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Cold Case Files Deborah Poe · Murder Files Unsealed

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Okay, So you know how much we love a good mystery. Yeah,
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  and those cases that are just like.
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  Speaker 2: Impossible to shake, oh, absolutely, the.
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  Speaker 1: Ones that stick with you. Yeah yeah, this one, this
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  one is one of those.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, it really is. It's like taking the ordinary, yeah,
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  and twisting it into something strange and unsettling. It reminds
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  us that even in the most everyday places, secrets can
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  hide in plain.
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  Speaker 1: Sight, exactly. And that's what we're looking at today. Deborah
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  Po young woman living in Orlando, Florida. Yeah, working a job,
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  you know, at a convenience store.
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  Speaker 2: Right, a familiar scene for many.
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  Speaker 1: Vanishes vanishes nineteen ninety, nineteen ninety.
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  Speaker 2: But this wasn't like a robbery or anything like that.
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  This is different.
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  Speaker 1: It really was, and the era nineteen ninety adds another
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  layer to it. No security cameras everywhere, no cell phones
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  to track every.
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  Speaker 2: Move right, like a different world almost exactly.
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  Speaker 1: It's like stepping back in time, a time when things
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  were simpler maybe, but also yeah, perhaps bit more vulnerable.
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  Speaker 2: So it's February fourth, nineteen ninety, and the police in Orlando.
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  Speaker 1: Get a call about this circle. K. Well, that's not right,
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  not right at all. Lights are on the door's open. Yeah,
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  they find a cup of coffee just sitting there, half finished.
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  Speaker 2: But no, Deborah, it' saga still life, isn't it? But
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  the subject is.
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  Speaker 1: Missing and it's the details right, it's like too.
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  Speaker 2: Perfect, Yeah, too neat for a robbery. Her car was
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  right where she left it, person side. Even her paycheck
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  was untouched. Wow.
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  Speaker 1: And they found her house.
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  Speaker 2: Planned, yeah, spread out on the counter, right next to
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  that coffee and a carton of milk.
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  Speaker 1: It's like she vanished mid fought, like.
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  Speaker 2: A snapshot of a life interrupted. It makes you wonder
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  what was she doing in those final moments before.
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  Speaker 1: Before it all went dark? So who was debor po?
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  Speaker 2: She's a young woman with dreams, moved to Orlando from Virginia,
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  want to be professional dancer, working as a clerk at
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  the Orlando Sentinel during the day, picking up those extra
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  shifts at the Circle to make ends meet.
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  Speaker 1: Had her whole life ahead of her, it seemed that way.
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  Speaker 2: Shared an apartment with her best friend, Laurie Tillman. They
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  were incredibly close, like sisters, Lurie said.
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  Speaker 1: And she had a boyfriend, Yeah, Scott.
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  Speaker 2: He was actually so concerned about her working those late
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  night shifts that he'd often stay with her at the store.
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  Speaker 1: Which I mean you can't blame him, right, even back then,
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  working the night shift, especially alone, especially as a woman,
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  it's not the safest.
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  Speaker 2: It really highlights those unspoken anxieties, those worries that people,
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  especially women face in those jobs.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, so let's try to put together a timeline here, right,
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  figure out when Deborah disappeared. Right, we know a friend
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  stop by the circle k a little after eleven PM
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  to talk about house plans.
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  Speaker 2: Right, lightly, those same plans found on the counter.
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  Speaker 1: Probably yeah, and Scott, her boyfriend he visited her left
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  around one am.
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  Speaker 2: Okay.
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  Speaker 1: She served a few customers between one am and three.
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  Speaker 2: Point oh five to five mm, keep him busy.
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  Speaker 1: And another friend drew by around three am saw her.
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  Speaker 2: Behind the counter, seemingly safe.
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  Speaker 1: But when that same friend drove by again at three
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  point fifty, Deborah was gone.
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  Speaker 2: Gone a tight window. And it gets even stranger. The
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  tracker dogs. They picked up deborah scent, but instead of
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  leading away from the store on foot, the trail went
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  to the parking lot of a nearby apartment complex.
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  Speaker 1: So are you suggesting she might have left in a vehicle.
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  Speaker 2: It's a strong possibility as if someone was waiting, or
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  maybe she went willingly. We don't know.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, So we've got this disappearance that looks staged a
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  potential getaway car. Right, and here's where it gets even
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  more unsettling. Yeah, this wasn't an isolated incident in Florida
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  at that time.
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  Speaker 2: You're right, this wasn't the only case. Months before Deborah vanished,
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  another young woman, Donna Callahan, disappeared another convenience store, another
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  late night shift.
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  Speaker 1: Oh no, are you serious?
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  Speaker 2: And she was pregnant.
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  Speaker 1: This is awful.
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  Speaker 2: Then there's Darlene Messer, abducted from another convenience store. Tragically
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  they found her body days later. Chilling pattern, isn't it.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's like way too much to be a coincidence,
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  right right?
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  Speaker 2: Three young women, all working alone at night, targeted in
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  places that should be ordinary every day. It makes you
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  wonder was there a connection or was this a string
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  of horrific coincidences?
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  Speaker 1: I mean, statistically it has to be connected.
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  Speaker 2: Right, Well, statistically speaking, you're more likely to be harmed
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  by someone you know, right, So naturally the investigation started
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  with those closest to Deborah.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, so who were the police looking at anyone suspicious
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  around Deborah.
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  Speaker 2: Well, there was Scott, her boyfriend, right. He was cleared
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  by the police after a lie detector test. Okay, but
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  he was still considered a person of interest early on.
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  Speaker 1: Understandable.
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  Speaker 2: But they also looked into other people from Deborah's life.
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  There were reports of a previous boyfriend, someone who'd been
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  harassing her. Oh no, described by some as mentally unstable.
