Carol Ann Christensen had just started her first waitressing job and had five children at home. When her body was found in the woods 20 miles from the strip, there were gutted trout across her throat, ground sausage on her hands, and a paper bag over her head. The staging nearly worked — investigators almost didn't connect it to the Green River Killer.
Where this was said
At 46:45 · chapter starts 45:20
Carol Ann Christensen was 22 years old, a mother of five, and had just secured her first waitressing job after months of unemployment. On May 3rd, 1983, she disappeared while walking to work. Her body was found five days later in Maple Valley, about 20 miles from the strip — a disturbing departure from every previous Green River crime scene. The body had been posed: hands folded across her chest with ground sausage placed on them, two gutted trout laid across her throat, an empty wine bottle across her stomach, and a paper bag over her head. Her bra was on inside out and her shoes were unlaced. Investigators debated whether this was a different killer entirely, but the washerwoman wrinkles on her skin suggested recent immersion in water — a Green River signature. A paper bag was traced to a grocery store near the killer's known hunting grounds. Investigators concluded the elaborate staging was likely Ridgway's attempt to throw off detectives, and it nearly worked.
Victim Carol Ann Christensen was a mother of five young children who had just landed her first waitressing job when she was killed.
Carol Ann Christensen's body was discovered about 20 miles from the Pacific Highway Strip where most other Green River victims were found, in a staged scene unlike any previous crime.
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.
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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.
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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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