Logo

Paper Ghosts: The Ozarks

Transcribe your files Podcasts Home

It’s the dead of summer, 1989, in the heart of the Ozarks. An 18-year-old woman goes missing from Bella Vista, Arkansas. As the search moves forward, several suspects emerge. Then… a body is found not far from the Missouri border, and a homicide investigation begins. Soon, a second body is discovered nearby. What was a mystery transforms into the hunt for a possible serial killer stalking young women throughout the Ozarks. M. William Phelps digs in nearly 35 years later and begins to understand that things aren’t always what they seem. 

Episode 6: “Spawn of Hell”

Paper Ghosts: The Ozarks

  • 190 views
  • about 1 month ago
  • 55:31

The second female victim, known only as “Grace Doe” for nearly 30 years, is identified as Shauna Garber. Phelps’s investigation turns toward a new suspect in the murder of Dana Stidham (and possibly Shauna), while uncovering a revealing, lost recording of a new suspect - unheard until now. Phelps teams up with the detectives investigating the Shauna Garber case, evaluating similarities between her and Dana Stidham’s death. All of it leads Phelps to the doorstep of a potential killer walking the streets a free man, confronting the man some think is a prolific serial killer who has eluded law enforcement for some 34 years.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode 5: “Grace Doe: Shauna Garber”

Paper Ghosts: The Ozarks

  • 120 views
  • about 1 month ago
  • 56:05

With the discovery of a second young female murder victim just over the Missouri border, 20 minutes away from where Dana Stidham’s body was found, a new suspect seems to be playing cat-and-mouse with law enforcement. Phelps drills down and compares the similarities in the cases—as infamous serial killer Dennis “BTK” Rader enters the narrative as a major suspect in both homicides.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode 4: “The Cave”

Paper Ghosts: The Ozarks

  • 90 views
  • about 2 months ago
  • 46:40

The investigation by the Benton County Sheriff’s Office heats up in Dana Stidham’s gruesome murder, zeroing in on one particular suspect.  Phelps digs deeper, speaking to the suspect and wonders if law enforcement has been chasing the wrong man. Just over the Missouri border, not far from the Dana Stidham crime scene, a second young woman’s body is discovered. Are the cases linked? Phelps uncovers several exclusive, recorded interviews never-before-heard, speaks to several sources who claim that not only are the cases the work of one killer, but the suspect has been hiding in plain sight, taunting police, all along.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode 4: “The Cave:”

Paper Ghosts: The Ozarks

  • 130 views
  • about 2 months ago
  • 46:34

The investigation by the Benton County Sheriff’s Office heats up in Dana Stidham’s gruesome murder, zeroing in on one particular suspect.  Phelps digs deeper, speaking to the suspect and wonders if law enforcement has been chasing the wrong man. Just over the Missouri border, not far from the Dana Stidham crime scene, a second young woman’s body is discovered. Are the cases linked? Phelps uncovers several exclusive, recorded interviews never-before-heard, speaks to several sources who claim that not only are the cases the work of one killer, but the suspect has been hiding in plain sight, taunting police, all along.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode 3: “The Skull in the Creek Bed”

Paper Ghosts: The Ozarks

  • 93 views
  • about 2 months ago
  • 54:54

As the 1989 holiday season looms, Dana Stidham’s body is discovered by a local hunter in a Bella Vista creek bed. Law enforcement shifts its focus from missing person to murder… and begins to zero in on a suspect after he is arrested for a bizarre theft. Phelps’s contemporary, real-time investigation branches out and he questions whether the evidence against the chief suspect supports law enforcement’s push to arrest him – and whether Dana’s case is part of a more widespread series of murders by a serial killer targeting victims throughout the Ozarks during the late 1980’s and early 1990’s.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode 3: “The Skull in the Creek Bed:”

Paper Ghosts: The Ozarks

  • 92 views
  • about 2 months ago
  • 55:25

As the 1989 holiday season looms, Dana Stidham’s body is discovered by a local hunter in a Bella Vista creek bed. Law enforcement shifts its focus from missing person to murder… and begins to zero in on a suspect after he is arrested for a bizarre theft. Phelps’s contemporary, real-time investigation branches out and he questions whether the evidence against the chief suspect supports law enforcement’s push to arrest him – and whether Dana’s case is part of a more widespread series of murders by a serial killer targeting victims throughout the Ozarks during the late 1980’s and early 1990’s.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.