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.
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I'm your host, Ali McLaughlin-Sulkowski.
And I'm your co-host, Eli Sulkowski.
And this is Cold and Missing, where we cover cold cases and missing person cases.
Hello everyone, welcome back.
Welcome back everyone.
I'm Ali.
And I'm Eli.
And this is Cold and Missing on our 40th episode.
Wow.
Congratulations.
Thank you, Mr. Sulkowski.
Thanks.
Okay, well, with our 40th episode, it's a cold case this week, correct?
That's right, we're covering a cold case this week.
Would you like to start us off?
Yeah, let's jump into it.
Great.
So today I have for you a cold case, but just as a content warning at the top, this case
does involve a young person.
Today we are covering the case of Aaron Dowdle, and this takes place in April of 2005 in South
Salt Lake, Utah.
But first a little bit about Aaron.
Aaron is 15 years old in 2005.
He was born December 29, 1989, and he would be 33 years old today.
Aaron was a freshman at Granite High School, where he was a popular kid known for his smile
and sense of humor.
He loved football, skateboarding, and was a talented artist.
His sister Carrie says, quote, he was just so outgoing and always trying to make everybody
laugh, end quote.
Aaron's mother, Vicki, said he had a quirky personality.
He was an active member of the Kimball Ward of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints.
And now a timeline of events.
So Thursday, March 31, 2005, Aaron and his best friend Andrew leave their homes in South
Salt Lake, Utah to ride their bikes around.
I wasn't able to officially confirm, but based off of current academic calendars, I
do believe that the boys were on spring break during this time.
Aaron and Andrew hang out all day and into the night.
Aaron and Andrew were last seen between midnight and 1 AM, so this is April 1 now, standing
on a corner outside of Aaron's home.
In the early morning hours of April 1, an exact time isn't given.
Andrew is found lying unconscious near Burton Avenue and West Temple by people passing by.
Andrew is only wearing his boxers, a t-shirt, and one sock.
A few hours later, Aaron is found by passerbys a few blocks away.
Aaron is found at 195 West Malvern Avenue.
Aaron is fully clothed but has been beaten into a coma and stabbed.
The boys are rushed to the hospital while police work to ID the boys because they are
unrecognizable after the assault.
Police go on local media asking for the public's help.
The police spokesperson says, quote, We have nothing else at this point, so our detectives
are out trying to determine who they are.
We're checking with other agencies and missing persons, end quote.
It's unclear how the boys are eventually ID'd, but Aaron's mother, Vicki, gets a phone
call from police.
She said, quote, I called my husband and I said, I just got a phone call saying that
Aaron had gotten hurt and they wanted us to identify him and make sure it is him, end
quote.
So the next piece of media coverage we have on this case comes on April 28, so this is
27 days after the attack.
Aaron and Andrew's family speak with the media for the first time and Aaron and Andrew's
picture are released.
The hope in releasing their name and picture is that it will help generate leads as investigators
had hit a dead end.
Police Captain Tracy Tingey says, quote, This case is going nowhere, end quote.
Family and investigators have high optimism that both of the boys will fully recover.
Aaron, at this time, was awake and responding to certain stimuli but couldn't speak since
his jaw was wired shut.
Andrew is improving rapidly but he can only remember two days before the attack, nothing
from the day itself.
At this time, investigators believe that the boys were attacked together and then dropped
at different locations.
Police still don't know where the attack took place, where Andrew's clothes are, or
the motivation for the attack.
Aaron's mother, Vicki, says, quote, It's been a nightmare.
It's been four weeks of utter hell.
I just want to know why.
My son has never hurt anyone, end quote.
Aaron's sister, Carrie, says, quote, I want to know who did this to my brother.
It boggles my mind.
I just don't know what he could have done that he could have, why someone would want
to do this to him, end quote.
On Sunday, May 8, 2005, so this is 37 days from the attack, Aaron is rushed from his
long term care facility to Alta View Hospital.
Aaron suffered from a brain hemorrhage and was pronounced dead at 530 p.m.
Family are shocked since he had been making such great recovery strides.
Aaron's mother says, quote, I'm just kind of numb.
It just seems unbelievable.
I keep thinking I'll wake up and it'll be a dream.
It's been really hard, end quote.
Aaron's sister, Carrie, says, quote, I feel like I've been robbed.
We not only lost a brother, we lost an uncle, and we lost a best friend that can never be
replaced, end quote.
Police shift their investigation to a homicide case.
Police Captain Tracy Tingey says, quote, we were conducting the investigation like it
was a homicide anyway because we had two victims that couldn't talk to us.
The only change is now it truly is a homicide.
It really doesn't change the method and manner, end quote.
Police are reinterviewing people and while they have no leads, they do believe that whoever
attacked the boys probably knew them and intended for them to die.
