader.
Myron was very active in his community, especially in his church, the Southminster Presbyterian.
During the summer, he was attending a recreation program there.
And he was also part of the church choir and youth group and would attend the Wednesday
night Bible study there.
So he was very active in his church community.
He also had a paper route.
He was actually working his paper route to save money for a trip to Disneyland that his
church was taking.
He had just signed up to play baseball.
He was going to have the number 33.
And his aunt, Sandra Traylor, says, quote, he was a quiet little boy.
He didn't cuss as far as I know.
And he wasn't into drugs.
He had so much ahead of him and so much to look forward to, end quote.
So on Wednesday, July 27th, 1988, this is the day that Myron disappeared.
Myron and his mother Debbie are going to walk to Myron's grandmother's house.
And they're going there because they want to call his brother Charlie, who is spending
the summer with his uncle in California, and also because they needed to wash some clothes
and their washing machine had broken at their home.
And walking to their grandmother's house was something that they do a lot because Debbie
didn't have a car.
So they were very used to walking places.
But on this day in July of 1988 in Arizona, it is hot outside.
The weather is reported as being 106 that day.
So even later in the evening, it's around six o'clock this time, it's still really
hot out.
Myron lived on the 1800 block of East Nancy Lane.
And his grandmother's house is on the 1200 block of Pecan Street.
And it's roughly a mile away.
So at around 6pm, as Myron and Debbie are walking, Myron wants to stop at OK Fish and
Chips to get a drink.
And this is about halfway between his house and his grandmother's house.
Debbie says that's fine and to catch up as she continues to walk.
Myron is served by Lena Watt at OK Fish and Chips.
And OK Fish and Chips sits in like a business plaza, but it's just a walk-up window.
So there's no inside seating.
There's only outside seating, because again, it's Arizona, you can sit outside a lot of
the year.
Lena Watt remembers this interaction with Myron.
And she claims that at this time, there was nobody sitting in the restaurant tables.
And Myron walked up to the window and ordered a cherry soda.
And he stood in the shade and chugged it.
He then ordered a second one.
As he's leaving, she says goodbye.
And he waves goodbye to her.
And he's last seen headed towards the direction of Pecan Street, the way he would need to
go to his grandmother's house.
So from OK Fish and Chips, Myron's normal route from here would be to cross 16th Street
to a business park opposite of OK Fish and Chips.
And he would cut through the parking lot there.
And next to that parking lot was a dirt field that Myron would walk across to reach Pecan
Street.
His grandmother's house was just down the road.
So Myron is last seen in the parking lot of OK Fish and Chips by four witnesses.
One of the witnesses was Debbie's boyfriend at the time, Geddes Mintz.
When Myron was last seen, he was wearing a white and red striped shirt, white shorts
with blueprint, and white sneakers.
And he was carrying a cherry soda and a laundry bag.
Debbie reaches the grandmother's house and says Myron is right behind her.
But Myron doesn't show up.
The family immediately begins to worry.
But they think that maybe he went ahead and caught the bus to head to Bible study.
Because originally, the plan was for Myron to pick up his best friend, who lived across
the street from his grandmother.
And they were going to catch the bus to go to Bible study together.
But it was starting to get close to the time that Bible study would have started.
So they think maybe he just went ahead and caught the bus there so he wouldn't be late.
The Bible study got out around 930 that evening and there was no sign of Myron.
So the family immediately called police.
But police don't take it seriously at first.
They think that Myron is out with friends and he'll probably show up in a couple of
hours.
But the family is very persistent that that is unlike him.
He would have told somebody where he is going.
Debbie also during this time rewalks the path that Myron should have taken to get to his
grandmother's house, but she doesn't see anything and there's no sign of him.
So the family continued to call the police.
And on Thursday, July 28th at 2 a.m., the police came to finally take a report.
Police begin investigating.
And on Saturday, July 30th, the police say they have no evidence of foul play, but quote,
we haven't found anything to indicate he's a runaway.
And that is Sergeant Andy Anderson.
Police officers and church members organize a search and they pass out flyers.
It's reported that 40 people, mostly children, search the dirt fields looking for signs of
Myron but they turn up nothing.
Reverend G. Benjamin Brooks, Myron's pastor at Southminster Presbyterian, said that Myron
had not told him of any troubles.
He's a very quiet boy.
He has no problems that I'm aware of, end quote.
The next day, Sunday, the search continues with neighbors, family, and friends.
And the family is interviewed in the paper.
His mother says, quote, he's been walking back and forth to his grandmother's house
for years.
