Michele Wallace was a freelance photographer who disappeared hiking in Colorado in 1974. She was a free spirit, a pretty and adventurous 25-year old woman with long dark hair she wore in two thick braids.
It was late August when Michele told her parents she was going on a backpacking trip with her dog in the Rocky Mountains. Many parents would have been worried, but Michele was an experienced traveler. Her parents trusted her to be safe.
But smooth-talking deviant Roy Melanson was unlike any predator Michele had ever encountered before. When she found herself alone in her car with him, her fate was sealed. Melanson had a history of abducting and raping women. And Michele would not be the first woman he murdered.
It took nearly 20-years for investigators to get justice for Michele after a new detective and new evidence came into the picture. When Melanson was captured for Michele’s cold case, his DNA was entered into CODIS, helping to solve other murders across the country.
Join us at the quiet end today as we discuss the disappearance and murder of Michele Wallace and how solving her murder led to taking a dangerous man off the streets and solving another 1974 cold case murder, that of 51-year old Anita Andrews.
Comments
3 Comments
When I hear about these horrific crimes — the torture, sometimes planning, the sexual Devine — I always immediately think “What an ass”. I know being an ass isn’t the worst thing I can call these psychopaths, but I always think that. I like to imagine speaking to them and telling them, “You are such an ass. A huge fucking ass”.
Yes, I know it wouldn’t phase them at all. I know.
It’s so hard to even come close to understanding how these people can do these terrible things. I guess that’s what keeps me listening. Maybe I’m hoping to acquire a modicum of understanding, but then again, I never want to understand.
Thanks for all your podcasts. You are by far my favorite duo podcasters. You also beat the singular podcasters.
Thank you!!
Laura Drimkwine
Thank you, Laura. It is frustrating to know that the people committing these horrible crimes, for the most part, are immune to remorse or self-reflection. I find this even more infuriating when it is someone who is living a life of hypocrisy and outright narcissism! My best to you, Jill
This story was heartbreaking. I even had to take a break early on after hearing about the fate of Michele and her dog Okie. That poor dog must have been so scared, and only to get shot by some fucking hunter or farmer. I want to torture that piece of shit Roy Melanson. And George…. Oh my God. The countless lives Melanson ruined. I might send that piece of shit a nasty letter if he’s still alive.