In his first police interview, Bruce Bierbaum said Joyce was asleep on his couch when he left for work Friday morning July 23rd. In a follow-up interview, he changed his story to say the last time he saw her was Thursday evening before her skydiving lesson — and claimed he didn't recall saying the earlier version.
Where this was said
At 26:47 · chapter starts 25:30
When Joyce's best friend Jan visited the apartment, she noticed something police had apparently missed: Joyce's cherished blue vase lay shattered on top of the refrigerator. Jan confronted Bruce, who said it had broken in an argument — nothing more. Investigators never appear to have pressed him on this. Ashley also notes that Bruce had claimed to take a polygraph in 1972, but no record of it exists. Over time, Bruce stopped cooperating with the investigation entirely. He went on to graduate, become a veterinarian, and settle in Florida. When Crime Junkie reporter Emily contacted him, he said 'no thank you' and hung up. His refusal to engage was only deepened when Ashley revealed that Whitman County Sheriff Brett Myers has made Bruce the primary focus of the investigation and even sent the FBI to his door to request a polygraph — a request Bruce declined. [1] — Ashley Flowers "When Joyce's best friend Jan visited the apartment after her disappearance, she found Joyce's favorite blue vase smashed on top of the refr…" 25:17
Bruce Bierbaum is now the Whitman County Sheriff's primary focus. Multiple ex-wives have called the sheriff's office with suspicious stories. A family member found a poem he wrote about a dead girl in a river. He has 35 criminal filings, including domestic battery. He refuses to take a polygraph and hung up on the Crime Junkie reporter.
A man used ChatGPT as a de facto lawyer, sharing self-incriminating details in his chats. When the transcripts were subpoenaed, the judge ruled no attorney-client privilege applied and admitted the chats as evidence against him. AI first passes are useful — treating AI as your counsel is dangerous.
CIA operative Edwin Wilson armed Muammar Gaddafi with 10,000 machine guns and 20 tons of C4 hidden in barrels of mud and flew them to Libya himself. He was sentenced to 52 years and served 12 in solitary. He was also a founder of the same arms network Oliver North contracted for the Contras.
Kim Dotcom's legal nightmare had nothing to do with copyright infringement. He donated to WikiLeaks and Julian Assange — and the US government charged him under RICO statutes, seeking 186 years in prison as payback.
More than a decade after his indictment, the US is still trying to extradite Kim Dotcom from New Zealand — even after he suffered a stroke. He cannot be convinced the authorities are on his side; only the legal process, run by his lawyers, keeps him free.
The illegal wildlife trade and the drug trade aren't just parallel industries — they actively overlap. Smugglers force-fed cocaine to boa constrictors to evade customs, packed drugs beneath layers of live animals in crates with spitting cobras on top, and exploited the chronic under-resourcing of US Fish and Wildlife inspection teams.
Mario Tabraue was sentenced to over 100 years in prison for murder and drug trafficking. He served 12. Nobody — not even the DEA agent who put him there — knows why he got out. That agent, Larry Lovelace, now lives in rural West Virginia with a gun within reach every night, still expecting retaliation.
Anson Wong from Malaysia was the Pablo Escobar of the global reptile trade, supplying rare animals — including Komodo dragons — to buyers across the world. He was caught in a sting, extradited to the US, and served the longest wildlife crime sentence at the time. The animals seized from him went on to stock some of America's biggest zoos.
Zelig Williams landed a role in Hamilton at just 19 while still in college — a rare achievement in a world where most Broadway dreams die young. By 28 he was a veteran ready to mentor the next generation, until he disappeared without a trace on October 3, 2024.
Season 5 of Dateline: Missing in America brings six new unsolved mysteries. The show is explicitly asking listeners to engage — because a detail someone remembers might be the break investigators need.
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