He's never disappeared before.
He's doing well in school.
He doesn't have any problems that he told me about, end quote.
At this time, a rumor pops up that maybe Myron ran away to California to see his brother.
But the family dismissed this idea because he doesn't have his uncle's address and he
wouldn't know how to find him or how to get there.
So they think this is pretty impossible.
On Thursday, August 4th, this is one week Myron has been missing, police say that they
are all out of leads.
And investigators are still unsure at this time if he's been abducted or run away.
Investigators say, quote, the officers who took the report also became concerned even
though there was nothing to indicate an abduction.
And they checked vacant homes and fields in the area, end quote.
And that is Sergeant Andy Anderson again.
And I just take this to mean that the officers who came at 2 a.m. to take the report, they
started to take Myron's disappearance seriously, even though there was no crime scene at that
time.
There was no indication of foul play, but something definitely seemed off about his
disappearance and runaway did not seem likely.
On August 19th, this is three weeks after Myron has disappeared, a $5,000 reward is
offered for information leading to his safe return.
And police also confirmed that Myron was last seen at OK Fish and Ships in the parking lot.
And officially, investigators turn away from a runaway theory and it becomes a child abduction
case and possible homicide.
In October of 1988, just over two months Myron has been missing, the police asked the public
for help again.
Myron had just turned 14 over the weekend.
He's an October 1st birthday.
Police are pretty frustrated by this case.
Sergeant Mike Hopple says, quote, In Myron's case, they have investigated it thoroughly
as though he were not a runaway and investigators have not been able to determine it one way
or another, end quote.
So again, there's just no sign of him.
In February of 1989, this is just shy of seven months he's been missing.
Police say he has been abducted and they knew this within the first week.
Police also point out two other boys that had been kidnapped in the 1980s that at this
time the crimes were unsolved.
The first case is Brian Blyle and he was abducted while collecting money for his newspaper route
on February 28th, 1981.
A man was arrested for this in the 90s but was ultimately acquitted mainly because they
never were able to find Brian's body.
So to this day, this case remains open.
Another boy, Mitchell Amador, was four years old and was last seen playing outside of his
home in October of 1987.
Ultimately in 1991, a family friend was convicted of the murder of Mitchell.
So that case is closed as of today.
Police say, quote, The frustrating part in dealing with Myron is we've really come up
short.
We should be further along, but we just don't have a strong indication of what happened
to him, end quote.
And that is Lieutenant Wayne Polk, the Phoenix Police Department missing person detail.
So we are going to be getting into a lot of rumors over the next few years in the timeline.
Again, they're all rumors and strange occurrences, I'll say, but they all kind of come back to
Myron in one way or the other.
So in the spring of 1990, Myron has been missing for one and a half years.
Ruthie had answered the phone and she believed she was talking to her granddaughter who lived
in Texas.
But when Ruthie asked about her mom, the child hung up.
Ruthie later told police that the voice could have been Myron's and thinking back on it.
In the summer of 1990, a man called Myron's grandparents house looking for Myron.
When Claude said his grandson was missing, the caller hung up.
And also someone called Myron's best friends, the boy who lived across the street, to ask
how's grandma doing in reference to Ruthie, Myron's grandmother.
When the friend told the caller she was recovering from being in the hospital, the caller hung
up.
So a lot of hang up phone calls.
In July of 1991, this is three years now Myron has been missing, rumors reach police that
Myron was dealing drugs in Los Angeles, vowing to return to Phoenix to get revenge on his
mom who gave him away.
Police go to LA and turn up nothing.
And police also say at this time that there is no evidence that Debbie had anything to
do with Myron's disappearance.
And police reveal she passed a polygraph early into the investigation.
But the community, the family, police even are all frustrated just by the lack of information
that's coming out.
It's really just all rumors and strange hang up phone calls at this point.
The Reverend G. Benjamin Brooks says, quote, it's about time that something be discovered
as to what happened to him.
Three years without one piece of information.
That's a long, long time, end quote.
Police say, quote, you have to believe that some harm has happened after this long to
cause him to vanish off of the face of the earth.
You have to speculate that something bad has happened, end quote.
And then this is Ruthie Myron's grandmother says, quote, I know Myron, he's gone, but
he didn't go by himself.
He would have called someone or one of his friends, end quote.
And at this time, Debbie has quit her job and relapsed into addiction.
She had moved away from her family.
So her family wasn't sure where she was living at this time.
But Myron's younger brother lived with their grandparents and he talked about Myron always
in present tense and as if Myron was in the next room.
