To prove he was the real kidnapper, the caller described a barely-noticeable physical quirk about Susie's fingernails — one her own parents hadn't thought to include in any missing-person bulletin. No random stranger would know that.
Where this was said
At 10:00 · chapter starts 9:20
Five days after Susie's disappearance, the FBI's Denver office receives a call from a man claiming to be the kidnapper and demanding $25,000 — then hanging up. Two days later, the same man calls Deputy Ron Brown's home at 11:16 PM, raising the demand to $50,000 and directing the money to a Denver bus depot. To prove he has Susie, he describes a barely visible quirk in her index fingernails — a congenital detail so minor her own parents had forgotten to mention it to police. Authorities scramble to set up surveillance and gather dummy bills, but the kidnapper never appears at the drop point. Around the same time, 20-year-old nurse Donna Lemon goes missing 30 miles away; her body is later found in Idaho, and while locals wonder about a connection, investigators keep the cases separate and focused on finding Susie.
The kidnapper initially demanded $25,000 but raised the ransom to $50,000 in a follow-up call, providing details about Susie's deformed fingernails to prove he had her.
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.
We use essential and analytics cookies to run Vuci. To understand how the site is used: Privacy Policy.
Install Vuci on your phone
Add it to your home screen for a faster, app-like experience.
Install Vuci on your phone
Tap the Share button, then “Add to Home Screen”.
A new version is available
Reload to get the latest Vuci.