Barefoot on Frozen Ground: How Julie Left a Number and Survived

Missing person stories · Aug 4, 2026 · 18m

Barefoot on Frozen Ground: How Julie Left a Number and Survived

A barefoot woman stood on frozen grass at 19°F with a phone number written on the sole of her foot in black permanent marker - a forty-second act that became the key to a nine-day survival story. How did a 22-year-old, held in a concrete room with no windows, build a way out with only a marker, a memorized number, and a sheet of paper passed at a community meeting?

In this episode, we follow the timeline from Julie Olson’s last text at 17:47 on December 2, 2009 to the moment a utility worker spotted her on Dresser Avenue, asking…