In the fall of 1991, Debbie receives an unsigned letter saying that Myron's body is buried
on private property near 24th and Jones Avenue.
Sergeant Kevin Robinson says, this is investigated, but nothing comes of it.
In 1993, so this would be five years that Myron has been missing, a persistent caller
tells police that a well-known crack dealer was bragging about murdering and assaulting
a child.
The dealer had gotten into a fight with his girlfriend and went to a bar near OK Fish
and Chips the night that Myron disappeared.
The dealer kidnapped, assaulted and murdered the child and buried him in his yard.
Police investigate this again and again, since it's so specific, but they can't confirm
any of the details.
Ultimately, it turns out that this tipster was trying to get revenge on the dealer since
his ex-girlfriend had moved in with the dealer.
Sergeant John LaCarni says, quote, there's no chance he's right, end quote.
In 1997, this would be seven years Myron was missing, his grandmother passes away, but
the family continued to receive letters throughout the years talking about what had happened
to Myron or where his body may be, and these letters are weird.
Ruthie, before she passed, originally began receiving the letters at her home.
They were always anonymous, no return address, but she did say that there was a South Texas
stamp on the envelope, but the letter says, quote, hello, I am not going to leave my name
due to fear of what may happen to my mother who still lives in Phoenix, as what I have
to say is the truth about some very bad soulless bastards, end quote.
In this letter, they call Myron Byron with a B, but they say that his disappearance is
entangled with the Mexican mafia, and they ultimately point to two men who live in the
neighborhood called Kiko and Uncle Tony and say that they are the ones that killed Myron.
The letter says, quote, now why isn't Phoenix police doing anything about it since about
a dozen people have come forth?
The word on the street is that Kiko is a paid snitch working for them, end quote.
These letters keep coming mentioning Kiko and Uncle Tony.
They mentioned vacant lots, and they mentioned places where chicken fights happen, all having
to do with Myron's disappearance.
But when Ruthie and Claude pass away and their daughter, Sandra, Myron's aunt, moves into
the home, the home that Myron was supposed to be headed to the evening he disappeared,
the letters are no longer addressed to Ruthie, but they begin being addressed to Sandra.
So someone is at least watching the family enough to know to change who to address the
letters to.
The letters will ultimately say that these men killed Myron and fed his body to hogs,
and the letters always sign, quote, a friend, end quote.
In March of 2002, Debbie dies of cancer.
And while police say that she was not a suspect in this, her sister, Sandra, does believe
that she knew more than what she led on.
She says, quote, she knew something, end quote.
And in May of 2002, so again, this is around 14 years Myron has been missing, police revealed
the only suspect they've ever had in the case, and that's Debbie's boyfriend, Geddes Mintz.
Geddes Mintz is a known cocaine dealer.
In the 1980s, he had been serving a seven-year sentence for aggravated assault, but was released
four months before Myron went missing.
Ultimately, he would be back in jail in March of 1989, which is seven months after Myron
went missing for attempted armed robbery.
And then as of today, of 2023, he is currently serving a sentence for second degree murder
after stabbing and killing his girlfriend and stabbing her mother who survived in 2009.
He will be released in 2043.
And he has never talked to investigators about Myron's disappearance.
But Mintz was one of the last people to see Myron in the parking lot the day that he disappeared.
Police theorize that Myron could have confronted Mintz about his drug use and him dating his
mom.
But it's also said that after Myron went missing, Mintz showed up with his arm in a sling, but
claimed it was from a dog bite.
Detective Bob Bernanski from the Phoenix PD, when asked what he thinks about what happened
to Myron, he says, quote, I think he's dead and I think he's buried somewhere not too
far from where he lived, end quote.
On Sunday, July 28, 2008, the family organized a candlelight vigil to mark the 20-year anniversary
of Myron missing.
The family is hopeful that at this point, someone will come forward that didn't want
to talk 20 years ago.
Sandra is quoted as saying, quote, it's awful living all these years without knowing.
We don't need names or anything.
We just want to know what happened, end quote.
Police say, quote, there is no doubt in investigators' minds that somebody is out there, probably
in the Phoenix area, that knows what happened to Myron, end quote.
And that's Sergeant Andy Hill of the Phoenix PD.
In October of 2016, so this would be 28 years Myron has been missing, three men come to
Sandra's door and one says, quote, my last name is Traylor and I'm here from Texas.
My mama told me I had a bunch of kinfolk out here.
Are you family?
End quote.
