Murder, She Told

1984 - Windham, New Hampshire

1975 - Plantation, Florida

When 25-year-old Chris Bird didn't return home after a camping trip in New Hampshire with a friend in July of 1984, alarm bells began to ring. Days later, his car was found abandoned at a nearby mall with a flat tire-Chris was nowhere to be found.

Nearly a decade earlier, on New Year's Day in 1975, the Broward County Sheriff's Department in southern Florida received a call from New Hampshire authorities: someone had confessed to a murder in their area. When police arrived at the home, they found 28-year-old George P. Long dead on the floor.

Two cases, seemingly unrelated. Different states. Years apart. But when a newspaper article exposed a troubling past, the connections became impossible to ignore—leading investigators to focus on the one person both cases had in common.

If you have any information on the disappearance of Chris Bird, please contact the New Hampshire Cold Case Unit at (603) 271-3658 or email [email protected].

Part 2 will be released on Tuesday, April 21.

Episode sources and photos: https://www.murdershetold.com/episodes/christopher-bird

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Listen to My Victorian Nightmare, a podcast about mysterious deaths, morbid fascinations, true crime and disturbing stories from the Victorian era. This preview is from episode 82, “Madame Vesta la Viesta’s Galactic Love Affairs & The Meek’s Family Murders.”

In this episode, Genevieve discussed the eccentric Madame Vesta la Viesta, the galactic mystic and clairvoyant, suicidal ghosts, mediums in spirit cabinets, and the horrifying Meeks family murder of 1894.

Listen anywhere you find your spooky podcasts.

Apple: https://apple.co/41fDSqA

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/0Td3FtsVMWFyHFoHdsCVca?si=845f36a241ac4380

Podlink: https://pod.link/1749899895
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1993. Chelmsford, Massachusetts.

23-year-old Deborah Lynne Bates, known as Debbie, was trying to start over after leaving her abusive ex, George, with whom she shared a child. She wasn't perfect, but she was determined to build a better life.

One February night in 1993, seven months pregnant, Debbie stepped out of her apartment for a pack of cigarettes and vanished. She never came home.

Police treated her disappearance as routine, but her family knew she would never abandon her young son.

The case lay practically dormant until 2004, when a gruesome discovery that was meant to stay buried turned up on the side of the hideaway—raising questions no one was ready to answer.

If you have any information on what happened to Deborah Bates, please contact the Massachusetts State Police at the Middlesex District Attorney's office at 781-897-6600.

Episode sources and photos: https://www.murdershetold.com/episodes/deborah-bates

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Back in November 2024, I spoke with investigative genetic genealogist Cairenn Binder of Ramapo College about the basics of investigative genetic genealogy and how it helps solve cold cases and restore the names of unidentified people.

Now, in an interview with Laurah Norton of The Fall Line, Cairenn returns to discuss a recent development that has shaken the field. Changes to the terms of service at Ancestry affecting access to historical records and family trees could have major implications for investigators working to identify John and Jane Does and generate leads in homicide cases.

Many genealogists fear the policy shift could impact both current investigations and cases still waiting to be solved. Cairenn helps break down the key updates—and what they could mean moving forward.


Sources for The Fall Line: https://www.thefalllinepodcast.com/sources


Mentioned in the episode: ⁠NYT article⁠


Read Laurah's book, Lay Them to Rest

Revisit "Cracking Cold Cases Using Investigative Genetic Genealogy" originally published 11/5/2024: ⁠https://murdershetold.com/episodes/investigative-genetic-genealogy⁠

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Website: ⁠murdershetold.com⁠

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1975 - Concord, New Hampshire.

In May 1975, a rent collector knocked on the door of 22-year-old Judith Lord’s apartment. There was no answer—only the sound of her baby crying. When he went inside, he found Judy dead in her upstairs bedroom.

From the beginning, police had suspects. The case moved quickly. An arrest felt imminent.

But then, a single scientific conclusion shifted the trajectory of the investigation. What should have been a straight path to justice became a decades-long detour.

This is a story about a young mother, a community shaken, and a murder investigation steered off course by flawed forensics—a mistake that cost years, and a resolution that came far too late.

Episode sources and photos: https://www.murdershetold.com/episodes/judy-lord

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