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  Speaker 1: That's so scary.
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  Speaker 2: And then there was an incident a couple weeks before
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  her disappearance. Yeah, a naked man chased her through the store.
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  Speaker 1: What ah, that's just creepy. See it's those late night shifts, right,
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  you never know who's going to walk through that door.
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  Speaker 2: M hm. It's true the late night hours can attract
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  a certain crowd. But let's get back to the night
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  Deborah disappeared. Okay, you mentioned friends aar the store around
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  three am.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, it seemed like she was safe at that.
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  Speaker 2: Point, right, But here's the thing. Another witness came forward, Okay,
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  someone who's stopped by that circle k just thirty minutes later,
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  oh wow, and said Deborah was nowhere to be seen.
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  Speaker 1: Wait, so someone else was behind the counter. Was it
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  a robbery? Then?
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  Speaker 2: It's unclear, but this witness, the woman, she gave a
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  pretty detailed description of this other person.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, so what did this person look like?
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  Speaker 2: Long, black hair, black T shirt. But here's the thing.
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  It wasn't just any black T shirt.
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  Speaker 1: What was it?
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  Speaker 2: She specifically remembered It said Megadeath.
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  Speaker 1: Mega Death Huh. Not exactly your average convenience store attire, right.
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  Speaker 2: And she remembered to get a skull ring across earring.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, starting to get a picture this guy. Anything else
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  did he say anything?
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  Speaker 2: Well, she asked him for cigarettes, yeah, and he seemed clueless,
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  like he had no idea where they were.
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  Speaker 1: See, that's weird, even for a metal head at three
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  point thirty in the morning. You'd think he'd be able
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  to find the cigarettes.
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  Speaker 2: Right. It's a little detail, but it sticks out.
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  Speaker 1: It's like, was he really just a customer?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah?
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  Speaker 1: Or was he putting on an act?
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  Speaker 2: Exactly? And it gets even stranger. Okay, what else this
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  witness She also described his vehicle a black van all right,
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  with a megadith mural airbrushed on the side.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, you don't forget something like that, a Mega Death van.
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  That's pretty hard to miss.
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  Speaker 2: Exactly, It was a detail that was both helpful and
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  frustrating for investigators. Yeah, helpful because it was distinctive, right.
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  Frustrating because despite that, the van and the man driving it, they.
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  Speaker 1: Just vanished, I mean a mega death van, right.
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  Speaker 2: You think someone would have remembered seeing it?
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly did they ever find the guy?
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  Speaker 2: Nope? Nothing, the van, the man. It's like they both
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  just disappeared.
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  Speaker 1: But they had a description. Someone must have seen something.
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  Speaker 2: There were a few reports similar vans, okay, but nothing
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  panned out. And remember this was nineteen ninety no social
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  media to spread the word, no easy way to track
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  down leads.
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  Speaker 1: So frustrating, just years of dead ends. What about Debra's family.
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  Speaker 2: It's heartbreaking. In nineteen ninety eight, with no new leads,
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  Deborah was declared legally dead.
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  Speaker 1: Legally dead, so they just assume she's gone.
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  Speaker 2: It's a legal status basically acknowledges that a person is
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  presumed dead even if a body hasn't been found. Right,
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  usually happens after several years, okay, allows families to settle
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  legal matters and such.
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  Speaker 1: That's got to be tough, though, right to just accept that.
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  Speaker 2: Of course, the not knowing can be the hardest part.
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  Speaker 1: But there were other cases, right, like that Donna Callahan case.
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  Any updates on that?
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  Speaker 2: That's the strange thing. Nineteen ninety six, Yeah, a man
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  named William Alex Wells okay, confessed to killing Donna Callahan.
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  Implicated his half brother too, Mark Reeb.
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  Speaker 1: Wow, so they caught them.
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  Speaker 2: Turns out they were career criminals, long history of violence.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, but what does that have to do with Deborah.
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  Speaker 2: Well Wells and Reebe? They were known to be together
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  the weekend Deborah vanished.
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  Speaker 1: Wait are you serious?
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  Speaker 2: And get this? They had a relative who lived near
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  the circle.
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  Speaker 1: K are you saying these guys they could have been
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  involved with Deborah's disappearance too.
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  Speaker 2: It's a possibility the police looked into seriously. And remember
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  the witness who saw the megadith man.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, the one at the store.
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  Speaker 2: She was shown a photo lineup and guess what.
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  Speaker 1: She picked out? Wells?
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  Speaker 2: She picked him out.
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  Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, so they got him.
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  Speaker 2: Well, here's the catch, Wells. He claimed he was under
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  house arrest when Deborah disappeared. Oh come on, and you
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  know back then, alibis were harder to break.
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  Speaker 1: So they couldn't place him there.
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  Speaker 2: Not definitively they suspected he was involved, but they could
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  never gather enough evidence to charge him or his brother.
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  Speaker 1: It's like they were so close, you know.
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  Speaker 2: It's the story of so many cold cases go cold,
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  memories fade, but the questions they remain, like why was
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  the store so undisturbed? Yeah, did Deborah leave with someone willingly?
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  And those house plans just a random detail or a
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  clue we may never know.
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  Speaker 1: It makes you wonder what really happened to Debora Poh.
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  Speaker 2: It's a question that continues to haunt investigators and I'm
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  sure anyone who hears her story, but maybe, just maybe
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  someone out there knows something, something they haven't shared, something
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  that could finally bring some peace to Deborah's loved ones.
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  Speaker 1: It's a reminder that even in a world saturated with information,
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  some mysteries remain. Thanks for diving into this case with us.
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  If you, or anyone listening has any information about the
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  disappearance of Debora po please contact your local authorities or
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  the FBI. Sometimes the smallest detail can make all the difference.