Sandra is nervous because there's three strange men on her doorstep and she's not wearing
her glasses so she can't really see them.
So she asked them if they will come back when other people are home.
So the men leave, but they never come back.
And Sandra wonders if this could have been Myron.
She says, quote, I should have opened the door, right?
End quote.
But that is really all we know of what happened to Myron.
Again, police believe that somebody in Phoenix knows something about what happened to him.
And if you happen to know something about what happened to Myron in 1988, please call
the Phoenix police at 602-261-8042.
Again, the Phoenix police phone number is 602-261-8042.
And the sources for today's podcast come from the Arizona Republic and they really covered
the story.
I read over 20 articles from them about this case.
So they really did an incredible job covering this over the years.
The Arizona Daily Star, the Merced Sunstar, Uncovered.com, Phoenix New Times, and Wonderground.com.
So that's the story of Myron Traylor.
Wow.
Thank you so much for telling us about him.
He sounds like a really sweet kid.
Yeah.
Over and over again, that's just what I kept reading, that he was a good kid.
He wasn't into any trouble.
He just loved going to church.
That was his.
I will say though, and I know that in context maybe this doesn't matter, but even if he
was quote a bad kid, no one deserves to go missing or be murdered.
Even if he had been into, drug dealers are still people.
Yeah, of course.
So I was thinking about that as I was listening, knowing that it was written in the 80s.
Or even now, journalism, they really highlight, they try to highlight specific positives of
a person or really lay into the negatives.
They paint the picture or paint the narrative.
I just thought that was interesting in being a part of this podcast and reading so many
articles that have been written over expansive time periods that it never really changes
the way they choose to write about a person.
Yeah.
Either you're a good kid who went missing or a bad kid that ran away.
Yeah.
When you were talking about how the cops interacted with them, my first question initially, because
I haven't seen this person, was, was he a black child?
He is.
Okay.
But more often than not, when a young black child goes missing, the cop's reaction is
always like, oh, they probably just went to hang with a friend.
When the family explicitly tells you, I know my child and that is not the case.
From that moment, they seem to always get it wrong from that assumption.
That's what's heartbreaking is I've seen it and you've seen it.
Having an interest in true crime and cold cases.
Yeah.
You just see it over and over again.
That's usually the biggest mistake is the initial assumption and that it happens most
often with black children or BIPOC children or just marginalized people.
It's really sad.
Yeah.
The idea that black children are seen as adults.
Very cool.
Yeah.
The perception of black children.
Yeah.
I think from my most privileged standpoint, I can say is that it's heartbreaking to see
that happen, that that happens over and over again.
It's an institutionalized way of people seeing younger marginalized children.
I was actually very surprised with how quickly police-
That's the thing I was also going to say is that this also seemed like a rare case because
quickly after it started to pick up pace and they seemed to care quite a bit more in other
cases that we have both talked about and not on the podcast.
Totally.
Yeah.
That was actually when I started researching this case and I saw he was a young missing
black child from the 80s.
I initially assumed, okay, police probably thought he was a runaway for a while and didn't
look into it, but the family was able to get police out there by 2 a.m. to take a report
where, we have talked about families where that took days to happen.
Yeah.
I had the double, almost double take where I was like, oh no, it's happening again.
I was like, wait, maybe it's not.
Yeah, and of course we don't always know what investigators have and haven't done until
the case is closed.
Unfortunately, for us, we don't get access to all of that once.
Exactly.
We only get what's out there.
We can't truly know what the police did or didn't do in this case, especially very early
on in this critical first few hours, but I was surprised at how quickly they came out
and that the officers at the scene became concerned when they were taking the report,
even though there wasn't a scene or a lot of witnesses saying they had seen him be kidnapped.
They were like, something is wrong here.
Something is wrong.
Yeah.
This young child didn't just walk away.
What do you think?
I'm very curious about the mother's ex-boyfriend because based off of his record, which I was
able to look up and see everything, his crimes did get more violent.
It would seem to track, it would not surprise me if he, in this small break of time he was
out of prison, committed a crime, especially a violent crime considering he has a history
of it.
In 2009, he murdered his then-girlfriend and tried to murder her mother.
I will say too that it seemed like as time progressed, as distance was made from his
initial disappearance, it seems like, and I think this happens with most cases, the
detail and information and what might have happened became more muddled.
As more years passed, someone was like, oh, maybe this fact or this line of information.
It seems like they kind of got braided and confused together.
Yeah.
There were a lot of rumors in this case.
Rumors that were being almost said as factual and then being pulled in as part of the timeline
of stuff that may have happened.
