Tag: Suicide

• December 4, 2021Disappearance, Murder, True Crime, Unexplained

  The Disappearance of Theresa Rideout

  If you caught the first episode about the Four Seasons Motel, you might remember me briefly mentioning Theresa Rideout. She was the girlfriend of Jack Barnett, the man who ended his life at the motel. But while Jack’s tragic end was documented, Theresa’s story is a mystery.
  
  When I first came across Theresa’s case in an old local newspaper article listing area cold cases, I was struck by how little information was actually out there. Even on official missing persons pages like the Indiana State Police site, her name is spelled wrong, details are minimal, and there isn't even a photo attached to her profile.
  
  Part of the reason her story has been so quiet is that Theresa did not have a huge network of people in her corner. Her mother passed away when she was six, her dad died when she was seventeen, and she had no siblings. She married young, had a son named Matt, but after a divorce in the mid-80s, she mostly kept to herself and moved around. Tragically, both her ex-husband and her son passed away years later, leaving virtually no immediate family left to keep her case in the public eye. When I reached out to a relative of her ex-husband while doing genealogy research, they told me her disappearance was just considered a big family mystery. Some relatives assumed she had simply drowned in the river, but no one really knew.
  
  Here is what we actually know about her final days. On September 2, 1994, Theresa and Jack left the American Legion in Newburgh around 10:30 AM so Jack could drive her to her 11:00 AM shift at the Main Street Burger King in Evansville. She worked her full shift, was in a great mood, and at 7:00 PM her manager trusted her to take the night cash deposit up to the bank. She made the deposit, said "see you tomorrow" to her co-workers, and drove off in Jack's red pickup truck.
  
  That was the last time anyone ever saw her. She left her final paychecks unclaimed, and her beloved dog, River, vanished right along with her.
  
  What really bothers me about the timeline is what happened next. If Theresa was seen leaving work in Jack's truck, Jack was almost certainly in that truck with her. Did they get into a fight on the way home?
  
  Stranger still, four days after she disappeared, Jack walked into Don and Donna's sports bar in Newburgh by himself. The bartender said he acted completely normal, had a drink, and never mentioned anything about Theresa being missing. Then, a few days after that, Jack checked into the Four Seasons Motel and took his own life, leaving a note for his daughter that made zero reference to Theresa.
  
  Most investigators seem to assume the obvious story: Jack killed Theresa, hid her body along with the dog, and then killed himself a week later. But a full week is a really long gap for a murder-suicide scenario where the perpetrator just goes about his normal life, grabbing drinks at local bars in the middle of it all. Were they involved with the wrong crowd? Did something go wrong with shady associates? Or did Jack snap after a week of her being missing?
  
  Theresa Rideout deserves to have her story told just as much as anyone else, even if she did not have a massive family network fighting to keep her name in the headlines.
  
  Give the episode a listen and let me know your take.

• May 28, 2021Disappearance, Murder, Paranormal, True Crime

  Four Seasons

  Thanks for checking out the very first episode of River City Mystery!
  
  If you drive down the highway just outside Mount Vernon, Indiana, you might pass right by the Four Seasons Motel without thinking much of it. It is a quiet, family-run spot owned by Rodney Cox and his mom, Jean. They run it today, and they were running it back in the fall of 1994 when things took a really dark, strange turn.
  
  It started with a mystery that still hasn't been solved. On September 2, 1994, a local woman named Terry Rideout finished up her shift at the Main Street Burger King in Evansville, ran the night deposit, and drove off in her boyfriend Jack’s red pickup. She was never seen again. When people went to check on her home, the only thing missing was her dog, River. To this day, Terry is still listed as a missing person in Indiana.
  
  A week after Terry vanished, Jack Barnett checked into the Four Seasons Motel alone. He brought two things into the room with him: a VHS copy of the movie Falling Down and a gun. After watching the movie, he wrote a quick note to his daughter and ended his life. The room was locked from the inside with the security chain, and police ruled it a suicide right away.
  
  That is tragic enough on its own, but what happened next is where the story gets bizarre.
  
  About a month later, Rodney and Jean started getting constant complaints from guests staying in that same room. Night after night, different people who had no idea what had happened in that room kept coming to the front desk with the exact same story: the TV would turn itself on every night right at 10:00 PM. Rodney even swapped out the TV for a completely different one, but it kept happening.
  
  Eventually, when standard maintenance couldn't fix it, Rodney and Jean realized they needed a different kind of help. They called up a local preacher to come out, pray over the space, and ask whatever was there to move on.
  
  Was it a real ghost, or just a really weird set of coincidences? Give the episode a listen and judge for yourself.