Cold

12/17/2025

Should prosecutors be able to use AI to bring a murder victim’s voice to a jury? It might happen in a Utah death penalty case. COLD podcast host breaks down the first-of-its-kind effort live on KSL NewsRadio.

12/10/2025

On this date 16 years ago, Josh Powell returned from an unexpected outing in a rental car. No one can say where he went.

Josh didn’t take his cell phone (police had it). He didn’t use his credit card (aside from a $400 cash withdrawal at an ATM to avoid being traced). It’s possible Josh might’ve been revisiting or relocating the body of his missing wife, Susan Powell, during the 18 hours he was unaccounted for.

A year and a half later, police obtained a wiretap on Josh Powell’s phone. They captured conversations between Josh and his family (father Steven, brother Michael, sister Alina). Seen here are snippets from two of those calls, in which Josh talked about his time in the rental car. COLD is the only source for these rare, non-public documents.

Take note of how Josh did not trust his own family enough to tell them where he went during those 18 hours. He lied about the mileage placed on the rental car (he said 300, actual mileage was 807). But most notably, he described interacting with a convenience store clerk who found him “very memorable.”

To this day, that convenience store clerk has not been identified. It is a key missing piece to the mystery of where is Susan Powell.

10/06/2025

🚩🚩🚩Flashback to 2018, when was digging through the Powell family home video collection, wondering why Steve Powell’s camera always seemed to linger on his daughter-in-law Susan Cox Powell. We would come to learn it was no accident. Steve Powell was fixated on Susan and his creepy behaviors were a form of abuse. 🚩🚩🚩
October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. Learn how to spot the signs and share with people you love. Read up on the lethality assessment protocol. And if you are trying to escape an abusive relationship, please know you are not alone! Help is available. Visit thehotline.org to learn more.

05/15/2025

An update today to one of the story threads from season 3 of COLD. In the podcast, we discussed three homicides that occurred in Salt Lake City and Layton, Utah during 1985 and 1986: the shooting deaths of Christine Gallegos, Carla Maxwell and Lisa Strong.

Those three cases were tied by ballistics to the same .38 or .357 handgun, and fears a serial killer might be at work prompted Salt Lake City Police to form a task force. A suspect was eventually identified, charged and convicted for Lisa Strong's murder, but the Gallegos and Maxwell cases remained unsolved.

Today, Salt Lake City Police announced a fresh review of the Gallegos case in 2023 resulted in DNA evidence being used for genetic genealogy. The results implicated a man named Ricky Lee Stallworth as the person who killed Gallegos.

Stallworth was never previously identified by investigators, and was never questioned prior to his own death in July of 2023. Police say they are not aware of any connection between Stallworth and Gallegos prior to her death.

COLD pursued public records research related to these cases with Salt Lake City Police in the summer of 2022, as the Joyce Yost and Sheree Warren cases were also briefly reviewed by the Salt Lake City Police task force in 1986. We commend their investigators for bringing the Gallegos case to a resolution.

05/13/2025

We're excited to share this new story from Dave Cawley and the rest of the COLD team. Find and follow Uinta Triangle to hear the first two episodes as soon as they drop next week.

04/03/2025

On this date in 1985, a man followed Joyce Yost home from a restaurant, kidnapped her and sexually assaulted her. Joyce managed to talk the man into letting her go, then reported what he’d done to police. She hoped the justice system would protect her. It didn’t.
That man, Douglas Lovell, returned to Joyce’s apartment to murder her several months later. Lovell hid Joyce’s body, believing he couldn’t be convicted of the r**e if his accuser disappeared.
40 years later, Lovell has twice been sentenced to death and twice had that sentence overturned on appeal. Meanwhile, Joyce’s remains have never been located.
Joyce’s story is the focus of our second season. We remember her on this date, and continue to request tips from anyone who might have information about the whereabouts of her remains.

04/03/2025

On this date in 1985, a man followed Joyce Yost home from a restaurant, kidnapped her and sexually assaulted her. Joyce managed to talk the man into letting her go, then reported what he'd done to police. She hoped the justice system would protect her. It didn't.

That man, Douglas Lovell, returned to Joyce's apartment to murder her several months later. Lovell hid Joyce's body, believing he couldn't be convicted of the r**e if his accuser disappeared.

40 years later, Lovell has twice been sentenced to death and twice had that sentence overturned on appeal. Meanwhile, Joyce's remains have never been located.

Joyce's story is the focus of our second season. We remember her on this date, and continue to request tips from anyone who might have information about the whereabouts of her remains.

12/20/2024

Jack Bell, the original lead detective on the Sheree Warren case, has died. Jack provided his reminiscences with us for Cold season 3. Beneath Jack’s gruff, plain-spoken demeanor was a man with a deep sense of justice. Jack expressed a desire to see Sheree’s killer brought to justice before he passed. Unfortunately, that did not happen. The Cold team sends sympathies to Jack’s loved ones.

12/10/2024

In case you missed it, we've dropped two new bonus episodes dealing with the Susan Powell case. They're available for free, anywhere you like to listen.

More details, including photos, videos and case files at the links.

https://thecoldpodcast.com/season-1/bonus-ep-mystery-metal/
https://thecoldpodcast.com/season-1/bonus-ep-beaches-airplanes/

The words of Charlie Powell in an interview the day after Susan vanished continue to confound, 15 years later. What did he mean by "crystals?"