It sounded confusing towards the end.
Yeah.
It really is.
Police are kind of working under this idea that he was abducted and probably murdered
the night he disappeared, if not shortly thereafter.
But then the family has these strange occurrences, like the phone call or the multiple phone
calls of people either looking for him or maybe it was him.
Oh my God.
When you started talking about that, I was like, the stranger.
How they write to the house.
Oh, the watcher?
The watcher, yeah.
Yeah.
I actually did.
Then the letter, is that- The letters, yeah.
I don't know if that person was genuinely trying to be helpful or if they're just somebody
who wants to wreak havoc on a family that's already going through a lot, which is fucked.
Sometimes people are unwell and it could have been a lot of things.
But the thing that really creeped me out or made me like, oh, this is yucky, is when the
person writing the letters, because they were persistent with their letter writing to Ruthie,
but when Ruthie died and Sandra moved in, they were like, okay, to Sandra.
Sandra, Sandra, Sandra.
So it's like somebody that was at least in the know with enough of the family was keeping
an eye- Close enough.
Yeah.
Either close to the family or watching the family or keeping an eye on the family.
But somebody was like, I'm following you.
That's what's scary.
Yeah.
Then I don't blame Sandra at all for these three men showing up and her being like, no,
you're not coming into my house.
Absolutely not.
100%.
I don't care what your mama said about you having family up here.
Come back later.
And the fact they didn't- If three random men ever show up at my door,
your door, the door will never be opened.
That's like cold hard fact.
I'm not opening the door if three random men come to my door.
Yeah.
They're saying they're family.
Yeah.
Like- I don't know you.
Yeah.
And then when they didn't come back, I'm like, oh, that's a little icky.
So yeah, I feel really bad for this family because I feel like they've had to endure
so many rumors, which I can't even imagine how that tugs at your emotions of like, he's
alive, he's not.
I can't even imagine.
So my heart really goes out to this family and just having to deal with stuff that could
not even be related because it's like that all just takes away from the main focus, which
is getting him home.
And maybe people with good intentions who are like, I heard this thing that maybe got
warped through the grapevine, but I heard this thing.
Maybe it's true.
So they go to the police with that.
Like that is- I think that should be encouraged to go for it if you have heard something.
But the person who was just making up this dealer, because his ex-girlfriend had moved
in with the dealer, so he was trying to get him arrested for this murder, that just takes
away resources and time and plays with the family's emotions that they might get answers,
might not be what they want.
That's just so shitty.
Don't do that.
Again, if you know anything or have heard anything, we do encourage that if you have
heard anything, please call the Phoenix police at 602-261-8042.
But other than that, you can follow us on Instagram at Cold and Missing, where we will
be posting the graphics Eli makes.
The update new throughout the week of just basically everything that Ali covered and
a little bit more in-depth descriptions of what those things are.
Yeah, lots of pictures from the case.
And while you're there, the link in our bio, it has- we mentioned this last week, but the
GoFundMe for Faith, Tito J. Garcia-Quintanilla's wife, who's trying to raise money for a private
investigator to look into her husband's disappearance.
We talked about Tito in December recently.
Please go there.
If you're unable to share or if you're unable to support financially, share in your communities
a lot.
This family means so much to us and we really want-
Even just posting it on your story, it gets another, however many followers you have who
look through your story, it has eyes on it.
It does so much to just share.
It's totally cool if you can't donate, but if you feel inclined, please share it.
It's really helpful when you do.
Yeah, so please share that.
You can find the link to that in the link in our bio on Instagram.
While you're in your podcast app, if you could go ahead and give us a five-star review if
you think we are so worthy of it or a thumbs up, a like.
You know what the metrics are.
If you're an Apple podcast, leaving us a written review, they go up on our fridge and we love
them, all of them.
Also, if you like what we're doing here and you want more of it, you can give us a little
tip at buy us a coffee.
Again, that's in the link in our bio on Instagram.
So if you feel so inclined, we've had people do that in the past for us and wow, you are
prayed for regularly in this home.
So thank you again.
If you have supported in the past or even thought about it, thank you.
I know inflation is high.
Money is tight.
So if you've been able to spare $5 our way, wow, you're a hero.
It's really helped us step up our recording quality and honestly, we're able to spend
more time dedicating our energy to this.
The generosity from the listeners is really helpful.
So thank you.
Thank you.
But that's all I have.
Thank you, Al.
Yeah.
Appreciate all your hard work as always.
So have a good week and stay safe, y'all.
Stay safe, y'all.