Andrew has fully recovered and has been released from the hospital but still has no memory
of the event or of the day.
Aaron's mother says, quote, I really want these guys caught.
It's silly to let something like this happen and let them get away.
It's silly, end quote.
The next day, May 9th, Aaron's autopsy is conducted and grief counselors are sent to
Granite High School to support the students there.
Principal Stephen Hess says, quote, the kids were upset by what happened.
They were hoping he would pull through, end quote.
Investigators keep hitting dead ends.
Police Captain Tracy Tingey says, quote, normally we'd get someone saying that they were hanging
out with this person or that person who said something.
The beating was so bad, it felt like it was a personal vendetta.
But there's nothing.
It may very well turn out to be a stranger or strangers.
It very well could be random, end quote.
Another theory police have at this time is that the boys saw something or stumbled into
something that they shouldn't have seen.
On Friday, May 13th, Aaron's funeral is held at the South Salt Lake Steak Center and he
is laid to rest at Redwood Memorial Mortuary.
And then Aaron's case really goes cold after that.
Then the next media report that I could find comes on December 12th, 2019.
So this is 14 years after Aaron's death.
Local media cover the cold case, but it does appear that the motive has shifted in the
investigation.
Sergeant Matt Allhur told local media that they believe gang involvement and drugs could
have led to the assault.
Police say Andrew no longer cooperates with police.
And this is the last media coverage that I could find on the case.
However, I did reach out to South Salt Lake Police and Executive Officer Danielle Croyle
from the South Salt Lake Police Department responded back to me on May 18th and she said
the case is still active.
Unknown motive, but there is some indication of drug and possible gang involvement.
And she encourages anyone that knows anything to call the South Salt Lake Police.
So with that said, if you know anything, please contact the South Salt Lake Police at 801-840-4000.
And the sources for the timeline come from ABC4 News, Desert News, KSL, the Utah.gov
website, South Salt Lake Police, the Daily Spectrum and the Daily Herald.
So that is the case of Aaron Dowdell.
Yeah, I mean, it's a pretty brutal case, but I don't have any questions.
More just curious as to what you have to say about it.
Yeah, I, this case is really brutal.
I think it's interesting that kind of 14 years after the fact is the first time that we hear
about the possible drug deal or gang involvement.
And even I think there's a quote from his mother from 2019 that says like, they don't
know if it was a drug deal gone bad or what happens.
They just like really don't know the story yet.
And therein lies the answer, right?
That's always kind of what we say.
Like once you have the full timeline, you know everything.
And also I'm curious as to like, why police say that Andrew, who was the other boy involved
in this attack who ended up surviving, why he no longer cooperates with the police?
Because from everything that we know in 2005, he sustained a pretty substantial head injury
from everything that was described.
So he just didn't have any memory from the days leading up to it.
I think it's said that he had no memories from two days before.
So we didn't remember the day before the day of.
Yeah, that makes sense.
So I just wonder why police say he's not cooperating when it doesn't seem like he can tell them
anything, you know?
Yeah.
Because your husband, I enjoy that I get to listen along with the listeners.
I mean, I know it's technically the night before, but you know, they're listening right
now.
And I get to be like surprised and impressed by you because, you know, yes, I'm I have
an interest in true crime in the same aspect as you as your interests and you want to be
a part.
Your interest is rooted in care and like finding people solving, you know?
But it wouldn't occur to me to like reach out to the deputy sheriff lady.
She is the executive officer, Danielle Croyle.
Danielle Croyle.
Yeah, I like wouldn't think to do that.
It makes sense.
Like, you know, and I've heard it on other podcasts and people who investigative journalism
where they do that kind of outreach or just like solving my my brain as far as true crime
goes just isn't really set up that way.
So I think it's cool.
I think it's great that she responded.
I think it's great that she's encouraging to encouraging people to, you know, come forward
if they've heard something or just anything is reiterating what we're doing on this episode.
So again, if you know anything about what happened to Aaron Dowdell in April of 2005,
please call the South Salt Lake Police at 801-840-4000.
And if you're not following us on Instagram, please go ahead and search us out.
You can find us at Cold and Missing.
We'll be posting pictures of Aaron along with all the information that's in the show notes
while you're in your podcast app.
If you wouldn't mind leaving us review, that would be awesome.
It helps others find the podcast, which helps others hear about these cases, which potentially
helps them get solved.
So just by telling a friend about this cool podcast you like, you're doing the work.
And if you don't have any social media and you don't want to review us on a podcast app,
head over to our website, Cold and Missing.
Everything's on there.
We also have transcripts if you are maybe hard of hearing or someone you love is hard
of hearing that would maybe be interested in our podcast.
They can go on there and read all our episodes, which is really cool.
I'm glad we have that up now.
And that's all I have.
So have a good week and stay safe, y'all.
Stay safe, y'all.